Iran

TEHRAN, August 11. /TASS/: Pretoria fully supports Iran’s accession to the BRICS, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said at a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian.

"South Africa is interested in Iran being accepted as a friendly country by the BRICS," Ramaphosa said as quoted by Mehr News.

The President of South Africa also expressed hope that during the official visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to the African country, a number of documents on cooperation between the two countries would be signed.

TEHRAN, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian official said on Friday the exchange of prisoners between Iran and the United States will take place "simultaneously" with the release of Iran's frozen assets in banks of the Republic of Korea (ROK).

TEHRAN, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iran and South Africa on Thursday convened the 15th session of the Joint Commission of Economic Cooperation in South Africa's administrative capital Pretoria, after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported.

During the meeting, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor inked a document on economic cooperation, according to the report.

TEHRAN, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian rejected on Thursday again claims that Tehran has provided drones to Russia for use against Ukraine, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported.

He made the remarks at a joint press conference with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor in South Africa's administrative capital Pretoria.

He said Iran has held several rounds of consultations with the Ukrainian side on the issue, during which Ukraine failed to present "any valid evidence."

9 August 2023; MEMO: Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Tehran resumed its operations earlier this week after more than a seven-year hiatus, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

The state agency cited an unnamed "official source" in the Foreign Ministry as confirming that the Saudi Embassy in the Iranian capital resumed its work "three days ago."

TEHRAN, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian diplomat has accused the United States of deliberately perpetuating instability in Afghanistan, aiming to generate crises for neighboring countries after its unsuccessful two-decade occupation.

In an interview with Iran's state news agency IRNA on Wednesday, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran's special representative for Afghanistan, alleged that the United States has been sponsoring "terrorist" groups in Afghanistan after it withdrew all its forces from the Central Asian country in 2021.

08 August 2023; MEMO: A dispute between Iran and South Korea over $7 billion in frozen assets is set for legal arbitration, a presiding committee of the Iranian parliament announced on Tuesday. The dispute is between the Central Bank of Iran and the government of South Korea.

TEHRAN, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- At least one person was killed and 19 others injured on Monday after an explosion shook and dismantled a three-storey residential building in Iran's capital Tehran, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported.

The explosion, which occurred on Monday morning in District 20 of Tehran due to gas leakage, also severely damaged several dilapidated buildings and cars, ISNA quoted Ali Nasiri, the president of Tehran Disaster Mitigation and Management Organization, as saying.

07 August 2023; MEMO: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the US of encouraging smuggling by sea in the Gulf region, in the latest sign of rising tensions between Tehran and Washington.

"Today, the Americans are targeting oil tankers while helping the maritime smuggling networks in our region," said Khamenei on state television yesterday, Bloomberg News has reported. "This is a major violation on their part."

TEHRAN, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iranian security forces have seized two batches of smuggled weapons and ammunition in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, arresting six suspects, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.

In the first operation, some 20 M1911 pistols and 39 magazines were found concealed in a sedan of an arms trafficking gang driving from Pakistan, Tasnim quoted Sistan and Baluchestan Prosecutor Mehdi Shamsabadi as saying.