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Several killed in bow and arrow attack in Norway

By
IFP Media Wire
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Norway’s acting Prime Minister Erna Solberg on Wednesday described the attack against shoppers in the town, near Oslo, as “gruesome”.

“It is a very dramatic situation that hits the community in Kongsberg hard. The events shake us. I understand that many are afraid,” she said.

Police official Øyvind Aas told a news conference on Wednesday evening that the attacker had been arrested.

“The man who committed the act has been arrested by the police and, according to our information, there is only one person involved,” Aas added.

Police say the motive for the attack is still being determined.

“We will also have to look at whether this is an act of terror or not. The apprehended person has not been questioned, and it is therefore too early to say anything about this related to motivation,” Aas continued.

“Based on the information we have now, this is a person who has carried out these actions alone” he added, confirming there was no active search for any more suspects.

The police announced earlier on Wednesday evening on Twitter that a person had been seen shooting people with a bow and arrow in central Kongsberg, and they warned people to stay indoors.

Officers first received reports of an attack from people in the town’s centre shortly after 18.00. The suspect was apprehended around 30 minutes later.

The two victims who were wounded are in intensive care, and they include an officer who was off duty and inside the shop where the attack took place, police said in a statement.

The prime minister-designate, Jonas Gahr Stoere, who is expected to take office on Thursday, called the assault “a cruel and brutal act” in comments to Norwegian news agency NTB.

The Norwegian Police Directorate announced on Wednesday night it has issued a national order for police to be armed, to increase preparedness and the force’s ability to respond quickly.

However it said while this was an “additional emergency measure” there were “no concrete indications” of a change in the threat level in the country.

“There is still a lot of police activity in the area … because the perpetrator has moved over a large area,” Aas told reporters.

“We are now working, among other things, to secure clues, and obtain as much information as possible about what has happened,” Aas added.

The local municipality in Kongsberg has also set up a crisis team following the attacks.

Iran Warns Israel against Any Military Threats

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht-Ravanchi issued the warning in a letter to the UN Security Council in response to Tel Aviv’s recent threats.

“Over the past months, the number and intensity of the Israeli regime’s provocative and adventuristic threats have constantly increased and reached alarming levels,” wrote the letter.

“Its last case came from the head of the regime’s military, who has threateningly said that operational plans against Iran’s nuclear program were expanding, and that operations to destroy Iran’s capabilities on different fronts will continue at any time,” Iran’s ambassador noted in the letter.

He said Iran has, in several letters, already expressed its objection to the UN Security Council over Israel’s previous threats.

“Such blatant and systematic threats by the Israeli regime against one of the founding members of the United Nations amounts to gross violation of international rights, particularly … the UN Charter,” he said.

“The fact that the Israeli regime keeps ‘destroying Iran’s capabilities’ undoubtedly proves that this regime was responsible for terrorist attacks against our peaceful nuclear program in the past,” he added.

“Given the evil history of the Israeli regime’s destabilizing methods in the region as well as its covert operations against Iran’s nuclear program, this regime should be tackled and made to halt all its threats and disruptive behaviour,” he said.

French military fatality in Mali reaches 53

By
IFP Media Wire
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The soldier, identified as non-commissioned officer Adrien Quélin, “died [on Tuesday] following an accident that occured during a maintenace operation in Timbuktu”, Defence Minister Florence Parly wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

 

The government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, told French TV an investigation was under way.

A total of 53 French soldiers have died in the restive Sahel region since Paris deployed a counter-terrorism force in 2013 to drive back militant groups that seized cities and towns in northern Mali.

A poor and landlocked nation, Mali continues to battle militant attacks and intercommunal violence, which often spill over to neighbouring countries.

France has begun re-organising its forces in the region this year, including by pulling out of its northernmost bases in Mali at Kidal, Timbuktu and Tessalit.

Total French troops in the region are to be cut from 5,000 today to between 2,500 and 3,000 by 2023.

France says EU official visit to Tehran vital for nuclear talks

By
IFP Media Wire
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Mora is due to hold talks on Thursday with members of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team four months after talks stalled between Iran and world powers, including the United States, to revive the 2015 deal.

“Through its statements and actions on the ground, the new Iranian administration of President (Ebrahim) Raissi raises doubts about its intention to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA),” French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre told reporters in a daily online briefing.

“While refusing to negotiate, Iran creates facts on the ground that further complicate the return to the JCPoA. It is therefore in a context of crisis and at a critical moment for the future of the nuclear agreement that this trip by…Mora to Tehran takes place,” Legendre noted.

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly said it will return to the negotiations “soon” without giving any sense of what that actually means. Western diplomats have tentatively said a return to the Vienna talks may be possible before the end of October.

Legendre added that Tehran would also need to be clear about its intentions should it come back to the talks.

Since then-U.S. President Donald Trump ditched the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran, Tehran has been rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher levels of fissile purity, and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up production.

President Joe Biden aims to restore the deal but the sides disagree on which steps need to be taken and when.

Key issues include what nuclear limits Tehran will accept, what sanctions Washington will remove, whether there will be any guarantees and the prospect of follow-on talks on Iran’s future nuclear programme, regional and ballistic missile activities, diplomats have stated.

“In line with recent regional and international consultations, I will host @eu_eeas Deputy Secretary General @enriquemora_ on Thursday,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, who is expected to lead Iran’s new negotiating team, said in a Twitter post on Wednesday.

“Exchanging views on bilateral & regional issues including Afghanistan, as well as talks on removal of cruel sanctions, are on the agenda,” he added.

In late September, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh stated the talks on restoring the nuclear deal to the full extent would begin in Vienna within a few weeks.

President Ebrahim Raeisi has dismissed the idea of holding negotiations over the revival of the country’s nuclear agreement under pressure, saying such tactics has never yielded the US and Europe any result.

“Negotiation and dialog have always been and will continue to be part of the instruments that are in the service of diplomacy. We do not balk at negotiation and dialog,” he stated early September.

“But the Americans and the Westerners are after negotiation in conjunction with pressure,” he added, “This is while negotiations are there to avoid pressure.”

Such pressure tactics have nothing to do with negotiation, the Iranian chief executive said, adding, “I have directed them (the country’s authorities) to include negotiation on the agenda, but not under the shadow of the pressure that they (the West) are pursuing.”

The United States and the Europeans have experienced this in the past too that applying such tactics to negotiation procedures “do not work,” Raeisi noted.

At the same time the country rules out any such notion as “negotiation for the sake of negotiation” the president stressed.

He, therefore, urged that any interaction of the type reward the country with its expected results, namely the removal of Washington’s oppressive sanctions targeting the Iranian nation

China, India ramp up rhetoric in border row

By
IFP Media Wire
-

Earlier in the day, Beijing announced that it firmly opposes Indian vice president’s visit to to a disputed area on the China-India border, urging New Delhi to refrain from moves that complicate boundary issues and bring China-India relations back on the right track and steady development.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks when asked about Indian Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu’s visit to the so-called “Arunachal Pradesh”, CGTN reported.

China has never recognized the so-called “Arunachal Pradesh”, the spokesperson noted.

Zhao also called on the Indian side to truly respect China’s major concerns and take concrete actions to maintain peace and stability in the China-India border region.

Later, the Indian foreign ministry announced New Delhi rejects China’s criticism of the Indian vice president’s visit to the disputed Arunachal Pradesh area, and sees the region as an integral part of India.

“We have noted the comments made today by the Chinese official spokesperson. We reject such comments. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India. Indian leaders routinely travel to the state of Arunachal Pradesh as they do to any other state of India. Objecting to the visit of Indian leaders to a state of India does not stand to reason and understanding of Indian people,” the spokesperson for the Indian foreign ministry, Arindam Bagchi, said.

Bagchi added that the deteriorated situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was caused exclusively by China’s attempts to unilaterally change the status quo in the area.

“Therefore, we expect the Chinese side to work towards early resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols rather than trying to link unrelated issues,” Bagchi concluded.

Since May 2020, the region near the Chinese-Indian border has witnessed numerous standoffs. The two neighboring countries have stepped up their military presence in the area.

Iran: Baku has yet to release two Iranian truck drivers

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Khatibzadeh added that they will serve the rest of their sentence inside Iran.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman however noted that Iran is pursuing the case of the two drivers and is trying to secure their release.

Earlier, Iran’s Fars News Agency quoted a western news outlet as saying the release happened a day after a phone conversation between Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and his Azeri counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov.

Iran blames the tensions on the Israeli regime’s presence in Azerbaijan, saying the issue poses a threat to the Islamic Republic’s national security.

In response to the threat, Iran conducted military drills near the border with the Republic of Azerbaijan. The drills drew criticism from Baku, which denies the presence of the Israeli regime in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Iran’s trade ties with Armenia also emerged as a flashpoint after Azerbaijan began imposing a road tax on Iranian trucks that use a critical trade corridor to ship goods to the Armenian capital.

That’s the Goris-to-Kapan highway. Azerbaijan detained the two Iranian truck drivers on the highway.

Iran renews call on South Korea to unfreeze oil money

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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“In a phone call with South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun at noon today (Wednesday), I reminded him that only effective and prompt action to remove restrictions on Iran’s resources in South Korea and to compensate for the damage done can play an effective role in repairing the country’s damaged image in the eyes of the people of Iran,” Baqeri Kani wrote in a twitter post on Wednesday.

Ties between Tehran and Seoul have soured in recent years because the South Korean government has been acting in line with unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran.

Tehran wants Seoul to quickly release nearly 8 billion dollars in funds for crude imports frozen because of American sanctions.

Before the sanctions came into effect in 2018, the Islamic Republic was South Korea’s third-largest trade partner in West Asia.

Recently, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned that Tehran would take legal action against the South Korean government if it continued to refuse to pay its debt.

Iran is also upset by the withdrawal of South Korean home appliance companies from Iran after former U.S. president Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the Iran nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

Late last month, Iran’s presidential office banned the imports of South Korean home appliances.

Top Iranian general meets Pakistan PM, military chief

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

He was speaking in a Wednesday meeting with the Chairman of Iran’s Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mohammad Bagheri.

Imran Khan called the borders of the two countries the borders of “peace and friendship” and stressed that strengthening the security of common borders is very important.

The Pakistani prime minister expressed satisfaction with the presence of the high-ranking Iranian military delegation in Islamabad and highlighted the upward path in bilateral ties.

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Pervez Khattak and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were also present in the meeting. Imran Khan said his meeting last month with Iran’s President Ibrahim Raeisi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Dushanbe, provided more impetus for the development of bilateral cooperation, which had important implications. The Pakistani prime minister also reiterated his country’s commitment to strengthening bilateral trade relations and increasing economic and energy cooperation with Iran. Imran Khan also praised Iran’s strong support for the Muslims of Kashmir.

Imran Khan also spoke of the latest developments in Afghanistan, saying Iran and Pakistan, as Afghanistan’s neighbors, have a direct role to play in peace and stability in the war-torn country.

Imran Khan urged the international community to interact positively with Afghanistan, provide immediate humanitarian assistance and take steps to prevent Afghanistan’s economic collapse.

The Pakistani prime minister also invited Iran’s president to visit Pakistan.

Major General Mohammad Bagheri also met with General Nadim Reza, Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Pakistani Army, to discuss the development of military and defense relations between the two countries. Bagheri and Reza discussed a wide range of issues, including increasing co-operation in border security, counter-terrorism and security co-operation.

In talks with Pakistan’s Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, General Bagheri examined the latest situation of relations in military, security and strategic dimensions.

Bagheri also examined the strategies for further development and strengthening of relations with Pakistan. The two sides also underlined the need to work together to find common solutions to the challenges facing the Islamic Ummah, especially the issues of Afghanistan, Yemen and many other problems of Muslims that stem from US intervention in other countries.

Armenia vows not to allow any change in borders

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

“The Armenian armed forces are ready to defend the country’s territorial integrity and security. Armenia will not allow border changes in the region; in this case we can clearly say that there is an international consensus on this.” Grigoryan stated in an exclusive interview with Iran’s Tasnim News Agency in Yerevan.

He categorically rejected the idea of creating new corridors in the southern parts of the Caucasus after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which resulted in the liberation of the Republic of Azerbaijan’s territory from Armenian occupation.

“I want to emphasize that Armenia has never proposed, and will not propose anything about this corridor, and it has never held and will not hold negotiations about the corridor,” Grigoryan noted.

The concept of a new corridor called Zangezur between Nakhchivan and the Republic of Azerbaijan has become a hot topic in southern Caucasus these days. But Armenian officials have repeatedly stated that they have not discussed the issue with other parties.

“I would like to make it clear once again that the government of the Republic of Armenia has never negotiated on the territory and sovereignty of Armenia. We have not and will not have any negotiations on the right of sovereignty and territory belonging to Armenia,” the Armenian National Security Council secretary stressed.

Grigoryan said Azeri President Ilham Aliyev’s statements about a new road in southern Armenia are outside the scope of the negotiations, which will never help the development of the talks and will not have a positive effect.

The Azeri president has in the past threatened to use force to establish a corridor through southern Armenia to connect his country with the Autonomous Nakhchivan Republic.

The top Armenian security official stressed that based on previous agreements, the Republic of Azerbaijan can use Armenian territory to connect to Nakhchivan, and Armenia can use Azeri roads and railways to reach central Asia and Russia.

Grigoryan also voiced concern about the insecurity caused by the presence of terrorists and the armed forces of certain countries in the region, saying that Armenia has always warned others about the situation.

“Azerbaijan Republic frees detained Iranian truck drivers”

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

Iran’s Fars News Agency quoted a western news outlet as saying the release happened a day after Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and his Azeri counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov spoke over the phone in the first direct effort to address tensions that began escalating two weeks ago.

Iran blames the tensions on the Israeli regime’s presence in the Azerbaijan Republic, saying the issue poses a threat to the Islamic Republic’s national security.

In response to the threat, Iran conducted military drills near the border with the Republic of Azerbaijan. The drills drew criticism from Baku, which denies the presence of the Israeli regime in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Iran’s trade ties with Armenia also emerged as a flashpoint after Azerbaijan began imposing a road tax on Iranian trucks that use a critical trade corridor to ship goods to the Armenian capital.

That’s the Goris-to-Kapan highway. Azeri forces detained the two Iranian truck drivers on the highway.

During Tuesday call, Amir Abdollahian urged Bayramov to ease the transit of Iranian trucks and release the two Iranian truck drivers.

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