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Sailors Missing in Persian Gulf after Heavy Storm Hits Iran’s Bushehr

At least 20 boats had been stranded in the sea after the heavy storm, but the YJC quoted officials as saying that all of them, except for one, have returned to the coast with minimum damages thanks to the rescue efforts by Bushehr’s Ports and Maritime Organisation.

The storm had a wind speed of over 60 kilometres per hour, according to media reports.

Hossein Derakhshan, the spokesperson of the Iranian Red Crescent’s Relief and Rescue Organisation, said the storm cut electricity in parts of the province and damaged sea ports, but no casualties have been reported so far.

The search and rescue operation is continuing non-stop in parts of the Persian Gulf near Bushehr.

A strong storm swept over the Bushehr province in southern Iran on Thursday night, preventing dozens of fishing boats from returning to the province.

At least 20 boats had been stranded in the sea after the heavy storm, but the YJC quoted officials as saying that all of them, except for one, have returned to the coast with minimum damages thanks to the rescue efforts by Bushehr’s Ports and Maritime Organisation.

The storm had a wind speed of over 60 kilometres per hour, according to media reports.

Hossein Derakhshan, the spokesperson of the Iranian Red Crescent’s Relief and Rescue Organisation, said the storm cut electricity in parts of the province and damaged sea ports, but no casualties have been reported so far.

The search and rescue operation is continuing non-stop in parts of the Persian Gulf near Bushehr.

Tehran Celebrates World Tai Chi, Qigong Day

Dozens of tai chi practitioners, including 100 women, attended the Friday event, which included demonstrations of traditional Chinese arts such as Kung Fu and a Qigong lesson.

Moreover, a number of artists and foreign diplomats from China, Austria and other countries, among others, attended the event, which was organized by the International Red Dragon Organization in cooperation with the Municipality of Tehran.

World Tai Chi and Qigong Day is an annual event held the last Saturday of April each year to promote the related disciplines of the sports in nearly eighty countries since 1999.

The annual event aims to inform people of health benefits of exercise and call on them to embrace wisdom.

What follows are IFP‘s exclusive photos of the event held in Tehran:

Iran FM to Attend Trilateral Meeting on Syria in Moscow

In the one-day trip, Zarif will attend a meeting with his Russian and Turkish counterparts aimed at discussing the latest developments in Syria, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Friday.

The three countries are working together to try to reduce the violence in Syria despite supporting opposing sides in the war.

Russia and Iran are the Syrian government’s backers, while Turkey supports militants fighting to bring down the government.

On April 4, the three countries held a tripartite summit on Syria in Turkey’s capital Ankara, with the participation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

New Type of Boxer Mantis Discovered in Iran

The insect, named “small acromantis”, is the first type of mantis found in Iran. Kolnegari has called it “The Little Boxer Mantis”.

What follows are IRNA’s photos of the Iranian entomologist and the mantis it has discovered:

Tehran Hosting Exhibition of Andy Warhol’s Paintings

Andy Warhol was an American artist, director and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art.

His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture, and advertising that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media, including painting, silk-screening, photography, film, and sculpture.

Some of his best known works include the silkscreen paintings Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962) and Marilyn Diptych (1962), the experimental film Chelsea Girls (1966), and the multimedia events known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966–67).

The exhibition underway in Tehran also features works by over 20 celebrated Iranian artists, including Abbas Kiarostami, a report by the Persian-language Mehr News Agency said.

Abbas Kiarostami was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer and film producer. His photographic work includes Untitled Photographs, a collection of over thirty photographs, mostly of snow landscapes, taken in his hometown Tehran, between 1978 and 2003.

The artworks have also been selected from a collection owned by Iranian private collector Fereydun Ave including paintings, sculptures and photographs that are all black and white.

Fereydoun Ave (born in 1945 in Tehran) is not only one of the most important artists in the contemporary art world of Iran but also one its most influential. Following his art studies in the USA, Ave returns to his homeland in the early 1970s, where he finds cultural life blossoming. Initially he engages in this by working in the world of theatre and film and also as a curator. In 1984, he establishes the now legendary 13 Vanak Street Gallery, an alternative exhibition space in Tehran, and plays an active role in promoting artistic discourse. As a result, he becomes the mentor to an entire generation of Iranian artists.

His artworks have been featured at numerous individual exhibitions and more than a hundred group exhibitions in galleries and museums around the world.

Ave’s works have not only been collected by various museums and institutes, they also been purchased by the British Museum (London), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Los Angeles Art Museum, the Georges Pompidou Center (Paris), and Tehran’s Museum of Contemporary Arts.

The exhibition will run until May 4 at the gallery located in the Elahieh neighbourhood.

What follows are photos of the exhibition retrieved from Mehr News Agency and Honar Online:

Renowned Italian Pianist Creates Memorable Nights for Iranians

Einaudi performed three shows at the Grand Hall of the Interior Ministry in Tehran from Tuesday to Thursday.

He was accompanied by a five-man orchestra, as well as a sound, light and back-liner technician.

“Elements”, “Experience”, “Night” and “Fly” were some of the compositions performed during the concerts.

Speaking in a press conference on the eve of his concerts in Tehran on Tuesday, Einaudi had noted that he is happy to have a chance to perform in Iran and see his rather large fan base in the country.

“Music is a language that sees no boundaries,” he said.

The Bafta-nominated Italian pianist said he has researched a lot about his Iranian fans’ taste in music, vowing to perform “surprising” and “memorable” tracks for the Iranian audience during his shows.

The composer said the trip is a special opportunity to get a closer understanding of the lifestyle and culture of the Iranian people.

Born in 1955, the renowned pianist began his career performing classical music in the 1980s.

Einaudi’s music is ambient, meditative and often introspective, drawing on minimalism and contemporary pop.

He is known for his film scores for “This is England”, “I’m Still Here”, and “‘Doctor Zhivago”.

But many know him by his “Elegy for the Arctic,” a 2016 concert on polar ice caps to protest the melting of glaciers in the Arctic.

What follows are Honar Online’s photos of his performances in Tehran:

Iran So Powerful that Trump Cannot Talk of War: IRGC

Brigadier General Hossein Salami said that today the Islamic Republic of Iran has a good experience in the fight against enemies.

He also pointed out that Iran has identified the vital interests of enemies, and has the ability to defend itself and launch attacks as it was shown in some military tests.

Speaking at a seminar in the northern city of Sari, Salami noted that after the 1979 Islamic Revolution Iran has been the main priority of the enemies’ attacks.

“Be sure that Iran’s power has been gained through these threats and hostilities. We are a nation with powerful and invincible elements,” stressed Salami, according to a report by the Persian-language Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

The lieutenant commander of the IRGC said that great leadership, great nation, great cause, and great enemies are the four divine gifts for the Islamic Republic.

“We should never worry about the enemies since this has been the source of our power. We have reached such a power in the sea, air and land that the enemy’s military invasion has been neutralized in any scale and scope.”

Salami went on to say that Iran did not have airborne technology 15 years ago, but today Iranian experts have built an advanced missile system that the country does not need anyone’s help.

The IRGC general also emphasised that the Islamic Republic is very strong at sea, and perfectly guards the land borders as well.

“We control the enemies in Iraq, Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Today, the enemies are scattered and the Iranian Establishment is (more) powerful.”

“The Zionist regime is now scared of the fact that the forces of Muslim countries are located along its borders, because this presence is aimed at destroying the regime. For this reason, we are witnessing that the Israeli regime cannot tolerate such a presence and started to fire missiles at bases where Iranian forces were located,” explained Salami.

“Today, Israel does not have a strategic depth,” he said, emphasising that Iran has endangered the survival of the Zionist regime.

Salami further warned that the Leadership, the judiciary, and the IRGC are the three main targets of the enemies saying that Hijab and water crisis are the other subjects they (enemies) have focused on.

Regarding the US President’s possible decision on the nuclear deal, Salami said “our prediction is that the United States will not break the deal, but it will keep the sanctions.”

“Over 12 Million Iranians Join Domestic Messaging Apps”

“In a short period, nearly 12 million people have signed up on domestic messengers … and this figure is increasing rapidly,” said Abolhasan Firouzabadi on Wednesday, while acknowledging that not all people who have registered their names on the Iranian services are using them.

The increase in the number of users of domestic apps seems to be a result of Iranian officials and news agencies’ move to stop their activities in the popular Telegram app and use domestic ones.

Firouzabadi, whose body is tasked with regulating Iran’s cyberspace, said the bandwidth used by Telegram has decreased by 10 percent, number of views of Telegram channels by 27 percent and contents published on Telegram by 17 percent, according to a Farsi report by Tasnim News Agency.

Telegram is one of the most popular social media platforms in Iran with more than 40 million users.

 

Telegram Slows Down

In a related development, Iran’s Telecommunication Infrastructure Company, the sole provider of telecommunication infrastructure in the country, announced it has been ordered by the Supreme Council of Cyberspace to stop allowing Telegram to use web servers located in Iran.

 

In a statement published on Thursday, the TIC said the messaging app will from now on use foreign servers to allow communication among its Iranian users, which could decrease its speed in Iran.

The fate of Telegram in Iran became a hot subject in political circles late last month, when the head of the parliament’s national security commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said a decision has been made “at the highest levels” to permanently ban Telegram by April 20.

Boroujerdi cited “national security” concerns as the reason the messaging service will no longer be accessible.

However, shortly afterwards, President Hassan Rouhani said he opposes the filtering of Telegram and believes the government should instead work to end the monopoly of foreign services over Iran’s instant messaging market.

Iran’s state institutions started replacing Telegram with domestic services, including Soroush, last week.

Razif; A Traditional Sword Dance in Southern Iran

Razif is a work-related ritual. Therefore, with the change of the conditions and necessities of seafaring, the sails were replaced by motorboats and things like sailing or pulling anchors besides fishing and collecting the fishing net have disappeared completely.

To preserve and maintain this tradition, people in the south perform a combination of bamboo dance and such practices at wedding parties to preserve this heritage of their fathers, and also remember how their ancestors suffered to make a living. The practice will also help convey this tradition to future generations.

Razif used to be a form of sword dance in the past, and today is performed to create unity and solidarity. So, it is considered a sort of epic music to persuade people to defend their land.

The name Razif refers to the presence of people in two rows at the time of performance.

Here are Mehr News Agency’s photos of the ceremony in the historic port city of Kong in the Central District of Bandar Lengeh County of Iran’s southern Hormozgan Province:

Iran, China, Russia Must Adopt Common Strategy against US: Shamkhani

Shamkhani said that China, Russia and Iran are on the list of US national security threats and sanctions are imposed against these three countries.

Therefore, he noted, adopting a joint strategy to counter Washington’s comprehensive attempts to harm these countries is necessary, Shamkhani said.

He made the comments in a meeting with Chinese public security minister Guo Shengkun on the second day of his visit to Russia to attend an international security conference in the Russian resort city of Sochi.

The Iranian security official described terrorism as a fragile threat to international peace and security, saying that Takfiri terrorism has lost its position in Syria and Iraq.

Therefore, the United States and its Western and regional allies are trying to defend Takfiri terrorist currents in this country by fabrications and lies like the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government in Duma, he noted.

Shamkhani also pointed to the current efforts made by the supporters of Takfiri terrorism to relocate the remnants of these militant groups to Afghanistan, warning that the relocation of terrorist groups to Afghan territories will pose major threats to the borders of Iran, China and Russia.

He also emphasised the need for close cooperation between Iran, China, Russia, Pakistan and Afghanistan to counter the spread of terrorism in the region, and called for a joint intelligence, security and operational mechanism to stop the transfer and relocation of terrorist groups to Afghanistan.

Shamkhani also referred to willingness of senior Chinese and Iranian officials to expand the mutual ties, adding that joint efforts to remove some obstacles, including banking and financial issues, must be the main priority.

For his part, the Chinese official noted that the US supports elements of insecurrity in the region to restrict these three countries by imposing sanction on them.

Beijing understands the worries of the Islamic Republic in this regard, he added.

“Iran has a special place in the new international strategy of China, and the security forces of the two countries can play a decisive role in realizing the will of the leaders of the two countries to develop relations,” underlined Guo Shengkun.Iran, China, Russia Must Adopt Common Strategy against US: Shamkhani

He added that Tehran and Beijing can build new partnerships in the context of “One Belt, One Road” initiative in the areas of security, counter-terrorism, organised crimes, cyber security, energy projects and railways.

Shengkun further touched upon the significance of inviting the Iranian president to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, saying “We support Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and we believe that Iran’s presence in the upcoming summit as an observer country can pave the ground to achieve this goal.”

Expressing regret over US non-compliance with the nuclear deal, he asserted that China, as one of the main members of the P5+1, believes that all parties to the agreement must fulfil their commitments.

Shengkun also invited  Shamkhani to visit China, and announced Beijing’s readiness to exchange information with Iran to fight against terrorism.