IRGC warns of response to terrorists on border with Iraq’s Kurdistan

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September 6, 2021

Commander of IRGC Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour said armed terrorist cells are using the Kurdistan region to create insecurity on the border with Iran.

“We will not tolerate the continuation of this situation, and we will give necessary response to the terrorists,” general Pakpour said during a visit to military bases on the northwestern border after a rise in activities by terrorist groups there.

The IRGC Ground Force commander noted that the Iraqi region has failed to act despite repeated Iranian warnings about the presence of terrorists who try to infiltrate into Iran to cause insecurity.

“Terrorist and anti-revolutionary groups affiliated with global arrogance and foreign spy agencies have used Iraq’s northern territory for years to disrupt security and peace in the Islamic Republic,” general Pakpour added.

He urged the residents of the Iraqi region to leave areas close to terrorist positions to avoid casualties among them during any Iranian anti-terror operations.

Top Republican: Afghanistan situation worse than pre-9/11

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IFP Media Wire

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September 6, 2021

McCaul, when asked by host Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday” how he assesses the terror threat from Afghanistan now that the Taliban has taken control, stated circumstances are worse than they were before the 2001 terrorist attacks.

“We’re going back to pre-9/11 right now but it’s worse, it’s worse because now they’re fully armed with our weapons, our helicopters and pallets of our cash,” added McCaul.

When pressed on how he sees the US ability to “deal with” the terror threat in Afghanistan without US troops stationed there, McCaul noted America’s capabilities are “greatly exaggerated” because Afghanistan is landlocked and surrounded by “enemies” that “have now been emboldened by this foreign policy blunder”.

He also said that officials “have to establish that ISR [intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance], you know somewhere over the horizon capability means flying from the Gulf, probably countries like Qatar, which would be, you know, anywhere from six to eight hours, having to fly, you know, around Iran over Pakistan, get refueling”.

“When I talk to anybody in the military they tell me this is not adequate for us to have ISR capability, well we need to see, eyes and ears on the ground, to see the threat so that we can respond to the threat and eliminate it,” he added.

When asked about reports that the Taliban are carrying out mass killings of former Afghan government officials and former Afghan defense forces, McCaul stressed the insurgent group is not “new and improved”, but instead is reverting back to the “brutal” tactics it used when it was last in power.

He also said six airplanes carrying American citizens and Afghan allies are sitting at an airport in Afghanistan trying to depart but that the Taliban are “holding them hostage for demands”.

The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee added the airplanes have been at Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport in northern Afghanistan “for the last couple of days” but have been unable to leave despite approval from the US State Department.

“In fact we have six airplanes at Mazar-i-Sharif airport, six airplanes, with American citizens on them as I speak, also with these interpreters, and the Taliban is holding them hostage for demands right now,” McCaul stated, noting, “State has cleared these flights, and the Taliban will not let them leave the airport.”

When pressed by Wallace on what demands the Taliban are making, McCaul said the circumstances are “turning into a hostage situation”.

“Well, they are not clearing airplanes to depart. They’ve sat at the airport for the last couple days, these planes, and they’re not allowed to leave,” McCaul added.

“We know the reason why is because the Taliban want something in exchange. This is really, Chris, turning into a hostage situation where they’re not gonna allow American citizens to leave until they get full recognition from the United States of America,” he continued.

CBS News reported after McCaul’s interview on Sunday that multiple flights are being held on the ground at the Afghanistan airport by the Taliban.

The network reported that the State Department notified members of Congress in an email that the charter flights have approval to land in Doha “if and when the Taliban agrees to takeoff”.

The department also told members of Congress to notify groups looking to evacuate from Mazar-i-Sharif that the US does not have people on the ground in that location and does not control the airspace, according to CBS News.

The US completed its withdrawal mission from Afghanistan on Tuesday, but a number of American citizens remain in the country.

McCaul noted “hundreds of American citizens” are still in Afghanistan, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week claimed that “under 200 and likely closer to 100” US citizens are still in the country.

Panjshir resistance denies Taliban claim over capturing province

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IFP Media Wire

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September 6, 2021

Earlier on Monday, Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed on Twitter that the group had conquered the last remaining pockets of resistance in Panjshir, defeating most of its rivals and forcing others to flee.

However, the claim was swiftly rejected as “false” by its opponents from the NRF led by Ahmad Massoud. The resistance forces remained in “all strategic positions” across the valley and continued to fight, the NRF wrote on Twitter.

Panjshir is the last of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces to remain out of the Taliban’s control after the group seized power in the country in mid-August. The mountainous region, which is located north of the capital of Kabul, is important due to it being rich in natural resources.

The NRF, which claims to have thousands of well-armed fighters, has been battling the Taliban in the area for the last two weeks.

But on Sunday, Massoud offered the group a ceasefire, backing the calls by clerics in Kabul to end the violence. In a post on Facebook, he stated that the NRF was ready to lay down arms if the “Taliban end their attacks and military operations in Panjshir and Andarab”. But the proposal didn’t receive a response.

Source: RT

Ex-US marine kills four, including infant in mother’s arms

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IFP Media Wire

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September 6, 2021

The shooter, alleged by police to be Bryan Riley, 33, a former US marine, also allegedly wounded an 11-year-old girl in a shootout in Lakeland near Tampa in central Florida on Sunday. The girl underwent surgery for seven gunshot injuries.

Riley, who had no connection to the victims, allegedly exchanged fire with police before giving up. He later tried to grab an officer’s gun while being treated in the hospital for his own gunshot wound, before being subdued again, Polk county sheriff Grady Judd told a news conference.

A veteran of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Riley was working as a bodyguard and a security guard. His girlfriend of four years told investigators he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and occasional depression, Judd said.

About a week ago his mental health worsened and he told his girlfriend he had started speaking with God, Judd added.

“He said at one point to our detectives: ‘They begged for their lives and I killed them anyway’,” Judd stated at a second news conference.

Riley also told sheriff’s deputies he was allegedly high on methamphetamine, Judd continued.

Police allege the shooter first appeared randomly at the house where the shooting occurred on Saturday night, making nonsensical statements, but left by the time police responded.

He returned early on Sunday morning, killing a 40-year-old man, the 33-year-old mother and her baby boy, Judd said. In the home next door, he also killed the 62-year-old mother of the woman, the sheriff added.

“In addition to that, if he’s not evil enough, he shot and killed the family dog,” Judd said.

Deputies responding to reports of two volleys of automatic gunfire arrived to find the suspect unarmed outside, wearing camouflage and body armour. Riley then went back inside and “we heard another volley, and a woman scream and a baby whimper”, Judd added.

A gunfight ensued before he came out unarmed and was arrested.

“It would have been nice if he would have come out with a gun … We would have shot him up a lot. But he didn’t because he was a coward,” Judd continued, stating, “When someone chooses to give up, we take them into custody peacefully.”

Source: Reuters

NATO welcomes Russia, China cooperation in Afghan anti-terror drive

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IFP Media Wire

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September 6, 2021

Russia and China should play a role in preventing terrorism from spreading in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of foreign troops, he told The Telegraph on Sunday.

“I strongly agree that the whole international community, including Russia and China, needs to work to prevent Afghanistan being a place where terrorist groups can operate freely and prepare, organize, plan, finance attacks against our own countries,” the chief said.

He acknowledged that the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul on August 15 was “of course… related to the fact that NATO allies decided to end this military mission in Afghanistan”.

Stoltenberg welcomed more European efforts on defense and stated that Europe and North America should maintain their bond, but stressed that calls for a new European military force following the withdrawal from Afghanistan must not undermine NATO’s command structures or divert resources from the alliance.

“Any attempt to establish parallel structures, duplicate the command structure, that will weaken our joint capability to work together because with scarce resources we need to prevent duplication and overlapping efforts. The specific proposals have not been discussed in NATO, we have not seen any details,” the NATO secretary general said.

The EU is set to propose a strategy document later this year that will address a proposal for a rapid entry force of several thousand troops. Calls for an autonomous European military capability have mounted in recent weeks after the US decision to pull out from Afghanistan led to the Taliban regaining control of the county.

He admitted that after over 20 years of foreign investment in Afghan security, it was reasonable to expect that they would have been able to withstand the Taliban for a longer time.

Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Wang Wenbin, said on Tuesday that the chaos in Afghanistan is directly linked to the withdrawal of foreign troops and expressed hope that Western nations realize that pulling out forces is not the end of their responsibilities, and they should provide economic and humanitarian support to the Afghan people to help them enter the path to recovery.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for uniting international efforts on Afghanistan and making joint decisions on recognizing political forces. Putin emphasized that combined efforts were needed to effectively combat terrorism.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said on Friday that the European Union plans to coordinate contacts with the Taliban through a joint EU presence in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Palestine urges ICC to investigate Israel, settlers’ crimes

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IFP Media Wire

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September 6, 2021

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in a statement condemned the brutal repression of anti-settlement marches in various areas across the West Bank, particularly in the town of Beita, and sit-ins against the establishment of an illegal settlement outpost on the Palestinian lands in Jabal Sabih.

It also denounced the Israeli military’s attacks that targeted ambulances and Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank towns of Beita and Kafr Qaddoum, as well as in the Gaza Strip.

The foreign ministry stressed that the Israeli regime is pressing ahead with its aggression against the Palestinian nation, especially as it continues to raze buildings and aggressively distributes house demolition notices.

The statement also condemned the Israeli-run Al-Quds municipality’s forcing of Palestinian resident Ayman Abu Hadwan to self-demolish his home in the Wadi al-Rababa district of Silwan neighborhood.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said it views with great seriousness the recent visit by Israeli Minister of Military Affairs Benny Gantz and his army staff to the Jabal Sabih area, and considers it a provocative move against Palestinian lands South of Nablus.

It called on the international community, the UN Security Council in particular, to exert maximum pressure on Israel to remove the illegal settlement outpost in Jabal Sabih, and to return the area that it has seized by force to its rightful owners.

The ministry added that sanctions on Israel will deter the occupying regime from further expropriation of Palestinian lands.

Back in March, former ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced in a statement the launch of a war crimes investigation in the Palestinian territories, which have been under Israeli occupation since 1967.

She stated her probe would be conducted “independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favor”.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) welcomed the announcement.

It is “a long-awaited step that serves Palestine’s tireless pursuit of justice and accountability, which are indispensable pillars of the peace the Palestinian people seek and deserve”, the PA foreign ministry announced in a statement.

Hamas resistance movement also praised the ICC’s move at the time.

“We welcome the ICC decision to investigate Israeli occupation war crimes against our people. It is a step forward on the path of achieving justice for the victims of our people,” Hamas Spokesman Hazem Qassem stressed.

Meanwhile, more than a hundred international human rights organizations have called for a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, warning against the consequences of any weapons trade with the occupying regime over its brutal aggression and atrocities in the Palestinian territories.

In an open letter to the member parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), 120 international organizations in the United States, Europe and Palestine stressed the need for the imposition of a comprehensive two-way arms embargo on Tel Aviv, saying that any arms import from or arms export to the regime would make the ATT signatories complicit in its crimes against Palestinians.

“We, the undersigned global coalition of leaders – from civil society to academia, art, media, business, politics, indigenous and faith communities, and people of conscience around the world – call upon the States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to act decisively to put an end to Israel’s notorious use of arms and military equipment for the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights against Palestinian civilians by immediately imposing a comprehensive two-way arms embargo on Israel,” the letter added.

The groups pointed to the recent Israeli aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip, Tel Aviv’s attempts to forcefully evacuate Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Al-Quds, and the brutal repression of peaceful protesters in the occupied West Bank.

The rights organizations said the ATT countries have an obligation to end the Israeli regime’s use of arms for committing “serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights against Palestinian civilians”.

“This systematic brutality, perpetrated throughout the past seven decades of Israel’s colonialism, apartheid, pro-longed illegal belligerent occupation, persecution, and closure, is only possible because of the complicity of some governments and corporations around the world,” they added.

“Symbolic statements of condemnation alone will not put an end to this suffering. In accordance with the relevant rules of the ATT, States Parties have legal obligations to put an end to irresponsible and often complicit trade of conventional arms that undermines international peace and security, facilitates commission of egregious crimes, and threatens the international legal order,” they stated.

Underlining that Israel uses arms to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, the NGOs underscored imposing a two-way arms embargo on Israel is both a legal and a moral obligation.

“ATT States Parties must immediately terminate any current, and prohibit any future transfers of conventional arms, munitions, parts and components … to Israel until it ends its illegal belligerent occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory and complies fully with its obligations under international law. Pending such an embargo, all States must immediately suspend all transfers of military equipment, assistance and munitions to Israel,” the letter said.

The international organizations stressed that “a failure to take these actions entails a heavy responsibility for the grave suffering of civilians – more deaths, more suffering, as thousands of Palestinian men, women and children continue to bear the brutality of a colonial belligerent occupying force– which would result in discrediting the ATT itself”.

“It also renders States parties complicit in internationally wrongful acts through the aiding or abetting of international crimes,” they added.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Al-Quds. All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on occupied land. The United Nations Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

Moreover, the Israeli regime’s plans in April to force a number of Palestinian families out of their homes in Sheikh Jarrah coupled with violent raids on worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque prompted Palestinian retaliation from Gaza, which was followed by a brutal Israeli bombing campaign against the besieged strip on May 10. About 260 Palestinians, including 66 children, were killed in the 11-day Israeli offensive.

Source: Press TV

Iran cabinet gives confidence vote to Khuzestan chief

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IFP Editorial Staff

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September 6, 2021

Iran’s cabinet chaired by President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi convened on Sunday and gave a vote of confidence to the proposed governor-general of Khuzestan.

Khalilian who is a former agriculture minister holds a PhD in natural resource economics. He replaces Qasem Soleimani Dashtaki.

Khuzestan was in recent months the scene of protests over severe water shortage, triggered by the worst drought in decades.

Taliban invites Iran, others to Afghan cabinet announcement ceremony

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IFP Media Wire

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September 6, 2021

The Taliban that seized power in Afghanistan have invited a number of countries to take part in an event dedicated to the announcement of the composition of the new Afghan government, the group’s representative whose name was not revealed told the Al-Jazeera TV channel on Monday.

“We have sent invitations to Turkey, China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar to take part in the [ceremony] of announcing [the composition of the new Afghan] government,” he said.

The TV channel’s interlocutor also noted that the necessary procedures for the announcement of the composition of the new cabinet had been completed by now. He added that the Taliban would create “a regime that will be accepted by the global community and the Afghan people”.

After the US announced the end of its operation in Afghanistan and the beginning of its troop withdrawal, the Taliban launched an offensive against Afghan government forces. On August 15, Taliban militants swept into Kabul without encountering any resistance, establishing full control over the country’s capital within a few hours. Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani claimed he had stepped down to prevent any bloodshed and subsequently fled the country.

Iran: JCPOA revival talks to resume

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IFP Editorial Staff

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September 6, 2021

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh reiterated during his weekly briefing on Monday that there is a consensus in Iran’s establishment that talks aimed at ensuring the United States’ full compliance with the JCPOA and the UN Security Council resolution that endorsed the deal will resume.

“The United Sates must come to Vienna with a genuine agenda, and Iran will not wait forever as America uses its illegal sanctions as leverage to pressure the people,” The Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Khatibzadeh said the American side must know that a Trump era mentality will result in nothing but maximum failure, adding that future talks must guarantee Iran’s national interests.

“These negotiations must provide a guarantee that benefits of sanctions removal as stipulated in the JCPOA will be completely ensured,” He added.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman noted that the Vienna talks can quickly produce results if the United States refrains from demanding more or less than what the 2015 nuclear deal requires.

Khatibzadeh also sharply criticized Europe’s inaction in the face of repeated U.S. violations over the past years.

Former U.S President Donald Trump withdrew America from the deal in May 2018 and re-imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran in a bid to force Tehran to renegotiate the nuclear deal, but the Islamic Republic refused to do so and in response rolled back some of it commitments under the JCPOA

Iran and the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal namely Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany have held six rounds of talks in Vienna in recent months on a possible return of the United States to the agreement.

Also referring to the ongoing developments in Afghanistan, Khatibzadeh condemned “in the strongest terms” the Taliban attack on Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley in north of Kabul on Sunday night.

He stressed there is only a political solution to the issue of Panjshir Valley which is the last Afghan province holding out against Taliban control.

In response to a question about reports of Pakistani involvement in the Taliban operation against Panjshir, Khatibzadeh said the foreign ministry is looking into these reports and that any foreign intervention in Afghanistan is condemned.

The Silk House: One of Iran’s Magnificent Historical Monuments

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IFP Editorial Staff

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September 6, 2021

Dating back to the Qajar era, the building has been registered on Iran’s List of National Heritage Sites.

The monument boasts a host of wall paintings, a variety of architectural patterns and Persian miniatures which dates back to the Qajar Dynasty, making the Silk House stand out among ancient structures both in Tabriz and even in the whole country.

Due to the exquisite paintings on the walls of its rooms, the Silk House is known as the most beautiful historical house in Tabriz.

The Silk House, in fact, contains three historical houses constructed on a site measuring more than 1,500 square metres with a superstructure measuring around 4,000 square meters in total.

The wall paintings are inspired by myths and Koranic stories such as the saga of Yousef and Zolaykha as well as other historical accounts.

The paintings on the roofs are a potent and wonderful representation of the Persian miniature.

Wall paintings and murals were among the most popular artworks during the Qajar era.

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