Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes his final appearance at the United Nations this week as a leader vilified abroad and with dwindling popularity at home. With nine months left before his final term expires, Ahmadinejad, 55, presides over an economy hobbled by European and U.S.-led sanctions and a currency collapse that’s firing inflation.
Iran arrests Rafsanjani’s daughter
Iran’s official news agency says authorities have detained the daughter of influential ex-president and political centrist Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The Sunday report by IRNA says Tehran’s judiciary department took Faezeh Hashemi into custody late Saturday to serve a six-month sentence on charges of making propaganda against the ruling system.
Iranian women banned from 77 university courses
New rules banning female university students from studying 77 subjects in Iran have come into effect as the nation’s academic year kicked off on Saturday. No official reason has been given for the restrictions to courses at more than 30 universities. Banned courses include nuclear physics, computer science and English literature.
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) suspends Syria
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation suspended Syria’s membership early on Thursday at a summit of Muslim leaders in Mecca, citing President Bashar al-Assad’s violent suppression of the Syrian revolt.
Iran government criticised over earthquake response
Iran’s government faced criticism from lawmakers and the public on Monday over its handling of relief efforts after two large earthquakes killed 300 people and injured thousands in the northwest of the country. Members of parliament representing the affected areas complained about
Putin, Ahmadinejad to meet in Beijing
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he’ll talk with Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Beijing. The Putin-Ahmadinejad talks in Beijing come as the Russian president prepares to host the so-called “P5+1” group — the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany
Iran’s conservatives dump Ahmadinejad in runoff election
Partial results for an Iranian parliamentary runoff election announced Saturday show supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reduced to a small fraction of the legislature, hugely outnumbered by the conservatives
Ahmadinejad, Chavez Joke About Love & Nukes
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sarcastically addressed America’s growing concern over Iran’s nuclear program referring to themselves as “devils” whose love for one another would fuel their “a-bomb.”
Ahmadinejad says in interview: It’s not too late to fix US ties
Hours after criticizing America so fiercely that U.S. diplomats stormed out of the U.N. General Assembly in protest, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that time has not run out for the two countries to repair their bad relationship.
Ahmadinejad blames the west for drought in Iran
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday accused Western countries of devising plans to “cause drought” in the Islamic republic, as he inaugurated a dam in a central province. “Western countries have designed plans to cause drought in certain areas of the world, including Iran,” the official IRNA