In a
statement on December 9, the university said it promoted peace, friendship, and brotherhood among nations and slammed the U.S. decision as hegemonic. High-Value Individuals
Ali Alfoneh, a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington who has closely monitored IRGC activity in Syria, said that, according to his database from January 2012 to December 2020, 3,059 Iranian and allied foreign fighters were killed in combat in Syria.
Alfoneh says of those, only three were students or graduates of the Al-Mustafa International University known as Jamiat al-Mostafa University in Iran. This indicates that Jamiat al-Mostafa has never served as the primary recruitment ground for the IRGC s war effort in Syria, he says.
The Nation, check out our latest issue.
Subscribe to
Support Progressive Journalism
The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today.
Did you know you can support
The Nation by drinking wine?
There are indications that Iran could be among the worst-affected countries in the world by the coronavirus pandemic and its associated problems.
Accurate pandemic numbers are hard to come by because of the opacity of the Islamic regime. However, based on sporadic statements by government officials as well as direct testimony from members of the country’s beleaguered medical community, it is hard to avoid the grim conclusion that Iran may be among the top three or four worst-hit countries in the world, with the other three India, the United States, and Brazil possessing much larger populations.
Armed by Iran, 2,000 Afghans Still in Syria: Zarif
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in an interview that aired on Monday, said that 2,000 Afghans are still fighting in Syria and that Iran would be willing to arm more in the fight against Daesh if the Afghan government was willing.
Talking in an exclusive interview with TOLOnews Lotfullah Najafizada, Zarif said that Iran has not sent any Afghans to Syria, but they have gone there voluntarily.
“I made it clear, nobody goes to war on behalf of a foreign country to a third country. Our brothers would go to [Syria] voluntarily. Some Iraqis went and some from other countries took part in [the war in Syria].”
4 Min Read
DUBAI (Reuters) - Authorities in Iran on Saturday announced the detection of at least 10 new cases of coronavirus and two more deaths, deepening a sense of public unease over the handling of the spread of the disease.
The latest cases appeared to bring the number of cases in Iran to 29 and the number of deaths to six.
News of the latest cases and deaths came from Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur and the governor of Markazi province in central Iran, cited by state TV.
The Health Ministry earlier on Saturday noted a total number of 28 cases and five deaths and the governor announced a death in Markazi province later in the day.
Transcript of TOLOnews Interview with Iran’s Javad Zarif
In this program, TOLOnews’ Lotfullah Najafizada has interviewed Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about Afghanistan-Iran relations, Iran’s ties with the Taliban, the Afghan peace process, the Afghan refugees’ situation in Iran and other current topics.
Below is the full transcript (original is in Farsi).
Lotfullah Najafizada (LN): Hello. Afghan-Iran relations have had many ups and downs. A common history, culture and language between the two nations has been overshadowed by politics, Afghanistan’s relations with the US, the Afghan refugees’ situation in Iran and Iran’s relations with the Taliban. Is Iran in favor of the Republic or it is a friend of the Taliban? What is Iran’s actual policy toward Afghanistan? Who is the real decision-maker of this policy? Iran’s Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Does Afghanistan’s frien