Iran Bans Three Reformist Parties From Participating in Elections

Three reformist parties in Iran have been banned by the Iranian election office from participating in the upcoming legislative polls. The Islamic Participation Front, Islamic Revolution Mujahideen Organization, and Freedom Movement of Iran were barred from participating because they allegedly do not have the required licenses to run for parliament. “As the interior ministry sees these three parties as dissolved and their licenses withdrawn, they will not be allowed to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections,” said the head of the election office Soulat Mortazavi.

Reports state that Iran marked the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy by burning flags and chanting anti-american slogans ahead of the U.N. report on Iran’s nuclear program. “Thousands of students burned the Stars and Stripes, an effigy of Uncle Sam and pictures of President Barack Obama outside the leafy downtown Tehran compound that once housed the U.S. mission.”