By Pooya Stone
From Switzerland, where Dabrina Bet-Tamraz managed to flee with the help of friends, she spoke about the persecution and suffering to which her family is being subjected after being sentenced to lengthy prison terms for “crimes” related to Christianity.
By Mehdi
In an interview with Al Arabiya, the head of Lebanon’s Kataeb opposition party Sami Gemayel indicated that the political situation in Lebanon is changing rapidly. He said that the country is being controlled by Hezbollah with the involvement of Iran and Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
By Pooya Stone
The Iranian Intelligence Minister has publically admitted for the first time that Christianity is spreading throughout Iran.
During a speech to several Shia Muslim clerics, Mahmoud Alavi said that “Christianity is spreading in parts of Iran”, but tried to dismiss the converts because they were ordinary Iranians “whose jobs are selling sandwiches or similar things”.
He then told the clerics to end their infighting if they wanted to stop Iranians from converting to Christianity, noting that several converts had listed that among their reasons for converting.
Iran Focus
London, 06 May – Donald Trump has drastically improved US policy on Iran since he has taken office, but he needs to go faster and harder, according to former US Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission Ken Blackwell.
It took over a year for Trump to withdraw from the nuclear deal, a promise he made on the campaign trail, and even then, sanctions were not fully implemented for six months and some sanctions waivers were allowed to continue until last week.
By Jubin Katiraie
The U.S. analytics and advisory company, Gallup, asked questions of more than 154,000 people in more than 145 countries to track the stress levels and emotions of different nations in 2018.
It’s unsurprising that the Iranian people ranked fifth for stress in 2018 — ahead of Albania, Tanzania, Philippines, and Greece, respectively. Iran is facing a critical economic crisis. High inflation and unemployment, along with the pressure of social restrictions, like a strict dress code, as well as a lack of freedom in general affects their view of their lives.
By Pooya Stone
Iran and Russia are currently vying for power in Syria as the country’s eight-year-long civil war draws to a close and this battle recently became public.
Syrian news site Syria Call wrote that nearly a dozen people, including women and children, were killed and about a dozen more were wounded in clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Iranian militia groups on April 14. The clashes in Aleppo involved heavy weaponry and rockets that hit a civilian neighbourhood and marketplace.
By Mehdi
The Iranian economy is on the brink of collapse because of the Donald Trump administration’s tough sanctions, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Iran is currently in a deep recession, the IMF said, with Iran recording inflation at roughly 40 per cent, the highest it’s been since 1980. However, outside experts put the Iranian inflation rate at a much higher percentage.
Iran Focus
London, 03 May – May 2nd is Teachers’ Day in Iran and to mark the occasion people across the country held protests. Teachers and academics were calling for solidarity and standing up for their rights that they have been so cruelly denied.
Protests took place in front of the offices of the Education Department in more than a dozen provinces. The Teachers’ Coordinating Council of Iran (TCCI) called for the protests and gatherings and encouraged unity among the people. Reports indicate that there were a large number of women that participated in the rallies.
By Jubin Katiraie
The leading Iranian opposition group said Wednesday that the Trump administration should add Iran’s intelligence ministry (MOIS) to its list of foreign terrorist groups in order to hold Iran responsible for its terrorist acts that span the past four decades.
MOIS agents operate closely with the Quds Force, an arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, both of which are already on the US’s terror watch list. The MOIS is “heavily involved with terrorism”, according to Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, most notably working with the Iran-backed Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas in direct operations against Iran’s enemies.
By Pooya Stone
Iranian police have arrested at least 35 people for taking part in a Labor Day demonstration in front of the Iranian Parliament on Wednesday, while violently dispersing the rest of the protesters.
The demonstrators, mainly members of Tehran Bus Drivers’ Union, were beaten, wounded, and dragged on the ground before being arrested.
Eyewitnesses said that the male detainees were taken to the security police headquarters in Gisha, in western Tehran.
