Iran

(Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani bemoaned Iran’s friends on Saturday for not standing up to the United States and breaking crippling sanctions during the coronavirus pandemic.

He also said that if the United States had a “bit of humanity or brain,” it would have lifted sanctions on Iran for the duration of the health crisis.

Iran, with over 380,000 registered cases and over 22,000 deaths from the coronavirus, is one of the countries worst-hit by the pandemic in the Middle East.

Tehran, Sept 1, IRNA – President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that the government makes every effort to thwart impacts of shocks to the national economy caused by sanctions and global shutdown due to the spread of the COVID-19, on economic development of the country.

He made the remarks in a meeting of the government’s economic coordination headquarters.

The president said that government has tried to develop and implement detailed plans in the areas of macroeconomics and household economy.

TEHRAN, Aug 29 (NNN-IRNA) – The bodies of two Iranian fishermen, killed by the coast guards of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), were delivered to Iran, semi-official Fars news agency reported.

“The dead bodies of the two fishermen were delivered to Iran in Bandar Abbas city on Thursday, and were transferred to their hometown in Sistan and Baluchestan province,” Ahmad Ali Goodarzi, Iranian border police commander, was quoted as saying.

Also, a number of Iranian fishermen detained by the UAE guards returned to the country, said Goodarzi.

TEHRAN, Aug 26 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said that, Iran is willing to keep cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “according to international regulations.”

“The Islamic Republic is willing to maintain cooperation with the Agency under normal circumstances, and within the framework of international regulations,” the top Iranian diplomat said.

Iran and the IAEA have always cooperated according to international commitments and in a “technical and professional framework,” Zarif noted.

TEHRAN, Aug 26 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, criticised U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, for “violating his own country’s laws” and trying to “flood” the Middle East with weapons.

On a note on Twitter, Iran’s chief diplomat wrote that the U.S. Secretary of State “has no qualms about violating his own country’s laws.”

“Standing next to world’s #1 nuclear threat, he declares his desire to flood our region with even more US weapons”, the Iranian official posted.

TEHRAN, Aug 25 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran’s foreign minister, said that, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will not become more secure, through a recent normalisation deal with Israel, Press TV reported.

“The UAE turned to Israel to buy security, while Israel is unable to keep even itself secure,” Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying.

“You cannot be secure, if your neighbours are not secure,” Zarif said, adding that, the security of the region should be achieved through close work of the regional states.

TEHRAN, Aug 22 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said, in a letter to the rotating chairman of the United Nations Security Council, that, the U.S. has “no right” to restore sanctions on Iran.

“The Dispute Resolution Mechanism is only open to the actual JCPOA participants,” Zarif said in the letter, which was written on Thursday and made public by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, yesterday.

Tehran, Aug 22, IRNA – Presidential Office chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi wrote in a tweet that US President Donald Trump resorts to threats as way-out for his steep decline of popularity.

The era of unilateralism is over and the international community does not stand US bulling and threats, Vaezi wrote on Friday evening.

21 Aug 2020; MEMO: Iran has today unveiled two new, domestically-made, long-range missiles, coinciding with the country’s National Defence Industry Day.

20 Aug 2020; MEMO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has thanked the countries that abstained or voted against a draft resolution prepared by the United States to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran due to expire in October, IRNA news agency reported.

The agency said Rouhani expressed, during a cabinet meeting yesterday, his gratitude to the 11 countries that abstained from voting on the US draft resolution, in particular “the two friendly countries, Russia and China,” who voted against the decision.