Hemispherical fishing cages made of galvanized wires are commonly used by fishermen in coastal towns of the Persian Gulf.
The production of these widely-used fishing cages is among a few industries which have survived the passage of time. Their popularity with fishermen has caused a lot of workshops to be set up in the city of Bushehr.
Photos of fishing cage workshops by Fars News Agency:
The following are photos of an Iran steel plant where bullions are manufactured. Jamejamonline.ir has released the images:
Iran’s foreign minister says “intra-Yemeni dialogue” has to take place urgently in Yemen.
Mohammad Javad Zarif also called for an urgent provision of humanitarian assistance to the disaster-stricken Yemenis.
“Positive developments in Yemen should be followed by urgent humanitarian assistance, intra-Yemeni dialogue & broad-based govt,” he said in a tweet on Wednesday.
“Ready to help,” the tweet read on, sounding Iran’s readiness for contribution to the betterment of the situation in the war-wrecked country.
His remarks came hours after Saudi Arabia declared an end to its aerial campaign against the impoverished Arab country.
On Tuesday, Riyadh declared the end of “Decisive Storm” operation against Yemen and announced the beginning of a new phase dubbed “Operation Restoring Hope”.
Saudi Arabia has “ended Operation Decisive Storm based on a request by the Yemeni government” and fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, said Saudi government spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri on a televised broadcast.
Another statement by the Saudi Defense Ministry said that the Saudi airstrikes have destroyed “heavy weaponry and ballistic missiles which were seized by the Houthi militia and forces allied to (former president) Ali Abduallh Saleh from army bases and camps.”
The airstrikes has successfully removed “threats to Saudi Arabia’s security and that of neighboring countries,” the statement added.
Saudi Arabia started its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 – without a UN mandate – in a bid to restore power to Hadi, who is a close ally of Riyadh.
According to reports, about 2,800 people have been killed during the aggression.
Also on Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman welcomed Saudi Arabia’s halt to its airstrikes against Yemen, expressing hope that national dialog among Yemeni parities would resume.
“Undoubtedly… a halt to the killing of innocent and defenseless people is a step forward,” Marzieh Afkham said on Tuesday night.
“We had previously announced that the crisis in Yemen has no military solution,” she stated.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has supported an immediate lifting of all “unlawful” sanctions against Iran as a result of a possible final deal over Tehran’s nuclear program.
In an interview with the Argumenty i Fakty Russian weekly, Lavrov hailed a mutual understanding reached between Tehran and P5+1 on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne, saying it could result in a final deal and consequently the lifting of all anti-Iran sanctions.
“We believe that further progress on this track, the soonest lifting of anti-Iranian sanctions – both those imposed by the United Nations Security Council and all unilateral restrictions – meet our national interests,” he said.
The settlement of disputes over Iran’s nuclear program “will do good to the bilateral trade and economic ties [between Tehran and Moscow] and, correspondingly, will be beneficial for Russia,” the senior diplomat said.
Lavrov also highlighted Iran’s role in the Middle East, saying “we are confident that Teheran’s full-fledged participation in regional affairs will serve the tasks of ensuring security” in the Middle East and North Africa.
At the end of eight days of intensive nuclear negotiations in Lausanne, Iran and P5+1 – the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China plus Germany – reached a mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program on April 2. The two sides will now work on drawing up a final accord by the June 30 deadline.
Among the key points of the Lausanne statement is the lifting of all sanctions against Iran once a final deal is reached on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities.
Iran and the six countries are to hold a new round of talks in the Austrian city of Vienna on Wednesday to start drafting a final deal.
The Foreign Ministry has welcomed Saudi Arabia’s halt to its aerial campaign against Yemen, expressing hope that all parties to the conflict would try to resolve the crisis in the impoverished Arab country through diplomatic means.
“We had previously announced that the crisis in Yemen has no military solution,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Tuesday night.
“Establishment of truce and a halt to the killing of innocent and defenseless human beings is certainly one step forward,” Afkham said.
She expressed hope that immediate measures will be taken to send humanitarian aid to Yemen and conditions will be provided for negotiations between all the Yemeni groups and parties to form a broad based government.
Afkham made the remarks shortly after Riyadh declared the end of ‘Storm of Resolve’ operation against Yemen and announced the beginning of a new phase dubbed Operation “Restoring Hope”.
The mission, the statement said, would focus on security at home and counter-terrorism, aid and a political solution in Yemen.
The announcement came hours after Riyadh said it was preparing to send its elite National Guard to reinforce its border with Yemen.
The National Guard is regarded as the country’s best equipped military force, and until now has not been involved in the campaign, Aljazeera reported.
Led by Miteb, the son of the late King Abdullah, the unit is recruited from tribes that have traditionally backed the Saud royal family.
Two airstrikes in Yemen on Tuesday killed at least 40 people, most of them civilians and wounded dozens of others, medical sources said.
One strike hit a bridge in central Ibb province as cars carrying militia members were driving on it, residents said, killing at least 20 people, mostly civilians. Another, on a security building in the city of Haradh near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia, killed 13 civilians and seven soldiers.
Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Arab allies have been bombing Yemen for almost a month in a bid to weaken the country’s dominant force, the Shi’ite Houthi militia movement.
The Saudi Ministry of Defense had earlier said that all heavy weapons and ballistic missiles belonging to the Houthis had been destroyed, that they had imposed restrictions over Yemen’s airspace, and that they had removed any possible threats on the kingdom and neighboring countries.
Protest rallies have been held across Iran after a gruesome video went viral featuring the brutal killing of several stray dogs in an industrial park in Shiraz. The three-minute video shows the dogs dying after apparently being injected acid by men wearing masks.
Shiraz Municipality has denied any involvement in the killing of the dogs, saying it does not supervise the industrial parks.
The recent video has prompted people and officials to ask sources of emulation about the Islamic view on animal abuse.
Senior Shiite clerics have unanimously rejected the killing of animals as religiously and ethically unjustifiable. For instance, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani has said that the killing of non-harmful animals is not [religiously] permissible.
Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini Alavi Gorgani has said that it is not acceptable to kill animals under the pretext of protecting the environment and [people’s] health by arguing that there are other means to that end.
Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi has said that the killing of animals is permissible only when they endanger human lives and there is no other way [to eliminate the threat].
Officials too have condemned the brutal act, vowing to pursue the case and bring those behind it to justice. It came as a group of animal lovers gathered outside the Environment Protection Organization in Tehran on Sunday, protesting against the killing of stray dogs in Shiraz.
The following is a partial translation of a report published by Ebtekar daily on April 20 about the protest rally:
Ahmad Nabavi, an official with the Environment Protection Organization, told the protesters that the EPO has sent a letter to a Shiraz court asking for the punishment of those involved in the brutal killing of stray dogs in the city.
He further said that the environment organization stands by the protesters until the cold-blooded killers of the dogs are punished.
Nabavi went on to say that measures should be adopted to help animals be treated properly, adding that rabidanimals should be identified and collected.
Protesters also signed a petition, asking for an immediate end to the inhumane act.
Mohammad Darvish, another EPO official, said in the protest rally that the environment chief has – in a letter – asked the head of the Fars Provincial Environment Department to follow up the case and identify and hand in the dog killers to judicial officials.
The environment organization has released guidelines on treatment of unclaimed dogs and other animals which wander in cities, he said, adding that we need to adopt ethical methods to neuter the homeless dogs and identify the rabid canines.
This way we can control the stray dog population, he stressed.
[…]
Darvish went on to say that Iran’s wildlife will definitely undergo change after the current protests against the gruesome killing of stray dogs, adding that the environment protection will become legally mandatory [in the country].
We are following the case through legal channels, trying to bring to justice both the perpetrators of these savage killings and those who have ordered it [the acid injection], he said.
Darvish also said that the organization has studied the world’s valuable scientific experiences and compiled a style book on treatment of such animals, adding the style book will be communicated by the Interior Ministry [to government agencies] to help make such inhuman acts a thing of the past.
[…]
The EPO director thanked people for the responsibility they feel toward the wildlife and said that animal cruelty is not acceptable under any circumstances, adding that the EPO will follow the Shiraz case through the provincial department of environment protection.
She also said that officials in Fars Provincial Environment Department have said that several leads have been found, but that there are some gray areas in the case because the municipality has denied the incident.
Ebtekar then criticized the legal loopholes that exist in animal protection law, saying that the EPO has general regulations on the wildlife, but there is nothing specific on the rights of dogs and cats.
We are trying to define a legal framework for animal rights so that we know what should be done in such conditions, she said.
The environment chief further said that all responsibility lies with the municipality and its districts and that the Environment Protection Organization is not legally responsible for such cases.
She concluded, “We want to get involved in this case because we seek to defend the rights of animals and we will tap into the organization’s potential to shed more light on this case.”
A university, run by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has held a graduation ceremony for its students.
Photos of the terrorist group in a commencement have gone viral recently, featuring the notorious group training Takfiri forces and offering them degrees.
Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Tehran is seeking to scale up its oil exports to pre-sanctions levels.
Speaking at a Monday meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Asdrubal Chavez in Tehran, Zanganeh said Iran, as a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), wants its share of crude exports to return to the pre-sanctions level.
“It is expected that the OPEC members provide space for an increase of Iran’s oil production in the global markets,” the Iranian oil minister said.
During the meeting, Zanganeh and Chavez also exchanged views on ways to promote Tehran-Caracas cooperation in different areas, including in the energy sector.
In a meeting with visiting Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez in Tehran earlier on Monday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed hope that concerted action by the oil producers would help restore balance to the global market in the wake of the decline in oil prices.
Rouhani said today’s oil prices are to the detriment of crude producers as well as global market stability, adding “We hope that concerted efforts by the oil exporters to bring balance back to the oil market would continue.”
Crude oil prices have fallen by about 50 percent since last June.
Caracals are indigenous to Africa and Central Asia and mostly reported to be sighted in deserts and grasslands in Iran. The wild cat is bigger than a domestic cat and has tufted ears.
The big cat is good at hunting rodents, birds, reptiles, rabbits and snakes. They are mainly nocturnal creatures which live on their own, but join partners during the mating season: winter.
The wild cat is an exclusive, fast hunter whose skills at lurking, camouflaging and hunting have drawn admiration from wildlife enthusiasts and researchers.
All those who have caught caracals hunting describe them as fast hunters. At times they can run faster than cheetahs. They can even jump as high as six feet into the air to hunt crows.
The big cat doesn’t have a particular natural predator. Fortunately, in protected areas in Africa, caracals are sitting pretty. Beyond such areas, however, they are hunted by poachers and farmers.
As for Asia including Iran, things seem worrisome for the wild cat. These animals are fortunately present in different habitats across the vast country of Iran and in terms of population and the variety in habitat are in better conditions than other members of felidae.
The information above along with the following photo gallery appeared in a report published by Yooznameh [Journal of Cheetahs] in its 20th issue.
Iran has rejected a call by US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz for unlimited access of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to the Islamic Republic’s military sites.
In a Monday interview with ISNA news agency, the spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) described Moniz’s demand as “not practical and acceptable.”
Behrouz Kamalvandi noted that negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program “are still underway,” urging the other side to put forward its views during the talks.
Kamalvandi stressed that Tehran will not undertake any commitments beyond “common laws and regulations.”
Earlier on Monday, Moniz said nuclear inspectors will need free access in Iran as part of a possible deal on the Iranian nuclear program.
“We expect to have anywhere, anytime access,” added the nuclear physicist, who has been part of the recent nuclear talks between Iran and P5+1.
He stated that inspections of Iran’s military sites under a proposed long-term agreement would not be “frivolous” and would be part of “a well-defined process.”
Moniz also said it would take at least six months to lift nuclear-related anti-Iran sanctions. However, Tehran insists that the sanctions must be lifted immediately after the nuclear deal takes effect.
The comments came after Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the second-in-command of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said the Islamic Republic will never permit inspections of its military sites.
“Not only will we not grant foreigners the permission to inspect our military sites, we will not even give them permission to think about such a subject,” he said.
He added that a harsh response awaits anyone who talks about such inspections.
There have been reports in the Western media that a final deal between Iran and P5+1 could see Tehran allow international inspectors to visit its military sites. Tehran has categorically denied the reports, describing them as mere rumors and wrong interpretations of the understanding reached in early April in Switzerland.
Iran and P5+1– comprised of Russia, China, France, Britain and the US plus Germany – reached a mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program on April 2 in Switzerland. The two sides are expected to start drafting a final inclusive deal which they seek to sign by the end of June.
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