Iranian, Venezuelan Top Diplomats Discuss Bilateral Ties

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August 16, 2016

In the meeting held in Tehran on Monday, Zarif pointed to his planned visit to Latin American countries, including Venezuela, in coming days and said Tehran is willing to enhance ties with Caracas in all areas.

He added that a high-ranking economic delegation comprising government and private sector officials will accompany him in the upcoming visit.

The Iranian foreign minister further expressed the hope that the trip would lead to the development of bilateral relations in various spheres, banking and energy in particular, considering that representatives from the two sectors in Iran will be accompanying him in the trip.

Zarif also said Tehran was ready to contribute to the upcoming summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which is slated to be held in Venezuela later in the year.

The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of 120 member states which are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

Rodriguez, for her part, welcomed the scheduled visit to Venezuela by Zarif and called for the expansion of the bilateral ties between the two countries in all areas.

The Venezuelan top diplomat has traveled to the Iranian capital alongside Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino.

4 Takfiri Terrorists Killed in Western Iran

By

IFP Editorial Staff

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August 16, 2016

Speaking to reporters in Kermanshah, the province’s capital city, Provincial Police Chief Brigadier General Manouchehr Amanollahi said after receiving information about the presence of three Takfiri terrorists in the city, the issue was put high on the agenda of the intelligence forces.

Based on the information, a team of Special Forces in cooperation with intelligence forces mounted an attack on the hideout of the terrorists on Tuesday morning, he noted.

After clashing with the three Takfiri terrorists, the security forces managed to kill all of them, the police chief added.

He further emphasized that the terrorist elements had crossed into Iran to commit acts of sabotage in the country.

The commander went on to say that a Kalashnikov, two magazines and an explosive vest were seized from the terrorists.

Kermanshah Province’s Judiciary Chief Mohammad Reza Edalatkhah also announced that another Takfiri element had been killed in a separate operation on Monday night.

The terrorist was killed in Javanrood, Kermanshah, he noted, adding that several others were also arrested in the operation, as reported by Tasnim and translated by IFP.

The hideout of the three Takfiri terrorists in Kermanshah

Iran Can Consider BBC World’s Request for Opening Office in Tehran: Official

By

IFP Editorial Staff

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August 15, 2016

In the past two months, there have been rumours that BBC is going to resume its activities in Iran.

In an interview with Sobh-e Now newspaper, as translated by IFP, Nooshabadi said that if BBC World makes a request for opening its office, it will be considered.

However, he added, they have yet to make an official request for opening their office in Iran.

“If they send their request, it will be studied by a three-member council comprised of the Intelligence Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and the Culture Ministry,” Nooshabadi went on to say.

Culture Minister Ali Jannati has also made comments about the issue. He recently told Mehr that giving permission to BBC Persian is totally off the table.

However, Jannati said, issuing licence for BBC World is possible, because their behaviour towards Iran is totally different, and the type of their job differs from that of BBC Persian.

Secret Meeting between BBC Officials and Iran’s Envoy to London

In its Monday report, Sobh-e Now claims that Iran’s Chargé d’affaires in London Mohammad Hassan Habibollahzadeh had held a meeting with BBC officials in the TV channel’s office in 2014.

During the meeting, a deputy head of BBC News has reportedly voiced the BBC chief’s willingness to visit Iran, but the Iranian official said such a visit would be fruitless without a considerable agenda.

He has recommended that they would use the ‘reopening of BBC office’ as a pretext for Tony Hall, the Director-General of BBC, to visit Iran. However, BBC officials convince Habibollahzadeh that Iranian authorities should give the green light for such a visit.

Sobh-e Now further claimed that BBC had certain conditions: the DG’s meeting with Iranian officials, issuance of visa for visits of BBC reporters, and the presence of a residing correspondent in Tehran were among the requests made by BBC.

We should wait and see whether the British news channel would be able to restart its operation in Iran or not.

Iran, Russia Diplomats Discuss Syria, Other Regional Issues

By

IFP Media Wire

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August 15, 2016

Hossein Jaberi Ansari (L), the Iranian deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs, shakes hand with Russian Deputy FM Mikhail Bogdanov before bilateral talks in Tehran, August 15, 2016.

Hossein Jaberi Ansari, the Iranian deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs, met with visiting Russian Deputy FM Mikhail Bogdanov in Tehran on Monday, discussing with him the advancement of Tehran-Moscow cooperation in the fight against international terrorism besides the ongoing Syrian conflict.

Iran and Russia have both been assisting the government in Damascus in its fight against a foreign-backed militancy. Iran has been offering advisory military help, and Russia has been conducting an aerial campaign against militant positions in the Arab country.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The United Nations (UN)’s Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Jaberi Ansari and Bogdanov, who is the Russian presidential envoy on the Middle East and Africa, also discussed the promotion of bilateral ties and regional cooperation plus the implementation of a nuclear deal between Iran and six other countries, including Russia.

The deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was struck in July 2015 and started being implemented in January 2016.

Iran is in contact with its international partners — which, besides Russia, also include the United States, France, the UK, China, and Germany — to oversee the due implementation of the JCPOA.

Iran’s Zarif Congratulates Lebanon on 33-Day War Victory

By

IFP Media Wire

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August 15, 2016

In two separate letters sent to Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday, Zarif congratulated them as well as the Lebanese people and government on the 10th anniversary of Lebanon’s victory in the 33-day war.

“The victory was the result of sacrifices and self-devotions made by resistance fighters from various religious and ethnic groups,” Zarif wrote in his letter to Bassil. “It was the outcome of the unity and solidarity of freedom-loving and justice-seeking political parties and movements.”

Speaking in a televised address on Sunday evening, Nasrallah said Hezbollah entered the war with Israel to safeguard the very principles of resistance. He said the Israeli military was shaken after the 2006 war.

About 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians, lost their lives during the 33-day war on Lebanon.

According to the 629-page Winograd Report by the Israeli regime itself, Hezbollah fighters involved in defending Lebanon against the Israeli war defeated the enemy and Tel Aviv was compelled to withdraw without having achieved any of its objectives.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brokered a ceasefire in the 2006 war, calls on Israel to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Iran Should Brace for Huge Sanctions, Official Warns

By

IFP Media Wire

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August 15, 2016

In an exclusive interview with the Tasnim News Agency, Chief of the Iranian Judiciary’s Human Rights Council Mohammad Javad Larijani highlighted the serious flaws in the process of diplomatic negotiations that led to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the July 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

The primary mistake that Iranian negotiators made in the process of the nuclear talks was not opting for the ‘confidence building’ technique to get suitable results, Larijani, also a theoretician and political expert, stressed.

What Iran undertook to do under the JCPOA is quite well-defined and explicit, while the other side’s obligations cannot be clearly defined at all, he deplored.

The vague idea that the ‘nuclear-related’ sanctions against Iran would be lifted was not robust enough, because many non-nuclear sanctions are somehow linked with the nuclear-related ones, Larijani argued, adding, “Above all, we have made no mention of the structure of the sanctions in the deal.”

“The US has completely retained the structure of the sanctions, and is not intending to lift them in the near future,” he noted.

The flawed documentation and ill-definition of commitments in the JCPOA and the subsequent UN Security Council Resolution 2231 enable Washington to make very little concessions to Iran, Larijani explained, adding that having control over how to interpret the deal has given US politicians the power to impose what they want.

Sustaining the structure of the sanctions also allows the US to apply the model of nuclear negotiations to other areas, Iran’s military and missile capabilities, he pointed out, saying many nuclear-related sanctions can be linked to Iran’s missile program only with a “different tag.”

In the eyes of the US, the sanctions forced Iran to negotiate, he went on to say, adding that certain signs of frustration from inside Iran led the US to the conclusion that Iran resists force, unless that force is too strong.

According to Larijani, putting restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program was at the bottom of the list of US demands, predicting that Iran should now expect “a very huge set of sanctions.”

Iran and the six countries on July 14, 2015, reached a conclusion over the text of the JCPOA after some two years of diplomatic talks.

The 159-page accord took effect in January 2016 and was supposed to terminate the nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation has been hampered mainly due to US policies.

In October 2015, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei sent a letter to President Hassan Rouhani and highlighted nine main points that the administration needs to take note of regarding the course of JCPOA implementation.

The Leader has also repeatedly warned of the US failure to honor commitments under the deal.

“The duty of the other side was removing the sanctions, but it has not fulfilled that duty, meaning that it has lifted part of the sanctions in some way, but the sanctions have not been lifted practically,” Imam Khamenei said on June 15.

The Leader also lashed out at the US for fully keeping the primary sanctions in place, which has in turn affected the secondary sanctions that were to be lifted.

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on August 15

By

IFP Editorial Staff

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August 15, 2016

Newspapers on Monday covered the remarks made by President Hassan Rouhani in an address to Iranian people in the southwestern city of Yasuj. President Rouhani announced that the country’s economic growth rate has increased to 4.4%, and also voiced his scepticism towards the US.

A Parliamentary statement against the insults to President Rouhani was also widely covered. The lawmakers urged the Judiciary to prosecute the insulters.

A popular TV show, “Dorehami”, and its famous host , the popular comedian Mehran Modiri, also appeared on newspaper front pages after an alleged insult by Modiri to two respected Sunni figures during a Saturday night episode. Several MPs have urged the IRIB to apologize and prosecute the perpetrators.

The above issues as well as many more are highlighted in the following headlines:

Abrar:

1- 20 Sunni MPs Call for Serious Action against Producers of Popular TV Show [in which the TV star Mehran Modiri has reportedly insulted two respected Sunni figures]

2- Vice-Speaker Urges IRIB to Apologize over Insults to Sunnis

3- Increase in Number of Prisoners Is Worrying: Official

Abrar-e Eqtesadi:

1- Parliament to Review Import of Chinese Car Parts in New Peugeot Contract

2- Iran’s Oil Price Dropped to $37 per Barrel

Aftab-e Yazd:

1- Alternative to Rouhani: Yes or No?

2- Drones Taking Photos of Houses to Find Tax Evaders in Spain

3- Boys Who Use Cosmetics: Analysis of a Strange Behaviour

4- Iran’s Questionable Trust in Russia: Why Tehran Withdraws from Suing Moscow over S-300 Delivery?

Arman-e Emrooz:

1- Man’s Self-Immolation in Front of Tehran’s City Council

2- Some Candidates Were Mistakenly Put in List of Hope [Reformists’ list in parliamentary elections]: Rafsanjani’s Daughter

3- Foreign Ministry to Spend Its Own Budget on Buying Prison Terms of Iranian Inmates in Foreign Countries

4- Qom Seminary and Iranian Police File Lawsuit against Hafez [Cinema] Awards

Asrar:

1- Parliament Warns Those Who Insult President

2- Iranian ‘Retired’ Weightlifter Moradi Wins Gold Medal in Rio Olympics

3- Security along Borders Is Iran’s Redline: Shamkhani

4- Zarif: Cooperation for Peace to Be Increased

5- Civil Rights Is Not a Political Issue: President’s Aide

6- It’s Questionable that Some Are Trying to Target People’s Belief in Imam Khomeini: Gradson

7- Iran’s Railway System to Be Renovated: Minister

Emtiaz:

1- Increase in Fertility Rate in Iran: Official

2- 8 Tons of Various Illicit Drugs Seized in 4 Months

3- Iran Stops Import of Petrol from Turkmenistan

4- Iranian Men Who Win Medals in Olympics, and Son of Paralympics Medal Winners to Be Exempted from Military Service

Etemad:

1- My Father Won’t Abandon Rouhani [in next year’s presidential elections]: Rafsanjani’s Daughter

2- Interior Ministry Warns Ahmadinejad against Early Beginning of His Campaign for Presidential Elections

Ettela’at:

1- Economic Growth of Spring Was 4.4%

2- Russia Urges Saudi Arabia to Stop Attacking Yemeni Civilians

3- Iran’s Weightlifting Team Wins another Gold Medal in Rio 2016 Olympics

Haft-e Sobh:

1- Tragic Death of 2 Teenage Girls: They Took Selfie and Then Jumped out of Window While Taking Each Other’s Hands

2- 4 Million Dollars of Smuggled Benz and Porsche to Be Crushed This Week: What’s the Reason for Such a Weird Decision?

3- Grief over Greco-Roman Wrestling Team’s Defeats Breaks Hearts of Iranians

Hamshahri:

1- Oil Accounts for 1.5% of the 4.4% Economic Growth

Hemayat:

1- Iran to Become One of the 10 Cleanest Countries in World: Anti-Corruption Official

2- New Documents Show Obama and Clinton’s Roles in Creation of ISIS

Iran:

1- Details about Biggest Post-JCPOA Investment in Iran: Turkey to Make $4.2bn Investment in Iran’s Power Industry

2- Imam Khomeini’s Grandson Criticizes Attempts to Undermine National Unity by Attacking the Late Imam

3- It’s Now Possible to Provide MasterCard Services in Iran: Minister

Jame Jam:

1- A Report on How Other Countries Have Countered Smuggling

2- Smoke Trade in Cyberspace: Growing Trend of Selling Tobacco Products in Social Media

3- President Rouhani: We’re Sceptic of the US

Javan:

1- Yemeni Children Do Homework in Blood: Saudis Claim the Children Slaughtered by Saudi Airstrikes Were Houthi Hirelings

2- Continued Decline in Power of Iran’s Passport under Rouhani’s Gov’t: Iranian Passport Down by 13 Ranks over Past 3 Years

3- Putin’s Representative in Iran: Tehran-Moscow Ties Rearranged after Erdogan’s Turnaround

Jomhouri Eslami:

1- ISIS, the Infantry Regiment of Western-Hebrew-Arab Axis of Evil [Editorial]

2- Trump Is a Threat to the World: Former Secretary General of NATO

3- Yemeni People Show Strong Support for MPs’ Decision to Convene Parliament

4- End of ISIS Is Near: Iraqi PM

Kayhan:

1- President Rouhani Declares Economic Downturn in Kermanshah, and 5% Economic Growth in Yasuj!

2- Average Use of Agricultural Pesticides in Iran Is One-Sixth of Europe’s

3- Syrian Jet Fighters, Assisted by Russia, Bomb Terrorists’ Positions for 60 Times

4- Both Democrats and Republicans Plan to Increase Pressure on Iran: US Institute

Khorasan:

1- Positive Growth Rate Thanks to Oil Doping

2- 1.1m Annually Added to Iran’s Population

3- Saudis Checkmated after Yemenis Convene Parliament

Resalat:

1- We Buried the Legend of Israel’s Invincibility: Nasrallah

2- Democracy in British Style: Why London Doesn’t Recognize People’s Vote?

Sepid:

1- The Lesson US Health System Should Learn from Iran: Iran Is Only Country in World to Resolve the Issue of Kidney Shortage through Donation Compensation System

2- Iran the Superpower of Health Diplomacy in Region

3- Iranian MasterCard with Credit Limit of $10,000

Shahrvand:

1- No One Is Allowed to Give Iranian People Frustration: Rouhani

2- It’s Time to Harvest Fruits of JCPOA: Deputy FM

3- Bloody Clash in Second War over Water in Charmahal and Bakhtiari Province

4- Iran Goes 20 Ranks Up in Entrepreneurship Index

5- Chilean Embassy Reopened in Iran after 35 Years

Shargh:

1- Political Changes in IRIB Management

2- Aref: We Hope to See End of House Arrest [of opposition leaders Mousavi and Karroubi]

3- Iranian Sailors Captured by Kuwait’s Coast Guard

4- MPs Warn: Why Prosecutor-General Is Silent over Insults to President?

Sobh-e Now:

1- Diplomatic Efforts to Bring Back BBC to Iran: Details of a Meeting between Iranian Attaché in London with BBC Officials

Belarusian, Romanian Envoys Meet Iranian FM

By

IFP Media Wire

-

August 15, 2016

In a Sunday meeting with newly-appointed Belarusian Ambassador to Iran Yuri Ivanovic Lazarcic, Zarif hailed Tehran-Minsk relations as close and called for further efforts to enhance ties between the two countries in various spheres.

The Iranian top diplomat further pointed the removal of anti-Iran sanctions, saying that the new conditions have paved the way for development of banking and trade cooperation between Iran and Belarus.

The Belarusian envoy, for his part, emphasized that during his tenure, he will make efforts to promote economic relations between his country and the Islamic Republic.

During the meeting, Ivanovic Lazarcic submitted a copy of his credentials to the Iranian foreign minister.

In a separate meeting with another European diplomat in Tehran on Sunday, Zarif and the outgoing ambassador of Romania to Tehran, Cristian Teodorescu, explored avenues for closer Tehran-Bucharest relations in various areas, economy in particular.

The meetings come against the backdrop of a new wave of interest in ties with Iran after Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) on July 14, 2015 reached a conclusion over the text of a comprehensive 159-page deal on Tehran’s nuclear program and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

The comprehensive nuclear deal, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), terminated all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran.

Iran Lauds Yemeni MPs’ Decision to Convene Parliament

By

IFP Media Wire

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August 15, 2016

Iran’s Foreign Ministry hailed as wise a recent decision in Yemen to resume parliamentary activities, saying it will help fill the political and legal vacuums amid the international community’s inaction on an ongoing foreign aggression against the Arab country.

In the current delicate situation in Yemen, the elected representatives of the Yemeni people have acted responsibly and wisely to resume parliamentary activities in order to fill the legal and political vacuums, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Sunday.

He added that the elected parliamentarians have made a rational decision to take a stronger role in Yemen’s critical developments while a foreign military campaign has been massacring Yemen’s people and destroying its infrastructures.

Deploring the lack of an effective move by the international community to stop crimes against Yemeni civilians, Qassemi referred to national unity and reliance on elected institutions as the best option for forcing the aggressors to give in to the Yemeni nation’s will and settle the conflicts through peaceful solutions.

He further reiterated Tehran’s call for dialogue and respect for the Yemeni nation’s demands to put an end to the war.

On Saturday, Yemeni representatives convened the country’s parliament in capital Sana’a for the first time in close to two years.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been launching deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

According to media reports, more than 8,000 Yemenis, most of them civilians, have been killed in the Saudi-led aggression so far.

Italian Desert Explorer to Run in Support of Iran’s Lut Desert and Asiatic Cheetah

By

IFP Editorial Staff

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August 15, 2016

According to a report by ISNA, as translated by IFP, Reza Shajie, the head of the Environment and Sustainable Development Office at the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, said Max Calderan, who is a Muslim Italian desert explorer, is supposed to run in the Lut Desert in the first half of September 2016 to show support for the Asiatic (or Iranian) Cheetah.

“Calderan will not be accompanied by any team since he is going to run nonstop all the 450km route of the desert, except for meagre 10-minute breaks at 2-hour intervals,” Shajie noted.

Calderan is an incomparable runner who will meet this formidable challenge without eating or drinking anything but water, he went on to say.

He referred to the registration of Lut Desert in UNESCO as an inspiration that encouraged them to start the project and added, “To this end, with collaboration of Fars Green Centre, we invited Calderan to Iran and fortunately he showed enthusiasm.”

“The first session of the project’s policymaking meeting was held with the participation of officials from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Football Federation, the Department of Environment, the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, Fars Green Centre and financial sponsors,” Shajie said.

The main objectives behind the Lut and Cheetah project are to introduce Iranian Cheetah and Lut Desert to the world and issue an advanced warning about the threats they are facing.

Calderan will first try to cross the Lut desert in December, covering around 400km, north to south, following what has been called an impossible line.
“It is believed that it is impossible to cross this desert on foot because of the tangled and confused mass of sand dunes which are 450 metres high.”
It is in these areas where the last Asiatic cheetahs can be found. Around 70 are believed to still exist.

“This is an opportunity for the cheetahs and other desert animals to be saved by drawing attention to their endangered situation,” Mr Calderan said.
The trip is in aid of the United Nations Development Programme’s Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project to save the endangered animal. Mr Calderan is the project’s ambassador.
“Much of what the UN does to support this emblematic species has been done on a daily basis for the past 10 years. So, while it is true that the pressures of modernisation, the encroachment of humans, roads and settlements, plus shooting by poachers of both the Asiatic Cheetah and their prey have all caused the number of these emblematic creatures to dwindle to fewer than 100. It is really never too late.”

IRAN FRONT PAGELatest News and Views From Iran, Middle East and the World

IRAN FRONT PAGELatest News and Views From Iran, Middle East and the World

IRAN FRONT PAGELatest News and Views From Iran, Middle East and the World

IRAN FRONT PAGELatest News and Views From Iran, Middle East and the World

Iranian, Venezuelan Top Diplomats Discuss Bilateral Ties

4 Takfiri Terrorists Killed in Western Iran

Iran Can Consider BBC World’s Request for Opening Office in Tehran: Official

Iran, Russia Diplomats Discuss Syria, Other Regional Issues

Iran’s Zarif Congratulates Lebanon on 33-Day War Victory

Iran Should Brace for Huge Sanctions, Official Warns

A Look at Iranian Newspaper Front Pages on August 15

Belarusian, Romanian Envoys Meet Iranian FM

Iran Lauds Yemeni MPs’ Decision to Convene Parliament

Italian Desert Explorer to Run in Support of Iran’s Lut Desert and Asiatic Cheetah

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