Iran

TEHRAN, Apr 20 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran welcomes talks with Saudi Arabia, to settle mutual differences, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said yesterday.

Iran considers dialogue with Saudi Arabia to be in the interest of both nations, regional peace and stability, said Khatibzadeh, during his weekly press conference.

He abstained from confirming recent reports that senior Saudi and Iranian officials have been holding direct talks, over the past few days, five years after they cut off diplomatic ties.

(Reuters) --- Iran has started the process of enriching uranium to 60% fissile purity at an above-ground nuclear plant at Natanz, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Saturday, confirming earlier statements by Iranian officials.

The move has complicated talks aimed at reviving Iran's nuclear deal with major powers as it is a big step towards producing weapons-grade uranium.

Iran had previously only reached 20% purity, and that was already a breach of the deal, which says Iran can only enrich to 3.67%.

TEHRAN, April 18 (Xinhua) -- A 5.9-magnitude quake shook the Iranian coast of the Gulf near the city of Bandar Genaveh, at 0641 GMT on Sunday, according to the Iranian Seismological Center.

The epicenter was monitored at 29.76 degrees north latitude and 50.72 degrees east longitude, with a depth of 10 km, the center said on its official website.

18 Apr 2021; MEMO: Iran criticized the US on Friday for imposing new sanctions on Russia, describing the move as a "false step", Anadolu Agency reports.

Tehran firmly rejects fresh sanctions on Moscow by Washington, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement.

It said Washington's addiction to sanctions against other countries based on groundless allegations has turned into an institutional approach and a change in government did not alter the approach.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran named a suspect Saturday in the attack on its Natanz nuclear facility that damaged centrifuges there, saying he had fled the country “hours before” the sabotage happened.

While the extent of the damage from the April 11 sabotage remains unclear, it comes as Iran tries to negotiate with world powers over allowing the U.S. to re-enter its tattered nuclear deal and lift the economic sanctions it faces.

17 Apr 2021; MEMO: A senior Iranian official has admitted that Israel stole the archive of his country's nuclear programme in an alleged Mossad operation carried out in 2018, Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday.

TEHRAN, April 17. /TASS/: The incident at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility occurred after an explosive device brought inside went off, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Corporation (IRIB) reported on Saturday, citing the data of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the country’s Majlis (parliament).

The explosion partially damaged the centrifuges’ power supply system. There are no data about any cyberattack, it said.

16 Apr 2021; MEMO: Iran has supplied the Syrian regime with 3 million barrels of oil to address the worsening fuel crisis in the regime-controlled areas of Syria, Anadolu Agency reported.

16 Apr 2021; MEMO: Iran has begun 60 per cent uranium enrichment at its Natanz plant, the country's nuclear chief said today, days after an explosion at the site that Tehran blamed on Israel, Reuters reported.

"We are producing about nine grams of 60% enriched uranium an hour," Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, said. "But we have to work on arrangements to drop it to 5 grams per hour."

16 Apr 2021; MEMO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced on Thursday that his country would limit uranium enrichment to 3.67 per cent if the US rejoins the 2015 nuclear deal and lifts sanctions.