The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Hassan Rouhani

  • U.S. will not stop Iran oil exports

    U.S. plan to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero will not succeed, Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Zarif was cited as saying by an Iranian newspaper on Wednesday.

    U.S. officials have said in recent weeks that they aim to pressure countries to stop buying oil from Iran in a bid to force Tehran to halt its nuclear and missile programmes and involvement in regional conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

    “If the Americans want to keep this simplistic and impossible idea in their minds they should also know its consequences,” Zarif told the Iran newspaper.

    Read Also: PDP to APC: You can’t woo our members

    “They can’t think that Iran won’t export oil and others will export.”

    President Hassan Rouhani hinted in July that Iran could block the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route, if the U.S. attempted to stop the Islamic Republic’s oil exports.
    U.S. President Donald Trump responded by noting that Iran could face serious consequences if it threatened the U.S.
    “The Americans have assembled a war room against Iran,” Zarif said.

    “We can’t get drawn into a confrontation with America by falling into this war room trap and playing on a battlefield.”

    Iran sanctions are ‘the most biting ever imposed’: Trump

    In July, Trump offered to meet with Iran’s leaders. Zarif said that Oman and Switzerland have acted as mediators in talks with America in the past but that there are currently no direct or indirect talks being held with the U.S.

  • Trump, Iran’s president trade words over nuclear deal

    United States President, Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani have traded hostile warnings, amid rising tensions between the two countries.

    Mr. Trump tweeted Iran would “suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before” if it threatened the U.S.

    Mr. Rouhani earlier said that war with Iran would be “the mother of all wars.”

    In May, the U.S left a deal which curbed Iran’s nuclear activities in return for lifting of international sanctions, the BBC reports.

    Washington is now re-imposing the sanctions, despite objections from the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia and Germany, who all signed the 2015 agreement.

    President Rouhani’s comments, made to Iranian diplomats, did leave open the possibility of future good relations with the U.S.

    “America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars,” he said, according to Iran’s state news agency Irna.

    Mr. Trump’s angry rhetoric has echoes of his Twitter barrages against North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, whom he branded a “madman” who “will be tested like never before,” before engaging in a testy exchange over whose nuclear button was bigger.

    Their verbal hostilities nonetheless evolved into ongoing diplomatic talks.

    On Monday, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards suggested the U.S president’s statements were part of a broader strategy.

    “The remarks Trump makes against Iran are psychological warfare and he would be mistaken should he seek to take action against Iran,” Gholamhossein Gheybparvar said.

  • Japan’s Abe to cancel Iran trip over U.S. pressure on Tehran- Kyodo

    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has given up on a plan to visit Iran this summer, local media said on Wednesday, as U.S. President Donald Trump has taken an increasingly tough line against Tehran.

    “The visit to Iran would have been the first by a Japanese leader in 40 years, forming part of Abe’s scheduled tour through the Middle East from July 11.

    “But Japan has told Iran Abe would not be able to visit its capital, Tehran, in spite of arrangements it had been making for talks with President Hassan Rouhani,’’ the agency added, citing government sources.

    However, Motosada Matano, a spokesman for the Japanese prime minister’s office, told newsmen nothing had been decided about Abe’s overseas travel plans.

    Read Also: Japan’s PM Abe meets Trump, says confident can build trust

    The decision not to visit Iran was made in light of Trump’s push to isolate Tehran and choke off its oil exports, after he pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Iran nuclear pact in May.

    The U.S. has urged Japan and its other allies to stop buying Iranian crude oil entirely by Nov. 4.

    “Japan has traditionally had stable ties with Iran, on which it relied for decades as a key source of oil.

    “That’s why it has told the Trump administration it cannot further cut or halt crude imports from the country, for fear of risks to its economy,’’ it added.

  • Iran’s Supreme Leader :Trump’s speech ‘silly, superficial’

    U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he is withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was “silly and superficial”, Iran’s Supreme Leader said on Wednesday, according to his official website.

    “You heard last night that the president of America made some silly and superficial comments,” said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

    “He had maybe more than 10 lies in his comments. He threatened the regime and the people, saying I’ll do this and that.

    “Mr Trump I tell you on behalf of the Iranian people: You’ve made a mistake.”

    Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, reluctantly gave his backing for the Iran nuclear deal and has publicly criticized the U.S. multiple times for not following through on its promises under the agreement.

    On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced the U. S. would no longer remain part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and promised  to re-impose the highest level of economic sanctions against Iran in response to Tehran’s development of  nuclear programme.

    “Egypt stresses importance of the involvement of the concerned Arab states in any dialogue on the future
    of the Middle East, particularly, in relation to possible changes to the Iranian nuclear deal,” the
    Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

    Read Also: European leaders spurn Trump’s withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal

    Cairo urged Iran and regional states to avoid any steps that could undermine security in the Middle East or
    lead to military confrontations, according to the statement.

    Meanwhile, the UAE welcomed Trump’s decision to withdraw from the deal, as it did not guarantee that Iran
    would not acquire nuclear weapon in future, according to the country’s Foreign Ministry’s statement.

    The decision was also welcomed by Saudi Arabia and Israel.

    In response to the U.S. move, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that Tehran was not going to
    withdraw from the JCPOA, and that the agreement remained between Iran and the five remaining participants
    of the deal. He noted that the United States never fulfilled the obligations under the nuclear deal, unlike Iran.

    On July 14, 2015, the European Union and the P5+1 group of countries – China, Germany, France, Russia, the
    UK and the U.S., signed the JCPOA with Iran.

    The accord stipulated a gradual lifting of anti-Iranian sanctions in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear
    programme and allowing inspections to ensure that the nature of the program is peaceful.

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  • Iran defies Trump, tests missile

    Iran defies Trump, tests missile

    Iran said it has successfully tested a new-medium range missile, in defiance of United States President, Donald Trump.

    The launch of the Khoramshahr missile, which has a range of 2,000 km (1,242 miles), was shown on state TV.

    It is unclear when the test took place, the BBC reports.

    At the United Nations on Tuesday, Mr. Trump criticised Iran’s missile programme and the 2015 nuclear deal with the country.

    On Friday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would increase its military power “as a deterrent.”

    The Khoramshahr missile was first displayed at a military parade on Friday in Tehran.

    It is capable of carrying multiple warheads, Iranian media report.

    Iran’s Defence Minister, Gen. Amir Hatami, outlined the missile’s “unique specifications.”

    “The ability to evade the enemy’s air defence line and to be guided from the moment of launch until the target is hit turns Khoramshahr into a tactical missile,” he said.

    Iran would “not seek permission from any country for producing various kinds of missile,” he added.

     

     

  • Rouhani appoints two women vice presidents

    Rouhani appoints two women vice presidents

    Re-elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday appointed two women as vice-presidents and one woman as a presidential assistant in the newly formed cabinet.

    According to the appointment letters signed by the Iranian president, Laaya Joneidi replaced Majid Ansari as vice president for legal affairs.

    Ms Masoumeh Ebtekar, was also appointed as vice president for women and family affairs, previously held by Shahindokht Molaverdi, who the president appointed the assistant on citizenship rights.

    Rouhani was sworn in the presidential office on Aug. 5 after being re-elected for the second term in May.

    On Tuesday, the president presented an all-male list of 17 ministers to the Iranian parliament for approval, a move which was widely criticized by pro-Rouhani reformist groups in the country.

    The Iranian cabinet has 12 vice presidents, with one of them occupying the position of the first vice president,

    who chairs government meetings in the absence of the president.

    In post-revolutionary Iran, the only female holding a ministerial office was Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi, who acted

    as the health and medical education minister during the second presidential term of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009 to 2013.

  • Hassan Rouhani re-elected as Iran president

    Hassan Rouhani re-elected as Iran president

    Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, has won a second term in office.

    Out of some 40 million votes cast, he received more than half of those counted, with some areas still to declare, officials said on state TV.

    Mr. Rouhani, a moderate who agreed a deal with world powers to limit Iran’s nuclear programme, would thus avoid a second-round run-off.

    His main challenger has complained about alleged voting irregularities, the BBC reports.

    Ebrahim Raisi, a conservative cleric, accused supporters of Mr. Rouhani of hundreds of acts of propaganda at voting booths, which are banned under electoral law.

    Results from urban areas – much more likely to support Mr. Rouhani – have not yet come in.

    State TV congratulated Mr. Rouhani on his victory.

    Near-complete results showed he had gained 58.6 per cent of the vote, compared with Mr. Raisi’s 39.8 per cent.

    Voting time was extended by five hours on Friday, until midnight, amid an unexpectedly high turnout of about 70 per cent.

    Election officials said the extensions to voting hours were due to “requests” and the “enthusiastic participation of people.”

  • Ex-Iranian leader Ahmadinejad to participate in presidential poll

    Ex-Iranian leader Ahmadinejad to participate in presidential poll

    Ex-Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, submitted his name on Wednesday for registration as a candidate in Iran’s presidential election in May.

    The move by the former president was seen as a challenge to the authority of Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had ordered him not to run for the election.

    Registration for the May 19 election started on Monday and will last five days, after which entrants will be screened for their political and Islamic qualifications by a vetting body, the Guardian Council.

    At least 126 prospective candidates have submitted their names for the election.

    There are six women and seven clerics among the 126 registered people, with ages ranging from 18 to 79.

    Registration will remain open until Saturday, and any Iranian national can apply.

    The Guardian Council will vet the applicants and  announce a final list of candidates on April 27.

    The council normally does not approve dissidents or women for the formal candidate list.

    President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate, is eligible to run for another term.

    NAN

     

  • Iran’s President Rouhani warns against corruption

    Iran’s President Rouhani warns against corruption

    President Hassan Rouhani has spoken out against corruption in Iran and warned that it is “endangering” the country’s Islamic Revolution.

    In a televised speech at an anti-corruption event in Tehran, he said money once “given under the table now is being given on the table”.

    Mr Rouhani also called for the “elimination” of monopolies.

    A series of high-profile corruption cases have come to light since his government took office in August 2013.

    In May, the billionaire businessman Mahafarid Amir Khosravi was executed after being convicted of being behind a scandal involving embezzlement, bribery, forgery and money-laundering that cost 14 state-owned and private Iranian banks nearly $2.6bn (£1.7bn).

    And in September, former Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi was reportedly imprisoned after being convicted of corruption.

    Mr Rahimi was reported to be linked to another billionaire businessman, Babak Zanjani, who has been accused of skimming up to $2.7bn (£1.7bn) of revenue generated from selling Iranian oil on behalf of the government through his companies to bypass international sanctions.

    “The continuation, the deepening and the expansion of corruption is endangering… the Islamic Revolution.”

     

     

     

    Mr Rouhani also criticised monopolies – on anything from the production of rifles to advertising – which he said were the cause of corruption.

    “Anything which does not have rivalry or whose management is monopolised is flawed,” he said.

    “This is wrong and the problem has to be uprooted,” he added.

    Analysts said this might be a veiled reference to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), which has become a major military, political and economic force in Iran since being set up after the 1979 revolution to defend the country’s Islamic system.

    The IRGC is said to control around a third of Iran’s economy through a series of subsidiaries and trusts, and is widely believed to engage in illicit and black-market activities.

     

  • Rouhani urges equal rights for women

    Rouhani urges equal rights for women

    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has urged equal opportunities and rights for men and women, and condemned sexual discrimination.

    In a speech marking Women’s Day, Mr Rouhani criticised “those who consider women’s presence society as a threat” and said Iran still had “a long way to go” to ensure gender equality.

    Mr Rouhani, a religious moderate, was elected to office in June 2013.

    Foreign activist groups argue that Iran’s laws discriminate against women.

    Speaking on Sunday at the National Forum on Women Shaping Economy and Culture in Tehran, Mr Rouhani said: “We will not accept the culture of sexual discrimination.”

    “Women must enjoy equal opportunity, equal protection and equal social rights. According to the Islamic rules, man is not the stronger sex and woman is not the weaker one,” he said in comments that were broadcast live on television.

    However, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, said in comments on Saturday that gender equality was “one of the biggest mistakes of the Western thought”.

    “Justice is a right. But equality is sometimes right and sometimes wrong,” he said, according to his personal website.

    He added that he did not oppose women’s employment, but that it should not conflict with “the main issue”, which was women’s role in the “family environment and household”.

    The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said in its 2013 report on Iran that women there “faced discrimination in law and practice in relation to marriage and divorce, inheritance, child custody, nationality and international travel”.