Author Archives: persiangulf

Walls of kindness: The viral trend keeping Iran’s homeless warm

CNN-

By Will Heilpern, for CNN –

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“Walls of kindness,” where clothes are donated to those in need, have become popular across Iran.

(CNN)Looking for something to restore your faith in humanity? This might just do the trick.

As Iran endures a cold winter, locals have devised an innovative scheme to help the homeless keep warm. Read More »

Beheading the Blacksmith of Balkh: Iranian Americans scapegoated again

THE GUARDIAN-

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By: Ahmad Sadri–

The US Congress is looking to punish Iranian Americans for terrorist acts they have no part in
A radicalised, American-born Pakistani went to Saudi Arabia and married another Pakistani brainwashed with an extremist version of Wahhabism that is the Saudi state religion. The couple came to the US and shot up a Christmas office party killing 14 people. Read More »

Rouhani announces sanctions to be removed by January

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a nuclear watchdog organization, concluded its 12-year investigation into Iran’s possible nuclear weapons research, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that international sanctions against Iran will be removed by January. Read More »

Will Iran’s red tape thwart post-sanctions boom?

ALMONITOR–

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An Iranian customer speaks with a bank clerk at the Export Development Bank of Iran in the capital, Tehran, July 27, 2015. (photo by Getty Images/Behrouz Mehri)

BY:Alireza Ramezani-

TEHRAN, Iran — Reform of Iran’s cumbersome permit system has come under the spotlight in recent months. Yet, efforts to minimize the number of licensing documents required for doing business in various sectors of the economy have made slow progress due to resistance from state organizations, among other reasons. Read More »

Iran After the Nuclear Deal

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP–

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Middle East Report–

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

With the nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers in force, a chief question is what it means for Iran. The clash between competing visions of the country’s future has heightened since the deal. Many, there and abroad, believe it could rebalance domestic politics. It not only has boosted the profile of those who promoted it, but, more fundamentally, it has opened space for new debates in a domestic sphere that was dominated by the nuclear issue for more than a decade. Yet, the political system, with its multiple power centres and tutelary bodies, inherently favours continuity. Read More »

Talking politics, diabetes, and socks with Iran’s most liberal Grand Ayatollah Saanei

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By: Bobby Gosh

Grand Ayatollah Yousef Saanei is distracted by my socks.
We’re seated—shoeless, in the Iranian custom—no more than a couple of feet from each other in his cramped, windowless office, and throughout our hour-long interview, Saanei has been sneaking glances at my feet. My socks are red, an old affectation of mine, and they seem the more incongruous for the modest setting. I can’t tell if he disapproves, but his attentions make me feel self-conscious, as if I’ve turned up to meet one of Iran’s most revered clerics in Bermuda shorts and a t-shirt. Read More »

Russia and Turkey Hurl Insults as Feud Deepens

THE NEW YORK TIMES-
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ournalists listened to President Vladimir V. Putin’s annual speech on the state of the Russian federation at the Kremlin on Thursday. Credit Sergei Ilnitsky/European Pressphoto Agency

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR –

MOSCOW — The leaders of Turkey and Russia flung insults at each other on Thursday in their deepening feud over the shooting down of a Russian warplane, with President Vladimir V. Putin warning that Moscow would do more than merely ban tomatoes and construction projects to penalize Ankara.
The Kremlin also said that the long-delayed transfer of the S-300 air defense system to Iran had started, a move that strengthens one of Turkey’s regional rivals while raising concerns in Israel. Read More »