إيران

Since antigovernment protests began in the Iranian city of Mashhad last week and soon spread across the country, Islamic Republic authorities have intensified Internet crackdown in an effort to block the Iranian people from access to information and means of communication. The primary target has been Telegram, the most popular messaging app used by about half of Iran’s 80 million population. Over the weekend, the Iranian government “temporarily” blocked Telegram and Instagram, another popular social media platform.

Read the full article (PDF) published by Middle East Studies at Marine Corps University.

View the full issue brief at the Atlantic Council.

Iranian authorities have arrested a European national in the western province of Lorestan on charges of “organizing” antigovernment protests in the city of Borujerd, the Iranian media quoted local officials as saying.

Four Iranian Kurdish political parties and militant groups have voiced support for antigovernment protests that have engulfed the Islamic Republic over the past week. The groups urged the international community to back the Iranian people’s “legitimate demands.”

The head of a prominent Iranian-backed Iraqi militia group has called for the exit of American troops from Iraq, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported today. “We have repeatedly heard American government officials saying that Washington wants to remain in Iraq after ISIS for the long haul. This is not something that we want to allow to happen and is totally acceptable to us,” Qais al-Khazali, the secretary-general of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, said during a speech in the Iraqi city of Najaf.

In a telephone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron earlier today, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani defended the country’s military involvement in regional conflicts and emphasized that Tehran will continue its controversial ballistic missile program despite increasing pressure from Washington and its allies, according to the account of the conversation provided by the Iranian media.

An article in Fars News Agency says Russia has reached out to all key internal and external stakeholders in the Syrian conflict to shape up the future of the country, but it cannot ignore Iran’s role and interest in Syria. “Although Russia has supported the Bashar al-Assad government through its air force, it has been Iran and the resistance axis that has carried out most of the fighting on the battlefield.

A senior Iranian military official has said that the Houthi rebels in Yemen are inspired by Iran’s Islamic Revolution and its founder’s thoughts and are fighting against the Saudi-led coalition under the instructions of Ira

The eight round of Syria peace talks sponsored by Russia, Iran and Turkey began today in the Kazakh capital of Astana, the Iranian media reported.

A top aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said there will be a third intifada and called on all Muslim countries to support Palestinian armed factions to fight Israel.

Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on military affairs, has expressed the concern that Iran’s interests in Iraq could be imperiled if the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections change the balance of power in

A commander of the Fatemiyoun Division, an Iranian-led Afghan Shiite militia group fighting in Syria, has said that the mission of his forces is not confined in Syria, and that the militiamen will be willing to fight in other regional conflicts and around the world if instructed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen today fired another ballistic missile at Riyadh,

A senior Iranian officials has said that Tehran will keep its military presence in Syria for the long haul, the Iranian media reported. “Based on the request of the legitimate government of Syria, we will continue our presence and advisory assistance until all terrorist groups in this country are destroyed,” said Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.