Iran reported over 500 daily Covid deaths for the first time on Sunday, its health ministry announced, as new infections also hit a record high. Iran registered 39,619 new infections in the 24 hours to Sunday, taking the total since the pandemic started to 4,158,729, the ministry said. During that same period it recorded 542 deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 94,015, it added. -AFP 8/9/21

Members of Calgary's Iranian community held a festival on Saturday to raise funds to help underprivileged children in the Persian Gulf. The weekend event, held by the Persian Gulf Charity, featured a number of tents filled with all sorts of cultural items as well as works of art. -Calgary News 8/9/21

People living in the villages of Khaf County, located in Razavi Khorasan Province, have faced water shortage due to population growth, low precipitation, and problems in the water supply network. Currently, there is no access to drinking water in some villages, so people have to go to other villages or nearby areas and stand in the queue to get drinking water. -Mohammad Ramezani, ISNA 8/9/21

Iran's Sajad Ganjzadeh faced off with Saudi Arabia's Tareg Hamedi in the men's 75-kilogram kumite final. Karate athletes competed in individual demonstrations called kata and one-on-one combat called kumite. Leading the match 4-1, Hamedi landed a violent kick to Ganjzadeh's head, leaving the Iranian unconscious on the mat. -Yahoo 8/9/21

Iran finished in the 27th place at the 2020 Olympic Games, while the country had come 25th in the previous edition in Rio. The Iranian athletes claimed seven medals - three golds, two silvers, two bronzes - one silver more and two bronze medals less than Rio. -Tehran Times 8/9/21

Iranian parliament has decided to fast-track the introduction of a bill dubbed Cyberspace Users Rights Protection and Regulation of Key Online Services, widely referred to as the Protection Bill. If implemented, the bill-which has been in the making since 2018-is expected to curb access to the internet, invade users' privacy, infringe net neutrality, and suppress freedom of speech in Iran. -Sayeh Isfahani, Slate 8/9/21

Boasting an almost 1,000-kilometer border with Iran and a history of troubled relations between the Iranians and Sunni Muslim militants, including the Taliban, Afghanistan could become a bellwether for the future of the rivalry between the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia.Had the United States withdrawn from Afghanistan several years earlier, chances would have been that Saudi Arabia would have sought to exploit military advances by the Taliban in far less subtle ways than it may do now. -James M. Dorsey, Responsible Statecraft 8/9/21

Iraj Mesdaghi, a former political prisoner in one of Iran's most notorious jails, thinks he has found one of his captors. On Tuesday, that alleged jailer, Hamid Noury, will appear in a Stockholm courtroom accused of playing a key role in the execution of scores of dissidents - as well as the torture of Mesdaghi and many others - at the Gohardasht prison, outside Iran's capital Tehran, in a 1988 purge. -Politico 8/9/21

Iran on Saturday denounced accusations by leading industrial nations that Tehran was behind last week's deadly attack on an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea, the official IRNA news agency reported. The report quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying Iran "strongly condemns" Friday's statement by foreign ministers of the Group of Seven. The group is made up of representatives of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S. -AP 8/9/21

Amirhossein Zare from Iran claimed a bronze medal in the men's freestyle 125 kg of the 2020 Olympic Games on Friday. Zare defeated Chinese wrestler Deng Zhiwei 5-0 and won the bronze medal. -Tehran Times 8/6/21

The protege of Iran's supreme leader, Ebrahim Raisi, was sworn in as the country's new president during a ceremony in parliament on Thursday, an inauguration that completes hard-liners' dominance of all branches of government in the Islamic Republic. The former judiciary chief known for his distrust of the West takes the reins at a tense time. -AP 8/6/21

The Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC), the connected PAC of the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), today proudly announces its endorsement of Liliana Bakhtiari for Atlanta City Council for the 5th District. If elected, Liliana would join Amir Farokhi as the second Iranian American elected to the Atlanta City Council. -PAAIA 8/6/21

Iran's water bankruptcy has been in the news lately, prompting deadly protests in Khuzestan province that also garnered the attention of global media. But this kind of problem is neither new or unique in the country. Drying rivers, vanishing lakes, shrinking wetlands, declining groundwater levels, land subsidence, sinkholes, desertification, ... are among the other familiar signs of Iran's environmental devastation. -Kaveh Madani, Guardian 8/6/21

Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh dress up the same failed sanctions approach as a "new approach" to Iran. It would almost be amusing that Gerecht and Takeyh refer to this as a "far more moral and practical foreign policy" if it weren't so morally bankrupt and evil. The U.S. has been inflicting collective punishment on more than eighty million Iranians in a vain bid to compel their government to capitulate on a wide range of issues. -Daniel Larison 8/6/21

A week ago, the MT Mercer Street, a Japanese-owned tanker managed by a U.K.-based company owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, sailing in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman, was struck by drones. A British security guard and Romanian crew member were killed. Britain and the U.S. immediately blamed Iran, and the Israelis began to beat the war drums. -Patrick J. Buchanan, Antiwar.com 8/6/21

After approximately 20 days of water stress (water scarcity) in Khuzestan Province of Iran, the water release from Karkheh Dam caused a lot of water to flow into the Haur Al-Azim wetland and rivers such as Karkheh River, which were drying up. Drought and severe water shortage caused difficulty for people and farmers in Khuzestan Province and many farm animals died due to water scarcity. -Alireza Mohammadi, ISNA 8/6/21

The United States on Thursday urged Iran's new President Ebrahim Raisi to return to talks on both nations resuming compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, repeating the U.S. stance that the window for diplomacy would not stay open forever. With the rise of Raisi, who took the oath of office on Thursday, all branches of power within the Islamic Republic will be controlled by anti-Western hardliners loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. -Reuters 8/6/21

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Wednesday that his country is prepared take military action against Iran in the wake of a reported drone strike on an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea last week-a deadly attack that Israel, the U.S., and the United Kingdom have blamed on Iran without offering a shred of supporting evidence or intelligence. -Jake Johnson, Common Dreams 8/6/21

The number of reported coronavirus cases in Iran surpassed 4 million on August 4 amid a vicious wave of infections driven by the highly contagious delta variant. Iran registered 39,357 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total since the pandemic started to 4,019,084, the Health Ministry said. It recorded 409 deaths over the same period, bringing the official death toll to 92,194. 8/5/21

Before Thursday, David Taylor's resume had it all. With one glaring hole. After a late rally against Iran's Hassan Yazdani in Thursday's 86kg freestyle final, he can call himself Olympic champion. All thanks to perhaps the biggest magic trick of his career. Taylor overcame an early 2-0 deficit and a 3-2 hole in the match's final 20 seconds to secure the 4-3 victory and a spot atop the medal podium. -Yahoo 8/5/21

At the Bristol Art Museum, a new exhibition explores themes of displacement with such power and poignancy that it can rightly be called a must-see show. One of the most striking works in the show is a figurative painting titled Floating by Iranian artist Shabnam Jannesari. It depicts a serene-faced woman in a gravity-defying pose, awash in color and pattern. -Michael Rose, golocalprov 8/5/21

Ebrahim Raisi was set to be inaugurated as Iran's next president on Thursday, signaling the start of a new harder-line era that could herald major shifts in the Islamic Republic's policies at home and abroad. After eight years of Hassan Rouhani's moderate administration, Iran now turns to Raisi, an ultra-conservative judiciary chief whose views are fully in line with the thinking of the country's powerful clergy and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the final say on all major matters of state. -CNN 8/5/21

Iranian women have demanded that police issue motorcycle licences for women, permitting them to ride a motorbike officially, following a statement issued by Tehran's traffic police banning women from riding the vehicles in the Iranian capital. The Hamshahri daily reported that Iran's traffic police had previously stressed that there was no ban on women riding a motorcycle if they had a licence. However, the police do not permit women to take the test to receive the permit. -MEE 8/5/21

Israel's defense minister warned Thursday that his country is prepared to strike Iran, issuing the threat against the Islamic Republic after a fatal drone strike on a oil tanker at sea that his nation blamed on Tehran. Iran did not immediately respond to Gantz's comments. However, in a letter Wednesday to the U.N. Security Council, its charge d'affaires in New York described Israel as "the main source of instability and insecurity in the Middle East and beyond for more than seven decades." -AP 8/5/21

After Israel, the United States and the UK blamed Iran for an attack on an Israeli-linked ship in the Persian Gulf and vowed a "coordinated response," the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to respond to any retaliatory strike. IRGC Commander Hossein Salami said, "The enemy should remove false thoughts and ideas from their head." Speaking on a TV program Aug. 4, he said Iran's response would be "destructive" and warned other countries to "not enter an arena of conflict with Iran." -Al Monitor 8/5/21

Sheila Morovati, a first-generation Iranian American, is the president and founder of the Crayon Collection. She helped the organization set a Guinness World Record with the largest crayon donation in history-more than one million were donated to schools and Head Start Centers in Los Angeles. -Red Tricycle 8/5/21

Mohammadreza Geraei won Iran's second gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He defeated Ukraine's Parviz Nasibov 9-1 in the men's Greco-Roman 67kg final bout. -Tehran Times 8/4/21

Iranian weightlifter Ali Davoudi won a silver medal at the +109kg weight class of the 2020 Olympic Games on Wednesday. He lifted a total weight of 441kg. His snatch lift was 200kg, with the clean and jerk of 241kg. -Tehran Times 8/4/21

The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston has organised a unique exhibition of Persian ceramics. The objects, however, are not from the museum's own treasure but on loan from one of the largest private collections of Persian art. - Pejman Akbarzadeh 8/4/21

For Ali Hedieloo, a 40-year-old making wooden furniture in Iran's capital, Instagram is more than just a surfeit of glossy images. Like an estimated 1 million other Iranians, it's how he finds customers, as the app has exploded into a massive e-commerce service in the sanctions-hit country. -AP 8/4/21

The fragile discussions over the revival of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal were about two weeks away from reaching a conclusion in June, but several complicated items remain unresolved, according to a senior German government official participating in the talks. Earlier this year, signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, began the first of what would become six rounds of all-day negotiations at multiple hotels across Vienna. -CNBC 8/4/21

An Iranian Revolutionary Court has sentenced two dual nationals, German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi and British-Iranian Mehran Raouf, to more than 10 years in prison, each on national security charges, their lawyer said on Wednesday. Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners in recent years, mostly on espionage and security-related charges. -MEE 8/4/21

In Iraq's easternmost province of Diyala near the border with Iran, thousands of paramilitaries marched in neatly arranged columns, trailed by an imposing procession of tanks and armored vehicles. The June parade, triumphantly broadcast on a YouTube livestream, marked the seventh anniversary of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an amalgamation of Iraqi paramilitary factions originally formed to fight ISIS with Iranian support. -Simona Foltyn, Politico 8/4/21

Oman has confirmed that a tanker boarded off the coast of the United Arab Emirates by a group of armed men was the target of a "hijacking incident". The incident, involving eight or nine armed men, ended after the group left the ship on Wednesday morning, according to a statement from the British navy. -Guardian 8/4/21

The Biden administration encouraged lawmakers on Tuesday to finally repeal an authorization for military action in Iraq crafted when Saddam Hussein was still alive, rejecting Republican arguments it would further signal to Iran that the U.S. is retreating from the Middle East. -AP 8/4/21

The Persian onager, also called the Persian wild ass or Persian zebra is a subspecies of onager native to Iran. It is listed as Endangered, with no more than 600 individuals left in the wild and only 30 individuals living within North American institutions. Persian wild asses are known to inhabit mountain steppes, semidesert, or desert plains. They are usually found in desert steppes. Their largest population is found in Khar Turan National Park. -Majid Dehghanizaded, Mehr 8/3/21

Iran's incoming President Ebrahim Raisi has promised to take action to lift harsh sanctions imposed by the United States and bridge the gap with dissatisfied Iranians but said he will not tie the country's future to the West. After being officially endorsed on Tuesday by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran's eighth president, the 60-year-old signalled that he will continue talks to restore the country's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers from which the US unilaterally withdrew three years ago. -Al Jazeera 8/3/21

Iran on Monday reported more than 37,000 new coronavirus infections, the country's single-day record so far in the pandemic, state media reported. State TV said health workers registered 37,189 new COVID-19 cases since Sunday - surpassing the previous daily record of 34,951 infections reported on Tuesday. Also, there were 411 deaths, bringing the country's total death toll in the pandemic to 91,407 - the highest in the Middle East. -AP 8/3/21

The Promise of Diplomacy as the United States Withdraws... The shift in Washington is undeniable: the Middle East is no longer a top priority for the United States. The U.S. withdrawal from the broader region is evident in the departure of troops from Afghanistan and reductions in U.S. military commitments to Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, alongside a heightened focus on China and Russia. -Vali Nasr and Maria Fantappie, Foreign Affairs 8/3/21

How do Russia, Pakistan, China, Iran and India view what seems to be an inevitable Taliban rise? A regional expert weighs in. --Fatemeh Aman, Responsible Statecraft 8/3/21

The United States on Monday promised to lead a "collective response" against Iran in retaliation for a deadly attack on an Israeli-linked tanker, as Tehran denied blame and warned against "adventurism." -France 24 8/3/21

Three more human rights attorneys in Iran were handed unjust prison sentences in July 2021 amid an ongoing campaignto eliminate due process for activists and dissidents by intimidating the lawyers who defend them. At least four defense lawyers were imprisoned in the country on trumped-up charges as of August 2021 (Nasrin Sotoudeh, Mohammad Najafi, Soheila Hejab, and Giti Pourfazel), and at least two additional lawyers (Farzaneh Zilabi and Mohammad Hadi Erfanian-Kaseb) were prosecuted on false charges in June 2021.-CHRI 8/3/21

As the Olympics in Tokyo wind down in about a week, the Paralympics are just around the corner. Later this month, the Paralympic Games will showcase some of the world's top athletes who live with disabilities. One team competing in the games is the Refugee Paralympic Team, which debuted in 2016 in Rio -wbur 8/3/21

Shibley Telhami describes the findings of a new University of Maryland Critical Issues poll taken earlier this summer. There are a number of interesting results from the survey, but perhaps the most striking one was the discovery that more Americans incorrectly believe Iran possesses nuclear weapons than know that Israel has them. -Daniel Larison 8/2/21

Protests in Iran against a range of grievances - including a severe lack of water and power blackouts - have drawn attention to the country's wider water problems. Experts have raised concerns about the situation for many years, so what's to blame for Iran's water crisis? -Jack Goodman, BBC 8/2/21

Pari Rahmanian and her daughters were sitting down to dinner in her brother's third-floor apartment in south Tehran when the ground began to move. "There was just this rumbling sound. I raced to my daughters to get them out. I was sure it was an earthquake," Rahmanian, 47, said. When she got to the hallway she realized what actually was happening: The building was settling in shifting soil. -Omid Khazani & Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times 8/2/21

Iran national volleyball teal lost to Japan 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 29-31, 25-22,15-13) on Sunday and bade farewell to the 2020 Olympic Games. Nishida Yuji led the Japanese team with 30 points, while Meysam Salehi scored 26 points for Iran. -Tehran Times 8/2/21

Iran's health minister has called for two weeks of lockdowns enforced by armed forces and law enforcement to curb the alarmingly fast rise of COVID-19 cases across the country. Saeed Namaki, who will likely be replaced after Ebrahim Raisi is inaugurated as the next president on Thursday, made the request in a letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that was also widely published by Iranian media on Sunday. -Al Jazeera 8/2/21

An Iranian-American man wanted to travel by sea from Florida to New York in a homemade vessel to raise money for charity, but ended up in hot water with the Coast Guard instead! 49-year-old Reza Baluchi has run from New York to California twice for charity, but his latest daring excursion came to an abrupt end after only 25 miles on the water. -Tag24 8/2/21

With the lowest turnout in its history, the Islamic Republic is moving further away from any sense of democracy. Thirty million Iranians chose not to vote in 2021, resulting in a participation rate of 48 percent, reduced to a dreary 42 percent if voided ballots are included. Either figure counts as the lowest ever recorded in the 42-year history of the Islamic Republic, a regime that has long prided itself on its ability to mobilize the population at election time. -Shervin Malekzadeh, Responsible Statecraft 8/2/21

The protests sparked by a severe water crisis in southwestern Khuzestan province once again drew attention to the discrimination against ethnic minorities in Iran. During the demonstrations, in which security forces killed at least eight, protesters highlighting water shortages and deteriorating economic conditions shouted slogans against the regime and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. -Raz Zimmt, Atlantic Council 8/2/21

Iran's foreign ministry on Sunday rejected "baseless accusations" after Israel blamed its arch-foe for a deadly attack on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman. "The Zionist regime has created insecurity, terror and violence... These accusations about Iran's involvement are condemned by Tehran," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh told a weekly news conference streamed online. -MEE 8/2/21

Ebrahim Raisi, who will be sworn in on Thursday as Iran's eighth president, inherits a troubled economy whose fate has been intertwined with political upheavals. The "revolutionary" government he's promised to form has a Herculean task ahead to fix an economy that suffers from a toxic mix of United States sanctions, the COVID-19 pandemic, and structural issues that have taken hold after decades of mismanagement. -Al Jazeera 8/2/21

Arsalan Kazemi spoke sadly and not because his Olympics were over. It's because Iran was never really ready when they started. France is moving on and Iran is headed home in men's basketball, with the French easing to a 79-62 victory Saturday. -AP 7/31/21

Instead of providing a sanctuary for rare species, Iran's zoos, aviaries, and wildlife conservation centers have been the sites of repeated instances of animal suffering. Animals at some of these centers have recently been mistreated, burned, stoned, and slaughtered, and those being imported from other regions have suffered high mortality rates. -Yasin Orooji1 & Hassan Karimi-Maleh, Science 7/31/21

Iran is an incredible country to explore. It is an ancient land bursting with time-honored civilizations, deep history, and rich culture. Regardless of the tense political situation, Iranians love to see tourists in their country and they are some of the most hospitable you will ever find in the world. -Aaron Spray, The Travel 7/30/21

Iran defeated Thailand 5-1 on Friday to win the Continental Futsal Championship. Alireza Rafieipour and Behzad Azimi each scored two goals and Farhad Tavakoli also scored a goal against the hosts in the final. 7/30/21

The rising death toll and mass arrests raise grave concerns about the Iranian authorities' response to recent protests in Khuzestan and other provinces, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should immediately and unconditionally release peaceful protesters, provide information about deaths, and allow an independent international investigation into security agencies' alleged use of lethal force. All those responsible for abuses should be held to account. -HRW 7/30/21

The opening of Majed Neisi's film shows his seven brothers and his sister laughing and dancing at his cousin's wedding in Ahvaz in south-west Iran. But this is just the public face of a family in crisis. His elder brother Mohammad had become a heroin addict who would vanish for weeks at a time. After the party, he disappeared and nobody would talk about him. -Helen Fitzwilliam, Chatham House 7/30/21

Salehiyeh is the only wetland in Alborz Province of Iran. The wetland is fed by surface waters in Qazvin and Alborz provinces, but it is drying up due to drought and intense summer heat. Before drought and when there was high rainfall in the region, Salehiyeh Wetland was home to 120 bird species, including migratory birds. -Masoumeh Aliakbar, ISNA 7/30/21

The election of conservative Ebrahim Raisi as president of Iran has driven home a harsh fact for the international community: the Islamic Republic will not be undergoing its long hoped for transformational reform in the near future. Raisi's presidency, beginning with his inauguration on August 5, 2021, solidifies conservative control over Iran's elected institutions as well as those unelected organizations under the purview of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. -Sanam Vakil, Chatham House 7/30/21

The "East Alborz" tunnel that is said to be the longest in West Asia is going to be inaugurated later today by outgoing President Hassan Rouhani. The tunnel connects Alborz province with the northern provinces. -Maryam Kamyab, Mehr 7/30/21

After decades of poor environmental governance and mismanagement of water resources in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province, it's not surprising that people have taken to the streets once again since July 15, prompting a violent crackdown by security forces and near total internet shutdown. But how did it get to this point? -Nasser Karami, Atlantic Council 7/30/21

An oil tanker linked to an Israeli billionaire reportedly came under attack off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea, authorities said Friday, an assault that killed two crew members. The attack Thursday night targeted Liberian-flagged oil tanker Mercer Street just northeast of the Omani island of Masirah. The location is over 300 kilometers (185 miles) southeast of Oman's capital, Muscat. -AP 7/30/21

It was not so much the Great Satan. More the Great Love In. And over two enjoyable hours at the Saitama Super Arena, the basketball teams of the United States and Islamic Republic of Iran gave a salutary lesson in harmony, decency and class to many of their political leaders over the past 42 years. -Sean Ingle, Guardian 7/29/21

It was a bittersweet moment for many Iranians. Kimia Alizadeh, an Iranian taekwondo fighter, beat her opponent, also from Iran, at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Alizadeh, who emigrated to Europe in 2020 after criticizing the oppression of women in the Islamic republic, represented the Refugee Team while her opponent and former teammate, Nahid Kiayani, was fighting for their home country of Iran. -Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE 7/29/21

"We are committed to diplomacy, but this process cannot go on indefinitely. At some point the gains achieved by the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) cannot be fully recovered by a return to the JCPOA if Iran continues the activities that it's undertaken with regard to its nuclear program," he said, addressing a news conference in Kuwait. -Reuters 7/29/21

Years of mismanagement has left Iran facing "irreversible" water shortages that threaten to trigger conflict across the Middle East and North Africa, an exiled former minister has warned. Kaveh Madani, a scientist who served as deputy environment minister, told The Times that Iran was "water bankrupt" - when consumption is greater than renewable water availability - as reservoirs, rivers and groundwater begin to run dry. -The Week, UK 7/29/21

Sheida Gharachedaghi completed the opera in 1989. It was immediately banned in Iran, but premiered and recorded later that year in Toronto. It's a surprise, then, to discover that the work has so little to do with the tradition of Persian music. - Christopher Ballantine, OPERA Magazine 7/29/21

Iran inaugurated on Tuesday an advanced ion therapy center for the first time in West Asia, which will provide definitive treatment for all types of cancer by the next year. With the aim of definite treatment of cancer using radiation with a synchrotron system, the center was designed in 2016 and its construction started in 2019. 7/29/21

The Iranian startup Tazminchi started operations with Hossein Moradi's idea and investment from the No-avaran Javid accelerator. Hossein Moradi, the founder of Tazminchi and CEO of the Javid Group, was born in 1982. He completed his bachelor's in agricultural engineering at Islamic Azad University and is an MBA graduate of the Sharif University of Technology. -Techrasa 7/29/21

Powerful Shia political and militia leaders in Iraq are divided over Joe Biden's promise to end a US combat mission in Iraq, amid reports Iran's top general has paid a secret visit to the country to discuss the plan. Iran-backed militias in Iraq have stepped up attacks on US forces in the country, piling pressure on Iraqi prime minister Mustafa Kadhimi to secure a withdrawal agreement during meetings in Washington this week. -Bel Trew, Independent 7/29/21

The Americans applauded the Iranian national anthem. The Iranians applauded the U.S. anthem. There were a few handshakes before, plenty more handshakes after, and words of sportsmanship between the sides throughout the game. For two hours, it was basketball diplomacy. -Tim Reynolds, AP 7/28/21

Canada's men's volleyball team picked up an easy 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-22) victory over Iran, keeping its playoff hopes alive with its first win of the Olympics on Wednesday in Tokyo. Despite Iran entering with momentum, the Canadians maintained control of the match from start to finish. -CBC 7/28/21

Farhang Foundation is proud to announce the official unveiling of its third winning mural design as part of its Iranian Mural Design Competition in collaboration with Beautify Earth. The competition invited artists to submit design concepts that conceptualize different and unique aspects of Iranian culture. 7/28/21

Iranian photographer Mehdi Kazemi Bumeh has won Salon Silver Medal at the 1st Danube Digital Circuit in Russia. He garnered the honor in the C Open Color category of the exhibition for his photo "Man with a White Beard". Mehdi Parsaian, another Iranian photographer, also won an honorable mention for his photo "Peak of Light" in this section. -Tehran Times 7/28/21

With the Iranian election done, the jockeying resumes for negotiating leverage over a potential return to mutual compliance with the Iran nuclear deal among the parties in the Vienna talks. With that jockeying comes a renewed interest on the part of Congress to inject itself into the work of America's diplomats. -Louie Reckford, Just Security 7/28/21

Iran's supreme leader on Wednesday called the U.S. "stubborn" in stalled nuclear talks in Vienna for discussing Tehran's missiles and regional influence, likely signaling more trouble ahead for the negotiations. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's remarks come as his hard-line protege, President-elect Ebrahim Raisi, is poised to be sworn in next week as the head of the country's civilian government. -AP 7/28/21

After 40 years of sanctions and arms embargoes, Iran's air force has slowly become an eclectic mishmash of aging platforms sourced through various channels. If war were to break out between Iran and the United States today, U.S. pilots would find themselves squaring off with Iranian pilots in a swarm of old American, Soviet, and Chinese jets. Some of these planes, like the Northrop F-5 Tiger II, have seen update efforts over the years. Others, however, are thought to be barely sky-worthy. -Sofrep 7/28/21

People in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province are desperate. Suffering from drought and water shortages since March, they've taken to the streets in the last couple of weeks to express their anger with the government and its poor management of water resources. According to official sources, at least four men, including one policeman, have died in the protests. Authorities claim they were shot by "unknown rioters" in order to stir up trouble. -DW 7/27/21

MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan asked why the United States continues to sanction Iran despite a surge in coronavirus cases in the country. As of Sunday, the seven-day average of coronavirus cases in Iran is 24,024, according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering. During The Mehdi Hasan Show on Sunday the host asked U.S. Special Representative for Iran Robert Malley about "the humanitarian situation in Iran." -Mediaite 7/27/21

That the wars of the future will be fought over water rather than oil is an adage that feels like an increasingly terrifyingly reality as every year goes by. Especially across the Middle East and North Africa, regions that are on the frontline of the world's climate crises. This year in particular, water has been become a worryingly scarce resource as wars, crumbling infrastructure and, in some instances, unprecedented economic collapse, have led to rolling power outrages that have become disastrous when coupled with record high temperatures. -Bel Trew, Independent 7/27/21

Goreh-Jask pipeline project provides Iran with an alternative route for the country's crude oil exports that are currently carried out through the Strait of Hormuz. The pipeline will open a new gate for Iranian oil to the Indian Ocean by transferring it from Goreh in southwestern Bushehr Province to Jask on the shores of Oman Gulf. -Ebrahim Fallahi, Tehran Times 7/27/21

First Afghanistan, now Iraq. As Iraq's prime minister visits the White House for talks with President Joe Biden, an announcement has been made that all remaining US combat troops will be out of Iraq by the end of this year as part of an ongoing "US-Iraq Strategic Dialogue". -Frank Gardner, BBC 7/27/21

Iran's state TV reported on Tuesday that authorities arrested members of a group linked to Israel's Mossad intelligence agency amid ongoing protests over water shortages in the country's southwest. The report said "a network of spy agents, with a large amount of weapons and ammunition" was arrested after sneaking into Iran from across its western border. -AP 7/27/21

Mehdi Rajabian is a musician. And like most musicians he feels the need to create music so strongly he can't do anything else. The difference between Rajabian and musicians in the U.S. or the U.K. or most other places around the globe is that Rajabian, an Iranian musician, is risking imprisonment to share his art. As he says in his self-penned essay, "We are proving that no power can stop making music, even if it means my life, or going back to jail." -Forbes 7/26/21

The new Iranian administration may agree on a revised JCPOA with the U.S. But if the economic benefits are paltry, political support will drain away. -Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, Responsible Statecraft 7/26/21

A couple of years ago, The Last Fiction became the first Iranian animated feature to qualify for an Oscar. Having successfully made its mark overseas, the studio behind the film, Tehran's Hoorakhsh Studios, is launching into its next project: the family comedy Juliet & the King. -Cartoon Brew 7/23/21

The negotiations, currently in hiatus, to restore compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action - known familiarly as the Iran nuclear deal - have elicited opposition arguments that are stale and dated. Many of those arguments not only suffer from a deficiency of logic but also ignore what is now a substantial empirical record of what happens with and without the JCPOA. That record constitutes what social scientists would call a natural experiment. -Paul R. Pillar, Responsible Statecraft 7/23/21

According to an official with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, plans are underway to build a supercomputer in memory of prominent Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani. According to Ehsan Aryanian, manager of IT platforms at ICT Research Institute, initial calls for researching and designing 'Maryam Supercomputer' have been made. 7/22/21

In her MACK-published book Speak the Wind, the Iranian-born, Melbourne-based photographer captures the landscapes, people and rituals of the islands in the Strait of Hormuz -AnOther 7/16/21

We welcome filmmakers to submit short films for competition that visualize some aspect of Iranian arts, crafts, cuisine, culture, geography, literature and history. All entries will be judged for creativity, quality, and originality and will compete for a chance to win monetary prizes 7/16/21

For Sepehr Arbabi, the ceremony last week to inaugurate the Iranian National Observatory (INO) on a mountaintop in central Iran should have been a proud moment. The astrophysicist spent 13 years surmounting obstacles to help put the world-class optical telescope on a sound technical footing, including obtaining its primary mirror from Germany. "I felt this was like my baby, my child," says Arbabi, who left the project 5 years ago and is now at the University of Wurzburg. -Richard Stone, Science 7/13/21

Water inflow into the Iranian dams from the beginning of the current water year (late September 2020) up to July 9, has decreased by 47 percent compared to the previous year's same period, according to the Iran Water Resources Management Company's data. 7/12/21

School building benefactors have allocated $1.4 billion to construct educational spaces over the past four years. Over the past year, some 50 percent of the country's schools have been constructed either entirely charitable or in partnership with the government and charities 7/8/21

World Rugby spoke to the World Rugby Women's Executive Leadership Scholarship recipient and Asia Rugby Executive Committee member about an exciting year, in which she has also given birth to her first child. Nahid Biyarjomandi had already achieved more than most would hope to in a lifetime when she was chosen as one of 15 'Unstoppable' women in rugby two years ago. 7/5/21

Iran's Sareh Javanmardi is honest about what could hinder her performance. With the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics nearing, the pressure is rising and so is the anxiety and stress. Rather than hide, the multi-Paralympic and world champion brings her achilles heel to light. Especially in shooting Para sport, where one mental lapse can cost an athlete everything, knowing how to handle such anxieties and stress is important for the Iranian. -Paralympic.org 6/30/21

Every day at dawn, fisherwomen from the tiny island of Hengam in Iran nudge their daughters into small boats. The currents are often overwhelmingly strong, but for these women, braving rough waves isn't just about finding their catch of the day. It's how mothers groom their daughters to face life in the community. Hengam is one of the only islands in Iran where women set out to sea without men. -VICE 6/23/21