Very, very rare photographs. But the stories have existed for years—Evin is where a person doesn’t want to do, and so many there are held without due process and as hostages. “Leaked footage shows grim conditions in Iran’s Evin prison,” Technology, August 23, 2021.
“Iran resumes fuel exports to Afghanistan after Taliban request, union says,” Yahoo, August 23, 2021.
“How Iran Helped Houthis Expand Their Reach,” Thomas Juneau, op-ed, War on the Rocks, August 23, 2021.
Why the wait? It’s been over a year. “Iran, reportedly suffering its worst coronavirus wave yet, is negotiating with one or two European countries to purchase Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines, according to Alireza Raisi, spokesman for the National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control.” Only with the Leader’s permission, so they must be desperate with the highest daily totals from Covid yet recorded. See “Iran ‘moves for western vaccines’ with country mired in worst virus wave yet,” bne IntelIiNews August 23, 2021. “The newly elected hardline government led by President Ebrahim Raisi is under heavy pressure to broaden its sourcing of vaccines as the country is struggling with its fifth and most deadly wave of COVID-19. It is dominated by the Delta virus variant said by some experts to be three or four times as infectious as previous variants experienced in Iran. Officials have attempted to rely on predominantly Chinese vaccines against coronavirus with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei having issued a warning that vaccines from the US and UK could be used in a conspiracy against Iran. But the supply of vaccines is by some accounts close to running out—with severe delays hitting deliveries of Chinese and Russian vaccines and the production of Iran’s domestically developed vaccine, COVIran Barekat.”
Great reporting—The map overwhelmingly shows why Lebanon and Israel, let alone the people of Syria, can see how Iran’s IRGC is only growing in Syria. “In the two years since Russia, the US, Jordan and Israel signed a 2018 agreement promising to lessen Iran’s presence on the Syrian Golan heights, the Iranian military presence in southern Syria has more than doubled, and it is deployed in preparation for a future confrontation with Israel. The report claims that from 2018-2021, the number of military bases and outposts of pro-Iranian militias and Hezbollah in southern Syria has increased from 40 to 88. It also reveals that bases of the Syrian Army, particularly the 90th Brigade deployed from southern Syrian to Damascus, serve as logistics backing for the pro-Iranian militias in the country.” See “Iran has doubled forces on Israeli border since 2018, report claims,” Neta Bar, Israel Hayom, August 23, 2021.
Good article detailing corruption. “Illicit Oil Exports Cost Iran Billions In Lost Revenues,” Iran International, August 23, 2021.
“Iran official on trial linked to terrorist who murdered Jews and Kurds,” Benjamin Weinthal, Jerusalem Post, August 23, 2021. “The International Criminal Police Organization issued an arrest warrant for Fallahian due to his role in the bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994.”
“Russia, Iran and China to hold joint drills in Gulf –RIA,” WHBL, August 23, 2021.