Mehrdad Bazrpash said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia’s flag airline had forwarded the request to the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran.
He said the three flights would not include Hajj-related flights.
Bazrpash said relevant Iranian organizations would do their best to schedule the flights.
Iran and Saudi Arabia announced an agreement to reestablish relations on March 10 followibg seven years of cut ties.
The two countries are expected to reopen their embassies before Hajj season in June.
The games, held on Saturday evening, marked the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, at the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Normally, the people of Mazandaran get together in July each year to hold the Feast of the Dead, a part of which is the Locho wrestling contest.
The contest, which dates back to more than a thousand years ago, is held to choose the Pahlavan (champion) of the region. It is seen as the origin of the modern freestyle wrestling.
The word Locho means the ‘edge of the wood.’ Before the match starts, a stick of wood is usually planted in the ground, with the prize of the competition tied to it. The winner takes the prize and the stick.
According to the rules, each competitor tries to gain the superior position by using certain techniques on some parts of the opponent’s body, such as head, elbow and knee.
Amirabdollahian made the remarks in a Saturday phone call with Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement Ziyad al-Nakhalah, congratulating him on the auspicious occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Referring to the Eid al-Fitr speech by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei about the important issue of Palestine, the top Iranian diplomat highlighted the significance of the decline of the Zionists’ occupiers, the ongoing developments in Palestine and unity among its people as well as global solidarity with the Palestinians.
Earlier in the day, Ayatollah Khamenei said the focus of the Muslim world should be on strengthening Palestinian combatants at a time when Israel is fast approaching its end.
“Today, we are witnessing the gradual decline of the usurping Zionist regime; its speed is even increasing day by day,” the Leader stated, adding, “The strategy of the Islamic world should be focused on strengthening the combatant elements inside Palestine.”
Nakhalah, for his part, said all the Palestinian people and groups are united to support al-Quds and the great achievements made during the recent years.
He commended Iran’s support for the oppressed and resilient people of Palestine.
Nasser Kanaani said the provocative statements of the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken seek to create discord among the regional countries.
Kanaani described the statements of the US Secretary of State as ill-considered.
He added, “The Islamic Republic of Iran, within the framework of the good-neighborliness policy, has always laid emphasis on dialog, participation and regional cooperation to ensure the security and common interests of the regional countries, away from the interference of foreigners, and the positive and progressing developments unfolding in the region are also in the same direction,” he added.
Kanaani was referring to the recent rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Kanaani said, “The Iranian military program is only defensive and deterrent in nature and is not against any country that has no intention of aggression against Iran.”
The spokesman said the US wrong actions over decades have been the source of insecurity, instability and war in the region.
“It is in the best interest of Washington to abandon its erroneous, interventionist and irresponsible approaches to the issues concerning the regional countries and allow the process of strengthening stability and peace to continue its way forward with the cooperation and participation of the regional countries,” Kanaani added.
According to the official, most transactions are already made in these currencies, mostly in Chinese yuan and Russian rubles, and in the future Moscow intends to abandon the euro and dollar in energy exports altogether.
“The trends have changed greatly toward reducing the use of dollars and euros. Considering the current problems with these currencies, in our settlements we are switching almost exclusively to national currencies,” he said, referring to economic restrictions placed on Russia by Western states due to the Ukraine conflict, which have effectively made it impossible for Russia to conduct transactions in euros and dollars.
“Our partners in China are already paying for gas in yuan, as well as partly for oil. They also pay in rubles. We will continue to improve these mutual settlements in national currencies,” Novak pledged.
The deputy premier added that in order to meet strong demand for Russian energy, settlement mechanisms are needed “which can only be in national currencies under the current circumstances.”
In an earlier interview with TASS news agency, Novak predicted that the share of transactions in national currencies will continue to grow in the coming years.
Russia significantly increased the use of national currencies in trade last year, moving away from the euro and dollar in transactions with foreign partners as these currencies were deemed “unreliable” due to sanctions.
“After the events in Gezi (protests in Istanbul in 2013 that turned into violent clashes with the police), Turkey has been facing a number of developments that have led to the reduction of investments. The pandemic added to that. We have been facing the biggest wave of migrants and it may have different costs. The US wants to create a terrorist state near us. We are taking precautions,” Soylu told the CNN Turk broadcaster.
The minister added that Turkey had been fighting against a terrorist threat for over 40 years, but the risk of the establishment of a terrorist state still exists as long as the US is actively involved in the region.
Last year, Soylu stated that Ankara did not accept the US Embassy’s condolences in connection with the deadly terrorist attack in central Istanbul, which claimed the lives of six people. In February, the Turkish minister ordered the US ambassador to Ankara, “take your dirty hands” off the country, accusing him of trying to “provoke” Turkey following the US warnings about possible terrorist attacks in Istanbul.
Turkish officials have repeatedly criticized the US for arming Kurdish rebels in northern Syria, near the Turkish and Iraqi borders. Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey are all home to large Kurdish populations that have been vying for an independent Kurdish state in the territories that they inhabit. Ankara has been in conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which it considers terrorist, since 1984 and resumed active operations against the Kurdish forces in 2015.
Yousef Yousefi, a senior environmental official in Arak Province, told IRNA that lightning set ablaze the dry reeds in the region on Saturday evening, and that the flames were increasing.
He said fire fighters, law enforcement forces and environmentalists were present in the wetland shortly after the fire broke out, but it was not possible to put out the flames due to the swampy path.
The region is the habitat of 140 species of birds. Some 53 species of migratory birds, including rare ones, arrive in the region every year.
Many tourists, especially those who love birdwatching, visit the region in spring and winter, when migratory birds arrive there.
Crowds of Israelis held banners with the words “Crime Minister” overlaid on Netanyahu’s face in Tel Aviv at Saturday’s protest, the latest in a series of weekly actions since the start of the year.
Plans by Netanyahu’s government to weaken the Supreme Court have outraged Israelis who see it as an assault on their country’s system of checks and balances and a threat to its very democracy.
“This is not about so-called judicial reform, it’s about democracy,” said Sheila Katz, head of the National Council of Jewish Women, from the rally in central Tel Aviv.
“In order for your sacred courts to protect the rights of all people, they must remain independent from politics,” Katz added.
Protests last month brought Israeli cities to a standstill and threatened to shut down the economy, compelling Netanyahu to delay the judicial reform plan in hopes of finding a compromise.
However, protesters have been undeterred. Crowds of Israelis chanting “Shame!” have flooded the streets in the weeks after Netanyahu backed down, demanding that the overhaul be scrapped altogether.
The plan would give Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, and his partners in Israel’s most hardline coalition in its history the final say in appointing the nation’s judges.
It would also give parliament, which is controlled by his allies, authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions and limit the court’s ability to review laws.
The demonstrations have galvanised people across Israeli society.
Thousands of officers in elite reserve units of the military have said they will refuse to report for duty. High-tech business leaders and the security establishment have come out against the proposal. Trade unions have called for a general strike.
The United States, Israel’s most crucial ally, has even publicly rebuffed Netanyahu, with President Joe Biden telling him that he “cannot continue down this road”.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev stated on Sunday that if the G7 moved to ban exports to Russia, Moscow would respond by terminating the Black Sea Grain deal that enables vital exports of grain from Ukraine.
The Group of Seven (G7) countries are considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported last week, citing Japanese government sources. Russia has repeatedly threatened to scrap its participation in the grain deal, which is due to expire on May 18.
“This idea from the idiots at the G7 about a total ban of exports to our country by default is beautiful in that it implies a reciprocal ban on imports from our country, including categories of goods that are the most sensitive for the G7,” Medvedev said in a post on his Telegram channel.
“In such a case, the grain deal – and many other things that they need – will end for them,” he added.
The G7 is reportedly discussing reversing its sanctions approach so that exports to Russia are automatically banned unless they are included on a designated list of products allowed to be shipped to the country. Under the current framework, goods are allowed to be sold to Russia unless they are explicitly black-listed.
France, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have expressed dismay after China’s ambassador in Paris questioned the sovereignty not only of Ukraine, but all the former Soviet Republics including the Baltic states.
Lu Shaye’s remarks in a TV interview late on Friday raise fresh questions about the faith the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has placed in China to act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine.
Lu had been asked whether he considered the peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, part of Ukraine under international law.
“Even these ex-Soviet Union countries do not have effective status, as we say, under international law because there’s no international accord to concretise their status as a sovereign country,” Lu stated.
Lu’s comments appeared to brush aside the sovereignty of countries, including ironically Russia, that formally recognised each other after the Soviet Union’s dissolution and are represented at the United Nations and in European security organisations.
Asked if Crimea was part of Ukraine, he said the answer depended on one’s position, and it was not so simple.
He added: “There is a history here where Crimea was originally part of Russia. It was Khrushchev who offered Crimea to Ukraine during the period of the Soviet Union”.
Russia announced its forces have managed to capture more territory in the heavily contested city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.
Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement on Sunday that troops secured two more blocks in Bakhmut’s western districts and that airborne units were providing reinforcements to the north and south.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private Wagner military force, stated his troops control 80% of Bakhmut.
The battle over the city has been dragging on for months.
Ukraine has already acknowledged that Russian forces had made some advances in fierce fighting for Bakhmut but still alleged that the situation was under control.
Ukraine needs to receive significantly more military support than allies have provided so far in order “to finish Russian aggression this year,” Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk said.
“We are thankful to our allies for their military help. But it is not enough. Ukraine needs 10 times more to finish Russian aggression this year,” Melnyk tweeted.
He called on Ukraine’s partners to “cross all artificial red lines” and devote 1% of GDP to supply weapons to Ukraine.
“Our allies have to comprehend the scale of this war,” the deputy minister said in a conversation with Ukrainian media.
Melnyk cited US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s comment that an international coalition has so far provided Ukraine with $55 billion worth of support.
“That seems like a large number. But in contrast with the Second World War, where, unfortunately, more and more parallels can be drawn, over $50 billion worth of help was supplied under US lend-lease alone in the 1940s,” the Ukrainian official continued, adding, “The equivalent today would be around $700-800 billion.”
Modern battle tanks are among the key contributions provided to Ukraine by Western allies, with Ukrainian forces set to begin training on how to operate Abrams tanks next month.
The coalition’s $55 billion in security assistance for Ukraine has included “more than 230 tanks and more than 1,550 armored vehicles and other equipment and munitions,” according to Austin.
Russia’s regular forces and fighters from the Wagner private military company are launching nonstop assaults on the eastern city of Bakhmut, according to Ukrainian commanders on the front lines.
The situation there “remains extremely tense,” Yurii Fedorenko, the commander of a company in Ukraine’s 92nd Mechanized Brigade, told Ukrainian television.
“The fighting is extremely difficult,” Fedorenko said, adding, “The enemy is using all available attack and assault potential, both in terms of equipment and manpower.”
Russian paratroopers and special forces have joined the assault, and they’ve had some tactical success, according to the commander. Russia uses onslaughts from aircraft to “literally destroy” Ukrainian positions, then moves forward to fill up the vacuum, Fedorenko stated.
But, the commander continued, Kyiv’s troops are conducting “active defense” and retaking some positions, “both on the outskirts of the town and in the town itself, pushing the enemy away from the communication routes and driving them out of their positions.”
Some positions change hands back and forth through the course of battle.
Another officer, Lt. Roman Konon, said Russian forces are pushing ahead with unprecedented force, destroying everything in their path. Each side is suffering casualties, Konon continued.
Fedorenko endorsed the grinding, monthslong efforts to defend Bakhmut, claiming “the enemy suffers much greater losses during the assault than the Ukrainian forces.”
And if Ukraine allowed Russia to achieve its objectives in Bakhmut, the commander stated it would free up “an extremely large number of forces and means, which are quickly redeployed to other areas of priority and importance to the enemy.”
That could include the eastern cities of Marinka or Lyman.
As long as Russia is tied up fighting in Bakhmut, Ukraine is able to “destroy this strike and assault potential of the enemy,” Fedorenko continued.
“Sooner or later, we will have to regain every centimeter, every meter of Bakhmut — which means everything that we can hold here and now, needs to be held now,” the commander added.
The agreement was announced in a telephone talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on Saturday.
The top Iranian diplomat also thanked Turkey for its valuable efforts to this end.
Amirabdollahian also congratulated Cavusoglu and the Turkish nation on Eid ul-Fitr, marking the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
Amirabdollahian expressed hope that the spirituality of the holy month of Ramadan will bring hearts of Muslims closer together and will cause unity among them.
The foreign ministers of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Turkey also discussed bilateral and regional issues.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu for his part referred to the excellent ties between the two countries and extended his congratulations to the top Iranian diplomat on Eid ul-Fitr.
Cavusoglu also underlined the need to expand ties between the two brotherly and friendly nations.
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