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IRAN FRONT PAGELatest News and Views From Iran, Middle East and the World

Iran News
Politics
Business
Society
- Education
- Environment
- Health
- Human Rights
- Incidents
- Lifestyle
- Sport
- Women
Culture
- Art
- Architecture
- Books
- Cinema
- Cultural Heritage
- Food
- Handicrafts
- Media
- Religion
World
- Africa
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Home Blog Page 1506

Iranian exports of medicinal plants worth $600 million

April 16, 2023

Thanks to favorable weather conditions and the country’s long record in the production of medicinal plants, exports of such products inject considerable profit into the Iranian economy.

Currently, about 90% of medicinal plants are produced inside the country, but Iran’s share of export and sales of the plants in the world market is insufficient.

Statistics show the value of official exports of medicinal plants and herbal products has surpassed 660 million dollars in one decade.

The Science and Technology Development Staff of the Department of the Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine at the Iranian Vice-presidency for Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy has defined various programs with the cooperation of other relevant institutions for expanding scientific and technological cooperation at the international level and providing more opportunities for exporting products to other countries.

Media: Top Hamas leaders to visit Saudi Arabia following Tehran-Riyadh rapprochement

IFP Media Wire

April 16, 2023

For many years, Saudi Arabia’s relationship with Hamas has been cold and tense, and the kingdom even arrested many people with ties to the group, which rules the Gaza Strip.

But following its landmark rapprochement with Iran, Riyadh appeared set to host a high-level delegation including Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh, his deputy Saleh al-Arouri, and the head of the group abroad, Khaled Mashaal.

In 2019, Saudi authorities arrested dozens of “Hamas-linked operatives”, stating that they were threatening the kingdom’s rule.

In recent months, after Hamas leaders sent messages that they would like to mend ties with the kingdom, Saudi Arabia has released many of those detainees, including senior member Mohammad Al-Khodary, who was freed in October.

Last week, US media reported that Saudi Arabia’s interest in establishing diplomatic relations with Israel had cooled in recent months amid ongoing violence in the West Bank.

The US-brokered Abraham Accords saw the kingdom’s neighbors — the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — establish full diplomatic ties with Israel.

In 2022, hopes for deepening ties with Riyadh peaked when the kingdom allowed Israeli civilian flights to pass over its airspace.

Since the establishment of Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline right-wing government, the Saudis have issued several condemnations against Israel over West Bank settlement expansion, Israeli troops’ attacks against Palestinians, and called comments by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to “wipe out” the town of Huwara “racist and irresponsible.”

Beijing’s envoy: Iran oil sales to China on track despite sanctions

IFP Editorial Staff

April 16, 2023

Speaking to reporters, Chang Hua said China is not like those countries that freeze Iranian assets in line with America’s pressure policy against Tehran.

“We are not under the domination of other countries,” said the Chinese diplomat.

He said Iran and China should make efforts to remove the existing obstacles in the way of their financial transactions.

The main obstacle, he added, are the “unjust sanctions” imposed on both countries.

Iran and China have been expanding their trade ties in recent years despite all the sanctions.

China is Iran’s largest oil buyer.

The two countries have signed a 25-year strategic partnership deal, under which they agreed to significantly boost ties in a variety of areas besides economy.

Iranian president plans to visit Latin America; date to be determined

IFP Editorial Staff

April 16, 2023

Speaking to IRNA, Hojjatollah Soltani said based on its policy of diversifying relations on the international stage, the Raisi administration has paid a good level of attention to the expansion of ties with Venezuela.

Within the last two years, he said, relations with Venezuela have increased significantly compared to the past.

Asked if a visit by Raisi to Latin America will only include Venezuela, he said when a trip is planned to and from South America, one or more countries are normally placed on the agenda given the long distance between the two regions.

“Our relations are very good and moving forward in all fields, politically, economically, culturally, scientifically and technically. Currently, our political relations with Venezuela are at the highest level and we have many political commonalities with the government and people of this country,” he added.

Many killed, injured in Dubai apartment block fire

IFP Media Wire

April 16, 2023

A fire swept through an apartment building in an older neighborhood of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, killing at least 16 people and injuring another nine, authorities stated on Sunday.

The state-linked newspaper The National cited a statement from Dubai Civil Defense provided by the city-state’s Dubai Media Office for the death toll. It said the blaze happened Saturday in Dubai’s Al Ras neighborhood, a tightly knit warren of streets and alleys home to one of its oldest neighborhoods.

Al Ras is also home to the Dubai Spice Market, a major tourist attraction near the Dubai Creek.

The government statement did not offer a cause, but appeared to hint at a problem in the five-story apartment building leading to the deaths.

Civil Defense “stressed the importance of residential and commercial building owners and residents fully complying with security and safety requirements and guidelines to avoid accidents and protect people’s lives,” the government statement reportedly announced.

OPEC figures show Iran’s oil output at 2.567 mln bpd in March

IFP Media Wire

April 16, 2023

The figures covered in a Saturday report by the ILNA news agency showed that Iran had produced an average of 2.567 million barrels per day of crude oil in March, down by 8,000 bpd from February.

The decreased output mirrored a month-on-month decline of 0.29% in OPEC oil production in March.

The average price of Iranian Heavy crude grade reached $78.8 per barrel in March, down from $81.88 per barrel reported in February, showed OPEC tables.

OPEC forecasts showed that global demand for crude oil will reach an average of 101.89 million bpd, up by 2.33% from the average demand reported last year.

Mass protests held in Israel against PM’s judicial reforms for 15th straight week

IFP Media Wire

April 16, 2023

More than 100,000 people participated in the main demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday, according to Israeli broadcaster Channel 12, and smaller demonstrations took place across the occupied territories. Counterprotests were also planned in several locations.

Protest organisers, who have held these weekly protests for more than three months, aim to maintain momentum and increase pressure on Netanyahu and his government until the proposed changes are scrapped.

Facing opposition from civil society, parts of the army and even within his own cabinet, Netanyahu paused the overhaul plans in late March, saying he wanted “to avoid civil war”.

The plan would give Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, and his allies in Israel’s most hardline government 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.

Opponents have said it will destroy a system of checks and balances by concentrating power in the hands of Netanyahu and his allies in parliament.

They also have said that Netanyahu has a conflict of interest at a time when he is on trial.

Iran’s Raisi appoints caretaker for Agriculture Minister

IFP Editorial Staff

April 16, 2023

In a decree, President Raisi named Seyyed Mohammad Aghamiri as the caretaker of the Agriculture Ministry, temporarily replacing Javad Sadatinejad.

Besides the agriculture minister, Raisi also replaced the vice president and head of the planning and budget department, Massoud Mirkazemi, with Davood Manzour, a former deputy at the department.

The cabinet shake-up comes amid widespread criticisms of the Raisi administration’s economic performance.

The country has been grappling with a range of economic woes, including sharp inflation and a decline in the value of the national currency, rial.

The Raisi administration has attributed them to the heavy sanctions in place against the country and a recent wave of unrest and protests that gripped the country for months.

Live Update: Russia’s “Special Operation” in Ukraine; Day 417

IFP Media Wire

April 16, 2023

Ukraine counteroffensive could succeed because of ‘lazy Kremlin elite’: Russian mercenary chief

Ukraine’s counteroffensive will likely smash through Russia’s defences because Russia’s “decadent elite” has undermined the Kremlin’s war machine, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has stated.

His comments are the most forthright assessment yet from a top Russian commander that the Kremlin’s armies will fail to repel the major Ukrainian attack expected in the coming weeks.

“The Ukrainian army will launch a counteroffensive and somewhere will be able to break through the defences,” he said in an essay published online.

‘Unprecedented’ bloody fighting over Bakhmut: Ukraine

Ukrainian and Russian armed forces are fighting extraordinarily bloody battles in the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut, but pro-Kyiv forces are still holding on, Ukraine’s military says.

Reuters reported that Russia’s defence ministry said earlier on Saturday that fighters from the Wagner mercenary group had captured two more areas of Bakhmut, the main target of Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern military command, told the 1+1 television channel, “Bloody battles unprecedented in recent decades are taking place in the middle of the city’s urban area.”

“Our soldiers are doing everything in bloody and fierce battles to grind down [the enemy’s] combat capability and break its morale. Every day, in every corner of this city, they are successfully doing so,” he added.

‘Great Easter’ prisoner exchange has taken place: Ukrainian official

Some 130 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been released and returned home in a “great Easter exchange”, a senior Ukrainian presidential official has said on Sunday, the day of Orthodox Easter.

Ukrainian and Russian forces have held regular prisoner exchanges during Moscow’s invasion, now in its 14th month, Reuters reported.

“We are bringing back 130 of our people. It (the exchange) has been taking place in several stages over the past few days,” President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on the Telegram messaging app.

It was not clear how many Russians were sent back the other way.

Yermak added those returning home included military, border guards, national guard members, sailors and employees of the state border guard.

The exchange was the second large prisoner swap in the past week. On Monday, Russia and Ukraine announced they carried out a major prisoner swap with 106 Russian prisoners of war being freed in exchange for 100 Ukrainians.

Russian mercenaries seize more ground in Bakhmut

Fighters of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group have captured two more areas of the eastern city of Bakhmut, Russia’s Defence Ministry announced on Saturday.

Wagner has spearheaded Russia’s attempt to take Bakhmut since last summer in what has been the longest and deadliest battle of the war for both sides.

Both Wagner and Ukraine have disputed each other’s territorial claims in Bakhmut, with Ukraine saying it controls more than 20 per cent and the Wagner Group saying it had seized more than 80 per cent.

If the Defence Ministry’s claims are true, they will likely embolden the Group whose leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has portrayed his men as playing an outsized role in the war while the Kremlin’s war machine has sputtered as a result of a “decadent elite”.

Prigozhin stated on Saturday the Kremlin’s armies will fail to repel a major Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Zelensky denounces Russia for “brutally shelling” apartment

President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Russia for “brutally shelling” residential buildings and “killing people in broad daylight”.

The death toll from a Russian strike on a block of flats in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk climbed to 11 on Saturday.

Journalists on Friday saw rescue workers digging for survivors on the top floor of the typical Soviet-era housing block, and black smoke billowing from homes on fire across the street.

The street below – including a playground – was covered in concrete dust and debris, including torn pages from school books and children’s drawings.

Toddler among 11 dead in Russian missile strikes

Russia shelled a block of flats in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, killing 11 people, authorities confirmed on Saturday, including a two-year-old boy who was rescued from the rubble but died on his way to hospital.

Friday’s strike on the quiet neighbourhood came as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill that will make it easier to mobilise citizens into the army and block them from fleeing the country if drafted.

Sloviansk lies in a part of the Donetsk region that is under Ukrainian control. According to Kyiv, it was struck by seven missiles which hit five buildings, five homes, a school and an administrative building.

Brazil president says US should “stop encouraging war” in Ukraine

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday that the United States should “stop encouraging” the war in Ukraine.

“The United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace; the European Union needs to start talking about peace so that we can convince Putin and Zelensky that peace is in the interest of everyone and that war is only interesting, for now, to the two of them,” Lula told reporters in Beijing.

Lula also revealed that during his talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, he also discussed the idea of forming a group of leaders “willing to find a way to make peace.”

“I have a theory that I have already defended with (French President Emmanuel) Macron, with Olaf Scholz of Germany, and with Biden, and yesterday, we discussed at length with Xi Jinping. It is necessary to constitute a group of countries willing to find a way to make peace,” Lula added.

The White House has so far been skeptical of China’s attempt at to play peacemaker between Russia and Ukraine, and has focused its efforts on supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the war.

Early in March, the US announced a new security assistance package for Ukraine worth up to $400 million. Later that month, it announced an additional $350 million in security aid.