Politicians in different countries go out of their way when they express themselves, and this at times results in shameful physical conflicts.
The following are a series of pictures Mehr News Agency released on March 10 on parliamentary brawls between lawmakers and statesmen from across the world. Take a look:
On March 10, the Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare Ali Rabiei as saying, “Listening to the deprived class of society who has no platform to have its voice heard is the minimum and most important social support government can lend.”
Speaking at an international conference on social support in Tehran, Rabiei added, “The Government of Hope and Prudence pursues the policy of listening to the voices of all classes of society.”
The minister underlined that without collective contribution, it would be impossible to provide minimum social support, calling on all institutions, ranging from families to political entities, to contribute.
Describing the 11th government as humble, Rabiei said, “A humble government is one which modestly tries to spot its weaknesses and express respect for the knowledge of others.”
He said, “If the tremendous potential of lower classes of society is tapped, it can resolve a lot of social problems. If voices of all classes of society are heard, a great achievement is made.”
The minister concluded, “This gathering can be regarded as a step toward fulfillment of the objectives of the Government of Hope and Prudence which plans to listen to all voices.”
The British shadow foreign secretary says he is seriously pursuing the reopening of the UK embassy in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
During a meeting with a delegation of Iranian parliamentarians on Tuesday in London, Douglas Alexander also underlined the need for promotion of ties between Tehran and London.
The British politician said that the UK has made mistakes with respect to its relations with Iran in the past, but that his country would hopefully make positive and constructive moves for a better future.
The member of the Labor Party in the British House of Commons also expressed the shadow administration’s readiness to contribute to the settlement of problems surrounding Tehran’s nuclear issue. Britain is a member of P5+1engaged in talks with Iran over its nuclear program.
Alexander also highlighted Iran’s significant role in the Middle East and the world, saying London is keen to cooperate with Tehran in different areas.
For his part, the head of the Iran-Britain Parliamentary Friendship Group Abbas Ali Mansouri Arani, said that Iran is willing to promote ties with the UK based on the Islamic Republic’s national interests.
In November 2011, Iranian lawmakers voted by a large majority to downgrade diplomatic ties with the UK in response to Britain’s decision to impose sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran over the allegation that Tehran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear program.
Two days after the decision by the Iranian Parliament, hundreds of Iranian students staged a protest outside the British embassy in Tehran, pulling down the UK flag and demanding the expulsion of the British ambassador.
Following the incident, the 10 Downing Street announced in November 2011 that it is withdrawing its diplomatic staff from Iran and that the Iranian embassy in London would be closed.
Nearly two years after their diplomatic ties were severed, Iran and Britain agreed in October 2013 to appoint non-resident chargés d’affaires as a first step toward reopening their respective embassies.
An Iranian diplomat engaged in nuclear talks with world powers said negotiations are going on in the right direction, but reminded the other side of the need for “tough decisions” for a long-awaited agreement on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
“The nuclear negotiations are in progress in the right direction, and we hope that the other side would prepare the ground for the achievement of a final agreement by gaining a better understanding of the realities and making tough and necessary decisions,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for American and European Affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi said.
He made the comments in a meeting with Finland’s Secretary of State Peter Stenlund, held in Tehran on Tuesday.
Takht Ravanchi further stressed the need for improved cooperation between Iran and Finland in various fields, including environment, agriculture, health, renewable energies, tourism and culture.
The visiting Finnish diplomat, for his part, expressed hope that the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear case would end in good results with the window of opportunity open.
Iran and P5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) are in talks to hammer out a final agreement to end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
On November 24, 2013, the two sides signed a six-month deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The Geneva deal (the Joint Plan of Action) came into effect in January 2014 and expired in July, when the parties decided to extend negotiations until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final deal that would end a decade of impasse over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear energy program.
After failing to nail down a lasting accord by the self-imposed November 24 deadline, the parties once again decided to extend the deadline for seven more months, until the end of June 2015.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says Iran and Kuwait should improve their relations in different areas, given their “enormous” cultural and historic ties.
“Such cultural and historical bonds can pave the way for further cooperation between the two countries,” Larijani said in a meeting with Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in Kuwait City on Tuesday.
He added that Iran and Kuwait have “very good” parliamentary exchange.
Crisis of terrorism
Meanwhile, in another meeting with Kuwaiti intellectuals and writers on Tuesday, Larijani said regional countries should take the crisis of terrorism seriously.
The Iranian Majlis speaker added that certain countries seek to hatch plots among regional countries and do not take any interest in close relations among them.
He also urged regional countries to make proper use of their great potential to improve their economic cooperation.
“Since the victory of the Islamic Revolution (in 1979), the Islamic Republic of Iran has always been keen on expanding friendly cooperation with regional countries,” Larijani said.
Iran’s Majlis speaker emphasized that Tehran passes on the message of peace and friendship to countries in the region.
Larijani arrived in Kuwait on Monday at the invitation of his Kuwaiti counterpart Marzouq al-Ghanim. During his two-day visit, he is scheduled to hold talks with the country’s senior officials. He will then set off for Qatar.
The appointment by the Supreme Leader of a new police chief to replace Brigadier General Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam dominated the front pages of Iranian dailies on Tuesday. A letter by a host of US Senators to the Iranian officials saying that any nuclear deal with Iran will last as long as President Obama is in office, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s reaction to the letter were also in the news. Remarks by President Rouhani in a national gathering to honor martyrs also made headlines.
Abrar: The minister of sports and youth has said that the question of women’s presence in sporting arenas has been raised in the Supreme National Security Council.
Abrar-e Eghtesadi: Pakistan will import natural gas from Qatar, not Iran.
Afkar: “Any [nuclear] deal with Iran will be valid as long as [President] Obama is in office,” read an open letter by 47 US Senators to Iranian officials.
Aftab-e Yazd: “The government does not seek to reap revenues from [fines levied on] driving violations,” said government Spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht.
Arman-e Emrooz: [Ayatollah Akbar] Hashemi [Rafsanjani] has met with the Supreme Leader. The meeting focused on nuclear talks.
Arman-e Emrooz: “The letter by the US Senators is just a publicity stunt,” said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif [in reaction to the Senators’ letter to Iranian officials].
Asia: President Rouhani will take 150 Iranian businessmen to Ashgabat on Tuesday.
Talks between Iran and Turkmenistan will focus on oil, gas, technical-engineering services, pharmaceuticals and food.
Asr-e Eghtesad: There has been a rise in the number of foreign arrivals in Maku Free Trade and Industrial Zone.
Asrar: A shattered dream
The United Arab Emirates will host the 2019 Asian Cup. [The Asian Football Confederation has selected the UAE over a bid from Iran to host the 2019 continental champions.]
Ebtekar: Music heavyweights have signed a petition in protest against “serial cancelations” of concerts.
Eghtesad-e Pooya: “The purchase of Iranian-made goods should be seen as a value [in the country],” said a member of parliament’s Economic Committee.
Ettela’at: “Iran’s heroes are now engaged in Jihad on the diplomacy front,” said President Rouhani in a national gathering to honor the martyrs.
Ettela’at: The country’s dependence on oil will decrease as of next year [starting March 21, 2015], said the government spokesman.
Ettela’at: The Iraqi army has closed in on the gates of Tikrit.
Hemayat: Judicial centers across the country have been ordered by the Judiciary chief to seriously pursue the Supreme Leader’s demands as far as the protection of the environment is concerned.
Iran Daily: Unusual Senate intervention in US foreign policymaking
Jomhouri Islami: The Al Sauds has officially begun to hatch a plot to disintegrate Yemen.
Kar va Kargar: The defense minister has said that Iran will unveil highly-advanced giant vessels soon.
Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan made the remark in a ceremony Monday which saw Iran’s newly-made destroyer Damavand join the country’s fleet of warships in the Caspian Sea.
Kayhan: The Islamic Revolution Leader has named Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari as the new police chief.
Kayhan: Western experts have admitted that a breakdown of [nuclear] talks will sink the boat of sanctions.
Kayhan International: Republican Senators: US will revoke any deal after Obama
Mardomsalari: [Former First Vice-President] Mohammad Reza Rahimi has returned to Evin prison.
Mardomsalari: Those involved in the distribution of [fake] Avastin [a drug injected into the eye to slow vision loss] have been arrested, announced the health minister.
Resalat: “We need to be vigilant about American-style Islam and British-modeled Shiism,” said the secretary general of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought.
Rooyesh-e Mellat: “Dust storms do not know any [political] factions,” said the president.
Rooyesh-e Mellat: Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani has said that removal of all sanctions is the only way forward to clinch a nuclear deal.
Sharq: A planned speech by Ali Motahari, a Tehran MP, has been cancelled in Shiraz after he came under attack by unidentified individuals in the southern city.
Tehran Times: Iran’s direct tax income rises %49
Tejarat: Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency have agreed to continue their cooperation.
The German ambassador to Washington has described the talks between Iran and P5+1 over Tehran’s nuclear energy program as one of the most important foreign policy issues in the world, which is now nearing an end game.
“This is one of the most important foreign policy issues on, I think, the international agenda. We’re entering here into the end game,” Peter Wittig said in Washington on Monday.
Wittig, who was speaking along with the French and British ambassadors to American lawmakers about the nuclear talks, expressed hope that Tehran and the six countries can reach an “unambiguous, verifiable and permanent deal”.
“We harbor certain hopes that this will be possible, but there is still a lot of work to do on the negotiation table,” the German diplomat said.
He added that efforts to make the nuclear deal possible are “important and a high priority” for Germany.
“We made the case for not imposing sanctions, additional sanctions, while the negotiations were going on. That point was made clear to everybody,” Wittig pointed out.
The German envoy’s comments followed a warning by a group of US Republican senators that a potential deal between Washington and Tehran will be short-lived.
[…]
Iran’s Vice-President for Women and Family Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi underlined the government’s firm determination to improve the social status of women, and unveiled plans for striking a balance between women’s capabilities and opportunities in Iran.
Addressing the 59th Session of the Commission on Status of Women at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Monday, Molaverdi said Iran has formulated plans for realizing gender balance in various aspects of life.
Here is the full text of her speech to the gathering:
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the merciful
Madam Chair, Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,
At the outset, I would like to express my pleasure to be here in this gathering, which is an indication of the increasing importance that the world attaches to women’s affairs.
Madam Chair,
During the last year, the comprehensive progress assessment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) identified the most important achievements and challenges in the course of the implementation of the MDGs for women and girls. Common issues in the DMGs and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action as well as the UN Secretary General’s report to the 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women indicate that, despite some progress towards empowerment of women and girls at the global level and some success in some areas like education, however, progress towards the full realization of women’s human rights is still slow and imbalanced. As long as such obstacles as conflicts, insecurity, shortage of financial resources and investment, especially those emanating from sanctions, the weakness of accountability mechanisms or lack thereof, environmental challenges, and so on exist, it will be impossible to reach a comprehensive gender balance. Furthermore, in parallel with chronic, traditional challenges, emerging new ones in modern forms during the last 20 years have had their impact on preventing the full realization of the projected goals.
Madam Chair,
Throughout its 36 years of life, the Islamic Republic of Iran has always had the empowerment of women and improving their status in scientific, cultural, social, economic and political arenas on its agenda while observing their human dignity.
The elevated status of women in Islamic and Quranic scriptures has been a base for the codification of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s laws, including its Constitution. It guarantees women’s material and spiritual rights and provides a normative framework through which Iranian women can be actively present in various arenas while maintaining their human dignity.
Beyond achievements already at hand, in the executive branch, we can point to the resolute actions by the current Iranian government towards realizing gender balance in various aspects of life, and more importantly striking a balance among multiple roles of women in order to eventually bring about the advancement of women’s status, gender justice, and strengthening the institution of family. In this regard, the National Authority for Women’s Affairs was upgraded from a center to the level of Vice-President. Efforts are also being made to strike a balance between capabilities and opportunities, as far as the mission of this vice-presidency is concerned.
Madam Chair,
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s 20 year Vision Plan, as a multi-disciplinary document, has set out provisions on the ways and means on enhancing social justice, legitimate freedoms, protection of humans’ dignity and rights, social and judicial security, health, welfare, food security, social security, equal opportunities, appropriate distribution of income, acceptable sound environment and strengthening the institution of family, with no poverty, corruption and discrimination. Despite 8 years of imposed war on Iran and ever-increasing cruel, unjust sanctions against the Iranian nation, the Iranian women have achieved significant progress in the fields of education and research, science, entrepreneurship, economy and health, and continue to play their influential role in the society.
Nonetheless, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is not negligent to the relatively low rate of women’s participation in political and decision-making positions and in the labor market as well as the shortage of data by gender. Therefore, it makes any effort to resolve these issues and expedite the growing trend of women’s empowerment.
I would like to emphasize few more key points:
1.Politics and power relations at the international arena and adoption of unilateral, force-based measures by certain countries, including the imposition of unjust sanctions, serve as an obstacle in the path of development, particularly the empowerment of women. The international community should pay special attention to this important point and take a collective measure in order to avoid politicization of legal and developmental issues and to lift the unjust sanctions.
2. Given the direct relation between security and development, and bearing in mind that women and children have always been the main victims of wars and conflicts, it is important that the international community addresses various types of insecurity, and above all, any form of violence and extremism under any pretext, and include them in the post 2015 development agenda. The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the initiator of the resolution on ‘a World against Violence and violent Extremis’, has already demonstrated its will to help realize this objective. It seems that an exit from the current situation urgently requires a motherly and womanly wisdom in global management so as for the world to become more secure, fair, and peaceful.
3. Complete fulfillment of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action requires identifying the root causes of the obstacles in the way of its realization and adopting new strategies and a comprehensive approach which does not overlook specific cultural, religious and historical characteristics of societies.
We should also bear in mind that the issue of women’s progress and empowerment has a mutual and close relation with social justice and human rights in general. Hence, it is necessary to include a gender approach in all development goals, in parallel with a specific goal focusing on gender justice. In this regard, increasing the responsibility of men along with boosting the regional and international cooperation is also necessary.
Iranian foreign minister and the country’s Chief nuclear negotiator said the recent open letter by a group of Republican senators about Iran’s nuclear talks has no legal value and is just a propaganda ploy.
When asked about the open letter of 47 US Senators to Iranian leaders, Mohammad Javad Zarif said, “In our view, this letter has no legal value and is mostly a propaganda ploy. It is very interesting that while negotiations are still in progress and while no agreement has been reached, some political pressure groups are so afraid even of the prospect of an agreement that they resort to unconventional methods, unprecedented in diplomatic history. This indicates that like Netanyahu, who considers peace as an existential threat, some are opposed to any agreement, regardless of its content.”
Zarif expressed astonishment that some members of the US Congress find it appropriate to write to leaders of another country against their own President and administration. He pointed out that from reading the open letter, it seems that the authors not only do not understand international law, but are not fully cognizant of the nuances of their own Constitution when it comes to presidential powers in the conduct of foreign policy.
Foreign Minister Zarif added, “I should bring one important point to the attention of the authors and that is, the world is not the United States, and the conduct of inter-state relations is governed by international law, and not by US domestic law. The authors may not fully understand that in international law, governments represent the entirety of their respective states, are responsible for the conduct of foreign affairs, are required to fulfill the obligations they undertake with other states and may not invoke their internal law as justification for failure to perform their international obligations.”
The Iranian Foreign Minister added that “change of administration does not in any way relieve the next administration from international obligations undertaken by its predecessor in a possible agreement about Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.”
“I wish to enlighten the authors that if the next administration revokes any agreement with ‘the stroke of a pen,’ as they boast, it will have simply committed a blatant violation of international law.”
He emphasized that if the current negotiation with P5+1 result in a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it will not be a bilateral agreement between Iran and the US, but rather one that will be concluded with the participation of five other countries, including all permanent members of the Security Council, and will also be endorsed by a Security Council resolution.
Zarif expressed the hope that his comments “may enrich the knowledge of the authors to recognize that according to international law, Congress may not ‘modify the terms of the agreement at any time’ as they claim, and if Congress adopts any measure to impede its implementation, it will have committed a material breach of US obligations.”
The Foreign Minister also informed the authors that the majority of US international agreements in recent decades are in fact what the signatories describe as “mere executive agreements” and not treaties ratified by the Senate.
He reminded them that “their letter in fact undermines the credibility of thousands of such ‘mere executive agreements’ that have been or will be entered into by the US with various other governments.”
Zarif concluded by stating that “the Islamic Republic of Iran has entered these negotiations in good faith and with the political will to reach an agreement, and it is imperative for our counterparts to prove similar good faith and political will in order to make an agreement possible.”
Iran’s domestically-made destroyer, dubbed Damavand, officially joined the Navy’s northern fleet in the Caspian Sea on Monday.
The homegrown vessel, an advanced destroyer, was officially delivered to the naval forces stationed in fourth naval zone, north of the country.
A number of ranking officials, including Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani, Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan and Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari attended the ceremony in the port city of Bandar-e-Anzali.
More than 700 industrial, research and academic Iranian centers have cooperated in designing and producing the military vessel, which is also a training warship.
Experts at Iran’s Defense Ministry have installed 25 homegrown electronics and communication systems on Damavand, including advanced naval radars and systems for communication, detection and interception.
Damavand is a Jamaran-class destroyer with unique features to meet the demands of the Iranian naval forces in the country’s northern waters.
The advanced destroyer is capable of tracking the aerial, surface and sub-surface targets simultaneously.
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