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President Raisi says Israel’s collapse nearer than expected

By
IFP Media Wire
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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi

During a speech on the occasion of the Qadr Night in Tehran on Tuesday, Raisi stated that Zionists are fighting each other and are in a hurry to destroy themselves.

He added that the internal political and social crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories shows that the regime of Israel will soon fall.

Raisi also referred to a statement made by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei several years ago, predicting that the Zionist regime would cease to exist a quarter of a century from then.

Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated earlier this month that protests and political infighting in the occupied territories were signs of the imminent downfall of the Zionist regime.

Iran has called on Muslims worldwide to participate in this year’s International Quds Day this Friday to demonstrate support for the Palestinians in their struggle against the occupiers.

“We will carry out our political and spiritual duty on the Quds day,” said Raisi.

AEOI spox: US was once after buying high-quality heavy water from Iran

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Water facility at Arak

Behrouz Kamalvandi said, “There was a period of time that the Americans were after buying [Iranian heavy water] following their analyses. There are documents indicating that.”

He elaborated on the growing use of radioisotopes and heavy water in the nuclear medicine sector, including in the development of a screening kit capable of detecting about 47 metabolic diseases at birth.

The official said nuclear technology is increasingly used in various fields and industries, including in the production of radiopharmaceuticals, which can be used to diagnose and treat all types of cancer.

He said heavy water was a subject of dispute over the Iranian nuclear program and attempts were made to prevent the Islamic Republic from running heavy water plants.

“Due to containing deuterium, the water that undergoes enrichment is used in various fields of medicine and fusion, which is the future source of energy for humans,” he said.

Russia says test-launched new intercontinental ballistic missile

By
IFP Media Wire
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Russia intercontinental ballistic missile

The launch from the Kapustin Yar test range in the Astrakhan region was part of testing on next-generation ICBM combat equipment, the defense ministry reports.

“On April 11, 2023, a Strategic Missile Forces combat crew conducted a successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Kapustin Yar state central joint forces test range in the Astrakhan region,” the statement read.

The launch helped confirm the correctness of schematic and structural and technical solutions used in developing new strategic missile systems, the Defense Ministry said. The missile’s test warhead hit the target at the Sary Shagan firing range (Republic of Kazakhstan) with the target accuracy, according to the statement.

“The objectives of the launch were fulfilled in full,” the statement added.

Back in February, Moscow carried out a test of an ICBM that appears to have failed around the time President Joe Biden was in Ukraine, according to two US officials familiar with the matter.

Russia notified the United States in advance of the launch through deconfliction lines under its New START treaty obligations, one official said, adding that “such testing is routine.” Another official stated that the test did not pose a risk to the United States and that the US did not view the test as an anomaly or an escalation.

Persian Gulf Council to discuss Syria return to Arab League following Tehran-Riyadh rapprochement

By
IFP Media Wire
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Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC)

Majid al-Ansari, the spokesperson of the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Doha has received the invitation and confirmed that Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani will take part in the event.

He noted that “concerned countries” such as Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan will also participate in the “consultative meeting”.

“The main aim is to discuss the situation in Syria. There are many developments regarding the situation in Syria and points of view of Arab states about the return of Syria to the Arab League,” al-Ansari said in a briefing to local media.

For his part, a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the issue of Baghdad’s participation in the meeting is currently being studied.

According to media reports, the United Arab Emirates is understood to support the plan. Syria was one of the six founding members of the Arab League in 1945.

The shift in policies took place as Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to resume diplomatic relations severed in 2016. The recent development indicates how the deal between Tehran and Riyadh may play into the settlement of other crises in the Middle East region.

Earlier last week, the Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers signed a joint statement in Beijing to restore relations and start arrangements to reopen embassies and consulates. Riyadh and Tehran have also agreed to improve security and economic cooperation.

Syria’s membership in the Arab League was suspended following the eruption of a foreign-backed militancy in the country in 2011.

In 2015, Syrian activists said that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Turkey supported both al-Nusra Front, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Daesh terrorist group in Syria by giving them money or allowing Wahhabi mosques to collect money for them.

Saudi Arabia closed its embassy in Damascus and withdrew all diplomats in March 2012. Today, the two governments are “preparing to reopen embassies after Eid al-Fitr”, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, according to media reports.

The UAE also cut its relations with Syria in 2012, a year after Damascus found itself in the grips of foreign-backed violence, but it reopened its embassy in Damascus in 2018.

Moscow: US not yet issued visas for Lavrov, Russian delegation to attend UNSC session

By
IFP Media Wire
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Russian FM Sergei Lavrov

The United States has not yet issued visas to the Russian delegation led by Lavrov to participate in the session of the UN Security Council, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated on Wednesday.

“Not a single visa has been issued yet,” Ryabkov told reporters.

Under the 1947 UN “headquarters agreement”, the US is generally required to allow access to the United Nations for foreign diplomats. But Washington says it can deny visas for “security, terrorism, and foreign policy” reasons.

The relationship between the United States and Russia has ruptured since Moscow invaded neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.

Israeli soldiers kill two Palestinians in WB

By
IFP Media Wire
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Israel Palestine

Israeli soldiers have shot dead two Palestinians, according to Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

“I commend the actions of the soldiers who eliminated two terrorists who opened fire on them near Elon Moreh [near the West Bank city of Nablus],” Gallant wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

“Their successful operation prevented an attack against Israeli citizens,” Gallant later said in a statement.

Earlier, the military had announced its forces “neutralised” two men and found rifles and handguns at the scene.

Local Palestinian sources from Nablus told Al Jazeera that the bodies of the two men – identified as Mohammed Abu Dhraa and Soud al-Titi – were taken by the Israeli military.

Al-Titi was a member of the Palestinian Authority security forces, while Abu Dhraa was a former detainee who spent seven years in an Israeli prison, the sources added.

Israel has been withholding the bodies of Palestinians as a punitive policy for decades. However, human rights groups have reported that there has been a significant rise in this practice since 2015.

According to the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, Israel currently withholds at least 105 Palestinian bodies at morgues, an act it calls collective punishment of families who often cannot obtain closure without a burial.

During the past year, the Israeli army has carried out frequent raids across the occupied West Bank.

Under the most far-right government in Israel’s history, sworn in late last year, the raids have escalated, taking a heavy toll on civilians.

More than 90 Palestinians have been killed and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners have died since January.

Tensions are running especially high as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover coincide.

Several Israeli police raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem last week and attacks on Palestinian worshippers triggered rocket attacks on Israel that met Israeli attacks in Gaza, southern Lebanon and Syria.

On Tuesday, Israel said it would be banning Jewish visitors and tourists from the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound until the end of Ramadan, a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

In previous years, Israel has also banned Jewish visits to the compound during the last 10 days of Ramadan.

Last week, suspected Palestinian gunmen killed three settlers and a ramming attack hours later killed an Italian tourist. No groups claimed responsibility for either attack.

On Monday, Palestinian mourners gathered for the funeral of a 15-year-old boy shot dead by Israeli forces during a raid in the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp, near Jericho in the Jordan Valley.

The Palestinian health ministry announced that Mohammad Balhan sustained gunshot wounds to his head, chest and abdomen.

The Palestinian Prisoners Association said the Israeli military arrested at least two people during the raid.

“We urge the world to hold this [Israeli] government accountable for its crimes,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh stated at the start of the weekly government session.

Iranians pray till dawn to mark second ‘Night of Destiny’

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Many participated in gatherings overnight on Tuesday and early hours of Wednesday in mosques and holy shrines across Iran for night-long prayers.

‘Laylat al-Qadr’ is the holiest of all nights, when the destiny for the year is decided, according to the religion stipulated in the Quran.

It is believed that angels descend on Earth to listen to the worshippers.

There is, however, no exact date for the occasion, but Shia references say it falls on either the 19th or the 21st, or the 23rd night of Ramadan.

The faithful thus hold night-long prayers on all the three dates in order not to miss the blessed night.

Huge congregations were held in the religious cities of Mashhad and Qom, which host the holy shrines of Imam Reza, the eighth Shia Imam, and his revered sister, Hazrat Masoumeh, respectively.

Iran Army Ground Force equipped with e-warfare drones: Senior cmdr.

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iran Drone

Deputy Commander the Iranian Army’s Ground Force Brigadier General Amir Nozar Nemati was speaking on the sidelines of an exhibition of the Force’s defense achievements and a ceremony for taking the delivery of 1,084 pieces of equipment related to ground combat.

He said the Army Ground Force designs and develops its hardware and systems in harmony with potential future wars.

The commander highlighted the greatly-enhanced capabilities of the Ground Force’s unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are armed with guided missiles and bombs.

He said the Force has been armed with e-warfare drones for the first time, something that will further strengthen the country’s defense power in the face of enemy threats.

Seven killed as Armenia, Azerbaijan soldiers clash along border

By
IFP Media Wire
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Armenia Azerbaijan

Military forces from Armenia and Azerbaijan clashed Tuesday along their border and at least seven soldiers were killed, according to the countries’ defense ministries.

The confrontation follows months of tensions over the blockage of the only road connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.

Armenia’s Defense Ministry said Azerbaijan fired on soldiers who were performing unspecified engineering work near the Armenian village of Tegh, about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the border. Four Armenian soldiers were killed and six wounded, it announced.

Azerbaijan said it was Armenian soldiers who opened fire, and that three Azeri soldiers died.

The clash area lies along the Lachin Corridor, the road that leads to Nagorno-Karabakh.

That region came under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia in 1994 after a separatist war in which Armenia also took control of adjacent territories.

During six weeks of intensive fighting in 2020 that ended with a Russia-brokered truce, Azerbaijan took control of the territories and of part of Nagorno-Karabakh itself. Russia sent in a peacekeeping force that was tasked with maintaining order and protecting the Lachin Corridor.

Arrested US reporter violated Russian laws: Kremlin

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Kremlin

“The United States could and should protect the rights of its citizen, who was caught red-handed and violated the relevant laws of the Russian Federation. That is what he is suspected of. That is all I can say,” Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists during a regular conference call on Tuesday.

Russian investigators formally charged Gershkovich with espionage, Russian state media reported, adding he denied the accusations. A Moscow court on April 18 will hear an appeal filed by Gershkovich’s lawyers against his arrest, Russian state media said citing the court. The correspondent is currently held in the Leftereovo pre-detention center until May 29.

On Monday, the Department of State formally classified the reporter as “wrongfully detained” – a status that puts the case in the hands of the special envoy for hostages, Roger Carstens.

The designation gives further backing to the assertions by the US government and the Wall Street Journal that the espionage charges against the reporter are baseless. It will empower the Joe Biden administration to explore avenues such as a prisoner swap to try to secure Gershkovich’s release.

President Biden has said Russia’s jailing of Gershkovich on spying charges is “out of bounds”.

Biden, departing Washington for a trip to Northern Ireland and Ireland, also told reporters that The Wall Street Journal correspondent’s jailing was “totally illegal”.

The president also spoke with the parents of Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal correspondent on Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also said Russia’s failure to grant consular access to Gershkovich “puts it, once again, in violation of international commitments it’s made.”

“I think Russia not following through on meeting its obligations to consular access, never mind the practice of detaining people arbitrarily for political purposes, is going to do even more damage to Russia’s standing around the world — a standing that has been in free-fall, particularly since its rei-nvasion of Ukraine last year,” Blinken stated at a news conference at the US State Department.

“I think it sends a very strong message to people around the world to beware of even setting foot there, lest they be arbitrarily detained,” he added.

Blinken noted that he had designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained Monday, and reiterated that he called on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to immediately grant consular access and release the detained journalist.

Blinken did say what measures are being taken to free Gershkovich, only saying that the US is “engaged every single day in pressing for that access as well as pressing for Evan’s release.”

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