Clinton Left Classified Data in Russian Hotel during State Secretary Trip

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September 24, 2016

The documents, released on Friday, September 23, and cited by ABC News, show that when Clinton was on a trip to Russia while serving as US secretary of state, her aide brought a classified briefing book into the hotel suite. The classified documents were left behind when the aide and Clinton left the room.

According to the FBI documents, the briefing book should not have been brought into the hotel suite in Russia. Most of Clinton’s emails recovered by the FBI will reportedly not be made public until after the US presidential elections in November, as reported by Sputnik.

The Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit demanding that all 14,900 of Clinton’s emails uncovered by the FBI be released.

In 2014, Clinton released over 55,000 emails to US State Department investigators, stating that the documents contained only work-related information. She has admitted to erasing 33,000 emails.

Leader’s Military Adviser Worried about US-Russia Cooperation

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IFP Editorial Staff

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September 24, 2016

The IRGC Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi said in a televised interview on Thursday, September 22, “There are currently arrangements between the Americans and the Russians. I hope the Americans do not deceive the Russians and drag them into a game that benefits Washington or gives a smaller share to Iran.”

Rahim Safavi called upon Iranian politicians not to “overlook Iran’s interests” in Syria, according to a report by Shargh, as translated by IFP.

He added that Iran, Syria, Iraq, Hezbollah, and Russia form a “coalition” against the “coalition” of the US, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and “Arab states.”

Russian warplanes have intensified airstrikes amid increased fighting on the ground around Aleppo City just days after the breakdown of a Russia-US brokered ceasefire, the AEI reported.

The ceasefire had envisioned the possibility of both countries sharing intelligence and developing “actionable targets for military action” against Jabhat Fatah al Sham, the successor of Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al Nusra.

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Swiss Aerial Photographer Finds Paradise Lost in Iran

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IFP Editorial Staff

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September 24, 2016

The opening ceremony of a photo exhibition by Georg Gerster, a Swiss artist and one of the pioneers in world’s aerial photography, was held on September 16 at the main photo gallery of Niavaran Culture House.

According to a report by Khabar Online, as translated by IFP, the European artist took seven trips to Iran between 1976 and 1978 and flew for 300 hours in 100 flights over Iran’s sky, taking spectacular aerial photos.

This unique photographic project resulted in a near-complete documentation of the major archaeological sites and important landscapes in the region.

After four decades, Gerster has now returned to Tehran to publicly demonstrate his photos in Niavaran Culture House gallery.

Entitled “Iran through the Eyes of Homa”, this exhibition is being held with the cooperation of Niavaran Artistic Creations Foundation, in which 130 unparalleled photos will be demonstrated.

“We have come back to Iran after 40 years; I have to say everything has changed; I came to this realization when our airplane entered Iran and flew thousands of miles before landing in Tehran. Iran has always been memorable for me and I know this beautiful land quite well. After 40 years we have come here to present the image of those years and these photos are my present to all Iranians”, Gerster said about his trip, having travelled to Tehran along with two of his students.

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The images portray ancient citadels, desert ruins, and rice fields spreading like a vast patchwork quilt in a river delta. There are many unexpected sights, such as the bird’s-eye view of a crowded ski resort in the Elburz Mountains, within easy reach of Tehran.

Iran’s densely packed cities, such as Bushehr, located on the Persian Gulf, are elegantly captured by Gerster. They appear so very different from Western European or North American cities of the same period; the complex, interlocking flat-roofed buildings are both timeless and timely, with architecture that has stood unchanged for thousands of years, along with brightly-colored 1970s cars parked in the colonnaded courtyards.

Even the Iranian landscape contains surprises: on closer inspection, the elaborate patterns made in fields with tractors and ploughs turn out to have more to do with politics than agriculture or land art. A law at the time Gerster was photographing allowed people to claim unused land by planting crops on it, and this type of ”agridoodle” was apparently enough to support such a claim.

“Iran through the Eyes of Homa” exhibition was kicked off on Friday, September 16, in the presence of various artists, some of European embassies’ officials and journalists. Here are Tasnim’s photos of the opening ceremony

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The exhibition will be open to the public until October 1.

Chinese Businessmen Using Putin in Ice-Cream Ads

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IFP Editorial Staff

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September 24, 2016

A couple of weeks ago, President Vladimir Putin presented Xi Jinping with a whole box of Russian ice-cream during the G20 summit in Hangzhou. Xi was delighted, saying that he had come to love Russian ice-cream during his many visits to Moscow.

“Every time I come to Russia, I always bring Russian ice-cream home with me. Your cream is better, and that’s why it tastes so good,” the Chinese President said, as reported by the Russian online magazine Vzglyad and covered by Al Alam News Network.

Russian ice-cream became a popular treat in China in the last few years. And after such a PR campaign, it has an even greater chance to conquer the Chinese market of almost 1.4 billion consumers.

Chinese ice-cream salesmen continued the marketing launched by Putin, with an unusual advertisement. An image of the Russian leader eating an ice-cream cone appeared on mini-trucks in the Chinese region of Heihe, bordering with the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk, according the newspaper.

The image of Putin is quite popular even without the ice-cream story, and the Chinese started using it a long time ago to advertise their goods. For example, a huge banner at the chocolate shop in Harbin is decorated with the portrait of the Russian leader. According to the newspaper Novye Izvestia, the portrait of Putin appears on real estate advertising in some places.

The Chinese are not the first to come up with the idea of using Putin images for commercial purposes. It’s been done in the West and in Russia itself. For example, at a Paris fashion week, the German fashion house Talbot Runhof presented a collection of T-shirts depicting the Russian President against a background of pictures of four world fashion centres: Paris, New York, London and Milan.

The Italian company Caviar produced a limited edition of gold cases for iPhones decorated with Russia’s coat of arms, Putin’s portrait and quotes from the Russian anthem.

After the reunification with Crimea, the image of Putin began even more popular: lots of souvenir gifts with images of Putin, his autograph and quotes have appeared on clothing, dishes and phone covers – although the president disapproves of his image being used for commercial purposes, according to his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Washington State Shooting Leaves Three People Dead

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IFP Media Wire

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September 24, 2016

Sergeant Mark Francis, a spokesman for the Washington State Patrol District 7, said on his Twitter account that the incident took place at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, about 104 kilometers north of Seattle, at about 19:30 local time on Friday.

He further noted that three women were killed and two men were wounded, with one suffering life-threatening injuries.

The police official had earlier put the death toll at four.

“EMS starting to enter to attend to injured inside Mall w/ police escort and after initial clearance,” he further said, referring to emergency medical services.

“We’re actively searching for suspect, tracking leads, etc.”

Police swarmed the area and medics rushed to the scene to help the injured while the mall was cleared and nearby businesses were evacuated.

The shooting comes less than a week after a man stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota before being shot dead. The FBI is investigating that attack as a potential act of terrorism.

Triple Blasts Kill at least 12 in Iraq’s Tikrit

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IFP Media Wire

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September 24, 2016

A security source said the blasts rocked the northern entrance of Tikrit, which is the capital of Salahuddin Province, on Saturday.

The source said explosive devices loaded onto a vehicle were first set off at the Aqwas security check post before two bombers blew their explosive belts there.

The fatalities included nine police officers and three members of the Iraqi volunteer fighters known as al-Hashad al-Sha’bi or Popular Mobilization Units, the al-Forat news agency said.

The blasts also injured 23 others, including civilians, while the province’s police chief and a member of the city council escaped unscathed.

A curfew was imposed over the city afterwards.

Tikrit had been seized by Daesh in June 2014, when the Takfiri terrorist group unleashed its campaign of death and destruction in the country. It was, however, liberated a year later.

The Iraqi war media, meanwhile, reported the launch of operations to liberate Salahuddin’s northern districts.

On Thursday, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi addressed the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, saying that his country was mostly liberated from Daesh.

He reiterated the pledge for the liberation by year-end of the northern city of Mosul, which fell to Daesh in 2014 and has been called the group’s so-called headquarters in Iraq.

President Rouhani Rings Bell for New School Year

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IFP Editorial Staff

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September 24, 2016

Each year, Iranian students start the school year on September 22 (the first day of autumn on the Iranian calendar) after a three-month summer vacation. This year, the schools were officially opened by President Rouhani on September 24, as the first two days were the weekend.

Rouhani symbolically started the new school year by ringing a bell at Narjes Girls’ High School in central Tehran, as reported by Mehr and edited by IFP.

As the school year was started by the President, over 1,000 educational and sports projects were inaugurated across the country.

During the speech delivered by Rouhani, he raised a question for the student competition dubbed Question of Mehr: Where does violence stem from? How some people learn violence, and how can one stand against it? How can we have a society with Islamic kindness, and how can we free the societies in our region and the world from violence?

Last year’s Question of Mehr was focused on post-sanctions opportunities.

Iranian presidents traditionally take part at the ceremonies to open the first day of school year with a question for Iranian students across the nation. The best answer to the question is rewarded by Iran’s Ministry of Education, after collecting replies in the first month of the school year.

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Two Iranian Islands Are under UAE Occupation: Senior MP

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IFP Editorial Staff

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September 24, 2016

Here’s IFP’s translation of a report by Mizan on the remarks made by Mansour Haqiqatpour, the Deputy Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission:

Reactionary Arab states have always been fabricating stories about the three Iranian islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb, falsely claiming that they belong to the UAE, Haqiqatpour said.
However, he added, they should know that not only the trio islands belong to Iran, but also the two Iranian islands of Ariana and Zarkooh have been occupied by the UAE.
Haqiqatpour went on to say that Iran’s patience and silence over the issue should not embolden the Arabs.

He further downplayed the “ridiculous” remarks made by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in his address to the United Nations General Assembly about the necessity for the return of the three Iranians islands to the UAE.
“There is no doubt that the Saudi Crown Prince’s age does not allow him to know anything about the history of the trio islands and that they are parts of the Iranian territory,” the Iranian MP noted.

[:fa]Here’s IFP’s translation of a report by Mizan on the remarks made by Mansour Haqiqatpour, the Deputy Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission:
Reactionary Arab states have always been fabricating stories about the three Iranian islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb, falsely claiming that they belong to the UAE, Haqiqatpour said.
However, he added, they should know that not only the trio islands belong to Iran, but also the two Iranian islands of Ariana and Zarkooh have been occupied by the UAE.
Haqiqatpour went on to say that Iran’s patience and silence over the issue should not embolden the Arabs.
He further downplayed the “ridiculous” remarks made by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in his address to the United Nations General Assembly about the necessity for the return of the three Iranians islands to the UAE.
“There is no doubt that the Saudi Crown Prince’s age does not allow him to know anything about the history of the trio islands and that they are parts of the Iranian territory,” the Iranian MP noted.
[:ar]Here’s IFP’s translation of a report by Mizan on the remarks made by Mansour Haqiqatpour, the Deputy Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission:
Reactionary Arab states have always been fabricating stories about the three Iranian islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb, falsely claiming that they belong to the UAE, Haqiqatpour said.
However, he added, they should know that not only the trio islands belong to Iran, but also the two Iranian islands of Ariana and Zarkooh have been occupied by the UAE.
Haqiqatpour went on to say that Iran’s patience and silence over the issue should not embolden the Arabs.
He further downplayed the “ridiculous” remarks made by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in his address to the United Nations General Assembly about the necessity for the return of the three Iranians islands to the UAE.
“There is no doubt that the Saudi Crown Prince’s age does not allow him to know anything about the history of the trio islands and that they are parts of the Iranian territory,” the Iranian MP noted.

Iran Not Interested in Any Provocation with US: Zarif

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IFP Media Wire

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September 24, 2016

The Iranian minister made the remarks in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based think tank, on Friday, in response to a quote, raised by the interviewer, from US Republican presidential nominee Donald trump, who had said he would shoot the Iranian ships out of the Persian Gulf.

“Our soldiers and our sailors are a few miles away from our coasts. Yours, Americans, are several thousand miles away. And then they get upset when our boats tell them not to get into our [territorial] waters, that you are approaching Iranian borders, that… you encroach upon our sovereignty,” Zarif said, adding that the Persian Gulf is Iran’s lifeline, through which it sells almost all of the country’s oil.

“How would you think if an Iranian warship were to come to the Gulf of Mexico… and [tell the US forces], ‘Why are you getting close to me? I’m sailing in international waters.’,” he said, adding that likewise, in the Persian Gulf, “You are close to us. We are not getting close to you.”

Zarif also said that a greater majority of Iranians distrust the US today than they did before the nuclear deal, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was signed between Tehran and the P5+1 countries on July 2015.

“Before we had this deal, a majority of Iranians believed that resolving difficulties with the United States would be effective. Now the majority of Iranians believe otherwise, and that should send a very strong signal,” Zarif said, adding that Washington’s failure to fulfill its obligations under the nuclear deal has deepened the Iranians’ distrust in the US.

He noted that the fear of facing punitive measures from the US has discouraged major European banks from dealing with Iran months after the implementation of the JCPOA.

Political solution sole way out of Syria crisis

Iran’s foreign minister also renewed Tehran’s call for a political solution to the crisis in Syria.

“There is no military solution to [the crisis in] Syria. There has to be a comprehensive, unconditional ceasefire” to pave the way for the political settlement of the war, Zarif said.

Reiterating Iran’s support for the Syrian government in its fight against Takfiri terrorists, Zarif highlighted the need for delineating the positions of terrorist groups like Daesh and Fateh al-Sham, al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch formerly known as al-Nusra Front, which have been excluded from the ceasefires across Syria.

The Iranian foreign minister also criticized some regional players for focusing on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s fate rather than the future of Syria. He added that unlike Saudi Arabia, Tehran has always been ready to cooperate with all regional players on the Syrian crisis, and it does not believe in a solution based on “exclusions”.

‘Manufactured enemy’

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian foreign minister touched upon the role Riyadh has played during the past decades in creating and funding terror groups such as Taliban and al-Qaida, and Iraq’s slain dictator Saddam Hussein, who received “unbelievable” sums of money from Saudi Arabia.

Now the Saudis “are funding Daesh and al-Nusra. They will turn against them. And once they turn against them, it will be a disaster,” Zarif further said.

“Our problem today is the fact that they (the Saudis) are funding extremism in the hope that they can divert the attention from the inability of the state system in their country and the rest of the region to address the difficulties, anxieties and aspirations of the Arab youth into a perceived and manufactured enemy, being it the Shias or the Iranians,” the Iranian foreign minister added.

But “they know that at the end of the day they are the real target… Nobody will gain anything from supporting extremism – an animal, a monster, a Frankenstein that will bite the hands that feeds it,” he added.

Zarif described Wahhabism – the radical Saudi ideology that fuels the ideological engine of terror organizations like the Daesh and al-Nusra Front – as “a political school of thought” and the “literature of hate that has to be stopped.”