Iranian Diaspora

Source link Thu, Jul 30, 2020 When it comes to Iran, not everything that goes boom in the night is sabotage IranSource by Raz Zimmt Firefighters put out the fire on fuel tanks after they were hit by an explosion in Kermanshah province, Iran July 28, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS The recent series of unusual events in different locations around Iran, including fires and explosions in a nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz , a missile production site , petrochemical centers , oil pipelines ,  power plants , and a medical clinic , has received growing interest from the international media. The Israeli media covered those events obsessively, presenting them as part of a sabotage campaign engineered by Israel or another of Tehran’s foes aimed at delaying Iran’s advancing nuclear program. Perhaps due to this and the buzz surrounding the new Israeli espionage television series “ Tehran ,” those unexplained incidents were quickly linked to the ongoing shadow w...

Source link Sydney (AFP) – Friends of a British-Australian academic jailed in Iran on spying charges launched a public campaign to win her freedom Thursday, saying that Australia’s strategy of quiet diplomacy had failed. Nearly two years after Kylie Moore-Gilbert was detained while trying to leave Iran, a group of friends and colleagues are demanding that Canberra do more to resolve the situation. The “Free Kylie” group said it had respected the Australian foreign ministry’s guidance to “remain quiet” and allow diplomats to do their work. “But we believe that this strategy on its own has failed,” they said, adding the policy had made “little headway in improving her day-to-day living conditions, let alone securing her release”. Moore-Gilbert, a lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne, is serving a 10-year sentence for spying, a charge she has strenuously denied. This week she was moved from a jail in Tehran to a notorious women’s prison in an old chicken-process...

Source link India’s basmati rice exports to Iran may decline 20 per cent this financial year as the West Asian nation fails to make payment due to US economic sanctions, said a study. Iran ordered nearly 30 per cent of India’s total basmati rice exports in financial year 2019-20, buying 1.3 million tonnes. The US economic sanctions have paralysed business in Iran, which is battling the crisis for a year now. Indian exporters said they have cut shipments to Iran because of delay in payments linked to the Islamic nation running out of dollars. “Iran, which imports around 1.3 million tonne annually, is expected to register 20 per cent lower volume from India as payment-related issues continue from last fiscal because of US sanctions,” said a Crisil study. Data compiled by the Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (Apeda) showed India exported 4.45 million tonnes basmati rice (worth $4.33 billion) in financial year 2019-20 as compared to 4.41 million ...

Source link By Louise Richardson-Self, Lecturer in Philosophy & Gender Studies, University of Tasmania Another day, another woman being called a “whore” — and worse — on Twitter. In the wake of her recent interview with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, ABC 730 host Leigh Sales posted some of the sexualised abuse she gets on Twitter just for doing her job. This isn’t the first time Sales has faced an onslaught of misogynistic abuse. She says the “@ column” in her Twitter feed (where any Twitter account holders can send her messages) is “ virtually unusable because of the constant stream of abuse”. As a researcher of online gendered hate speech, I know all too well that Sales is not the only woman — high-profile or otherwise — experiencing abuse online. One in five women experience online abuse A 2017 study found almost one in five Australian women have experienced offensive and degrading messages online, targeting their gender. Online misogyny is hurled at acquaintances on ...

Source link Iran struggles to buy food in a world wary of touching its money  The Journal Pioneer source https://iranians.global/iran-struggles-to-buy-food-in-a-world-wary-of-touching-its-money-the-journal-pioneer/

Source link LONDON/SAO PAULO/SEOUL (Reuters) – Iran, creaking under the impact of U.S. sanctions, a collapse in oil sales and a severe COVID-19 epidemic, is scrambling to buy food and medicine to avoid a supply crunch. But it’s a struggle. FILE PHOTO: Men wear protective face masks and gloves, following the outbreak of coronavirus, as they are seen in a nuts shop in Tehran, Iran March 17, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Ali Khara via REUTERS Despite such supplies being exempt from sanctions, banks and governments are reluctant to transfer or take Iranian money because they fear unwittingly breaching the complex U.S. restrictions, according to five trade and finance sources. An approved trade channel launched by the Swiss government, and backed by Washington – the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Agreement (SHTA) – went live in February after over a year of work to facilitate such Iranian purchases from Swiss companies. Yet Iran’s central bank (CBI) has been unable to transfer t...

Source link The US has formally notified the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday of the detention of an Iranian arms ship off the Yemeni coast. “I would like to draw the council’s attention to the events of 28 June, when US and partner forces intercepted a ship off the coast of Yemen that contained Iranian weapons destined for the Houthi group,” expressed US Representative Kelly Craft at a special session on Yemen at the Security Council. “The ship’s illicit cargo included 200 RPGs, more than 1700 AK rifles, 21 surface-to-air missiles, assault missiles, anti-tank missiles and other advanced weapons,” Craft added, without further clarifying the ship’s fate. The US official noted that Yemen: “Does not need more weapons, and Iran must stop its efforts to arm the Houthis, because this only prolongs the conflict.” In her testimony, Craft called on the Yemeni government and the Houthi group to: “Reduce tension on the ground and return to the commitment to a political settlement me...