Russia ‘using weapons smuggled by Iran from Iraq against Ukraine’

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.

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Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi faces plagiarism trial in Iranian court

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.

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Yemen’s warring sides accept two-month truce starting with Ramadan

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.

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British-Iranian Morad Tahbaz ends hunger strike in Tehran jail

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.

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No 10 condemns abuse levelled at ‘ungrateful’ Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

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.

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Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Hunt calls for inquiry into delay over Iran debt payment

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.

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Australian man, 83, dies in Iranian prison after being denied healthcare

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.

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British-Iranian Morad Tahbaz moved from prison in Iran to hotel room

Conservationist detained since 2018 left behind when Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori released

Morad Tahbaz, the British-Iranian-American citizen left behind last week when Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori were allowed to return home to the UK, has been taken from Evin prison to a hotel in Tehran after representations by the British and American governments, the Foreign Office has said.

The department added that it was lobbying the Iranian authorities at the highest levels to allow him to return to his Tehran home immediately as the Iranian government had previously committed to do.

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After Ukraine, how will the world replace Russia’s oil products?

A report from the International Energy Agency makes clear that viable alternatives are limited

As Boris Johnson flew to the Gulf this week to ask for more oil to replace supplies from Russia, he was accused by the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, of “going cap in hand from dictator to dictator”.

At the same time, a report produced by the International Energy Agency (IEA) underlined just how limited the options are for any economy seeking to replace Russian crude and other oil products.

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The left behind: the dual nationals still in jail in Iran

Anoosheh Ashoori and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe are free but other families in the west are waiting anxiously

Dotted across Europe and America are families of as many as 17 dual nationals still held in jail in Iran, watching nervously to find out whether their loved ones will follow Anoosheh Ashoori and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on a plane to freedom, or be left behind.

Many fear their freedom is not being made a precondition of the west agreeing a nuclear deal with Iran in the talks nearing a climax in Vienna. Without an acknowledged debt to repay like the UK’s, some of their countries may have trouble striking deals, and that worries the families.

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Iran made Ashoori family raise £27,000 in 12 hours to secure his release

Family of freed British-Iranian detainee Anoosheh Ashoori had to pay last-minute fine in cash

The family of the British-Iranian detainee Anoosheh Ashoori had to scramble at the last minute to raise £27,000 to pay a fine to the Iranian government, delivering the money in cash to the authorities in Tehran’s Evin prison for it to be counted and authenticated.

The Iranian government told British Foreign Office negotiators late on Monday that his release would be blocked unless the fine, linked to his 10-year jail sentence, was paid the following day. Ashooori was released along with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on Wednesday after the UK paid Iran a longstanding £400m debt.

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‘They can’t stop hugging’: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s reunion with her daughter

The woman freed from six years’ detention told her MP about the fraught last moments in Iran and the bliss of her return

Even as she entered the airport clutching her British passport for the first time in six years, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she could not believe she was finally about to return home to her husband and daughter.

The last moments of her ordeal in Iran, where she had been held by the regime, in effect as a hostage, on trumped-up charges, were far from straightforward and fraught with anxieties.

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British-Iranian Morad Tahbaz returned to Tehran prison

Family says he was taken from home in Iranian capital by armed guards only 48 hours after being released

Morad Tahbaz, the British-Iranian given a furlough as part of a deal to release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori has been returned to Evin prison in Tehran under armed guard only 48 hours after being released.

The Foreign Office insisted that the Iranians have told them that Tahbaz is only being returned to the prison to have an ankle tag installed and they expect to see him returned home in the coming hours.

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe returns to the UK after six-year prison ordeal

Plane carrying mother-of-one and fellow British-Iranian detainee Anoosheh Ashoori lands at RAF Brize Norton early on Thursday morning

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has touched down on British soil for the first time since she was detained in Iran six years ago.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe arrived at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire in the early hours of Thursday morning. The mother-of-one, whose husband Richard has long campaigned for her release, left Iran with fellow British-Iranian Anoosheh Ashoori, 67, on Wednesday after their release was secured.

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‘A long time coming’: Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori’s families joyful at release

Relatives of the two Britons freed from Iran express gratitude as they head home

Iran’s release of the British-Iranian nationals Anoosheh Ashoori and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been greeted with joy by their families, with Richard Ratcliffe saying: “Homecoming is a journey, not an arrival.”

Ratcliffe, who has been at the forefront of campaigning for his wife’s release since she was imprisoned in Tehran after going there to visit family, told broadcasters that there would have to be a recovery process, adding: “You can’t get back the time that’s gone.”

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Plane carrying Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori lands in UK – live

Latest updates: husband of British-Iranian woman detained in Iran thanks supporters for ‘kindness and care’ as she embarks on the final leg of her journey home to UK

Tulip Siddiq, the Labour MP who has Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe as a constituent, has paid tribute to Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, for the role she played in getting Nazanin released. This is from the Times’ Steven Swinford.

Penny Madden, the lawyer who represents Richard Ratcliffe, Nazanin’s husband, told Sky News a few moments ago that “hopes remain very high” this morning. But she said Richard was not able to relax until Nazanin was on the flight home. She said she had spoken to Richard this morning. He was “excited”, but “tinged with anxiety”.

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori released from custody in Iran

News confirmed by Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s lawyer in Iran and by her MP in the UK

The British-Iranian detainees Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori have been released from custody, Iranian officials said on Wednesday morning. The news was later confirmed by Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s lawyer in Iran and by her MP in the UK, Tulip Siddiq.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family in the UK had no official confirmation when asked to comment by the Guardian, but said they knew things were moving in the right direction.

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Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori could be free in days

Possible deal to release pair involves agreement by UK to repay £400m debt, according to Iranian sources

British Iranian dual nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori could be freed and allowed to return to London within days under a deal in which the UK agrees to repay a £400m debt and release an Iranian prisoner.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe has for months been at her parent’s home in Tehran awaiting news of whether she would have to serve a further one-year sentence in Iran handed down on top of the five years she had already served.

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s six years of bewilderment and injustice

British-Iranian woman has endured almost unbearable psychological stress since her arrest at Tehran airport in April 2016

In White Torture, a book about the horror of solitary confinement in Iranian jails, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe recalled her first night in jail following her arrest at Tehran airport on 3 April 2016.

“The first night of detention I did not know where I was,” she explained. “I don’t remember what happened or what I did. I was shocked. I didn’t know why it had happened. No one gave me any explanations. Nobody told me why they were treating me like that, why they took my child away from me or where I was. The interrogation began.”

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Iran claims responsibility for missile strike near US consulate in Iraq

Revolutionary Guards say target in Erbil was Israeli ‘strategic centre’ following attack in Syria

Iran has claimed responsibility for a missile barrage that struck early on Sunday near a sprawling US consulate complex in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, saying it was retaliation for an Israeli strike in Syria that killed two of its Revolutionary Guards.

No injuries were reported in the attack, which marked a significant escalation between the US and Iran. Hostility between the countries has often played out in Iraq, whose government is allied with both countries.

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