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Iran Condemns Terrorist Attacks on Kandahar, Kabul

Workers clean the site of an explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, July 19, 2019. / Photo by AP

Mousavi expressed disgust at such violent and inhuman acts and methods, and expressed sympathy with the families of the incidents.

“We are confident that the Afghan nation and government and all ethnic, political, and religious groups in the country will maintain their vigilance and unity, and continue the path of establishing stable and sustainable peace and security in Afghanistan,” Mousavi said in his Friday statement.

At least 11 people have been killed and scores more wounded after the Taliban attacked a police headquarters in the southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar city, officials and the armed group said.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi on Thursday said the afternoon attack in Afghanistan’s second-largest city started with a car bomb, then saw gunmen storm the police compound.

A powerful bomb also exploded outside the gates of Kabul University in the Afghan capital on Friday, killing at least six people and wounding 27, according to police and health officials.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest to target Kabul. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group often stage large-scale bombings in the city, targeting Afghan forces, government officials and minority Shiites.

The early morning blast also set two vehicles ablaze although it wasn’t clear if the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber or a remotely detonated bomb, said Kabul police spokesman Ferdous Faramarz.

Mobile Ads in Social Media: Why It’s Important, How Not to Lose Your Opportunity

Social media is an important part of our lives. There are not so many people who are not signed up on social networks. People of all ages, professions and hobbies now actively type messages in chats, reposts funny images, watch videos with cats or retweet someone’s ideas. As technologies grew, users have shifted from personal computers to mobile devices and, obviously, a great weight of ads here are mobile ads.

eMarketer has provided a very interesting statistics. According to it, nearly 70% of the budgets devoted to social media advertising are controlled by Facebook, Twitter and Google. Overall income is expected to reach 60 billion of dollars and the expenses on mobile advertising expenses will grow up to 70%.

Why you should care about it?
There are 3 key reasons you should add social medias in your advertising campaigns:
1. Mobile devices create ecosystem where people actually hang out.
a. Smartphone is a primary device nowadays a person gets access with to social media.
b. Personal computer or laptop is a habitual thing in every family, there can be even several of them, but mobile devices are cheaper, offer almost the same set of functions as a computer (if we talk about surfing the Internet and watching videos), but cost less and, thus, are better sold.
c. A half of loggings into Facebook and video views are caught to be from mobile devices.
2. Mobile users are more active in social networks.
HubSpot has shared some results of their investigation that says that mobile users eagerly share the content than desktop participants. The ads become more effective when active users are targeted. Facebook mobile ads have 186% higher CTR in comparison with desktop ads in the newsfeed, and the price for click is less to 22- 24%.
3. Mobile advertising is prevailing in social media.
Facebook is said to have almost 80% of income from mobile ads, that is 20% more in comparison with previous year. The tendency is expected to remain as more and more people use primarily or basically to surf social networks.

Interesting thoughts were also given by the founder of Quattro Wireless mobile ad network:

Mobile ads have had a lot of transformations before we can see them as they are on the advertising platforms Polus.media. One of the most important thing is targeting granularity that is actively used by marketers and advertisers. Nowadays so many options are offered for mobile devices that one can focus on crucial clusters. This targeting can be considered on the highest level and the matter will go further. Suddenly you may become even more focused, however, you still have an area where significant results can be reached. You get things separate and very interesting information when you have your big audience in one block, another point is the detailed information you got and their relationships.

Traditional channels will be still a pain in the neck as they can’t provide marketers with so close relations with the clients. It is probably the key difference marketers sometimes cannot understand and launch their campaigns in social networks as a tribute to fashion.

We are not talking about growth of users amount. The idea is about pushing advertisers to study their clients and provide them with the best and most comfortable experience in advertising on mobile platforms and through mobile media. There was a time gap before advertisers could see how effective Instagram can be in focusing on visual effects. Advertising in stories has recently started to be actively implemented and being adored.

There is nothing new under the sun
Current situation is the same we could see nearly two decades ago. When the Internet has appeared, all users have gone there while marketers could be just in time if one is fortunate. Certainly, there is understanding where people are, however, there still should be marketing improvements of skills for that. Comfort zone, new skills acquiring and evaluating should be certainly done around new platforms.

To say it simply, the first movie didn’t appear a month later after television invention. The same problem we face with mobile ads marketing, and we should think how to overcome it. The problem can sometimes be in the marketers’ reluctance to try something new as they feel satisfied with the results they already have, while new technologies will require a lot of time and understanding.

Mobile devices are top-winners among time burners, as people are glued to their screens when they are caught is a traffic jam, on their way to work or just having nothing to do, that is absolutely different kind of interaction we sit in the office and our work. The idea here is to be attractive, interesting, useful and informative.

However, there were more time spent for shifting advertising dollars from traditional ads to mobile devices. But now it is a stable flow of money, as they amount of advertisers and their versatility grow.

Iran Slams US Bans on Its Diplomats in Talks with UN Chief

Zarif raised the issue in a Thursday meeting with Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres at the UN headquarters.

Zarif had earlier described US travel restrictions imposed on Iranian diplomats and their families living in New York as “basically inhuman.”

“It is certainly not a friendly action. It puts the members of the mission and their families under basically inhuman conditions. But for me it’s fine because I don’t have any work anywhere other than the three buildings,” Zarif told reporters at the United Nations on Wednesday.

The United States has restricted their travel to between the United Nations, the Iranian UN mission, the Iranian UN ambassador’s residence and John F. Kennedy airport.

The United Nations on Monday expressed concerns about the curbs.

US Abusing Privilege of Hosting UN Headquarters

During the Thursday meeting, Zarif and Guterres also discussed the ongoing tensions in the region, the UK’s illegal seizure of a tanker carrying Iranian oil, and Iran’s reduction of its nuclear commitments.

They also exchanged views on regional issues including the latest developments in Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan.

Iranian Cop Saves Lady Intending to Commit Suicide

A police car patrolling one of the neighbourhoods of the capital, Tehran, recently noticed a lady standing on an overpass. She was going to drop herself and commit suicide.

As soon as the driver of the patrol car saw the scene, he got out of the vehicle and, given the sensitivity of the situation, began to walk toward the woman slowly.

As the policeman was approaching her, he used miraculous and promising words to draw her attention.

Finally, he led her into his car and immediately called emergency medical personnel.

A ceremony is to be held in appreciation of the humane move by the conscientious officer.

Iran Denies US Claim, Says All Its Drones ‘Safe and Sound’

Drone
File photo of an Iranian drone during military drills of the Iranian Army ground forces codenamed Beit ul-Muqaddas-28 in desert areas in central Iran in May 2016. / Photo by Tasnim

“All the unmanned aerial systems belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, including the one mentioned by the US president, have come back to their bases safe and sound after conducting their planned surveillance and control operations,” Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said Friday, refuting Trump’s Thursday claim.

He described the allegation as a “delusive” and “baseless” one aimed at fuelling tension and undermining security in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The senior general also noted that the Iranian Armed Forces feel “duty-bound” to vigilantly protect and control the security of the region while observing the international rules and regulations.

‘US may have shot down its own drone!’

Earlier on Friday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Seyyed Abbas Araqchi mocked the US president’s claim by saying that the USS Boxer may have downed an American drone, as Iran has not lost any of its UASs.

“We have not lost any drone in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else,” Araqchi said in a tweet on Friday. “I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own UAS by mistake!”

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also told National Interest in an exclusive interview that Iran does not know whose drone the US warship has shot down, as there is no information about having lost one of its own drones.

“I checked with Tehran, and we do not have any information about having lost a drone today. So, we don’t know, as of now what has happened. We have the president saying that they shot a drone. We don’t know whose drone it is, but we don’t have that information.”

The comments came after Trump claimed the USS Boxer has fired on an Iranian drone on Thursday, shooting it down in the Strait of Hormuz.

“The Boxer took defensive action against an Iranian drone, which had closed into a near distance, approximately 1000 yards, ignoring multiple calls to stand down threatening safety of ship and ship’s crew,” he said at the White House on the same day.

The president added that Iran’s drone “was immediately destroyed.”

The Pentagon claimed the Iranian drone was within a “threatening range” of the US ship.

“At approximately 10 am local time, the amphibious ship USS Boxer was in international waters conducting a planned inbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz,” chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement. “A fixed wing unmanned aerial system (UAS) approached Boxer and closed within a threatening range. The ship took defensive action against the UAS to ensure the safety of the ship and its crew.”

The incident came shortly after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had seized a foreign ship that was smuggling fuel in the Persian Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz.

It also came almost one month after the IRGC downed an American spy drone after it violated the Iranian airspace.

 

Iran May Turn Defensive Strategy into Offensive, IRGC Warns

“As far as the strategy is concerned, we act defensively, meaning that we will not be the ones to start or initiate any war,” Major General Hossein Salami said during an inspection of the level of preparedness of the country’s defensive forces in an area near the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf on Thursday.

The area, known as Naze’at comprises four islands in the Persian Gulf, which are of great importance to the country’s efforts to maintain the security of the strategic waterway.

“As far as the strategy is concerned, we act defensively, meaning that we will not be the ones to start or initiate any war,” Major General Hossein Salami said during an inspection of the level of preparedness of the country’s defensive forces in an area near the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf on Thursday.

The area, known as Naze’at comprises four islands in the Persian Gulf, which are of great importance to the country’s efforts to maintain the security of the strategic waterway.

“The situation is, however, completely opposite when it comes to [the country’s] tactical attitude, and should enemies commit any miscalculation, our defensive strategy would turn into an offensive one,” Salami added, noting the offensive transition would involve the Islamic Republic’s entire defensive capacities.

Salami also underlined the region’s significance for the country and the entire global economy, adding, “Using the pretext of the region’s sensitivity to enable extra-regional military presence here would only stoke insecurity and compromise standing security arrangements in the region.”

Salami asserted that the Islamic Republic enjoys perfect command over the waters lying in the northern part of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. The country maintains the command as means of defending its territorial integrity, naval superiority, and aerial security, he added.

“On behalf of the Iranian nation, we engage in defensive development in all areas,” he stated.

The United States has resorted to significant military buildup in the region, which has seen it sending over an aircraft carrier strike group, a bomber taskforce, an assault ship, and thousands of additional forces.

President Donald Trump and other US officials have, however, recurrently disowned any intention to engage in warfare with Iran, claiming that the American equipment and troops are actually meant to prevent one.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Salami cautioned enemy think tanks against plotting any adventurism or mischief against the Iranian nation.

He finally hailed the “infallible readiness” of the Iranian Armed Forces, especially the IRGC, for engaging in all-out defense of the country’s security and interests.

All Paths Open to Save JCPOA, Rouhani Tells Macron

Handling COVID-19 Impossible without Concerted Action, Rouhani Tells Macron

Hassan Rouhani made the remarks in a telephone conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.

“The Islamic Republic is determined to keep open all the paths leading to the JCPOA preservation,” referring to the agreement by the abbreviation of its official title, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Rouhani also underlined the importance of Paris endeavors in ensuring the deal’s existence.

Also on Thursday, Macron talked to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over the phone. The heads of state underlined the pivotal role of the nuclear deal in ensuring regional security, attached “great importance” to preservation of the accord, and pledged to increase their efforts to guarantee its survival.

The agreement was signed in Vienna in July 2015 between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of states comprising the United States, the UK, France, Russia, China, plus Germany. The JCPOA lifted nuclear-related sanctions against Iran in return for the country’s voluntarily changing some aspects of its nuclear energy program.

The US unilaterally left the JCPOA last year in defiance of international criticism and although the deal has been ratified as a United Nations Security Council resolution. Washington also returned its anti-Iran sanctions in a move condemned by the Islamic Republic as “economic terrorism.”

Tehran has said its continued commitment to the nuclear agreement is conditioned upon the remaining signatories’ guaranteeing its economic interests now that the US has gone back on its obligations.

Rouhani told Macron that Iran and the European signatories to the JCPOA need to invest in efforts aimed at implementation of “balanced steps” that could safeguard the deal because “there are some in the United States, who would not want the efforts seeking to save the JCPOA to succeed.”

He said that despite existing setbacks and sabotage activities, Tehran believed that the remaining signatories had to seize the time and task their experts with finding creative and appropriate approaches that save the agreement.

“Europe must expedite its attempts to meet Iran’s legitimate [economic] interests [under the deal] and bring about truce in the US economic warfare,” the Iranian president stated.

In January, Britain, France, and Germany announced the establishment of a non-dollar trade system, officially called the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), to protect their business with Iran against the American bans.

Rouhani said bilateral transaction using the INSTEX, including those transferring Iran’s oil revenues, are be among the efforts that save the JCPOA.

He called potential removal of the American sanctions another approach that would assist the deal’s survival and help restoration of the state of affairs to how it used to be prior to the US illegal moves.

Pakistan, Iran Discuss Border Security in Islamabad

Pakistan delegation was led by Director General (Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey) Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, and Iranian delegation was led by Director General of International Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Bagherpour Ardekani.

The HBC is a mechanism for consultations between the two countries to discuss all border related issues for enhanced coordination at different levels. The first session of the Commission was held in Tehran on 17 July 2017.

The second session was held in follow up of the decision taken by the leadership of the two countries during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Iran earlier this year.

Pakistan and Iran enjoy brotherly relations which are deep rooted in historical, religious, cultural ties and strong people-to-people contacts.

The two countries share more than 900 km long common border that is described as a border of peace and friendship.

During the Session, the two sides held constructive discussions for effective implementation of existing border mechanisms within the relevant frameworks including Agreement for Administration of Pakistan-Iran border of 1960.

They agreed to further strengthen their cooperation in these areas.

Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to expedite opening new border crossing points with mutual understanding.

Both parties emphacised the necessity of updating border maps and border pillar descriptions and carrying out joint border surveys.

The two sides also shared the understating about their effective border management efforts through appropriate measures including physical installations such as fencing.

IRGC Navy Seizes ‘Foreign’ Tanker in Persian Gulf: State TV

Iran's IRGC Says Following Americans in Persian Gulf 'Like A Falcon'

According to an IRGC statement, the tanker with 12 crew members was seized on Sunday, July 14, when it was going to deliver the contraband fuel it had received from Iranian smugglers to foreign vessels in distant areas.

The vessel could carry two million litres of fuel, but was carrying only half of its capacity, the statement added.

The IRGC naval forces seized the tanker based on a judicial decree, and as part of its efforts to counter organized smuggling of fuel in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, the statement said.

The IRGC also dismissed Western media reports that Iran has seized “another” tanker in the Persian Gulf in recent days.

A few days ago, the Associated Press claimed a small oil tanker from the United Arab Emirates travelling through the Strait of Hormuz had entered Iranian waters and turned off its tracker, leading the US to suspect Iran seized the vessel amid heightened tensions in the region.

The Panamanian-flagged Riah turned off its transponder late Saturday night but an Emirati official said it sent no distress call.

Back on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman announced Iran has helped a foreign oil tanker in the Persian Gulf after picking up an SOS signal from the vessel, but it did not give more details about the vessel.

Abbas Mousavi said Iranian forces went to the aid of a foreign oil tanker experiencing technical difficulties in the Persian Gulf waters.

He said Iranian forces responded to the SOS call from the vessel in accordance with international regulations and hauled it to the Iranian waters where the tanker could undergo the necessary repair.

IRGC Navy Seizes ‘Foreign’ Tanker in Persian Gulf: State TV

Iran Meets 97% of Domestic Need for Medicines Locally: Official

Deputy Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Farshad Moghimi said 97% of the domestic need for drugs is met through local production.

“97% of the country’s need for medicines is met through Iranian-made products, and the Ministry of Industry [Mines and Trade] is ready to prepare the ground for the development of national production in this domain by supporting this sector,” he said.

He added 67% percent of raw materials for the production of medicines in the country are procured domestically.

He underlined plans are underway to reduce forex dependence on foreign countries and to solve problems which exist with regards to the foreign currency needed to import raw materials for the production of medicines.