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Iranian health authorities warn of skin disease south of Tehran

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Sohrabi said 48 patients have so far been identified and treated. He added that all healthcare centers are ready to give services to people suffering from cutaneous leishmaniasis.

According to Sohrabi, the healthcare centers are eliminating contaminated rodents and dogs to bring the disease under control.

While noting that Varamin is an endemic region of cutaneous leishmaniasis, Sohrabi said each year a number of cases are reported in the area.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is the most common form of leishmaniasis affecting humans. It is a skin infection caused by a single-celled parasite that is transmitted by the bite of a phlembotomine sand fly.

Kazakhstan arrests hundreds more over violent unrest

By
IFP Media Wire
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The 1,678 arrests reported by authorities in Almaty, the country’s largest city and the site of the most violent clashes during the unrest, brought the total number of people detained to about 12,000 since the demonstrations started on January 2.

More than 300 criminal investigations, including into alleged assaults on law enforcement officers, have been opened.

Protests initially erupted over soaring fuel prices in the vast, resource-rich Central Asian nation of 19 million and quickly spread across the country, morphing into anti-government demonstrations featuring political slogans reflecting wider discontent about the influence still wielded by the country’s former longtime leader Nursultan Nazarbayev.

At least 160 people were killed, including dozens of citizens and more than a dozen security forces personnel, marking Kazakhstan’s deadliest outburst of violence since it gained independence more than 30 years ago.

In Almaty, protesters set government buildings on fire and briefly seized the airport, while security forces responded with live rounds and stun grenades.

As the unrest mounted, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev attempted to ease the crisis by announcing a 180-day cap on fuel prices, sacking the country’s cabinet and firing Nazarbayev from his post of head of the National Security Council.

Tokayev also requested assistance from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russia-led military alliance comprising of six ex-Soviet states, as he moved to blame the violence on foreign-trained “bandits and terrorists”, without providing evidence.

The bloc responded by sending more than 2,000 troops to Kazakhstan for a “peacekeeping” mission.

On Wednesday, Tokayev declared the Russian-led CSTO alliance’s peacekeeping mission in Kazakhstan complete, the bloc said.

CSTO added the peacekeeping contingent would take 10 days to fully withdraw and begin the process on Thursday.

The 68-year-old, who was handpicked as Nazarbayev’s successor in 2019, had on Tuesday told a virtual top-level meeting of the CSTO that Kazakhstan had successfully weathered an “attempted coup d’etat”.

Speaking alongside Tokayev, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in defending Kazakhstan from what he described as a foreign-backed “terrorist” uprising.

UN says $4bn needed for help in Yemen

By
IFP Media Wire
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A top UN humanitarian official said the world body will require about $3.9 billion this year to help 16 million Yemenis.

Acting Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ramesh Rajasingham told the UN Security Council that “the biggest constraint right now is funding.”

“Last year’s response plan was 58 per cent funded, making it the lowest funded appeal for Yemen since 2015,” he added, reminding that the lack of financial support had forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to announce food cuts for eight million people in Yemen.

Rajasingham also appealed to donors for increased support, warning that “other vital programmes, including water, protection and reproductive health services, have also been forced to scale back or close in recent weeks for lack of funds.”

Saudi Arabia launched the devastating military aggression against its southern neighbor in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allied states and with arms and logistics support from the US and several Western states.

The aim was to return to power the former Riyadh-backed regime and crush the popular Ansarullah movement which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.

The war has stopped well shy of all of its goals, despite killing tens of thousands of Yemenis and turning entire Yemen into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Saudi Arabia seeks to develop nuclear program

By
IFP Media Wire
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During the International Mining Conference in Riyadh, he highlighted the importance of energy flexibility to face the transition to clean energy, Al Arabiya News reported.

The minister said that the kingdom wants to benefit from nuclear technology to diversify its energy mix.

“We do have a huge amount of uranium resource, which we would like to exploit and we will be doing it in the most transparent way,” he added.

Saudi Arabia’s nuclear ambitions have prompted worries in the global community over the past few years, especially after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hinted in 2018 that the kingdom may go for nukes.

Citing Western officials, The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia, with Chinese help, has built a facility for extraction of yellowcake from uranium ore near the remote town of al-Ula.

The New York Times also reported American intelligence agencies had spotted what appeared to be an undeclared nuclear site not too far from the Saudi town of al-Uyaynah.

Iran has warned that Saudi Arabia’s opposition to the UN nuclear watchdog’s access to its nuclear facilities reinvigorates speculations that the Arab country intends to develop atomic weapons.

Iran calls for implementation of agreements with Syria

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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“We discussed different topics and agreed to implement and make operational the existing agreements and MOUs between Iran and Syria,” Qassemi said.

“We had very good discussions on such topics as trade and economic infrastructure including transport and creation of common free trade zones between the two countries. We hope these are implemented soon. Various economic topics were discussed, which if we can make them operational, naturally, the current situation of the economic relations between the two countries that is very trivial, can be improved.”

Qassemi also held talks with Syrian Transport Minister Zouhair Khazim. After the meeting, the Iranian minister touched on the agreement to link Iran’s railway system to Iraq’s.

“We hope the next step would be connecting the railway network of Iraq to Syria so that the rail link extends from Iran to Syria and the Mediterranean Sea,” Qassemi said.

“Transportation is the most important grounds for economic relations. That includes land, marine and air transport. During this meeting I had with the Syrian minister, we agreed to strengthen marine transportation; to have a number of fixed transit lines between Iran and Syria and expand flights between the two countries, especially to enable Iranian pilgrims to visit Syria.”

Qassemi further stressed that the two sides agreed to form a joint committee to advance previous MOUs and agreements between the two countries.

Tehran and Damascus have been pursuing expansion of economic ties to the level of their political relations, under the current post-war circumstances in Syria.

IRGC conducts large-scale drills in Sistan and Balouchestan Province

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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The commander of the IRGC’s ground forces said the maneuvers were held by the Quds base of force in Sistan and Balouchestan Province.

Brigadier General Mohammd Pakpour added that the drills were held in the two military-combat phase and the civilian phase with the participation of the people.

“In the military-combat phase, different operational units of the Quds base of the ground forces of IRGC, including the missile, artillery, helicopter, armored, demolition and explosion, special forces and specialized-combat divisions of the Quds base, successfully completed the entire simulated conditions of true fighting,” Pakpour said.

The general added that the civilian part of the drills covered meeting and talking with tribal leaders of the province, construction and other services to local and rallies held by members of the Basij force.

Raisi visits flood, quake-hit areas of Hormozgan Province

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Raisi made the comment during a Thursday visit to the Hashtbandi and Western Gishan areas of Hormozgan.

Hashtbandi and Tukahur were worst-affected by the flooding that hit the province last week. It damaged infrastructure including water, electricity and telecommunications structures, roads, bridges, residential houses and farms.

Gishan, in Finn area of Hormozgan, was the epicenter of two 6.4-strong earthquakes that hit the province two months ago. The quakes left two people dead and more than one hundred others injured. They also damaged more than 3,500 residential houses.

Raisi is heading a delegation of 17 of his ministers and vice presidents on a two-day visit to Hormozgan Province.

During his visit state, bodies in the provincial capital Bandar Abbas launched special services to answer people’s demands.

Syria joins China’s Belt and Road Initiative

By
IFP Media Wire
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The ceremony of Syria’s admission into the initiative took place at the Planning and International Cooperation Commission in the capital Damascus and was attended by Fadi Khalil, the head of the commission, and Feng Biao, China’s ambassador to Syria, during which both sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Syria joining the BRI.

Khalil stated the admission of Syria into the initiative revives the old role of Syria on the ancient Silk Road and will help in boosting bilateral cooperation with China and multilateral cooperation with other countries, which are desirous of cooperating with Syria.

He noted that Syria had been one of the main countries on the ancient Silk Road particularly the cities of Aleppo and Palmyra.

He pointed out that the signing of Syria’s admission into the initiative reflects an ancient and long history of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

For his side, Feng said that the cooperation between the two countries provides the greatest contribution to the economic reconstruction and social development in Syria and it also enhances the harmonization between the BRI and the eastward strategy proposed by Syria.

The ambassador added that the initiative is in line with the strong desire of the world’s countries for broad economic participation, noting that the initiative has become the widest international cooperation platform in the world.

The BRI, proposed by China in 2013, comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aiming to build a trade, investment, and infrastructure network connecting Asia with other parts of the world along the ancient Silk Road trade routes and beyond.

Biden admin. slams Trump’s Iran nuclear deal exit

By
IFP Media Wire
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“None of the things we’re looking at now — Iran’s increased capability and capacity, their aggressive actions that they have taken through proxy wars around the world — would be happening if the former president had not recklessly pulled out of the nuclear deal with no thought as to what might come next,” White House Spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Wednesday.

“And if you look at that step and the impact of that — the fact that the former president ripped up the nuclear deal meant that Iran’s nuclear program was no longer in a box, it no longer had the most robust inspection regime ever negotiated, no longer had the tight restrictions on nuclear activity,” the spokeswoman continued.

“Because of the last administration pulling out of the nuclear agreement, now Iran’s program has been rapidly accelerating,” she noted.

Iran directly attacked our partners in the Persian Gulf, she claimed, without providing any proof.

“And its proxies began attacking US troops again in Iraq, and the United States has become totally — had become totally isolated internationally,” Psaki added.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price has also stated on Wednesday the United States in some ways more isolated diplomatically than Iran because of the course that the previous administration had pursued.

With the Iran nuclear talks reaching a critical moment, the White House plans to focus much of its public messaging in the coming weeks on attacking Trump for leaving the 2015 accord, two sources briefed on the White House plans told Axios.

President Joe Biden has recently stated the United States is “continuing to suffer” from Trump’s decision to pull Washington out of the Iran nuclear deal. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also called Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 agreement “a terrible mistake”.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was inked by Iran and six world powers in 2015. Under the deal, Tehran agreed to put limits on certain aspects of its nuclear activities in exchange for the removal of draconian international sanctions imposed against the country.

In 2018, however, the US pulled out of the pact and reinstated sanctions under the so-called ‘maximum pressure campaign’ against Tehran, effectively depriving Iran of the deal’s benefits by forcing third parties to stop doing business with Iran.
Iran remained patient for an entire year, after which it began to take incremental steps away from its nuclear obligations, especially after Europeans failed to salvage the deal under the US pressure.
The Islamic Republic’s decision to ramp up its nuclear activities prompted other parties to revive talks earlier this year.
Iran and the five remaining parties to the JCPOA — Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China — began the talks in the Austrian capital in April with the aim of removing the sanctions after the US voiced its willingness to return to the agreement.
During the seventh round of the Vienna talks, the first under President Ebrahim Raeisi, Iran presented two draft texts which address, separately, the removal of US sanctions and Iran’s return to its nuclear commitments under the JCPOA. Tehran also said it was preparing a third draft text on the verification of the sanctions removal.
The eighth round of talks kicked off in Vienna in late December. The negotiations seek to restore the JCPOA in its original form and bring the US back into the agreement.
Iran insists that the talks must lead to the removal of all American sanctions that were imposed against Tehran following Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the landmark agreement in May 2018. Tehran has also demanded credible guarantees that Washington will not abandon the deal again.

Vienna talks moving forward: Russia

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Ulyanov added he had constructive talks with US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley about the settlement of the most difficult outstanding issues.

Meanwhile, a senior Iranian parliamentarian said recently that Tehran was not seeking an “interim” agreement in the talks in Vienna with the P4+1 states, but it was “reviewing” the opposite side’s proposal for such a deal.

Vahid Jalalzadeh, who heads the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said that Tehran’s negotiating partners in Vienna were “after an interim agreement as well and have submitted relevant proposals to us in that regard.”

“This is however, not an ideal for us, but at the same time, we have not rejected that. We are studying it,” he added.

He said the Iranian delegation is, in the first place, tasked with negotiating a permanent agreement that would meet Iran’s interests to a maximum level, but, “whenever the negotiations enter a difficult stage, the other sides keep saying that ‘we cannot achieve results and let’s discuss an interim agreement.’”

This means that each side can accept a certain set of things and reach a temporary deal on the agreed issues before proceeding to other topics, he explained.

On Monday, however, Iran’s Foreign Ministry ruled out an interim agreement with the P4+1 group – Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany- as the sides continue their talks in Vienna aimed at securing a US return to the 2015 nuclear deal and reviving the international document.

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