WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump on Monday warned Syria against launching an attack on the country’s last rebel stronghold with the help of Russia and Iran, saying the offensive could trigger a “human tragedy.” The warning came as Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javed Zarif met with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in a surprise visit to Damascus ahead of the looming offensive. Syrian forces are amassing around the northwestern province of Idlib, […]
Tag: Iran
Iran’s Zarif in Syria for talks on Idlib offensive
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made a surprise visit to ally Syria on Monday for talks on the looming offensive against the country’s last major rebel stronghold, his ministry said. Zarif left early on Monday and “is at the moment in talks with Syrian officials,” spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters in Tehran. The visit comes as Syrian government forces mass around the last rebel bastion in the northwestern province of […]
US seeks to ‘severely’ damage Iran economy, top UN court hears
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Renewed sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran aim to damage Tehran’s economy “as severely as possible”, the UN’s top court heard Monday. “The United States is publicly propagating a policy intending to damage as severely as possible Iran’s economy and Iranian nationals and companies,” Iran’s lawyer Mohsen Mohebi told the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Washington has slapped renewed sanctions on Tehran. It said they aimed […]
Iran vs US case opens at top UN court
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — A legal battle between Iran and the United States over renewed sanctions imposed on Tehran opened Monday, with the Islamic state’s lawyers due to argue the measures are hurting Iran’s economy. The hearings commenced shortly after 0800 GMT at the International Court of Justice in The Hague and are scheduled to run for four days. © Agence France-Presse
Dozens injured in 6.0 quake in western Iran: media
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Dozens have been injured in a strong 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck western Iran near the border with Iraq early Sunday, local media reported. The shallow quake hit 26 kilometres (16 miles) southwest of the city of Javanrud in Kermanshah province, the US Geological Survey said, near the site of a powerful quake last year that killed hundreds. A local medical university said a 70-year-old man had died of a heart […]
Four questions on Iran’s legal challenge to US sanctions
by Jan Hennop Agence France-Presse THE HAUGE, Netherlands (AFP) — Iran’s legal challenge against renewed sanctions by the United States goes before the UN’s International Court of Justice on Monday. Here are four key questions regarding the case: What is the case about? Iran’s attempt to block the reinstatement of sanctions, announced by US President Donald Trump earlier this year, is the latest in a series of court battles that Tehran and Washington are fighting […]
Iran unveils first domestic fighter jet
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran unveiled its first domestic fighter jet on Tuesday, with President Hassan Rouhani insisting that Tehran’s military strength was only designed to deter enemies and create “lasting peace”. Images on state television showed Rouhani sitting in the cockpit of the new “Kowsar” fourth-generation fighter at the National Defence Industry exhibition in Tehran. State media said it had “advanced avionics” and multi-purpose radar, and that it was “100-percent indigenously made” for the […]
France’s Total has officially left Iran: oil minister
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — French energy giant Total has officially quit its multi-billion-dollar gas project in Iran, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Monday, following the reimposition of US sanctions. “Total has officially left the agreement for the development of phase 11 of South Pars (gas field). It has been more than two months that it announced that it would leave the contract,” he told the ICANA news agency, which is linked to the […]
North Korea will preserve know-how despite denuclearization: FM
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — North Korea will preserve its nuclear know-how despite its promise of denuclearization to the United States, Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said during a visit to Tehran, Iranian media reported on Thursday. Despite the agreement to denuclearize the Korean peninsula struck during a landmark summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and US President Donald Trump, “we preserve our nuclear science as we know that the Americans will not abandon their […]
Iran’s Zarif: ‘no one trusts America’ anymore
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Wednesday it was hard to imagine new talks with the US after it lost the trust of the world with its erratic decision-making. “Imagine negotiating now — how can we trust them?” Zarif told reporters on state broadcaster IRINN. “America has zig-zagged constantly, so now no one trusts them.” Zarif was speaking a day after Washington reimposed a first tranche of harsh sanctions following […]
Trump warns countries against doing business with Iran
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that sanctions reimposed on Iran were the “most biting ever” as he warned other countries from doing business with Tehran. “The Iran sanctions have officially been cast. These are the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November they ratchet up to yet another level,” he wrote in an early morning tweet. “Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with […]
Trump: reining in Iran
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — From the time of his electoral campaign, Donald Trump was one of the biggest opponents of Iran and the hard-won nuclear agreement, which he tore up in May. His stated aim is to stop Iran’s ballistic program and its influence in the Middle East. ‘Nuclear holocaust’ On August 16, 2015, the American billionnaire and Republican presidential frontrunner says that the nuclear accord with world powers will not prevent Iran from […]
