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Obama’s anti-Iran remarks meant to foment tension in Mideast: Afkham

By
Emad Askarieh
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afkham

Iran has dismissed recent allegations by US President Barack Obama that the Islamic Republic seeks to take advantage of instability in the Middle East.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is the source of stability and security in the unstable region of the Middle East and it seriously pursues and encourages political solutions and regional cooperation to counter violence and extremism,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Saturday.

In an interview with the American magazine The Atlantic on Thursday, Obama said Iran seeks to exploit instability in the region, including Yemen.

Afkham said Obama’s remarks are part of an Iranophobic plot aimed at “fomenting regional crises and fueling division and hatred,” adding that historical facts bear testimony to Iran’s “constructive and peaceful role” in the region and the world.

The Iranian official also stated that the US president falsely accuses certain countries of being the source of instability, while the issue of Islamophobia has spread on an unprecedented level across the world including in the United States. Afkham called for the US government to address such issues as Islamophobia and the massacre of Muslims by Takfiri terrorist groups instead of making false allegations.

Obama’s allegations that Iran interferes in regional countries, including Yemen, come as Saudi Arabia, a close ally of Washington, has been pressing ahead with its military air raids against Yemen without a UN mandate since March 26.

The United Nations says that, since March 19, over 1,800 people have been killed and 7,330 injured due to the conflict in Yemen, which was exacerbated by the Saudi airstrikes.

Iran permits ‘unofficial’ US trade link

By
Emad Askarieh
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Gholamreza shafei

The Iranian government has given the green light to private business owners to forge trade ties with their American counterparts, an official said on Saturday.

Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Gholamreza Shafei said the government had “advised” for initial connection between the two countries’ private sectors before formal trade links could take shape.

“Unofficial connections could pave the way for establishment of joint chambers of commerce between Iran and America,” he told the Mehr news agency.

Shafei said the idea of setting up a joint chamber of commerce with the Americans was first mooted 10 months ago.

“We thought that the view of the establishment should be taken into account and Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture should not act independently.

“Hence, necessary consultations were made with the government and we were advised that a connection should be initially forged between Iranian and American private sectors and strengthened in order to pave the way for establishment of a joint chamber and formal ties among traders,” Shafei said.

He said unofficial links would set the stage for big gatherings where traders of the two countries could get in touch.

The American entrepreneurs, he said, have voluntarily formed a joint Iran-US chamber of commerce but the formation has not been officially registered and the chamber functions as a firm.

Shafei also said American businessmen were showing great interest in building trade relations with Iran, but no official request has been made for face-to-face negotiations yet.

“They are especially showing interest as they see most Western countries are sending big trade delegations to Iran. The Europeans and Southeast Asian countries have no deficit as regards US technology and its quality of machinery. But trade ties with America are important for Iran’s exports because our traditional goods have a favorable market in that country,” Shafei said.

US, UK, Canada to blame for failure of NPT Review Conference: Iran official

By
Emad Askarieh
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npt-usa

A senior Iranian official has blamed the US, the UK and Canada for the failure of the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to adopt a final document aimed at achieving a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.

“The onus for the failure of the conference is clearly on the US, UK and Canada,” Hamid Baeidinejad, the director general for political and international security affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry, wrote in a message posted on his Instagram account.

After four weeks of negotiations, the 2015 NPT Review Conference ended without agreement in New York on Friday, after the United States, Britain and Canada opposed a proposal to set up a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East. The Israeli regime also opposed the proposal.

“Whereas after four weeks of round-the-clock negotiations, it was expected that the conference would succeed in approving the final document of the conference today (Friday), the US, the UK and Canada suddenly announced this afternoon that they cannot agree to the text proposed by the presidency of the conference on account of being unhappy with the segment of the text relating to the creation of a region free of nuclear weapons in the Middle East,” Baeidinejad said.

The final draft of the conference’s concluding statement was expected to task the UN with convening an international conference by March 2016 on creating a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, with or without Israel’s participation.

Israel, the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, is a non-signatory to the NPT.

Following Israel’s objection, US Arms Control Under Secretary Rose Gottemoeller told the conference that provisions on holding the conference were “incompatible with our long-standing policies.”

Gottemoeller argued that the proposed idea did not stand a chance of success without the consent of all sides involved, referring to Israel’s opposition.

Britain also said the terms for convening the conference were “a stumbling block for us,” while Canada said it could not agree to the document because of the provisions.

Criticizing the three countries for blocking a consensus, Baeidinejad said Iran, as the rotating president of the Non-Aligned Movement, spared no effort to have a final text documented.

He said the US, UK and Canada are willing to shoulder “the high cost of their opposition to the document only to safeguard the interests of a non-party regime to the treaty that has endangered peace and security in the Middle East and the world by developing nuclear weapons capability.”

The Tel Aviv regime defies global calls to join the NPT and does not allow international inspectors to observe its nuclear program.

Iran to dispatch 2nd aid ship to Yemen

By
Emad Askarieh
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Iranian Red Crescent Society

Iran is going to send a large consignment of humanitarian supplies for the people of Yemen on board a cargo ship as the country’s first aid ship has now docked in Djibouti.

According to Shahaboddin Mohammadi Araghi, the Iranian Red Crescent Society’s deputy director for international and humanitarian affairs, the second ship will be loaded with 12,000 tons of humanitarian supplies, including foodstuff, for war-hit Yemenis.

It will take one week to load the humanitarian supplies on the ship, he said, but added that a precise date for dispatching the cargo ship has not been set yet.

Plans for delivering the new consignment were made public after Iran’s first ship, carrying 2,500 tons of humanitarian aid, started unloading its cargo in Djibouti on Saturday following coordination with the World Food Program (WFP) for sending the goods to Yemen.

Iran’s Nejat (Rescue) ship set sail on May 11 to deliver the consignment of foodstuff and medicine to the war-hit people of Yemen, who are under a siege imposed by a Saudi-led coalition.

On March 26, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies began to launch deadly air strikes 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.

According to Yemen’s Freedom House Foundation, the Saudi airstrikes have claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Yemeni people so far while more than 7,000 others have been wounded, most of them civilians.

In the meantime, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) revealed that 2,453 civilians have been injured, among whom 130 were women and 234 children.

Also, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has launched an $84 million appeal to address some of the prevalent humanitarian issues, which have been compounded by a resumption of violence since the humanitarian pause ended on May 17.

According to IOM, over 550,000 people have now been displaced by the conflict, with large numbers heading toward the Horn of Africa.

The US seeks regime change; deal is impossible

By
Emad Askarieh
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Hossein Shariatmadari

Iran’s nuclear dispute with the West which has dragged on for 12 years is nuclear by name only. It does not merely revolve around nuclear issues. Iran is after a satisfactory agreement, but in this dispute the US is looking for an excuse to pursue its regime change policy vis-à-vis Iran.

This is part of remarks made by Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor-in-chief of Kayhan, a principlist daily, in a conference on the opportunities and challenges of the Islamic Revolution in Sari on Thursday.

Without doubt, conclusion of a nuclear deal is a zero possibility, Shariatmadari said, citing what the US seeks to get out of nuclear talks [regime change]. The following is the translation of excerpts of his remarks in the conference and the answers he gave in response to the questions of some participants:

[…]

The Americans know that none of their dreams will come true thanks to the Supreme Leader’s tactfulness, even if they got the [Iranian] negotiating team to make promises and imposed some commitments on them through deceitfulness and gamesmanship.

A question arises here as to why the US is insisting on its demands? If we admit that the United States has problem with the existence of an Islamic Iran, we will not look for an answer in the [nuclear] agreement; rather, we can clearly see traces of a regime change project.

[…]

Military option is just a big and hollow bluff to intimidate us. Today this region has turned into a window of the back-to-back defeats of the US and its allies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, etc.

[…]

God forbidden, if we gave in to what has been mentioned in the Lausanne agreement, that would set the stage for the US to take military action [against Iran]; in other words, it is exactly against the views of those who say the agreement would help prevent a military attack.

[…]

Return of fallen Iranian soldiers from Iraq stirs painful memories online

By
Emad Askarieh
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Martyr

The remains of some 270 Iranian soldiers who were killed during the eight-year war Saddam’s Iraq imposed on Iran back in the 1980s returned home on Monday [May 18].

The commander of the Missing in Action (MIA) Search Committee of the Iranian Armed Forces said the bodies of the fallen soldiers – who were recovered in Al-Faw, Abu Flous Port, Shalamcheh, Majnoon and Zubeidat – were brought to the country through Shalamcheh Border Crossing in Khuzestan Province.

Brigadier General Mohammad Bagherzadeh further said as many as 175 bodies belong to Iranian divers who were killed by the forces of the Ba’ath regime during Operation Karbala-4 with their hands tied, adding some of the retrieved bodies bore no scars indicating that the divers might have been buried alive.

Etemad daily on May 23 published a report on the martyred Iranian divers and what happened in the virtual world after news of the final homecoming of the divers broke. The following is the translation of excerpts from the report:

[…]

The link of the general’s remarks was shared on Tuesday by Iranian journalists in social networking sites with an emphasis on the divers being buried alive or being killed with their hands tied. From Wednesday through Friday the link found its way to other online pages with users creating their own hashtags – including #hand-tied and #175 – to join fellow online mourners and remember the martyred divers.

Pages on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram became alive with messages on the loss of divers with many starting to share old pictures of the divers as well as a piece of design by Abbas Emad Haghi, a graphic designer, in memory of the divers who finally came back home, but not in one piece.

Abbas Emad Haghi, whose design [featuring an Iranian diver under water] changed hands in social networking sites, wrote in the caption, “When I was working on this design, initially I tied the hands. I got scared. It is horrible to tie somebody’s hands even in the virtual world, let alone in reality!”

Operation Karbal-4, which is known as an unsuccessful military operation of Iran in the war against Iraq, revealed – after several years – its tragic and gloomy face in messages written by online users [Facebookers, Tweeters and Instagram followers] who were not even born when the operation was launched, or they were at a very young age.

Internet users tried to put aside their political, religious and social differences and used the recovery of the martyrs’ bodies as an excuse to show respect for the heroes of the homeland.

[…]

The release of the news of the homecoming of martyred Iranian divers and the shock a hashtag [#hands-tied] created prompted Iranians to set aside ideological and political differences for a while.

Some talked about the loved ones they lost in battlefields and some others spoke about a war which is still ongoing, a war which drags on in Iranian society and among the families of the MIAs as long as their loved ones remain missing.

Hiking in the Heights of Talesh (PHOTOS)

By
Fatemeh Askarieh
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Hiking in the Heights of Talesh

Images of people hiking along the edge of Lake Neor toward Soobatan in the northern city of Talesh posted online by jamejamonline.ir:

 

 

Enemies after split in Islamic society, Ayatollah Khamenei warns

By
Emad Askarieh
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Leader-Koran

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei raised the alarm over hostile moves aimed at inciting rift in the Islamic society, and said that countering such plots requires Muslims’ insight and determination.

“Creation of discord and polarity in the Islamic Ummah (society) is now one of the main plots of the enemies. Thus, all (Muslims) need to be careful lest they raise the talk of differences and turn into a mouthpiece for the enemies of Islam and the Quran,” the Leader said on Saturday.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the statements in a gathering of Quran reciters and memorizers participating in the 32nd International Holy Quran Competitions in Tehran.

“On the agenda of ill-wishers of the Islamic Ummah is fomenting discord in the name of Shiites versus Sunnis, Arabs versus non-Arabs, as well as ethnicities, nationalities and nationalistic zealotry,” the Leader warned, adding that insight and determination are necessary for countering these plots.

Imam Khamenei further referred to “commitment to the commandments of the Quran” and withstanding what “the modern version of ignorance” is trying to impose on Muslims as remedies for the Islamic world’s current woes.

“Unfortunately, the Islamic world today is severely suffering from weakness, poverty, differences and civil wars caused by the pressure of ignorant regimes, and the only way to counter these imposed pressures in surrendering to the Quran and (having) serious determination to move towards its sublime goals,” the Leader stressed.

Shahnameh Reflects Genealogical Iranian Unconscious

By
Emad Askarieh
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Shahnameh Reflects Genealogical Unconscious of Iranians

Mir Jalaleddin Kazzazi, an outstanding master of Persian literature who is known for his works on Shahnameh [The Book of Kings] – Ferdowsi’s long epic poem – has said that Shahnameh shows the unconscious of the Iranians which is part of their lineage.

Resalat daily on May 21 published a report on what Kazzazi said – in a ceremony in Semnan to commemorate Ferdowsi – about the Persian myths and his new definition of the unconscious. The following is the translation of the report:

The myths of different lands are not mere fantasies with untraceable background. If we want to properly learn about a nation, the only way is to dig up its ancient myths.

People can psychoanalyze the history through studying the myths. While the history talks about the conscious and traditional methods, people’s unconscious can be traced back to their myths.

Myths make up people’s internal history and their broad, institutionalized unconscious. Based on what Carl Gustav Jung [a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology] says, unconscious falls into different groups: individual, collective and universal.

We can define the genealogical unconscious as individual and universal subconscious [or psyche]. The nature of Iranians’ has been based on genealogical unconscious.

Myths come from genealogical and collective unconscious. They are not created overnight. It takes millenniums to create a mythical symbol.

kazazi1 M. J. Kazzazi, who is a professor of literature at Allameh Tabatabaei University, is also a renowned expert in Iranology. He was named a Memorable Figure in 2005 for his contribution to Persian culture and literature.

Iranian maestro Ali Rahbari invited to conduct New York City orchestra

By
Emad Askarieh
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MMS49

Iranian maestro Ali Rahbari, who is the general music director of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, has been invited to conduct Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of the New York City in a concert.

The concert will be held at Carnegie Hall on September 27, Iran’s Rudaki Foundation announced in a press release on Friday.

Some musicians from the Tehran Symphony Orchestra are scheduled to accompany the orchestra during the concert.

“Performing at the concert is a great honor for me and my country,” Rahbari said after accepting the invitation.

“Contemporary composers will create unique pieces for the Youth Philharmonic concert,” Youth Philharmonic Orchestra has previously announced in a statement.

“These pieces will include music from around the world, and each participating young musician will perform his or her local music as part of the orchestra,” the organizer wrote in the statement.

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