Iran

TEHRAN, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- The large-scale military drills of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces in the central country was wrapped up on Saturday seeking to practice offensive tactics.

The massive war game, code-named "Eqtedar," lasted for two days in a vast area in Nasrabad region in Iran's central province of Isfahan.

A total of 12,000 army forces took in the exercise carrying out new offensive tactics in accordance with structural changes in the Army Ground Force, Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari said.

TEHRAN, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry censured French foreign minister's recent threats to impose sanctions on Iran over Tehran's ballistic missile program.

Iran's missiles are for deterrence purposes and non-negotiable, said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi, according to a report by Foreign Ministry on Saturday.

"Iran's military capabilities are part of the country's legitimate defense power and a guarantor of Iran's national security, which is based on the doctrine of deterrence," Qasemi said.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A U.S. Navy veteran detained in Iran in July is being held in connection to a “private complaint,” the semi-official Mehr news agency reported Friday.

Michael White, 46, has been held since July, and is the first known American to have been detained in Iran since Donald Trump became president. His family says he traveled to Iran to visit his girlfriend, who he met online, and was arbitrarily detained.

TEHRAN, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the recent detention of an anchor of Iran's Press TV by the U.S. FBI is "illegal."

The announcement was made as the ministry delivered Iran's protest note over the detention of Marzieh Hashemi, a Press TV journalist and news presenter, to the summoned Swiss ambassador to Iran.

Hashemi, who has been living in Iran for years, was detained by the FBI at the international airport in St. Louis, Missouri, on Jan. 13 while making a family visit.

Tehran, Jan 21, IRNA – After China, South Korea, India and Turkey, Japan has also resumed importing Iran oil, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said.

20 Jan 2019; DW: Tehran has rejected claims that a Bundeswehr employee, arrested last week, was passing information to the Islamic Republic. Media reports have suggested the suspect worked for Iranian intelligence for many years.

Iran's government has denied any connections to a German-Afghan national arrested this week in Germany accused of carrying out espionage on behalf of Tehran.

15 Jan 2019; DW: Iran announced on Tuesday that one of its satellites had failed to reach the "necessary speed" to achieve orbit.

Telecommunications Minister Mohammed Javad Jahromi told Iranian state television that the rocket carrying the satellite had passed the first and second launch stage, but that it had developed problems in the third phase.

Tehran, Jan 14 (AP) An Iranian Boeing 707 cargo plane coming from Kyrgyzstan crashed on Monday while trying to land west of Iran's capital, state media reported, with an emergency official saying only one person of the 16 on board was known to have survived.

Fire immediately engulfed the aircraft after it skidded off a runway and crashed into a wall separating the Fath Airport from a residential neighborhood. Images carried by Iran's state-run media showed the burned-out tail of the plane sticking out, surrounded by charred homes.

Tehran, Jan 13, IRNA - Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi while denouncing the Polish authorities for hosting an anti-Iran summit reminded them to pay a visit to Iran-Poland Friendship Symbol in Warsaw.

TEHRAN, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The deputy commander of Iran's Navy said an Iranian naval fleet will be sent to the Atlantic Ocean for a five-month mission in early 2019, official IRNA news agency reported Friday.

"The Atlantic Ocean is a long route, and it is likely that the mission would take five months to complete," Touraj Hassnai Moqaddam told IRNA.

"Iranian Sahand destroyer will accompany the fleet," he added, without providing more details.