Golrokh Askarieh

National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI) Director Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri met with a Turkish cultural delegation led by the director of the Atatürk Culture Language and History High Commission, Derya Ors, in Tehran on Monday May 30.

Portuguese Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge Costa Oliveira called for bolstering relations with Iran, especially in the field of communications, and establishing direct flights between the two countries.

An Iran-Sweden trade meeting opened on Wednesday June 1, attended by 230 Iranian and Swedish economic figures.

Iran has not negatively impacted the oil market by doubling its crude oil exports, says Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh.

Kianoush Rostami , an Iranian weightlifter at the 85kg category, managed to set a new world record to win the title at the 1st International Fajr Cup Weightlifting Championships in Tehran.

Iran has struck a number of economic agreements worth some $1.2bn during an Iranian delegation’s trip to Poland and Finland, says an official.

A senior business official voiced his satisfaction with the positive results of a recent visit by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and a 60-strong delegation to Poland.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari expressed deep sorrow over the extension of the jail term of Bahraini opposition leader, Sheikh Ali Salman, saying that Al Khalifa cannot resolve the Persian Gulf country’s protracted problems by such moves.

A new exhibition of paintings, inspired by the wonderful motifs and attractive colours of Persian carpets, has opened at Tehran’s Etemad Gallery.

Iran plans to inaugurate 10 new petrochemical complexes by the end of this Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2017), Managing Director of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Marzieh Shah-Daei said.

The 12-member governing board of the Iranian Parliament was put to a vote on Tuesday May 31, and the seats were almost split between two main factions, the reformists and the conservatives. What follows is IFP’s translation of IRNA’s coverage of the elections, with additional details from official Parliament news agency ICANA.

Iranian Minister of Industry, Mines, and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, who is in Berlin, said major German automakers have determined to resume their activities and investment in Iran’s market.

A Greek prisoner who was recently freed from an Israeli jail disclosed that the four Iranian diplomats who had been abducted by Phalange forces in Northern Lebanon in 1982 are still alive and in Israel's custody, media reports said.

A lieutenant commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said that Western civilization has plundered oppressed nations and is now on the verge of collapse, noting that an Islamic civilization is rising in its place with a message of peace and prosperity for the world.

President Hassan Rouhani said that all Iranians, including Shia and Sunni Muslims, have equal civil rights in the country.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said after the Americans stole Iran’s $2bn assets in April, he asked colleagues to stop sending heavy water shipments to the US to clear up the case.

Iran has bankrolled $800m for the development of Sanandaj and Mahabad petrochemical plants, both located in the country's Kurdish regions, thus making Iran’s biggest state investment in the region's history.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is in Finland on the second leg of his European tour, said the Helsinki Policy Forum is an opportunity to examine the possibility of holding regional dialogue among Persian Gulf states.

The long-serving speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, was chosen once again by the MPs as the speaker of the 10th Parliament on Tuesday May 31.

The campaign for car-free Tuesdays, which is gaining momentum across Iran, originated last November in Arak, a city overburdened by too many pollutant industries.

The director of the Aran Puppet Theatre Group, Behruz Gharibpur, has focused on the life story of the Persian mathematician, astronomer and poet Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) in his operatic puppet show, which is scheduled to be performed in Tehran in the near future.

Head of Iranian Space Organization Mohsen Bahrami said that the country would launch at least one satellite in the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2016).

The Deputy Energy Minister announced that Iran has exported 10bn kWh of electricity to regional countries over the past Iranian calendar year, which ended March 19.

Senior Expediency Council Official Ali Akbar Velayati stressed that the Iraqi nation and government will overcome terrorists.

Secretary of Iran's National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani announced that Tehran will certainly lodge complaints with international courts contesting the US Supreme Court ruling which authorized the transfer of $2bn of Tehran's frozen assets to the families of the victims of a 1983 bombing in Beirut.