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ISLAMABAD: Iran’s Cultural Counsellor Majid Meshki visited the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) on Tuesday to discuss fostering Pakistan-Iran literary cooperation. Majid Meshki engaged in in-depth discussions with PAL Chairperson Dr. Najeeba Arif and Director General Sultan Nasir to consider options for intensifying the literary aspect and cultural association between the two nations. During the […]

The threat of European countries reimposing sanctions on Iran – which were lifted after the nuclear agreement was signed – hangs over Iran's head like a whip, while the amount of water in Tehran's five largest reservoirs is down to just 13 percent

Iran has no plans to abandon its nuclear programme, including uranium enrichment, despite “severe” damage to its facilities after US strikes last month, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday. For now, enrichment “is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe”, Araghchi told Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier”. “But obviously we cannot give up enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists,” he continued, calling it a source of “national pride”. He stressed that any future nuclear deal would have to contain the right to enrichment. When asked whether any enriched uranium had been saved from the strikes, Araghchi said he had “no detailed information”, but that Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation is “trying to evaluate what has exactly happened to our nuclear material, to our enriched material”. Washington bombed three nuclear facilities in Iran on June 22 to support Israel’s 12-day military offensive, including the Fordow underground uranium enrichment site located south o...

ISLAMABAD - Iran’s Interior Minister Seyyed Eskandar Momeni on Monday held a telephonic conversation with Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, during which they discussed the upcoming visit of Iranian President Dr Masoud Pezeshkian to Pakistan on July 26.

Tehran on Monday accused Britain, France and Germany of failing to respect the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, after they threatened to reimpose sanctions over its atomic programme. The 2015 deal, reached between Iran and the UN Security Council’s permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. But it unravelled when the United States in 2018, during Donald Trump’s first term as president, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and reimposed sweeping sanctions. The Europeans had pledged continued support for the deal, but the mechanism intended to offset US sanctions never materialised effectively, and many Western firms were forced to exit Iran, which has since faced a deepening economic crisis. “The European parties have been at fault and negligent in implementing” the nuclear agreement, said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei. The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran is the only ...

Iran has replaced air defences damaged during last month’s conflict with Israel, Iran’s Defah Press news agency reported on Sunday quoting the regular army’s deputy for operations, Rear Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi. During the conflict in June, Israel’s air force dominated Iran’s airspace and dealt a heavy blow to the country’s air defences while Iranian armed forces launched successive barrages of missiles and drones on Israeli territory, successfully hitting strategic targets. “The Zionist enemy sought to destroy Iran’s defence capabilities, and some of our defence systems were damaged in this war; But with the efforts of my comrades, the damaged systems were replaced and deployed in predetermined locations,” Mousavi said. Admiral Mousavi added that Israel was not able to achieve its objectives and that the United States and NATO helped Tel-Aviv in the war. Prior to the war, Iran had its own domestically-made long-range air defence system Bavar-373 in addition to the Russian-made S-300 system. The report by Defa...

An undefeated Pakistan team on Saturday beat Iran 3-2 in the Asian Men’s U-16 Volleyball Championship final to win the tournament that was being held in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. After being 0-2 down earlier in the match, Pakistan made an incredible comeback by winning three straight sets to win the final 3-2. The scores across the five sets were 22-25, 21-25, 30-28, 25-21, 15-10. Junaid was the top scorer for Pakistan with 28 points joined by Faizan in second place with 22 points. Talha and Muhammad Irfan chipped in with nine and eight points each. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the team on their win in a post on X. Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also hailed the victory and commended the Green Shirts on their win. “Proud moment for us all as U-16 volleyball team has won the Asian Championship, defeating defending champions Iran in the final. A moment of pride and inspiration for the entire nation. Well done, champs!”, the interior minister said in a post on X. On Friday, Pakistan beat Ind...

'Iran will develop satellite capabilities, work on improving the accuracy of its missiles and upgrade its ability to penetrate our systems,' one Israeli air force officer argues. But people are saying that in another round with Iran, the result on the home front will be similar

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his European counterparts on Friday that they have no grounds for reactivating UN sanctions after they threatened to do so in the coming months unless there is progress in nuclear talks. “If EU/E3 want to have a role, they should act responsibly and put aside the worn-out policies of threat and pressure, including the ‘snap-back’ for which they (have) absolutely no moral (or) legal grounds,” Araghchi said on X. He added that “any new round of talks is only possible when the other side is ready for a fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial nuclear deal.” The remarks came after Araghchi held a conference call with his British, French and German counterparts and European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. The European diplomats told Araghchi of “their determination to use the ‘snapback’ mechanism — which allows for the reimposition of all international sanctions against Iran — in the absence of concrete progress” towards a new deal on Iran’s nuclear programme “by...

Pakistan on Wednesday stressed that Iran’s envoy in Islamabad, Reza Amiri Moghadam, was “widely respected” after the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) added him to its Most Wanted list for his alleged role in the 2007 disappearance and suspected abduction of retired FBI agent Robert A. “Bob” Levinson. “As far as Pakistan is concerned, the ambassador of Iran is widely respected for his role in the promotion of Pakistan-Iran relations,” FO spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan told Dawn.com in response to a request for comment on the matter. “He is entitled to all the privileges, immunities and respect due to [being an] ambassador, that too, from a friendly neighbouring country,” Shafqat highlighted. Levinson arrived on Iran’s Kish Island on March 8, 2007 and went missing the following day. Notably, a 2013 Associated Press (AP) investigation revealed that Levinson had been sent on a spy mission by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analysts who had no authority to run such an operation. Levinson’s fami...

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, has revealed that nearly 40,000 Pakistani pilgrims who traveled to Iran, Iraq, and Syria are either missing or have overstayed, with no official record of their whereabouts.

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday slammed last month’s attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran as “unacceptable” as he attended a ministerial meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in China’s Tianjin. The SCO is a 10-nation Eurasian security and political grouping whose members include China, Russia, Pakistan, India, and Iran. The group’s foreign ministers meet as a precursor to the annual summit of its leaders, which will be hosted by China this autumn in Tianjin. On June 13, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign on Iran that targeted military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas, and killed senior military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. The attacks began days before a planned meeting between Tehran and Washington aimed at reviving nuclear negotiations. The US, which had been in talks with Iran since April 12, joined Israel in carrying out its own strikes on June 22, targeting Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz. Iranian authori...

Federal Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Mashhad as part of his official visit to Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has reaffirmed Iran’s deep commitment to strengthening relations with Pakistan, highlighting the importance of unity among Muslim nations and appreciation for Pakistan's past support.

ISLAMABAD - In a significant diplomatic development, the interior ministers of Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq convened in Tehran for a landmark trilateral conference aimed at enhancing facilitation for religious pilgrims traveling between the three countries.

Iran said on Monday there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities. Washington and Tehran had been engaged in several rounds of negotiations seeking to strike a deal on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme, but Israel derailed the talks when it […]

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday announced that he and his counterparts in and Iran and Iraq will form a trilateral working group to prevent illegal migration under the guise of pilgrimage, Radio Pakistan reported. Earlier this month, the government, during a meeting, decided that under the new measures, the traditional Salar System for zaireen (pilgrims) will be abolished and replaced with a zaireen group organisers model. From 2026 onwards, pilgrims will only be allowed to travel under registered organisers. Speaking at a trilateral conference of the interior ministers of Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq in Tehran, Naqvi told journalists the conference agreed to take all possible measures to facilitate zaireen travelling to Iran and Iraq. View this post on Instagram “We had a great and good discussion,” Naqvi said. “We will have a joint working group between the three countries so we can have better coordination. “The most important thing to acknowledge is that there are several million people who go to Ira...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi reaffirmed Pakistan’s strong condemnation of the recent attack on Iran, expressing full support for Tehran’s right to defend itself.

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Iran on an official visit, where he was warmly received at Imam Khomeini International Airport by Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni.

QUETTA: Iran Air plans to launch direct weekly passenger and cargo flights from Quetta to the Iranian cities of Zahidan and Mashhad in a move aimed at boosting trade and travel between the neighbouring countries, an Iranian diplomat announced on Saturday. The new air service will help facilitate commerce, reduce travel time and costs for traders, and strengthen bilateral ties, said Ali Reza Rajai, Iran’s acting consul general in Quetta. The announcement was made at a ceremony organised by the Pak-Iran Joint Chamber of Commerce. The flights are intended “to facilitate trade and travel between Pakistan and Iran,” Rajai said, stressing the need for stronger cooperation. Top officials from the airline, including Iran Air Chief Agha Karimi and Deputy Chief Agha Ismail, were also in attendance. Mr Rajai said the new service would be critical for enhancing port-to-port cooperation between Pakistan’s Gwadar Port and Iran’s Chabahar Port. He called for bureaucratic hurdles to be removed to improve bilateral business, ...