Iran News in Brief
Iran
Iran News in Brief
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Widespread use of Iranian vaccine, "the safest vaccine in the world" to begin soon - Iran Food and Drug Administration
Officials at Iran's Ministry of Health announced on Monday (31 May) that they would soon begin using the domestically produced Covid-19 vaccine. Kianoosh Jahanpour, a spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration, said that clinical trials of the two Barakat and the jointly produced vaccines between the Pasteur Institute and Cuba have been successful, adding that the approval of the widespread and voluntary use will be issued in the upcoming days.
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Effectiveness of Barakat vaccine 80% - Minoo Mohraz
A member of the Scientific Committee of the National Coronavirus Combat Taskforce (NCCT) said in a statement that using COV-Iran Barakat vaccine has not had any particular side effects so far and the effectiveness of this vaccine has been 80% and in cell culture above 95%.
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Prominent figures endorse Iranian vaccine
Among the volunteers of the third phase of clinical studies of COV-Iran Barakat vaccine, there are public figures such as journalists, actors, and football players. They are voluntarily participating in the clinical studies, showing that they have confidence in the work done by the Iranian scientists.
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First debate of 2021 Iranian presidential election held
The first debate between the candidates of the 13th presidential election in Iran was held between Seyyed Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Abdolnaser Hemmati, Mohsen Rezaei, Saeed Jalili, Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, Mohsen Mehr Alizadeh and Alireza Zakani on economic issues. Before the Iranian presidential election on June 28, 2021, two more controversial debates will be held between the candidates. Details of the first debate in Persian can be seen in the link below:
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Exports of $11b worth of Iranian agricultural and food products to Iraq in the past 5 years
"In the past five years, the total export of Iranian agricultural products and food industry to Iraq has been $11 billion, of which $ 3.7 billion belonged to the fruit and vegetable group," said the director-general of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPO)'s Office of Arabian and African Countries
“From 2016 to 2020, about 30% of Iran's total exports to Iraq were agricultural products and food industries, including fruits and vegetables, processing industries, dairy products, sweets and chocolates and cereal products, animal products, nuts and flowers and plants” Piltan added.
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Inauguration of $16m project to develop Shalamcheh border crossing between Iran and Iraq
The Investment Authority in Basra has announced the launch of a $16 million investment project for trade between Iran and Iraq. In an official statement from the organization, it is stated that the governorate of Basra inaugurated a $16 million trade exchange project between the two countries on an 8.5-hectare site at the Shalamcheh border crossing.
At the inauguration of the project, Iraqi Minister of Transport Nasser Hussein al-Shabli emphasized the need to increase the number of projects at other Iraqi border crossings.
Alaa Abdul Hussein, head of the Basra Investment Authority, also said that this project would be implemented with domestic investment and would create thousands of job opportunities.
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Arrival of tourist groups of 5 to 50 people in Iran and Russia without visa
The Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Asghar Mounesan, said during his visit to Moscow that by signing a joint action plan for the abolition of group visas between Tehran and Moscow, Iranian and Russian tourist groups of 5 to 50 people can travel to both countries.
In response to IRNA's question, Mounesan added in Moscow that in the current government, one of the most important issues has been to streamline the entry of foreign tourists into the country, and the target markets for tourism were identified and it was decided to abolish visas with target countries."
"One of these destinations and target markets for tourism was Russia, and tourists from the two countries in groups of at least five and at most 50 people can travel to the two countries without a visa”, Mounesan added.
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Resumption of trade between Iran and Korea in the next three months
The head of the Iran - South Korea Joint Chamber of Commerce said that instead of paying in cash or manufactured goods, technical equipment and machinery of the manufacturing sector will be imported to Iran.
“Small and medium-sized companies in this country are making great effort to start trading with Iran, and on the other hand, large companies in South Korea have announced their readiness to re-join the Iranian business list.”
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Iraq hopeful to fully revive gas imports from Iran
Ahmed Musa, spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, said the Ministries of Electricity and Economy, as well as the head of the Iraqi Commercial Bank, had agreed to pay off debts to Iran on time and then resume gas imports from the country.
Iran's gas exports to Iraq were halted in December last year after Baghdad's $6 billion debt was not paid to Tehran. Although these exports began a few months later, their volume was limited.
Musa added that the current import of gas from Iran is 20 million cubic meters per day, which is one third of the contract of 70 million cubic required by Baghdad on hot summer days. If gas imports from Iran return to their previous volume, Iraq's electricity production will increase to 22,000 megawatts.
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IAEA: Iran's uranium reserves are 16 times more than the amount specified in JCPOA.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report that Iran's enriched uranium reserves are currently 16 times more than the amount specified in the JCPOA. In a report sent to members of the Board of Governors and seen by some international media outlets, the UN nuclear watchdog estimated Iran's enriched uranium reserves at 3,241 kilograms, adding that they could not provide an exact figure.
One year after the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, the Islamic Republic of Iran fulfilled all its obligations under the agreement to give European countries the opportunity to make their promise of compensation following the Washington's violation. Tehran announced that it would reduce its obligations under the agreed deal gradually, given that European countries had not fulfilled their promises. The reduction of Iran's obligations took place under the provisions of the JCPOA’s nuclear agreement.
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US seizes 2 million barrels of Iranian crude oil in UAE, selling them for $110m - Chinese media
A Chinese media has criticized the US government's recent move in "piracy" and the sale of Iranian oil, calling it a destructive move on the Tehran-Washington diplomacy route.
CGTN: “According to a recent report by the Associated Press citing court documents and government statistics, the U.S. sold off about 2 million barrels of Iranian crude oil, seized from a tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates that was reportedly en route to China, for about $110 million. This is just the latest example of how the U.S. government – regardless of who or which political party is in power – does not respect international law or the principle of sovereignty.”
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UN envoy on Yemen meets Iran FM
Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif in a meeting with Martin Griffiths, UN special envoy for Yemen, elaborated on Iran's viewpoint on ending the Yemen crisis, the developments following the beginning of the crisis in the country, and underlined the need for removing the blockade against the country and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Yemeni people.
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UN envoy on Afghanistan meets Iran FM
Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif in a meeting with Jean Arnault, UN special envoy for Afghanistan, elaborated on Iran's viewpoint regarding Afghanistan, especially peace and security in the country and the peace process led by Afghans. He also expressed Tehran's support for intra-Afghan talks and the need to protect the achievements of the Afghan people in recent years, especially in terms of the basic rights of the people.
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Afghan student wins math Olympiad competition in Iran
Mohammad Masih Hamidi, an Afghan student at Sharif University of Technology, won the first-position title in an Olympiad event in Iran. This is the first time since the establishment of the math Olympiad program that an Afghan student wins first place in a scientific competition in Iran.
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Iranian talents in creating progress in American
Mohammad Ehteshami, an Iranian citizen living in the United States who is the designer of General Electric jet engines in the United States, has talked at a conference about how he developed and achieved his childhood dreams. You can watch his speech in the link below:
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Epic images of Iran’s past five thousand years in the famous museum in London
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has set up the first major British exhibition in 90 years called the Epic Iran. This exhibition houses more than 300 objects from 5,000 years of Iranian art and culture from ancient, Islamic and contemporary times. To complete its exhibition, the Victoria and Albert Museum has used antiquities and art of Iran in other museums around the world. In epic Iran, the Persian Empire, focusing on the Achaemenids, has a separate section, and the Cyrus Charter of Human Rights is available in the British Museum. Commenting on the splendour of this period, the Guardian newspaper wrote that The Persian Empire depicts a glorious ceremonial life. This exhibition will be held for 3 months.
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Iran victorious over Bulgaria, Italy in 2021 VNL
The Iranian volleyball team with its young players was able to win its fifth and sixth matches in the 2021 League of Volleyball Nations, against Italy and Bulgaria with the results of 3 to 1 and 3 to 0, respectively. On the sixth day of competition, the Iranian national volleyball team has 4 wins and 2 losses and is in the sixth place with 12 points.
Iranian volleyball team makes history
For the first time, the Iranian national volleyball team has moved to the sixth place in the world volleyball ranking with 283 points. The national team also won the title of the best Asian team yesterday. At the top of the rankings is Brazil, as in recent years, and Poland and the United States are second and third.