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LEVISON Wood is a serving British Army officer and explorer who has branched out into television.

He has already embarked on three epic treks on camera and now he is setting off on his latest on the Channel 4 documentary From Russia To Iran: Crossing The Wild Frontier. Here's his bio...

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Born on May 5, 1982, Levison Wood is an active member of the British Army and has fought in the war in Afghanistan.

He grew up in Stoke-on-Trent before going on to study History at the University of Nottingham.

In April 2006 he was commissioned as an officer in the Parachute Regiment of the British Army.

During his time in Afghanistan, he served in Helmand province, scene of some of the bloodiest and deadliest fighting during Britain's involvement in the country.

Wood is not married and has previously spoken about the difficulties for any woman to be with him given how long he spends overseas due to work currently.

In 2010 Wood decided to leave the Army and started pursuing a career in photography and journalism before going on to become a best-selling author.

However, he recently decided to rejoin the Army as a Major in the 77th Brigade which was only formed in January 2015.

The 77th Brigade's mission is to work across government organisations to achieve the goals of Defence Engagement and Building Stability Overseas Strategies.

The brigade is named in honour of the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade which fought against the Japanese in Burma during the Second World War.

Speaking about the group's work he said: "We will go and meet other counterparts and capacity build and train up friendly foreign fighters.

"There is a lot of civil military liaison, the point of the 77 Brigade is to have non-kinetic effects.

"Social media is a very small part of the unit, it is mainly about having an effect, whether it is through media or other operations."

Beginning in southern Russia, Levison will walk the vast Caucasus Mountains crossing through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and into Iran - a country which has been closed off to much of the West.

Wood will travel with locals and live as they do as he heads towards his final destination - the shores of the Caspian Sea in Iran.

This will be Wood's fourth epic TV walk after his previous efforts - Walking the Nile, Walking the Himalayas and Walking the Americas all received widespread praise and acclaim from critics.

From Russia To Iran: Crossing The Wild starts on Sunday, August 20 at 8pm on Channel 4.

It is on at the same time as Far From The Madding Crowd on BBC One, Dragons' Den on BBC Two, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part Two on ITV and The Ant and Dec Story on Channel 5.

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Who is Levison Wood? From Russia To Iran presenter, British Army officer and explorer - The Sun

The photo shows a view of the match between the national Iranian volleyball team (players in red) and Algeria at the FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship in Cairo, Egypt, on August 20, 2017.

The national Iranian volleyball team has defeated Algeria for the second victory at the Fdration Internationale de Volleyball(FIVB) Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship in Egypt.

On Sunday, the Algerian sportsmenstarted the Pool B match at Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complexin the Egyptian capital city in amore determined manner and were better in service, reception and attacks.

They maintained the lead tosurge ahead, and grabbed an 18-16 win in the opening set.

The Persians pulled together and came from behind in the second set to rack up points. Theyclaimed the set by 15 points to 8.

The Iranian volleyball players sustained momentum, and continued to utilize middle attacks with much success to take the third set at 15-7.

In the fourth set, the Iranians did not capitulate and posted good defense as their opponents sought to narrow the gap. Iran finished the final set 15-12 at last.

Algeria was very good in the first set and we should learn a lot of lessons from this match. We lost the first set, but managed to recover in the next four sets and we were good in our attack and serving. This win kept our chances to advance in the tournament, Irans head coach, Juan Manuel Cichello, said after the match.

Irans captain Rahman Taghizadeh said,The encounter was very good for us. Algeria wanted to win the match but we managed to stop them and recover to win four sets. We must fight to win the two remaining matches to reach the top four.

Our performance in the first set was very good, but after that the players committed some mistakes especially in the block, while at the same time Iran played very fast. Our preparation for this tournament was just one month, but we will try to win the next matches. We prepare this team for the future of Algerian volleyball, Algerias head coach, Salim Bouhalla, commented.

Algerias captain, Abderaouf Hamimes, said,We entered the match with a strong performance and we managed to win the first set; but then we lost our concentration and that led Iran to win the other four sets.

The national Iranian volleyball team is scheduled to take on Turkey on Monday.

The2017FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship, which is the third edition of theinternationalvolleyballtournament, started in Cairo,Egypt, on August 18 and will finish on August 25.

Iran has been drawn in Pool B along with Algeria, Argentina, China, Russia and Turkey.

Pool A consists of Brazil, Cuba, Egypt, Japan, Mexico and Poland.

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Iran volleyball team overcomes Algeria in FIVB U23 World Championship - Press TV

ISTANBUL An Iranian opposition leader living under house arrest has ended his hunger strike after authorities agreed to lift some restrictions and consider his demand for a public trial, a family member said Thursday. The decision marked a potentially rare concession from a government generally resistant to public pressure.

Mehdi Karroubi, 79, one of the unofficial leaders of Irans pro-reform Green Movement, began his hunger strike Wednesday to protest his six years of confinement. He demanded that the intelligence officers stationed inside his home be removed and that Irans hard-line judiciary set a date for his trial. He has not been formally charged with a crime.

The former speaker of parliament has been restricted to his home in Tehran, the capital, since 2011, when authorities censured him and other opposition figures for the popular protests that rattled the regime two years earlier. Fellow reformists Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, were placed under house arrest at the same time.

Karroubi, who has a heart condition, was hospitalized in Tehran early Thursday for low blood pressure less than 24 hours after beginning his hunger strike, relatives said. Rights groups have reported that Hossein and Rahnavard are also suffering from poor health.

Any decline in Karroubis health would have been an embarrassment for the government, which analysts said hoped to either ignore his situation or quietly resolve his detention.

Both Karroubi and Mousavi were candidates in the 2009 presidential election that observers say was marred by widespread fraud. The two reformists challenged the victory of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hard-liner and favorite of Irans security establishment, and helped galvanize protests across Iran.

Since then, moderate President Hassan Rouhani has vowed to secure the release of all three, including during his reelection campaign in May. He has reportedly faced substantial pushback from hard-liners within the regime who object to the release, including the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of the state. Irans hard-liners often refer to the 2009 protests as the sedition.

Karroubis son, Mohammad Karroubi, posted on Twitter and told local media that the government had agreed to remove the dozen or so security officers from inside the clerics home. Mehdi Karroubi's demand for a public trial is also reportedly under consideration, his son said, with Rouhani working behind the scenes.

In my view this will never happen, said Nader Hashemi, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver, because a public trial would put the Islamic Republic of Iran on trial for its egregious human rights record and legacy of authoritarianism.

All three figures remain popular in Iran, especially among young people and intellectuals, and they enjoy support among reformists and moderate conservatives within the establishment, Hashemi said. The fact that the regime has caved in and granted Karroubi his first demand suggests that they are feeling the pressure both from within Iran and globally, Hashemi said. But the regime is in a bind.

The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran warned earlier Thursday that Karroubis life is in danger and the state, which has detained him without trial, is responsible for whatever happens to him while he is in custody.

According to Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior Iran analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, if Karroubi had died under house arrest, Rouhani would have much to atone for.

The presidents supporters tragically believed that Rouhani was interested in or could further social and political reform in the Islamic Republic, Taleblu said. The imprisoned and ailing Green Movement leaders will continue to be yet another political football in Irans domestic political game.

Read more

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Iranian opposition leader ends hunger strike after government agrees to relax house arrest - Washington Post

The 2015 nuclear deal between Iran, the US, and other world powers was sealed officially at the UN in the form of a resolution in the Security Council. The UN has also become the primary dueling ground for the two main parties to air their grievances.

The US last month approved a set of sanctions against Tehran, aimed at its missile program and support for terrorism, a move that officials and members of Congress have said is separate from the nuclear deal. But on Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that the sanctions violate the spirit of the deal.

Rouhani's speech has been taken as a warning that Iran will withdraw unilaterally from the deal, known by the acronym JPCOA, should US sanctions move forward. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley swiftly fired off a statement condemning Rouhani's words.

Iran cannot be allowed to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage," Haley said on Tuesday. "Iran, under no circumstances, can ever be allowed to have nuclear weapons. At the same time, however, we must also continue to hold Iran responsible for its missile launches, support for terrorism, disregard for human rights, and violations of UN Security Council resolutions. The nuclear deal must not become too big to fail.

Now the Iranian mission to the UN is firing back hard. In a statement first provided to BuzzFeed News on Friday, Iranian Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo said that Haley's statement was "devoid of any shred of truth."

"Instead of distorting the recent remarks of President Rouhani, the U.S. Ambassador should heed the lessons of history and counsel some of the U.S. administration officials to avoid repeating past mistakes," the statement continued. "The hard-line and parochial positions adopted by certain senior U.S. officials against Iran could further exacerbate instability in the region."

The statement also claims that Iran is a stabilizing force in the region, an assessment that many independent analysts would have trouble agreeing with. The country is currently fighting against ISIS in Iraq and Syria via a set of Shia militias, but is also propping up Syria's dictator Bashar al-Assad.

President Donald Trump meanwhile is known to not be a fan of the the Iran nuclear deal, which he has repeatedly referred to as one of the "worst deals in history" both on the campaign trail and while in office. In approving the deal, the US Congress requires the White House to confirm every 90 days that Iran is in compliance. Trump signed off on the deal in July, but he's made clear in later interviews that he wants his advisers to do their best to ensure that Iran is found to have violated the deal when the next period of review comes around in October.

The JPCOA does include a mechanism by which its members can bring grievances before a neutral body. Neither the United States nor Iran has invoked this provision at this time.

The 15th August press statement by the U.S. Ambassador to the UN on Iran is devoid of any shred of truth. The rhetoric and baseless accusations against Iran contained therein represent the latest examples of a series of provocative words, outright threats and irresponsible actions from some senior officials of the U.S. administration in demonizing Iran and undermining the JCPOA inconsistent with the U.S. commitments under paragraph 28 of the nuclear deal.

Instead of distorting the recent remarks of President Rouhani, the U.S. Ambassador should heed the lessons of history and counsel some of the U.S. administration officials to avoid repeating past mistakes. President Rouhani, in his remarks on 15 August, stressed that "Iran lives up to its JCPOA commitments and would proportionately respond to any violation of the JCPOA by other participants. Those who attempt to revert to language of sanction and threat, are prisoners of their past delusions, and by fearmongering and antagonizing they would only deprive themselves from the benefits of peace."

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Iran Says Nikki Haley's Statement On Sanctions Is "Devoid Of Any Shred Of Truth" - BuzzFeed News

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak says Iran can start within next month the deliveries of crude oil to Russia under the "oil-for-goods" program.

The arrangement dates back to 2014 when Iran tried to boost vital energy exports in the face of intensified Western sanctions. At the time, it was said that Moscow and Tehran were discussing a barter deal that would see Moscow buy up to 500,000 barrels a day (bpd) of Iranian oil in exchange for Russian equipment and goods.

Novak has said the two sides were discussing sales of 100,000 bpd of Iranian oil to Russia, with supplies being either physical or swap-based.

"We are finalizing the last details of regulatory documents. I think I will respond to your question within one month," he told reporters on the sidelines of an international fair in the Turkish city of Izmir on Friday.

The initial arrangement was for swapping around 300,000 bpd via the Caspian Sea and the rest from the Persian Gulf, possibly Bandar Abbas port.

Novaks remarks came after Iranian officials confirmed that the country had resumed Caspian oil swap after seven years.

On Friday, Hamid Hosseini at the Iranian Oil Pipeline and Telecommunication Company said Iran was ready to swap 500,000 bpd of oil with its Caspian Sea neighbors.

The swap arrangement was halted during the tenure of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as authorities questioned its economic merits. The average daily swap was 90,000 bpd in 2009, which Iran planned to raise to 300,000 by 2015.

The swaps meant Tehran could supply northern areas with oil processed at the Tehran, Tabriz, and Arak refineries without having to transport it all the way from wells in the south. Iran also charged the partners with a transit fee which totaled $880 million between 1997 and 2009, according to the local media.

Earlier this week, media reports said the Russian-flagged VF Tanker-20 discharged around 6,000 tonnes of Turkmen origin crude oil at a terminal in the Caspian port of Neka on Aug. 3. It was reportedly the second by VF Tanker-20 this month to Neka for the discharge of oil from Turkmenistan.

According to Hosseini, a 272-km pipeline has been built to ship crude oil from the Neka terminal to the Tehran refinery.

Under the swap deals, refineries in Tehran and Tabriz use the swapped oil, while Iran delivers the same amount it receives via the Kharq oil terminal in the Persian Gulf.

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Iran, Russia finalizing 'oil-for-goods' deal: Novak - Press TV