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Iran Covid: 71 deaths in 24 hours

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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COVID in Iran

The health ministry also said 7,348 people have tested positive from Sunday to Monday.

So far, 143,015 people have died in Iran of the virus since the start of the Covid pandemic some two years ago.

The pandemic subsided in Iran several weeks ago but resurged and the country is now in the throes of the 7th wave of the disease.

Iranian officials blame the current surge in fatalities and the daily caseloads on people’s failure to stick to health protocols and also the emergence of a new sub-variant of the Omicron strain of Covid.

They have called on all Iranians to get their booster shots of Covid vaccine. But not many people are showing up at vaccination places for this purpose.

Figures released by the health ministry show that over the past 24 hours, only 11,155 people went to vaccination places to get their booster shots of the Covid jab.

Meanwhile, currently 78 cities across Iran are marked red, which denotes the highest level of risk from the Coronavirus. Only 12 cities in Iran are blue. Blue zones are areas where things are almost normal Covid-wise.

Iran FM: If US shows flexibility, nuclrar deal will be clinched in coming days

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iran FM Hossein Amirabdolahian

He said if the US shows flexibility, Iran and the other sides will reach a deal in the coming days.

Amirabdollahian also said Iran and the P4+1 have done what is necessary, adding that the Vienna talks made progress but Iran does not want to enter into an agreement which would make no changes on the ground.

The foreign minister said Iran and the US are exchanging messages on three issues and that ran will announce its views in the next few days.

“We told the US that if they meet our demands regarding the three issues which are logical, we are ready to reach a deal and attend the summing up meeting”, he said.

Amirabdollahian said Iran showed flexibility at all stages of the talks and the US itself knows this too well.

He noted, “It’s now the US’s turn to show flexibility.”

The top Iranian diplomat stressed that the US side showed flexibility regarding two issues in words but this must be in practice.

He urged Washington to also show flexibility about the third issue, namely guarantees.

Amirabdollahian referred to the US claim that they have a Plan B in case the talks fail, underlining, “We also have our own Plan B, but this issue must be resolved through talks.”

The foreign minister said Iran will give its final view on the EU’s proposed deal to the bloc’s JCPOA talks’ coordinator by midnight Monday.

Amirabdollahian noted that if the US acts realistically and flexibly, a deal will be reached, but if they do not show flexibility, more talks must be held.

Iran: Significant progress made in recent Vienna talks

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Nuclear Negotiations in Vienna

Nasser Kanaani told a press briefing on Monday, “The Iranian negotiating team participated in the talks with a serious determination to reach a good, firm and lasting agreement that can fulfill the basic interests of the nation and remove the cruel sanctions against Iran and the Iranian people.”

He added, after the intensive and sensitive talks “If Iran’s red lines are respected, the grounds are ready for an agreement.”

The spokesperson also said, “In some areas, as we had demanded, relative progress was achieved in Vienna and our expectations were partially met.”

However, he noted, “The developments did not fully satisfy Iran’s legally-justified demands, and we had other expectations from the other parties that we believed should be met.”

He asserted that reaching a final agreement after conclusion of this round of talks depends on fulfillment of Iran’s ‘rightful expectations’ from the other parties, especially the US.

Meanwhile, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson pointed to the anniversary of the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan in 2021, saying, “The illegal occupation and illegitimate militarism resulted in nothing but killings and destruction of infrastructure.”

He stressed that stability, peace, and security can be restored to Afghanistan only through the formation of an inclusive government covering all ethnic groups and political parties that represent the people.

Touching on cooperation between Iran and Russia, Kanaani pointed out that the collaboration spans many fields and the two countries have serious cooperation in technological fields. He said that the Khayyam satellite that was recently launched into orbit was an example of joint efforts.

The Iranian spokesperson also clarified that Tehran-Moscow cooperation has nothing to do with the recent developments in the region, apparently referring to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Regarding a trip by a US congressional delegation to Taiwan on Sunday evening following a visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier in August, Kanaani said, “We are witnessing the repetition of the irresponsible and provocative behavior of the United States in various geographical locations.”

He reminded that Iran has declared it supports One China Policy, which recognizes Taiwan as part of China.

Iranian MP: Linking assassination plots to nuclear talks futile

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Salman Rushdie

Javad Karimi Ghoddosi, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, told Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) that “Israel does not need to bother to level such accusations against Iran, as it can rely on the influential pro-Israel lobbyists at the White House.”

The remark comes days after the US Justice Department claimed that Iran had plotted to kill former White House national security adviser John Bolton in retaliation for the assassination of top Iranian commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad International Airport in 2020.

It also comes amid allegations that Iran was involved in a recent attack on anti-Islam blasphemous novelist Salam Rushdie by a US-born man in New York, a claim Iranian officials have rejected.

“What happened in New York was the execution of the verdict against Salman Rushdie’s apostasy by a young man born in the US without any affiliation with any organization or party,” Ghoddosi said.

Rushdie touched angered Muslims across the world by writing his sacrilegious novel the Satanic Verses in 1988.

The Iranian parliamentarian also said if Iran decides to avenge for the assassination of the symbolic anti-terror commander, General Soleimani, blamed on Israel and the US, it does not need to deploy agents to the US, as there are ‘fervent’ volunteers who would accomplish the mission without orders from Iran.

Iran denies ties to attack on Salman Rushdie

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Nasser Kanaani

Nasser Kanaani, in his weekly press conference on Monday, categorically rejected Iran’s ties to the perpetrator of the attack, 24-year-old Hadi Matar.

“In the attack on Salman Rushdie in the US, we do not consider anyone worthy of blame and even condemnation other than (Rushdie) himself and his supporters,” the spokesperson said.

Kanaani highlighted that Salman Rushdie exposed himself to the public rage by insulting the sanctities of Islam and by crossing the red lines of over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world as well as the red lines of all of the followers of divine religions.

He said no one has the right to accuse Iran over the incident, adding the insult and the subsequent support was an affront to all divine religions and prophets, which is not defensible.

Indian-born Salman Rushdie, the author of the blasphemous novel Satanic Verses, was stabbed by Matar on stage before delivering a lecture at an event on Friday and was rushed to hospital with serious injuries.

Rushdie’s novel triggered an outcry across the Muslim world, including in Iran.

Chinese envoy: US should address Iran’s concerns in nuclear talks

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Chang Hua

In an interview with the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Chang Hua said talks to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement have reached a sensitive point, advising all sides to adopt a flexible and pragmatic stance by responding to all parties’ concerns and interests in order to strike a lasting agreement.

US’s ‘incendiary stance’ on Taiwan

The Chinese ambassador had some harsh words for the United States for stirring up tensions with its ‘interfering policies’ on Taiwan.

He said the recent provocative trip by the US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as the third highest-ranking person in the country, to Taiwan amid the already tense ties between China and the United States, was “a severe violation of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the One China policy.”

The envoy stressed that China’s punitive measures against Pelosi’s ‘reckless’ trip would include rolling back military ties with Washington and suspension of cooperation based on some other agreements.

Tehran-Beijing ties recovering

Chang Hua expressed optimism that Iran’s relations with China, especially trade ties, hit by the coronavirus outbreak, improve and reach the pre-pandemic levels.
He noted Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has held talks with the Chinese head of state Xi Jinping on several occasions “to direct the expansion of ties between Iran and China and give the ties a new political momentum.”

China supports Iran’s SCO membership

Beijing backs the Islamic Republic’s full membership at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), expected to be officially announced in an upcoming meeting of the SCO scheduled in September this year in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, according to Chang Hua.

“Undoubtedly, Iran’s official accession to the SCO, in addition to strengthening regional security cooperation, will lead to the development of economic and commercial cooperation and the promotion of cultural exchanges among the people of the member states,” he said.

‘Afghanistan shouldn’t be a failed state’

Regarding the developments in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover last year, the Chinese envoy said the country should not become a failed state detached from the international community.

He said China has always respected Afghanistan’s independence, national sovereignty and territorial integrity and will never interfere in its internal affairs.

However, he added that the international community expects the interim administration in Kabul to push for national reconciliation efforts, form an inclusive government, and guarantee employment, education and women’s rights.

3 Syrian soldiers killed in Israeli strikes near Damascus

By
IFP Media Wire
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Israeli Fighter Jet

The SANA news agency said on Sunday that the missile attacks took place at 8:50pm (17:50 GMT) and targeted “some points” in the countryside near the capital, Damascus, and in the coastal province of Tartous.

Syrian air defence forces confronted the “aggressions” and downed some of the missiles, SANA added, citing an unnamed military source.

“The aggression led to the death of three soldiers, the wounding of three others,” it reported.

The attacks on Damascus were carried out from a direction southeast of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, while the attacks on Tartous came from the Mediterranean sea.

In addition to the deaths, the attacks caused some “material damage,” the military source told SANA.

The Israeli military declined to comment.

Iranian female weightlifter wins gold in Turkey, makes history

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Elham Hosseini

In the 81-kg category, Hosseini lifted the 95-kg weight in her first move in snatch, 100-kg in her second move and won the gold medal on Sunday evening.

However, she failed to lift the 103-kg weight in her third move.

In clean and jerk, she won two bronze medals after lifting the 117-kg weight for her first move, and the 123-kg weight for her second move.

She could not lift the 127-kg weight in her third move.

Hosseini’s name had already gone down in the history of Iran’s sports as the first Iranian female weightlifter to have ever won a medal.

She claimed a bronze medal at the 2019 International Weightlifting Federation tournament in Turkey.

The 5th Islamic Solidarity Games was initially slated to be held in August 2021 but was postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Over 240 Iranian athletes in 16 sports fields have taken part in the competitions which started on August 9 and will continue until August 18.

Live Update: Russia’s “Special Operation” in Ukraine; Day 173

By
IFP Media Wire
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Russia Ukraine War

Putin says Russia ready to sell arms to allies

President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow is ready to offer modern weapons to its allies, adding it values its ties with countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

“[We] are ready to offer our allies the most modern types of weapons, from small arms to armored vehicles and artillery to combat aviation and unmanned aerial vehicles,” the Russian leader stated at the opening ceremony of the “Army-2022” forum, an arms show being held near Moscow.

“Almost all of them have been used more than once in real combat operations,” he added.

Putin was speaking nearly six months after Russia launched its invasion in Ukraine, an offensive that has seen Moscow suffer repeated setbacks and heavy losses.

Western military analysts say the poor performance of Russian troops and weaponry could make its arms exports less attractive to potential buyers, such as India, which have heavily relied on its technology in the past.

UK defence ministry maps Russian attacks, troop locations

The United Kingdom’s defence ministry has published its latest map showing Russian attacks and troop locations in Ukraine.

The map indicates Russian forces are pressing to make gains in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas and northeastern Kharkiv regions.

It also indicates that Ukrainian troops are staging counterattacks in the country’s south, in a bid to reclaim territory captured by Moscow earlier in the war.

Wall Street revives Russian bond trading

Several major Wall Street banks have begun offering to facilitate trades in Russian debt in recent days, according to bank documents seen by the Reuters news agency, giving investors another chance to dispose of assets widely seen in the West as toxic.

Most US and European banks had pulled back from the market in June after the Treasury Department banned US investors from buying any Russian security as part of economic sanctions to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine, investors who hold Russian securities and two banking sources told Reuters.

Following subsequent guidelines from the Treasury in July that allowed US holders to wind down their positions, the largest Wall Street firms have cautiously returned to the market for Russian government and corporate bonds, the agency reported, citing emails, client notes and other communications from six banks as well as interviews with the sources.

New Zealand to deploy 120 soldiers to UK to train Ukraine troops

New Zealand is sending 120 military personnel to the United Kingdom to help train Ukrainians in front-line combat, its government has said.

The deployment will enable two infantry training teams to equip about 800 Ukrainian personnel with the core skills to be effective in combat, including weapon handling, combat first aid, operational law and other skills, the government added.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, during a news conference announcing the deployment, stressed that New Zealand troops have not and would not engage in combat in Ukraine.

Forty-two countries call for Russia’s withdrawal from Zaporizhzhia plant

Dozens of countries as well as the European Union have demanded the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the occupied nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

“The stationing of Russian military personnel and weapons at the nuclear facility is unacceptable,” a joint statement signed by the US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan and New Zealand among 42 countries said.

“Deployment of Russian military personnel and weaponry at the nuclear facility is unacceptable and disregards the safety, security, and
safeguards principles that all members of the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] have committed to respect,” the group added.

Ukraine says Russians in trouble in Kherson after bridges hit

Ukraine has announced Russian troops who crossed the Dnipro river during their offensive in the southern Kherson region were facing growing difficulties after strategic bridges were damaged.

Moscow’s forces seized the southern city of Kherson on the Dnipro early in their invasion of Ukraine, the only regional capital they have conquered so far.

Their westward offensive in the region has made some progress, but the three bridges they control in the area – two for road traffic and another carrying a railway – have been bombarded repeatedly in recent weeks.

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant ‘risks increasing every day’: Mayor

The risk of disaster at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant occupied by Russian troops is “increasing every day”, according to the mayor of the city where the facility is located.

“What is happening there is outright nuclear terrorism,” Dmytro Orlov told the AFP news agency by telephone, adding, “It can end unpredictably at any moment.”

The plant, which is Europe’s largest, was seized by Russian soldiers in the opening days of the invasion and has remained on the front line ever since. This week the facility has come under fire repeatedly, with Kyiv and Moscow trading blame for the dangerous escalation.

Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding invests in Russian energy companies

Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding has invested in Russian energy groups Gazprom, Rosneft and Lukoil between February 22 and March 22, according to a post on Twitter.

The Kingdom Holding investments fall within the company’s 12.8 billion riyal ($3.4bn) three-year investment programme, the company added.

Kingdom Holding said it invested 1.37 billion riyals ($360m) in Gazprom and 196 million riyals ($52m) in Rosneft on February 22, and 410 million riyals ($109m) in Lukoil from February 22 to March 22.

Foreign ministry: US seeking to label Russia as state sponsor of terrorism with others’ hands

The United States’ plans to isolate Russia in the world have failed, which explains Washington’s attempts to label Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism with the hands of others, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.

“They are using others to materialize their idea [to add Russia to this list]. As a matter of fact, the Baltic states have already spoken out on this topic,” she stated in an interview with the Voskresny Vecher (Sunday Evening) with Vladimir Solovyov program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

She stressed that the West has failed to isolate Russia, as it has failed to cancel Russian culture and history.

“It did not happen. The world has paid no heed to everything Washington was saying. The West has self-isolated from our country and then it triggered Plan B – to do harm wherever possible. Mostly by proxy,” she continued, adding that Washington prefers to do it via those countries, which joint the European Union not long ago. In her words, the governments of Eastern European nations are not “the elite, which is responsible for its steps”, and Washington is making use of it.

She recalled that Moscow has clearly explained to Washington which consequences this step (listing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism) may entail.

“If they can read, they, probably, understand. We have said that many times – not only orally, but also in written commentaries, and even translated them into English. So, the question is to the people we deal with. But everything has been said many times,” Zakharova stated.

First ship carrying Ukraine wheat under UN deal docks in Turkey

The first ship carrying Ukrainian wheat to be exported under a United Nations-brokered deal has arrived in Istanbul, according to the Joint Coordination Centre based in the Turkish city.

The Belize-flagged vessel is the first to carry wheat from Ukraine through the Black Sea since Russia’s invasion in February. The Sormovskiy was loaded with 3,050 tonnes of wheat and had left Ukraine’s port of Chornomorsk on Friday.

The ship was seen crossing the Bosphorus Strait and docking there, awaiting inspection.

It was the first shipment of wheat from Ukraine, which, along with Russia, accounted for nearly a third of global wheat exports before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine war diverts attention from hunger: Pope

Pope Francis has said that the war in Ukraine distracted attention from the problem of world hunger, and has called for urgent food aid to stave off looming famine in Somalia.

“The people of this region, who already live in very precarious conditions, are now in mortal danger because of drought,” he stated, referring to the Horn of Africa during his weekly address in St Peter’s Square in Rome, Italy.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations announced this month that it could officially declare famine in eight regions of Somalia next month if livestock continue to die, key commodity prices rise further and humanitarian assistance fails to reach the most vulnerable.

Russia calls for nuclear power plant pledges

A Russian diplomat has called on Ukraine to offer security assurances so that international inspectors could visit the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant that has come under fire.

As fighting steps up in southern Ukraine, concern has grown sharply about the Zaporizhzhia plant, which is held by Russian forces and has been hit by sporadic shelling.

Russia’s envoy to international organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, called on Ukraine to “stop shelling” the plant to allow an inspection mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“It is important that the Ukrainians stop their shelling of the station and provide security guarantees to members of the mission. An international team cannot be sent to work under continuous artillery shelling,” he was quoted as saying by TASS.

Afghanistan’s acting FM calls for expansion of ties with Iran

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Amir Khan Muttaqi and Alireza Bigdeli

He stressed that to create economic integration at regional level and boost trade, Iran and Afghanistan must take necessary measures to expand transit and transportation and reduce costs.

The Iranian Embassy in Kabul said on Twitter that Bigdeli has travelled to Kabul for talks over ways of expanding consular cooperation, tackling illegal entry into Iran by Afghans, boosting border security and issuing visas for Afghan nationals to travel to Karbala, Iraq to participate in the Arbaeen ceremonies.

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