Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami
Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami arrived in Syria on Sunday for meetings with "senior defence and military officials" according to the Tasnim news agency.
Iranian forces have backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war.
"We hope to have a productive role in the reconstruction of Syria," Hatami said on arrival in Syria, according to Fars News.
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said last week that Iran should remove its forces from Syria.
Senior Iranian officials have said their military presence in Syria is at the invitation of the Assad government and they have no immediate plans to withdraw.
More than 1,000 Iranians, including senior members of the elite Revolutionary Guards, have been killed in Syria since 2012.
Ten people were killed and five wounded after a boiler exploded in a residential area of the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran, Fars News reported in a Twitter post on Saturday.Three residential buildings were completely destroyed in the blast and 15 houses in the area were damaged, according to Fars.A picture posted by Fars on Twitter showed rescue workers digging through the rubble of a building.
Ten killed in boiler explosion in Iran
Iran on Friday hosted an international conference devoted to enhancing cooperation between Tehran, Baghdad and Damascus.Held in Iran’s eastern city of Mashhad, the event was attended by more than 300 officials from all three countries.Conference organizer Qadir Rajabzadeh told Iran’s official IRNA news agency that attendees had submitted numerous articles and recommendations -- especially on agriculture and food production -- at the event.According to Rajabzadeh, the three countries hope to step up cooperation in a range of fields, including scientific research, stockbreeding and meteorology, among others.
Mashhad hosts conference on Iran/Iraq/Syria cooperation
U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura has invited Iran, Russia and Turkey to talks on Syria's Constitutional Committee, to be held in Geneva on Sept. 11-12, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Friday.The talks on forming a committee to draw up a new constitution for Syria are expected to be followed by parallel U.N. talks involving countries including the United States, but she had no date for those.
UN invites Iran, Russia, Turkey to talks on Syria next month
Some three million Iranian families living in rural parts of the country lack access to social security, according to an Iranian government official.Speaking to the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) on Thursday, Mohamed Riza Vaiz Mehdevi, general director of social security for farmers, villagers and nomads, discussed accessibility to social insurance -- or the lack thereof -- among Iran’s vast rural population.Mehdevi cited a recent survey of six million Iranian households that found that more than three million rural families lacked access to social security.“By the end of this year, however, a member of each of these families will be incorporated into the [government’s social security] system,” he told ISNA.The government, he added, was currently working on ways to help rural families benefit from Iran’s national social security program.According to Mehdevi, two-thirds of farmers’ and villagers’ insurance premiums are paid for by the state, while the last third is paid by the beneficiary.According to Iran’s official statistics agency, the country’s total population stood at some 80 million last year.EU agrees 18 mln euro development aid for Iran
Millions in rural Iran lack social security
The European Union agreed 18 million euros ($20.6 mln) in aid for Iran on Thursday, including for the private sector, to help offset the impact of U.S. sanctions and salvage a 2015 deal that saw Tehran limit its nuclear ambitions.The announcement is part of the bloc's high-profile efforts to support the nuclear accord that President Donald Trump abandoned in May. It is part of a wider package of 50 million euros earmarked for Iran in the EU budget.The EU is working to maintain trade with Iran, which has threatened to stop complying with the nuclear agreement if it fails to see the economic benefits of relief from sanctions.The bloc's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement the bloc was committed to cooperation with Iran."This new package will widen economic and sectoral relations in areas that are of direct benefit to our citizens," she said.The bloc will spend 8 million euros on the Islamic Republic's private sector, including assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises and Iran's Trade Promotion Organisation.A further 8 million euros will go to environmental projects and 2 million euros to fighting harm caused by drugs. ($1 = 0.8744 euros) Iran sanctions are 'unjust and harmful': UN expertUK to help modify Iran’s Arak heavy-water nuke reactorIran's Revolutionary Guard says will raise defensive capabilities
EU agrees 18 mln euro development aid for Iran