Payvand News Of Iran

US Sanctions on Iran: The Moral Burden of Unintended Consequence - Thirty years ago, a U.S. navy ship shot down an Iranian passenger plane, killing 290 civilians; we are still bringing planes down with our sanctions 7/29/18

French Carmaker Renault Likely To Halt Iran Operations As Other Companies Leave - French car manufacturer Renault says it is likely to leave Iran to avoid renewed U.S. sanctions in spite of previous promises to remain. Several other major companies including Maersk, Total, Peugeot, General Electric, Boeing, Reliance, and Siemens have already left Iran to evade U..S sanctions, which economic experts in Iran say will hit Iranians even harder in about four months' time. 7/29/18

Increasing Housing Costs Burden Tehran Residents - Residential real estate prices in Tehran have risen 54.4 percent in the past 12 months, according to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI). In its latest report on the capital city's housing market, CBI also reported that the price per square meter for Tehran residential units increased to 69.7 million rials (roughly $1,600), compared with the same period last year. 7/29/18

Mattis: U.S. Not Pursuing Regime Change In Iran - The United States is not after regime change in Iran, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said. Asked whether the U.S. administration had created a regime change or collapse policy, Mattis said on July 27, "There's none that's been instituted." He said the goal of the United States was to change Iran's behavior, as stated by other U.S. officials. 7/29/18

Rapper Detained For More Than a Month Without Lawyer in Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan Province - Rap artist Shah Baloch, real name Emad Bijarzehi, has been detained in the southeastern Iranian port city of Chabahar without counsel since June 20, 2018, for singing about state oppression against ethnic Baluchis in Sistan and Baluchistan Province. 7/29/18

Armenia shelves Iranian railway project as Azerbaijan steams ahead - An Armenian official has announced that the long-discussed railway line connecting the country with neighboring Iran is not an immediate priority. The announcement comes as rival Azerbaijan moves ahead with its own ambitious infrastructure development. -Eurasianet 7/29/18

Iran Parliament hammering out details of long-awaited bill on rights of children - Finally after months of debates on the bill on children's right, the Iranian parliament (Majlis ) is considering the bill in detail. Majlis passed a law on children's right in 2002. However, a lack of clarity in the law and ineffective legislative strategies prompted the parliamentarians to start to revise the law in 2006. Six years later in 2012 a new bill on children's right was brought before the parliament, which is currently being discussed to be a law. 7/27/18

Homelessness On The Rise In Iran As Economic Pressures Draw Jobseekers To Cities - The latest official statistics show that 19 million Iranian homeless live in slums on the outsts of major cities. The figure comes from a recent report released by the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development. Ministry head Abbas Akhoundi has cited the figure of 19 million urban homeless in the past, a number that represents nearly 24 percent of the country's population. 7/27/18

From state censorship to western stereotypes, an interview with Iranian artist Maryam Palizgir - Maryam Palizgir is an Iranian-born artist and designer who currently lives and works in the U.S. Her work is interdisciplinary in nature, combining two and three dimensional drawing, sculptural painting and installations focusing on the interaction of geometric abstract forms, color, reflective objects and the layering of grid-like materials. -Omid Memarian, Global Voices 7/27/18

International Court of Justice orders U.S. not to take new sanctions measures against Iran - Mohsen Mohebi, head of the Presidential International Legal Center, said on Tuesday that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has demanded the U.S. not to take any new sanctions measures against Iran until the tribunal issues its verdicts on a lawsuit filed by the Islamic Republic against the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions. 7/27/18

Trump, Iran, And The Mother Of All Tales - It was a lion's tail that made Trump roar. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, in a televised speech this past Sunday, warned the US that it harmed its own interests by preventing Iran from exporting oil to the international market. "Do not forget that we have maintained the security of this waterway [Strait of Hormuz] throughout history. We have historically secured the route of oil transit. Do not forget it." -Shervin Malekzadeh, LobeLog 7/27/18

Women's Rights in Iran Teeter between Reform and Backlash - The political tug of war continues between reformists and hard-liners over women's rights in Iran. In June, for the first time since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, women were allowed to watch live matches of Iran's bid in the FIFA World Cup being screened at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran. At the same time, authorities reportedly detained several women for posting videos of themselves dancing on social media. -Dina Yazdani, Fair Observer 7/27/18

1000km of gas pipelines to join Iran's national network by March 2019 - Some 1000 kilometers of new gas transferring pipelines will be connected to the national network of the country by the end of current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2019), according to the managing director of Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company. 7/27/18

Trump's Threats Are the Least of Iran's Worries - Many Iranians, though, blame U.S. foreign policy as deliberately destructive and ridicule the Trump administration's stated aim of helping Iran in the longer term by bringing the country back to the negotiating table. They see themselves as collateral damage in a geopolitical game of chicken. -Golnar Motevalli, Bloomberg 7/27/18

U.S. judge rules return of Achaemenid-era relief to Iran: Prehistoric "Persian guard" on the way home - A U.S. judge said on Monday an Achaemenid-era (550-330 BC) bas-relief should be returned to Iran, where the object was originally stolen from some 80 years ago. The limestone relief, which depicts a Persian guard, was confiscated in October from the Park Avenue Armory in New York, where it was being offered for sale at an art fair, the New York Times reported. 7/26/18

Quds Force Chief Tells Trump That Iran Is Ready To Confront U.S. - A top Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander in Iran says his forces are ready to confront U.S. forces should President Donald Trump act on his warning that Tehran will "suffer consequences" if it threatens the United States. "Mr. Trump, how dare you threaten us?" Qassem Soleimani, who leads the IRGC's elite foreign operations Quds force, was quoted as saying on July 26. 7/26/18

President Xi Visits the UAE but Skips Iran and Saudi Arabia - On his way to a tour of several African nations China's President Xi Jinping paid an official visit to the United Arab Emirates...Yet an even more significant aspect of President Xi's visit, that has not received any media attention, is that unlike his previous visit to the Middle East, President Xi did not stop at several capitals and instead limited his visit to one country. -Nader Habibi 7/26/18

Palermo Bills Suspended by Iran's Parliament - The Iranian Parliament has shelved the bill on joining the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), until learning the explicit stance of the Iranian supreme leader over it. The bill, known as the "Palermo Bill" in Iran, already approved by the parliament on June 10, faced the Guardian Council's (GC) opposition, which found incompatibility between the text of the bill and its translation. 7/26/18

Iran closer to own digital currency as sanctions loom - Iran says it is preparing to develop its own digital currency as a solution which officials in Tehran say would help the country dodge the returning US sanctions. A plan to create an indigenous cryptocurrency was already on the agenda of the Directorate for Scientific and Technological Affairs of the Presidential Office, Iran's media reported. 7/26/18

Analysts Hope US-Iran War of Words Will Lead to Dialogue - As an August 4 deadline approaches for the first round of new U.S. sanctions on Iran, the war of words between Tehran and Washington has prompted some Mideast commentators to question if a conflict might break out. But Iran's currency, the riyal, has hit a record low of 95,000 to the dollar, losing more than half its value since the start of the year and putting pressure on the government to do something. -Edward Yeranian, VOA 7/26/18

OPINION: Trump Has Acted Foolishly On Iran. Let's Hope He Avoids War - Despite his late Sunday night ALL CAPS tweet threatening Iran, Donald Trump is not looking for a war with the Islamic Republic. Indeed, a day and a half after his tweet, he asserted that he's looking to cut a deal. The flip-flop speaks volumes: The administration has no coherent policy toward Iran. -Aaron David Miller & Richard Sokolsky, NPR 7/26/18

One of Iran's most iconic industries faces disaster - The country's carpet making industry employs hundreds of thousands of skilled weavers and earns hundreds of millions of dollars in export revenue. President Donald Trump's decision to quit the Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions threatens to kill that market. -Sebastian Shukla, CNN Money 7/26/18

Iran's President Rohani: Resistance strongest response to US empty rhetoric - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says national integrity, unity and resistance provide the most powerful response to the United States' adversity and inappropriate rhetoric. "The Iranian nation has from the start stood up to the American rulers' intransigence, misconduct and breach of promises in all areas, and has chosen the path of resistance," President Rouhani told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. 7/25/18

Iran's Rouhani shakes up economic team ahead of sanctions - Iran has got a new central bank governor as the country is struggling to check a steep depreciation of the rial and root out a series of irregularities in its banking system. Abdolnaser Hemmati, 61, replaced Valiollah Seif as the top Iranian banker following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the Tasnim news agency reported. 7/25/18

After Threats, Trump Says Ready To Negotiate 'Real' Nuclear Deal With Iran - Two days after exchanging harsh warnings with Iranian leaders, U.S. President Donald Trump says he is still eager to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Tehran. "We'll see what happens, but we're ready to make a real deal, not the deal that was done by the previous administration, which was a disaster," Trump said on July 24 in a speech to veterans in the U.S. state of Missouri. 7/25/18

Iranian American and US Permanent Resident Released on Bail From Iran's Evin Prison - Two years after being sentenced to long prison sentences without due process in Iran, Iranian American Karan Vafadari and his American permanent resident wife Afarin Neyssari were released on bail from Tehran's Evin Prison on July 21, 2018. 7/25/18

Iran Prevents Public Commemoration At Grave Of Celebrated Poet Ahmad Shamlou - Iranian security forces have prevented devotees of fans of late poet Ahmad Shamlou, who pushed for greater freedoms and had some of his work banned under successive governments, from marking the 18th anniversary of his death. 7/25/18

Will Iran, Russia step up energy cooperation to blunt US sanctions? - Amid rising US pressure, Tehran and Moscow might be on the cusp of a new era of economic cooperation, particularly in the energy sector. -Bijan Khajehpour, Al Monitor 7/25/18

Iran Isn't Taking Trump's Twitter Bait--for Now - From the vantage of Iran's theocrats, the Trump administration's efforts to squeeze its economy has little to do with any legitimate concern about its nuclear ambitions, its interventions across the Arab world, or its mistreatment of its own people. Rather, the campaign represents a predictable new iteration of the perennial American effort to destabilize the postrevolutionary state and oust its leadership. -Suzanne Maloney, The Atlantic 7/25/18

Trump's tweet to Iran cannot bully the west away from making peace - While the White House reduces diplomacy to belligerence, its withdrawal from the nuclear deal is a challenge to the non-American west -Simon Jenkins, Guardian 7/25/18

The Ugly Destination Of Trump's Iran Policy - President Trump's belligerent, all-caps tweet about Iran this past weekend is hardly a natural response to anything the Iranians have been saying or doing lately. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani did make a speech on Sunday in which he stated, "America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars," while advising Trump that "to play with the lion's tail" would become a source of "regret." So, Rouhani was saying that he wants peace with America and that moving toward war would be a bad idea. Hardly the stuff that ordinarily would provoke a flaming riposte. -Paul Pillar 7/24/18

Pompeo And Iran: A Bizarre Mentality - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's speech in California on Sunday night reveals some basic facts about the administration's approach to Iran. It does not know what it wants beyond the end of the Islamic Republic. It knows what it does not want. It has no idea what it does want. It traces Iranian woes and misdeeds to what Pompeo called "the Iranian Revolution" of 40 years ago, ignoring the reality that that mass movement included those calling for a democratic Iran... -John Limbert, LobeLog 7/24/18

Iran Lifts Ban On Zoroastrian City Council Member - A top Iranian body has lifted a ban imposed on a member of the minority Zoroastrian religion who had been suspended from his post on a city council in the central city of Yazd, Iranian media reported. Sepanta Niknam was the only non-Muslim elected to the council in the central city of Yazd in May 2017. 7/24/18

Iranian FM Zarif warns Trump: We've been around for millennia, BE CAUTIOUS! - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warns US President Donald Trump to be cautious after he threatened the Islamic Republic with incredible hardships in a Tweet. "COLOR US UNIMPRESSED: The world heard even harsher bluster a few months ago. And Iranians have heard them -albeit more civilized ones-for 40 yrs. We've been around for millennia & seen fall of empires, including our own, which lasted more than the life of some countries. BE CAUTIOUS! ," Tweeted Zarif on Monday. 7/24/18

Trump plays dangerous game with anti-Iran Twitter rant - The beat of war drums over Iran has been growing steadily louder in Washington since May, when Donald Trump trashed the UN-backed nuclear pact with Tehran. But the wild threats that Trump in reaction to comments by Iran's president have taken the confrontation to a new and dangerous level. -Simon Tisdall, Guardian 7/24/18

Iran, Russia step up energy ties amid West's sanctions - Russia and Iran have discussed energy cooperation between the two countries and through OPEC as part of their efforts to blunt the impact of Western sanctions. According to Russia's Energy Ministry, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak met in Moscow and discussed the possibility of Russian oil companies taking part in projects in Iran. 7/24/18

It's not Trump Iranians are worried about - it's their homegrown crises - The US president's Twitter outburst was misjudged, but Iran's economic problems can't be blamed on the 'Great Satan' -Ali Ansari, Guardian 7/24/18

Turkey has rejected US call to abide by anti-Iran sanctions: Turkish FM - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has described Washington's sanctions against Iran as inappropriate, saying Ankara has told US officials that it will not abide by the bans. Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that Turkish authorities had conveyed the message to a delegation of US Treasury and State Department officials during a visit to Ankara last week. 7/24/18

Trump Administration's Support For Iran Protests May Backfire, Experts Warn - When President Trump warned Iran over Twitter on Sunday night about severe consequences for any threats toward the United States, it did not just come out of the blue. Speaking to reporters on Monday about the president's all-caps threat, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that Trump's language has been "pretty strong" toward Iran all along. -NPR 7/24/18

Expert Predicts 'New Wave' Of Iran Emigres - Given the new economic situation in Iran, a new wave of emigration could be looming, a population expert has suggested. Speaking with the state-run Iran Labor News Agency (ILNA), a member of the Population Studies Institution (PSI), Bahram Salavati, says the current economic situation in Iran might encourage people to emigrate and even urge former emigres to leave the country again. -Radio Farda 7/24/18

Iranian Americans Speak Out Against Pompeo's Conflict of Choice with Iran - Washington, D.C. - Jamal Abdi, Vice President for Policy of the National Iranian American Council, issued the following statement in advance of Sec. Mike Pompeo's address on Iran in California this evening. The National Iranian American Council organized a letter from prominent Iranian Americans objecting to the Trump administration's efforts to destabilize Iran, which was featured in a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times today: 7/23/18

About 150 Injured as 3 Earthquakes Rock Western and Southern Iran - A 5.9-magnitude quake rattled Kermanshah province, in western Iran near the border with Iraq, Sunday, injuring nearly 150 people, the head of the country's disaster response agency said. Earlier Sunday, 4.7- and 5.7-magnitude quakes hit Hormozgan province, south of Tehran. 7/23/18

As Water Crisis Continues, Fresh Protests In Southern Iran - Residents of the southern Iranian city of Borazjan have blocked the main road leading into the city as part of a protest over water shortages, state-run Iran Labor News Agency (ILNA) reports. "On Sunday morning, July 22, several residents of Borazjan held rallies in the city center to protest the shortage of water," the provincial representative to the Supreme Council of Provinces, Ali Akbar Fatemi, told ILNA, adding that "security forces stepped in to disperse the demonstrators." 7/23/18

Iran dismisses Trump's late-night Twitter rant despite market jitters - Iran has dismissed Donald Trump's threats of "consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before" after the US president's late-night Twitter tirade at the Islamic Republic. Hostile rhetoric between Washington and Tehran escalated on Sunday after a tit-for-tat between Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani. -Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Guardian 7/23/18

Making Sense Of U.S. Moves In The Middle East - My father and I always had a tacit agreement: "We will never speak of That Part of the World." He'd grown up in an Orthodox Jewish family in Norfolk, Virginia. His own father, a refugee from early-twentieth-century pogroms in what is now Ukraine, had been the president of his local Zionist organization. A liberal in most things (including his ardent opposition to both of the U.S. wars against Iraq), my father remained a Zionist to his dying day. -Rebecca Gordon, LobeLog 7/23/18

Trump To Iran's President Rouhani: 'NEVER, EVER THREATEN' The U.S. Again - President Trump threatened Iran in a late-night tweet on Sunday, responding angrily after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani criticized Trump and warned the American president not to "play with the lion's tail" and that "war with Iran is the mother of all wars." -NPR 7/23/18

Blasting Iran's regime as 'not normal,' Pompeo calls on Iranian Americans for support in California visit - The Trump administration on Sunday blasted the Iranian government as a kleptocracy that has amassed wealth at the cost of its people, the latest in a series of jabs at Iran's leadership following the United States' withdrawal from the nuclear deal. -Los Angeles Times 7/23/18

The US, electricity and Iran: What's behind the Iraq protests? - The protesters didn't blame Iran but pointed to what they called an inept and corrupt Iraqi government. However, in recent days Al Jazeera has been told, off the record, that the US put pressure on Iraq not to pay the Iranians. -Imran Khan, Al Jazeera 7/23/18

Islamist Hardliners Are Threatening Iran's Very Survival - Since last year, Iran's economy has seriously deteriorated as speculators have rushed to exchange national currency for dollars while others, fearing more troubles to come, have been moving their capital out of the country. Close to $30 billion has reportedly left the country since the currency crisis began. The mounting economic problems have also caused social and political instability. -Shireen T. Hunter, 7/21/18

Pompeo Reaches Out To Iranian-Americans Amid Hard-Line On Iran - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will reach out to a divided Iranian-American community -- some of whom are dismayed by Washington's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal and the reimposition of sanctions as well as a travel ban that prevents many Iranians from entering the United States -- in a July 22 speech near Los Angeles. -Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE/RL 7/21/18

Iranian Judiciary Closes Acid Attack Cases With No Convictions But Promises Victims Compensation - Nearly four years after a series of acid attacks on women in the Iranian city of Isfahan, the judiciary has closed the cases without any convictions while pledging to compensate the victims. "This was a public crime that does not go away with the passage of time and therefore it makes no sense to close the case," Iranian Canadian attorney Hossein Raeesi told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on July 19. 7/21/18

Activists Note Serious Failings by Iranian Organization Tasked With Supporting People With Disabilities - As Iran's State Welfare Organization (SWO) marked its 38th birthday, several people with disabilitiesbased in the country told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) that the organization must undergo fundamental reform in order to carry out its mission. 7/21/18

Terrorist attack near Iraq border leaves 10 Iranian forces dead: Report - A terrorist attack on a military checkpoint on the western border with Iraq and subsequent blast at an arms depot has left 10 members of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) dead, Fars News Agency reported Saturday. 7/21/18

Iran Hawks Should Be Careful What They Wish For - Given these circumstances, a U.S. policy that seeks to exert maximum pressure on Iran, even if successful, could bring about America's (and Israel's) worst nightmare. The Trump administration and those pushing for regime change ought to pause before they encourage instability and chaos and carefully consider what comes the day after. Iran's next regime could prove to be an even bigger headache for Washington than the current one. -Mahsa Rouhi, FP 7/21/18

Pompeo, Religion, And Regime Change In Iran - In his brief stint as CIA director, Mike Pompeo brought God to Langley. At least that's how it felt it to many in the intelligence community. According to Foreign Policy, Pompeo attended "weekly Bible studies held in government buildings, referenced God and Christianity repeatedly in his first all-hands speech" and planned to start "a chaplaincy for the CIA campus like the military has. -Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, LobeLog 7/21/18

Khamenei Supports Blocking Region's Oil Exports If Iran's Exports Stopped - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on July 21 backed President Hassan Rohani's suggestion that Iran may block oil exports from the Persian Gulf if its own exports are stopped. Khamenei's website said Khamenei supported Rohani's statement earlier in July that "if Iran's oil is not exported, no regional country's oil will be exported." 7/21/18

Iranian Girls Burned in 2012 School Fire Protest for Aid in Tehran - A group of Iranian girls who suffered severe burns in a 2012 school fire have staged a protest in Tehran to draw attention to what they say are broken promises of government aid. An Iranian lawyer representing the 11 girls sent VOA Persian several images showing them and their supporters gathered outside the compound of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday. -Shahram Bahraminejad & Michael Lipin, VOA 7/20/18

Japan To Suspend Imports Of Iranian Oil In Light Of Reimposed Sanctions - Japan is preparing to suspend its crude oil imports from Iran to comply with U.S. demands that are reinforced with threats of sanctions against companies that don't adhere to them. As a result, Japan's Iranian oil imports are expected to plunge to zero as soon as October. 7/20/18

Why Trump's Hawks Back the MEK Terrorist Cult - On July 22, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to address an Iranian-American audience at the Reagan Presidential Library in California. The speech is part of a deliberate policy of escalating tensions with Iran, targeting its economy and supporting Iranian opposition groups--all for the purpose of pressuring and destabilizing Iran. -Trita Parsi, NYR Daily 7/20/18

Iranian Officials Revisit 'Oil For Goods' Scheme As Way Around U.S. Sanctions - Following Russia's lead, EU leaders are exploring the possibility of circumventing U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil sales by trading oil for goods instead of purchasing it, according to Iranian officials. The deputy chairman of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture, Pedram Soltani, said on July 17 that exchanging oil for goods could be one way of getting around the U.S. sanctions re-imposed after the United States pulled out of the nuclear deal in May. 7/20/18

'Desperate to find a way out': Iran edges towards precipice - Economic grievances, lack of freedoms, global sanctions and climate change putting country under unprecedented pressure -Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Guardian 7/20/18

Meet Amir Fakhravar, the 'snake oil salesman' pushing regime change in Iran - Fakhravar has become the darling of the Fox News crowd, while opposition activists denounce him for peddling misinformation -Belen Fernandez, Middle East Eye 7/20/18

Sons of Iranian Canadian Who Died in Evin Prison Sue State Broadcaster For Slander - Ramin and Mehran Seyed-Emami have sued Iran's state-run TV, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), for slandering their father Kavous Seyed-Emami, who died under suspicious circumstances in Tehran's Evin Prison in February 2018. 7/20/18

How Tehran Is Working With Washington's Allies To Undermine US Sanctions Against Iran - With little more than two weeks to go until the first set of fresh US sanctions is imposed on Iran, officials in Tehran and the capitals of its major trading partners are struggling to find ways to protect the commercial ties that have built up over the past few years. -Dominic Dudley, Forbes 7/20/18

European Bank Throws Doubt On EU Plan To Salvage Iran Nuclear Deal - The head of the European Investment Bank has thrown into doubt whether the European Union can deliver on its pledge to save the Iranian nuclear deal, saying the bank cannot invest in Iran as the EU has envisioned. 7/19/18

A Case Of Corruption And Embezzlement Angering Iranians - A court in Tehran has been silently investigating a major financial corruption case during recent weeks, reformist daily Sharq revealed on Wednesday July 18. The case is about Samen al-Hojaj Finance and Credit Institution, one of many similar institutions that offered unusually high interest rates to investors, but failed to honor their commitments due to mishandling of funds. -Radio Farda 7/19/18

Iran's Environment: The Grass Beneath Two Fighting Elephants - U.S. sanctions aimed at making Iran act like a "normal country" have had a disastrous effect on Iran's environment and that of the entire region for generations to come. A famous proverb of Kenya's Kikuyu people warns: "When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." As the Islamic Republic's hardliners and the U.S. Treasury Department fence with their tusks, Iran's biodiversity and delicate ecosystems are being trampled underneath. -Fatemeh Aman, LobeLog 7/19/18

Teachers In Iran Launch A Campaign To Protest Low Wages - Protests by Iranian teachers against their low salaries has gained momentum in recent days, social media reports say. The campaign, under the banner of "No! to Payslips and Salaries" was launched by several teachers' rights activists almost immediately after the Ministry of Education declared it will increase teachers' salaries six to ten percent for the next school-year, a local news website, Khabar Online reported. -Radio Farda 7/19/18

Trump Sought Repeatedly To Meet With Iran's Rohani Last Year, Aide Says - Iranian President Hassan Rohani's chief of staff is claiming that U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly asked to meet with Rohani during his visit to New York for the UN General Assembly last year. "Trump asked the Iranian delegation eight times to have a meeting with the president," Iranian news agencies quoted Mahmud Vaezi as saying on July 18. -RFE/RL 7/19/18

Trump has tough sell recruiting Iranian-Americans in campaign against Tehran - Divisions in the community and opposition to the administration's travel ban face Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he addresses leaders this weekend. -Nahal Toosi, Politico 7/19/18

Pride and Prejudice in Tehran - Miscommunication between the United States and Iran is nothing new. But now that U.S. President Donald Trump has withdrawn from the nuclear deal with Iran, guaranteeing that tensions will worsen in the months ahead, those hoping to avoid a crisis should start studying a little Farsi, beginning with one word: nafs. -Hooman Majd, Foreign Policy 7/19/18

Is Iran's youngest minister biting off more than he can chew? - Iran's minister of communications and information technology is advancing the agenda of his transparency initiative, but Iranian officials are pushing back. -Al Monitor 7/19/18

IRAN: President Rouhani Facing Widespread Outrage as Student Protesters Remain Behind Bars and Receive Harsh Sentences - In a stark display of societal outrage in Iran over President Hassan Rouhani's complicity in rights violations, 120 academics from universities across Iran, some of whom are also current or former lawmakers and cabinet members, have called on the president to order the immediate suspension of the judicial cases against more than 150 students who are still in detention for their participation in the December 2017 - January 2018 protests. 7/18/18

Europe Plans Bank Accounts For Iran To Ease Repatriation Of Oil Revenues - The Wall Street Journal quoted "several European officials" on July 16 as having said that three European states are about to open new accounts or activate old accounts for the Iranian Central Bank in spite of US sanctions in what it described as "the first concrete sign that Europe could deliver on its promise" to sustain the Iranian nuclear deal. 7/18/18

Trump Tells Lawmakers U.S. Tough Policy On Iran Is Working - Trump took the occasion of his meeting with the members of Congress to once again reiterate that his tough policy had had an impact on the Islamic Republic. "As most of you know, we ended the Iran deal, which was one of the worst deals anyone could imagine. And that's had a major impact on Iran. And it's substantially weakened Iran. And we hope that, at some point, Iran will call us and we'll maybe make a new deal, or we maybe won't." 7/18/18

Momentum builds for Iran to meet global financial watchdog requirements - Iran's political elite finally appear to have enough momentum to pass key measures to satisfy FATF's demands for greater transparency and compliance with international standards, which will improve the changes of Iran and the European Union to build on their economic relations. -Bijan Khajehpour, Al Monitor 7/18/18

Iranian Artists Exhibition in Los Angeles: Only the morning bird treasures the flower garden - The group exhibition Only the morning bird treasures the flower garden, which takes its title from a poem by 14th century Persian poet Hafiz, includes photographs, videos, and other works by more than twenty Iranian artists on the theme of flowers. Co-curated by artist Mehraneh Atashi and Sohrab Mohebbi, the exhibition was originally conceived by Atashi while working in Tehran in 2009, after she was instructed to photograph flowers, rather than take self portraits that address social matters. 7/18/18

Calls For 'Secure' Universities In Iran, Not 'Securitized' - A recent crackdown on students in Iran has come under criticism by university professors and others who hold President Hassan Rohani responsible for the pressure and are calling on him to take action. More than 100 students were reportedly detained during protests over the economy in late December and early January that evolved into demonstrations against the establishment that included chants targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Some of the detainees reportedly never took part in the protests, which spread to some 80 cities. 7/18/18

Meet the Organization Pushing Regime Change in Iran--and Its Willing American Accomplices - It is customary for pundits to lament how partisanship is destroying U.S. policymaking, but one area remains curiously bipartisan: Democrats and Republicans alike are quick to show their support for an organization publicly dedicated to regime change in Iran. -Christopher A. Preble, National Interest 7/18/18

EU activates law on protecting Iran trade: Mogherini - European countries have activated a blocking statute that prohibits companies from complying with US sanctions on Iran, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini says. "Today, the European Council has endorsed the update of the blocking statute annex on the nuclear deal with Iran," Mogherini told reporters in Brussels at a meeting with EU foreign ministers. 7/17/18

Three years later: Europe's last push on the Iran nuclear deal - This July marks the third anniversary of the JCPOA, but it may also be its last. Europe must now redouble its efforts to save the Iran nuclear deal. -Ellie Geranmayeh, ECFR 7/17/18

After Recent Protests, Iran Officials Highlight Corruption - Iran's judicial spokesman has revealed that certain individuals have been arrested and several companies closed down over the alleged abuse of subsidized dollars and price violations on the cellphone market. "Documents have been found that show a number of serious violations have been made on the cellphone market," mid-ranking cleric Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei said during his weekly press briefing on July 15. 7/17/18

Iran is Imprisoning University Students Accused of Attending Protests - The number of students being prosecuted for allegedly joining Iran's December 2017/January 2018 protests is much higher than earlier estimates according to a well-known reformist lawmaker. "A list has been put together of the students detained in the December 2017 incidents and they number more than 150," said Member of Parliament Parvaneh Salahshouri in an interview with the state-funded Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) on July 10, 2018. 7/16/18

Detained Human Rights Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh Writes Defiant Letter to Tehran Prosecutor - Prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has written a stinging letter to the Tehran prosecutor condemning the sentence issued against one of her clients who was arrested for peacefully protesting Iran's compulsory hijab law. "Tell your judges to issue heavier triple-digit sentences and use foul language if they want, but it won't make a difference because women have decided to rule over their own bodies and men are distancing themselves from your actions, which are an insult to their character," Sotoudeh said in an open letter from Evin Prison addressing Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi. 7/13/18

The Politics Behind The Sabotage Of The Iran Deal In Europe - As the EU scrambles to offer a viable package of economic incentives to convince Iran to stay in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after the US withdrawal, some forces are attempting to undermine this effort and fully align the bloc's policies with the Trump administration's strategy of isolating Iran. -Eldar Mamedov, LobeLog 7/8/18

It's Raining Iranian Men, Hallelujah - The World Cup ended for the Iranian national team last week but not before the rest of the world took note of its physical prowess off the field. Images of the team went viral after a suggestive tweet, followed by a breathless report in a British tabloid. Major media outlets picked up the pictures of the well-groomed men and their tailored suits, and Buzzfeed ran a roll call of the squad's most prepossessing members. -Shervin Malekzadeh 7/6/18

IRAN: 63 University Groups Slam President Rouhani and Reformists For Crackdown on Students - Sixty-three student organizations from universities across Iran have issued a statement sharply criticizing President Hassan Rouhani for a crackdown led by his Intelligence Ministry on students who were arrested during nationwide protests in December 2017 and January 2018. 7/5/18

New US Sanctions Will Make Iranians Sicker - Sanctions against Iran are almost as old as I am. I was born in early 1980, and international sanctions against Iran began during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s as most global and regional powers supported Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in his invasion of the country. My father was injured and exposed to chemical weapons during that war, and as a result suffered from Parkinson's disease later in life. -Fariba Pajooh 5/16/18