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Iran has started sending fruit and vegetables to Qatar after Gulf nations cut trade links with the emirate.

Iran's national carrier has already delivered 90 tons of food and flights will continue "based on demand".

Three boats, carrying more than 350 tons of food, will also be leaving an Iranian port for Qatar, according to Tasnim news agency, quoting local officials.

:: Analysis - UK fears Qatar blockade is hurting its people

It was not clear whether the shipments were made as aid deliveries or as exports.

The deliveries came nearly a week after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates began a blockade against Qatar, sparking an unprecedented diplomatic crisis.

The Gulf states expelled Qatari nationals from their territory, cut trade links to the emirate and banned Qatar's national airline from their airspace. Egypt and Yemen followed in passing measures against Doha.

The blockade was in retaliation for what the states claim is Qatari support for terrorist groups and close relations with Iran.

Qatar denies the claims. It has hired John Ashcroft, the US Attorney General during the 9/11 attacks, to review its attempts to combat terrorism and terrorism funding.

The peninsula, which is connected to Saudi Arabia, is heavily reliant on imports for food and before it was cut off from its neighbours brought in 80% of its supply from surrounding Gulf countries.

The isolation measures have led to supermarket queues as citizens anticipated food shortages.

Iran has opened up its airspace to around 100 new Qatari flights daily, upping its air traffic by 17% according to the official state news agency.

Other states in the region have also stepped in. Kuwait, which is not joining in the blockade of Qatar, is pushing to adopt a mediating role in the rift.

Turkey's parliament has also approved sending troops to be stationed in Qatar.

The move to isolate Qatar followed a visit to Saudi Arabia by US President Donald Trump.

Speaking in Washington on Friday, he told journalists that the "nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level".

The US has, however, called on Gulf states to "de-escalate" the crisis.

Saudi accuses Qatar of backing groups allied with Iran across the region, including Shiite militant groups in both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Saudi has also accused Qatar of supporting the Houthi rebels in Yemen, despite the fact that Doha is a member of a Saudi-led coalition bombing the group.

The states involved in the blockade have released a list of 59 entities and individuals that they say are involved in "terrorist" activities.

Qatar denies accusations that it provides financial support to groups like Islamic State and Al Qaeda, and defends its links with Iran and Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.

Read more:
Iran flies food to Qatar after isolation by Gulf neighbours - Sky News

OSLO Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Monday the Trump administration will end up abiding by the 2015 nuclear deal despite its protestations to the contrary because it is in the national interest of the United States.

Trump has previously said that the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran is a "disaster" and the "worst deal ever negotiated".

"Unfortunately the behavior from the new administration in Washington is not very promising," Zarif told reporters after meeting his Norwegian counterpart. "We believe that at the end of the day they will find it necessary to abide by the deal.

"I believe the U.S. administration will find it in the interest of the United States, as well as the interest of international peace and security, to live up to its commitments."

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Alison Williams)

ANKARA Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday blamed the United States for instability in the Middle East and said Washington's fight against the Islamic State militant group was "a lie".

LONDON Britain's Theresa May told her party on Monday she would serve as prime minister as long as they wanted after a botched election gamble cost the party its majority in parliament and weakened London's hand days before formal Brexit negotiations.

Read the original:
Iran says Trump administration will end up abiding by nuclear deal - Reuters

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran became the second team to qualify for the 2018 World Cup by beating Uzbekistan 2-0 on Monday.

It is the first time Iran has qualified for consecutive World Cups, and will be its fifth appearance in total.

Sardar Azmoun scored in the 23rd minute and Mehdi Taremi in the 88th at Azadi Stadium in Tehran.

Iran, managed by former Real Madrid and Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz since 2011, tops Group A of Asian qualifying. The team is eight points clear of third-placed Uzbekistan with two qualifying games left out of 10, so cannot be denied a top-two finish.

South Korea is in second place, a point ahead of Uzbekistan with a game in hand. Iran will finish top of the group.

Iran has yet to concede a goal in qualifying.

Brazil was the first team to qualify for next years World Cup in Russia.

See more here:
Iran qualifies for 2018 World Cup after beating Uzbekistan - FOXSports.com

"And if so, maybe this is a Trump maybe it's a Trump strategy of actually supporting one group against another, considering that you have two terrorist organizations."

One day after 17 people died in an apparent ISIS attack in Iran, a California congressman questioned whether such an event might be a "good thing," and appeared to suggest that the United States might be able to collaborate with the terrorist group.

"Isn't it a good thing for us to have the United States finally backing up Sunnis who will attack Hezbollah and the Shia threat to us? Isn't that a good thing?" Rohrabacher asked a panel of terrorism experts assembled for a House hearing on Hezbollah financing Thursday.

"Maybe this is a Trump maybe it's a Trump strategy of actually supporting one group against another considering that you have two terrorist organizations," he added.

The remarks were a reference to a pair of deadly rampages in Tehran Wednesday, in which attackers laid siege inside Iran's parliament building and outside the tomb of the Islamic Republic founder's Ayatollah Khomeini. The attacks the first claimed by ISIS in Iran left 17 people dead and dozens more injured.

A representative for Rohrabacher did not immediately respond to requests for comment, or to explain the congressman's comments.

In a statement issued late Wednesday, the White House expressed condolences for the attack, while also suggesting that Iran had brought the attack on itself.

"We grieve and pray for the innocent victims of the terrorist attacks in Iran, and for the Iranian people, who are going through such challenging times," the statement read. "We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote."

Two terrorism experts testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Thursday quickly shot down Rohrabacher's idea.

"Those attacks were claimed by the Islamic state," said Matthew Levitt, director of the Washington Institute's Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence. "It's never in our interest to support a group like the Islamic State."

But Rohrabacher seemed to press on, trying to interrupt Levitt multiple times to ask "even when...."

"That's like, Joe Stalin was a horrible guy, we must never associated with horrible guys like that, even to get Hitler," Rohrabacher finally said. "So, maybe it's a good idea to have radical Muslim terrorists fighting each other, and I'll leave it at that."

Another witness then chimed in his disagreement.

"Having coordinated the economic warfare plan against the Islamic State, I would not condone an attack by the Islamic State," said terror financing expert David Asher. "I would be determined to destroy them."

The National Iranian American Council also condemned the congressman's comments, calling them callous and bizarre.

"Rohrabacher has a long history of bizarre and offensive statement son Iran, but his callousness toward the Iranian victims of ISIS terror might be his most callous and extreme thus far," the organization said in a statement.

Read more:
This California Congressman Asked If A Terror Attack In Iran Might Be "A Good Thing" - BuzzFeed News

In the wake of two deadly terrorist attacks that targeted the Iranian Parliament and the Imam Khomeini Mausoleum in Tehran, security sources have pointed to Iranian Kurds affiliated with ISIS as the likely perpetrators. While Iranian authorities arrested 41 people in connection to the attacks on Friday, only one attacker, Serias Sadeghi, has been identified. Sadeghi is an Iranian Kurd from Paveh, a city in western Iran, and has been cited as a prominent recruiter for ISIS in Iranian Kurdistan.

Wednesdays attacks occurred simultaneously at around 10:30 a.m. during the middle of Ramadan, an annual, month-long observance among Muslims that commemorates the first revelation of the prophet Muhammad. It is not uncommon for ISIS to carry out attacks at this time, as militants seek the honor of obtaining martyrdom during the holy month of jihad. In the first attack, a team of four people carrying assault rifles and wearing suicide vests attempted to enter the administrative building of the Iranian Parliament. The attackers shot at some and kidnapped others, with one attacker running loose on the streets of Tehran. Eventually, one of the attackers detonated his vest, while the remaining three were killed in a shoot-out with police officers.

The second attack consisted of two people entering the Imam Khomeini Mausoleum, a tribute to the founder of the Islamic Republic that houses the remains of numerous political figures. In a nearly-identical scenario, one of the attackers, a female suicide bomber, blew up her vest, while the other was killed in a shoot-out. On Wednesday, The Guardians Simon Tisdall provided an analogy to explain the significance of the attack. For Iranians, he said, the attack on Khomeinis tomb is the equivalent of somebody trying to blow up the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

In total, at least 12 people were killed and 46 wounded. In a video posted Thursday on Amaq News, the ISIS media channel, five men and their leader, who some believe to be Sadeghi, claimed responsibility for both attacks. The men can be heard speaking in Arabic and Kurdish, lending credence to the all-but-confirmed theory that Iranian Kurds were behind the incident. This is a message from the soldiers of Islamic State in Iran, soldiers of the first brigade of Islamic State in Iran which, God willing, wont be the last, the leader in the video says. This brigade will mark the start of jihad in Iran, and we call on our Muslim brothers to join us.

While the attacks represent ISISs first strike inside Iran, the nation has long been a suspected target of the Islamic State. In March, the group released a video saying they would conquer Iran and restore it to the Sunni Muslim nation as it was before. The majority of Iranian citizens are Shiites, whom ISIS regards as apostates. ISIS, on the other hand, subscribes to a strict version of Sunni Islam that comprises a mere five percent of Irans population. The fact that Wednesdays attackers were most likely Sunni Iranian Kurds could signal the beginning of a larger insurgency within the nation. Indeed, that seems to be ISISs very goal. On Friday, Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, an Arabic affairs analyst, told The New York Times that the border towns and villages and tribes along Irans east, west, and southern borders are poor and vulnerable to extremism, with young unemployed men particularly susceptible to recruitment.

Even with ISIS claiming responsibility for the attacks, Iranian officials have been quick to blame the incident on their international rivals: Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the U.S. On Friday, Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the attacks would only increase hatred for the governments of the United States and their stooges in the region like the Saudis. While the White House said it was grieving and praying over the victims of the attacks, it scornfully noted that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote. In a Thursday tweet, Irans foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, called the statement repugnant, arguing that the terrorist incident was backed by U.S. clients. Iranian people reject such U.S. claims of friendship, he added.

This sentiment was shared by a number of Iranians during the nations prayers on Friday. The Times reports that Friday worshippers shouted Death to Saudi Arabia and Death the United States, Britain, and Israel. Meanwhile, a speaker proclaimed that America and Saudi Arabia could not get anything from their proxy wars, so they decided to bring the war here, inside Iran. But the problem at stake remains even bigger than this deep-seated international rivalry: In their video released Thursday, ISIS suggested that Saudi Arabia could be next.

Read more:
Iranian Kurds Likely Responsible for ISIS Attacks in Tehran - The Atlantic