President Hassan Rouhani of Iran has penned a letter congratulating Pope Francis on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Jesus Christ and the Gregorian New Year.

Iran's ambassador to the UK has denounced as “fake” a recent Reuters report about the death toll from last month’s riots in the country, saying the report by the London-based agency helped shed further light on the role of the notorious US-backed Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) terror group in the unrest.

Commander of the Iranian Army Major General Seyed Abdolrahim Mousavi highlighted that the upcoming joint military drills of his country’s navy with Chinese and Russian forces is a manifestation of Tehran’s successful diplomacy for promoting regional security.

President Hassan Rouhani stressed inefficiency of Washington's maximum-pressure policy, and further said the US sanctions against Iran fade away.

The Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Baqeri ‎congratulated his Christian counterparts on the occasion of Christmas and the New Year.‎

Hegemon USA is guilty of unbridled militarism and belligerence, endless wars on humanity, state terror, economic terrorism, and countless other hostile actions against nations, groups, entities, and individuals worldwide.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Washington's hostile policy of imposing sanctions is a pathological addiction that is affecting both friends and foes of the US, urging a collective measure against the White House’s destructive approach.

The nuclear deal signed between Iran and major world powers in 2015 — officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — was imposed only on Iran and not on any other countries across the world and it would be “hypocrisy” for the United Nations (UN) if the international body complained about Tehran’s scale-back measures taken in response to Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the landmark accord last year, says a US political analyst.

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani voices alarm at the spread of terrorism and insecurity in Afghanistan as the main threats facing the war-torn country’s peace and stability.

The US court has admitted the innocence of Massoud Soleimani - a renowned Iranian scientist who had illegally been kept behind bars by FBI for over a year before he was released as a result of a prisoners swap between Iran and the US in early December - and exonerated him from accusations, a judiciary official said.