iran news

Regavim is a right-wing NGO that supports Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, though they are considered illegal under inteational law and major stumbling blocks to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

Its campaign includes a mock video of a masked Palestinian purportedly from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip urging UK citizens to remain in the European Union because it supports the Palestinians. It also highlights EU financing of Palestinian structures in the West Bank.

Meir Deutsch, director of policy and govement relations for Regavim, said the NGO wanted to harm the EU over its “intervention in the inteal conflict here between Israel and the Palestinians,” AFP reported. 

Some 60 percent of the West Bank is under Israeli control and Palestinians face extremely difficult odds in receiving building permits in those areas. Israel has regularly demolished projects in the West Bank financed by The EU.

The mock video posted by Regavim on its campaign website shows masked fighters with the logo of Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and in the background a line in English that reads: “Hamas wants UK to stay in the EU.”

Britain’s EU referendum will be held Thursday.

Sheikh Isa Qassim, who is considered the spiritual leader of Bahrain's Shiite majority, was alleged to have used his position to "serve foreign interests and promote... sectarianism and violence," the ministry said in a statement carried by BNA state news agency.

It comes days after a regime’s court issued an order earlier suspending the activities of Bahrain’s main opposition bloc, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, on charges of “terrorism, extremism, and violence”.

Bahrain, a close ally of the US in the Persian Gulf region, has been witnessing almost daily protests against the ruling Al Khalifa dynasty since early 2011, with Manama using heavy-handed measures in an attempt to crush the demonstrations.

Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the ongoing crackdown on the peaceful demonstrations.

Amnesty Inteational and many other inteational rights organizations have frequently censured the Bahraini regime for the rampant human rights abuses against opposition groups and anti-regime protesters.

Issa Mashayekhi, the managing director of PCCI, said companies from Japan and South Korea have voiced interest to participate in Iran’s petrochemical projects and that they are expected to invest €520 million in form of Usance LC (Letter of credit), Shana reported.

A Korean credit line worth €13b is now available for the Islamic Republic, he said, adding that a Japanese credit line worth €10b will be also allocated in 2017.

PCCI is in charge of holding talks with inteational companies for financing petrochemical projects and attracting investments for PGPIC projects.

Inteational interest in ties with Iran has been growing since Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) on July 14, 2015 finalized a comprehensive nuclear deal and started implementing it on January 16.

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

Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Hassan Soleimani said the motion, signed by 40 lawmakers, has been submitted to the presiding board of the parliament.

“According to the motion, the administration will be obliged to take practical measures in line with the fight against dust particles and should submit reports on its measures to the parliament,” added Soleimani, who represents the people of Kangavar, weste province of Kermanshah, in the parliament.

The dust pollution blanketing the country, particularly weste provinces, in recent weeks reached “dangerous” levels, environmental officials said.

Director-General of Tehran Province’s Environmental Protection Department Mohammad Hadi Heydarzadeh told Tasnim earlier that particles polluting the country had been emanating from Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

This is not the first time that residents of the weste and southweste provinces are facing a growing trend in the influx of fine particles, which are generated by drought-hit marshlands in neighboring countries.

The disruptive dust storms have pushed pollution in those border areas to alarming levels, raising health conces.

The particles, carried by winds, can penetrate the lungs and enter the bloodstream, causing serious diseases such as lung cancer, asthma and heart problems.

"Our viewpoint was that you (NATO and ISAF [NATO-led Inteational Security Assistance Force]) have been fighting for the last 15 years but could not bring peace, now dialogue remains the only option, even if the Taliban cannot occupy Afghanistan they can still continue the fight for years to come," Sartaj Aziz said. 

The official added that Islamabad could use its influence to bring Taliban to the negotiating table but expected Kabul to strengthen its ground positions and offer Taliban "something which they cannot gain on the battlefield," Sputnik reported.

Islamabad hosted the latest round of talks of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China on the Afghan conflict settlement on May 18.

Several days later, Taliban leader Mullah Mansour was killed as a result of a US drone strike in Pakistan. Islamabad condemned the move, arguing the death of Taliban's leader aggravated the peace process.

“Belarus’s attitude and record towards the Islamic Republic of Iran in the era of sanctions have been always sincere and constructive, and we take account of that behavior in the bilateral relations strategies,” Zarif told Belarusian outgoing ambassador to Iran, in a meeting held in Tehran on Monday.

For his part, the Belarusian diplomat, Victor Rybak, offered an explanation of the main activities during his ambassadorial tenure in Tehran, including the establishment of bilateral consular interactions and holding of 13 economic meetings to promote mutual cooperation.

Back in May, Belarusian Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov voiced his country’s willingness to develop bilateral relations with Iran in various economic and political areas.

Speaking at the 13th session of Iran-Belarus Economic Commission in Minsk, Kobyakov also praised the long record of cooperation between two countries and the resulting achievements.

The premier further highlighted the enthusiasm in Easte Europe for investment in Iran’s diverse areas of industry, including manufacturing trucks, mining and road construction.

The event concluded in Poland on Sunday with eight Iranians in action.

In 66kg, Mehdi Zeydvand beat Korean Han Ryu and claimed the gold medal.

Bronze medal went to Miguel Martinez from Cuba and Japanese Tsuchika Shimoyamada

Ramin Taheri Sartang defeated Pavel Paminchuk from Belarus in the 80kg and won the gold medal.

Patrick Martinez from USA and Armenian Eduard Sargsyan won the bronze medal in the weight category.

Mahdi Aliyari Feizabadi also took a gold medal in the 98kg after beating Yasm Daniel Lugo Cabrera from Cuba.

Tsimafei Dzeinchenka from Belarus and Hungary’s Balazs Kiss claimed bronze medal.

In the 130kg weight class, Bashir Babjanzadeh Darzi seized a bronze medal along with Chinese Qiang Meng.

Eduard Popp from Germany snatched a gold medal by beating Armin Mozes Majoros from Hungary.

“Professional games and sports and championships bring national glories and will promote and introduce our country’s identity and culture to the world,” the president said Sunday at a gathering of Iranian athletes in Tehran.

“If combined with Islamic and humanitarian morality, championship sports can do away with all Iranophobia propaganda spread in the world and portray the real image of Iran and Iranians,” he added.

The president also hailed a unique feature of Iran in sports events, namely the participation of female athletes in games while observing the Islamic code of dressing and wearing hijab.

All female athletes representing the Islamic Republic attend sports events with hijab. Moreover, Iranian medal-winners refuse to shake hands with the opposite sex, a move prohibited under Islamic teachings.

Back in January, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei admired Iranian athletes who safeguard religious and moral values in sports events, irrespective of the delusive wave that may prevail in the inteational arenas.

Iranian athletes who explicitly safeguard the values in the championship games do a valued deed, Ayatollah Khamenei said, pointing to competitors who ask for help from God or prostrate themselves after winning a match.

What is even worthier than standing on the championship stage or raising of the country’s flag is an Iranian athlete’s refusal to wrestle with a Zionist Israeli opponent or a female athlete’s decision to attend the medal award ceremony with hijab, Imam Khamenei underlined.

Manassas Muslims converge on the mosque every evening to recite the Quran together, say prayers in congregation and attend the Iftar ceremony to break their fast.

At the nightly events, participants bring food with themselves for Iftar to share it with the others.

Moreover, an Iranian cleric from the holy city of Qom, named Ahmad Nabizadeh, has travelled to Manassas at the invitation of the mosque, to lead the prayers and provide the young mosque-goers with an exegesis of Quran in English.

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, marks the most special of all occasions. It is a celebration of the descent of the Word of God, the Quran, from Heaven to the earth.

Muslims all over the world fast from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan. Abstaining from food and drink, and from other bodily pleasures, is a crucial element of the observation. To partake in the blessings of Ramadan, able-bodied women and men, also girls and boys who have reached the age of religious observance, are required to fast for the duration of this month.

At the end of each fasting day, Muslims break their fast with an Iftar meal.

Ramadan is more than abstinence from food and drink during the hours of daylight. It is a time for contemplation, devotion and remembrance of God, especially through the reading or recitation of the Quran.

Tending to the welfare of the less fortunate members of the community, giving to the poor -especially at the end of the month- is also important.

Intensive self-reflection and increased God-consciousness during the month of Ramadan is meant to subdue and suppress familiar misdeeds, such as backbiting, holding grudges and telling lies.

According to a statement by the Intelligence Ministry, the Takfiri-Wahhabi terrorist groups had masterminded a major plot to carry out a series of bombing raids in several locations across the capital of Iran, specifically during the upcoming events in the holy month of Ramadan.

Thanks to the efforts by the intelligence forces in Tehran and a number of other provinces, the devil plots by the Takfiri terrorists were thwarted, the terrorists were arrested and a number of bombs -ready for blast- and a huge amount of explosive material were confiscated, it added.

The Intelligence Ministry also noted that investigations inside and outside the country and interrogation of the terrorists are still underway, and more information will be made public after the security conditions are met.

The operation comes after three successive attacks on terrorist groups along the Iranian borders in the past week.

On June 13, troops from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force killed five members of the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) terrorist group in an ambush in Sardasht region in the northweste province of West Azerbaijan.

On the same day, Iranian police forces killed five members of the Jaish-ul-Adl terrorist group in an exchange of fire in the southeaste province of Sistan and Balouchestan, while a trooper was also martyred.

And on June 15, the IRGC forces killed a number of militants in clashes with two terrorist teams trying to intrude into Oshnavieh border area near the frontier with Iraq.

A Reuters witness saw several apparently dead victims and at least two wounded being carried out of the yellow bus while police and emergency service vehicles surrounded the scene in the Banae district of the city.

The attack was the latest in a recent surge of violence that highlights the challenges faced by the Afghan govement in Kabul.

Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter that 14 people had been killed and eight wounded. Police were working to identify the victims, he said.

The casualties appeared to include both Afghans and Nepalese security contractors, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said.

He said the suicide bomber had waited near the compound housing the security contractors and struck as the vehicle moved through early moing traffic. As well as the bus passengers, several people in an adjacent market were also wounded in the attack, which occurred during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement from the terrorist group's main spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, on Twitter.

The attack underlined how serious the security threat facing Afghanistan remains since former Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US drone strike last month and was replaced by Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada.

The blast follows a deadly suicide attack on a bus carrying justice ministry staff near Kabul last month and a separate attack on a court in the central city of Ghazni on June 1.

The Taliban claimed both those attacks in revenge for the execution of six Taliban prisoners.

Virginia Raggi, the Five Star Movement’s (M5S) candidate, won 67 per cent of the vote in the run-off ballot with the Democratic party’s Roberto Giachetti.

Giachetti conceded defeat less than an hour after polls closed on Sunday.

“For the first time Rome has a female mayor in an age where equality of opportunity remains a mirage,” Raggi, 37, said in her victory speech, the Guardian reported.

“I will be a mayor for all Romans. I will restore legality and transparency to the city’s institutions after 20 years of poor goveance. With us a new era is opening.”

The win by the M5S marks a direct challenge to the Democratic prime minister, Matteo Renzi, and reflects the electorate’s seething discontent with mainstream political parties.

Founded by comedian Beppe Grillo after the economic crisis, M5S received a quarter of the vote in the 2013 national elections but has until now failed to shake off its reputation as a protest party. With Raggi expected to take the reins in Rome when the outcome is announced on Monday, the movement would enter the heart of decision-making in the country’s capital.

David Keyes, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the funds were allocated by the cabinet for settlement-related spending in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli media outlets said the sum is to supplement a budget of about USD 88 million agreed upon last year.

Opposition lawmaker, Amir Peretz, of the Zionist Union accused the regime of “wasting money on political settlements” instead of helping families within Israel.

Palestinian chief negotiator and Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Saeb Erekat called the move a "slap in the face of the inteational community."

"Israel is doing everything possible to sabotage every effort to achieve a just and lasting peace," Erekat said in a statement, Press TV reported.

Besides the settlement funds, the Tel Aviv regime was also expected to approve the allocation of USD 20.7 million to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminaries.

Israeli municipal authorities recently issued permission for the construction of new illegal units for settlers in the occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem). The project to construct a three-story building for Israeli settlers in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, located on the outskirts of the Old City of al-Quds, was approved on June 15.

Over half a million Israelis live in more than 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank, including East al-Quds.

All the Israeli settlements are illegal under inteational law. However, Tel Aviv has defied calls to stop settlement expansions.

The Iranian team had already defeated the European team in group stage.

Hamed Haddadi led the way for Iran with 22 points.

The completion is an inteational basketball touament hosted at the Suzhou Sports Center in Suzhou, China.

Eight teams participated at the touament.

The Asian powerhouse advanced to the final in last year’s edition but finished in second place after losing to China.

Iran is preparing for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Touament which will be held in Turin from July 4 to 9.

As the campaign to decide Britain's EU membership restarted after a three-day hiatus following the killing of lawmaker Jo Cox, Trump, the presumptive Republican US presidential candidate, said in a newspaper interview he was backing an "out" vote.

"I would personally be more inclined to leave, for a lot of reasons like having a lot less bureaucracy," he told the Sunday Times. "But I am not a British citizen. This is just my opinion."

The billionaire businessman also told the newspaper that he would seek to have good relationships inteationally if he were elected president in November, including with David Cameron. The British Prime Minister has in the past called Trump's proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States "divisive, stupid and wrong".

Trump said in May that Britain would be better off outside the EU because of high levels of migration, Reuters reported.

The latest opinion polls showed the 'Remain' camp recovering some momentum, although the overall picture remains one of an evenly split electorate.

Trump, whose mother was Scottish, is due to be in Britain the day after the referendum, when he visits two golf courses he owns in Scotland.

Trump also said that if he became president he would try to improve the trade deals the US has with China, and work more closely with Russia and that could include co-operating with Russia in the fight against ISIL (also known as Daesh).

“Even the supposed ability to control immigration is illusory since a) more immigrants into the UK come from non-EU countries than EU ones; and b) if we are to continue to have access to the Single Market a condition will certainly be free movement of labour. Without such access our economy will suffer significantly,” Paul Cheshire, an Emeritus Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics, told the Tasnim News Agency in a recent interview.

He added, "Anyway net I think Britain benefits for immigration and one of the reasons it is high is because the UK is economically quite successful and politically stable". 

Following is the full text of the interview.

Q: As you are aware the UK is planned to hold a referendum on June 23 on whether the country should remain a member of the European Union (EU). What is your take on this? What do people, including academics and scholars, in Britain think of it?

A: I see no pros of Brexit. Even the supposed ability to control immigration is illusory since a) more immigrants into the UK come from non-EU countries than EU ones; and b) if we are to continue to have access to the Single Market a condition will certainly be free movement of labour. Without such access our economy will suffer significantly. Anyway net I think Britain benefits for immigration and one of the reasons it is high is because the UK is economically quite successful and politically stable. Brexit by reducing the success of our economy would generate lower immigration but only because it had made the UK a less attractive destination for immigrants.

Academics tend of their nature to be inteationalists so do not favour Brexit; there are a few exceptions such as Alan Sked. But see for a summary of the views of economists: the great majority of economists, expect that leaving the EU would cause at least a short-term negative shock (of up to ten years perhaps) to not just the UK economy but to that of Europe as a whole.

Q: Do British political parties and their main figures have a sort of consolidated vision toward Brexit?

A: No, but the majority in both main parties favour membership (the reason we are having this referendum is because of the very longstanding bitter dispute in the Conservative party and the attempt by David Cameron to quell that with a referendum – which looks like it could have been a political misjudgement) and the main minority parties favour it more or less unanimously.

Q: Senior officials with Scottish National Party (SNP) have repeatedly stressed that in case of Yes Vote to Brexit, another independence referendum should be held in Scotland. How much do you think it is possible?

A: If UK votes to leave but Scots vote to stay very likely to have a new referendum in Scotland with a leave the UK outcome.

A study from the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) said that "continued volatility" on the oil market was likely to have consequences for the vast construction projects underway in the Persian Gulf emirate.

The MDPS predicted that Doha will run budget deficits for at least three years as it adjusts its energy-reliant economy to the fall in oil prices, which have dropped by more half since 2014.

It also confirmed that Qatar will for the first time introduce a value-added tax in 2018, in the form of a five percent levy on certain goods that was agreed by (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council finance ministers this month.

"Most risks to the outlook are grounded in inteational oil price movements," the MDPS said in its "Qatar Economic Outlook" study reported by AFP.

"If they (oil prices) remain low for an extended period, the fiscal and exteal accounts deficit will be more pronounced requiring funding efforts."

It added that risks included "delays or cost overruns (or both) in the delivery of key infrastructure reforms."

Qatar is a member of OPEC and the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas.

Among the major infrastructure projects being built are Doha New Port, a Metro system and regeneration of parts of the capital.

The World Cup is expected to cost about $30 billion, with stadiums accounting for $10 billion of that, organizers have said.

The MDPS said Doha will run a budget deficit of 7.8 percent this year, Qatar's first in 15 years.

This will increase to 7.9 percent in 2017 and fall to 4.2 percent the next year, it predicted.

Qatar's economy is expected to continue to expand, but growth will slow -- from 3.9 per cent this year to 3.2 in 2018, the MDPS predicted.

"Sanctions are not an end in themselves. They should rather give incentives for a change in behavior," Steinmeier told the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland, a network of local newspapers, Reuters reported.

Steinmeier said he was in favor of lifting sanctions gradually if the Russian govement showed it was doing its part in implementing the Minsk peace plan for Ukraine, adding, "An all or nothing approach, even if it sounds good, doesn't work."

A first wave of Weste sanctions against Russia was imposed in July 2014, after Moscow was accused of downing a Malaysian jetliner over Ukrainian territory.

EU and US have since targeted Russia's banking sector and blocked Russian energy companies from access to services, goods and technology used in deep-water shale oil extraction.

The UK Independence Party leader wants to take Britain "backwards" and divide rather than unite, Cameron said, as both sides in the referendum debate prepared to make a final push before the Thursday vote.

He made the argument as the battleground shifted to the news media with large rallies still on hold because of the Thursday slaying of Labor Party lawmaker Jo Cox.

Cameron praised the compassionate vision of an inclusive Britain upheld by Cox, who had publicly backed the "remain" side, in contrast to Farage and the other advocates for a British withdrawal from the 28-nation EU bloc, the Associated Press reported.

It is not clear what impact, if any, the shocking killing of Cox will have on the vote.

A 52-year-old man has been charged with murder over her death. When asked his name in court Saturday, the suspect said "death to traitors, freedom for Britain."

Iran eaed a hard-fought 3-2 (25-22, 25-20, 21-25, 13-25 and 15-11) victory over Argentina in the FIVB World League on Sunday.

“We played well against Argentina. The third and the fourth sets were tougher and the Argentina showed a strong block and defense. We took all the opportunities we had in the tiebreak to win the match,” Marouf said.

Argentina player Bruno Lima said that the match against Iran was tough.

“We had the opportunity to win. I have a bittersweet feeling as we could have won, but also we improved our game from the other two previous matches,” Lima said.