Iran

16 June 2022; MEMO: Iranian authorities have seized a vessel carrying 90,000 litres of smuggled fuel in the waters around Kish Island in the Gulf, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported today, according to Reuters.

The captain and five other crew members were issued with criminal warrants and have been detained, IRNA added.

TEHRAN, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced Wednesday that it has decided to turn off two surveillance cameras of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The AEOI said it has decided to, as of Wednesday, shut off the IAEA's surveillance cameras for the online enrichment monitor (OLEM) and the flow meter, according to state-run IRIB TV.

The statement said the AEOI's remedial measures are implemented in reaction to the IAEA's "illegal behaviors."

24 May 2022; MEMO: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed "inevitable revenge" following the assassination of Revolutionary Guards Colonel, Sayyad Khodaei which took place in the capital, Tehran, on Sunday.

"Revenge against the criminals for the blood of the great martyr [Khodaei] will definitely be taken, without any doubt," Raisi told reporters yesterday.

23 May 2022; MEMO: Iran and Oman have agreed to form a committee to jointly develop the Hengam oilfield which straddles both countries' sea border, according to a report today by Iran's semi-official Fars news agency.

The report cited Oil Minister Javad Owji who explained that the "Joint exploitation, in contrast to competitive exploitation, will be mutually beneficial to both countries as this method leads to less damage to the reservoir and allows for more extraction."

TEHRAN, May 20 (NNN-IRNA) – If the United States acts “logically,” an agreement in the Vienna talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal will be within reach, Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian said, yesterday.

Amir Abdollahian made the remarks in a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, calling on the other sides in the Vienna talks, to put forward their initiatives to this end, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s website.

17 May 2022; MEMO: Iran's state television, on Tuesday, showed what it described as details of the arrest of two French citizens earlier this month, saying they were spies who had sought to stir up unrest, Reuters reports.

Iran's Intelligence Ministry had said on 11 May that it had arrested two Europeans for allegedly fomenting "insecurity" in Iran, but had not revealed their nationalities.

18 May 2022; MEMO: Iran yesterday inaugurated a factory in Tajikistan to manufacture military drones.

The opening of the factory to manufacture Ababil-2 drones was attended by the Iranian Chief of Staff, Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, and the Tajik Defence Minister, Sherali Mirzo, in the capital city of Dushanbe.

Bagheri said in a statement that the opening was part of his country's "plans to expand military and defence cooperation between the two Persian nations."

TEHRAN, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Iran's chief nuclear negotiator stressed on Sunday that although the Islamic republic is serious in the Vienna talks, it is determined not to trust "the enemy," according to Iran's Foreign Ministry.

Ali Bagheri Kani, who is also Iran's deputy foreign minister for political affairs, made the remarks on the sidelines of the 26th International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition, dubbed Iran Oil Show, in Tehran.

Qeshm, IRNA – Hawksbill sea turtles, likely to become extinct, have hatched out of the eggs and are on way to the southern Iranian waters of the Persian Gulf early on Sunday.

The first group of hawksbill sea turtles (eretmochelys imbricata) crawled to the water from the beach of a village in southern Iranian island of Qeshm.

A few days ago, the head of the Qeshm environment department predicted that over 2,000 turtle eggs would hatch here.

Mohammad Dakhteh said that about 80 percent of those eggs are fertile.

Tehran, IRNA – Four Iranian entities are going to sign memoranda of understanding worth 2.8 billion dollars for development studies of oil and gas fields.

The National Iranian Oil Company, Iranian petrochemical companies, the National Iranian Oil Industry Pension Fund, and the Parsian Sepehr Refining Company will ink four MoUs to allocate 2.8 billion dollars for development studies of oil and gas fields, collecting flare gases and ethane extraction.