Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
Radiofarda – U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration says that on Saturday (2000 EDT/0000 GMT Sunday) all United Nations sanctions on Iran have to be restored and a conventional arms embargo on the country will no longer expire in mid-October. But 13 of the 15 U.N. Security Council members, including long-time U.S. allies, say Washington’s move is void and diplomats say …
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September, 2020
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19 September
Iran’s IRGC Chief Threatens To Go After Americans Who Killed Top General
RFL/RE – The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has threatened retaliation against everyone who had a role in the January killing of a top IRGC general by a U.S. drone strike in Iraq. The IRCG’s website on September 19 quoted General Hossein Salami as saying, “Mr. Trump! Our revenge for martyrdom of our great general is obvious, …
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19 September
US Carrier Transits Strait Of Hormuz Amid Tensions With Iran
(AP) — The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier safely transited on Friday through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important chokepoint for oil shipments, the U.S. Navy said, as tensions with Iran continue to simmer. In a “scheduled” maneuver, the U.S. sent the carrier and several other warships through the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, according to …
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19 September
More Iranian Cities on Coronavirus Red Alert
Radiofarda – Iran’s Ministry of Health announced on Thursday that the number of Iranian cities on red alert for coronavirus has sharply increased. The state-run Iran Students News Agency (ISNA) cited the Ministry of Health’s spokeswoman, Sima Sadat Lari, as referring to a “relative increase in the number of afflictions and hospitalizations in most of the provinces across the country.” …
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19 September
A Glimpse of the Unjust Sentences Against Protesters in Iran
Iran-HRM – Special Report – A glimpse of the unjust sentences against protesters in Iran In order to prevent any protests and uprisings, the Iranian regime has targeted its protesters and opponents and is trying to stifle any dissent by issuing heavy sentences. In recent months, regime officials have officially warned in the state media that nationwide protests, far more …
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19 September
150 Activists Condemn Execution Of Young Iranian Champion
Radiofarda – 150 Iranian political and civil rights activists issued a statement on Thursday protesting the execution of the young athlete Navid Afakari in an Iranian prison, with the signees drawing parallels between his hanging and the brutal massacre of protesters during the November 2019 uprising against Iran’s clergy-dominated establishment. The activists issued the letter following the recent execution of …
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19 September
Iran’s Missile Violations: Where is the International Community?
gatestoneinstitute.org – “The important point about these missiles is that they are fully equipped with homing. It means they are of the fire-and-forget type. We fire the missile and the data is on the missile itself, it has various navigation systems built in.” — Iran’s Navy chief, Adm. Hossein Khanzadi, Associated Press, June 8, 2020. “We are open about the …
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19 September
Iranian Dissident Whose Prison Beatings Left Him Unable to Walk Beaten Again, Lawyer Says
VOA- An Iranian political prisoner who has been beaten multiple times by security agents to the point of needing to use a wheelchair has been beaten again for complaining about his treatment, according to his lawyer. Speaking to VOA Persian from Iran on Monday, lawyer Ali Sharifzadeh said his client Khaled Pirzadeh had been beaten earlier in the day by …
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19 September
Experts: Latest US Indictments May Discourage Hackers from Joining Anti-American Campaigns
VOA – The U.S. Department of Justice has announced criminal charges against three Iranian men for their alleged participation in state-sponsored identity theft and hacking by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization. The men are all residents and citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran, U.S. authorities said Thursday in a press release. Officials also say the …
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19 September
Honour killings and violence against women in Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic
thelancet.com – The incidence of violence against women has increased worldwide since lockdowns to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 were implemented.1 Iran already had high levels of violence against women, with a reported 8000 so-called honour killings between 2010 and 2014.2Honour killings are common in some cities in Iran. About 20 percent of all murders and 50 percent of family murders …
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19 September
All-women band in Iran struggles to break through
thejakartapost.com – The men in the audience clapped and the women ululated as the band finished singing: it would have been commonplace except the venue was in Iran and the group on stage were all women. (L to R) Oud player Noushin Yousefzadeh, kasser drummer Negin Heydari, pippeh drummer Malihe Shahinzadeh, and drummer Faezeh Mohseni practise together at a home …
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18 September
Reuters: Trump plans executive order to punish arms trade with Iran -sources
Radiofarda – U.S. President Donald Trump plans to issue an executive order allowing him to impose U.S. sanctions on anyone who violates a conventional arms embargo against Iran, four sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the executive order was expected to be issued in the coming days and would …
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18 September
Iran’s history of executing athletes
Al-Arabia – Iran’s execution of Navid Afkari – an athlete – was not the first of its kind. Since its inception in the late 1970s, the Iranian regime has executed numerous athletes for their political beliefs. Iran executed 27-year-old champion wrestler Afkari on Saturday, drawing widespread condemnation, including from the United States and the European Union. For all the latest headlines follow our Google News …
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18 September
Navid Afkari’s Execution Was Hasty, His Lawyer Tells Radio Farda
Radiofarda – Babak Paknia, an attorney involved in Navid Afkari’s legal case, dismissed as “unfounded” the Fars provincial judiciary’s statement on carrying out the death penalty against the young athlete. Following the outcry over the 27-year-old national wrestling champion’s hanging on Saturday in the notorious Adelabad prison in Shiraz, Fars’ judiciary published a statement insisting that it had respected all …
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18 September
Human Rights Organization Releases Audio File of Navid Afkari’s Trial
Radiofarda – The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization (IHRO) has released an audio file from a court hearing of Navid Afkari, a decorated Iranian wrestler who was executed in an Iranian prison on Saturday. In the brief audio file, the 27-year old national champion asks the judge to show a film related to his alleged killing of a security guard …
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18 September
Coronavirus Pushes Iran’s Tourism to the Point of No Return
Radiofarda – Ali Asghar Mounesan, Iran’s Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, says that if coronavirus-related restrictions persist, the country’s tourism industry will be eradicated and all parties involved will be “bankrupt.” Mounesan also announced that he would meet with Iran’s Health Minister, Saeed Namaki, to attempt to lift travel bans within the next week. “To prevent the destruction …
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18 September
CBI Will Heavily Inject Dollars Into Local Market
Radiofarda – With the rial, Iranian’s national currency, recently setting a new low record against the U.S. dollar, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Abdol-Nasser Hemmati, says that, along with “heavily injecting” foreign currencies into the local forex market (NIMA), the bank has permitted the petrochemical, steel, and mineral conglomerates to sell their forex income from exports …
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18 September
U.S. Places Sanctions On Hacking Group With Alleged Ties To Iranian Intelligence
RFL/RE – The U.S. Treasury Department has announced sanctions against an Iranian hacking group, a front company, and more than 45 individuals accused of carrying out a years-long campaign targeting Iranian dissidents, journalists, and international travel companies on behalf of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). The September 17 announcement said that the ministry used the hacking group, Advanced …
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18 September
‘No Regrets’: Ex-Iranian President Ahmadinejad On His Presidency, State Violence, His Tweets — And Trump/Biden
RFL/RE – U.S. President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, differ on most foreign policy issues, including on how to deal with Iran. But former Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad told RFE/RL in an exclusive interview that regardless of which man wins the November 3 presidential election, Washington’s policies are unlikely to change. “It doesn’t matter to me who …
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18 September
Pompeo Expects ‘Every Nation’ to Comply With ‘Snapback’ Sanctions on Iran
Radiozamaneh – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that he expected every nation to comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution regarding a “snapback” of sanctions on Iran. “The United States is intent on enforcing all the U.N. Security Council resolutions, and come Monday, there will be a new series of U.N. Security Council resolutions to be in …
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18 September
34 Political Prisoners Including 10 Iran Protesters on Death Row
Iran-HRM – At least 34 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience are currently sentenced to death Iranian prisons, 10 of whom are protesters who took part in nationwide protests in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Two protesters in Isfahan and Shiraz have already been hanged by the regime. Mostafa Salehi was executed on August 5 for his role in Iran’s December 2017/January 2018 …
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18 September
Khamenei’s Office finds a way to circumvent US sanctions
Radiozamahe – Barkat Pharmaceutical Group wants to look legitimate in order to expand its international business and financial network. But Barkat is owned by Setad, an organization under the direct rule of Iran’s Supreme Leader and sanctioned by the US government. Barkat, therefore, found a way to mask its ownership. In 2019, a secretly quiet company, named Karandish Doran Moaser …
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18 September
European attempt to facilitate trading with Tehran has landed between a rock and a hard place
Radiozamaneh – Since the US reinstated economic sanctions on Iran it has been next to impossible for European companies to maintain trade relations with Tehran. Import as well as export to the Islamic Republic has plummeted according to Eurostat and the transfer of money in or out of Iran has practically stopped. After a lot of head scratching European leaders …
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18 September
Iran: Political Prisoner Houshmand Alipour’s Death Sentence Overturned by Supreme Court
Iran Human Rights (IHR); September 18, 2020: The death sentence of Houshmand Alipour, a Kurdish political prisoner on death row in Sanandaj Central Prison, was overturned by the Supreme Court, and his case is set to be re-examined. According to Iran Human Rights, Houshmand Alipour’s defence lawyer informed his family that his death sentence had been overturned by the Supreme …
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18 September
The EU: Hizballah’s Intersectional Partner
gatestoneinstitute.org – The reality is, should the EU get its way, contrary to its claims to try and uphold the Good Friday Agreement, its demands would harm future prospects for peace and stability in Northern Ireland by undermining and destabilising the union. Where does Hizballah get the weapons and explosives it is reportedly providing to the New IRA? Iran. The …
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18 September
High unemployment forces Iranian Kurds into smuggling, with deadly consequences
Al-Monitor – The plight of Iran’s mountain couriers is once again under the spotlight after the Islamic Republic’s border guards shot dead at least 15 of them this summer, local officials said. In Iranian Kurdistan, mountain couriers are relied on to carry commodities across the Iraqi border. They are locally known as a “kolbar,” a Kurdish word meaning someone carrying heavy loads over their shoulders. In recent years, …
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18 September
Biden’s proposed Iran policy doesn’t go far enough
responsiblestatecraft.org – In a bizarre outburst in Washington Post, senior fellow from the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute Danielle Pletka lamented that she may be “forced” to vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming U.S. presidential elections. The reason is her fear that Biden will be a “figure-head president reading from teleprompter words drafted by his party’s hard-left ideologues.” Whatever prompted this level …
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17 September
U.S. Charges Two Iranians Over ‘Cyberintrusion Campaign’
RFL/RE – U.S. prosecutors say they have indicted two Iranians on allegations they were hackers connected with a “coordinated cyberintrusion campaign” that targeted American and foreign universities, a Washington-based think tank, and other organizations in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. Hooman Heidarian, 30, and Mehdi Farhadi, 34, stole hundreds of terabytes of data, including national security intelligence, …
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17 September
Opinion: Iran Must Be Banned From International Sports
Radiofarda – The Islamic Republic in Iran has executed Navid Afkari, a young wrestler with a potentially bright future ahead of him. Navid’s execution has led to a major outcry among Iranians in Iran and among the diaspora, especially on social media. The regime executed Navid as a message to the rest of the population- obey us at all costs …
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17 September
Four Ex-directors Of France Shiite Centre Arrested
Radiofarda – Four former directors of a major Shiite Muslim centre in France have been arrested on suspicion of continuing to run the association despite its dissolution over alleged support for armed jihad, a judicial source said Wednesday. The Zahra Centre in northern France was founded in 2009 by Yahia Gouasmi, a religious figure who has spoken in support of …
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