By Jubin Katiraie

Recently, an internal source in Iran disclosed a series of details about a mastermind, plotter, and operator of recent attacks against oil tankers in Gulf of Oman. Details explain that the IRGC’s forces shifted missiles widely in southern Iranian coasts to target foreign interests for lift the spirits of IRGC, after its blacklisting by the U.S.

By Pooya Stone

A former Royal Navy officer has criticised former Prime Minister Theresa May for an "appalling" response to the Iran tanker standoff, saying that it failed to convince the EU or the US to support the UK in retaliatory action.

Rear-Admiral Chris Parry also laid into former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, saying that his "muddled thinking" of assuming the EU would support his plan without consulting the countries first, meant that the UK lost the support of Iran’s biggest enemy, the US.

By Jubin Katiraie

GitHub, the world’s largest host of source code, has abruptly blocked access to the private code repositories and paid accounts of developers or companies in Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Crimea, and Syria to comply with US trade sanctions, but this has caused an outcry from developers who unexpectedly lost their work.

By Pooya Stone

Hundreds of retired Iranian teachers gathered outside the Islamic Republic's Majles (parliament) and offices of Plan and Budget Organization (PBO) in Tehran on Sunday, July 28, to protest their treatment and demand that their pensions be adjusted because of the current economic crisis.

The angry pensioners chanted: "Teachers Die, But Will Never Accept Abjection!" and "We Will Not Step Back, Until Receiving Our Bonuses!"

By Jubin Katiraie

Over 3,000 Iranians marched in London on Saturday to call on the UK to place a number of Iranian entities on the terror watch list, as tensions rise between the two nations over tanker seizures.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) organised the protest to urge Britain to impose sanctions against the Iranian regime, as well as list the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS), and the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s office as terrorist entities.

By Pooya Stone

The UK rejected the idea of a tanker swap with Iran on Monday, with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab saying it’s not a “quid pro quo” situation.

He refused to release the Iranian oil tanker captured by British forces near Gibraltar, which was suspected of violating EU sanctions on Syria, in exchange for Iran releasing the British-flagged Stena Impero ship it seized in the Gulf and accused, without evidence, of breaking maritime law by turning off its navigation and hitting an Iranian fishing vessel.

By Jubin Katiraie

Political prisoner Peiman Mirzazadeh has begun a hunger strike in protest against the very poor treatment he has been subjected to.

Peiman Mirzazadeh was arrested in 2017 by security agents. He was charged with “spreading propaganda against the state” because he was heard singing songs that voice support for a dissident group. Mirzazadeh was not allowed to consult a lawyer and was eventually sentenced to 6 months imprisonment.

By Pooya Stone

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) has said that Iran has enriched 24 tons of uranium since signing the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, despite previously claiming that it has limited its stock of enriched uranium to 300 kilograms.

By Pooya Stone

Iranian oil exports to China in June were down 60% from June 2018, according to China’s customs authorities, with only a daily average of 208,205 barrels of Iranian oil coming into China.

A heavy decline began in May when the US removed sanctions waivers on Iranian oil, but even then China was still importing 254 thousand barrels per day (bpd), which is 46,000 extra bpd than in June.

By Jubin Katiraie

Iran’s former justice minister has defended the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in the media recently.

Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who served in the cabinet of President Hassan Rouhani until 2017, told state-run Mosalas Magazine that the regime was “at war” and should not be expected to follow “legal procedures and consider citizen’s and human rights”.

He then described the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), whose members and supporters were the main victims of the massacre, as “the worst kind of enemy”.

By Pooya Stone

Some 3000 Iranians living in the UK demonstrated this afternoon Saturday July 27on the streets of central London demanding comprehensive sanctions against the mullahs’ regime.

Demonstrators urged listing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) and the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s office as terrorist entities by the UK, while supporting the Iranian resistance and its president-elect, Maryam Rajavi, and her 10 point plan for the future of Iran.

By Jubin Katiraie

Iran’s record holder in female cycling is living in poverty, forced to peddle in the streets to earn money to support her family, which is a damning indictment of the poverty levels in Iran today.

Atousa Abbasi, who has held the speed record since 2014, is forced to take her 3-year-old child with her when she sells cheap wares on the streets. Despite winning numerous medals, she said no one has given her support.

By Pooya Stone

Inflation in Iran has risen by 48%, compared with the same period last year, according to a report by the Iranian Statistical Center released on July 24, while the overall inflation rate for the 12-month period ending in July 2019 was 40.4%.

The point-to-point inflation rate, which was the first figure quoted, indicates the momentum of price rises by comparing the cost of various commodities now and during the same period in the previous calendar year. This can help show the depth of Iran’s economic crisis in a more transparent way.

By Jubin Katiraie

The UK announced Thursday that it has begun sending warships to accompany all British-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz to protect them from Iran, only days after the government said it did not have resources to do so.

A government spokesman said: “The Royal Navy has been tasked to accompany British-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz, either individually or in groups, should sufficient notice be given of their passage.”

By Pooya Stone

This week Iran test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile that travelled 1,000 kilometres, according to an unnamed US official who spoke to CNN, which is just the latest development increasing tensions between Iran and the West.

The missile, launched Wednesday from the southern coast of Iran, landed just east of Tehran, with American officials closely monitoring the test site when Iran was preparing for launch.

By Jubin Katiraie

In the past month, Iran has been responsible for many provocations against vessels in international waters in the Persian Gulf, which pose a severe threat to maritime traffic and global oil supplies.

Since June 20, Iran has shot down a US military drone that was in international airspace, tried to impede the passage of a British oil tanker using armed Iranian boats, seized a different oil tanker that it claimed was carrying 1 million litres of “smuggled fuel”, sent a drone to take threatening actions against the USS Boxer, which resulted in the loss of said drone, and captured a British-flagged oil tanker.