Iran

11 June 2023; MEMO: Iran's supreme leader said on Sunday that a deal with the West over Tehran's nuclear work was possible if the country's nuclear infrastructure remained intact, amid a stalemate between Tehran and Washington to revive a 2015 nuclear pact, Reuters reports.

Months of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to salvage the nuclear accord with six major powers have stalled since September, with both sides accusing each other of making unreasonable demands.

TEHRAN, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian anti-narcotics police seized more than 13 tons of illegal drugs in separate operations across the country over the past seven days, Iran's IRIB news agency reported on Sunday.

During the operations, 13.19 tons of narcotics were sized and 2,385 illicit drugs retailers were arrested, particularly in the provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, Kerman, Hormuzgan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad and Semnan, IRIB quoted Iran's anti-narcotics police chief, Iraj Kakavand, as saying.

TEHRAN, Jun 10 (NNN-IRNA) – At least seven people were killed and 59 others injured, in storms and flash floods, in five Iranian provinces over the past two days, IRIB news agency reported, yesterday.

Among the four people killed in Isfahan were three by flooding, in Nohuj village in Ardestan County on Thursday, and a driver on an intercity road, whose car was washed away by the deluge, the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Isfahan Disaster Mitigation and Management Organisation, as saying.

09 June 2023; MEMO: The White House said, on Friday, that Russia appeared to be deepening its defence cooperation with Iran and had received hundreds of one-way attack drones that it is using to strike Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Citing newly declassified information, the White House said the drones, or Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), were built in Iran, shipped across the Caspian Sea and then used by Russian forces against Ukraine.

TEHRAN, Jun 9 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran and Türkiye yesterday, highlighted the need to continue cooperation between their armed forces, to improve bilateral military relations.

This came as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohammad Baqeri, held a phone talk with new Turkish Defence Minister, Yasar Guler, the report said.

Baqeri described Iran and Türkiye as two “good and strategic” neighbours, that have a common border of “peace and friendship.”

08 June 2023; MEMO: Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, will visit Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela next week, Iran's state news agency, IRNA, announced on Wednesday, adding that the upcoming tour stemmed from invites from the presidents of each of the Latin American nations, Reuters reports.

08 June 2023; MEMO: Iran, on Thursday, described its missile program as "conventional" and "legitimate", rejecting what it called "interventionist" remarks by Western leaders over the unveiling of the country's first hypersonic missile, Anadolu Agency reports.

Iran's missile program is "conventional, defensive and is completely legitimate based on international law," Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, said in a statement.

07 June 2023; MEMO: Iran is to get access to $24 billion of its frozen assets, including more than $10bn in Iraq and $7bn in South Korea, ISNA reported yesterday. The agency said that the development came after the visit of the Sultan of Oman, Haitham Bin Tariq, to Iran, and the visit of US President Joe Biden's senior advisor for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, to Muscat.

06 June 2023; MEMO: Iran has revealed its first hypersonic missile which can outpace missile defence systems and that will apparently give it a military edge against the West and the surrounding region, Iranian state media has announced.

TEHRAN, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Tuesday unveiled a domestically-developed hypersonic missile named Fattah (Conqueror) in a ceremony in the capital Tehran, the official news agency IRNA reported.

The opening ceremony was attended by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami and Commander of the IRGC's Aerospace Division Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, the report said.