Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.

Iranwire – Azerbaijan says it has declared four Iranian Embassy employees persona non grata, after announcing the arrest of six men allegedly linked to Iran’s secret services. Relations between the two neighbors have grown increasingly strained in recent months, with the dispute coming to a head last week, when Azerbaijan opened an embassy in Iran’s arch-foe Israel. In the latest …

Iranwire – Iran’s top Sunni cleric suggested that exaggerated and affected piety and religious zeal has led the country to an impasse, as hundreds of demonstrations returned to the streets of the restive city of Zahedan for weekly protests against the Islamic Republic. “Religiousism has led the country to a dead end,” Molavi, the Sunni Friday prayer leader of the …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The Biden Administration has created a vacuum of leadership on the global stage. If the US further pulls out of Asia, the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, Ukraine, Latin America — anywhere — the vacuum created will surely be filled by the new axis of China-Russia-Iran. A US pull-out is, most probably, just what they are hoping and waiting …

VOA – In a further attempt to rein in increasing numbers of women defying the compulsory dress code, Iranian authorities are installing cameras in public places and thoroughfares to identify and penalize unveiled women, the police announced on Saturday. After they have been identified, violators will receive “warning text messages as to the consequences”, police said in a statement. The …

VOA – A British Iranian man who has been on a hunger strike outside the British Foreign Ministry building in London for 44 days says he is ready to continue his protest for 100 days. Vahid Beheshti told Forbes that he is preparing to more than double the length of his strike, despite not knowing “how long my physical body can cooperate …