Iran

18 August 2023; MEMO: Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, discussed Iran’s possible future membership of the BRICS grouping during a phone call on Thursday, Russian state news agency, TASS reported, citing the Kremlin, Reuters reports.

16 August 2023; MEMO: Iran’s Special Prosecutor’s Office for Clergy Affairs has opened a number of cases against former President, Hassan Rouhani, on charges of “interfering in the foreign exchange and stock markets”, a judiciary spokesman said yesterday.

Addressing a weekly news conference in the capital Tehran, Masoud Setayeshi said: “Rouhani is a cleric, and cases against him have been filed in the special prosecutor’s office in line with the relevant jurisdiction.”

14 August 2023; MEMO: Iran and the de-facto government of Yemen, the Houthi-led National Salvation Government (NSG), held their first joint economic cooperation commission on Saturday.

15 August 2023; MEMO: Iran has detained eight suspects related to Sunday’s attack on Shia Muslim shrine in the southern city of Shiraz, the judiciary said on Monday, adding that all were foreigners, Reuters reports.

TEHRAN, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will pay a visit to Riyadh in the near future at the invitation of his Saudi counterpart, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Monday.

He made the remarks at a weekly press conference in the capital Tehran while commenting on the latest developments in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

It is a reciprocal visit to Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud's visit to Tehran in June, Kanaani added.

TEHRAN, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- A total of 733 people have sought medical treatment due to health problems caused by severe sandstorms in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan since Thursday, the official news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.

Majid Mohebi, head of the province's Disaster Mitigation and Management Organization said that respiratory, heart and eye problems were the most common conditions reported by the patients, of whom 58 have been hospitalized.

TEHRAN, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran's crude oil output has risen to approximately 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd) and is projected to hit 3.3 million bpd by the end of August, the country's Oil Minister Javad Owji said on Sunday.

The minister also mentioned that Iran currently produces about 700,000 to 800,000 barrels of gas condensates daily, according to the Shana News Agency, which is connected to the oil ministry.

Also on Sunday, Iran announced its oil exports have surpassed the governmental target of 1.4 million bpd, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A gunman opened fire Sunday night at a prominent shrine in southern Iran, killing one person and wounding eight others in an attack that followed another assault there months earlier, authorities said.

Officials offered no immediate motive for the attack in the city of Shiraz at Shah Cheragh, which draws Shiite pilgrims to its domed mosque and the tomb of a prominent member of the faith from its earliest days.

Chabahar, IRNA – The project to desalinate water from the Sea of Oman and transfer it to Sistan and Baluchestan province and other eastern provinces is 12% complete, Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade, Abbas Aliabadi has announced.

The government has allocated over $3.2 billion for the project, which will provide fresh water to people in the eastern provinces, Aliabadi.

Aliabadi plans to visit the strategic project that transfers desalinated water from the Sea of Oman to cities and villages in the eastern provinces, especially Sistan and Baluchestan.

Tehran, IRNA – Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president's deputy chief of staff for political affairs, has said that the US prisoners will remain in Iran until the full transfer of Iranian assets in South Korea which are said to be unfrozen following a prisoner swap deal with the US.

Jamshidi said on Friday that the process of releasing Iran’s total assets in South Korea has begun after the release of the country’s assets in Iraq.