News Updates
May, 2019
- ‘Iran hands over 46 illegal immigrants to Pakistan’(12 May 2019, news from IRNA)
- ‘Iran’s Rouhani calls for unity to face ‘unprecedented’ US pressure’. (13 May 2019, news from The Guardian
April, 2019
- Iran president urges Mideast states to ‘drive back Zionism’
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani called on Middle East states on Thursday to “drive back Zionism,” in an Army Day tirade against the Islamic republic’s arch-foe Israel. Speaking flanked by top general as troops paraded in a show of might, Rouhani also sought to reassure the region that the weaponry on display was for defensive purposes and not a threat. “The power of our armed forces is the power of the region’s countries, the Islamic world”, he said. “If we have a problem in the region today, its roots are either with Zionism or America’s arrogance.”
Rouhani called on Muslim nations to band together and “restore the historical right of the nation of Palestine,” saying that “Zionism … has been committing crimes in the region for the past 70 years.” (Times of Israel, 18 April, 2019)
- Rouhani: Iran floods revealed vicious nature of the US
The United States's reaction to floods that killed dozens of people in Iran has revealed Washington's "vicious" nature, said Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.
At least 76 people have died after torrential rainfall which has caused damages of around $2.5bn since March 19. Iran's Red Crescent has repeatedly complained that US banking sanctions reimposed last year make it impossible to receive donations from outside the country. Washington "always claimed that it is on very good terms with the people of Iran [and] it is the Iranian government that it has a problem with," Rouhani said on Wednesday before adding that by blocking aid to the Red Crescent, the US had given lie to that claim. "The heads of the American regime have revealed their true vicious and inhuman nature," he said at a cabinet meeting screened live on state TV. State TV quoted Rouhani as saying that "if US officials were wise, they should have announced they would suspend the sanctions for one year because of the floods". (Al Jazeera: April 18, 2019)
- PM Imran to leave for Iran on 21st April
The Pakistani leader is undertaking the visit on the invitation of President Hassan Rouhan. It will be the first visit of the prime minister to Iran which will include a brief stop-over in Mashhad before arriving in Tehran for bilateral talks with the Iranian leadership. (The News. April18, 2019)
- Pakistan not to ink FTA with Iran: Razak
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan was paying an official visit to Iran on April 21 where leadership of both the countries would sit together to explore ways to do more trade under the PTA in the presence of US sanctions. (The News April18, 2019)
- Iran suffers '$2bn in damages' as flood toll continues to rise
Officials say 725 bridges destroyed, 14,000km of roads damaged, as six more people confirmed dead in the southwest (AL Jazeera: April14, 2019)
- Iran welcomes Egypt's reported withdrawal from 'Arab NATO' plan
Cairo's rejection of US-led security initiative will be welcome in Tehran if confirmed, Iran's foreign ministry says. (Al Jazeera: April 12, 2019)
- Turkey denounces US sanctions, seeking new trade mechanisms with Iran
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu Turkey is looking into establishing new trade mechanisms with Iran, like the INSTEX system set up by European countries to avoid sanctions the US reimposed on Iran last year. Those sanctions followed President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw unilaterally from a 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers. Cavusoglu reiterated Ankara's opposition to the sanctions and said Turkey and neighboring Iran need to keep working to raise their bilateral trade to a target of $30 billion, almost three times the current level. (Iran Daily, 17 April, 2019)
April, 2019
- Pakistan sends relief goods to flood-hit Iran
Pakistan is sending two planeloads of relief goods for flood-hit Iran to meet its immediate needs. This message was conveyed by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in a telephonic conversation on Monday. “Foreign Minister informed Mr Zarif that as a gesture of goodwill the prime minister had instructed two C-130 plane loads of relief goods to be sent immediately to Iran [Ahwaz and Khorumabad]. The relief assistance by Pakistan would aim at meeting some of the urgent needs of the flood-affected population in Iran,” the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement. (Dawn-9 April, 2019)
- Revolutionary Guard Corps: US labels Iran force as terrorists
US President Donald Trump has designated Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organisation. It is the first time the US has labelled another nation's military as a terrorist organisation. Iran retaliated by declaring US forces in the Middle East as a terrorist organisation, Iran state news reported. Washington-Tehran tensions have risen since Mr Trump withdrew the US from the international Iran nuclear pact. (BBC- 8 April, 2019)
- Iran names U.S. CENTCOM terrorist organization
The Iranian Supreme National Security Council on Monday named the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) a terrorist organization, and the U.S. government a sponsor of terror. ( Tehran Times, 8 April, 2019)
- Russia-Iran trade up 14.2% ( Iran Daily- 8 April, 2019)
- 'Our dams are 95 percent full': Iran braces for more flooding ( Al Jazeera, 3 April, 2019)
- In Tehran, Rouhani and Abdul Mahdi back deeper Iran-Iraq ties:
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has visited Tehran for talks with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, marking a further deepening of ties between the two neighbours. At a joint news conference on Saturday, Rouhani hailed Iran and Iraq's shared stance on key regional issues."We hold common viewpoints on Al-Quds [Jerusalem] being the permanent capital of Palestine, Golan being an inseparable part of Syria and that the war in Yemen should finish soon and that the solution to the Yemeni crisis should be a political one," he said. Rouhani added that the two countries "agreed upon the necessity of peace and stability in the entire region". Abdul Mahdi echoed the Iranian president's comments, adding that economic and security cooperation were also discussed in their meeting (Al Jazeera, 6 April, 2019)
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