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All in News
◢ Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday his country would be ready to establish "friendly relations" with the United States if it apologized for past wrongs. "Our slogan is friendly relations with the whole world," he said. That would even include "America, if it repents... and apologizes for its previous interferences in Iran, and is prepared to accept the greatness and dignity of the nation of Iran and the great Islamic Revolution.”
◢ Iran on Tuesday ruled out linkage between a new EU mechanism to trade with Tehran bypassing US sanctions and an anti-money laundering bill. “Linking implementation of this mechanism... with the requirements of institutions such as the FATF is unacceptable," the foreign ministry said, referring to the international Financial Action Task Force.
◢ The EU warned Tehran over its ballistic missile program and interference in the Syria conflict Monday, while welcoming a new mechanism to trade with Iran while bypassing US sanctions. In a long-awaited statement on Iran that has been the subject of more than a week of wrangling in Brussels, the EU restated its commitment to saving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and took aim at Washington for abandoning the pact and reimposing sanctions.
◢ Iran's parliament Monday gave an overwhelming vote of confidence to President Hassan Rouhani's pick as health minister, after his predecessor resigned over budget cuts and criticism of the allocation of state funds. Saeed Namaki was voted into office with 229 votes out of a total 259. He had been appointed as caretaker by Rouhani after the former minister Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi resigned on December 3.
◢ As the Islamic republic marks its 40th birthday, few issues are more politically sensitive or full of contradictions than the status of women. After the revolution, Islamic laws gave women a lower legal status than men, requiring them, for example, in many cases to gain permission from their father or husband to leave the country.
◢ Iran announced the "successful test" of a new cruise missile with a range of over 1,350 kilometres on Saturday, coinciding with celebrations for the country's 1979 Islamic revolution. “The test of the Hoveizeh cruise missile was carried out successfully at a range of 1,200 kilometres (840 miles) and accurately hit the set target," Defence Minister Amir Hatami said, quoted on state television which broadcast footage of its launch.
◢ Tehran on Thursday cautiously welcomed as a "first step" the expected launch of an EU trade entity aimed at saving Iran's nuclear deal by bypassing US sanctions. The special payment mechanism "is the first step within the set of commitments the Europeans have made to Iran which I hope will be fully implemented and not be incomplete," said deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, according to state news agency IRNA.
◢ Britain, France and Germany will launch a special payment mechanism Thursday that the EU hopes will help save the Iran nuclear deal by bypassing US sanctions, European sources told AFP. The entity, to be registered in France with German governance and finance from all three countries, will allow Iran to trade with EU companies despite Washington reimposing sanctions after President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 accord.
◢ President Donald Trump on Wednesday attacked the US intelligence services as "naive" and "wrong" on the threat he says is posed by Iran. "Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!" Trump said in a blistering tweet. "The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong!" Trump tweeted.
◢ Iran's President Hassan Rouhani slammed his critics on Wednesday, defending the political achievements of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and calling the US an "oath-breaker". Hardliners have repeatedly hammered the 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers since the early stages of negotiations, calling it a fool's errand and a deception.
◢ Iran has "no intention of increasing the range" of its missiles, a senior defense official said Tuesday, amid threats of European as well as US sanctions over its ballistic program. Iran has voluntarily limited the range of its missiles to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), sufficient to reach Israel and Western bases in the Middle East. But Washington and its allies have accused Tehran of pursuing enhanced missile capabilities that also threaten Europe.
◢ Iran is still abiding by the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal despite the US pullout from the multinational agreement, Central Intelligence chief Gina Haspel said Tuesday. "At the moment technically they are in compliance" with they Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Haspel told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
◢ Iran's information technology minister said Tuesday that blocking the photo- and video-sharing application Instagram would only create new problems for the Islamic republic. "We believe the strategy of filtering Instagram is not an efficient one to neutralize its threats and might even intensify them," Mohammad-Javad Azari-Jahromi told ISNA news agency on the sidelines of a conference on electronic banking in Tehran.
◢ The US Justice Department on Monday unveiled sweeping charges against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei in two cases likely to ratchet up tensions between the two superpowers—including that of a top executive arrested in Canada on a US warrant. Meng’s case has sparked a major crisis between Beijing and Ottawa, which is accused of doing Washington’s bidding.
◢ Syria and Iran signed 11 agreements and memoranda of understanding late Monday, including a "long-term strategic economic cooperation" deal aimed at strengthening cooperation between Damascus and one of its key allies in the civil war that has torn the country apart. The agreements covered a range of fields including economy, culture, education, infrastructure, investment and housing, the official Sana news agency reported.
◢ A US-Polish conference next month on the Middle East is not aimed at Iran, a US official said Monday, after key players balked at attending. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to head to Warsaw for the February 13-14 "Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East," which he earlier said would look at "making sure Iran is not a destabilizing influence."
◢ A payment mechanism the EU hopes will save the Iran nuclear deal by bypassing US sanctions is ready, diplomats said Monday, but is held up by disagreements among European countries. The "Special Purpose Vehicle" is being put together by Germany, France and Britain, the European signatories to the 2015 accord that curbed Tehran's nuclear ambitions in return for sanctions reilef.
◢ Iran has accused France of being a destabilizing force in the region after its foreign minister threatened new sanctions against Tehran over its missile program. "The Islamic republic has always called for the strengthening of peace and stability in the region," the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement released overnight Friday.
◢ Iran's foreign ministry on Tuesday deplored Germany's decision to ban Iranian airline Mahan air from its airports describing the move as "hasty and unjustifiable.” Iran said it hope Germany will reconsider its decision. The rescinding of Mahan Air's flight permits to Germany is a hasty, unjustifiable act," the ministry said in a statement.
◢ Russia on Tuesday slammed a planned US-Polish conference on peace and security in the Middle East as "counterproductive" because of its focus on countering Iran, and said it would not attend. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced plans for the major conference in Warsaw on February 13 and 14 to be attended by ministers from a dozen countries.
