Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe landed in Tehran on Wednesday on a mission to ease tensions between the U.S. and Iran, just hours after Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen launched an attack on an airport in Saudi Arabia, wounding 26 people.

Abe’s trip is the highest-level effort yet to de-escalate the crisis as Tehran appears poised to break the 2015 nuclear deal it struck with world powers, an accord that the Trump administration pulled out of last year. It’s also the first visit of a sitting Japanese premier in the 40 years since the Islamic Revolution.

12 June 2019; DW: Iranian authorities said on Tuesday that they had released Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese businessman arrested in Tehran in 2015 after being accused of spying for the US. Zakka, who is a permanent US resident based in Washington, arrived in Beirut on Tuesday evening.

TEHRAN, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday urged the European signatories to the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal to implement their nuclear obligations in supporting Iran's economic interests.

"Implementing the nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is all I expect the Europeans to do," Zarif said at a joint press conference with visiting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in the capital Tehran.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister warned the U.S. on Monday that it “cannot expect to stay safe” after launching what he described as an economic war against Tehran, taking a hard-line stance amid a visit by Germany’s top diplomat seeking to defuse tensions.

TEHRAN, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry on Monday denied that the country has plan to purchase the Russian S-400 air defense missile system.

"We have not made any requests to Russia for the purchase of S-400," the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, said in his weekly press conference on Monday.

Mousavi said that the Iranian homemade air defense systems are reliable tools and the Islamic republic dose not need S-400.

Iran has already bought S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system from Russia.

9 June 2019; MEMO: Iran said on Sunday Europe was in no position to criticise Tehran for its military capabilities and it called on European leaders to normalise trade ties with the Islamic Republic despite US sanctions, or face consequences.

2 June 2019; DW: President Hassan Rouhani has suggested that Iran is not opposed to negotiations with Washington, but will not be pressured into them. Tensions have escalated significantly over the past several weeks.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday suggested that Tehran would be open to negotiations with the United States if Washington showed respect and abided by international rules. But he said Tehran would not allow Washington to force it to the table.

TEHRAN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of negotiations with the United States over the existing mutual thorny issues.

"We will not negotiate with the United States as it will be fruitless and a loss," Khamenei was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency.

The Iranian leader said that negotiations are the "U.S. tactic to complement its pressures policy on Iran."

Iran possesses the "necessary tools" to confront U.S. pressures, he added.

Tehran, May 28, IRNA – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Tuesday that Iran is indifferent to US rhetoric, monitoring US change of stance.

Addressing his first press conference, Abbas Mousavi said that US needs to give up rhetoric and alter its approach and behavior.

Asked about the statement made by US president Donald Trump in Tokyo indicating shift in the US stance, he said that Tehran will decide based on what is observed in the region.

Tehran, May 28, IRNA --Indian New govt plans to hold talks with Iran at the earliest to discuss ways to resume oil imports and is even looking to pay in Indian currency, "ThePrint" reported on Tuesday.

Weeks after India stopped oil imports from Iran, the Modi government is keen to resume supply from Iran and is looking at ways to make payments in Indian rupee to get around US sanctions, two government sources told ThePrint.