Iran's judiciary chief said on May 14 that former Agriculture Minister Javad Sadatinejad was sentenced to three years in prison in connection with a corruption case involving the import of animal feed. Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei did not say when the verdict was issued or whether Sadatinejad was serving his sentence. Sadatinejad was appointed agriculture minister by President Ebrahim Raisi in September 2021 but was dismissed in April 2023 amid growing criticism over unfulfilled promises and corruption allegations. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

Iran and North Korea have a long history of working together to advance their respective military arsenals.

Now, increased trade efforts between the two heavily sanctioned countries have raised concerns that they could share advanced missile and nuclear technology.

Coming at a time when Tehran and Pyongyang are playing a central role in heightened global tensions, the prospect of one pariah state in possession of nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles, North Korea, aiding another accused of seeking those capabilities, Iran, has heightened fears in Western capitals.

The visit of a North Korean delegation to Tehran last month only served to increase suspicions.

Washington and Brussels both expressed concerns about any sanctions-violating cooperation, prompting Tehran to insist that the visit by North Korea’s external economic relations minister was aimed only at improving economic ties and assertions that it is seeking to expand cooperation on missile technology were "untrue."

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Iran Has Strong Options For Retaliation Against Israel, Including Going Nuclear

But allegations that North Korean military technology has shown up in the hands of Iranian proxies in the Middle East and aided Iran's missile and drone attack against Israel last month have fueled concerns.

Experts say that the two sides are aligned in an anti-Western stance and most recently in supporting the Palestinian cause. And each has plenty to offer the other in terms of military expertise and experience.

"North Korea's nuclear program is obviously something that the Iranians seek to emulate," said Benjamin Young, a North Korea expert at Virginia Commonwealth University. "North Korea's ability to develop nuclear weapons at a rapid scale is admirable to the Islamic republic."

Pyongyang also has a long-range delivery vehicle in its Hwason-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, which is capable of carrying a heavy payload and of reaching the mainland United States.

"North Korea has made strides with very long-range-capable missiles, and that's something that Iran could be interested in," said Kenneth Katzman, a senior adviser for the New York-based Soufan Group intelligence consultancy and an expert on geopolitics in the Middle East.

Tehran has long insisted that its controversial nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. But amid increased tensions with Israel, Iran has stressed, as recently as May 12, that it may have no choice but to change its nuclear doctrine.

As for what Tehran could offer North Korea, missile and drone attacks launched by Iran and its regional proxies have provided valuable experience.

Katzman noted that "Iranian missiles didn't do too well against Israel" in the April 19 strike, with most of the some 150 cruise and ballistic missiles having failed or been shot down. But he says the attack and others by Iran and its proxies in the region have given Tehran firsthand knowledge of how Western air-defense systems work.

This could be valuable to North Korea, he said, because its missiles "would be facing similar technology if launched against Japan, South Korea, the United States," the East Asian country's main adversaries.

Young says Iran's ability to mass produce Shahed-136 suicide drones, which were launched unsuccessfully by Iran against Israel but have been used extensively by Russia in its war against Ukraine, is also "likely attractive to Pyongyang."

North Korea has cultivated a military partnership with Tehran for decades, including the provision of conventional weapons to the Islamic republic during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and help in the 1990s in developing Iranian ballistic missiles.

Successors to those missiles were used in Iran's attack against Israel, and South Korean intelligence is reportedly investigating whether North Korean components were used in the attack. South Korean intelligence has also said that North Korean weapons have been used against Israel by Hamas -- the U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist organization that sparked the war in Gaza with its deadly assault on Israel on October 7.

It is unclear when such weapons transfers may have been made, but Katzman said that since Israel launched its retaliatory and controversial invasion of Gaza with the aim of eliminating the Iran-backed Hamas, North Korea has "reiterated Iranian positions on Gaza as a means of standing with Iran."

Young says that Pyongyang's relationships with Iranian proxies are nothing new, noting that North Korea boasts some of the best tunnel-building experts in the world and "most likely" helped Lebanese Hizballah build its own tunnel network in the Middle East.

He says there is no indication of strengthened ties between North Korea and Hamas or Hizballah since the deadly assault on Israel, but that whenever a major military crisis occurs, "North Korean-made arms regularly pop up." This, he says, is in part because "North Korea seeks to exploit these conflicts for their own financial gains and actively tries to find purchasers of their weapons."

The North Korean delegation's visit to Tehran, coming just a month after a similar visit to Moscow, raised concerns that Pyongyang could be entering a broader partnership involving Iran and Russia. That prospect has gained attention with North Korea's reported provision of munitions to aid Russia's war effort in Ukraine.

As to why Iran might seek cooperation with Pyongyang instead of other allies such as Russia or China -- fellow members of the burgeoning bloc of the sanctioned -- Katzman said that "North Korea would be probably the most willing."

"There is that history of relationships on missiles, and North Korea certainly doesn't really care about being subjected to any more sanctions," Katzman said. "So, North Korea would not be hesitant to share that technology."

Scores of women have been detained in Iran in recent weeks for not wearing the mandatory Islamic head scarf, as authorities intensify their enforcement of the country’s controversial hijab law and crack down on alleged violators.

It's an issue that was at the heart of unprecedented protests that rocked Iran in 2022.

Homa (not her real name), a 42-year-old mother of two, spoke to RFE/RL's Radio Farda about what it's like to be swept up in the crackdown. This is her account.

'Dragged Me In'

I was returning from my mother’s home and had done some shopping. I was holding the shopping bags in one hand and the keys in the other to open my door. My head scarf had slipped down.

[A man] on a motorcycle drove by and said, "Lady, put your head scarf back up." I said, "no.’" He asked again but I ignored him. He then pulled out his phone and took a photo of me. Immediately, a morality police van pulled up.

The motorcyclist, the van driver, and two women came toward me. I asked them to at least let me put my shopping inside, but they told me to take everything with me. I told them it’s not like you’ve caught a thief. If I didn’t enter the van, they would have most likely dragged me in.

I think there were eight people inside the van, including me. There was no space so I sat on an armrest. Besides me and another woman who was also above 40, everyone else was young. There was a mother and daughter who said they had been eating in a restaurant when they were detained. They weren’t even allowed to finish their food.

'Tried To Scare Us'

They took us to the police station. We got off the van and were escorted to a hall where they lined us all up against a wall. They took a group photo and told us to sit and wait outside a room.

In the meantime, a couple of female university students were crying. [An officer] told them not to worry because their detention would not appear on their criminal record.

In the room, three men and a woman were sitting behind a desk. They gave me a document to sign. I told them that I wanted to read it first. The form said I had removed my head scarf and acted against public modesty. I read it with contempt, laughed, signed it, and stamped it with my fingerprint.

Then they said I needed a guarantor. I said I’m old enough and can vouch for myself. They refused and insisted that my husband, father, mother, or family member had to come down to the station. They also said I had to hand over my identification documents and appear in court the next day.

All the officers were sarcastic and tried to scare us. There was a girl who asked to see the photo they had taken of her [when she was detained]. An officer turned around and mockingly said, "We’re going to make it your profile picture [in our system.]" All of the officers were under 30.

'Probably Do It Again'

We went to the court. There were a lot of people there who had been detained the day before. There were about 15 women. Many were there because their cars had been impounded [as punishment] for not wearing the hijab. My car has been impounded two times.

We waited a long time in the corridor [before entering the courtroom]. The staff were laughing. The young university students were all scared.

Once a person’s casefile was entered in the system, they were given a code and sent to see the judge. It was packed outside the judge’s chambers. Some of the women were complaining that the process was taking too long. The judge’s secretary was processing some of the cases himself.

In some cases, the judge’s secretary filled people’s forms himself. He wrote phrases like "I’m regretful and won’t do it again," and told the [women] to just sign it. I told the judge’s secretary not to write that I was regretful because I wasn’t and would probably do it again.

I was not fined. But the university students were given another document to sign. I caught a glimpse and saw the figure 5,000,000 rials [$8].

'Pressure Is Intensifying'

The pressure is intensifying. They are forcing fathers, brothers, the whole family, even mothers, to make women wear the hijab.

A friend told me that she had asked a friend of hers in law enforcement to explain how she kept getting fines despite living and working in a place with no security cameras.

The police friend said they have people on the streets who, when they spot a woman without a head scarf, follow her to her car and jot down the plate number.

*This account has been edited for length and clarity.

Written by Kian Sharifi based on an interview by Roya Maleki of RFE/RL's Radio Farda. Illustrated by Juan Carlos Herrera.

Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof on May 13 said he had left Iran in secret after being informed that he had been sentenced to flogging and eight years in prison on security-related charges.

Rasoulof, who has been convicted of "collusion to act against national security," said in a statement that he had left for Europe days earlier.

His statement was released by Films Boutique and Parallel45, who are distributing his latest film, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig.

The director has been under pressure from the Iranian authorities to pull the film from the Cannes Film Festival, which will kick off this week.

News of his recent sentence was made public last week but he said he knew about it a month ago.

"I didn't have much time to make a decision. I had to choose between prison and leaving Iran. With a heavy heart, I chose exile," Rasoulof wrote.

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Iran Sentences Renowned Filmmaker To Flogging, Prison Sentence

Separately, he posted a short video to Instagram of an undisclosed mountainous location and wrote that he would talk about his journey out of Iran later.

The filmmaker's passport was confiscated in 2017 and he was barred from leaving the country. He was jailed in June 2022 and was released in February 2023 as part of a mass amnesty.

The cast and crew of The Seed Of The Sacred Fig have been under pressure, and Rasoulof said many had been "put through lengthy interrogations" and are potentially facing prosecution.

"During the interrogations of the film crew, the intelligence forces asked them to pressure me to withdraw the film from the Cannes Festival," he said.

The plot of The Seed Of The Sacred Fig had been kept under wraps until earlier this month it was reported that it tells the story of an Iranian judge struggling with paranoia.

His mistrust intensifies after his gun goes missing amid growing nationwide protests. He suspects his wife and daughters of stealing his weapon and imposes heavy restrictions at home.

Rasoulof won the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize in 2020 for his film There Is No Evil, which tells four stories loosely connected to the themes of the death penalty in Iran and personal freedoms under oppression.

"We are very happy and much relieved that Mohammad has safely arrived in Europe after a dangerous journey," wrote Jean-Christophe Simon, CEO of Films Boutique and Parallel45.

"We hope he will be able to attend the Cannes premiere of The Seed Of The Sacred Fig in spite of all attempts to prevent him from being there in person."

Iran's judiciary has said that Sadegh Zibakalam -- a university professor and critic of the government -- has been jailed and faces sentencing on multiple charges. The judiciary didn't specify the charges. Media reports said he was to serve a three-year prison term. The Telegram channel Pasdaran Cyber Corps said Zibakalam, 75, was arrested as he headed to a Tehran book fair to present his new book, Why Don't They Take You? Zibakalam has previously served time in prison for alleged propaganda against the state and for publishing false content online. He was also previously barred from engaging in political activities online. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

Iran's hard-liners won most of the remaining seats in an election runoff to give them full control over the country's parliament, authorities said on May 11, while not sharing any details on turnout and as some media reported extremely low turnout. The result, and that of the previous vote in March, gives hard-liners 233 of the 290 seats in Iran's parliament, according to an AP count. The Farhikhtegan news site reported that turnout in Tehran's major constituency was "only 8 percent.” Since protests in recent years -- especially after the mass demonstrations that began after the death of Mahsa Amini while in custody -- participation in Iranian elections has declined dramatically. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, click here.

Iranian rappers Vafa Ahmadpor and Danial Maghaddam were arrested after the release of a music video titled "Standby," which is critical of the authoritarian measures in place in Iran.

Rights groups said the two men were arrested in the city of Shiraz on May 9 and that their current whereabouts are unknown. Iranian officials have not commented.

The pair’s video highlights issues such as repression by security forces, economic hardships, and the activities of the morality police while proclaiming that "we, the people of Iran, remain united and will take over this country."

On May 5 they also posted a video of them paying respects at the grave of slain street protester Arman Emadi.

In the video, Maghaddam says, “We’re one nation. Do you want to kill us all?” Maghaddam said in a post on his Instagram account on May 8 that security agents had appeared outside his residence.

He mentioned that Ahmadpor was with him at the time of the incident.

It’s not the first run-in with law enforcement for Ahmadpor, who had been previously detained in February at his home.

Maghaddam has collaborated with figures like Gholam Koveitipor, Sahar Zakaria, and Saba Kamali to address social issues such as violence against women.

In December, he disclosed that a legal case had been initiated against him, Zakaria, and Kamali in the Culture and Media Court for supposedly "inviting corruption and indecency."

Many Iranian artists and public figures have faced Iran’s judiciary for expressing their support of nationwide protests following the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while in custody for an alleged hijab violation.

Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance has taken a hard-line stance against protesting artists, repeatedly threatening them with a work ban.

Thousands of people, including protesters, journalists, lawyers, athletes, and artists have been arrested and at least 500 people have been killed in Iran's brutal crackdown on the protests.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

The United States wants to force a gradual shift in Iran’s “decision-making calculus” by signing a defense deal with Saudi Arabia and securing the normalization of relations between Riyadh and Israel.

“We continue to work with allies and partners to enhance their capabilities to deter and counter the threats Iran poses, impose costs on Iran for its actions, and seek to shift Iran’s decision-making calculus over time,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson told RFE/RL.

The security package has several components, including a bilateral U.S.-Saudi defense pact aimed at enhancing the Sunni kingdom’s deterrence capabilities. But Washington is adamant that regardless of how close the Americans and the Saudis are to a bilateral agreement, the security package cannot materialize without Saudi-Israeli normalization.

Saudi Arabia has conditioned the normalization of ties with Israel on the establishment of a cease-fire in Gaza and a credible pathway to Palestinian statehood.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden sees a three-way deal key to ensuring a sustainable peace in the Middle East, which includes isolating Iran and making it costly for the Islamic republic to maintain its current regional policies.

“Iran’s isolation in the region and in the international community is a result of its own policies,” the spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement to RFE/RL.

A calculus shift will “definitely” happen, but not in the way that the United States wants, according to Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

“Any sort of coalition-building would result in Iran going for counter-coalitions,” he added.

But analysts maintain that for Saudi Arabia, isolating Iran is not the core objective of a security pact with the United States.

The Saudis see normalizing relations with Israel as a strategic leverage to help them extract substantial security commitments from Washington, “thereby balancing against Iranian influence without overtly antagonizing Tehran," Azizi said.

Meanwhile, securing a path toward Palestinian statehood could help Saudi Arabia assert its leadership within the Muslim world and effectively end the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Iran has long opposed Arab normalization with Israel and is a staunch critic of the Abraham Accords, which saw Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) establish diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020.

On May 1, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei implicitly criticized Saudi Arabia for looking to normalize relations with Israel in the hopes of resolving the Palestinian question.

Anna Jacobs, a senior Gulf analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, argued that the U.A.E. model of balancing relations with Iran and Israel suggests that Saudi Arabia can do the same.

“Riyadh seems confident that normalization with Israel wouldn’t have a major impact on its relationship with Tehran,” she said. “The Saudi strategy with Iran right now is both containment and engagement.”

A senior Iranian official has issued a stark warning that Tehran might change its nuclear doctrine and begin to build nuclear bombs if the nation's existence is threatened.

Kamal Kharrazi, head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations and senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in an interview aired on Al-Jazeera Arabic that Iran "has the capacity to produce a bomb," though the country has not taken the actual step of making one.

"Two years ago in an interview with Al-Jazeera, I announced that Iran has the capacity to produce a nuclear bomb. That capacity still exists today, but we have no intention of producing a nuclear bomb. However, if the existence of Iran is threatened, we will have to change our nuclear doctrine," he said.

SEE ALSO:

Iran Has Strong Options For Retaliation Against Israel, Including Going Nuclear

The comments come at a time of escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, further complicated by the international community's concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions. The Islamic republic has repeatedly claimed that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, despite possessing the technical capabilities for weaponization.

A nuclear deal in 2015 lifted U.S. sanctions against Tehran, but in 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump left the agreement and Washington has since ratcheted up measures against Iran that have choked the country's economy.

Efforts to revive the deal have failed, and Tehran has violated terms of the pact by producing uranium with a higher enrichment threshold.

In March, Bloomberg News quoted a senior U.S. Defense Department official as saying Iran was less than 12 days away from obtaining the fissile material necessary to produce an atomic bomb.

The threat of a shift in doctrine follows an incident last month when Israel is said to have targeted a radar system at a base near the city of Isfahan.

The attack followed an incident on April 13, when Iran retaliated against an Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus that claimed the lives of seven senior officers from the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles at Israel, though almost all failed to hit targets inside Israel.

After Khamenei issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, against nuclear weapons in 2005, officials were adamant that Tehran’s nuclear program was strictly for civilian purposes. But the rhetoric has shifted in recent years.

In the interview, Kharrazi also made reference to potential reactions to any attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

"If they want to strike at Iran's nuclear capabilities, it could naturally lead to a change in Iran's nuclear doctrine," he said.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned earlier this month that Iran is only weeks away from having enough enriched uranium to produce a nuclear bomb. Grossi has criticized Tehran’s cooperation with the agency as "unacceptable" and called for a significant shift in Iran's nuclear policy.

Kharrazi also hinted at the possibility of Iran withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and potentially moving toward developing nuclear weapons. Iran had previously warned it would leave the NPT if its regime felt threatened.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Russian border guards will withdraw from a number of regions of Armenia but will continue to be deployed on the Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Iranian border following an agreement between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The announcement by the Kremlin on May 9 marks a new step in Yerevan distancing itself from traditional ally Russia following accusations by Armenia that the Russian peacekeepers deployed in and around the region of Nagorno-Karabakh after a bloody war with Azerbaijan in 2020 did not do enough to stop a lightning offensive launched by Baku in September.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the move was discussed and agreed upon at Pashinian's request during talks between the two leaders in Moscow on May 8.

"In the autumn 2020, at the request of the Armenian side, our troops were deployed to a number of Armenian regions. Pashinian said that currently, due to changed conditions, they are no longer needed, so President Putin agreed and the withdrawal of our military and border guards was agreed," Peskov said.

According to the agreement, the Russian border guards and military points located in Tavush, Syunik, Vayots Dzor, Gegharkunik, and Ararat will end their deployment and withdraw from those points.

Some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have already withdrawn from the Nagorno-Karabakh area that had been for three decades under ethnic Armenian control.

Armenian authorities have accused Russian peacekeepers deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after the 2020 war of failing to stop Azerbaijan’s new offensive in September.

Russia has rejected the accusations, arguing that its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene and charging that Pashinian had effectively paved the way for the collapse of separatist rule in Nagorno-Karabakh by previously acknowledging Azerbaijan's sovereignty over it.

Armenia has also asked Moscow to withdraw the Russian border guards that had been deployed at Yerevan's main airport starting from August 1.

In March, Pashinian said in an interview with the France 24 television channel that his country had also frozen its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

The CSTO has been at the heart of Armenia's turn away from Moscow, with Pashinian's government having long criticized the Russia-led security grouping for its “failure to respond to the security challenges” facing Armenia.

Pashinian declined to attend a CSTO summit in Minsk in November and said in a televised Q&A session then that any decision about Yerevan’s continued membership in the grouping -- which includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan -- would be based on Armenia's "own state interests."

Iran’s judiciary has sentenced filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof to flogging and eight years in prison. His lawyer, Babak Paknia, said in a social media post on May 8 that his client will only be required to serve five years in prison but was also fined and had his property confiscated. He was convicted of "collusion against national security," Paknia said. Western rights advocates and film-industry groups have condemned Iran’s actions against Rasoulof and demanded his release. Rasoulof's film titled The Seed Of The Sacred Fig is scheduled to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival this month. Rasoulof won the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize in 2020 for his film There Is No Evil, which tells four stories loosely connected to the themes of the death penalty in Iran and personal freedoms under oppression.

Imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has slammed the country’s Islamist government for holding almost two dozen women over the age of 60 incarcerated for “political” offenses.

Mohammadi, who is currently among 69 women held in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, published a statement on Instagram highlighting the determination of older women trapped in Iran’s prison system, saying it shows their "will for liberation, as well as the cruelty and wickedness of the Islamic republic."

"The presence of these women in the ranks of those who are prepared to pay the heaviest prices indicates a widespread uprising among women for democracy, freedom, and equality, as well as the intensity of societal rebellion against discrimination, oppression, and domination," Mohammadi said, noting that "among the 69 female political prisoners in Evin, 21 are over 60 years old."

Mohammadi was sentenced in May 2016 to 16 years in prison after she established a human rights movement that campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty.

She was released in 2020 but sent back to prison in 2021. In January 2024, an Iranian court extended the 51-year-old Mohammadi's prison sentence by 15 months for “spreading propaganda” against the Islamic republic while in jail.

SEE ALSO:

In Or Out Of Jail, Veteran Iranian Human Rights Defender Narges Mohammadi Won't Be Silenced

It was her fifth conviction since March 2021 and the third for activities from prison.

While underscoring the harsh realities faced by activists who continue to stand against authoritarian rule, Mohammadi expressed hope in her Instagram post that their resilience will eventually win out over the “tyranny” of the regime.

"It is evident that the presence of mothers and women spending their sixth and seventh decades in prison reflects the regime's brutality, misanthropy, and ferocity, which is increasingly despised as it turns a blind eye to morals, societal values, and humanity in order to maintain its fragile power," she said.

Mohammadi was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Hungarian Jewish organizations and the Israeli Embassy have condemned a public university for having invited Iran's populist former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to an event this week. The Budapest-based Ludovika University of Public Service invited the controversial politician -- who has said Israel is doomed to be "wiped off the map" and that the Holocaust was a "myth" -- to an academic meeting. Two Hungarian Jewish congregations, together with a Jewish advocacy group, were the latest to protest the visit of "openly anti-Semitic" Ahmadinejad in a joint statement on May 8. Ludovika University of Public Service did not respond to the AFP news agency's request for comment. The government has also not yet responded. To read the original story by AFP, click here.

Iran says it has expelled some 1.3 million foreigners over the past year, highlighting a significant crackdown by the government on unauthorized migrants, primarily Afghan refugees.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told a press briefing that the efforts to regulate foreign nationals needs to be bolstered with legislative reforms to tighten border controls and prevent any future influx of unauthorized migrants.

"To stop unauthorized nationals from entering Iran, it is necessary to amend the relevant laws in parliament," Vahidi said in an indication the government doesn’t plan to heed calls from human rights groups to ensure a fair immigration policy.

Vahidi added that "effective” laws must be enacted to deal with expelled individuals who have managed to re-enter Iran after being deported. He did not elaborate.

Iranian officials typically use the term "unauthorized nationals" to refer to Afghan refugees and Vahidi’s statement is seen as an indication that the government plans to continue with its efforts to deport those who have fled the Taliban regime.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, Iran currently hosts around 3.4 million foreign refugees, with Afghans comprising the largest single group. The agency requested $114 million in aid for Iran last year to support refugee management, of which Tehran had received over $26 million by mid-2023.

This year, the refugee agency has sought $110 million in aid for Iran, with commitments from several countries, including Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, and Germany, to cover part of the sum.

Iran ranks alongside Turkey as one of the top host countries for refugees globally. The issue of Afghan migration has regained prominence following the Taliban's return to power in August 2021, leading to an increase in the number of refugees seeking safety outside their home country.

Recent government estimates suggest significant discrepancies in the number of unauthorized Afghan nationals in Iran, with figures ranging from 500,000 to 1.2 million, according to last year's assessment by the head of the National Immigration Organization.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on May 7 that cooperation from Iran at present was "completely unsatisfactory" after returning from Tehran, where he urged the country to adopt "concrete" measures to address concerns on its nuclear program. "We have to be moving on.... The present state is completely unsatisfactory for me. We are almost at an impasse...and this needs to be changed," the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told reporters at the Vienna airport.

Iran has fined and shut down scores of businesses for allegedly flouting the country’s controversial hijab law in recent years.

Among them were pharmacies accused of failing to impose the Islamic head scarf on their female staff and customers.

Now, in their latest attempt to encourage compliance, the authorities have said that pharmacies could receive reduced drug quotas if they do not adhere to the hijab requirement.

A new directive issued by the Health Ministry on May 5 directly links a pharmacy’s compliance with the hijab law to its allocation of medicine. A chronic drug shortage has forced the authorities to allocate medicine among thousands of pharmacies across the country.

The move has been widely mocked in Iran, where some have criticized the clerical establishment for politicizing people's access to medicine.

'Deterrent Measures'

Heydar Mohammadi, head of Iran’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said on May 5 that pharmacies are obliged to ensure “proper attire” is observed on their premises.

“Compliance with [dress] norms is among the issues that play a role in pharmacies’ quotas,” said Mohammadi, a deputy health minister, during a public forum in the capital, Tehran.

The exact details of the directive are unclear. But Mohammadi said reduced quotas are among the “deterrent measures” used to ensure pharmacies followed the hijab law.

“If those measures do not work, violators will be prosecuted,” he added.

In an apparent attempt at damage control, the FDA in a May 6 statement accused the media of misrepresenting the deputy health minister’s comments. It added that the issue of attire pertained to the “professional outfits” worn by the pharmacies’ staff.

An FDA official, who spoke to RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said there were “too many” pharmacies in the country and the Health Ministry was struggling to distribute enough medicine to them.

'Entirely Illegal'

The FDA’s statement has done little to stem the tide of criticism.

U.S.-based legal analyst Pegah Banihashemi said the decision to link pharmacies’ drug quotas to compliance with the hijab law “is entirely illegal” and a violation of people’s rights.

“Patients who need to procure medicine will become victims of an illegal action by the Health Ministry,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Sadra Mohaqeq, a pro-reformist journalist, accused the authorities of taking people’s health “hostage.”

Hamed Bidi, head of Karzar Net, an online petition website, said the measure amounts to a “crime against humanity.”

Tehran-based activist Reza Saliani posted on X an imaginary conversation between a customer and a pharmacist, who said that he does not have a particular drug because “we don’t have enough hijabs to afford it.”

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Iran's 'Ambassadors Of Kindness' Enforce Hijab In New Head Scarf Crackdown

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Hijab Crackdown

The authorities have intensified their enforcement of the hijab since monthslong nationwide antiestablishment protests rocked the country in 2022.

The unprecedented demonstrations were triggered by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was accused of improperly wearing her head scarf. During the protests, women and girls removed and burned their hijabs.

As an increasing number of women flout the hijab rules, officials have threatened violators with hefty fines and imprisonment.

The authorities have also shut down scores of businesses, including retail stores, restaurants, and pharmacies, for failure to comply with the hijab law.

Last month, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) established a new unit in Tehran to enforce Islamic dress codes amid a fresh crackdown on women not wearing the head scarf.

Kianush Farid of RFE/RL’s Radio Farda contributed to this report.

Iran's cyberpolice are launching a plan to combat "moral and social crimes that violate Islamic, social, and cultural norms in cyberspace," in another sign of the curbing of freedoms by authorities following a renewed crackdown on the wearing of head scarves and the blocking of several social media sites.

According to the semiofficial ISNA news agency, cyberpolice chief Vahid Majid outlined the new measures targeting online activities, including "obscene live streaming, vulgar content production, and modeling."

"In a proactive strategy, we have identified and taken legal and operational actions against the operators, managers, and members of 10 active cybersites," Majid added.

The cyberpolice recently blocked several popular social media pages -- including Instagram, as well as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Telegram, and WhatsApp -- while the judiciary has pursued cases involving social media commentary, summoning individuals and pressing charges for various offenses.

At the same time, the Islamic republic's authorities have resumed the deployment of the morality police on Iran's streets, aggressively targeting citizens, particularly women, in an effort to enforce strict dress codes.

This has led to the documentation by activists and victims of what they say are several incidents of violence against women challenging the compulsory hijab.

It has also led to widespread usage of the Internet by social network users and civil activists to complain about the situation.

A recent survey by ISPA, the Student Opinion Polling Center of Iran, revealed that a significant portion of the population continues to access the blocked platforms, with 46.5 percent using Instagram, 35.3 percent on WhatsApp, and 34.6 percent on Telegram as of February 2024.

The hijab became compulsory for women and girls over the age of 9 in 1981, two years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, triggering protests that were swiftly crushed by the new authorities.

Many women have flouted the rule over the years and pushed the boundaries of what officials say is acceptable clothing.

UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi arrived in Iran on May 6, where he is expected to speak at a conference and meet officials for talks on Tehran's nuclear program. The visit comes at a time of heightened regional tensions and with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) criticizing Iran for lack of cooperation on inspections and other outstanding issues. Grossi is scheduled to meet Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, as well as the Islamic republic's nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami.

A court in the central Iranian city of Isfahan has sentenced Mahmud Mehrabi to death for posting messages on social media critical of the Islamic republic.

There is scant reporting about the details of his critical posts, which led to him being convicted of “corruption on Earth” -- the most serious offense under Iran’s Islamic penal code.

Mehrabi’s lawyer, Babak Farsani, wrote on social media on May 5 that there were “serious problems” with the verdict that he hoped would help get it overturned by the Supreme Court.

Mehrabi was arrested in February 2023 and has spent the last six months in a prison ward where dangerous criminals are held, according to his sister Hajar Mehrabi, who lives in Austria.

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Special Report: The Protests That Shook Iran's Clerical System

She told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on May 5 that her brother was among the tens of thousands of people who protested during the Women, Life, Freedom unrest in 2022. The protests were sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, who had been detained for allegedly not properly observing Iran’s strict dress code for women.

Mehrabi put out calls for protests on his social media account and was accused of “spreading false news,” his sister said.

“The judge told him, ‘I don’t see regret in your eyes, so I have sentenced you to death’,” she added.

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The “corruption on Earth” charge is usually brought against serious crimes, such as murder, drug dealing, and high-profile financial corruption cases. It remains unclear exactly what Mehrabi posted online to be hit with a charge that carries the death penalty.

Maryam Mehrabi, another sister who resides in Iran, has urged the public to gather outside the home of Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Nasseri on May 6 to protest the verdict. Nasseri is a prominent cleric in Isfahan who teaches in the city’s seminary.

She vowed to set herself on fire outside Nasseri’s residence.

This comes just over a week after another court in Isfahan sentenced popular rapper Toomaj Salehi to death for his antiestablishment songs.

Rights groups have sharply criticized Iranian authorities for their extensive use of the death penalty.

"The Iranian authorities are ruthlessly carrying out an execution spree. Prisons across the country have become sites of mass state-sanctioned killings under the guise of judicial executions," Amnesty International said recently.

Written by Kian Sharifi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda

Iran's judiciary has filed charges against several journalists and media activists who disseminated a BBC World Service report concerning the alleged "sexual abuse and murder" of protester Nika Shakarami during the 2022 protests.

The BBC report, released on April 29, cited a "highly confidential" government document that allegedly names those responsible for Shakarami's death and senior commanders involved in a subsequent cover-up.

The report, which claimed that Shakarami was abused and killed after being detained by security forces, was dismissed by the judiciary's media center as "fake, incorrect, and error-ridden." The center accused the individuals involved of publishing "false, insulting, and anti-regime propaganda" on the Internet.

SEE ALSO:

Special Report: The Protests That Shook Iran's Clerical System

"The media individuals have been summoned to the Tehran Prosecutor's Office as part of our legal duty to counter disruptors of societal psychological security," a spokesperson for the judiciary's media center said.

Activists say the report is further evidence of the repressive nature of the regime against protesters, particularly those involved in the Women, Life, Freedom movement.

In a response to the government's narrative, Fateme Heidari, the sister of Javad Heidari, another 2022 protest victim, said she spoke with Nika's mother, who told her: "'It's raining here now, Fateme, and it feels like all the sorrows of the world are raining down on me; Nika loved the rain...'"

Hamed Esmaeilion, an activist and member of a family seeking justice for the downing of a Ukrainian plane in 2020, said the BBC report “brutally revealed the murder case of Nika Shakarami,” which “has shaken all Iranians.”

"In the painful narrative of this unforgivable crime, what remains in our hearts is the unforgettable resilience of Iran's brave daughter, Nika Shakarami, facing her killers and oppressors," Esmaeilion said.

“This report has not only shone a light on the alleged abuses but also highlighted the dangers faced by journalists and activists in Iran, who risk severe repercussions for reporting on sensitive issues.

“The global response underscores the ongoing international concern regarding Iran's human rights record, particularly during times of civil unrest.”

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled former crown prince of Iran, said the perpetrators of the “crime against Nika Shakarami, and the main person responsible, [Supreme Leader Ayatollah] Ali Khamenei, will be brought to justice."

Shakarami went missing during protests in September 2022 in Tehran over the death of Mahsa Amini, who died while in police custody for allegedly wearing her head scarf improperly.

In her last communication with her friends, Shakarami said she was being chased by security forces.

Eight days later, Nika's body was returned to her family. The government said she had committed suicide.

Both deaths brought up accusations of a government cover-up.

Authorities have said she fell into a coma soon after her arrest because of health problems. But her family says she was in good health, while eyewitnesses said the 22-year-old was beaten while she was being detained.

Public anger at Amini's death has been widely seen as one of the biggest threats to Iran's clerical establishment since the foundation of the Islamic republic in 1979.

At least 500 people have been killed around the country since authorities began a crackdown on her supporters, with thousands more detained or harassed.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Teachers across Iran have rallied in support of reforms in the education sector and for an end to what they describe as discriminatory and oppressive treatment by authorities.

The Iranian Teachers' Union's Coordination Council reported that security forces detained four participants during the protests in Tehran, with one teacher, Mehdi Farahi Shandiz, still being held in custody. The council condemned the arrests, stating that "those detained were subjected to violence by security forces during the peaceful demonstrations."

The nationwide protests highlighted several grievances, including demands for "the immediate release of all imprisoned educators, provision of free education for all, and the abolition of gender discrimination in educational policies," according to a council resolution.

The teachers called out the Islamic republic’s government, claiming it "opts to suppress and threaten proactive teachers rather than combat embezzlers and the corrupt, subjecting them to measures such as exile, dismissal, and imprisonment."

Teachers have in recent years taken to the streets on several occasions to protest against their working conditions and to demand higher wages. They have also called on the government to speed up the implementation of reforms that would see their salaries better reflect their experience and performance.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that just ahead of the protests, 17 teachers were summoned and interrogated by the intelligence services in Sanandaj, indicating a continued pattern of pressure and scrutiny on educational professionals in Iran.

Unrest -- including months of protests by workers -- has rattled Iran in recent years in response to declining living standards, wage arrears, and a lack of welfare support.

Labor Ministry data shows Iran's poverty rate doubled in 2021, with one-third of the population living in "extreme poverty." Since then, conditions have failed to improve.

In September 2023, Iran's Misery Index, calculated by the Iranian Statistics Center, rose to 60.4 -- its highest point ever and more than double what it was six years ago. The higher the rating, the worse off people feel.

Labor laws in Iran do not recognize the right of workers to form independent unions.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

An Iranian warship equipped with drones and missiles has crossed the equator into the Southern Hemisphere, Iran's IRIB state radio reported on May 4. The report did not reveal the exact location of the Shahid Mahdavi, a converted container ship operated by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that was unveiled more than a year ago. This is reportedly the first time that the IRGC has sent a warship on a long-range mission. Iranian forces in February test-launched medium-range missiles capable of reaching targets at a distance of around 1,700 kilometers for the first time.

Iran is one of the most sanctioned countries in the world. But restrictions imposed by the United States have largely failed to stymie Iran's oil exports, the backbone of its flailing economy.

U.S. sanctions have cut off Iran from most of its traditional customers, forcing Tehran to find new buyers and sell its oil at discounted prices.

But China’s willingness to buy record amounts of Iranian oil, Tehran's mastery of sanctions-evading tactics, and Washington's reluctance to strictly enforce sanctions have made U.S. measures against Iran’s energy exports ineffective, analysts say.

'Dark' Fleet Of Tankers

The lifting of U.S. sanctions as part of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers allowed Iran to sell its oil to customers in Europe and East Asia. Oil exports reached a peak in 2018.

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Iranian Economy Buoyed By 'Dark Fleet' Oil Shipments To China

But exports plummeted after then-President Donald Trump reneged on the nuclear agreement later that year.

Iran has boosted its sales in recent years by circumventing sanctions, including using its "dark fleet" of tankers to illegally transport oil shipments to China.

The tactic involves ship-to-ship operations to offload the oil, middlemen, hidden money transfers, and rebranding the oil to mask its Iranian origin and make it appear to come from a third country.

"Iran is continuously developing and expanding not just the network of middlemen and trading companies involved in the sale of its oil, but also its own fleet of tankers that it predominantly uses to move its crude," said Nader Itayim, the Middle East editor at the U.K.-based Argus Media.

Chinese Appetite

Growing demand for Iranian oil in China has been key to the surge in Iran's oil sales.

Ship tracking data collected by Argus shows Iran’s oil exports currently hovering at 1.5 million barrels per day, with around 85 to 90 percent going to China.

Tehran gives China a steep discount to take its banned oil, taking up to 15 percent off the price of each barrel to make it worthwhile for Beijing to take on the liability of skirting sanctions.

The discounts have raised questions about the long-term profitability of Iran’s business with China. But experts said that Tehran still stands to gain.

"Even at heavy discounts, selling Iranian oil is extremely profitable and sustainable," said Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University. "That’s because the marginal cost of production in Iran is roughly $15 or less per barrel."

Gregory Brew, an Iran and energy analyst at the U.S.-based Eurasia Group, says U.S. sanctions were once effective at blocking oil exports to China, but that is no longer the case.

"China's rising stature as a new global power lends it greater freedom to defy U.S. sanctions," Brew said.

Reluctance To Enforce Sanctions

Some analysts said Washington has been reluctant to strictly enforce sanctions, while others maintain that sanctions in general have failed.

Resources are required to enforce restrictions while new sectors would need to be sanctioned to keep up the pressure, according to Itayim of Argus Media.

"Otherwise, the target finds ways to evade the sanctions, while at the same time the buyer becomes more complacent as it sees enforcement waning. In the case of Iran and China, I think we have seen a bit of both," Itayim said.

Analysts also argue that Washington is reluctant to strictly enforce sanctions due to the risks associated with forcing Iranian oil off the world market.

"Apart from the impact such action would have on the price of oil, which carries political and economic importance to [U.S. President Joe] Biden in an election year, aggressive enforcement would provoke both Iran and China, at a time when the United States is trying to manage escalatory risk both in the Middle East and East Asia," Brew said.

The lax enforcement of oil sanctions also extends to Venezuela and Russia, Itayim says, noting that it "has been key to keeping a lid" on oil prices.

U.S. Congress last month passed a security package that included the Iran-China Energy Sanctions Act, giving the government the authority to further restrict Iran's oil exports.

But experts are not convinced that more sanctions will have an impact.

Hanke said any new measures "will join the long list of failed Western sanctions" on the Islamic republic.

"Sanctions are always subject to workarounds that render the enforcement of sanctions futile," he added.

Tehran has imposed a round of sanctions on a group of American and British companies and individuals, including British Defense Minister Grant Shapps, over their support for Israel in its war in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement on May 2, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said British officials and entities were sanctioned because of the United Kingdom’s “deliberate support” for Israel, including “committing terrorist acts” that threatened regional peace.

The sanctions also target several military officials, including Simon Cloke, commander of Royal Air Force Akrotiri, a British air base in Cyprus used by RAF fighter jets to target the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels in Yemen.

In a separate tranche of sanctions, Iran targeted U.S.-based arms manufacturers and senior members of hawkish think tanks for their support of Israel.

Sanction targets include Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, as well as the energy company Chevron.

Among the individuals sanctioned by Iran is Brad Cooper, who is identified as the commander of the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet in the Middle East. Cooper turned over command of the Fifth Fleet to George Wikoff on February 1.

The targets of the sanctions will have their bank accounts in Iran frozen and will not be issued visas to enter Iranian territory.

While the impact of these measures remains unclear, they appear to be largely symbolic.

U.S. and U.K. fighter jets targeted Huthi positions several times earlier this year in response to the Yemeni rebels targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Huthis pledged to continue their attacks unless there was a ceasefire was reached in Gaza.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive in October 2023 in retaliation for a surprise attack on Israeli settlements led by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

Nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Hamas-led attack. The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip says more than 34,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive.

A surge of labor unrest, buffeted by widespread protests over sharp cuts to fuel quotas for truck drivers, has swept across Iran as economic hardship and poor living standards wrack the country’s workforce.

Several cities and provinces have seen large-scale protests by truck drivers in recent days ahead of the May 1 international labor day holiday, as they vent their anger of a cut in monthly fuel allocations from 3,000 liters to just 500 liters.

The reduction in fuel quotas has increased costs for operators, in turn raising the prices of goods and services for the broader population.

The protests have coincided with other protests by retired workers and in various industrial sectors across the country, which is reeling from the bite of economic sanctions on the economy over Tehran’s nuclear program.

In Arak, retired workers voiced their discontent against what they perceive as government mismanagement of the economy, while workers from Pars Paper Mill in Haft Tappeh and retirees in Shush rallied against local officials, demanding accountability and improved living conditions.

Local authorities in several regions, including Dashtyari, have reportedly ignored the protests, leading to increased frustration among the demonstrators.

According to the Free Union of Iranian Workers, the local governor in Dashtyari left his office without engaging with the protesters, exacerbating tensions.

In an attempt to quell dissent ahead of International Workers Day, several labor and social activists in Sanandaj were summoned and interrogated by local intelligence services, rights groups said.

Unrest -- including months of protests by workers -- has rattled Iran in recent years in response to declining living standards, wage arrears, and a lack of welfare support.

Labor Ministry data show Iran's poverty rate doubled in 2021, with one-third of the population living in "extreme poverty." Since then, conditions have failed to improve.

In September 2023, Iran's Misery Index, calculated by the Iranian Statistics Center, rose to 60.4 -- its highest point ever and more than double what it was six years ago. The higher the rating, the worse off people feel.

Labor laws in Iran do not recognize the right of workers to form independent unions.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda