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Russia slams US stance over Kazakhstan unrest

By
IFP Media Wire
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Asked about ongoing protests and rioting across Kazakhstan during a Friday press briefing, Blinken argued the situation there is distinct from brewing tensions over another Russian neighbor, Ukraine, but claimed that Moscow might have ulterior motives in spearheading a joint security response to quell the violence.

“I think one lesson in recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it’s sometimes very difficult to get them to leave,” he stated at the tail-end of the press conference, offering no elaboration.

The comment prompted a sharp response from Russia’s Foreign Ministry, which blasted Blinken for making light of “tragic events” unfolding in the ex-Soviet state, where initially peaceful demonstrations over a hike in fuel prices quickly escalated into deadly clashes with security forces, as well as arson, vandalism and looting.

“Today US Secretary of State Antony Blinken joked about the tragic events in Kazakhstan in his typical boorish manner,” the ministry said, dismissing the statement as a “snide remark” while arguing that its peacekeeping effort under the regional Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is “absolutely legitimate.”

Moscow ramped up the criticism further, also going on to cite a number of Washington’s invasions, interventions and military occupations over the decades, suggesting Blinken might learn a “history lesson” of his own.

“When Americans are in your house, it can be difficult to stay alive, and not to be robbed or raped,” it stated.

“Indians of the North American continent, Koreans, Vietnamese, Iraqis, Panamanians, Yugoslavs, Libyans, Syrians and many other unfortunate people who are unlucky enough to see these uninvited guests in their ‘home’ will have much to say about this,” it added.

Blinken mentioned Russia by name nearly 80 times during Friday’s press event, repeatedly accusing the country of “aggression” while warning of an imminent invasion of Ukraine. Moscow, which denies any such plans, has outlined some steps that could help reduce tensions in the region – including a commitment from NATO not to expand any further toward Russia’s borders. Blinken and the bloc have rejected that idea unequivocally, denying that Washington ever agreed to halt NATO’s growth, despite numerous assurances from previous US leaders that the alliance would not encroach “one inch eastward.”

Iran slams Wall Street Journal’s hostile article

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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parchameiran_by_asr_entezar

“Encouraging and advising leaders to opt for war especially when a serious diplomatic process is underway is ignorant, hostile and in contravention of the principles of international law,” Iran’s permanent mission wrote on its twitter page on Friday.

It added that those who design and implement such reckless plans will bear responsibility for the consequences.

The Wall Street Journal article titled “Biden’s Moment of Truth in Iran” was published on January 6.
It accuses Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons and of having little interest in a diplomatic breakthrough in the Vienna talks.
“With negotiations likely to fail, he’d better be prepared for a military strike,” the opinion piece read.

Iran and the P4+1 group have held many rounds of talks since 2021 to try to restore the 2015 nuclear deal that has unraveled since the United States unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018 drawing worldwide condemnation.

Iran has said it will implement its nuclear commitments under the deal if the United States removes its illegal sanctions and offers credible guarantees that it will not abandon the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action again.

Tajik president calls for closer all-out cooperation with Iran

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iran Congratulates Tajikistan on National Day

In his message, the Tajik president said the two countries can further enhance bilateral ties with firm resolve as well as sincere and joint efforts in order to serve both nations’ interests.

Rahmon said the two countries have, over the past three decades, constantly adopted practical measures in order to further upgrade constructive relations and develop new ways of consolidating all-out cooperation.

He said Tajikistan has always favored the ever-increasing expansion of bilateral relations on different fronts via mutual understanding, collaboration and trust as well as launching proper programs and moves to achieve those objectives.

Iran actor Payman Maadi among Sundance 2022 jury members

By
IFP Media Wire
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Comprising six juries awarding prizes for artistic and cinematic achievement, the jurors include Marielle Heller (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”), Andrew Haigh (“Looking”), Maadi (“A Separation”) and more.

Chelsea Barnard, a producer on “C’mon C’mon” and “Booksmart”, serves alongside Heller and Maadi on the jury for US dramatic competition. US documentary competition jurors include Garrett Bradley (“Time”), Peter Nicks (“The Force”) and veteran documentary cinematographer Joan Churchill.

Haigh joins Mohamed Hefzy (“The Walls of the Moon”) and film curator La Frances Hui on the world cinema dramatic competition jury, while Cannes artistic adviser Emilie Bujès, former US ambassador Patrick Gaspard and Dawn Porter (“The Way I See It”) will judge the world cinema documentary competition.

Joey Soloway, the creator, writer, director and executive producer of “Transparent”, serves as juror of the NEXT competition section, while Criterion Channel director of programming Penelope Bartlett, Kevin Jerome Everson (“Ears, Nose and Throat”), and Blackhorse Lowe (“Reservation Dogs”) jury the short film program competition.

Awarding Kogonada’s “After Yang” with the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize are Dr. Heather Berlin, Dr. Mandë Holford, Tenoch Huerta, Lydia Dean Pilcher and Shawn Snyder.

Maadi is one of the most important Iranian American actors, screenwriters, and directors working today. He is best known for starring in the Academy Award-winning film “A Separation” and “About Elly” by director Asghar Farhadi. For his role in “A Separation”, Maadi won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival. His recent film credits include “Night Shift”, “6 Underground”, “13 “Hours”, “Camp X-Ray” and “Just 6.5”, and his recent TV credits include HBO’s “The Night of” and “Westworld”.

This year, due to rising COVID-19 cases, Sundance will take place online at festival.sundance.org and in person at seven Satellite Screens venues across the US during the festival’s second weekend. Awards for feature-length and short films will be announced on Jan. 29.

Iran govt. berates MPs for “being irresponsible” toward national economy

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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The “Iran” Daily touched upon MPs’ criticism of the government’s decision to cancel the allocation of the greenback to certain businesses and commodities with an exchange rate of 42,000 rilas to the dollar.

“At a time when the administration has undertaken this demanding task, which the previous administration and Parliament refused to handle, media campaigns not backed by clear expert explanations indicate irresponsibility toward determining economic issues,” wrote the paper.

The newspaper added such campaigns will be particularly wrong if they come from parliament deputies, who are representatives of people.

The administration provides certain businesses with the greenback with an exchange rate of 42,000 rials to the dollar.

The subsidized budget called “preferential foreign currency” is meant to facilitate the businesses’ work to supply essential goods for people.

However, the administration has decided to cancel offering the greenback at the subsidized rate, arguing the move has resulted in rente-seeking on a large scale.

Those advocating the allocation of preferential foreign currency argue that the rate at which preferential forex is offered is much lower than the exchange rate on the market, which will keep the prices of goods down for low-income families.

Opponents, however, say the allotment of preferential foreign currency is not economically viable, and that the cancelation of the practice will have no impact on prices, either, i.e., will not raise prices. They say the practice has resulted in financial corruption.

“Reports and estimates show that more than $65 billion in preferential foreign currency has been earmarked for the import of goods since early 2018, and that there has been a deviation of around 70% in the allotments,” wrote the daily.

If the trend continues, added the newspaper, some $15billion in preferential forex will be needed by March 2022, which, says the paper, will result in even higher rates of rente-seeking.

When the United States unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the government decided to allocate preferential foreign currency to 25 basic commodities in order to control and bring down prices.

At the moment, preferential forex is allocated to five commodities only.

The economy minister says the greenback with an exchange rate of 42,000 rials to the dollar will be allotted to medicines and bread only.

13K families affected by floods in Iran’s southeast

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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The deputy governor general of Sistan and Baluchestan said on Saturday that the province is utilizing all its capacities to provide assistance to those who are grappling with the aftermath of the deluge.

Heavy rains in the south of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, especially in the two cities of Chabahar and Konarak in recent days, have caused flooding of roads and people’s houses and inflicting extensive damage to the infrastructure of this region, Rahmdel Bameri said.

The deputy governor general pointed out that more than 2,000 houses in the city of Konarak were flooded, adding that during the past few days, relief forces and different government bodies and the private sector have helped evacuate the flooded houses.

Emphasizing that the situation of victims in other cities of Sistan and Baluchestan Province is being closely monitored, Bamri said preliminary estimates show extensive damage in various sectors, including roads, agriculture, rural infrastructure and radio communications.

Torrential rains in the south of Sistan and Baluchestan Province caused seasonal rivers to overflow last week, triggering heavy floods and extensive damage to infrastructure and residential buildings.

Kazakh president says 20k ‘terrorists’ active in the country

By
IFP Media Wire
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“Gangsters and terrorists very well trained, organized and commanded by the special centre. Some of them were speaking non-Kazakh languages. There were at least six waves of attacks of terrorists at Almaty, total amount of them 20 thousand,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

“The analysis of the situation showed that Kazakhstan is facing an armed act of aggression well prepared and coordinated by perpetrators and terrorist groups trained outside the country,” he emphasized.

According to the Kazakh president, he ordered to launch a counter-terrorist operation “to eliminate the national security threat and to protect lives and properties of the citizens of Kazakhstan.”

“Currently, the counter-terrorist operation continues in our country. Large-scale and well-coordinated work is being carried out by the police. The National Guard and the armed forces to restore law and order in accordance with the Constitution,” he noted.

Kazakhstan will continue to ensure the security of diplomatic missions and foreign companies amid the unrest in the country, the president added.

“Kazakhstan will continue to ensure safety and protection of the foreign diplomatic missions as well as personnel and properties of foreign companies and investors,” he wrote.

“The policy of open doors to the foreign direct investments will remain a core strategy of Kazakhstan,” he continued.

Peacekeepers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet security bloc, will stay in Kazakhstan for a short period of time, until the situation in the country normalizes, Tokayev said.

“Peacekeeping troops comprising of multinational forces of CSTO member states were deployed and will remain for the short period of time until the stabilization of the situation in Kazakhstan,” he wrote.

Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2 to grow into mass riots with attacks on government buildings in many cities several days later. Thousands have been injured and fatalities have also been reported. Tokayev asked help from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, a post-Soviet security bloc. CSTO peacekeepers have already been deployed to Kazakhstan. According to the Kazakh authorities, law and order had been restored in all of the country’s regions by the morning on January 7. However, the situation in Almaty is still very tense.

Kazakhstan’s law enforcement officers detained 3,811 people in connection with the riots in the country, the interior ministry reported on Friday.

According to the ministry, 26 participants in the riots were killed, another 26 people were injured.

The damage done to Kazakhstan’s businesses by riots is preliminarily estimated at 78 billion tenge (around 180 million US dollars), the Khabar-24 television channel reported on Friday.

US: Diplomatic solution possible over Russia-Ukraine crisis

By
IFP Media Wire
-

Speaking to reporters from the Department of State on Friday, Blinken said Washington is still seeking a diplomatic resolution for the issues with Moscow, but he added that progress must be a “two-way street”.

“We’re prepared to respond forcefully to further Russian aggression,” he continued, adding, “But a diplomatic solution is still possible and preferable if Russia chooses it.”

The United States and Russia will kick off talks in Geneva focused on the tensions in Ukraine on Monday. US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will lead the delegations.

NATO and Russia are also set to start their own negotiations in Brussels later next week.

Late in December, President Joe Biden held a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. In a statement describing the talks, the White House announced Biden urged Putin to “de-escalate” the tensions and “made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine”.

Blinken echoed that message on Friday, noting that Washington and its allies are prepared to take unprecedented economic measures against Moscow.

“Our goal is to have a relationship with Russia that is predictable and stable, so that we can cooperate when it’s in our mutual interest, and address our differences with an open and frank dialogue,” he said.

“It’ll be very difficult to make actual progress if Russia continues to escalate its military buildup and its inflammatory rhetoric. And we’ve been clear with Russia about what it will face if it continues on this path, including economic measures that we haven’t used before – massive consequences,” he added.

For its part, the Russian government has warned the US that substantial sanctions against Russia would be “a colossal mistake” after the phone call between Putin and Biden.

Russia, which views NATO as a strategic threat in Eastern Europe, is seeking security guarantees that the US-led military alliance will halt its eastward expansion into former Soviet republics.

But Blinken on Friday described NATO as a defensive alliance that “exists to protect, not to attack”.

Earlier in the day, NATO voiced support for Ukraine against any possible Russian military action after a virtual meeting for the alliance’s foreign ministers.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg expressed opposition to giving Russia veto power over which country can join the alliance.

“We can’t end up in a situation where we have second-class NATO members, where NATO as an alliance is not allowed to protect them,” he said.

Stoltenberg also played down the notion that Ukraine poses a threat to Russia.

“I think if anything, it is the idea of a democratic stable Ukraine which is a challenge for them,” he added.

Russia’s deployment of tens of thousands of troops to the north, east and south of Ukraine had fuelled fears in Kyiv and Western capitals that Moscow was planning an attack.

Russia denies any such plans, stressing it needs pledges from the West – including a promise from NATO not to expand the alliance eastward towards Russian borders – because its own security is threatened by Ukraine’s growing ties with the Western alliance.

Moscow also stresses that it can deploy its troops on its territory as it sees fit.

Iran sends fresh relief aid to Afghanistan

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Tasnim News Agency said the aid was given concurrently with the second anniversary of the martyrdom of Iran’s top anti-terror icon General Qassem Soleimani.

The relief aid includes 1,000 food packages such as flour, rice and liquid oil.

The Iranian embassy in Kabul said the value of the aid is more than $50,000.

Earlier, the consulates of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Mazar-e-Sharif, Kunduz and Kandahar also announced the distribution of non-cash aid to poor people in those areas.

The people of Afghanistan are living in very difficult conditions following the US sanctions and amidst the cold season.

Official: Iran’s PasteuCovac jab 96.5% effective against Covid

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Ali Es-haghi added that this level of immunity protects people from powerful variants of Covid.

Es-haghi also said the first shipment of another jab named CovPars including 5 million doses is ready for delivery to the Ministry of Health.

He noted that CovPars is more effective against the Omicron strain of Covid than on Delta.

Meanwhile, a member of Iran’s National Headquarters Against COVID-19 has said research shows that Covid vaccine boosters doubles body’s immunity to the virus. He also hailed the downward trend in Covid deaths and infections but warned against complacency or relaxation of health protocols, adding that it’s likely Omicron will invade Iran in the coming weeks.

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