For proponents of targeted, or “smart,” sanctions, it was unquestionable proof of such punitive financial measures’ effectiveness as a foreign policy tool. They may be right. The unprecedented regime of UN, regional, and national sanctions leveled against Tehran was instrumental in slowing its progress toward nuclear weapons capability and bringing Iran’s leaders to the negotiating table.

IBNA- Kianoush Kiyani Haftlang, the Senior Advisor of the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia, said that Book-oriented cultural diplomacy is best for a global dialogue, but how to turn this motto into action is important.” 

The 28th Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF) opened on Tuesday at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla with the motto “Reading, Dialogue with the World”. President Hassan Rouhani and a number of Iranian and foreign officials attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition, which is one of Iran’s major cultural events.

Two years after his election, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran is about to go down in history as a leader who defused an intense and bitter conflict that could have led to a military attack on Iran. A nuclear deal that the majority of Iranians hope will bring an end to the isolation of Iran, much needed relief from international sanctions, and a new chapter in U.S.-Iran relations is now in sight. If other enemy countries have faced each other on the battlefield and ultimately managed to work out their differences, why is it impossible for Iran and the United States to do the latter?

U.S. and Iranian officials have been insisting the last several years that they wanted to resolve the nuclear issue before discussing the sectarian wars that are raging across the Middle East. Not anymore. As the battles have escalated in recent months, so has talk about regional diplomacy. 

The United States has been privately leaning on France and other allies to hold off on pushing a measure at the U.N. Security Council that is designed to force movement on the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process at least until negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program have concluded, diplomats told Foreign Policy.

Cinema Organization of Iran Director Hojjatollah Ayyubi said that Fajr International Film Festival helps Iran improve public diplomacy in the world. He made the remarks during the opening ceremony of the international section of the 33rd edition of the festival held at Tehran’s Mellat Cinema Complex on Saturday.

A senior Iranian official says Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen and its prevention of the delivery of the Islamic Republic’s humanitarian aid to the war-wracked country will not go unanswered. “We consider all options for helping the Yemeni people and immediate dispatch of humanitarian aid and transfer of the injured,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Sunday.