Tehran, Iran - Iran began counting ballots on Saturday after a vote for parliament and a key clerical body, with local media estimating a low turnout and conservatives expected to dominate. Friday's elections were the first since widespread protests triggered by the September 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini,...

Conservative daily Vatan-e-Emrouz hailed what it called the population's "interest in the candidates' electoral campaigns", which began on February 22. In Tehran, where less than 20 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in 2020, election banners are visibly less prevalent than the previous elections.

PARIS, FRANCE - The family of Mahsa Amini, the Iranian Kurdish woman who died in custody, have been banned from traveling to France to collect a top rights prize awarded posthumously, their lawyer said on Saturday. Amini died aged 22 on September 16, 2022, while being held by Iran's religious police...

Mohammadi's award comes after a wave of protests that swept Iran after the death in custody a year ago of a young Iranian Kurd, Mahsa Amini, arrested for violating Iran's strict dress rules for women. Mohammadi, a 51-year-old journalist and activist, has spent much of the past two decades in...

Paris, France - Campaign groups on Saturday demanded the perpetrators of the killing of dozens of protesters in southeast Iran one year ago be brought to justice, accusing authorities of using force to quell the latest demonstration in the region. According to activists, Iranian security forces used live fire to suppress...

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM- Mahsa Amini, the Iranian Kurdish woman who died in custody a year ago, and billionaire Elon Musk were among a field of nominations put forward on Wednesday for the EU's top rights prize. The European Parliament's three biggest political groups each backed Amini as the recipient for this year's Sakharov...

Slamming the new sanctions imposed by the Western countries on the Islamic republic, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani termed them as "illegal and undiplomatic actions." The US, Britain and the EU announced new sanctions against many entities on the eve of the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death in...

President Joe Biden's administration has insisted that Iran will only be allowed to use the money to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian goods. Iran had generated the $6 billion in question by selling its oil to South Korea, a close US ally, which froze the funds after the US...

Tehran, Iran - Authorities in Iran's southwest have arrested six people accused of "organizing riots" on the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death in custody which triggered nationwide protests, state media reported on Saturday. Amini, an Iranian Kurd, died on September 16, 2022, after her arrest in Tehran for alleged breach...

Tehran, Iran - Iran on Monday warned Iraq that it would take action if Baghdad does not honor its commitment by mid-September of disarming Iranian Kurdish rebel groups on its territory. "According to a deal reached between the Iranian and Iraqi governments, the Iraqi government has pledged to disarm armed terrorist...

The new British sanctions regime will expand existing penalties imposed by creating new criteria under which individuals and entities can be hit. They include any Iranian activities "undermining peace, stability and security in the Middle East and internationally", and the "use and spread of weapons technologies from Iran".

France has been rocked by a major wave of violent street protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old of Algerian origin, identified only as Nahel M., in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday. The government has deployed tens of thousands of security forces and made hundreds...

Kazemi alleged that the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Belgium, Italy and Iran's arch-foe Israel were among the countries involved in inciting the protests, according to excerpts of an interview published by state media. Saudi Arabia, with which Iran has recently resumed diplomatic ties after a seven-year rupture,...

The European Union imposed an asset freeze on the investment arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, over Tehran's brutal crackdown on protests over the death of Mahsa Amini. The sanctions - the eighth imposed by the EU over the repression - came after Iran hanged three more men convicted in relation...

Iran executed three men convicted of killing security force members during protests triggered by Mahsa Amini's death last year, the judiciary said, drawing condemnation from rights groups. Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were found guilty of waging "war against God" - at a demonstration in Isfahan on November...

TEHRAN, IRAN- Iran has summoned Iraq's ambassador to protest over the presence of Iranian opposition groups at an official ceremony in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, media reported on Sunday. Quoting the foreign ministry, ISNA news agency said that during Saturday's meeting Tehran expressed its "strong objection" to the invitation of members...

Iranians are accustomed to using virtual private networks, or VPNs, to evade restrictions and access prohibited websites or apps, including the US-owned Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The authorities went as far as imposing total internet blackouts during the protests that erupted after the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, following...

Tehran, Iran -- The West has intensified economic pressures on Iran in recent months and imposed nearly 800 sanctions on Iran since September last year alone, an Iranian expert has said. Mohsen Pakaeen, a foreign policy analyst, told the official Islamic Republic News Agency that US, Europe along with Canada...

The closures were announced a day after police said they have now implemented a plan to deal with women who violate the law, using surveillance cameras and facial recognition technology. The requirement for women to wear the headscarf in public was enshrined in law shortly after the Islamic revolution of...

Iranian police said they will deal with women who violate the Islamic dress code. The number of women defying the dress code that headscarves must be worn in public has risen since a protest movement triggered by the death in custody of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini, 22, for allegedly flouting it.

TEHRAN, IRAN - Dozens of schoolgirls were poisoned Saturday in several schools across Iran, local media reported, in continuation of the mysterious phenomenon that has shaken the country for months. Since late November many schools, mostly for girls, have been affected by sudden poisoning incidents from gases or toxic substances, in...

Kanani was referring to criticism, including from France, of Iran's response to months-long protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini after the 22-year-old's arrest for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women. Hundreds of people have been killed, including dozens of security personnel, and...

Scores of Iranian schools have been hit by poisonings since late November, with pupils suffering symptoms ranging from shortness of breath to nausea and vertigo after reporting "unpleasant" odors on school premises. Some have been treated in hospital.

Madrid, Spain - Iran has released a Spanish woman who had been detained in the country since November, Spain's foreign minister said Sunday. "She was freed yesterday, but we didn't want to announce it publicly before her plane had taken off from Iran," Jose Manuel Albares told journalists. "I was able...

Tehran, Iran--Iran's judiciary is prosecuting a woman for "disrespecting" the Islamic headscarf after she threw hers to the ground during a public meeting, an Iranian news agency reported Saturday. The requirement for women to wear the headscarf in public, enshrined in law since shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979, has...

this year, many flag-waving people travelled on foot to converge on the capital's iconic Azadi (Freedom) Square, despite chilly temperatures. They chanted slogans including "Down with the US", "Down with Israel", "Down with the UK" and "Down with the traitor Al Saud", an AFP journalist said. Sejjil ballistic missiles and...

TEHRAN, IRAN - One of Iran's main opposition figures, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has called for the "fundamental transformation" of a political system he said was facing a crisis of legitimacy amid protests triggered by Mahsa Amini's death. "Iran and Iranians need and are ready for a fundamental transformation whose outline is...

Tehran, Iran - Iranian authorities have detained a journalist at a reformist publication, local media reported Sunday, as her sister, also a journalist, remains in custody after reporting on Mahsa Amini's death. Iran has been gripped by nationwide protests since the September 16 death in custody of Amini, a 22-year-old...

Zarghami said he advised a "man who behaves harshly" towards a woman not wearing headscarf to "close his eyes if looking at her excites him". Zarghami was strongly criticised by ultra-conservatives in October after reportedly criticising the morality police.

The EU and Britain on Monday slapped another round of sanctions on Iran which has been rocked by protests since the September 16 death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who had been arrested for allegedly breaching the country's strict dress code for women. "The move by the European Union...

Iranian authorities have arrested three female journalists in the past two days, local media said, amid protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. Iran has been gripped by protests since the September 16 death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, arrested for allegedly breaching the country's strict...

Iran's economy has been subject to increasing pressure with fresh sanctions imposed by Western countries over the authorities response to protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

Members of the European Parliament voted on Wednesday to include the Guards on the 27-nation bloc's terror list in "light of its terrorist activity, the repression of protesters and its supplying of drones to Russia". The vote is non-binding but comes with EU foreign ministers already due to discuss tightening...

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian "strongly criticized the emotional approach of the European parliament and labelled the move inappropriate and incorrect" in a telephone call with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, the ministry said.

PARIS, FRANCE - Iran has released a prominent chef and Instagram influencer who was detained earlier this month in its crackdown on nationwide protests, a human rights groups and supporters said. Navab Ebrahimi, known for his videos promoting Persian cooking, was arrested in Tehran on January 4 and taken to the...

The 60-year-old former lawmaker and women's rights activist was charged with "collusion against national security, propaganda against the Islamic republic and disturbing public order by participating in illegal gatherings", the lawyer said.

Iran has sentenced to death three people accused of killing three members of the security forces during the protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, the judiciary said Monday. Iran has been rocked by civil unrest since the September 16 death of Kurdish Iranian Amini, 22, following her arrest...

No reason was given for the arrest of Ebrahimi, who had some 2.7 million followers on Instagram enjoying his slickly produced videos showing how to produce classic Persian dishes without pain. But social media users said the arrest coincided with him posting a recipe to make Persian cutlets on the...

Tehran, Iran - A member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards was shot dead outside his house in Tehran, state media reported Wednesday, adding that he may have been killed during a burglary. Qassam Fathollahi of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was shot "four times in front of his house" in southern...

TEHRAN, IRAN  - Iran's top court has ordered the retrial of a third man reportedly sentenced to death over nationwide protests, the judiciary said Saturday. The Islamic republic has been rocked by protests since the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, after her arrest in...

The "riots", as Tehran generally refers to them, were triggered by the September 16 death in custody of Iranian-Kurdish Amini, 22, after her arrest for an alleged breach of the strict dress code for women.

Iranian football legend Ali Daei, who has supported protests in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death, said that an airplane from Tehran to Dubai had been rerouted and his family ordered off. Protests have gripped Iran since the September 16 death of Iranian-Kurdish Amini, 22, after her arrest in Tehran.

Tehran, Iran-- Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday he held a "friendly conversation" with his Saudi counterpart in Jordan, despite Tehran's repeated accusations that Riyadh has fanned months-long protests in the Islamic republic. Jordan hosted the "Baghdad II" conference on Tuesday, bringing together key Middle East and international players -- including rivals...

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iran has arrested the lawyer of two female journalists jailed after covering the death in custody of a young woman that sparked three months of protests, a newspaper said Saturday. The Islamic republic has been rocked by protests since Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin,...

PARIS, FRANCE - Dozens took to the streets Friday in Iran's restive southeast, footage shared by rights groups showed, as a wave of protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death entered a fourth month. Protesters in Zahedan, the Sistan-Baluchistan provincial capital, chanted "Death to the dictator", taking aim at supreme leader Ayatollah...

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands arrested in the street violence over Mahsa Amini's d, leading to international condemnation and Iran's removal Wednesday from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW).

Paris, France—Iran on Monday executed a second man convicted over the protests that have shaken the regime for almost three months, defying an international outcry over its use of capital punishment against those involved in the movement. Rights groups had at the weekend warned that several other people arrested over...

A day after summoning German envoy, Iran called in the British ambassador to lodge protest as demonstrations shake the country. During the last three months, the envoys from Western countries have been summoned fifteen times as Iran believes protests have been encouraged by its foreign foes.

The EU is set to impose more sanctions on Iran for drone supplies to Russia and a crackdown on protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, European diplomats said. The new measures will target around eight individuals and organizations involved in the manufacture and delivery of drones Moscow has used...

Iran may have abolished its feared morality police, but many of its citizens based in Iraq doubt reports that Tehran has put an end to a force associated with months of protests in the Islamic Republic. It was in the custody of the morality police that Mahsa Amini died in...