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Al-monitor – Ever since taking office, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has come under increasing pressure from hard-liners who have been trying to tie his administration to the “infiltration project of the enemy.” The code word “infiltration” has especially been used in relation to the arrests of dual nationals. Author Rohollah Faghihi In what some have deemed as pushback against this …

PayvandNews – The Reuters news agency is reporting that Republican leaders of the U.S. House plan to vote after the November 8 elections on reauthorizing the Iran Sanctions Act, setting up a potential showdown with the White House. The law, which authorizes sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile tests, expires on December 31. Representative Ed Royce, chairman of …

PayvandNews – Thousands of years before Persepolis – the magnificent Achaemenid ceremonial capital – was made in southern Iran in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, residents of its eastward village named Maymand carved out rocky hillsides to take refuge from harsh climate of the Iranian Plateau. (see map) The cultural landscape of Maymand has been inscribed on the UNESCO …

RFL/RE – An Iranian-American dual citizen who has been jailed in Iran since July has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after being convicted of collaborating with the United States and “insulting sanctities,” one of his U.S.-based relatives told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda. The relative, who did not want to be named because of security issues, expressed “shock” over the …

RFL/RE – Iranian President Hassan Rohani says Turkey must get permission from the Iraqi government to take part in the operation to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) extremist group. “We regard as very dangerous [acts of] intervention by foreign countries without any coordination with the host country,” Rohani said during a visit to the central …