DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday welcomed Japan’s decision not to join a U.S.-led naval mission in the Gulf and said he had discussions on ways of “breaking” U.S. sanctions on a trip to Tokyo. Friction between Tehran and Washington has increased since last year when U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six nations and re-imposed sanctions on the country, crippling its economy. Washington proposed the naval mission…

Iran on Friday called US foreign policy “delusional” and its chief diplomat a “loudspeaker for bullying, deceit and disdain”, a day after Washington announced new sanctions against Tehran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, announcing the measures against two Iranian judges on Thursday, said Washington would also restrict visas for Iranian officials. “They will not achieve anything this way,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a statement. “They have shown nothing to America’s people and the world other than…

PARIS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - European parties to the Iran nuclear deal are likely to trigger a dispute resolution process in January to force Tehran to rollback violations, but would stop short of rushing to restore U.N. sanctions that would kill off the accord, diplomats said. Iran has criticized Britain, France and Germany for failing to salvage the 2015 pact by shielding Tehran’s economy from U.S. sanctions, reimposed since last year when Washington exited the agreement between Iran and six major powers.…

A Polish crowd-funding initiative has raised nearly 250,000 zlotys (£50,000) to buy a new lorry for an Iranian driver, who was stranded when his vehicle broke down. Fardin Kazemi was delivering raisins to Poland, and was due to continue to the Czech Republic to pick up goods for import to Iran. He had to sleep in his vehicle, when he was unable to afford repairs. "The Polish people have been angels for me," said Mr Kazemi. Based in Khoy in…

WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department on Tuesday charged an Indonesian with violating sanctions on Iran in supplying millions of dollars worth of new and refurbished aircraft parts to Iran’s blacklisted Mahan Air. Sunakro Kuntjoro, the president-director of PT MS Aero Support, exported US-made aircraft parts to Mahan Air in violation of sanctions between 2011 and 2018, according to an indictment filed in federal court in Washington. Kuntjoro also shipped aircraft parts to the United States for repair and then reshipped…

Image caption Admiral Tony Radakin officially replaced Sir Phillip Jones as head of the Royal Navy in June Iran's threat to British shipping in the Gulf "hasn't gone away", the head of the Royal Navy has told the BBC. In July, Iran's Revolutionary Guard seized British-flagged tanker the Stena Impero in the Straits of Hormuz. Admiral Tony Radakin - giving his first interview since becoming First Sea Lord in June - described it as "aggressive" and "outrageous". He said that…

Air pollution forced schools to close on Sunday in parts of Iran including Tehran, as the capital lay under a thick cloud of smog considered hazardous to health. The pollution level in the capital was "unhealthy for sensitive groups" and officials warned the young, elderly and people with respiratory illnesses to stay indoors, with sporting activities suspended. The decision to shut schools in the capital was announced late Saturday by deputy governor Mohammad Taghizadeh, after a meeting of an emergency…

Iran has foiled a second cyber-attack in less than a week, the country's telecommunications minister says. Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi announced on Twitter that the cyber-attack had targeted Iranian electronic government systems. The minister did not give details. A similar claim was made about Wednesday's "massive" attack. In June this year, Iran's weapons systems came under a cyber-attack, US media reports suggested. What was attacked in Iran? Mr Jahromi said a cybersecurity project known as the "Dejfa fortress" had managed to…