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4 New Countries to Join UNESCO’s Nowruz Dossier

By
Fatemeh Askarieh
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Karim Khan Zand Citadel
Special Nowruz Ceremony in Karim Khan Zand Citadel, Shiraz

Nowruz, the Persian New Year, has been celebrated for thousands of years at the beginning of spring, on March 20 or 21, by Iranians, as well as some other ethno-linguistic groups in the Western and Central Asia.

According to a Farsi report by Mehr, Nowruz dossier was initially registered in UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage with seven countries involved: Iran, Azerbaijan, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

However, the number will change as the nations where Nowruz is celebrated by some groups of people show their willingness to join the portfolio every now and then.

The dossier was edited in 2014 after five countries – Iraq, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan – made an incorporation proposal; and re-inscribed as a 12-nation dossier in UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage during the eleventh session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Ethiopia last December.

It was during this session that China, Mongolia, Tanzania and Kenya also expressed their interest in getting involved in the dossier.

“The Nowruz dossier must be reedited and observed by the representatives of 12 registered countries and the nations that demand to join it,” said Farhad Nazari, the director-general of Iranian Office for Registration of Historical Works. “So the path to inscription of a multi-national dossier has to be retaken all over.”

Since the dossier’s registration for the first time, Nowruz was due to be celebrated as an intangible heritage in one of the involved countries each year. So was done for some years in nations such as Afghanistan and Tajikistan, then it was forgotten.

Iran, which celebrates Nowruz every year nationwide, decided to invite the ambassadors of other countries to this festival in order to promote it. The international celebration will be held this year in the Golestan Palace – a historical monument in Tehran – as announced by Hassan Talebian, the Deputy Head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHTO).

Iran is to celebrate Nowruz in 31 provinces at Nowruzgahs – special places for the festival this year on March 20.

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

One of the top stories today was the promise made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to report about his administration’s performance by the next week.

According to today’s newspapers, his report will be particularly focused on how much the government has pursued the Resistance Economy principles outlined by Iran’s Leader. This was a question raised in the Tuesday meeting of Assembly of Experts, where Rouhani was urged to apologise if he has failed to comply with the principles of Resistance Economy.

Rouhani’s criticism of the US report on Iran election also received great coverage. The Iranian president referred to the controversies over the US presidential votes, and urged them to take care of their own election instead of interfering in other countries’ affairs.

The above issues, as well as many more, are highlighted in the following headlines and top stories:

 

19 Dey:

1- Intelligence Minister: Ministry’s Mission Is to Silence Bullets, Not Voices

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Abrar:

1- Iran’s Police Has Debts of Nearly $200 Million Thanks to Ahmadinejad’s Permit!

2- Zarif: I’ve Had No Contact with Tillerson

3- Rouhani: Government to Report on Its Performance Next Week

4- Deputy FM: It’s Too Early to Judge Trump Era

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Aftab-e Yazd:

1- Assembly of Experts without Ayatollah Rafsanjani: Tangible Absence

2- Commander: IRGC Staff Not Allowed to Interfere in Election

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Amin:

1- First Signs of Trump’s Flexibility towards JCPOA: Americans can now open bank accounts in Iran after the ban was lifted by Trump administration

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Arman-e Emrooz:

1- President: We Don’t Have Right to Inspect People’s Lives

2- Rouhani: Lawyers Should Have Independence Just Like Judges

3- 7,000 Factories Shut Down in Ahmadinejad Era

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Asrar:

1- Rouhani: Americans Had Better Take Care of Their Own Election

2- Oil Minister: 35,000 bpd Produced from Oil Layers

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Ettela’at:

1- Rouhani: Government Trying to Restore Nation’s Lost Rights

2- Deputy FM: Nuclear Deal Will Be Broken If It Doesn’t Meet Our Interests

3- Transport Minister: Horrible to See 1.2m Cars Moving in Tehran Everyday

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Hemayat:

1- Deputy FM: Iran to Stop Issuing Visa for Americans

2- Deputy Prosecutor General: Waze Navigation App Filtered in Iran

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Iran:

1- 50 Million Iranians Given Shares in Stock Exchange Market: First VP

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Javan:

1- Assembly of Experts Calls for Gov’t Report on What It’s Done for Resistance Economy

2- Washington’s Dagger in Heart of JCPOA: Luxembourg court to seize Iran assets worth $1.6bn

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Jomhouri Eslami:

1- Deputy Transport Minister: 2 Airbus Planes to Be Delivered to Iran Next Week

2- Parliament Speaker: Rouhani Will Be Re-Elected in May Elections

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Kayhan:

1- Latest Fruit of Inaction Diplomacy: Even Luxembourg Is Seizing Iran Assets!

2- Trump Starts Demanding Money from Arab Sheikhs! ‘We rid Kuwait of Saddam, you should pay $9 billion!’

3- Mosul: One Step to Full Liberation; Iraqi PM Arrives in City

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Resalat:

1- Homegrown Chopper Saba 248 Unveiled by DM

2- Head of Assembly of Experts urges Rouhani to apologize if he’s failed to implement resistance economy

3- President: Iran’s Election Is Democratic, Americans Had Better Correct Their Own Election

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Sayeh:

1- Official: 3% of Oil Deals Revenues to Be Allocated to Environment

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

 

Seda-ye Eslahat:

1- Turkey’s Abnormal Behaviour towards Iran: When Iranians are harassed in borders

2- Senior Conservative: Rouhani Indebted to Reformists

 

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

Shargh:

1- It’s against Constitution to Charge Money for Education: Minister

2- President: Feel Free to Criticise Government

 

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on March 8

Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem to Appear in Asghar Farhadi’s Film

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-
Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz leaving El Capitain Theater in Hollywood

Acclaimed Iranian director Farhadi, the two-time Oscar-winning director of The Salesman and A Separation, has confirmed his next film will start shooting in Spain in September, with a cast including Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. It should be ready for next year.

However, Farhadi revealed the high-profile, real-life couple will “not necessarily” play an on-screen couple in the Spanish-language feature.

“Once again there are different couples in my film, not only one,” Farhadi told Screen, of what is a recurring theme of his work.

“The film is again about family and family relationships. But there are also some new aspects in it. Yes [Cruz and Bardem] are in the film but they are not necessarily a couple in the film.”

The non-Spanish speaker said he has written the script for the new film in Farsi and it has been translated into Spanish. “I don’t speak Spanish,” he explained via a translator. “But I have time between now and the shoot to at least become more familiar with the music of the film and do my best.”

The filmmaker, who previously shot The Past in French, said making the film in a foreign language wouldn’t compromise his vision.

“I don’t feel the change of language changes your voice,” he suggested. “[My voice is an] empathy with all the characters, a level of compassion that is general.”

As with all Farhadi’s films, few further details are known about the new feature, except that it is being produced by Pedro and Agustin Almodovar’s El Deseo and sold by Memento Film.

Trump Answers Ahmadinejad’s Letter in Messaging App!

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

Using the messaging app Telegram, Ahmadinejad asked Trump why he has not answered his letter yet. Here is Trump’s response, as cited by Ghanoon daily newspaper’s satirist Ahmad-Reza Kazemi:

trup-ahmadijejad-telegram

Iran Trying to Gain Access to Luxembourg Assets

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Takhte Ravanchi

Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs Majid Takht- Ravanchi added that CBI’s assets were in Europe when international sanctions were still in place and because of those sanctions Iran had no access to them, IRNA reported.

“This is not a new development and the asset freeze took place before negotiations for the nuclear accord began,” Takht- Ravanchi told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on the potential implications of US actions against Iran.

Ardeshir Fereydouni, the head of CBI’s Legal Department, reacted to the news announced by the New York Times on Monday and said US efforts to freeze $1.6 billion of Iranian assets in Luxemburg contravened international laws and treaties.

In comments published on CBI’s website, Fereydouni said the bank’s attorneys, in synch with the Presidential Office for International Law, have presented their defense arguments to recover those assets.

As reported by the Times, a judge in Luxembourg has quietly put a freeze on assets worth $1.6 billion belonging to Iran’s central bank, quoting people familiar with the case.

The paper reports that this is one of increasing instances in which domestic civil lawsuits against foreign entities have raised numerous complications.

Diplomatic and security specialists told the paper that the litigation also has broader significance. The essence of the 2015 deal was that Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions so it could reintegrate into the world economy. This goal would be undermined if any Iranian-linked assets in places like Europe were to face the threats of seizure to pay off default judgments handed down by American courts.

Payam Mohseni, the Iran Project director at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, was quoted as saying that if the victims succeed in seizing the funds, it could be a step toward a new confrontation, strengthening the hands of those who oppose the deal.

“Already, some of the envisioned investments in Iran with western financing have materialized,” he said.

“A ruling like this would make Iranian assets vulnerable in Europe which, for Iranians, would violate the spirit of the agreement if not its letter.”

The maneuvers in Luxembourg have attracted scant attention because the litigation is largely confidential. But according to the Times, a letter detailing the case is now circulating in Washington.

Lawyers for the palintifs sent the letter on Thursday to the prime minister of Luxembourg, seeking his government’s assistance in opposing Iran’s effort to unfreeze its assets and sent copies of the letter to senior foreign policy officials in the White House.

Last year, the US Supreme Court said the Central Bank of Iran must turn over $2.1 billion in frozen assets held by Citibank to victims of the 1983 Marine Corps barracks bombing in Lebanon. The Obama administration backed the victims in that case, which Iran is now challenging in the International Court of Justice.

Iran Traditional Taxi Industry to Launch Ride-Hailing App

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-
en-TAXI-700x400

snap-tap30Traditional taxi drivers in Tehran were initially outraged by the operation of online ride-hailing apps, Snapp and TAP30, and even staged protests before the Iranian Parliament and asked the lawmakers to stop the operation of over 25,000 cars working as their new rivals.

However, the people’s satisfaction with the services provided by the two apps helped them continue their operation. These services are provided in lower prices, and the citizens of Tehran have reported that their drivers are more polite than the traditional ones.

Now, the traditional taxi industry is trying to claw back the market share it had lost. By launching its own ride-hailing app, Taxi Organisation is admitting the fact that there is no way but to give in to technology and a competitive market.

The service is expected to open in the next fiscal year that begins on March 21, ISNA quoted Meysam Mozaffar as saying. Name and brand of the service will be announced soon.

In the first step, an estimated 8,000 regular (green and yellow colour taxis) drivers will be trained to use the Android application, the official said, as reported by Financial Tribune.

The only competitive edge of the app, compared to its current rivals, is that it will allow passengers to pick the type of car (hybrid, new models, van…) they would like to ride as well as the driver’s gender.

Mozaffar claimed that the application will be the first service that has all the needed certifications to operate legally in the sprawling capital. Initially the service will begin working with Tehran taxi companies and private agency taxis will join later.

Thirty taxi stations have been set up across Tehran specifically for the purpose of picking up passengers through the new app. The stations are set up largely near hotels, hospitals, shopping centres and areas of larger footfall.

Drivers have all been tested for mental and physical health by centres affiliated to Tehran Municipality and will also qualify for insurance coverage.

The drivers will work three shifts for the service which will enable people to hail taxis 24 hours a day across the capital that is home to 12 million people.

Another feature borrowed from the ride-hailing apps, is that the identity and personal details of the drivers will be available to the person hailing the cab.

The taxi organization has access to their home address, “in case of a problem they can be easily tracked,” the official said.

Users who do not have smart phones or Internet access can hail a cab using the number 1800. The official said the fares the new cabbies will charge will be cheaper than those of currently available ride-hailing services.

On average, Snapp’s and Tap30’s costs are almost 40% less than the regular public taxi or the private agency companies.

Deputy for transportation at Tehran Municipality, Maziar Hosseini, said at the weekend that although ride-hailing apps have caused a stir among traditional taxis “the truth of the matter is that the people have welcomed the Internet-based services.”

He went on to say that “logically we should not defy the services, as they increase the income of drivers and decrease costs for passengers.”

Noting that Tehran’s authorities support the lawful use of modern technology, the TM official said, “so long as the applications abide by the law and employ respectful drivers they are welcome and can continue their work.”

Hosseini noted that the other earlier ride-hailing applications have also acquired all the necessary permits.

The services are said to employ a total of 40,000 cars plus another 100,000 private agency drivers.

No IRGC Staff Allowed to Interfere in Iran Election: Commander

By
IFP Media Wire
-

“Like in the past, nobody in the IRGC, neither the guards (IRGC troops) nor the commanders, is permitted to interfere in the elections politically or factionally and to discredit the candidates,” Major General Jafari said in a gathering of IRGC commanders and officials on Tuesday.

He also emphasized the “monitoring organizations” of the IRGC have been assigned the job of looking for cases of noncompliance with the order, saying violators will be punished without any consideration.

Iran is going to hold its 12th presidential election on May 19.

According to Iran’s laws on elections, all military and armed forces are forbidden from interfering in elections, either in its execution or the monitoring process.

Iran’s Disadvantaged Areas Say Hello to Cinema

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-
cinema

According to a Farsi report by ICANA, the deprived areas of Fars province, southern Iran, have been provided with mobile movie theatres as part of the Cinema Salam (Hello Cinema) plan, which is to be carried out in other Iranian provinces as well.

“There is no cinema in many Iranian cities and regions. The plan makes all people able to enjoy watching films in movie theatres,” Iranian lawmaker Mohammad-Baset Dorrazahi noted, expressing his contentment in this regard.

“This plan reduced people’s costs; it is a good point,” he added, noting that the cinema lovers have to travel to other towns if there is no cinema in their own: something that pushes up their costs.

He then referred to the current long lines before the box offices of Iranian cinemas, and said, “Cinema Salam can be a good temporary solution. We shouldn’t forget, however, that the need for permanent cinemas with more facilities is felt today, as the people, the youth in particular, demand them.”

He went on to say that the film industry is a means of acquiring information and promoting culture in today’s world. “The Iranian youth in many provinces need to have fun, and cinema is a good way to have group fun.”

Dorrazahi believes that the private sector’s capacity can be tapped into for the construction of movie theatres in deprived regions.

“The government should consider facilities for the private sector to do so.”

France to Give Loans to Companies Investing in Iran

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-
France Economy Minister

“We are trying to help these companies [that want to make investment in Iran],” Sapin told reporters at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs in Tehran at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Tayyebnia.

“They will be able to apply for loans, but it’s not active yet. We are working on this,” Bloomberg quoted him as saying on Saturday.

French companies were among the first to return to Iran after sanctions were eased last year under Tehran’s nuclear deal with six world powers, but officials have said financing issues have hobbled some big infrastructure projects.

Sapin said he was “confident” that banking relations between France and Iran would be normalized in due time and said he was seeking clarification from the US government on the extent to which its sanctions will impact French banks working with Iran.

Iran’s largest state-run and partly state-run banks, Bank Melli and Bank Tejarat, have started brokerage services in France and were working with some French banks, Tayyebnia said, declining to name them.

Dangerous Firecracker Users to Be Jailed for Entire Nowruz Holidays

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

According to a Farsi report by Khabar Online, Hassan Sajedinia, the police chief of Tehran, referred to the upcoming Fireworks Wednesday festivals and warned that the users of dangerous explosive fireworks will be put in jail until the end of Persian New Year holidays in early April.

“24 million illegal explosives of different types have been discovered,” he noted, adding that the explosives are to be destroyed in coordination with judicial authorities.

“Those who throw the explosives out of their cars during the Fireworks Wednesday will be arrested. Their cars will also be confiscated and transferred to parking.”

The fiery night before the last Wednesday of the year comes a few days before the Persian New Year, known as Nowruz.

Overall, the mood in Iranian cities on Tuesday night is festive, with most of the chaos coming from threat of rogue firecrackers.

Each year, bonfires, many of them unattended, are seen blazing throughout the city side streets.

Some people from their windows and rooftops indiscriminately throw firecrackers into crowded streets with no regard for the people and property below.

Every year people die, many get hurt and burned, but still people will come out.

After what happened to firefighters in the tragic Plasco incident back in January, this year a popular campaign has been launched to discourage people from using dangerous firecrackers.

Iranian people will celebrate the festival next week.

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