A rare glimpse into the lives of a young couple in lockdown in Iran. Filmed over several weeks in quarantine, Sara and Mohammad Reza attempt to process the devastating loss of a family member to Covid-19. The news of coronavirus spreading in Tehran is the backdrop to their lives indoors, they see the outside world from their window, neighbours setting off fireworks and street musicians playing for spare change. As they approach Persian new year, usually a time of family reunion, the couple find hope and happiness in the traditional rituals that mark the spring equinox.
Category Archives: Iran
Global report: Fauci warns of ‘needless death’ as WHO urges vigilance in lifting lockdowns
Health body says coronavirus restrictions must be eased carefully; Iran to reopens mosques; China reports one new case
The World Health Organization has called on countries to show “extreme vigilance” when loosening Covid-19 restrictions as the top US infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, warned that prematurely reopening the American economy would cause “needless suffering and death”.
The WHO’s emergencies chief, Michael Ryan, has hailed the gradual lifting of coronavirus lockdowns in some countries whose death and infection rates were dropping, as a sign of “hope”, but he cautioned that “extreme vigilance is required”.
Continue reading...Release of Iranian scientist in doubt as US official ‘calls BS’
Homeland security questions whether Tehran wants return of Sirous Asgari
A potential deal to release a renowned Iranian scientist from a US jail and return him to Iran appears to be in danger of breaking down after a senior US official questioned whether Tehran really wanted him returned.
Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, claimed on Monday that Sirous Asgari had been freed by US authorities and would be able to return to Iran immediately if he tested negative for coronavirus.
Continue reading...Iran says 19 dead in Gulf of Oman friendly-fire incident
The Konarak was helping set targets for warships when it was struck, according to state TV
An Iranian missile fired during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman struck a support vessel near its target, killing at least 19, amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the US.
The friendly fire incident happened on Sunday near the port of Jask, 790 mile south-east of Tehran, in the Gulf of Oman. Iran’s army said 19 people died and 15 were injured.
Continue reading...Can Iraq’s new PM, and the region, escape Suleimani’s long shadow?
Rise of spy chief to premier comes as Iran struggles to maintain momentum months after killing of powerful general
In late February, six weeks after the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani was killed by a US drone, a candidate for Iraq’s vacant premiership was nervously preparing for an interview that would secure him the role.
Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s rise from intelligence chief to the seat of national power had been unorthodox, as was the journey he had just made – from Baghdad, where high-stakes appointments like his had mostly been made over the past decade.
Continue reading...Iraq appoints new prime minister after months of protests and jockeying
Intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi is regarded as being acceptable to both US and Iran
Iraqi lawmakers have approved a new prime minister and government after six months without one as parties squabbled until the last minute over cabinet seats in backroom deals.
The new prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Iraq’s intelligence chief and a former journalist, will head the new government. He will begin his term without a full cabinet, however, after several ministerial candidates were rejected.
Continue reading...Iran’s state broadcaster meddled in Scottish referendum, says Facebook
Fake social media accounts also used to support Ron Paul’s presidential bid and the Occupy movement
Iran’s state broadcaster experimented with using fake social media accounts to influence the outcome of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and other western elections, according to a report from Facebook released on Tuesday.
The Iranian network, one of eight to be suspended for so-called “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” by the social media giant in April, points to efforts by state-linked groups to try to use Facebook to influence foreign democratic contests years before Russia’s alleged campaign against the 2016 US presidential contest.
Continue reading...The US and Iran are still perilously close to conflict | Ali Vaez
Even amid the coronavirus crisis, the countries are trading threats. A de-escalation hotline is desperately needed
A dangerous encounter between the Iranian and US navies in the Persian Gulf last month, provoked by 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ speedboats, and President Trump’s threat one week later to shoot Iranian gunboats out of water if this happens again, are stark reminders of the short fuse between the two countries amid growing tensions. If they want conflict to wag the dog and deflect attention from their failures to fight the Covid-19 outbreak in their respective countries, they can easily stumble into one; but if they don’t, as they often claim, they should find a way to establish a military hotline.
Related: Iranian boats come 'dangerously' close to US navy warships
Continue reading...Iran reportedly launches first military satellite as Trump makes threats
The Noor was launched by a three-stage rocket and, according to Iran officials, had reached a 425 km high orbit
Iran has claimed it has put its first military satellite into orbit, further raising tensions with the US at a time the two countries are already facing off in the Persian Gulf.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said the satellite “Noor” (Light) was in a 425km (264 miles) high orbit, after a successful launch. Iran launched its first civilian satellite in 2009.
Continue reading...Iran extends Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s prison release by month
British-Iranian dual national will not have to return to prison until at least 20 May
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s temporary release from Evin prison in Tehran has been extended by a minimum of a month as Iran continues to battle its coronavirus outbreak.
The British-Iranian dual national was told on Tuesday about the development, which confirmed a general statement about the extension of prisoners’ furlough made by the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, on Sunday. She was due to return to prison this weekend.
Continue reading...Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe waiting to hear if she must return to prison
Spokesperson said on TV her release would be extended but British-Iranian yet to be told
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is waiting to be told whether her temporary release from an Iranian prison is to be extended beyond this weekend, or if she will have to return to complete her five-year sentence on Sunday.
The Prosecutors Office in Tehran told the British-Iranian woman’s lawyer on Saturday to come back on Sunday for an update on the situation, according to the Free Nazanin Twitter account.
Continue reading...Iranian boats come ‘dangerously’ close to US navy warships
- IRGC navy boats condemned for ‘harassing approaches’
- US officials say 11 small boats circled six US warships
Iranian navy vessels came within 10 yards of American warships in the Persian Gulf in what the US navy described as a series of “dangerous and harassing approaches”.
The close encounters on Wednesday and the aggressive tactics pursued by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy, visible from photos and video released by the US Fifth Fleet, represent a blow to the Trump administration’s claims to have “restored deterrence” in its relations with Iran.
Continue reading...Iranian official backtracks after calling Chinese Covid-19 figures a ‘joke’
Comments from Kianoush Jahanpour draw reproach from Chinese ambassador
Iran’s health ministry spokesman has backtracked after he described China’s official figures on the coronavirus outbreak as a “joke”.
Kianoush Jahanpour made the remarks at a press conference and a tweet on Sunday, adding that China had given the impression that coronavirus was like influenza but with fewer deaths.
Continue reading...Former world officials call on US to ease Iran sanctions to fight Covid-19
Group of former diplomats and ministers says shifting rules on medical trade could save hundreds of thousands of lives
A group of 24 senior diplomats and defence officials, including four former Nato secretary generals, have urged Donald Trump to save “potentially hundreds of thousands of lives” across the Middle East by easing medical and humanitarian sanctions on Iran.
Related: US ignores calls to suspend Venezuela and Iran sanctions amid coronavirus pandemic
Continue reading...Lockdowns around world could last weeks more, officials warn
Spain, Germany and UK among countries to says measures could stay in place as deaths in Italy push past 15,000
Officials from Germany to Spain said they expect the stringent lockdown conditions to stretch for weeks longer as Italy saw its deaths from the coronavirus pandemic push past 15,000 and infections in the United States neared 300,000.
The virus has claimed 15,362 lives in Italy, officials said on Saturday, while the total number of confirmed cases in the country rose to 124,632.
Continue reading...Sanctions should not impede coronavirus fight, EU diplomat says
Josep Borrell backs UN call for global ceasefire to allow the world to focus on pandemic
Sanctions should not stop the delivery of medical equipment and supplies to countries trying to contain outbreaks of coronavirus, the EU’s top diplomat has said.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, made his comments in a declaration on Friday in which he backed the UN’s call for an immediate global ceasefire to allow the world to focus on the pandemic.
Continue reading...Iran hits back after Trump claims it is planning Iraq attacks
US president accuses Tehran or its proxies of planning ‘sneak’ assault on US bases
Iran’s military and diplomatic leadership has hit back at Donald Trump’s claims that its proxies were planning a sneak attack on US bases in Iraq, claiming Tehran only ever acts in self-defence and has no proxies in Iraq, only allies.
The US and Iran are already at loggerheads over the impact of US sanctions on Tehran’s ability to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and the threat of a military attack on the US is likely to widen the dispute. The Iranian army chief of staff, Mohammad Bagheri, said the recent spate of attacks on US bases in Iraq were nothing to do with Iran, but were “a natural response by the Iraqi people”. He said US forces were being closely monitored minute by minute and any US attack would produce the most severe response.
Continue reading...Afghanistan braces for coronavirus surge as migrants pour back from Iran
Returnees flood across the border after lockdown leads to loss of jobs, amid warnings that influx threatens health catastrophe
More than 130,000 Afghans have fled the coronavirus outbreak convulsing Iran to return home to Afghanistan amid fears they are bringing new infections with them to the conflict-ridden and impoverished country.
The huge spike in Afghans crossing the porous border from Iran, in one of the biggest cross-border movements of the pandemic, has led to mounting fears in the humanitarian community over the potential impact of new infections carried from Iran, one of the countries worst affected by the virus.
Continue reading...‘We’re not ready’: coronavirus looms over the fragile Afghan health system
As Western NGOs remove staff and the US strips support, an influx of Afghans from Iran could add pressure on an already depleted medical system
In the Guzargah reception centre for returnees and repatriates in Herat, Afghanistan, 17-year-old Yunos rests on a thin mattress in a small, empty room.
The previous night fatigued him. He spent it sleeping rough in the desert along with thousands of other Afghans, awaiting the opening of the Iran-Afghanistan border. The frigid desert air froze him to the bone and hunger disturbed his sleep.
Continue reading...Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe under consideration for clemency
British-Iranian dual national has had her temporary release from prison extended because of the coronavirus outbreak
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian dual national on temporary release from a five-year jail sentence, is for the first time under formal consideration for clemency, her family has been told. A decision will be made by the highest level of Iran’s multi-layered government. There is no guarantee that clemency will be granted, or that she will be allowed to return to the UK.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, seen by some as a bargaining chip in the wider diplomatic dispute between the UK and Iran, was given a temporary fortnight’s release from Evin prison, Tehran, on 17 March along with 85,000 other prisoners at risk from the coronavirus outbreak. She has been allowed to stay at her parents’ house in Tehran but made to wear an ankle brace that keeps her within 300 metres of her parents’ home.
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