HASSAN ROUHANI

Iran’s supreme leader is insisting negotiations over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal “are going ahead properly.”

Iran’s supreme leader is insisting negotiations over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal “are going ahead properly.”.

Iran likely suffered another failed launch of a satellite-carrying rocket in recent days.

Iran has found a rare, if fleeting, respite from the anxiety and trauma of the pandemic.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has warned that the restrictions faced by his inspectors in Iran threaten to give the world only a “very blurred image” of Tehran’s program as it enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.

Iran appears to be preparing for a space launch as negotiations continue in Vienna over its tattered nuclear deal with world powers, according to an expert and satellite images. The likely blast off at Iran's Imam Khomeini Spaceport comes as Iranian state media has offered a list of upcoming planned satellite launches in the works for the Islamic Republic's civilian space program, which has been beset by a series of failed launches. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard runs its own parallel program that successfully put a satellite into orbit last year. Conducting a launch amid the Vienna talks fits the hard-line posture struck by Tehran's negotiators, who already described six previous rounds of diplomacy as a “draft,” exasperating Western nations.

Iran’s new president slammed U.S. sanctions imposed on his nation as a mechanism of war.

The UN's nuclear watchdog says Iran continues to produce uranium metal, which can be used in the production of a nuclear bomb, in a move that further complicates the possibility of reviving a landmark 2015 deal with world powers on Iran's nuclear program.

"What we told people was not contrary to reality, but we did not tell part of the truth to people," Rouhani said.

Iran’s outgoing president has acknowledged his nation at times “did not tell part of the truth” to its people during his eight-year tenure.

Iran's outgoing president on Sunday acknowledged his nation at times “did not tell part of the truth” to its people during his eight-year tenure, as he prepares to leave office with his signature nuclear deal with world powers in tatters and tensions high with the West. President Hassan Rouhani's comments, aired on state television, come as officials in his government have appeared rudderless in recent months amid a series of crises ranging from the coronavirus pandemic to parching droughts fueling public protests. After appearing just days earlier to be lectured by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei about their failures in the nuclear negotiations, Rouhani's remarks appeared aimed at acknowledging the problems his government faced in its waning hours.

A German magazine has reported that the country's foreign minister is signaling growing impatience with Iran.

Iran’s supreme leader has called the U.S. “stubborn” in stalled nuclear talks in Vienna for discussing Tehran’s missiles and regional influence.

Iran Thursday began exporting crude oil for the first time in the Gulf of Oman, bypassing the strategic Strait of Hormuz. During a ceremony marking the inauguration of the project, President Hassan Rouhani called the plan “strategic.” Washington placed sanctions on Tehran after former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled his country out of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Masih Alinejad, who was the apparent target of an Iranian kidnapping plot, says she initially expressed disbelief when the FBI talked with her.

Iran’s outgoing president is warning his country could enrich uranium at weapons-grade levels of 90% if it chose, though it still wanted to save its tattered nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran's outgoing president on Wednesday warned his country could enrich uranium at weapons-grade levels of 90% if it chose, though it still wanted to save its tattered nuclear deal with world powers. President Hassan Rouhani's comments, carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, came as he also criticized Iran's wider theocracy for not allowing his government to reach a deal soon to restore the 2015 atomic accord.

Iran’s outgoing president offered a rare apology Tuesday for the country’s most severe summer power outages in recent memory, as blackouts cripple businesses and darken homes for hours a day. In a government meeting broadcast live on state TV, President Hassan Rouhani acknowledged that chronic power outages over the past week have caused Iranians “plenty of pain” and expressed contrition in an unusually personal speech. In recent days, the regular blackouts have spread chaos and confusion on the streets of the capital, Tehran, and other cities, knocking out traffic lights, shutting factories, disrupting telecommunications and affecting metro systems.

Iran has announced new coronavirus restrictions on major cities as the spread of the highly contagious delta variant spurs fears of another devastating surge in the nation.

President Hassan Rouhani says Iran may face another wave of coronavirus infections, as health officials warn of the spread of the more infectious delta variant of the coronavirus.

President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday that Iran may face another wave of coronavirus infections, as health officials warned of the spread of the more infectious delta variant of the virus. Rouhani, speaking at a national coronavirus task force meeting, urged people to postpone their summer travels and gatherings to prevent the “spread of the virus, particularly its Indian variant.” Iran has reported cases of the delta variant in a number of cities and towns.

Iran likely conducted a failed launch of a satellite-carrying rocket in recent days and now appears to be preparing to try again.

Iran's president-elect says he won't meet with Biden, wants sanctions lifted ASAP

What Ebrahim Raisi's election means for Iran — and the U.S.

Atta Kenare/AFP via GettyAn ultraconservative cleric linked to the mass execution of political prisoners has been elected Iran’s new president. Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s judiciary chief who has been rumored to be a potential successor to the Ayatollah, emerged victorious in a controversial election in which critics say moderate candidates were purged. Turnout was low—48 percent, according to election officials—as many voters saw the election of a hardliner as a foregone conclusion. Raisi, who

Ebrahim Raisi dominated the election only after a panel under the watch of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei disqualified his strongest competition.

Iran’s hard-line judiciary chief has won the country’s presidential election in a landslide victory.

Iranian state TV showed voters streaming to cast their ballots, but very different scenes were playing out on Tehran’s streets, where traffic was light and polling places appeared relatively empty.

Iranians cast votes Friday in a presidential election expected to be won by Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline candidate.

Iranians have voted in a presidential election dominated by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s hard-line protege after the disqualification of his strongest competition.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not vote in Friday’s presidential election in Iran and warned that the outcome would produce a government without a popular mandate, in another blow to the credibility of the most restricted poll in the Islamic Republic's history. Mr Ahmadinejad, who was president of Iran from 2005 to 2013, said he would exercise his "personal right" to abstain after what he described as the disenfranchisement of voters. “I am not going to vote. And the main reason is that I am witnessin

Iranians choose a new president Friday as major issues loom over their country, including its tanking economy, but indifference is widespread.

Iranians choose a new president Friday as major issues loom over their country, including its tanking economy, but indifference is widespread.

Iran’s presidential election Friday will determine who will lead the country’s civilian government.

Iran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers hangs in the balance as the country prepares to vote on Friday for a new president.

The Supreme Leader is willing to risk the legitimacy of an election to consolidate monolithic hard-line control.

Iran is grappling with fears of low voter turnout, two days ahead of the country's presidential election.

A prominent contender in Iran’s presidential election appealed Tuesday for better economic and political relations with the West, his most extensive attempt yet to attract reformist voters just days ahead of the poll. Former Iranian Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati, among the seven candidates allowed on the ballot for Friday’s vote, has no official ties to any political faction but is positioning himself as the likely candidate for moderate and reform-minded voters. “Why should there be a barrier for peaceful co-existence?” asked Hemmati, while emphasizing that an "improvement in global and regional peace” hinged on American good will and "trust-building" with the Islamic Republic.

Iranians this week are preparing to vote in — or perhaps to boycott — a presidential election that many fear will only underscore their powerlessness to shape the country's fate. Hopefuls are running to replace the term-limited President Hassan Rouhani, whose promises of a bright economic future withered as Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers collapsed. The backlash of disappointment in Rouhani’s relatively moderate administration has given hard-liners an edge this time, analysts say, even as the U.S. and Iran now negotiate a return to the landmark accord.

Iran’s seven presidential candidates have offered starkly different views in the country’s final debate.

Iranian state TV says that an Iranian destroyer and support vessel are now sailing in the Atlantic Ocean in a rare mission far from the Islamic Republic, without offering the vessels’ final destination.

Iran's leading presidential candidate staged a mass rally in the country's southeast that drew thousands of supporters, sparking controversy Thursday as the first such gathering amid the raging coronavirus pandemic that has largely halted traditional election campaigning. Ebrahim Raisi, Iran's hard-line judiciary chief, toured the oil-rich southwestern Khuzestan province and addressed some 5,000 supporters at a sprawling football stadium in the city of Ahvaz late on Wednesday.

A prominent Iranian presidential candidate says he’d be willing to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden if he wins his country’s election next week.

A prominent Iranian presidential candidate said Wednesday he'd be willing to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden if he wins his country's election next week, though “America needs to send better and stronger signals” to the Islamic Republic. Speaking to The Associated Press, former Iranian Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati stressed that an American return to Iran's tattered nuclear deal was key to any possible relationship amid the wider tensions in the Mideast. "I think we haven't seen anything serious from Mr. Biden's side yet," Hemmati said.

Iran's seven presidential candidates on Tuesday put all the problems of the Islamic Republic squarely on the shoulders of the one man who wasn't there to defend himself: Outgoing President Hassan Rouhani. After a raucous first debate, the aspirants in the three-hour televised debate focused their attention on Rouhani and mocked his administration's “hope” campaign that surrounded its now-tattered 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. “They have mobilized sun and moon and the heavens to make some particular individual become president," said Mohsen Mehralizadeh, the sole reformist approved for the election, referring to Raisi.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday he wrote the country’s supreme leader to protest a decision by an election watchdog to reject high-profile nominees for the June 18 presidential election. Rouhani in a weekly Cabinet meeting said he wished Iran's Guardian Council would give more would-be candidates the opportunity to run. The council on Tuesday barred former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a conservative who allied with Rouhani in recent years, from running.

Iran has named the hard-line cleric running its judiciary and six others as approved candidates in its June 18 presidential election.

Iranian state television announced Tuesday that only seven candidates have been approved by the country's constitutional watchdog to run for president next month, drastically narrowing the field of hopefuls for who will replace outgoing President Hassan Rouhani. The report did not name those selected, though rumors have circulated that reformists and moderates vying for the spot may have been barred from running by the Guardian Council. State TV quoted Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman of the Guardian Council, as saying “only seven” had been approved out of some 590 who registered by the panel of clerics and jurists overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has agreed to a one-month extension to the deal on surveillance cameras at its nuclear sites.

Iran’s president has offered his most optimistic assessment yet of ongoing talks to resuscitate his country’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran’s judiciary chief and a prominent hard-line cleric has registered to run in the country's June presidential election.

Iran’s state television is reporting that the country’s former firebrand president will run again for office in upcoming elections in June

Iran has opened registration for potential candidates in the country's June presidential election.

The Biden administration is weighing a major rollback of some of the most stringent Trump-era sanctions imposed on Iran, in a bid to get the Islamic Republic to return to compliance with a landmark 2015 nuclear accord.

A remotely piloted boat packed with explosives has targeted the Saudi port of Yanbu in the Red Sea.

A recording of Iran’s foreign minister offering a blunt appraisal of diplomacy and the limits of power within the Islamic Republic has leaked out publicly.

A senior U.S. official says the Biden administration has laid out examples of the kinds of sanctions on Iran it's willing to lift in exchange for Iran's return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.

A first round of direct talks between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran signal a possible de-escalation following years of animosity that has often spilled over into neighboring countries.

Negotiations are starting to pick up pace even as Iran announces further violations of the deal.

Iran’s daily coronavirus death toll has climbed over 400 for the first time in months, as the country, which has long had the region’s largest outbreak, battles a post-holiday infection surge.

Negotiations aimed at bringing the United States back into the landmark nuclear deal with Iran have been held in Vienna.

Iran’s supreme leader says the offers being made at the Vienna talks over his country’s tattered nuclear deal “are not worth looking at.”.

An Iranian nuclear negotiator says Tehran will begin enriching uranium up to 60% purity after an attack on its Natanz nuclear facility.

Iran’s nuclear program has been targeted by diplomatic efforts and sabotage attacks over the last decade, with the latest incident striking its underground Natanz facility.

State TV reports that Iran has begun a 10-day lockdown amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections.

A controversial Iranian TV spy thriller is once again generating buzz in the Islamic Republic.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) greets Iran's President Hassan Rouhani (L) during their meeting at the Grand Kremlin Palace on March 28, 2017 in Moscow, Russia. Russia and Iran both carried out operations to try to interfere in the 2020 presidential election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, according to a U.S. intelligence report released Tuesday. The assessment was released as the Biden administration works to bolster relationships with key U.S. allies in order to mount pressure on Russia and Iran. Those plans were put in action by "a range of Russian government organizations," according to the report. Intelligence experts also found that China, which was previously thought to be expanding its U.S. influence efforts, ultimately did not deploy operations to affect the outcome of the Trump-Biden election.

Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi from Argentina, speaks to the media after returning from Iran at the Vienna International Airport, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)DUBAI – Iran will begin restricting the ability of United Nations nuclear inspectors to monitor Tehran's nuclear program. Restricting IAEA inspections, a cornerstone of ensuring Iran's nuclear program is peaceful, provides Iran a way to grab the West's attention. Without success at the negotiating table, Iran could bar IAEA inspectors or withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. ___Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.

(AP Photo/Ronald Zak)TEHRAN – Iran will begin to offer United Nations inspectors “less access” to its nuclear program as part of its pressure campaign on the West, though investigators will still be able to monitor Tehran's work, the U.N. atomic watchdog's chief said Sunday. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. unilaterally out of the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, saying it needed to be renegotiated. AdGrossi met earlier Sunday with Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's civilian nuclear program. In November, Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who founded the country's military nuclear program some two decades earlier, was killed in an attack Tehran blames on Israel. “Some of them may have security ramifications for Iran, whose peaceful nuclear sites have been attacked," Zarif said.

Besides signaling Thursday a willingness to talk with Iran, the administration also reversed Trump’s determination that all U.N. sanctions against Iran had been restored. He's expected to address the U.S. stance on the 2015 multilateral Iran nuclear deal, the war in Afghanistan and the economic and national security challenges posed by Russia and China. The U.S. has not participated in a meeting of those participants since Trump withdrew from the deal and began steadily ramping up sanctions on Iran. The Trump administration had imposed the severe restrictions, which essentially confined them to their U.N. mission and the U.N. headquarters building in New York. “It is concerning the Biden Administration is already making concessions in an apparent attempt to re-enter the flawed Iran deal," he said.

(UNTV via AP)PARIS – Top European and U.S. officials urged Iran on Thursday to allow continued United Nations nuclear inspections and stop nuclear activities that have no credible civilian use. Iran is “playing with fire,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who took part in talks Thursday in Paris with his British and French counterparts. Iran has said it will stop part of International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of its nuclear facilities next week if the West doesn’t implement its own commitments under the 2015 deal. The 2015 accord is aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The head of the IAEA is scheduled to travel to Iran this weekend to find a solution that allows the agency to continue inspections.

Tehran, Iran — Iran's intelligence minister has warned the West that his country could push for a nuclear weapon if crippling international sanctions on Tehran remain in place, state television reported Tuesday. The remarks by Mahmoud Alavi mark a rare occasion that a government official says Iran could reverse the course of its nuclear program, which Tehran has long insisted is for peaceful purposes only. A 1990s fatwa, or religious edict, by the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei states that nuclear weapons are forbidden. Iranian Minister of Intelligence Seyyed Mahmoud Alavi attends a press conference by President Hassan Rouhani (not seen) in Tehran, Iran, February 6, 2018. However, Israel insists Iran still maintains the ambition of developing nuclear weapons, pointing to Tehran's ballistic missile program and research into other technologies.

Iran's supreme leader said the U.S. must lift all sanctions if it wants Iran to return to its commitments to the nuclear deal with Western powers. The remarks by Mahmoud Alavi mark a rare occasion that a government official says Iran could reverse its course on the nuclear program. A 1990s fatwa, or religious edict, by the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei states that nuclear weapons are forbidden. AdIsrael has long accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, and the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers put strict limits on Iranian nuclear activities to prevent it from reaching weapons capabilities. Israel, which has been suspected of killing Iranian nuclear scientists over the last decade, has repeatedly declined to comment on the attack.

Tehran — Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday hailed the White House departure of "tyrant" Donald Trump, saying that "the ball is in America's court" to return to a landmark nuclear deal and lift sanctions on Tehran. Mr. Trump was due to leave office later in the day making way for President-elect Joe Biden, whose team has expressed a willingness to return to dialogue with Tehran. He labelled Mr. Trump "someone for whom all of his four years bore no fruit other than injustice and corruption and causing problems for his own people and the world." During his presidency, Mr. Trump led a campaign of "maximum pressure" against Iran, pulling Washington out of a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018 and reimposing punishing sanctions. The nuclear deal, agreed between major powers and Iran in 2015 when Mr. Biden was vice president under Barack Obama, imposed clear limits on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for relief from international sanctions.

The report quoted a statement from Iran’s nuclear department that asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to avoid publishing details on Iran’s nuclear program that may cause confusion. “Iran has no credible civilian use for uranium metal,” they said in a joint statement. “The production of uranium metal has potentially grave military implications.”On Thursday, the IAEA said Iran had informed it that it had begun installing equipment for the production of uranium metal. Iran reacted to the European statement Sunday saying Iran informed the U.N. nuclear watchdog nearly two decades ago of its plans for the “peaceful and conventional” production of uranium metal. The three European nations alongside the U.S., Russia and China signed the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that prohibited research and production of uranium metal.

In this photo released Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, by Tasnim News Agency, a seized South Korean-flagged tanker is escorted by Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats on the Persian Gulf. Iranian state television acknowledged that Tehran seized the oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif seemed to acknowledge Tehran's interest in leveraging the situation in a tweet about its nuclear enrichment. Meanwhile, Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized the MT Hankuk Chemi, with photos later released showing its vessels alongside the tanker. The South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted an anonymous company official denying the Iranian claim the ship polluted the water.

During his presidential campaign, Biden promised to revive President Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal with the Tehran regime. Since then, Trump has imposed ever more punishing economic sanctions on Iran, but they haven’t caused Iran to bend to his will. “We’d be giving it away for nothing in return.”But here’s why opponents of lifting nuclear sanctions are wrong. AdvertisementSecond, lifting Trump’s sanctions against Iran’s nuclear activities won’t deprive the United States of all its leverage. Third, an attempt by Biden to keep some nuclear sanctions would likely be a deal-breaker.

This Dec. 11, 2020, satellite photo by Maxar Technologies shows construction at Iran's Fordo nuclear facility. Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the U.S. over its atomic program, satellite photos obtained Friday, Dec. 18, 2020, by The Associated Press show. Already, Iran is building at its Natanz nuclear facility after a mysterious explosion in July there that Tehran described as a sabotage attack. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran agreed to stop enriching uranium at Fordo and instead make it “a nuclear, physics and technology center.”“This location was a major sticking point in negotiations leading to the Iran nuclear deal,” Lewis said. Meanwhile, an Iranian scientist who created its military nuclear program two decades ago recently was killed in a shooting outside of Tehran.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi discussed the risks of both Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs to the world, and said Mr. Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the international nuclear agreement with Tehran had intensified the danger. "From that moment, Iran, as a response to this [U.S. exit], decided to gradually start diminishing its compliance" with the nuclear pact, Grossi said in a wide-ranging interview, urging President-elect Joe Biden to reopen negotiations with Tehran. Read excerpts of the interview below, which have been edited for clarity and to remove redundancy:IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi: Iran is moving on with its nuclear program. So, I would say, on the one hand, of course, there is, there is forward moving in the Iranian nuclear program. But through nuclear technologies — and this is where I want to perhaps take a second of your attention — we are working on preventing more zoonosis [disease spread from animals to humans].

TEHRAN – Iran on Sunday summoned the German and French envoys to Tehran after the European Union condemned the execution of an Iranian journalist whose work helped inspire nationwide economic protests in 2017, Iranian state media reported. IRNA said an Iranian Foreign Ministry official summoned the ambassadors because of EU statements on the exiled reporter Ruhollah Zam, 47, who was hanged on Saturday. Zam had been jailed in Iran after Iranian authorities seized him while he was traveling in neighboring Iraq last year. “This is a barbarous and unacceptable act,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement, which condemned the hanging as a “grave blow” to freedom of speech in Iran. The initial spark for the 2017 protests was a sudden jump in food prices.

Rouhani said Wednesday that U.S. sanctions are making it difficult for Iran to purchase medicine and health supplies from abroad, including COVID-19 vaccines needed to contain the worst outbreak in the Middle East. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)TEHRAN – Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that U.S. sanctions are making it difficult for Iran to purchase medicine and health supplies from abroad, including COVID-19 vaccines needed to contain the worst outbreak in the Middle East. He said even simple transactions to purchase medicine from other countries had become extremely difficult and that it can take “weeks” to transfer funds. Rouhani said authorities are nevertheless doing what they can to buy vaccines from abroad, hoping to deliver them to high-risk individuals as soon as possible. Iran has reported more than 50,000 deaths from the coronavirus out of more than a million confirmed cases — the worst outbreak in the Middle East.

TEHRAN – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday expressed his opposition to a bill approved by parliament the previous day to suspend U.N. inspections and boost uranium enrichment, saying it would be “harmful” to diplomatic efforts aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal and easing U.S. sanctions. Under the law, if the president refuses to sign the bill, it will be automatically singed by the parliament speaker to go into effect. Tuesday's approval by lawmakers appeared to be a show of defiance after Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a key figure in Iran's nuclear program, was killed in an attack Iranian officials have blamed on Israel. Iran insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful. The U.S. imposed crippling sanctions on Iran after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear agreement in 2018.

Now, Iran finds itself the target of another attack, this time the broad-daylight assassination on Friday of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi, one of Iran’s top nuclear scientists. The killing, by what many believed was a U.S.-sanctioned Israeli hit team, has ratcheted up the pressure on Iran’s leaders for vengeance again. In its brazenness, the killing echoed other car bombings and motorcycle assassinations targeting Iran’s nuclear scientists. AdvertisementA U.S. return to the nuclear accord — and the sanctions relief it may bring — is a priority for Iran. “If they deny him this win, hard-liners have an easier and clearer path to victory.”The assassination was a humiliation for Iran’s security apparatus.

Iran on Saturday shuttered businesses and curtailed travel between its major cities, including the capital of Tehran, as it grapples with the worst outbreak of the coronavirus in the Mideast region. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)TEHRAN – Iran on Saturday shuttered businesses and curtailed travel between its major cities, including the capital of Tehran, as it grapples with the worst outbreak of the coronavirus in the Mideast region. Top Iranian officials initially downplayed the risks posed by the virus outbreak, before recently urging the public to follow measures like wearing masks and avoiding unessential travel. The Iranian Health Ministry said on Saturday that the total number of confirmed cases has risen to above 840,000. The new lockdown measures, which include shuttering most businesses, shops, malls, and restaurants, include Iran's largest cities of Mashhad, Isfahan, and Shiraz.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, center, is surrounded by a group of lawmakers after being elected as speaker of the parliament, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, May 28, 2020. Iran's parliament voted Thursday to elect Qalibaf, a hard-line former mayor of Tehran as the legislative body's new speaker. As speaker, Qalibaf leads a body that can debate Iran's annual budget and push for the impeachment of government ministers. That takes on new importance as the U.S. withdrew waivers from Iran's nuclear program late Wednesday and as tensions between the two nations remain high. A trained pilot, Qalibaf served in the paramilitary Guard during the countrys bloody 1980s war with Iraq.

TEHRAN The so-called honor killing of a 14-year-old Iranian girl by her father, who reportedly used a farming sickle to behead her as she slept, has prompted a nationwide outcry. The girl reportedly told the police she feared a violent reaction from her father. Proposed legislation against honor killings has apparently shuttled for years among various decision-making bodies in Iran. There is little data on honor killings in Iran, where local media occasionally report on such cases. Under the law, girls can marry after the age of 13, though the average age of marriage for Iranian women is 23.

Iran and Venezuela have always supported each other in times of difficulty, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza tweeted. Russ Dallen, head of the Miami-based investment firm Caracas Capital Markets, confirmed the Fortune's location using ship tracking technology. Venezuela sits atop the worlds largest oil reserves, but it must import gasoline because production has crashed in the last two decades. The Iranian tankers hold what analysts estimate to be enough gasoline to supply Venezuela for two to three weeks. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned Saturday that the United States should not to interfere with the shipment of oil bound for Venezuela.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani makes a statement on coronavirus during his meeting with Iranian economy experts and private sector representatives in Tehran, Iran on March 15, 2020. The missile struck the Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship, taking part in the exercise. State television described the missile strike as an accident, saying the Konarak had remained too close to the target. Iranian media said the Konarak had been overhauled in 2018 and was able to launch sea and anti-ship missiles. Iranian media rarely report on mishaps during its exercises, signaling the severity of the incident.

Tehran, Iran Iran's president warned Wednesday that European soldiers in the Mideast "could be in danger" after three nations challenged Tehran over breaking the limits of its nuclear deal. The shootdown and subsequent days of denials that a missile had downed it sparked days of angry protests in the country. Threats to Europeans over nuke dealAmid all of this, Britain, France and Germany launched the so-called "dispute mechanism" pertaining to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Rouhani separately criticized Europe's "baseless" words regarding the nuclear deal. However, Iran has said it will continue to allow the United Nations' nuclear watchdog access to its nuclear sites.

Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president, looks on during a news conference in Tehran, Iran, on February 6, 2018. U.S. troops are "insecure" in the region today, and EU troops "might be in danger tomorrow," Rouhani declared, according to a Reuters translation, marking the first time the leader has directed a threat toward European forces in the region. The U.S. has significantly increased its troops presence in the Gulf in the past year as shipping and oil facilities have come under fire from attacks blamed on Iran, which Tehran denies. EU forces are also stationed in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and France and Britain have small numbers of special forces in Syria. A number of EU countries have personnel in Operation Inherent Resolve, the anti-IS coalition, stationed in Iraq.

Tauseef Mustafa | AFP | BloombergIranian hackers are likely planning social engineering and phishing efforts as retaliation for the U.S. military's killing of Iranian military chief Qasem Soleimani, according to security experts in government and the private sector. But the flurry of website defacements and social media rancor over the weekend are unlikely to be important, and might not have originated from Iran at all. Russia has also assisted Iran in hacking efforts, and used the country as a cover to conduct its own espionage operations. He said that experts are more concerned about a possible flurry of social engineering attempts, aimed at compromising the credentials of employees in these agencies. Social engineering typically involves gathering information about a target -- such as what he does for a living, or who her employees are -- and using that information against the individual.

Republican Congressman Paul Gosar tweeted a doctored photo of former President Barack Obama appearing to shake hands with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani with the caption, "The world is a better place without these guys in power." Gosar faced immediate backlash for sharing the doctored image. A side-by-side comparison of the original image of Barack Obama and Manmohan Singh, left, and the doctored picture shared by Representative Paul Gosar. "The world is better without Obama as president. Many commenters continued to express doubts the congressman knew the image was fake when he shared it.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed over the caskets of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani and others slain in the attack. Iranian state TV put the crowd size at "millions," though that number could not be verified. Ghaani made his own threat in an interview with Iranian state television that aired Monday. A former Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader suggested the Israeli city of Haifa and others could be targeted should the U.S. attack Iran. Soleimani on Monday will lie in state at Tehran's famed Musalla mosque as the revolutionary leader did before him.

Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in Tehran, Iran on September 18, 2016. Press Office of Iranian Supreme Leader | Anadolu Agency | Getty ImagesIran has vowed to retaliate over the assassination of the country's top military commander Major-General Qasem Soleimani. This is a watershed moment in the struggle between Iran and the U.S. in the Middle East. "This is a watershed moment in the struggle between Iran and the U.S. in the Middle East," Emily Hawthorne, Middle East & North Africa analyst at Stratfor, told CNBC in an email on Friday. These steps would have the effect of unifying the Gulf against Tehran; Iran will instead target its ire against Washington in the near term," they said.

Stock futures tank after US kills top Iranian military leaderStock futures fell sharply Friday after the U.S. confirmed it was behind an airstrike that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a top Iranian military leader. Soleimani's death not only heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S., it also raised concern over an energy shock that could hurt the global economy. Photographer: Angel Navarrete/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesWest Texas Intermediate futures jumped nearly 4% to around $63.50 per barrel following the killing of Soleimani. Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami reportedly said "a crushing revenge" will be taken by Iran. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also said the country's stance against the U.S. will be "more decisive."

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani arrives to address the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 25, 2019. Iran's president announced on Tuesday that Tehran will begin injecting uranium gas into 1,044 centrifuges, the latest step away from its nuclear deal with world powers since President Donald Trump withdrew from the accord over a year ago. The development is significant as the centrifuges previously spun empty, without gas injection, under the landmark 2015 nuclear accord. In his announcement, President Hassan Rouhani did not say whether the centrifuges, which are at its nuclear facility in Fordo, would be used to produce enriched uranium. There was no immediate reaction from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog now monitoring Iran's compliance with the deal.

Iran agreed to a four-point plan for talks with the United States during the UN General Assembly last week, until US President Donald Trump threatened to increase sanctions against Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech. French President Emmanuel Macron made the proposals and tried to broker a meeting between Trump and Rouhani, the Iranian leader said. Tehran balked when Trump doubled down on increasing sanctions in two announcements he made over 24 hours, the Iranian president said. In his UN speech last week, Trump warned he would tighten economic penalties if Iran continued its "bloodlust." "If he leaves the country without meeting with President Trump, this is a lost opportunity," Macron told Johnson.

(CNN) - Oil prices fell Friday on some signs that stability could return to the Middle East. Iran's release of the British tanker has eased tensions also sank oil prices. U.S. oil prices are down 1.8% at $55.42 a barrel, while Brent Crude, the international benchmark, is down 1.9% at $61.55 a barrel. Two weeks ago, Saudi oil production facilities were attacked, which sent oil prices soaring the most in a decade. A deceleration in China's economy continues to weigh on oil prices too.

CNNTEHRAN - The UK-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero has left Iran, where it has been detained since July 19, and is heading for international waters. The ship sailed from Bandar Abbas port at 9 a.m. local time on Friday, Iran's state-run news agency IRNA reported. The company operating the ship, Stena Bulk, also confirmed the tanker's release. Twenty-three crew members -- none of them British -- were on board. Earlier this month, seven Indian crew members aboard the tanker were released.

Oil slid after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claimed Friday that the U.S. offered to remove all sanctions on Iran in exchange for negotiations. President Donald Trump and the State Department later denied those claims, causing oil to rebound from the lows. And America says that it will lift the sanctions," Rouhani said on his official website, according to Reuters. The State Department called the report "baseless," adding the U.S. is committed to zero oil exports from the Iranian regime, Bloomberg News said. The State Department didn't immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.