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IRAN FRONT PAGELatest News and Views From Iran, Middle East and the World

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Home Blog Page 4959

A look at Iranian newspaper front pages on Jan. 19

January 19, 2015

Appointment of a deputy interior minister months after the seat was vacated was the front-page news of many dailies on Monday. Also dominating the front pages of several newspapers were the martyrdom of a number of Hezbollah combatants in an Israeli raid on Syria, and the amount of annual bonuses laborers will receive at the end of the year.

Abrar: “For now, there are no orders to dissolve any bank,” said an observer member of the Money and Credit Council. [His comments came after the Central Bank of Iran reported that one bank and a number of financial institutes are operating without proper permits.]

Afarinesh: The Supreme Court has upheld the main part of the ruling issued in the case of former first vice-president [Mohammad Reza Rahimi under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad].

Afarinesh: A ceremony has been held in honor of Mohammad Ali Keshavarz whose artistic career has spanned six decades.

Aftab-e Yazd: Mohammad Hossein Moghimi has been named deputy interior minister for political affairs.

Aftab-e Yazd: The amount of lead in poultry is 47 percent more than the standard level.

Aftab-e Yazd: Between 2009 and 2013 some 90,000 luxury cars were imported.

Arman-e Emrooz: The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs has announced that a number of individuals who have committed major sport offenses have been arrested.

Asia: Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu arrives in Tehran on Monday.

Asr-e Iranian: “After the go-ahead of parliament, water, electricity and gas offered to households with low consumption will be free,” said an MP.

Asrar: “As many as 35 million people are exposed to pollution,” said the director of the Environment Protection Organization.

Ebtekar: “Efforts to eliminate reformism [from the political equation] are useless,” said Mohammad Reza Aref, a senior reformist leader.

Ebtekar: “Hurling insults at Muslims will only render them more defiant,” said Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani.

Eghtesad-e Pooya: The volume of trade between Iran and Iraq has hit the $12 billion mark.

Etemad: “Nuclear negotiators are moving ahead within the framework [the establishment] has set,” said Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to the Supreme Leader.

Etemad: “I am closer to Mr. Hashemi [Rafsanjani] than to my father,” Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati said.

Ettela’at: A gun-running ring has been busted in Hormozgan Province.

Ettela’at: The Supreme Cultural Revolution Council has met to discuss the explosive growth of higher education in the country.

Hemayat: “The West will pay a dear price for hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad,” said the Iranian attorney general.

Iran: To mark the Clean Air Day, Iranian children have staged a symbolic rally.

Javan: The son of Imad Mughniyeh [a senior member of Lebanon’s Islamic Jihad Organization and Hezbollah] and a number of Hezbollah combatants were martyred in a Zionist operation in support of terrorists in Syria. Jihad Mughniyeh has joined his father.

Kayhan: Students will gather outside the French embassy in Tehran at 15:00 local time on Monday to protest against the French government’s support for sacrilegious measures of Charlie Hebdo.

Sepid: “As many as 47 million Iranians have unhealthy eating habits,” said a deputy health minister.

Shahrvand: “Iran is the Rhinoplasty capital of the world,” said the secretary of an international body contouring congress.

Siasat-e Rooz: “We can sink a US aircraft carrier,” said the commander of the naval forces of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps.

Tehran Times: First Iranian-made electric car unveiled.

Tehran Times: Iran reiterates support for Iraq in fighting terrorists.

Next rounds of nuclear talks in Davos, Munich

Emad Askarieh

January 19, 2015

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says that the next rounds of negotiations between Iran and 5+1 will be held in Davos and Munich.

Talking to reporters on Monday, he made the remarks when using a Tehran metro line to work. He used the public transportation to mark the ‘Day of Clean Air’ which is celebrated every year in Iran on January 19.

Zarif also said that his talks with his American counterpart John Kerry had been ‘open and frank’, adding that they discussed details and focused on complicated issues.

As it is always the case with international talks, he added, the details are the most difficult part of discussions.

The Iranian top diplomat further said that the overall pattern of negotiations has been already established, adding that Iran has the right to nuclear enrichment and continue its nuclear program. He also stressed the need for the removal of sanctions against Iran once an agreement is reached.

For the next remaining months of the deadline, he said, parties involved in the talks have to focus on details.

It will take long hours to discuss the details such as the number of centrifuges, the foreign minister noted.

“It is a source of pride for the nation to see that the best Western scientists are spending hours and hours to scrutinize what the young Iranian experts have been discussing with them,” Zarif said.

He said what Iran has always emphasized is that the parties to the talks with Iran have to admit the fact that they have to stop bullying if they want to get to any results in the negotiations.

“They could never indulge in the talks and continue their pressures on Iran simultaneously,” he said.

Zarif said this issue seems to be settled with Iran’s partners in the talks as they are just discussing methods now.

The Iranian foreign minister expressed hope that favorable results could be attained in due course of time though it might seem very difficult.

Iran, China ties strategic: Velayati

Emad Askarieh

January 19, 2015

Head of the Strategic Research Center of the Expediency Council Ali Akbar Velayati described relations between Tehran and Beijing as strategic.

“We are keen to develop ties with China and believe our relations with China are strategic,” Velayati said Sunday in a meeting with a number of Chinese officials, including former deputy foreign minister and current Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Zhang Deguang.

He highlighted the two countries’ numerous cultural, social, political and economic commonalities, and said Tehran and Beijing are determined to expand bilateral cooperation.

Deguang, for his part, underlined that the two countries should enhance the level of relations in regional and international areas.

He added that there are many opportunities for the two countries’ cooperation in political areas and fighting terrorism.

Deguang also hailed Iran’s membership as an observer state in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Iran and China enjoy friendly ties in various political, economic and trade fields.

China is Iran’s largest oil client and the value of bilateral trade between the two countries has reached $47.5 billion from January to November 2014, showing a 36 percent rise, compared with the figure in 2013.

The two countries also share views in many international and regional issues.

Contemporary poet Moshfegh Kashani passes away

Emad Askarieh

January 19, 2015

Moshfegh, whose real name was Abbas Keymanesh, died late Sunday in a hospital in Tehran after a heart attack.

He was reportedly reading a poem in a ceremony when he suddenly fainted.

The ceremony was attended by many high-profile cultural and political figures in Iran’s House of Poets.

Until his death, Moshfegh served as the board director of Iranian Poet Association.

Born in 1925 in central Iranian city of Kashan, Moshfegh was one of the notable figures of the post-Revolution poetry in the country.

His spiritual verses on the martyrdom of Shia Imams were among the most popular in religious recitations.

The distinguished lyricist was also known for his ghazals which were full of affection and conscience.

Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance held a commemorating ceremony for the contemporary poet in August 2013.

The great poet has numerous literary creations. Red Spring of Song, Song of Life, and Memories are among his well-known works.

Iran strongly condemns Israel’s killing of Hezbollah fighters

Emad Askarieh

January 19, 2015

“We condemn all actions of the Zionist regime [of Israel] as well as all acts of terror,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Press TV early on Monday, lashing out at Israel for committing acts of terrorism.

Zarif further censured the acts of terrorism against the people of Lebanon and the resistance movement, saying that “this has been a practice followed for a very long time,” the top Iranian diplomat noted. “The policy of state terrorism is a known policy of the Zionist regime [of Israel],” he added.

Hezbollah statement

Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah confirmed the death of six fighters in the new Israeli airstrike on the southwestern strategic Syrian city of Quneitra.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Hezbollah said 25-year-old Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of slain Hezbollah top commander Imad Mughniyeh, and five other fighters lost their lives in the fresh Israeli aerial assault against Syria.

Hezbollah identified the other victims as Mohammad Issa, 42, Abbas Ibrahim Hijazi, 35, Mohammad Ali Hasan Abu al-Hasan, 29, Ghazi Ali Dawi, 26, and Ali Hasan Ibrahim, 21.

The martyrs were reportedly on a field reconnaissance mission in Quneitra when an Israeli military helicopter targeted their vehicle.

Fresh Israeli aggression

On Sunday, an Israeli military helicopter fired two missiles into Amal Farms in the strategic southwestern city of Quneitra, close to line separating the Syrian part of the Golan Heights from the Israeli-occupied sector.

The Israeli military has so far declined comment on the attack.

Press TV reported that the Israeli military has gone on high alert for the fear of a possible Hezbollah response to the regime’s new act of aggression.

Analysts believe the new Israeli assault is yet another attempt by Tel Aviv to change the balance of war in favor of the Takfiri militants fighting against Syria.

The new Israeli aerial raid comes as Syrian soldiers, backed by Hezbollah resistance fighters, have made numerous gains against the militants operating in Quneitra.

The Tel Aviv regime has carried out several airstrikes in Syria since the start of the nearly four-year-old foreign-sponsored insurgency there.

Damascus says Tel Aviv and its Western allies are aiding the extremist terror groups operating inside Syria since March 2011.

The Syrian army has repeatedly seized huge quantities of Israeli-made weapons and advanced military equipment from the foreign-backed militants inside the Arab state.

I feel extremely comfortable and totally safe in Iran: female Norwegian diplomat

Emad Askarieh

January 19, 2015

Norwegian Ambassador to Iran Aud Lise Norheim has described the Iranians as friendly people, saying she feels good when she spends time in Iranian gatherings and the fact that she is the only female foreign ambassador in Iran is her only problem. Expressing hope that other countries will send female ambassadors to Iran, she says, “I feel extremely comfortable and totally safe here, and as a woman I have not faced any problems in communicating with Iranian officials.”

The following is the translation of what Fars News Agency said in the lead of an interview with the Norwegian diplomat it published on January 18:

On October 27, she presented her credentials as Norway’s first female ambassador to Iran to President Hassan Rouhani. Aud Lise Norheim, who served as Norwegian ambassador to Lebanon and Bangladesh and was in charge of the UN department at Norway’s Foreign Ministry before she took the helm of the Norwegian embassy in Tehran, does not think of herself as a politician and says she is an ordinary staff member and likes it in Iran.

The 58-year-old ambassador who is in Tehran with her husband has two sons aged 26 and 31. She misses her infant grandchild even more than her sons.

Her mission to Iran has already taken her to the cities of Kerman, Yazd and Kashan. She is interested in visiting other cities across Iran.

The Norwegian diplomat, who had visited Iran twice before she took the job offer to become Oslo’s ambassador to Iran, says she took up the job offer immediately after it was made.

Recalling Iran’s influence and position in the Middle East, she described her presence in Iran as a great opportunity which enables her to look at the Middle East from an Iranian vantage point.

Ms. Norheim, who is immensely enthusiastic about Iran’s culture, said, “I like Iranian concerts as well as Iranian plays; I am also interested in Iran’s strong film industry.”

The Norwegian diplomat said that she takes great pleasure in reading Persian literature and advised foreigners to visit Iran.

“Iran is a country one needs to visit in order to see in person what they have heard about it. In terms of history and culture, it is a fascinating country; the Iranian people are extremely friendly and hospitable and these matters help me feel at home in Iran,” she said.

Among other matters, the lifting of sanctions, readiness of Norwegian firms to invest in Iran, the state of Iranian university students in Norway, terrorism, extremism and the presence of some Norwegian nationals in IS ranks were brought up during the interview.

As for ties between Tehran and Oslo, she said, “Political relations between the two countries are extremely good. What substantiates this is a recent visit to Tehran by the Norwegian foreign minister which is an indication of favorable political relations between the two countries.”

She added, “The visit was the first state visit by a Norwegian foreign minister to Iran in 12 years and such meetings reflect the willingness of both sides to boost their political ties.”

We won’t go soft on polluting industries

Emad Askarieh

January 19, 2015

Director of Iran’s Environment Protection Organization (IEPO) Masoumeh Ebtekar says the polluting industries will be dealt with seriously.

The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on January 18 quoted Ebtekar as saying in a conference to mark the Clean Air Day that the IEPO will run checks on the industrial discharges and that the polluting industries will be given warnings if they fail to remove their shortcomings. The following is a partial translation of the report:

Ebtekar said dust particles are a major contributor to air pollution, adding the government has taken effective measures to eliminate these particles and the Supreme Environment Protection Council is to pursue the question of dusts which drift in from the country’s western neighbors.

She went on to say that government has taken serious measures to tackle air pollution in big cities, adding that elimination of air pollution needs long-term planning as well as coordination among related organizations.

She also pointed to the omission of gasoline produced at petrochemical refineries in cooperation with the Oil Ministry as another step to cut pollution, saying that the IEPO is seeking to improve fuel quality.

The environment chief then highlighted her organization’s efforts to supervise the performance of carmakers in meeting the standards, take old cars off the streets, and expand public transportation as some of the government’s measures to combat air pollution.

West behind Charlie Hebdo profane cartoons: Iranian official

Emad Askarieh

January 18, 2015

This move is completely condemned and is masterminded by Western states, Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei told reporters on Sunday.

“The terrorist attacks carried out against that publication are also condemned like other terrorist acts and this should not be used as a pretext for insulting Islamic sanctities,” Velayati, who is also the president of the Expediency Council’s Center for Strategic Research, added.

He noted that more than 1.5 billion Muslims across the world condemn the French magazine’s desecration of Islamic values.

Such “cheap and shameful” measures attest to their inability to deal with the logic of Islam, the Iranian official emphasized.

“What has occurred was based on a plot and propaganda war against Islam and is completely condemned by us,” Velayati said.

On January 14, the French satirical magazine, whose Paris office was attacked by two gunmen on January 7, once again published a cartoon of Prophet Mohammad on the cover of its new edition despite warnings that the move is provocative.

The January 7 attack is largely believed to have been launched over Charlie Hebdo’s previous cartoons of the Prophet.

The al-Qaeda branch in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack on Charlie Hebdo. The group said it chose and supported Said and Cherif Kouachi, the two brothers who allegedly carried out the deadly assault.

The French magazine has repeatedly provoked Muslim anger by publishing cartoons of Prophet Mohammad.

Tehran, Moscow to sign memorandum of understanding on defense

Emad Askarieh

January 18, 2015

A letter of intent will be signed by Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan and his Russian counterpart General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, who is due in the Iranian capital, Tehran, for a two-day official visit on Monday.

During his stay, the Russian defense minister is expected to discuss bilateral issues as well as international developments with his Iranian counterpart.

Russia and Iran currently enjoy close cooperation in various areas, particularly in the defense sector.

In May 2014, Iran’s defense minister paid an official visit to Russia to take part in an international security conference.

The further expansion of defense cooperation between Iran and Russia plays a major role in maintaining regional and global security, the Iranian defense minister said in 2013.

In January of that year, Tehran and Moscow signed another MoU to increase security cooperation between the two countries.

Iran’s top MP to visit Turkey to attend an Islamic parliamentary meeting

Emad Askarieh

January 18, 2015

The Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Hossein Sheikholeslam, an advisor to Iran’s parliament speaker for international affairs, as saying that Ali Larijani is to visit Turkey on Tuesday, January 20, to deliver a speech at the 10^th meeting of the Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Union (IIPU).

Over the 3-day visit – January 20-22 – Larijani will also meet with some Turkish officials to compare notes about regional and international matters, said Sheikholeslam.

Iran is holding the rotating presidency of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation member states (PUIC). Turkey will take over as president of PUIC during its upcoming meeting in Ankara.