Iran

TEHRAN, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Sunday condemned officials of some Western countries for making "false human rights gestures" by "dividing terrorism into good and bad."

Nasser Kanaani made the remarks on his Twitter account after posting a screenshot of a Sky News report on Thursday that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to give the British police new powers to clamp down on "illegal protests."

04 Dec 2022; MEMO: Iranian state media has reported that construction has begun on a new nuclear power plant in the country's south western province of Khuzestan. The 300-megawatt plant known as Karun will be situated along the river sharing the same name, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced yesterday.

05 Dec 2022; MEMO: Iran has denied scrapping the country's so-called "morality police" after Public Prosecutor, Mohammad Jaafar Montazeri, indicated that the controversial office "had been closed" following months of protests.

In statements on Saturday, Montazeri stressed that the morality force "has nothing to do" with the country's judiciary, but the judiciary "continues to monitor behavioural actions at the community level."

TEHRAN, Dec 4 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran began yesterday, the construction of a new nuclear power plant, in its south-western province of Khuzestan, Nour news agency reported.

Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, and some local officials witnessed the start of construction of the 300-megawatt Karoon nuclear power plant, which will install a pressurised light water reactor that uses 4-percent enriched uranium oxide as fuel.

TEHRAN, Dec 4 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Aabdollahian, held a phone conversation with the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, on issues of mutual concerns, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said, yesterday.

During the conversation, Amir-Aabdollahian thanked the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, for his role on the path of dialogue and interaction, the ministry said on its website.

TEHRAN, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian diplomat said Sunday that Tehran and Moscow have developed frameworks and mechanisms for improving bilateral relations, according to the official news agency IRNA.

Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran's deputy foreign minister for political affairs, made the remarks following his meetings with Russian officials in Moscow.

He noted that "the two sides reviewed bilateral relations over the past months and created frameworks and mechanisms in agreement with each other for developing relations."

Dec 3 (Reuters) - President Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday hailed Iran's Islamic Republic as a guarantor of rights and freedoms, defending the the ruling system amid a crackdown on anti-government protests that the United Nations says has cost more than 300 lives.

A top state security body meanwhile said that 200 people, including members of the security forces, had lost their lives in the unrest, a figure significantly lower than that given by the world body and rights groups.

TEHRAN, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Iran's National Security Council announced on Saturday that more than 200 people have lost their lives in recent "riots" in the country.

"Investigations by the authorities show that as a result of the aforementioned riots, more than 200 people have lost their lives," the council said in a statement released by the official IRNA news agency.

The casualties include security officers, civilians, "rioters" and "armed anti-revolutionary members of separatist groups," it added.

02 Dec 2022; MEMO: The Iranian Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday the death penalty for four men convicted of "collaborating" with Israel, the Iranian judiciary's Mizan online website said.

"The defendants, Hossein Ordukhanzadeh, Shahin Imani Mahmoudabad, Milad Ashrafi Atbatan, and Manouchehr Shahbandi Bejandi were sentenced to death for destroying private and public property, kidnappings and obtaining false confessions;" the site said citing a statement issued by the judiciary.

TEHRAN, Dec 1 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iran signed with Iraq a contract worth four billion U.S. dollars, to provide technological and engineering services to the Arab country, it was reported here yesterday.

The contract can help cover some of the shortfall in Iran’s exports to Iraq, in the fiscal year ending Mar 20, especially in the areas of manufacturing, technological and engineering services, and medical services, Hamid Hosseini, head of the board of directors of the Iranian Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Association, was quoted as saying.