Iran

Tehran, Iran (CNN) – Iran’s supreme leader accused the United States of “spreading lies” about the Islamic state Wednesday, Iranian media reported. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected recent remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who just wrapped up a tour of the region. “Once again the Americans have sent their agent to go around [...]

Heightening its warnings as anticipated anti-government protests approach, Iran’s government says it will arrest protesters and hold them until April if they disrupt state-sanctioned marches to commemorate the overthrow of the Shah of Iran. Iran is this week celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, culminating on February 11 — a day that marked [...]

TEHRAN, Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed Thursday that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, saying his country will not be bullied by the West into curtailing its nuclear program a day after the U.S. imposed new sanctions. Ahmadinejad reiterated to hundreds of thousands of cheering Iranians on [...]

Iran’s national museum has said it will cut all ties with the British Museum in protest at a decision to delay the loan of an ancient Persian treasure. The Cyrus Cylinder dates back to the 6th Century BC and is regarded as the world’s first declaration of rights. The British Museum says it needs to [...]

Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency it does not accept the terms of a deal to ease concerns about its nuclear programme, diplomats say. For months, the Iranian government has criticised the offer to ship low-enriched uranium abroad in return for fuel, but never responded formally. But diplomats say Tehran is now suggesting [...]

Iran’s central bank has said defaced banknotes are to be made invalid, after the appearance of opposition slogans on money, local media report. They quote bank official Ebrahim Darvishi as saying that people possessing defaced banknotes should exchange them by 8 January. It was difficult to distinguish genuine defaced notes from fakes, he added. Messages [...]

Opposition sources in Iran say that at least four protesters have been shot dead in violent clashes between anti-government crowds and police in Tehran. The nephew of former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi was among the dead, the BBC has confirmed. Security forces reportedly opened fire on protesters. Police have denied there were any fatalities. [...]

Nearly a week after a border dispute flared over a seized oil well, Iraq and Iran continued to pick at each other, but both nations signaled their intentions to resolve the spat. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said late Tuesday that Iraqi lawmakers will attempt to review and analyze the 1975 Algiers Treaty and come [...]

Washington (CNN)– The U.S. military’s Missile Defense Agency will practice protecting the United States from a simulated Iranian missile attack next month in an exercise using the agency’s newest missile-killing technology, Pentagon officials said Friday. Previous tests have been focused on a missile trajectory that mimics an attack from North Korea, but the January test [...]

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) — Both Iraq and Iran stood their ground Saturday over the reported seizure of a southern Iraqi oil well by Iranian forces. Two days after Iraq said an Iranian “armed group” crossed the border into Iraq and seized the well, Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Labid Abawi said the occupation of well No. [...]

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The White House warned Iran Tuesday that it faces further sanctions if “they don’t stop their enrichment activities, if they don’t forsake their nuclear weapons program.” “Our allies are serious about addressing this head-on,” President Barack Obama’s spokesman Robert Gibbs told CNN. “I think it would be wise for the Iranians to [...]

New York (CNN) — The federal government is seeking forfeiture of properties belonging to the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp. — accused of transferring money to a bank owned by the Iranian government — including a Manhattan skyscraper and at least three mosques. Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, [...]