Category Archives: Iran

Global report: China hails coronavirus response as world death toll tops 400,000

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Beijing denies cover-up or delay, while countries easing lockdowns face spike in cases

The number of confirmed deaths from coronavirus globally has topped 400,000, as the Chinese government released a report lauding its own response to the pandemic that emerged in the city of Wuhan six months ago.

As more countries prepared to continue easing their lockdowns from Monday, Singapore’s prime minister warned the city-state’s citizens that they were entering a tougher world of slowing demand and travel restrictions for the foreseeable future.

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Black boxes of downed Ukrainian plane of ‘no help’, Iran claims

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Tehran says it will transfer boxes of Flight 752 abroad but insists investigation is nearly complete

The black boxes of a Ukrainian plane that was mistakenly downed near Tehran airport will be of “no help” in any investigation, but Iran is ready to transfer them abroad, state media said Saturday.

Flight 752, an Ukraine International Airlines jetliner, was struck by a missile and crashed shortly after taking off from the Tehran airport on 8 January.

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Zaghari-Ratcliffe endures further wait for Iranian decision on release

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Campaigners contrast British-Iranian’s plight with return of prisoner Michael White to US

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian dual national detained by Iran since 2016, has been told her furlough from prison will be extended beyond the previous cut-off date of early June, according to her lawyer. But she has not been informed she will be granted a full clemency, which would allow her to return to the UK.

Her family said they were investigating the reports. They previously said they expected to hear on Saturday whether she was to be given clemency. Her lawyer, Mahmoud Behzadi-Rad, was reported by Iran International TV on Friday as saying only her furlough had been extended.

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Iran releases US navy veteran detained for nearly two years

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Michael White was detained in 2018 and sentenced 10 years on charges of insulting the supreme leader and posting a private photo

A US navy veteran detained in Iran for nearly two years flew out on Thursday, a day after an Iranian scientist held by US authorities returned home.

“I am blessed to announce that the nightmare is over, and my son is safely on his way home,” Michael White’s mother, Joanne White, said in a statement.

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Iran cases hit record high in second wave of coronavirus

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Government faces political as well as health crisis as easing of restrictions continues

Iran is reluctantly confronting the possibility of a renewed political crisis as well as a health one after the latest figures showed the number of new coronavirus infections at a record high.

The government appeared to have brought the virus under control a month ago, but a second wave of the virus has steadily been gathering pace. According to data released by the health ministry on Thursday there were 3,574 confirmed new infections in 24 hours – an increase of 440 on the previous day.

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First Iranian fuel tanker reaches Venezuelan waters without US interference

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Iran’s president had earlier warned the US not to try to stop the flotilla of five tankers sent to ease Venezuela’s fuel shortage

The first of five tankers loaded with gasoline sent from Iran has reached Venezuelan waters, expected to temporarily ease the South American nation’s fuel crunch while defying Trump administration sanctions targeting the two US foes.

The oil tanker Fortune encountered no signs of US interference as it eased through Caribbean waters toward the Venezuelan coast late on Saturday. Venezuelan officials celebrated the arrival.

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Kylie Moore-Gilbert: Australian’s family deny she attempted suicide in Iran jail

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Family’s first statement on Moore-Gilbert, who has been held in Tehran since September 2018, says she is in good health ‘considering her situation’

The family of detained Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert have denied reports she has attempted suicide in an Iranian prison, or that she has been tortured by the country’s Revolutionary Guards.

Moore-Gilbert’s family have not spoken publicly since the Cambridge-educated Melbourne University lecturer was summarily arrested at Tehran airport in September 2018.

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Iran sentences French-Iranian academic to six years in prison – lawyer

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Fariba Adelkhah to appeal against sentence on national security charges

Iran has sentenced the French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah to six years in prison on national security charges, her lawyer said.

“The court has sentenced her to six years. We have appealed and if accepted, the sentence will drop to five years,” Adelkhah’s lawyer, Saeid Dehghan, told Reuters on Saturday.

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Our Iranian lockdown: how coronavirus changed one couple’s life – documentary

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A rare glimpse into the lives of a young couple in lockdown in Iran.  Filmed over several weeks in quarantine, Sara and Mohammad Reza attempt to process the devastating loss of a family member to Covid-19. The news of coronavirus spreading in Tehran is the backdrop to their lives indoors, they see the outside world from their window, neighbours setting off fireworks and street musicians playing for spare change. As they approach Persian new year, usually a time of family reunion, the couple find hope and happiness in the traditional rituals that mark the spring equinox.

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Global report: Fauci warns of ‘needless death’ as WHO urges vigilance in lifting lockdowns

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Health body says coronavirus restrictions must be eased carefully; Iran to reopens mosques; China reports one new case

The World Health Organization has called on countries to show “extreme vigilance” when loosening Covid-19 restrictions as the top US infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, warned that prematurely reopening the American economy would cause “needless suffering and death”.

The WHO’s emergencies chief, Michael Ryan, has hailed the gradual lifting of coronavirus lockdowns in some countries whose death and infection rates were dropping, as a sign of “hope”, but he cautioned that “extreme vigilance is required”.

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Release of Iranian scientist in doubt as US official ‘calls BS’

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Homeland security questions whether Tehran wants return of Sirous Asgari

A potential deal to release a renowned Iranian scientist from a US jail and return him to Iran appears to be in danger of breaking down after a senior US official questioned whether Tehran really wanted him returned.

Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, claimed on Monday that Sirous Asgari had been freed by US authorities and would be able to return to Iran immediately if he tested negative for coronavirus.

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Iran says 19 dead in Gulf of Oman friendly-fire incident

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The Konarak was helping set targets for warships when it was struck, according to state TV

An Iranian missile fired during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman struck a support vessel near its target, killing at least 19, amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the US.

The friendly fire incident happened on Sunday near the port of Jask, 790 mile south-east of Tehran, in the Gulf of Oman. Iran’s army said 19 people died and 15 were injured.

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Can Iraq’s new PM, and the region, escape Suleimani’s long shadow?

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Rise of spy chief to premier comes as Iran struggles to maintain momentum months after killing of powerful general

In late February, six weeks after the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani was killed by a US drone, a candidate for Iraq’s vacant premiership was nervously preparing for an interview that would secure him the role.

Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s rise from intelligence chief to the seat of national power had been unorthodox, as was the journey he had just made – from Baghdad, where high-stakes appointments like his had mostly been made over the past decade.

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Iraq appoints new prime minister after months of protests and jockeying

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Intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi is regarded as being acceptable to both US and Iran

Iraqi lawmakers have approved a new prime minister and government after six months without one as parties squabbled until the last minute over cabinet seats in backroom deals.

The new prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Iraq’s intelligence chief and a former journalist, will head the new government. He will begin his term without a full cabinet, however, after several ministerial candidates were rejected.

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Iran’s state broadcaster meddled in Scottish referendum, says Facebook

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Fake social media accounts also used to support Ron Paul’s presidential bid and the Occupy movement

Iran’s state broadcaster experimented with using fake social media accounts to influence the outcome of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and other western elections, according to a report from Facebook released on Tuesday.

The Iranian network, one of eight to be suspended for so-called “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” by the social media giant in April, points to efforts by state-linked groups to try to use Facebook to influence foreign democratic contests years before Russia’s alleged campaign against the 2016 US presidential contest.

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The US and Iran are still perilously close to conflict | Ali Vaez

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Even amid the coronavirus crisis, the countries are trading threats. A de-escalation hotline is desperately needed

A dangerous encounter between the Iranian and US navies in the Persian Gulf last month, provoked by 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ speedboats, and President Trump’s threat one week later to shoot Iranian gunboats out of water if this happens again, are stark reminders of the short fuse between the two countries amid growing tensions. If they want conflict to wag the dog and deflect attention from their failures to fight the Covid-19 outbreak in their respective countries, they can easily stumble into one; but if they don’t, as they often claim, they should find a way to establish a military hotline.

Related: Iranian boats come 'dangerously' close to US navy warships

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Iran reportedly launches first military satellite as Trump makes threats

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The Noor was launched by a three-stage rocket and, according to Iran officials, had reached a 425 km high orbit

Iran has claimed it has put its first military satellite into orbit, further raising tensions with the US at a time the two countries are already facing off in the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said the satellite “Noor” (Light) was in a 425km (264 miles) high orbit, after a successful launch. Iran launched its first civilian satellite in 2009.

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Iran extends Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s prison release by month

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British-Iranian dual national will not have to return to prison until at least 20 May

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s temporary release from Evin prison in Tehran has been extended by a minimum of a month as Iran continues to battle its coronavirus outbreak.

The British-Iranian dual national was told on Tuesday about the development, which confirmed a general statement about the extension of prisoners’ furlough made by the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, on Sunday. She was due to return to prison this weekend.

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe waiting to hear if she must return to prison

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Spokesperson said on TV her release would be extended but British-Iranian yet to be told

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is waiting to be told whether her temporary release from an Iranian prison is to be extended beyond this weekend, or if she will have to return to complete her five-year sentence on Sunday.

The Prosecutors Office in Tehran told the British-Iranian woman’s lawyer on Saturday to come back on Sunday for an update on the situation, according to the Free Nazanin Twitter account.

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Iranian boats come ‘dangerously’ close to US navy warships

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  • IRGC navy boats condemned for ‘harassing approaches’
  • US officials say 11 small boats circled six US warships

Iranian navy vessels came within 10 yards of American warships in the Persian Gulf in what the US navy described as a series of “dangerous and harassing approaches”.

The close encounters on Wednesday and the aggressive tactics pursued by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy, visible from photos and video released by the US Fifth Fleet, represent a blow to the Trump administration’s claims to have “restored deterrence” in its relations with Iran.

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