Aug. 6 – Hardline cleric, Ebrahim Raisi, was sworn in as Iran’s president on Thursday, following heightened tensions in the country and abroad.
Raisi will serve as Iran’s president for four years, following a victory at the polls which analysts say recorded one of the lowest voter turnouts in recent history.
The new president is currently sanctioned by the US for human rights violations while working as a judge, and has promised to lift US sanctions on the Islamic Republic and boost relationships with neighboring countries.
Britain asked the United Nations Security Council to discuss a tanker attack off the coast of Oman which led to the death of a British national on July 29.
The UK government said it was “highly likely” the attack was carried out by Iran, calling the incident “deliberate, and targeted” and in “clear violation of international law.”
The attack, which included the hijacking of the ship, is believed to have been enabled by drones, which have been increasingly used by the Iranian government in recent months.
And the execution of a man in secret following his arrest when he was 15 for stabbing a man after he had allegedly tried to rape him, was condemned by Amnesty International on Wednesday.
Amnesty said the covert execution was part of an “alarming pattern” by Iranian authorities to minimize public and private interventions to save people’s lives, and that it demonstrated the “utter cruelty of their juvenile justice system.”
