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Tehran Gets New Hard-Line Mayor After Ministry Approval

FILE - In this June 5, 2021 file photo, made available by the government-affiliated Young Journalists Club, then presidential candidate Alireza Zakani speaks in a televised debate in Tehran, Iran. On Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, I (Morteza Fakhri Nezhad/YJC via AP, File)
FILE - In this June 5, 2021 file photo, made available by the government-affiliated Young Journalists Club, then presidential candidate Alireza Zakani speaks in a televised debate in Tehran, Iran. On Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, I (Morteza Fakhri Nezhad/YJC via AP, File)
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Tehran Gets New Hard-Line Mayor After Ministry Approval

FILE - In this June 5, 2021 file photo, made available by the government-affiliated Young Journalists Club, then presidential candidate Alireza Zakani speaks in a televised debate in Tehran, Iran. On Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, I (Morteza Fakhri Nezhad/YJC via AP, File)
FILE - In this June 5, 2021 file photo, made available by the government-affiliated Young Journalists Club, then presidential candidate Alireza Zakani speaks in a televised debate in Tehran, Iran. On Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, I (Morteza Fakhri Nezhad/YJC via AP, File)

Iran’s state TV is reporting that the country’s Interior Ministry has approved a new hard-line mayor for the capital, Tehran, after a city council election.

Alireza Zakani, 55 heads a parliamentary research center, and he was one of the seven approved 2021 presidential candidates. He withdrew from the race to support the eventual winner, fellow hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi.

According to The Associated Press, Zakani previously served as a lawmaker. He was also the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer unit at Tehran University in 1999.

Zakani replaces Pirouz Hanachi, an architecture professor at the Fine Arts Faculty of Tehran University.

He had also previously served as the deputy mayor for urban development.

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Zelenskiy Says Ukraine's Membership of NATO is 'Achievable'

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks as he attends a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Johanna Geron
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks as he attends a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Johanna Geron
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Zelenskiy Says Ukraine's Membership of NATO is 'Achievable'

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks as he attends a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Johanna Geron
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks as he attends a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

Ukraine's membership of NATO is "achievable", but Kyiv will have to fight to persuade allies to make it happen, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Ukrainian diplomats in a speech on Sunday.
Ukraine has repeatedly urged NATO to invite Kyiv to become a member. The Western military alliance has said Ukraine will join its ranks one day but has not set a date or issued an invitation.
Moscow has cited the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO as one of the principal justifications for its 2022 invasion. Kyiv says membership in the Western alliance's mutual defense pact, or an equivalent form of security guarantee, would be crucial to any peace plan to ensure that Russia does not attack again.
"We all understand that Ukraine's invitation to NATO and membership in the alliance can only be a political decision," Zelenskiy told diplomats at a gathering in Kyiv. "Alliance for Ukraine is achievable, but it is achievable only if we fight for this decision at all the necessary levels."
Zelenskiy said allies needed to know what Ukraine can bring to NATO and how its membership in the alliance would stabilize global relations, Reuters reported.
Last week, Zelenskiy urged European countries to provide guarantees to protect Ukraine after the war with Russia ends and said Ukraine would ultimately need more protection through membership of the alliance.