According to ISNA, Seyed Mohammad Hossein Hojazi, CEO of the Abbasabad Cultural and Tourism Zone, stated that the simple Iftar spread was organized to honor of the second Shia imam, known as the most generous of the Ahl al-Bayt, the household of the Prophet.
Every year, around 2,000 to 2,500 fasting individuals and tourists gather on Tabiat Bridge to break their fast together.
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Araqchi wrote on his account on the social media platform X: “The US government has no right to dictate Iran’s foreign policy. That era ended in 1979,” in a reference to the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, more than 46 years ago.
The Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran stated: “Last year, they deceived (former US President) Biden into paying an unprecedented $23 billion to a genocidal regime. Over 60,000 Palestinians were killed, and the world holds the US fully responsible.”
Araghchi’s remarks refer to the extensive financial, military, and political support provided by the United States to the Zionist regime during the Gaza war.
The top Iranian diplomat noted: “End your support for Israel’s genocide and terrorism. Stop the massacre of the Yemeni people.”
The US and the UK carried out large-scale military strikes on Saturday against dozens of civilian targets in Yemen, killing at least 10 people and injuring many more.
The Houthis have stated that as long as Israel’s aggression against the Palestinians continues in Gaza, they will continue to attack Israel-bound vessels in the Red Sea.
Esmail Baqaei, in a post on X, referred to the 37th anniversary of the Saddam regime’s chemical attack on the people of Halabja, in Iraqi Kurdistan, saying those European states which contributed to the development of chemical weapons by Saddam, must accept their responsibility for the tragic incident.
Baqaei said, “37 years ago, the defenseless people of Halabja, were hit by chemical bombs which had been produced with the technical and technological assistance of the US and some European countries. Tens of thousands of innocents died or sustained permanent injuries in this heinous war crime.”
He added that Iranians, especially the people of Sardasht, who were attacked during the 8-year imposed war with chemical weapons by Saddam’s regime, deeply understand the pain and suffering of the people of Halabja.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman said, “Truth and justice are the legitimate and permanent demands of the loved ones of those who fell victim to the former Iraqi regime’s chemical weapons. The passage of time cannot lessen the ugliness of this crime, nor can it diminish the demand for truth and justice.”
Baqaei referenced the claims in the statement of the G7 foreign ministers in Charlevoix, France, accusing Iran of destructive behavior in the region, pointing out they are a clear distortion of truth and malicious projection by the authors of the statement.
He highlighted the illegal, irresponsible, and interventionist acts of G7 member states in West Asia, especially their military, financial, or political support for the genocidal Israeli regime.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson also stressed that Iran’s nuclear activities are in accordance with the country’s technical and industrial needs and its international rights and obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and Safeguards Agreement. He called G7 concerns on this matter “unfounded” and merely reflective of the “political approach” of certain G7 member states.
Baqaei highlighted Iran’s leading role in promoting a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, saying the Zionist regime is the sole obstacle to achieving this goal.
He noted that this regime, enjoying full support from G7 countries, pushes ahead with its crimes and gross violations of humanitarian and human rights laws in Gaza and the West Bank as well as acts of aggression against regional countries.
He reaffirmed Iran’s inalienable right to defend its people, territorial integrity, and sovereignty against any threats or aggression, underscoring that it is necessary that Iran develop its military-defense capabilities for this purpose.
Baqaei further rejected the repetitive and irresponsible claims made by the G7 concerning Iran’s involvement in the Ukraine war and pointed to Iran’s principled policy of opposing war and supporting the resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomatic negotiations among the warring parties.
Guterres made the remarks on Saturday to mark the International Day to Combat Islamophobia marked every year on March 15.
Rights groups around the world and the UN have noted a rise in Islamophobia, anti-Arab bias and anti-Semitism since the start of Israel’s 17-month war on Gaza.
“We are witnessing a disturbing rise in anti-Muslim bigotry. From racial profiling and discriminatory policies that violate human rights and dignity, to outright violence against individuals and places of worship,” the UN chief said in a video post on X.
“This is part of a wider scourge of intolerance, extremist ideologies and attacks against religious groups and vulnerable populations.”
He called on governments, without specifying any one nation, to “foster social cohesion and protect religious freedom”.
“Online platforms must curb hate speech and harassment. And we must all speak out against bigotry, xenophobia and discrimination,” he added.
Meanwhile, UN Under-Secretary-General Miguel Angel Moratinos said Muslims were facing “institutional discrimination and socioeconomic restrictions”.
“Such biases are manifested in the stigmatisation and the unwarranted racial profiling of Muslims and are reinforced by biased media representations, and by the anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies of some political leaders,” he stated in a speech to the UN General Assembly.
Rights advocates have for years raised concerns about the stigma faced by Muslims and Arabs because of how some people conflate those communities with armed groups.
At present, many pro-Palestinian activists, including in Western nations such as the United States, have complained and say that their advocacy for Palestinian rights is wrongly labelled by their critics as support for Hamas in Gaza.
In recent weeks, rights watchdogs have published data noting record levels of anti-Muslim hate incidents and hate speeches in countries such as the United Kingdom, the US and India, among others.
A report released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Tuesday said that the 8,658 complaints regarding anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents last year – representing a 7.4 percent rise year on year – was the highest number since the group began compiling data in 1996.
The memo lists a total of 41 countries divided into three separate groups. The first group of 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba and North Korea among others, would be set for a full visa suspension.
In the second group, five countries — Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar and South Sudan — would face partial suspensions that would impact tourist and student visas as well as other immigrant visas, with some exceptions.
In the third group, a total of 26 countries that includes Belarus, Pakistan and Turkmenistan among others would be considered for a partial suspension of U.S. visa issuance if their governments “do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days”, the memo said.
A U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity cautioned there could be changes on the list and that it was yet to be approved by the administration, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The move harkens back to President Trump’s first term ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations, a policy that went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the U.S. to detect national security threats.
That order directed several cabinet members to submit by March 21 a list of countries from which travel should be partly or fully suspended because their “vetting and screening information is so deficient.”
Trump’s directive is part of an immigration crackdown that he launched at the start of his second term.
He previewed his plan in an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and “anywhere else that threatens our security.”
In a news release on Friday, the Department of Homeland Security accused Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian student at Columbia, of overstaying her F-1 student visa.
The statement explained that agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained her for deportation. Another foreign student, Ranjani Srinivasan of India, had her student visa revoked for participating “in activities supporting Hammas”, a misspelling of the Palestinian armed group Hamas.
The Trump administration has repeatedly conflated participation in protests against Israel’s war in Gaza with support for Hamas. It has also accused demonstrators of supporting “terrorists”.
Kordia’s arrest marks the second time in less than a week that a Palestinian student at Columbia University has been taken into ICE custody for deportation. On Saturday, protest spokesperson Mahmoud Khalil likewise was arrested and placed in immigration detention, first in New Jersey and later in Louisiana.
Civil liberty advocates say the arrests are meant to stifle free speech rights, and Khalil’s lawyer this week argued he has not been able to contact his client privately, in violation of his right to legal counsel.
Khalil is a permanent resident of the US, with a green card, and his American wife is eight months pregnant. The Trump administration, however, says it plans to strip him of his green card.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in the news release.
But the arrests and student visa revocation were not the only strong-armed actions the Trump administration took against Columbia in the last 24 hours.
In a letter issued late on Thursday night, the administration demanded that Columbia’s Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies (MESAAS) be placed in an “academic receivership” wherein an outside authority takes control, often as punishment for mismanagement.
The letter specified that the university must come up with a plan to create the academic receivership role no later than March 20.
Failure to comply, the letter warned, would negatively affect “Columbia University’s continued financial relationship with the United States government”.
Setting up a receivership was just one in a list of demands, which included abolishing the university’s judicial board for hearing disciplinary matters, banning masks on campus and adopting a controversial definition of anti-Semitism that some fear could limit legitimate criticisms of Israel.
Columbia University is a private school, one of eight campuses that makes up the much-vaunted Ivy League in the northeast region.
But Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly attacked the university since it became the epicentre of pro-Palestinian protests in 2023 and 2024 as students rallied against the devastation wrought by Israel’s war, which United Nations experts compared to a genocide.
The protests hit a peak last April, after a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill. The university president at the time, Minouche Shafik, appeared before a congressional panel to face scrutiny over allegations that Columbia and other schools had failed to address anti-Semitism on campus.
The very next day, Shafik authorised New York City police to enter an encampment that student protesters had set up on Columbia’s East Lawn, leading to mass arrests.
Tensions escalated from there. Student protesters argued that their free speech rights were being curtailed, and that officials were conflating criticisms of Israel’s war with anti-Semitism. Some occupied a school building, Hamilton Hall, to show defiance against attempts to dismantle the protest movement.
But what happened at Columbia kicked off a series of similar measures across the country, as police were called onto campuses to arrest peaceful protesters. More than 3,000 protesters are estimated to have been arrested between April and July.
Trump campaigned for re-election on the platform that he would seek out and deport foreign students who participated in the protests.
His allies even codified the threats into last year’s Republican Party platform, making it one of 20 pledges: to “deport pro-Hamas radicals and make our college campuses safe and patriotic again”.
Upon taking office for a second term on January 20, Trump immediately issued an executive order calling for the removal of foreigners who bear “hostile attitudes” to US “citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles” or who support “threats to our national security”.
The US has long been an ally of Israel and has supported its campaign in Gaza, which has killed at least 48,500 Palestinians.
In the months since taking office, Trump has directed the Justice Department to “investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities”.
And on social media this month, he warned he would take heavy-handed action against any campus that hosts what he called “illegal protests” — although he failed to define what that category might entail.
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” Trump wrote.
“Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on [sic] the crime, arrested,” he added.
Already, on March 7, the Trump administration announced the immediate cancellation of $400m in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University, in what was considered a warning shot against all institutions of higher education to conform with the president’s demands.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon pointed to increases in reported acts of anti-Semitism after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel in October 2023 as a reason for the cancellation.
“Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses — only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” McMahon announced in an accompanying news release.
“Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding.”
According to the Department of Education, Columbia currently receives approximately $5bn in federal grants and contracts. Earlier this week, the school moved to expel or suspend students involved in the antiwar protests.
But some activists have questioned whether the Trump administration is truly motivated to combat hate crimes — or whether anti-Semitism is being used as a smokescreen to further other political aims.
On Thursday, activists with Jewish Voice for Peace and other groups gathered in Trump Tower in New York City to protest Khalil’s arrest, wearing red T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Not in our name”.
As reports emerge of Homeland Security officials searching Columbia University dorm rooms, critics fear students’ civil rights may be violated.
“We do believe that if you are here, you shouldn’t get arrested, dragged away, and deported for engaging in protests that all of your classmates were perfectly within their rights to engage in,” Greg Lukianoff, the CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), wrote on social media on Friday.
The Trump administration has cited a little-used section of the Immigration and Nationality Act as justification for the planned deportations.
It says the secretary of state has the right to exclude, “under certain circumstances”, foreign nationals whose entry into the US “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”.
But lawyers and advocates point out that the Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the constitutional right to free speech for immigrants in the US.
“What happened to Mahmoud is nothing short of extraordinary, shocking, and outrageous,” Khalil’s lawyer Ramzi Kassem stated in a recent statement with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
“It should outrage anyone who believes that speech should be free in the United States of America,” Kassem added.
Establishing a national platform as the main infrastructure for the development of artificial intelligence is one of the most fundamental and essential actions for advancing this technology in the country.
This initiative has been supported by the Iranian Vice Presidency for Science, Technology, and Knowledge-Based Economy, with the help of distinguished university professors and a group of specialists since October 2023.
The progress of this project was previously presented at the “Pioneers of Progress” exhibition in the presence of the Supreme Leader.
Hosseini Asadi, the director of the Rapid Processing Center and representative of Sharif University in this project, highlighted the current state of the country in the field of artificial intelligence, stating that according to academic studies conducted, the number of patents, articles, and active companies in this field has been low over the past decade.
He said the reason for this has been the lack of serious investment in hardware infrastructure and the absence of a platform.
Asadi added that to solve this problem, a market design was created, and the university focused on developing the platform. The role of knowledge-based companies in the development of the platform is also very important.
The representative of Sharif University in the project stated that eight centers, projects, and faculties have simultaneously worked on this project, involving about 100 personnel and utilizing more than 35 technical expertise.
Asadi noted that a stable version of the national artificial intelligence platform in Iran will be released in one year.
According to a member of the Expediency Council on Saturday, joint commissions within the council have approved the necessary measures for Iran’s accession. The final decision now awaits approval by the full council.
The move comes after years of delays and internal disagreements. Iran’s parliament had previously approved FATF-related bills, but disputes between the parliament and the Guardian Council stalled progress and the issue was subsequently referred to the Expediency Council.
Seyed Mohammad Sadr, a member of the council, emphasized the importance of joining FATF, stating that failure to adopt the Palermo and CFT (Combating the Financing of Terrorism) conventions would imply Iran’s economy operates on illicit foundations.
Experts have long stressed the necessity of FATF membership, warning that delays harm Iran’s financial and trade relations.
Hadi Khani, head of Iran’s Financial Intelligence Center, recently highlighted that postponing accession not only complicates banking and trade but also increases the costs and challenges of future membership.
Proponents argue that joining FATF will facilitate international trade and improve Iran’s economic standing, while critics fear it could undermine the country’s resistance economy.
Following talks with U.S. officials, Kyiv agreed to a temporary ceasefire, as long as Russia also abides by its terms. Washington is now trying to persuade Moscow to accept the deal.
“We’ve had some very good calls today with Russia and with Ukraine,” Trump said during his DOJ speech.
“They’ve agreed for a ceasefire if we can get it with Russia, and it’s not easy. It’s a tough one. But I think we’re doing it. … I think we’ve had some very good results. I haven’t been able to say that to anybody else, I haven’t wanted to say it until just before I came here, I got some pretty good news.”
Trump did not say what the good news was, nor did he provide additional details on the content of the negotiations. Despite his note of optimism, he acknowledged that there is still “a long way to go.”
Earlier in the day, Trump claimed he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to “spare” Ukrainian troops he said were surrounded by Russian forces in Kursk Oblast — a claim he repeated during his speech. Kyiv has denied reports that its troops are encircled in Kursk.
Trump also repeated his standard talking point on Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine: namely, that former U.S. President Joe Biden should not have “let” the war happen.
“Biden should have never let this war happen,” he added.
“First of all, you don’t want to pick on someone that’s a lot larger than you, even with the money. That’s a lot of money that we gave them.”
Trump has historically been hesitant to condemn Russia’s onslaught and violations of sovereignty, instead preferring to lay the blame on the Biden administration and Ukraine’s own NATO ambitions.
Putin has stated that Russia was ready to agree to the proposed 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, but soon followed that up with demands that Ukraine ban mobilizing and training more troops and that the West halt all military aid to Kyiv.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also stressed that the administration was “cautiously optimistic” about progress towards a ceasefire, but added that the situation remains “complex.”
“There is reason to be cautiously optimistic, but by the same token, we continue to recognize this is a difficult and complex situation,” Rubio added.
“It will not be easy. It will not be simple. But we certainly feel like we’re at least some steps closer to ending this war and bringing peace.”
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