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Trump’s Visit to Riyadh Will Cost Saudis $68 Million

By

IFP Editorial Staff

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May 8, 2017

Donald Trump, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud — Donald Trump stands with Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before lunch in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, March 14, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

According to a leaked ‘secret and urgent’ letter by Saudi King Salman to the country’s finance minister indicates that Riyadh has allocated 257 million rials [nearly $68 million] to the preparations for hosting US President Trump.

According to a Farsi report by Fars News, based on a picture of the secret letter, which has gone viral in the Arab social media, King Salman has ordered the finance minister to prepare the grounds for welcoming Trump, who is going to visit the kingdom in the coming weeks.

A copy of the secret letter has also been sent to the cabinet, the defence ministry, and the ministry of urban and village affairs.

“People Should Be Informed of Candidates’ Lifestyles”

By

IFP Editorial Staff

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May 8, 2017

People Should Be Informed of Candidates’ Lifestyles

One of the ways of helping people to get to know presidential and parliamentary candidates better is to disseminate information on their lifestyles, places of living and families, wrote the conservative newspaper Kayhan.

“During the presidential election [campaign], all candidates claim to be supporters of the deprived and ordinary people,” wrote the paper, adding it should become clear whether or not their own lifestyles are similar to those of the general public.

Regardless of all the campaign brouhaha, it seems one of the ways to further familiarize people with the lifestyles of candidates is to interview them in their homes, Kayhan further wrote.

The state radio and TV (the IRIB)’s showing the lifestyles of the candidates first-hand can play a key role in showing to the people how their future president lives, the daily added.

Website Launched by Qalibaf Blocked ahead of Iran Election

By

IFP Editorial Staff

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May 8, 2017

A few weeks before Iran’s presidential election, Qalibaf set up a registration website for entrepreneurs and job seekers, asking the unemployed people to sign up to receive monthly cash handouts as long as they find a job.

The website, however, was blocked on Sunday by the country’s judiciary, according to what the ICT ministry says.

The filtering came after Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli slammed Qalibaf’s move, calling it an illegal move by which he seeks to buy votes through enticement and bribery.

According to IFP, after Qalibaf, Tehran mayor, announced that creating five million jobs will be a priority of his administration in a televised interview, he said in case of winning the election, he plans to work towards that goal from the very first day of his term in office and, to that end, has already launched a website to register entrepreneurs and job seekers and established a database of their information.

The move by Qalibaf provoked immediate reaction from Rahmani Fazli who said, “The Interior Ministry’s legal department maintains that this is an illegal move. The move is, in a way, considered an effort to entice and bribe people [to vote for him] and, somehow, comes under the suspicion of buying and selling votes. We are pursuing the issue at the Interior Ministry and in case of arriving at any definite conclusion about its failure to be legitimate, we will announce it.”

In reaction to remarks by the minister of interior, Qalibaf’s presidential campaign headquarters issued a statement saying that making such remarks by Rahmani Fazli has been an unlawful act.

The statement also said Qalibaf will take legal action against the interior minister’s remarks.

The statement added according to the law, buying and selling votes as an illegal act applies to any attempt carried out to those ends on the day of election and in polling stations and does not concern candidates announcing their plans.

“As per the note 1 and 2 of the Article 33 of Iran’s Constitution, the interior minister is required to inform the Central Supervisory Board on 12th Presidential Elections and Iran prosecutor’s office of any probable electoral crimes and violations. Nothing has been mentioned about the public announcement of the violations and the interior minister or its respective minister doing interviews against the candidates.”

Another part of the statement said as per the articles 697 and 698 of the Islamic Penal Code of Iran (approved in 1996), the move by the interior minister is considered a crime, adding a complaint will be filed against him and submitted to related judicial authorities.

400 University Students Food Poisoned in Iran

By

IFP Editorial Staff

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May 8, 2017

Pir-Hossein Kolivand, the head of Iran’s Emergency Centre, declared 400 students residing in a dormitory belonging to the University of Yazd were food poisoned on Monday morning.

“At 5:05 (local time), the emergency centre was informed of the poisoning. 251 of the 400 students were taken to eight hospitals, and the rest received medical services in the campus,” he noted.

“From among the 251 taken to the hospital, 72 were discharged after receiving specialized services, and the rest of them were hospitalized,” he added.

The reason for the poisoning is not clear yet, but an informed source told the Ana news agency that the students had drunk cantaloupe juice the previous night.

ISIS Leader in Afghanistan Killed in Joint Operation

By

IFP Editorial Staff

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May 8, 2017

ISIS terrorist group

Hasib, appointed last year after his predecessor Hafiz Saeed Khan died in a US drone strike, is believed to have ordered a series of high profile attacks including one in March 8 on the main military hospital in Kabul, a statement said.

Last month, a Pentagon spokesman said Hasib had probably been killed during the raid by US and Afghan Special Forces in Nangarhar during which two US army Rangers were killed, but prior to Sunday’s announcement there had been no confirmation.

“This successful joint operation is another important step in our relentless campaign to defeat ISIS-K in 2017,” the top US commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson said in a statement from US military headquarters in Kabul.

The statement, following an earlier announcement by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, said Hasib directed the March 8 attack on the main Kabul military hospital by a group of militants disguised as doctors. Dozens of medical staff and patients were killed in the attack.

It said he also ordered fighters to behead local elders in front of their families and kidnap women and girls to force them to marry ISIS fighters, Reuters reported.

The local affiliate of ISIS, sometimes known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), after an old name for the region that includes Afghanistan, has been active since 2015, fighting both the Taliban as well as Afghan and US forces.

It is believed to maintain links with the main ISIS movement in Iraq and Syria but has considerable operational independence.

US and Afghan special forces, backed by drone strikes and other air support, have waged a series of operations against IS-K since March, killing dozens of their fighters, mainly in Nangarhar, on the border with Pakistan.

Defeating the group remains one of the top US priorities in Afghanistan and last month the United States dropped its largest non-nuclear device on a network of caves and tunnels used by ISIS in Nangarhar, killing 94 fighters, including four commanders.

The US military statement said 35 ISIS fighters and several high ranking commanders were killed in the April 27 raid.

Hundreds of fighters had been killed or captured this year and the offensive was continuing, with over half the districts controlled by ISIS-K retaken, allowing residents in some places to return for the first time in two years.

Iran Welcomes Results of French Presidential Election

By

IFP Editorial Staff

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May 8, 2017

Bahram Qassemi

Qassemi on Monday welcomed the results of French presidential election, and congratulated the French nation and government on the event.

He also expressed the hope that, once Emmanuel Macron takes the office, the relations between Iran and France will be promoted based on the grounds laid in the previous years and in line with the two nations’ interests.

The pro-EU centrist Macron won the French presidency with a decisive victory over the far-right Marine Le Pen on Sunday.

Macron, 39, a former economy minister who ran as a “neither left nor right” independent promising to shake up the French political system, took 65.1% to Le Pen’s 34.9%.

“Pledge to Increase Cash Subsidies Aimed at Buying Votes”

By

IFP Editorial Staff

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May 8, 2017

Iran's Parliament

In a Farsi interview with ICANA, member of Iran’s Parliament Ahmad-Ali Kaykha said some candidates, with no regard for the law, are promising to increase the amount of subsidies if they become president.

He said such a campaign slogan is an obvious example of buying votes.

The MP said Iran’s state radio and TV (known as the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Broadcasting Organization or the IRIB) should invite independent experts to discuss whether or not the campaign pledge can actually by fufilled.

He said Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has also shown reaction to such slogans.

“Many of the respected candidates don’t have enough knowledge of the basic principles of law as [they should know that] the financial resources and costs in a country are determined by the Parliament in annual budget packages,” said Kaykha, who sits on the Parliament’s Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Commission.

Regardless of whether increasing cash subsidies would be a positive or negative step, said the MP, one should bear in mind that it is not within the administration’s authority to increase them.

“To increase cash subsidies, the administration needs the Parliament’s approval,” the MP noted.

“One can say that some candidates are making comments beyond their legal powers,” he said.

The MP further added, “Some individuals make moves which are like acts of suicide, and say whatever they want, in order to become president and probably achieve other objectives they are pursuing.”

“If we want to triple cash subsidies, we need to borrow,” the Parliament representative underlined.

He also said the Parliament speaker has adopted an appropriate position regarding the candidates’ promise to increase cash subsidies.

“He (Larijani) should defend the position of the legislature more, should say that many of the comments made by the candidates are not within their prerogatives according to the Constitution, and that such a move is subject to the Parliament’s approval,” Kaykha noted.

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