Ahmad Majidyar

On the evening of November 26, security officials tried to arrest Mahmoud Sadeghi, a university lecturer and lawmaker from Tehran – disregarding his parliamentary immunity. But the authorities backed down after Sadeghi’s supporters, including a number of parliamentarians and students, gathered in front of his house to protest the move. The controversy soon turned into the “most heated” political issue in Tehran the following day.

On November 22, a senior Iranian official admitted that more than 1,000 combatants dispatched by Iran to fight alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have been killed in the Syrian war.  

On November 23, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Iran would strike back if Washington renewed sanctions against the Islam

When the Lebanese parliament elected Michel Aoun as the country’s president on October 31, Iran celebrated the news as a “

The increasing role of Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militia forces in the battle of Mosul has alarmed the Iraqi Sunni minority as well as many countries in the region.

On November 15, the US House of Representatives almost unanimously approved a 10-year extension of the Iran Sanctions Act. Lawmakers argued that the move would put pressure on Iran to comply with the 2015 nuclear agreement. The ISA is set to expire by this year’s end. And while the Senate is expected to pass the bill, it is unclear whether President Obama will sign or veto it.

The battle for influence in Iraq between Iran and Turkey appears to be escalating to a dangerous level as Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militia forces are set to capture the Turkmen-majority city of Tal Afar from the Islamic State. Tal Afar is located about 40 miles west of Mosul.

A last-minute cancellation of a pro-government event in the Iranian city of Mashhad has sparked a bitter conflict between hardliners and reformists and is likely to further undermine the Rouhani government. Mashhad is Iran’s second populous city and the capital of northeastern Khorasan-e Razavi Province.

On November 17, the US House of Representative passed a legislation that would prohibit the sale of commercial aircraft to Iran. If approved by the Senate and signed into law by President Obama, the bill would bar the Department of Treasury from permitting Airbus and Boeing to do business with Tehran.

On November 21, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahran Ghasemi praised Egypt as a leading country in the Arab world and stressed that Tehran sought closer ties with Cairo.

On November 17, Amnesty International published a report that condemned the “macabre propaganda videos” aired on Iranian state-run media outlets that featured “forced confessions” of 25 Sunni men Iran execu

As the US-backed Iraqi security forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters are advancing into Mosul from the east, an Iranian-backed militia group claimed a major victory over the Islamic State in western part of the city on November 16.

In the past days, the alarming levels of air pollution in Tehran and other major cities have forced schools to shut down for several days, caused health h

On November 14, Iranian and Russian news outlets reported that Tehran and Moscow had begun negotiating the supply of around $10 billion worth of arms and military hardware to Iran. The deal reportedly includes T-90 tanks, artillery, planes and helicopters.

On November 15, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi refuted allegations by Afghan media and government officials that Tehran harbored Taliban leaders on its soil. “The presence of Taliban elements in Iran is baseless and unfounded,” he said, adding that Iran and Afghanistan had friendly relations and cooperated to ensure security and stability in the two countries.