iran news

Addressing worshipers at the weekly Friday Prayers in Tehran, Alavi said a number of would-be bombers were killed or arrested during several sting operations by Iranian intelligence forces.

He said that a large amount of weapons and ammunition was confiscated from the terrorists.

The minister reaffirmed that Iran enjoys high security while insecurity has been prevailing in most countries in the Middle East and across the world, Press TV reported.

“Despite plots hatched by intelligence services of hostile countries and terrorist groups to [cause] security challenge [in Iran], the Islamic Republic experienced a year full of security and peace,” Alavi said.

The Iranian intelligence minister emphasized that the country witnessed no instance of insecurity.

As of 4 pm (local time) the lives of 285,600 people in 11 counties had been disrupted by the downpour, while 2,085 others had been evacuated, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The headquarters estimated 24,600 hectares of crops were affected, but no casualties have been reported, Xinhua reported.

The provincial meteorological department has forecast persistent rainfall for most of the province over the next 24 hours, bringing risks of landslides and mud and rock flows in mountainous regions.

The police acting on intelligence killed eight al-Qaeda operatives near the city of Multan in Punjab on Wednesday, the province's counter-terrorism department said in a statement on Friday.

The statement added that the security forces traced a number of accomplices who fled the first shootout to the district of Dera Ghazi Khan, killing six others on Thursday.

One of the slain men was involved in a 2010 terrorist attack on two mosques in Lahore city which claimed the lives of 97 people, the counter terrorism department said.

Some of the militants were also involved in attacks against the security forces, according to the statement, Press TV reported.

Meanwhile, police official Shakir Ullah said three bombers on a motorcycle were killed on Friday when one of the militants accidentally detonated his booby-trapped jacket near the restive city of Peshawar, the capital of the northweste province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. 

The official added that the police are still trying to identify the bodies of the men.

On Wednesday, at least one policeman was killed and 10 others injured in two bomb blasts targeting a police patrol in Peshawar.

Addressing a large gathering of Iranian worshippers here in Tehran on Friday, Ayatollah Emami Kashani praised the parliament for its recent move to pass a motion obliging the administration to claim compensation for a host of material and moral damages that the US has done to Iran over the past decades.

“God willing, the administration will implement the law as powerfully as it can,” the prominent cleric said.

Tagged with a double urgency status, the motion was approved unanimously on Sunday, with 181 of the 216 lawmakers present voting for it.

If the final bill with its preamble and details is adopted, the administration will have to take the necessary measures to receive compensation from the US govement for its crimes against Iran and its nationals.

Elsewhere, Ayatollah Emami Kashani pointed to recent remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei about plots hatched by the US to taish the image of Islam and spread Iranophobia in the world.

He said God willing, all the hues and cries (against Islam) would come to an end in the near future but all Muslims should preserve their unity against the plots.

In a speech earlier this month, Ayatollah Khamenei slammed the US govement for its continued hostilities toward Muslims and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“Today, Islamophobia, Iranophobia and Shiaphobia, are among the definite policies of the US and its puppet regimes,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in an address in Tehran to a gathering of Iranian people and high-ranking officials as well as Muslim countries’ envoys on the occasion of Eid al-Mab’ath, which marks the anniversary of the appointment of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) to prophethood.

The Leader pointed to the US-led attempts to discredit Muslims, saying, “Today, corrupt (terrorist) groups that are committing heinous crimes in the name of Islam are supported by Weste powers.”

Weste countries “have purportedly formed a coalition against Daesh (ISIL or ISIS), but, in fact, they are backing the group,” Ayatollah Khamenei said at the time.

The Leader added that within the framework of its Islamophobia policy, the US-led coalition calls the terrorist group “Islamic state” to damage the image of Islam.

"A few hours earlier we were informed (by Egyptian authorities) that a body part, two seats and one or more items of luggage where found in the search area" north of the coastal Egyptian city of Alexandria, Panos Kammenos told a news conference.

He said other aircraft participating in the search had "allegedly reported more findings in another area, but currently we have no official confirmation that they belong to the plane in question," according to Reuters. 

The EgyptAir plane carrying 66 people disappeared from radar screens early Thursday, taking two sharp tus before plunging 22,000 feet into the Mediterranean Sea, according to Greek officials.

Egypt's military earlier Friday said search teams had spotted personal belongings of passengers and parts of the Airbus A320 about 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Alexandria.

According to a report by AFP, dozens of flights and trains were cancelled as rail staff and air traffic controllers walked off the job in the latest mass protests against the govement's labor market reforms.

Taking an increasingly hard line after two months of demonstrations, Prime Minister Manuel Valls threatened to use force to break up protests which interfered with the operation of ports, refineries and airports.

But he reserved his strongest words for those who attacked a police car in Paris on Wednesday on the sidelines of a rare rally by police officers protesting against "anti-cop hatred."

While a policeman and a policewoman were still inside the car, a small group of masked protesters beat the vehicle with iron bars before hurling in an explosive device, AFP says.

Both officers escaped unharmed.

"The punishment must be harsh. The inquiry has just started, arrests have been made," Valls said.

Five suspects have been arrested over the attack.

Tensions ran high as up to 14,000 people marched in Paris on Thursday, according to police estimates, with masked protesters again seeking confrontation with riot police.

Violence has erupted at several demonstrations in recent weeks -- mostly against the labor reforms forced through parliament by the deeply unpopular govement of President Francois Hollande.

Small groups of troublemakers appear to have infiltrated the protests, bent on attacking security forces.

After Wednesday's violence, Paris police chief Michel Cadot slapped bans on another 19 people designated as hardcore activists, forbidding them from joining demonstrations.

And he called on those taking part in the protest marches to physically distance themselves from any violent activists.

Security marshalls appointed by the unions to control the march appeared to have heeded a call from police to leave clubs and batons at home.

Cadot had already issued around 40 orders banning people judged to be troublemakers from attending demonstrations, but some of those orders have been suspended by the courts.

Speaking to reporters in the Japanese capital of Tokyo on Thursday evening, Araqchi rejected claims that the US missile defense bases in Europe is meant to protect the NATO alliance from Iran’s ballistic missiles.

“I think everyone knows that the (air-defense) bases (in Europe) are not developed because of Iran’s missiles,” the Iranian diplomat said, adding that the US and its weste allies are pursuing other goals than intercepting Iran’s missiles.

“Our missiles are completely defensive in nature and we believe that they have a deterrent role in case of a possible invasion against Iran,” the diplomat noted. 

The first Aegis Ashore base came online in Romania last week. The second Aegis Ashore system is expected to become operational in Poland in 2018.

The missile shield uses a network of radars that track potential threats in the atmosphere, before launching an interceptor missile from a stationary base, or a fleet.

Washington says that the easte European missile defense segment is meant to thwart a potential threat from Iran, but Moscow has slammed the defense shield, calling it a threat to security, and a violation of a key inteational treaty.

In a statement on May 11, Russia’s foreign ministry said that worries that Tehran posed a threat to NATO were “unfounded.”

HRW senior refugee researcher Gerry Simpson said Friday, "it has been a year since Turkey shut down its border to the world's most war-ravaged people, and it is well past time for the world's leaders to speak up."

The World Humanitarian Summit starts Monday in Turkey to discuss the future of humanitarian aid, the Associated Press reported. 

Turkey, host to 2.7 million Syrian refugees, has tightened restrictions along the Syrian border in the past year, only allowing in critically wounded refugees.

Turkish border guards have pushed back and fired at Syrians trying to reach Turkey in recent months, according to HRW reports. Ankara denies any wrongdoing.

In a secret ballot, 373 MPs in the 550-seat parliament backed the plan to lift MPs' immunity from prosecution, which critics say targets the pro-Kurdish opposition and could fuel tensions between Kurdish militants and the state, Reuters reported.

The assembly was set to hold two further votes on elements of the bill Friday which will determine the final outcome.

The resignation was the result of the culmination of several racially charged incidents that occurred in the Califoian city in the past year.

The use of lethal force by US police - especially by white officers against African-Americans and other minorities - has been the focus of nationwide protests.

The San Francisco Police Department and Chief Greg Suhr have faced mounting criticism and protests for months in the wake of several high-profile police killings and a racist text message scandal.

"I have previously expressed confidence in Chief Suhr because I know he agrees with and understands the need for reform," San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee told reporters at a press conference at City Hall, Al Jazeera reported.

"But following the officer-involved shooting and my meeting with Chief Suhr, I have arrived at a different conclusion to the question of how best to move forward."

Suhr had earlier told reporters two officers approached a 27-year-old woman as she sat in a car that had been reported as stolen.

Neither the woman nor the officers have been identified. Suhr did not give the race of the officers and said he did not know whether the woman was armed.

The woman tried to drive off, crashing into another vehicle fewer than 30 metres away. She was shot by one of the officers, a sergeant, after refusing to comply with their orders, Suhr said. She later died at a hospital. Suhr said the officers have not been interviewed.

"This is exactly the kind of thing with all the reforms we are trying to prevent," Suhr said before he resigned.

Criticism of the department began to build even more in April this year, after American media outlets obtained racist and homophobic text messages that were shared between several San Francisco Police Department officers.

The messages contained racial slurs and compared African-Americans to wild animals.

Speaking at a meeting with the members of Japan’s Inteational Friendship Exchange Council (FEC) in Tokyo on Thursday, Araqchi waed against the spread of terrorism in the Middle East region and the whole world and highlighted the importance of Iran’s role in preserving regional peace.

“Given the danger of terrorist groups’ activities to all countries around the world, the two countries (Iran and Japan) can boost their cooperation in this area,” Araqchi noted.

He further described Tehran-Tokyo ties as friendly and historical and expressed optimism that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s future visit to Iran would help promote relations between the two Asian countries.

Japan’s Abe plans to visit Iran in late August to strengthen economic ties between the two nations, according to reports by Japanese media. He will be the first Japanese prime minister to visit the Islamic Republic in 38 years.

The visit will come against the backdrop of a new wave of interest in ties with Iran after Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) on July 14, 2015 reached a conclusion over the text of a comprehensive 159-page deal on Tehran's nuclear program and started implementing it on January 16.

The comprehensive nuclear deal, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), terminated all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran.

Experts believe that Iran's economic growth would rise remarkably after the final nuclear deal takes effect.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a US national and a former marine who works at the US Air Force base in Okinawa, was arrested on suspicion of disposing of Rina Shimabukuro’s body. The local authorities reportedly believe that he has also killed the young woman who has been missing since April.

According to the NHK broadcaster, the residents of the prefecture are currently standing outside the Kadena Air Base demanding its closure, Sputnik reported. 

On Thursday, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida lodged a protest over the incident with US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, calling it extremely regrettable.

Later that day, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter pledged his full cooperation to Japan over the incident.

Okinawa is home to a large US military presence and there have been mass protests over the years by the island’s inhabitants over incidents of alleged rape by US armed forces personnel stationed there.

The prefecture has also seen mass protest against the elocution of the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma was agreed on in 2006. Current plans envision the base to be closed by February 2019 and relocated within the Okinawa prefecture. Over 1.5 million square meters of the coastal maritime belt are expected to be filled as part of the relocation.

Following the incident, Tokyo demanded that Washington boost discipline at its military bases in Japan and assist in the investigation.

Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed flight A320 in the French Alps in March 2015, killing himself and the 149 others on board.

Investigators subsequently found he had a history of depression and suicidal tendencies, and that Lufthansa -- the parent company of Germanwings -- knew about his health condition.

In remarks to the Hamburger Abendblatt published late on Thursday, doctors' association chief Frank Ulrich Montgomery blamed Lufthansa as well as Germany's Federal Aviation Authority for neglecting to take a closer look at pilots suffering from psychological problems.

"As doctors, we find it appalling that both the Federal Aviation Authority and Lufthansa knew that this pilot had records of severe depression but underwent no particular checks," he said, AFP reported.

"Lufthansa has failed as an employer and the Federal Aviation Authority too as a regulator. They should have required more frequent checks on such pilots," he said.

"An annual examination -- as is the general rule -- is insufficient in such cases."

Montgomery also highlighted the shortcoming of medical controls that focused largely on "physical findings and laboratory tests" but which neglected psychological examinations.

The doctor also criticized Lufthansa for scrapping a life-long "Unfit-to-fly insurance" which would have given ill pilots the security of drawing some income throughout their lifetime.

Such policies are now limited to just 10 years, he said.

"That is not fair. The working and training conditions of pilots lead to such pressure that some people develop such problems," he said.

Relatives of victims have filed a lawsuit against the Lufthansa-owned flight school that trained Lubitz, arguing that he should never have been allowed to fly.

Burroughs beat Yarahmadi 11-2 in the Men’s freestyle 74 kg weight category.

The United States won three of its four Junior-level matches against Iran, with wins from Daton Fix at 55 kg, Mitchell McKee at 60 kg and Mark Hall at 74 kg.

Iran’s only win of the night came in the Junior match at 84 kg, when 2015 Junior World champion Mojtaba Goleij of Iran defeated 2015 U.S. Junior World Team member Zahid Valencia, 10-1.

It was the first time in which age-group inteational events were included in a Beat the Streets event.

Box Scores
Junior men’s freestyle 55 kg– Daton Fix (USA) tech. fall Kheyrollah Ghahramani (Iran), 14-3
Junior men’s freestyle 60 kG – Mitchell McKee (USA) dec. PeYman Biabani (Iran), 8-8
Junior men’s freestyle 74 kg – Mark Hall (USA) dec. Ahmad Bazrighaleh (Iran), 8-5
Junior men’s freestyle 84 kg – Mojtaba Goleij (Iran) dec. Zahid Valencia (USA), 10-1
Men’s freestyle 86 kg – J’Den Cox (USA) dec. Meysam Mostafa Joukar (Iran), 10-5
Men’s freestyle 74 kg – Jordan Burroughs (USA) dec. Peyman Yarahmadi (Iran), 11-2

“The two pillars on which it’s founded – Schengen and the euro – are in the process of crumbling,” Le Pen said.

“So they’re in a sort of mad downward spiral in which they’re capable of anything today to try and keep this building standing.”

The leader of France’s hard-right Front National party believes the collapse is not a matter of “if” but “when,” saying the EU “shines from the light of a dead star” while its leaders are struggling to play for time “at the cost of billions trying to hold this structure up.”

Commenting on the migrant crisis, Le Pen said the EU is using immigrants as a tool to drive down labor costs across the 28-country bloc.

“That’s why the European Union supports tens of millions of immigrants in the coming years which will come onto the European Union labor market to push down wages,” she said. “So, in fact they have betrayed, if you like, the working class.”

Marine Le Pen has been a vocal supporter of the UK leaving the European Union, a move that the National Front hopes would inspire a similar “Frexit” campaign.

According to a March poll, 53 percent of French citizens surveyed would like to hold a Brexit-like referendum on France’s membership in the EU.

When asked if she feared any consequences for a “Frexit,” or Brussels’ retribution if it should go through, Le Pen said, “If France leaves the European Union, the European Union no longer exists.”

"I informed the PM that after his conduct and recent developments, and given the lack of faith in him, I am resigning from the govement and parliament and taking a break from political life," Yaalon said.

Yaalon, a career military and former Chief of Staff of Israeli forces, joined Netanyahu’s Likud party in 2008.

Lieberman served as Israeli foreign minister from 2009 to 2012 and from 2013 to 2015. He currently chairs a right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party and is known for his controversial proposals.

For example,  Lieberman wants to “cut off heads” of Arab-Israelis not “loyal” to Israel, bomb Egypt’s Aswan dam, and offer Israeli towns with large Arab populations to the future Palestinian state in exchange for Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which would then become part of the Jewish state.

Speculation on his new role in Netanyahu’s cabinet arose after consultations between Lieberman and the Israeli prime minister on Wednesday. Netanyahu, who is the leader of the center-right Likud party, is eying to cement his current coalition’s shaky position, as it holds a majority of one in the Israeli parliament.

The possible appointment, which is expected to be decided by the weekend, has prompted a storm of criticism from the Israeli opposition and Palestinian politicians, who anticipate an even more hostile military policy under Lieberman, who himself lives in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Russia Today reports.

Isaac Herzog, the leader of the center-left Zionist Union, which had been expected to enter into coalition with Likud before Netanyahu’s sudden U-tu in favor of Lieberman, said that if the Israeli hawk joins the govement, it will result in a policy “on a brink of madness.” He believes that choosing such a radical figure as head of the defense ministry would mean that Israel is preparing to “embark on a jouey of war and funerals.”

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry issued a statement slamming the upcoming govement reshuffle as “fresh proof there is no real peace partner in Israel,” while calling Lieberman “an extremist”

With his appointment, Israel would send a “message to the world that Israel prefers extremism, the occupation and settlements to a peace accord,” the statement reads.

The Israeli military establishment also appears to be less than enthusiastic about the prospect of having a defense chief with fewer qualifications than outgoing defense minister, who has vast combat experience.

China is the most welcoming nation, scoring 85 on the organization's Refugees Welcome Index, followed by Germany with 84, and the United Kingdom coming in third with 83.

The survey, the first of its kind, comes at a time when leaders in several countries are grappling with refugee crises. It reveals a stark contrast between the attitudes of politicians and citizens, Amnesty said on Thursday, the Chriatian Science Monitor reported. 

"The Refugees Welcome Index exposes the shameful way govements have played short term politics with the lives of people fleeing war and repression. Govements must heed these results, which clearly show the vast majority of people ready and willing to make refugees welcome in their country," Amnesty Inteational Secretary General Salil Shetty said in a statement, criticizing some politicians' "xenophobic" rhetoric.

The survey demonstrates that most people "take the refugee crisis personally," Mr. Shetty said.

Conflicts in various parts of the world – mainly in the Middle East and Africa – have prompted the exodus of millions of people, forcing them to seek asylum outside their countries. Many countries in Europe have adopted tough anti-refugees measures, including tighter border controls. Other govements, such as Kenya, have decided to explore extra measures such as retuing refugees to their own countries.

94 percent of citizens polled in China said they would welcome refugees into their country, and 46 percent of them said they would be willing to go an extra mile and host refugees in their own homes. In Russia, by contrast, 61 percent opposed welcoming refugees into their country, the lowest on the index.

In Germany, where more than a million migrants have entered since the refugee crisis started, a striking 96 percent of the respondents said they would accept more refugees in their country, while only 3 percent said they would not welcome them.

Far fewer people said they would let refugees stay in their own home, however: on average, just one in ten, although some countries were far more open to the idea. 29 percent of those polled in the UK, for example, said they would let a refugee stay in their home, and 47 percent would welcome a refugee to their neighborhood. Worldwide, three in ten agreed.

People in several countries with already large numbers of refugees said that they would be willing to accept more. Greece, which has been the main gateway for refugees entering Europe, scored 65 on the index, while Jordan, now home to many Syrians fleeing the war, scored 61.

Around the world, 66 percent of respondents said their govement should do more to help, although the number was far lower in some countries: the lowest three percentages came from Russia (26 percent), Thailand (29 percent), and India (41 percent).

Such a strong show of support was unexpected, Shetty said. "People seem to be more committed to principles set down in inteational law than many of their govements, who are increasingly tearing up or ignoring commitments that have stood for 65 years."

"I told the prime minister this moing that due to his conduct in recent developments, and in light of my lack of trust in him, I am resigning from the govement and Knesset (parliament) and taking a break from political life," the former armed forces chief of staff said on Twitter.

Yaalon's surprise resignation comes two days after former foreign minister Lieberman said he would be open to bringing his far-right Yisrael Beitenu party into Netanyahu's coalition if a number of conditions were met, including being named defense minister, AFP reports. 

Yaalon had been at loggerheads with Netanyahu over his insistence that senior officers be encouraged to "speak their mind."

Reports said Netanyahu had been considering offering the retired lieutenant general the foreign ministry as a consolation although the offer was never made.

Speaking at the Euromoney Iran Conference held in London on Thursday, Seif emphasized that according to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Europe and the US are committed to take all executive and regulatory measures necessary to remove anti-Iran sanctions and facilitate the country’s retu to the inteational markets.

“As we witnessed in the past few months, the commitments (of the US and Europe) have not been met because of the problems that the banking community is facing,” the Iranian official noted.

The Euromoney Iran Conference was held with the aim of providing a platform for Iranian and inteational banks to discuss the necessary steps for Iran’s re-integration into the inteational financial community.

In addition, capital market participants discussed the means by which inteational institutional investors can get exposure to one of the best performing frontier markets.

While the JCPOA, a 159-page nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) came into force in January, some Iranian officials complain about the US failure to fully implement the accord.

Earlier in March, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said Americans have yet to fulfill what they were supposed to do as per the nuclear deal.

Iran still has problems in its banking transactions or in restoring its frozen assets, because Weste countries and those involved in such processes are afraid of Americans, the Leader said at the time, criticizing the US for its moves to prevent Iran from taking advantage of the sanctions removal.

Authorities and families of attack victims hope his testimony will shed light on ISIS' strategies in Europe and identify others who might have been involved in the Nov. 13 bloodshed. The attacks killed 130 people.

Abdeslam is expected to be transferred Friday moing from a high-security prison in the Parisian suburb of Fleury-Merogis to the main Paris courthouse for questioning by investigating judges, the Associated Press reported. 

His lawyer Franck Berton refused to comment before Friday's session, which could last all day.

Abdeslam was given a string of preliminary terrorism charges after his transfer from Belgium, where he was arrested after four months on the run.