Virus-Hit Iran Shuts Non-Essential Business in Much of the Country

Iran announced Saturday it had shut non-essential businesses in over half its cities and towns for up to two weeks and introduced movement restrictions to rein in its novel coronavirus outbreak.

Iran has avoided imposing a full lockdown since it was hit by COVID-19 in February, with President Hassan Rouhani arguing the country's sanctions-battered economy cannot afford to be shut down for an extended period.

Iran's coronavirus task force announced Saturday that only essential services—including health centres and pharmacies, food shops and public transport—will be allowed to open in the country's areas of highest risk, for up to two weeks.

These include more than half of the country's cities and towns, according to the task force, with Tehran and all other provincial capitals affected by the measures.

Private vehicles are also prohibited from leaving the worst-hit areas until further notice, and are banned from circulating between 9:00 pm and 4:00 am in Tehran and other large cities.

The task force said more than 53 million of Iran's over 80-million-strong population would be affected by the measures.

Rouhani warned that the Islamic republic was facing its "third wave" of infections, and said the new restrictions were a signal to Iranians that the problem is "very serious."

"We call on all citizens to adhere to all the rules, in order to reduce the economic pressure imposed today on businesses as quickly as possible," Rouhani said Saturday.

"We must convince people that we have no other option," he added.

‘Two Crucial Weeks'

Rouhani also promised to provide financial support of one million rials per month—about four dollars—"for the next four months to about 30 million people", without giving further details.

Iran is the worst-hit country in the Middle East, and its virus death toll has passed 400 a day since the start of November.

The health ministry on Saturday reported 12,931 new daily cases of infection and 431 deaths, bringing the total number of infections to 841,308 and fatalities to 44,327.

Some officials, including from the health ministry, have expressed concern that the real toll is likely to be higher.

On the streets of Tehran, the new measures were met with some scepticism.

Saleswoman Mahsa Teimouri said people had ignored health warnings about the virus before.

"It doesn't matter if the government imposes restrictions, since people do not comply," she said.

Nurse Ziba Amrollahi also said that rules were being flouted.

"There are people in the streets, and no one cares about complying with the rules," Amrollahi said. "People are travelling and attending gatherings more than they did in the past.”

On Saturday, the front page of the reformist newspaper Sazandegi showed a closed shop with a poster on its door announcing that "we stay at home because your life is more precious to us."

The government's official newspaper, Iran, carried the headline: "Two crucial weeks to control the coronavirus."

Photo: IRNA

Iran Says to Meet Nuclear Commitments if Biden Lifts Sanctions

By Amir Havasi with Shaun Tandon

Iran said Wednesday it would "automatically" return to its nuclear commitments if US President-elect Joe Biden lifts sanctions, as the outgoing administration doubled down with more pressure.

Biden has promised a return to diplomacy with Iran after four hawkish years under Donald Trump, who withdrew from a denuclearisation accord and slapped sweeping sanctions.

Tehran again meeting its commitments "can be done automatically and needs no conditions or even negotiations," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in comments published in the state-run Iran daily.

Zarif described Biden as a "foreign affairs veteran" whom he has known for 30 years. Once in the White House, Biden could "lift all of these (sanctions) with three executive orders," Zarif argued.

If Biden's administration does so, Iran's return to nuclear commitments will be "quick", the minister added.
Washington's return to the deal, however, could wait, Zarif added.

“The next stage that will need negotiating is America's return... which is not a priority," he said, adding that "the first priority is America ending its law-breaking".

President Hassan Rouhani meanwhile called the Trump administration "unruly,” and said a Biden administration could "bring back the atmosphere" that prevailed in 2015 at the time of the nuclear deal, negotiated by Barack Obama's administration in which Biden was vice president.

The accord offered Tehran relief from international sanctions in exchange for guarantees, verified by the United Nations, that its nuclear program has no military aims.

Trump Team Doubles Down

Trump, who has not accepted defeat in the November 3 election, is moving to keep ramping up pressure on Iran, hoping to make it more difficult politically and legally for Biden to ease sanctions.

In the latest moves, the Treasury Department said it was freezing any US interests of the Foundation of the Oppressed, officially a charitable organisation for the poor that has interests across the Iranian economy.

The Treasury described the foundation as a "multibillion-dollar economic empire" and "key patronage network" for Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that operates without government oversight.

Also hit by sanctions was Iran's minister for intelligence and security, Mahmoud Alavi, on human rights grounds.

Outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in an indirect response to Zarif as he arrived in US ally Israel, vowed to keep imposing "painful consequences".

"The Iranian regime seeks a repeat of the failed experiment that lifted sanctions and shipped them huge amounts of cash in exchange for modest nuclear limitations," he said.

"This is indeed troubling, but even more disturbing is the notion that the United States should fall victim to this nuclear extortion and abandon our sanctions."

Iran, which denies it is seeking to build a nuclear bomb, has since May 2019 gradually suspended most of its key obligations under the agreement, including limits to the production and stockpiling of low-enriched uranium.

The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday Iran had begun operating advanced centrifuges at an underground section of its primary nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz.

Under Iran's deal with world powers, it is only meant to enrich uranium with a less sophisticated variety of centrifuges.

In its report last week the IAEA said Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium now stood at over 12 times the limit in the 2015 accord.

The New York Times reported Monday that Trump had last week asked top aides about the possibility of striking Iran's nuclear facilities.

Senior officials reportedly "dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike," warning him such an attack could escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks of his presidency

Iran argues it has moved away from its commitments because of the sanctions and the inability of the other parties—Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia—to provide it with the deal's promised economic benefits.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Vows to Take 'Any Opportunity' to Lift US Sanctions

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani vowed Wednesday to take "any opportunity" to lift US sanctions against Tehran, following President Donald Trump's defeat by Democratic election rival Joe Biden.

While the outgoing Trump has declared Iran an arch-foe and sought to isolate it globally, president-elect Biden has proposed to offer Iran a "credible path back to diplomacy".

"Our aim is to lift the pressure of sanctions from the shoulders of our people," Rouhani said in televised remarks during a weekly cabinet meeting.

"Wherever this favourable opportunity arises we will act on our responsibilities. No one should miss any opportunity."

"National security and national interests are not factional and partisan issues," Rouhani added, after conservatives blasted his reformist and moderate coalition for its "over-excitement" for re-engagement with the United States.

Decades-old tensions between Tehran and Washington escalated after Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from a landmark Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed, then reinforced, crippling sanctions.

Those moves torpedoed the deal, Rouhani's signature foreign policy achievement, and bolstered conservatives who argue that the US cannot be trusted.

The measures have all but deprived Iran of vital oil revenues and isolated its banks, triggering a harsh recession and slashing the value of the rial. Rouhani acknowledged Biden's conciliatory remarks during his campaign but said Tehran was prepared for sanctions to remain in place.

"They can choose a new path. And if they do not want to, it is their choice," he told the cabinet.

He noted that his administration had devised its policies on the assumption Trump would stay in office.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last week that the result of the US election would have "no effect" on Tehran's policies towards Washington.

Photo: IRNA

IAEA Not Satisfied With Iranian Explanation on Nuclear Site

By Jastinder Khera

The UN's nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that Iran's explanations over the presence of nuclear material at an undeclared site in the country were "not technically credible.”

The news comes as observers watch to see whether Joe Biden's victory in the US presidential election will lead to detente between Iran and Western powers.

Despite Iranian authorities providing some information about the site, "the agency informed Iran that it continues to consider Iran's response to be not technically credible," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report seen by AFP.

"A full and prompt explanation from Iran regarding the presence of uranium particles of anthropogenic origin... at a location in Iran not declared to the agency is needed," the report said.

While the IAEA has not identified the site in question, diplomatic sources have indicated to AFP that it is in the Turquzabad district of Tehran, previously identified by Israel as an alleged site of secret atomic activity.

A source familiar with the issue said there was no indication the site had been used for processing uranium but that it could have been used for storing it as late as the end of 2018.

Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Kazem Gharib Abadi, wrote on Twitter that "any hasty comments should be avoided.”

"Interactions are ongoing with a view to finalize the resolution of the matter," he added.

'Sabotage'

The report did not provide any new information about two separate locations where the IAEA took samples in September and where undeclared nuclear activity may have taken place in the early 2000s.

The analysis of those samples is ongoing.

It however confirmed that Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium is now more than 12 times the limit set down in a 2015 deal with world powers, even if the rate at which the stockpile is expanding has slowed since the last report.

The 2015 accord has been progressively unravelling since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and went on to re-introduce crippling economic sanctions on Iran.

In retaliation, Iran has been breaking the limits on its nuclear activity laid down in the deal since May 2019.

As well as breaching limits on the stockpile amount and enrichment level of uranium laid down in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran has been using more advanced centrifuges than permitted under the deal.

Wednesday's report confirmed that, in line with previous statements by Iranian officials, centrifuges had been installed at an underground part of the Natanz nuclear facility after another part of the site was damaged in an explosion in July which Iran blamed on "sabotage"

'Maximum Pressure'

The three European powers who are still party to the 2015 deal, namely France, the UK and Germany, have been scrambling to find ways to keep the accord intact.

The election of Trump's Democrat opponent Joe Biden as the next US president has offered some hope the deal could be revived, as Biden has offered Iran a "credible path back to diplomacy".

On Wednesday Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the country would take “any opportunity" which could "lift the pressure of sanctions from the shoulders of our people".

However, obstacles remain to any detente.

Iran insists that the US has to lift sanctions imposed by the Trump administration before it will come back into compliance with the JCPOA's limits.

The "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran launched by the Trump administration has seen Tehran's distrust of the Americans intensify and tensions between the two countries have twice brought them to the brink of war since mid-2019.

Biden will face a tight window of opportunity between his inauguration on January 20 and an Iranian presidential election set for June 18 in which reformists and moderates allied to Rouhani may face a tough challenge from conservatives.

On Friday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will start a tour of US allies, including several of Iran's neighbours, during which he is expected to discuss raising further pressure on Tehran in the remaining two months of the Trump administration.

Photo: Wikicommons

Iran's Daily Virus Infections Top 10,000

Iran's daily novel coronavirus infections crossed the 10,000 mark on Monday, the health ministry announced, setting a new record as fatalities remained close to their all-time high level.

The latest official figure of 10,463 positive Covid-19 cases in a 24-hour period comes only three days after the Islamic republic exceeded 9,000.

Iran's coronavirus caseload now stands at 692,949, the ministry said.

The virus also claimed 458 lives in the past day, raising the country's overall number of fatalities to 38,749.

The previous fatality record of 459 came on Sunday, according to official figures.

Iran recently imposed several rounds of short-lived restrictions across the country to contain the virus, but the rising deaths and infections have prompted calls by experts and officials for a full lockdown.

Tehran's governor Anoushirvan Mohseni-Bandpey said on Monday that the lockdown proposal was no longer on the agenda as a new set of measures had since been unveiled, state news agency IRNA reported.

The measures, announced on Saturday and set to last a month from Tuesday, force the closure of non-essential businesses such as malls, small retailers, cinemas and gyms from 6:00 pm until the next morning.

It would apply to Tehran, provincial capitals and certain highly populated cities, according to the national anti-virus taskforce.

Iran has not imposed a full lockdown since it was hit by COVID-19 in February, with President Hassan Rouhani arguing the country's sanctions-hit economy cannot afford to be shut down for an extended period.

Photo: IRNA

Khamenei Says Outcome of US Vote Will Not Affect Iran's Policies

The US presidential election will have "no effect" on Tehran's policies towards Washington, Iran's supreme leader said Tuesday.

"On the subject of the United States, we follow a sensible, calculated policy (which) cannot be affected by changes of personnel" in Washington, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech marking the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed.

"Today is election day in the United States. Things may happen but they do not concern us," he said. "Our policies are well defined and the coming and going of (presidents) will have no effect" on them.

American voters headed to the polls on Tuesday in a vote that coincides with the anniversary of the 1979 storming by radical students of the US embassy in Tehran.

The ensuing crisis lasted 444 days until 52 hostages were finally released, and has poisoned relations between the two countries to this day.

Iran and the US have come close to armed conflict twice since June 2019, following the Trump administration's withdrawal the previous year from a multilateral deal on the Iranian nuclear programme.

Trump has engaged in a policy of "maximum pressure" against Tehran, reimposing harsh sanctions that have plunged the Iranian economy into a severe recession.

Tehran has responded by rolling back its commitments under the 2015 accord.

Joe Biden, Trump's challenger, who is leading in polls, favours diplomacy with Iran and has backed the nuclear accord negotiated while he was vice president under Barack Obama.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Imposes Travel Restrictions as Virus Deaths Hit Record

Iran on Sunday said it will restrict travel to the cities hit hardest by the novel coronavirus, state TV said, amid a record high of daily COVID-19 deaths.

The measure takes effect at Monday midday and will last until Friday, the broadcaster reported, citing an order by the interior ministry.

The restrictions prevent residents from leaving and non-residents from entering based on vehicle plate numbers, but do not apply to public transportation, it added.

It applies to the capitals of 25 provinces considered "red"—the highest level on Iran's colour-coded risk scale—and includes the capital Tehran with more than 8 million residents.

Violators will be fined, the order added.

Limited restrictive measures were imposed on Saturday in those cities, forcing the closure of some public spaces and businesses.

Daily deaths reached a record 434 on Sunday, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said, adding that 7,719 more people tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours.

In total, 35,298 people have died from coronavirus, according to official figures.

The rising toll has prompted several health experts and officials to call for a full lockdown in the capital.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Declares 'Full-Scale War' as Virus Deaths Hit Record

By Amir Havasi

Iran declared "full-scale war" with coronavirus as it reported a record death toll Wednesday for a second straight day and surging infections overload a health care system struggling with US sanctions.

The Middle East's worst-hit country recorded 415 deaths in 24 hours.

"This is the result of an unprecedented rise in infections and hospitalisations in recent weeks," health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said in a televised address, visibly moved as she gave the grim figures.

"We are now in a full-scale war with the coronavirus," she said.

The latest fatalities, 69 above Tuesday's toll which was also a daily record, raised the total virus deaths to 33,714 in the country of 80 million.

Lari said 6,824 people had tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing Iran's declared cases to 558,648.

President Hassan Rouhani warned last week that his country was now faced with "a larger wave of this virus and we have to fight it".

Figures have kept rising since September.

"The main condition for overcoming this disease... and challenge is seeing change in the beliefs and attitudes of every single person," Lari said.

She said 27 of Iran's 31 provinces are currently "red" -- the highest risk level on the country's colour-coded scale.

Tehran province accounts for more than half of Iran's daily Covid-19 deaths, according to its crisis management chief, Reza Karami.

The burgeoning cases have overloaded Iran's already stretched hospitals, as renewed US sanctions since its withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran hit all sectors of the Iranian economy.

"Our hospitals are saturated with patients," deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi said earlier this month.

Queue for Beds

Patients are queueing for beds at some hospitals, he said, with staff also having to cope with their own "physical and mental fatigue" and spare parts shortages hampering repairs to medical equipment.

As the health crisis deepens, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a rare public meeting with the novel coronavirus taskforce on Saturday.

"We must do everything" to reduce the number of deaths, Khamenei said.

Rouhani, in an October 19 warning of worse days to come, urged the health ministry to increase the number of daily Covid-19 tests to fight back against the spread.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki told state television on Wednesday that daily tests are to be ramped up to "25,000 to 40,000 or even more", without giving details.

Iran has been struggling ever since its first two coronavirus cases reported in the city of Qom on February 19, after having announced a suspension of air links with China.

After initial accusations of a slow response, the government closed down most public spaces and non-essential businesses in March, stopping short of a full lockdown.

But it gradually reopened the economy from April, arguing that sanctions left it with no other choice.

The Islamic republic has repeatedly faced charges of playing down virus figures, but officials insist they are being transparent.

Harirchi, however, has acknowledged that the actual figures could be significantly higher, mostly due to shortcomings in testing and reporting.

Many other countries in the Middle East have also witnessed a surge in Covid-19 cases.

In neighbouring Iraq, a lockdown imposed early in the pandemic has been dropped for economic reasons, even as deaths have topped 11,000 out of 460,000 confirmed cases.

Jordan had its worst day on Tuesday with more than 3,800 cases and 44 deaths, reaching a total of 668 dead out of 58,855 declared cases of Covid-19.

The kingdom has taken a series of measures to curb its second wave, including imposing a night-time curfew.

Saudi Arabia has been the worst-hit among the Arab countries in the Gulf, with more than 346,000 infections and 5,300 deaths.

In Israel and the Palestinian territories, more than 363,000 cases have been reported, with recent measures including lockdowns and partial curfews.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Would Hail US Return to Nuclear Deal - With 'Guarantees'

Iran said Tuesday said it would welcome a US return to the landmark 2015 nuclear deal after its November 3 election provided it "guarantees" not to pull out again.

"It makes no difference to us which president in America decides to return" to the accord between Tehran and world powers, government spokesman Ali Rabiei told reporters.

"We would welcome such a decision by any president," he said.

But Washington "should be ready to be held responsible for the damages it has caused the people of Iran during the time it withdrew" and also "to provide other guarantees it will not repeat" such action.

Tensions have soared between Washington and Tehran under US President Donald Trump, who pulled out of the deal in 2018 and has unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran.

Joe Biden, Trump's challenger who is leading in polls, favours diplomacy with Iran and has backed the nuclear accord negotiated while he was vice president under Barack Obama.

The Trump administration has accused Iran as well as Russia of trying to interfere in the 2020 election, charges which Tehran has strongly denied.

Iranian officials have repeatedly said they favour no specific candidate in the race.

Photo: IRNA

Trump Admin Places Sanctions on Iran Oil Minister

By Shaun Tandon

President Donald Trump's administration on Monday slapped fresh sanctions on Iran's oil sector including over sales to Syria and Venezuela, reducing Joe Biden's room for maneuver if he wins next week's election.

The Trump administration has since 2018 enforced sweeping sanctions aimed at ending all of Iran's key oil exports, seeking to choke off all cash sources for the regional nemesis of US allies Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Under the new measures, the administration designated the National Iranian Oil Company, Iran's petroleum ministry and the National Iranian Tanker Company under a counterterrorism authority, raising the bar for any future administration to reverse course.

The Treasury Department issued the sanctions by linking the three entities to the Revolutionary Guards' elite Qods Force, which was earlier designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and whose commander, Qasem Soleimani, was killed in a US attack at Baghdad airport in January.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the sanctions should send a warning to "the few remaining buyers of Iranian crude oil."

"These designations are an important step in the maximum pressure campaign to limit the Iranian regime's ability to threaten its neighbors and destabilize the Middle East," Pompeo said in a statement.

'Sanction Addict'?

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh denounced the sanctions as a "passive reaction to the failure of Washington's policy of reducing (Iran's) crude oil exports to zero."

"I have no assets outside of Iran to be subject to the sanctions. I would sacrifice my life, belongings and reputation for Iran," Zanganeh, who was also targeted personally, wrote on Twitter.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the United States a "#SanctionAddict," tweeting, "Kick the habit."

If Trump loses the November 3 election, the sanctions could be among his last volleys against Iran's leaders.

Biden, who leads in polls ahead of next Tuesday's election, favors diplomacy with Iran and backed an accord negotiated by previous president Barack Obama under which Tehran sharply curtailed nuclear work in exchange for promises of sanctions relief.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a group close to the Trump administration which presses for a hard line against Tehran, said that any administration would face a "significant" burden in clearing Iran over the oil sales in question.

“It's likely that the impact of these penalties, even this late in the game, could outlive the politics of 2020," he said.

The Treasury Department said that a network backed by the Qods Force shipped more than one dozen tankers of oil in spring 2019—mostly to Syria, where Iran is a top backer of President Bashar al-Assad as he emerges from a brutal civil war.

Separate from the terrorism designations, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a British-based Iranian businessman, Mahmoud Madanipour, and related companies for transactions with Venezuela.

The Treasury Department accused him of arranging the shipment of tens of thousands of metric tons of gasoline to Venezuela, where Trump has been trying unsuccessfully to depose the leftist leader, Nicolas Maduro, who has recently stepped up economic ties with Iran.

Earlier this month, the administration took another major step to cripple the Iranian economy by imposing sanctions on the nation's banks—making most transactions with the outside world difficult.

The measures alarmed European allies of the United States which warn of dire consequences even to humanitarian trade, although the Trump administration insists it is not targeting food or medicine.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Says Detained Officer Involved in Man's Death During Arrest

An Iranian police officer allegedly involved in the death of a man during an arrest in the northeastern city of Mashhad has been detained, the judiciary's news agency reported Sunday.

The rare announcement of an investigation earlier today, and subsequent arrest of a law enforcement member, comes two weeks after Iran's judicial authority banned torture and other violations of defendants' rights.

"The offending officer... was arrested by the order of the military prosecutor's office," Mizan Online reported.

"Two other police officers who transferred the victim to the police station have also been investigated," it added.

The arrest comes after Khorasan Razavi province's police chief Mohammad-Kazem Taghavi announced an investigation into the incident, following reports by media outside Iran claiming the man "was poisoned by pepper spray."

"Special orders have been given ... for quickly investigating the case and finding out why and how" it happened, he told state news agency IRNA.

He expressed "regret" over the "incident" and said the results of the investigation will be announced soon.

The police were called to the scene over a 'family dispute' between the man and his ex-wife's family, IRNA said, adding that he died while being transferred to the police station.

According to Fars news agency, a video circulating on social media shows "a police officer using pepper spray and a taser in response to the arrested individual swearing at him".

"There are claims that the individual has died from suffocation due to being pepper sprayed," Fars added.

Mehdi Akhlaghi, an official with the province's judiciary said on Saturday that the man's family have pressed charges, IRNA reported.

Samples will be taken from the man's lung following autopsy to "investigate the impact of (pepper) spray on his death", Akhlaghi was quoted as saying.

Iran's judicial authority issued an order on October 15 banning torture, the use of "forced confessions", solitary confinement, illegal police custody and other violations of defendants' rights.

It came a week after controversy sparked by videos posted on social media showing police officers beating detainees in pickup trucks in the middle of a street.

In the videos, apparently filmed in Tehran, the detainees were also made to apologise for the "mistakes".

Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi in response said the police action was a "case of violation of civil rights.”

He also ordered measures be taken against those responsible, saying it was "strictly forbidden to attack the accused, even if they are thugs.”

Photo: IRNA

Iran's Khamenei Calls for Every Effort to Stop COVID-19 Spread

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday called for stiff action to stem rising cases of novel coronavirus, in a rare public meeting with the national committee battling the pandemic.

"We must do everything" to reduce the number of deaths, Khamenei said, adding that health officials "must ensure that infected people are identified and treated from the start" of their sickness.

Iran is struggling with recent records highs of daily deaths from COVID-19.

Khamenei has, since the start of the pandemic, largely participated in meetings remotely via video-conference.

But on Saturday he joined the weekly meeting of the coronavirus taskforce in person, hosted by President Hassan Rouhani, with members all masked and separated by large spaces.

Khamenei called for "the need to adopt severe penalties for those who commit major violations of health regulations" established by the health ministry in order to stop the pandemic.

The "basis and the priority in all decision-making is the health of the people," Khamenei said, noting that "an autumn resurgence of Covid-19 is occurring all over the world".

Iran said the total number of victims rose on Saturday to 32,320, with 562,705 cases recorded.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Vows to Reveal 'Detailed' Data on Plane Probe: Kiev

Ukraine said on Wednesday that Iran promised to reveal "detailed" information on the probe into a Kiev-bound passenger plane mistakenly shot down in January, after a fresh round of talks in Tehran.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashed shortly after taking off from the Iranian capital's main airport on January 8. 

The Islamic republic admitted days later that its forces accidentally shot down the plane, killing all 176 people on board, after firing two missiles amid heightened US-Iran tensions.

After a second round of talks between Iran and Ukraine in Tehran, the parties reached an agreement that within a week Kiev "will receive detailed information on the investigation" conducted by Iran, said a statement from the office of Ukraine's attorney general.

The information to be provided will include "documentary evidence of the detention of six people who are suspected of shooting down the plane," it added.

It said that, by the end of October, Iran has also promised to send to Ukraine a key piece of evidence -- the flight deck of the crew which was found in the first days after the disaster.

Gunduz Mamedov, Ukraine's deputy attorney general, vowed in the statement that Kiev would not accept Iran withholding any information on the grounds it was a "state secret".

Iran's civil aviation authority has said the misalignment of an air defence unit's radar system was the key "human error" that led to the plane's downing.

On Tuesday, Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted country's deputy foreign minister, Mohsen Baharvand, as saying that discussions were "good and constructive", and Iran is looking for "fair" solutions.

The first round of negotiations were held in Kiev in July, with the Ukrainian authorities saying they were "cautiously optimistic" about the process.

The talks are aimed at determining the precise chain of events and, ultimately, the amount of compensation that should be paid by Tehran.

Canada, which lost 55 nationals and 30 permanent residents in the crash, is watching the talks closely.

Ottawa in August said it was demanding answers from Iran after Tehran's "limited" initial report failed to explain why it fired missiles at the plane.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Tests Home-Made Air Defence System

Iran on Wednesday tested home-made air defence systems during military exercises, state media said, days after the expiry of an international arms embargo against the Islamic republic.

The manoeuvres—dubbed "Defenders of the Sky"—took place in "an area covering half of the country's surface", state television's Iribnews website reported.

They came after Tehran ruled on Sunday that a UN arms embargo on its weapons had expired under the terms of the international agreement on Iran's nuclear programme and UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

Iran on Monday said it was more inclined to sell weapons rather than buy them, after announcing the end of the longstanding embargo.

"In these exercises, the new generation systems of the army and Revolutionary Guard have shown their strength by relying on the power" of local production, said Iribnews.

The website said targets at medium and high altitudes were shot down by Iran's Khordad 3 and Khordad 15 air defence systems and that fighter jets took part in the manoeuvres.

"Our forces have achieved all the objectives set," General Qader Rahimzadeh, who is commanding the exercises, told state television.

The lifting of the arms embargo allows Iran to buy and sell military equipment including tanks, armoured vehicles, combat aircraft, helicopters and heavy artillery.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday that his country did not intend to engage in an "arms race in the region.”

Photo: Wikicommons

Iran and Ukraine Open New Talks Over Downed Plane

Iran hosted officials from Ukraine in a second round of talks on Monday over compensation for a Kiev bound passenger plane mistakenly shot down in January, state media reported.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashed shortly after taking off from the Iranian capital's main airport on January 8. 

Iran admitted days later that its forces accidentally shot down the plane, killing all 176 people on board, after firing two missiles amid heightened US-Iran tensions.

State news agency IRNA said the talks were held at the foreign ministry in Tehran and that they would continue until Wednesday.

The first round of negotiations were held in Kiev in July, with the Ukrainian authorities saying they were "cautiously optimistic" about the process.

Ukrainian deputy foreign minister Yevgeniy Yenin, who headed the delegation, met with  Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday, after meeting with his deputy Mohsen Baharvand earlier in the day.

Zarif called the first round of talks held in Kiev "positive and constructive" and hoped that those in Tehran achieve their desired results, according to a statement by his ministry.

Yenin welcomed "Iran's decision to take full responsibility for bringing down the Ukrainian plane and its readiness to ensure the same compensation for all the relatives of the victims, regardless of their citizenship," said a separate statement by Ukraine's foreign ministry.

Yenin also emphasised the "need for an unbiased and objective investigation of the circumstances of the air disaster and called on the Iranian side to ensure access" to all of its elements, the statement added.

Canada, which lost 55 nationals and 30 permanent residents in the crash, on Monday reaffirmed its commitment to "work tirelessly so that the families of the victims can get the answers they deserve."

Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne "is actively working with his international partners to ensure a thorough and credible investigation," his spokeswoman Syrine Khoury said on Monday.

Canada announced at the beginning of October it would form its own forensic team led by a former deputy spy chief to examine the evidence in the tragedy and advise the government accordingly.

Iran's civil aviation authority has said the misalignment of an air defence unit's radar system was the key "human error" that led to the plane's downing.

Tehran's air defences had been on high alert at the time in case the US retaliated against Iranian strikes hours earlier on American troops stationed in Iraq.

Photo: IRNA

Iran's Judicial Authority Moves to Ban 'Torture' and Forced Confessions

Iran's judicial authority on Thursday issued an order banning torture, the use of "forced confessions,” solitary confinement, illegal police custody and other violations of defendants' rights.

The "document on judicial security" was signed by Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi and released by Mizan Online, the authority's news agency.

It also stresses the "transparency" of the judicial process, including the right to freely choose a lawyer and "the principle of the presumption of innocence.” 

It also guarantees "consular access" for foreign nationals.

Iran is regularly accused by the United Nations, several Western countries, rights organisations and Iranian lawyers of flouting the principles that Raisi says he wants to see respected.

The publication of the charter comes a week after controversy sparked by videos posted on social media showing police officers beating detainees in pickup trucks in the middle of a street.

In the videos, apparently filmed in Tehran, the detainees are also made to apologise for the "mistakes" they say they have committed.

Raisi on Monday said the police action was a "case of violation of civil rights", according to Mizan Online.

He also ordered measures be taken against those responsible, saying it was "strictly forbidden to attack the accused, even if they are thugs."

Raisi, 59, who is close to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was picked to lead the judiciary in March 2019 with the mission of radically transforming an institution mired in corruption.

At the beginning of September, the execution of a young wrestler caused outrage after reports he been convicted on the basis of confessions extracted under torture.

Raisi ran in the 2017 presidential elections with the support of a broad conservative coalition, but was beaten by Hassan Rouhani who won a second term.

Iranian media see Raisi as a possible candidate for the next presidential election, scheduled for June 2021.

Since Raisi took office, the press have covered several high-profile cases of "economic corruption", or prevarication within the judicial authority.

State television announced overnight Wednesday the successful extradition of Ali Reza Heydarabadipour, former head of Sarmayeh bank who was convicted of being the kingpin of an embezzlement scandal harming tens of thousands of teachers.

Heydarabadipour—extradited from Spain in coordination with Interpol—arrived Wednesday evening in Iran, state television said.

He had been sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Hits New Virus Records, Curbs Travel

Iran on Wednesday announced temporary travel restrictions on five major cities including Tehran as the country hit new single-day records in both COVID-19 deaths and new infections.

As well as the capital, the measures include banning travel to and from Karaj, Mashhad, Isfahan and Urmia, the health ministry's Kianoush Jahanpour told state television.

It runs from midnight until Sunday noon, only involving private vehicles but not "public transportation" such as buses and planes, he said.

According to Jahanpour, the measure may be renewed after Sunday and extended to other cities.

The aim was to dissuade Iranians from travelling at the weekend, which runs from Thursday to Friday in Iran, and a public holiday on Saturday.

"A large part of the population... is not being responsible," Jahanpour said.

A retired employee in Tehran named Pakzamir told AFP that "the authorities blame the people, but that is not true."

According to her, rising costs in a troubled economy are forcing people to "use the subway and public transportation, and that spreads the disease."

"The main reason for the rise in coronavirus (cases) is the government's lack of planning and not enforcing restrictions properly," teacher Fariba Ghasemi said.

Deaths and infections from the virus have been on a sharply rising trajectory in Iran since early September.

COVID-19 deaths numbered 279 on Wednesday as 4,830 new cases of infection were confirmed, the highest single-day figures since the country reported its first cases in February.

The novel coronavirus has killed a total of 29,349 people out of 513,219 cases in the Middle East country hardest hit by the pandemic.

The numbers are likely to be higher than officially reported, deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi acknowledged Wednesday, primarily due to testing and reporting protocols.

Iran on Saturday started imposing fines for the first time for breaches of health rules in the capital.

Tehran authorities on October 3 shut most public spaces and cancelled gatherings for a week, a move that was extended to Wednesday. 

It was not immediately clear if they were to be renewed again alongside the travel curbs.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Says 'Historic' US Defeat Close As Arms Embargo To Be Lifted

Iran on Monday said the US was facing a "historic" defeat as an arms embargo against Tehran is to be lifted within days despite Washington's bid to have it extended.

Addressing the issue at a news conference, foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh also lashed out at the "insanity" of the latest US sanctions against banks in the country.

On Sunday the "historic defeat of the United States will be realised, and that came to be despite its attempts, trickery and extrajudicial moves," Khatibzadeh said.

"Iran again showed that the United States is not as all-powerful as it says," he added.

The embargo on the sale of arms to Iran is due to start expiring progressively from October 18, under the terms of a UN resolution that blessed the 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic republic and world powers.

Washington suffered a setback in August when it failed to win support from the United Nations Security Council to indefinitely extend the embargo.

President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal in 2018 before reimposing US sanctions on Iran.

Since then, the US has slapped additional sanctions on Iran as part of a campaign of "maximum pressure", with the latest on Thursday concerning 18 banks.

"We used to say they are addicted to sanctions, but now they have reached insanity," Khatibzadeh said.

The spokesman added that the excessive use of sanctions had caused the Americans to "cannibalise" themselves, as well as prompted other countries to find alternatives to the US dollar.

The US claims that transactions involving humanitarian goods such as food and medicine are exempt and that sanctions are "directed at the regime".

Yet statements from experts and rights groups indicate the sanctions have had dire humanitarian consequences and caused suffering for the people of Iran.

In a speech on Monday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pointed to the role of sanctions on Iran's troubled economy and called them "a crime in the true sense of the word."

He emphasised that the "cure" for the economy "should not be sought outside of the country", and called for the "focusing on production, preventing the continuous devaluation of national currency" and fighting smuggling and corruption.

"We will continue resisting so that, God willing, this maximum pressure will turn to maximum disgrace and a cause of regret for them," he said.

Photo: IRNA

Iran's Rouhani Says New US Sanctions Cannot Break 'Resistance'

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Friday dismissed new US sanctions as unable to break the country's "resistance" and said Washington has already done all it can to pressure Tehran.

US President Donald Trump's administration imposed sweeping sanctions on Iran's banking sector on Thursday by designating 18 major Iranian banks to "stop illicit access to US dollars.”

"The Americans have so far done all they could against the great nation of Iran," Rouhani said, according to his official website. 

"They cannot break the resistance of the Iranian nation with these inhumane" actions, he added.

According to Rouhani, the US administration is following "domestic aims" by such "political-propaganda attempts.”

The sanctions are part of Washington's policy of "maximum pressure" against Tehran aimed at reining in the Islamic republic, the arch-foe of US allies Saudi Arabia and Israel. 

They were reimposed after Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the US from a landmark accord with world powers and Iran, which limited the Islamic republic's nuclear programme in exchange for international sanctions relief.

The US claims that transactions involving humanitarian goods such as food and medicine are exempt and that sanctions are "directed at the regime."

Yet statements from experts and right groups point to the dire humanitarian consequences and the suffering sanctions impose on the Iranian people.

Rouhani said the sanctions are "attempts to create serious obstacles in fund transfers for medicine and food" and called them "cruel, terrorist and inhumane.”

He also called on the world's "human rights advocates" to condemn the move.

"All countries witness that America's attempts are completely against international laws and regulations, and in the time of the coronavirus are against human rights," Rouhani said.

Photo: IRNA

China Backs Iran Nuclear Deal, Calls for New Middle East Forum

China's foreign minister Wang Yi has called for a new forum to defuse tensions in the Middle East after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart where he reiterated Beijing's support for Tehran.

Wang and Javid Zarif also reaffirmed their commitment to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, according to the Chinese foreign ministry, an implicit rebuke of the United States for abandoning the accord during their Saturday meeting in China's southwestern Tengchong city.

Iran has been locked in an acrimonious relationship with Saudi Arabia, the other major Middle Eastern power, over the war in Yemen, Iranian influence in Iraq and Saudi support for Washington's sanctions on Tehran.

"China proposes to build a regional multilateral dialogue platform with equal participation of all stakeholders," said the Chinese foreign ministry statement.

The forum would "enhance mutual understanding through dialogue and explore political and diplomatic solutions to security issues in the Middle East", the statement added.

Wang added that support for the Iranian nuclear deal, negotiated by the Obama administration but ultimately abandoned by Donald Trump, would be a precondition of entry to the forum.

Zarif said on Twitter his "fruitful talks" with Wang amounted to a rejection of "US unilateralism" and had also focused on strategic ties and collaboration on the development of a coronavirus vaccine.

Photo: FPRC