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Tag: Iranian

  • Saudi, Iranian FMs agree to meet ahead of reopening embassies

    Saudi, Iranian FMs agree to meet ahead of reopening embassies

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    Tehran: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud have agreed to meet at the earliest opportunity to prepare the ground for the reopening of embassies and consulate generals between the two countries, the Foreign Ministry in Tehran announced on Thursday.

    The two Ministers discussed the issues in a phone call to congratulate each other on the starting of the Muslim fasting month of Ramzan, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying.

    The Saudi Foreign Minister pointed to the positive achievements of the Beijing meeting, in which the two countries signed an agreement on the normalisation of ties after seven years, and highlighted the necessity of meeting his Iranian counterpart in the near future and the reopening of the embassies.

    Meanwhile, Amir-Abdollahian expressed satisfaction with the detente between Tehran and Riyadh, expressing Iran’s readiness to develop and strengthen bilateral relations.

    China, Saudi Arabia and Iran on March 10 announced that Riyadh and Tehran had reached a deal that included the agreement to resume diplomatic relations and reopen embassies and missions within two months.

    On Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud invited Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to visit Riyadh.

    Following the agreement to restore diplomatic relations, the two nations also announced they will reopen embassies within two months and re-establish trade and security relations.

    Saudi Arabia cut ties in January 2016 after demonstrators stormed its embassy in Tehran after Riyadh had executed the prominent Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was convicted of terror-related offences.

    Since then, tensions between the Sunni- and Shia-led neighbours have often been high, with each regarding the other as a threatening power seeking regional dominance.

    They have been on opposing sides of several regional conflicts, including the civil wars in Syria and Yemen.

    (Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Saudi Arabia’s King invites Iranian President to visit Riyadh

    Saudi Arabia’s King invites Iranian President to visit Riyadh

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    Tehran: Just over a week after Tehran and Riyadh agreed to restore diplomatic relations, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has invited Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to visit Riyadh, a senior official here has confirmed.

    Mohammad Jamshidi, deputy chief of staff for political affairs to Raisi, confirmed the development in a tweet on Sunday, saying the invitation was extended to the President from the Saudi monarch in a letter, reports Xinhua news agency.

    Jamshidi added the Saudi king said in the letter that he welcomed the recent deal between the two “brotherly countries” on the normalisation of bilateral ties and called for strong economic and regional cooperation between Riyadh and Tehran.

    Raisi welcomed the invitation and stressed Iran’s readiness to expand cooperation, the official noted.

    China, Saudi Arabia and Iran on March 10 announced that Riyadh and Tehran had reached a deal that included the agreement to resume diplomatic relations and reopen embassies and missions within two months.

    Also on Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters that the two countries had agreed to hold a meeting at the Foreign Ministers level, and that three possible locations had been proposed.

    He did not name the locations, nor say when the meeting might take place.

    The two nations have also announced they will reopen embassies within two months and re-establish trade and security relations.

    Saudi Arabia cut ties in January 2016 after demonstrators stormed its embassy in Tehran after Riyadh had executed the prominent Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was convicted of terror-related offences.

    Since then, tensions between the Sunni- and Shia-led neighbours have often been high, with each regarding the other as a threatening power seeking regional dominance.

    They have been on opposing sides of several regional conflicts, including the civil wars in Syria and Yemen.

    (Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Iranian female activist rearrested hours after release

    Iranian female activist rearrested hours after release

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    Tehran: One of Iran’s prominent women activist and journalists Sepideh Qolian, was rearrested a few hours after her release from Evin prison, Iranian media reported.

    28-year-old Sepideh Qolian, was released on Wednesday, March 15, after serving four-years and seven months in prison.

    After her release on March 15, Qolian posted on social media platforms a video of herself without the headscarf shouting slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei outside Tehran’s Evin prison.

    “Khamenei the Zahhak! We’ll take you down into grave,” she shouted.

    “After four years and seven months, I was released from the Haftepe case. This time I came out hoping for the freedom of Iran! Hoping for the release of my dear ones Sepideh Kashani, Nilofar Bayani, Zahra Zahtabchi, Bahare Hedayat, Golrokh Iraei, Nahid Taqavi and all political prisoners, especially women prisoners. #Zhen_Zhian_Ezadi,” Qolian tweeted.

    Five hours later, Qolian was arrested on one of the highways while she and her family were traveling to their hometown of Dezful in the southwest of Khuzestan in three cars.

    Qolian was arrested in 2018 and convicted of working “against national security” for supporting a strike and protest by workers at a sugar factory in Iran’s Khuzestan province.

    She was initially sentenced to 19 years and six months in prison, but this sentence was reduced to five years in the appeal court.

    In an open letter in January 2023, she pointed the torture in prison against the detainees of the recent nationwide protests, along with six other female prisoners, she protested against the “issue of death sentence” against the prisoners.



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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Iranian American detainee begs Biden to intervene for his release

    Iranian American detainee begs Biden to intervene for his release

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    An American citizen of Iranian origin, Siamak Namazi, who has been held in Tehran’s Evin prison for seven years, has beseeched US President Joe Biden for his release and two other American nationals.

    51-year-old Namazi, was speaking in an unprecedented interview with CNN on behalf of himself, 58-year-old businessman Emad Shargi, and 67-year-old environmentalist Morad Tahbaz.

    “I implore you, sir, to put the lives and liberty of innocent Americans above all the politics involved and to just do what is necessary to end this nightmare and bring us home,” Siamak Namazi told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in a telephone interview on Thursday.

    Namazi continued that he was “deprived of many of his rights as a prisoner,” as he is treated as a “hostage,” stressing that many criminals have more rights than him.

    He pointed out that in his more than seven years of imprisonment, he spent months caged in a cell, sleeping on the floor.

    “I remain very concerned that the White House does not realize the seriousness of our situation,” he said adding, Tahbaz, and Shargi are now being held at the same prison.

    Namazi made a similar request to Joe Biden in January 2023, seven years after the release of five American citizens in a prisoner swap negotiated to coincide with the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under President Barack Obama.

    Namazi said it was “painful and upsetting” that Biden had not met with his family “just to give them some words of reassurance.”

    Siamak Namazi, an oil executive, was arrested in October 2015 on charges of attempting to overthrow the country’s powerful clerics, an allegation he has denied.

    In January 2023, Siamak Namazi went on a seven-day hunger strike in Evin prison.

    His father, Baquer Namazi was also detained in 2016 when he attempted to help his son, but he was freed on medical grounds in 2022.



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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Iranian parents protests over suspected poisoning of hundreds of schoolgirls

    Iranian parents protests over suspected poisoning of hundreds of schoolgirls

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    Tehran: Amid a wave of suspected poison attacks affecting girl students in several schools in Iran, parents protested across the country on Saturday.

    According to Reuters, they gathered outside an Education Ministry building in western Tehran to protest against the diseases turned into an anti-government demonstration.

    “Parents of the school girls who were poisoned took to the streets and blamed the regime for a series of chemical attacks on school girls in Iran: “Revolutionary Guards! you are our ISIS “ this is the slogan heard in Tehran today,” Iranian journalist and human rights activist Masih Alinejad, tweeted.

    The first incident of mass poisoning was reported on November 30, 2022. The illness which is so-far unexplained has affected hundreds of female students in dozens of schools in recent months.

    The Iranian authorities believe that these girls may have been poisoned and blame it on Tehran’s enemies.

    Although there have been no casualties yet, the children have complained of headaches, heart palpitations and a feeling of lethargy.

    Some described the symptoms as being unable to move, others smelled of tangerines, chlorine or cleaning products.

    According to a report by Reuters, the sickness affected more than 30 schools in at least 10 of Iran’s 31 provinces on Saturday.

    “Iranian authorities must take urgent action to stop these attacks and bring perpetrators to justice in fair trials. Education is a human right,” Amnesty International tweeted.

    The poisoning incidents in Iranian schools come shortly after widespread protests have taken place in Iran since September 2022, against the backdrop of the death of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, days after she was detained by the morality police on charges of not adhering to the standards of compulsory headscarf.



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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Iran urges IAEA to adopt ‘professional’ approach to Iranian nuclear issue

    Iran urges IAEA to adopt ‘professional’ approach to Iranian nuclear issue

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    Tehran: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has said that he hopes the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can adopt a “professional” approach to the Iranian nuclear issue and prevent certain countries from affecting the nuclear watchdog’s decisions.

    Raisi made the remarks on Saturday in a meeting with visiting Director General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi in the capital Tehran, according to a report on the website of the president’s office.

    Countries like Israel and the US use the nuclear issue as an “excuse” to further pressure the Iranian people, said the President, pointing out that it was the US that violated the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Xinhua news agency reported.

    Iran has had “the highest level” of cooperation with the IAEA, expects the agency to tell the truth about Iran’s nuclear programme as well the country’s commitment ot its regulations, he noted.

    Meanwhile, the IAEA Chief expressed pleasure at visiting Iran and meeting the country’s President, saying the IAEA’s team led by himself had “constructive and positive” meetings with the Iranian side, according to the report.

    Grossi arrived in Tehran on Friday for a two-day visit, during which he also held talks with Mohammad Eslami, President of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

    In recent months, the IAEA has criticised Iran for its lack of cooperation with the agency.

    In November 2020, the IAEA’s Board of Governors passed a resolution proposed by the US, Britain, France and Germany that called on Iran to collaborate with the agency’s investigators regarding the alleged “traces of uranium” at a number of its “undeclared” sites.

    Iran has repeatedly rejected such allegations and emphasised the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Iranian President orders probe into cases of schoolgirls’ poisoning

    Iranian President orders probe into cases of schoolgirls’ poisoning

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    Tehran: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has ordered an immediate investigation into the cases of reported schoolgirls’ poisoning in several cities.

    Raisi on Wednesday issued the directive at a cabinet meeting, asking Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidito to remove parents’ worries and public concerns about the cases, according to the website of the President’s office.

    Over the past three months, several mysterious poisoning cases have been reported in a number of girls’ schools in different Iranian cities, mainly in the northern province of Qom, Xinhua news agency reported.

    The first case was reported on November 30, 2022, in Qom, where 18 schoolgirls were transferred to medical centres after displaying poisoning symptoms, the official news agency IRNA reported.

    Later, other schools in Qom, the western province of Lorestan, the northwestern province of Ardabil, the western province of Kermanshah and even the capital Tehran also reported similar cases, the IRNA said.

    As of now, more than 700 students in more than 30 schools across the country have fallen victim to such incidents, it added, noting in most of the cases, the students were released from the hospital soon after receiving treatment.

    The IRNA cited Health Ministry Spokesman Pedram Pakaein as saying that the reported poisoning is “not caused by a virus or a microbe and the symptoms are transient”.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Iranian armed forces launched large-scale air defence maneuver

    Iranian armed forces launched large-scale air defence maneuver

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    Tehran: Iran’s armed forces on Tuesday started a large-scale real-combat air defence maneuver in the country to show their preparedness of defending the country’s sensitive targets, Iranian media reported.

    Forces of the Iranian Army and Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) took part in the drill codenamed Modafean Aseman-e Velayat 1401, which is held in two-thirds of the Iranian airspace, official news agency IRNA reported, citing the manoeuvre’s spokesman Abbas Farajpour.

    It would test air defence systems’ mobility and the operational forces’ pace of reaction in a passive defence scenario, among others, said Farajpour as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

    Manned and unmanned aerial reconnaissance of the army’s aviation branch and IRGC air forces, as well as detection, tracking, and combat systems of air defence divisions, are being tested, he added.

    Fully homegrown air defence systems equipped with advanced active and passive radars would surveil the drill area to track and confront any hostile target once detecting it, Farajpour said.

    The war game put the country’s air defence systems to the test by involving more than 100 manned and unmanned aircraft for launching a mock attack on the country’s sensitive nuclear and military centres, semi-official Tasnim news agency, citing Amir-Qader Rahimzadeh, Commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbia Air Defence Base.

    He stressed that the armed forces use mostly home-grown air defence weapons in the drill, including those hidden in underground tunnels for security reasons.

    Basij voluntary force and the police will also take part in the joint exercise, the Commander added.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Tehran welcomes normalisation of ties with Riyadh, Cairo: Iranian FM

    Tehran welcomes normalisation of ties with Riyadh, Cairo: Iranian FM

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    Tehran: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has said Tehran welcomes the normalisation of relations with Riyadh and Cairo within the framework of its policy of strengthening ties with Muslim countries.

    Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks at a joint press conference in Baghdad with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein following their meeting earlier on Wednesday, according to the official news agency IRNA.

    The Foreign Minister praised efforts by Iraq’s officials, particularly the Foreign Minister, to host rapprochement talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Baghdad, and to bring about a detente between Tehran and Cairo, Xinhua news agency reported.

    He also thanked his Iraqi counterpart’s efforts to bring Iran’s views closer to those of Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

    Turning to bilateral ties with Iraq, Amir-Abdollahian highlighted Tehran’s sustained efforts to improve relations with its western neighbor.

    He said Iran supports Iraq’s territorial integrity and independence, as well as the Iraqi government.

    Amir-Abdollahian arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday morning and met with the country’s top officials.

    Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in early 2016 in response to attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran after the kingdom executed a Shia cleric.

    To improve bilateral relations and ease regional tension, Baghdad hosted several rounds of direct talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia over the past two years.

    In recent years, Iran announced readiness to mend ties with Egypt by settling differences on certain issues.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Iranian police seize over 1.2 ton of opium in two operations

    Iranian police seize over 1.2 ton of opium in two operations

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    Iranian police seize over 1.2 ton of opium in two operations

    Tehran: Iran’s police have seized 1,235 kg of opium in two separate operations in the capital Tehran and the southeastern province of Kerman, official news agency IRNA reported.

    Kerman’s anti-narcotics police forces seized 933 kg of opium concealed in a truckload of sand and manganese rocks when traffickers were preparing to transfer them overnight from the southeastern city of Zahedan in Sistan and Baluchestan province to Kerman, it reported on Sunday.

    Provincial police commander Abdolreza Nazeri told IRNA that the truck and the narcotics were confiscated, and one suspect was arrested, Xinhua news agency reported.

    In the other operation, Tehran’s anti-narcotics police seized 302 kg of opium from two sedans driving on a main highway toward the capital city.

    Five traffickers with criminal records were arrested in the surprise raid, said the report, citing Tehran’s chief anti-narcotics police officer Zargham Azin.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )