Iran

14 Sep 2020; MEMO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country’s oil revenues have decreased from $120 billion to $20 billion over the last eight years, Anadolu reported.

Rouhani pointed out that his country has been subjected to “rare” economic sanctions, adding that Iran’s oil revenues have fallen from $120 billion in 2011 to $20 billion in 2019.

13 Sep 2020; MEMO: The Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called on Germany, France and the UK to stand against “US economic terrorism” if they want “full implementation of the nuclear agreement”.

Zarif tweeted: “Iran rejects nuclear weapons for religious and strategic reasons,” noting that they are “much more important than any deal”.

13 Sep 2020; MEMO: Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari was executed on Saturday morning in a case that sparked international outcry from human rights groups and sports bodies, Anadolu Agency reports.

Afkari, 27, was accused of stabbing to death an employee of a local civic body in southwestern Shiraz city during anti-government protests in 2018.

TEHRAN, Sept 12 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry, on Friday, denied that the Islamic republic is meddling in the U.S. upcoming presidential election.

“The United States is leading active misinformation campaigns against other countries,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said.

“The U.S. has interfered for decades in the elections of other countries, including Iran,” Khatibzadeh added.

(Reuters) - Iran said on Saturday that Bahrain’s move to normalize relations with Israel meant it would be complicit in Israeli policies which threatened regional security, Iranian state TV reported.

Bahrain’s agreement, which was announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday, was partly forged because of shared wariness of Iran.

Iran’s foreign ministry said that it would hold the governments of Bahrain and its allies responsible for any insecurity caused by Israel in the Gulf region.

10 Sep 2020; MEMO: Iran’s military yesterday launched comprehensive military exercises in the Arabian Sea, with the participation of land, sea and air forces.

Official IRIB quoted an army official  statement as saying that the maneuvers, dubbed “Zolfaghar 99”, would last three days, and that they was taking place on an “area that extends from the east of the Straits of Hormuz to the Sea of Oman and northern Indian Ocean, covering two million square kilometers.”

10 Sep 2020; MEMO: The US has no alternative but to return to the nuclear deal from which it withdrew in 2018, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said.

In statements yesterday, Rouhani added that the US had “made a mistake” after withdrawing from the nuclear deal, saying that Tehran had been under all kinds of pressure for the past three years.

TEHRAN, Sept 10 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, will visit European countries next week, it was reported yesterday.

During his European tour, Zarif will visit Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The imminent trip of the minister comes at a time when the United States has mounted pressures on the UN Security Council, for the return of the pre-2015 nuclear deal sanctions against Iran.

He would likely to discuss the Europeans’ help, to block the U.S. fresh initiative against the Islamic republic.

TEHRAN, Sept 9 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, said that, Iran and Turkey, as two big regional powers, must expand their cooperation to defeat “foreign plots.”

Rouhani said, the only way to overcome “foreign plots” is further expanding relations between the two countries.

TEHRAN, Sept 9 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iran’s chief nuclear official, Ali Akbar Salehi, said that, a new and more modern centrifuge hall is under construction, in the mountainous areas near Natanz, after the July 2 explosion.

“It has been decided to establish a more modern, vaster and more comprehensive hall, in all aspects, in the heart of the mountains near Natanz, and this has already started,” Salehi said, as quoted by semi-official Fars news agency.