Two people also suffered severe burns.
After the blaze, firefighters were sent to the inn near Railway Square and extinguished it.
The fire engulfed 15 of 60 rooms in the two-story building.
Firefighters managed to evacuate many of those trapped inside using a hydraulic ladder before containing the blaze.
The cause of the incident is not known.
The official, US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley, repeated the long-held US position that the issue of the four people held in Iran is separate from the nuclear negotiations. He moved a step closer, however, to saying that their release was a precondition for a nuclear agreement.
“They’re separate and we’re pursuing both of them. But I will say it is very hard for us to imagine getting back into the nuclear deal while four innocent Americans are being held hostage by Iran,” Malley told Reuters in an interview.
“So even as we’re conducting talks with Iran indirectly on the nuclear file we are conducting, again indirectly, discussions with them to ensure the release of our hostages,” he added.
In recent years, Iran has arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on espionage and security-related charges.
Rights groups have accused Iran of taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage, while Western powers have long demanded that Tehran free their citizens, who they say are political prisoners. Tehran denies holding people for political reasons.
Asked if Iran and the United States might negotiate directly, Malley noted, “We’ve heard nothing to that effect. We’d welcome it.”
The four US citizens include Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi, 50, and his father Baquer, 85, both of whom have been convicted of “collaboration with a hostile government”.
Namazi remains in prison. His father was released on medical grounds in 2018 and his sentence later reduced to time served. While the elder Namazi is no longer jailed, a lawyer for the family says he is effectively barred from leaving Iran.
“Senior [Joe] Biden administration officials have repeatedly told us that although the potential Iranian nuclear and hostage deals are independent and must be negotiated on parallel tracks, they will not just conclude the nuclear deal by itself,” stated Jared Genser, pro bono counsel to the Namazi family.
“Otherwise, all leverage to get the hostages out will be lost,” he added.
The others are environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, 66, who is also British, and businessman Emad Shargi, 57.
Iran has blasted the US for linking a humanitarian exchange of prisoners with the talks over the revival of the accord. Tehran has also rejected calls for wider negotiations over its military activities and missile defense program, stressing it would only discuss over its nuclear program with world powers.
Some Iranians are in US jails just because of ignoring Washington illegal sanctions on Tehran.
“In our relations with the new Russia, we needed this visit so that Russia would accept us as a regional power and realize that it should sit down for talks with us to resolve its problems in the region. In practical terms, the main objective of this visit was creation of equity in the negotiations for resolution of future bilateral problems, and this was realized,” Amir Mahmoudzadeh told Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).
“During the visit, important agreements were reached on regional and international issues and on energy and banking topics. But what is important is that Russians attached great significance to the visit and had planned for it. The make-up of the Russian side in the meetings was pre-planned so that they could tap into Iran’s capability for their economic development and resolution of their regional problems.”
Mahmoudzadeh also described President Ebrahim Raisi’s speech at Russia’s State Duma as important.
He also talked about the draft agreement for 20-year cooperation between Iran and Russia.
“The approach of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to the prospects of relations between Iran and Russia is very positive and I am sure we are now facing a new Russia. The signing of the final agreement between the two countries will take place soon,” he said.
“The attack did not result in any casualties, while the remnants of the intercepted and destroyed ballistic missiles fell in separate areas around the Emirate of Abu Dhabi,” a statement said.
The ministry added that it was “ready to deal with any threats” and was “taking all necessary measures to protect the state from all attacks”.
The strike comes just a week after Yemen’s Huthi rebels claimed responsibility for missile and drone attacks on Abu Dhabi that triggered a fuel tank blast and killed three people.
Following the strikes, the Saudi-led coalition launched raids against Yemen.
At least 87 people have been killed after Saudi military aircraft targeted Sa’ada detention center on Friday. At least 266 people were injured, most of them in critical condition, according to Yemen’s Minister of Public Health and Population Taha Al-Mutawakil.
Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a war against the Arab world’s most impoverished nation in March 2015. The war has been seeking to restore power in Yemen to Riyadh’s favorite officials.
The death toll of the war, now in its seventh year, will reach an estimated 377,000 by the end of 2021, according to a recent report from the UN’s Development Programme.
The fighting has seen some 80 percent of the population, or 24 million people, relying on aid and assistance, including 14.3 million who are in acute need.
The quake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale struck at 6:18 at a depth of 14 kilometers with its epicenter being 9 kilometers from Basmenj on outskirts of Tabriz.
The earthquake was felt in some other parts of Iran’s East Azarbaijan Province, forcing people to rush out of their homes in panic.
There are no immediate reports of casualties or damage. However, rescue teams have been dispatched to old and vulnerable parts of Tabriz to assess if any casualties or damage took place.
Also on Sunday, a 4.4-magnitude earthquake rattled Tabriz. That tremor left no casualties.
Most of Iran’s territory including Tabriz is quake-prone and quakes are commonplace in the country.
arkissian explained that he was leaving office early because he found himself incapable of affecting the situation in the country and using his powers to resolve systemic problems in its domestic and foreign policies.
He stressed that he had simply never had the tools he needed to do that.
“This decision is not emotional at all. It follows a certain logic. The president of the country does not have the necessary tools to influence the most important issues concerning the state and nation,” he announced in his statement.
Citing satellite maps, Marjan Shakeri, the director-general of the Environment Department of Iran’s southeastern Kerman Province, told Tasnim news agency on Sunday that 100 percent of Jazmourian was now full of water and the wetland had even overflown to adjacent villages in the wake of the recent downpours.
Over the past years, Jazmourian — the only water source for Kerman Province — has been on the verge of complete desiccation due to climate change, excessive dam construction, low precipitation, high temperature rates, and the depletion of groundwater resources.
“This year, the region has seen the best rainfalls in the past 40 years and the wetland has been filled up with water to the highest level,” she said.
The official said efforts were underway by local environment authorities in the provinces of Kerman and Sistan-and-Balouchestan, between which the wetland is nestled, to draw up a comprehensive 20-year plan to revive Jazmourian, which has turned into a seasonal wetland due to consecutive dry spells.
Safi, 17, beat her rival Anja Nayar from the host country 6-4, 6-3 in the match on Sunday to become the first Iranian girl to win a match in the 2022 Australian Open-Girls’ Single.
Safi was the first Iranian player to enter the top 100 of the world junior rankings earlier this month and arrived at the Australian Open ranked No. 87.
“Meet Meshkatolzahra Safi [from Iran]. The first player from Iran to be ranked in the junior Top 100 and competing in the #AusOpen Girls’ Singles!” tweeted the WTA.
In another post, the tennis association described Safi’s win as one of the “historic milestones” of the tournament.
In a video message released by IRIB’s Varzesh 3, Safi thanked the Iranians for all their support for her.
She said her next match would be with a Belgian rival, expressing hope that she will be able to display a good performance there.
Videos and photos of the tennis player went viral on social media, drawing lots of attention to her observing of the Islamic dress code during the game.
In a piece published on Sunday, the Khorasan daily said the project to activate Daesh sleeper cells in Syria and Iraq had gathered pace in the wake of a recent attack on a prison in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah and a jail break of dangerous Daesh elements from the facility.
In Iraq, there has been a sharp hike in terrorist operations of Daesh, in the latest of which 11 members of the Iraqi military lost their lives, the paper said.
“Although it was initially believed that Daesh would establish a foothold in Afghanistan in the months to come, the Taliban’s management of Afghanistan has blocked the growth of Daesh and members of the terror group are instead recruiting and regrouping in Syria and Iraq,” the daily said.
“On the other side, Daesh activities are notable in [Iraq’s] Diyala Province near Iran’s western borderline, something that can be described as a threat to Iran,” it warned.
The newspaper linked the rise in Daesh activities to the central Iraqi government’s lack of control over the country’s peripheries and the Damascus government’s “abandoning” of Syria’s northern areas, which are occupied by US-backed Kurdish militants.
The two factors, it added, are currently posing serious challenges to the resistance axis “which are unlikely to be overcome easily.”
Mikahil Ulyanov told IRNA on Sunday that Russia has opposed to setting deadlines during the talks but the negotiations cannot continue for months and all sides must finalize them by February.
In response to a question from IRNA’s reporter about how Iran can trust the Western sides given the US left the JCPOA unilaterally in 2018, he said Russia understands the hardships Iran went through due to the US’s campaign of maximum pressure against the Islamic Republic.
The Russian diplomat added that the other parties to the Vienna talks will try to make sure they can guarantee that the situation will improve in this respect.
He added that political consultations are going on in a step-by-step manner, noting the negotiations are progressing.
Ulyanov also said he held a meeting on Sunday with Ali Bagheri Kani, top Iranian negotiator, exchanging views on the latest related to the talks.
Ulyanov also said he, along with other negotiators from the P4+1 group, met with Bagheri and all participants in the negotiations discussed one of the most important issues on the agenda. Ulyanov did not specify what the issue was.
Iran and the P4+1 on Sunday continued talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, JCPOA.
Bagheri Kani met with the coordinator of the JCPOA’s joint commission Enrique Mora at Vienna’s Coburg Hotel. Bagheri later met with his peers from the European troika.
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