Iran

TEHRAN, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran is ready to hold negotiations with the United States if Washington lifts sanctions against Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday.

"We are always ready for negotiation. I tell you this hour and this moment to abandon bullying and lift the sanctions and return to logic and wisdom. We are ready," the Iranian Mehr News Agency quoted Rouhani as saying.

Tehran, July 14, IRNA – Army commander says Iran has never been after war, but the country will give devastating response to any attack.

Iran will discourage the aggressors with destructive response if they attack Iran, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said at a local ceremony held Sunday in Tabriz, the capital city of northwestern Iranian province of East Azarbaijan.

At the ceremony, the commander said the today conditions of both the world and region are in dire need to get prepared militarily more than before.

13 July 2019; DW: Police said the four crew members of the Grace 1 are still under investigation. Their release came as the UK said it would send a second naval frigate to the Persian Gulf amid escalating tensions with Iran.

Police in the British territory of Gibraltar on Friday released all four crew members of an Iranian tanker that was detained on suspicion of illegally transporting oil to Syria.

12 July 2019; MEMO: Iran called on Britain on Friday to immediately release an oil tanker that British Royal Marines seized last week on suspicion it was breaking European sanctions by taking oil to Syria, a foreign ministry spokesman told state news agency IRNA, Reuters reports.

“This is a dangerous game and has consequences … the legal pretexts for the capture are not valid … the release of the tanker is in all countries’ interest,” the spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, said.

11 July 2019; AFP: French President Emmanuel Macron's top diplomatic advisor met with Iran's president Wednesday winding up a day of talks in Tehran aimed at saving a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and easing tensions between Tehran and Washington.

But as Emmanuel Bonne pressed the high-level talks, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to warn that US sanctions against Iran would soon be "increased substantially", charging Tehran had "long been secretly 'enriching'" uranium.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s president said Wednesday that Britain will face “repercussions” over the seizure of an Iranian supertanker last week that authorities in Gibraltar suspect was breaching European sanctions on oil shipments to Syria.

Hassan Rouhani was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as calling the seizure “mean and wrong” during a Cabinet meeting. “You are an initiator of insecurity and you will understand its repercussions,” he warned the British government, calling for the “full security” of international shipping lanes.

10 July 2019; AFP: A diplomatic adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron held talks in Tehran Wednesday aimed at saving the 2015 nuclear deal and easing tensions between Iran and the United States.

Emmanuel Bonne met Rear-Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, and was set to meet with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif later on Wednesday.

TEHRAN, July 8 (Xinhua) -- The international community called for a peaceful solution after Iran announced Sunday that it is raising the uranium enrichment level beyond the limit set in the landmark 2015 international nuclear deal.

"Today, we will start enriching uranium beyond 3.67 percent, and its level of purity depends on our needs. This will happen officially," said Ali Rabiee, spokesman for the Iranian government, on Sunday.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran remains open to diplomacy to save its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers but has “no hope” in the international community, the country’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday, as the Islamic Republic broke the limit the agreement put on its enrichment of uranium.

Abbas Mousavi said he had no information on how far Iran had taken its enrichment, though a top aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei previously suggested Iran had a need for 5%-enriched uranium.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The latest on U.S.-Iran tensions (all times local):

8 a.m.

Japan is expressing serious concern over Iran’s decision to increase uranium enrichment above the limit set by the 2015 nuclear agreement, urging Tehran to return to its earlier commitment.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura said Monday that Japan is “seriously concerned and closely watching” the development on the nuclear deal and increased tension in the Middle East.