Page 2 - Preventing Vice News Today

A senior Sunni cleric in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan, who disclosed the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl by a local police commander, has been summoned to a special court for clerics.

A senior Iranian official close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has harshly criticized the policies of the Islamic republic's leadership in a video interview.

Iran's troubled currency fell to a new low against the U.S. dollar on December 10 amid continued unrest and the country's increasing isolation in the face of Western criticism of its security crackdown and ties to Russia.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on December 11 that Iran's Gulf Arab neighbors would act to shore up their security if Tehran were to obtain nuclear weapons.

Rights groups warned on December 11 that several protesters in Iran are at imminent risk of execution, following an international backlash against the clerical regime's first hanging linked to ongoing demonstrations.

Two well-known leaders of the Baha'i community in Iran who had already served decade-long prison terms have been handed new 10-year sentences, the Baha'i International Community (BIC) said.

At least 24 demonstrators are facing execution in Iran for joining protests critical of the authorities, according to a report published on December 10.

Following the call for three days of nationwide strikes in Iran, shopkeepers in the western Iranian city of Sanandaj have clashed with police forces who came to seal the strikers' shops on December 8.

From the blog of Farhad Rezaei at The Times of Israel

Iran has apparently disbanded the notorious morality police, members of an Iranian theater group were detained after releasing a protest video, and anti-establishment protesters staged a three-day general strike.