NOURNEWS- The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Wednesday, September 13, 2023
IRAN DAILY:
-- Raeisi: Tehran will spend $6b ‘wherever we need’:
Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi said his government will decide how it will spend $6 billion in previously frozen funds due to be released in a prisoner exchange agreement with the United States, stressing that the money will be spent “wherever we need it”.
In an exclusive interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt in Tehran aired on Tuesday, Raeisi suggested that the Americans held in Iran would be coming home soon, saying that the US-Iran prisoner exchange deal would be completed in “due time” and that the American detainees were in “very healthy” condition.
Under the arrangement, Tehran will be granted access to the roughly $6 billion in Iranian oil revenues that were blocked in South Korean banks because of US sanctions. But US officials say Qatar’s central bank will oversee the funds and Iran will only be permitted to use the money for humanitarian purposes in accordance with US sanctions.
However, when asked if the money would be used for other purposes apart from humanitarian needs, Raeisi emphasized, “Humanitarian means whatever the Iranian people need. So, this money will be budgeted for those needs, and the needs of the Iranian people will be decided and determined by the Iranian government.”
Five Iranian prisoners to be freed
The incumbent US administration has cleared the way for the implementation of the deal by issuing a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without fear of US sanctions. In addition, as part of the deal, the administration has agreed to release five Iranian citizens held in the United States.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the sanctions waivers late last week, a month after US and Iranian officials said an agreement in principle was in place. Congress was not informed of the waiver decision until Monday, according to the notification, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
The outlines of the deal had been previously announced and the waiver was expected. But the notification marked the first time the administration said it was releasing five Iranian prisoners as part of the deal. The prisoners have not been named.
The waiver drew criticism of President Joe Biden from Republicans and others who say the deal will boost the Iranian economy.
Former President Donald Trump on Monday criticized President Joe Biden for striking the deal, calling for the Republicans to invoke the 25th Amendment, according to The Messenger. The 25th Amendment establishes procedures for replacing the president or vice president in the event of death, removal, or incapacitation.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the waivers were a sign the administration was secretly pursuing a broader deal with Iran to include more than the release of the detainees.
The waiver means that European, Middle Eastern, and Asian banks will not run afoul of US sanctions in converting the money frozen in South Korea and transferring it to Qatar’s central bank, where it will be held for Iran to use for the purchase of humanitarian goods.
Iran’s Ambassador to Doha Hamidreza Dehghani-Podeh announced that the implementation of the prisoner swap with the United States and the release of Iranian assets is in its final stages, Mehr news agency wrote.
-- Zagros Mountains, home to various plant and animal species:
The ancient and vast plateau of Iran is located at latitudes between 25 and 40 north degrees. It is placed in the dry and semi-dry strip of the Northern Hemisphere.
The 1,300-kilometer Zagros Mountain range extends from northwestern Iran (Iran’s border with Turkey) to the southeast, oirantour.com wrote.
Zagros Mountains have a history of several thousand years; some empires such as the Achaemenid were formed in its vicinity about 2,500 years ago.
Limestone and shale rocks from the Mesozoic Era and Paleogene Period form the most commonly seen geological structural materials of Zagros Mountains. The oldest rocks found there date back to the Precambrian Period.
Ecologically, about 40 percent of the country’s water comes from 5.5 million hectares of forest and ten million hectares of rangeland.
In addition to Iranian oak, there are other exclusive plant species in this mountain range including mountain almond. Its other herbal features include 57 species, subspecies, and varieties of the Rosaceae family that represent the peak of the vegetative evolution of this family on a global scale. About 44 percent of Zagros trees and shrubs have medicinal properties.
Many botanists believe that Iran is one of the main territories for growing tulips. The tulip has 18 species in Iran, four of which are endemic to Iran. There are unique fields of these flowers in the Zagros region and numerous related festivals are held there annually.
Mammal species roam the rocky slopes of Zagros Mountains including the Persian leopard, the Syrian brown bear, bezoar ibex, and striped hyena and Persian red squirrel. Lithely leaping among branches of oaks, beautiful Persian squirrels make their homes in the oldest and tallest trees; skilled swimmers and competent climbers, they boast luxuriant tails of a splendid russet red.
Finally, in the midst of this mountain range, there live many tribes and cultures that have their own language, customs and traditions.
Mount Dena
The highest point in the mountain range is Mount Dena, with an elevation of 14,465 feet (4,409 meters), located in the middle of the Zagros Mountains. Passes through the mountains are used for reaching the fertile intermontane plains, which lie at elevations above 5,000 feet (1,500 meters).
Gahar Lake
Gahar Lake is one of the best sights of Lorestan Province and one of the largest freshwater lakes in Iran. This lake, with its beautiful nature and clear water, attracts every tourist, especially since it is one of the best places to catch trout.
-- Dust storms threaten health of Green Mazandaran Province:
Mazandaran, a province in central-northern Iran, is renowned for its lush environment which consists of many verdant valleys and forests. Situated along the southern coasts of the Caspian Sea, its sandy beaches attract both local and international tourists. However, even this picturesque region has been affected by an unexpected phenomenon: dust storms.
On August 26, 2023, IRNA reported that Ebrahim Takami, a weather expert from the Mazandaran General Meteorological Department, revealed that the province’s eastern areas experienced reduced visibility due to air pollution caused by the arrival of fine dust from Turkmenistan. Just under two weeks later, on September 11, 2023, dust storms affected not only the eastern parts but also some central areas of Mazandaran.
Curiosity arises as to the origin of this dust. While some speculate that the Miankaleh wetlands within the province could be responsible for the inconvenience faced by the residents, investigations conducted by the province’s Meteorological Department and the Department of the Environment point to a different source: the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan.
Mohammadreza Razavi, the head of the province’s Meteorological Department, explained to IRNA that meteorological maps and satellite images clearly indicate that the dust observed in Mazandaran originates from the Karakum Desert. The investigations further reveal that the fine dust is propelled by eastern winds, originating in the desert and making its way to Iran, eventually blanketing the skies of Mazandaran.
One of the most concerning aspects of this situation is the forecast that the dust storms are expected to persist in the future. Iran faces significant challenges in preventing the dust originating in neighboring countries from reaching its mainland due to limited technological capabilities and the overall impact of climate change, as pointed out by Razavi. The combination of these factors hinders the country’s ability to mitigate the arrival of dust particles in Mazandaran and other affected regions.
For several years now, the infiltration of dust has become deeply ingrained in the ecological and health culture of our country. Despite the officials’ continuous efforts to combat this phenomenon through various means, ranging from diplomatic initiatives to solutions such as desert mulching, these unwelcome guests still find their way into our skies. This predicament is particularly unsettling considering the lush greenery that characterizes provinces like Mazandaran.
The dust crisis has plagued the southern and western provinces of Iran for years, and now it has extended its reach to the once pristine Mazandaran. In recent years, this crisis has manifested in the form of fine dust, a souvenir from neighboring desert regions such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and now Turkmenistan. The severe weather conditions exacerbate the pollution, leading to repeated closures of offices and schools.
The micro dust particles, measuring between 2 to 5.5 microns, result from the combination of dust with urban pollutants. They form a dense cloud that severely impairs visibility, resembling a thick fog that extends only a few meters. Provinces such as Khuzestan, Kurdestan, Ilam, Kermanshah, Lorestan, and Bushehr bear the brunt of this phenomenon. Unfortunately, even the verdant Mazandaran has experienced its presence on certain days over the past few years.
In most affected provinces, people cannot navigate the cities without wearing masks. They have become accustomed to frequent closures due to the hazardous air pollution. In such circumstances the vulnerable individuals, such as the sick, elderly, pregnant women, infants, and minors, are exposed to significant risks. The invisible micro dust, carrying a multitude of bacteria, can enter the bloodstream through inhalation.
-- Development of different cultures in Iran:
The natural formation of the Iranian landscape – the steep mountain ranges of the Zagros and Alborz, the coast of the Caspian Sea, the tableland with the big desert, the lowlands in the West and the elevated plain in the East beyond the Lut Desert – has favoured the development of different cultures that are all embedded in their specific environment. At this time, six main geographical regions can be distinguished. The desert margin regions on the central plateau surround the desert. Iranian Azarbaijan mirrors the development in Eastern Anatolia and Transcaucasia.
The lowlands of Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran, the ancient Susiana and adjacent plains were closely connected to Mesopotamia. The high valleys of the Zagros in Fars Province constituted an independent region, and southeastern Iran – Sistan-Baluchestan Province – had connections to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Finally, the discovered oasis culture on the Halil Rud maintained long-distance relations with Arabia and Mesopotamia across the Persian Gulf.
The definition of cultural traditions and their regional and chronological variants in Iranian prehistory relies mainly on pottery classification. In the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, pottery with dark painted decoration over a beige or red surface was widely but unlike Mesopotamia, painted pottery stays common in this region until well into the fourth millennium BCE.
It is only in the late fourth millennium BCE, and probably due to the influence of new technologies, especially the introduction of the fast potter’s wheel, that a new trend toward the production of a monochrome mass-produced ware emerges.
This ware is occasionally decorated with horizontal circular bands and can be found throughout western Iran and the plateau. In the north, grey polished wares, already attested in small quantities in the ceramic assemblages since the fifth millennium BCE, increase continually in ratio. Only in the southeastern part of the country, on the other side of the Lut Desert and along the Halil Rud, and therefore beyond Proto-Elamite influence, a characteristic style of painted pottery survives into the middle of the third millennium BCE.
Settlements
The southern Zagros highlands reveal a radical reorganization of settlement structures during the late fourth millennium BCE. After decreasing steadily in size and number since the end of the fifth millennium BCE, a process possibly due to the appearance of alternative ways of life, like for example nomadism, some settlements in favoured locations now started to grow to an unprecedented size. Fortification systems, administrative buildings and craftsmen’s quarters portray a truly urban character. These big settlements are usually surrounded by an array of smaller sites that comprise farming villages, nomadic camps or even specialised production areas. A good example for such an early city is Tal-e Malyan in Fars Province, later to become the capital of Anshan. In the late fourth millennium BCE, its urban area, which covers several small mounds, increased noticeably in size. A city wall encircled some of the mounds. An administrative complex formed the centre of the settlement, while workshops producing stone tools and shell beads, as well as processing areas for arsenic copper and lead, were located on the smaller outer mounds.
A similar process of development can be assumed in other settlement areas of the southern Zagros, like Tal-e Ghazir in Behbahan,Tappeh Sialk and Tappeh Hesaar, the two best known settlements on the plateau.
Nevertheless, they too certainly represent regional centres with specialised economic areas that can be characterised as proto-urban as early as the early fourth millennium BCE.
Looking at a wider geographical context, the surveys and excavations at Arisman also indicate the existence of contemporary specialized industrial settlements that supplied the market in Sialk.
More specialized settlements can be found on the plateau at Tappeh Ghabrestan, Qazvin Province, and at the excavated settlement of Tappeh Ozbaki (Uzbek Hill) in Alborz Province.
The above is a lightly edited version of part of a chapter entitled, ‘Early Towns in Iran’, from a book entitled, ‘Persian Antiques Splendor’,
edited by T. Stollner, R. Slotta, and A. Vatandoust, published by German Mining Museum.
KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL:
-- ‘U.S. Clears Way for Release of $6bn in Frozen Iran Funds’:
A U.S. report says President Joe Biden’s administration has issued a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer six billion dollars in frozen Iranian assets from South Korea to Qatar with no concern about Washington’s sanctions. The report released early Tuesday said the Biden administration has also agreed to release five Iranian citizens held in the United States. It added that Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the sanctions waivers late last week, a month after US and Iranian officials said an agreement in principle was in place on the issue. The waiver means that European, Middle Eastern and Asian banks will not be in violation of U.S. sanctions in converting Iran’s money, which was frozen in South Korea, and transferring it to Qatar’s central bank, where it will be held for Tehran to be used for the purchase of non-sanctioned goods.
-- President Raisi Offers Aid to Flood-Hit Libya:
President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday voiced Iran’s readiness to send relief aid and provide medical assistance and supplies to Libya over the deadly flood in the North African country. “The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran expresses its readiness to send relief aid and dispatch medical assistance and supplies to flood-stricken areas,” Raisi wrote in a message addressed to Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah. The storm and devastating flooding in vast parts of the country, which left a number of people dead, injured or missing, has been deeply touching and saddening, Raisi said.
-- Countdown to Israeli Civil War:
Israel’s supreme court has begun hearing petitions against a key part of the rightwing regime’s judicial overhaul limiting the court’s powers, a development that could trigger an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
For the first time, a panel of all 15 judges convened on Tuesday to discuss eight filings aimed at striking down the “reasonableness” clause, passed by the Knesset in July, which abolished the supreme court’s ability to overrule the Zionist regime’s decisions.
The regime has indicated it will not comply if the court strikes down the law, which would mark the first time it had overturned a semi-constitutional “basic law”. Such a move would plunge the occupying regime of Israel into uncharted political and legal waters; the figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, has repeatedly warned of civil war.
Protesters gathered outside the court building in Al-Quds as the hearing began, banging drums, blowing whistles and chanting.
“We are already in a constitutional crisis: ministers have made no secret of their intentions to remove gatekeepers such as the attorney general and instead nominate people who will protect them,” said Noa Sattath, the executive director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which filed an amicus brief to the supreme court along with 37 other human rights organizations.
“The supreme court says it will only strike down a basic law in exceptional circumstances. Our argument to the justices is that they need to look at the full picture here, not just a case by case basis.”
A ruling could be passed down at any time within the next four months, but the opening session of the hearing was watched closely for initial clues about which way the justices will lean. It comprises both liberal and conservative judges.
At the behest of his new extremist coalition partners, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced a package of sweeping judicial changes when he returned to office in December. The legislation is aimed at curbing the influence of the supreme court, which the Israeli right has long alleged is biased and too powerful for an unelected body.
The planned changes, including limiting the court’s ability to overturn laws and giving politicians more control over judicial appointments, have been denounced by critics as a transparent power grab that will aid Netanyahu’s fight against corruption charges.
The “reasonableness” clause was the first element of the judicial overhaul to pass into law, despite eight months of sustained opposition from the biggest protest movement in Israel’s history.
The proposals have split the occupying entity along lines of religion, ethnicity and class, thrown the military into chaos, damaged
the shekel, and led to public concern for civil war.
In the next few weeks, the supreme court is also due to hear petitions against two more bitterly contested pieces of legislation passed by Netanyahu’s coalition of rightwing and religious parties that critics say are designed to protect the position of the prime minister and his political allies.
Compromise talks between the regime and opposition parties brokered by Herzog have repeatedly ended in stalemate.
On Monday, thousands of protesters rallied at the supreme court on the eve of the hearing.
Far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Netanyahu not to cave and said his party, Jewish Power, does not back the compromises being mediated by President Herzog.
Netanyahu’s office responded by saying that if agreements are reached, no one will stop them from going through.
The protest has seeped into the military, with some reservists saying they would not report for voluntary duty, prompting military chiefs to warn that Israel’s war-readiness could be at risk.
-- At Least 10,000 People Missing in Libya Floods:
More than 1,000 people were killed and at least 10,000 were missing in Libya in floods caused by a huge Mediterranean storm that burst dams, swept away buildings and wiped out as much as a quarter of the eastern coastal city of Derna.
Officials expected the death toll to rise much higher after Storm Daniel barreled across the Mediterranean into a country divided and crumbling after more than a decade of conflict.
In Derna, a city of around 125,000 inhabitants, Reuters journalists saw wrecked neighborhoods, their buildings washed out and cars flipped on their roofs in streets covered in mud and rubble left by a wide torrent after dams burst.
More than 1,000 bodies have already been recovered in Derna alone. Bodies were lined up on the street outside a crowded hospital, with residents looking under the shrouds covering them in search of loved ones.
Similar devastation reigned on the way into Derna, with vehicles overturned on the edges of roads, trees knocked down and houses inundated and abandoned.
“Bodies are lying everywhere - in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings,” Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation in the administration that controls the east, told Reuters by phone shortly after visiting Derna.
“The number of bodies recovered in Derna is more 1,000,” he said. “I am not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city has disappeared. Many, many buildings have collapsed.”
Abu Chkiouat later told Al Jazeera that he expected the total number of dead across the country to reach more than 2,500, as the number of missing people was rising.
Other eastern cities including Libya’s second biggest city Benghazi, were also hit by the storm, and Tamer Ramadan, head
of a delegation of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the death toll would be “huge”.
“We can confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 so far,” he told reporters via video link.
United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that emergency teams were now being mobilized to help on the ground.
As Turkey and other countries rushed aid to Libya, including search and rescue vehicles, rescue boats, generators and food, distraught Derna citizens rushed home in search of loved ones.
In Derna, Mostafa Salem, 39, said he had lost 30 of his relatives. “Most people were sleeping. Nobody was ready,” Salem told Reuters. As the storm had intensified into the evening, he said, people started getting alerts saying that the water level at one of the dams was rising and noises were emanating from it.
At Tripoli airport in northwest Libya, a woman started to wail loudly as she received a call saying most of her family were dead or missing. Her brother-in-law, Walid Abdulati, said “we are not speaking about one or two people dead, but up to 10 members of each family dead”.
Karim al-Obaidi, a passenger on a plane from Tripoli to the east, said: “I have never felt as frightened as I do now ... I lost contact with all my family, friends and neighbors.”
An interior ministry spokesperson told Al Jazeera that naval teams were searching for the “many families that were swept into the sea in the city of Derna”. Footage broadcast by Libyan TV station al-Masar showed people searching for bodies and men in a rubber boat retrieving one from the sea.
“We have nothing to save people ... no machines...we are asking for urgent help,” said ambulance worker Khalifah Touil.
Derna is bisected by a seasonal river that flows from highlands to the south, and normally protected from flooding by dams.
A video posted on social media showed remnants of a collapsed dam 11.5 km (7 miles) upstream of the city where two river valleys converged, now surrounded by huge pools of mud-colored water.
“There used to be a dam,” a voice can be heard saying in the video. Reuters confirmed the location based on the images.
In a research paper published last year, hydrologist Abdelwanees A. R. Ashoor of Libya’s Omar Al-Mukhtar University said repeated flooding of the seasonal riverbed, or wadi, was a threat to Derna. He cited five floods since 1942, and called for immediate steps to ensure regular maintenance of the dams.
“If a huge flood happens the result will be catastrophic for the people of the wadi and the city,” the paper said.
Libya is politically split between east and west and public services have fallen apart since a 2011 NATO-backed popular uprising that prompted years of factional conflict.
The internationally recognized government in Tripoli does not control eastern areas but has dispatched aid to Derna, with at least one relief flight leaving from the western city of Misrata on Tuesday, a Reuters journalist on the plane said.
Norway’s Refugee Council said tens of thousands of people were displaced with no prospect of going back home.
TEHRAN TIMES:
-- Kurdistan president affirms adherence to security pact with Iran:
Nechirvan Barzani, the President of Iraq’s Kurdistan, has asserted that the semi-autonomous region is dedicated to the security pact between Iran and Iraq and would not permit anybody to pose a danger to Tehran. Barzani made the comments on Monday at a meeting with Mohammad Kazem Ale-Sadeq, the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad. On March 19, Iran and Iraq inked a security agreement in Baghdad that includes coordination in protecting border security between the two countries. The agreement followed hit-and-run attacks by Iran’s militant separatist groups that hide in Iraqi Kurdistan. They have expanded their nefarious actions, particularly in border regions. In response to the actions, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has more than once fired rockets and missiles at their hiding places in northern Iraq. Iran has repeatedly warned the local authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan that it will not tolerate the presence and activity of militant groups along its northern borders, threatening a decisive response if those areas become a hub for anti-Islamic Republic terrorists.
-- Raisi: We will spend $6bn ‘wherever we need it’:
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has noted his administration will decide how it will spend $6 billion in previously frozen funds due to be released in a prisoner exchange agreement with the United States. In an exclusive interview with NBC News aired on Tuesday, Raisi hinted that the Americans detained in Iran will soon be returning home. He also told the news channel that the money will be spent “wherever we need it.” The president said that the prisoner swap agreement between the United States and Iran would be finalized in “due time” and that the American captives were in “very healthy” condition. Tehran will be permitted access to the nearly $6 billion in Iranian oil profits that were frozen in South Korean banks due to U.S. sanctions. However, according to U.S. sources, the assets would be overseen by Qatar’s central bank, and Iran will be allowed to utilize the funds solely for humanitarian purposes in compliance with U.S. sanctions. A top Biden administration official responded to President Raisi’s comments by saying that Qatar will get the freed funds first. The Treasury Department would then keep strict tabs on every transaction to make sure the funds were only utilized for humani- Iran ready to send tarian causes.
-- Iran proposes children and youth union at SCO meeting:
The director of Iran’s Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults – Kanoon has proposed the formation of a union for children and youth in member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. In a speech at the 2023 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Youth Campus and SCO Youth Development Forum in the Chinese city of Dunhuang on Monday, Hamed Alamati emphasized the significance of cooperation among member countries of the organization to create a more hopeful and positive environment for young people. There is a need for a spiritual upbringing for children to cultivate true intelligence and a focus on wisdom as opposed to pleasure-seeking and political intrigues, he added.
-- Iran ready to send humanitarian relief to flood-hit Libya:
The Iranian Red Crescent Society has announced readiness to send humanitarian assistance and dispatch relief teams to Libya to assist the flood-affected people. Authorities in eastern Libya said at least 2,000 people were killed and thousands more were missing after a massive flood ripped through the city of Derna following a heavy storm and rain. “On behalf of the Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRCS), I would like to take this opportunity to express my compliments to you and your esteemed colleagues in the Libyan Red Crescent Society,” Pir-Hossein Kolivand, the IRCS head, wrote in a message to Omar Agouda, the president of Libyan Red Crescent Society. “With great sorrow, I have learned about the occurrence of Daniel storm & severe flood in Libya which unfortunately caused the death of 150 people, injuries and missing of many people as well as extensive damages to the public and private buildings in Derna city located at 150 miles of east of Benghazi.” “In this hard situation, on behalf of the IRCS and myself, I would like to express my condolence to you and your colleagues in the Libyan Red Crescent and announce our readiness to send humanitarian relief consignment, relief items as well as dispatch the medical and relief teams to assist the flood affected people and humanitarian operation in Libya.
NOURNEWS