Iran

09 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said yesterday that his country will not negotiate with the West over its regional policies, Anadolu news agency reported.

TEHRAN, Dec 7 (NNN-IRNA) – Satellite-guided equipment has been used in the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced, yesterday.

“Advanced electronic instruments, guided by satellite, were used in the assassination of Martyr Fakhrizadeh,” the IRGC spokesman, Ramezan Sharif, was quoted as saying, by Press TV.

Fakhrizadeh died of severe injuries in hospital, on Nov 27, after an ambush on his vehicle in Absard village, 60 km north-east of Tehran.

06 Dec 2020; MEMO:  The Iranian Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said on Saturday that the recent bill to increase nuclear enrichment "is not in contradiction with the [Iranian] national interests."

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had objected to the Strategic Act to Revoke Sanctions bill which was approved by the Iranian parliament. Rouhani said it will be "harmful" to the country's diplomatic efforts to restore the 2015 nuclear deal signed between Iran and world powers.

(Reuters) - Iran has instructed its oil ministry to prepare installations for production and sale of crude oil at full capacity within three months, state media said on Sunday, ahead of a possible easing of U.S. sanctions after President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

They quoted President Hassan Rouhani as saying that Iran exported more than two million barrels a day before U.S. President Donald Trump exited the 2015 nuclear deal with six powers in 2018 and reimposed sanctions that have hit Iran’s economy hard by sharply cutting its vital oil exports.

TEHRAN, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) endorsed on Saturday the parliament-ratified "Strategic Action to Lift Embargoes" law, intended to reduce international monitoring of Iran's nuclear program if embargoes on the country are not lifted in two months.

"The aforementioned law does not create a specific issue that damages national interests," a statement by the SNSC quoted by Tasnim news agency said.

04 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Iran is unlikely to retaliate over the assassination of a prominent nuclear scientist before the inauguration of Joe Biden in case it jeopardizes any future sanctions relief, the top US envoy on Iran told Reuters on Thursday.

Andimeshk, Dec 3, IRNA – President Hassan Rouhani inaugurated five solar power stations and four power distribution projects in Khuzestan Province, southwestern Iran, through video-conferencing.

President Rouhani officially inaugurated 25 energy projects in three Iranian provinces through video-conferencing Thursday.

The government has opened the projects all over the country in line with the guidelines of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Surge in Production for the current Iranian year (started March 20, 2020).

Tehran, Dec 3, IRNA – Counselor at the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations on Palestine Mohammad Reza Sahraei said that the assassination of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is a criminal act and a clear manifestation of state terrorism aimed at jeopardizing international and regional peace, and needs to be strongly and immediately condemned by the international community.

02 Dec 2020; MEMO:  An American official said Israel is behind the assassination of Iran's top nuclear scientist, CNN reported Wednesday, Anadolu reports.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed Friday on the outskirts of Tehran.

The anonymous official from President Donald Trump's administration told the network that Tel Aviv authorities have long pursued the scientist but did not say whether the Trump administration knew about the attack.

TEHRAN, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday criticized a parliament's bill calling for suspension of UN inspections of the country's nuclear facilities, official IRNA news agency reported.

"The government does not agree with the bill passed by the parliament yesterday," Rouhani was quoted as saying.

"It (the bill) would be detrimental to diplomatic efforts," he added.

A day earlier, the Iranian parliament passed a bill which urges the government of Rouhani to stop UN nuclear watchdog's inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities.