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Iran Enjoyed Fruits of Rouhani’s Policies at Recent UNGA Meetings

Nahavandian
Nahavandian

“Iran’s active diplomacy and the policy of constructive cooperation are based on the expansion of relations with all those who want to have good and friendly ties with Iran,” he noted, according to a report by IRNA, as translated by IFP.

As regards the achievements of President Rouhani’s trip to New York, Nahavandian said, “The president held 24 official meetings on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the UNGA summits: 9 meetings held with the heads of countries and major economic figures, 11 meetings with non-European officials and three meetings with the neighbours of Iran, namely Pakistan, Turkey and Iraq.”

 

Economic Recovery Is Government’s Top Priority  

Elsewhere in his remarks, he referred to the country’s economic conditions as the main policy of the government, and said, “Iran’s economy has been most successful in dealing with the challenging oil slump during the recent years. This challenge created many problems in oil-producing countries, including the rising inflation; however, we experienced inflation drop and rising economy in Iran.”

The top politician further referred to Iran’s objection to the USA’s stonewalling in the implementation of the nuclear deal known as JCPOA, and added, “We objected to the US delay and procrastination in the JCOPA implementation. According to the text of JCPOA, relations should be normalized with Iran after the termination of nuclear sanctions. The USA’s unilateral sanctions are still in place and that is unacceptable to Iran.

 

Europeans Are on Iran’s Side in Implementing JCPOA

“We have officially protested against the US sabotage in the implementation of JCPOAs. The issue has been discussed in the meetings at the levels of minister and deputy minister. They finally decided to submit an official objection to the US. Iran issued its complaint once the Europeans were consistent with Iran as well.”

He went on to say that one of the achievements of JCPOA is that Europeans are also protesting at the Americans’ lack of cooperation and doubles-standard policies.

“They are questioning the US unilateral and non-nuclear sanctions.”

As regards the recent positive stance of EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini towards JCPOA, Nahavandian said: The European Union foreign policy chief has made clear in her speech that Iran should receive tangible economic gains, while the Europeans also possess the same position, so all discourse is directed at the Americans. Right now, EU has no sanctions against Iran while prior to the JCPOA, EU stood beside the US and even imposed unilaterally numerous sanctions against Iran. The great success of JCPOA is not only some of the UN Security Council resolutions were cancelled at once but also the EU sanctions were lifted.

 

Iran Opposed to US Policies in Middle East

With regard to the US policies in the region, he emphasized, “Our reactions correspond to the actions. One of our objections to the US is its wrong and catastrophic policies in our region. In the past 40 years, Iran has always held appropriate stances, while the US stance and policies have been wrong and problematic. From the beginning, Iran has not sought sectarian policies but logical and peaceful ones.”

 

Iran’s Official Complaint against Washington

Nahavandian further referred to the US seizure of $2bn of Iranian assets, and added, “President Rouhani explicitly talked about the issue in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly. We will seriously pursue our International complaint.”

He went on to say that Iran has employed experienced lawyers to pursue the case in the international and political bodies.

“Our top priority is to take advantage of the new conditions provided after the JCPOA,” he added.

Seasonal Flower Festival Underway in Tehran

Flower Festival

Here are Tasnim’s photos of the ongoing festival:

 

Australia at the Dawn of Closer Relationship with Iran: Minister

steven ciobo

According to a report by Mizan, Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Steven Ciobo is in Tehran at the head of an economic and trade delegation in a move to prepare the grounds for promotion of Tehran-Canberra trade ties.

“I’m leading this delegation to open doors and to explore the Iranian commercial terrain – that’s about creating a pathway for Australia businesses to engage,” Ciobo told AAP.

“It’s obvious why Australia is so keen to get back on track.”

“For companies selling mining equipment and expertise, Iran is the jackpot: seven per cent of the world’s mineral resources are located there and with operations in arid and isolated regions not dissimilar to Australia,” he noted.

“Iran also holds some of the world’s biggest oil and gas reserves and wants to boost those exports.”

“And with its population of over 80 million, education, food, healthcare and water sustainability are lucrative areas for Aussie firms.”

“Now that the relationship is moving towards being on the right track there is of course significant potential there,” Ciobo noted, adding that Australia isn’t the only one to find a business bonanza.

The minister believes competition will be strong among other countries keen to make inroads into the once-economically isolated nation, including the US and UK.

But it’s thanks to a historically strong trade relationship that Canberra has maintained – including keeping an embassy open amid decades of political tension – that he’s confident Aussie firms will be well positioned.

Iran Rejects ‘Baseless’ Allegations by Bahrain, UAE

Yemen

Abbas Yazdani, the first secretary of the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations made the comments in an address to the world body’s General Assembly.

“It is absurd and hypocritical for the official of a country whose jet fighters are bombing innocent civilians in Yemen to accuse Iran of interfering in domestic affairs of other countries,” said Yazdani.

Abu Dhabi has joined Saudi Arabia in its deadly war on Yemen, which has claimed about 10,000 lives since its onset in March 2015.

On September 24, Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan claimed during the UN General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting that Iran is seeking to undermine regional security since it signed a nuclear agreement with the P5+1 group of countries last year. He also alleged that Iran is sponsoring terrorism.

The minister once again repeated the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) claims to sovereignty over three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf, namely Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa, calling on Iran to “return them.”

Yazdani further slammed the Emirati official for repeating the groundless claims, saying Tehran has repeatedly said “that these islands have been and continue to be part of Iranian territory.”

The three Persian Gulf islands have always been part of Iran historically, the proof of which can be found in and corroborated by countless historical, legal, and geographical documents in Iran and other parts of the world.

However, the United Arab Emirates has repeatedly laid baseless claims to the islands.

The Iranian diplomat further drew a parallel between Al Nahyan’s anti-Iran comments and those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Yazdani also reacted to similar allegations by Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifah on September 27 that Iran is attempting to jeopardize the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom’s security and social peace.

He described the claims as “an obvious lie.”

The Iranian diplomat stressed that Tehran has always made efforts towards easing tensions in the Middle East, and seeking friendly relations with its neighbors, including the Persian Gulf states.

Iran, Switzerland Sign Agreement on Nuclear Safety

nasser-rastkhah-hans-wanner

The memorandum of understanding was signed by the countries’ respective top nuclear safety officials at the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Vienna, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

“The agreement has been signed following Iran’s nuclear deal with the P5+1 group,” said Nasser Rastkhah, the head of Iran’s Nuclear Safety System Center, who put his signature to the accord alongside Hans Wanner, the director general of the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate.

In July 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group, namely Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany, signed a landmark nuclear deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The deal, which came into force in January, envisaged Tehran scaling back its nuclear program in return for the lifting of all anti-Iran nuclear-related sanctions.

Rastkhah said the agreement with Switzerland shows that “Iran and world countries are moving towards international interactions.”

“The pact came about on the back of Switerland’s proposal and will be a prelude to cooperation, which would take place in the area of nuclear safety.”

Back in March, the two officials had exchanged information on civil nuclear safety, when Wanner travelled to Tehran accompanying Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann.

‘US Failed to Do Its Side of Iran Deal’

Valiollah Seif

Valiollah Seif, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), said the behavior of the US toward its commitments as per the deal – that was signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – is not transparent.

Seif added that the US is even scarring banks from doing business with Iran whereas it should have done the otherwise based on what it signed with Iran together with four other fellow Security Council members plus Germany.

He was commenting in reaction to remarks by US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz who earlier said that Washington had met its dies of the deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – that envisaged the removal of certain economic sanctions against Iran in return for measures by the country to restrict certain aspects of its nuclear energy activities.

“The truth is that this claim … is not correct,” Seif emphasized.  “The commitments that the US accepted as per the JCPOA are yet to be implemented and the behavior of the American side to this effect is not transparent,” he told IRIB News during a visit to Vienna.

Iran’s CBI chief further said that the US claims that it is encouraging banks to do business with Iran but at the same time scares them away by threatening them with punitive measures if they approach the Iranian market.

“Before the sanctions, the representatives of the US Treasury visited countries and threatened banks with punitive measures if they cooperated with Iran,” Seif said.

“Now they expect to put everything back in place through a simple statement. They even don’t do that and instead raise threats [against doing business with Iran.”

Iraq to Media between Tehran and Riyadh to Support Oil Prices

OPEC Fund Earmarks $500,000 to Help Iran Fight COVID-19

Iran on Tuesday rejected a proposal from Saudi Arabia to limit its oil output in exchange for Riyadh cutting supplies, dashing market hopes that the two major OPEC producers would find a compromise this week to help ease a global glut of crude.

“Iraq is leading a mediation to bring the viewpoints of Saudi Arabia and Iran closer, in order to get out of the crisis and support oil prices,” said Iraqi oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad, citing a statement from Luaibi, who is attending the Algiers meeting.

“There are still some obstacles preventing an agreement,” he said, giving no further details.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold informal talks on Wednesday in the Algerian capital, Reuters reported.

Its members are also meeting non-OPEC producers on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum, which groups producers and consumers.

The report came after Iran announced it has no intention to forge an agreement with other major crude producers to freeze its oil output at current levels.

Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh told Bloomberg that the country is still determined to raise its crude production to pre-sanctions level of 4 million barrels a day.

Zanganeh emphasized that the Wednesday meeting between member states of OPEC should focus on consultations on market issues. He added that the group could only reach a formal supply deal at its November meeting in Vienna.

“It’s not our agenda to reach agreement in these two days,” Zanganeh said. “We are here for the IEF and to have a consultative informal meeting in OPEC to exchange views. Not more.”

The Iranian minister talked to Bloomberg on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum in the Algerian capital.

Top on the agenda of the Wednesday OPEC meeting will be a proposal by Saudi Arabia for producers to keep their oil output at January levels – what Riyadh believes will help stabilize the prices in markets.

Iran has so far rejected the call to freeze its output as unfair and emphasized that it will go ahead with its plans to increase its oil production.

Nevertheless, it had made it clear that it is ready to join the plan after its output reaches 4 million barrels per day.

Bloomberg emphasized that Iran – which it described as less dependent on oil revenues than Persian Gulf producers like Saudi Arabia – has seen its prospects boosted as a result of the removal of the sanctions.

In Saudi Arabia, tentative moves toward economic reform have not prevented two years of weak prices causing financial havoc, it added.

Saudi Arabia, Bloomberg said, is burning through foreign-exchange reserves, government contractors have gone unpaid and civil servants will get no bonus this year.

The rising stakes of low oil prices appear to have already increased pressures on Riyadh. Reuters reported on Friday that Saudi Arabia has informed Tehran that it is ready to reduce its oil output provided that Iran agrees to cap its own output at its current level of 3.6 million barrels per day over the remaining months to the end of 2016. Tehran has reportedly already rejected the Saudi proposal.

Israel’s Shimon Peres Dies at 93

shimon-peres

Peres suffered a stroke on Sept. 13 and was put in a medically induced coma.

In a career spanning nearly seven decades, Peres, 93, served in a dozen cabinets and twice as a Labor Party prime minister, even though he never won a general election outright in five tries from 1977 to 1996. He later served as president, a largely ceremonial role in Israel, from 2007-2014, before leaving politics.

While he is largely known as a “dove” in a country founded on ethnic cleansing, Peres oversaw one of Israel’s ugliest war crimes in its history.

In 1996, he unleashed “Operation Grapes of Wrath,” causing 400,000 Lebanese to flee their homes, with almost 800 of them fleeing to a UN base in Qana, South Lebanon.

In order to challenge the “dove” label and appease the right, Peres did not stop there and ordered the army to strike the Qana shelter, killing 102 civilians, mainly women, children and the elderly, TeleSUR reported.

“In my opinion,” Peres said at the time, “everything was done according to clear logic and in a responsible way. I am at peace.” However, the United Nations and human rights organizations debunked his government’s claim that the strike against the camp was not intentional.

Peres had said Israel had the right to keep land gained during war, such as the Syrian Golan Heights, in contravention of international law.

US Should Publicly Apologize for Killing Syrian Troops: Assad’s Advisor

Shaaban

In an interview with Al Mayadeen TV on Monday, Shaaban clarified that the weakness and disarray of the US Administration’s positions, along with its moral degradation even in dealing with the agreements it signs, have reflected on implementing the Russian-US deal on Syria, as the Pentagon did not listen to Obama regarding the agreement, and it was undermined inside the Congress.

She pointed out that the recent Russian-US agreement on Syria cannot be implemented unless the problem inside US Administration is solved, noting that Russia is in the right because it is committed to agreements and it works against terrorism, while the US discourse contains a great deal of nonsense and inexactitude, adding that the provisions that were agreed on in the Russian-US agreement were not made public; rather what has been announced was just partial matters and not the five documents.

She stressed that the Syrian leadership was a main party in the consultations regarding each point in the agreement even before it was written down, adding that the Russian ally differs from the West in terms of respecting the sovereignty of states and allies, stressing that Russia does not agree to any detail regarding Syria before getting the consent of the Syrian leadership.

Shaaban noted that the West doesn’t feel embarrassed if it signs an agreement and doesn’t abide by it, and it’s attempting to do so with Russia as it did before regarding the nuclear agreement with Iran.

On what has been circulated via media outlets regarding a US apology for the aggression on a Syrian Army position in Deir Ezzor, Shaaban clarified that the US apology came through informal channels, adding that Syria does not trust that apology; rather it wants a public apology that ensures that the incident is never repeated.

The Presidential Advisor stressed that Syria is a member state at the UN and the Syrian Arab Army is fighting terrorism, and the legitimacy of President Bashar al-Assad stems from the Syrian people, not from what the American administration decides.

On the relation with the Democratic Union Party, she said “we don’t differ with any component of the Syrian people on any ethnic, religious, or sectarian basis; rather we differ on political basis,” asserting that the Party represents only a small part of the Kurds, and that Syria has supported all sides which fight terrorism and deals with them according to their stances towards the Syrian sovereignty.

Shaaban accused the so-called “opposition” of rejecting dialogue with the Syrian government because its members are tied to foreign agendas, noting that on the other hand, agreements were reached with armed groups more than once because these groups “have more independence than those who were entrusted with holding dialogue in Geneva.”

She dismissed the existence of any guarantees or coordination among Russia, Iran, and Turkey regarding the blatant Turkish aggression on Syrian territory, asserting that Syria didn’t disregard this aggression and it doesn’t believe in the Turkish allegations of fighting terrorism at the time when it send terrorists to destroy it, SANA reported, as covered by ABNA.

She criticized the UN for failing to fulfil its role as a neutral international institution, noting that some UN workers attempted to dissuade some citizens from getting out of al-Waer neighbourhood in Homs and from Daraya in Damascus countryside, and by doing so they overstepped their boundaries, adding that UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura isn’t carrying out his duties with transparency, and that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s recent accusations which he levelled at Syria are groundless.

Shaaban pointed out that relations with Egypt have never been severed, saying “we understand the situation in Egypt and we are always ready to build good relations with it,” affirming that Syria welcomes any change that supports Arabism and the relations with the Arab countries, adding that Syrian leadership doesn’t receive direct information from the Egyptian leadership.

She indicated that some of the Arab parties which have been secretly supporting Israel since the 1930s are supporting it publically today, adding that Israel has normalized its relations with the Arab Gulf states and it works on changing the curriculum in Sudan, Egypt, and Yemen to make it refer to it as an “Israeli state” instead of an entity occupying Palestine.

The Presidential Advisor went on to note that what has been announced by head of the government of the Zionist entity Benjamin Netanyahu is conclusive evidence that Israel is the biggest beneficiary of the so-called “Arab Spring” and that Israel seeks to drive the Arabs apart.

Shaaban added that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are supporting and financing terrorists in Syria and sending terrorists through Turkey, and they continue to pursue this track without any change regarding their relations with the terrorist organizations in Syria.

She considered that assassinating the Jordanian writer Nahed Hatar is a part of the attempts to silence voices that is taking place in the region, addressing the killers by saying “where is the freedom, democracy, and human rights if we are not able to disagree?”

Iran’s Shamkhani Slams US ‘Open Support’ for Terrorists in Syria

Ali Shamkhani

Speaking at a meeting with Speaker of the People’s Council of Syria Hadiya Khalaf Abbas in Tehran on Tuesday, Shamkhani said the US and some European countries should explain the link between their call for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and the recent heavy defeats the terrorists have suffered in Syria.

“The main reason behind the failure of various political and diplomatic initiatives (to resolve Syrian crisis) and even the opportunities for ceasefire, is the West’s reluctance to admit the terrorist nature of many extremist armed groups (in Syria) and end supporting them,” he stressed.

Iran’s Shamkhani Slams US ‘Open Support’ for Terrorists in Syria

The Syrian parliament speaker, for her part, expressed gratitude to Iran’s humanitarian and advisory assistance to Syria to counter terrorism and said if certain Arab countries had adopted a sincere approach to help resolve the crisis, as Iran did, one would have never witnessed such a critical situation in the region today.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including ISIS, currently controlling parts of it.

According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

In the meantime, Iran has remained a close ally of Syria and supports its legitimate government in the face of foreign-backed militancy.

Tehran insists that the Syrian nation is the only side that has the right to shape the future of its own country, rejecting foreign intervention with the use of force.