Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 23 – The commander of Iran’s “Lovers of Martyrdom Garrison” – who is a general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – vowed that his suicide volunteers will destroy United States’ interests all over the world in retaliation to any attempt by the U.S. to hit Iran’s nuclear installations.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 23 – Several hundred members of Iran’s para-military Bassij forces in universities demonstrated outside the embassies of the three main European powers in Tehran on Tuesday afternoon as the Islamic Republic continues its campaign to force the Europeans to retreat from their position on Iran’s nuclear activities.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 23 – Iran’s new hard-line secretary general of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and chief nuclear negotiator said on Tuesday that the United States’ strategy vis-à-vis Tehran’s suspected nuclear weapons program was not to wage a war, but to force the Islamic Republic to “commit suicide”.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 23 – There has been an
outbreak of cholera in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, a committee in defence of political prisoners said on Tuesday. Numerous cases of the deadly virus, which has recently killed at least 10 people in Iran, have been reported in wards seven, eight, and nine of the prison, according to the Student Committee in Defence of Political Prisoners.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 23 – The closure of the Arts University in Isfahan, central Iran, has angered arts students and lecturers. An official decree gave the university staff three months to clear out of the campus so that the buildings could be used by Bonyad Mostazafin (Foundation of the Deprived). Bonyad Mostazafin was formed in 1979 to take control of the huge assets of the abolished royal household, as well as much of the assets and funds confiscated from businessmen associated with the former regime.