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US: ISIS attacks to ‘ramp up’ in summer due to Taliban failure

By
IFP Media Wire
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Taliban

Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee, McKenzie said that while the Taliban has been “less firm” when it comes to opposing al Qaeda, they have demonstrated a commitment to taking on Daesh (also knows as ISIL or ISIS), even if it is not enough.

“The Taliban is attempting to maintain pressure on ISIS. They’re finding it difficult fo do so,” McKenzie noted in response to a question from Sen. Angus King, I-Maine.

McKenzie added that in recent months ISIS has carried out “some high-profile attacks” in Afghanistan, including in the capital city of Kabul.

This, he said, was even before the time of year when such attacks are typically on the rise. “We’re coming out of the winter; traditionally this would now begin the fighting season,” McKenzie said.

“It is my expectation that ISIS attacks will ramp up in Afghanistan as we go into the summer,” he added.

McKenzie was not confident at all that the Taliban would stop al Qaeda from being active, saying he believes that “they’re much less firm on the al Qaeda issue as far as opposing them and being able to limit them.”

The Taliban infamously harbored al Qaeda and its former leader Usama bin Laden prior to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. After a 20-year war that saw them temporarily toppled from power, the Taliban swiftly retook control of Afghanistan in 2021 as American forces withdrew. During the US withdrawal, ISIS-K carried out a suicide bombing at an airport in Kabul. Casualties included 13 US service members.

Covid-19 claims 109 lives in Iran as Omicron keeps receding

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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COVID in Iran

According to the figures published by the ministry on Wednesday, 3,010 people have tested positive for COVID-19 during the past 24 hours, bringing the total caseload to 7,133,139.

With the new fatalities taken into account, 139,289 people have died of COVID-19 since early 2020, when the virus causing the disease was first detected in Iran.

In the past day, 521 patients were hospitalized, the data showed. The figures released in recent days show a steady decline in the number of deaths, infections and hospitalization, which means the sixth wave of COVID-19, driven by the Omicron variant, is receding.

So far, 145,482,902 doses of vaccine have been administered across the country of nearly 84 million.

Despite the declining numbers, health authorities have warned of a new wave of infections following the two-week Nowruz holidays if people fail to get vaccinated and observe health protocols.

Local Iranians hold funeral for late Ayatollah Alavi Gorgani

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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funeral for late Ayatollah Alavi Gorgani

The participants beat their chests as a sign pf mourning. There were many young people among the mourners. Ayatollah Alavi Gorgani died of a disease.

Iran’s leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Tuesday offered condolences over the passing of the senior cleric to his family and his followers.

The leader said Ayatollah Alavi Gorgani faithfully stood by people on different issues relating to the Islamic Revolution and the country and threw his full support behind the Islamic establishment.

Ayatollah Alavi Gorgani was born in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf in June 1939. His father, Seyyed Sajjad, was one of the scholars and jurists of Gorgan.

Ayatollah Alavi Gorgani has authored several books on jurisprudence, principles of jurisprudence and hadith. Apart from religious research and writing books, the late cleric engaged in social activities such as constructing mosquées and clinics as well as establishing riba-free loan granting funds in different parts of Iran.

‘Two detained dual citizens including Zaghari-Ratcliffe on way to airport to leave Iran’

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

“Both of them are on their way to the airport in Tehran to leave Iran,” Hojjat Kermani added on Wednesday.

Iran’s Judiciary officials have not yet commented on the report.

On Monday Kermani said, Zaghari’s five-year jail term came to an end earlier this month, and that he was hopeful there would be “good news soon” on her release.

“Zaghari’s British passport has been given back to her, but it is not clear when she will exactly exit the country,” he added.

Zaghari was arrested by Iran’s intelligence forces at Imam Khomeini International Airport in April 2016 as she was about to board a plane to London.

In June that year, Zaghari was charged with involvement in post-election riots that engulfed Tehran and some other cities in 2009 and plotting against the government. In April 2021, after spending the final year of her term under house arrest, Zaghari was sentenced to a further year in prison and a one-year travel ban over propaganda against the Iranian government.

Fars news agency also reported on Monday Zaghari could be released within days in return for Britain paying $530 to Iran to settle a debt related to an unfulfilled military contract that dates back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Ashouri was also detained in August 2017 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for cooperating with Israel’s spy agency Mossad and two years for obtaining 33,000 euros in “illicit funds” nearly a year later.

UK says looking at ways to pay Iran debt

By
IFP Media Wire
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Liz Truss

Truss was asked by Sky News if Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was going to be able to return to London soon.

She stated she had made her case a priority, and added that she had also made repaying the Iranian debt a priority.

“We have been clear this is a legitimate debt that we do owe Iran and we have been seeking ways to pay it,” Truss said.

She noted that there was a British team in Iran but would not give any further details.

The British and Iranian governments say there is no connection between the debt and the legal case.

A British-Iranian dual national, Zaghari-Ratcliffe, has been in custody in Iran since 2016 after being accused of being a spy. She was taking her daughter to visit family when she was arrested at Tehran Airport and sentenced to five years in jail, spending four in Evin Prison and one under house arrest.

According to her family, she was told by local authorities that she was being detained because of the UK’s failure to pay an outstanding £400m debt to Iran.

Tehran has announced that the issue of paying off Iran’s debt by the UK government has nothing to do with the case of Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian national who has been jailed in Tehran for spying for London.

Iranian officials have criticized the British government for repeatedly delaying the payment of its debt to Tehran up to the present time.

‘Riyadh itself a party to conflict:’ Yemen says no to negotiating in Saudi capital

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Persian Gulf Cooperation Council

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a senior member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, said on Tuesday that Riyadh was itself a warring party and was not an impartial host.

Leading a coalition of its vassal states and with the support of a number of Western countries, Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen in March 2015.

The aggressor countries have since been bogged down in Yemen, where the Houthi movement and popular committees have teamed up with the regular armed forces to fight back the invaders.

Earlier, an unnamed Saudi Persian Gulf diplomat told Al-Quds Al-Arabi that the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council was laying the groundwork for a meeting in Riyadh that would convene all sides to the Saudi-led war on Yemen.

The diplomat said intense efforts were underway to hold the meeting, to which he said some 400 senior diplomats, figures, and tribal leaders — including from the Yemeni Houthi movement — had been invited.

The Saudi-led war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases there.

Iranian president calls for expansion of ties with Turkmenistan

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iran President Ebrahim Raisi

Raisi was speaking during a phone call initiated by Bardi Muhammedo.

The Iranian president also called for the further expansion of bilateral ties between Iran and Central Asian countries, particularly Turkmenistan.

Raisi then referred to the development of relations between Tehran and Ashgabat during Bardi Muhammedov’s presidency, saying Iran has always been determined to increase energy, political and security cooperation with.

Raisi also said Turkmenistan can always count on Iran’s long-term and close friendship.

Bardi Muhammadov thanked the Iranian president’s congratulatory message and underlined his country’s resolve to expand ties with Iran at bilateral, regional and international levels.

He then likened Iran and Turkmenistan to two relatives. He also referred to the importance of the north-south corridor that allows moving freight between Russia, central Asia, Iran and the Persian Gulf as well as Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

President Raisi also expressed hope that during the tenure of Turkmenistan’s new president, the two countries will witness increased cooperation and also realization of their economic possibilities more than ever before.

US says not to sanction Russia over Iran nuclear projects

By
IFP Media Wire
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Iran and Russian FMs Amir Abdolahian Lavrov

Ned Price, however, added the United States would not allow Russia to use the Iran nuclear deal as an “escape hatch” to evade Ukraine-related sanctions.

Talks in Vienna were paused last week, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian and stated earlier on Tuesday that US suggestions that Moscow was blocking efforts to revive the landmark agreement were untrue.

Abdollahian has also stressed Russia has created no obstacle to reaching a deal between Iran and the P4+1 group.

“There will be no relationship between the developments in Ukraine…and the Vienna negotiations. And if we reach a deal with the American side on some of the remaining issues which are among the main red lines of Iran and a final deal is reached in Vienna… Russia will remain by the side of Iran until the end of negotiations and until a good, strong, and lasting deal is made,” the Iranian foreign minister said in a joint press conference with Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday.

The Iranian top diplomat expressed hope that the American side will give up its excessive demands in the near future to pave the way for a good and lasting agreement with the support of all parties to the negotiations.

The Russian foreign minister made it clear during the press conference that Moscow has received written guarantees from the United States that sanctions will not prevent cooperation within the framework of the Iran nuclear deal.

The top Russian diplomat said Moscow wants a quick revival of the JCPOA, and that the Americans must return to the agreement and lift their illegal sanctions.

IAEA chief: Iran, P4+1 states on verge of agreement in Vienna

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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IAEA Chief Rafael Grossi

In an interview with France 24, Rafael Grossi said he was “very glad” that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, that Moscow received written guarantees from Washington that Western sanctions on Russia over Ukraine would not affect cooperation with Iran within the framework of the nuclear deal.

He expressed hope that Russia will reach an agreement with the US so that the negotiators can return to work.

Asked whether he was optimistic about the prospect of a deal in Vienna, he responded positively and confirmed that the negotiating sides are on the verge of an agreement.

The IAEA chief said the international community now has a “way forward” with Iran, and that Tehran and the Agency need to follow the roadmap they have agreed on so that they can clarify the issues and resolve them.

A pause was announced in the Vienna talks on Friday. Many blamed Russia’s last-minute demands from the US for the suspension of the negotiations. However, during the Iranian foreign minister’s trip to Moscow on Tuesday, Amir Abdollahian clarified that Russia was not at all trying to hamper the negotiations and has kept playing a positive role in the diplomatic process. Russia also rejected the speculation that it has throwing a wrench into the talks.

“It is a disaster! I am tired of speculations regarding the Russian position at the final stage of the #ViennaTalks,” Moscow’s representative to the talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, said in a tweet.

“Misunderstandings, misinterpretations and distortion of realities. The bottom line: conclusion of the agreement depends not on Russia, but on others, especially #US,” he added

Charshanbe Suri accidents kill 19, injure 2800+ across Iran

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-
Charshanbe Suri accidents

This period that began in mid-February and ended late Wednesday, March 15, saw scores of people lose their limbs.

Over 2,800 injuries were reported. Upwards of 800 people suffered injuries to the eye and more than 800 body burns were reported.

The Health Ministry figures also show that there were 293 hospitalizations including 25 people admitted to ICU wards while 41 people received outpatient treatment.

Iranians have been celebrating this festival on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year since ancient times. The festival involves jumping over fire (mainly brushwood) but Charshanbe Suri has deviated from its original rituals in recent decades and the extensive use of fireworks has been causing huge casualties and material damage each year now.

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