Iran

23 Mar 2020; MEMO: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected an American offer on Sunday to help his country in its battle against the coronavirus, news agencies have reported. Khamenei announced this in a televised speech marking the Persian New Year, calling America Iran’s “number one” enemy.

23 Mar 2020; MEMO: Iran’s Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Education announced on Sunday that his medical teams have tested 33 million people for coronavirus. Saeed Namaki told journalists in Tehran that 40,000 members of the ministry’s medical staff were involved in the process.

TEHRAN, March 22 (Xinhua) -- An Iranian official on Sunday criticized World Bank for failing to invite Iran to a recent regional meeting related to the novel coronavirus outbreak, official IRNA news agency reported.

On Thursday, World Bank Vice President for the Middle East North Africa (MENA), Ferid Belhaj, convened finance ministers and central bank governors' meeting from the MENA region to discuss their needs and the response to COVID-19.

TEHRAN, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian military recently forced an intruding F-18 fighter jet out of the country's southern airspace, Press TV reported on Sunday.

In a video released by the Iranian state TV on Sunday, Iran's air defense force warned the jet several times to leave the country's airspace immediately.

If the jet maintained its course inside Iran's airspace, it would be targeted by the country's air defense missiles, according to the warnings.

22 Mar 2020; MEMO: A total of 129 people in Iran have died of coronavirus over the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll up to 1,685, said an Iranian health official on Sunday.

According to Iranian state TV, Health Ministry Spokesperson Kianoush Jahanpour said 1,028 new virus cases were found, raising the number of cases to 21,638.

He added that a total of 7,913 people who were treated for the virus have so far been discharged from hospital.

TEHRAN, Mar 22 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iran and France swapped prisoners amid COVID-19 outbreak in both countries.

France released the Iranian engineer, Jalal Ruhollahnejad, who had been detained at the airport in Nice, in 2019, over alleged violations of Washington sanctions against Tehran.

As part of the swap, Iran also released the Frenchman, Roland Gabriel Marchal, on Friday, who was sentenced here to five years in prison, for allegedly acting against the Iranian national security.

21 March 2020; AFP: President Emmanuel Macron announced Saturday that Iran has freed a French researcher imprisoned in the Islamic republic after France released an Iranian threatened with extradition to the US.

Macron "is happy to announce the release of Roland Marchal, imprisoned in Iran since June 2019" but he "urges the Iranian authorities to immediately free" fellow researcher Fariba Adelkhah, his office said.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s leaders vowed to overcome the coronavirus outbreak in upbeat messages marking the Persian New Year on Friday, even as the Health Ministry announced 149 more fatalities, bringing the country’s death toll to 1,433.

Iran is battling the worst outbreak in the Middle East, with nearly 20,000 confirmed cases, and has been widely criticized for its slow response.

TEHRAN, Mar 21 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, urged the American people, to press the U.S. government, to lift sanctions against Iran, as the country is fighting against COVID-19, according to Iran’s presidential website.

“U.S. sanctions targeted major sectors of Iran’s financial and economic system, which has inflicted hundreds of dollars of losses to Iran’s economy and people,” Rouhani said.

20 Mar 2020; MEMO: A group of Iranian scientists has warned that nearly 3.5 million people will die of the coronavirus in the country if strict quarantine measures are not implemented.

An Iranian news site published the report prepared by a team of researchers headed by Professor Ali Taqi Mashayekhi at Sharif University of Technology which includes three scenarios for the possible effects of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran.