{"id":211190,"date":"2019-03-15T21:00:57","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T21:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/211190-iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019"},"modified":"2020-01-24T17:45:21","modified_gmt":"2020-01-24T17:45:21","slug":"iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"wVFC1Jo3m2I\"><div class=\"lyte-wrapper\" title=\"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019\" style=\"width:853px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_wVFC1Jo3m2I\" 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%2FwVFC1Jo3m2I%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"embedURL\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wVFC1Jo3m2I\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT3M22S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2019-03-15T19:48:20Z\" \/><\/div><div id=\"lyte_wVFC1Jo3m2I\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FwVFC1Jo3m2I%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\" itemprop=\"name\">Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019<\/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\/wVFC1Jo3m2I\" 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%2FwVFC1Jo3m2I%2F0.jpg\" alt=\"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019\" width=\"853\" height=\"460\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019 At Least Five Killed in Iran Gas Explosion At least five people were killed and five others injured on Thursday in a gas pipeline explosion in southwest Iran, Fars news agency reported. Initially, ISNA had reported fewer casualties. &quot;Gas leakage from a pipeline that linked the gas network from Mahshahr city to Ahvaz city, caused the blast,&quot; ISNA quoted local official Kiamars Hajizadeh as saying. The two cities are located in Iran&#039;s oil-rich Khuzestan province. Poor safety measures and Iran&#039;s aging infrastructures have been blamed by some authorities for blasts in the past. The number of those killed and wounded might change as emergency services receive more accurate reports. European Parliament Urges Iran to Release Sotoudeh, Other Jailed Rights Defenders The European Parliament has urged Iran to stop criminalizing the work of women&#039;s rights activists and reiterated its call on the country&#039;s authorities to &quot;immediately and unconditionally&quot; release prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. In a resolution adopted on March 14, the lawmakers urged Iran to release &quot;all human rights defenders, prisoners of conscience, and journalists detained and sentenced merely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.&quot; It also called on the authorities to &quot;stop the surveillance, arrest, harassment, and prosecution of journalists, online activists and their families, and to put an end to online censorship.&quot; Joining FATF &#039;Strategic Mistake,&#039; Iran Assembly of Experts Warns In an unprecedented statement, the Islamic Republic&#039;s Assembly of Experts (AE) has warned against Iran joining international financial transparency agreements aimed at curbing money laundering and terrorism funding. Ending its annual meeting March 13, the AE issued a statement saying that joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a step proposed by President Hassan Rouhani\u2019s government, would be a \u201cstrategic mistake.\u201d Rouhani presented the proposal to meet FATF requirements to parliament in November 2017. Backers of the legislation, known collectively as the Palermo Bills, say joining the FATF and other international agreements on financial transparency would reduce international pressure on Iran\u2019s deteriorating economy. Al-Jubeir: Consensus on Syria Will Lead to Pullback of Iran Forces Saudi Arabia\u2019s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said that the resolution of the Syrian crisis will lead to the withdrawal of Iranian forces and militias from the region. He was speaking in Brussels at the conference on \u201cSupporting the future of Syria and the region\u201d at the European Council on Thursday.\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:853px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019At Least Five Killed in Iran Gas Explosion At least five people were killed and five others injured on Thursday in a gas pipeline [&#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-211190","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, March 15, 2019 - NCRI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019At Least Five Killed in Iran Gas Explosion At least five people were killed and five others injured on Thursday in a gas pipeline explosion in southwest Iran, Fars news agency reported. Initially, ISNA had reported fewer casualties.&quot;Gas leakage from a pipeline that linked the gas network from Mahshahr city to Ahvaz city, caused the blast,&quot; ISNA quoted local official Kiamars Hajizadeh as saying. The two cities are located in Iran&#039;s oil-rich Khuzestan province.Poor safety measures and Iran&#039;s aging infrastructures have been blamed by some authorities for blasts in the past.The number of those killed and wounded might change as emergency services receive more accurate reports.European Parliament Urges Iran to Release Sotoudeh, Other Jailed Rights DefendersThe European Parliament has urged Iran to stop criminalizing the work of women&#039;s rights activists and reiterated its call on the country&#039;s authorities to &quot;immediately and unconditionally&quot; release prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.In a resolution adopted on March 14, the lawmakers urged Iran to release &quot;all human rights defenders, prisoners of conscience, and journalists detained and sentenced merely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.&quot;It also called on the authorities to &quot;stop the surveillance, arrest, harassment, and prosecution of journalists, online activists and their families, and to put an end to online censorship.&quot;Joining FATF &#039;Strategic Mistake,&#039; Iran Assembly of Experts WarnsIn an unprecedented statement, the Islamic Republic&#039;s Assembly of Experts (AE) has warned against Iran joining international financial transparency agreements aimed at curbing money laundering and terrorism funding.Ending its annual meeting March 13, the AE issued a statement saying that joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a step proposed by President Hassan Rouhani\u2019s government, would be a \u201cstrategic mistake.\u201dRouhani presented the proposal to meet FATF requirements to parliament in November 2017. Backers of the legislation, known collectively as the Palermo Bills, say joining the FATF and other international agreements on financial transparency would reduce international pressure on Iran\u2019s deteriorating economy.Al-Jubeir: Consensus on Syria Will Lead to Pullback of Iran ForcesSaudi Arabia\u2019s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said that the resolution of the Syrian crisis will lead to the withdrawal of Iranian forces and militias from the region.He was speaking in Brussels at the conference on \u201cSupporting the future of Syria and the region\u201d at the European Council on Thursday.\" \/>\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-march-15-2019\/\" \/>\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, March 15, 2019 - NCRI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019At Least Five Killed in Iran Gas Explosion At least five people were killed and five others injured on Thursday in a gas pipeline explosion in southwest Iran, Fars news agency reported. Initially, ISNA had reported fewer casualties.&quot;Gas leakage from a pipeline that linked the gas network from Mahshahr city to Ahvaz city, caused the blast,&quot; ISNA quoted local official Kiamars Hajizadeh as saying. The two cities are located in Iran&#039;s oil-rich Khuzestan province.Poor safety measures and Iran&#039;s aging infrastructures have been blamed by some authorities for blasts in the past.The number of those killed and wounded might change as emergency services receive more accurate reports.European Parliament Urges Iran to Release Sotoudeh, Other Jailed Rights DefendersThe European Parliament has urged Iran to stop criminalizing the work of women&#039;s rights activists and reiterated its call on the country&#039;s authorities to &quot;immediately and unconditionally&quot; release prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.In a resolution adopted on March 14, the lawmakers urged Iran to release &quot;all human rights defenders, prisoners of conscience, and journalists detained and sentenced merely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.&quot;It also called on the authorities to &quot;stop the surveillance, arrest, harassment, and prosecution of journalists, online activists and their families, and to put an end to online censorship.&quot;Joining FATF &#039;Strategic Mistake,&#039; Iran Assembly of Experts WarnsIn an unprecedented statement, the Islamic Republic&#039;s Assembly of Experts (AE) has warned against Iran joining international financial transparency agreements aimed at curbing money laundering and terrorism funding.Ending its annual meeting March 13, the AE issued a statement saying that joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a step proposed by President Hassan Rouhani\u2019s government, would be a \u201cstrategic mistake.\u201dRouhani presented the proposal to meet FATF requirements to parliament in November 2017. Backers of the legislation, known collectively as the Palermo Bills, say joining the FATF and other international agreements on financial transparency would reduce international pressure on Iran\u2019s deteriorating economy.Al-Jubeir: Consensus on Syria Will Lead to Pullback of Iran ForcesSaudi Arabia\u2019s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said that the resolution of the Syrian crisis will lead to the withdrawal of Iranian forces and militias from the region.He was speaking in Brussels at the conference on \u201cSupporting the future of Syria and the region\u201d at the European Council on Thursday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NCRI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-15T21:00:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-24T17:45:21+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-march-15-2019\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/multimedia\\\/iran-news-in-brief\\\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-15T21:00:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-24T17:45:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/multimedia\\\/iran-news-in-brief\\\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":20,\"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-march-15-2019\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/multimedia\\\/iran-news-in-brief\\\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\\\/\",\"name\":\"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019 - NCRI\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-15T21:00:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-24T17:45:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019At Least Five Killed in Iran Gas Explosion At least five people were killed and five others injured on Thursday in a gas pipeline explosion in southwest Iran, Fars news agency reported. Initially, ISNA had reported fewer casualties.\\\"Gas leakage from a pipeline that linked the gas network from Mahshahr city to Ahvaz city, caused the blast,\\\" ISNA quoted local official Kiamars Hajizadeh as saying. The two cities are located in Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province.Poor safety measures and Iran's aging infrastructures have been blamed by some authorities for blasts in the past.The number of those killed and wounded might change as emergency services receive more accurate reports.European Parliament Urges Iran to Release Sotoudeh, Other Jailed Rights DefendersThe European Parliament has urged Iran to stop criminalizing the work of women's rights activists and reiterated its call on the country's authorities to \\\"immediately and unconditionally\\\" release prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.In a resolution adopted on March 14, the lawmakers urged Iran to release \\\"all human rights defenders, prisoners of conscience, and journalists detained and sentenced merely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.\\\"It also called on the authorities to \\\"stop the surveillance, arrest, harassment, and prosecution of journalists, online activists and their families, and to put an end to online censorship.\\\"Joining FATF 'Strategic Mistake,' Iran Assembly of Experts WarnsIn an unprecedented statement, the Islamic Republic's Assembly of Experts (AE) has warned against Iran joining international financial transparency agreements aimed at curbing money laundering and terrorism funding.Ending its annual meeting March 13, the AE issued a statement saying that joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a step proposed by President Hassan Rouhani\u2019s government, would be a \u201cstrategic mistake.\u201dRouhani presented the proposal to meet FATF requirements to parliament in November 2017. Backers of the legislation, known collectively as the Palermo Bills, say joining the FATF and other international agreements on financial transparency would reduce international pressure on Iran\u2019s deteriorating economy.Al-Jubeir: Consensus on Syria Will Lead to Pullback of Iran ForcesSaudi Arabia\u2019s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said that the resolution of the Syrian crisis will lead to the withdrawal of Iranian forces and militias from the region.He was speaking in Brussels at the conference on \u201cSupporting the future of Syria and the region\u201d at the European Council on Thursday.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/multimedia\\\/iran-news-in-brief\\\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/multimedia\\\/iran-news-in-brief\\\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/multimedia\\\/iran-news-in-brief\\\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ncr-iran.org\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019\"}]},{\"@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\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019 - NCRI","description":"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019At Least Five Killed in Iran Gas Explosion At least five people were killed and five others injured on Thursday in a gas pipeline explosion in southwest Iran, Fars news agency reported. Initially, ISNA had reported fewer casualties.\"Gas leakage from a pipeline that linked the gas network from Mahshahr city to Ahvaz city, caused the blast,\" ISNA quoted local official Kiamars Hajizadeh as saying. The two cities are located in Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province.Poor safety measures and Iran's aging infrastructures have been blamed by some authorities for blasts in the past.The number of those killed and wounded might change as emergency services receive more accurate reports.European Parliament Urges Iran to Release Sotoudeh, Other Jailed Rights DefendersThe European Parliament has urged Iran to stop criminalizing the work of women's rights activists and reiterated its call on the country's authorities to \"immediately and unconditionally\" release prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.In a resolution adopted on March 14, the lawmakers urged Iran to release \"all human rights defenders, prisoners of conscience, and journalists detained and sentenced merely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.\"It also called on the authorities to \"stop the surveillance, arrest, harassment, and prosecution of journalists, online activists and their families, and to put an end to online censorship.\"Joining FATF 'Strategic Mistake,' Iran Assembly of Experts WarnsIn an unprecedented statement, the Islamic Republic's Assembly of Experts (AE) has warned against Iran joining international financial transparency agreements aimed at curbing money laundering and terrorism funding.Ending its annual meeting March 13, the AE issued a statement saying that joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a step proposed by President Hassan Rouhani\u2019s government, would be a \u201cstrategic mistake.\u201dRouhani presented the proposal to meet FATF requirements to parliament in November 2017. Backers of the legislation, known collectively as the Palermo Bills, say joining the FATF and other international agreements on financial transparency would reduce international pressure on Iran\u2019s deteriorating economy.Al-Jubeir: Consensus on Syria Will Lead to Pullback of Iran ForcesSaudi Arabia\u2019s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said that the resolution of the Syrian crisis will lead to the withdrawal of Iranian forces and militias from the region.He was speaking in Brussels at the conference on \u201cSupporting the future of Syria and the region\u201d at the European Council on Thursday.","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-march-15-2019\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019 - NCRI","og_description":"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019At Least Five Killed in Iran Gas Explosion At least five people were killed and five others injured on Thursday in a gas pipeline explosion in southwest Iran, Fars news agency reported. Initially, ISNA had reported fewer casualties.\"Gas leakage from a pipeline that linked the gas network from Mahshahr city to Ahvaz city, caused the blast,\" ISNA quoted local official Kiamars Hajizadeh as saying. The two cities are located in Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province.Poor safety measures and Iran's aging infrastructures have been blamed by some authorities for blasts in the past.The number of those killed and wounded might change as emergency services receive more accurate reports.European Parliament Urges Iran to Release Sotoudeh, Other Jailed Rights DefendersThe European Parliament has urged Iran to stop criminalizing the work of women's rights activists and reiterated its call on the country's authorities to \"immediately and unconditionally\" release prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.In a resolution adopted on March 14, the lawmakers urged Iran to release \"all human rights defenders, prisoners of conscience, and journalists detained and sentenced merely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.\"It also called on the authorities to \"stop the surveillance, arrest, harassment, and prosecution of journalists, online activists and their families, and to put an end to online censorship.\"Joining FATF 'Strategic Mistake,' Iran Assembly of Experts WarnsIn an unprecedented statement, the Islamic Republic's Assembly of Experts (AE) has warned against Iran joining international financial transparency agreements aimed at curbing money laundering and terrorism funding.Ending its annual meeting March 13, the AE issued a statement saying that joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a step proposed by President Hassan Rouhani\u2019s government, would be a \u201cstrategic mistake.\u201dRouhani presented the proposal to meet FATF requirements to parliament in November 2017. Backers of the legislation, known collectively as the Palermo Bills, say joining the FATF and other international agreements on financial transparency would reduce international pressure on Iran\u2019s deteriorating economy.Al-Jubeir: Consensus on Syria Will Lead to Pullback of Iran ForcesSaudi Arabia\u2019s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said that the resolution of the Syrian crisis will lead to the withdrawal of Iranian forces and militias from the region.He was speaking in Brussels at the conference on \u201cSupporting the future of Syria and the region\u201d at the European Council on Thursday.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\/","og_site_name":"NCRI","article_published_time":"2019-03-15T21:00:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-24T17:45:21+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-march-15-2019\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019","datePublished":"2019-03-15T21:00:57+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-24T17:45:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\/"},"wordCount":20,"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-march-15-2019\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\/","name":"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019 - NCRI","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-03-15T21:00:57+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-24T17:45:21+00:00","description":"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019At Least Five Killed in Iran Gas Explosion At least five people were killed and five others injured on Thursday in a gas pipeline explosion in southwest Iran, Fars news agency reported. Initially, ISNA had reported fewer casualties.\"Gas leakage from a pipeline that linked the gas network from Mahshahr city to Ahvaz city, caused the blast,\" ISNA quoted local official Kiamars Hajizadeh as saying. The two cities are located in Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province.Poor safety measures and Iran's aging infrastructures have been blamed by some authorities for blasts in the past.The number of those killed and wounded might change as emergency services receive more accurate reports.European Parliament Urges Iran to Release Sotoudeh, Other Jailed Rights DefendersThe European Parliament has urged Iran to stop criminalizing the work of women's rights activists and reiterated its call on the country's authorities to \"immediately and unconditionally\" release prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.In a resolution adopted on March 14, the lawmakers urged Iran to release \"all human rights defenders, prisoners of conscience, and journalists detained and sentenced merely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.\"It also called on the authorities to \"stop the surveillance, arrest, harassment, and prosecution of journalists, online activists and their families, and to put an end to online censorship.\"Joining FATF 'Strategic Mistake,' Iran Assembly of Experts WarnsIn an unprecedented statement, the Islamic Republic's Assembly of Experts (AE) has warned against Iran joining international financial transparency agreements aimed at curbing money laundering and terrorism funding.Ending its annual meeting March 13, the AE issued a statement saying that joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a step proposed by President Hassan Rouhani\u2019s government, would be a \u201cstrategic mistake.\u201dRouhani presented the proposal to meet FATF requirements to parliament in November 2017. Backers of the legislation, known collectively as the Palermo Bills, say joining the FATF and other international agreements on financial transparency would reduce international pressure on Iran\u2019s deteriorating economy.Al-Jubeir: Consensus on Syria Will Lead to Pullback of Iran ForcesSaudi Arabia\u2019s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said that the resolution of the Syrian crisis will lead to the withdrawal of Iranian forces and militias from the region.He was speaking in Brussels at the conference on \u201cSupporting the future of Syria and the region\u201d at the European Council on Thursday.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/multimedia\/iran-news-in-brief\/iran-news-in-brief-march-15-2019\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Iran news in brief, March 15, 2019"}]},{"@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\/211190","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=211190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}