In a symbolic move, a number of Iranian women who have succeeded in beating their drug addiction took part in a march in a Tehran park on October 9.
The rehabilitated addicts appealed to others afflicted by addiction to kick the habit.
The following are photos of the march released by Iscanews.ir:
A message of condolence by the Supreme Leader on the martyrdom of IRGC’s General Hossein Hamedani and remarks by President Rouhani in an international industry conference dominated the front pages of Iranian newspapers on Sunday.
Ettela’at: “Production has the full support of the government,” said President Rouhani at an international gathering on industrial and trade policies to promote exports and employment.
He further said his government has crafted a comprehensive plan to prop up the economy and promote employment as well as non-oil exports.
Abrar: “We have never prevented American investors from finding their way into Iran,” said President Rouhani.
Afkar: “Assad”, “the current government in Damascus” and “resistance” are the red lines of the Iranian plan to end the crisis in Syria.
Aftab-e Yazd: Reformists have stepped up contacts with members of the Guardian Council.
Arman-e Emrooz: Indictments have been issued against eight previous managers of Qeshm Free Zone, said the head of Hormozgan provincial justice department.
Arman-e Emrooz: President Rouhani has said that holding up the implementation of the nuclear deal will exacerbate the economic problems.
Asrar: “Everyone should have freedom of speech,” said the grandson of the late Imam Khomeini.
Asrar: “Next year will usher in major transformation in Iran’s economy,” said the minister of trade.
Etemad: The personal bank account of Ahmadinejad has been frozen as new details leak about pervasive violations in the case involving the Iranian University [a higher education institute the former president vowed to launch, but Science Ministry officials have declared illegal].
Hambastegi: President Rouhani has said that extremist groups make a career out of arguments.
Hambastegi: “No one is seeking to disapprove the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” said Chairman of the JCPOA Review Committee Alireza Zakani.
Iran: The document giving Babak Zanjani authorization to operate bore the signature of four officials of the previous government.
Javan: The US to its allies: Sanctions have not cracked.
Javan: Overexcitement over the nuclear deal has deepened the recession.
“We have lifted ourselves out of recession but may slip back into it,” said President Rouhani.
Jomhouri Islami: Iran and Japan on course to inking a bilateral investment treaty
Jomhouri Islami: Delaying the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action will earn others billions of dollars in profits, said a former nuclear negotiator.
Kaenat: In a gathering on exports and employment, President Rouhani announced his government’s new policies on boosting the economy.
Kayhan: For the attention of MPs: a danger is waiting in ambush beyond the red lines.
Kayhan: A bill which approves the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action breaches the Constitution, said 17 MPs in a letter to the parliament speaker.
Mardomsalari: Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani has said that the policy the new Saudi rulers are pursuing defies wisdom.
Rah-e Mardom: Bewilderment of thousands of rough sleepers in the buildup to the cold season
The daily features an analytical report on those who sleep rough.
Resalat: “We are likely to slip back into recession,” said President Rouhani.
Resalat: Europe has turned into an exporter of terrorism, said Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief.
Roozan: An obstruction threat [by some deputies] is an affront to fellow MPs, said Behrouz Nemati, an MP.
Setareh Sobh: Green light for elections
“I will decide [on running for the Assembly of Experts election] in due time,” said Seyyed Hassan Khomeini in response to calls by reformists in Bushehr Province for him to run.
Sharq: Iran has suffered $2.5 billion in losses for a 22-day delay in the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, said Sirous Nasseri, a former nuclear negotiator.
Tafahom: Sanctions facing economic players will soon be removed, said President Rouhani in a gathering on industry and trade.
♦ “Production has the full support of the government,” said President Rouhani at an international gathering on industrial and trade policies to promote exports and employment.
He further said his government has crafted a comprehensive plan to prop up the economy and promote employment as well as non-oil exports.
♦ A ceremony has been held at the House of Artists to praise the services of Noushafarin Ansari, a renowned librarian and educator.
♦ The Supreme Leader has released a message of condolences following the martyrdom of Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani in Syria.
This veteran fighter spent his “pious youth on the battlefields of honor and glory, defending the Islamic homeland and the Islamic establishment” part of the message read.
♦ The Russian military staged 60 simultaneous airstrikes against Syria, killing 200 terrorists.
Russian fighter jets demolished a command center of terror leaders in Idlib.
♦ A terrorist attack in Ankara, Turkey has left 86 dead and 180 others injured. [The toll has now risen to at least 95.]
The Turkish prime minister has ordered a massive investigation into the deadly blasts.
♦ Fatemeh Daneshvar, the chairwoman of the Social Committee of Tehran City Council, has said that formation of a national institute to support children is necessary.
She further said unfortunately there are no legal provisions to cover the costs of children with incompetent guardians.
♦ The head of Hormozgan provincial justice department has said that indictments have been issued against individuals who have reclaimed coastal areas in the southern province.
♦ [As part of a phased project]Internet TV is to be launched in eight provinces.
Chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has said that Iran and Saudi Arabia can mend fences if the two sides want to do so.
Ettela’at newspaper on October 11 published the remarks of Ayatollah Rafsanjani in a meeting in late September with the managing editor, editor-in-chief and a host of reporters of Shafaqna (the International Shia News Association). The following is the translation of part of Ayatollah Rafsanjani’s responses to a range of questions in the meeting, including the crises in the Middle East and the world of Islam:
Iran and Saudi Arabia
Ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia can be repaired. This can be done if we [the two sides] want to do so. It can’t be done unilaterally. For instance, if we voice readiness and they do not accept that on political or regional grounds or thanks to the conditions on the ground, or [they step forward but] we do not want to, improvement of ties will not become a reality.
But I think it is quite realizable. I should say that if we act properly, we can easily settle our issues with the Arabs. They too need to take appropriate measures. If a wise and moderate individual like King Abdullah had been in power, he would have settled the differences.
I was earlier a guest of Mr. Salman in a meeting in Riyadh. Back then I found him a sensible man. I think his inner circle is acting incorrectly and goes to extremes.
Balkanization of the Middle East
Disintegration is what foreigners are seeking [in the region]. They do not want to see a powerful country in this region. There are some who favor the breakup of Iran, Iraq and Syria into smaller countries at odds with each other.
Disintegration is not a simple process. Following the disintegration, whether the Shiites and Sunnis want to leave or remain in that country will become [yet another] bone of contention. These two cases will pose a threat [to people in the disintegrated countries].
Those who think disintegration will help the dust settle are in the wrong. Disintegration will backfire, because it will fuel tension and confrontation among different sections [of a splintered country]. What they [the foreigners] are after here in this region is to make the region lose power.
But this is not what we [Iranians] are calling for. We think people [of different ideologies] had better get along with each other. What is the use of being in conflict?
Opposition by the so-called Worrier MPs to the Iran nuclear deal or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is the eleventh government’s marquee achievement, has entered a new phase.
Khabaronline.ir on October 8 published an analytical report on what the [Islamic Revolution] Stability Front is seeking to do in dealing with the Iran nuclear deal in parliament and on whether its obstructionism can put on hold the implementation of JCPOA. The following is the translation of the report:
From the beginning of the two-year nuclear marathon in the eleventh government, hardline MPs have spared no effort to throw obstacles in the way of clinching an agreement [with P5+1]. They are expected to reveal their ace in the hole on Sunday (October 11) [in opposition to the nuclear deal].
The Worriers have opposed the deal in different ways: throwing shoes at the country’s diplomacy team when people welcomed home their negotiators at the airport; sending Zarif in a wheelchair to nuclear talks in Geneva; holding chain gatherings against nuclear talks; and now releasing a one-sided report on JCPOA which is in line with the views of Saeed Jalili [the chief nuclear negotiator during Ahmadinejad’s presidency] and voting ‘no’ – despite the previous agreements – to a motion which is to help the government implement JCPOA.
By taking all these measures, they have no more than one objective: throwing a wrench into the works of government in implementing JCPOA and undermining the favorability of the [Rouhani] administration. But, the weapons they used failed to work and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action entered its final stage.
The Islamic Consultative Assembly is expected to put to the vote the Iranian Government’s Reciprocal and Proportional Action Bill which is tagged with single urgency. [If approved] The bill authorizes the government to voluntarily implement JCPOA in keeping with the decisions of the Supreme National Security Council.
Reports coming from parliament indicate that the Stability Front is seeking to obstruct Sunday’s in-house vote (to stop the chamber from making a quorum) to re-delay the decision which is to be made on the fate of JCPOA.
The bill on JCPOA implementation – an initiative by the parliament speaker – was pieced together jointly by two parliamentary caucuses: the Followers of the Leader [Rahrovan-e Velayat] (the majority) and Principlists (the minority). The bill’s double urgency was put to the vote in parliament on October 4 after the JCPOA Review Committee read out its report on the Iran nuclear deal.
The Principlist Caucus went back on its words and did not vote for the bill’s double-urgency status; so the bill was passed carrying a single-urgency status. The bill was then sent to the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee which will later submit it for debate on the floor.
Now that the Stability Front has learned that the majority of MPs will vote for the bill, it is trying to stop the chamber from making a quorum so that the passage of the bill can be held up as long as possible.
Can the Stability Front resort to obstruction?
Obstruction is in fact a pre-coordinated move in which a number of MPs leave the chamber to prevent it from proceeding with the legislative processes and debating and voting on the motions and bills it has on its agenda.
According to Article 98 of the Islamic Consultative Assembly’s in-house directive, at least two-thirds of MPs should be present if the chamber wants to hold a session and vote [on legislation]. The ninth government has 290 seats. This means members of the Stability Front need to make more than 97 MPs walk out of parliament if they seek to use obstruction as a tool.
As the list of MPs from the Stability Front shows, the number of deputies who have made it to parliament on a Stability Front ticket or a joint ticket of the United Front [of Principlists] and the Stability Front, does not exceed 60, at best.
As Hossein Ali Haji Daligani, an MP from Shahin Shahr and a member of the Principlists Caucus, has put it, the number of his fellow caucus members is 80 in total, the MPs from the Stability Front included. The latest attempts by the anti-government MPs led by the Stability Front to pick sides on the floor did not achieve the desired result in the impeachment hearing of Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhundi.
The MPs behind the impeachment motion could not collect more than 13 signatures to grill the minister; Akhundi obtained 175 votes in favor to survive a vote of no-confidence and remained in his post. As First Deputy Speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar had accurately predicted Akhundi garnered 26 votes more than his first confirmation hearing [when President Rouhani introduced him as minister to parliament].
The roads minister’s survival amounted to a significant defeat for the anti-government hardliners in parliament. On the impeachment day the number of votes in favor of the impeachment stood at 72. This means that MPs from the Stability Front had even failed to rally all members of a parliamentary caucus they belong to around the impeachment motion, let alone winning the support of an additional 17 deputies and denying parliament the quorum it needs to impeach the minister.
Stability Front and a series of abortive obstructions
This is not the first time the Stability Front MPs threaten to use obstruction. Earlier (in March 2012), the Stability Front had threatened to obstruct during [former president] Ahmadinejad’s first questioning, but their threat did not become a reality back then.
But they made good on their threat nine months later when parliament’s Presiding Board announced the receipt of a second motion to question Ahmadinejad (on Sunday, November 4, 2012). In that session, two MPs from the Stability Front threatened the Presiding Board that they would walk out in protest. As a result of this threat, 21 MPs left the parliament.
What the deputies supporting Ahmadinejad and parliament’s minority caucus did – something Speaker Ali Larijani rejected as illegal – produced no fruit, because the chamber still maintained quorum and proceeded with the questioning.
It seems that the Stability Front’s two previous experiences [in obstruction] are repeating themselves. It is still unclear whether they have simply threatened to obstruct or they will carry out their threat. What is certain is the fact that their chances to drum up the support of over 97 MPs – to prevent parliament from maintaining quorum – are slim.
The martyrdom of Hossein Hamedani, an IRGC brigadier general who was in Syria in the capacity of an adviser, dominated the front pages of Iranian newspapers on Saturday.
Ettela’at: Saudi Arabia’s support for IS terrorists is expanding.
The BBC has reported that Saudi Arabia is supplying advanced weaponry to Syrian terrorists to counter the Syrian government.
Ettela’at: Heavy rain and hailstorm have caused damage in several provinces.
Hailstones in Poldokhtar have shattered the windows of cars and houses, causing damage to farmland and orchards.
Ettela’at: Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has described the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian Leader as a boon for Muslims.
The secretary of the Lebanese Hezbollah predicted that Saudi Arabia will suffer a heavy defeat in Yemen.
Ettela’at: Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani has been martyred in Syria.
Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani, a Revolution Guards adviser, fell while on assignment in the suburbs of Aleppo.
Ettela’at: The labor minister has said five million graduates will enter the job market.
Ali Rabiei further said that the country needs to create as many as 800,000 jobs a year.
Ettela’at: Tehran Symphony Orchestra has performed to honor the memory of Hajj pilgrims who died in the Mina tragedy in Saudi Arabia in late September.
Ettela’at: Five Palestinians have been killed in an attack by Zionist forces during the Palestinian Day of Rage.
Abrar: Iran has welcomed the recent call by Kuwaiti officials for regional dialogue.
Afkar: “After conquering Yemen, Saudi Arabia will set its sights on Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain,” said secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei.
Aftab-e Yazd: It is much better it didn’t happen!
Despite predictions that Mohammad Javad Zarif might win the Nobel Peace Prize, he did not. A report by the daily looks at what reaction his winning the prize would have drawn at home.
Aftab-e Yazd: “With a negative report by the JCPOA Review Committee, they dealt a bad blow to the country,” said the chairman of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.
Arman-e Emrooz: “Embezzlement and mismanagement have delivered a heavy blow to the public and the country,” said Ayatollah Javadi Amoli, a source of emulation.
Asrar: The head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization has said that some of the pilgrims killed in the Mina stampede are likely to have been buried on Saudi soil.
Asrar: “Iran comes first in the world when it comes to water tension,” said the director of the Environment Protection Organization.
Etemad: The number of individuals who won’t receive cash subsidies will increase to six million, said the minister of welfare, labor and social affairs.
Ghanoon: The heads of the three branches of government have offered condolences on the martyrdom in Syria of IRGC’s General Hossein Hamedani whose funeral will be held on Sunday.
Haft-e Sobh: Baran Kosari has cheated death.
The actress was involved in a horrible car accident in Tehran.
Hambastegi: The social atmosphere shouldn’t be dominated by security issues, said the grandson of the late Imam Khomeini.
Hambastegi: “We insist on acting in a way that will result in a change in the makeup of the future parliament,” said Mohammad Reza Aref, a former vice-president.
Iran: A majority of MPs are determined to approve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Jomhouri Islami: Rainstorms have ripped through parts of the country.
Kayhan: Parliament should not be fooled by generalization tactics to walk into the trap of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action; the daily features an analysis on the issue.
Mardomsalari: The managing director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines has said that Iranian ships are to dock in US ports.
Resalat: “In order to prevent the rise to power of incompetent individuals, there should be no leniency in screening the potential candidates,” said the intelligence minister.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in a statement on Friday announced that an IRGC veteran commander, offering military counseling to Syrian forces in their fight against terrorists, has been killed while defending the Shiite holy sites in Syria.
Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani, the veteran commander of the IRGC, was martyred during an attack by ISIL terrorists on the outskirts of Aleppo while fulfilling his duty as military advisor and defending the holy Shiite shrines in the country, the statement said.
Brigadier General Hamedani was in Syria to render military advice to the Syrian army and popular forces in their fight against ISIL.
[…]
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman slammed a Saudi-led aerial attack on a wedding ceremony in Yemen’s Dhamar province that killed dozens of civilianson Wednesday.
“The attacks by foreign military forces on Yemen’s residential areas and civilian targets have slaughtered thousands of the Muslim country’s defenseless people so far, and have had no results for the invading forces but destruction and killing of innocent Yemeni people,” Marzieh Afkham said on Thursday.
The spokeswoman also called on the United Nations and the influential countries in the Yemeni crisis to ramp up efforts for bringing an immediate end to the Saudi-led air strikes on Yemen.
She further stressed the necessity for plans and measures to protect the lives of Yemeni civilians, particularly women and children.
On Wednesday, Saudi warplanes targeted a wedding in the Yemeni town of Sanban in Dhamar province, 100km south of the capital Sana’a, killing at least 51 civilians.
The raid, which was the second airstrike on a wedding party in Yemen in just over a week, hit a house where dozens of people were celebrating on Wednesdayevening.
Al Masirah television said on Twitter that the wedding was hit by “aggression warplanes”.
Back in September, a Saudi-led coalition strike killed at least 131 civilians at a wedding near the Red Sea city of al-Mokha, which the UN said may have been the deadliest hit since March.
Yemen’s defenseless people have been under massive attacks by the coalition for months.
On March 26, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies began to launch 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.
More than 4000 people, many of them children and women, have been killed in the aggression against the Arab country so far.
The Israeli regime is the sole barrier to establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East region, Iran’s Ambassador to the UN Gholam Ali Khoshrou says.
Addressing a Friday meeting of the UN General Assembly’s disarmament committee, Khoshrou said Tel Aviv is “the only impediment… toward realizing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East.”
“Israel continues to block all international and regional efforts to fulfill this goal,” he added.
During the Friday meeting, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Alon Roth-Snir reiterated the regime’s strong opposition to a nuclear agreement clinched between Iran and P5+1, saying it is “unlikely to stop Iran’s relentless pursuit of a nuclear weapons’ capability.”
Iran and five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia – plus Germany finalized the text of the agreement dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the Austrian capital Vienna on July 14.
Under JCPOA, limits will be put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic.
Israel has repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program. Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that the country’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
Unlike Iran, Israel, which is widely believed to possess between 200 to 400 nuclear warheads, is a non-signatory to the NPT and continues to defy international calls to join the treaty.
Masoud Nikdel, an Iranian artist who is involved in sculpture [and performance art], is concerned about water scarcity in Iran. His concern took him – caked in mud – to the capital’s Milad Tower where he sat down still on the ground for three hours. His symbolic warning was first heeded by social networking sites as images of the muddy man went viral.
Mehr News Agency on October 4 published a report on the man involved in protest art, his concerns about water crisis in Iran and the reactions his motionless performance drew on the Internet. The following is a brief translation of the report which also includes the artist’s remarks:
Masoud Nikdel has worked professionally on sculpture for 14 years, but his symbolic protest at water crisis was what introduced him and his art widely to the public. He set out from the easternmost part of the country – Khorasan – for the towering building of the capital to sit on its stairways for three hours.
Mud-coated, he sat there with his eyes closed and his chin resting on his palm. He kept silent for three hours and left reaction by the passers-by unheeded.
[…]
Nikdel is not a newcomer to art. Ten years into his professional work, he has held no exhibition, arguing that an artist should hold an expo only when s/he seeks to introduce a new style to the audience.
He has experienced working on stones for which he won a title in 2000. He has also created works of art on dried tree trunks helping them remain on the city streets. He insists that trees – even if when they are dried – should not be chopped or removed from the city space.
The artist’s own words
On his symbolic move in Milad Tower, Nikdel says, “The soil collected from a mountainous area of Lavasan was mixed with river water from the same area. I was blanketed with this mixture. I wanted to sit [on the stairways] of Milad Tower to go dry, but I could not stand it because of the cold breeze. I was supposed to perform [when the sun was still in the sky] but the actual performance ran from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
“I did not know how many hours I sat there because my eyes were closed. I even did not know when the night fell. Luckily, when I could no longer continue my performance, a little girl took my hand and lifted me up. The time I rose up, I got happy. After that performance, the muscles on the left side of my face were not functioning well due to chilblain.”
Nikdel says he will continue with this style. So we have to wait and see how he will take his audience by another surprise next time. He says, “Artists should not create a work and then say good-bye. They should keep working and reminding people. We should not force people to do something if we want to build a culture. Proper water consumption cannot become a culture by force.
“I will do other works on water and nature in general. I think such works will be very much effective. People will think about a work of art and will draw a conclusion.”
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