Iran

TEHRAN, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Iraq should consider the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from the country, Financial Tribune daily reported.

"The presence of American military forces in regional states is to the detriment of these countries and the people in the region, so the Iraqi government needs to take action to urge Americans to pull out their troops from Iraq as soon as possible," said Khamenei during his meeting with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.

New Delhi, Apr 4 (PTI) As the US waiver on import of Iranian crude oil expires next month, India Thursday said it was engaged with the Trump administration on the issue.

In November, the US granted a six-month waiver to India, China, Greece, Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey and South Korea to continue importing oil from Iran.

The temporary waiver ends on May 2.

TEHRAN, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that his country will defeat the United States in the latter's anti-Iran "economic war."

"The enemy has waged economic war on us. We must defeat the enemy in this war," said Khamenei in Iran's northeastern city of Mashhad.

He made the remarks, broadcast live on the state IRIB TV, on the first day of the Iranian New Year.

"We must establish economic deterrence so that it (the United States) cannot use economic loopholes to harm the country," he added.

TEHRAN, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday called for economic initiatives and boost of production to offset U.S. sanction pressures.

He hailed what he called the nation's "fortitude and prudence" against conspiracies.

Khamenei made the remarks, broadcast live on the state TV, on the occasion of the Iranian New Year, Nowruz, which began on Thursday.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s many woes briefly went up in smoke as Iranians observed a nearly 4,000-year-old Persian tradition known as the Festival of Fire.

The celebration is held on the last Tuesday night before Nowruz, or the Iranian New Year, which will be celebrated Thursday. The annual ritual dates back to at least 1700 B.C. and is linked to the Zoroastrian religion.

TEHRAN, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Iran has criticized Britain for providing diplomatic protection to an Iranian-British national, Nazanin Zaghari, who is imprisoned in Iran over espionage charges, Iranian Ambassador to London Hamid Baeidinejad said on Friday.

"Governments may only exercise such protection to their own nationals. As UK government is acutely aware, Iran does not recognize dual nationality. Irrespective of UK residency, Ms Zaghari thus remains Iranian," Baeidinejad tweeted on Friday.

TEHRAN, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday officially refused to accept the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, official IRNA news agency reported.

"Your appeal for resignation is against the country's expediency," Rouhani said in response to an earlier resignation letter by Zarif.

"Therefore, I do not accept it," he added.

VIENNA, February 26. /TASS/. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that Tehran is in compliance with the nuclear deal in its latest report on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told TASS on Tuesday.

"This is already the 14th report. The IAEA once again confirmed that Iran fully observes the letter and the spirit of the JCPOA and cooperates with the secretariat. There are no complaints whatsoever," Ulyanov said when asked to comment on the IAEA report.

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has not approved the resignation of the country’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi stated on Tuesday.

"The resignation [of the foreign minister] was not approved [by the Iranian president]," Qasemi stated on his Telegram channel.

Earlier, Zarif announced his resignation on Twitter, which gave rise to an active discussion. Qasemi denied the media reports on various reasons for Zarif’s decision.

TEHRAN, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif seemed to have announced his resignation unexpectedly on Monday through social media.

"Thanks for the great and brave Iranians and my colleagues, but I apologize for my failure to serve you and some flaws in my work," Zarif said on his Instagram account.

He also posted a photograph with captions.

Media reports said a foreign ministry spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, confirmed minutes later that Zarif had resigned but gave no reason for his departure.