Iran

01 Jan 2023; MEMO: Iranian police briefly detained several unidentified top-tier football players in a raid on a party on New Year's Eve where alcohol was served in violation of an Islamic ban, Iranian media reported, Reuters reports.

01 Jan 2023; MEMO: Iran's armed forces downed hostile simulated drones on Sunday during large-scale military drills underway from the eastern part of the Strait of Hormuz to the northern part of the Indian Ocean, Anadolu reports.

During the drills, condemned Zolfaghar 1401, Iran's indigenously-developed Mersad air defense system was used to detect, intercept and target mock drones early on Sunday, the state media said.

Chabahar, IRNA – The first container ship departing from China docked at Iran’s key port of Chabahar on Saturday, marking the establishment of the first direct shipping line between China and Iran's southeastern seaport.

The announcement was made by Amir Moghaddam, the managing director of the Chabahar Free Zone Organization.

He said that Chinese ships previously unloaded in Bandar Abbas, the capital city of the southern province of Hormuzgan, with their cargos then being transferred to Chabahar in Sistan-Baluchistan Province via smaller ships.

TEHRAN, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- At least one passenger was killed and 37 others were injured after two buses collided near Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on Saturday morning, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Eleven of the injured people are in critical conditions, the agency quoted the airport police chief as saying.

All the injured people have been transferred to local emergency centers, it adds.

The police chief said a fatigued and sleepy driver caused the accident by hitting another bus in front.

30 Dec 2022; MEMO: Iran held joint naval, air, and ground exercises in the Gulf on Friday near the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway, state media reported.

The drills involve submarines and drones "practising information-gathering operations against attacking forces, as well as reconnaissance operations," Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told the official IRNA news agency.

29 Dec 2022; MEMO: The chance for nuclear negotiations is still "available" but it will not remain so "forever", Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said yesterday, criticising the "hypocrisy" of Western powers.

Abdollahian was speaking at the start of his official visit to Oman at a time when the nuclear negotiations have reached a standstill and tensions have increased between the Islamic Republic, Europe and the United States.

29 Dec 2022; MEMO: Iran is pressuring the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad to obtain sovereign concessions and agreements in return for contributing to resolving the suffocating economic crisis afflicting the areas under the regime's control, Western diplomats said.

Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper quoted diplomats as saying that Tehran had surprised the Assad regime with draft agreements during preparations for the visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

27 Dec 2022; MEMO: Tehran Prosecutor General Ali Alqasi-Mehr announced on Monday, that 83 per cent of those arrested in connection with the recent "riots" in Tehran province have been released, Iranian Mehr News Agency reported.

The agency quoted Alqasi-Mehr as saying that the number of "rioters" detained in Tehran was "very small," explaining that the detainees included key elements and leaders of the riots.

28 Dec 2022; MEMO: Iran welcomed on Monday the resumption of talks with Saudi Arabia, a week after the foreign ministers of both countries held a "friendly meeting."

TEHRAN, Dec 27 (NNN-TASNIM) – At least 54 people were injured, in an explosion and the consequent fire at a paint manufacturing plant, in the north-western Iranian city of Tabriz.

The blast occurred at Mamaqan Shahid Salimi Industrial Park, yesterday afternoon, affecting around 150 individuals, of whom 54 have sustained injuries, Hamid Monajjem, managing director of East Azarbaijan province’s Red Crescent Society, was quoted as saying.

He added that, firefighters are trying to contain the fire.