Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 22 – An Iranian student activist was sentenced to one year in prison for organising anti-government demonstrations, the head of a student organisation said on Monday. Amir-Hossein Balali, a former student activist in Amir-Kabir University of Technology, had also been accused of inciting public anger against the state during the years 1998-2001, Yashar Qajar said.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 22 – Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator told reporters on Monday that Tehran would give Europe a chance to give its agreement before the country takes another crucial step towards achieving the full nuclear cycle.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 22 – Less than a year after he was appointed the commander of State Security Forces in Iran’s southern province of Kerman, Brigadier General Valiollah Nanvakenari was fired for failing to bring calm to the restive region, local newspapers reported on Monday.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 22 – The military commander of Iranshahr region in south-eastern Iran was killed on Saturday during a counter-insurgency operation in Sistan and Balouchistan Province, a security official said on Monday. Eleven other agents of the para-military police force were injured in a shootout between security forces and local rebels, Revolutionary Guards Colonel Mohammad Arab said. He described the rebels as “armed insurgents”.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 22 – Iran’s State Security Forces have stepped up arrests of Kurds who took part in large-scale anti-government demonstrations over the past six weeks in the town of Baneh, northwestern Iran, according to local residents.