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Summary
On December 19, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani unveiled a “Citizens’ Rights Charter” that he promised would guarantee Iranians’ individual rights and civil liberties.
In a speech published in the Iranian media, Rouhani called on relevant authorities to ensure that all Iranian citizens enjoy personal security and freedom, have access to fair trial and justice, are not subjected to forced confessions, are immune from illegal intrusions into their privacy, and are not persecuted for religious beliefs.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has claimed that its engineers are tasked to repair the Mosul Dam, Iraq’s largest dam that generates hydroelectricity and provides water for agricultural irrigation in Nineveh Governorate.
Hailing the IRGC’s scientific capabilities and non-military expertise, General Salar Abnoush, the deputy head of IRGC’s construction conglomerate Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Base, said that the company was busy “repairing cracks in Mosul Dam to prevent the complete inundation of the Iraqi cities of Samarra, Mosul and Kadhimiya.”
On December 20, a senior commander of an Iran-run Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) unit in Iraq said the militia forces were stationed within three kilometers of Tal Afar city and were awaiting for an order from Baghdad to enter the city center.
Iranian Quds Force Commander Qassem Suleimani was recently spotted touring the war-ravaged Syrian city of Aleppo.
In part due to a broader move from an emergency to development-based approach and due to pressure from central Lebanese government authorities, the humanitarian effort has now been coupled, since mid-2014, with one that takes into greater account the needs of local host communities alongside those of refugees. This traces the way in which tensions between hosts and refugees have become increasingly central to the development and execution of aid projects aimed at community-level support. The author argues that this has important consequences that may actually incentivize the tensions it aims to alleviate.
Iranian extremist cleric Hassan Kurdmihan, the confessed mastermind of the January 2016 attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, is heard in a leaked tape recording telling his followers that the attack was “carried out upon a green light from the government and the regime,” according to a December 18 report in al-Arabiya. Kurdmihan can also be heard in the leaked calls directing members of the Iranian Basij and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) to burn and destroy the Embassy and seize documents inside. The leaked recordings have been attributed to the Iranian opposition Green Mov
Despite growing concerns in the United States and the Arab world about Iran’s destabilizing role in the region, Iranian leaders continue to defend the country’s subversive policies in the Yemeni conflict.
Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, who is not only a grand ayatollah but also a strong defender of all of Tehran’s policies, said on December 19 that “British statements of support for the Arab countries” are only aime
General Rahim Safavi, a top military advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the “freedom of Aleppo” a product of the alliance between Iran, Russia, Syria and Hezbollah.” Safavi said that today “the United States has found out very well that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the first power in the region and has more influence than the other countries in the area.” He continued that “the alliance between Iran, Russia, Syria and Hizballah led to the liberation of Aleppo, and we will also liberate Mosul soon.”
Mohammad Reza Sheibani, Iran’s last ambassador to Damascus who has recently returned to Tehran, vowed that Iranian support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will remain until the very end.
On December 18, a senior Iranian cleric claimed that Iran’s influence was expanding across the Middle East and called on the country’s armed forces to “nullify” America’s role and power in the region.
A top commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) stated that Iran is not about to rethink its regional policies or its military strategy.
On December 19, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the Syrian conflict in a phone call. According to the Iranian media, the two leaders discussed ways to coordinate war efforts in Syria.
The state-run system of women’s religious seminaries in Iran is today probably the most successful in the entire Muslim world. No other country boasts so many women in its institutions of religious learning, and they enjoy popularity not only among Iranian women but Muslim women from all over the world. However, the scope of the religious education on offer for women is nonetheless limited. In this essay, Mirjam Künkler suggests why.
