Radiofarda – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says a “counter-revolutionary conspiracy” has been hatched to “suspend work and economic activity” amid the coronavirus epidemic in Iran and it should be countered by “normalizing production.” He made the statement on Saturday March 21 at a meeting of the Coronavirus Control Task Force which is the body that decided to shut down schools …

Radiofarda – In a rhetorical, discursive letter addressed to the people of the United States, the Islamic Republic President Hassan Rouhani has lamented that the victims of the sanctions Washington imposed on Tehran are not the country’s political camps, but the ordinary people. Commemorating the new Persian year (Nowruz, beginning March 20), the mid-ranking cleric has called on American people …

Radiofarda – Finns have once again been ranked first in the World Happiness index, while Afghans dropped to the bottom of the global table, earlier occupied by Sudan. The clergy-dominated Iran finished at 118th, the U.S.A. 18th, and Tajikistan on 106th spot, the report says. The World Happiness Report (WHR) says it is a landmark survey of the state of global …

RFL/RE – U.S. President Donald Trump has used an annual message to Iranians and others celebrating Norouz, the Persian New Year, to call for a “brighter, freer future” for Iran. “On behalf of the United States, I extend my warmest greetings for a joyous and peace-filled Norouz,” which marks the first day of spring, Trump said in his message on March 20. …

RFL/RE – Iran has released a French researcher held since last year in an apparent prisoner swap for an Iranian engineer held in France for more than a year, Iranian state media report. Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported on March 20 that Jalal Rohollahnejad, who was detained by France in February 2019 under a U.S. extradition warrant, had been released.The …

RFL/RE – Iranians are marking a somber Norouz amid one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks that has officially killed over 1,400 and spread to all of the country’s 31 provinces. Norouz, which marks the beginning of the Iranian new year, is the most important and joyous event in the country when families come together and exchange gifts. But this …

Al-Monitor – In separate speeches to mark the Persian new year, Iran’s top leaders pledged to defeat the coronavirus outbreak that’s so far claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Iranians. After canceling his annual Nowruz public address in the city of Mashhad earlier this month, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei released a video address on state TV Friday.  During …

Reuters -The United States sent Iran a blunt message this week: the spread of the coronavirus will not save it from U.S. sanctions that are choking off its oil revenues and isolating its economy. Iran is the Middle Eastern nation worst hit by coronavirus, with its death toll climbing to 1,284 and one person dying from it every 10 minutes …

Radiofarda – Iran said Friday that coronavirus has killed 149 more people in the Islamic republic, raising the country’s official death toll from the disease to 1,433. Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raeesi said 1,237 more cases have been confirmed over the past 24 hours and 19,644 people are now known to have been infected in Iran, one of the world’s …

Radiofarda – As the new year started in Iran, the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addressed his domestic audience about setbacks in the past year, trying to instill some optimism, but he refrained from his fiery attacks on the United States. Iran’s state TV broadcast an unusually long pre-recorded video of Khamenei’s Nowruz (Iranian New Year) message early Friday March …