One person also survived the incident which happened Tuesday night when a chopper belonging to the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) crashed into the Persian Gulf waters.
The helicopter was taking a patient from one of the IOOC’s oil platforms to hospital, but went down shortly after takeoff.
The patient and the medic accompanying him lost their lives, according to media reports.
The captain of the helicopter survived. Search operation is underway for the two people unaccounted for.
The historic citadel with an approximate area of 200,000 square metres has been listed by UNESCO as part of the World Heritage Site “Bam and Its Cultural Landscape”.
The origin of this enormous citadel on the Silk Road can be traced back to the Achaemenid Empire (sixth to fourth centuries BCE) and even beyond. The entire building was a large fortress containing the citadel, but because of the impressive look of the citadel, which forms the highest point, the whole fortress is named the Bam Citadel.
This historic citadel is made up of several architectural forms, including the walls, the tower, numerous gates, mosques, bazaars, caravanserais, schools, baths, zurkhaneh (sports place) and residential neighbourhoods.
In the architectural form of Bam Citadel there are two different distinguishable parts:
The rulers’ part in the most internal wall, holding the citadel, barracks, mill, 4-season house, water-well (dug in the rocky earth and about 40 metres deep), and a stable for 200 horses.
The ruled-over part surrounding the rulers’ place, consisting of the main entrance of the entire fortress-city and the bazaar alongside of the North-to-South spinal axis (which connects the main entrance to the citadel), and around 400 houses with their associated public buildings (such as a school and sport place).
The citadel consists of four main sections: a residential zone, the stables, the army barracks and the governor’s residence.
Arg-e Bam has 38 watchtowers and four entrance gates, and the outer defence wall is surrounded by a moat. The Government Quarters are on a rocky hill, protected by a double fortification wall.
On December 26, 2003, the Citadel was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake, along with much of the rest of Bam and its environs, but it is now restored and the restoration process of this building goes through the end.
The modern city of Bam has gradually developed as an agricultural and industrial centre, and until the 2003 earthquake was experiencing rapid growth. In particular, the city is known for its dates and citrus fruit, irrigated by a substantial network of qanats. The city also benefited from tourism, with an increasing number of people visiting the ancient citadel in recent years.
Bam Citadel has been referred to by Ferdowsi in his Shahnameh (Book of the Kings) for many times.
People used to live in the citadel until 150 years ago, and the last guardian of the castle, an elderly person, is still living in an eastern city of Kerman province called Rigan.
The magnificent citadel is currently under major restoration following the devastating earthquake.
What follows are photos of the citadel retrieved from Mehr News Agency:
A’ Design Award and Competition is a prestigious international competition aimed at highlighting the excellent qualifications of best designs, design concepts and design oriented products worldwide.
A’ Design Awards is a premier annual design competition that honours the best designers, architects, engineers, design studios and design oriented companies worldwide to provide them publicity, fame and recognition.
Iranian architects in recent years have always been among the winners of the prestigious award in various sections.
This year a record-breaking number of Iranian architects managed to bag the prestigious award in the following sections:
Iranian Winners of A’ Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award:
Samaneh Qassempour and Amir Qassempour received Golden A’ Design Award for Fantoni Headquarter Office
Reza Mafakher earned Silver A’ Design Award for Iranmall Stadium (Recreational)
Seyyed Roozbeh Qaem-Maqami received Silver A’ Design Award for Flexihouse Residential Complex
Rasool Akhondzadeh, Qassemi and Yoosefi won the Bronze A’ Design Award for Housing from the Ground to the Sky, the Residential Complex
Mohammad Aliabadi earned Bronze A’ Design Award for Behesht Official & Commercial Complex
Reza Mafakher received Bronze A’ Design Award for Penumbra Commercial Administrative
Mahdi Fakhimi won Bronze A’ Design Award for Kashan Hotel
Navid Emami earned A’ Design Award for Ham Saye Apartment
Nastaran Fadaee Jonaghani received A’ Design Award for Damavand Villa (Residential)
Iranian Winners of the A’ Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award:
Reza Mafakher received the Silver A’ Design Award for Rahimzadeh Jewelry Retail
Aryan Ron and Arman Ron received A’ Design Award for Avandad Apartment Residence
Alireza Shafiei Tabar won A’ Design Award for Karoba Restaurant
Alireza Shafiei Tabar received A’ Design Award for Giovanni Restaurant
Hamidreza Nikkhou received A’ Design Award for Exotic Jewellers Jewellery Store
Iranian Winners of A’ Furniture, Decorative Items and Homeware Design Award:
Hamid Pakseresht received Golden A’ Design Award for Mulian Sofa
Saman Makvand got Silver A’ Design Award for Unity Coffee Table
Elmira Deldari and Marzieh Hami earned Silver A’ Design Award for Swan Magazine Rack
Mohammad Enjavi Amiri received Bronze A’ Design Award for Dodo Chair Multifunctional Chair
Iranian Winner of A’ Street Furniture Design Award:
Farshad Bakhshayee earned Bronze A’ Design Award for SiSu Bench
Iranian Winner of A’ Lighting Products and Projects Design Award:
Melika Sarraf earned A’ Design Award for Sun Lighting
Last year, Iranian artists had managed to earn a number of awards in different sections of the international competition including:
Mohammad Reza Ghanei earned a golden medal for Ghanei House
Mehrkameh Viseh and Hesam Shahidi received a silver medal for Boof
Nima and Sina Keivani earned a silver medal for Mehrkhaneh
Mehdi Fakhimi earned a bronze medal for Negar Parisan Office
Edise Babasadeghian earned a bronze medal for Apple Store
Reza Mafakher received a silver medal for Ekhtiareh Complex and Chabahar Hotel
Hossein Shirzaian a silver medal for Damavand Villa
MGD Architects a bronze medal for Kerman Musuesm.
The primary aim of the award is to create publicity, PR push and advertisement opportunities for award winners while supporting the global design culture, creating incentives for entrants to come up with superior designs for a better future.
Hadi Hadinasab, the director-general of the crisis management department of Yazd governorate, said the storm has fortunately left no casualties or damages.
“Reports from various regions in the province indicate last night’s storm has left no damage and there is no need to be concerned,” he said.
The province’s meteorological organization announced the storm had a wind speed of 102 kilometre per hour in the city of Bafq.
Saeedeh Delmoradi, a young teacher who teaches at a school for exceptional children, and her husband Mohammad Mousavian, have managed to build a new life for needy children using their Instagram account.
Among thousands of right and wrong guys on Instagram, Saeedeh and Mohammad’s page has turned into a link to give people information about deprived and destitute children and their families.
This couple shared only part of the deprivation and needs of the children and their families, and, accordingly, was able to help many of them. Saeedeh and Mohammad long to be able to take care of all the children whose families cannot afford to look after them.
What follows are highlights of the Shahrvand daily newspaper’s Farsi report and interview with them:
Saeedeh Delmoradi, born in September 1980, holds a BA in Cultural Affairs and is currently teaching at a school for intellectually underdeveloped children in the city of Sarakhs.
Her husband is the director of a centre handling learning disorders and holds a BA in Psychology of Exceptional Children. They were colleagues and were into music.
Saeedeh had been mostly teaching in deprived areas before she opened her Instagram page.
Let’s talk about what you guys do in Instagram.
By sharing the photos depicting aid being delivered to the needy, I wanted to give people information about them in the first place, and secondly, I intended to collect aid for them, but I really wouldn’t have thought that I would be able to take such a great step towards helping the students in the village and their families.
We are involved in a whole range of activities, including the construction of bathrooms and toilets for houses, repairing dilapidated houses, attending to the healthcare needs of children who cannot afford it, implementing plans to create jobs for families in the village, offering assistance for pupils and university students’ education, and providing needy families with food packages.
So far, we have been able to save two people on death row, and we are dealing with the third one now. But one of the reports which went viral on social media was one related to holding birthday parties for children in deprived regions.
How do you hold these birthday parties?
People donate the cost of their birthday parties by buying gifts, and we give those gifts to children who do not know what a birthday party and birthday cake is, and we hold birthday parties for them. Since many of the children live in deprivation, they do not even know what a birthday party and birthday cake is, and that’s how we make them happy.
How could you win people’s trust?
I really don’t know what happened that people could believe the shared photos. Each picture that we posted on our Instagram page was not only a photo. Many people sobbed by seeing them, and contacted us, and some of them went to visit the families in person.
How do you get to know these deprived regions?
Getting to know deprived regions and needy families is sometimes accidental. We may identify some of these places when we are away on vacation. We have some liaisons in cities, especially in deprived regions, and it is mostly these liaisons that introduce deprived families and deprived regions to us. Another point is that when we go on trips, we share the routes of our trips on our Instagram page and people follow us. Sometimes they introduce to us the regions and families that they have identified themselves, and we will help them if we can confirm that the really need help.
How about Matin, Homayoon and Atefeh? These are the children who are always present in your pictures and have accompanied you. What’s their story?
We don’t have children ourselves. We adopted Homayoon almost a year ago. As for Matin and Atefeh, because their parents cannot afford to look after them, we are currently taking care of them until their parents become capable of caring for them. Then we will hand over the children to them. Matin and Atefeh are with us temporarily and we have a duty to provide all welfare facilities for them, so that they will be reunited with their families in good condition.
How could you win the trust of the family of Matin and Atefeh to leave their children in your care?
It was very difficult, especially regarding Matin as it took almost a month. After we went to their home a few times, they came to our neighbourhood to find out about us, and finally they agreed. At the moment, we are in contact with the family of Matin and Atefeh, and the kids visit their parents every now and then. Of course, Matin and Atefeh have other sponsors, too. They are not only my and Mohammad’s children; they are the children of all those who support them.
And the last word …
First, I’d like to thank my husband. If it weren’t for his help, none of those things could have been done. Then I’d like to thank our families and all the people who helped these families develop a good feeling. I hope this trend will always continue.
In a Tuesday phone call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Rouhani called for continuation of Tehran-Ankara-Moscow cooperation over Syria.
“Eradicating terrorism, putting an end to war in Syria and creating regional security are among the main objectives of Iran, Turkey and Russia.”
“Therefore, we believe that the tripartite cooperation should continue to this end,” he was quoted as saying in a Farsi report by the Iranian President’s website.
President Rouhani also said the three countries’ cooperation has already led to great regional achievements which need to be preserved.
He then added some western powers think that they should interfere in Syria’s internal affairs under any condition.
He said the US-led strikes on Syria were an aggressive move which has created a hideous heresy in the international relations.
“Some big powers think they are free to carry out attacks on any state any time,” he noted.
Rouhani slammed the West for its double standards when it comes to chemical attacks and said “the western powers’ silence towards Saddam’s use of chemical weapons against Iran showed us how passive these countries are about chemical attacks.”
No country should be allowed to use force against Syria under false pretexts before a probe is made into the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria’s Douma.
Erodgan, for his part, welcomed any move paving the way for expansion of ties between Turkey and Iran.
He underlined that enhancing cooperation with Iran and Russia is among his government’s main priorities and added Syria’s territorial integrity can be preserved only through a political solution.
Erdogan also dismissed any use of chemical weapons and said all involved sides should help chemical weapons experts in their mission to probe the alleged use of the weapons in Syria.
The Turkish president said Iran, Turkey and Russia will not allow any power to divide Syria.
Senior parliamentarian Valiollah Nanvakenari strongly blasted the European Council for extending its sanctions against Iran for another year, saying the cruel sanctions of Europe and even of the US are imposed under false pretexts like human rights violations.
None of them are in accordance with international law and even human morality, he noted, according to a Farsi report by ICANA.
“Unfortunately, the US and some European countries have been cruel to some other countries over the past years because with the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, these countries saw their own interests at stake.”
He rejected the imposition of sanctions on the pretext of human rights situation, adding that “history reminds us that the West helped Iraq in the course of the imposed war against Iran and even provided Saddam with chemical weapons.”
He emphasised that these sanctions were imposed by the European Council against Iran for the first time in 2011 and has been renewed every year since then.
It should be asked whether the anti-Iran sanctions within the past forty years have been effectual that they have renewed them, he added.
“We must tread the right path and be alert in dealing with these actions. The nation and the authorities must teach a lesson to the West through solidarity and resistance,” underlined Nanvakenari.
The lawmaker, who sits on the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, also lashed out at a statement issued by the European Council imposing travel ban and assets freeze against 82 Iranians and an institution.
The Council of the European Union voted unanimously on Thursday to extend its sanctions against Iran for one more year because of human rights violations.
The sanctions, now extended until 13 April 2019, include “asset freeze and visa bans for individuals and entities responsible for grave human rights violations ban on exports to Iran of equipment which might be used for internal repression and of equipment for monitoring telecommunications.”
The EU initially adopted sanctions against Iran in 2006, following a series of UN Security Council Resolutions aimed at the country’s nuclear program. Those sanctions were extended in 2011 in response to “human rights violations”.
While the EU was unified in renewing the sanctions, there exist divisions among member states on additional sanctions. In the past month the UK, Germany, and France have been pushing for additional sanctions including on military equipment, while Italy, Austria, and Spain do not want to upset commercial relationships with Iran.
In a Tuesday meeting with Ann Linde, Sweden’s Minister for European Union Affairs and Trade, Ebtekar said creating micro funds and corporations for women and sponsoring women’s entrepreneurship in tourism industry and handicrafts are among the major opportunities which can lead to further involvement of women in economy.
According to a Farsi report by IRNA, Ebtekar also called for expansion of ties between Iran and Sweden in all fields.
During the meeting held on the first day of Ebtekar’s two-day visit to Stockholm, the Iranian official also elaborated on the achievements gained in women’s affairs in Iran.
“Women’s increasing access to higher education in Iran and the growing number of female university graduates in the country have provided them with further opportunities to start specialized jobs,” she noted.
“We seek to pave the way for women’s greater involvement in economy by creating various economic opportunities for them especially in private sector and entrepreneurial field,” she noted.
Ebtekar also said women currently have a 30-percent share in managerial jobs and have witnessed a steady growth in their presence in decision-making positions.
Elsewhere in her remarks, the Iranian vice-president pointed to Tehran’s cooperation with Europe, particularly on the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, saying that observing commitments under the JCPOA by all involved sides guarantees the world community’s peace and security.
The Swedish minister, for her part, referred to the last year’s visit of Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to Iran during which a number of agreements were signed between the two sides.
“The visit of Swedish prime minister to Iran reveals the importance that Sweden attaches to Iran in its international relations,” she added.
Linde also said the two sides have already signed a number of MoUs in women and family affairs adding these are good fields for expansion of ties.
She also referred to the Iran nuclear deal and underlined that her country is committed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Linde described Iran’s regional role as constructive and influential in the “chaotic region of the Middle East” and said based on a number of reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has lived up to its commitments under the JCPOA.
“It is now up to the international community to express its support for Iran.”
She also echoed the hope voiced earlier by the EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini and said Sweden is eager to witness the opening of EU’s representative office in Iran.
Ebtekar is visiting Sweden at the official invitation of Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Margot Wallstrom as part of efforts to expand relations between the two sides and brief the Swedish side on Iranian women’s achievements.
The Grand Mufti said on Thursday that ‘Prophet Muhammad would have prohibited’ such a practice, according to the Facebook announcement.
The Grand Mufti, Shawki Allam, specified that promoting your posts/products to reach a wider audience, therefore gaining more genuine likes, is not haram, Cairo Scene reported.
The fatwa was discussed on Amr Adeeb’s talk show a few days ago, and the famed TV host vocalised his support, citing how many Egyptian celebrities purchase Likes from certain digital tech companies in order to seem more popular on the internet
This wheelchair not only improves the quality of life, but also enables the disabled to independently carry out their daily activities.
In this project, the team has managed to design and manufacture a multi-purpose wheelchair that allows the user to sit, stand, and lie down, Farzad Cheraghpour Samavati, a member of the research team and an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University, has told ISNA in a Farsi interview.
“Our main goal in implementing this project was to allow the disabled, who spend many hours on the wheelchairs, to be able to stand up. In addition, this multifunctional wheelchair improves the digestive and respiratory system of the disabled. This will significantly improve their health.”
“While in the standing position with their hands free, they can do a lot of activities including their own daily chores independently,” he added.
Referring to the performance of the multi-purpose wheelchair, Cheraghpour explained that the wheelchair is run by two manual control systems and linear electric motors.
In addition to this, the wheelchair is equipped with three jacks through which, by pushing a button, the linear motor switches from sitting to the standing position, he added.
According to this researcher, the person sitting on the wheelchair could be in standing position in less than 30 seconds.
Cheraghpour further mentioned that the wheelchair ensures the security of the seated person using its safety belts.
He also noted that the wheelchair is capable of moving only in the standing position.
“This wheelchair is equipped with a 360 degree universal joystick and three lifting engines with a force of 8,000 Newton. In addition, the wheelchair is equipped with a suspension system which allows the user to easily cross the obstacles.”
The researcher also noted that the wheelchair could be easily controlled and the seat position can be changed in less than 30 seconds. Moreover, due to the design of caster wheels, it will not overturn.
“Barrier warning system, three hours of continuous operation, and a flasher for nighttime operation are among the other features of this wheelchair,” underlined Cheraghpour.
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”
In recent years, Iranian scientists have made remarkable progress in various fields of technology despite sanctions imposed by the West.
According to the data released by Iran’s Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology, the Islamic Republic’s share in scientific publications worldwide has been growing over the past two decades, from 0.07 percent in 1996 to 1.5 percent in 2015.
Likewise, its share in total regional scientific publications increased from 3.5 percent in 1996 to 28.6 percent in 2015. Joint publications by Iranian authors and foreign collaborators accounted for around 19.8 percent.
The Iranian government says a major reason for these improvements is the increasing importance given to scientific publications, research, promotion of university professors through awarding grants to them, and granting awards to the graduate students and pursuing their admissions to accredited universities.
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