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☆ Iran votes for its new president amid economic strife, crackdowns and regional war
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-28 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Iranians will go to the polls against the backdrop of a battered economy, widespread popular discontent and harsh crackdowns on dissent. Iran is also dealing with high inflation, heavy Western sanctions, mounting tensions with the U.S., ramped-up Iranian nuclear enrichment and the Israel-Hamas war. On issues of foreign policy and war, the Iranian president wields some influence and is the country's public-facing messenger. But power and critical decision-making in Iran ultimately lies with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and unelected institutions like the Revolutionary Guards. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks with media after casting his ballot during the Iranian Parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections at the Leadership office in Tehran, Iran, on March 1, 2024.

Persons: ATTA KENARE, Ebrahim Raisi, —, Iran's, Ali Vaez, Rafat, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Saeed Jalili, Masoud Pezeshkian, Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Alireza Zakani, Qalibaf, Jalili, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Masoud, Pezeshkian, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Pourmohammadi, Ayatollah Khamenei, Morteza Nikoubazl Organizations: Western, U.S, Guardian Council, Council, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Supreme National Security Council, Islamic Consultative Assembly, Revolutionary, Iran's Ministry of Intelligence, House, Revolutionary Guards, Iran's, Iranian Parliamentary Locations: Tehran, AFP Iran, Iran, Israel, Iranian, Iran's, Washington

☆ DOJ charged an Iranian operative with hiring Hells Angels bikers for assassinations in the US
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewAn Iranian drug trafficker with ties to its spy agency has been charged by the US Department of Justice with hiring members of the Hells Angels biker group to carry out an assassination on American soil. AdvertisementThe DOJ's indictment alleges that Zindashti hired the Hells Angels bikers to conduct the assassination in January 2021. All three defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire. Advertisement"Zindashti's network has carried out numerous acts of transnational repression including assassinations and kidnappings across multiple jurisdictions in an attempt to silence the Iranian regime's perceived critics.

Persons: —, Naji Sharifi, Damion Patrick John Ryan, Adam Richard Pearson, Zindashti, Andrew Luger, Pearson, Ryan Organizations: Service, US Department of Justice, Hells Angels, Business, DOJ, District of, US Department of, Foreign Assets, United, Iran's Ministry of Intelligence, Security Locations: Maryland, Iran, Minnesota, District of Minnesota, United Kingdom, United States

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Iranian man who federal prosecutors say operates a criminal network that targets dissidents and activists abroad has been charged alongside a pair of Canadians with plotting to kill two people, including a defector from Iran, who had fled to the United States. In this case, prosecutors say, Naji Sharifi Zindashti conspired with two Canadian men between December 2020 and March 2021 to kill two Maryland residents. The intended victims of the murder-for-hire plot were not identified in an indictment, but prosecutors described them as having fled to the United States after one of them had defected from Iran. The plot was ultimately disrupted, the Justice Department said. Prosecutors say Ryan and Pearson are currently imprisoned in Canada on unrelated charges.

Persons: Sharifi Zindashti, Matthew Olsen, John Bolton, Trump, Biden, He's, Damion Patrick John Ryan, Adam Richard Pearson, Ryan, Pearson, “ Organizations: WASHINGTON, Justice Department, Department, Justice, Department's, U.S, Associated Press, Iran's Ministry of Intelligence, Security, Treasury Department, Monday Locations: Iran, United States, China, Maryland, Iranian American, Jordan, American, U.S, Canada, Minnesota

☆ Why ISIS has unleashed its suicide bombers against Iran
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-14 | by ( Rebecca Rommen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

By the day's end of the day, scores of supporters of the rulers of Iran were dead, and hundreds were injured in a twin suicide bombing. AdvertisementHe was considered a hero, she said, by many in Iran for driving ISIS out of Iraq and helping to defeat them in Syria. Stringer/Anadolu via Getty ImagesIt was the latest in a string of attacks by the ISIS affiliate that has been targeting Iran for five years. The Iranian intelligence ministry sought to blame its old enemy Israel for the atrocity and said one of the bombers had Israeli citizenship, the Times of Israel reported. AdvertisementThey will continue to attempt attacks against Iran "no matter what," Washington Institute for Near East Policy expert, Aaron Zelin, told the VoA.

Persons: Qassem, —, Qassem Soleimani, Kerman, Barbara Slavin, Soleimani, Stringer, Khomeini's, Abdollah Tajiki, Slavin, It's, it's, White, John Kirby, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Saudi King Salman, Prophet Mohammed, Salvin, Donald Trump, Aaron Zelin Organizations: Sunni, Service, Revolutionary, Reuters, The Stimson Center, Iran Initiative, Asia Center, ISIS, Anadolu, Getty, Iranian, Ministry of Intelligence, Revolutionary Guard, Saudi, US, UK, Red, Quds Force, The Stimson, Washington Institute for Near East, VoA Locations: Kerman, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Asia, Kerman City, Tehran, Tajik, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Hormuz, Soleimani, Iranian, Fars, Republic, Yemen, Iran's, United States, al Qaeda, American

☆ Opinion | We Still Have Time to Stop the Worst
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Omer Bartov | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +9 min

But are Israel’s actions — as the nation’s opponents argue — verging on ethnic cleansing or, most explosively, genocide? That means two important things: First, we need to define what it is that we are seeing, and second, we have the chance to stop the situation before it gets worse. That’s well over five times as many people as the more than 1,400 people in Israel murdered by Hamas. War crimes are defined in the 1949 Geneva Conventions and subsequent protocols as serious violations of the laws and customs of war in international armed conflict against both combatants and civilians. There is still time to stop Israel from letting its actions become a genocide.

Persons: —, ”, Benjamin Netanyahu, Gazans, “, Amalek, Yoav Gallant, Ghassan Alian, Giora Eiland, Amichai Friedman, Netanyahu Organizations: Gaza Health Ministry, Criminal, United Nations, Israel Defense Forces, ”, Israeli Ministry of Intelligence, Nahal Brigade, West Bank, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington , D.C Locations: Gaza, Israel, Geneva, Rome, The State, Sinai, Lebanon, ”, Washington ,, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem

Loved ones, some holding small American flags, enveloped them in hugs and exchanged greetings in English and Farsi, the main language of Iran. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said two of the Iranian prisoners will stay in the U.S. Meanwhile, Nour News, a website believed to be close to Iran’s security apparatus, said two of the Iranian prisoners were in Doha for the swap. In his statement, Biden demanded more information on what happened to Bob Levinson, an American who went missing years ago. The Biden administration also announced fresh sanctions on former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence.

Persons: Joe Biden, Siamak Namazi, ”, Babak, Baquer, “, Biden, Iran’s, Ebrahim Raisi, ” Raisi, — Siamak, Emad, Tahbaz —, Timmy Davis, Namazi, Effie Namazi, Vida Tahbaz, Nasser Kanaani, Nour, Mehrdad Ansari, Reza Sarhangpour Kafrani, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, ” Biden, Bob Levinson, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Neda, ___ Gambrell, Jo, Nasser Karimi, Amir Vahdat, Matthew Lee, Paul Haven, Aamer Madhani, Michelle Phillips, Eric Tucker, Farnoush Amiri Organizations: WASHINGTON, Republican, Democratic, United Nations General Assembly, U.S, South, Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nour News, Mideast, Social, Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, Embassy, Associated Press Locations: Iran, Fort Belvoir , Virginia, Tehran, Doha, Qatar, New York, America, Persian, U.S, Strait, Hormuz, United States, South Korea, Iranian, Korea, Islamic Republic, American, British, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Washington

NEW YORK, Sept 18 (Reuters) - A detainee swap that secured the release of five Americans held in Iran on Monday does not change Washington's adversarial relationship with Tehran, although the door remains open for diplomacy over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, a senior administration official said. Even so, they said the door for diplomacy over Iran's nuclear program was not entirely shut. It was unclear if the official meant to deny any indirect talks, or if he was deliberately leaving the door open for them. After taking office in January 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden tried to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under which Iran had restricted its nuclear program in return for relief from U.S., European Union and U.N. sanctions. However, earlier this year Washington and Tehran began exploring what analysts describe as "understandings" - which Washington has never acknowledged - to lower tensions over nuclear and other issues.

Persons: Washington, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Humeyra Pamuk, Stephen Coates Organizations: Biden, The U.S, United Nations General Assembly, Union, U.S, Republican, Iran, Thomson Locations: Iran, Tehran, United States, Qatar, The, Yemen, New York, U.S, Washington, South Korea, Doha

☆ Opinion | The More They Lock Us Up, the Stronger We Become
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Narges Mohammadi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

My fellow inmates and I were gathered in the women’s ward of Evin prison in Tehran one evening when we saw a television report of Mahsa Amini’s death. In the women’s ward, we were filled with grief — and rage. Other women’s wards also filled up. Other women have been sent to high-security wards, including Evin’s Section 209, run by the Ministry of Intelligence. A detainee who was transferred to Evin from Adelabad prison in Shiraz told us of hundreds of new female detainees in Adelabad.

Persons: Mahsa, —, we’d, Anger, Islamic Republic ”, Amini’s Organizations: Islamic, Ministry of Intelligence Locations: women’s, Tehran, Evin, Islamic Republic, Shiraz, Adelabad

☆ Iran executes four men convicted of cooperating with Israel - state media
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Iran on Sunday executed four men convicted of cooperating with Israel's spy agency Mossad, Iranian state media reported. The Islamic Republic has long accused arch-enemy Israel of carrying out covert operations on its soil. Tehran has recently accused Israeli and Western intelligence services of plotting a civil war in Iran, which is now gripped by some of the biggest anti-government protests since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranian state media reported on Wednesday that the country's Supreme Court had upheld the death sentence handed out to the four men "for the crime of cooperating with the intelligence services of the Zionist regime and for kidnapping". Tasnim news agency reported that the detainees had been arrested in June - before the current unrest sweeping the country - following cooperation between the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards.

Iran’s national men’s soccer team refused to sing the country’s national anthem at the World Cup in Qatar on Monday, in an apparent act of defiance against their government, which has become the target of growing and incendiary protests. The Iranian team has enthusiastically sung the anthem in previous tournaments, including the World Cup in 2018 and the Asian Cup in 2020. Head coach Yahya Golmohammadi of Persepolis FC League during a match between Persepolis FC and Mes Rafsanjan in Tehran, Iran, on Feb. 28. The news came as the continuing protest movement and the security forces’ attempts to quash dissent led to further unrest over the weekend and into Monday. “We expect the security forces to protect people’s lives and property,” he said in a statement.

☆ Iran soccer team silent during national anthem at its first World Cup game
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Patrick Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Iran's national men's soccer team refused to sing the country's national anthem at the World Cup in Qatar on Monday, in an apparent act of defiance against their government, which has become the target of growing and incendiary protests. The Iranian team has enthusiastically sung the anthem in previous tournaments, including the World Cup in 2018 and the Asian Cup in 2020. Nour News, an outlet owned by the Iran's National Security Council, posted infrared footage which it said was from a Ministry of Intelligence drone observing what it called "armed terrorists." "We expect the security forces to protect people's lives and property," he said in a statement. He said he wrote to the Supreme National Security Council asking security forces stationed in the city to "treat the people with dignity and kindness so that the city calms down."

☆ Gulf Arab states can’t give up oil. But they can slash their emissions
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

Abu Dhabi CNN —As Western states try to wean themselves off their addiction to hydrocarbons, Gulf oil nations have been pushing back hard, warning that a hasty transition away from fossil fuels will be counterproductive. According to the World Bank, Qatar had the highest carbon emissions per capita as of 2019, followed by Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. So, investment in clean energy projects and renewables “makes very good business sense and PR sense for the Gulf,” he said. Gulf petro-states are warning against a quick transition away from hydrocarbons, with the UAE calling for a “mixed energy” approach that minimizes emissions without cutting hydrocarbons. Much of the hydrocarbons exported by Gulf states go to some of the world’s biggest consumers and polluters, including China and India.

☆ U.S. issues fresh sanctions against Iranian officials for 'brutal' crackdown on peaceful protestors following Mahsa Amini's death continue
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The U.S. Treasury announced a fresh round of sanctions Wednesday against Iranian officials for brutal violence against peaceful demonstrators as protests following the death of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini continue. The new sanctions come 40 days after the 22-year-old Amini's death in the custody of Iran's morality police. Iranian officials have continued their crackdown on protesters while limiting access to internet services. "The United States is imposing new sanctions on Iranian officials overseeing organizations involved in violent crackdowns and killings, including of children, as part of our commitment to hold all levels of the Iranian government accountable for its repression." Treasury designated 10 Iranian officials, two Iranian intelligence actors and two Iranian entities involved in the Iranian government's efforts to interfere with internet access:Mohammad Kazemi: Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Intelligence Organization.

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