ISIS Suffers Severe Economic Blow

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September 11, 2016

In an interview with IRNA, as translated by IFP, the Operations Commander of Nineveh Province Brigadier General Najm al-Jabouri announced that ISIS militants have suffered major setbacks, including losing control of more than half of the oil wells in the district of Qayyarah.

“This operation has dried up an enormous amount of oil revenues for ISIS, which was over $1m per month,” al-Jabour stressed.

He noted that the Iraqi forces have won back more than 60 oil wells from ISIS militants and added, “The terrorists used to make a fortune by extracting the wells.”

Qayyarah is home to one of the most important oil fields in northern Iraq. It had been occupied by the Takfiri [extremist] terrorist group ISIS over the past two years.

Iran’s President to Attend UN General Assembly in New York: First VP

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IFP Editorial Staff

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September 11, 2016

The session will kick off with a speech by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and President of the 71st session, Peter Thomson.

The US and French presidents, Barack Obama and Francois Hollande, as well as British Prime Minister Theresa May will also speak on the first day.

According to the Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the session this year, Mehr reported.

Jahangiri further maintained that President Rouhani will also visit Venezuela from September 13 to 18 prior to New York in order to attend the 17th Non-Aligned Movement Summit to hand over the rotating presidency of NAM to Venezuela for the next three years.

“The President is also likely to visit another Latin American country,” he added.

Earlier, Iran’s Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi had noted that Rouhani will also pay an official visit to Germany in late September or early October.

Iran’s Ghalehnaseri Wins Paralympics’ Silver Medal in Discus Throw

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IFP Editorial Staff

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September 11, 2016

On Saturday, Ghalehnaseri and Ali Mohammadyari of Iran competed in F56 class of discus throw event at the Paralympics, which is underway in Rio de Janeiro.

Ghalehnaseri managed distances of 42.32, 42.12 and 43.86 in his first three attempts while he obtained a record of 44.04 meters in his following three throws in order to improve his personal best.

The Iranian discus thrower landed behind the host country athlete Claudiney Batista Dos Santos who clinched the gold with his best throw of 45.33.

Meanwhile, Leonardo Diaz of Cuba stood on the third podium as he threw the discus as far as 43.58 metres.

Iran’s other representative in the same category Mohammadyari was eliminated after squandering the first three attempts, Mehr reported.

The Iranian squad in the major sportive event have so far snatched three medals, including a gold by female sports shooter Sareh Javanmardi.

Source Dismisses Report on Rouhani’s Upcoming Visit to Germany

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IFP Editorial Staff

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September 11, 2016

Tagesspiegel had earlier reported that Rouhani will travel to Germany’s capital city Berlin to hold meetings and talks with German high-ranking officials in late September.

However, a source in Rouhani’s office told Tasnim that the report is baseless, and President Rouhani has no plan to visit Germany at the moment.

The German news outlet had also quoted Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi as saying that President Rouhani’s visit to Berlin in late September or at most in early October, will be of economic nature and no political talks are expected.

“The visit will include signing of key contracts and agreements for infrastructure projects including a deal with Siemens AG,” he noted.

Iran Will Never Give Up Mina Tagedy Follow-up: Official

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Fatemeh Askarieh

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September 11, 2016

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is firmly pursuing and redoubling efforts to restore the rights of the families of the Mina disaster victims,” Head of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization Saeed Ohadi said on Saturday.

He added that Iran would follow up on the demands of the victims’ families through legal channels until the efforts pay off.

He said as Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has emphasized the Mina catastrophe should never sink into oblivion.

The Iranian official said the Mina crush occurred due to the mismanagement, incompetence and ineptitude of Al Saud in handling the Hajj rituals and emphasized that the tragedy will remain etched in the minds of Iranians forever.

The tragic Mina incident took place when two large masses of pilgrims converged at a crossroads during the symbolic ceremony of the stoning of Satan in Jamarat.

According to a count by the Associated Press, more than 2,400 people, including at least 460 Iranian pilgrims, lost their lives in the incident on September 24, 2015. Iran had the highest confirmed death toll among foreign nationalities in the Mina stampede. Saudi Arabia claims that nearly 770 people had been killed in the incident.

Iran has cancelled the participation of its pilgrims in this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, which started on Saturday, due to Saudi Arabia’s creation of obstacles in the way of Iranians seeking to perform the rituals.

‘Mina Tragedy Stain to Live with Al Saud Forever’

Meanwhile, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani said on Saturday that the Mina crush was “a stain on Al Saud that will never be removed.”

He added that many pilgrims lost their lives in the disaster due to the Saudi officials’ incompetence and negligence in providing the injured with medical and relief aid.

He emphasized that the Saudi government has failed to remain committed to the most basic human and legal principles and make up for the sufferings of the families of the victims.

The SNSC secretary said Iran would adopt all necessary measures to restore the rights of the Mina crush victims and ensure that the culprits behind the incident are brought to justice.

Iran to Do Construction Work of New Nuclear Units

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IFP Media Wire

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September 11, 2016

Iran will build the physical part of the new nuclear units at Bushehr, as 30 percent of the whole project will be carried out by Iran under the contract with Russia, Salehi said at a television talk show on Saturday night.

In a ceremony in Bushehr earlier in the day, Iran and Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom began the construction of the second unit of Bushehr nuclear power, while the third one is also scheduled to be built afterwards.

Elsewhere in his comments, Salehi said Russians have agreed to use Iranian-made equipment in the new units provided that those products meet standards of nuclear industry.

He also explained that if Russia fails to finish the construction of the two units in the “logical ten and half years period”, the contractor will be fined for delay.

Salehi further noted that Iran will “definitely begin to construct more nuclear power plants” while Russia will be making the two units in Bushehr.

The AEOI chief had announced earlier that completion of two new units will help the country save 22 million barrels of crude oil every year and will prevent the emission of 14 million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG).

A total of $10 billion has been allocated for the construction of the two units.

Once the whole three units come on stream together, 5 to 6 percent of Iran’s electricity will be generated by nuclear power plants.

The second and third units have been designed with stricter security standards, their life span has been increased from 40 to 60 years, and their efficiencies have been improved to above 90 percent.

National Grape Festival Held in Iran

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Fatemeh Askarieh

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September 11, 2016

Here are Mehr’s photos of the festival:

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Pottery Uncovered in Iron Age Cemetery in Iran’s Qazvin

By

Fatemeh Askarieh

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September 10, 2016

A local archaeologist of the Cultural Heritage Research Centre and the head of a team working on delimiting the cemetery hill in Qazvin alluvial plain told reporters on Saturday that they had been excavating the site in 68 places with depths varying between 1 and 6 meters.

“The southwestern part of the site has the largest number of excavations with 28 cases. Preliminary estimations by Yousef Majidzadeh suggest the chalcolithic part of the site has 100-hectare peripheries.”

“Our present excavations roughly found more or less the same delimitation for the site,” Nowzar Heidari told the press, as reported by Mehr.

“The visible scope of the cemetery hill (Iron Age and settled-industrial sections of the chalcolithic period) has been estimated to be 7ha before new excavations. We predict that the scope will be widened to 17ha in the near future.”

Heidari also added that the widening in the northern side will be the least with most widening in southwestern side of the site.

“Excavations uncovered pottery in good conditions; a new tomb was excavated to examine whether the newly-found tomb is part of the older tombs excavated earlier, where we found that it was part of the Iron Age cemetery and had not been discovered for a long time,” he said.

“Agricultural activities and irrigation mode have damaged the sepulchres, with most bone parts irrevocably lost,” he concluded.

CISM Volleyball Games in Tehran: A Step towards Peace and Friendship

By

IFP Editorial Staff

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September 10, 2016

The opening ceremony of the 35th edition of World Military Volleyball Championship was held in Tehran on Saturday.

In a message to the ceremony, General Mehr-Ali Baran-Cheshmeh, the Head of Sport Department of Iran’s Armed Forces, described the games as a move to promote peace in the world.

“There is no doubt that the organization of such important games in Iran will play a great role in promotion of peace and friendship between CISM (Conseil International du Sport Militaire) member states,” Baran-Cheshmeh said, as reported by IRNA and translated by IFP.

Iran’s Defence Minister also sent a message to the 35th CISM Volleyball, and said the Islamic Republic of Iran has carried message of peace and friendship throughout its rich history.

A message by Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan was read at the opening ceremony. On behalf of Iran’s Armed Forces, Dehqan welcomed all athletes, coaches and officials from various continents and countries participating at the tournament.

The Defence Minister reiterated that Iran, as an Islamic and civilized country, has always been a messenger of peace and friendship and deems holding of 2016 CISM Volleyball as a great honour.

He emphasized that the great event represents a tying up and partnership among pure and righteous people who are looking for development of sports regardless of their race or ethnicity and away from assassination and genocide.

“We believe that the gathering of different countries in the major event would enhance and strengthen friendship and love among them,” he underlined, as reported by Mehr.

Brigadier General Dehqan further wished success for all athletes regardless of achieved results and voiced hop that staying in Iran will provide joyful and happy memories for participants and their families.

As part of CISM Military World Games, the 35th World Military Volleyball Championship will kick off on Sunday September 11 in Tehran’s Volleyball Hall.

A total of 12 teams from China, North Korea, South Korea, Pakistan, Zambia, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Palestine, Venezuela, Brazil, Qatar and Iran will be competing in the sport event.