Category Archives: Iran

Iran supreme leader calls suspected schoolgirl poisonings ‘unforgivable’

Posted on by

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says culprits should be severely punished, amid signs hundreds of girls have been treated in hospital

Iran’s supreme leader has called the suspected poisoning of Iranian schoolgirls in recent months an “unforgivable” crime amid signs that hundreds of schoolgirls have been treated in hospital, many more than the regime had previously admitted.

“Authorities should seriously pursue the issue of students’ poisoning. This is an unforgivable and big crime … The perpetrators of this crime should be severely punished,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. He added there would be no amnesty for those found guilty.

Continue reading...

What do we know about suspected poisonings of schoolgirls in Iran?

Posted on by

More than 1,000 girls appear to have suffered ‘mild poison’ attacks since November

  • This piece is extracted from our First Edition newsletter. To sign up, click here

More than 1,000 Iranian girls in schools across the country appear to have suffered “mild poison” attacks since November, when the first cases emerged in the city of Qom, according to state media and officials.

The suspected attacks have been described by some observers as part of an extremist response – perhaps with tacit state endorsement – to the protests led by women and girls that have convulsed Iran since the death of Mahsa Amini in September.

Continue reading...

Dozens more Iranian schoolgirls taken to hospital after suspected poisonings

Posted on by

Students from across five provinces receive treatment as president asks ministers to investigate latest cases

Dozens of Iranian schoolgirls across five provinces have been admitted to hospital in a new wave of suspected poisoning attacks, according to local media.

Hundreds of cases of respiratory distress have been reported over the past three months among schoolgirls mainly in the city of Qom, south of Tehran, with some needing hospital treatment.

Continue reading...

IAEA chief holds ‘constructive’ talks in Iran after uranium enrichment findings

Posted on by

Rafael Grossi to meet president to ‘relaunch dialogue’ on nuclear programme, says source, following discovery of 83.7% enrichment

The UN nuclear watchdog chief has said he has had “constructive” meetings with Iranian officials in Tehran after the discovery of uranium particles enriched to near weapons-grade level.

The two-day visit by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, comes as the Vienna-based organisation seeks greater cooperation with Iran over its nuclear activities.

Continue reading...

British health worker shot multiple times in Iran protests, injuries show

Posted on by

Exclusive: British-Iranian man says he was attacked after protesting against an assault on a teenage girl by security services

This story contains graphic images

A British-Iranian health worker who joined anti-regime street protests in Tehran still has five shotgun pellets lodged in his body after being fired at repeatedly by Iranian security forces at point-blank range.

It is thought the security officers were using shotguns to fire buckshot cartridges containing multiple pellets that then spread through the victim’s body.

Continue reading...

Dozens of schoolgirls in Iran taken to hospital after poisoning

Posted on by

Suspected attack on students in city east of Tehran is latest in spate of incidents over past three months

Dozens of schoolgirls in Iran were admitted to hospital on Tuesday after a mysterious poisoning, an Iranian news agency has reported, in the latest in a spate of suspected attacks.

Hundreds of cases of respiratory distress have been reported in the past three months among Iranian schoolgirls, mainly in the city of Qom, south of Tehran, with some needing hospital treatment.

Continue reading...

Last of Iran’s endangered Asiatic cheetah cubs in captivity dies

Posted on by

Authorities announce death of cub named Pirouz from kidney failure at veterinary hospital in Tehran

The last survivor of three critically endangered Asiatic cheetah cubs born in captivity in Iran has died in hospital from kidney failure.

Pirouz, who was admitted to the Central veterinary hospital due to kidney failure last Thursday, died after undergoing dialysis, the official IRNA news agency said.

Continue reading...

Iranian officials to investigate ‘revenge’ poisoning of schoolgirls

Posted on by

The attacks on female students – called an act of ‘biological terrorism’ – are thought to be retaliation for protests against hijabs in the country

Iranian authorities have confirmed they are investigating reports that several schoolgirls have been poisoned as “revenge” for the role young women played in recent protests against the mandatory hijab.

Iran’s deputy education minister, Younes Panahi, told reporters yesterday: “After the poisoning of several students in [the city of] Qom … it was found that some people wanted all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed.”

Continue reading...

Iran protests are at do-or-die moment, says son of former shah

Posted on by

Reza Pahlavi, whose father was deposed in 1979, urges west to give active support and proscribe Revolutionary Guards

The Iranian revolution is at a do-or-die moment, requiring western governments to give their full, active support or risk seeing the movement’s impact wane, Reza Pahlavi, the oldest son of the former Shah of Iran who was deposed in 1979, has said in a Guardian interview.

Pahlavi said there were signs that if the west imposed maximum pressure, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and some reformist politicians would desert the regime.

Continue reading...

Iran protests flare in several cities amid continuing unrest

Posted on by

Online videos from Tehran and other centres appear to show demonstrations including anti-government chants as execution of protesters commemorated

Protesters in Iran have marched through the streets of multiple cities in the most widespread demonstrations in weeks, online videos purported to show on Friday.

The demonstrations overnight on Thursday marked 40 days since Iran executed two men on charges related to protests that began last year and went on to grip the Islamic Republic for month.

Continue reading...

Iran becoming global drone producer on back of Ukraine war, says US

Posted on by

Officials share declassified intelligence as US seeks wider support for sanctions against Tehran

Iran is emerging as a global leader in the production of cheap and lethal drones, according to US officials, who say Tehran is using the war in Ukraine as a shop window for its technologies.

Analysts at the Defense Intelligence Agency outlined how Iran had turned from being a regional drone player in the Middle East to becoming Moscow’s most significant military backer in the war.

Continue reading...

Australia foils Iran surveillance plot and vows to bring foreign interference ‘into the light’

Posted on by

Home affairs minister reveals incident included monitoring an individual’s home and extensively researching their family

Australian security agencies have disrupted a foreign interference plot by Iran that was targeting an Iranian-Australian on Australian soil, the government has said.

The plot allegedly included individuals monitoring the home of a critic of the Iranian regime and extensively researching the person and their family.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof released from prison

Posted on by

The award-winning film-maker, who was arrested last July, has apparently been formally released from prison, though there is no official comment

Iran has released award-winning film-maker Mohammad Rasoulof more than six months after arresting him for criticising the government, a pro-reform newspaper reported on Monday.

Rasoulof, whose 2020 film There Is No Evil won the top prize at the Berlin international film festival, is one of several prominent artists, athletes and other celebrities detained in recent months.

Continue reading...

Iran marks 44 years since revolution amid protests

Posted on by

Anti-government hackers interrupted televised speech by president Ebrahim Raisi, who appealed to the ‘deceived youth’ to repent

Iran marked the 44th anniversary its revolution on Saturday with state-organised rallies, as anti-government hackers briefly interrupted a televised speech by the president, Ebrahim Raisi.

Raisi, whose hardline government faces one of the boldest challenges from young protesters, appealed to the “deceived youth” to repent so they can be pardoned by Iran’s supreme leader.

Continue reading...

French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah released from Iran prison

Posted on by

In 2020 Iranian authorities sentenced Adelkhah to five years in jail on national security charges, which she denied

Iranian-French academic Fariba Adelkhah was released from Iran’s Evin prison, France said, but it was unclear what the conditions of her release were.

Adelkhah has been in prison since Iranian authorities arrested her in 2019 during a visit. She is one of seven French nationals detained in Iran, a factor that has worsened relations between Paris and Tehran in recent months.

Continue reading...

Russian cruise missiles crossed into Moldova and Romania, says Ukraine

Posted on by

Apparent violation of countries’ airspace comes as Kremlin launches major missile and drone attack

Two Russian cruise missiles have entered the airspace of Moldova and Romania, Ukraine has said, in the latest attack by Moscow on targets across the country.

Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said the Kalibr rockets crossed into Moldova at 10.18am local time on Friday. They then flew into Romania at 10.33am at the intersection of the state border, before recrossing into western Ukraine, he said.

Continue reading...

Iranian prosecutors concealed rape by Revolutionary Guards, document shows

Posted on by

Internal report on rape of two women arrested during protests suppressed for fear of ‘misrepresentation by enemy groups’

Members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards raped two women in an attack covered up by state prosecutors, according to an internal judicial document seen by the Guardian.

The document, originally leaked to Iran International by hacktivist group Edalat-e Ali (Ali’s Justice), reveals the case of sexual assault by two IRGC officers of a woman aged 18 and a woman of 23 in a van during protests against the death in September of Mahsa Amini in police custody in Tehran.

Continue reading...

Iran’s supreme leader to pardon some detained anti-government protesters

Posted on by

Amnesty does not apply to dual nationals, prisoners on death sentence or those that do not regret their crimes, say officials

A limited amnesty is to be offered to many of those detained in the recent Iranian protests, the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has agreed.

But the amnesty does not apply to dual nationals, those convicted of offences carrying the death penalty or those that refuse to admit and regret their crimes, the Iranian officials said.

Continue reading...

Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi released on bail after hunger strike

Posted on by

Award-winning director, who was arrested in July, is released from Evin prison in Tehran

The acclaimed Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi has been released on bail after starting a hunger strike to protest against his almost seven-month detention, a rights group and supporters said on Friday.

Panahi has been released from Evin prison in Tehran “two days after starting his hunger strike for freedom”, the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said on Twitter. Iran’s Shargh newspaper posted an image of Panahi jubilantly embracing a supporter.

Continue reading...

Film-maker Jafar Panahi begins hunger strike in Iranian prison

Posted on by

Panahi says he will not eat until he is released, after lawyer successfully challenged his detention

One of Iran’s most illustrious film-makers, Jafar Panahi, is on hunger strike in protest at his continued detention in Tehran’s Evin prison, his wife has said.

The Cannes film festival award-winner and director of The White Balloon, The Circle and No Bears took the step after plans for his release were dashed, even though his lawyer had successfully challenged his detention.

Continue reading...