Germany takes in 50 Iranian dissidents

Germany is opening its borders to 50 Iranian dissidents - mostly journalists critical of Tehran. The refugees first fled to Turkey in the fallout of last year's presidential election. Germany has granted asylum to 50 Iranian dissidents who fled their country in the wake of post-election protests last year. A spokesman from the German Interior ... Read More

The "unravelling relationship" between Russia and Iran

Russia and Iran seemed to be good friends, but in recent weeks the relationship has unravelled. Since 1991, Russia has been a major supplier of modern arms to Iran. The Russian-built nuclear power plant in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr is due to finally come on line this year. In advance, Russia has shipped more than 100 tonnes of ... Read More

Protests held worldwide against execution of Iranian woman

Hundreds of protesters rallied worldwide Saturday against the imprisonment and possible execution of an Iranian woman convicted of adultery. Sakineh Mohammedie Ashtiani was originally sentenced to death by stoning, but it was put on hold earlier this month after an international outcry. In London, protesters held posters with Ashtiani's likeness ... Read More

The Coming End Of Islamic Fascism In Iran

Crucial signs that freedom is not only possible but imminent. Reza Kahlili - The Iranian Revolution of 1979 began with Ayatollah Khomeini promising Iranians full freedom and a government by the people and for the people. In his speeches leading up to the Revolution, the Ayatollah proclaimed that, "A nation that doesn't have freedom does not have ... Read More

Khamenei's Fatwa About Himself: You Must Obey Me

By Nazanin Kamdar, The Islamic Republic supreme leader's office issued one of the most important orders issued by the country's second leader. In sum, the order states that everyone must obey Mr. Khamenei. The order to obey Mr. Khamenei is issued by himself while in recent days political activists have sent multiple letters to ayatollah Khamenei ... Read More

EU plans 'toughest ever' sanctions against Iran

Legally binding measures to be agreed on Monday will go far beyond existing United Nations measures against Iran's nuclear programme. Officials said the impact of the measure would be to starve key companies and banks of access to the European market. Significant levels of trade with Germany and Italian would be cut off. The measures reinforces a ... Read More

Iran to put man in space by 2019: Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that Iran would send its first manned shuttle into space by 2019, Iran's English-language Press TV reported. "In response to the enemy's resolutions, it was decided that the project be pushed forward by five years," Ahmadinejad said, referring to Iran's shuttle program. Western powers fear Iran ... Read More

Countdown to Zero: Is it Possible?

Watch the film. Watch it again. - Academy Award winning producer Lawrence Bender and director Lucy Walker's documentary Countdown to Zero is an extraordinarily powerful and disturbing film that lays out the case for global nuclear disarmament. I had the privilege of interviewing Lawrence Bender on this issue. This movie is like a wake up call and ... Read More

Regime Relocating Government Employees Away From Tehran

The Iranian cabinet has passed legislation forbidding the creation of new government posts in Tehran and instructing other employees to relocate, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. The law, passed on July 21, requires government departments to transfer some of their employees to locations outside Tehran by the end of August. Officials say the law is ... Read More

Is Obama Set on an Iran Strike?

One of Israel's leading political "insiders" is insisting that there has been a dramatic transformation of President Barack Obama's strategy in the Middle East. Israel is now back "In" as the White House occupant who had called for engagement with Iran not so long ago, is now placing the threat of a nuclear Iran on the top of his diplomatic agenda ... Read More

Labor Activist Released From Prison

A spokesman for Tehran's municipal bus-service union has been released from prison on bail, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. Said Torabian, who had been held at Rajaee Shahr prison in Karaj, west of Tehran, was released on July 20. He was detained by authorities on June 9. His release comes days after the Tehran bus drivers' union issued a statement ... Read More

Trial Focuses on Iran Ties of Kennedy Plot Suspect

He insists he was just in it for the mosque money. An accused wanna-be terrorist testified Tuesday he wasn't really interested in blowing up Kennedy Airport after all. He said he was just going along with the other thugs because he hoped they would help him raise money to build a mosque in Guyana. Abdul Kadir, a former member of Guyana's ... Read More

EU Mulling New Sanctions on Iran

The European Union is set to adopt tighter sanctions on Iran targeting investment in the country’s oil and gas industries. Excerpts from a draft declaration was reportedly circulating before EU foreign ministers said that the trade block would impose “comprehensive and robust” sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The measures will follow ... Read More

Rights Groups Say Iranian "Political Prisoners" Denied Treatment

A spokesman for the Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says "political prisoners" in Iran have been routinely denied medical treatment, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. Reza Moeni, the head of RSF's Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan desk, told Radio Farda on July 18 that "detention centers [in Iran] are not being supervised, hence ... Read More

While brothers Kamiar and Arash Alaei are jailed, Iran Faces Rise In HIV/AIDS Cases

Iranian Health Minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi says the spread of HIV/AIDS is increasingly being spread in Iran through sexual contact, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. Dastjerdi said on July 18 that HIV/AIDS in Iran used to be transmitted primarily through contaminated blood transfusions and the use of dirty needles by drug addicts.

Shahla ... Read More

Iran intends to build walls along parts of its borders with Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan

Iraqi officials say Tehran has not informed Baghdad about Iran's reported intention to build a security wall along its borders with Iraqi Kurdistan, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI) reports.

Saad Muttalibi, a political adviser to Iraqi officials and leading member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition, told RFI on July 20 ... Read More

As government uses earthquake fears to move residents out of Tehran, temblor injures 19

Dozens of employees of Iran's state-run Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts Industries and Tourism Organization gathered outside parliament this week to protest their forced transfer from Tehran to cities such as Esfahan and Shiraz as part of an effort to disperse government offices in the seismically active nation. The controversy came as a fairly ... Read More

Regime studio plans movie on 'abducted' scientist AFP

A government-linked Iranian studio said on Wednesday it plans to make a television movie about Shahram Amiri, the Tehran scientist who claims he was abducted by US spies last year. Amirhossein Ashtiyanipour, a director at Sima Film, said a "young group of movie school graduates" had been hired to write the script for the movie but gave no further ... Read More

Eight Other Pending Executions in Iran

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has been imprisoned in Tabriz Prison in northwestern Iran since 2005, having suffered 99 lashes and been condemned to die by public stoning for her alleged adultery. Until last month, those facts were known only to a small handful of people working quietly through the Iranian legal system to secure her release. Now, with ... Read More

Conservatives Unite In Bid To Undermine Ahmadinejad

By Robert Tait - Conservative opponents of Iran's president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, have launched a rearguard action aimed at weakening him and preventing one of his hard-line followers from succeeding him in the next presidential election. The offensive, analysts say, has been undertaken by a united front of leading "principlist" figures including ... Read More