Publish Date: 15 October 2020 - 09:25

TEHRAN, Oct. 15 (MNA) – The following are Iran's developments in the past 24 hours.

Slovakian ULB keen on boosting cultural coop. with Tehran

During a meeting with the Iranian envoy to Slovakia, the Director-General of the Bratislava University Library expressed the library's readiness to expand Scientific and cultural cooperation with Tehran.

'Simulation of Mr. Yellow' wins at Sheffield Short FilmFest.

Iranian short experimental documentary 'Simulation of Mr. Yellow' directed by Mahan Khomamipour, has won the Best Documentary Award at the Sheffield Short Film Festival in the UK.

Abdullah Abdullah to visit Tehran on Sunday: FM spox

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman said that the Head of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah is set to visit Iran on Sunday.

Saeed Khatibzadeh noted that Abdullah Abdullah along with other Afghan officials including members of the High Council for National Reconciliation as well as Afghan National Assembly and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are scheduled to visit Tehran on Sunday.

Economic convict, corruptor extradited from Europe: Judiciary

Following the notification of Judiciary Chief and for the first time, a major economic convict was extradited to the country from Europe.

On June 08, 2020 in the course of meeting of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi pointed to the firm determination of the judiciary in fighting corruption and handling economic cases and added, “Sheltering criminals, corruptors, and looters of people’s property by Western countries is one of the clear examples of oppression and injustice.”

Iran ready to play role in solving Azerbaijan-Armenia dispute

Iranian President’s Chief of Staff said that Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to play a key role in resolving dispute between Azerbaijan Republic and Armenia.

Speaking in a telephone conversation with Azerbaijan's Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev on Wed., Mahmoud Vaezi emphasized, “Tehran welcomes Baku's offer on playing a more active role of Iran, Russia and Turkey in maintaining peace and stability in the region.”

Iran, Russia discuss bilateral trade cooperation

Iranian Minister of Energy Reza Ardakanian and his Russian counterpart reviewed the latest status of Iran-Russia trade cooperation on Wednesday.

In a phone talk on Wednesday, Ardakanian and Russian minister of energy Alexander Novak conferred on the latest status of bilateral projects and trade cooperation between the two countries.

Security situation in world has worsened: Iran UN envoy

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations warned against return of Cold War-era mentality, stating that threat of weapons of mass destruction and outer space and cybernetic threats have worsened security situation in the world.

Majid Takht Ravanchi made the remarks on Wed. at the Disarmament and International Security Committee of 75th Session of the UN General Assembly.

Referring to the ongoing conflicts and some current dangers such as use or threat of force, rising costs and escalation of arms races, he added, “Return of Cold War-era mentality along with the constant threat posed by weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and emergence of new threats in the field of artificial intelligence, cyber and outer space has worsened the security situation in the world extremely.”

Iran opposes any foreign military presence in Persian Gulf

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs said that the Islamic Republic of Iran opposes any foreign military presence in the Persian Gulf region.

Speaking in his meeting with the new Danish ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran on Wed., Seyyed Abbas Araghchi reiterated that Islamic Republic of Iran opposes any foreign military presence in the Persian Gulf including European forces.

Arresting Iranian diplomat in Belgium unacceptable

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that the Islamic Republic of Iran considers the arrest of an Iranian diplomat and violating his immunity as unacceptable.

Khatibzadeh dismissed as baseless the allegations made by Reuters and some European media outlets regarding the Iranian diplomat about warning Belgian officials.

Presence of foreign forces aggravate regional problems

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the presence of foreign forces complicates and aggravates regional problems.

He made the remarks in a phone talk with his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi on Tuesday while conferring on international and regional developments as well as bilateral ties.

Zarif further congratulated the reappointment of Motegi as the Japanese Foreign Minister and expressed hope that Japan’s role in stabilizing the region will continue in the future.

Copper cathode output vol. hits a record high in H1: NICICO

According to the statistics of the National Iranian Copper Industries Company (NICICO), copper cathode production volume was broken in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (from March 21 to Sept. 22).

Some 139,899 tons of copper cathode was produced in the country in the first six months of the current year, showing a six percent growth as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.

Iran, Qatar emphasize developing bilateral ties

Islamic Republic of Iran and Qatar stressed the need to develop and expand bilateral ties on a series of mutual interests.

Iranian Minister of Energy Reza Ardakanian and Qatari Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari held talks on Tue. through videoconference.

Iranian frozen assets in Iraq at $5bn

The governor of the Central Bank of Iran announced on Wednesday that the volume of Iran's blocked assets in Iraqi banks stands at five billion dollars.

"We are trying to stabilize the situation. It is complex and changing. Tens of billions of dollars of our assets are frozen in foreign banks and even countries that have good relations with Iran can not cooperate with us due to the US pressure," he said on the sideline of the Cabinet meeting.

Iran COVID-19 update: 279 deaths, 4,830 cases in 24 hours

The Iranian Health Ministry has confirmed 4,830 COVID-19 infections and 279 deaths due to the disease in the past 24 hours.

Iran’s Health Ministry Spokesperson Sima Lari made the announcement on Wednesday, saying that the number of total coronavirus cases in the country has so far reached 513,219 with the death toll standing at 29,349.

States sanctioning Iranians cannot claim human rights

Stating that Iranians will neither forgive nor forget the inhumane acts of some European states, Ali Bagheri-Kani said that the countries that have subjected the Iranians to the most severe sanctions cannot claim human rights.

Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights Ali Bagheri-Kani made the remarks in his meeting with Austrian Ambassador to Tehran Stefan Schulz.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed the potential for bilateral cooperation in the legal and judicial fields.

Iran free to sell, buy weapons as of Sunday: Rouhani

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the UN arms embargo against Iran will be lifted as of Sunday as will make Tehran able to buy or sell weapons.

“On the next Sunday, we will announce this good news to the nation that 10 years of the cruel arms embargo is removed,” Rouhani said while addressing a cabinet session on Wednesday.

Iran’s economy predicted to grow 3.2% next year: IMF

In its latest report, International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wed. announced that Iran’s economy will grow by 3.2 percent in 2021.

The latest report of the International Monetary Fund on the state of world economy and its future outlook, which was recently published, estimates that Iran's economic growth in 2021 will hit 3.2 percent. This estimate shows that Iran’s economy has improved 0.1 percent as compared to the Fund's previous estimate of Iran's economic growth outlook for next year.

Iran appointed G-24 chair

The Islamic Republic of Iran was appointed chair of Group of Twenty-Four (G-24) on Tuesday.

In a recent meeting of ministers and general heads of G-24, held on Tuesday through videoconference, Governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnaser Hemmati undertook the periodical presidency of the Group for a period of 12 months.

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