On Saturday August 23, 2014, Haft-e Sobh, a Tehran-based daily that primarily focuses on social, cultural, urban and economic news reported that the so-called Ice Bucket Challenge, a phenomenon that helps spread awareness about ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement) has found its way into Iran. Here is an excerpt of the report by the newspaper:
A video by Ali Karimi [a very well-known Iranian soccer player who has just hung up his boots] has appeared on his Instagram page in which he dumps a bucket of ice water on his head and challenges Ali Daei [a fellow former soccer player], Reza Attaran [an actor], and Maziyar Fallahi [a musician and a close friend of his] to follow suit.
Of course, Karimi does not make any mention of the reason behind the stunt: promote awareness of ALS, which is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and encourage donations to research. It is also unclear whether Karimi has simply opted to get the chill or has actually donated money to the research or not. […]
Iran Front Page (IFP) was officially launched at a gathering dubbed Iranian Media and the International Community in Tehran late Wednesday on August 20, 2014. Initially the content of iranfrontpage.com is in English, but the website will eventually translate select news stories, analyses and articles from the Iranian pressinto a few widely-spoken languages.
Mahmoud Askarieh, the founder and manager of Iran Front Page, organized the gathering which was held at the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia. At the start of the get-together at 7 p.m. refreshments were provided. The event ended at 11 p.m. after dinner was served at Rayzan Conference Hall of the center.
Dozens of veteran journalists and newspaper chiefs including Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Mahmoud Doaei, the manager of Ettela’at which is the country’s oldest daily, editors, reporters, writers and translators attended the event. Also present was Dr. Hossein Entezami, who represents the managing editors of the Iranian publications at the Press Supervisory Board. He has also served as deputy minister of culture and Islamic guidance for media affairs ever since President Hassan Rouhani took office in August 2013.
A number of retired diplomats, some of them school friends of the IFP manager, Dr. Mohammad Rajabi, the head of the Library of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Kazem Mousavi Bojnourdi, the founder and director of the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia, and some private firm managers and entrepreneurs were also on hand for the ceremony.
The official gathering which was hosted by Mohammad Reza Shahidifard, a noted Iranian TV presenter, got underway at 8:30 p.m. when the national anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran was played. That was followed by recitation of Az-Zumar Surah of the holy Koran that among other things says: “Give good tidings to My creatures, those who hear the word and follow the best of it.”
Afterward, Mahmoud Askarieh welcomed the guests and delivered a speech which featured a brief history of his journalistic background. He explained the reasons why he organized the event.
He said the invitation letters he had sent to the guests were the first distinguishing feature of the gathering. “My dear guests were probably surprised when they set their eyes on the signature of a single journalist rather than the logos of several state institutions or private firms on the invitation card. I am surprised too that you accepted my invitation. I thank you for taking the risk to come here. I am sure some of those who were invited have not showed up because they were unable to make sure that such an event was being held.
“I humbly welcome all of you including the principlists, reformists and moderates. I would also like to welcome all my colleagues who accepted my invitation and thus helped this gathering become a reality.
“Let me also thank the representatives of foreign media who are here tonight. I hope from now on we will be able to have closer interaction with them in an atmosphere which is free of any concerns.”
Mahmoud Askarieh also thanked Dr. Entezami for being there after attending a mosque service for a relative of his who had passed away and for accepting to address the gathering as a member of the Media Supervisory Board.
“To organize this gathering, I demanded no financial assistance from the Press Department of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and received none. I do appreciate the presence of Mr. Entezami at this meeting though, and thank him for his moral support and for accepting to deliver a speech here,” the IFP manager said.
Dr. Entezami’s speech which focused on the role of media diplomacy in the world community drew the undivided attention of the audience. He described the launch of Iran Front Page as a creative necessity.
The next speaker was Sabah Zanganeh, who is widely known across the country as a moderate individual and a veteran player on cultural, media and diplomatic fronts. In his speech Mr. Zanganeh, who is now retired, focused on the correlation between culture and politics and called the theme of the gathering as important. He offered congratulations to Mr. Askarieh on the launch of IFP and said the absence of such a medium was greatly felt in the country.
Afterward, Dr. Mehdi Forghani a veteran journalist and prominent journalism professor at Tehran’s Allameh Tabatabai University, took the microphone and delivered a speech which among other things dealt with ethics in media. He said the launch of a magazine with a similar content in Farsi in the 1990s by Mr. Askarieh was a great move and praised the high levels of creativity and ambition associated with Iran Front Page.
Eventually the host once again called upon Mahmoud Askarieh to come onto the stage and officially launch Iran Front Page.
Mr. Askarieh briefly elaborated on what motivated him to launch the website and asked those in attendance to personally go to the news and analysis website in the days to come and see its content for themselves.
The IFP manager also asked participants to overlook the shortcomings that go with the territory, but called on them to let him know about serious faults and their critical comments.
A translated version of the speeches delivered by Dr. Entezami, Mr. Sabah Zanganeh, and Dr. Forghani will appear on iranfrontpage.com come Sunday through Tuesday (August 24 – 26).
Here is a collection of the photos taken at the event:
Bahman Soleimani said that Iran was the greatest home for natural gas reservoirs in the world. “Iran owns oil reserves for next 60 years and gas for 200 years,” he added.
“Iran has discovered new oil and gas reservoirs and 70 per cent of drilling have produced rich ores of oil and gas,” said he.
National Iranian Oil Company had announced last year that it had discovered 70 gas reserves and 178 oil reserves in the country.
176 oil reserves located in Zagros folds and Persian Gulf basin; the other 2 oil reserves are scattered in central Iran. 65 gas reserves are in Zagros and Persian Gulf basin, 2 in central Iran, and 3 more in Kopet Dag basin in northwest.
This video grab shows an ISIL agent preparing to behead American journalist James Foley.
“The video purporting to show the decapitation of James Foley is a classic example of neocon hate propaganda. It is the sort of ‘Two Minutes Hate’ event satirized in George Orwell’s book 1984,” Kevin Barrett wrote in a column for the Press TV website.
Two Minutes Hate is a daily period in which citizens are forced to watch a film depicting the so-called enemies and express their hatred for them.
Barrett said Foley’s beheading has been organized by Israel to defame Muslims, adding, “The Orwellian two minutes of hate propaganda treatment is reserved for Muslims… or people posing as Muslims.”
“The Zionist-dominated media does not saturate the mass mind with images of evil Israelis committing atrocities – even though Israel is the per capita atrocity capital of the world,” wrote the analyst.
Barrett also said the ISIL is a “false-flag” group that has been created to “conduct Zionist public relations stunts.”
He said the world Muslims are expected to promote the fact that the “bogus ISIL group” is “designed to wage fourth-generation warfare against Islam and Muslims.”
ISIL said 40-year-old Foley, who had gone missing in Syria in 2012, was decapitated in reprisal for ongoing US airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq.
The terrorist group posted a gruesome video on social media on Tuesday titled “A Message to America.”
The US military has attacked the ISIL militants inside Iraq after earlier this month US President Barack Obama authorized aerial attacks against ISIL targets in the Arab count
“We are seriously seeking to resolve the problems in these negotiations. We are determined to achieve results. There is a serious resolve on the part of Iran and we hope that the other party has the same will,” Rouhani said during a final presser at the end of his trip to the northwestern Ardebil province on Thursday.
The Iranian president also reiterated that a comprehensive agreement between Iran and the six world powers over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear energy program will be beneficial to the global economy.
“A final deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 will benefit Iran, the sextet and the global economy.”
The Islamic Republic and the sextet clinched a landmark interim deal in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 23, 2013. The agreement took effect on January 20 and expired six months later on July 20.
In July, the two sides agreed to extend their discussions until November 24 in an effort to achieve a permanent nuclear deal.
“Recently, some Vatican officials have asked Muslim scholars to condemn the brutal attacks of the extremist group ISIL (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) against Christians and the religious minorities in northern Iraq. I urge all the Muslims around the world to condemn such inhumane crimes,” said Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi in his message to Pope Francis.
Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi added that extremist groups, regardless of their religion and nationalities, are the biggest menace to humanity.
He also referred to his meeting with the President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue Cardinal Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran three years ago in which he had said, “There is not a single week in which I do not condemn acts of extremist groups during my speeches. The acts of such minority of extremists do not speak for Islam”.
The Iranian Shiite cleric further said he expected Vatican to show reaction to crimes and brutalities which are committed, whether against Christian minorities in Muslim countries or against Muslim minorities in the West.
Since the ISIL terrorists took control of many regions in the north of Iraq in June, Shiite clerics in Iran and Iraq have in numerous occasions condemned their acts of terrorism and warned that the terrorist group is committing its crimes in the name of Islam and that their heinous actions pose serious threats to the true image of the Muslim world.
Iran should develop deep and reasonable relations with Africa, based on mutual interests, Zarif said, addressing Iranian ambassadors to the African countries in Tehran on Wednesday.
The foreign minister said that there are abundant capacities for economic cooperation with the African nations.
He briefed the ambassadors on Iran’s foreign policy willing to enhance level of ties with the African nations, and voiced his readiness to pay visits to African countries to boost Iran’s economic cooperation with the continent.
Iran has striven hard to maximize relations with the African continent.
Iran is also an observing member of the AU and has shown an active presence in previous AU summit meetings.
The country is considered as one of the AU’s strategic partners along with India, Japan, China, several South American states and Turkey, while Tehran is also believed to be prioritizing promotion of its economic and political ties with the African states.
The production lines, which will enhance the range and accuracy of the country’s missile systems, were inaugurated on Thursday in a ceremony attended by Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan on the eve of National Defense Industry Day.
With these production lines coming on stream, said the defense chief, the country has achieved the capability to design state-of-the-art defensive products and achieved self-sufficiency in raw materials required for various missile defense systems.
Dehqan said the accomplishment will contribute to the nation’s deterrence capability.
The breakthrough will help meet all the defensive needs of Iran’s Armed Forces as far as energy storage on a large scale is concerned, and help run future development plans in the field of defense systems, the minister underlined.
Given its cutting-edge defense industry, said the top commander, the Islamic Republic will make anyone that threatens Iran regret its move.
In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and reached self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems.
On June 2, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) officially put into service a domestically developed long-range radar system, named Ghadir, capable of detecting stealth aircraft.
The modern radar system uses three-dimensional (3-D) technology to detect airborne targets, including radar-evading aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, and satellites in low orbits.
Tehran has repeatedly assured other countries that its military might poses no threat to other states, insisting that the country’s defense doctrine is entirely based on deterrence.
Hezbollah cited “financial and military support of terrorist groups,” paired with “political and media protection” and international silence over crimes committed by ISIL in Iraq and Syria, as the main causes behind the “terrible crime.”
Hezbollah also condemned an Israeli airstrike on Gaza that killed three senior Hamas commanders from the al-Qassam Brigade, saying that the assault reinforces the movement towards resistance and liberation.
“Past experiences have proven that the killing of the brigade leaders won’t break the will of the resistance; instead it will increase the persistence and force behind the drive towards jihad and liberation,” the Hezbollah statement said.
Hezbollah expressed condolences to the families of the victims, lauding the martyrs for “sacrificing themselves in resistance to occupation and in defense of their families’ people and nation.”
Hezbollah reiterated its condemnation of ongoing Zionist crimes in Gaza, warning that “assaults are escalating brutally among a fatal Arab and international silence.”
The lack of international condemnation constituted a “protective umbrella for Zionist terrorism” and covered the continued assault that “targets all forms of life in Palestine,” the statement argued.
Iran’s oil minister has said according to Geneva Joint Plan of Action, foreign oil tankers could easily enter Iran’s oil terminals.
Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told Mehr News that his ministry would finish the development of different phases of South Pars fields by 2017. “Geneva Joint Plan of Action posed no restrictions on insuring oil tankers entering Iran’s waters and ports to carry Iran’s oil to importing countries by world insurance giants,” Zanganeh added.
In line with developments in Geneva, a foreign oil tanker will enter Iran’s ports for the first time since sanction relief covered by Western insurance companies; it is Alexandra-1 tanker ship owned by Transland Bulk Carriers Ltd., under the coverage of insurance provided by West of England P&I Club, which entered Assaluyeh in July 25 and harbored in Kharg to load LNG.
Zanganeh pointed to new oil export agreements in 2015. “Iran would not limit its exports to any certain figure, and would continue to export amounts of oil decided by the government policies,” added the oil minister.
On ministry’s plan for seeking a way out of economic recession, he cited rises in gas exports as possible scenarios. “With increased gas production and provision to industry and power plants, we could export up to $5bn in oil products in the current year and $12bn next year,” Zanganeh said.
This week the Oil Ministry delivered a report to Parliament Planning and Budget Committee in which it announced exports of crude oil and gas condensates worth up to $7.9bn in the first four months of the year. “In the same period, $13bn of Iran’s oil income has been unfrozen,” said the minister, and that “we have planned to raise Iran’s natural gas production 200 million cubic meters per day by the next two years.”
Zanganeh predicted that South Pars field project would be finished by 2017. “The priority set for production from shared fields in South Pars would bring about a decline in fuel consumption in industry and power plants which help the economy out of the recession.”
