Tag: Iran

Iran showing ‘maximum restraint,’ US escalation ‘unacceptable’: Zarif

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) –Iran is showing “maximum restraint” despite the US withdrawal from a nuclear deal, the country’s foreign minister said Thursday, accusing Washington of an “unacceptable” escalation in tensions. “The escalation by the United States is unacceptable,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said in Tokyo where he is holding talks with Japanese officials. “We exercise maximum restraint… in spite of the fact that the United States withdrew from JCPOA last May,” he added, referring to the nuclear […]

Trump moves to strangle Iran economy as nuclear deal withers

by Shaun Tandon with Amir Havasi in Tehran WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump on Wednesday tightened the screws further on Iran with sanctions on its mining industry after a frustrated Tehran said it would suspend some promises it made under a nuclear deal rejected by Washington. On the anniversary of Trump’s withdrawal from the accord he denounced as “horrible,” tensions were soaring after the United States deployed an aircraft carrier strike […]

US sending B-52s to Middle East against Iran ‘threat’

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US Air Force is deploying massive B-52 Stratofortress bombers to the Gulf in response to an alleged possible plan by Iran to attack American forces in the region, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Several nuclear-capable B-52s are heading to the region along with an aircraft carrier task force following what the Defense Department called “recent and clear indications that Iranian and Iranian proxy forces were making preparations to possibly attack […]

Iran to reduce nuclear commitments: state media

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran will reduce some of its commitments to the nuclear deal in response to the United States’ decision to withdraw from the accord, state news agency IRNA said on Tuesday. “This will be communicated to the ambassadors of the five countries” still party to the deal — Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia — at a meeting on Wednesday with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, IRNA reported. A foreign […]

Oil prices jump as Trump cracks down on Iranian exports

by Richard CARTER NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Oil prices jumped to near six-month highs on Monday as the Trump administration cracked down on Iranian oil exports, announcing it would no longer grant waivers from US sanctions. The announcement came on an otherwise quiet day for global stock markets, with European bourses on holiday and Wall Street trading sideways ahead of major earnings releases later in the week. The White House announced it was […]

Iran orders over 60,000 to evacuate flood-hit oil city

by Amir HAVASI AHVAZ, Iran (AFP) — Authorities ordered tens of thousands of residents of the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz to evacuate immediately on Wednesday as floodwaters entered the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, state television reported. The province’s governor, Gholamreza Shariati, said he ordered the evacuation of five districts as a “precautionary and preventive move to avert any danger”, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported. Residents in two of the districts were reluctant to […]

Iran president says US ‘leader of world terrorism’ after US tags Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terror org

  by Kay Armin Serjoie Agence France Presse TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday accused the United States of being the real “leader of world terrorism”, hitting back after Washington blacklisted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation. Tehran was quick to retaliate on Monday by declaring US troops “terrorists” following Washington’s move, which was welcomed by Iran’s regional arch-rivals Israel and Saudi Arabia. It was the first time that Washington […]

Iran floods death toll reaches 70

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Floods in Iran since March have killed 70 people the head of the emergency services said on Friday according to the official IRNA News Agency. “The floods also injured 791 persons of which 45 are still hospitalized,” Pirhossein Koolivand, the head of the national Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Organisation said. A report published on the EMS website showed the southern Fars Province had the highest fatalities with 23 dead. The report […]

23 dead as Iran battles heavy rain and floods

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran battled torrential rain and floods across most of the country on Tuesday, warning citizens to stay vigilant after unprecedented flash flooding killed 23 people. The authorities also announced for the first time that seven people were killed a week ago in separate floods that swept the northeastern provinces of Golestan and Mazandaran. The latest deluge claimed the lives of 19 people and injured 98 in the worst-hit southern city of […]

At least 19 dead in unprecedented Iran floods

by Kay Armin Serjoie TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Major floods across much of Iran have left 19 people dead and more than 90 injured, blocking roads and triggering landslides with warnings of more heavy rain to come, emergency services said Monday. Such a widespread flood threat is unprecedented in arid Iran, which until 2018 was dealing with decades of drought. Seventeen people were killed and 94 injured in the southern city of Shiraz, one person […]

Iran accuses West of fuelling Islamophobia after New Zealand massacre

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused Western governments of encouraging Islamophobia on Friday, after the attacks on two mosques in New Zealand that killed 49 worshippers and wounded dozens. In a statement carried by the official government website Rouhani said the shootings showed the need for “all out confrontation against… the Islamophobia pervasive in the West which is unfortunately encouraged by some Western governments.” Rouhani promised Iran’s foreign ministry would “diligently” follow […]

Israel says uncovers Hezbollah unit led by notorious commander

Israel’s army said Wednesday it had uncovered a unit recently created by Hezbollah across the ceasefire line in the Syrian Golan Heights and led by a commander previously jailed over an attack on US forces. With President Bashar al-Assad regaining control of southern Syria with the help of Russia and Hezbollah backer Iran, Israel is concerned that a front against it could be established there. Hezbollah, based in neighbouring Lebanon, has also been supporting Assad […]