Iran

TEHRAN, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that his country will defeat the United States in the latter's anti-Iran "economic war."

"The enemy has waged economic war on us. We must defeat the enemy in this war," said Khamenei in Iran's northeastern city of Mashhad.

He made the remarks, broadcast live on the state IRIB TV, on the first day of the Iranian New Year.

"We must establish economic deterrence so that it (the United States) cannot use economic loopholes to harm the country," he added.

TEHRAN, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday called for economic initiatives and boost of production to offset U.S. sanction pressures.

He hailed what he called the nation's "fortitude and prudence" against conspiracies.

Khamenei made the remarks, broadcast live on the state TV, on the occasion of the Iranian New Year, Nowruz, which began on Thursday.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s many woes briefly went up in smoke as Iranians observed a nearly 4,000-year-old Persian tradition known as the Festival of Fire.

The celebration is held on the last Tuesday night before Nowruz, or the Iranian New Year, which will be celebrated Thursday. The annual ritual dates back to at least 1700 B.C. and is linked to the Zoroastrian religion.

TEHRAN, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Iran has criticized Britain for providing diplomatic protection to an Iranian-British national, Nazanin Zaghari, who is imprisoned in Iran over espionage charges, Iranian Ambassador to London Hamid Baeidinejad said on Friday.

"Governments may only exercise such protection to their own nationals. As UK government is acutely aware, Iran does not recognize dual nationality. Irrespective of UK residency, Ms Zaghari thus remains Iranian," Baeidinejad tweeted on Friday.

TEHRAN, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday officially refused to accept the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, official IRNA news agency reported.

"Your appeal for resignation is against the country's expediency," Rouhani said in response to an earlier resignation letter by Zarif.

"Therefore, I do not accept it," he added.

VIENNA, February 26. /TASS/. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that Tehran is in compliance with the nuclear deal in its latest report on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told TASS on Tuesday.

"This is already the 14th report. The IAEA once again confirmed that Iran fully observes the letter and the spirit of the JCPOA and cooperates with the secretariat. There are no complaints whatsoever," Ulyanov said when asked to comment on the IAEA report.

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has not approved the resignation of the country’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi stated on Tuesday.

"The resignation [of the foreign minister] was not approved [by the Iranian president]," Qasemi stated on his Telegram channel.

Earlier, Zarif announced his resignation on Twitter, which gave rise to an active discussion. Qasemi denied the media reports on various reasons for Zarif’s decision.

TEHRAN, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif seemed to have announced his resignation unexpectedly on Monday through social media.

"Thanks for the great and brave Iranians and my colleagues, but I apologize for my failure to serve you and some flaws in my work," Zarif said on his Instagram account.

He also posted a photograph with captions.

Media reports said a foreign ministry spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, confirmed minutes later that Zarif had resigned but gave no reason for his departure.

TEHRAN, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday that the West has turned the Middle East into a "powder keg" through arms sales to the Arab countries in the region, Press TV reported.

Over the past year alone, the West sold weapons worth 100 billion U.S. dollars to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, said Zarif.

"The weapons did not bring security to anyone," he added.

Tehran, Feb 21; AP/GANASHAKTI: Iran's navy says it will hold an annual drill in the strategic Strait of Hormuz as pressure mounts on the country months after the United States re-imposed sanctions on Iran, targeting its vital oil sector.

The strait is located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and is crucial to global energy supplies, with about a third of all oil traded at sea passing through it.

Iranian Adm. Hossein Khanzadi told state TV on Thursday the 3-day maneuvers will start on Friday and extend as far as the Sea of Oman and the fringes of the Indian Ocean.