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Spanish film festival screens Iranian films
TEHRAN - Three Iranian films have represented the country’s cinema at the
2014 Casa Asia International Film Week (CAFW) in Spain.
Mehdi Rahmani’s recent production Snow along and Because of Pooneh
directed by Hatef Alimardani were displayed at the 4th edition of the festival
held in Barcelona. Saman Salour’ s latest film Sun Station also competed at the
year’s Casa Asia festival.
The 2014 Casa Asia festival was held on November 12-16. The films were
screened at the Girona cinema.
Casa Asia is the most important Asian-European film festival that presents
films from Iran, Afghanistan, India, South Korea, China and Japan. The films are
required to depict a realistic portrait of the Asian community of the 21st century.
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Iran footvolley ranks second in Asia
TEHRAN - Iran’s national men’s footvolley team has ended its campaign
at the fourth edition of the Asian Beach Games in Thailand, being awarded the
silver medal.
On Saturday, the Iranian squad conceded a straight-set defeat from the host
nation in the final match at Patong Cluster in Phuket Island, located approximately 860 kilometers (534 miles) south of the capital, Bangkok.
The Thai footvolley players opened the game in a convincing fashion, picking
up most of the points. Iranians sought to narrow the difference but their Southeast Asian opponents widened the score and won the first set 18-11.
The Thai team maintained domination in the second set with some good attacks, and clinched the set by 18 points to 11.
ISSN : 1353 8838 No. 4732, TUESDAY, NOV 18 , 2014
Ayatollah Khamenei warns against Islamophobia
TEHRAN –Leader of the
Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei
hailed the spiritual capabilities, scientific capacities, initiatives and strong will of the
Iranian armed forces during
eight years of imposed war.
The Leader made the remarks here Monday morning
while addressing a ceremony
at Imam Ali military college,
IRNA reported.
Ayatollah Khamenei, also
Commander-in-Chief of the
Armed Forces, said that the
Armed Forces have already
well proven their capabilities.
The ayatollah said the
world hegemonic powers
are trying to manipulate
arts, politics, military and all
available sources to hinder
the voice of the true Islam
reach the world. However,
he added, the ever increas-
ing fear of such powers is a
proof of the fact that the voice
is well heard all across the
world.
Ayatollah
Khamenei
stressed that all oppressive
powers are deeply concerned
about the message of the true
Islam because it is threatening their interests.
He said they are using all
tools especially artistic ones
to frighten the global people
about Islam.
The ayatollah referred
to creation of armed forces
under the name of Islam
and Islamic State as well as
massacring innocent people
as common ways used by
enemies of Islam to achieve
their goals.
The Supreme Leader further noted that enemies did
not like nations to become
familiar with the message of
true Islam for human beings
which is prosperity, dignity,
honor and a life guaranteed
by security.
China praises Iran efforts over N-deal
TEHRAN - China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has
praised Iran’s efforts to bring
about the achievement of
a nuclear agreement in the
course of its negotiations with
the P5+1.
Wang and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif exchanged views in a telephone conversation about the
Islamic Republic’s nuclear
program.
Wang hoped that Iran and
the six powers would achieve
satisfactory results in their
nuclear talks.
He noted that the talks have
entered a “key stage” and
urged the two sides to devote
joint efforts and show flexibility to create balance in
the negotiations and achieve
a comprehensive and just
agreement.
The Chinese foreign minister also expressed Beijing’s
preparedness to assume a
constructive role to help the
two sides maintain close interactions.
Zarif, for the Iranian side,
elaborated on Tehran’s stanc-
Iran Supreme Court upholds ruling to
disbar ex-prosecutor
TEHRAN - Iran’s Supreme Court has
upheld a court ruling permanently disbarring Tehran's former chief prosecutor, Saeed
Mortazavi, on charges of complicity in illegal
detentions in the 2009 post-election unrest.
On Saturday, Iran’s highest court of appeals confirmed an earlier ruling by Circuit
76 of Tehran Administrative Court to permanently disbar Mortazavi and suspend him
from public office for five years, Press TV
reported.
Mortazavi has been previously accused
of involvement in the deaths of three detainees in Kahrizak Detention Center during the
unrest that erupted following the 2009 presidential election in Iran.
In December that year, a statement from
the Judicial Organization for the Armed
Forces announced that, according to forensic inquiries, three of those detained during
the post-election events died in custody at the
Kahrizak facility.
Iran bodybuilding team 2nd in world
TEHRAN - Iranian national bodybuilding squad
has finished its crusade at
the 68th edition of the International Federation of
Bodybuilding and Fitness
(IFBB) Men's World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships and International
Congress in Brazil, and
hulked into second place.
Iran came second after
earning two gold, three silver, and one bronze medals
at the end of the tournament
in the Brazilian capital city
of Brasilia on Saturday.
Egypt won the title at the
event and South Korea fin-
ished third.
Iran’s Hadi Choupan
and Mehdi Ayyari claimed
gold medals in the minus
85-kilogram and minus 95kilogram weight classes,
respectively, while the 2013
world champion, Babak Akbarnia, scooped up a silver
in the minus 80-kilogram
category.
Mehdi Heydari and
Es’haq Qavidel also landed
in the second spot, and were
awarded silver medals in the
minus 70-kilogram and plus
100-kilogram weight sections.
Sajjad Niknaam also
snatched a bronze for Iran
in the minus 75-kilogram
category.
The 68th edition of the
IFBB Men's World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships and International
Congress opened in Brazil
on November 12 and continued until November 15.
Nearly 200 bodybuilders
from over 50 countries, including Algeria, Argentina,
Azerbaijan, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Iran,
Italy, Japan, Paraguay, Poland, Russia, Spain, and the
United States took part at the
event.
Iran, Indonesia mull joint
petchem firm
TEHRAN - Iran and Indonesia have agreed to establish
a joint-venture company for
the export of Iranian oil products and petrochemicals to
the Southeast Asian country,
an Iranian official says.
“The formation of a jointventure company by Iran and
Indonesia for export of oil
products and petrochemicals
was agreed subsequent to the
signing of two memoranda
of understanding [between
the two countries],” said
Mehdi Sharifi Niknafs, the
managing director of Iran
Petrochemical Commercial
Company (IPCC), Press TV
reported.
He noted that Jakarta is in-
terested in importing oil products and petrochemicals from
Iran, following the reduction
in Indonesia's oil output over
the past few years.
“We are planning to build
storage tanks in one of the free
zones of this country [Indonesia] in the coming months,”
Sharifi Niknafs pointed out.
According to Iran's National Petrochemical Company (NPC), the country has
exported more than 7.8 million tons of petrochemicals
worth more than USD 5.1 billion in the six months ending
September 22.
Iran produced 40 million
tons of petrochemicals in
the last Iranian calendar year
(ended March 20), with USD
9-billion worth of its products
being exported.
The country, which is a
major oil exporter, plans to
increase its petrochemical
exports to USD 12 billion this
year.
The Islamic Republic is
determined to become the
biggest petrochemical producer in the Middle East.
The country has signifi-
cantly expanded the range
and volume of its petrochemical production over the
past few years, and the NPC
has become the second largest producer and exporter of
petrochemicals in the Middle
East after Saudi Arabia.
es and praised China’s helpful
role in the course of the nuclear talks.The next round of the
nuclear talks between Iran
and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Russia, China,
France, US and Britain, plus
Germany is set to be held in
the Austrian capital of Vienna
on November 18-24.
Last November, Iran and
the P5+1 group clinched
an interim nuclear accord,
which took effect on January
20 and expired six months
later. However, the two sides
agreed to extend the deal for
another six months and continue to hold talks to reach a
comprehensive deal until November 24.
Iran-Turkmenistan Kazakhstan
railway to open December 3
TEHRAN - Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway line
is scheduled to become operational in early December, an
Iranian official says.
“Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway will be operational on December 3 in the presence of the presidents of
the three countries,” Aneh Mohammad Kouseh-Gharavi,
a board member of Islamic Republic of Iran Railway, said
on Sunday.
Kouseh-Gharavi further said Iran has so far spent USD
52.3 million on its own section of the international railroad
and the country needs another USD 112 million to complete the project, which is being jointly funded by the three
countries, Press TV reported.
The length of the railway is 900 kilometers, 82 kilometers of which passes through Iran, 700 kilometers through
Turkmenistan and 120 kilometers through Kazakhstan.
The route will cut up to 600 kilometers of the distance
between the Persian Gulf, Central Asia and Europe, leading
to a considerable reduction of transportation costs.
Iran president, Oman
FM meet in Tehran
TEHRAN - Omani Foreign
Minister Youssef bin Alawi
bin Abdullah has paid an unofficial visit to Iran and held
talks with Iran’s President
Hassan Rohani over regional
developments in the capital,
Tehran.
In his Sunday visit, Alawi
also met with his Iranian
counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.
An informed official told
IRNA that Alawi’s unofficial
one-day visit was aimed at
discussing bilateral ties and
ways to tackle extremism in
the region.
The visit came a week after
the Omani capital, Muscat,
hosted three days of nuclear
talks between Iran, the United States and the European
Union. The talks were meant
to facilitate the conclusion of a
final deal between Iran and the
P5+1 over the Iranian nuclear
program before a November
24 deadline.
On the top of the agenda
of the Muscat talks were the
extent of Iran’s uranium enrichment and the timetable
for the removal of anti-Iran
sanctions.
On November 11, Alawi expressed optimism that a final
nuclear agreement between
Iran and the P5+1 states – Russia, China, Britain, France, the
US and Germany – is within
reach.
Oman has played an intermediary role between Iran
and the US since Tehran and
Washington severed diplomatic ties in 1979.
In late August, Oman’s
Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al
Said visited Iran at the head
of a high-ranking delegation.
SNSC secretary:
N-deal must respect Iran's rights
TEHRAN - A senior Iranian
official has stressed the importance of lifting all “cruel” sanctions against Iran, saying any
final nuclear deal with the P5+1
group must recognize Tehran’s
rights based on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“Lifting all cruel sanctions and [Iran's] entitlement
to full legal rights within the
framework of the NPT must
be included in any agreement
[on Tehran’s nuclear energy
program],” Secretary of Iran’s
Supreme National Security
Council Ali Shamkhani said in
a meeting with Meng Jianzhu,
a member of the central committee of China’s Communist
Party, in Tehran on Sunday,
Press TV reported.
“Internal divisions within
[other] countries and [their]
excessive demands will have
no impact on the will of the
Iranian negotiating team,” the
Iranian official said, adding
that Iran has always remained
committed to the nuclear talks
and the NPT regulations and all
nuclear activities of the country
have been carried out under the
supervision of the International
Atomic Energy Agency. “…If
the opposite side has a rational
and apolitical approach based
on realities, it will be possible
to reach an agreement in the
nuclear talks,” Shamkhani
pointed out.
The Chinese official, for
his part, said Beijing supports
Tehran’s stance on the nuclear
issue and emphasized that Iran
has the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
China would definitely back
Iran in its nuclear talks with the
P5+1 countries, he said.
Representatives from Iran
and the P5+1 group -- the
US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany –
wrapped up their latest talks
over Iran's nuclear program in
the Omani capital, Muscat, on
November 11.
Iran to offer Alamut castle to UNESCO
TEHRAN - Iran plans to
offer the historical Alamut
Fortress to UNESCO for a
possible inscription on the
World Heritage list of the UN
organization.
Located in Alamut region
in Iran’s Qazvin Province,
the castle is a mountain structure built on a massive rock
in an altitude of 2,100 meters
above sea level.
The fabled ruin of Alamut
Castle owns historical significance dating back to around
1090 AD, when Hassan Sabbah, the leader of Ismailites
in Iran, chose the Alamut
region as his headquarters,
Press TV reported.
The origins of the Alamut
Fortress can be traced back
to the Kings of Daylam, a
Justanid ruler, at the end of
the 8th century, who selected
Iran to double gas output
by 2018
TEHRAN - Iran is planning to nearly double its natural
gas production by 2018 even if the western sanctions against
the country stay in place, a senior energy official announced
on Sunday.
“Over the next four years, our plan is to increase production to 330 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year,” Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC)
Hamid Reza Araqi said Sunday.
He noted that NIGC is working on four new phases of the
giant South Pars gas field that will add an extra 100 mcm of
gas per day to the country's output, FNA reported.
Last month, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh
announced that Iran plans to boost production in the South
Pars gas field to overcome the gas shortage in the country.
«We hope to add another 100 million cm/d to the country's national grid before the end of the year,» Zanganeh told
reporters.
The Iranian oil minister also said that the South Pars gas
field's output will increase to 540mln cm/d by the end of the
next Iranian year (March 2016).
The South Pars gas field, divided into 28 phases, is located
in the Persian Gulf on the common border between Iran and
Qatar. The field is estimated to hold 14 trillion cubic meters
of gas as well as 18 billion barrels of condensates.
The field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700
square kilometers of which lie in Iran's territorial waters in the
Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, better
known as the North Dome, are located in Qatar's territorial
waters.
the area for the construction
of a fortress.
The fortress was demol-
ished and set ablaze by Hulagu of Mongolia in 1256.
Later the site was only used
as prison and a place of exile.
World Heritage site is a
title that is given to locations
that have “outstanding universal value” to humanity,
according to the UNESCO
description.
Armenian monastic ensembles of Iran, Bam and
its cultural landscape, Bisotoun, Naqsh-e Jahan Square,
Pasargadae,
Persepolis,
Sheikh Safi al-din shrine,
Shoushtar historical hydraulic system, Tabriz historic bazaar complex, Chogha Zanbil and the Persian garden are
some of the Iranian historical
heritage sites that have been
inscribed on the UNESCO
World Heritage List.
German FM calls on Iran, G5+1 to reach
deal before deadline
TEHRAN - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier called on both
Iran and the Group 5+1 (the
US, Russia, China, France,
Britain and Germany) to
make their utmost efforts to
reach a final deal before the
deadline on November 24.
«Any lingering differences in the talks between
the six world powers and
Iran on its nuclear program
can still be resolved by the
November 24 deadline,»
Steinmeier said on Sunday,
quoted by IRNA.
He reiterated that the two
sides have to do work harder
in order to reach an agreement.
«We have made more
progress on the issue over
the past year than the last
nine years,» the German
foreign minister added.
Iran and the six major
world powers have already
held 9 rounds of nuclear ne-
gotiations after inking an interim agreement in Geneva
on November 24, 2013, and
have less than two weeks time
to strike a final deal before
the November 24 deadline.
Tehran and the six powers
have already held one round
of talks in Muscat, Oman,
seven rounds in Vienna,
and one more round in New
York and on the sidelines of
the UN General Assembly.
The Geneva agreement took
effect on January 20 and
expired six months later on
July 20. In July, Tehran and
the six countries agreed to
extend negotiations until
November 24 after they
failed to reach an agreement
on a number of key issues.
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