Iran beach soccer training camp halted

TEHRAN - Iran beach soccer’s training camp has been halted due to coronavirus concerns.

Mental health photography contest centers on COVID-19

TEHRAN – COVID-19 has become the central theme of the 6th Mental Health International Exhibition of Photography as the disease has turned into the world’s major issue over the past year.

Abbas Saffari, poet of “Our Story”, dies of COVID-19

TEHRAN – Iranian poet and translator Abbas Saffari, the composer of the modern parody “Our Story” about Adam and Eve, died of COVID-19 on Tuesday at a hospital in Long Beach, California. He was 69.

ACL’s Group Stages to be played in centralized venues

TEHRAN - The biggest-ever Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League will be played in centralized group stages in the 2021 season.

Iranian Covid-19 vaccine shows no side effects on 21 volunteers

TEHRAN – Iranian-made coronavirus vaccine has been injected into 21 people through the first phase, which has not yet reported any serious side effects so far, Minoo Mohraz, member of the National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control has stated.

Martyr Soleimani plan: 61m Iranians undergone coronavirus screening

TEHRAN – Some 61 million people across the country have been screened for Covid-19 infection under the national plan named after martyr Qassem Soleimani, ISNA reported on Monday.

AFC cancels U16, U19 Asian Championships

TEHRAN - The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Monday that a number of competitions supposed to be held this year are canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the AFC U16 and U19 Championships.

Fans to be allowed into stadiums from April: official

TEHRAN – The stadiums will be permitted to hold up the fans from the April, head of Iran Football League Organization, Soheil Mahdi, said.

Healthcare’s share of national budget surges twofold

TEHRAN – The national budget bill for the next calendar year (starting on March 20) has proposed 1.5 quadrillion rials (around $35 billion at the official rate of 42,000 rials) for the healthcare system, a more than twofold increase compared to the current year’s budget of 700 trillion rials (nearly $16 billion).

Western COVID-19 vaccines: An iron fist in a velvet glove?

TEHRAN- Since its emergence in Asia late last year, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is the defining global health crisis of the 21st century and the most demanding challenge since World War Two.

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HAMRAHE AVAL Breaks Record in Installing, Launching Mobile BTS Sites

Despite the toughest foreign sanctions imposed against the country, HAMRAHE AVAL (Mobile Company of Iran, MCI) could set a new record in the history of development of mobile phone network. Accordingly, the company managed to install 1333 new BTS locations of over 4,500 3% and 4G technology in 31 provinces of the country.

Intl. travels slump by 84% in Iran due to coronavirus

TEHRAN -- The average of international travels to and from Iran fell by 84 percent during the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 20, 2020) from a year earlier.

Tehran Subway offering free-of-charge COVID-19 tests

TEHRAN - Tehran Urban and Suburban Railway Operation Company (TUSROC) is providing passengers with COVID-19 tests free of charge at one of its stations.

U.S. adds Iranian COVID-19 vaccine developers to sanctions list

TEHRAN – The U.S. Department of the Treasury has added Mohammad Mokhber, the president of the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order, and Barkat Ventures, which developed the first homegrown vaccine for the coronavirus, to OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.

10,000 nurses hail Leader’s ‘wise’ stance on Covid-19 vaccine

TEHRAN – About 10,000 Iranian nurses have launched a campaign to thank the Leader of Islamic Revolution for his “wise and strong” positions on the Covid-19 vaccine and the issues faced by nurses and health workers in the country.

Fajr art festival to honor COVID-19 photographers 

TEHRAN – The Fajr Festival of Visual Arts will be honoring the photographers who were active during the pandemic, were tested positive with CVODI-19, or died of COVID-19.

Letter to Guterres: Iran criticizes WHO for biased support of ‘inadequately-tested American vaccine'

TEHRAN – The Academy of Medical Sciences of Iran has written a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, criticizing the World Health Organization for being biased in favor of inadequately-tested COVID-19 vaccines produced in the United States.

Iran plans to import AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from India, China, Russia

TEHRAN – Iran plans to import some two million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from India, China, and Russia by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20).

Iran extends ban on UK flights as new coronavirus variant spreads

TEHRAN – Iran has extended the previously-imposed ban on flights to and from the United Kingdom, adding the ban also entails connecting flights at the European country that has become a hotspot for a new coronavirus variant.

Tehran, Havana form ‘strategic alliance’ to produce COVID-19 vaccine

TEHRAN - Kianoush Jahanpour, spokesman for Iran's Food and Drug Administration, has said Iran and Cuba have formed a ‘strategic alliance’ through working jointly on a project for producing a potential coronavirus vaccine.

Importing Pfizer vaccines ‘is no more the question’: Iranian Red Crescent Society

TEHRAN – The Iranian Red Crescent society issued a statement on Friday, stressing that importing Pfizer vaccines made by the United States ‘is no more the question’.

Leader urges the West to alter misperceptions about Iran’s view on U.S. return to JCPOA

TEHRAN – In a televised appearance on Friday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei sought to dispel some misperceptions in some Western political circles about an alleged Iranian rush to get the United States to return to a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major world powers.

Tehran in talks with Seoul over using frozen money to buy COVID-19 vaccines: Korean official

TEHRAN — Seoul and Tehran have been in talks over the use of Iran’s frozen money in South Korea under U.S. sanctions to purchase COVID-19 vaccines from a global procurement mechanism, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday.

First case of mutated coronavirus identified in Iran

TEHRAN – Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced on Tuesday that the first case of infection with the mutated coronavirus, which emerged in the United Kingdom, has been identified in the country.