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Abduction of Iran’s ex-envoy during stampede possible: Spokesman

By
Golrokh Askarieh
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13930501000773_PhotoI

Culture Ministry Spokesman Hossein Noushabadi became one of the first Iranian officials to directly speak of the possible abduction of Iran’s former ambassador to Beirut Ghazanfar Roknabadi during the Mina crush on Thursday, saying if he is still alive, he has surely been abducted.

“That the Saudis deny the presence of Mr. Roknabadi (in their country) shows that they are lying; they certainly know the whereabouts of important figures like Roknabadi and other friends who had participated in the Hajj ceremony and are informed of their fate, but they don’t want to speak about the realities,” Noushabadi said on Tuesday.

He said that Roknabadi and other senior Iranian officials who went missing after the Mina stampede have not been among the injured or dead pilgrims and added, “It seems that a plot had been hatched and I imagine that the Saudi security forces have kidnapped them and this is a serious possibility.”

Roknabadi’s case has come under spotlight both in Iranian and Saudi media in the past few days.

Roknabadi, one of Iran’s outstanding diplomats, served as the country’s ambassador to Lebanon for several years.

Certain Arab media claimed that Roknabadi had traveled to Saudi Arabia through illegal channels.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham Monday strongly rejected the Arab media reports and said that Roknabadi traveled to the country on his regular passport with a Hajj visa.

[…]

Iran, Slovenia stress expansion of bilateral ties

By
Golrokh Askarieh
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81778990-70196565

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Slovenian counterpart Karl Viktor Erjavec agreed on expansion of bilateral relations at a meeting Tuesday in New York.

The two top diplomats stressed closer cooperation through exchanges of diplomatic, parliamentary and trade delegations.

At the meeting held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Zarif welcomed Erjavec’s statement on reopening the Slovenian embassy and the establishment of the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce in Tehran.

The Slovenian foreign minister expressed condolences to his Iranian counterpart over the deaths of thousands of Hajj pilgrims in Saudi Arabia including Iran’s former ambassador to Ljubljana.

An Iran visit by the Slovenian president was also discussed at the meeting.

Official: Saudi officials had better change their Iran approach

By
Golrokh Askarieh
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Mohsen-Rezai

The secretary of the Expediency Council has said that Saudi officials are expected to change their behavior toward Iran and not to try to create rifts in the region.

Mohsen Rezaei made the comment on the sidelines of a gathering of the veterans of Jihad on Tuesday and added that former Iraqi dictator Saddam resorted to divisive measures in the region during the eight years of Iraq’s war against Iran and experienced the result [of his decision]. The following is the translation of what else the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) quoted Rezaei as saying on September 29:

Saudi behavior

The Saudi authorities have been plagued by misunderstandings about Iran. Their behavior over this past year shows that the Saudis are seeking to limit Iran’s [regional] power.

The Saudi police’s treatment of Iranian pilgrims in the past shows that the Saudis are trying to dent Iran’s clout. We advise them to drop this approach and not to try to create divisions in the region. Saddam once did it during the eight-year imposed war [and got harmed by its result]. It is not sensible to engage in such disputes again. The Saudis should correct their behavior and change course.

Mina Tragedy

Whether the painful tragedy in Mina unfolded because of bad intentions cannot be confirmed, but post-incident treatment by the Saudis of the bodies of Iranian pilgrims points to a deliberate act. The exact cause of the incident is still unclear, but mismanagement of the Saudi officials is very much in evidence.

Saudi Arabia blame game tarnishes own image: Iran

By
Golrokh Askarieh
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Afkham

Iran has warned that the blame game Saudi Arabia is playing over the deadly Mina stampede is tarnishing its own image.

“[The Saudi] obstinacy, [playing a] blame game and shirking its heavy responsibility over the deaths of several thousand pilgrims of the House of God will further tarnish Saudi Arabia’s image in the world,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said Tuesday.

She added that poor management and lack of foresight on the part of Saudi officials caused the deadly incident in Mina.

The fatal crush in the Saudi town of Mina occurred on September 24 after two large crowds of pilgrims, who were on their way to participate in the symbolic stoning of Satan, a Hajj ritual, collided.

Saudi Arabia has so far confirmed the deaths of nearly 770 pilgrims in the incident.

[…]

Afkham urged Riyadh to apologize to Muslim countries for its failure in managing the Hajj pilgrimage ritual.

She dismissed as “unconstructive” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir’s televised allegations that Iran is exploiting the Mina tragedy for political gains.

Afkham further rejected al Jubeir’s “unhelpful and irrelevant” allegations that Iran has been fueling tensions in Syria and Yemen.

“The continuation of the policy of armed intervention in Syria and Yemen and the [systematic] destruction of the infrastructure in Arab and Muslim countries have spread extremism and instability across the region,” Afkham said.

In an interview with Al Arabiya, the Saudi foreign minister alleged that Iran supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by sending militants to the Arab country. Al-Jubeir also accused Iran of providing Yemen’s Ansarullah Houthi fighters with “weapons, advisors and experts.”

Brushing aside the claims, Afkham said that Saudi Arabia has turned into the “main source of expansion of extremism and belligerency” by pursuing warmongering policies.

She also slammed the Saudi regime for the recent killing of over a hundred Yemeni civilians at a wedding party.

The United Nations on Tuesday confirmed that at least 135 civilians, including many women and children, were killed in a Saudi airstrike on a wedding in Yemen.

“This may be the single deadliest incident since the start of the conflict,” UN Human Rights Agency Spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters.

[…]

Deadly stampede at Hajj pilgrimage suspicious: Leader aide

By
Golrokh Askarieh
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Velayati

A senior Iranian official has said the recent deadly crush in Mina during the Hajj pilgrimage rituals is “suspicious.”

“This incident and its circumstances are suspicious because some of our senior officials have been killed or gone missing in this incident,” Ali Akbar Velayati, a top advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday.

He added that the Saudi government is dodging its responsibility in dealing with the consequences of this incident.

When asked if the disappearance of some Iranian diplomats in the stampede could be part of a plot, Velayati said, “Cooperation between the Saudi regime and the Zionist regime [of Israel] in different arenas is not something that could be covered up.”

He added that Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Iyad Ameen Madani should call on Muslim states to investigate the catastrophic Mina incident and work out strategies to guarantee the safety of pilgrims during the Hajj rituals.

“If Saudi Arabia is unable to fulfill its duties with regard to protecting the Hajj pilgrims, Muslim countries should move to carry out their duties in this regard,” Velayati said.

[…]

President Rouhani back home

President Rouhani said Tuesday that the “inefficiency and lack of foresight” of the Saudi government caused the deaths of the pilgrims, including Iranians, in Mina.

“Saudi Arabia should fulfill its legal and international duties toward foreign nationals and Hajj pilgrims. Moreover, the dimensions and circumstances of the Mina incident must be clarified,” he said.

He also criticized some Saudi media for broadcasting animations of the deadly stampede, calling their move an “insult” to Muslim nations.

He emphasized that the Iranian government would carry out its legal responsibilities to stand up for the rights of Iranian pilgrims.

Rouhani, who was in New York to address the 70th  annual session of the UN General Assembly, said he cut short his trip and cancelled his scheduled meetings to be able to attend the funeral ceremony for the dead Iranian pilgrims.

Iran FM’s message to Lebanese counterpart

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday that Saudi Arabia should prepare the ground for running the Hajj ceremony in collaboration with other Muslim countries.

In a message to Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, Zarif expressed hope that Saudi officials in charge of Hajj administration would consult with Muslim nations and benefit from their recommendations in order to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future.

He added that the Mina stampede was the second incident during the Hajj pilgrimage rituals this year that endangered the safety of pilgrims.

[…]

Negotiator: Iran, P5+1 discuss preliminary steps to implement JCPOA

By
Golrokh Askarieh
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Araghchi

The Iranian deputy foreign minister said that foreign ministers of Iran and P5+1 in their meeting in New York have reviewed preliminary steps to implement the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Abbas Araghchi, who is also a senior Iranian nuclear negotiator, said on Tuesday that the brief review covered both sanctions and nuclear issues.

The two sides underlined the necessity for removing any possible obstacles standing in the way, he said.

“’The seven foreign ministers and Ms. Mogherini in that session expressed satisfaction with the proper developments regarding JCPOA on both sides of the deal during the past two months and expressed the hope that after completion of the Iranian parliament’s review of the text, the process of implementation would be accelerated,” Araghchi noted.

Araghchi also said that the process of implementing the Iran-IAEA Road-map and IAEA Chief Yukiya Amano’s positive evaluation of that process, too, was discussed in the New York session, and the need to continue that process until the resolution of all ambiguities about past and present issues was emphasized.

The Monday meeting was the first official gathering of the ministers after finalization of the landmark nuclear deal in Vienna back in July.

The session was part of efforts to pursue the implementation of the July 14 nuclear agreement, reached after some two years of diplomatic talks.

The European Union Foreign Policy Chief, Mogherini, had already expressed satisfaction with international support for JCPOA.

Iran to lodge complaint against Saudi Arabia for deaths of pilgrims

By
Golrokh Askarieh
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Nobakht

Government Spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said on Tuesday that Tehran is going to file a complaint against Saudi Arabia for the shortcomings that led to a tragic crush of pilgrims during the annual Hajj rituals and deaths of Iranians.

Speaking to reporters in a weekly press conference, Nobakht said that Iran will lodge a complaint against Saudi Arabia and follow up with legal actions.

Tehran also pursues mechanisms in the international arena to pursue the case, the vice president added.

He made it clear that Iran will spare no efforts to defend the rights of the Iranian pilgrims, the missing ones and those injured in the disaster.

Asked about Riyadh’s possible decision to bury the dead in the Arab country, Nobakht underlined that the Saudis cannot do that without the official procedures or permission from the victims’ families, stressing that Iran has not granted permission to Saudi Arabia to do that.

So far, at least 239 Iranian pilgrims have been confirmed dead in the incident. Some 240 other Iranians are still unaccounted for.

Statue of peace, a journey from Persepolis to Rome and back (PHOTOS)

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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The Statue of Penelope, unearthed in Persepolis, was taken to Italy a while ago to reunite with its three Roman counterparts and be put on display at an exhibition.

Italy had promised to return to Iran all four statues for public display between September and March 2016.

The four statues were eventually unveiled at a ceremony at the Iranian National Museum Monday attended by Director of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization Masoud Soltanifar and the Italian culture minister.

The marble Statue of Penelope – torso of a woman – was excavated in Persepolis in 1940. Archeologists believe it is a gift of peace offered by the Greeks to Persia in 450 B.C.

Penelope is a character of Homer’s Odyssey, one of the two great epic poems of ancient Greek literature. Penelope is the wife of the main character, the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, also known as Ulysses, who was a brave warrior (480-500 B.C). Since she waited long for the return of her husband from the Trojan War, she is also known as sorrowful Penelope.

After its excavation in Persepolis, it was kept in the Iranian National Museum. The statue was taken to different countries for public display during the Exhibition of 7,000 years of Iranian Art in 2003.

Images of the unveiling ceremony released online by Mehr and ISNA news agencies:

 

Gov’t preparations for JCPOA implementation not against law: Spokesman

By
Golrokh Askarieh
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Nobakht

With a special parliamentary committee still reviewing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the final decision not yet made to be presented on parliament floor, Iran has started honoring the commitments envisioned in the agreement it signed with six world powers on July 14.

A few days ago, Kayhan, a conservative daily, reacted to what it called implementation of the Vienna nuclear deal before parliament’s JCPOA Review Committee gave it the go-ahead, and signaled the dissatisfaction of the opponents of the accord by publishing “Unlawful Overtaking of the Government in the Implementation of JCPOA” as a banner headline.

The article wondered whether the Rouhani government violated the national law when it accepted to meet international commitments envisioned in JCPOA before it was approved in parliament.

Government Spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht has now weighed in on the matter. The following is the translation of what Khabaronline quoted the spokesman as saying in an interview:

In response to a question as to whether JCPOA has been approved by the Supreme National Security Council and whether the government has started the implementation of the deal based on the council’s decision, Nobakht said, “The Supreme National Security Council has been tasked with reviewing JCPOA. That is what the council is doing now. Parliament has said it approves of the essence of the talks and has simply got involved in the review process to help the government. Parliament has ratified legislation which puts the Supreme National Security Council in charge.”

Nobakht went on to say, “Based on that, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said ‘We have started the implementation of JCPOA and we won’t renege on it.’ Now, the stage is set for the implementation. Thus, government efforts to facilitate it do not run counter to law of the land. The government is in fact moving in the direction of compliance with the laws.”

The spokesman added, “We don’t want to squander time. Sanctions need to be swiftly lifted and that shouldn’t be delayed. Government efforts to pave the way for the implementation of the deal and have the sanctions removed even one day sooner are a duty approved of by the Supreme Leader.”

He concluded, “Parliament fulfills its own duties and government measures won’t disrupt the parliamentary process [of reviewing the deal]. The government believes it has done nothing against the law.”

Umbilical Cord Blood Processing Bank (PHOTOS)

By
Fatemeh Askarieh
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Umbilical Cord Blood0

The Umbilical Cord Blood Processing Bank can save the lives of many because it preserves the umbilical cord blood of newborns in case its healthy blood cells are needed by the child or its immediate relatives if they develop certain diseases, including cancer, in the future.

The following images of the bank have been released by Tasnim News Agency:

 

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