Iran
Iran shuts down internet as petrol riots crackdown escalates
Iranian authorities essentially turned the internet off on November 17 as a crackdown on protests against a dramatic hike in petrol prices escalated, reported Netblocks, an internet-freedom charity.
Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei blames enemies for protests as several reported dead in escalating unrest
Iran went under virtual martial law as authorities shut down the internet and blocked roads in the capital. There were some reports of shooting on the streets of Tehran.
Halkbank shares head south in Istanbul after Erdogan’s White House meeting produces little
State bank embroiled in Iran sanctions-busting case. Mention of Turkish strongman in indictment and Trump Tower Istanbul under renewed scrutiny. No progress on ‘S-400’ row. Senators not thrilled at Oval Office showing of anti-Kurdish propaganda film.
LONG READ: How Iran’s “Shadow Commander” Qasem Soleimani left home at 13 and took a stranglehold on the Middle East
217-page think tank report looks at why US and allies are on back foot in so many of region’s conflict zones.
40TH ANNIVERSARY OF IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS: Present-day US “wilder, ruder” says Ayatollah Khamenei
Mickey Mouse with a smoking gun among murals unveiled on compound walls of former American embassy in Tehran.
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Trump sanctions ‘hit Iran’s supplies of cancer drugs’
As reported by bne IntelliNews a year ago, Tehran’s MAHAK Pediatric Cancer Treatment & Research Center cannot entirely escape the impact of measures despite so-called US exemptions for humanitarian goods.
IIF: IMF meetings, not as bad as you think
Investors and policymakers finished the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank annual general meetings in October on a more positive note than expected.
Albanian police ‘foiled planned attacks by Iranian agents on exiled opposition group MeK’
Mujahideen-e-Khalq enjoys support of Trump administration figures including US president’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Iranians typically see it as a Marxist-Islamic cult.
Turkey’s Halkbank now seen as “fugitive” by New York prosecutors
State bank fails to send lawyer to initial court hearing on conspiracy to evade Iran sanctions.
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Former jailed Halkbank deputy GM appointed boss of Istanbul stock exchange
Move will be taken as underlining Turkey’s angry rejection of US indictment of public lender on Iran sanctions-busting charges.