Iran

Tehran, Feb 11, IRNA – Minister of Health and Medical Education Saeed Namaki said on Thursday that Iran will turn into a major hub of manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines in the region and one of the main exporters of vaccines in the next two or three months.

Upon the order by President Hassan Rouhani, Iran began vaccination against COVID-19 with a Russian-developed vaccine – Sputnik V – on Tuesday.

The son of Health Minister Saeed Namaki was the first Iranian person to receive the vaccine.

Tehran, Feb 11, IRNA – President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that Iran has observed no sign of goodwill from the new US Administration yet.

The president said that if the new US administration is honest in its pledges, it has to start a new way and make good on the problems the previous administration caused for Iran.  

Referring to problems on the way of providing COVID-19 vaccines, President Rouhani said: “a criminal, in power at the White House, prevented Iran’s banking transactions  so that it took several weeks to take money from one bank to another.”

11 Feb 2021; MEMO: UAE has turned the page on border dispute with Iran by reaching an agreement in 2019

President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has congratulated his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on the occasion of his country's national day and the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

TEHRAN, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday said that Iran will re-embrace its nuclear commitments in case the other parties do so.

"The day when we witness the implementation of the (nuclear deal) obligations by the P5+1, we are ready to implement our obligations in the nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)," Rouhani said on the occasion of the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution which was broadcast live on state TV.

TEHRAN, Feb 10 (NNN-IRNA) – The President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, congratulated the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, in a message to his Iranian counterpart, President Hassan Rouhani, on Wednesday (today).

Congratulating the National Day of Iran, Mirziyoyev stressed the historic and cultural links and traditional friendship, as firm foundations of relation between the two countries.

In his message, Mirziyoyev expressed readiness to expand bilateral relations more than ever, and to boost ties to a new level.

10 Feb 2021; MEMO: Iran's foreign minister has insisted that there is no place for French President Emmanuel Macron in any Iranian-Gulf dialogue. Mohammad Javad Zarif told official Iranian TV yesterday that France was not forced to be a member in the nuclear deal negotiations, although it is "natural for Macron to have concerns" about some of the terms of the agreement.

10 Feb 2021; MEMO: Iran's intelligence minister said persistent Western pressure could push Tehran to fight back like a "cornered cat" and seek nuclear weapons, which the Islamic Republic has for years insisted it has no intention of ever developing, Reuters reports.

The remarks made in a television interview are a rare suggestion that Iran might have an interest in nuclear weapons, which Western nations have accused Iran of pursuing.

10 Feb 2021; MEMO: Russia, Iran, and China will launch joint naval drills in the Indian Ocean in mid-February, the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing Moscow's Ambassador to Tehran Levan Dzhagaryan.

The Russian diplomat added that the drills are set to include practicing search and rescue operations and measures that uphold the safety of marine navigation.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran on Tuesday launched a coronavirus inoculation campaign among healthcare professionals with recently delivered Russian Sputnik V vaccines as the country struggles to stem the worst outbreak of the pandemic in the Middle East with its death toll nearing 59,000.

At a ceremony marking the start of the campaign, Parsa Namaki, son of Health Minister Saeed Namaki, received his first dose. The minister said the vaccination would be simultaneously carried out in more than 600 medical centers across the country.

08 Feb 2021; MEMO: United Nations Yemen mediator Martin Griffiths and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed on Monday how to make progress toward a nationwide ceasefire and reviving the political process in Yemen, a UN spokesman said, Reuters reported.

A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, backing government forces fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis. The more than six-year long conflict is widely seen as a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran.