A spokesman for the Football Federation said Tuesday the request has been officially submitted to the Asian Football Confederation.
Previously, Saudi Arabia, India, and Qatar have submitted their bids to host the competitions.
Iran has already hosted the Asian Cup two times in 1968 and 1976 and has won the Cup three times.
The Asian Football Confederation is expected to announce its final pick next year.
One week after the outbreak of coronavirus led to school closures across Iran in February, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) began to broadcast televised educational programs on a daily schedule.
However, Education Minister Mohsen Haji-Mirzaei complained that a televised program was not capable of coping with the demands of students, since it does not provide an interactive learning system.
“It was necessary to devise a method to enable the students to have an experience of an atmosphere like the classroom in the virtual space, and enable the teachers to have two-way interaction with their students in the platform of virtual space and handle the question and answer process and the exams just like how they did in the classroom,” Haji-Mirzaei said at a televised program aired on IRIB channel 2.
He said the Ministry of Education released the homegrown SHAD application on April 9, noting that more than 60 percent of students and 94 percent of teachers have so far attended 64 percent of classes through the SHAD app, whose acronym in Persian translates as the Students Education Network.
The minister explained that the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution had assigned the Ministry of Education to formulate such distance learning initiative years ago, when it had ratified the document on the fundamental evolution in the education system of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
An opportunity to implement the tele-learning system in Iran had never arisen, either because of lack of the necessary infrastructure or the lack of need for a mobile application, Haji-Mirzaei added, noting that his ministry has now turned the coronavirus threat into an opportunity and provided the students with a domestic app in the virtual space after creating the necessary infrastructures and developing the required software.
Criticisms
Despite all of its advantages, the initiative launched by the Ministry of Educations has also drawn criticism. Critics say the low-income families and the vulnerable social groups cannot afford to purchase smart phones and tablets, or many remote cities and villages lack appropriate infrastructure or the Internet connection.
The latest figures provided by the Statistical Centre of Iran show that at least 8 million people in Iran have no mobile phone, while more than 23 million people are still using non-smartphone handsets.
The breadwinners of many families in Iran have been out of work after the coronavirus outbreak or their income has dropped. Many of those families have more than two schoolchildren, and it is impossible or quite difficult for them to purchase the gadgets to use the SHAD application.
A group of those families are striving to get a loan of one million tomans (approximately $64) from the administration, while another group is roaming the black market of second-hand and repaired mobile phones to buy a cellphone at an exorbitant price from dealers.
In their interviews, the Iranian Education Ministry authorities maintain that the relatively high penetration rate of the Internet in Iran implies that the majority of Iranian students have access to SHAD application. Nevertheless, the statistics show that a large number of Iranian families are struggling with a bigger problem in using the educational app: they do not have smart phones.
After the media reports about the inability of the low-income social groups to buy smart phones for installing the SHAD application, the secretary general of the Ministry of Education’s Supreme Council announced in an interview with ILNA that SHAD app is only one of the various methods adopted for education and distance learning.
“However, this method (SHAD) entails problems, which we are trying to identify and solve,” the official noted.
Asked about the plans to provide schooling for the students without a smart phone, Education Minister Haji-Mirzaei said at a TV talk show, “The establishment’s mission is to provide schooling and education for all children. We have started to implement different distance learning methods for the students that are unable to use the SHAD educational network for various reasons.”
The minister explained that educational packages have been prepared and distributed by the educational guides among students in certain areas, such as the border regions and the underprivileged areas in the provinces of Kermanshah, Ardabil, West Azarbaijan, and Kurdistan.
Moreover, the teachers have begun to teach in the low-population classes in compliance with the social distancing rules, the minister added.
“Learning from television was also another method that has proved quite effectual when the students have no access to the SHAD app, and has been welcomed. So, what is important for the Education Ministry is to provide education cover for all students,” Haji Mirzaei concluded.
Health ministry spokesman Kianoosh Jahanpour made the comment on Tuesday when asked about the possibility of HIV-positive individuals being immune to the novel coronavirus.
“Since day one, they have been speaking of using anti-virus drugs for patients infected with HIV, and even in the initial protocol, the Kaletra medicine was used. Kaletra is used for HIV-positive patients as well,” he said.
“Of course, in the reports we have, the effectiveness of Kaletra to control COVID-19 has not necessarily been shown,” he added.
“Three of HIV-positive patients have contracted COVID-19 as well, but I should also say that 1,200 of these individuals have tested negative for the coronavirus,” he added.
“These people have a relative defect in their immune system, and maybe there is some level of immunity in their bodies because of using medicines. Anyway, the number of coronavirus cases among HIV-positive patients has been low, which is noteworthy,” he added.
Foreign Minister Zarif held separate telephone conversations with Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah on Tuesday evening as part of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s attempts to help stabilize the political situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for the launch of intra-Afghan negotiations.
In the conversations, Zarif congratulated the government and nation of neighbouring Afghanistan on the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and talked about his latest regional and international consultations over Afghanistan, the bilateral ties between Tehran and Kabul, and the fight against the coronavirus.
Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi made the comment in response to a recent threat by US President Donald Trump, who had said he had ordered US warships in the Persian Gulf to strike Iranians boats if they every approached American vessels.
“Mr. Trump makes such comments against us off and on as part of psychological warfare and in a bid to stir up public opinion and earning scores in the forthcoming election and distancing himself from US domestic issues,” said general Shekarchi, the senior spokesman for the Armed Forces.
He noted the public opinion should be enlightened that it is the Americans that are violating international rules, and that if they are slapped in the face for something wrong they have done, they deserve it.
He said Iran is dead serious about defending the country.
The top general noted Iran has always criticized its enemies, especially the US, for their presence in the Persian Gulf region.
“What do you want from the countries in the Persian Gulf,” he said.
“All regional countries have a share of the Persian Gulf region and are 100% capable of ensuring its security, but our question is what the Americans are looking for in the region, and what are their warships and aircraft and combat units doing in this region,” said the top general.
“Not only do the Americans not have any answer for this question, but also they have been harassing [our troops] and breach international law,” he said.
“Under international law, different vessels can ply across this region freely if they do no harm, but some of them harass fishermen, disregard environmental issues and even approach military centres of countries in this region,” he underlined.
“Moreover, Mr. Trump sends the message that the US military must counter forces harassing them,” he added.
Referring to successes gained in production of these stuff, President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to meet the needs of other countries, including Armenia, in the fight against Coronavirus.
He made the statements in a phone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday afternoon.
Talking about the spread of the coronavirus in many countries around the world and the problems that this disease has created for governments and nations, the two sides stressed the need to develop regional and international cooperation, and touched upon transfer of experiences in dealing with the coronavirus.
Rouhani and Pashiniyan also reiterated that Iran and Armenia, as two neighbouring countries, should help each other more in these difficult circumstances.
They further confirmed that mutual ties are expanding, but put stress on the need for officials to work together in the Joint Commission to develop relations between Tehran and Yerevan.
For his part, Pashiniyan praised the success of the Islamic Republic in combating COVID-19 and the positive results it has achieved.
He also offered congratulations to the government and people of Iran on the arrival of the holy month of Ramadan.
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Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour on Tuesday said 71 people have died in the past 24 hours from the novel coronavirus, raising the death toll to 5,877.
He further noted that 72,439 patients have so far recovered and been discharged from the hospital.
Jahanpour also said that 2,983 patients are in severe conditions of the disease.
So far, 442,590 tests for the novel virus have been taken in the country.
In a telephone conversation on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov talked about the latest political developments in Afghanistan and the ongoing efforts to establish reconciliation and political consensus in that country.
The Iranian and Russian ministers also held consultations about the US’ new delusional plan for the JCPOA, and dismissed it as rejected and impractical.
The reaction from Iran and Russian came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he is preparing a legal argument that the US would remain a participant in the JCPOA –already renounced by the US president- as part of an intricate strategy to pressure the UN Security Council to extend an arms embargo on Tehran.
According to Pompeo’s plan, bound to be opposed by many of Washington’s European allies, the US would, in essence, claim it legally remains a “participant state” in the nuclear accord only for the purposes of invoking a “snapback” that would restore the UN sanctions on Iran that were in place before the nuclear deal.
Russia has already told American and European officials it is eager to resume conventional arms sales to Iran.
In the telephone conversation on Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa called for the expansion of economic and trade ties between the two countries, stressed the need to share experiences and information in the battle against the coronavirus, and weighed plans for health and scientific cooperation between Iran and South Africa in dealing with the disease.
Hailing the stellar record of economic cooperation between the two countries, the presidents also called for the employment of fresh capacities to promote the mutual cooperation and carry out joint projects.
President Rouhani and Ramaphosa also emphasized the necessity of strengthening international cooperation in order to stand against the anti-human sanctions imposed by the US, oppose the inhumane crimes against the oppressed Palestinian nation, and try to establish peace and calm in Syria and Yemen.
In the conversation, President Rouhani denounced the US government’s inhumane and illegal sanctions against the Iranian nation, saying, “While the world is engulfed by the coronavirus epidemic and the policies must be shifted towards relations with the (other) countries, sadly the US has intensified the unlawful sanctions against the Iranian nation, has violated the world health regulations besides trampling on international rules, and is even preventing the health and medical trade with Iran.”
Iran expects South Africa, as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, to further oppose the US’ unilateralism and Washington’s illegal sanctions against Tehran at the UN and the other international organizations, President Rouhani noted.
For his part, the South African president said, “We are fully aware of the US’ unjust and illegal measures against Iran and will keep supporting Iran.”
“Now is the time that we must take action together against the common enemy (coronavirus), and it is not the appropriate time to create problems for the nations by imposing sanctions and mounting the pressures,” Ramaphosa underlined.
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