According to a report by Ettelaat Newspaper, as translated by IFP, the Saudi-led coalition’s 600-day invasion of Yemen has killed 11,403 people and wounded 19,343, including lots of women and children,” Yemen`s Legal Centre for Rights and Development confirmed.
The centre announced that 2,458 children have been killed and 2,253 wounded during the attacks.
Newspapers today covered the ongoing air pollution in Tehran and other Iranian megacities, mainly focusing on the criticisms of President Hassan Rouhani’s government over the critical situation.
They also continued to highlight the comments and reactions to the election of Donald Trump as the US president, particularly the recent statement by the European Union about Iran nuclear deal.
The ongoing pilgrimage of Shiites to the Iraqi city of Karbala to mark Arbaeen, the 40th day after Imam Hussein’s martyrdom, also received great coverage.
The above issues, as well as many more, are highlighted in the following headlines:
Abrar:
1- Mogherini Wholeheartedly Defends JCPOA
2- MP: 70% of Iran’s Workforce Suffering from Underemployment
3- Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs: We Won’t Reject the Offer for Talks with Iran
4- EU Underlines Its Stances towards Nuclear Deal
5- UN’s Ban Condemns Pakistan Blast
Abrar-e Eqtesadi:
1- Oil Price of $40 Predicted for Next Year’s Budget
2- Iran to Buy Train from Germany by Instalments
Afkar:
1- Terrorist Blast in Karbala
2- Trump Has to See the Realities
3- Iran Ready to Hold Joint Military Drill with China
4- Blood Sugar Is More than 100 in 25% of Iranians
Aftab-e Yazd:
1- Tehran in Talks with Moscow for $10bn Purchase of Weapons and Military Equipment
2- Rouhani: If the Entire West Was Corrupt, They Couldn’t Achieve This Much Scientific and Economic Growth
3- Trump: Don’t Be Afraid of Me! President-Elect Starts Backing Off
4- Hillary Clinton to Get Divorced from Bill: Christian Newspaper
Amin:
1- If JCPOA Was Not There and Trump Became US President [Editorial]
2- President Rouhani: Radicals Think that Everyone, Except Them, Is Wrong
Arman-e Emrooz:
1- First VP’s Reaction to Claims about Scrapping JCPOA: They Just Want to Scare People
2- Dinner of Fear in Brussels: EU Holds Extraordinary Meeting after Trump’s Victory
Asrar:
1- Employment, Water, and Environment Are Most Important Problems of Iran: Rouhani
2- Trump: People Are Afraid, Because They Don’t Know Me!
Besharat-e Now:
1- It Is in Everyone’s Favour that JCPOA Is Fully Implemented: Mogherini
2- Senior Reformist: Reformism Discourse Is Favoured throughout Iran
Ebtekar:
1- My City Is Lost: Why Iranians Don’t Pay Attention to Air Pollution?
Etemad:
1- Mr Diplomat’s Water Warnings: Deputy FM Araqchi Says Iran Will Be Declared as a Country with Shortage of Water by 2025
2- Air Pollution, a Pretext for Attacking Government [Editorial]
3- Forgive Us for the Repetitive Headline: Air Is Polluted
Ettela’at:
1- Rouhani: We Should Prevent Creation of Gap among People through National Solidarity
2- Iran and China Sign Military MoU
3- Trump: I’ll Deport 3 Million Illegal Immigrants
Haft-e Sobh:
1- Pretending to Be Moving towards the West, but Turning to the East: Talks for Unprecedented Weapons Deal with Russia, and Signing Military MoU with China
2- Searching for the Missing Woman: Unclear Fate of a Woman Seven Days after Falling into Street Canal
3- No Iranian Woman Will Be Allowed to Attend Body Building Competitions
Hemayat:
1- Judiciary Chief: US Political Establishment Has Reached a Deadlock
2- Europeans’ Human Rights Excuses in Post-JCPOA Era: EU Releases Latest Statement
3- Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation: Major Western Banks Not Cooperating with Iran
Iran:
1- Europe against Trump: EU Releases Statement in Support of JCPOA
2- Different Faces of Trump as a Candidate and Trump as a President
Jame Jam:
1- 10,000 Killed in 600 Days of Saudi Madness in Yemen
2- Repeated Prescriptions for Chronic Air Pollution
Javan:
1- Early Gap between Europe and US over JCPOA
2- Six Months to Iran Presidential Election, and 3.5 Years after Rouhani Took Office: Employment Will Be the Government’s Main Concern in Next 6 Months!
Jomhouri Eslami:
1- Iran Welcomes EU’s Statement about Commitment to JCPOA
2- Zarif: Hezbollah Is a Factor that Creates Security in the World
3- US Is Still in Chaos
4- Turkey’s All-Out Attacks on Syrian Kurds in al-Bab
Kayhan:
1- Reformist Economist: Rouhani Should Better Do Something about Economy instead of Partisan Orientations
2- Hezbollah’s Parade of Might in Syria Surprises West and Zionists
3- Trump’s We Could Rebuild the US with the Money Spent on Our Wars in Middle East
4- Famous American Philosopher: American Empire Faced with Deep Crisis; Trump and Clinton Both Are the Same
Khorasan:
1- Biggest Moon in Past 70 Years Observed Last Night
2- Tens of People Killed in Nigerian Army’s Attack on Arbaeen Pilgrims
Payam-e Zaman:
1- EU Welcomes JCPOA Implementation: Iran’s Defence Capabilities Not Negotiable at All!
Resalat:
1- Senior Conservative Haddad Adel: Conservatives Are Resolved to Compete in Presidential Elections
2- Parliament Speaker: If a Nation Fights, It Won’t Be Humiliated
3- Judiciary Chief: Arbaeen Processions Manifestation of Shiites’ Might in World
Roozan:
1- Social Media Users Sharing a Message that Says Air Pollution in Tehran Has Become Worse than What Chernobyl Experienced 12 Years after the Accident
Rooyesh-e Mellat:
1- Expansion of Iran-China Cooperation in Transport
Shahrvand:
1- Infants Sold for $4,000 to $11,000: Members of a Baby Trade Gang Arrested in Iran’s Amol
Shargh:
1- Trump’s Anti-Iran Stances Not in US Favour
2- Senior Conservative Haddad Adel: We Have Not Sworn to Oppose Rouhani’s Government
3- Politics: This Damn Choice between ‘Bad and Worse’ [Editorial]
Siasat-e Rooz:
1- 600-Day Holocaust: Saudi-American Coalition Continues Its Atrocities in Yemen
2- We Shouldn’t Waste Our Time on Issues that Are Not Important for Iranian Society: Rouhani
Tejarat:
1- CBI Governor: People’s Financial and Bank Accounts’ Data Should Not Be Disclosed
2- Illegal Travel to Iraq Will Be Punished by 6 Years in Prison
Vaghaye Ettefaghieh:
1- Former Iranian Diplomat: Iran Won’t Accept Any Change to Nuclear Deal
2- Trump’s Earthquake Activates Gaps between US and Europe
3- We Are Not Seen: When Pollutants Celebrate!
Vatan-e Emrooz:
1- You Don’t Think about a Solution, You Just Shut Down [schools]: Continued Emergency Situation in Iranian Megacities, and Parliament’s Warning against Government’s Inattention to People’s Health
2- Trump: War Is Enough!
Speaking to reporters at Chazzabeh border crossing in the southwestern province of Khuzestan on Monday, Head of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization Saeed Ohadi said more than 1.4 million pilgrims have travelled to Iraq via Iran’s western border crossings for the Arbaeen procession.
He also expected the number to rise to 2 million by the day of Arbaeen, which falls on November 20 this year.
Ohadi further warned the pilgrims not to head to the Iraqi border without a valid passport and a visa, rejecting the possibility of getting a visa at the border.
His comments came after Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi cautioned that illegal entry into Iraq, namely without a valid visa, will carry a prison sentence of up to six years.
The Arbaeen mourning ceremony is one of the largest religious gatherings in the world.
It marks the 40th day after the martyrdom anniversary of the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), Imam Hussein (AS).
Each year, pilgrims, mainly from Iraq and Iran, travel long routes on foot to Karbala, where the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) is located.
Last year, more than 20 million pilgrims from all over the world gathered in Karbala on Arbaeen.
According to a report covered by Kayhan Newspaper, the protests against Trump have largely been an organized, top-down operation — and not an organic movement of concerned Americans taking to the streets as reported by the mainstream media.
Some of the anti-Trump protests in the US have been organized by groups that were sponsored by Clinton sympathizer and billionaire George Soros.
Among Wikileaks’ Podesta emails was a strategy document involving the Soros-supported MoveOn.org and grassroots organizing and funding.
MoveOn.org issued a press release on Wednesday afternoon about the protests where they wrote “hundreds of Americans, dozens of organizations to gather peacefully outside the White House and in cities and towns nationwide to take a continued stand against misogyny, racism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia.”
Since Trump won on Tuesday, protests have occurred out in cities across the US, all of which are Democratic strongholds. There have been three nights of protests, with more planned for Friday night and many slated for the weekend.
At a rally in Portland attended by more than 4,000 people on Thursday night, police declared it a riot and fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd after claiming they were attacked by protesters. They arrested 26 people.
Leading Democratic funders in California have started a campaign calling to reject the election results, arguing it was not consistent with the state’s values.
Gasic believes someone is “stirring the pot” because “America has never traditionally had a problem with accepting the outcome of an election.”
“We now have Soros behind many ‘color’ revolutions in other countries and financing in effect a semi-color revolution in US,” Gasic told RT, a reference to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, among others. “I don’t know if it categorizes as treason. He certainly operates from the shadows. His only legitimacy is his wallet. His only concern is to create the kind of democracy he can prop up and gain an interest from. That’s the kind of person who is behind this continuing protest against a valid, legitimate, free election.”
An email leaked by WikiLeaks earlier this week showed Soros had advised Hillary Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State on how to handle unrest in Albania – advice she acted on.
As well, it’s important to note that Soros provided a whopping $33 million to activists in Ferguson, Missouri, escalating a protest to a siege.
Wednesday saw protests in the streets of at least 10 major U.S. cities. Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, DC, Portland, Ore., St. Paul, Minn., Seattle, and several other cities saw protests, according to USA Today.
In light of the protests and rioting that have transpired since the election of Trump, a closer analysis of the dynamic at play is warranted to gauge whether it’s an organic grassroots movement, or something much more organized, sophisticated and potentially dangerous.
In an interview with Khabar Online, as translated by IFP, Hassan Ghafouri-Fard, a veteran conservative politician, said that if Donald Trump manages to keep the promises he made during his presidential campaign, it would be most beneficial to the world.
If he keeps his promise to withdraw American forces from the Middle East to be more focused on the US domestic affairs, the region would benefit the most as the presence of American troops is the biggest trouble in the region already, he said.
Gharouri-Fard, who is also a former lawmaker, further referred to Trump’s frankness as one of the reasons behind his victory, and said, “He is not a political figure but rather a businessman.”
However, he noted, “his rival was a political figure who, besides having been wife to a former US president, had served as Secretary of State for several years. For this, Trump’s acts are more naïve, and thus, he is not a multilayered personality like his rival, Mrs. Clinton, is.”
Ghafouri-Fard also highlighted the impact of Trump’s victory on the upcoming presidential votes in Iran within the next 7 month.
“The result of the election in the US has the least to do with Iran’s domestic affairs,” he said.
“The political system of the US renders a small authority to the president and instead, organizations, parties and the Congress practice the greatest power in this country.”
“In Iran, it is the people who determine their fate. Iranians are involved in politics more than any other nation; some may say if Clinton had won the election, it would benefit Iran more, but our people are pretty wise and Trump’s election or Clinton’s loss would have the least impact on our country’s political conditions,” he went on to say.
According to a report by Mehr, as translated by IFP, Rajabali Khosroabadi, the Director General of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organisation’s Office in Tehran, said, “Because of the air pollution, what tourists see when they enter Tehran is the opposite of what is advertised and has motivated them to visit Tehran`s historic, natural and cultural attractions.”
Therefore, he stressed, “I apologize to all foreign tourists who travel to Tehran these days.”
“I hope that Iranian people clear this grey picture of Tehran`s attractions through their hospitality,” he added.
“All tours of Tehran entitled “Health Walking”, which were planned in cooperation with the tourism office of Tehran Municipality and were scheduled for a week since November 13 on the occasion of International Diabetes Day, are cancelled,” he added.
Officials in the Iranian capital ordered the closure of kindergartens and elementary schools for a second consecutive day as heavy pollution continues to blanket the city of some 12 million.
Members of Tehran’s Air Pollution Emergency Committee decided in a meeting on Monday to shut kindergartens and primary schools in all but three cities of Tehran Province, official news agency IRNA, said.
The decision came as the average level of PM2.5 particles in Tehran’s air hit 156, a little lower than what was recorded in the city’s pollutant measurement stations a day earlier, but it is still more than three times the level considered safe.
Some neighbourhoods in Tehran, especially in the south, centre and east of the city, reported PM2.5 levels up to 200 on Sunday.
The committee also extended restrictions on the movement of cars in Tehran, saying that only sanctioned cars could travel in the central parts of the city, while police will be allowed to stop old and high-emission vehicles on the roads.
Sand plants in the west of Tehran, where the winds normally start to enter the city, were also shuttered, while people were advised not to participate in group exercises in parks and green spaces.
Officials said the pollution was expected to stay above Tehran until Wednesday when winds are expected to move the stagnant air.
Spared pollution levels like the ones recorded in India and China, heavy congestion and cold weather normally cause brown-white smog in Tehran in autumn and winter days each year.
Many blame the quality of gasoline and substandard cars for the poor air quality in the sprawling city.
Iran’s Health Ministry estimated that about 80,000 people died due to pollution across the country in 2012. The ministry also said that pollution contributed to the premature deaths of 4,500 people in Tehran in the same year.
Hossein Alimorad, the director for investment affairs of the country’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC), was quoted by the media as saying that the credit line will be dedicated for the development of several NPC projects.
Once they are in full swing, Alimorad said, the funds thus attracted will be used for the development of petrochemical projects of private-sector companies, Shana reported.
He added that Germany has already pledged to open a credit line worth €3 billion for Iran’s petrochemical projects. This, the official added, can increase to €6 billion but Iran wants to increase it further to as high as €12 billion.
Alimorad also emphasized that the policy of the Iranian government is to avoid providing any state guarantees for economic projects including those in the petrochemical industry. The same policy will be pursued for attracting funds from Germany for the development of petrochemical projects, added the official.
He further emphasized that Iran is currently negotiating with companies from China and South Korea as well as some others from Europe over opening new credit lines for the development of petrochemical projects.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the NPC official said no major step has been taken to open a credit line worth €10 billion by Japan for the development of Iran’s petrochemical projects six months after signing a basic agreement to the same effect. Alimorad added that fresh negotiations have started over a similar scheme worth €0.64 billion with another Japanese company.
Republican Trump, who became US president-elect after defeating his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the election last week, had repeatedly promised in his campaign that he would scrap the deal struck between Tehran and the P5+1 – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – in July 2015.
The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), went into effect on January 16, and resolved a long-running Western dispute over the Iranian nuclear program.
Obama said on Monday that after the deal was reached, there was an argument that Iran might not comply with the agreement, but so far it has been proven otherwise.
“The main argument against it was that Iran wouldn’t abide by the deal, (but) we now have over a year of evidence that they have abided by the deal,” Obama said at a White House news conference.
“My suspicion is that when the president-elect comes in and is consulting with his fellow Republicans on the Hill, that they will look at the facts,” he said. “To unravel a deal that’s working and preventing Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon would be hard to explain.”
It is harder to undo “something that is working,” the outgoing president said, noting that “when you’re not responsible for it, I think you can call it a terrible deal…(but) when you are then responsible for the deal and preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, you are more likely to look at the facts.”
On Wednesday, the Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the UN agency’s latest report once again confirms Iran’s full commitment to the agreement.
Reza Najafi made the remarks following a report by IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano (pictured below) on Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA.
Amano’s report, which was sent to the IAEA Board of Governors and the United Nations Security Council, also noted that Iran had informed the IAEA of its plan to transfer five metric tons of heavy water out of the country.
Under the JCPOA, Tehran agreed to roll back certain aspects of its nuclear program — including the volume of its uranium stockpiles enriched to the 20-percent level — and provided international atomic monitors enhanced access to its nuclear facilities. In return, Iran’s partners agreed to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions.
According to a report by IRNA, as translated by IFP, Iranian Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani said the result of recent US elections and the election of Donald Trump was a big shock to the US society and Western countries.
“The results were surprising,” he said, adding that American people voted for a man who described the US ruling system as a corrupt one.
Therefore, he added, “the results of US elections were a big no to the American Establishment and its policies.”
Meanwhile, he warned that the US President- Donald Trump’s insistence on the comments he made in his election campaign would inflict a crisis upon the world, including the US itself.
If Trump intends to press on with what he announced before the US presidential election, the world and the US itself will face a crisis, Ayatollah Amoli Larijani said at a meeting of high-ranking judiciary officials in Tehran on Monday.
As regards Trump’s threats to scrap the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a nuclear agreement between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), Ayatollah Amoli Larijani made it clear that lack of commitment to the deal by the other parties would not have any significant impact on Iran and the country will not face any challenge because the accord has not basically been in favour of Iran.
He also underscored that Iran will continue to carry out its independent policies by relying on the local forces, stressing that election of different people as heads of foreign states will not influence Iran’s conduct.
In March, during a speech to the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC, Trump, who won a stunning victory in the US presidential election on November 8, said his “number-one priority” would be to “dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.”
In August 2015, he said he would not “rip up” the nuclear deal, but that he would “police that contract so tough they (Iran) don’t have a chance.”
While many consider the JCPOA a major breakthrough in the improvement of ties between Iran and the West, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has made it clear that Tehran’s policy toward the US will remain unchanged regardless of the nuclear deal, Tasnim reported.
The accord took effect in January and was supposed to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation has been hampered mainly due to US policies.
“We hope that the US president-elect would demonstrate a tangible shift on Iran and the region so that the roots of insecurity would be removed from the region,” Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi told reporters in Tehran on Monday.
It is still too early to comment on Trump’s policies, he added, saying experience shows that candidates, everywhere in the world, usually change their approaches when they take the office.
A shift in Trump’s policies is also likely, the general stated.
He also expressed the hope that the next US president’s term would mark the pull-out of American forces from Afghanistan and the region.
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