Iran

31 October 2022; MEMO: Iran has seized a foreign-flagged oil tanker in Gulf waters which was carrying 11 million litres of oil, Iranian authorities have said.

According to Chief Justice of Hormozgan Province, Mojtaba Ghahremani, forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) today seized the ship after boarding it and discovering its cargo of 11 million litres of oil, in what is reportedly part of a huge smuggling operation.

31 October 2022; MEMO: Iran's hard line judiciary will hold public trials of about 1,000 people indicted over unrest in Tehran, a semi-official news agency said on Monday, intensifying efforts to crush weeks of protests ignited by Mahsa Amini's death in police custody, Reuters reports.

TEHRAN, Oct 30 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian border guards confiscated a batch of smuggled weapons, while smugglers were trying to move them into the country through the western border, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported yesterday.

Citing Iranian Border Guards Commander, Ahmad Ali Goudarzi, the report said, the country’s security forces, using optical equipment, managed to find the smugglers and seize the weapons, which included 38 pistols, 76 magazines, one sword, and one Kalashnikov rifle bayonet.

TEHRAN, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- A total of 120 cyberattacks were launched against Iran's infrastructure in the past 15 days, an adviser to the head of Iran's Civil Defense Organization said on Saturday.

The majority of the attacks targeted service networks in an effort to cause public dissatisfaction, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency quoted Ali Akbar Shahverdian as saying in an address to a meeting in southwest Iran.

29 October 2022; MEMO: The Iranian authorities have dismissed two security officials, including the city's police chief, in Zahedan in the southeast region of Iran, due to the events of last month that claimed dozens of lives, according to the official media.

Zahedan, the capital of the Sistan-Baluchestan province bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, witnessed violent events on 30 September in which dozens were killed, including six members of security forces.

TEHRAN, Oct 28 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian police seized 725 kg of heroin in a cargo, in the southern province of Hormuzgan, the IRIB News Agency reported.

The packaged heroin is the heaviest of its kind seized over the past 10 years in Hormuzgan Province, Gholamreza Jafari, the provincial police commander, was quoted by the report as saying.

Two smugglers were arrested on a trailer, transferring the heroin in 723 packages, Jafari added.

TEHRAN, Oct 27 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, criticised Western countries’ “double standards” on a wide range of issues, saying, they do not support “real freedom-seekers” who truly pursue independence and freedom.

Raisi made the remarks in an address to the 18th General Assembly of the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies, held in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

TEHRAN, Oct 27 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, criticised Western countries’ “double standards” on a wide range of issues, saying, they do not support “real freedom-seekers” who truly pursue independence and freedom.

Raisi made the remarks in an address to the 18th General Assembly of the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies, held in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

26 October 2022; MEMO: In a tit-for-tat move, Iran on Wednesday sanctioned several European Union officials and entities for "supporting terrorism" amid ongoing protests over the death of a young Iranian woman in police custody.

TEHRAN, Oct 24 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran signed a contract with Russia, to export 40 homegrown gas turbines to the country, Shana News Agency, affiliated to the Iranian oil ministry, reported.

Iran is now capable of meeting 85 percent of its domestic needs for gas equipment and facilities, and its gas production has doubled despite the severe U.S. sanctions, Shana quoted Reza Noshadi, head of Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company, as saying.

Iran and Russia have in recent years expanded their cooperation in different areas.