The U.S. president wants to impose his will and whims on all partners. The EU, for the sake of its own security, needs to resist.
Tag: tehran
The two deadly suicide attacks in Tehran, at the Parliament and inside the mausoleum of Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, appeared as the latest in the litany of woes terrorists have brought to the Middle East. It may also mark a whole new chapter in the region. Iranians, in spite of the political and […]
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Trump And The Ayatollah
With the choice of controversial retired Gen. Michael Flynn to be White House National Security Advisor comes a new flurry of anticipation (and worry) that American foreign policy will be turned on its head with the election of Donald Trump. Take the Iranian nuclear accord negotiated by the Obama Administration, which Trump has called “the […]
TEHRAN — Talk about a life in crime. Iranian police recently busted — or re-busted — a thieving gang consisting mostly of middle-aged and older men who have been in and out of prison since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The gang’s head is believed to be around 63 years old, and is known to law […]
TEHRAN — The Iranian capital used to boast 1,400 public baths, which the daily Shargh observes were among its “main public spaces,” an integral part of Iran’s social culture and an efficient way of facilitating hygiene for the masses. Yet today, just 10% of the baths remain, in spite of the needs of thousands of […]
TEHRAN — Emerging after years of sanctions, Iran appears almost single-mindedly eager to boost its economic growth. Thus a photo op this week of the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei planting and watering a tree, and cited as telling “all” Iranians to care for “green spaces,” was a minor newsstand surprise Wednesday around the […]
TEHRAN — Both at home and abroad, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has become the public face of his country’s willingness to sign a deal with the West to limit its nuclear program. The Vienna accord, inked in July, has also made Zarif the main target of Iran’s religious hardliners, whom he confirmed Wednesday […]
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Iran Warns ISIS: These Are Our Red Lines
TEHRAN — Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli has warned the Sunni Islamist terror group ISIS not to approach Iranian territory or the Shia shrines in Iraq. Speaking at a gathering Friday in Tabas, in eastern Iran, Fazli said that ISIS should not get closer than 40 kilometers (25 miles) to Iran’s border nor attack […]
TEHRAN — Iran’s Islamic Republic has sought to control morals and public conduct for some 40 years now, and the apparent détente with Western powers won’t be changing anything on this front. Take its ongoing antipathy toward Western — or some would say, virtually all — music. For Iran’s clerics, music and related festivities are […]
TEHRAN — The deal between Tehran and the West to curb Iran’s secretive nuclear program in return for an end to crippling economic sanctions isn’t slated to take effect until Oct. 19. But with Western delegations already streaming in and out of Tehran in anticipation of business and investment opportunities, Iran’s Transportation Minister Abbas Akhoundi […]
For fear of an Iran-led rise of Shia, authorities from Riyadh to Ankara fed the radicalism that now eyes them as the primary target.
TEHRAN — Every evening, Youseph walks by the mosque in Tehran’s Fatemi Square. Before heading towards his house, he looks up at the portraits of Ayatollah Khomeini and Iran’s current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that are on the walls of the building. Then he crosses the street and descends the hill to where he lives. […]
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Synthetic Drugs A Growing Problem In Iran
TEHRAN — There are 100,000 drug addicts on the streets of Iran, the country’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli estimated Wednesday, saying that his agency had a “legal duty” to “pick them up” and send them to obligatory rehabilitation centers. He said $3 billion was being spent every year on illegal drugs in the country, and […]
Helped by access to social media, environmental activists are calling for efficient measures against the scourge of pollution and degradation. A whiff of Western-style protest in the air.
TEHRAN — A trip down the 19 kilometers of Valiasr Street, the avenue that splits Tehran in two, is like walking through a metaphor for Iranian society. At one end, by the railway station on Rahahan Square, the houses are narrow and tatty; but continue towards Tajrish Square, and glass skyscrapers and shining buildings rise […]
In another context, it might simply seem like diplomatic business-as-usual. But in Tehran, with potential game-changing nuclear talks in the balance, visits by the Austrian Foreign Minister and a key official of the British Foreign Office are being viewed as further proof that Iran want to move toward rapprochement with the West. In particular, the […]
One of Iran’s senior clerics today chided people he said were “surreptitiously” trying to build ties with the United States, warning they would get “nowhere” without broad Iranian support. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, secretary of the Guardian Council that vets and approves all elections, candidates and parliamentary bills in the country, said during Tehran’s nationally broadcast […]
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Iranians Mock U.S. ‘Bluff’ On Syria
As talks between the Syrian regime and rebels continue in Switzerland, the “Iranian Question” isn’t going away. Though Tehran, which is a key supporter of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, was barred from attending the Geneva 2 talks for refusing several pre-conditions, it has made its voice heard from back home. Ali Akbar Velayati, a former […]
Like others around the world, Iranians have watched the evening news’ bloody scenes of civilians targeted by terrorists in places like Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. But now, the BBC’s Persian-language channel is reporting on growing concerns among Iranian officials about the threat of Al-Qaeda-type terrorism on their own territory. Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani recently […]
The Russian leader is expected to try to jumpstart negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program with the new president, considered more moderate than his predecessor.
IRNA (Iran), AP, BBC Worldcrunch TEHRAN – By midday Wednesday more than 80 aftershocks had been registered in southwestern Iran following a 6.1 magnitude earthquake that killed at least 37 people and injured 850. Twelve villages were completely destroyed by the quake, forcing thousands of terrified residents to spend the night in the open, according […]
BUENOS AIRES – Whatever your view is regarding the Hugo Chávez’ era in Venezuela, it is impossible to ignore two central facts: 1) Chávez was a product of the deep failure of the Venezuelan political system; 2) The deceased president had a strong influence on Latin America, during a historic moment when many countries in […]
BBC PERSIAN, AL JAZEERA (Qatar) Worldcrunch TEHRAN – Iranian riot police clashed with demonstrators and foreign exchange dealers in Tehran on Wednesday, over the plunge in the value of the country’s currency. The Iranian rial lost a third of its value against the dollar in a week. Protests erupted after the arrest of illegal currency […]
It is hard to dispute that Iran’s geopolitical importance, both internationally and regionally, has been on the rise over the past decade. With the Arab Spring, the Islamic Republic saw a new opportunity. For Tehran, the Arab uprisings meant “the awakening of Islam,” the rise of Islamist political parties sympathetic to Iran’s plight, and a […]
IRNA (Iran), ABC NEWS, NEW YORK TIMES, ASSOCIATED PRESS (USA), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), XINHUA (China) Worldcrunch TEHRAN – In an apparent change of heart, Iran says foreign aid is now welcome following the twin earthquakes that hit the north western part of the country last weekend, reports ABC news. On Monday, a Turkish rescue team […]
IRAN DAILY, TEHRAN TIMES (Iran), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), REUTERS Worldcrunch TEHRAN – Iran has raised the death toll from Saturday’s twin quakes in the north east of the country to 306, a day after calling off the search for survivors and stepping up the relief effort. The official toll, presented by Health Minister Marzieh Vahid […]