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Kremlin confirms Putin wrote confidential letter to Rouhani

By
IFP Media Wire
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Putin and Rouhani

“I can confirm the submission of the Russian president’s letter to his Iranian counterpart but cannot reveal its details,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi had earlier said that Russia’s special envoy on Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, who recently visited Iran, carried a message from President Putin to “Iranian political leaders.”

Russia’s ITAR-TASS news agency said Peskov had confirmed the delivery of the message in the form of a letter.

Lavrentiev  met with President Rouhani in Tehran on Saturday.

Russia, a Syria ally, has been providing military assistance to Damascus in its battle against foreign-backed terrorism. Iran, also an ally of Damascus, has been lending advisory support to the Syrian counterterrorism push.

Russia and Iran hold regular and close consultation concerning the situation in Syria toward coordinating their efforts in helping purge the Arab country of terrorism.

Also on Monday, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met with Hossein Jaberi Ansari, the deputy Iranian foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs, in Tehran.

Explaining the subject of the meeting, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, “Tehran and Moscow’s positions to politically resolve the Syrian crisis are the same.”

The statement said that, during the meeting, the two sides highlighted that the armed conflict in Syria does not have a military solution. It was emphasized that the conflict can only be resolved through political channels and unconditional intra-Syria dialog based on United Nations Security Council resolutions, the Geneva Communiqué issued in June 30, 2012, and decision-making by pro-Syria international groups, the statement added.

The Geneva Communiqué, which was adopted in the first international meeting on the ongoing crisis in Syria in the Swiss city, sketches the steps in a process to end the violence in Syria.

The Russian statement concluded that the Tehran talks had placed emphasis on “the immutability of the two countries’ shared, principal position” on the reinforcement of the ceasefire regime in Syria and addressing the humanitarian situation while continuing the fight against the Takfiri terrorist groups of Daesh, al-Nusra Front, and other active terrorist groups in Syria.

Iran’s 1st Oil Museum to Open Up in Abadan by December 20

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iran Oil Museum

Director of the Petroleum Industry Museums Project Akbar Nematollahi told Shana that executive operations on the museum of the first gasoline station in Abadan and Artisan School will be over by January 20, 2017.

He said the first power plant of Abadan refinery, Abadan Oil Museum Park Jetty Museum and the protocols houses will also be operational by end of the current Iranian year (due to end on March 20).

He went on to say that 20 points have been specified in Abadan city where the oil industry museum will be located.

The official said based on the documents available, the oldest and first gasoline station of the country was established in Abadan by British Petroleum in 1927.

At that time, the gasoline station provided oil and gasoline for households and vehicles, including planes, in the region, he added.

United States Is a Major Destination of Iran’s Handwoven Carpets

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iran carpet Rasam Arabzadeh

Baqer Seirafian, the head of Carpet Industries Association of Isfahan Province, says more than 4.5 million square metres of handwoven carpets are annually produced in Iran.

According to a Persian report by ILNA, he went on to say that 10% of Iranian handmade carpet exports go to the US.

He also referred to the problems of carpet business in Iran, and said, “Tourists should be able to use their credit cards, such as Visa and MasterCard, to buy our products if we intend to develop the sale of handmade carpets to tourists in domestic markets. Iranian banks are following up on this problem.”

Seirafian, meanwhile, announced that the price of handwoven carpet may rise in the near future.

“The silk used to be smuggled into Iran, so it was economically efficient to buy it. It will become expensive from now on because of the smuggling prevention program; and as a result, the handmade carpet is going to be more expensive.”

 

Iran Carpet Exports Up 17%

According to a recent report by Financial Tribune, Iran has exported $166 million worth of handwoven carpets during the seven months leading to October 21, registering a 17% increase compared with the corresponding period last year.

“The US, Germany, the UAE, Pakistan and Lebanon are the main export destinations for Iranian carpets,” the head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization Mojtaba Khosrotaj told IRNA.

Iran’s carpet exports were hard hit as a result of sanctions imposed on the country over its nuclear program. The United States—the biggest importer of Iran’s handmade rugs—banned the import of Iranian carpets, among other products, in September 2010.

Sanctions were lifted mid-January as part of a landmark nuclear deal the country signed with world powers last year. Iran agreed to limit the scope of its nuclear activities if the sanctions are lifted. Now that the sanctions are gone, exports are slowly gaining momentum.

Putin’s Envoy Had A Message for Tehran: Spokesman

By
IFP Media Wire
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Bahram Ghasemi

Alexander Lavrentiev, the Russian president’s special envoy on Middle East affairs, had a message from Putin to Iranian political leaders, Qassemi said at a press conference in Tehran on Monday.

According to the spokesman, the Russian envoy raised a number of issues on the bilateral and regional ties and specifically on the crisis in Syria during a December 3 meeting with Ali Akbar Velayati -a senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei- and received answers.

Highlighting the “widespread and close” consultations between Iran and Russia, Qassemi said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov is also now in Tehran for a meeting with his Iranian counterpart.

“Our cooperation with Russia is substantial and profound; we have certain interests in the region, have worked in cooperation and will keep to do so,” the spokesman added.

Iran and Russia have formed a strong alliance in recent years, with both supporting the Syrian government against foreign-backed militancy.

Tehran and Moscow insist that the Syrian nation is the only side that has the right to shape the future of the Arab country, which has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh (ISIL or ISIS), currently controlling parts of it.

Illegal Immigrants Dominate Iran’s Job Market

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iranian job market has been influenced by the presence of illegal foreign nationals for years. Some actions have been taken to identify, organize and dismiss the illegal foreign labour force; however, Iranian Parliament members believe that these measure have not been effective enough; and these refugees and immigrants keep working in Iranian job market because the related organisations neglect the issue.

According to a Persian report by ICANA, the Iranian MPs criticize the presence of 3 million illegal foreign nationals in Iran, saying that while Iranian workers are affected by unemployment and financial problems, 70% of foreign nationals work in construction field as the rest work as gatekeepers and servicemen.

According to Ahmad Hamzeh, a lawmaker from Kerman province in southern Iran, despite the fact that the recruitment of legal foreign nationals is forbidden in southern Kerman, the illegal foreign nationals are massively present in the job market of region, working in occupations such as pistachio trade, services, sewing, car repairing and smoothing, among others.

“The majority of foreign nationals consists of Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians and Pakistanis, with Afghans outnumbering others,” Hamzeh stated, noting that illegal Afghan refugees enter Iran due to lack of rigid control over Iran’s eastern borders.

“We need to allocate credits for the control of our frontiers. The police can’t fund it, so the government must take this responsibility to cooperate with the police and the Border Guard,” said Rouhollah Babaei, another Parliament member.

Criticizing the Department of Foreign Nationals, the Parliament members underlined the need to deal incisively with the recruitment of illegal foreign nationals, and to intensify the punishment for offending entrepreneurs.

‘Salaam Mumbai’ Sets New Box Office Record in Iran

By
IFP Media Wire
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16_salaam_0

Directed by Iranian filmmaker Qorban Mohammadpur and featuring Iranian and Indian stars Mohammad Reza Golzar and Dia Mirza, the melodrama had a massive opening day sales with 6 billion rials ($155,000), more than double the amount of the previous record-holder, Asghar Farhadi’s ‘The Salesman’, which took in $67,500 on its first day earlier this year.

The high sale on December 1 was also the highest for a single day recorded for any movie in Iran’s cinema history.

As the public kept packing movie theaters on Friday (Dec. 2), the film became the fastest to reach 10 billion rials ($260,000) in only two days, breaking the record of ‘The Salesman’ which was released three months ago and raked the amount in three days.

According to local news outlets, a formal ceremony for the film opening was held at Kourosh Cineplex in west of Tehran on Saturday (Dec. 3) in the presence of the Iranian and Indian cast and crew as well as a huge audience who rushed to see the movie stars, particularly Golzar.

Golzar, 39, appreciated the invaluable assistance of the Indian team that supported the Iranian group in their first joint production as the Iranian side had no experience of making a film in Bollywood. He thanked the famous Indian actor Gulshan Grover for his cooperation.

Grover, 61, has acted in over 450 films. He is among the first actors to have made a successful transition from Bollywood to Hollywood and international cinema. He is nicknamed the “bad man” in Bollywood as he mostly appears in negative roles.

At the ceremony, Grover acknowledged the talent of the Iranian filmmaker and actors and expressed joy for being a part of the movie. He has collaborated with many top actors in Hollywood; however, paying respect to the Iranian movie star, he said, “Golzar is better than many of them like Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.”

Indian Ambassador to Iran Saurabh Kumar appreciated the efforts by the Iranian director and producer of the film. “In the 1980s, many Iranians studied in India and fortunately the relations between the two countries have improved. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is in New Delhi now to attend the Heart of Asia Conference, and we are celebrating the cinematic collaboration of Iran and India here.”

  Star-Studded Event

Indian actress Poonam Dhillonm, 54, Pakistani actor Nasrullah Qureshi, 55, Indian composer Dilshaad Shabbir Shaikh and Iranian-Indian actor and the intermediary between Iran and India cinema Behrooz Chaihel were also introduced by Golzar on stage.

The movie’s leading actress Dia Mirza, 34, is scheduled to come to Iran on December 20.

Well-known Indian filmmaker Akbar Khan was also among the guests invited for the program. The historical drama series ‘Sword of Tipu Sultan’, one of the works he has directed, was shown on the state TV in Iran almost 25 years ago and was quite popular with the Iranian audience at the time.

  Two Cultures

‘Salaam Mumbai’ narrates the story of two medical students from two different backgrounds and explores their tumultuous romantic relationship. It touches the cultures and lifestyles of both Iran and India.

A typical Bollywood film contains singing and dancing; however, such scenes are not allowed in Iranian movies. But the film has three songs performed by famous Indian singers Sonu Nigam, Arijit Singh and Shabbir Kumar as well as one track by the young Iranian pop singer Benyamin Bahadori, 34, who has made his first appearance in a feature film with ‘Salaam Mumbai’. Two more tracks by Benyamin are also used for the beginning and ending credits.

Indian actors Dalip Tahil and Simran Mishrikoti and Benyamin’s wife Shaili Mahmoudi are also in the cast.

Almost 80% of the film was shot in India and the rest in Iran. Actors speak in English and Hindi. The film has Persian subtitles for the Iranian audience.

The movie has been widely released across the country. It is on screen at 25 movie theaters in Tehran and 75 halls in other cities.

The international screening of the film will start from Australia and the US in January 2017 and will be followed by showing in the UK, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Arab countries.

It will be released in about 3000 cinemas in India after its screening in Iran, most likely in March.

The film is co-produced by Javad Norouzbeigi from Iran and his Indian counterpart Pahlaj Nihalani. The Indian film company Motion Pictures will help with the international distribution of the work.

Fake US Embassy in Ghana Shut Down after 10 Years

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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fake embassy in ghana

According to a report covered by ISNA in Persian, the building that operated as a US embassy in Ghana was a fake, the US State Department says.

The enterprise, which issued fraudulently obtained legitimate visas, counterfeit visas, and other false identification documents, was overseen by figures from Ghanaian and Turkish crime rings working in cahoots with corrupt Ghanaian officials, the US State Department said in a statement. It operated three days a week in Accra, the capital.

The State Department did not say how many people may have entered the United States illegally using documentation issued by the crime ring, nor did it say how the ring may have obtained official documents.

Visas and passports from 10 different countries were found during raids on the nondescript stucco building with the corrugated tin roof, the State Department said.

Authorities shut down the operation after receiving a tip last summer and conducting a joint investigation by diplomatic security agents at the real US embassy in Ghana, Ghanaian authorities and other international partners.

The operation also uncovered a fake Dutch embassy in Accra, the State Department said, as reported by CNN.

The sham embassy advertised its services through fliers and billboards to cultivate customers from Ghana and neighbouring countries, the State Department said.

Booby-Trapped Quran Copies Found in Mosul

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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A source told Kul al-Iraq website that the ISIS terrorists had planted bombs in the copies of Holy Quran and left them in streets and in front of houses in the village of Kan’ous, near Mosul.

The Iraqi army announced the liberation of the village on Wednesday, November 30, IQNA reported.

Planting explosives in least expected places, including inside the copies of Islam’s holy scripture, is not a new technique employed by the Takfiri [extremist] terrorists.

Back in June 2015, after flushing out ISIS terrorists from the eastern parts of Iraq’s Diyala province, Iraqi security forces found a series of booby-trapped Qur’ans in the areas ISIS had fled.

Gruesome violence has plagued the northern and western parts of Iraq ever since ISIS terrorists launched an offensive in June 2014, and took control of swathes of Iraqi territory.

The militants have been committing heinous crimes against all ethnic and religious communities in Iraq, including Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and others.

US Not Empowered to Violate Nuclear Deal: Iran

By
IFP Media Wire
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“The US cannot [violate the deal] and is not in the position to move in the opposite direction of this accord and oppose it, nor is any other country,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Monday in his weekly address to the press.

The accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was clinched in July 2015 between Iran on the one side, and the US, Britain, Russia, France and China plus Germany on the other. It lifted nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran in exchange for limits on its nuclear activities.

Qassemi further said given the agreement’s multi-national nature, “it will have a strong international backing and its contravention is not something that could happen easily.”

Recently, the US Congress voted to extend Washington’s sanctions law against the Islamic Republic, known as the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA), although the JCPOA has removed all nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran.

On his campaign trail, US president-elect Donald Trump had made several highly-controversial remarks against the accord, raising speculations that Washington may take steps in breach of the accord under the new government.

Qassemi said Iran had made “all necessary calculations” to respond should the US reneges on its promises.

“We will not let others violate the Iranian people’s rights,” said Qassemi, stressing that the Iranian administration will defend the nation’s rights.

“A country, which is about to celebrate the 38th anniversary of its [Islamic] Revolution and has braved several rounds of US sanctions, has no worries about new ones.”

The official, however, said Tehran was still monitoring the developments inside the US, adding, “One should see whether the US president would veto the ISA or not.”

‘Myanmar Must Stop Muslim Plight’

Elsewhere in his remarks, Qassemi said the Islamic Republic was against discrimination of any kind against the world’s minorities.

In the same context, he called on Myanmar to the persecution of its Rohingya Muslims, which has raised concerns among international rights groups over the past months.

The 1.1 million-strong minority, which the government brands as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, has been suffering widely-reported systematic aggression for years.

The Myanmarese army has recently stepped up its crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in the state of Rakhine following a deadly attack on the country’s border guards on October 9. The government blamed the assault on armed Rohingyas.

US Looking for Annulment of Nuclear Deal: Iranian MP

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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According to a report by IFP, Ali Motahari, the vice-speaker of Iran’s Parliament, said no one has ever trusted the US, and all Iranians know Washington’s deceitfulness.

“We should not fall in Trump’s trap, because they are looking for a way to annul the JCPOA [nuclear deal with Iran],” he noted.

“I feel their plan is to violate the nuclear deal, and we should wait and see if the deal is supposed to be annulled, they themselves should do it,” Motahari added.

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