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Iranians Attend ‘Qadr Night’ Rituals While Observing Health Protocols

May 13, 2020

“The decision to reopen mosques and allow the faithful to attend Qadr night rituals was a very tough and high-risk one, and last night was the first night when we experienced it,” Health Minister Saeid Namaki said Wednesday.

He thanked people for complying with health protocols while holding the religious ceremonies.

He said there were few reports of violations.

His comments came after the Health Ministry allowed religious sites to reopen while taking the necessary precautions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

What follows are IRNA’s photos of people attending the Laylat al-Qadr ceremonies across the country on Tuesday night:

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Iran to Resume Trade Ties with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

IFP Editorial Staff

May 13, 2020

Iran to Resume Trade Ties with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Mohammad Eslami said Wednesday heath protocols will be observed, in the meantime.

“We are trying to resume trade transactions. In this regard, the health ministry has adopted measures and protocols all of which we have fully complied with,” said the minister after a trilateral meeting of Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

“Turkmenistan’s health minister has a different idea. He said the disinfectant tunnels they had dug could be extended by up to 20 metres,” he said.

“It was also decided that train drivers and crew be tested for coronavirus and carry with them a clean bill of health. These things are being done, and I hope we, as agreed, will see good developments in the next 15 days with regards to the issue of transit in the country,” said the minister.

He said it has been two months that exports of commercial goods to Turkmenistan and Central Asia have been halted, which seriously harms businessmen as well as transport companies.

“Road and rail transport with Turkmenistan will be resumed in 15 days,” he added.
He also expressed hope trade will be resumed as well.

Devoted Teachers Making Sacrifices amid COVID-19 Outbreak in Iran

IFP Editorial Staff

May 13, 2020

Devoted Teachers Making Sacrifices amid COVID-19 Outbreak in Iran 1

With the onset of the coronavirus the Iranian government announced the schools must be shut down until further notice. Therefore, teachers started to educate their students via television, mobile phone applications and the internet.

However, there are some students in remote areas who do not have access to these facilities, and the teachers are instructing them in person. Even though they do not get high salaries, they pay the fare themselves to commute to the place where their students live.

One of these teachers is Moharram Navazesh who travels a long distance every day to instruct his students. He travels 110 kilometres every day to reach his students, and of course his students come from the villages in groups of two or three. They observe the principles of health and social distancing in the classes that are held in Ardabil province.

“Due to the social distancing and in order for the students to be separated from each other, I teach each grade separately,” he says.

All the teachers of the villages of Jafarabad in Moghan region are present at schools these days, taking care of the educational and even cultural issues of their students.

Students with Special Needs

Amid the corona outbreak, students with special needs must not lag behind. The situation of these students is a little different from that of ordinary students, and this multiplies their teachers’ efforts.

The education ministry has provided facilities for students with special needs to be able to benefit from virtual teaching, but this method is not like face-to-face training and real classroom atmosphere. Atefeh Rajabi is a teacher at Payam School in Gotvand, Khuzestan Province.

When she saw that Fatemeh, one of her students, could not use mobile phone and tablet because of her physical and mobility problems and weakness in her hand muscles, she decided to go to Fatemeh’s house and sometimes Fatemeh would come to her to practice lessons.

Teaching Afghan Students

At present, with the cooperation of IRIB, televised trainings are aired on channels 4 and 7. Meanwhile teachers are also educating their students in the cyberspace. However, there are some students who may not have access to none of these methods of training, or may not be able to use them for a variety of reasons.

Tahereh Nekouian is a first grade elementary school teacher who teaches Afghan students in the city of Noorabad Mamasani in person.

“14 out of 30 students do not have access to television, the Internet and smartphones, so I decided to teach these students in person while observing hygienic principles and social distancing,” she said.

Teaching Nomadic Students

Some teachers, despite being sick or injured, continued educating their students. One of them is Sajjad Ahmadi, the teacher of nomadic students in Harsin city of Kermanshah province, western Iran. Although he has injuries, he goes door to door to teach his nomadic students.

Another teacher who was suffering from kidney and heart disease teaches his nomadic students in meadows.

The other one in the city of Saveh spent one month of his salary to buy Internet service for her poor students.

Another example is a devoted teacher in the city of Ahar in East Azarbaijan province, who bought a TV set for her student when she found out they did not have a TV at home.

These are some instances of the devotion of Iranian teachers who never forget their students despite their own lives being at risk.

Anti-Iran Bias Debunked after ‘Successful’ Handling of Corona Crisis: Rouhani

IFP Editorial Staff

May 13, 2020

Anti-Iran Bias Debunked after 'Successful' Handling of Corona Crisis

In remarks at a Tuesday meeting of officials and intellectuals from the Iranian academic institutions and seminaries, President Rouhani said Iran’s “successful achievements” in the battle with COVID-19 invalidated the “biased” judgments against Iran, its establishment, government and management system.

The critics recognized that Iran is a powerful and mighty country following the Islamic Republic’s performance amid the coronavirus outbreak, the president noted.

President Rouhani also said that Iran has outperformed many other countries in dealing with the coronavirus, adding, “Many countries laud such (Iranian) performance.”

Highlighting the far-reaching impacts of the pandemic on the human societies in the world, the Iranian president said many governments that claimed to be leading scientific and financial powers have been thoroughly beset with coronavirus-related problems.

“The measures that we witnessed in Iran in the course of battle with coronavirus could disprove many judgments that were being made about the establishment, the government and people,” President Rouhani underlined.

Among the biased judgments about Iran that have been debunked were the wrong notions that the Islamic Revolution has impeded Iran’s scientific progress or that the Islamic Republic has lost its social capital, the president added.

“The Westerners imagined that the Iranian nation would not withstand the pressures and sanctions for more than a few months, and after the outbreak of the virus, they thought that a country under tough sanctions and with limited financial sources could not endure such problems,” President Rouhani stated.

He further highlighted Iran’s successful handling of the medical services after the outbreak of COVID-19, saying his administration has managed to double the number of hospital beds over the past six years.

“So far and amid the fight against the coronavirus, we have not faced any problem with the hospital beds at any region,” he underscored.

“The Iranian health sector’s performance has been very great in comparison with the other countries, while we have not encountered any crisis in the other sectors in this period such as the welfare or provision of services for the disabled, the old people’s homes, and the big factories,” President Rouhani noted.

Iran’s Health Ministry announced earlier on Tuesday that zero coronavirus deaths have been reported in 14 provinces of the country during the past 24 hours.

Back in March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representatives hailed Iran’s fight against COVID-19, saying the world would learn from Iran’s experiences in the fight against the disease.

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Iran Army Chief: 4 Military Teams Investigating Naval Tragedy

IFP Editorial Staff

May 12, 2020

Iran Army Chief: 4 Military Teams Investigating Naval Tragedy

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the funeral of the martyrs at an airbase in Tehran on Tuesday, Major General Mousavi said four teams of experts have been dispatched to the scene of the fatal accident to investigate the case.

The four teams, representing the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, the Defense Ministry, the Army and the Navy, have launched a probe into the incident, he added.

The senior commander said arrangements have been made to carry out all necessary measures to investigate the incident.

Looking into such accidents usually requires a very complicated process, because a careful and detailed examination should be conducted to ascertain whether a problem relates to the technical issues or the human error, the Army chief explained.

He also praised the Navy rescue and relief teams for saving the crew of the doomed vessel after the accident, saying 16 servicemen were evacuated from the ship, one of whom was pronounced dead later.

“The measures that are being taken at present are aimed at discovering the cause of the incident,” Major General Mousavi concluded.

In a message for the Army chief on Tuesday, Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei ordered the Army to hold an inquiry about the accident, shed light on the dimensions of the incident, identify the ones possibly at fault, and make the necessary arrangements to prevent a recurrence of such tragic incidents.

Nineteen Navy servicemen were martyred and 15 others injured in the accident on Sunday evening, May 10, when a number of vessels were carrying a naval training exercise off the coasts of Jask and Chabahar in the Sea of Oman.

Iran Condemns Terrorist Attacks in Afghanistan

IFP Editorial Staff

May 12, 2020

Iran Condemns Terrorist Attacks in Afghanistan

In a statement on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi deplored the terrorist offensive on a hospital in Kabul, the attack on a funeral in Nangarhar, and the other military actions in various regions of Afghanistan, condemned the strikes on civilians and non-military sites, and voiced concern about the rise in violence in Afghanistan.

The Iranian spokesperson also expressed sympathy with the Afghan government and people, particularly with the families of victims of the recent attacks.

Mousavi finally called on all forces engaged in the military operations to cease the armed actions in honor of the holy month of Ramadan and prepare the ground for dialogue and sustainable peace in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday morning, gunmen attacked a hospital that houses a maternity clinic in Kabul, killing at least 16 people including two newborn babies.

In another terrorist attack in the morning, a suicide bomber killed at least 24 others at a funeral in Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan.

Iran’s Leader Orders Probe into Naval Accident

IFP Editorial Staff

May 12, 2020

Iran’s Leader Orders Probe into Naval Accident

Ayatollah Khamenei on Tuesday sent a message of sympathy to Iranian Army Commander Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi over the martyrdom of Navy forces in the fatal accident in the Sea of Oman.

The Leader said the tragic accident involving Konarak vessel that resulted in the martyrdom of a number of Navy servicemen has been “very bitter and regrettable” for him.

“Although the hardworking servicemen who have died in the course of hard duty and gloriously will benefit from divine reward God willing, the grief at the loss of the beloved ones for their families and the damage of loss of the sincere hardworking young forces to the Force (Navy) is quite great and heavy,” Ayatollah Khamenei underlined.

Offering condolences to the bereaved families of the victims of the accident and praying for the recovery of the injured, the Leader ordered the relevant authorities to “correctly shed light on the dimensions of the incident, identify the ones possibly at fault, and make the necessary arrangements to prevent a recurrence of such damaging and bitter incidents.”

Nineteen Navy servicemen were martyred in an accident involving ‘Konarak’ light support vessel on Sunday evening, May 10, when a number of vessels were carrying a naval training exercise off the coasts of Jask and Chabahar.

Fifteen Navy forces have been also wounded in the incident.

Winners of COVID-19 Cartoon Festival to Be Displayed at Iran’s Urban Sites

IFP Editorial Staff

May 12, 2020

Winners of COVID-19 Cartoon Festival to Be Displayed at Iran’s Urban Sites 1

Director of the Visual Arts Center of Hozeh Honari of Iran has said that winners of the international cartoon festival that Iran held in the virtual space on the battle with COVID-19, entitled “We’ll Defeat Coronavirus”, will go on display in the urban sites.

Following negotiations with officials from Tehran Beautification Organization – affiliated with the Municipality of Tehran- and the Tehran Metro, the works of art participating in the cartoon contest will be exhibited in the urban sites, in addition to IranCartoon website on the Internet, the director noted.

Iran Holds International Cartoon Festival on Coronavirus Battle

The cartoon festival has been held under the auspices of the Iranian Vice Presidency for Science and Technology as part of a strategy to create a synergy between the artists and the activists from the technology and innovation ecosystem in the battle with coronavirus.

An announcement about the international Covid-19 cartoon festival was made on March 1.

According to secretary of the virtual festival, Masoud Shojaee Tabataba’e, cartoonists from 80 countries submitted their works in less than a month after the initial announcement.

Considering that every contestant was permitted to send up to 5 works of art, the deadline for the submission of cartoons was extended following requests from the applicants, Shojaee Tabataba’e added, noting that the secretariat of the festival has finally received more than 4,200 works from 88 countries after 40 days.

The cartoons have been grouped into four categories, namely boosting morale, guardians of health, health tips, and content creation in the fight against COVID-19, he added.

The story of each cartoon has been inspired by the culture of its creator in different counties, the Iranian official noted.

He also stated that organizers of the festival decided to display the cartoons on the Internet before the deadline for participation in the event, because the cartoons usually reflect the everyday subjects in the society and their influence would decrease over time.

“More than 2,200 works are currently on display on this website. These cartoons have so far attracted more than two million visitors,” Shojaee Tabataba’e noted.

The highest number of cartoonists taking part in the contest is from Iran, followed by China and Turkey, he added, noting that a jury comprised of Iranian and foreign judges will select the winners in an online closing ceremony later this week.

The international “We’ll Defeat Coronavirus” festival is sponsored by Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance’s Department of Visual Arts, the Visual Arts Center of Hozeh Honari, the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, Chronicles of Victory Center, the Barakat Foundation, and Iranian messenger iGap.