Canada Cancels Football Match with Iran Under Pressure From Plane Downing Victims’ Families
By Ahmad Rafat
A recent campaign by the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims forced the Canadian Football Federation to cancel a preparatory match for the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup...
INTERVIEW: Israeli-Iranian Singer Liraz Charhi to Debut Her Album “Zan” In London Concert
By Ahmad Rafat
Liraz Charhi, a 31-year-old Israeli Singer of Iranian descent, will debut her album Zan (“Woman”) at a concert on May 19 in London.
Born in Ramla, Israel, into a Persian Jewish family, she...
ANALYSIS: Iran Nuclear Talks May Soon Resume
By Ahmad Rafat
Enrique Mora, the European Union’s chief negotiator in the Vienna talks to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — the Iran nuclear deal — traveled to Tehran on May...
Iranian Official Stands Trial In a Court in Sweden
By Ahmad Rafat (in Stockholm)
May 4 marked a remarkable day in the Iranian nation’s historic quest for justice when a court in Stockholm concluded trial proceedings for an Iranian national, Hamid Nouri, accused of...
Remembering Iranian Novelist Parviz Ghazi Saeed, Creator of “Detective Lawson”
By Ahmad Rafat
Parviz Ghazi Saeed, a celebrated pre-Revolution fiction writer, died on April 21 in San Jose, California, aged 83. His family said Mr. Saeed, who was a political commentator for Persian-language media in...
ANALYSIS: IRGC Is Main Obstacle in Talks to Revive Iran Nuclear Deal
By Ahmad Rafat
In the past few weeks, there have been intense discussions on whether the U.S. should remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) in the...
ANALYSIS: Russia Is Mastermind of Rocket Attacks on Iraqi Kurdistan
By Ahmad Rafat
The Islamic Republic’s regional adventurism and meddling in Iraqi affairs continue.
On March 13, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) reportedly launched multiple Fateh-10 ballistic missiles from Iran’s northwestern province of East Azerbaijan...
ANALYSIS: Iran Starts the New Year With Women’s Protests
By Ahmad Rafat
The Iranian New Year, 1401, started on March 21 with nationwide protests by women. Iranian women, who have been victims of systematic and legally sanctioned discrimination under the Islamic Republic for the...
ANALYSIS: Iran Nuclear Talks Are Deadlocked Again
By Ahmad Rafat
Negotiations in Vienna to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iran nuclear deal, have reached an impasse once again. Despite the optimism expressed by several parties involved in...
ANALYSIS: How Hostage Taking Is An Integral Part of Iran’s Foreign Policy
By Ahmad Rafat
Holding foreign nationals and Iranians with dual citizenship hostage, and demanding money or a prisoner swap for their freedom, has been an integral part of the Islamic Republic’s transactional foreign policy since...