Tehran Hosting ‘Free Line’ Calligram Exhibition

July 6, 2019

The exhibit kicked off on the first day of summer, and will be open to visitors in Tehran’s Arthibition Gallery until Sunday, July 7.

Hossein Zenderoudi, Reza Mafi, Faramarz Pilaram, Mohammad Ehsaei, Jalil Rasouli, Nasrollah Afjei and Sadeq Tabrizi are among pioneering calligraphy masters whose works are displayed at the exhibition.

Works by talented young artists are also put on display in a part of exhibition dedicated to the next generation’s calligraphy artists.

What follows are Honar Online news agency’s photos of the event:

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Trump to Lose 2020 Elections If He Wages War on Iran: Analyst

IFP Editorial Staff

July 6, 2019

Trump to Lose 2020 Elections If He Wages War on Iran: Analyst — US President Donald Trump looks on during a rally at the Amway Centre in Orlando, Florida to officially launch his 2020 campaign on June 18, 2019. / Photo by AFP

In an interview with Vatan-e Emrooz newspaper, Abu Mohammad Asgarkhani elaborated on the role that Iran-US ties can play in the result of the next US presidential votes.

“Trump knows well that entering into conflict with Iran will lead to his defeat in the presidential election,” he noted.

“I think Trump suffers from a political bipolar disease. Today he says something but tomorrow makes a completely different move. But the Leader of the Islamic Revolution rightly made a resolute decision by rejecting his offer for talks,” he said, stressing that Iran cannot trust such a moody person.

“Trump seeks to hold talks with Iran without conditions to gain more votes in the next election but it goes without saying that he would intensify his aggression against Iran in his next presidency,” he noted.

“Trump will definitely adopt a more aggressive approach towards Iran after gaining victory in the next election. Iran’s leader has got the point and said he doesn’t see Trump deserving a reply.”

He then referred to the latest visit of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Iran who carried a message from Trump to the Iranian leaders and said the message was deceitful.

“The message said that Israel and some Arab states of the region as well as the US Republicans are after war with Iran. It was aimed at pressurizing Iran into sitting for talks with the US to resolve the current conflicts,” he said.

Regarding the Iran nuclear deal, he said Iran has already lived up to its pledges under the deal and now it is the US which should do so.

“Unfortunately, the US has not yet fulfilled its commitments under the deal. So, how on the earth can we get back to the JCPOA? Does the US have the legal right to put sanctions on Iran’s oil industry based on the JCPOA? How about its sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank and oil tankers? So, the measures make returning to the JCPOA nonsense.”

“It is not acceptable that the US puts sanctions on the Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). The Iranian force has been fighting the regional terrorists. The Americans are after undermining the IRGC. So, talks with the US have no justification,” he added.

He also touched on the European Union mechanism for financial transactions with Iran, the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, known as INSTEX, and said neither the US, nor the Europeans recognize the INSTEX as an efficient mechanism.

“If Iran gets involved in a financial exchange with the EU within the INSTEX, it is not clear whether or not it can follow up any related dispute with the EU through international bodies. I think the response is negative because Iran is a government but the other side is not a government. It is a private company,” he said.

According to the analyst, the Europeans are seeking to confine Iran within a certain framework and leave it empty-handed.

“So, Trump is seeking to buy time on the one hand to exert more pressure on Iran and to gain victory in the next presidential elections on the other hand,” he concluded.

‘Abducted Iranian Diplomats Still Alive, Held in Israeli Jail’

IFP Editorial Staff

July 6, 2019

In a post on his Twitter account on the 37^th anniversary of the abduction of the Iranian diplomats in Lebanon, advisor to the Iranian Parliament Speaker Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the four abducted Iranian diplomats Seyyed Mohsen Mousavi, Ahmad Motevasselian, Taqi Rastegar Moqaddam and Kazem Akhavan were brave man who are still held in Israeli jails.

The diplomats were kidnapped by a group of gunmen at an inspection post in northern Lebanon on July 4, 1982.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the 37^th anniversary of the abduction of the diplomats, reiterating its call on the international bodies to follow up on their fate.

In the Friday statement, the Foreign Ministry stressed that based on ample evidence, the Islamic Republic of Iran holds the Zionist regime of Israel and its allies legally and politically responsible for the abduction and the terrorist move.

Four Iranian diplomats – the then charge d’affaires of the Iranian embassy in Beirut Seyyed Mohsen Mousavi, military attaché Ahmad Motevasselian, embassy technician Taqi Rastegar Moqaddam and a journalist working for the Islamic Republic News Agency Kazem Akhavan were kidnapped by a group of Israel-backed gunmen at an inspection post in northern Lebanon on July 4, 1982.

Sources in Iran Deny Reports of Seizing UK Oil Tanker

IFP Editorial Staff

July 6, 2019

Earlier in the day, certain journalists and observers tracked the movement of the UK-flagged supertanker ‘Pacific Voyager’ in the Persian Gulf, and reported that it has “suspiciously” come to a halt in the middle of the Persian Gulf.

The reports were also dismissed by a United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) official, who told Reuters the oil tanker was “safe and well”.

The Pacific Voyager oil tanker stopped as part of a routine procedure to adjust its arrival time at its next port of call and has since continued on its way, the official said.

The UKMTO, which coordinates shipping in the Persian Gulf, had been in direct contact with the vessel, the official said.

The reports came after a senior Iranian official called for the seizure of a British oil tanker in case London refuses to release the Iranian vessel it has illegally detained in Gibraltar.

Major General Mohsen Rezaei, a top IRGC general and the secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, tweeted on Friday that “if Britain does not release the Iranian oil tanker, it is the authorities’ duty to make a reciprocal move and seize a British oil tanker.”

The senior official said the Islamic Republic has never initiated a tension in its 40-year history, but it will never hesitate to respond to bullies.

Iranian supertanker Grace 1 was boarded and impounded by Gibraltar police and customs agencies, aided by a detachment of British Royal Marines, on Thursday at the US request in the Strait of Gibraltar.

Later in the day, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned Britain’s ambassador to the country to express its strong protest at the move.

Naqavi Hosseini, a spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said on Saturday that the UK’s move was a “crime against humanity” and an encroachment into the Iranian nation’s assets.

“It is the right of our diplomatic apparatus to take necessary measures at international bodies in reaction to the UK move,” he noted.

“While the UK government has failed to implement its commitments under the Iran nuclear deal, it looks for legal excuses to seize a vessel” belonging to Iran, he added.

Bitcoin Mining in Iran Must Be Regularized: Minister

IFP Editorial Staff

July 6, 2019

Azari Jahromi said before Iran, most of crypto-currency mining operations in the world used to be carried out in China but today, Iran is turning into a new hub in this area.

“I’ve heard of Chinese miners’ presence in Iran through unconfirmed reports,” he said, speaking after his official visit to China.

He went on to say that the price of power in Iran is too cheap compared with its counterparts in other parts of the world, adding in some European states, the price of each kilowatt of industrial power stands at 20 cents while in Iran the figure is about 9 to 10 cents.

“This is mainly due to the gas reserves that Iran enjoys. These reserves are used freely by Iranian power plants,” he said. “This has turned Iran into an interesting country for crypto-currency miners in the world.”

“Iran’s power is highly interesting for the crypto-currency miners but we should have this point in mind that our power plants use our water resources,” he said.

The Iranian minister then said it is not acceptable to see that some people take advantage of the current situation and mine crypto-currency by using domestic power.

“At this situation, mining crypto-currency means exporting currency in the cyberspace. In another word, we can export our power through mining crypto-currency without making any considerable investment in power superstructure,” he said.

Azari Jahromi said plans are being developed to allocate special sites near power plants for mining crypto-currency.

“Such sites reduce the cost of power transportation,” he said, adding that the miners should pay a higher price for the power because of their high income.

The minister then called for regularizing the operators which are active in crypto-currency mining and added the government should issue legal certification for them.

He said mining machines have already been smuggled into the country and there are many active sites in this area.

“Estimates by Iran’s Energy Ministry show that 700 megawatts of the country’s power are used for mining. This violates ordinary people’s rights,” he said.

Iran’s Energy Ministry had earlier warned that it would cut off the power of crypto-currency miners if they keep overusing the country’s cheap power.

Iran’s Hyrcanian Forests Registered as World Heritage

IFP Editorial Staff

July 6, 2019

Known as “living fossils”, the Hyrcanian Forests are the second natural heritage of Iran being added to the global list.

The decision to add Hyracanian Forests to the UNESCO list was made during the body’s meeting on July 5 in Baku.

In a statement, the UNESCO described the “floristic biodiversity” of the ancient Hyrcanian forests in the north of Iran as “remarkable.”

According to the UNESCO, the forests date back to 25-50 million years.

The ecoregion includes the coast along the Caspian Sea and the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains.

It covers parts of five provinces of Iran from east to west including: North Khorasan Province, Golestan Province (entirely southern and southwestern areas as well as parts of the eastern regions of the Gorgan plain, totaling an area of 421,373 hectares), Mazandaran Province, Gilan Province and Ardabil Province.

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