He added that Washington fails to understand that its so-called’ maximum failure’ campaign and a diplomatic breakthrough are mutually exclusive.
Khatibzadeh said doubling down on sanctions won’t create leverage and is anything but seriousness and goodwill.
The United States designated the Special Units of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and Counter-Terror Special Forces, as well as several of their officials, and Gholamreza Soleimani, who commands Iran’s Basij volunteer force.
Two prisons and a prison director were also sanctioned. The sanctions come as Iran and the P4+1 group of countries – Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – are to restart their talks in Vienna Thursday.
The Vienna negotiations resumed last week. Iran presented two draft documents during the talks to the P4+1 group’s members laying out Tehran’s proposals on sanctions removal and Iran’s nuclear activities.
The other parties to the negotiations went to their countries for consultation on the proposals.
Iran: Sanctions not to create leverage for US during talks
Azeri president threatens force to open corridor through Armenia
“Armenia and the whole world saw during the war that no one could stop us. I asked them to give a date for the return of our lands. I say the same thing now. Tell us when the Zangezur corridor opens without any problems,” Ilham Aliyev told Radio Free Europe.
In a statement, the Armenian Foreign Ministry condemned Aliyev’s remarks as a threat to Armenia’s territorial integrity. The statement said that the latest comments by the Azeri president contradict the understanding reached between Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during talks hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on November 26.
The concept of a new corridor called Zangezur between Nakhchivan and the Republic of Azerbaijan has become a bone of contention between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Armenia insists that it will not allow any change in regional borders and has categorically rejected the idea of creating new corridors in the southern parts of the Caucasus.
Tensions are simmering between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia. The two neighbors agreed to a ceasefire at their border on November 16 following the deadliest clash since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which resulted in the liberation of the Republic of Azerbaijan’s territory from Armenian occupation.
What is UAE’s motive for expanding ties with Iran?
On Monday, Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAE’s security chief, arrived in Tehran on his first official and public visit.
This trip took place in a relatively different regional atmosphere than a few years ago, as bilateral and multilateral dialogue and a level of convergence are unfolding in the region.
The high-ranking Emirati official came to Iran at a time when Abu Dhabi has established relations with Israel over the past year and a half, giving Tel Aviv a foothold in Iran’s southern neighborhood.
With new realities emerging in the region, Abu Dhabi is ready for interaction with Tehran, and, Iran, despite the UAE-Israel relations, is strengthening ties with the Emirates.
This shows the UAE-Israel relationship is of secondary importance to Iran given the new situation in the region.
It is unlikely that political and economic ties return to normal between Iran and the UAE soon. A series of factors are at play here.
First, the UAE is a key US ally in the region and therefore will not bring its economic cooperation with Iran to a level where it can neutralize US sanctions without the coordination and consent of Washington.
In this regard, the Israeli variable has an influential role.
Second, the relations of other Arab countries in the Persian Gulf with Iran are to some degree dependent on Riyadh’s relations with Tehran. This means that unless there is a thaw in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, it is unlikely the UAE and some other countries will normalize ties with Iran.
Third, mistrust between the Persian Gulf Arab countries and Iran is still a major problem, and building trust takes time. The grand arms deal between the UAE and France stems from the fact that the sheikhdoms are worried. But two motives are known for these countries’ push for dialog with Iran.
First, some sort of cooperation with the new US administration’s diplomatic approach towards Iran. Second, each of these countries has set important economic goals for itself in the coming years and decades, and therefore seeks to handle tensions with Iran.
Iran negotiator says proposals to 4+1 “fruitful, constructive”
Bagheri was speaking to IRIB in Moscow on Tuesday.
He said Iran is awaiting practical steps by the West. Bagheri said he held talks with Russian officials over the Vienna talks.
He added that Tehran also held consultations with China in Vienna during the negotiations with the P4+1.
Iran’s chief negotiator reiterated that the draft documents the Iranian negotiating team presented to the P4+1 can advance the talks in a serious way.
He also confirmed earlier media reports that the Vienna talks between Iran and the P4+1 nalmely Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany will resume on Thursday.
Iran, Azerbaijan Republic to build border road bridge
“The bridge will be 97 meters long and 32 meters wide and will be built in four lanes, and its credit will be provided jointly by the governments of Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan,” Deputy Iranian Minister of Road and Urban Development and CEO of Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Co. Kheyrollah Khademi said after a joint meeting of the officials of the two countries in Astara on Tuesday.
The over $40 million construction project will last for 15 months. The planned road bridge will be built along the railway bridge between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Deputy Minister of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan Rahman Hummatov said economic and political relations between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan have always been based on brotherhood and neighborliness.
He added that the construction of Astara-Astara railway is a clear and successful example of this joint relationship and the two sides are now fully prepared to build a bridge over the Astarachay.
Asghar Farhadi’s ‘A Hero’ to contest in 2022 Oscars
The social drama thriller was accepted to represent Iran as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences published its lists of movies eligible for the Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature and International Feature Film categories.
Iran’s two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi’s latest movie debuted at Cannes Film Festival in July and won a Grand Prix award.
The movie’s plot centers on Rahim, played by Amir Jadidi, who is behind bars because of a debt he failed to repay. During a two-day leave, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint, but things don’t exactly go as planned.
Farhadi received two Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film for his “A Separation” in 2011 and “The Salesman” in 2016.
The 94th Academy Awards ceremony will be held in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on March 27, 2022.
Iran Covid: Number of vaccines administered crosses 108 million mark
So far, 1,574,982 people have received the third shot, also known as the booster.
Meanwhile, Iranian Health Ministry figures released on Tuesday show 79 people have died from Covid-19 over the past 24 hours.
The total death toll from the disease in Iran since the start of the pandemic that engulfed the whole world is 130,356.
Two cities in Iran are marked red, which means the risk of Covid is very high there. 9 cities are orange, 153 yellow and 284 blue. Blue cities are where people face the lowest level of risk from Covid.
A range of factors helped maintain the downward trend in Covid deaths and infections in Iran including a fast vaccination drive across the country, unrelenting efforts by the government and people’s help with the inoculation process.
The vast majority of people in Iran have welcomed the vaccination campaign.
Iranian authorities have relaxed some curbs put in place to contain Covid. But they urge people to be cautious as a sixth wave of the outbreak is still a possibility.
Shahreza back to ancient tradition of cooking Samanu
Samanu has been cooked in Shahreza for 500 years with the same rituals of the past, including in a zinc cauldron, heated by firewood, and of course, with faith and as offering for the members of Prophet Mohammad’s household specially his daughter Fatemeh Zahra.
The nutritious paste is the only food solely prepared using water and flour, and has no other additive, including salt and sugar.
The sweet taste of Samanu is drawn from the golden grains of wheat, germinated and milled into flour with its germ and bran.
Samanu is cooked in a mud furnace and the master cook, who prepares it, adds certain amounts of flour and water to the zinc cauldron, which are determined by his experience.
The cook then patiently stirs the mix until it is reduced to a paste without any water. This is called “frying”, which leaves a brown product with a nice fragrance.
Then, the cook adds some water to dilute the mix and the process of reduction is repeated a few times.
After 18 hours, a white cloth is placed over the cauldron to steam the mix. A zinc tray is also put on top and a volume of the Holy Quran, a mirror, candles, a comb, chocolate and a pot of water are then put over the tray.
Samanu takes 7 more hours to steam, during which firewood is removed from underneath.
The traditional Samanu cooking method in Shahreza is unique and is a ritual performed every year when the cold seasons come around.
Report: Vienna talks to resume on Thursday
During the recent round of the Vienna talks, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister and chief negotiator Ali Bagheri and EU Deputy Foreign Policy Chief Enrique Mora finalized the date on which the talks aimed at removing the anti-Iran sanctions will restart.
Meanwhile, Ali Bagheri, who is Moscow for talks, has met with his Russian counterpart Sergi Ryabkov at Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali was also present in the meeting.
Bagheri and Ryabkov reviewed the latest round of talks between Tehran and the P4+1 group, namely Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.
The two officials underlined the need for continued consultations by Tehran and Moscow over international issues and the Vienna talks.
The latest talks between Iran and the P4+1 ended on Friday. During the negotiations, the Iranian delegation presented two documents to the other side which laid out Tehran’s proposals for the resolution of the deadlock in the Vienna talks.
Iran says one document outlines Iran’s proposals for the removal of sanctions on the country and the other one contains proposals on Tehran’s nuclear activities.
After the drafts were submitted, the P4+1 members went to their capitals for consultations.
Official daily: Iran negotiators to safeguard national interests with or without agreement
“In this regard, it should be noted that the principle of negotiation is not aimed at reaching an agreement, but designed to secure Iran’s national interests, and if a bad agreement is detrimental to national interests, it certainly should be avoided,” the daily wrote in an opinion piece.
It says now that all P4+1 members have acknowledged the accuracy of Iran’s proposed drafts and deem them as a good and appropriate basis for continuing consultations and negotiations, the media and even political strategy within the country should be focused on a good agreement to serve national interests.
In this context, victory means securing Iran’s national interests regardless of reaching an agreement or not, and defeat means harming the country’s national interests even if the two sides manage to hammer out a deal.
The opinion piece warns about attempts by the Western media and the Persian-language anti-Iran media and even some political spectrums inside Iran to describe reaching any agreement as success, and the continuation of negotiations as a failure.
The Iranian delegation entered the 7th round of negotiations in Vienna with clear and unequivocal demands that fully comply with the 2015 agreement and even the draft of the sixth round of the talks, and this has disrupted the West’s planning, it adds.
