TEHRAN/ JOHANNESBURG, IRAN/ SOUTH AFRICA - The Iranian and Chinese presidents stressed the need to bolster bilateral cooperation and the trend of multilateralism especially within the framework of BRICS. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi held talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS+ Summit on Thursday to...

Tehran, Iran - The World Steel Association (WSA) has reported a significant 4.1% increase in Iran's steel production during the first seven months of 2023 (January-July), compared to the same period last year. Iran's crude steel production for this period totaled 18.1 million tons, showcasing strong growth. In July 2023,...

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has met with diplomat Assadollah Assadi, recently freed by Belgium in a high-profile prisoner swap case in May, the presidency site said on Saturday. "The claimants of human rights have shown once again that they do not adhere to any law," Raisi said in...

TEHRAN, IRAN – Iran is the first Islamic country to possess a very modern observatory, the head of the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences Mohammad Javad Larijani said. “We started the construction process (of the observatory) concurrent with Turkey (starting its own); they had the resources, like the cash, so they...

TEHRAN, IRAN – Pretoria fully supports Tehran joining BRICS, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said at a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian. "South Africa is interested in Iran being accepted as a friendly country by the BRICS," Ramaphosa said as quoted by Mehr News. The South African...

Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to resume diplomatic relations and reopen their respective embassies following a China-brokered deal announced in March.

Tokyo, Japan - Iran's foreign minister visited Japan on Monday for the first time since 2019, in a rare trip to a G7 member country by the Islamic republic's top diplomat. The purpose of the visit by Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to the current chair of the G7 was not announced, but reports...

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iran on Sunday appointed Mohammed Jafar Montazeri, who is under US and British sanctions, to head the Islamic republic's top court. Montazeri was named the supreme court chief after the "opinions of all the court judges" were taken into consideration, the judiciary's Mizan Online website said. The 75-year-old,...

The dispute over the field -- known as Arash in Iran and Dorra in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia -- dates back to the 1960s when Iran and Kuwait awarded overlapping offshore concessions. Last year Kuwait and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to develop the field, despite objections from Iran which...

Tehran, Iran - Iran's Revolutionary Guards launched naval drills on Wednesday near strategic Gulf islands controlled by Iran but claimed by the United Arab Emirates, state media said. The manoeuvres, which were being held mainly near Abu Musa island but also around Greater and Lesser Tunb, came two weeks after the...

Tehran, Iran – Iran's second-largest carmaker, Saipa, has successfully delivered another batch of cars to Venezuela as part of an automotive export and joint manufacturing deal signed during a visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi to Caracas in early June. According to a statement released by Saipa on Wednesday, the...

Tehran, Iran - Iranian authorities have arrested several followers of the Bahai faith accused of spying for Tehran's arch-foe Israel, local media in the Islamic republic reported on Tuesday. The Bahais, Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority, are not recognised by the state and often targeted over alleged ties to Israel --...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - A powerful alliance of pro-Iran factions in Iraq called on Sunday on Baghdad to pressure the United States to unlock pending payments to Tehran for crucial gas imports. Iraq, ravaged by decades of conflict and international sanctions, relies on gas imported from its eastern neighbor for a third...

Tehran, Iran--Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has claimed that health tourism in the country has attracted patients from neighboring countries and even Central Asian states who prefer to get medical care in Iran rather than in Europe. Raisi made the remarks on Friday as he inaugurated Ghadir Major Hospital in the...

KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT -  Kuwait reinvited Iran on Monday to talks on their sea borders after Tehran said it was ready to start drilling in a disputed gas field in the resource-rich Gulf. Kuwait insisted it held "exclusive rights" to the maritime field along with Saudi Arabia, after the neighboring countries...

MECCA, SAUDI ARABIA- If a landmark reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran has eased tensions in the Gulf, clouds have also lifted at the hajj pilgrimage, where Iranian visitors finally feel welcome again. Seven years of enmity between the Sunni and Shiite powers had made for a cool reception for Iranian...

Iran said it was hoping indirect talks with the United States could lead to a "positive" outcome for a prisoner swap. Iran announced earlier this month that it was engaged in Oman-mediated talks with its arch-nemesis the United States over its nuclear deal and a possible prisoner exchange.

ran said last week it had been engaged in indirect negotiations with the United States through Oman, with nuclear issues, US sanctions and detainees on the agenda. The following day, Iran's nuclear negotiator said he had met with diplomats from three European countries in Abu Dhabi to discuss a number...

PARIS, FRANCE -  A major exiled Iranian opposition group on Tuesday expressed fury after Paris police refused to grant permission for a major rally next month, on the grounds it risked creating tensions and being the target of an attack. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a coalition that...

In a significant step towards reconciliation, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan conducted a landmark visit to Iran to hold talks with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, focusing on regional security. This visit comes after both nations agreed to mend ties in a Chinese-brokered deal, following a diplomatic severance in...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -  Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, is scheduled to visit Tehran on Saturday, according to Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency. The visit is seen as a significant step in the ongoing diplomatic efforts between the two countries to mend their strained relations. The...

Iran said it has continued indirect negotiations with the Unites States through the Sultanate of Oman over its nuclear deal and a possible prisoner swap. Iran's nuclear program has long been the subject of scrutiny from Western powers, resulting in sanctions that have crippled the country's economy.

Tehran, Iran-- Bilateral trade between Iran and Turkey is expected to vault to US$15 billion by 2025 on the back of deeper cooperation with the private sector. According to a senior official in Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) trade with Turkey will easily reach $15 billion in early March 2025...

Iran's supreme leader urged continued cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, while warning against succumbing to "bullying" based on "unfounded claims". "Cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency within the framework of safeguards regulations should be maintained," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said during a meeting with Iranian nuclear scientists, experts and...

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a lengthy phone call discussed ways to promote ties, state media reported. "The two sides discussed how to promote relations especially about ongoing negotiations and regional developments," IRNA state news agency quoted Raisi's deputy chief of staff Mohammad Jamshidi...

Russia is receiving materials from Iran to build a drone factory that "could be fully operational early next year," White House national security spokesman John Kirby warned. The White House released a satellite image of the location of the prospective plant in Alabuga special economic zone, some 900 kilometers east...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Israel is not happy with the restoration of diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh and is actively seeking to disrupt it, Alireza Enayati, Iran's new ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said in an interview with Iran's al-Alam news network. “Many of our friends and brothers welcomed the...

Iran's Revolutionary Guards unveiled an intermediate range ballistic missile capable of traveling at hypersonic speeds of up to 15 times the speed of sound, state television reported. President Ebrahim Raisi hailed the new missile's hypersonic capability, saying it would boost Iran's "power of deterrence" and "bring peace and stability to...

Iran is set to reopen its embassy in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday following a seven year closure, Tehran and a diplomatic source said, sealing a Chinese-brokered rapprochement deal announced in March. Riyadh severed relations with Tehran in 2016 after its embassy and consulate in Iran were attacked during protests.

One Dane and two Austrian-Iranian citizens released from detention by Tehran arrived in their home countries, after the latest in a series of prisoner swaps. The three Europeans had landed at Melsbroek military airport just outside Brussels. They had flown there from Muscat, the capital of Oman which helped broker...

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he would welcome a resumption of diplomatic relations with Egypt, during a meeting with Oman's visiting Sultan Haitham bin Tarik. Ties between Tehran and Cairo soured following the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran and Egypt's recognition of Israel, the Islamic republic's sworn enemy.

His trip comes just two days after Tehran freed Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele from almost 15 months in custody in exchange for diplomat Assadollah Assadi, who was held in Belgium over a 2018 plot to bomb an Iranian opposition rally outside Paris. Oman helped facilitate the prisoner swap

Tehran, Iran-- Urging OPEC member countries to preserve cohesion and unity among them, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said that several Western countries were seeking to divide OPEC member states. The Iranian president made the remark in a meeting with the Secretary-General of OPEC Haitham al-Ghais in Tehran on Saturday. Considering the...

Clashes broke out between Iranian and Taliban forces at the border between the two countries, Iranian police said without reporting casualties, amid a water dispute between the two neighbors. State news agency IRNA quoted deputy head of the police force Qassem Rezaee as saying that Taliban forces started shooting at...

Iran freed Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele after almost 15 months in custody, in a prisoner exchange for an Iranian diplomat convicted of terrorism. Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said the 42-year-old had arrived in Oman and added: "If all goes to plan, he'll be with us this evening....

The new envoy, Alireza Enayati, previously served as Iran's ambassador to Kuwait, assistant to the foreign minister and director general of Gulf affairs at the foreign ministry, the English-language Iran Daily said. There was no immediate confirmation of his appointment from the foreign ministry of the Islamic republic.

Indonesia and Iran signed a trade agreement in Jakarta where President Joko Widodo hosted his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi. Tehran is aiming to boost its international trade. Raisi's two-day visit to Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy, comes in the shadow of fresh European Union sanctions this week on Iran's Revolutionary...

The European Union imposed an asset freeze on the investment arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, over Tehran's brutal crackdown on protests over the death of Mahsa Amini. The sanctions - the eighth imposed by the EU over the repression - came after Iran hanged three more men convicted in relation...

Iran said it is capable of ensuring the safety of the vital Gulf waters in cooperation with neighboring countries. Iran and its neighboring countries are capable of cooperating for the security of the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Sea of Oman," Iran's Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces,...

Five Iranian border guards were killed during clashes with an armed group in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, state media reported. Earlier, the judiciary's Mizan Online website had quoted local prosecutor Mehdi Shamsabadi as saying that six border guards were killed but later the number was revised down to...

Iran said it "reserves" the right to take action as a dispute with Afghanistan escalates over an upstream river dam that restricts the flow of water into the country. "Iran reserves its rights to take necessary measures and emphasizes the full responsibility of Afghanistan in this regard," the foreign ministry...

Iran executed three men convicted of killing security force members during protests triggered by Mahsa Amini's death last year, the judiciary said, drawing condemnation from rights groups. Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were found guilty of waging "war against God" - at a demonstration in Isfahan on November...

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iranian authorities have arrested eight people for "leading" a workers' strike at a key gas site in the south of the country, local media reported on Sunday. "Eight main leaders of the workers' strike in the South Pars projects have been arrested by the intelligence services," Akbar Pourat,...

TEHRAN, IRAN- Iran has summoned Iraq's ambassador to protest over the presence of Iranian opposition groups at an official ceremony in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, media reported on Sunday. Quoting the foreign ministry, ISNA news agency said that during Saturday's meeting Tehran expressed its "strong objection" to the invitation of members...

Tehran, Iran--Iran will begin to receive the first batch of Russian SU-35 fighter jets next week, according to Mehr News Agency. Tehran and Moscow have embarked on deepening cooperation amid massive Western sanctions. Iran and Russia have signed major deals in recent months to boost economic, trade, energy and military...

Iran released two French citizens jailed in separate cases, France said, urging Tehran to release several others still detained in the Islamic republic. Bernard Phelan, who also holds Irish nationality and Benjamin Briere were freed from their prison in Mashhad city and are "on their way to France", Foreign Minister...

In March, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi visited Tehran after his agency's inspectors in the country found uranium particles enriched to just under weapons-grade level.

Tehran, Iran – Iran’s trade with BRICS member states reached 47.99 million tons worth $38.43 billion in fiscal 2022-23. In fiscal 2022–23, Iran's trade with the BRICS nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—amounted to 47.99 million tonnes worth $38.43 billion, up 14 percent in value and 0.81 percent in...

TEHRAN, IRAN- Iran executed Swedish-Iranian dissident Habib Chaab for "terrorism" on Saturday, according to the judiciary. "The death sentence for Habib Chaab... nicknamed Habib Asyud, the head of Harakat al-Nidal terrorist group... was executed today, Saturday morning," the judiciary's Mizan Online website reported. Chaab had been held in Iran since October...

Tehran, Iran--Iran's head of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) considers the United States to be responsible for all of Israel's actions targeting the Iranian nuclear facilities and the people working for the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Ali Shamkhani made the remarks in a tweet on Friday. According to Mehr News...