iran news

An unprecedented terrorism-related forfeiture order against the Iranian govement that would benefit families of 9/11 victims was reversed on appeal on Wednesday.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan rejected a lower court’s reasoning in ordering the sale of a 36-story office building along with other properties, to benefit 9/11 families.

The families and the US govement had sued the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp., the building’s part owners. US Attoey Preet Bharara confirmed that the sale of the building would have been the largest ever terrorism-related forfeiture.

The lower court judge, Katherine Forrest, said revenue from the building passed through a state-owned Iranian bank, in violation of a US-trade embargo, making the property eligible for forfeiture.

The property was to be sold, on order of Judge Forrest, by US Marshals, with proceeds to be distributed among 19 holders of over $5 billion in terrorism-related judgments against the govement of Iran – a country that the now-public 9/11 Commission report never alleged involvement in the terror attack, and whose leadership holds a longstanding animosity for the hardline Salafist al-Qaeda network.

The appeals court did not address the merits of whether it was proper for 9/11 victims to receive compensation for the terror attack from the Iranian govement, but rather determined that the lower court had failed to establish that the properties were owned and controlled by Iran rather than private, unaffiliated individuals from the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corporation. 

"Given the lack of evidence demonstrating Iran’s day-to-day control of Alavi, we conclude, as a matter of law, that defendants cannot be deemed Iran’s alter egos," stated the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Sputnik News reported. 

The court argues that, while evidence demonstrates that the Iranian govement created Alavi in 1973 and supervised its board in the 1980s and 1990s, no evidence exists that Tehran maintained control of the board past 2007.

In a meeting with business people in the city of Qom on Thursday, Larijani took a swipe at the West for shirking duties to ease economic sanctions on Iran, although Tehran has completely fulfilled its part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Despite an increase in Iran’s oil exports after the JCPOA implementation, the crux of the problem is still existing, meaning that the sanctions have not been lifted, he underlined.

The speaker noted that only the third and fourth-rate Weste banks have been allowed to work with Iran, while the major banks are still afraid of cooperation and investment.

The Weste side had undertaken to create incentives for investment in Iran, however, not only did it fail to do so, but it has been even throwing a wrench, Larijani added, calling for Iran’s retaliatory measures.

He also touched on a litany of anti-Iran bills that the US Congress has passed to discourage the world countries from investing in Iran, stressing that such conduct runs counter to their commitments under the JCPOA.

The nuclear accord between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) took effect in January 2016 and was supposed to terminate nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation has been hampered mainly due to US policies.

Back 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.

In a Thursday address to a gathering of IRGC Navy commanders in the northeaste holy city of Mashhad, Major General Jafari said the IRGC naval forces have pretty good conditions.

The IRGC Navy is ready to intercept any intruding vessel in the Persian Gulf, he added.

In separate Idea yesterday, the top general unveiled plans for multiple war games in the current Iranian year (ends on March 20, 2017) to maintain the military preparedness of the IRGC forces and send enemies the message that the forces are ready to bury them in the Persian Gulf waters.

In December 2015, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei underlined that security of the Persian Gulf region comes within the purview of the regional countries alone, and dismissed the US claim of seeking security in the region.

"The Persian Gulf security relates to the countries of the region which have common interests, and not to the US. So, security of the Persian Gulf region should be provided by the countries of this region itself," the Leader said.

Molaei’s grandfather has been killed in a crash on Haraz Road on Thursday moing.

The weightlifter has undergone surgery with surgical hip dislocation.

Molaei had participated in a ceremony for seeing off Iranian athletes departing for Rio Olympics and Paralympics.

He was also left out of the Olympic Games by a selection committee on Wednesday.

"Life of ordinary people and businesses will go un-impacted, uninterrupted, business will be as usual. We're committed to market economy," Mehmet Simsek said on Twitter following the announcement of the state of emergency.

Simsek said there would be no backsliding on human rights, Reuters reported.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who has launched mass purges of state institutions since a July 15 coup attempt, said the emergency was fully in line with Turkey's constitution and did not violate the rule of law or basic freedoms of citizens.

A joint operation by the Police forces of the city of Khash and the intelligence forces led to the spotting of a secret passage at a house in the vicinity of two major military and security headquarters, dug by the hostile groups planning acts of sabotage, Police said on Thursday.

After search of the house, the security forces found a 20-meter-deep tunnel running 30 meters to the nearby bases.

A remote-controlled booby trap, weapons and ammunition, advanced digging equipment, and a map of the digging path leading to the bases were found in the raid on the house.

Ten members of the terrorist team have been arrested and the investigation is still going on, according to the police.

The operation comes a month after police forces in the same province killed five members of the Jaish-ul-Adl terrorist group in an exchange of fire.

It was supposed to be Mike Pence's night, his Republican national convention debut as running mate to presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Republicans voiced hopes earlier that his speech on Wednesday night would unite the party following a tense start to the gathering, but these hopes were dashed when former presidential candidate Ted Cruz encouraged Americans to “vote their conscience".

Earlier today, senior campaign manager Paul Manafort called the Indiana goveor "dogged," and "a man after Trump's own heart," saying his introduction to the American people tonight would "help us to accelerate the unification of the party in a real, meaningful way".

Instead, Pence's speech was overshadowed by Cruz, who, having refused to endorse the celebrity business tycoon, was booed by delegates on the third night of the convention in Cleveland, Al Jazeera reported. 

Pence was not Trump's first choice. Many pundits believe that the socially conservative goveor was chosen in the hopes that he may be able to get the Republican bigwigs to support this unlikely nominee. But apart from immigration reform, the two don't see eye to eye on much: on social security and Medicare, on trade agreements, and the war on Iraq.

While Pence – a former congressman – does add a layer of legislative prowess to a campaign that lacks it, his history has also been mired in controversy.

"Pence needs to demonstrate that he brings knowledge, measured judgement and gravitas to the ticket," said Frederick Clarkson, senior fellow at Political Research Associates, a social-justice think-tank.

All Iranian athletes in global events, particularly in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, should try to send the message of morality, peace and friendship to the inteational community and the message of hope, solidarity and exhilaration to the Iranian nation, the president said on Wednesday, at a meeting with Iran’s Olympic squad, held in Tehran.

The athletic activities have now tued into a criterion for a nation’s power and dynamism in the inteational arenas, he added, saying the Iranian athletes are expected to do their utmost in the upcoming event and bring more glories to the country.

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.

The figures released by the Civil Affairs Ministry come amid continuing heavy downpours that have caused havoc across usually dry regions, including the capital Beijing. Already, 576 people have been recorded as dead or missing nationwide in the first half of the year.

Beijing has been hit by constant rain since Tuesday that has forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights and trains and flooded city streets. The rain has also threatened embankments along rivers in central China, with authorities mobilizing troops and heavy equipment to fill the gaps.

Tens of thousands have been evacuated from flood-hit areas and direct economic losses have risen into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Chinese President Xi Jinping Wednesday waed the country to be prepared for more hardship to come and said officials found negligent in their duties would be severely punished, the Associated Press reported.

China's south has also been hit by floods that strike annually during the monsoon season that began in May, but this rainy season has been particularly wet. Water levels in some major rivers have exceeded those of 1998, when the worst floods in recent years killed 4,150 people, most of them along the Yangtze River, China's mightiest.

Authorities this year have already taken emergency measures, including discharging water from the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze.

In his six-day tour, Foreign Minister Zarif is scheduled to visit Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry and Mali.

Back in February 2015, the top Iranian diplomat took another tour of Africa, and travelled to Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania with a high-ranking political and economic delegation.

Expansion of relations with African countries in all political, economic and cultural fields has been a matter of prime importance in Iran’s foreign policy agenda.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who took office in August 2013, has repeatedly stressed his govement’s interest in boosting relations with the African nations.

In a statement, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said the attacks were “unacceptable”, and added, “Bombing and killing innocent people, especially women and children, with any aim or under any pretext is unacceptable, condemned and against inteational norms.”

The statement came as Syria’s Foreign Ministry said French warplanes targeted the village of Tukhar near the city of Manbij in the province of Aleppo, killing at least 120 civilians.

The ministry added that scores of other civilians remain unaccounted for following the attack.

According to the ministry, the fatalities came a day after a US airstrike killed at least 20 civilians in Manbij.

According to a report by Xinhua news agency, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made the remarks when asked to comment on the 2016 platform adopted at the Republican National Convention on Monday, which contains accusations about China on issues related to Taiwan, Tibet, trade and the South China Sea.

"All political parties in the United States should view China's development in an objective and rational manner and correctly understand the issues that emerge in bilateral ties," Lu said.

"We hope relevant parties stop their groundless accusations against China and interference in China's domestic affairs and contribute more to bilateral trust and cooperation," Lu said.

Promoting stable growth of China-US relations serves the interests of the two countries and the peace and development of the Asia-Pacific region and the world, the spokesperson said, adding that "both sides should adhere to this right direction."

“From Saturday on, Afghan refugees can enroll in Iran’s state schools,” Hossein Shadkam said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency.

He also said the problem faced by Afghan nationals in enrolling their children in some public schools was because those schools had not received the related circular, adding that the problem has been resolved.

Earlier last month, a new decree was issued by Iran’s Interior Ministry, enabling Afghan expatriates to get schooling for their children free of charge.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei issued an order last year stressing that all Afghan children, even children of the undocumented migrants living in the country illegally, have the right to register and study in Iran’s schools.

Back in May 2015, Afghan Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Seyed Hussain Alemi Balkhi lauded Iran for providing Afghan children with the opportunity to receive education on Imam Khamenei’s orders.

In January 2016, Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah also hailed the decision to give Afghan children the opportunity to go to school in Iran as a “historic measure.”

“We are grateful”, he said, adding that Ayatollah Khamenei’s order has given some 50,000 Afghan students the opportunity to get education in Iran.

"Nearly every day we are seeing new measures that flout the rule of law and that disregard the principle of proportionality," govement spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters, AFP reported.

"There is no doubt that they are deeply worrying."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wednesday chaired a crunch security meeting for the first time since the failed coup, after a widening purge that has seen around 50,000 people either detained or sacked.

Ankara says the coup was masterminded by US-based dissident Fethullah Gulen and the massive crackdown appears to be targeting individuals suspected of any connection to Erdogan's ally-tued-foe.

The purges have stoked alarm that Erdogan was using the coup plot to crack down on opponents, with Turkey's Weste allies urging the authorities in the strategic NATO state to obey the rule of law.

Germany had already issued a sharp waing to Turkey Monday, blasting "revolting scenes of caprice and revenge" after the failed putsch and waing it against reinstating the death penalty.

After Erdogan said Sunday that Turkey would consider a retu of capital punishment, Seibert said such a move "would mean the end of EU membership talks".

Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004 under reforms aimed at obtaining European Union membership.

Reinstatement would create further issues between the EU and Ankara in the already stalled membership talks.

Germany has the largest ethnic Turkish community outside Turkey with some three million members.

“A year ago, the Security Council adopted resolution 2231 (2015), which endorsed the JCPOA agreed by the E3/EU +3 and Iran...the JCPOA was a triumph of diplomacy for the resolution and prevention of conflict and which also strengthened global non-proliferation norms. I applaud the dedication and determination shown on all sides,” Ban said on the occasion of the first anniversary of adoption of resolution 2231 in 2015 on Wednesday, UN.org reported. 

Resolution 2231 calls upon Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”

He added that the deal provided Iran with the opportunity for greater engagement with the inteational community.

“Resolution2231 (2015) heralded a fundamental shift in Iran’s relationship with the Security Council, and provided a defined time schedule for the removal of the Iran nuclear issue from the Council’s agenda,” the UN secretary general further said.

Ban also hailed the Islamic Republic for honoring its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA as confirmed by the Inteational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), saying, “I urge JCPOA participants to uphold their respective commitments and Member States to support the full and effective implementation of this agreement. It is of the utmost importance that the JCPOA works for all its participants, including by delivering tangible benefits to the Iranian people.”

All nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran were terminated after Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached the nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16.

Earlier this week, UN Political Affairs Chief Jeffrey Feltman confirmed that since the implementation of the nuclear agreement, the world body has not received any reports indicating Tehran’s deviation from Resolution 2231.

Iranian officials have time and again reiterated that none of the country’s missiles have been designed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads, because nuclear weapons have basically no place in Iran’s defense doctrine.

Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, rapporteur of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told Tasnim that General Dehqan attended a Wednesday session of the commission.

The defense minister confirmed that part of the air defense system has been stationed in the country, the MP noted.

A recent delivery of missiles of S-300 into Iran made it clear that a revised contract between Tehran and Moscow was specifically on the purchase of S300-PMU2 model.

On April 17, Iran displayed part of the sophisticated missile system in a military parade in Tehran, held to mark the National Army Day.

The gear unveiled in the ceremony included 2 radar systems of S-300, its carrier and command vehicles as well as the crane for lifting its missiles.

"Like several EU countries, like the whole EU, Germany is also in the target area of inteational terrorism. Therefore, I have said for a long time, the situation is serious," de Maiziere told reporters.

He added that there was some indication that the train attacker was from Pakistan rather than Afghanistan, as previously thought, Reuters reported.

The 17-year-old attacked passengers on a train in Bavaria with an ax, severely wounding four Hong Kong residents on the train late on Monday. He then injured a local woman after fleeing, before police shot him dead.

The case is likely to deepen worries about so-called "lone wolf" attacks in Europe and could put political pressure on Merkel, who has welcomed hundreds of thousands of migrants to Germany over the past year.

The IRGC will hold multiple war games in the current Iranian year (ends on March 20, 2017) to maintain the military preparedness of the forces and send enemies the message that the forces are ready to bury them in the Persian Gulf waters, the senior commanders told reporters on Wednesday.

The commander further highlighted the level of safety and security in the country despite the critical situation in the region and developments in neighboring countries.

As regards the occasional capture of terrorists along the borders or inside the country, the general explained that only a portion of those arrested have been members of the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group, while others were affiliated with anti-revolution groups.

The IRGC is vigilantly monitoring the situation and kills or arrests a number of ordinary elements of the anti-revolution groups every month in the country’s southeaste or northweste areas, he added.

Back on June 13, troops from the 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.

And later 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.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Brigadier General Hossein Rahimi said following security measures taken by intelligence forces of the country, a “sabotage group” was identified and arrested in Khash.

Members of the group, which had intended to sabotage and planned bomb attacks in public places of the city, were identified and arrested through the “full information supremacy” of the security forces.

He added that further details on the group’s targets will be announced in the near future.

Back in June, Iranian Police spokesman said his forces had killed five members of the Jaish-ul-Adl terrorist group in exchange of fire in Sistan and Balouchestan.

General Saeed Montazer-al-Mahdi said at the time that Police forces attacked a team of Jaish-ul-Adl terrorists in the provincial region of Khash, saying that a trooper has been also martyred.

A huge amount of ammunition has been confiscated from the militants, who had plans to get into the country to carry out terrorist attacks, he explained.

Jaish-ul-Adl has claimed responsibility for a number of criminal activities in Pakistan and Iran in recent years.

Turkey frequently launches air attacks against PKK targets in the mountainous regions of northe Iraq near the Turkish border, where the PKK leadership has camps. Reuters reported.

A ceasefire between the autonomy-seeking PKK and the state fell apart last year, triggering some of the worst violence in the three decades of the Kurdish insurgency.

Turkey faces multiple security threats, including the PKK. On Friday a faction of the military attempted a coup, but that later crumbled as Turks responded to a call from President Tayyip Erdogan and took to the streets in defiance of the coup.