Bisotun, a centuries-old historical site, is located in the western Iranian province of Kermanshah.
Its multi-lingual inscriptions have been crucial to the decipherment of cuneiform script.
Almost a decade ago, the historical site made it onto the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The following images of the site have been released by Tasnim News Agency:
With the country preparing for a ceremony to mark the 26-year anniversary of the demise of Imam Khomeini, images of the founding father of the Islamic Republic dominated the front pages of Iranian dailies on Tuesday. Comments of the government spokesman about rallies for and against nuclear negotiations also appeared on the front covers of the newspapers.
Afkar: “Our conditions [for a nuclear deal] are clear, final and non-negotiable,” said Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to the Supreme Leader.
Aftab-e Yazd: “The Interior Ministry should crack down on illegal gatherings,” Government Spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said in a news conference.
Aftab-e Yazd: Will Parviz Fattah challenge [incumbent] Hassan Rouhani in 2017 elections?
The daily has gone behind the scenes of principlist preparations for the presidential elections which are almost two years away.
[Fattah served as energy minister under Ahmadinejad and is currently the head of Imam Khomeini Relief Committee.]
Amin: Iran’s national volleyball team has suffered a second defeat against host USA in the 2015 FIVB Volleyball World League.
Asr-e Rasaneh: Iranian expatriates are to be offered insurance.
Ebtekar: “There are certain things about Imam [Khomeini] which remain unsaid; I won’t make them public for now,” said Chairman of the Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Ebtekar: There are uncertainties about a visit to Iran by the Gypsy Kings.
Ettela’at: The Ministry of Cooperatives has been tasked with excluding high-income individuals from the cash subsidies scheme.
Ettela’at: Thousands of Iraqi and Lebanese popular forces have arrived in Syria to take on IS terrorists.
Hambastegi: “We need to trust the understanding of the public,” said the grandson of the late Imam Khomeini.
Jomhouri Islami: An agreement has been struck with China on the return of oil sales cash to Iran.
Jomhouri Islami: The aircraft Mahan Air has recently purchased will take to the air as of Wednesday.
Mardomsalari: Scholars from 50 countries are in Tehran to attend ceremonies marking the 26th anniversary of the demise of Imam Khomeini.
Qods: The rise in gasoline prices has prompted parliament to summon the oil minister for explanation.
Rah-e Mardom: “The government does not see diversity of parties and political leanings as being counter to national unity,” said Intelligence Minister Seyyed Mahmoud Alavi.
With a little more than two weeks to go before Iran hosts the 2015 FIVB World League Finals, it is still unclear whether women will be allowed entry into the sporting arena. Shahindokht Molaverdi, vice president for women and family affairs, has recently announced that women’s presence in stadiums to watch volleyball matches has been given the final [official] approval. Nothing [confirmation or rejection] has yet come out of the Ministry of Sports and Youth, though.
[Observers say President Rouhani’s government has been put to the test with women who make up almost half of the country’s population eagerly waiting to see if the president makes good on one of his election promises: equal rights for women.]
Sharq daily on June 1 published an interview with Ms. Molaverdi on – among other things –whether or not Azadi Indoor Stadium will open its doors to women for the finals of the World League matches. The following is the translation of excerpts of the interview:
[…]
Which government body regulates the mechanisms needed for women’s presence in sporting arenas?
The Supreme National Security Council is not involved. Representatives from the Interior Ministry, Law Enforcement Force and the Ministry of Sports and Youth have held a number of meetings working out the required mechanisms.
Please elaborate on the mechanisms.
They will be announced later. I hope those mechanisms can ease the existing concerns in this regard.
You mean the Ministry of Sports and Youth has yet to communicate them?
I don’t know if they’ve been communicated or not. I’ll talk about it with Mr. Goodarzi, the sport minister, when the Cabinet meets.
[…]
Last year you held talks with the parliament speaker about greater representation of women in the Islamic Consultative Assembly. What has been done to give women a broader share of responsibilities in the chamber?
[…] In the meeting with the parliament speaker I suggested that in provinces which have more than five representatives at least one deputy should be female. This would see a remarkable rise in the number of female MPs. Presently the ideal representation would be 30 percent.
Later we realized that the Expediency Council is discussing the generalities of election policies in the country. We compiled and submitted to the Council a detailed contrastive analysis of female representation in Iran and in other regional countries, especially in Islamic states.
We also sent a letter to Ayatollah Hashemi, asking him to take into account measures to gradually increase the number of women deputies in the Islamic Consultative Assembly and in city and village councils when adopting the general policies of the elections. […]
Have you personally talked with Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani? Where does he stand on that?
I have sent him letters. It seems he holds a positive view on that and has raised the issue in one of [the Council’s] sessions. We are now lobbying for that.
What about Mr. Larijani?
He also agrees to that, implicitly though.
[…]
Would you tell us about punishment for violence against women?
Currently, the penal code envisions a series of punishments, but the objective here is to remove domestic violence from the [list of] general crimes and treat it as a specific intent crime. The latter calls for special treatment as well, especially the violence that is committed inside homes which are supposed to be a safe for people. The same thing applies to children too. […]
What about the acid attacks victims? Has any measure been taken to support them?
[…] Marziyeh Ebrahimi and Soheila Jorkesh, two acid attack victims in Isfahan and Tehran respectively, are undergoing treatment in the capital. The health minister is very sensitive about their treatment and closely follows it. […]
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said foreign countries will never be able to impose their will on the Syrian nation.
He made the remark in a meeting with the Syrian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Jihad al-Laham.
Expressing optimism about the ultimate victory of the Syrian nation and army in the fight against terrorists, he said that now after four years of resistance and struggle the enemies of Syria have come to realize that their dreams of gaining dominance over Damascus in just a few months were hollow ones.
Stressing that terrorists could never succeed in their plots against Syria, President Rouhani regretted that some regional countries were badly mistaken when they thought they could always use terrorists as a tool to secure their purposes.
However, the president added, they were not aware that these groups would eventually become a nightmare for them.
He further underlined that the Iranian people and government will stand by the Syrian nation to the end of the crisis.
The Syrian official said his nation and government would never forget the support of their Iranian brothers and friends.
He slammed the inefficiency of the United Nations in addressing world problems and criticized it for inability to implement the proposed plan by the Iranian President for creating a world free of violence and extremism.
He also expressed regret that some regional countries were supporting terrorist groups in Syria and said these countries were in fact implementing the plots hatched by the US and the West to serve the interests of the Zionist regime.
Al-Laham arrived in Tehran on Monday heading a parliamentary delegation. He has also met with Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani.
Iran’s security forces have thwarted a plot to foment insecurity in the country by a man who entered Iran with the aim of creating terrorist groups, Intelligence Minister Seyed Mahmoud Alawi said on Monday.
“A person named ‘Abu Hafs’ entered Iran some time ago to create terrorist groups inside the country,” Alawi said, adding that the intelligence forces have been able to foil the plot.
He also noted that the security forces have arrested “different terrorist groups that have been sent by enemies for acts of sabotage and bombing in the country’s sensitive locations.”
The minister underscored that Iran’s intelligence and security system “has no void”, giving assurances that any person involved in terrorist activities anywhere in the country will be identified and arrested.
Last week, Alawi announced that security forces have identified and captured all teams with links to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group inside the country.
“Their facilities and information were confiscated, members were arrested and despite the supports the (foreign) espionage services have provided for Daesh (ISIL), they have failed to foment insecurity in a single corner of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the minister added.
[…]
A Saudi criminal court is seeking the death penalty for the two Saudi officers behind the sexual abuse of two teenage Iranian pilgrims at the Jeddah airport, a senior Iranian official said.
Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular, Parliamentary and Iranian Expatriates Affairs Hassan Ghashghavi made the remarks in an exclusive interview with IRIB on Monday.
“The two criminal police officers were tried at the seventh branch of Jeddah’s Criminal Court this morning,” he added.
According to Ghashghavi, the indictment by Jeddah’s attorney general was read out during the hearing, which was held in the presence of Naser Hamidi Zare, the Iranian consul general in Jeddah.
The two police officers “have been charged with malversation, breach of duty and committing a heinous criminal act,” he stated.
Ghashghavi said that “Jeddah’s attorney general, with reference to religion and law, called for the death penalty” for the two Saudi officers.
The hearing was adjourned to June 10 to hear the defenses of their lawyers, the Iranian official added.
Citing suspicion, Saudi officers reportedly took two Iranian teenagers, aged 14 and 15, away, while performing body search on passengers at the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah in April. The teenagers were subjected to indecent acts by the Saudi officers, who had sounded off the alarm at the gate.
Following the incident, Iran summoned the Saudi chargé d’affaires and submitted a note of complaint to the Saudi government.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged cooperation between regional countries to establish peace and security in the Middle East.
If regional countries do not cooperate to establish security in the region, they will have to live in a volatile region, Zarif said in an exclusive interview with Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen satellite TV station in the Swiss city of Geneva on Monday.
The Iranian top diplomat stressed that the time when security could be bought has gone, and today cooperation is needed to establish security in the region.
Iran is ready to cooperate with other regional countries to resolve the issues of the Middle East, Zarif said, stressing that security and peace must be established in the countries in the region.
He also referred to the crisis in Syria, saying that certain regional countries are providing logistic, military and financial support for terrorist groups operating against the Syrian government.
The Iranian foreign minister further said that only a comprehensive political solution based on the Syrian people’s demands can end the crisis in the country.
Pointing to the conflict in Yemen, Zarif called for a cessation of the Saudi airstrikes against Yemen and the implementation of a truce in the impoverished Arab country.
He stressed that instability in Yemen and Saudi Arabia does not benefit Iran.
Zarif also said that Iran is holding consultations with some regional countries including Oman, Pakistan and Turkey to resolve the conflict in Yemen.
[…]
The United States and its allies in the Middle East have been creating crisis in regional countries to provide a safe haven for Israel in the region, a senior Iranian official says.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a top advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, made the remark in a meeting with Speaker of the Syrian People’s Assembly Mohammad Jihad al-Laham in Tehran on Monday.
The ongoing crisis in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq shows “a pervasive plot by the US, the Zionists and reactionaries in the region,” Velayati said, describing the plot as a “dream” which will not “come true”.
“The US, the Zionists and the region’s reactionaries have joined forces” to undermine the resistance movement in the region and “provide a safe haven” for the Israeli regime.
Velayati also said Iran will continue supporting the Syrian people and government who are “standing firmly against the Zionists and the ISIL terrorists,” adding that “terrorists will definitely be defeated” in Syria.
The Syrian parliament speaker, for his part, said that the Syrian people under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad will keep fighting terrorists in the country.
He also thanked the support certain countries have provided for Syria, saying some Western and regional countries claim to be fighting terrorism but in practice, they do not do so.
Laham said that all countries aiming to fight terrorists should cooperate with the Syrian government.
[…]
Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi said Tuesday that IS terrorists do not dare get close to the Iranian borders.
Talking to reporters, Firouzabadi reiterated that Iran is fully determined to smash IS terrorists if they advance to around 40 kilometers of our borders.
He stressed that the Takfiri and terrorist forces are present in the vicinity of the Iranian border areas.
Last week, Minister of Defense Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan said IS terrorist group is not capable of threatening Iranian borders and that Tehran does not regard IS as a threat.
Dehghan said that the Iranian nation will not welcome IS terrorists.
Capability of Iranian security, military and police forces is so high that it can thwart any hostile act before it begins, the defense minister said.
Dehghan made it clear that the Iranian security forces are closely watching IS forces.
‘If IS had been able to take any action against the Iranian security, they would have done so already,’ the general added.
So far this year around 25,000 people, about half of them Myanmar’s minority Muslims who could no longer stomach oppression at home at the hands of majority Buddhists, have set sail in the Indian Ocean in search of a better life overseas.
Mehr News Agency has filed a report on the plight of Rohingya Muslims who are adrift in an ocean which has turned into a watery grave for many who die of disease, thirst and starvation.
The following is the translation of an excerpt of the report:
Bangladeshis who are fleeing poverty in their country account for almost 50 percent of these refugees stranded at sea; Rohingya Muslims who are viewed as non-existent by Myanmar rulers make up the other half.
The Rohingya Muslim population who numbers around 1 million and lives in the western State of Rakhine has been subjected to injustice for decades. They have often been driven from their homes, because officials in Yangon do not recognize their civic rights and claim that they are Bengalis who should return to Bangladesh.
The government’s failure to recognize their civic rights has resulted in their exclusion from census, revocation of their ID cards, their exclusion from the education system, and relocation to refugee camps.
The injustice to Rohingyas dates back to the 19th century. […] But enforcement of restrictive laws by the government last year set the current exodus in motion. Under the new laws, those who could provide evidence that their ancestors took up residence in the country prior to the 1948 independence of the country would be regarded as second-class citizens; otherwise they had to move to camps to await expulsion.
Presently, as many as 100,000 Rohingyas live in such camps and twice as many live across the border as unwelcome guests in Bangladesh. Although the government has yet to make good on its expulsion threat, many undocumented Rohingyas have already fled the country. In October and November alone more than 14,000 set out for Thailand in hopes of getting asylum from Malaysia there.
In late May, Bangkok, Thailand hosted a regional summit to discuss the migrant crisis. At the gathering attended by senior officials from 17 regional countries, a senior UNHCR official said in the absence of fundamental measures to target the root cause of the problem, no solution should be expected to come out of the summit.
The UN official said a solution to the migration crisis in Southeast Asia hinges on responsible measures by Myanmar as far as all its citizens are concerned and that recognition of civic rights should be the ultimate objective.
Myanmar, which attended the summit reluctantly, denied allegations that mistreatment at the hands of the government is to blame for the migration of Muslim Rohingyas. Its delegates argued that the international community has been fed misinformation about what triggered the exodus and that the actions of the Myanmar government are all in line with judicial regulations of the country.
The Myanmar government is not the only culprit in this injustice against the Muslim minority. Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who for years was viewed as a national hero in defying the country’s military dictatorship, has closed her eyes to such injustice too.
The opposition leader, who is supported by the US and Britain, usually refrains from adopting any official stance on ethnic violence in her country. Recently she told reporters the issue of migration is for the government to solve. She declined to answer questions about violence against Muslims.
Probably, her failure to react has to do with her political future. People of Myanmar go to the polls to elect a new parliament in November. She fears her support for minority Muslims might alienate the Buddhist majority.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s silence is so unforgivable that the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists, has urged her to do more to help protect the persecuted Rohingyas.
[…]
The upcoming elections are unlikely to solve the problems the Muslim minority in Myanmar grapples with, because the interests of whatever government that comes to power are intertwined with the Buddhists among whose ranks hostility toward Muslims is institutionalized. As long as there is no major change, the Indian Ocean will continue to extend a not-so-warm welcome to Rohingyas and swallow them up.
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