US mainland under threat as Iran pushes assassinations, kidnappings: report

BenjaminWeinthal

March 1, 2023

Amid the report that a top Iranian regime military official on Friday urged the murders of the ex-commander of the United States Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie, former President Trump, and former Secretary State of Mike Pompeo, a new report asserts that Iran is likely behind a "kill list" targeting law enforcement agencies in Boston.

Iran’s Islamic Republic is collapsing before our eyes

MichaelRubin

February 28, 2023

SULAYMANIYAH, Iraqi Kurdistan — Iran's currency is in free-fall, falling almost 10% over the weekend, breaking through the psychologically important half-million mark to more than 600,000 rials to the dollar. The plunging currency led the Tehran bazaar to close, an event that preceded the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran schoolgirls poisoned as "some people" seek to stop education for girls

CBS/AFP

February 27, 2023

An Iranian deputy minister on Sunday said "some people" were poisoning schoolgirls in the holy city of Qom with the aim of shutting down education for girls, state media reported.

Protest in Berlin over arming Ukraine against Russia draws thousands

Reuters

February 25, 2023

A demonstration against supplying Ukraine with weapons for war with Russia attracted 10,000 people on Saturday, drawing criticism from top German government officials and a large police presence to maintain order.

Iran rial plunges to new lows amid unrest, international isolation

Reuters

February 26, 2023

Iran's currency fell to a record low against the U.S. dollar on the unofficial market on Sunday, amid the country's increasing isolation over its disputed nuclear programme, human rights violations and the supply of drones to Russia.

What Ukraine Needs to Learn from Afghanistan

JeffereySachs

February 13, 2023

The greatest enemy of economic development is war. If the world slips further into global conflict, our economic hopes and our very survival could go up in flames. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock to a mere 90 seconds to midnight.

Iran paper urges kidnapping of German diplomats in Tehran

BENJAMINWEINTHAL

February 24, 2023

The news organization controlled by the Islamic Republic of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged on Wednesday that the Iranian authorities seize and prosecute German diplomats in Tehran in response to Berlin's expulsion of two Iranian diplomats.

Richard Wolff on the decline of the US empire and the denial of the US

Richard Wolff on the decline of the US empire and the denial of the US - YouTube

Renewed protests in Iran's restive southeast, mosque surrounded

REUTERS

February 24, 2023

Demonstrators marched in Iran's restive southeast on Friday amid reports on social media that security forces were surrounding a mosque at the center of weekly anti-government rallies.

Iran acknowledges accusation it enriched uranium to 84%

JONGAMBRELL

February 23, 2023

Iran on Thursday directly acknowledged an accusation attributed to international inspectors that it enriched uranium to 84% purity for the first time, which would put the Islamic Republic closer than ever to weapons-grade material.

Iran sentences detained US-based opposition figure to death

Joseph Krauss

February 21, 2023

A senior member of a U.S.-based Iranian opposition group held by Iran and accused of orchestrating a deadly 2008 mosque bombing has been sentenced to death, authorities said Tuesday.

UK summons Iran's top diplomat over threats to journalists

SanDiego Union Tribune

February 20, 2023

Britain's government said Monday it has summoned Iran's top diplomat in the U.K. after journalists based in the country were targeted for intimidation by Tehran.

Dissident Iranian TV Channel Forced To Quit UK, After Police Warn They Cannot Protect Staff From Assassins

CarolineFrost

February 19, 2023

A UK-based Iranian TV channel has had to stop broadcasting from its headquarters in London, after British police warned staff that it could not protect them on UK soil.

Mystery surrounds Iran’s second attack in four months on a commercial ship - analysis

SETH J. FRANTZMAN

February 18, 2023

The latest attack on 'Campo Square' follows the November 15 attack on the Pacific Zircon which was carried out by a drone launched from Chabahar.

Volodymyr Zelensky Is Washington’s New Jonas Savimbi

Ted Galen Carpenter 

February 9, 2023

Most advocates of aiding Ukraine in its fight against Russia do not merely contend that the move is justified to repel an act of aggression that threatens to legitimize wars of conquest. Instead, they portray Ukraine as a freedom-loving democracy and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a heroic democratic champion, who deserves even more U.S. military and financial assistance than he has already received.

Iran: Protests erupt for first time in weeks

DW

February 17, 2023

Protesters took to the streets in several cities, including capital Tehran, to mark 40 days since two protesters were executed, an important day of mourning in the country.

Protesters marched in several Iranian cities in the most widespread demonstrations in recent weeks, online videos appeared to show.

Militant in Iran identified as al-Qaeda’s probable new chief in U.N. report

Andrew Jeong

February 15, 2023

Saif al-Adel, who is wanted by the United States in connection with the 1998 bombings of its embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, has been identified by many countries as the new “de facto and uncontested” leader of al-Qaeda, according to a report by U.N. experts. Many U.N. member states also believe that Adel is located in Iran, the report said.

Why Iran's President Is Making a Rare Trip to China

ARMANISYED

February 14, 2023

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi met China’s leader Xi Jinping Tuesday as part of a three-day visit to help implement a 25-year cooperation alliance between the two nations, at a time when both countries are facing pressure from Western countries over a range of issues.

‘They Deserved To Die’: Iranian Doctors Who Treated Wounded Protesters ‘Arrested, Tortured’

Golnaz Esfandiari

February 13, 2023

In late November, three Iranian doctors traveled to the country’s western Kurdistan region, the epicenter of ongoing antiestablishment protests, to help treat wounded demonstrators.

But within days of their arrival, the medical professionals were arrested on security charges. Before they were released on bail last month, the three men were tortured in custody, informed sources told RFE/RL.

The men were charged with “disrupting national security” and “committing crimes against the country’s internal and external security” due to their attempts to treat “rioters,” a term the authorities have used to refer to antiestablishment protesters.

US Law Enforcement Kill More People in 2022 Than Any Previous Year on Record

ProjectCensored

January 20, 2023

According to reporting in various independent news outlets during the first week of January 2023, American law enforcement personnel—primarily police and sheriff deputies—killed more people in 2022 than any proceeding year on record. This reporting relies upon research by the Mapping Police Violence Project which chronicled 1,183 people killed by American law enforcement between January 1st and December 31st 2022. Common Dreams, in its January 6th, 2023 coverage, noted that a 2021 study in the Lancet found about half of killings by law enforcement go unreported, meaning the 1,183 figure could in reality be double.