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Ambassador: France Resolved to Fulfill JCPOA Commitments

“France is determined to comply with its commitments within the JCPOA framework,” Sénémaud said, while expressing his pleasure in the JCPOA.

The new French ambassador pointed to the exchange of diplomatic visits by the two countries’ officials, and underlined the need for the further expansion of mutual cooperation.

Sénémaud expressed the hope that the two countries could boost their banking interactions based on international regulations and within the framework of the JCPOA.

The Iranian foreign minister, for his part, highlighted the recent visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to France, and expressed the hope that the contracts signed during that visit would come into effect in full.

Meantime, Zarif reiterated Iran’s readiness “To exchange views with France in different spheres of foreign policy”.

In late January, President Rouhani visited France and met with his French counterpart Francois Hollande.

Iran and France signed 20 cooperation pacts while the two countries’ private sectors signed over 10 further agreements.

Also in late January, Zarif underlined that President Rouhani’s visit to Paris displayed the results of diplomacy, and the beginning of a new era for fruitful mutual cooperation.

“(President Rouhani’s) France visit illustrated the power of diplomacy. A new era of mutually beneficial cooperation has started in economics, politics and culture,” Zarif wrote on his Twitter account at the time.

Iran and the six world powers held several rounds of talks in Geneva, Lausanne and Vienna before striking a final agreement in Vienna on July 14 to end a 13-year-old nuclear standoff.

After the agreement, the UN Security Council unanimously endorsed a draft resolution turning into international law the JCPOA reached between Iran and the 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) group of countries.

South Korean President in Iran for Official Visit

The South Korean president’s official visit marks the first summit between the two countries since they established diplomatic ties in 1962.

 

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Following the welcome ceremony, the two presidents started a round of bilateral talks that the Iranian president’s official website said revolve around the ways to expand political, economic and cultural cooperation.

 

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Several agreements are also going to be signed to enhance bilateral ties.

President Park Geun-hye’s office had announced that she would hold talks with President Rouhani on the Korean Peninsula and the ways to promote bilateral ties.

“We expect the trip to serve as an important opportunity for us to develop bilateral cooperation since the international community’s sanctions on Iran were lifted in January,” a statement from Park’s office read.

The visit follows 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.

The lasting nuclear deal, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), took effect in January, terminating the nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran.

South Korea remains one of the major crude importers from Iran. The East Asian nation’s oil imports from Iran sharply increased earlier this year immediately after the anti-Iran economic sanctions were lifted under the JCPOA.

South Korea is the world’s fifth-largest oil importer while Iran has the fourth largest oil reserves. The trade between the two countries is estimated to have stood at $ 6.1 billion in 2015.

VP to Open Lorestan Petrochemical Complex

Construction of Lorestan Petrochemical Complex has been completed, and the site will soon be opened. It has a capacity to produce 300,000 tons of low- and high-density polyethylene per year, supplying more than 100 downstream industries.

The complex uses 324,000 tons of ethylene gas each year, which is supplied through a cross-country pipeline originating in Assaluyeh.

Some 233m euros have been invested in the project, funded by the Bank of Industry and Mine. 580 people have been employed at Lorestan Petrochemical Complex and 5,000 further people will be employed by downstream industries.

Construction of Lorestan Petrochemical Complex started seven years ago, and it will kick off its work officially in a ceremony to be held on May 3 in the presence of the Vice President.

Iranian Projects Win Architizer A+ Awards

Polour Rock Gym, a sports center under construction near Tehran, won the public and jury awards in the Unbuilt Sports & Recreation category, the organizers announced.

The center was designed by Lida Almasian and Shahin Heidari at New Wave Architecture.

Termeh Office, a retail building designed by Ahmad Bat’hai and Farshad Mehdizadeh in Hamedan, was the jury winner in the category of Low Rise Commercial Office (1-4 Floors).

Kurosh Rafiei’s design for the Sohanak Swimming Pool in Tehran was the public winner in the Recreation Centers category.

Afsharian’s House in Kermanshah was named public winner in the Low Rise Multi Unit Housing (1-4 Floors) category. The structure was designed by the ReNa Design institute.

This year, the A+ Awards received thousands of entries from more than 95 countries. Popular choice winners were determined by more than 400,000 public votes cast from more than 100 countries and territories.

Over 400 luminaries from the worlds of architecture, art and design will gather for the A+ Awards gala on May 12 at Highline Stages in New York City.

“The A+ gala is more than just a party. It represents a moment for us to stand up and champion our art, recognizing the transformational role that architecture plays in our lives,” said Architizer CEO Marc Kushner.

Architizer is the world’s largest database of architecture online. With more than 40,000 architecture firms that have uploaded 100,000+ buildings, Architizer is the premier online destination for architects and architecture fans.

Sharif University to Expand Cooperation with Iraq and Afghanistan

“Sharif University of Technology plans on scientific and educational cooperation with regional countries including Iraq and Afghanistan, with international student admission as a part of the cooperation,” Fotouhi told Mehr.

“To develop cooperation with countries in the region, we have carried out various activities, specifically for more cooperation with Iraq,” Fotouhi said.

He pointed to the talks for student admissions with Iraq, and said that an Iraqi academic delegation has traveled to Iran to hold meetings on advancing the bilateral plans.

We plan to increase the number of foreign students, Fotouhi said, among which is admitting students from countries in the region including Iraq, which is a priority of Sahrif University’s schedule.

Sharif University of Technology is one of the largest engineering schools in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the 2013 Academic Ranking of World Universities – Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences table, SUT was ranked 5th in the Middle East. It was in the top 251-275 universities in the world and 37th in Asia in the 2014 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

No Men in the Village during Varf Chal: Locals Mark 600-Year-Old Ceremony

No man is allowed to stay in the village during the ceremony. They must all go to Varf Chal.
As shown in the photos, they carry pieces of frozen snow left from winter, and put them in a ten-metre-deep, one-meter-wide pit as they believe the snow could provide fresh water for animals and thirsty passers-by after melting in summer.

 

Untold Stories about the Iranian Silk Road Ultra-Marathon

There are 43 runners in the event from Iran, Italy, Canada, England, Germany, Austria, Norway, Morocco, India and Lebanon. The foreign participants arrived in Kerman last week.

Afshin Azizi, the Iranian presenter, said that Mohammad Ahansal and Rashid Al-marabeiti, several world champions and the fastest runners of world ultra-marathons will participate in the Iranian Silk Road Ultra-marathon. One blind participant from Italy will also run the 250km distance of the marathon along with other competitors.

Ultra-Marathon

There are five female runners from Iran, Italy, Canada and England.

Azizi also mentioned that there will be no great reward for the competitors at this ultra-marathon – they will only compete to strengthen their mental abilities and for humanitarian reasons. Of course, they will also have the souvenir of the visit to Iran, too.

The ultra-marathon has specific regulations. There shouldn’t be any technological device with the participants. They don’t need to be professionals, but they must be able to carry a 5 to 6kg backpack the whole week and walk, run and live with it. There will not be any food added to their rations, but they can have as much water as they want.

The Iranian Silk Road Ultra-marathon will be held in two integral and lite formats, each of which will be in 6 stages. It will start every day at 8:30am and finish by 3pm.

Representatives from Sky Sport and Rai TV channels, ANSA News from Italy and several world newspapers and news agencies will cover the event.

The slogan of the event is, “Run with us in the hottest place on Earth”. Currently, UNESCO is debating whether the Lut desert, the location of the race, will enter its list of World Natural Heritage Sites.

The city of Kerman, which for many years was on European countries’ lists of no-go areas in Iran, is now showing a different face to the world.

Ultra-Marathon (2)

Tehran to Become ‘Smart City’ with The Things Network

Ali Rahmanpour, the project manager, told Mehr that the first phase of ‘The Things Network of Tehran/Iran’ has been launched in Narmak, a neighbourhood in north-east Tehran, and will soon cover the whole of the capital.

“This gateway has been launched as a part of the global The Things Network (TTN), and is considered to be the first active TTN gateway in the Middle East,” he said.

The Things Network has been launched in Iran with an aim to establish an open, decentralized global network based on crowdsourcing, he added.

“The network uses Lora technology for its radio access, which is one of the two main technologies with low bit rate communication and long range for the Internet of Things,” said Rahmanpour.

According to him, the structure of TTN, due to its openness, is more transparent compared to other networks, and because of its high-level encryption, enjoys high security.

The Things Network was first launched in Amsterdam and in less than four weeks managed to spread its coverage to the whole city. Rahmanour told Mehr News that the lifting of sanctions against Iran following the implementation of the nuclear deal in January allowed his team to obtain the necessary permits to launch a branch of TTN in Tehran.

Erfan Taherkhani, Technical Assistant of Tehran TTN, said his team is currently working on the launch of two other gateways in central and western part of Tehran; “Preliminary estimates show that with about 10 gateways we can fully cover Tehran under The Things Network’s early coverage,” he said.

Iranian People Break Record Number of Women MPs

Iran’s parliamentary elections are over. 75% of lawmakers from the previous parliament have to vacate their seats for new members. Among female MPs, this figure is even higher – 100% of current female parliamentarians will leave their seats and give them to new members.

Even more importantly, the number of women in Iran’s Majlis has doubled. Here is IFP’s translation of KhabarOnline’s report on the change.

 

The run-off elections held on Friday, April 29, changed the formation of Iran’s parliament by 75%. It was also a great victory for the reformists, who claimed 42% of the parliament, while the conservatives only reserved 29% of the seats.

One of the most important points about the parliamentary elections is that all the female members of previous parliament (nine people) lost their seats.

All the previous female lawmakers had made it to the parliament as part of the conservative faction. Some of them, including Halimeh Aali, Mahnaz Bahmani, and Sakineh Omrani, were first-timers, but there were also veterans like Fatemeh Aalia, Fatemeh Rahbar, Nayyereh Akhavan Bitaraf, and Laleh Eftekhari, who had been in the parliament for several terms.

However, none of them managed to win the popular vote for the tenth parliament.

The new parliament, however, witnessed a sharp increase in the total number of female candidates elected.

Based on the results published by the Elections Headquarters, we will have 17 female MPs for the next four years. In terms of political orientation, unlike the ninth parliament (whose female members were all conservatives), the new parliament will host a large number of female reformists as well.

Meanwhile, certain candidates have also run as independents and managed to win the polls. Out of the 17 women, 11 are reformists and the rest have declared themselves as being independent.

Looking at the previous nine parliaments shows that the fifth one, with 14 female MPs, held the highest record before the recent elections. The Iranian people, however, broke this record by electing 17 female members this time.

 

Presence of Women in Different Terms of Iran’s Parliament

Term Number No. of Female MPs in Iran No. of Female MPs in Tehran
1st

4

4
2nd 4 4
3rd 4 4
4th 9 5
5th 14 7
6th 13 6
7th 12 6
8th 8 5
9th 9 4
10th 17 8

Iran’s Oil Exports Hit 2.3m bpd: President

Addressing a ceremony at an industrial plant near Tehran on Sunday, the president blamed the critics of the JCPOA for ignoring the fact that the country’s oil exports have doubled in just a few months since the enforcement of the nuclear deal.

He was speaking on the occasion of the International Workers’ Day.

The president hailed the outcomes of the lasting nuclear deal, saying that doors have now been opened for foreign investment in Iran.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) on July 14, 2015 reached the lasting agreement on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program and started implementing it on January 16.

Before the sanctions were lifted, Iran said it had made the necessary preparations to boost its oil production capacity to pre-sanctions levels.

Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has repeatedly emphasized that the Islamic Republic is determined to regain its share of the oil market lost as a result of the sanctions.