Middle East
Publisher: Business Insider
26 Dec 2014
Rouhani’s Facade Is Crumbling
Publisher: euractiv
21 Dec 2014
Iran at its worst under the ‘moderate’ Rouhani
Today the Iranian people are facing one of the worst violations of human rights in contemporary times. Over 1200 executions in the past 15 months of Rouhani's presidency, Government organized acid attacks against women for "mal-veiling" and the brutal hanging of 26-year-old girl Reyhaneh Jabbari, are terrible events that have shocked the world.
Publisher: NYTimes
16 Dec 2014
Iran’s President Pledges to Face Down Forces Opposing a Nuclear Deal
Risking his political standing, Iran s president stressed on Monday that he was determined to cinch a nuclear deal and prepared to take on the conservative forces who would prefer not to see an agreement with the West, even if that means continued economic sanctions on Iran. "Some people may not like to see the sanctions lifted," the president, Hassan Rouhani, said as Iranian negotiators and their United States counterparts resumed talks in Geneva. "Their numbers are few, and they want to muddy the waters."
Publisher: EA WorldView
15 Dec 2014
Rouhani Attacked Over “Corruption” and Revolutionary Guards
Iran s regime hardliners continued their attack on President Rouhani on Saturday, targeting his remarks about "corruption" and the Revolutionary Guards. At a conference on corruption earlier this week, the President warned that money once "given under the table now is being given on the table". He called for the "elimination" of monopolies: "Anything which does not have rivalry or whose management is monopolised is flawed. This is wrong and the problem has to be uprooted."
Publisher: The National
11 Dec 2014
Iranian President Blames Fall In Oil Prices On ‘Treachery’
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that the sharp fall in global oil prices is the result of "treachery," in an apparent reference to regional rival Saudi Arabia, which opposed production cuts. Oil prices have plunged by more than 40 percent since June to around $65 a barrel, placing severe strain on Iran's economy, which is already hobbled by international sanctions imposed over its nuclear program.
Publisher: American Thinker
6 Dec 2014
Iran’s Future will be Shaped by Women
The recent spike in discrimination against women by the regime and regime-backed forces betrays Tehran s fear of women, who are the driving force behind change in Iran and the fight against Islamic fundamentalism, the bedrock of the Iranian regime. After Hassan Rouhani assumed office as the Iranian regime s president in 2013, suppression and restrictions against women have been exacerbated, including in the fields of arts, sports, education, and work. The measures were aimed at driving women out of public affairs and circumenting challenges to the state.
Publisher: El Balad
30 Nov 2014
Iran’s human rights situation has not improved, says activist
Iran s President Hassan Rowhani has not been able to deliver on his promises to address key human rights issues in the country, Iranian lawyer and rights activist Shirin Ebadi told Al Arabiya s Diplomatic Avenue on Friday. Ebadi told Al Arabiya s New York bureau chief Talal al-Haj that the situation in Iran "has not progressed at all."
Publisher: The Guardian
13 Nov 2014
Stop making “excessive demands” of Iran in nuclear talks, Rouhani tells US
Iran s president, Hassan Rouhani, has asked the US to stop making "excessive demands" in the negotiations over the country's nuclear programme, saying Tehran had already made enough compromises to reach a permanent settlement with the west when the two sides meet next week. Rouhani told his cabinet on Wednesday that the Iranian team would not retreat from the "people's rights" when it travelled to Vienna to meet with diplomats from six major powers for what many see as a make-or-break moment
Publisher: Free Beacon
27 Oct 2014
Iran Amputating Limbs, Burning Political Opponents
Iran executed a record-shattering 411 citizens in the first half of 2014 and a total of 852 people in the last 15 months, including at least eight juveniles, according to a new United Nations report that will be introduced to the organization's General Assembly Tuesday. In addition to a surge in state-sanctioned killings that a U.N. official referred to as "shocking," Iran continues to torture imprisoned individuals using techniques such as amputation, electroshock, flogging, and burnings, according to the report, which details human rights in the Islamic Republic.
Iran Proposes an Axis Against Islamic State to Iraq as an Alternative to the U.S. Coalition
Al-Zaman [The Times of Baghdad] reports that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has proposed to visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi an anti-ISIL axis including Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq that would be led by Iran, as an alternative to the US-led coalition proposed by President Barack Obama. In essence, this is the same kind of support Iran offers Bashar al-Assad in Syria against ISIL and al-Qaeda affiliates there (as well as against the Free Syrian Army)
Publisher: NYTimes
11 Oct 2014
Iran’s Jailing of Activist Offers Hint of Liberty Under Rouhani
In a country that has virtually no tolerance for activism, Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25, an Iranian-British national, provided a nearly textbook example of how to get arrested in Tehran, activists say. Yet if Ms. Ghavami, who began a hunger strike last week to protest her indefinite detention, was guilty of anything, activists say, it was a na ve enthusiasm that Iran was changing.
Publisher: The Guardian
2 Oct 2014
Iran nuclear talks: why Tehran must be brought in from the Cold
Iran is more secure than its neighboring countries. Rouhani the new president has used the momentum generated by the modest sanctions relief to cut inflation from 45% to 20% and stabilise the rial currency after it lost more than 80% of its value. Human rights in Iran remain wretched as exemplified by the continued incarceration of Ghoncheh Ghavami, a British-Iranian woman who was arrested this summer after trying to enter an all-male sports arena, and is now charged with "propagandising against the regime." The US and its allies have not enjoyed much recent success in influencing internal Iranian politics, but they should be aware that Rouhani s continued political prosperity, and that of the more hopeful Iran he represents, is dependent in large measure on success in the current negotiations.
Publisher: gatestone institute
25 Sep 2014
Iran Executing Iran’s Mandela, Dissident Hero Ayatollah Boroujerdi
Now that the world's headlines are dominated by ISIS, and while Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is at the UN, the Iran is using these distractions to step up its executions, its mass-arrests of minorities, and now its execution of Ayatollah Boroujerdi -- that is if Iran, by again withholding crucial medical attention, does not passively execute him first.
Publisher: NYTimes
25 Sep 2014
Iran’s President Says West’s Blunders Helped ISIS Rise
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran delivered a searing indictment of Western and Arab states on Thursday in his annual speech to the United Nations, blaming them for sowing the seeds of extremism in the Middle East with "strategic blunders" that have given rise to the Islamic State and other violent jihadist groups. "Certain intelligence agencies have put blades in the hands of madmen, who now spare no one," Mr. Rouhani said, adding that "all those who have played a role in founding and supporting these terror groups must acknowledge their errors" and apologize.
Publisher: Al Jazeera
25 Sep 2014
Family of detained UK citizen in Iran plea for her release
Ghoncheh Ghavami, a 25-year-old United Kingdom-Iranian citizen, has been in prison in Tehran since June 29 after being arrested for trying to enter a stadium to view a men s volleyball game. Now her brother has come to New York in the hope of bringing her case to the attention of Iran s President Hassan Rouhani, in town for the United Nations General Assembly. Iman Ghavami, a 28-year-old genetic researcher, hopes to meet with Rouhani - although he knows that s unlikely - or, at least, to draw attention to his sister's plight.
Publisher: NYTimes
24 Sep 2014
Iranian President Praises Cooperation in New York
In two days of back-to-back interviews, speeches and meetings in New York this week, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran has gone to some lengths to sound much like President Obama in describing the need to defeat Islamic radicals and to seize what may well be a last opportunity over the next two months to reach an accord with the West over Iran s nuclear program.
Publisher: CNBC
23 Sep 2014
The Iranian economic surprise: Things are looking up in the Middle Eastern country
Publisher: The Guardian
22 Sep 2014
Rouhani’s credibility under scrutiny at UN as Iran’s hardliners block reforms
But this year, Rouhani s second visit to New York has been marred by a series of failures at home that have exposed his declining credibility both in Iran and on the world stage. As he arrives in New York, Iran s judiciary, which operates independently of his government, has tightened its grip on civil rights advocates, human rights activists and opposition figures. At least three American nationals remain behind bars in Iran, including the Washington Post s Tehran correspondent, Jason Rezaian, who is being kept in Tehran s Evin prison nearly two months after being arrested. Rezaian s detention has exposed the limits of Rouhani s power and his reluctance to speak out in support of prisoners of conscience in the country, including nearly 40 journalists and bloggers.
Publisher: Ynetnews
21 Sep 2014
Iranian president under pressure to curb internet
Publisher: Iran Human Rights
17 Sep 2014
As Rouhani Comes to NY, Domestic Repression in Iran Remains Unabated
Ahead of President Rouhani s visit to New York next week, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran released a video today, bringing into sharp focus the disconnect between Rouhani s rhetoric on domestic affairs and the reality on the ground. The record of the past year speaks for itself. The number of executions continues to distinguish Iran as the highest state executioner in the world on a per capita basis. Freedom of expression, assembly, and association remain highly restricted. Iran remains the second largest prison for journalists in the world. Gender policies aiming to exclude women from public life, particularly in higher education and employment, have increased. Hundreds of political prisoners remain behind bars, many imprisoned following the disputed 2009 election. The Campaign urges diplomats, the international media, and experts who will meet Rouhani during his visit to express their serious concerns regarding Iran s continued abysmal human rights record.
Publisher: NYTimes
2 Sep 2014
Tehran Unfetters Cellphones, and the Pictures Start Flowing
Last week, the government unexpectedly granted 3G and 4G licenses to the Islamic republic s two principal mobile operators, which are rushing to roll out high-speed connections to their tens of millions of subscribers. While Iranians willing to flout the law have long used illegal software to gain access to banned Internet sites like YouTube and Twitter, until now, Iran s main cellphone operators had been ordered to reduce Internet speeds to a sub-snail s pace, effectively making it impossible to use the sites, make video calls or send images.
Publisher: Radio Liberty
11 Aug 2014
Iran’s president lashes out at Nuclear critics
Publisher: Middle East Eye
4 Aug 2014
Iran: one year under Rouhani
"Prices are still high and girls are being bothered again about their veils," she said, referring to Iran's morality police who have taken to the streets in the sweltering summer heat to ensure women comply with clothing regulations. - Meanwhile, international human rights organisations have decried the rise in executions since Rouhani took office, while the sentencing of journalists and activists who were apprehended during the Ahmadinejad era for political reasons continue under Rouhani s watch. Domestic news media has become more openly critical of the government, but a number of reformist-minded journalists have been detained in recent months.
Publisher: WSJ
20 May 2014
Repression of Baha’i Minority in Iran
As Iran approaches the anniversary of Hasan Rouhani's presidential victory, the Islamic Republic's human-rights record, particularly its treatment of religious minorities, remains abysmal. This is especially true for the Baha'is, Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority. As with the cases of jailed Christian pastors, such as Saeed Abedini and Farshid Fathi, the Tehran regime shows no signs of wanting to free the so-called Baha'i seven - Baha'i leaders jailed on spurious charges, from espionage to "spreading corruption on the earth"- nor of stopping the persecution of its Baha'i population, which numbers more than 300,000.
Publisher: Before its news
16 May 2014
No, Sanctions Didn’t Force Iran to Make a Deal
Sanctions are neither the reason for the breakthrough, nor the impetus behind the government of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani s openness to talks. They also did not get Rouhani elected. The idea that the United States has the ability to engineer the outcome of elections in a country that is thousands of miles away, with which it has no trade, where it has had no diplomatic presence for 35 years, and where only a handful of current U.S. diplomats have ever served or even visited, expands the concept of arrogance to new and exciting frontiers.
Publisher: The Guardian
16 May 2014
Why Canada is getting it wrong on Iran
Ever since Canada broke off diplomatic relations with Tehran, Ottawa has toughtened its stance on Iran, taking a similar approach to that of Israel. As the west seizes upon the opportunity to engage with the moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, Canada just seems to be going in the opposite direction, ignoring not only calls for dialogue by the international community but also from the very Iranian dissident voices Ottawa claims to be defending. Instead, Canada is siding with radicals - dodgy exiled groups and rightwing Israelis - and moving away from the realities on the ground.
Publisher: Asharq Al Awsat
15 May 2014
Iran’s liberal media continue decline under Rouhani
It has been more than 35 years since the Islamic revolution culminated with the slogan "freedom and republicanism" and 17 years since Iran s newspapers were recognized for the first time as the fourth pillar of civil society and as the columns of democracy under then-president Mohammad Khatami. Today, the Islamic Republic s newspapers are experiencing conditions as bad as those during after the 1907 - 1907 Constitutional Revolution and the 1953 coup against then-prime minister Mohammad Mossadeq.
Publisher: The Guardian
5 May 2014
Hassan Rouhani faces growing criticism in Iran over nuclear talks
The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, is facing growing criticism from a broad array of political hardliners and rightwing opponents who say his government is being duped by the US in an over-hasty attempt to clinch a nuclear deal with the west and end economic sanctions. At a meeting at the former American embassy building in central Tehran on Saturday, a newly formed group of MPs and rightwing activists calling itself "We're Worried" claimed Iran's negotiating team was ignoring national interests in the nuclear talks, which resume on 13 May in Vienna.
Publisher: RFERL
1 May 2014
Rude Homecoming For Iranian Dissidents
Tthe hard-liners are worried that, now that Rohani is in power and people they don't want back [are back], activities they don't want to see happening are picking up. It is unclear just how many Iranian dissidents have returned to Iran since Rohani took power in August. De Wolff says he's familiar with four cases, and in each case they were detained and interrogated by the IRGC, and their passports confiscated.
Publisher: The Guardian
29 Apr 2014
It is time Rouhani broke his silence on human rights abuses in Iran
Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, has been mute about the unprecedented use of force in Evin, even though his office met a number of prisoners' relatives. In fact, Rouhani has maintained a policy of not publicly addressing human rights issues, some of which have put people like Zibakalam at odds with the values they fought for at the establishment of the Islamic republic - which was supposed to be a freer and fairer country than that ruled over by the Shah.
Publisher: WSJ
26 Apr 2014
Can a regime that brutalizes poltical dissidents be trusted?
Western governments have treated President Rouhani as the great moderate hope - an Iranian version of China's Deng Xiaoping. They forget that Mr. Rouhani has been a lifelong security apparatchik, having helped engineer the regime's bloody 1999 crackdown on Iran's student movement. His government also bans Twitter (except for public officials) and is setting modern records for the number of public executions. And unlike Deng, whom Mao purged, Mr. Rouhani has always been part of the regime's inner circle. Perhaps a regime, and a president, that can brutalize political dissidents as a matter of routine can prove reasonable at the nuclear negotiating table. We wouldn't count on it, and neither should the West.
Publisher: Al Jazeera
26 Apr 2014
Iran petrol prices surge after subsidies cut
Petrol prices in Iran have leapt by up to 75 percent, after state subsidies were cut, in a risky move that President Hassan Rouhani hopes will improve an economy battered by Western sanctions. The price hikes, which began at midnight on Thursday, will test Rouhani's support among a population fed up with the high inflation that he has pledged to reduce, as he pursues talks with world powers aimed at ending sanctions imposed over Iran's nuclear programme
Publisher: International Campaign for Human Rights
25 Apr 2014
421 Activists Call on Rouhani to Investigate Prison Assault
Publisher: International Campaign for Human Rights
23 Apr 2014
Rouhani’s Silence on Brutal Prison Attack Unacceptable
The Campaign calls on President Hassan Rouhani to put an end to the denials, address one of the most appalling acts of violence against political prisoners in Iran since he took office in 2013, and stand by his stated commitment to defend citizen rights. "Mr. Rouhani s silence is unacceptable. What happened was against the laws that he is expected to enforce, but he has chosen to let such actions happen before his eyes," said Ghaemi.
Publisher: Rooz Online
21 Apr 2014
Rouhani’s Insinuating Response to IRGC’s Demands
Just one day after Iran s president Hassan Rouhani made a comment about the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), a senior commander of the force responded by saying, "The guards do not invest in any political personality or group, but it is natural that if some individuals distance themselves from the line of the Imam (Khomeini), the supreme leader or the identity of the revolution, the Guards will have an issue with them."
Publisher: Reuters
5 Apr 2014
Spike in Iran executions seen politically motivated
Since president Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate in Iran, took office last August, there has been a surge in executions: at least 537 people have been executed in the past eight months, nearly 200 of them since the beginning of this year, according to figures compiled by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. That compares with a total for 2013 of 624, according to data gathered by the United Nations. Some human rights activists and others fear that those who oppose Rouhani and his negotiations with Western powers over the country s nuclear programme are pushing the executions to weaken him.
Publisher: NYTimes
21 Mar 2014
In Iran, Hopes Fade for Surge in the Economy
Suffering in an economy dragged down by years of mismanagement and the effects of international sanctions, Iran s increasingly impoverished middle class voted in huge numbers last summer for President Hassan Rouhani, who promised to reignite growth by restoring ties with the rest of the world. But more than six months after Mr. Rouhani took office, hopes of a quick economic recovery are fading among ordinary Iranians, business owners and investors, while economists say the government is running out of cash.
Publisher: CSMonitor
19 Mar 2014
Iranian newspapers drop their guard
The fate of newspapers is one window into Iran's larger political stand-off. Mr. Rouhani, who defeated a raft of conservative rivals last June, wants more open publishing. Fundamentalists reject that and want to deny Rouhani any victory. "They want to send a message to people who support change that Rouhani coming to office will change nothing," says Mr. Mohammadi. "Critics of [Rouhani] know if they frustrate the people, they can easily defeat the government... They want to prevent the government from sending the message to the people that change is coming."
Publisher: Iran Human Rights
15 Mar 2014
Joint letter on Iran to the Human Rights Council
This year, renewal of the Iran mandate will have added significance. Seven months into the term of President Hassan Rouhani, who won the election after promising to improve the human rights situation in Iran, those living in Iran continue to suffer violations of their civil and political rights, as well as economic, social, and cultural rights.
Publisher: The Guardian
13 Mar 2014
Ban Ki-moon rebukes Iranian president for human rights failings
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has sharply rebuked the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, for failing to improve human rights since taking office in August. Despite "commendable steps" under Rouhani, including the release of a limited number of high-profile political prisoners, violations had continued, Ban reports in a new report to the UN human rights council issued on Tuesday.
Publisher: The Guardian
12 Feb 2014
Rouhani critics step up opposition to Iranian nuclear deal
Publisher: EA WorldView
25 Jan 2014
Iran Special Rouhani and Supreme Leader Deal – Protecting A Nuclear Agreement, Giving Up Political Prisoners and “Freedom”
President Rouhani has struck a deal with the Supreme Leader to protect the Government against hard-line criticism of the interim nuclear deal and further negotiations with the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, Germany, China, Russia, and France), according to well-placed sources in Iran. In return, Rouhani has pledged to back away from pursuit of measures to open up Iran s political and cultural spheres. He has also agreed not to seek the freedom of high-profile political prisoners, such as 2009 Presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.
Publisher: NYTimes
25 Jan 2014
U.S. and Iran Offer Clashing Accounts of the Civil War in Syria
"Iran has I.R.G.C. personnel on the ground in Syria conducting military affairs," Mr. Kerry said, using the abbreviation for Iran s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Mr. Kerry also said that Iran was the main supporter of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia, which he asserted was "the principal difference in the fighting that has taken place on the ground in Syria." - But the Iranian president offered an assessment that differed so radically it was difficult to imagine that he was talking about the same country. Echoing arguments used by Mr. Assad, Mr. Rouhani suggested that terrorism, not power-sharing with the opposition, was the main issue.
Publisher: CNN
25 Jan 2014
Zakaria: Iran nuclear agreement a train wreck on the way
Rouhani said that there would be no destruction of existing centrifuges "under any circumstances." It seems he is going even going further than what his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, told CNN s Jim Sciutto this week. What's going on here? Because there could be, potentially, some sort of fundamental disagreement between Iran and the United States.
Publisher: NYTimes
24 Jan 2014