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Summary
Official figures say at least 70 people have been killed and over 1,200 injured in the explosion.
Trump’s ambitious but unpredictable Iran policy hits 100-day mark
Talks with Tehran aim to deprive Washington's Middle East nemesis of a nuclear weapon, but time will tell whether US President Donald Trump will carry through on his threat to bomb the country.
Republican senators argue for barring Iran enrichment, moot treaty
Iran must agree to cease uranium enrichment in any nuclear deal and the US congress could move to enshrine such an agreement in a treaty should US President Trump wish, Republican senators told Iran International.
Gunpowder factory explosion kills two as Iran faces string of deadly blasts
A new explosion at a gunpowder company operating under Iran's top security body in central Isfahan province killed two people on Tuesday, marking the latest in a wave of blasts across the country that have killed at least 73 people in just four days.
Port shutdown halts over half of Iran's cargo as fire not yet contained
More than half of Iran's port activity remains offline following a major explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, according to Iranian port authority data.
Iran's Nuclear Program
Sanctions snapback power gives central role to Europe in Iran-US talks
Iran is stepping up diplomatic outreach to the E3 group of countries—France, Britain and Germany—in an effort to delay or prevent their activation of the so-called snapback mechanism built into a 2015 deal if nuclear talks with the United States fail.
Mideast Crisis
About half of Israelis back strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, poll shows
A new poll showed that nearly half of Israelis support a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, even without US support, though divides between the Jewish and Arab demographic were stark.
Domestic Politics
Domestic issues dog Tehran as it negotiates with Washington
Iran hopes to resolve its biggest foreign affairs challenge through talks with the United States at the same time it grapples with some of the toughest domestic problems in the Islamic Republic's nearly 50-year history.
Iranian hardliners, officials fall in line behind Khamenei’s shift on US talks
Iran’s political and religious establishment is closing ranks to defend Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s backing of renewed negotiations with the United States, with clerics and hardliners urging the public to view flexibility as a continuation of revolutionary goals.
Iran seeks 'controlled narrative' at home on US talks
Cautious statements from some Iranian officials and a paucity of disclosures by the tightly-controlled media on ongoing talks with the United States suggests an official desire to control the public discourse on the hyper-sensitive dossier.
Iran, Israel race to court Azerbaijan as rivalry in Caucasus heats up
The Iranian president’s visit to Azerbaijan, soon to be followed by the Israeli prime minister's trip, highlights Baku’s sophisticated geopolitical maneuvering as Tehran and Tel Aviv vie for influence in the strategically vital South Caucasus.
Iran says major cyberattack on infrastructure repelled
Iran said it foiled a major cyberattack targeting its infrastructure on Sunday in the midst of blazing fires following the explosion which rocked its key container port in Bandar Abbas.
Iran’s minister attends Pope Francis’ funeral under heavy US security presence
Iran’s Minister of Culture Abbas Salehi represented the Islamic Republic at the funeral of Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Square on Saturday, appearing alongside global dignitaries in a rare display of Tehran’s diplomatic outreach.
Sweden urges Iran to release death row scientist as he pleads from prison
Sweden on Friday called on Iran to immediately release Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian academic detained and sentenced to death nine years ago after he released an appeal from prison warning he was at his breaking point.
Human Rights
Beyond the hijab: discrimination against women pervades Iranian law
Camel-denominated blood money and minutes-long temporary marriages are among the peculiar features of a medieval theocratic legal system by which Iran systematically enforces second-class citizenship on women.
Eye for Iran Podcast
Tehran needs US talks to live, ex-Iranian diplomat says
The Islamic Republic will seek a new lease on life in US talks, former Iranian diplomat Hossein Alizadeh told the Eye for Iran podcast, adding that Iran's rulers will never abandon their hardline ideology against the West.
Iran: deal or no deal?
In Case You Missed It
Paraguay designates Iran’s Guards as terror group, US applauds
Paraguay has formally designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization and expanded its classification of Hamas and Hezbollah to include all components of both groups.
Tehran Insider
No deal for us: how Iran–US talks affect ordinary Iranians
I’ve grown the habit of checking the dollar exchange rate every few hours, even though I sold all that I had a few months ago—or perhaps because I sold all that I had a few months ago.
'Martyr families': Iran's last war leaves bitter legacy
My 23-year-old cousin, Ali, newly married and the father of a two-month-old baby, was killed in the Iran-Iraq war in 1985. From that moment, everything in my uncle’s family changed.
