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Wildfire destroys nearly 10 hectares of forest in northern Iran

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Colonel Majid Zakariaei said that authorities received two wildfire reports from the Elit forest area in Marzanabad during November. The first fire, reported on 10 November, took four days to fully extinguish. The second blaze, reported on 24 November, proved far more difficult to control due to severe environmental conditions.

According to Zakariaei, extremely steep slopes of over 80 percent, prolonged drought, warm winds, humidity below 30 percent, accumulated dry leaf litter—sometimes up to one meter deep—fallen dead trees, and limited access routes for personnel and equipment all contributed to the challenge.

He estimated the burned area at under 10 hectares. More than 520 personnel across 52 specialized teams were deployed, including forest protection units, local volunteers, mountaineers, environmental rangers from the protected area, Basij and IRGC forces, Red Crescent rescuers, military teams, local municipalities, and firefighting units.

Aerial suppression efforts also played a major role, he added.

Tehran hosts “Basij Power” drill with senior IRGC commanders in attendance

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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The exercise took place at Imam Hussein Officer and Guard Training University in Tehran.

The event was organized by the Mohammad Rasulullah Corps, IRGC’s command for Greater Tehran, and attended by IRGC Commander-in-Chief Major General Mohammad Pakpour and Ahmad Vahidi, deputy chief of the Armed Forces General Staff.

Other officials from the General Staff, the Mohammad Rasulullah Corps and the Basij Organization were also present.

The exercise focused on demonstrating the operational readiness, coordination and mobilization capacity of Basij units in the capital.

More in pictures:

US representatives call for Trump envoy to be fired after leaked Kremlin call

By
IFP Media Wire
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Don Bacon, a Republican representative, called for Steve Witkoff’s immediate dismissal.

“For those who oppose the Russian invasion and want to see Ukraine prevail as a sovereign & democratic country, it is clear that Witkoff fully favors the Russians,” the Nebraska lawmaker wrote on X.

“He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired.”

Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican wrote that the leak represented “a major problem” and “one of the many reasons why these ridiculous side shows and secret meetings need to stop”.

He urged that the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, be allowed to “do his job in a fair and objective manner”.

Democratic representative Ted Lieu went further, calling Witkoff an “actual traitor,” and adding: “Steve Witkoff is supposed to work for the United States, not Russia.”

In a recording obtained by Bloomberg of a 14 October phone call between Witkoff and Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Witkoff said peace would require Moscow gaining control of Donetsk and potentially additional Ukrainian territory.

“Now, me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere,” Witkoff added, according to Bloomberg’s transcript. “But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here.”

Witkoff also gave Ushakov tactical advice, including how the Russian leader should approach the issue with Trump. It included suggestions about scheduling a Trump-Putin phone call before the planned visit of the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, to the White House.

On Wednesday, Ushakov appeared to confirm the call’s authenticity to Russian state television, suggesting the leak was meant to “hinder” negotiations. During the conversation, Ushakov stated Putin would congratulate Trump and call him “a real peace man”.

Trump defended Witkoff on Tuesday night.

“That’s what a dealmaker does. You’ve got to say look, they want this, you’ve got to convince them of this,” Trump said while onboard Air Force One.

“That’s a very standard form of negotiation.”

He added that he imagined Witkoff “is saying the same thing to Ukraine”.

The president’s special missions envoy, Richard Grenell, meanwhile, called for the leaker to be fired, not Witkoff.

“Find the leaker and fire them immediately. No excuses. The anonymous leaker is a national security risk,” he wrote in a social media post.

The controversial, 28-point proposal would force Ukraine to surrender the entire Donetsk region, including areas currently under Ukrainian control. These territories would become a demilitarized buffer zone recognized internationally as Russian territory.

The plan would also grant Russia control of Luhansk and Crimea while freezing battle lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Russia has not fully captured Donetsk despite nearly four years of war.

Putin said earlier this month that the US plan could form the basis for a final settlement, though the Kremlin claims it has not discussed details with Washington.

Trump announced earlier on Tuesday he is sending Witkoff to Moscow to meet Putin and the US army secretary, Dan Driscoll, to meet Ukrainian officials, ahead of a possible Trump-Zelensky meeting on Friday.

Americans sympathy for Israel hits historic low: Survey

By
IFP Media Wire
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Pro-Palestine Rally

The pollster interviewed 2,005 registered voters; 29.1% said they side with Israel, while 21.4% expressed support for the Palestinians. Nearly 30% said they sympathize with neither side of the conflict, which BDP interprets as a “clear indication of growing weariness over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

“The only notable demographic that remains majority sympathetic to Israel is Republican voters over 50 years old,” BDP Director Rich Baris has stated.

According to BDP, sympathy for Israel spiked to 54% shortly after the surprise Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 Israelis and prompted Israel’s bombing campaign and ground invasion of Gaza. Support for Israel has since declined as the death toll in Gaza has risen.

Nearly 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, according to local health officials. The BDP poll indicates that nearly 40% of registered US voters believe Israel’s actions amount to genocide, while nearly 30% said they disagree with this.

A ceasefire took effect last month, after which Hamas returned the last remaining living Israeli hostages captured during the 2023 attack in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

 

Iranian firm ready to mass-produce advanced dressings for EB patients, awaits institutional support

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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The firm announced that despite Iran operating under some of the toughest US and Western sanctions, its researchers have developed an EB-specific dressing that does not damage skin during application or removal.

However, it stressed that large-scale production requires support from national medical authorities.

Ali Sanjari, head of the company’s scientific division, told ISNA that developing EB dressings has been a primary research focus.

He said the team currently produces various medical dressings, including collagen, antimicrobial and polyurethane forms, and recently introduced a new antimicrobial foam product.

According to Sanjari, the upgraded EB dressing uses technology that ensures controlled, safe adhesion to prevent injury during dressing changes. Because EB patients require continuous wound care from infancy throughout life, access to reliable, gentle dressings is essential.

Sanjari said that while some of the company’s products have reached pharmacies and clinics, the EB dressing, now in the prototype phase, cannot enter mass production without institutional backing.

He called for support from healthcare regulators and hospitals to establish a full production line and ensure nationwide availability for patients.

Trump urges Japan’s PM to avoid further escalations in dispute with China: Reuters

By
IFP Media Wire
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Takaichi sparked the biggest diplomatic bust-up with Beijing in years when she told parliament earlier this month that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger Japanese military action.

Her words drew a furious response from Beijing – which claims democratically governed Taiwan – and demanded Takaichi retract her remarks, which to date she has not done, although the Japanese government said its policy on Taiwan was unchanged.

On the call on Tuesday, the US president expressed a desire for Takaichi to avoid further infuriating Beijing, according to the sources speaking to Reuters. Trump, who is seeking to maintain a fragile trade war truce with China, did not make any specific demands of Takaichi regarding the matter, one of the sources said.

Trump’s request for Takaichi to dial down the volume in the dispute was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The call immediately followed another Trump held with Xi Jinping, in which the Chinese leader said Taiwan’s “return to China” is a key part of Beijing’s vision for the world order, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.

Taiwan, which rejects Beijing’s ownership claim, has said a return to China is not an option for its 23 million people.

In an editorial published by the newspaper of the ruling Communist party on Thursday, the US was urged to rein in Japan to prevent “actions to revive militarism”.

“China and the United States share a common responsibility to jointly safeguard the post-war international order and oppose any attempts or actions to revive militarism,” the article said, highlighting how the two countries shared a common enemy during the second world war, Japan.

“The United States’ relationship with China is very good, and that’s also very good for Japan, who is our dear and close ally,” the White House announced in a statement attributed to Trump.

Asked for comment, the office of Japan’s prime minister referred Reuters to its earlier official readout of the call between Takaichi and Trump which stated that the two leaders discussed US-China relations, without elaborating.

 

Iran says contained another wildfire in Hyrcanian forests

By
IFP Media Wire
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Local officials in the north-central province of Semnan said on Wednesday that the wildfire in the Clouds Forest of the Shahrud region was brought under control just hours after it started.

Shahrud’s governor, Mohammad Hassan Asafari, said Iranian army units had assisted in the firefighting operation.

“The forest has not suffered serious damage, and most of the losses are in the rangelands,” he said.

The director of the local Natural Resources and Watershed Management department in Semnan province had earlier said the fire was most likely caused by human activity.

Alireza Rahayi said that the blaze had affected 10 hectares of woodland near the border of Semnan and the northern province of Golestan.

The incident comes just days after Iran announced it had fully contained a large-scale fire in the Hyrcanian forests near the northern city of Chalus in Mazandaran province. That blaze in the Elit forests destroyed more than eight hectares of woodland before it was extinguished, according to government officials.

Iran’s Environment Protection Organization said it had also deployed a firefighting squadron from neighboring Turkey to help put out the Elit blaze.

Authorities have attributed the sudden outbreaks of fires in the Hyrcanian forests to diminished rainfall and the buildup of dry leaves on the forest floor.

Stretching for around 1,000 kilometers along Iran’s Caspian Sea coast and extending into neighboring Azerbaijan, the Hyrcanian forests were recognized as a World Heritage Site in 2019 for their antiquity and exceptional biodiversity.

 

Iran says US should stop excessive and coercive attitudes

By
IFP Media Wire
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Araghchi, who has traveled to Paris at the invitation of his French counterpart, held talks on Wednesday afternoon with Jean-Noël Barrot at the French Foreign Ministry.

During the meeting, Franco-Iranian relations were reviewed. Both sides underlined the importance of continuing consultations to remove obstacles and facilitate mutual relations.

The two ministers discussed developments in West Asia, the conflict in Ukraine, international security issues, and Iran’s peaceful nuclear program. They also stressed the need for responsible efforts to help reduce tensions and strengthen international peace and justice.

Referring to the unjustified detention of Iranian national Ms. Mahdieh Esfandiari, Iran’s Foreign Minister welcomed the French court’s decision to grant her conditional release and called for expediting the process of her acquittal and full release so she can return to Iran.

Araghchi voiced deep concern over the increasing erosion of the rule of law at the international level and the weakening of the fundamental principles of the UN Charter, particularly in the West Asia region, and over the continued crimes and acts of aggression by the Zionist regime against the people of Palestine and Lebanon and other nations of the region.

The top Iranian diplomat underscored the responsibility of all governments to safeguard the rule of law, stop the genocide of Palestinians, uphold the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and prevent violations of countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity.

He further reaffirmed Iran’s legal right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and reiterated the goodwill and seriousness of the Islamic Republic of Iran in pursuing reasonable and rational negotiations aimed at ensuring confidence regarding the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.

Araghchi stressed that the parties who, through blatantly violating international law, first withdrew from the JCPOA and subsequently committed military aggression against Iran and attacked the country’s safeguarded facilities must cease their excessive and coercive approaches and be held accountable for their actions.

He also criticized the conduct of the three European countries in the UN Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors, highlighting their responsibility for the current situation. Araghchi called for the adoption of a responsible and independent approach based on international law, particularly Article 4 of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

 

Negotiation means dialogue, not dictation: Iran

By
IFP Media Wire
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“Negotiation means dialogue, not dictation, and we reject anything based on dictates,” the top diplomat said during an interview with France 24 in Paris on Wednesday.

He went on to decry a lack of genuine intent on the American side, blaming it for the absence of any underway negotiation track.

“The reason is clear: There is no will in America for real, fair negotiations,” he said, recalling that Iran had already proven its commitment to diplomacy in earlier years.

The official cited the Islamic Republic’s joining the negotiation process that yielded the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world countries, which was ditched by Donald Trump during the latter’s former tenure.

He also referred to the negotiation process that began earlier this year, but was irreversibly disrupted by an imposed and illegal joint Israeli-American war on Iran.

Despite all this, Araghchi stated, Tehran’s stance does equate rejection of diplomacy, but rejection of negotiation shaped by coercion.

“The day the US government announces that it is ready to set aside imposed and excessive demands and pursue a serious, win-win dialogue based on mutual interests, Iran will never say ‘no,’” he added.

“But we don’t see that readiness now. We’re not rushing. We’re waiting, and we will be patient until the US shows real intent instead of inflated demands,” the foreign minister noted.

The interview also touched on regional diplomacy and recent media claims regarding a letter sent by President Masoud Pezeshkian to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Araghchi roundly dismissed allegations that the communication concerned potential Riyadh-mediated talks between Iran and the United States.

He, however, stated that the Islamic Republic “completely trusts” the kingdom in the nuclear issue, asserting that the bilateral ties and confidence between the two sides have been improving over the past years.

The official, meanwhile, reiterated that the challenge faced by Iran on the nuclear file was not a shortage of mediators, but Washington’s approach to negotiations.

Araghchi went on to address the Islamic Republic’s rejection of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors’ most recent anti-Iranian resolution, which has demanded rapid and unconditional access to the Iranian nuclear sites hit during the Israeli-American war.

The resolution, he said, has ignored “field realities,” including the attacks and their aftermath.

The official noted that such bombing of civilian nuclear sites was unprecedented, and the agency had no protocol for inspecting bomb-damaged nuclear facilities.

Access to the attacked sites remains dangerous due to unexploded munitions, chemical and radioactive contamination, and the risk of renewed Israeli or US strikes, making a new safety-driven framework essential before inspectors could approach damaged areas, he added.

He called on board members to avoid further escalatory decisions until such new framework was finalized defining the manner of inspection of the affected facilities.

Addressing the issue of the war, Araghchi said the Israeli regime and the United States misread Iran’s level of strength during the war, which saw Iranian missiles strike enemy targets “with rising power and accuracy” in retaliation.

The reprisal, he reminded, forced both Tel Aviv and Washington to request a ceasefire, despite their early demands for Iran’s “unconditional surrender.”

Araghchi also commented on the case featuring French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris.

The individuals used to be detained in Iran over espionage charges, but are now at the French Embassy in Tehran awaiting exit permits pending exchange with Iranian academic Mahdieh Esfandiari, who was arrested in France in February over her pro-Palestinian activism.

“This exchange has already been negotiated between Iran and France, and an agreement has been reached. Everything on our side is ready. We are now waiting for the legal and judicial processes in both countries to conclude,” the foreign minister continued.

He added that the exchange timeline, though, depended on French judicial schedules, particularly Esfandiari’s upcoming hearing.

“Her court hearing in France is set for mid-January. Depending on the duration of judicial procedures, the process may conclude within one or two months. But at the very latest, the prisoner swap will take place by mid-January, provided the French court finalizes its process.”

 

Tehran ranked most polluted city in world

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

The city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) reached approximately 233, placing it in the “Very Unhealthy” category and making it the most polluted urban center in the world at the time of measurement.

Authorities and health experts report that the dangerous spike is primarily driven by elevated concentrations of PM2.5, ultrafine particulate matter small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream.

Prolonged or repeated exposure to such particles is linked to increased risks of heart attacks, strokes, aggravated asthma, reduced lung function, and other serious health complications.

With pollution levels exceeding the threshold considered hazardous for the general population, officials are urging residents to limit outdoor activities.

People who must leave their homes are advised to wear well-fitted N95 or FFP2 masks to reduce inhalation of fine particles.

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