News Updates

15 March - 1 April, 2019
  • US hits Iranian bank, companies with new sanctions
    US imposes fresh sanctions of network of companies and individuals it says are helping fund Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The US Treasury said it was blacklisting 25 people and entities, including front companies based in the three countries, associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL). The targeted institutions include banks and other financial institutions, including Ansar Bank, Atlas Exchange, Iranian Atlas Company. “We are targeting a vast network of front companies and individuals located in Iran, Turkey, and the UAE to disrupt a scheme the Iranian regime has used to illicitly move more than a billion dollars in funds," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. (Al Jazeera 26 March 2019)
  • Iran to face new sanctions over weapons programmes
    The US charges that SPND oversees nuclear-relevant research for Iran and is active in the training of new scientists. (AL Jazeera 23 March, 2019)
  • Luxembourg court rejects US request to seize Iran assets over 9/11 (Al Jazeera 28 March, 2019)
  • Iran welcomes Arab League statement on Syria integrity:
    Iran has welcomed a final statement by Arab League summit of leaders in Tunisia endorsing Syria’s sovereignty over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
    Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Sunday that Arab League’s move to support Syria’s territorial integrity on the occupied Golan Heights was a “positive and promising” step in the face of efforts by the United States to legitimize Israel’s occupation of the area. “... We believe that the Muslim world should continue to prioritize the issue of the occupation of the Arab-Muslim lands by the illegitimate Israeli regime,” said Qassemi in a statement, Press TV reported. The comments come amid an international uproar about US President Donald Trump’s provocative decision to recognize "Israeli sovereignty" over Syria’s Golan Heights. In 1967, Israel waged a full-scale war against Arab territories, during which it occupied some two-thirds of Syria’s Golan Heights and annexed the region four years later, a move never recognized by the international community. (Iran Daily- April 1, 2019)
05 March - 14 March, 2019
  • Iran warns of firm response if Israel acts against oil shipments. Warning comes a week after Israel said its navy could act against Iranian oil 'smuggling' to evade US sanctions. (Al Jazeera 14 March, 2019)
  • Iran threatens defense overhaul to counter "suspicious nuclear projects". A senior Iranian security official on Wednesday accused regional powers of spending money on “suspicious nuclear projects”, and warned that such threats would force Tehran to revise its defense strategy. The United States, Israel and other allies say Iran’s own nuclear program is a threat to global security. Iran insists its atomic work is entirely peaceful, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued a religious decree against the development of nuclear weapons. “Some countries in the region are spending their petro-dollars on suspicious nuclear projects that can endanger the security of the region and the world,” Shamkhani was quoted as saying by Fars news agency. “New threats like this will force us to revise our strategy based on the nature and geography of new threats, and predict the requirements of our country and armed forces,” he added. Shamkhani said Tehran was watching the “unusual activities” of countries in the region that he accused of supporting militant groups (Reuters 13 March,2019)
  • Iran to overtake Qatar in South Pars with new gas phases.(Iran Daily- 13 March, 2019)
  • The European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini championed multilateralism at the United Nations and defended the EU's position to preserve the Iran nuclear deal. "The European Union and the United Nations were born out of the same founding idea after the two world wars: The idea that in order to avoid yet another catastrophe, we need to have a multilateral mechanism, a mechanism to work toward win-win solutions as the only alternative to a new continental and world war," Mogherini told the Security Council in a debate on UN-EU cooperation, Xinhua reported.
    "This idea is still valid. And over the decades, our elective affinity has grown even stronger. There is a 'European way' to peace and security, and it is identical to the 'UN way' to peace and security." She said that it is a way that rests on mediation, peacekeeping operations, sustainable development, protection of human rights, humanitarian assistance and respect for shared rules.
    "Our support for the UN and for multilateralism is a choice based on our values. At the same time, it is a pragmatic choice. A decision taken in a multilateral context is by definition more democratic and more inclusive, and therefore more robust and more sustainable over time.
    "You will never hear the European Union questions whether the UN serves our interests and values, because we know that it serves universal interests and values. And we know that this is a precondition for building sustainable peace and security, which is in our own ultimate interests, always," said Mogherini. She defended the July 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, citing the need for "a solid multilateral architecture for non-proliferation and disarmament."( Iran Daily- 13 March, 2019)
  • Iran President Rouhani visited Baghdad to 'expand ties with Iraq: Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has arrived in Baghdad on his first official visit to the nation that Tehran once fought a bloody war against and later backed in the battle with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group. Rouhani was welcomed by Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Hakim. He will visit a Shia shrine in the Iraqi capital and then meet President Barham Salih and Prime Minister Abdel Abdul Mehdi, as well as visit other politicians and Shia leaders. Since Rouhani's election in 2013, Iraq has relied on Iranian paramilitary support to fight ISIL following the group's capture of the Iraqi city of Mosul and other territories in both Iraq and Syria. ( 11 March, 2019 AlJazeera)
  • Iran, India stress enhancement of economic relations (13 March, 2019 Tehran Times)
  • Rising Democratic star Beto O’Rourke to seek presidential nomination ( 14 March, 2019 Iran Daily)
  • Pak railway to be extended to Iran, Turkey, Russia: Prime Minister Imran Khan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani are expected to meet very soon, says Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid who had recently visited Tehran (10 March, 2019 The Nation)