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Young Couple Selling Iranian Handicrafts Online

Aranick - Iranian Handicrafts

Managers of the Aranick Crafts website – Narges Shayeq and Reza Qiami – are a couple with MA degrees in handicrafts.

“We travelled to different provinces and examined the handicrafts in different places. It was a field research work on Iranian handicrafts and we were not after economic gains. We had one or two trips to different provinces each month,” the couple said.

“We toured the remote villages and identified their crafts, purchased their works, and prepared a database. On these trips, we found about 40 handicraft fields that were being destroyed in Iran because of the lack of sales. Many of them did not speak Farsi and had no access to major cities to sell their products. They could not attend the exhibitions. So they could not sell their products,” they said.

The couple also talked about launching their website saying they came to the conclusion that the only way to save these handicrafts is to have a sales market.

“So we thought about starting a business that would make money for these people. We decided to introduce and sell handicrafts that even people in Iran were not familiar with. We wanted to profit from the results of our many years of research as well.”

Young Couple Selling Iranian Handicrafts Online“In 2013, we launched a website to introduce and sell all of Iran’s handicraft products, which was unprecedented till then. Many opposed the idea saying that one would not buy handicrafts without touching them. But at the same time, similar Indian sites were selling their products well around the world,” they noted.

“We corresponded with the managers of those websites and they were happy with their sales. The variety and scope of handicraft production in Iran is much higher than in India so we became sure we could succeed. Therefore, we launched Aranick website.”

Reza and Narges say their focus is on the handicrafts of the nomadic villages and they are trying to create a market for them which, of course, requires a specific buyer and is a difficult task.

“We knew that its profit does not cover the costs of the company, so we tried to cover modern urban crafts as well. That has thrived our economy and so we can support even more forgotten handicrafts,” they underlined.

Handicraft is an environment-friendly product since all its raw materials come from natural sources. Unfortunately, due to the large population and droughts, the country is faced with a shortage of natural resources and a lack of producers in many areas. This couple has tried to help the nomadic crafts with the proceeds we receive through selling urban and routine crafts.

Aranik is ready to export a wide range of Iranian handicraft products with the best quality and reasonable price to many countries.

Iranians in Kiev Pay Tribute to Victims of Plane Crash

On Saturday night, a group of Iranian and Ukrainian people held vigil for the victims at Kiev Airport by laying wreath and lighting candles.
What follows are Mizan News Agency’s photos of the vigil:

UK Ambassador Denies Attending Protest Rally in Tehran

“I stress that I did not attend any demonstrations. I just went to the commemorative ceremony for those killed in the flight PS752. It is natural that I pay tribute to those who lost their lives, as some of them were British citizens. I left the place after five minutes when some started chanting slogans,” said Rob Macaire in a Sunday tweet in Persian.

British Ambassador Rob Macaire, who was briefly arrested last night, says he did not attend a protest gathering outside Amirkabir University of Technology on Saturday evening.“I was arrested half an hour after I left. It is illegal in any country to arrest a diplomat,” he added.

This is while Tasnim News Agency quoted an informed security source as saying that Macaire “had been provoking and organizing protesters when security forces became suspicious of, and arrested him inside a shop nearby.”

The source added “due to his illegal presence which mismatched diplomatic protocols, he was arrested in accordance with the law and was handed over to the Foreign Ministry, but the Foreign Ministry released him.”

Stressing that “fear and worry was visible” in the face of the British Ambassador at the time of the arrest, the security source added that “the British government has always considered unity and camaraderie among the Iranian nation as a menace to itself, and therefore after the million-strong funeral procession held for General Soleimani they are planning a revenge on the Iranian people.”

Iranians Hold Protest Rallies after Real Cause of Plane Crash Revealed

Iranians Hold Protest Rallies after Real Cause of Plane Crash Revealed

There was a protest gathering held by Amirkabir University of Technology students after the IRGC announced its air defence has unintentionally shot down the Ukrainian passenger plane, leaving all the 176 people on board dead.

The protests were initially limited to the campus, but as the number of students joining the gathering increased, ordinary people also joined, and around 6 p.m. a gathering of around 1,000-1,500 people started to chant slogans.

Tasnim news agency reports that “after a few minutes the slogans took a different direction and a few individuals covering up their faces with masks and shawls provoked the crowd into chanting norm-breaking slogans” against the country’s leadership and General Qassem Soleimani, whose funeral had been attended by millions of Iranians a few days ago.

“As the disturbing activities went on security forces who had so far shown restraint started to disperse the crowd,” the report said. Photos of the protest rallies showed tear gases had also been fired.

In the end, the crowd present around the university’s main entrance dispersed as a water cannon arrived.

There were also gatherings at Sharif University of Technology, the campus of University of Tehran, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology in northern Iran, University of Shiraz in Iran’s south, and some rallies in Isfahan and Rasht.

There was almost no report of violence during the protest gatherings and vigils held on Saturday night.

 

179 Killed in Passenger Plane Crash Near Tehran

Iran Says Didn’t Want to Hide Truth about Plane Crash

plane crash

Asadollah Abbasi said a task force was set up immediately after the crash to look into the incident.

“The delay in announcing the cause of the Ukrainian plane crash was not because of concealment. Rather, the General Staff of the Armed Forces and Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) formed a team immediately to expedite efforts to shed light on the cause of the incident,” said Abbasi, the spokesperson for the Parliament’s Presiding Board.

He underlined that the Iranian military apologized after it became known that the plane had been downed due to human error.

“After the assassination of General Soleimani, we were in an unknown war situation, and the US had also threatened to strike 52 targets in the country if Iran showed any reaction,” he noted.

“Our objective was not just to take revenge; rather, we took deterrence factors into account as well,” he said.

He reiterated that the Ukrainian plane was unintentionally targeted by Iranian air defence systems as it was mistaken for a cruise missile thought to have been fired at Iran by the US following Iran’s attack on the American base in Iraq.

Emir of Qatar in Iran for Talks

The Qatari emir was officially received by President Hassan Rouhani at Tehran’s Saadabad Palace on Sunday, January 12, 2020.

The two sides then started a meeting behind closed doors, and discussed bilateral issues and regional affairs.

The Qatari emir is going to meet with Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei later in the day.

Earlier, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani had visited Iran the day after General Qassem Soleimani was assassinated at US President Donald Trump’s order.

The visit came as the drone that carried out the mission had reportedly taken off from a US military base in Qatar.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to target any country in the region which is used by the US to attack the Islamic Republic.

IRGC Chief Briefs Iran Parliament on Ukraine Plane Crash

At the Parliament, Major General Hossein Salami, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said he wished he was one of the passengers of the doomed flight and died with them instead of appearing embarrassed in front of the nation today.

“We’re more upset than anyone over this incident; we never thought we would do something that harms the people,” he added.

According to Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, the top IRGC commander briefed the lawmakers on Iran’s missile attack on a US base [in Iraq] as well as the tragic plane crash incident which touched the hearts of all Iranian people.

“He gave explanations about preparedness to counter the United States as well as the quality of the fait accompli which resulted in the crash of the Ukrainian plane, and we hope measures will be taken to prevent a repeat of such incidents,” Larijani said.

He also called on the head of the Parliament’s National Security Commission to follow up on the crash of the Ukrainian plane.

“The commission should follow up the issue to establish how the incident happened and prevent a repeat of similar incidents,” he said.

The Ukrainian airplane crashed shortly after takeoff near Tehran last Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board.

Iran has admitted that its air defence system shot down the aircraft by mistake.

Iran FM Meets New Sultan of Oman in Muscat

Iran FM Meets New Sultan of Oman in Muscat

The Iranian top diplomat, who is in Oman to attend a commemorative ceremony held for the late Sultan Qaboos on behalf of the Iranian nation and government, met with the new Sultan on Sunday.

During the talks, Zarif offered condolences over the demise of Sultan Qaboos, congratulated Sultan Haitham on the beginning of his term, and expressed Tehran’s preparedness to develop and deepen friendly and historical relations between the two states.

The Iranian foreign minister will leave Muscat for Tehran in coming hours.

Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, 65, was sworn in after Oman’s Defence Council announced he would succeed the late Sultan Qaboos as ruler of Oman.

A tweet from an Omani Government account said that he had been sworn in “after a meeting of the family” and that the decision to appoint him reflected the wishes of Sultan Qaboos.

Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said - Mohammad Javad ZarifAt his swearing-in ceremony Saturday, Sultan Haitham said that “Sultan Qaboos had built a modern nation”. He vowed to “continue the journey” his predecessor had started. He also said Oman would continue the foreign policy approach adopted by the late Sultan, one based on “peaceful coexistence between nations” and on non-interference.

Sultan Qaboos shaped Oman’s policy of diplomatic balancing. Under his leadership, Oman was a facilitator of talks between adversaries Iran and the United States.

Sultan Haitham, an Oxford graduate, is a career diplomat who has spent 16 years in various foreign ministry roles since 1986. He has served in a range of official positions, including undersecretary of the ministry of foreign affairs and the secretary general for the ministry of foreign affairs, as well as minister of heritage and culture.

‘New US Sanctions Finally Impact Daily Lives of Iranians’

Iran Condemns US Oil Deal with Syrian Kurdish Group

In a statement on Saturday, Mousavi vehemently condemned the new US sanctions imposed on the Iranian citizens and companies, saying, “The Americans have unfortunately adopted a kind of unilateral, illegal and futile behavior, and insist on repeating it.”

The recent US sanctions have disregarded all international norms and regulations, and have directly targeted the industries that are interrelated with the daily life of millions of Iranians, the spokesman deplored, noting, “The executive order issued recently is in flagrant violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 and of that government’s (US’) commitments under the public international law.”

The spokesperson also noted that the new sanctions have further laid bare the nature of the United States’ hostile policies, adding, “The purpose of this measure by the US regime is to disrupt the business of a large number of Iranian people and deprive them of access to their fundamental economic rights under the international conventions, and of course they (sanctions) have been based upon lack of understanding of Iran and Iranians.”

The US’ unilateral measures have now become a problem for the international community, he added, saying the US industries have been unable to compete with the industries of the other countries, which is why the US regime imposes sanctions or unconventional tariffs -under political and security pretexts- to win an unfair trade competition with the rest of the world.

“Such unconventional (American) attempts will get nowhere, and the US regime will ultimately have to accept the realities and concede defeat,” Mousavi concluded.

Iran Foreign Ministry Forms Task Force on Plane Crash Victims

Iran Appoints Female Ambassador to Denmark

In a statement on Saturday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Seyyed Abbas Mousavi expressed deep regret for the deaths of 176 passengers and flight crew on board the plane that was travelling from Tehran to Kiev, and expressed sympathy with the families of victims of the tragic incident.

“Under emphatic orders from the honorable President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and following the honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs’ emphasis on immediate handling of the consular affairs relating to the victims of the appalling incident, a special task force has been formed in the (Foreign) Ministry’s Parliamentary and Iranians’ Affairs Department, tasked with dealing with requests from the families of victims and providing the necessary services,” the spokesman said.

“Moreover, the necessary orders have been given to all political and consular missions of the Islamic Republic of Iran and to the domestic and airport offices to handle the requests relating to this matter extraordinarily,” Mousavi noted.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has great sympathy for all victims of the plane crash, who were mainly the young educated and elite university students and professors, the spokesman stressed, hoping that such services would help relieve the great grief over the disaster.