The exhibition, which wrapped up last Friday, was held at Tehran International Permanent Fairground.
During their visit to the fair, people enjoyed listening to live folklore performances, watching and playing local games, visiting the artworks, and purchasing the handicrafts made by rural and nomadic women.
The following are IRNA’s photos of the exhibition:
During his stay, Zarif will attend a quadrilateral meeting with his counterparts from Azerbaijan Republic, Turkey, and Georgia.
After Baku, the foreign minister will have a trip to the Kazakh capital Astana to join a trilateral meeting with top Turkish and Russian diplomats Mevlut Cavusoglu and Sergei Lavrov as part of the Astana talks on Syria.
The talks will be held in line with the three countries’ efforts to pave the way for ending the nearly seven years of war in Syria.
The meeting will be held on March 16 “without observers or Syrian sides”, according to the Kazakh foreign ministry.
In a statement posted on gov.uk on Wednesday, London said Macaire will take up the post in Tehran in April 2018.
The statement didn’t elaborate any further on the surprise announcement.
Macaire, who started his diplomatic carrier in 1990, has served mostly in Middle East directorates of the British foreign ministry. Between 1987-90, he has been working in the British defence ministry.
He has also served as Director of Government and Public Affairs & Political Risk at BG Group, a British multinational oil and gas company which was acquired by Royal Dutch Shell for $70 billion in February 2016.
Hopton, previously serving as Britain’s ambassador to Qatar and Yemen, had started acting as an Iran ambassador in September 2016.
Commenting on his appointment, Macaire said in the statement, “I am honoured to be appointed the new British Ambassador to Iran. The UK’s continued engagement with Iran is vital to our goal of making the Middle East region a safer and more stable place.”
“I look forward to working with the Government of Iran and with international partners to preserve the nuclear deal and deepen our bilateral relationship, through constructive engagement on human rights, trade, and seeking political solutions to the conflicts in Yemen, Syria and elsewhere,” he added.
Every year on the eve of the last Tuesday of the Iranian calendar year, Iranian people do some trick or treating, literally called spoon-banging, where youngsters in disguises visit neighbours and receive snacks.
By the light of the bonfires they have lit, they run through the streets banging on pots and pans with spoons in a ceremony called Qashoq-Zani to beat out the last unlucky Wednesday of the year, while they knock on doors to ask for treats. Indeed, Halloween is a Celtic variation of this night.
The ritual is part of Chaharshanbe Suri, a fire festival in the tradition of Iran’s ancient Zoroastrian religion whose adherents believed in the duality of light (good) and darkness (evil). By lighting bonfires in the streets at the end of the last Tuesday of each year and jumping over them, Iranians sing and chant, “Let your ruddiness be mine, my paleness be yours.”
No Chaharshanbe Suri would be complete without fireworks.
What follows are ISNA’s photos of the pre-Nowruz spoon-banging ritual in Tehran:
Araqchi said the Europeans are walking on a thin line because “if they incline toward the US, they will lose Iran.”
He said Iran has made it clear for the Europeans that if they fail to convince the US to remain in the JCPOA, Iran will pull out of it.
“If the nuclear deal is preserved, the US will again seek to restrict and confront Iran. To this effect, they will make serious attempts. So, even if we continue to stick to the JCPOA with Europeans without the US, the latter will increase its pressure and this will make the conditions harder,” he was quoted as saying in a Farsi report by Khabar Online.
He went on to say that the US is seriously seeking to pull out of the nuclear deal. “The replacement of US Foreign Secretary Rex Tillerson has been made for this purpose or at least one of the reasons behind his replacement was the Iran nuclear deal,”
Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti, the head of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage & Tourism (RICHT), says “Nowruz is not a day, but it is a process. We should make [younger] generations aware of its origins.”
He made the statement while addressing a recent conference dubbed “Nowruz: Legacy of Peace, Cultural Diversity and Culture of Tolerance” in Tehran, the RICHT’s public relations office reported.
Nowruz is the traditional celebration of the start of spring and the Persian new year (March 20 or 21), which represents freshness and renewal.
Literally meaning “new day”, Nowruz is celebrated across Iran and several countries in the region, including Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan Republic, India, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
Nowruz became a tradition over time and a part of Iranian culture when people revere spring and revive their lives with the revival of nature.
Gradually, its elements were integrated into people’s customs and the culture of Nowruz was shaped.
The earliest available evidence of Nowruz belongs to the Sumerians who migrated across the Zagros Mountains to Mesopotamia over 5,000 years ago.
In 2009, the tradition was for the first time included on the UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as a practice shared by several countries.
The two-week Nowruz festivities commence at the start of Spring Equinox (March 20 or 21) each year, and include public rituals, house-cleaning, shopping, special meals, travelling, family visits, gift-giving and street performances.
Hashemi said the city council has already received the resignation letter of Najafi and discussed it on its Wednesday meeting.
“The mayor has cited a new medical problem as his resignation. We can’t disclose the problem publicly,” Hashemi said.
Najafi was known for having a heart problem, but there are unconfirmed allegations that he has developed a type of cancer as well.
Meanwhile, Head of the City Council’s Transportation Commission Mohammad Alikhani referred to the same medical problem as Najafi’s resignation reason and said, “Although Tehran’s councillors have been ensured about the medical problem of Mr Najafi, they cannot close their eyes on political pressure on him.”
Najafi’s resignation came after being summoned to court for organizing an event held in Tehran’s Milad Tower celebrating Women’s Day in Iranian calendar on May 9.
Iran’s prosecutor general demanded that the organizers of the event be punished for allowing little girls to dance on the stage.
“Information has been received regarding an event to celebrate Women’s Day organized by the Tehran Municipality at the Milad Tower in which acts of public indecency were displayed against the pure and chaste traditions of Prophet Muhammad’s daughter,” said Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri.
According to Islamic law, girls and women are not allowed to dance for anyone except their husbands. Images and videos shared on social media networks show the girls spreading flowers around the stage while twirling and dancing to traditional Iranian music.
Najafi told the Iranian government’s official newspaper, Iran, that he did not agree with the dance but saw no reason to leave the event at the time.
Najafi to Remain Mayor by End of Nowruz Holidays
Head of the City Council’s Budget Commission, Majid Farahani, also confirmed the resignation of Tehran mayor and said “we are still exploring the issue in our informal meetings.”
Electing a new mayor takes time. So, Tehran councillors unanimously have called on Najafi to remain mayor by the end of Nowruz holidays. They said they would officially start discussing the mayor’s resignation in their first meeting after Nowruz holidays.
Ali Darvishpour, the chief executive of Milad Tower, said he is pleased to see Iran’s unique ecotourism potential being shown to the world.
“Iran is a small continent. Its excellent weather and exotic natural environments has made the country a great option for ecotourism,” he said in an address to the opening ceremony.
The exhibition hosts 61 booths, which showcase ecotourism attractions of 31 Iranian provinces, a Farsi report by Mehr said.
The 4-day exhibition will wrap up on Thursday.
What follows are photos of the exhibition retrieved from Tasnim and ILNA:
Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the Iranian Research Centre for Fundamental Sciences, says it is necessary for a country to have “science policy” to be able to stand on its own feet.
He said having a science policy will help the people of a country to develop the capability to do three things: defend themselves against enemies, provide their own food if they come under blockade, and protect themselves against diseases.
Speaking in a Farsi interview with the Tasnim News Agency, he said a country cannot import the capability to stand on its feet with money; rather, he says, a capability needs to be created.
“So, it is very necessary to have a science policy,” said Larijani, adding none of the Iranian governments has had a science policy over the past years.
While criticizing the government for not having specific plans in the domain of science, Larijani believes Iran has been lucky because Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, at the time that he took charge of the country’s affairs, presented a proper view of scientific development based on Islamic logic, and has pursued the issue for the past 30 years. Of course, said Larijani, only 20 to 25 percent of the goals the Leader set have materialized, and officials’ performance in that regard have had many shortcomings.
For a brief review of Iran’s achievements in various fields of science and technology, check the book “Science and Technology in Iran: A Brief Review”
Larijani stressed that Iran, one way or another, made progress on the scientific front, adding, “This scientific growth and development took our enemies by surprise.”
“They said Iran should not be allowed to make scientific progress at such a fast pace,” Larijani noted.
He then criticized relevant Iranian authorities for accepting the other side’s demand that Iran’s nuclear work be restricted.
“In my idea, one of the key problems with the JCPOA is that we, for the first time on the scientific front, accepted to have an area which was off limits. That is, they drew a line for us and told us that we mustn’t get into the heavy water issue, or cannot enrich uranium to a certain degree of purity, and so on and so forth,” Larijani noted.
He said now they are saying that the range of Iranian missiles must not exceed 100 kilometres.
“This is a new area which is off limits.”
He said there is no end to their demands, and if Iran continues to give in to their demands, “it will have nothing but humiliation for us.”
Larijani said the late Leader of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini stressed that there are no forbidden areas in science and technology.
“This is a fundamental principle in our revolutionary-scientific policy. Our revolutionary experience lays the groundwork for a comprehensive civil-political system based on Islamic logic, and this is the first principle in science policy. So we have no forbidden areas in science, but we need to have policy rather than moving forward idly and wasting our energy.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Larijani said Ayatollah Khamenei tried to draw up an outlook plan in different areas, namely various sciences. He said governments which have been successful in scientific, economic and technological development have a number of scientists who form the main body making scientific policies.
Larijani added that they also have a proper picture of the scientific situation in the world, and at the same time have the prospects of their future goals in minds. Moreover, they have scientific policy together with an action plan, he added.
Above all, they are determined to move on the path to realizing those objectives, he concluded.
US President Donald Trump’s surprising decision to sack State Secretary Rex Tillerson and replace him with CIA Chief Mike Pompeo was widely covered in today’s newspapers. Several papers discussed the possible implications of the replacement, which is expected to toughen US government’s anti-Iran stances.
Also a top story today was the Parliament’s unsuccessful impeachment of three ministers. Labour Minister Ali Rabi’ei and Roads Minister Abbas Akhondi both received a vote of confidence on Tuesday, and survived the impeachment bids. Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati’s impeachment on Wednesday was also unsuccessful.
A major news story today was Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s remarks that Tehran will be the first to help Riyadh when the Arab country comes under foreign aggression.
The upholding of a 15-year prison sentence for former Vice-President Hamid Baqaei, a close ally of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, also received great coverage.
The above issues, as well as many more, are highlighted in the following headlines and top stories:
Abrar:
Abrar-e Eqtesadi:
Aftab-e Yazd:
Arman-e Emrooz:
Ebtekar
Ettela’at:
Ghanoon:
Hamdeli:
Hamshahri:
Hemayat:
Iran:
Jahan-e San’at:
Javan:
Jomhouri Eslami:
Kayhan:
Kelid:
Resalat:
Roozan:
Seda-ye Eslahat:
Shargh:
Tejarat:
Vatan-e Emrooz:
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