NOURNEWS- The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Saturday, December 2, 2023.
IRAN DAILY:
- President Raisi inaugurates Tehran-Parand metro, housing projects
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi inaugurated the 19-km Tehran-Parand metro in the newly-established city of Parand on Thursday.
President Raisi was accompanied by Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani and some other provincial officials during the trip to the city located some 35 kilometers southwest of the Iranian capital, IRNA reported.
Speaking in the inaugural ceremony, he noted that the development of road, rail and air transport infrastructure is one of the main policies of his government.
The government, the Ministry of Roads, the Tehran Municipality and all other bodies seek to improve people’s livelihood, along with removing obstacles, Raisi added.
The metro project will provide 450,000 residents of Parand with easy and fast access to Tehran. The metro is expected to be used by about 40,000 commuters daily.
The feasibility studies on the Tehran-Parand metro project were initiated in 2005, and its construction was kicked off 12 years ago.
The chief executive also took part in the ceremony of handing over 4,380 residential units to people in Robat Karim and Parand.
Parand is a new city in the central district of Robat Karim County, in Tehran Province.
- Iran owns biggest number of cargo ships in Middle East
With over 940 vessels, Iran is the largest maritime trade power in the Middle East region, owning more than a third of the cargo ships in the region.
In a report on naval fleets in the Middle East region, the economic analysis of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) revealed that with 942 ships, Iran was the largest maritime trade power in the region in 2022, reported Mehr news agency on Friday.
According to the report, Iran had 32 bulk carriers, 31 container ships, 83 oil tankers, 393 general cargo ships and 403 ships of other types in 2022.
Iran’s number of ships is more than twice that of Saudi Arabia.
The total number of operating commercial ships in the Middle East last year was 2,738, as more than one-third of these ships, equivalent to 34 percent, belonged to Iran.
- OPEC+ announces additional voluntary cuts to total of 2.2 mbd
OPEC+ oil producers on Thursday agreed to voluntary output cuts totaling about 2.2 million barrels per day (mbd) for early next year, led by Saudi Arabia rolling over its current voluntary cut.
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and other members of OPEC+, who pump more than 40% of the world’s oil, met online on Thursday to discuss supply policy, Reuters reported.
JP Morgan analyst Christyan Malek said, “Setting a new framework for each member to deliver on its cut reflects the degree of trust and cohesion among the members.”
The group discussed 2024 output amid forecasts the market faces a potential surplus and as a 1 mbd cut by Saudi Arabia was set to end next month.
OPEC+’s output of some 43 million bpd already reflects cuts of about 5 mbd aimed at supporting prices and stabilizing the market.
The total curbs amount to 2.2 mbd from eight producers, OPEC said in a statement after the meeting. Included in this figure is an extension of the Saudi and Russian voluntary cuts of 1.3 mbd.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia’s voluntary cut would include crude oil and products.
The UAE said it had agreed to cut output by 163,000 bpd, while Iraq said it would cut an extra 220,000 bpd in the first quarter.
Saudi Arabia, Russia, the UAE, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan and Algeria were among producers who said cuts would be unwound gradually after the first quarter, market conditions permitting.
OPEC+ is focused on lower output with prices down from near $98 in late September and concerns brewing over weaker economic growth in 2024 and expectations of a supply surplus.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) in November forecast a slowdown in 2024 demand growth as “the last phase of the pandemic economic rebound dissipates and as advancing energy efficiency gains, expanding electric vehicle fleets and structural factors reassert themselves.”
Favorable cooperation
The agreement and decisions made by OPEC+ and during ministerial meetings have served the OPEC and non-OPEC member states’ common interests, said Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji, pointing out the successful move should continue in the future as it is vital for ensuring market stability and serving producers’ interests.
Owji also praised ‘favorable’ cooperation and understanding between OPEC+ producers.
Talking to Shana, the minister added, “We are trying to institutionalize cooperation with non-OPEC producers within the framework of OPEC+ alliance.”
Shifting to the postponement of OPEC and OPEC+ ministerial meetings caused by differences between their member states, Owji said, it is not something new as they have had such differences at some junctures, adding all that matters is that OPEC+ producers reach an agreement and a consensus serving the member states’ interests.
The oil market is experiencing a challenging era, he stated, and noted additional supplies by some producers outside of the OPEC+ alliance associated with uncertainties surrounding the global economy, the outlook for international markets, speculators’ activities in the oil market, and consequences of mentioned developments are sending out alarm signals.
The released reports and analyses show considerable uncertainties about global supply and demand, said Owji, adding each could have special impacts on future developments.
Short sellers’ increased activities in the market have fueled concerns and the outlook for the international oil market cannot be anticipated with certainty, the minister stated, saying, “I cannot agree with any of these speculations, either.”
He said the United States and other big consumers’ worries about the global oil market and energy security have been caused by US policies and acts aimed at putting OPEC+ and its producers under pressure – political pressure on some big oil and gas producers by imposing brutal and unilateral sanctions and escalating geopolitical tensions through making political intervention and supporting war in the Middle East region.
Owji is convinced that the agreement and decisions made by OPEC+ are one of the significant factors in eliminating fluctuations in the oil market, improving global economic conditions, encouraging investment in the oil industry, and guaranteeing energy security.
“We consider the OPEC+ agreement and cooperation between large oil producers as the only option to provide the world with short- and long-term energy security,” he emphasized.
“As I said before, all observers and experts of the oil market acknowledge the constructive achievements of the OPEC+ agreement for market stability and energy security,” reiterated the minister.
Brazil to join OPEC+
OPEC+ also invited Brazil, a top 10 producer, to become a member of the group. The country’s energy minister said it hoped to join in January.
Brazilian Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira said on Thursday that his country will join the influential OPEC+ oil coalition that unites some of the biggest crude-producing nations in the world. In footage shared from the meeting, Silveira said that President Lula da Silva had approved his country’s membership, starting next year.
“I would like to conclude my words by informing you that the honorable President Lula confirmed our entry into the OPEC+ cooperation charter from January 2024,” he said.
“It is important that our technical crew analyzes the content of the document that we just received, the charter of the cooperation. It is part of our government protocol to do this,” he added.
The document of cooperation of OPEC+ underpins the coalition and must be accepted by all group members.
The announcement of Brazil’s membership to the OPEC+ comes after OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates were invited to join the BRICS group of emerging markets, which includes Brazil.
- Deadly resumption of Gaza war draws int’l regret
The deadly resumption of Gaza war after a week-long truce has drawn international regret as Israeli warplanes pounded the besieged strip, sending scores of wounded and dead pouring into hospitals on Friday. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian slammed Israel and the United States, as its main supporter, for resuming the military campaign against the besieged Gaza Strip, warning that the progress of the war will lead to a new genocide in the Palestinian territory.
Fighting resumed in Gaza immediately after the expiry of a week-long truce, with the first fatalities reported minutes later, according to health officials in the enclave.
He said that “No solution exists other than open-ended cease-fire, extensive delivery of humanitarian aid and agreement on fresh exchange of prisoners.”
“POWs are not released with war but are instead killed in strikes,” he wrote in a post on X.
Nasser Kanaani, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, also denounced the Israeli attacks, saying that Tel Aviv, the United States and their allies are liable for the atrocities being committed against Palestinians in the besieged territory.
Ezzat el-Rashq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said on the group’s website: “What Israel did not achieve during the fifty days before the truce, it will not achieve by continuing its aggression after the truce.”
‘Catastrophic’
resumption
The United Nations said it deeply regretted the resumption of deadly hostilities in Gaza, calling the situation “catastrophic”.
“I still hope that it will be possible to renew the pause that was established. The return to hostilities only shows how important it is to have a true humanitarian ceasefire,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on X.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk branded the resumption of hostilities “catastrophic”, urging all parties and states with influence to try and bring about a cease-fire on humanitarian and human rights grounds.
“Recent comments by Israeli political and military leaders indicating that they are planning to expand and intensify the military offensive are very troubling,” he added.
‘Nightmare’ returns to Gaza
Renewed fighting in Gaza has brought back a “nightmarish situation” for the Palestinian territory, the head of the Red Cross told AFP on Friday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN’s COP28 climate talks in Dubai, Robert Mardini said, “People are at a breaking point, hospitals are at a breaking point, the whole Gaza Strip is in a very precarious state”.
“There is nowhere safe to go for civilians,” Mardini said, stressing the challenges hospitals and humanitarian organizations are facing.
During the seven-day truce, 80 Israeli prisoners and 240 Palestinians were released.
Renewed fighting also threatens the entry of aid into Gaza, where about 80 percent of the population is displaced and grappling with shortages of food, water and other
essentials.
“With the resumption of hostilities, the likelihood will be that less aid will get in,” Mardini said.
“More importantly, humanitarian organizations, like the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and others such as the ICRC and UN agencies, will have reduced capacities to deliver aid to the people,” he added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who had met Israeli and Palestinian officials on Thursday on his third trip to the region since the war began, declined to comment on the collapse of the truce to reporters traveling on his plane.
‘Genuine doubts’
On Thursday, Israel recalled its ambassador in Madrid and said it will be reprimanding Spain’s top diplomat in Tel Aviv after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he had “genuine doubts” about whether Israel was complying with international humanitarian law in its offensive in Gaza.
Sanchez’s latest remarks came a week after he caused a diplomatic spat by using a visit to Israel to urge it to rethink its operations in Gaza, claiming its response to Hamas’ attack on October 7 could not “imply the deaths of innocent civilians, including thousands of children”.
However, speaking to Spain’s state broadcaster, TVE, on Thursday morning, Sanchez repeated his condemnation of Hamas’s attacks.
Unacceptable move
Meanwhile, Jordan’s King Abdullah on Thursday urged UN aid officials and international groups to pile pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the beleaguered Gaza enclave where the humanitarian situation is worsening, officials and aid workers said.
They said the monarch told an emergency meeting in Amman of UN officials, heads of Western non-governmental organizations and representatives of Arab donors it was unacceptable that Israel continued to hold back sufficient aid flows.
Call for swift action
Qatar on Friday urged swift international action to stop violence in the Gaza Strip with its Foreign Ministry, saying in a statement that it stresses that continued bombing at the end of the pause “complicates mediation efforts and exacerbates the humanitarian catastrophe in the strip, and… calls on the international community to move quickly to stop the
violence.”
It added, “Condemnation of all forms of targeting civilians, the practice of collective punishment, and attempts to forcibly displace citizens of the besieged Gaza Strip, and its demand for an immediate cease-fire.”
Qatar has been engaged in intense negotiations to repeatedly prolong a truce in Gaza that had lasted a total of seven days after two extensions.
- Iran, Oman stage joint naval drill in Strait of Hormuz
Iranian and Omani military forces staged a day-long joint naval rescue and relief exercise in the Hormuz Strait and the northern tip of the Indian Ocean as the two neighbors move to build stronger relations.
Combat vessels and airborne units of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the Naval Division of the Border Police, the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran, and the Royal Navy of Oman took part in the drills on Thursday.
The naval exercise was held in the presence of the heads of the joint military friendship commissions of the two countries.
The main goals of the naval drills were described as boosting combat readiness, and implementing bilateral agreements on maritime security. Iranian drones carried out observation and monitoring operations in the northern parts of the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Hormuz, and the country’s reconnaissance aircraft made several sorties to survey all military and merchant vessels cruising in the vicinity of the area at the time.
Iranian and Omani military forces managed to successfully implement various scenarios during the joint drill, showcasing their coordination. In recent years, Iran has staged many naval drills with countries, including Oman, Pakistan and Russia in order to test the combat preparedness of its Navy which has increased its presence in international waters.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Tuesday said, “In the first years after the [Islamic] Revolution, the presence of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy beyond territorial waters was unimaginable, but now the Navy makes a 360-degree voyage around the globe powerfully and returns to the country with pride.”
Meanwhile, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani on Friday praised the Navy’s efforts and advances in recent years.
The Iranian commander said that the country’s Jamaran destroyer is now on a mission in the Gulf of Aden, and the Alborz destroyer is present in the Red Sea to secure the shipping lines. Today, the maritime economy is provided with high security by the country’s naval forces, he said. On Monday, a new domestically-manufactured destroyer, dubbed Deylaman, joined Iran’s northern naval fleet to strengthen security in the Caspian Sea.
Iranian military experts and technicians have in recent years made great progress in developing and manufacturing a broad range of military equipment, making the Armed Forces self-sufficient in this regard.
KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL:
- ‘Foreign Troops in Region Sowing Discord Among Muslims’
The presence of extra-regional countries in the Strait of Hormuz merely aims to bring about friction among the Muslim nations of the region, IRGC Navy chief Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri on Friday. “The responsibility of ensuring security in the strategic Strait of Hormuz besets on the regional countries and the presence of foreigners is only aimed at sowing discord among the Muslim nations,” he told Oman’s top military official Brigadier Hamid bin Abdullah Al Balushi in Bandar Abbas. Tangsirir said Iran has always sought to reinforce unity among Muslim nations. “It is imperative to support all Muslim nations and we do not differentiate between Shia and Sunni Muslims.” On Thursday, the militaries of Iran and Oman staged a day-long joint naval rescue and relief exercise in the Strait of Hormuz and the northern tip of the Indian Ocean.
- Iran Rejects E3 Statement on Fattah-2 Missile
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani on Friday termed the statement of France, Germany, and England regarding the Fattah-2 missile as misleading, lacking any legal basis, and having specific political goals and motives.
He emphasized that UN Sanctions on all missile-related Iranian activities had expired as of October 18. Developing the conventional missile capability of the Islamic Republic of Iran is aimed at deterrence and based on the country’s defense needs, he stated.
- ‘Stop the War Before It’s Too Late’
Iran and resistance movements on Friday held the occupying regime of Israel and the U.S. responsible for the resumption of the Gaza war, warning of new genocide in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said, “No solution exists other than open-ended ceasefire, extensive delivery of humanitarian aid and agreement on fresh exchange of prisoners.”
“POWs are not released with war but are instead killed in strikes,” he wrote in a post on X, former Twitter.
“Progress of the Washington and Tel Aviv war means new genocide in Gaza and West Bank. As if they are not thinking of the severe consequences of return to war,” the top diplomat stressed.
Warships and carriers do not decide the fate of the war but the “Palestinian willpower and dedication” will, he said, urging the Zionist regime and the United States to “stop the war on Gaza before it’s too late.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said the Zionist regime, the United States and their allies are liable for the atrocities being committed against Palestinians in the besieged territory.
“The political and legal responsibility for the prolongation of aggression and continued vicious massacre of Palestinians people not only rests with criminals of the Zionist regime, but also with the American administration and a few governments that support this apartheid regime,” he said.
“Violation of the truce and resumption of military aggression by the Zionist regime against Gaza came minutes before U.S. Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken departed the occupied territories. Once again, civilians, children and women are the main victims of the criminal attacks of Zionist military forces.”
Kanaani said the “bloodthirsty” Israeli authorities have unleashed a new orgy of killing under the continued support of the White House.
“Nations and the vast majority of world governments are crying out for the extension of the truce and complete cessation of the Zionist regime’s attacks against Gaza and the West Bank. This is while criminal and child-killing Zionists entertain the crude fantasy of reversing the irreparable defeat and emerging victorious through killing children and women,” he said.
Hamas said Washington openly greenlighted further Israeli attacks.
“The U.S. administration and President Biden bear full responsibility for the continuation of Israel war crimes in the Gaza Strip, after their absolute support for it, and the green light they once again granted following the visit of their Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to the entity yesterday,” it said.
The resistance group said the occupation resumed the war after refusing to engage with all the offers for the release of other detainees.
“We hold the occupation responsible for the resumption of the war and aggression on Gaza. Negotiations were held all night for extending the ceasefire, during which the movement offered an exchange of prisoners and the elderly.
“However, the occupation refused to deal with all these offers, as it had already decided to resume its criminal aggression,” it said.
The resistance group said the Palestinian people and the resistance would thwart Israel’s plots and “break the will of the defeated occupation army.”
Separately, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said it holds the American administration fully responsible for the renewal of aggression.
The PFLP said the Palestinian people have no choice but to resist the Israeli aggression, stressing that the Israeli enemy will fail again in achieving any of its goals, no matter how many times it bombs Palestinians and commits massacres against them.
“The treacherous enemy will fail again and will return defeated, dragging the tails of disappointment and defeat,” it said.
“Certainly, the resistance will write the end of the political future of the war criminal Netanyahu and his gang.”
A senior Hezbollah official said Israel resumed its aggression on Gaza after the US decided to do so.
“This war from the beginning has been America’s war against the Palestinian people, and all American positions and the course of events were indicative that America is not just a partner but is the decision-maker on the matter,” Ali Damush, the vice chairman of the executive council of Hezbollah, said.
The resistance in Gaza and the entire region, he said, will not let the Zionists achieve their goals in this war and “will not allow the Americans and Israelis to have the upper hand in the region.”
- Iran Decries ‘Ethical Fiasco’ of International Community
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian has called on the international community to place on its agenda the trial and administer of justice for the perpetrators of atrocities in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Amir-Abdollahian was about to address a UN Security Council meeting on Palestine on Wednesday, but due to Washington’s delay in issuing visas, the Iranian delegation was unable to attend the event.
In his statement, to be delivered by Iran’s representative in New York for the UN record, Amir-Abdollahian rebuked the United Nations in particular the Security Council for failing to “fulfill their legal and moral responsibilities towards Palestinians and the question of Palestine”.
“Such failure is greatly blamed on the unquestionable support the United States is giving to the occupying regime and preventing any effective measures to make Israel accountable.
“This is in fact an ethical fiasco and depreciation of conscience for the international community and the United Nations system. Notwithstanding, the main responsibility rests with the powers that adamantly prevent the Security Council from fulfilling its roles as enshrined in the UN Charter,” he said.
The meeting on Wednesday was held to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian named 46 years ago by the General Assembly.
The Iranian foreign minister said the natural expectation of the international community was that the Security Council would take an action immediately after the start of indiscriminate attacks on Gaza and prevent the further murder of innocent humans.
“Who can camouflage that the all-out aggression of the occupying regime against Gaza, as one of the most densely-populated regions of the world which has been under absolute blockade for more than 17 years, as well as the killing of thousands of innocent people more than 70 percent of whom women and children, do not constitute a threat to international peace and security?
“The intensity and volume of the killing of civilians during 50 days of disproportionate attacks on Gaza are unprecedented,” he said.
According to Amir-Abdollahian, the number of children and women killed in Gaza alone far exceeds the total number of women and children killed in various conflicts across the world during the past year including the war in Ukraine.
“Who can ignore the reality that blind and indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza by 2,000-pound bombs and other prohibited weapons such as phosphorous bombs, which make no exception for hospitals, schools, mosques and churches, contain all the elements of grave international crimes including war crime, genocide and crime against humanity?”
The minister said the Security Council and its member are posed to a very severe test, after more than 16,000 Gazans have been killed and over half of northern Gaza has been reduced to rubble.
He said that “nothing other than guaranteeing a complete cessation of the criminal attacks of Israel can partly compensate the moral shame of the international community”.
“One must be alert that humanitarian pause, while being partly fruitful, is not turned into a tool for cleaning the past crimes and creating an opportunity for perpetrating new murders.”
Amir-Abdollahian said violence is “a commodity imposed on our region as the result of the occupation and racial megalomania of the Zionist ideology”.
“Murdering and exterminating the people of Palestine should not become normalized,” he warned.
“Perpetrators must not be allowed to play the victim and evade accountability and responsibility before the international community and keep on genociding the Palestinian nation by resorting to and misusing the crimes committed by others decades ago in another continent against the Jews and by accusing critics of anti-Semitism.”
Amir-Abdollahian also said “branding the legitimate struggle of the people of Palestine for their self-determination right as terrorism is the blatant and deliberate violation of the UN Charter and the peremptory norms of international law and is immoral and reprehensible”.
He called on the UN Security Council and all governments to guarantee a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, prevent the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland, and immediately deliver humanitarian assistance such as food and medicine to the people of Gaza and reconnect electricity and fuel.
TEHRAN TIMES:
- Iran, Saudi Arabia discuss military cooperation
High ranking military officials from Saudi Arabia and Iran deliberated on proposals to strengthen military ties between the two Muslim nations. Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman Al Saud and Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri discussed a number of topics over the phone on Thursday. The Iranian Armed Forces are prepared to strengthen their military ties with Saudi Arabia, according to General Bagheri. In addition, he praised Riyadh for convening an extraordinary session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) recently to discuss the Gaza issue and the strengthening of amicable ties between Tehran and Riyadh. The Saudi minister of defense, for his part, praised the efforts to strengthen military ties between the two countries. The two parties also spoke about the urgent problems facing the Muslim world. On November 01, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in the Saudi capital for a summit of Muslim and Arab leaders on the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.
- Iranian team leaves UN meeting in UAE in protest to Israeli presence
The Iranian delegation on Friday left the United Nations climate conference in the UAE in protest over the presence of the Israeli regime’s officials in the international event. The Iranian diplomatic team, headed by Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian, visited the United Arab Emirates on Thursday to participate in the conference, known as COP28, as news had surfaced that Israel would not attend the meeting due to the strong pressure on the regime for its genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip which started on October 7. “The leaders of about 150 countries had been invited to attend the COP 28, and assessments showed that a considerable number of the invitees, including the officials of the Zionist regime will not participate in the conference,” Mehrabian said while quitting the meeting. The Zionist regime resumed its bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Friday morning after a week-long lull in exchange of fire to release prisoners. The Israeli barbaric attacks on Gaza had killed more than 15,000, most of them children and women, before the one-week truce. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said Israel has turned the coastal enclave of Gaza into a “graveyard for children”.
- Finding a way out of the Israel-Palestine crisis
In the wake of Hamas’s successful October 7 operation in the occupied territories and Israel’s subsequent disproportionate response, many countries— including the U.S. and several Arab states— have once again begun to advocate for the two-state solution as the only viable path to lasting peace. The concept of a two-state solution was first introduced in 1937 under the Peel Commission, during the period when Palestine was under British control. The commission’s plan allocated the poorest lands of Palestine, including the Negev Desert, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip to the Arabs, while assigning the coastline and fertile agricultural land in the Galilee to the Jews. This same idea resurfaced in 1948, with Zionists secretly viewing it as a stepping stone towards establishing a “greater Israel,” encompassing Palestine, South Lebanon, Syria’s Golan Heights, the Hauran Plain, and Deraa. The United Nations endorsed the two-state solution in 1948 by voting for a plan that would designate 55% of Palestine to a Jewish state.
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