Hossein Faraji is one of ten best cavers in Iran. He is a member of the Iranian Caver Association, a member of the Lebanese Caving Club, and a mountaineering instructor.
In an interview with Khorasan daily, Faraji has talked about the exciting features of Iran’s caves.
Faraji started exploring caves at the age of 21, and after a while, he sought refuge in caves in search of the unknown and further adventure. He has been exploring the caves for 25 years.
“The mountains are visible to humans, but there are caves that have not yet been discovered and no one knows about them. Caves have been our main homes. In fact, the first place that early humans called home was these cavities, which are strangely warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and have a natural ventilation system. Our intelligent ancestors could not have chosen a better place to live than a cave. In some excavations, we find artifacts such as paintings or tools of human beings that show our ancestors lived in this place thousands of years ago,” he said.
Most Exciting Caves in Iran, World
Caves are generally divided into several categories based on their specific characteristics, says this mountaineering and cave-exploring instructor.
“Vertical caves need ropes to climb. Horizontal caves that do not require ropes and the third category are vertical and horizontal combinations. There are also caves that early humans built to live which are called hand-made caves. The other category is salt caves, which are composed of salt, and exploring them has its own special enthusiasts. It is interesting to know that Iran’s Qeshm Salt Cave is the second largest in the world in terms of size and length which dates back to the pre-Cambrian period i.e. 570 million years ago.”
Faraji also talked about different and interesting caves and introduces Por Ou and Kataleh Khor caves among them.
“One of the most exciting of these caves is Por Ou,” he said, referring to Iran’s unique caves. This cave is located on Mount Por Ou with a height of 3050 metres in Kermanshah province. It is undoubtedly one of the most important and exciting caves in Iran.
“To reach the mouth of this cave, you have to climb a mountain of 3050 metres. This cave has 24 wells and has been the deepest cave in Iran for the last five or six years, but the reason for the popularity of this cave is not only the height of the mountain and the number of its wells. This cave is called the killer, so much so that many of its enthusiasts are afraid to climb. The reason for that horror is the unfortunate events that took place in this place. To date, five cavers have died there, one of them was a professional Himalayan climber, and the bodies of two cavers have never been found. All of these deaths have made even professional cavers hesitant to go there,” added Faraji.
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Kataleh Khor Cave, Original Human Habitat
The next cave is Kataleh Khor. This cave is the longest one in West Asia and is located in Khodabandeh, Zanjan province.
“In this cave you will see stalagmites and stalactites that are very large. The remarkable thing about this place is the number of floors and halls. Its most beautiful hall is the bride and groom’s hall which is named after its structure. This cave was discovered in 1952. To enter it, people had to crawl about 700 metres and as soon as they entered the first hall, they realised early humans lived in this place many years ago. So far, about 80 skeletons of primitive humans have been found in Katleh Khor,” added Faraji.
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In a post on his Twitter account on Tuesday, Vaezi advised South Korea not to ruin its interests in Iran by blocking the Iranian assets under the US pressures.
دولت #كره_جنوبي نبايد اعتماد دهههاي اخير ملت ايران به توليدات و فناوري آن كشور و منافع درازمدت كشورش در بازار ايران را فداي خواست و فشارهاي رژيم آمريكا كند. لذا لازم است دسترسي ايران به وجوه بلوكه شدهاش در كره جنوبي را تسهيل و تسريع نمايد.
“The government of South Korea must not sacrifice the Iranian nation’s trust in that country’s products and technology in recent decades as well as its long-term interests in the Iranian market for the US regime’s demands and pressures,” the President’s Chief of Staff said.
It is necessary for the Seoul government to facilitate and accelerate Iran’s access to its frozen money in South Korea, Vaezi underlined.
On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Seyyed Ababs Mousavi denounced South Korea’s “blind” obedience to the US, saying Seoul has no right to freeze Iranian assets.
On June 12, Hossein Tanhaee, the chairman of Iran and South Korea’s joint chamber of commerce told Borna news agency that Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea were between $6.5 billion and $9 billion.
Tanhaee added that not only Korean banks refuse to release Iran’s money, some of them have also demanded commission and maintenance fees for Iran’s accounts.
Hilevar rock village lies in the heart of soil. Some experts believe it is named “Hilevar”, which means cunning in Persian, for its houses that are hidden from the passengers’ sight.
Hilevar is an old residential area surviving from the Ilkhanid period in the seventh century AH, when the people of East Azarbaijan evacuated their houses and resorted to the mountains to escape from the Mongol invasion and save their lives.
The number of houses in this village is estimated to be more than 200. These homes are carved in an excellent style under the soil, as if they are buried, in the form of beautiful slums.
Hilevar village was registered as a National Heritage site in August 2005.
What follows are YJC’s photos of Hilevar rock village in northwestern Iran:
Foreign Minister Zarif, who paid a visit to Turkey on Monday with a diplomatic delegation, left Istanbul for the Russian capital of Moscow on Tuesday morning.
During his stay in Istanbul, Foreign Minister Zarif held two rounds of meetings with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu for talks on the bilateral, regional and international issues.
The Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers discussed a range of topics in the meetings, signed a memorandum of understanding on the diplomatic properties and buildings of the two countries, and compiled a new list of commodities subject to preferential tariff.
“Iran’s revenue from the oil and gas condensates exported to South Korea are currently deposited in the Central Bank’s accounts in the Korean banks,” Ali Rabiei said on Monday.
“Although the US pressures have focused on the use of currency resources for the import of basic commodities, like medicine, they have said that there is no obstacle to using those resources for importing basic commodities and medicine,” he added.
“For unclear reasons, we feel that the government of South Korea is not cooperating properly,” the spokesman went on to say.
The Iranian official expressed hope that the South Korean government would immediately unfreeze these resources and resolve the problems it has created.
“Interestingly, those resources relate to the oil that has been exported to South Korea with the US permission and waivers. Thus, South Korea’s reasons are not acceptable to us from various aspects.”
“We, and the people of Iran, naturally expect the South Korean government to return the money to Iran with its measures. The consequences of this behaviour are unacceptable to all of us and will definitely affect the prospect of bilateral relations and future cooperation,” he warned.
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Speaking at a weekly press conference on Monday, Ali Rabiei highlighted Iran’s transparent cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and warned the UN nuclear agency not to fall under the influence of political objectives of others.
“In the area of providing access for the inspectors of the institution (IAEA), we have offered facilities, and at present, we can confidently claim that we have the most transparent peaceful nuclear program in the world,” the spokesman said.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has given the IAEA the maximum degree of access that a country may give the international agency,” he emphasized.
“Take a look at the regional countries! Has any of them ever had a percentage of our transparency in this regard? Iran, in turn, expects the IAEA to submit its requests within the framework of the Safeguards regulations and the Statute of the IAEA,” Rabiei added, referring to the IAEA Board of Governors’ Monday meeting on the reports that Iran has blocked inspection of two sites where nuclear activity may have occurred.
“We expect the (IAEA) Board of Governors to protect the independence of this international institution against the US bullying. Our primary expectation is that the (IAEA) Board (of Governors) maintains its independence. Moreover, we warn that using political criteria for reciprocal addressing of the commitments and rights of the countries in the International Atomic Energy Agency will result in nothing but dissolution of trust and a rise in world instability,” he noted.
“We have emphasized repeatedly that we remain committed to all of our international undertakings, whose obvious evidence are the seventeen positive reports from the IAEA in recent years. We have been always prepared to give the IAEA inspectors the necessary and justifiable access according to the previous valid agreements and the international regulations,” the spokesman stressed.
“From now on, we will act on this basis and in that manner and according to the technical necessities that exist. Our argument is that the issue of technical inspections must not become political by any means. Politicization of the issue will not only not help resolve the differences that may exist between us and the IAEA, but will complicate the situation,” Rabiei stated.
“As the IAEA has issued positive reports in the past years, we hope that it would not allow political objectives to affect the IAEA this time. We have been expecting the IAEA to do this, and the IAEA has also satisfied our expectations so far,” the spokesperson added.
Rabiei finally condemned the “evil intentions of the US and Israeli regimes and the Israeli regime’s provocations” with the purpose of ruining Iran’s nuclear program.
