The incident happened at the Islamic Azad University’s Science and Research branch in Tehran.
Ebrahim Kalantari, an IAU official, said eye witnesses have reported the incident happened after the driver suffered a heart attack and lost control of the bus.
Over 20 ambulances were dispatched to the location, he said, adding that the injured were immediately transferred to hospital.
Although most Christians celebrate December 25 as the birthday of Jesus Christ, there are no credible knowledge of the exact day or year in which he was born.
Pope Francis, the head of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics, offered his Christmas homily in a ceremony at the Vatican’s St Peter’s Basilica Monday night.
The following are IRNA’s photos of the ceremony:
Maryam Zarei has, in an article, weighed in on Moscow’s policy vis-à-vis Iran, arguing that Russia puts its national interests before anything else. The full text of the analytical piece follows:
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s exchanging pleasantries at the inaugural of the G-20 meeting is front-page news these days.
At a time when Saudi Arabia is more isolated than ever both on the international arena and by people, Putin’s welcoming bin Salman has become so controversial. Some analysts believe the adoption of such a soft approach vis-à-vis Riyadh by Putin is due to Saudi Arabia and Russia’s common interests with regards to oil and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
National interests! We have not drawn a line between national interests and other concepts such as attachment, intervention, responsibility, etc. If Russia do us a kind favour, we regard it as Moscow’s attachment to Iran and forget that relations between countries are different from relationships between people. And maybe we disregard the fact that our interests and those of Russia are strategically intertwined!
In recent years, Russia has put itself at the centre of negotiations, entering into talks with all regional powers. What has been important to the Kremlin is its pragmatic interests, which have surfaced sometimes during deep strategic cooperation with Israel, sometimes during the course of cooperation with Riyadh, and sometimes in tactical cooperation with Iran! Therefore, the so-called friendly country’s temporary attachment to Iran has only been aimed at securing its own interests!
If countries’ interests are strategically intertwined, they will not drop support for one another in times of crises. As a case in point, one may refer to US President Donald Trump’s unflinching support for bin Salman, regardless of the moral aspect of the move, when he had been marginalised by all countries over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
If Putin did not gain any benefits from his cooperation with Iran, such cooperation would not exist at all. But unfortunately, when we are embraced by Putin, we forget altogether that we should “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts!” It is clear that a superpower would never like to have a powerful country as its neighbour, especially one that can play a pivotal role in regional equations. Accordingly, dropping support for Iran in Syria, the drop in oil prices – despite Washington’s severe oil sanctions – in cooperation with Russia and Saudi Arabia, to name just a few, indicate that Moscow is unilaterally seeking its own interests, and such behaviour toward Iran is not without precedent.
Both countries’ histories are marked by stories of Russia’s abuse. When we read about the ignominious Turkmenchay and Golestan treaties in our history lessons, we go red with rage and bite our lips. It was due to this hidden anger that we chanted the slogan “Neither East, Nor West” during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But it seems that we have fallen for the East out of grudge against the West!
So, it is necessary to know that Russia will stab us in the back if such a move serves its interests. A country that drops support for its ally in critical times, or victimise it for the sake of its own dealings with major powers, is notorious for backstabbing. Russia seeks its own national interests and definitely does not compromise its interests for the sake of Iran.
The main objective of all countries in the domain of foreign policy and domestic issues is to secure their national interests. No country has permanent friends or foes. It is “national interests” that has the final say.
Expressing sympathy over the demise of the grand cleric, Ayatollah Khamenei said the death of the distinguished cleric is a great regret for those who knew him.
“He was a great master at the Qom seminary, a loyal servant at the most important bodies of the Islamic Establishment, an influential member of the Guardian Council and a successful head of the expediency council who published numerous scientific books,” he said.
“The tragic loss that happened after near a year of [suffering] hard and painful disease is a source of regret for those who are aware of his scientific level and his valuable services to the Islamic establishment and juridical, principal and legal bodies of seminaries,” he said.
Prominent Teacher
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani described Ayatollah Shahroudi as a “prominent teacher” who devoted his life to spreading religious teachings and took a moderate line during his political life.
The sudden passing received considerable attention and captured headlines in many news outlets.
Messages of condolences poured in both from politicians, military commanders and religious figures of all persuasions on Tuesday.
Ayatollah Shahroudi, who had spent over 40 years in politics, was also a key member of Iran’s legislative body, the Guardian Council, for years.
Funeral prayers over his body will be led by the Leader of Islamic Revolution in Tehran on Wednesday morning, ISNA reported.
A public procession ceremony will be held afterwards in the Iranian capital.
His body will then be transferred to the city of Qom south of Tehran and taken in a procession to the resting place, the holy shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh.
Addressing the lawmakers, Rouhani said the government’s heavy dependence on oil revenues has made the country vulnerable to economic sanctions, hence the country needs urgent moves to diversify its income sources.
“If the budget’s burden was not on oil, the impact of the sanctions could have been less. The unhealthiness of the country’s economy and economic structures and budget and banks is an important issue,” he said.
Rouhani said the country needs to move to modify the workings of the banks more than ever, as it is key to improving the Iranian economy, IRNA reported.
The budget for some activities has been reduced dramatically, compared to the last year’s budget. Notably, the proposal has cut Iran’s defence budget to half.
According to Iranian parliament’s law, the lawmakers have 10 days to evaluate the proposed budget and submit recommendations to the parliament’s budget commission.
The commission then should prepare a report on the proposal and submit it to the parliament within 15 days.
The top story in most of the papers today was the death of head of Iran’s Expediency Council and former Judiciary Chief, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi.
Abrar:
1- Army Gen.: We Will Not Allow USS Stennis to Approach Our Territorial Waters
2- Israel Army Chief: Iran to Deploy 100,000 Troops to Syria!
Aftab-e Yazd:
1- Who is New Head of US Department of Defence?
2- Iranian Poet, Author Rahmandoust: I’m Feeling for Modern Kids Who Cannot Play
Arman-e Emrouz:
1- Death of Jurisprudent
2- Startups; Country’s Productive Force
Ebtekar:
1- Burial of Childhood under War Rubbles
2- Shayan Hadji Najaf Honoured at UNICEF Photo of Year Award
3- Zarif Tells Al Mayadeen: We Won’t Wait for Europeans to Meet Their Obligations
Etemad:
1- Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi Dies
2- US Leaves, Iran Stays
3- Withdrawal of US Troops from Syria Will Change Situation in Region
4- Atlantic: Predictions of Iranian Leader Were Correct
Ettela’at:
1- We Need to Rethink Policies to Protect Environment: Iran Environment Chief
2- Fatah Movement: Iran Most Honest Country in Fight against Arrogance
Iran:
1- Demise of Modernist Jurisprudent: Ayatollah Shahroudi Dies
2- Time to Reconcile with Jesus
3- A Note by Loris Tjeknavorian (Composer, Orchestra Conductor) on Christmas
Javan:
1- Netanyahu’s Coalition Collapses
2- 8 Bags of Abortion Drugs Seized
Jomhouri Eslami:
1- $7.5 Billion Allocated to Education, Research in Budget Bill
2- Chairman of Iran’s Food, Drug Administration: Iran Self-Sufficient in Production of Radiomedics
3- Zionist Daily: Israel Hailed in Saudi Press at Bin Salman’s Order
4- Preferential Trade between Iran, India Finalised
Kayhan:
1- Washington Post to US People: Wake Up! US Army Not Invincible
2- Arab Countries Launch Campaign to Boycotts Saudi Arabia to Support Yemeni People
3- “Steel Production in Iran 10 Times More than before Revolution”
Khorasan:
1- Biggest Wall Street Plunge in Last 10 Years
2- Top Cyberspace Official: We Are Looking for Alternative for Instagram
Shahrvand:
1- Santa Clause on Sidewalks of Tehran
Shargh:
1- Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi Dies
2- Foreigners Join Iran to Counter Sanctions
3- New Middle East Dangers for Iran [Editorial]
This book is a manuscript written by Louis XII, the sixteenth-century king of France. It is made of leather paper and includes 11 miniature paintings with religious titles and themes.
The images of the book have been drawn by a 15th century French painter.
Officials from manuscripts department of the National Library of Paris say after the death of Louis XII, this book was inherited to “Francios I” and then “Henry II” of France. But there is no information about those who owned this book later on.
This valuable manuscript was bundled in Paris in the 18th century, and its cover was adorned with narrow strips.
The book includes a series of daily prayers and sermons of the Catholic cult. These sermons are recited at different hours of the day or when a member of a family dies.
This valuable work will be on show at Niavaran Palace’s library as of December 25 for one month.
Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht said at a time when the Islamic Republic is facing major sanctions, the knowledge-based domain will lead the country to economic resilience.
Head of Iran’s Management and Planning Organization made the comments while visiting a sci-tech park of Vice Presidency for Science and Technology.
“The status of knowledge-based activities has always been clear and [has always been] preserved. The government, too, always uses the knowledge-based domain to give fresh impetus to the country’s scientific progress,” said the official.
“Given the sanctions and the restrictions on oil exports, the [country’s] budget will grow only a little. Still, the finances allotted to sci-tech parks will grow by 72 percent,” he added.
The vice president said Iran’s economy has always been faced with the ill intention of groups that would not like to see Iran’s development and progress. He said knowledge-based activities, namely the ones conducted in sci-tech parks, can help boost the country’s economy against sanctions.
These statues are placed in the squares and other special places across Sanandaj.
For these sculptures, Sanandaj is known as the “City of Thousand Bodies” or “City of Sculptures”.
“The Shepherd”, “Liberty”, “Mowlavi Kurd”, “Suhrawardi”, “The Child”, “Koozeh Bashan”, “Oraz”, “The Climber”, “Hagh Shenas”, “Anonymous Martyrs”, and “Kurdish Muslim Peshmerga” are among the most famous sculptures of Sanandaj.
Following you can find photos of these artworks retrieved from ISNA:
Shahroudi died at 22:03 in Tehran’s Khatam al-Anbia hospital on Monday, December 24, 2018.
He is going to be buried at the holy shrine of Hazrat Massoumeh in Qom.
Known as a candidate for the position of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Shahroudi was a very prominent figure in Iran’s politics.
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