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** IRAN DAILY
-- Zarif: Iran won’t reverse nuclear steps if US sanctions not lifted first
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday Iran will not accept US demands that it reverse an acceleration of its nuclear program before Washington lifts sanctions.
The demand “is not practical and will not happen”, he said at a joint news conference in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.
-- President Rouhani inaugurates watershed management projects
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday inaugurated projects worth over $ 1.3 billion aimed for natural resources and watershed management, as well as the development of irrigation and drainage networks in the country’s western and northwestern regions including the northern Golestan Province.
As reported by IRNA, with the construction of irrigation and drainage networks in Golestan Province, the net income of farmers through irrigated and rain-fed cultivation will increase by 58 percent and 159 percent, respectively.
--Envoy calls for setting up a joint bank between Iran, Kazakhstan
The Kazakh ambassador to Iran called for setting up a joint bank between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Kazakhstan.
Askhat Orazbay noted that unjust and unilateral sanctions imposed on Iran should be lifted, reported Mehr News Agency.
Setting up a joint bank between Iran and Kazakhstan, as well as launching a bartering system between the two countries, is mandatory, he added.
** KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL
-- Iran: U.S. Hope ‘Will Never Happen’
Tehran will not accept U.S. demands that it reverse its uranium enrichment work before Washington lifts sanctions, Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said on Friday.
The hope "is not practical and will never happen”, he said at a joint news conference in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The new administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has said Tehran must resume compliance with curbs on its nuclear activity under the world powers’ 2015 deal before it can rejoin the pact.
--Qalibaf: 20% Uranium Enrichment Ahead of Schedule
Iran produced 17 kg of 20 percent enriched uranium in less than a month, Parliament Speaker Muhammad Baqer Qalibaf said during a visit to the country’s Fordow nuclear facility on Thursday.
Iran has said it would produce 120 kg of 20 percent enriched uranium per year, or 10 kg per month on average.
Qalibaf said Iran is ahead of its schedule in enriching uranium to a purity level of 20 percent, almost a month after the country began to scale up its uranium enrichment program.
--Biden Names Malley as Special Envoy for Iran
The Biden administration on Thursday named Robert Malley, a former top adviser in the Obama administration, as special envoy for Iran, a senior State Department official said, confirming an earlier Reuters report.
Malley was a key member of former President Barack Obama’s team that negotiated the nuclear accord with Iran and world powers, an agreement that Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 despite strong opposition from Washington’s European allies.
** TEHRAN TIMES
-- Iran FM holds talks in Georgia and Turkey
Iranian Foreign Minister has held talks with the leaders of Georgia and Turkey about bilateral and regional issues such as the crisis in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
In Georgia, Zarif met with Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili and Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia. He also held a telephone conversation with his Georgian counterpart David Zalkaliani during a visit to Tbilisi. Zarif’s visit to Tbilisi was part of a regional tour that included Azerbaijan, Russia, Armenia, Georgia and Turkey.
-- Iran registers 3rd highest production growth among world’s top steelmakers in 2020: WSA
Iran’s crude steel production increased by 13.4 percent in 2020 while the average global growth in this sector stood at -0.09 percent, according to the World Steel Association (WSA) latest report.
The country was ranked third among the world’s top steel producers in terms of production growth, after Uzbekistan and Moldova which both have small outputs compared to Iran, Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) reported.
-- Photo contest to spotlight UNESCO-tagged Soltanyeh, nearby monuments
The cultural heritage and tourism directorate of Iran’s Zanjan province is set to launch a photography contest on the UNESCO-registered Dome of Soltaniyeh and its surrounding historical and touristic sites. Competitors are requested to post works to the Instagram account of the directorate from January 31 to February 9, provincial tourism chief Amir Arjmand announced on Tuesday.
A panel of professional media photographers will be judging the contest, and winners will be honored with exquisite prizes, the official said.
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