Yemen’s Ansarullah movement and their allies in the Yemeni army deployed as many as 10 drones to bomb Abqaiq and Khurais oil facilities run by the Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco before dawn Saturday. US and its allies rushed to blame Iran for the attacks without providing any credible evidence.

“Yemen’s measure was a reaction to various illegal actions and war crimes of Saudi Arabia and had nothing to do with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Boroujerdi added.

“No Iranian forces are in Yemen,” highlighted the MP, adding that Yemen’s recent retaliatory measure was based on its own domestic capabilities.

He went on to stress that “American and Saudi officials and their allies are trying to establish ‘maximum deceit’ along with the ‘maximum pressure’ against the Iranian nation because they are in a position of failure.”

The unprecedented attack knocked out more than half of Saudi crude output, or 5% of global supply, prompting Saudi and US officials to claim without any evidence that it probably originated from Iraq or Iran.

In reaction to US baseless accusations, Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said that “These comments and measures seem to be plans of secret organizations and intelligence services to tarnish the image of a country in a bid to prepare the ground for measures in the future. Americans are pursuing a policy dubbed ‘maximum pressure’ which has now turned into ‘maximum deceit’ due to its failures.”

Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of its vassal states in waging war on Yemen since March 2015 to reinstall former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who resigned from presidency and fled to Riyadh in January 2015 amid popular outcry over corruption and mismanagement of the economy. Yemen’s Ansarullah forces then took over state matters to prevent the country from descending into chaos.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the Saudi-led war has claimed the lives of over 60,000 Yemenis since January 2016.

The war has taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.

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The bilateral monetary treaties are aimed at ditching dollar in trade transactions.

A Parliamentarian, Hassan Nowruzi, who opposed the plan, said approving such bill would only lead to the entanglement of several laws and will not contribute to better implementation of monetary policies.

In turn, Hadi Ghavami, another lawmaker pro to the bill, believes that a currency swap agreement between states could potentially lessen the US dollar’s influence, and it is a fundamental solution for settling economic problems and overcoming new round of sanctions imposed by the US on Iran.

According to a member of Iranian Parliament Economic Commission Ahmad Anaraki Mohammadi, Iran is currently doing business with countries like China and India based on bilateral monetary treaties.

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One year after US unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and introducing sanctions against Iran, Tehran announced that it is reducing its commitments to the deal to create a balance in the agreement. Iranian officials say that reducing commitments is legal and done according to paragraphs 26 and 36 of the deal. Iran says this process of reduction will continue every 60 days as long as other parties to the deal can safeguard Iran’s economic interests from damages of US illegal sanctions.

“Four years ago, we hadn’t any limitation [on the nuclear program], and if other parties to the JCPOA don’t abide by their commitments, we will certainly return to conditions prior to the deal,” added the MP.

Western countries’ ‘political play’ is unacceptable, Boroujerdi highlighted, noting that the JCPOA is a bilateral agreement, and Europeans should know that if they don’t honor their commitments, Iran will ‘decisively’ reduce its commitments under the deal.

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“This action is the continuation of the English’s animosity against the Iranian nation both before and after the Revolution. This measure will not be left unanswered,” he added.

He went on to urge Iranian Foreign Ministry to plan a counteraction, highlighting, “England will pay huge costs for its action.”

London is following Washington’s policies on Iran but despite all pressures, the Iranian economy is growing, he said, adding, “Iran’s official oil export may arrive at a zero level but Iran’s unofficial oil export will replace it according to agreements signed with some countries. If revenues from this unofficial oil sales decreases, there are alternative approaches planned in the budget which will be taken.”

Gibraltar police and customs agencies, aided by a detachment of British Royal Marines, boarded and impounded supertanker Grace 1, carrying Iranian oil, in the Strait of Gibraltar on Thursday, upon a request from the United States.

Later that day, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned Britain’s ambassador to the country, Rob Macaire, to express its strong protest at the move. He was told that the British Royal Marines’ move was tantamount to “maritime piracy.”

London claims that the tanker had been carrying Iranian oil to Syria, which is under European Union’s sanctions but Iran says first, the tanker was not headed to Syria, and second, Iran is not a member an EU member and also not subject to any European oil embargo. Tehran has called for an immediate release of the oil tanker warning that the responsibility for consequences of this provocative acts falls on London. “I warn England that you are the initiator of insecurity in seas and you will later understand its repercussions,” President Rouhani said Wednesday.

Iran says US is behind the measure which tries to bring down Iranian oil sales to zero as part of its maximum pressure policy against the Islamic Republic. Iranian officials reiterate that this policy will not yield any result for Washington as Iranians are well familiar with the culture of resistance.

In the latest development, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted on Saturday that he had “spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif. Constructive call. I reassured him our concern was destination not origin of the oil on Grace One & that UK would facilitate release if we received guarantees that it would not be going to Syria, following due process in Gib courts.”

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“Mining cryptocurrencies has become a common and widespread activity in Iran and it consumes considerable power which has caused problems for the country, especially in the hot season.”

A mechanism should be defined to control power consumption and also to punish those who mine using subsidized power rates, he added.

The Central Bank of Iran has just announced a ban on activities around cryptocurrencies while such measure has not still turned into a law, he highlighted, adding, “using digital currencies is a good solution for ditching sanctions but it needs to be regulated.”

The remarks came as reports indicate that bitcoin mining is mushrooming across the country where subsidized power rates are attracting prospectors from countries as far as China, Ukraine and France.

Saeed Zarandi, the deputy industry, mining and trade minister for planning, said Wednesday several government committees were examining the issue, with a number of ministries and the central bank about to make a final decision, PressTV reported.

Bitcoin mining consumes large quantities of energy because it uses costly software to solve complex math puzzles to validate transactions in the cryptocurrency. The first miner to solve the problem is rewarded in bitcoin and the transaction is added to the blockchain or digital ledger.

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Pezeshkian will hold bilateral and multilateral meetings with the heads of the participating delegations and some officials from the Russian parliament and government, conferring on bilateral relations and ways of expanding cooperation.

The Second international forum “Development of Parliamentarism” will be held in Moscow on 1-3 July 2019 and organized upon the initiative of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. It is expected to gather representatives of 132 countries.

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All US pressures against the country are aimed at changing Tehran’s regional policies and undermining the country’s missile power, he said, noting that some measures of the Trump administration have been adopted due to pressures from the Zionists.

Russia, China and India have continued their cooperation with Iran despite US pressures and the Israeli regime is afraid that Japan would join them, said the member of Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.

“And more than that, Zionists are afraid that these tensions would ultimately lead to the normalization of ties between Iran and US; but of course this is not possible because we will not talk and interact with them [Americans] due to their violation of international rules.”

The Japanese PM is slated to make a three-day official visit to Iran on Wednesday.

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Asked about recent Iran’s possible announcement of reciprocal actions to US withdrawal from JCPOA, the lawmaker highlighted that “there is no longer any JCPOA in place for us to reduce the level of our commitments.”

“JCPOA is like an abandoned house covered in cobwebs in which Mr. Rouhani keeps staying like Miss Havisham,” he added.

The member of National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iranian Parliament noted that recent US measure to sanction part of Iran’s nuclear activity is a clear violation of JCPOA.

“In case after [Iran’s] withdrawal from JCPOA, the US still creates problems for Iran, pulling out of NPT should be put on the agenda of Supreme National Security Council,” Zonnour said.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is paying the price for putting JCPOA and NPT into effect, but earns nothing in return, so implementation of these two is not in Iran’s favor.”

He went on to say that the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iranian Parliament will hold a session next week to discuss JCPOA, new US sanctions, and Iran’s withdrawal from NPT.

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The spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s Energy Commission said the development of Iran’s oil industry could not be stopped.

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