{"id":211099,"date":"2018-12-23T20:39:04","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T20:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/211099-iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018"},"modified":"2020-01-24T17:47:50","modified_gmt":"2020-01-24T17:47:50","slug":"iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran news in brief, December 21, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"lyte-wrapper\" title=\"Iran news in brief, December 21, 2018\" style=\"width:853px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_FrxV3qbpcxA\" itemprop=\"video\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\"><div><meta itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FFrxV3qbpcxA%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"embedURL\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FrxV3qbpcxA\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT3M58S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2018-12-21T09:51:18Z\" \/><\/div><div id=\"lyte_FrxV3qbpcxA\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FFrxV3qbpcxA%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\" itemprop=\"name\">Iran news in brief, December 21, 2018<\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/FrxV3qbpcxA\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FFrxV3qbpcxA%2F0.jpg\" alt=\"Iran news in brief, December 21, 2018\" width=\"853\" height=\"460\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"1- Trump Thanks Albania for Expelling Iranian Diplomats U.S. President Donald Trump has thanked Albania for expelling the Iranian ambassador and another diplomat for allegedly engaging in illegal activities that threaten Albania&#039;s security. Trump&#039;s letter to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, dated Dec. 14, thanked him &quot;for your steadfast efforts to stand up to Iran and to counter its destabilizing activities and efforts to silence dissidents around the globe.&quot; Trump&#039;s letter said the expulsion &quot;exemplifies our joint efforts to show the Iranian government that its terrorist activities in Europe and around the world will have severe consequences.&quot; Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, praised Albania\u2019s decision to expel both the ambassador and the Iranian Intelligence Ministry\u2019s station chief in Tirana. Iran\u2019s rulers must be shown that \u201ctheir terrorist activities in Europe and across the world will have serious consequences,\u201d Mrs. Rajavi said this week. Shahin Gobadi of Iran&#039;s National Council of Resistance based in Paris, France, also hailed Albania&#039;s expulsion of the two diplomats as &quot;a very necessary and courageous act.&quot; Albania is home to 2,500 members of the Iranian opposition group in exile Mujahedin-e Khalk, who moved from Iraq. Gobadi said &quot;The clerical regime&#039;s embassies in Europe are centers of terrorist acts against the dissidents.&quot; 2- Iran: Teachers Protesting in Isfahan Teachers in Isfahan rallied on Thursday, protesting not receiving any answers regarding their demands. This gathering was held outside the city\u2019s Education Department located on \u201cHasht Behesht\u201d Avenue. The teachers were heard chanting: \u201cYou\u2019ve taken the budget, while kids are burning in fire,\u201d referring to a recent tragic fire incident in Zahedan, southeast Iran, that took the lives of three elementary and kindergarten schoolchildren. The teachers were holding up various signs reading: \u201cJailed teachers must be released \u2013 Teachers, workers, students, unite, unite \u2013 &quot;Our enemy is right here, they lie in saying it\u2019s America.\u201d 3- Jailed Iranian Lawyer to Stand Trial as Condemnation Grows Imprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh will go on trial again on Sunday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency has quoted her lawyer as saying. Sotoudeh was arrested in June after defending women protesting against Iran\u2019s hijab laws. At the time she was told she had already been found guilty of collusion and propaganda against the Islamic Republic and sentenced to six years in prison. It was not clear what charges Sotoudeh would face in the new trial, which will be heard at Tehran\u2019s Revolutionary Court, news agency Agence France Press reports. Sotoudeh won the European Parliament\u2019s Sakharov human rights award in 2012 for her work on high-profile cases, including those of convicts on death row for offences committed as minors. She spent three years in prison after representing dissidents arrested during mass protests in 2009. 4- European Countries Refrain From Supplying Fuel to Iranian Planes In addition to Turkey and Lebanon, most European countries also refrain from supplying fuel to Iran\u2019s planes, said Ali Abedzadeh, deputy minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran and chief of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO), Trend reports via Mehr News Agency. The gradual increase in foreign currency and tightening of sanctions by the US affected the aviation industry of Iran, he noted.\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:853px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1- Trump Thanks Albania for Expelling Iranian DiplomatsU.S. President Donald Trump has thanked Albania for expelling the Iranian ambassador and another diplomat for allegedly engaging in illegal activities that threaten [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[178],"class_list":{"0":"post-211099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-iran-news-in-brief","7":"tag-save"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Iran news in brief, December 21, 2018 - NCRI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"1- Trump Thanks Albania for Expelling Iranian DiplomatsU.S. President Donald Trump has thanked Albania for expelling the Iranian ambassador and another diplomat for allegedly engaging in illegal activities that threaten Albania&#039;s security. Trump&#039;s letter to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, dated Dec. 14, thanked him &quot;for your steadfast efforts to stand up to Iran and to counter its destabilizing activities and efforts to silence dissidents around the globe.&quot;Trump&#039;s letter said the expulsion &quot;exemplifies our joint efforts to show the Iranian government that its terrorist activities in Europe and around the world will have severe consequences.&quot;Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, praised Albania\u2019s decision to expel both the ambassador and the Iranian Intelligence Ministry\u2019s station chief in Tirana. Iran\u2019s rulers must be shown that \u201ctheir terrorist activities in Europe and across the world will have serious consequences,\u201d Mrs. Rajavi said this week.Shahin Gobadi of Iran&#039;s National Council of Resistance based in Paris, France, also hailed Albania&#039;s expulsion of the two diplomats as &quot;a very necessary and courageous act.&quot;Albania is home to 2,500 members of the Iranian opposition group in exile Mujahedin-e Khalk, who moved from Iraq.Gobadi said &quot;The clerical regime&#039;s embassies in Europe are centers of terrorist acts against the dissidents.&quot;2- Iran: Teachers Protesting in IsfahanTeachers in Isfahan rallied on Thursday, protesting not receiving any answers regarding their demands. This gathering was held outside the city\u2019s Education Department located on \u201cHasht Behesht\u201d Avenue. The teachers were heard chanting: \u201cYou\u2019ve taken the budget, while kids are burning in fire,\u201d referring to a recent tragic fire incident in Zahedan, southeast Iran, that took the lives of three elementary and kindergarten schoolchildren. The teachers were holding up various signs reading:\u201cJailed teachers must be released \u2013 Teachers, workers, students, unite, unite \u2013 &quot;Our enemy is right here, they lie in saying it\u2019s America.\u201d3- Jailed Iranian Lawyer to Stand Trial as Condemnation GrowsImprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh will go on trial again on Sunday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency has quoted her lawyer as saying. Sotoudeh was arrested in June after defending women protesting against Iran\u2019s hijab laws. At the time she was told she had already been found guilty of collusion and propaganda against the Islamic Republic and sentenced to six years in prison. It was not clear what charges Sotoudeh would face in the new trial, which will be heard at Tehran\u2019s Revolutionary Court, news agency Agence France Press reports. Sotoudeh won the European Parliament\u2019s Sakharov human rights award in 2012 for her work on high-profile cases, including those of convicts on death row for offences committed as minors. She spent three years in prison after representing dissidents arrested during mass protests in 2009.4- European Countries Refrain From Supplying Fuel to Iranian PlanesIn addition to Turkey and Lebanon, most European countries also refrain from supplying fuel to Iran\u2019s planes, said Ali Abedzadeh, deputy minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran and chief of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO), Trend reports via Mehr News Agency.The gradual increase in foreign currency and tightening of sanctions by the US affected the aviation industry of Iran, he noted.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Iran news in brief, December 21, 2018 - NCRI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1- Trump Thanks Albania for Expelling Iranian DiplomatsU.S. President Donald Trump has thanked Albania for expelling the Iranian ambassador and another diplomat for allegedly engaging in illegal activities that threaten Albania&#039;s security. Trump&#039;s letter to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, dated Dec. 14, thanked him &quot;for your steadfast efforts to stand up to Iran and to counter its destabilizing activities and efforts to silence dissidents around the globe.&quot;Trump&#039;s letter said the expulsion &quot;exemplifies our joint efforts to show the Iranian government that its terrorist activities in Europe and around the world will have severe consequences.&quot;Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, praised Albania\u2019s decision to expel both the ambassador and the Iranian Intelligence Ministry\u2019s station chief in Tirana. Iran\u2019s rulers must be shown that \u201ctheir terrorist activities in Europe and across the world will have serious consequences,\u201d Mrs. Rajavi said this week.Shahin Gobadi of Iran&#039;s National Council of Resistance based in Paris, France, also hailed Albania&#039;s expulsion of the two diplomats as &quot;a very necessary and courageous act.&quot;Albania is home to 2,500 members of the Iranian opposition group in exile Mujahedin-e Khalk, who moved from Iraq.Gobadi said &quot;The clerical regime&#039;s embassies in Europe are centers of terrorist acts against the dissidents.&quot;2- Iran: Teachers Protesting in IsfahanTeachers in Isfahan rallied on Thursday, protesting not receiving any answers regarding their demands. This gathering was held outside the city\u2019s Education Department located on \u201cHasht Behesht\u201d Avenue. The teachers were heard chanting: \u201cYou\u2019ve taken the budget, while kids are burning in fire,\u201d referring to a recent tragic fire incident in Zahedan, southeast Iran, that took the lives of three elementary and kindergarten schoolchildren. The teachers were holding up various signs reading:\u201cJailed teachers must be released \u2013 Teachers, workers, students, unite, unite \u2013 &quot;Our enemy is right here, they lie in saying it\u2019s America.\u201d3- Jailed Iranian Lawyer to Stand Trial as Condemnation GrowsImprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh will go on trial again on Sunday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency has quoted her lawyer as saying. Sotoudeh was arrested in June after defending women protesting against Iran\u2019s hijab laws. At the time she was told she had already been found guilty of collusion and propaganda against the Islamic Republic and sentenced to six years in prison. It was not clear what charges Sotoudeh would face in the new trial, which will be heard at Tehran\u2019s Revolutionary Court, news agency Agence France Press reports. Sotoudeh won the European Parliament\u2019s Sakharov human rights award in 2012 for her work on high-profile cases, including those of convicts on death row for offences committed as minors. She spent three years in prison after representing dissidents arrested during mass protests in 2009.4- European Countries Refrain From Supplying Fuel to Iranian PlanesIn addition to Turkey and Lebanon, most European countries also refrain from supplying fuel to Iran\u2019s planes, said Ali Abedzadeh, deputy minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran and chief of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO), Trend reports via Mehr News Agency.The gradual increase in foreign currency and tightening of sanctions by the US affected the aviation industry of Iran, he noted.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NCRI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-23T20:39:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-24T17:47:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/ncri-logo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"402\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@iran_policy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@iran_policy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/multimedia\\\/iran-news-in-brief\\\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/multimedia\\\/iran-news-in-brief\\\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Iran news in brief, December 21, 2018\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-23T20:39:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-24T17:47:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/multimedia\\\/iran-news-in-brief\\\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":13,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"save\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Multimedia: Iran news in brief\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/multimedia\\\/iran-news-in-brief\\\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/multimedia\\\/iran-news-in-brief\\\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\\\/\",\"name\":\"Iran news in brief, December 21, 2018 - NCRI\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-23T20:39:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-24T17:47:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"1- Trump Thanks Albania for Expelling Iranian DiplomatsU.S. President Donald Trump has thanked Albania for expelling the Iranian ambassador and another diplomat for allegedly engaging in illegal activities that threaten Albania's security. Trump's letter to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, dated Dec. 14, thanked him \\\"for your steadfast efforts to stand up to Iran and to counter its destabilizing activities and efforts to silence dissidents around the globe.\\\"Trump's letter said the expulsion \\\"exemplifies our joint efforts to show the Iranian government that its terrorist activities in Europe and around the world will have severe consequences.\\\"Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, praised Albania\u2019s decision to expel both the ambassador and the Iranian Intelligence Ministry\u2019s station chief in Tirana. Iran\u2019s rulers must be shown that \u201ctheir terrorist activities in Europe and across the world will have serious consequences,\u201d Mrs. Rajavi said this week.Shahin Gobadi of Iran's National Council of Resistance based in Paris, France, also hailed Albania's expulsion of the two diplomats as \\\"a very necessary and courageous act.\\\"Albania is home to 2,500 members of the Iranian opposition group in exile Mujahedin-e Khalk, who moved from Iraq.Gobadi said \\\"The clerical regime's embassies in Europe are centers of terrorist acts against the dissidents.\\\"2- Iran: Teachers Protesting in IsfahanTeachers in Isfahan rallied on Thursday, protesting not receiving any answers regarding their demands. This gathering was held outside the city\u2019s Education Department located on \u201cHasht Behesht\u201d Avenue. The teachers were heard chanting: \u201cYou\u2019ve taken the budget, while kids are burning in fire,\u201d referring to a recent tragic fire incident in Zahedan, southeast Iran, that took the lives of three elementary and kindergarten schoolchildren. The teachers were holding up various signs reading:\u201cJailed teachers must be released \u2013 Teachers, workers, students, unite, unite \u2013 \\\"Our enemy is right here, they lie in saying it\u2019s America.\u201d3- Jailed Iranian Lawyer to Stand Trial as Condemnation GrowsImprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh will go on trial again on Sunday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency has quoted her lawyer as saying. Sotoudeh was arrested in June after defending women protesting against Iran\u2019s hijab laws. At the time she was told she had already been found guilty of collusion and propaganda against the Islamic Republic and sentenced to six years in prison. It was not clear what charges Sotoudeh would face in the new trial, which will be heard at Tehran\u2019s Revolutionary Court, news agency Agence France Press reports. Sotoudeh won the European Parliament\u2019s Sakharov human rights award in 2012 for her work on high-profile cases, including those of convicts on death row for offences committed as minors. 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Trump's letter to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, dated Dec. 14, thanked him \"for your steadfast efforts to stand up to Iran and to counter its destabilizing activities and efforts to silence dissidents around the globe.\"Trump's letter said the expulsion \"exemplifies our joint efforts to show the Iranian government that its terrorist activities in Europe and around the world will have severe consequences.\"Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, praised Albania\u2019s decision to expel both the ambassador and the Iranian Intelligence Ministry\u2019s station chief in Tirana. Iran\u2019s rulers must be shown that \u201ctheir terrorist activities in Europe and across the world will have serious consequences,\u201d Mrs. Rajavi said this week.Shahin Gobadi of Iran's National Council of Resistance based in Paris, France, also hailed Albania's expulsion of the two diplomats as \"a very necessary and courageous act.\"Albania is home to 2,500 members of the Iranian opposition group in exile Mujahedin-e Khalk, who moved from Iraq.Gobadi said \"The clerical regime's embassies in Europe are centers of terrorist acts against the dissidents.\"2- Iran: Teachers Protesting in IsfahanTeachers in Isfahan rallied on Thursday, protesting not receiving any answers regarding their demands. This gathering was held outside the city\u2019s Education Department located on \u201cHasht Behesht\u201d Avenue. The teachers were heard chanting: \u201cYou\u2019ve taken the budget, while kids are burning in fire,\u201d referring to a recent tragic fire incident in Zahedan, southeast Iran, that took the lives of three elementary and kindergarten schoolchildren. The teachers were holding up various signs reading:\u201cJailed teachers must be released \u2013 Teachers, workers, students, unite, unite \u2013 \"Our enemy is right here, they lie in saying it\u2019s America.\u201d3- Jailed Iranian Lawyer to Stand Trial as Condemnation GrowsImprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh will go on trial again on Sunday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency has quoted her lawyer as saying. Sotoudeh was arrested in June after defending women protesting against Iran\u2019s hijab laws. At the time she was told she had already been found guilty of collusion and propaganda against the Islamic Republic and sentenced to six years in prison. It was not clear what charges Sotoudeh would face in the new trial, which will be heard at Tehran\u2019s Revolutionary Court, news agency Agence France Press reports. Sotoudeh won the European Parliament\u2019s Sakharov human rights award in 2012 for her work on high-profile cases, including those of convicts on death row for offences committed as minors. She spent three years in prison after representing dissidents arrested during mass protests in 2009.4- European Countries Refrain From Supplying Fuel to Iranian PlanesIn addition to Turkey and Lebanon, most European countries also refrain from supplying fuel to Iran\u2019s planes, said Ali Abedzadeh, deputy minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran and chief of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO), Trend reports via Mehr News Agency.The gradual increase in foreign currency and tightening of sanctions by the US affected the aviation industry of Iran, he noted.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Iran news in brief, December 21, 2018 - NCRI","og_description":"1- Trump Thanks Albania for Expelling Iranian DiplomatsU.S. President Donald Trump has thanked Albania for expelling the Iranian ambassador and another diplomat for allegedly engaging in illegal activities that threaten Albania's security. Trump's letter to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, dated Dec. 14, thanked him \"for your steadfast efforts to stand up to Iran and to counter its destabilizing activities and efforts to silence dissidents around the globe.\"Trump's letter said the expulsion \"exemplifies our joint efforts to show the Iranian government that its terrorist activities in Europe and around the world will have severe consequences.\"Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, praised Albania\u2019s decision to expel both the ambassador and the Iranian Intelligence Ministry\u2019s station chief in Tirana. Iran\u2019s rulers must be shown that \u201ctheir terrorist activities in Europe and across the world will have serious consequences,\u201d Mrs. Rajavi said this week.Shahin Gobadi of Iran's National Council of Resistance based in Paris, France, also hailed Albania's expulsion of the two diplomats as \"a very necessary and courageous act.\"Albania is home to 2,500 members of the Iranian opposition group in exile Mujahedin-e Khalk, who moved from Iraq.Gobadi said \"The clerical regime's embassies in Europe are centers of terrorist acts against the dissidents.\"2- Iran: Teachers Protesting in IsfahanTeachers in Isfahan rallied on Thursday, protesting not receiving any answers regarding their demands. This gathering was held outside the city\u2019s Education Department located on \u201cHasht Behesht\u201d Avenue. The teachers were heard chanting: \u201cYou\u2019ve taken the budget, while kids are burning in fire,\u201d referring to a recent tragic fire incident in Zahedan, southeast Iran, that took the lives of three elementary and kindergarten schoolchildren. The teachers were holding up various signs reading:\u201cJailed teachers must be released \u2013 Teachers, workers, students, unite, unite \u2013 \"Our enemy is right here, they lie in saying it\u2019s America.\u201d3- Jailed Iranian Lawyer to Stand Trial as Condemnation GrowsImprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh will go on trial again on Sunday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency has quoted her lawyer as saying. Sotoudeh was arrested in June after defending women protesting against Iran\u2019s hijab laws. At the time she was told she had already been found guilty of collusion and propaganda against the Islamic Republic and sentenced to six years in prison. It was not clear what charges Sotoudeh would face in the new trial, which will be heard at Tehran\u2019s Revolutionary Court, news agency Agence France Press reports. Sotoudeh won the European Parliament\u2019s Sakharov human rights award in 2012 for her work on high-profile cases, including those of convicts on death row for offences committed as minors. She spent three years in prison after representing dissidents arrested during mass protests in 2009.4- European Countries Refrain From Supplying Fuel to Iranian PlanesIn addition to Turkey and Lebanon, most European countries also refrain from supplying fuel to Iran\u2019s planes, said Ali Abedzadeh, deputy minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran and chief of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO), Trend reports via Mehr News Agency.The gradual increase in foreign currency and tightening of sanctions by the US affected the aviation industry of Iran, he noted.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/","og_site_name":"NCRI","article_published_time":"2018-12-23T20:39:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-24T17:47:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":402,"height":100,"url":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/ncri-logo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@iran_policy","twitter_site":"@iran_policy","twitter_misc":{"Written by":""},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Iran news in brief, December 21, 2018","datePublished":"2018-12-23T20:39:04+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-24T17:47:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/"},"wordCount":13,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/#organization"},"keywords":["save"],"articleSection":["Multimedia: Iran news in brief"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/","name":"Iran news in brief, December 21, 2018 - NCRI","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-12-23T20:39:04+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-24T17:47:50+00:00","description":"1- Trump Thanks Albania for Expelling Iranian DiplomatsU.S. President Donald Trump has thanked Albania for expelling the Iranian ambassador and another diplomat for allegedly engaging in illegal activities that threaten Albania's security. Trump's letter to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, dated Dec. 14, thanked him \"for your steadfast efforts to stand up to Iran and to counter its destabilizing activities and efforts to silence dissidents around the globe.\"Trump's letter said the expulsion \"exemplifies our joint efforts to show the Iranian government that its terrorist activities in Europe and around the world will have severe consequences.\"Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, praised Albania\u2019s decision to expel both the ambassador and the Iranian Intelligence Ministry\u2019s station chief in Tirana. Iran\u2019s rulers must be shown that \u201ctheir terrorist activities in Europe and across the world will have serious consequences,\u201d Mrs. Rajavi said this week.Shahin Gobadi of Iran's National Council of Resistance based in Paris, France, also hailed Albania's expulsion of the two diplomats as \"a very necessary and courageous act.\"Albania is home to 2,500 members of the Iranian opposition group in exile Mujahedin-e Khalk, who moved from Iraq.Gobadi said \"The clerical regime's embassies in Europe are centers of terrorist acts against the dissidents.\"2- Iran: Teachers Protesting in IsfahanTeachers in Isfahan rallied on Thursday, protesting not receiving any answers regarding their demands. This gathering was held outside the city\u2019s Education Department located on \u201cHasht Behesht\u201d Avenue. The teachers were heard chanting: \u201cYou\u2019ve taken the budget, while kids are burning in fire,\u201d referring to a recent tragic fire incident in Zahedan, southeast Iran, that took the lives of three elementary and kindergarten schoolchildren. The teachers were holding up various signs reading:\u201cJailed teachers must be released \u2013 Teachers, workers, students, unite, unite \u2013 \"Our enemy is right here, they lie in saying it\u2019s America.\u201d3- Jailed Iranian Lawyer to Stand Trial as Condemnation GrowsImprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh will go on trial again on Sunday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency has quoted her lawyer as saying. Sotoudeh was arrested in June after defending women protesting against Iran\u2019s hijab laws. At the time she was told she had already been found guilty of collusion and propaganda against the Islamic Republic and sentenced to six years in prison. It was not clear what charges Sotoudeh would face in the new trial, which will be heard at Tehran\u2019s Revolutionary Court, news agency Agence France Press reports. Sotoudeh won the European Parliament\u2019s Sakharov human rights award in 2012 for her work on high-profile cases, including those of convicts on death row for offences committed as minors. She spent three years in prison after representing dissidents arrested during mass protests in 2009.4- European Countries Refrain From Supplying Fuel to Iranian PlanesIn addition to Turkey and Lebanon, most European countries also refrain from supplying fuel to Iran\u2019s planes, said Ali Abedzadeh, deputy minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran and chief of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO), Trend reports via Mehr News Agency.The gradual increase in foreign currency and tightening of sanctions by the US affected the aviation industry of Iran, he noted.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-december-21-2018\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Iran news in brief, December 21, 2018"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/","name":"NCRI","description":"Official website of the National Council of Resistance of Iran","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/#organization","name":"Official website of the National Council of Resistance of Iran","alternateName":"Official website of the National Council of Resistance of Iran","url":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/ncri-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/ncri-logo.jpg","width":402,"height":100,"caption":"Official website of the National Council of Resistance of Iran"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/iran_policy"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211099\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}