Friday, January 2, 2026
Home Blog Page 1876

Sardasht chemical attacks anniv.: Iran vows to hold perpetrators, accomplices to account

chemical attack on Sardasht

The attacks that hit four locations in the city and several nearby villages killed many civilians, including women and children, and injured thousands of others.

“The silence and complicity of world powers and those who call themselves the international community, without a doubt, played the most important role in encouraging the blatant presumption of the Baathist regime in using chemical weapons against the residents of the City of Sardasht, as the first ever residential city to be attacked by chemical weapons,” Hossein Amirabdollahian said in his message.

The foreign minister added that the attacks were made possible by the technical and financial support of western governments and companies especially those in the US, the UK and Germany with the backing of Washington.

He also slammed the “lack of political will” by some governments to bring the perpetrators to justice adding that US is even now making the victims of the attacks suffer by its sanctions on Iran that are impeding supply of their much-needed medicine.

He called on the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to throw its weight behind the creation of a binding and effectual humanitarian mechanism to help the chemical injured and repeated Iran’s proposals for the establishment of an international aid and support network for the victims.

Caspian Sea states ban military presence of extra-regional countries

Caspian Sea summit

The agreement bars every regional country from giving its maritime territory to a third one for military operation against a Caspian Sea littoral state.

Another key clause in the agreement is that it bans the presence of extra-regional countries’ armed forces in the Caspian Sea.

The agreement also says a lasting balance of arms among regional countries must be ensured and their military development must remain at a reasonable level and must consider the interests of all Caspian Sea states, without undermining their security.

The Caspian Sea littoral states also agreed that Tehran will host the next summit of the grouping.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi also participated in the 6th summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states in Turkmenistan at the invitation of the Turkmen president. A high-ranking delegation including political and economic officials accompanied Raisi on his visit to Ashgabat.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan republic, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are the Caspian Sea littoral states.

Iran judiciary official says US “world’s biggest violator of human rights”

US Prison

Kazem Gharibabadi pointed to the dire rights record of the US when it comes to mistreatment of inmates, saying on average, 4,000 people die in US jails annually.

Gharibabadi also cited the US sanctions as another example of Washington’s disregard for human rights.

He said US officials claim to be defending human rights while they have endangered the lives of the Iranian people by imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Gharibabadi said Iran has been hurt by terrorism as well.

He said several years ago, the death toll from acts of terror in Iran was said to be 17,000, but in fact 25,000 Iranians have been killed by terrorism-related acts so far.

Iran Covid: Zero death for 2nd day, mask requirements lifted

Iran COVID

On Wednesday, the daily caseload was 441 including 70 hospitalizations.

The Tuesday caseload was 443. However, most cities in Iran are marked blue in terms of risk from Covid-19.

Meanwhile, Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi has said the cabinet has decided to lift mandatory mask requirements in open places across the country.

He however said people are obliged to wear masks in closed public places, especially in public vehicles.

Einollahi said Covid will not be eradicated totally and will, like influenza, become an endemic.

He added that for this reason, citizens are recommended to get vaccinated once a year.

According to the official figures, Covid has so far killed 141,386 in Iran. Around 50,800,000 people have received the second shots while the number of the triple-vaxxed stands as 27,737,186 among the population of roughly 85 million.

President Raisi: Israel fuels tensions and is harmful to regional security

Ebrahim Raisi & Elham Aliyev

“Security in our region will be established solely through cooperation of regional countries and neighbors,” Raisi, who is visiting Turkmenistan for the summit of the Caspian Sea countries, said in a meeting with the president the Azerbaijan Republic.

Raisi added that the presence of the Israeli regime in any given region will undermine its security.

The president also welcomed the talks with other leaders on the sidelines of the Caspian Sea summit as an opportunity to provide the grounds for more understanding in the region.

“Iran’s capabilities in the technical and services spheres and also its geopolitical and logistical capacities including the transportation, provide appropriate grounds for expansion of cooperation between Iran and the Azerbaijan Republic and greater convergence of the Caspian Sea littoral states,” he said.

During the meeting, the Azerbaijani President Elham Aliyev also said the previous meeting with President Raisi on the sidelines of the summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization in Ashgabat has boosted both countries’ push to expand their bilateral ties.

“I hope our meeting, today, will also help strengthen the proces of expansion of bilateral ties and improvement of cooperation between the two countries,” he said.

Iran says ready to increase gas swap with Turkmenistan for exports to Azerbaijan

Raisi & Berdimuhamedow

Raisi, who is visiting Turkmenistan for the sixth summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states, made the comments during a meeting with Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedow on Wednesday.

President Raisi also said the relations between Iran and Turkmenistan are expanding based on neighborly ties and mutual trust, stressing that implementing the agreements and cooperation documents signed during the recent visit by the Turkmen president to Iran will help speed up bilateral cooperation and upgrade ties.

The president added that his administration considers development of cooperation with neighboring countries a priority.

“Easing visa issuance for businessmen and increased travels by businessmen of the two countries will pave the way for further expansion of the volume of mutual trade ties”, added the president.

Also, seeing the recent request by the Azerbaijan Republic, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to increase the capacity to swap Turkmenistan’s natural gas and deliver it to the Azerbaijan Republic through our country,” he noted.

President Raisi also expressed hope that the Caspian Sea summit leads to decisions to better exploit the capacity of the body of water and its resources for the littoral states, while stressing the need for the sea to be used for peaceful purposes, in observance of environmental considerations and without the presence of foreign countries.

During the meeting, Berdimuhamedow also thanked Raisi for his efforts to help upgrade Tehran- Ashgabat relations and reiterated his country’s will to implement the agreements it has signed with Iran.

Report: Doha talks over revitalizing JCPOA underway

Iran US Flags

A source close to the negotiations told IRNA’s reporter that the talks are not yet over.

According to the source, the European parties are playing their own role but Iran and the other sides keep holding talks over remaining differences.

The Doha talks had been scheduled to continue for two days and they will end later on Wednesday.

IRNA’s report comes as some other Iranian news outlets said earlier that the sanctions removal talks have ended inconclusively.

Jordan FM: Arabs seeking good ties with Iran

Jordan FM Ayman al-Safadi

In an interview with Al Jazeera on Tuesday, Ayman al-Safadi dismissed reports that Arab countries in the region are forging an anti-Iran coalition with Israel through establishment of a military alliance similar to NATO.

Al-Safadi said forming a so-called Middle East NATO is not on the agenda of US President Joe Biden’s upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia and the Israeli-occupied territories next month.

Jordan’s King Abdullah had earlier told CNBC News network last week that he supports the formation of a NATO-style military alliance in the Middle East.

The issue touched a raw nerve in Iran, with high-ranking officials warning the Islamic Republic will give a befitting response to any interventionist move by Israel in the Middle East.

Iran becomes 1st Mideast state to indigenize cloud seeding radar tech

Iran Tehran

In an article published on Wednesday, Fars news agency reported that the “complicated and sensitive” technology has been subjected to sanctions, and that the main “formula” to build the radars cannot be found at any scientific centers of the world.

However, scientists with an Iranian knowledge-based company, named Basamad Mowj Gha’em, managed to gain access to the tech after years of research hard work, it said.

The pieces of hardware used in the Iranian version of the radars are even more efficient compared to foreign models, the report added.

Cloud seeding is a scientific process that improves a cloud’s ability to make rain or snow and helps control other weather events.

Along with other states in the Middle East and those in North Africa, Iran — a semi-arid country — is heading fast toward severe water shortages.

Downpour levels have also sharply plummeted in Iran over the past years, leaving many regions suffering from drought.

‘Europe indebted to Iran for fighting drug trafficking’

Iran Police

Majid Karimi, however, slammed Europe for depriving the Islamic Republic of the latest technology to fight drug trafficking in line with sanctions spearheaded by the US, while they directly benefit from Iran’s anti-drugs measures.

“If the Islamic Republic of Iran stops the fight (against drugs) for only a month, the European countries will have to gather every gram of the huge hauls of drugs from their streets,” he warned.

Iran is a major transit route for drug trafficking from its eastern neighbor Afghanistan to European countries and has been praised by international organizations, including United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), for its role in cutting supply lines to the West.

Afghanistan has been among the world’s major suppliers of opium and heroin. Drug smuggling from Afghanistan gathered pace during the 20-year occupation of the county by US-led forces.

Thousands of Iranian forces have been killed in the fight against drug trafficking over the past 40 years.