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Iran Reports Highest Number of Cases in Over a Month

A woman wearing a protective face mask and gloves walks past the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in Tehran, Iran, on April 2, 2020. WANA News Agency, via REUTERS
A woman wearing a protective face mask and gloves walks past the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in Tehran, Iran, on April 2, 2020. WANA News Agency, via REUTERS
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Iran Reports Highest Number of Cases in Over a Month

A woman wearing a protective face mask and gloves walks past the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in Tehran, Iran, on April 2, 2020. WANA News Agency, via REUTERS
A woman wearing a protective face mask and gloves walks past the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in Tehran, Iran, on April 2, 2020. WANA News Agency, via REUTERS

Iran on Friday reported its highest number of new COVID-19 infections in more than a month as it warned of clusters hitting new regions.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 2,102 new cases were confirmed across the country in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall total to 116,635.

That figure is the highest Iran has announced for a single day since April 6.

The country has struggled to contain the coronavirus since its first cases emerged in mid-February.

Jahanpour said the virus had claimed another 48 lives over the same period, raising the overall death toll to 6,902.

The southwestern province of Khuzestan remained "red" -- the top level of Iran's color-coded risk scale.

Several more provinces could be added to that level of alert, he said.

"Other provinces that we may see rising infections in are Lorestan, Sistan and Baluchistan, and East Azerbaijan," Jahanpour said in televised remarks.

The spokesman issued what he called a "warning" to residents of the provinces to observe health protocols.

Lorestan lies in western Iran, East Azerbaijan in the northwest, and Sistan and Baluchistan in the southeast bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Jahanpour had said on Thursday that North Khorasan province in the northeast may also be close to "critical condition."

Khuzestan is the only province so far where authorities have reimposed stringent measures like shutting businesses after a countrywide relaxation in April.

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Russia Removes Afghan Taliban from List of Banned Terrorist Groups

Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)
Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)
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Russia Removes Afghan Taliban from List of Banned Terrorist Groups

Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)
Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)

Russia on Thursday suspended its ban on the Taliban, which it had designated for more than two decades as a terrorist organization, in a move that paves the way for Moscow to normalize ties with the leadership of Afghanistan.

No country currently recognizes the Taliban government that seized power in August 2021 as US-led forces staged a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. But Russia has been gradually building relations with the movement, which President Vladimir Putin said last year was now an ally in fighting terrorism.

The Taliban was outlawed by Russia as a terrorist movement in 2003. State media said the Supreme Court on Thursday lifted the ban with immediate effect.

Russia sees a need to work with the Taliban as it faces a major security threat from extremist militant groups based in a string of countries from Afghanistan to the Middle East.

"Russia aims to build mutually beneficial ties with Afghanistan in all areas, including the fight against drugs and terrorism," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It added that Moscow was grateful to Afghanistan for military operations against the local branch of ISIS.

Moscow also aims to strengthen trade, business and investment ties with Kabul, leveraging Afghanistan's strategic position for future energy and infrastructure projects, the ministry statement said.

In March 2024, gunmen killed 145 people at a concert hall outside Moscow in an attack claimed by ISIS. US officials said they had intelligence indicating it was the Afghan branch of the group, ISIS Khorasan (ISIS-K), that was responsible.

The Taliban says it is working to wipe out the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan.

Western diplomats say the Taliban's path towards wider international recognition is blocked until it changes course on women's rights. The Taliban has closed high schools and universities to girls and women and placed restrictions on their movement without a male guardian.