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Iran Urges IAEA to Avoid Artificial Concerns, Prejudgment

Iran Sees ‘Positive Outlook’ for Ties with IAEA after Latest Report

In a series of tweets, Kazem Gharibabadi said Rafael Grossi’s Monday reports on Iran’s nuclear program “ignore the level of cooperation and engagement” between the two sides.

“This approach could turn into an obstacle for future good-will interactions between the two sides,” Gharibabadi warned.

“The Agency’s report lacks triple C: it’s not “consistent” in relations with the background of cooperation between two sides; it’s not “credible” since is not based on reliable sources; it’s not “convincing” since does not contain all aspects of the cooperation and progress made.”

The Iranian official also called for a positive environment to facilitate constructive engagement with the IAEA. He said the agency needs to avoid pre-judgment and artificial concerns.

“The Agency shouldn’t act as if it’s supporting the political agenda of some against the others,” he said.

Last week, Grossi published two quarterly reports to the IAEA’s board of governors. The reports address the verification process of the Iran nuclear deal and what he called outstanding issues on Iran’s compliance with the safeguards agreement.

Grossi accused Tehran of failing to answer questions about what he called the discovery of uranium particles at undeclared nuclear sites in the country.

Gharibabadi said Iran is working with the agency to address its concerns. But he warned that Iran will review its cooperation with the agency if it adheres to its political approach toward the Islamic Republic.

Gharibabadi also criticized the IAEA for refusing to address Israel’s arsenal of nuclear weapons. He said the agency must take a clear stand on the regime’s nuclear threat, the “unacceptable” fact that it has never joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its refusal to place all its nuclear activities under the IAEA safeguards agreement.

Iran Trounces Bahrain 3-0 in 2022 World Cup Qualifiers

Iran Trounces Bahrain 3-0 in 2022 World Cup Qualifiers

The Group C match held at Bahrain National Stadium on June 7, 2021 saw Sardar Azmoon score the opener 54 minutes into the Game.

The same player scored the second goal as well before Mehdi Taremi scored the third goal for Iran minutes before the end of the match.

The 3-0 win has changed the odds for Iran on its way to the world cup competitions.

It’s Not Clear If Biden Ready to Abandon Trump’s Maximum Pressure: Iran

Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet it is not yet clear if the US government is ready to give up on the policies of former US President Donald Trump and ex-secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

“It is not yet clear if the US president and Blinken are prepared to set aside Trump and Pompeo’s ‘maximum pressure’ and stop using economic terrorism as a bargaining chip,” said Zarif.

“Iran is committed to the JCPOA. Just study Note 36. It’s time to change tack,” Zarif added.

Blinken said on Sunday the United States had not seen yet whether Iran would move to comply with its nuclear commitments in order to have sanctions removed even as ongoing talks in Vienna had shown progress.

“Iran, I think, knows what it needs to do to come back into compliance on the nuclear side, and what we haven’t yet seen is whether Iran is ready and willing to make a decision to do what it has to do. That’s the test and we don’t yet have an answer,” said Blinken.

UN Envoy, Iranian Diplomat Discuss Afghanistan Violence in Tehran

In the Monday meeting, the two sides conferred on the ongoing developments of Afghanistan including the process of talks and the security situation in that country.

Taherian said Iran considers Afghanistan’s peace and security as its own, and supports the peace process owned and led by Afghans.

He also expressed Iran’s preparedness for cooperation on facilitating and advancing intra-Afghan talks, and underlined the necessity of protecting the Afghan people’s achievements in the past two decades.

The two sides also expressed concern over the escalation of violence in Afghanistan in the past few months, and called for a decrease in violence and efforts to prevent civilian casualties.

Iran Reports Lowest Number of New COVID-19 Cases Since Oct. 2020

In a press briefing on Monday, Sima-Sadat Lari said the virus has also killed 120 patients since Sunday noon, increasing the overall death toll to 81,183. The number of new fatalities is also the lowest since April 4.

She said so far 2,565,972 patients have recovered from the disease or been discharged from the hospital.

Lari went on to say that 3,687 patients are also in critical conditions caused by more severe infection.

The spokeswoman noted that 20,812,819 COVID-19 tests have been taken across the country so far.

She said 4,230,484 people have so far received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and 658,285 have received the second dose.

Train Collision in Pakistan Kills at Least 36 People

Train Collision in Pakistan Kills at Least 36 People

According to Pakistani officials, one train travelling in Sindh province had derailed and landed on another track. A second train packed with passengers then collided with it and overturned.

Rescue teams took the injured to nearby hospitals and it is thought that several are in a critical condition.

A senior official in the Ghokti district, Usman Abdullah, told Reuters it was hard to know how many people were still trapped in the train.

“There are about six to eight bogies [carriages] that are totally smashed… there is a sleeper train, AC [air conditioned] class, as well as economy class, in which there were between 47 to 50 people on this side and around 50 to 60 people on the other train,” he said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said he was “shocked” by the accident and promised a full inquiry.

Footage from the site shows the wreckage of several carriages lying on their side. It is not clear what caused the derailment.

Several people are though to remain trapped. News agency AFP quoted a railway spokesperson as saying: “The site is far and that’s why we are facing some trouble in the rescue work.”

Pakistan has seen a string of deadly train accidents over the past years.

Local media reports says 150 people died in such incidents between 2013 and 2019.

Iranian Politician Mohtashamipour Dies of Coronavirus at 75

Ali-Akbar Mohtashamipour

Mohtashamipour, 75, was one of five Iranian officials who played a key role in establishing Hezbollah in Lebanon in the 1980s.

He had been living in the Iraqi city of Najaf for the past few years. However, he moved back to Tehran after contracting the coronavirus.

Mohtashamipour served as interior minister in the 1980s and later as a lawmaker. He also served as an advisor to former reformist president Mohammad Khatami in the late 1990s.
The cleric was also a member of the Association of Combatant Clerics, the main reformist political party in Iran.

Several Iranian officials have died from the coronavirus since it was first detected in Iran in February 2020.

As of Sunday, the virus has killed more than 81,000 people and infected nearly 3 million in Iran, according to health ministry figures.

Iran Condemns Terrorist Attack in Burkina Faso

In a statement on Sunday, Khatibzadeh condemned the attack, and offered sympathy to the government and nation of Burkina Faso and the victims’ families.

He also expressed Tehran’s preparedness to share its experiences in fight against terrorism with African countries, especially Burkina Faso.

Armed men killed over 132 people in an attack on a village in northern Burkina Faso, the country’s worst attack in recent years, the government says.

Homes and the local market were burned during the overnight raid on Solhan.

No group has said it was behind the violence, but extremist attacks are increasingly common in the country, especially in border regions.

The UN chief said he was “outraged” by the incident.

António Guterres “strongly condemns the heinous attack and underscores the urgent need for the international community to redouble support to member states in the fight against violent extremism and its unacceptable human toll,” his spokesperson said.

The Burkinabe President Roch Kabore declared three days of national mourning saying, in a tweet, that “we must stand united against the forces of evil”.

The security forces are currently looking for the perpetrators, he added.

In another attack on Friday night, 14 people were reported to have been killed in the village of Tadaryat, about 150km (93 miles) to the north of Solhan.

Last month, 30 people died in an attack in the east of Burkina Faso.

The country is facing a deepening security crisis, like many of its neighbours, as armed groups carry out raids and kidnappings across much of the region.

In May, the Burkinabe army launched a large-scale operation in response to a resurgence of militant attacks. Despite this, the security forces are struggling to prevent the violence that has forced more than a million people from their homes over the past two years.

Africa’s semi-arid Sahel region has been hit by an insurgency since militants captured large parts of northern Mali in 2012 and 2013.

French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso to fight the militants.

Huge Blaze at Iranian Steel Plant Contained; No Casualties

According to Ali Sadeqzadeh, the local governor in the town of Zarand, firefighters and emergency crew remained at the site of the Zarand Iranian Steel Co after the blaze was brought under control.

“A sudden overflow of molten material in the blast furnace caused a fire and smoke, and there was no explosion at the furnace site or other parts of the plant,” Sadeqzadeh said.

He denied earlier reports that an explosion caused the fire.

Iran Election 2021: First Presidential Debate Held on Issue of Economy

Iran Election 2021

In the heated debate, the candidates – five conservatives and two moderates/reformists – accused each other of treason or of lacking the education to run the country’s economy.

The five conservative candidates, Ebrahim Raisi, Saeed Jalili, Mohsen Rezaei, Alireza Zakani, and Amir-Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi, attacked the leading moderate candidate, former central bank chief Abdolnaser Hemmati, considering him as a representative of the outgoing pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani and his eight-year performance.

Hemmati, and the reformist candidate Mohsen Mehralizadeh, in turn, blamed hardliners for heightened tensions with the West and its negative impact on Iran’s economic woes.

Rezaei accused Hemmati of “fully complying” with US sanctions and said he should face treason charges.

“If I become president, I will ban Hemmati and a number of other officials of the Rouhani government from leaving the country, and I will prove in court which treacherous roles they played,” Rezaei said in the televised three-hour debate.

After Rezaei’s remarks, Hemmati half-jokingly asked leading conservative candidate and judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi: “Mr Raisi, can you give me assurances that no legal action will be taken against me after this event?”

Mehralizadeh said the economy could not be run by those with only traditional clerical studies, such as Raisi.

“You have only six years of classic education, and while respecting your seminary studies, I must say that one cannot manage the economy and draw up plans for the country with this much education,” said Mehralizadeh, who holds a doctorate in financial management.

Raisi blasted Rouhani’s government over galloping inflation and the rapid fall in the value of Iran’s currency, and rejected comments by Hemmati and other moderates who blame US sanctions for Iran’s economic troubles and say without proper management the country would have been worse off.

“This is like a goalkeeper who lets in 17 goals… and then says without me it would have been 30 goals!” Raisi said.