The soldier and the sergeant died after the man opened fire on them while they were trying to stop his vehicle.
No motive is known for the kidnapping.
Hospital on fire in western Tehran
A spokesperson for Iran’s Emergency Organization has said unfortunately all the patients on upper floor inhaled smoke from the fire.
According to the official, 10 ambulances have been dispatched to site of the incident and all medical centers in the vicinity of the hospital are on high alert.
No news on possible casualties is available yet.
Anar Bij; A Tasty Dish of Northern Iran
In general, for the preparation of the Anar Bij or the northern Fesenjan stew, walnuts, vegetables, sour grape juice, pomegranate paste, ground meat, onions, salt and pepper, along with turmeric are needed.
If you do not have access to herbs, you can make the food with the rest of the vegetables that are mentioned below which are easier to find. But surely this meal will have an original flavour with local vegetables.
Ingredients for Anar Bij
- Half a kilo of ground meat
- Half a kilo of vegetables (Chives, Coriander, Parsley, Fenugreek, Spinach)
- 5 tbsp of pomegranate paste
- Salt & pepper as much as needed
How to cook Anar Bij
Mix the ground meat with grated onions as well as salt and pepper and prepare them in the form of small meatballs.
Place the walnut on the heat until it gets hot (make sure the colour does not change). Then, pour 3 glasses of cold water on the walnuts and heat.
Chop the vegetables and sauté them in a little water. When the mixture of water and walnuts boiled, add the fried vegetables to the stew. Add the pomegranate paste at this stage.
The amount of pomegranate paste depends on your taste and, of course, the paste’s sourness. You can also use some bitter orange juice or plum paste along with pomegranate sauce.
Sauté the meatballs in the same oil and add it to the stew and place the stew on medium heat for an hour so that the stew becomes ready. At this stage, if the stew needs water, you can add some.
This delicious meal becomes green after getting ready and has a fairly sour taste. You could also add pomegranate seeds and reduce the amount of pomegranate paste. The stew can also be made with chopped meat or duck meat.
Additional tips for making Anar Bij
1-You can use blue eryngo (locally called Chuchagh that is a kind of vegetable growing in northern Iran) as filling for the meatballs which is a matter of taste.
2-Do no forget that the amount of mint and local northern vegetables should be less than other vegetables.
3- If local vegetables are not available, use pennyroyal or no local vegetables at all.
4- People from Gilan (Brittanica) use black and sour pomegranate paste to make Anar Bij, but if black pomegranate paste is not available, use sweet-and-sour pomegranate paste.
5- You can add some cold water or ice cubes to the stew from time to time to let walnut oil come out.
More questions about Anar Bij Recipe
1- Is it possible to prepare this stew without local vegetables?
Yes, but in that case it will not have the special taste. You can use any vegetable that is in the recipe and finally omit the pennyroyal.
2- Can sliced meat be used instead of minced chicken or meat?
You can use it, but this stew is based on minced meat. One of the reasons why this dish is prepared quickly is the use of minced meat.
Iran distributes meat from 30k livestock among needy people
Morteza Bakhtiari said 9,000 charities have participated in the program.
He said Iran’s leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei ordered the launching of a campaign to help those who need.
Bakhtiari said the meat from the livestock is distributed among people in line with health standards.
The livestock were slaughtered on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, which is one of three very important feasts celebrated by Muslims worldwide.
On Eid al-Adha, many people, including Hajj pilgrims, slaughter sheep as part of a tradition which has continued since the Prophet Abraham was ordered by God to do so instead of sacrificing his son, Ishmael as a sign of surrender to the Almighty’s will.
Biden defends Saudi Arabia trip amid criticism ovor Riyadh rights record
In an op-ed published in the Washington Post, Biden directly responded to the critics of the trip, saying that while human rights issues are always on the agenda, his job is to keep the US “strong and secure” and a “more secure and integrated Middle East benefits Americans in many ways.”
“We have to counter Russia’s aggression, put ourselves in the best possible position to outcompete China, and work for greater stability in a consequential region of the world. To do these things, we have to engage directly with countries that can impact those outcomes,” Biden wrote, adding that Saudi Arabia is one of those nations.
The president listed some practical benefits of “reorienting” relations “with a country that’s been a strategic partner for 80 years.”
“Its waterways are essential to global trade and the supply chains we rely on. Its energy resources are vital for mitigating the impact on global supplies of Russia’s war in Ukraine,” the American leader stated, revealing that oil-rich Saudi Arabia is now working with US experts “to help stabilize oil markets with other OPEC producers.”
Biden also stressed that “violent extremism” is less likely to rise in a region “that’s coming together through diplomacy and cooperation.”
Admitting that his visit is seen by many as controversial, Biden said his administration had reversed “the blank-check policy” towards Riyadh by releasing the intelligence report on the murder of a Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 in Turkey (which deemed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman responsible for ordering the killing) and imposing new sanctions on the state. Riyadh claimed its security agents “went rogue” in Istanbul.
“My administration has made clear that the United States will not tolerate extraterritorial threats and harassment against dissidents and activists by any government,” Biden added, at the same time hailing some of Riyadh’s achievements in international politics.
Biden used his op-ed to contrast his own administration’s policies in the Middle East with those of Donald Trump, whom he referred to only as “my predecessor” without ever mentioning his name.
Biden is scheduled to travel to the Middle East from July 13 to July 16. He will make stops in Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia. In his op-ed, the president emphasized the symbolic meaning of his direct flight from Israel to Saudi Arabia.
“That travel will also be a small symbol of the budding relations and steps toward normalization between Israel and the Arab world, which my administration is working to deepen and expand,” he explained.
The announcement of the president’s visit to Saudi Arabia and especially his upcoming meeting with the Crown Prince has drawn harsh criticism as Biden had previously pledged to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over Khashoggi’s murder. His administration is struggling to rein in a surge in gas prices in the US and hopes to boost production in the Persian Gulf kingdom.
Iran comfortably wins Serbia to reach quarterfinals of VNL
Thus, Iran secured a spot at the quarterfinals round the Volleyball Nations League after the decisive straight sets win over Serbia.
The 1st set was lengthy but it was the Iranian team that won 35-33.
The Iranians carried the momentum into the 2nd set in which they defeated the Serbians 25-21 to double their lead.
They acquitted themselves well both on the offense and defense in the 3rd set as well to finish a brilliant game by crushing Serbia 25-12.
Earlier, Iran defeated Poland, Slovenia and was defeated by Italy. Thus, it made its way to the rank of top eight teams after seven victories and five losses in three weeks of games.
The final round of the competitions will kick off on Wednesday, July 20, with the top eight teams facing off in new games. Seven teams have already reached the finals.
They include Italy, Japan, America, Poland, France, Brazil and Iran. The Netherlands needs to win to join the top eight group of teams.
Daily Covid death toll in Iran becomes double-digit
The Sunday daily caseload was 2,375. They included 296 hospitalizations.
The latest deaths push to 141,439 the number of people who have died of Covid since the pandemic hit Iran some two years ago.
Currently, there are 4 red cities in Iran in terms of risk from the Coronavirus. The number of orange cities is increasing as well.
Authorities have urged all Iranians to get their booster shots of Covid vaccine quickly to prevent a full resurgence of the disease.
Latest figures show that the number of people willing to get their boosters is low.
This has made officials worried. They have warned that the current trend will lead to a new wave of the pandemic in Iran.
Red Cross: Mothers and babies facing ‘unimaginable horror’ in Yemen
With the armed conflict in Yemen in its eighth year, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) released a report this week stating that around 66% of Yemen’s 30.5 million people lack access to basic healthcare, and those in need of medical attention often risk death to visit the 51% of healthcare facilities still operating in the country.
The crisis has been most acutely felt by women and infants. Less than 50% of births in Yemen are attended by healthcare professionals, and one mother and six newborn babies die every two hours, the report read. Of the estimated 4.2 million people displaced in Yemen since the outbreak of war in 2014, 73% are women and children.
“It’s just unimaginable horror,” Omar told RT.
“We are doing our best to draw the attention of the international community to the plight of the Yemeni people. We’re saying that the world should not turn a blind eye to what is happening,” Omar added.
“The Yemeni people should not be left alone facing their fate,” Omar, who authored the ICRC’s report, continued.
Saudi Arabia launched a war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the US, the UK and other Western states.
The war has stopped well short of all of its goals, despite killing hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and turning the entire country into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The conflict has been described by the UN as the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” and has resulted in the deaths of 377,000 people, more than two-thirds under the age of five, per UN figures at the end of 2021.
The Yemeni conflict is currently in a fragile truce, which was declared in April and extended last month until August.
President Raisi reaffirms Iran’s support for Syria, entire resistance front
The Iranian president held a phone conversation with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, on Sunday on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, a major holiday on the Islamic calendar.
During the talks, Raisi praised Assad’s fruitful visit to Tehran last month and said the agreements reached between the two sides back then should be seriously followed upon.
The Islamic Republic will keep up support for the resistance axis, particularly Syria, said Raisi, adding, “Iran backs the establishment of peace and stability in Syria and opposes any foreign interference in the country.”
In turn, Assad offered congratulations on Eid al-Adha to Raisi and asked him to convey sincere congratulations to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on his behalf as well.
He said Iran and Syria “stand together on the same front,” and that the enemies are getting weaker and weaker every day in the face of the resistance axis.
Iranian MP: US sanctions aimed at dragging on nuclear talks
Vice Chair of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Abbas Moqtadaei says the recent sanctions that hit several individuals and companies working with Iran, show Washington is trying drag on the talks.
“This more than ever shows how untrustworthy the US is and proved to everyone that they are after getting their objectives through exerting more pressure against the Iranian nation,” he said.
“US officials have realized that the Iranian nation is stronger than being impeded [in its progress] by the sanctions.”
Moqtadaei added that Iran has already overcome Washington’s “paralyzing” sanctions.
“Americans always seek to use pressure to get their objective against Iran. This pressure is either in the form of sanctions or dragging on the negotiations,” he said.
Iran has time and again said it is ready to sign an agreement to revive the 2015 nuclear deal whenever the US is prepared to return to its obligations under the accord.
Tehran says the US should guarantee Iran’s economic benefits as a key component of the commitments under the nuclear deal.
