Hassan Rouhani - The African Mirror

Jun

2021

Iran says U.S. to lift oil sanctions, Germany, France cautious on matter

PARISA HAFEZI and HUMEYRA PAMUK IRAN says the United States had agreed to remove all sanctions on Iran's oil and shipping, although Germany cautioned that major issues remained at talks between Tehran and world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal. The Iranian remarks, by outgoing President Hassan Rouhani's chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi, echoed previous assertions by officials in Rouhani's pragmatist camp that Washington is prepared to make major concessions at the talks, which have been underway since April in Vienna. The talks adjourned on Sunday for consultations in capitals, two days after Iran held a presidential election won…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

President-elect Raisi backs nuclear talks, rules out meeting Biden

WORLD

PARISA HAFEZI PRESIDENT-ELECT Ebrahim Raisi has backed talks between Iran and six world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal but flatly rejected meeting U.S. President Joe Biden, even if Washington removed all sanctions. In his first news conference since he was elected on Friday, the hardline cleric said his foreign policy priority would be improving ties with Iran's Gulf Arab neighbours, while calling on Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia to immediately halt its intervention in Yemen. Raisi, 60, a strident critic of the West, will take over from pragmatist Hassan Rouhani on August 3 as Iran seeks to salvage…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Hardline judge Raisi leads in Iranian presidential election, says official

WORLD

HARDLINE judge Ebrahim Raisi leads Iran's presidential election, an interior ministry official said today, a day after millions of Iranians voted in a contest that critics boycotted over economic woes and political restrictions. Raisi had so far won 17.8 million votes, the official said in televised news conference. More than 28 million Iranians out of 59 million eligible voters cast ballots, the official said. Raisi, a 60-year-old Shi'ite cleric who is subject to U.S. sanctions for alleged human rights abuses, had been widely expected to win the contest, thanks to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's support. Raisi's only moderate rival…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Iran’s Rouhani accuses Israel of killing nuclear scientist

WORLD

IRAN’S president has accused Israel of killing a prominent Iranian scientist long suspected by the West of masterminding a secret nuclear bomb programme, state TV reported. Iran's clerical and military rulers have threatened revenge for Friday's killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who Iranian media said died in hospital after assassins gunned him down in his car near Tehran. "Once again, the evil hands of global arrogance were stained with the blood of the mercenary usurper Zionist regime," a term for Israel, President Hassan Rouhani said in a statement, according to state TV. "The assassination of martyr Fakhrizadeh shows our enemies' despair…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Rouhani says U.S. can impose neither negotiations nor war on Iran

WORLD

PARISA HAFEZI IRAN’S president has told the U.N. General Assembly that the United States could impose "neither negotiations nor war" on the Islamic Republic amid heightened tension between the longtime foes over Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with major powers. "Iran is not a bargaining chip in U.S. elections and domestic policy ... Any U.S. administration after the upcoming (U.S.) elections will have no choice but to surrender to the resilience of the Iranian nation," Hassan Rouhani told the annual U.N. gathering in a video message. The U.S.-Iranian confrontation has intensified since 2018 when President Donald Trump withdrew the United States…