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Iran top negotiator: JCPOA revival talks must guarantee removal of all sanctions

Iran Rejects UN Special Rapporteur’s Report on Human Rights

“Tehran is determined to negotiate a full and effective lifting of oppressive and illegal sanctions, to ensure the normalization of trade and economic relations with Iran, and to provide credible guarantees to prevent further non-compliance,” Ali Bagheri Kani said in a twitter post on Monday.

He also announced that he will fly to Brussels on Wednesday for a meeting with European Union Deputy Foreign Policy Chief Enrique Mora to continue discussions on “result-oriented negotiations”.

“The question is whether the other parties (to the nuclear deal) are genuinely prepared to fulfill their obligations, including calling on a non-member violator to abandon the destructive policies and legacy of the past?”, the Iranian deputy foreign minister wrote.

The senior diplomat warned that continuing the failed policy of maximum pressure will certainly not remove the obstacles in the way of negotiations to lift illegal and oppressive sanctions, but will add to the complexities of the negotiations.

Bagheri and Mora, who coordinates talks between Tehran and the P4+1 group, sat down for talks in Tehran earlier in October.

In that meeting, they agreed to continue talks in Brussels over the possibility of further negotiations between Iran and the P4+1 group in the Austrian capital Vienna.

Russia: NATO “an aggressive bloc”

The Kremlin is confident that Moscow’s rejection of relations with NATO due to the alliance’s aggressive stance is not a big deal.

“The aggressive NATO stance has never been a secret. This bloc was established against our country. Any peaceful statements, any camouflage of this aggressive NATO standing are unable to disguise real purposes of this bloc,” Peskov stated in an interview with a journalist Pavel Zarubin in the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program on Rossiya-1 TV channel.

The Kremlin spokesman stressed that NATO is “an aggressive bloc”, which considers Russia as an adversary. 

“Nothing critical will happen if we just abandon these relations amid the escalating aggression and declarations aimed at restraining us,” he added.

He also pointed out that “despite the alliance’s aggressiveness, Moscow always favors the development of relations.”

“Just now, when it became clear that all our efforts were futile, we simply made it official that was real,” Peskov concluded.

NATO announced on October 6 that it had cut the staff of the Russian mission at the alliance in half from 20 to 10 members, revoking the accreditation of eight diplomats and abolishing two vacant positions. The alliance said the Russian diplomats must leave Brussels before the end of this month. In response, on October 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow would suspend the work of its permanent mission to NATO starting in early November following NATO’s move to withdraw the accreditation of the Russian envoys. Furthermore, the operations of the NATO Military Liaison Mission Moscow and the NATO Information Office in Moscow will be frozen.

Moscow will do everything to minimize the consequences of a possible rapprochement of Ukraine and NATO, Peskov added.

“We cannot stop it. It’s impossible,” the Kremlin spokesman stated, responding to a question by journalist Pavel Zarubin about whether Moscow can thwart the rapprochement of Ukraine and NATO.

“However, we can minimize the consequences of such moves for our country,” Peskov assured, stressing, “I have no doubt that Moscow will do everything whatever is necessary if such rapprochement of Ukraine and NATO proceeded.”

N Korea slams France, Canada over dispatching plane near Peninsula

A North Korean foreign ministry researcher made the comments in a statement posted on its website, referring to the surveillance operations as an “imprudent” act that will “destroy security balance in the region and result in aggravating the political situation.”

Accusing Washington of “inciting” the countries’ military activities in the region, the ministry claimed such moves are part of US efforts to keep China and Russia in check.

Last week, the Canadian defense ministry announced the deployment of a CP-140 aircraft to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, “to support ongoing multinational efforts to counter North Korea’s attempts to evade sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).”

Earlier this month, the Japanese foreign ministry said France will engage in monitoring illicit maritime activities, including “ship-to-ship transfers with North Korean-flagged vessels” prohibited by the UNSC resolutions.

“The US and the Western countries should be aware that their military provocations will not only hurt the regional situation but also their own national security,” the statement added.

Iran’s Raeisi urges Europe to resist U.S. pressure

After receiving the credentials of new Swiss Ambassador to Tehran Christian Dussey, the Iranian president said Switzerland is expected to maintain its independent role in the face of the unilateral policies of the United States.

“Switzerland has always played a positive role in maintaining and promoting peace,” Raeisi told Dussey in Tehran on Monday.

The Swiss ambassador said for his part that Iran is a country with an ancient and brilliant civilization adding that for more than a hundred years the Islamic Republic and Switzerland have had good relations in the political, cultural, economic and scientific fields.

Dussey expressed hope that the way will be paved for Swiss companies and economic agents to work in Iran.

Switzerland has represented U.S. interests in Iran for many decades because Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic relations.

Iran has long been critical of Europe’s lack of a stance independent from hostile American policies towards the Islamic Republic.

Tehran has repeatedly complained that, contrary to their obligations, European countries have helped the U.S. enforce its sanctions against Iranians.

Iraq Begins Issuing Visas-on-Arrival for Iranians Iraq says it has begun issuing visas for visiting Iranian nationals at Iraqi airports.

“Based on the authorization of the government of Iraq, issuing one-month extendable visas for Iranian nationals, who enter Iraq by air, has entered the execution stage.” the ministry said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi had said during his recent visit to Iran that issuing visas-on-arrival for Iranian nationals will begin after the Arbaeen annual ceremonies, which fell on September 28 this year.

Young Iranian from Tabriz breaks world record of memorizing numbers

In the presence of an Iranian consultant to set a record in the Guinness Book, Mohammad Reza Hassanzadeh managed to increase the previous record of memorizing numbers by eight digits. He also broke the record of an Indian woman in memorizing words in one minute two years ago. 

The consultant said there are several different memory records, one of which was set by Hassanzadeh two years ago, and today he broke the second record of memory entitled “Memorizing Numbers In One Minute”.  

He added Hassanzadeh had requested that a 128-digit number consisting of the numbers zero to nine be randomly displayed on the Randomize website and deleted after one minute. 

This record-breaking event was recorded by three different cameras from different angles and two cellphones. One camera focused on numbers and the other on Hassanzadeh’s face to show no headphones or phones were being used. 

Hassanzadeh managed to set the new record after seeing the numbers for a minute and retelling them in English. Hassanzadeh said after breaking the Indian man’s record, “I feel very happy now, but I was very stressed before breaking the record and I even woke up for several nights in a row due to stress because it was a difficult record to break”.

Beekeepers’ Union: Export of Iran Honey Halted

Chair of the union’s board of directors Effat Raisi Sarhaddi says beekeepers managed to get authorities make the quality standard obligatory for production of honey in 2020.

She said, however, that the ministry decided to waive the requirement, only after six months.

“Based on what we heard, which is close to reality, the minister who is in charge of the food security of our country voiced opposition to the standard, under pressure from companies that produce fake honey,” she said.

Raisi added that during the six-month period when honey production was regulated, legal proceedings opened into the activity of six companies, which produced fake honey.

“During the period when obligatory standards were imposed, we managed to find good markets for our products across the world and our products were exported to many countries including the US and such European countries as Germany,” she said.

Officials have yet to comment on this report. 

Raisi added that reduced rainfall has cut the average amount of honey harvested by beekeepers this year.

She called for government support for beekeepers, saying rising prices of drugs used to fight pests and supplements and sugar, used in the winter to feed bees, are also taking their toll on the industry.

Information ministry: Sudan facing military coup

On Monday morning, the prime minister was detained by security forces and taken to an unknown location, according to a Facebook post by the country’s Information Ministry.

The update came just hours after Dubai-based Al-Hadath TV reported that troops had besieged the home of the prime minister and placed him under house arrest. According to the Information Ministry, Hamdok had refused to endorse the coup.

“After he refused to be a part of the coup, a force from the army detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and took him to an unidentified location,” the ministry said, adding that Hamdok had communicated during his house arrest, asking for people to maintain peace and occupy the streets to protect the democratic transition.

In a subsequent Facebook post, the ministry announced that troops had stormed the radio and TV headquarters in Omdurman, the twin city of the capital Khartoum. A number of employees had been detained.

In a statement shared with Reuters, the ministry reiterated the prime minister’s call for people to take to the streets and stop the military from preventing the country transitioning to democracy.

“We invite everyone to continue the march until the coup attempt is brought down,” it stated.

According to the prime minister’s aide, who spoke with al-Arabiya TV, the military had stirred unrest in the east of the country and used the crisis to implement a coup.

Industry Minister Ibrahim al-Sheikh, and the governor of Sudan’s capital Khartoum, Ayman Khalid, have also been detained by the military, according to family sources who spoke to Al Jazeera. Al-Sheikh’s daughter and Khalid’s wife told the news channel that the men had been taken from their homes before dawn.

It has also been reported that communications have been cut in the country.

Sudan’s long-time leader, Omar al-Bashir, was removed from power in 2019 following months of civil unrest and protests. A political transition agreement, penned after his removed, was meant to lead to democratic elections in 2023.

Since 2019, the country has been run by a Sovereign Council of military and civilian members tasked with overseeing the transition. However, it has been far from smooth.

CNN: Thailand exports Millions of second-hand gloves to US

Tens of millions of already used nitrile medical gloves were imported into the United States from Thailand during the coronavirus pandemic, CNN reported on Sunday, citing its own investigation.

In Thailand, numerous illegal enterprises sprung up during the pandemic, where migrant labourers have been washing and trying to restore the original appearance of disposable medical gloves given their high global demand, CNN reported. The product was then shipped to different countries. A months-long investigation revealed that millions of such counterfeit and second-hand nitrile gloves ended up in the US, according to import records and distributors who bought them.

“There’s an enormous amount of bad product coming in, an endless stream of filthy, second-hand and substandard gloves coming into the US of which federal authorities, it seems, are only now beginning to understand the enormous scale,” Douglas Stein, an industry expert, was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.

The investigation was prompted by a report by a US company, which had contacted the US Customs and Border Protection and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) early this year after receiving a shipment of dirty-looking gloves from Thailand. However, the Thai firm responsible for the shipment continued operation until at least July, according to CNN.

In August, the FDA ordered a seizure of shipments of personal protective equipment from a Thai company on the US border, five months after the agency received first complaints from American entrepreneurs.

The FDA told the broadcaster it does not comment on individual cases but has taken “a number of steps to find and stop those selling unapproved products.”

There have been no reports of whether any medical personnel or patients were injured due to the use of contaminated gloves. The US and Thai authorities have launched an investigation into the network, CNN noted. The Thai health regulator has reportedly conducted at least 10 raids in recent months against used gloves traders

Qatar frustrated with US over drone purchase request

Qatar’s government has made a formal request to buy four-armed MQ-9B Predator drones from the US, which they say will be used for surveillance of natural gas facilities and to keep an eye on terrorists in the region. 

“The frustration from our perspective is that there is no clear indication as to why there is a delay on our request,” a Qatari official told the Wall Street Journal.

“The recent evacuation operations in Afghanistan proves that Qatar always stands ready to support its allies and for the purposes of security and stability,” the official added.

Qatar has been a key ally during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, hosting thousands of evacuees and acting as an interlocutor with the Taliban. 

Qatari and US officials said the drones, which cost an estimated $600 million, would make Qatar a stronger defensive unit in its region, according to the Journal.

According to the State Department, Qatar is the second-largest buyer of US military equipment through its foreign-military sales program, right behind Saudi Arabia.

The US hopes to preserve its influence in the Gulf region despite its military pullback, especially amid China’s influence in the region. Qatar rejected China’s overtures for closer cooperation in 2018, in an effort to align itself with US interests.