Iran Focus
Tehran, 22 Apr – The Iranian government has launched a new plan to rigorously enforce veiling laws. Some 7,000 morality officers have been dispatched to Tehran with the task of alerting official law enforcement to instances of “mal-veilling” and other perceived “violations” of the law including noise pollution.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Apr – Mohammad Reza Fallahzadeh, a former General in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and former governor general of Yazd Province, was injured in Aleppo, Syria, on 12 April, Iranian state media agency Tabnak news reported.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Apr – Jordan recalled its ambassador in Iran to protest the Iranian government’s interference in Arab countries’ affairs. A report from Petra, the official Jordanian state news agency, on Monday quoted the Jordanian government spokesman and State Minister for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani as saying the diplomat was called back for “consultations”.
In a statement Momani said that after the Iranian government and the P5+1 countries reached a nuclear agreement, Tehran was taking positions antithetical to Jordan’s and not respecting basic principles of good neighbourliness. This was compounding the instability of the region.
Iran Focus
Tehran, 20 Apr – Fruit prices have sharply risen in Iran during the last week. Seyed Hossein Mohajeran, the head of the Fruit and Vegetable Sellers Union told Mehr, a state-run news agency, that rising prices have affected the supply chain of the Iranian marketplace.
Price increases happen weekly, with the price on Sunday for tomatoes going up by 50 percent and reaching 2500-3500 tomans ($0.83-$1.16). The price of bananas has also increased by 30% and oranges by 20%, the National Council of Resistance of Iran reported.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Apr – There were at least 24 people executed in Iran during the last week. Reports from a prison in Birjand, north-east Iran, state that five men and two women were hanged on Thursday 14 April.
Only two of the victims were identified, Mohammad Niazi and Moheb Rahmati, they were accused of drug-related offences, according to the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). On Saturday 16 April three more people were hanged in Rasht prison, northern Iran. Only the initials and ages of the victims were released; E.M., 29, D.A., 51, and F.V., 31, the NCRI said.
Iran Focus
London, 18 Apr – In an interview with pan-Arab daily newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat Maryam Rajavi, who heads the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), took aim at the Iranian government’s regional and domestic strategies of interference.
Rajavi told the paper on Sunday that the Iranian government was resting on three main pillars: nuclear capabilities, absolute oppression inside Iran and exporting terrorism and extremism outside.
Iran Focus
Tehran, 18 Apr – Iran has displayed parts of a new Russian-made missile system during its annual Army Day celebrations. State-run news agency ISNA showed S-300 missile tubes and radar equipment as part of a military parade through southern Tehran.
The S-300 missile system is being purchased by Iran from Russia at a cost of $800m (£545m). The missiles can be used against multiple targets – such as jets or other missiles. The fully mobile units are capable of tracking objects over a range of 185 miles. Sophisticated radar and relays allow the S-300 system to guide up to 12 missiles simultaneously and engage six different targets at once. Five of these systems have reportedly been sent to the Iranian government.
Iran Focus
London, 17 Apr – Three women were executed last week in Iran, all on the same day, just as European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was about to lead a trade delegation to Tehran.
According to reports received from Iran, a woman was sent to the gallows in Kashmar, north-eastern Iran, on Thursday, 14 April.
Ameneh Rezaiyan, 43, from Taybad in eastern Iran, was sentenced to death two years ago.
Iran Focus
London, 16 Apr – Former Governor of Pennsylvania and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, published an op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer about the global struggle with Islamic extremism and called for an international alliance of moderates.
“Only if we recognize that moderates in both the West and the Muslim world are suffering at the hands of the same radical ideologies – and come together as one force – can we strike a crucial blow against the Islamic State and its ilk. And ordinary people contribute to this mission every time they refuse to discriminate and instead offer sympathy and openness”, Tom Ridge wrote.
Iran Focus
London, 16 Apr – The oppression of women in Iran has increased in recent weeks as the country’s Gasht-e-Ershad (meaning Guidance Patrol, but commonly known as the “morality police”) steps up its operations. Tasked with enforcing the strict laws governing women in Iran, the police have set up more “morality stations” throughout the country.Elaheh Arj, the vice chair of the Women’s Committee of the main Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) told the International
