Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Five Iranian border guards were killed in a clash with an unknown armed group trying to enter the country near the Pakistani border, state TV reported Sunday.

The fighting happened in the town of Saravan in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, some 1,360 kilometers (850 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran. The report said the militants fled the area with casualties, but did not elaborate.

TEHRAN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that some foreign sides seek to cause problems in the country's relations with its neighbors, calling on Iranian officials to prevent the implementation of such policies.

The leader made the remarks in a meeting held in Tehran with the Iranian Foreign Ministry's officials as well as the country's ambassadors, elaborating on Iran's foreign policy principles and priorities, according to the leader's website.

TEHRAN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Saturday dismissed the U.S. and EU criticism against Iran's execution of three convicts who killed security officers in an armed attack as "meddlesome" and "ridiculous."

"Instead of intervening in the internal affairs of other countries ... Western politicians had better listen to the voices of their own citizens' protests and meeting their demands," Nasser Kanaani said in a statement published on the ministry's website.

19 May 2023; MEMO: The Iranian judiciary stated on Friday that three men were executed after being convicted of participating in the most recent protests.

It added that Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaqoubi were executed in the city of Esfahan and involved in the killing of two members of the Basij paramilitary force as well as a security guard.

TEHRAN, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Iran's foreign minister on Friday urged Taliban to allow the visit of Iranian technical teams to Afghanistan's Kajakai Dam to measure its water level and verify drought claims.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a post on his Twitter page, reacting to Taliban's claims that the low water level of the Hirmand River is the reason for their failure to honor Iran's water rights under a 1973 treaty.

The Hirmand Treaty between Iran and Afghanistan entitled the former to receive 20 million cubic meters of water from the river per year.

PAK-IRAN BORDER, May 18 (APP): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said that the inauguration of Mand-Pishin border market and 100 megawatt power Gabd-Polan power transmission line added a new chapter to Pakistan-Iran relationship.

The prime minister, who along with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi inaugurated the Gabd-Polan transmission line told the ceremony that the project would benefit the people of Gwadar and bring in the socio-economic development.

TEHRAN, May 18 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran and Russia yesterday signed 10 documents for cooperation in the oil industry, in the Iranian capital, Tehran, according to Shana News Agency, affiliated to the Iranian Oil Ministry.

The deals were signed, following a meeting between Iranian Oil Minister, Javad Owji and Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, also the co-chairs of the Permanent Russian-Iranian Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation.

17 May 2023; MEMO: Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, on Wednesday oversaw, via video-link, the signing of a deal to finance and build an Iranian railway line as part of an embryonic international North–South Transport Corridor, Reuters reports.

Tehran (ISNA) - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has reacted to the reports regarding Iran’s move to free two French nationals.

Kanaani said, “In response to the requests of the French side at different levels and following the talks held including the negotiations between Catherine Colonna and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Foreign Ministers of France and Iran on Friday, the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran freed two French nationals, with one of the them having dual Irish-French nationality”.

Tehran (ISNA) – The secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharibabadi said that the atrocities of the US against nations are unprecedented during the human history.

Kazem Gharibabadi declared, "In domestic arena, people should know that what crimes America has committed against us because its crimes have directly targeted our people. We should remind repeatedly this issue and the matter is nothing to do with our macro policies with the US. The one who commits crimes should be highlighted and we would go after with them".