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Iranian military vehicle catches fire near Tehran

Iranian military vehicle catches fire

The incident happened on the road to the town of Varamin south of Tehran on Friday afternoon.

According to Nayebi, Tehran’s deputy governor, the fire broke out due to a technical problem in the vehicle carrying weapons and military equipment.

The deputy governor of Tehran added, the accident left no casualties or significant material damage.

He also ruled out the possibility of sabotage.

New video shows no fighting before Al Jazeera reporter killed

Shireen Abu Akleh

Abu Akleh, 51, was killed by an Israeli soldier on May 11, according to colleagues and witnesses who were present at the scene, while covering a military raid by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

The clip, which was filmed by a Jenin resident and verified by Al Jazeera, shows initial quiet with no sounds of fighting, corroborating witness reports that there were no clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters at the time of the shooting, as the Israelis have suggested.

Some people are seen to be talking and laughing in the foreground, with people in the background, including Abu Akleh and some of her colleagues wearing blue press flak jackets, also visible.

Abu Akleh and the other journalists are walking in the direction of where Israeli forces were located, before gunfire shots start ringing out.

Once the shooting starts, people in the foreground start running away from where the Israeli forces were positioned. Abu Akleh can be seen lying in the street after being shot.

A Palestinian American citizen, Abu Akleh’s killing by Israeli forces has led to global outrage and widespread calls for an independent investigation.

On Thursday, an Israeli military official said the Israeli army had potentially identified the rifle from which Abu Akleh may have been shot, but added that they could not be sure unless Palestinian authorities handed over the bullet.

The Palestinians have stated they were conducting their own investigation and have refused to turn over the bullet to the Israelis citing a lack of trust based on past experiences.

Israeli authorities initially announced Palestinian fighters were responsible for Abu Akleh’s death, circulating video of Palestinian men shooting down an alleyway.

However, researchers from the prominent Israeli human rights group B’Tselem found the spot where the clip was filmed: 300 metres (985 feet) away and with no line of sight to the location where Abu Akleh was shot. Al Jazeera’s Sanad news verification and monitoring unit also conducted an investigation and reached a similar conclusion.

The open-source research group Bellingcat has also supported accounts of Palestinian witnesses present at the scene of the killing, based on their own audio and video analysis.

Separately on Thursday, the Israeli military, according to local media, said it was not planning to investigate Abu Akleh’s death.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israel’s Military Police Criminal Investigation Division believes an investigation that treats Israeli soldiers as suspects will lead to opposition within Israeli society.

Shortly after, dozens of United States legislators signed a letter demanding the FBI investigate Abu Akleh’s killing.

Abu Akleh’s family has also urged the US government and international community to step in and ensure an independent probe.

Covid kills 9 in past day in Iran

COVID in Iran

The daily caseload was 228 that included 47 hospitalizations over the time span.

Iran has managed to keep the daily death toll single-digit over the past few days. This is while the death toll on some days during the worst of the pandemic hit nearly 800 with tens of thousands of infections.

Authorities attribute the downward trend in Covid deaths and infections to people’s observance of the healthcare protocols and also a nationwide vaccination campaign that has resulted in the double inoculation of some 90 percent of the entire Iranian population of around 84 million people.

Iran now says it’s self-sufficient in Covid vaccine production and it’s ready to export jabs to foreign countries

Raisi offers special gift to parents of Iranian quadruplets

Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi

Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi visited the quadruplets’ parents as Raisi’s representative and congratulated them on the birth of the four babies.

On behalf of the president, he offered a parcel of land to the family in Salmas and said the administration had drawn up plans to support all the parents with four children and above.

Einollahi said the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development had been tasked with identifying all the families who have more than four children to provide them with similar support in line with the government’s policy of accelerating population growth.

In a written message to a meeting of the National Headquarters for Population on Wednesday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said increasing the birth rate in Iran was “vital” to the country’s future.

He said efforts to boost birth rate and to decrease the age of the human resources of Iran were “one of the most crucial obligations” of government officials and the general public.

Iran has a population of approximately 84 million people. Estimates show the Iranian population will reach 88.3 million in 2026 and 95.2 million in 2036.

IRGC chief: Iran’s nation always foils never-ending US plots

Major General Hossein Salami

Major General Hossein Salami said Friday that the enemies of Iran have always been “lying in ambush” to target the nation and prevent it from achieving victories, but to no avail.

“The enemy has not got to know the Iranian nation yet. May God bless our nation, which has always destroyed the illusions of the enemies,” the IRGC chief said.

The enemies, he said, imagine they can deceive the Iranian people through “lies,” “rumors,” and “calls” to rebellion, but the nation has always remained vigilant in the face of such plots.

The IRGC commander praised the Iranian nation’s bravery in defending the country over the course of the 1980s Iraqi war on the country, adding, “Your glory did not come to an end following the Sacred Defense. Since then, you have buried the dreams of the enemies with them every day.”

Iran FM invited to New Delhi

Amir Abdolahian Iran FM

Top Iranian diplomat Hossein Amir Abdollahian welcomed the invitation, raised in a phone conversation with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Friday.

During the talks, Amir Abdollahian pointed to the good interactions between Tehran and New Delhi and said the Islamic Republic of Iran attaches special significance to ties with India.

“Among indexes of the growing relations are cooperation between the two countries to enhance ties in all fields as well as interactions and consultations on regional and international issues,” the Iranian foreign minister said.

In turn, Jaishankar referred to the good level of cooperation and ties between the two states and expressed hope that the relations will be further enhanced in various spheres.

Iran and India have been interacting on a variety of issues including the Vienna talks over the revival of the Iran nuclear deal, as well as the developments in Afghanistan, Yemen and Ukraine.

Death toll from recent hostage crisis in W Iran reaches six

Crime Scene

On Wednesday, a disgruntled employee of Ilam Province’s Mostazafan Foundation, who had reortedly been fired, took a number of people hostage at the office, killing three of his colleagues on the spot before taking his own life. Five people were also wounded and hospitalized in critical condition.

Mohammad Moradi, a local health official, reported Friday that the number of the fatalities had risen to six after another of the injured people, identified as Saeed Rostami, died at hospital.

He was a cousin of the hostage taker, according to the official. Police officials said at the time that the hostage taker, whom they did not identify, had been armed with a Kalashnikov rifle and two grenades.

Provincial police commander Delavar Alqassi-Mehr also said the hostage taker “had personal disputes with management.”

The Mostazafan foundation later denied reports that the killer had been fried from the organization.

Yemen Ansarullah leader: We won’t let US make decisions for us

Abdul Malik al-Houthi

Abdul Malik al-Houthi said the US has started to build bases in Yemen’s Hadharmout, al-Mahrah and Aden.

Houthi also said, “We, as people of Yemen, will continue down our path to achieve independence and freedom and to prevent foreign intervention in our country”.

Houthi also strongly criticized the presidential council that replaced fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

He described the members of the council as “a bunch of criminals, traitors and thieves chosen by foreigners”.

Houthi added that traitors are those who let a Saudi or Emirati officer make decisions for them. He said when the enemies (the US, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) saw their hopes of reinstating Hadi shattered, they ditched him in a humiliating way.

Elsewhere in his comments, the leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement referred to the normalization of ties between some Arab states and the Zionist regime.

He said the move was part of a plot to prepare the region for the Zionist enemies. He added that those who are spearheading the aggression against Yemen are the same regimes that are advancing the campaign of normalization with the Zionists.

‘17 Taliban members killed in ambush in northern Afghanistan’

Taliban fighter in Afghanistan

In a tweet in the early hours of Friday, Sibghatullah Ahmadi said the ambush was carried out by forces of the Khinj base in the Choobak area of the Khinj district in Panjshir Province, northern Afghanistan.

He claimed there were no casualties among the NRF forces. The Taliban, however, have not yet made any comment on the report.

The Panjshir Valley is famed for being the site of resistance to Soviet forces in the 1980s and the Taliban in the late 1990s, during their first stint in power.

Led by Ahmad Masoud son of the late legendary Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, NRF forces put up resistance in Panjshir after the Taliban took over the country in mid-August 2021.

The Massoud-led National Resistance Front has repeatedly denounced the Taliban, calling it an “illegitimate government.”

Iranian President Raisi unveils new satelite

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi unveils new satelite

The unveiling happened upon Raisi’s arrival at Shahid Babasaee Aerospace Exhibition in West Azarbaijan Province.

Authorities say OrumSat produces high resolution images and can be put in orbit at a cost of 600 thousand dollars that is much lower than compared to foreign items.

The president also visited other technological achievements at the exhibition including light and heavy aircraft, drones and other satellites made by Orumia’s innovators.

The exhibition was held at the Shahid Bakeri Airport.

Iran has made long strides in various technological and scientific fields despite being under heavy sanctions from its adversaries, most notably the United States.

During his 1-day stay in West Azabaijan province, Raisi will visit various construction and service projects and will meet with people from all walks of life.