Aug. 11 – The UK’s envoy to Iran, Simon Shercliff, called on Iranian officials to release all arbitrarily detained people, including journalists in the country this week.
The comment was posted on Shercliff’s X account, to mark Iran’s “Day of the Journalist” on August 8th.
Iran’s foreign ministry summoned Shercliff over the post, which was called meddling by a state-affiliated news agency in the Islamic Republic. Iran’s government has been repeatedly condemned by state leaders for arbitrary detentions of its citizens, and dual nationals.
The Taliban may have sent hundreds of suicide bombers to the Iran-Afghanistan border over a water dispute between the two countries, according to an unnamed source who spoke to Time magazine.
The disagreement, which has led to violent outbursts on the border in recent months, stems from a disagreement about terms in a water supply contract signed by the two countries.
Water shortages caused by climate change have raised tensions between Iran and the Taliban, with Iran claiming the de facto government in Afghanistan has breached the agreement, and shunned opportunities for diplomacy.
And Iran’s security agencies were accused of warning individuals against taking part in planned protests to mark the one year anniversary of the death of Kurdish-Iranian Jina Mahsa Amini.
Officials from Iran’s intelligence ministry and the Revolutionary Guards contacted individuals who had been arrested during anti-government protests asking them to sign pledges not to demonstrate, according to a report by news outlet Iran International.
The outlet also claimed that pressure had been placed on families of those killed during the protests and the lawyers representing them.
