Ayatollah Ali Khamenei uses televised speech to condemn ‘psychological war’ waged on country
Iran’s supreme leader, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has blamed recent protests in Iran on foreign “enemies” seeking to overthrow the government in the Islamic republic.
He said enemies were waging a “psychological war” against Iran by accusing it of piracy for seizing two Greek ships after the US confiscated Iranian oil from a tanker.
Continue reading...Booing and shouting prompt crackdown from riot police at site of disaster, where 31 people died
Protesters angry over a building collapse in south-west Iran that killed at least 31 people shouted down an emissary sent by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, prompting a crackdown in which riot police clubbed demonstrators and fired teargas, according to online videos.
The protest directly challenged the Iranian government’s response to the disaster a week ago as pressure rises in the Islamic Republic over rising food prices and other economic woes amid the unravelling of its nuclear deal with world powers.
Continue reading...IRGC forces swoop on ships in what appeared to be a reprisal for Greece’s role in earlier seizure of Iranian oil tanker
Iran has seized two Greek tankers in helicopter-launched attacks in the Gulf amid a dramatic rise in tension and violent incidents in the region.
Forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) descended on the tankers – one of which was named as the Prudent Warrior – in helicopters in what appeared to be a reprisal for the Greek government’s role in assisting the US seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in the Mediterranean in a sanctions-enforcement action earlier in the week.
Continue reading...Parchin facility has previously come under scrutiny from UN nuclear watchdog
One person has been killed in an “industrial accident” near an Iranian military complex that has previously come under scrutiny from the UN nuclear watchdog, according to state media reports.
“An industrial accident took place [on Wednesday evening] in one of the factories in the Parchin area, leading to the death of one person and injuries to another,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency said. It gave no details of the cause of the accident.
Continue reading...Finger of blame pointed at Israel after Hassan Sayad Khodayari shot dead in Tehran
An Iranian colonel shot dead in Tehran by assailants on motorcycles has been buried as officials vowed to avenge an assassination that they continue to lay at the feet of Israel.
The murder of Col Hassan Sayad Khodayari is the highest-profile killing of an Iranian official since the violent death of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November 2020 and appears to fit a pattern of assassinations that began more than a decade ago.
Continue reading...Guards say arrests linked to Israel made after shooting of Hassan Sayad Khodayari outside his home
Iran will avenge the killing of a Revolutionary Guards colonel who was shot dead in Tehran, President Ebrahim Raisi has said.
Col Hassan Sayad Khodayari was killed on Sunday outside his home by assailants on motorcycles. Iran blamed “elements linked to the global arrogance”, its term for the US and its allies including Israel.
Continue reading...Hassan Sayad Khodayari was shot five times in his unarmoured vehicle outside his home
Unidentified gunmen on a motorbike have killed a senior member of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard outside his home in Tehran.
The corps gave only scant detail about the killing, which occurred in broad daylight in the heart of the Iranian capital, but blamed it on “global arrogance” – typically code for the US and Israel.
Continue reading...Soaring prices of wheat and basic goods bring protests to cities across Iran as internet outages suggest attempted clampdown
Protests over soaring food prices continued in several cities in Iran on Saturday, according to postings on social media, while an Iranian lawmaker told local media one person was killed in a demonstration in the south-west.
The protests were triggered last week by a cut in state subsidies for imported wheat that caused price hikes of as much as 300% for a variety of flour-based staples. The government of President Ebrahim Raisi also raised prices of basic goods such as cooking oil and dairy products.
Continue reading...Cécile Kohler and her husband held after holiday, while threat to kill scientist seen as reprisal for Swedish war crimes trial
Iranian authorities have arrested a French teaching union official and her husband and threatened to execute a Swedish-Iranian man who has been held in jail for six years by 21 May, in fresh moves against foreign and dual nationals.
The threat to execute Ahmadreza Djalali, a scientist, is widely seen as a reprisal for Sweden starting the trial in Stockholm of Hamid Nouri, who is accused of war crimes and murder committed during and after the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
Continue reading...Robert O’Brien told top general shortly before 2020 election that Trump wanted to kill unnamed official, according to Esper memoir
Shortly before the 2020 election, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, “stunned” the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff by saying the president wanted to kill a senior Iranian military officer operating outside the Islamic Republic.
“This was a really bad idea with very big consequences,” Mark Esper, Trump’s second and last secretary of defense, writes in his new memoir, adding that Gen Mark Milley suspected O’Brien saw the strike purely in terms of Trump’s political interests.
Continue reading...Debt paid as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh-Ashoori were released is blocked in Oman, Iran says
The historic £400m debt the UK paid to Iran at the time of the release of British-Iranian dual nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori has still not reached Tehran, according to Iranian government sources.
A senior Iranian government source said the money was blocked in Oman and the problem was not with the UK government. One report said only £1m had been transferred to Tehran.
Continue reading...Letter signed by former diplomats says Iran close to developing nuclear weapons capability
Leading former diplomats including seven ex-UK foreign and defence ministers have warned the Iran nuclear talks are heading to “corrosive stalemate devolving into a cycle of increased nuclear tension” and urged Tehran and Washington to show more flexibility.
Year-long talks in Vienna on reviving the deal and for the US, which was pulled out of the agreement by Donald Trump, to lift sanctions on Iran have in effect ground to a halt in a dispute over whether the west will lift the foreign terrorist organisation designation, and sanctions, against the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Continue reading...Three months after Elnaz Hajtamiri was taken, investigators have not determined a motive and have not received ransom demands
On a cold winter night, three armed men disguised as police officers arrived at a suburban home in a small Canadian resort town and knocked on the door, claiming that they had an arrest warrant for a 37-year-old woman who was staying there.
After overpowering the homeowner, they seized the woman, Iranian-born Elnaz Hajtamiri, hauled her barefoot through the snow into a vehicle, and sped off into the dark.
Continue reading...Iraqi militias and others say undercover networks being used to supply materiel such as RPGs and anti-tank missiles
Russia is receiving munitions and military hardware sourced from Iraq for its war effort in Ukraine with the help of Iranian weapons smuggling networks, according to members of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias and regional intelligence services with knowledge of the process.
RPGs and anti-tank missiles, as well as Brazilian-designed rocket launcher systems, have been dispatched to Russia from Iraq as Moscow’s campaign has faltered in the last month, the Guardian has learned.
Continue reading...Director and grand prix winner at last year’s Cannes festival for A Hero was sued by former student for using story from her documentary without credit
Asghar Farhadi, the Oscar winning director of A Separation and The Salesman, has been indicted in a plagiarism case brought by one of his former students, who had claimed he took the idea for his 2021 film A Hero from a documentary she had made for a film class.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Azadeh Masihzadeh brought the case after Farhadi had earlier sued her for defamation; in both cases the courts ruled in Masihzadeh’s favour. The case will now pass to a second judge whose ruling will decide whether or not Farhadi will be convicted. This can then be appealed.
This article was amended on 5 April 2022. It had been originally stated that Asghar Farhadi was convicted of the crime, following widespread misinformation, but has now been changed to reflect that he has been indicted and a trial will decide the outcome.
Continue reading...Agreement comes after significant escalation in bloody conflict between Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels
Yemen’s warring sides have accepted a two-month truce, starting with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to the UN envoy to the country.
Hans Grundberg announced the agreement from Amman, Jordan, after meeting separately with both sides in the country’s brutal civil war. He said he hoped the truce would be renewed after two months.
Continue reading...Tri-national was excluded from deal leading to release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori
Morad Tahbaz, the British-Iranian left behind when two others were released from Iranian detention a fortnight ago, has ended a nine-day hunger strike at the pleading of his family, his daughter has said.
He remains in jail in Tehran contrary to an agreement the British claimed it had struck with the Iranians.
Continue reading...Briton held captive in Iran for six years should not face online trolling, says Boris Johnson’s office
Downing Street has condemned critics of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who accused her of being “ungrateful” after she expressed frustration with the UK government for taking six years to secure her release from an Iranian jail.
Days after touching down in Britain, Zaghari-Ratcliffe faced abuse on social media for saying it should not have taken so long for ministers to ensure she returned home safely.
Continue reading...Former defence secretary says investigation could help determine why it took six years to secure release
The former British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has called for an independent investigation into why it took six years to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, saying she was right to question why her release took so long to secure.
Both Hunt and the former foreign minister Alistair Burt have said they would be willing to give evidence about the issues involved in securing her release. Burt has proposed there should be a foreign affairs select committee inquiry into why the payment of a historic debt was delayed.
Continue reading...Amnesty says Australian-Iranian Shokrollah Jebeli was subjected to ‘more than two years of torture’
An Australian-Iranian man in his eighties jailed over a financial dispute has died in prison in Iran, Amnesty International said, accusing Tehran of subjecting him to torture by denying urgent medical care.
Shokrollah Jebeli,83, who had been incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin prison since January 2020, died on Sunday after being taken from prison to hospital the previous day, Amnesty said.
Continue reading...