Iran - The African Mirror

Jan

2024

Iran arrests suspects over bomb blasts, mourners demand revenge – state TV

MOURNERS wept over the coffins of victims of two deadly blasts in Iran, and the interior minister said a number of suspects had been arrested over the attacks claimed by Islamic State. Crowds chanted "revenge, revenge" in state TV footage of the funerals in the city of Kerman, the scene of Wednesday's explosions, the bloodiest such attacks in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Nearly 100 people were killed in the blasts at a memorial service for military commander General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in Iraq in 2020 by a U.S. drone. The explosions took place amid a tense…

Dec

2023

By The African Mirror

Iran executes four accused of sabotage, links to Israel’s Mossad

WORLD

IRAN executed four people, including a woman, whom it accused of being "saboteurs" with links to Israel's Mossad intelligence service, the Mizan news agency affiliated to the judiciary said. The executions took to five the number of people put to death this month in a decades-long shadow war that has seen Iran accuse Israel of attacks on its nuclear effort, charges the latter has never confirmed or denied. "Four members of a sabotage team associated with the Zionist regime ... were executed this morning following legal procedures," the news agency said, accusing them of "extensive" actions, guided by Mossad officers,…

Sep

2023

By The African Mirror

Iran says it defused 30 bombs in Tehran, detained 28 people, Tasnim reports

WORLD

AUTHORITIES in Iran have neutralised 30 bombs meant to go off simultaneously in Tehran and detained 28 terrorists linked to Islamic State, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday, citing the intelligence ministry. "Some of the members are of Islamic State (IS) and the perpetrators have a history of being affiliated with Takfiri groups in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Kurdistan region of Iraq," Iran's intelligence ministry added in a statement. The militant group has claimed several attacks in Iran, including deadly twin bombings in 2017 that targeted Iran's parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. More…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seize commercial ship in Gulf – U.S. Navy

WORLD

IRAN'S Revolutionary Guards "forcibly seized" a commercial ship in international waters in the Gulf and the vessel was possibly involved in smuggling, a U.S. Navy spokesperson said. The U.S. Navy had monitored the situation and decided not to make any further response, U.S. 5th Fleet spokesperson Commander Tim Hawkins said. British maritime security company Ambrey said it was aware of an attempted seizure by Iranian forces of a small Tanzanian-flagged tanker, around 59 nautical miles northeast of the Saudi Arabian port city of Dammam. "Iran regularly intercepts smaller tankers it suspects of smuggling oil," the company added in a note.…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Iran holds off sending ambassador to Sweden in protest over Koran incident

WORLD

IRAN will refrain from sending a new ambassador to Sweden in protest over the burning of a Koran outside a mosque in Stockholm, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said. A man tore up and burned a Koran outside Stockholm's central mosque on Wednesday, the first day of the Muslim Eid al Adha holidays. Swedish police charged the man who burned the holy book with agitation against an ethnic or national group. In a newspaper interview, he described himself as an Iraqi refugee seeking to ban it. Iran's foreign ministry summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires on Thursday to condemn what it said was an…

Jun

2023

By ARIBA SHAHID and ASIF SHAHZAD

Pakistan outlines process for barter trade with Afghanistan, Iran, Russia

WORLD

PAKISTAN has passed a special order to allow barter trade with Afghanistan, Iran and Russia for certain goods, including petroleum and natural gas, the Ministry of Commerce said. Left with barely enough foreign exchange reserves to cover one month's imports, Pakistan's government is desperately trying to manage a balance of payments crisis and bring inflation under control after it hit a record of nearly 38% last month. The government order called the Business-to-business (B2B) Barter Trade Mechanism 2023 and dated June 1, lists goods that can be bartered. State and privately owned entities would need approval to participate in the…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Ukraine’s Zelenskiy to Iran: Why support Russia and terror?

WORLD

UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Iranians to reconsider the supply of deadly drones to Russia in order to stop their slide into "the dark side of history." Iranian-made Shahed drones supplied to Moscow have played a major role in Russia's attacks on cities and infrastructure, though Zelenskiy said Kyiv's air defences were now skilled at downing them - about 900 of 1,160 aimed at Ukrainian targets. "The simple question is this: what is your interest in being an accomplice to Russian terror?" Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. "What is the benefit to Iran of such cynical killing? By…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Iran says it executes leader of women trafficking network

WORLD

IRAN'S judiciary said that it had executed the head of a network that trafficked Iranian women to neighbouring countries for prostitution. It said Shahrooz Sokhanvari, a man known as "Alex”, was the leader of an “escort and trafficking network of Iranian women and girls to some countries in the region”, the judiciary's Mizan news agency reported. It said Sokhanvari was executed on Saturday morning "for the crime of human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution”. Iranian media reported in 2020 that "Alex" had been detained in Malaysia in coordination with Interpol and brought to Iran. He was sentenced to death…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Iran hangs two men for blasphemy

WORLD

IRAN has executed two people who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy, the judiciary's news website Mizan reported, drawing an angry reaction from the human rights group Amnesty International. Yousef Mehrdad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare were executed for crimes including blasphemy, insulting the religion of Islam, the prophet and other sanctities, Mizan reported. The website reported that the two were running dozens of online anti-religion platforms dedicated to the hatred of Islam, the promotion of atheism and insults to sanctity. Amnesty International condemned the executions on its Twitter page for Iran. "Today's execution of Yousef Mehrdad and Sadrollah Fazeli…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

Iran seizes oil tanker in Gulf, U.S. Navy says

WORLD

IRAN seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman in international waters, the U.S. Navy said, the latest in a series of seizures or attacks on commercial vessels in sensitive Gulf waters since 2019. Iran's army said it had seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman after it collided with an Iranian boat, injuring several crewmen, Iranian state media reported. "Two members of the boat's crew are missing and several were injured due to the collision of the ship with the boat," an army statement said. The U.S. Navy identified the vessel as…