Middle East

FM says Iran ready for strong ties with EU

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The top Iranian diplomat made the remarks in a meeting with the EU Special Representative Luigi Di Maio and his accompanying delegation in Tehran on Sunday.

Congratulating Di Maio on his appointment as the EU special representative for the Persian Gulf countries, Amir-Abdollahian explained the developments in the relations among the neighboring countries, including in the Persian Gulf region, and assessed the current situation in the region as a new chapter in laying the ground for the promotion of cooperation between the eight countries of the Persian Gulf region.

He pointed to Islamic Republic of Iran’s proposed forum for dialogue and regional cooperation, which is also supported by other countries in the region, as a manifestation of the will of the countries of the region to establish intra-regional cooperation in various areas, including important environmental issues, and described holding the first meeting of this group on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York at the initiative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in the near future as a step on the path towards greater integration in the region.

Amir-Abdollahian further welcomed any initiative from the European Union to strengthen the cooperation between the European Union and the countries of the region and emphasized Iran’s readiness to establish strong relations with the European Union to cooperate on issues of mutual interest.

Di Maio, for his part, emphasized Iran’s important position in the region and presented a report of his first trip in his new post to some countries in the Persian Gulf region. He also stressed Iran’s influential role in the region.

The EU envoy further described the initiative of the formation of a Forum for Dialogue and Regional Cooperation as important and emphasized the role of the UN Secretary-General in organizing the meeting of the foreign ministers of the eight Persian Gulf countries.

He called the natural relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the interest of the entire region.

Moreover, in the meeting, the latest state of talks between Iran and world powers on the removal of the anti-Iran sanctions, the relations between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the need for talks between Iran and Europe were discussed.

KI

Middle East

UAE boosts trade with Iran after eased restrictions: report

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Financial Times quoted executives as saying that the UAE has in recent months rolled back limits on corporate registrations and the issuance of visas to companies from Iran, which remains subject to tough US sanctions.

Iranian financiers are also exploring how to enhance bilateral trade by creating financial mechanisms to fund legitimate transactions, the report added quoting the sources.

While China is Iran’s premier trade partner, the UAE is the second largest. Trade between Iran and the UAE has recovered from a pandemic slump of $11bn in 2020/2021 to $24bn in the 12 months ending in March, according to Iranian data.

The increase surpasses the $22bn recorded in 2012 before US-led sanctions started to bite. Iranian officials have said they are now targeting a further increase in bilateral trade towards $30bn in the next two years.

“Pressure from the UAE central bank has decreased and some Emirati banks have started opening bank accounts,” said Masoud Daneshmand, a former head of the Iran-UAE Chamber of Commerce. “Currently, some Iranian companies which used to be in the UAE but had become inactive have become active again. Some new companies have also started business.”

In diplomatic exchanges, Iranian officials have been asking their Emirati counterparts to find new mechanisms for financing trade, according to people briefed on these conversations.

“Our economic relationship with Iran has long been of major importance,” said the UAE’s economy ministry. “The UAE’s trade with Iran is conducted in full compliance with global rules and standards.”

Some Iranian companies and banks have used trustees in the UAE who can act as a proxy for cross-border transactions as a way of sidestepping the current restrictions.

“When goods come from Europe and Canada to Iran’s market, an Emirati pays for them and Iranians pay the Emirati,” said Daneshmand.

For years there have been self-imposed restrictions on business with Iran, but these have been gradually eased in recent years, a UAE-based businessman said. “There’s a sense of more openness.”

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Middle East

Iran stresses intl., regional coop. to tackle dust storms

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Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a meeting with Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, the UNESCAP executive secretary in Tehran on Sunday. 

The Iranian minister thanked the UN official for taking part in the Tehran-hosted International Conference on Combating Sand and Dust Storms (SDSs). He further stressed the need for regional and international cooperation to eliminate dust production root-causes in the region and the world.

He blamed big powers beyond the region for the dust storms challenge because of the wars they have waged in the region. Meanwhile, he considered climate change to be another factor for increasing the environmental challenge.

He also voiced Iran’s readiness to develop cooperation with UNESCAP in tackling natural disasters and eliminating dust storm factors in the region.

Alisjahbana, for her part, announced her UN body’s readiness to support Iran in tackling the challenge of dust particles. 

She also appreciated Iran’s assistance and cooperation with UNESCAP Centre for Development of Disaster Information Management (APIDM) and the very good hosting of its headquarters in Tehran.

She further praised the successful holding of the international conference in Tehran and called the attendance and delivering a speech by the Iranian president at the opening of the international event as a testimony that the Islamic Republic of Iran attaches great importance to international issues and the environment.

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Middle East

Iran to host 150 Muslim luminaries in 5th Mustafa Prize

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Hossein Rabbani, the head of Isfahan’s Elites Foundation, said the 5th Mustafa Prize ceremony will be held on October 2, when high-profile scientists in the field of Artificial Intelligence convene in Isfahan from 57 Islamic countries.

The prestigious ceremony will also host the 9th round of Science and Technology Exchange Program (STEP), which is a platform organized by Mustafa Science and Technology Foundation to expand the scientific network among the Islamic world’s scholars by holding international events and laying the groundwork for enhancing scientific synergy and cooperation.

“Awarding a prize is regarded as a way of identifying outstanding people in scientific fields and brings to the fore the existing capacities in different areas of science,” Rabbani said.

“An international award, like the Mustafa Prize, has profound impacts given its media aspect,” he said, adding that it conveys the message that the Muslim world pays attention to science and technology.

Mustafa Prize was established in 2012 as one of the symbols of scientific excellence and has been held biennially since 2015, recognizing leading researchers and scientists of the Islamic world.

The laureates are awarded $500,000, which is financed through the science and technology endowment. They will also be adorned with Mustafa Medal and Honorary Diploma.

The prize is awarded in the four categories of Information and Communication Science and Technology, Life and Medical Science and Technology, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and All Areas of Science and Technology.

In 2016, the Science Magazine called the prize “the Muslim Nobel.”

Middle East

US, allied terrorist groups continue to loot Syria’s wealth

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Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates made the remark in two identical letters on Sunday, which were addressed to Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres and the rotating President of the Security Council Ferit Hoxha.

Damascus demanded that the US administration be held accountable for looting the country’s riches and be obliged to compensate for the unlawful act.

Syria also called for an end to aggressive practices and violations of international principles and the UN Charter by US occupation troops, who are illegally present in the northeastern part of the country and the strategic southeastern region of al-Tanf.

The letters further noted that Washington and its allied terrorists plunder Syria’s strategic assets in order to increase the strain of unilateral sanctions on Syrian people, prolong their suffering, and deprive them of their national assets.

The Syrian foreign ministry put the damage inflicted on the Syrian oil and mineral sectors as a result of “acts of aggression and sabotage” by US forces and their allied terrorists at $115.2 billion. 

The ministry stated that 150,000 barrels of Syrian crude oil are being smuggled out of the country on a daily basis, adding that 59.9 million cubic meters of natural gas as well as 413 thousand tons of refined gas, worth $21.4 billion, have also been stolen.

Moreover, vandalism and theft of specialized equipment have resulted in damages amounting to $3.2 billion.

The US-led military coalition, purportedly formed to fight the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, has also inflicted losses standing at $2.9 billion on Syria’s oil and gas facilities, the letters highlighted.

The value of indirect losses to Syria’s economy amounts to $87.7 billion, which includes lost benefits from crude oil, natural gas and refined gas as a result of a sharp drop in their production, the letters read.

The Syrian foreign ministry also called for an end to the illegal presence of US occupation forces and the return of Syria’s energy reserves and natural resources to the Damascus government, so that it can improve the humanitarian and living conditions of Syrians.

The letters came on the same day that the US military used dozens of tankers to smuggle crude oil from Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah to neighboring Iraq.

Syria’s official news agency, SANA, citing local sources in al-Ya’rubiyah town, reported that a convoy of 40 tankers left Syria through the illegal Mahmoudiya border crossing on Sunday, heading towards Iraq.

The sources added that another convoy of US occupation forces, consisting of 55 tankers, rumbled through the same border crossing hours later and entered Iraq.

The US military has stationed forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming the deployment is aimed at preventing the oil fields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.

Damascus, however, maintains that the unauthorized US deployment is aimed at plundering the country’s rich mineral resources.

MNA/PressTV

Middle East

Israel to benefit from hostilities in Palestine refugee camp

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Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Sunday that the armed clashes in the Ain al-Hilweh camp in southern Lebanon would lead to no victory and serve the regime’s interests.

“We feel so much regret about the conflicts in Ain al-Hilweh because these clashes are between Palestinian brothers and have environmental effects,” Qassem said.

“Undoubtedly, these incidents will not win any victory and none of the involved parties will benefit from them,” he said. “These events are only in line with the interests of the occupying regime because the camps for refugees must be calm to prepare them to confront the enemy and prepare their return to their land after liberation; not for war and conflict.”

Fresh clashes in the Palestinian refugee camp in the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon continued on Sunday for a fourth day. There has been no tangible result despite rigorous efforts to establish a ceasefire and end the conflict between the Palestinian groups.

Confrontations in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp have so far left five people dead and dozens injured.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said over 2,000 people were forced to flee since the beginning of the clashes in the camp in late July, which involved heavy weaponry.

The violence erupted in the refugee camp when an unknown gunman attempted to kill a member of an armed group named Mahmoud Khalil, but fatally shot his companion instead. In the confrontations that ensued, Abu Ashraf al-Armouchi, a senior commander with the Palestinian Fatah Party, who was in charge of security inside Ain al-Hilweh, was killed along with several of his aides.

Local media reports said many terrorists and extremists had infiltrated the camp, targeting Fatah members and trying to create chaos.

A ceasefire subsided the fighting but heavy confrontations sporadically resumed afterwards.

Ain al-Hilweh camp was established in 1948 to house Palestinians displaced by Israeli forces during Nakba Day or “Day of Catastrophe,” when the Tel Aviv regime was created at the expense of the forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland.

According to the UNRWA, more than 63,000 people live in the camp.

MNA/PressTV

Middle East

Palestinians to keep up fight until occupiers’ full expulsion: Hamas

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The Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement said in a statement that Palestinians will resolutely keep up their struggle until the full liberation of occupied territories from the grip of Israeli occupation.

“Palestinians will continue their anti-occupation efforts throughout the West Bank, and confront the Tel Aviv regime’s crimes, especially in the holy city of al-Quds and the al-Aqsa Mosque compound,” the statement said.

It underscored that the long-term battle against the Zionist enemy will finally result in the expulsion of occupiers, the liberation of occupied lands, and the restoration of Palestinians’ freedom.

The statement came after a deadly Israeli military raid on a refugee camp in the southern part of the West Bank on Saturday resulting in the death of a Palestinian teenager.

The 16-year-old Milad Munther Al-Ra’i, was shot dead by Israeli forces as they stormed al-Arroub refugee camp.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said Ra’i was shot in the back and chest during confrontations in the camp.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing local sources, reported that Israeli troops fired live ammunition and toxic tear gas canisters at a group of young people and children during the raid.

Israeli forces launch raids on various cities of the West Bank almost on a daily basis under the pretext of detaining what the regime calls “wanted” Palestinians. The raids usually lead to violent confrontations with residents.

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed this year in the occupied Palestinian territories and Gaza. The majority of these fatalities have been recorded in the West Bank.

Those figures indicate that 2023 is already the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the United Nations began keeping track of fatalities in 2005.

Previously, 2022 had been the deadliest year with 150 Palestinians killed, of whom 33 were minors, according to the United Nations.

Hamas warns of threats against Aqsa Mosque compound

Mousa Abu Marzouk, a member of the Hamas political bureau also warned of potential threats against the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, terming the unfolding developments as “dangerous.”

“Resistance remains the first option in order to defend the sacred site,” he said, calling on Muslim nations to support Aqsa Mosque and take action in its defense.

“The responsibility to protect and defend the al-Aqsa Mosque compound rests with all Muslims,” he said.

The senior Hamas official also underlined the need for unity among Palestinians both at political and executive levels in order to overcome ongoing challenges.

“We extend our hand to all factions, including the Fatah movement, to rearrange the Palestinian sphere on the basis of partnership and draw up a national resistance program, which would preserve the privacy of each Palestinian group and ensure the expulsion of settlers from the West Bank as a common goal,” Abu Marzouk said.

He called on the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority to only listen to the demands of Palestinians, express their positions, and stop advancing the agendas of the United States and Israel.

Middle East

US forces in Syria smuggle 95 tankers’ worth of crude oil

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Sources in the al-Yaroubia countryside in al-Hasakah province told local media Sunday that 40 tankers of crude oil were shipped to Iraq from the al-Jazeera oil fields using the illegal Mahmoudiya border crossing.

The sources also said that a separate convoy of 55 oil tankers, also from the al-Jazeera fields, was smuggled through the same crossing within the same 24-hour window.

Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in two identical letters on Sunday, which were addressed to Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres and the rotating President of the Security Council Ferit Hoxha said that the United States and its allied Takfiri terrorist groups continue to violate the country’s sovereignty and plunder its wealth and strategic natural resources.

Damascus demanded that the US administration be held accountable for looting the country’s riches and be obliged to compensate for the unlawful act.

Syria also called for an end to aggressive practices and violations of international principles and the UN Charter by US occupation troops, who are illegally present in the northeastern part of the country and the strategic southeastern region of al-Tanf.

The United States operates about a dozen illegal military bases in Syria, most of them concentrated in energy and food-rich areas of the country east of the Euphrates, which contain about nine-tenths of the war-torn nation’s oil and gas resources. Damascus estimates total damage to its hydrocarbons industry of over $100 billion.

The US military has stationed forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming the deployment is aimed at preventing the oil fields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.

Damascus, however, maintains that the unauthorized US deployment is aimed at plundering the country’s rich mineral resources.

MNA/PR

Middle East

Erdogan calls for Russia to not be ‘marginalized’ in grain deal

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for Russia not to be “marginalized” in negotiations aimed at restoring a crucial Black Sea grain export deal, stressing that any initiative that isolates Moscow is unlikely to be sustainable.

Erdogan made the remarks in a press briefing after the conclusion of the annual meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on Sunday, where he said the issue of reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative was discussed in great detail.

“No process that marginalizes Russia on the Black Sea grain initiative will be viable,” he said, adding a meeting is going to be held on the issue between representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations, without specifying a precise date or location.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations on July 22, 2022, allowed for the safe export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

Russia withdrew from the deal in July this year, saying its conditions for the agreement were not met. Moscow complained that its agricultural exports faced obstacles and not enough Ukrainian grain was going to countries in need under the grain deal.

It said its grain and fertilizer exports faced barriers in practice because of sanctions by the West affecting port access, insurance, logistics, and payments – including the removal of agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank from SWIFT.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already said Moscow is ready to return to the deal if as the West met its obligations with regard to Russia’s own grain exports.

Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s key agricultural producers. The two are influential players in the wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed, rapeseed oil, sunflower seed, and sunflower oil markets.

More than 24.1 million tons have been exported under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, according to the United Nations.

Middle East

Saudi Arabia strategic partner for Iran: envoy

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Enayati made the remarks in an interview with the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat after starting his mission in Riyadh last week. 

Emphasizing that he would spare no effort in strengthening and developing bilateral ties between Tehran and Riyadh, the Iranian envoy said that the two countries are mutually determined to develop the level of their relations.

Enayati stated that before his trip to Saudi Arabia, he had a meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi during which Raeisi called on him to do his best to consolidate the bonds of brotherhood and friendship between Iran and Saudi Arabia and take measures towards the development of relations.

Iran considers Saudi Arabia a strategic partner and attaches great importance to it, the envoy continued, underlining that the developments in the last six months promise a bright future for the two countries.

The two countries agreed to resume diplomatic ties back in March following a Chinese-brokered deal after a seven-year estrangement. 

Iran officially reopened its embassy in Riyadh in June, followed by its consulate in Jeddah and representative office with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad have also resumed operations.

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