The pardon and reduction of sentences by the Supreme Leader happen this time on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.
Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, the head of Iran’s Judiciary system, had asked Ayatollah Khamenei to pardon or commute 1760 prisoners’ sentences.
Article 110 of the Iranian Constitution allows the Supreme Leader to pardon or commute prison terms of the inmates upon a proposal made by the chief of the Judiciary.
The office of the leader also declared Saturday as Eid ul-Fitr.
A number of regional countries including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have declared Friday as Eid ul-Fitr.
Some others also said Saturday will be Eid.
Speaking during a telephone conversation with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, President Raisi also urged Muslim countries to defend the Palestinians, while pointing to Israel’s recent acts of aggression at al-Aqsa Mosque and against the Palestinians there.
In other remarks, the Iranian president congratulated the Qatari government and people on Eid ul-Fitry, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
President Raisi said it’s a top priority of his administration’s policy to expand ties with neighbors, saying regional progress and development is possible through dialog, interaction and cooperation among countries of the region.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for his part congratulated the Iranian government and people on Eid ul-Fitr and spoke about strong bonds between his country and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Qatari emir said Doha is ready to further expand relations with Tehran in all areas.
He also condemned the recent acts of aggression by the Zionist regime against the Palestinians, saying Qatar’s unchangeable policy is to support the Palestinian people.
This year Eid ul-Fitr falls on Saturday in Iran, but it could happen on Friday.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said the Quds Headquarters of its ground forces captured the terrorists during a series of intelligence and combat operations that led to the dismantling of the group’s cells in Sistan and Balouchestan Province.
The IRGC troops arrested the Jaish al-Adl members while they were trying to sneak into Iranian soil via an eastern border.
The detainees were handed over to judicial officials. Jaish al-Adl is responsible for a series of terrorist attacks in Iran that killed a number of people. The deadliest attack happened in 2016 and targeted a bus carrying Iranian soldiers in Sistan and Balouchestan Province, killing 27.
The terror entity openly says it is a separatist group and seeks to cede Sistan and Balouchestan from Iran. Tehran believes that Jaish al-Adl enjoys support from the US and some regional countries.
Guterres will host the closed-door gathering on 1-2 May and it will feature special envoys on Afghanistan from various countries who aim to “clarify expectations” on concerns including the Taliban’s restrictions on women, according to the secretary general’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric.
“The purpose of this kind of small group meeting is for us to reinvigorate the international engagement around the common objectives for a durable way forward on the situation in Afghanistan,” Dujarric told reporters at UN headquarters.
Guterres “continues to believe that it’s an urgent priority to advance an approach based on pragmatism and principles, combined with strategic patience, and to identify parameters for creative, flexible, principled and constructive engagement”.
It was unclear at this stage whether or not Taliban leadership would be represented at the talks.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has launched an assessment of its operations, following a ban on Afghan women working for the world body.
The announcement of the meeting in Qatar’s capital followed remarks Monday by UN deputy secretary general Amina Mohammed, who addressed the prospect of the envoys gathering to discuss the “baby steps” which could put the Taliban back on the pathway to recognition by the international community, albeit with conditions attached.
“There are some who believe this can never happen. There are others that say, well, it has to happen,” Mohammed said in a talk at Princeton University, adding, “The Taliban clearly want recognition… and that’s the leverage we have.”
But Dujarric, the spokesman, on Wednesday stressed that Mohammed “was not in any way implying that anyone else but member states have the authority for recognition” of Afghanistan’s government.
Last December, the UN General Assembly approved a decision to postpone any approval of Kabul’s request to accredit a new ambassador representing them at the UN, following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.
Dujarric stated at Princeton that the UN deputy secretary general – who is deeply involved in the issue – spoke merely about “reaffirming the need for the international community to have a coordinated approach regarding Afghanistan”.
“This includes finding common ground on the longer-term vision for the country, and sending a unified message to the de facto authorities on the imperative to ensure women have their rightful place in the Afghan society,” he added.
On 4 April, the Taliban banned Afghan women from working for UN offices countrywide, sparking criticism across the West and a UN review of the world body’s Afghanistan operations.
Ahmad Mohammadizadeh said on Thursday that the two nuclear plants would certainly attract a large population to the city.
He added that a free trade zone would also be built on land measuring 26,000 hectares in area.
He said the province needed land to settle the new population, adding that 1,772 hectares of land would be attached to Bushehr City, and more than 228 hectares to five nearby counties.
The addition of the new land would be accompanied by the construction of new housing units, resulting in the creation of a new city near Bushehr to account for new urban development plans including the nuclear power plants.
The necessary infrastructure and facilities will also be built for the new city, he emphasized.
The province is already home to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), between the fishing villages of Halileh and Bandargeh along the Persian Gulf.
“The American submarine was approaching underwater and crossing in complete silence when the fully-Iranian ‘Fateh’ submarine monitored it and forced it to come to the surface and cross the strait in that position,” Admiral Irani said.
He said the USS Florida intruded into Iranian territorial waters to a certain degree and was duly warned. It then changed course, he said.
The Iranian commander said the US submarine had been attempting to cross unnoticed but Fateh easily picked it up.
He said Iran would take the “unjustified and dangerous” trespassing to international organizations, where the US would have to be held accountable.
He said any passage has to be made in accordance with rules and regulations governing international waterways.
The US military dispatched the guided-missile USS Florida to the Middle East earlier this month amid what it said were tensions between Iran and Israel.
The US Navy claimed that Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) was planning “a drone attack against Israeli-owned civilian merchant vessels sailing in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea,” according to The New York Times.
In an interview with Entekhab News Outlet, Abolfazl Zohrevand highlighted the long-running dispute between Iran and Afghanistan over the share of water from the Helmand River, and an accord signed between them in 1973, under which Afghanistan would provide Iran with 22 cubic meters per second of water.
He said there is a water control site at the bottom of the Kajaki dam where the water originates, and the water table indicates that Iran should receive 820 million cubic meters of water per year.
“Floods that come towards Iran and the Afghans cannot control are not good for us,” he said, adding that since the disputed Kamal Khan dam was built, Iran’s problems doubled.
The former envoy called on the Iranian Foreign Ministry to diplomatically pursue Iran’s water rights.
The Afghan rulers, he said, use the water as a lever for pressure.
It comprises compounds with archaic architecture from across Iran’s Gilan Province, on the Caspian littoral, in the country’s north.
Here is a selection of images featuring the museum and its lures:
© All Content by IFP News ( Iran Front Page ) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
