Iran

27 July 2022; MEMO: Iran will soon start accepting payments made with Russia's Mir bank cards, a top official was quoted by Russia's RIA news agency as saying, making it the latest country to adopt the Russian-made alternative to Visa and MasterCard, Reuters reports.

"I think this payment system will be activated in Iran soon," RIA quoted Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy, Medhi Safari, as saying on Wednesday.

26 July 2022; MEMO: Iran and Russia will officially begin trading in rials and rubles, dropping the US dollar as their common currency exchange, Tehran has announced.

Iranian Minister of Economic and Financial Affairs, Ehsan Khandouzi, made the announcement at a press conference today, marking a new step in economic cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, while seemingly dealing yet another blow to the status of the US dollar.

26 July 2022; MEMO: Iran's income from oil and condensates exports is 580 per cent higher in the first four months of the Iranian year (March 21 to July 21) compared with the same period a year ago, the Iranian Economy Minister said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

According to the report, the Economy Minister, Ehsan Khandouzi, told a news conference that Iran saw a 580 per cent increase in the Treasury's income from the export of oil and condensate in the first four months of this year.

26 July 2022; MEMO: Iran yesterday announced the discovery of a new gas field north of the South Pars gas field, which it shares with Qatar, with a capacity of about one trillion cubic metres.

A spokesman for the Iranian Parliament's Energy Committee, Malik Shariati said work in two of the four exploration phases in the field has been completed, noting that another oil field is expected to be found in the area and exploration operations are continuing.

24 July 2022; MEMO: Iran said on Saturday its security forces had arrested a network of agents working for Israel before they were able to carry out sabotage and "terrorist operations", state media reported, Reuters reports.

The announcement by Iran's Intelligence Ministry came amid heightening tensions with arch-enemy Israel over Tehran's nuclear programme.

TEHRAN, Jul 24 (NNN-IRNA) – An Iranian lawmaker, yesterday, described U.S. President Joe Biden’s Middle East tour as a failed project, that did not achieve anything for the United States.

Fada-Hossein Maleki, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said, Biden sought to pursue the failed policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump, in the Middle East during the trip, however, the Saudis reacted with greater cognisance towards Washington’s regional strategies, in view of their experience.

TEHRAN, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Saturday that U.S. sanctions on Tehran are detrimental to the global economy, particularly Europe.

Raisi made the remarks in a 120-minute phone conversation with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, according to the Iranian presidency's website.

23 July 2022; MEMO: Iran announced on Friday its refusal to choose between reviving the nuclear agreement or establishing relations with Russia, stressing that this bilateral relationship is "false".

23 July 2022; MEMO: At least 20 people were killed and three others went missing in flash floods caused by heavy rains in Iran's southern Fars province, state media said on Saturday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Khalil Abdollahi, head of the province's crisis management department, said heavy rains near Soltan Shahbaz village in the city of Estahban led to the flooding from the Rodbal Dam, according to IRNA news agency.

TEHRAN, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from Friday's flash floods in the southern Iranian province of Fars has risen to 21, and three others are still missing, rescue sources told state media on Saturday.

Mehdi Valipour, head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, said initially 89 people were stuck in the flood waters, and that the rescue operation will continue until the rest of the missing people are found.

Speaking to the semi-official Mehr News Agency earlier in the day, Estahban Governor Yousef Kargar said 13 of the recovered bodies have been identified.