NOURNEWS- The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Saturday, October 14, 2023.
IRAN DAILY:
-- Iran to play role of gas hub: Owji
Iran is the safest and cheapest route for energy transit to international waters, said Iran’s oil minister on Thursday, underscoring that the global energy market cannot deny Iran’s key role.
In addition to its rich energy resources, Iran is located at a suitable geographic position, connecting Asia to Europe, and the only land route between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, stated Javad Owji, adding that some countries around Iran are oil and gas exporters and some importers, and such conditions make it easier for Iran to play the role of an energy hub, Shana reported. Owji, who addressed a specialized session of the 6th Russian Energy Week International Forum in Moscow said that considering its natural resources and northern neighbors, Iran is the leading player of energy trade in the Middle East and can turn into a gas hub.
Iran is currently exporting gas to Turkey and Iraq, he said, while Pakistan and India are potential customers of Iran’s gas. Trading and swapping crude oil, oil products, and petrochemicals have given Iran a special status, he mentioned.
Import and export terminals, as well as oil and gas transmission pipelines are indicative of Iran’s great capacity for turning into the region’s energy hub.
Gas supplies discussion
Speaking at the plenary session of the Russian Energy Week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tehran is discussing the possibility of Russian gas supplies with Moscow
“Iranian partners are also discussing with us the opportunities of Russian gas supplies to the Iranian market,” Putin said.
Preparatory activities for the North-South corridor project are close to the end, and construction can start shortly, the Russian president noted.
“We have agreements with all the participants in this process: relevant documents are in place with Iran, and with Azerbaijan. Turkmenistan is showing interest from the other side of the Caspian Sea, and Kazakhstan,” the president added.
Putin remarks on Iran-Russia energy swap welcome
Owji welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks on increasing energy exchanges between the two countries, as his reaction came during his meeting with Russian energy giant Gazprom’s Alexei Miller.
Pointing to his meeting with Russian Deputy Minister Alexander Novak, Owji called for taking practical steps to create a gas hub on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf. Miller, for his part, pointed to growing relations between Moscow and Tehran, expressing Gazprom’s readiness for further cooperation with Iran.
Gazprom to help gas hub creation
Gazprom will explore the issue of potentially creating a gas hub in Iran, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with RT Arabic, adding that Moscow will participate in the project if it has potential.
“I think that our Gazprom Company will explore the issue, and if it is indeed a potentially good project it will participate in it, of course. And Russia as well. But it is necessary to assess and explore it,” he said.
Earlier reports said that Iran, with the participation of Russia, Qatar and Turkmenistan, planned to create a gas hub in the industrial region of Asaluyeh in Bushehr Province.
Asaluyeh serves as the production hub for the world’s largest oil and gas field, which is located in the central part of the Persian Gulf, in Iranian and Qatari territorial waters. The total geological reserves of the field are estimated at 53 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, and 7.7 billion cubic meters of condensate. The recoverable reserves are estimated at 35.6 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, and three billion cubic meters of condensate.
-- Iran says it has access to unfrozen funds in Qatar, rejects reports otherwise
Iran rejected a report that says the country had been barred from accessing its $6 billion fund, recently unfrozen and transferred to Qatari banks.
“There has been no change in the issue of Iran’s access to its foreign exchange resources in Qatari banks and the agreement [reached in this regard] remains in force,” Nour News, which is affiliate with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on
Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the Washington Post reported that US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo had told House Democrats that American officials and the Qatari government had agreed to stop Iran from accessing a $6 billion account in light of a surprise attack by the Palestinian Hamas resistance group against Israel.
Adeyemo’s remarks were cited by two people who were speaking on the condition of anonymity.
In August, Iran and the United States agreed to a Qatar-brokered deal to secure the release of some $6 billion of Iranian funds that had remained blocked in two South Korean banks since 2018, under the pretext of US sanctions.
The money was successfully transferred last month to accounts held by six Iranian banks in Qatar’s Ahlibank and Dukhan Bank.
The administration of US President Joe Biden claimed at the time that the funds and the proceeds of Iranian oil sales to South Korea could only be spent on “humanitarian” purposes. However, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi underscored Tehran’s full authority on its assets, saying it is the Islamic Republic that decides how to spend the funds and that the money will be spent “wherever we need it”.
-- Raisi inaugurates several projects in southern Iran
During his second visit to Fars Province, President Ebrahim Raisi inaugurated many development and infrastructure projects in various sectors.
The Shiraz-Isfahan freeway as well as eight major water transfer projects were among the most important inaugurated projects, according to president.ir.
With a total length of about 213 kilometers, the freeway has been constructed in six segments.
With the completion of the project, in addition to advantages including reducing fuel consumption, the route from Shiraz to Isfahan and the north of the country, in general, has become 135 kilometers shorter.
The inaugurated transport projects also included several rural and main roads, road maintenance, safety projects, fixing accident-prone areas, and technical building maintenance projects.
The launch of the second line of potable water transfer from Dorudzan Dam to Shiraz, with a total length of 78 kilometers, was one of the water projects which contribute to meeting the water need of 40 percent of people in Shiraz.
Arriving in Shiraz on Thursday on a two-day visit to Fars Province, Raisi was accompanied by members of his cabinet.
During the president’s visit, over 100 road transportation projects and 20 infrastructure projects in industrial parks as well as over 900 gas supply projects were inaugurated.
Oil Minister Javad Owji inaugurated the first phase of a refining project in the city of Mohr on Friday.
Having a capacity of refining 6.6 million barrels of gas condensates per year, the plant is among the nine biggest refineries of the country.
The first phase project, which was implemented by the private sector, creates 200 direct job opportunities.
The plant is in the immediate vicinity of Parsian Gas Refinery and Parsian Sepehr Ethane Extraction Complex.
The construction of the refinery started in September 2014, but the executive operations had halted due to some obstacles.
Development of the Pasargad Steel Complex in the city of Kavar was another project that was inaugurated by Industry, Mine, and Trade Minister Abbas Aliabadi during the provincial visit.
The projects include gas supply to two cities and 63 villages, as well as 330 industrial projects in the gas industry.
-- Gaza on brink of ‘devastating humanitarian catastrophe’
The Gaza Strip is on the brink of a “devastating humanitarian catastrophe” as the Israeli regime has intensified its heavy and indiscriminate bombardment on the besieged Palestinian territory, which has killed nearly 1,800 Palestinians so far.
The Israeli Army has ordered the evacuation of all civilians living in Gaza City and in the north of the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground offensive on the Palestinian region after it called up 300,000 reservists and moved forces, tanks and armor to the southern desert area around Gaza.
UN officials in Gaza “were informed by their liaison officers in the Israeli military that the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement in New York.
“This amounts to approximately 1.1 million people,” Dujarric added, or nearly half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population.
Dujarric said the UN “considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences.”
‘Fake propaganda’
Salama Marouf, head of the Hamas government media office, said the relocation warning was an attempt by Israel “to broadcast and pass on fake propaganda, aiming to sow confusion among citizens and harm our internal cohesion.”
He added: “We urge our citizens not to engage in these attempts.”
Since Saturday, Israel has been pounding Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas attack in Israel that has killed at least 1,300 people, the deadliest attack in Israeli history. At least 1,799 people have also been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, said the Health Ministry in Gaza on Friday.
The ministry reported in a statement the “martyrdom of 1,799 citizens including 583 children and 351 women,” adding that more than 7,000 people have been wounded.
At least nine Palestinians were also killed by Israeli fire across the occupied West Bank during rallies in solidarity with Gaza, the Health Ministry said.
The Israeli Army said its “fighter jets struck 750 military targets in the northern Gaza Strip overnight”.
Israeli fighter jets and drones have levelled entire blocks and destroyed thousands of buildings.
Total siege
Israel has cut off water, food and power supplies to Gaza in a total siege it has vowed will not end until all hostages are freed.
The territory was already under a land, air and sea blockade since 2006.
Any Israeli ground operation is complicated by Hamas’s holding – according to Israel – an estimated 150 Israeli, foreign and dual-nationals who were taken back to Gaza during the attack.
Hamas on Friday said 13 hostages, including foreigners, had been killed in Israeli strikes.
New fronts against Israel
The continued air strikes and blockage on Gaza has drawn warnings from Iran.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned on Friday that fighting against the Israeli regime may expand to new fronts.
“Some European officials asked me if there were any chances that new fronts might open up against the Zionist regime,” Amir-Abdollahian said on Thursday in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, his second stop on a regional tour that has already taken him to Iraq.
“I told them as far as the Zionists keep up their war crimes, there exists every prospect that other resistance movements [may enter the war],” he added.
Amir-Abdollahian has started the tour as means of talking with ranking officials in the destination countries about the developments that have been unfolding in the region, especially the Israeli regime’s crimes against Gaza.
He called Israel’s displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians as part of the warfare, and its concomitant enforcement of an all-out siege on Gaza, “an organized war crime” on the part of the occupying regime.
“Continuation of these war crimes will be followed by other reactions on other axes, for which the Zionist regime and its supporters would be responsible,” he added.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement on Friday said it would be fully prepared to join its ally Hamas in the war against Israel when the time was right.
“We, as Hezbollah, are contributing to the confrontation and will (continue) to contribute to it within our vision and plan,” Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem told a pro-Palestinian rally in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
“We are fully prepared, and when the time comes for action, we will take it,” he said.
An outreach by “major countries, Arab countries, and envoys from the United Nations, directly and indirectly, asking us not to interfere in the battle, will not affect us,” he said, adding, “Hezbollah knows its duties”.
Israel has traded fire with Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions in Lebanon in recent days, although the tit-for-tat attacks have remained limited.
US support for Israel
On the other side, the US has sent additional munitions to Israel and deployed an aircraft carrier battle group to the eastern Mediterranean in a show of support, while warning Israel’s other enemies not to enter the war.
On Friday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, also on a solidarity visit to Israel, pledged “iron-clad” backing for Israel in its war.
In London, the UK said it was sending two Royal Navy ships and surveillance aircraft to the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel and “ensure regional stability”.
-- Millions worldwide protest in support of Palestine
Millions demonstrated Friday across various countries of the world in support of Palestinians and against the intensifying Israeli bombardment of Gaza, underscoring the risk of a wider regional conflict as Israel prepares for a possible ground invasion.
Tens of thousands of Muslims demonstrated Friday across the Middle East including Iran in support of Palestinians and condemnation of Israel.
This is while, France and Germany banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations and several Western countries said they had stepped up security fearing that protests could lead to acts of violence, Reuters reported.
Some 1,000 Muslims rallied in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after Friday prayers to show solidarity with the Palestinians. Chanting “Free Palestine” and “Crush the Zionists”, they burned two effigies draped with Israeli flags, aljazeera.com reported.
From the typically sedate streets of downtown Amman in Jordan to Yemen’s war-scarred capital of Sana’a, crowds of Muslim worshippers poured into the streets after weekly Friday prayers, angered by devastating Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that began after the Palestinian resistance group Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel last Saturday, AP reported.
The Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,530 people in the Gaza Strip, which has already been under a land, sea, and air blockade for more than 15 years.
In Iran, tens of thousands of people participated in nationwide rallies, chanting slogans in support of Palestinians and in condemnation of the United States and the apartheid Tel Aviv regime.
The demonstrators were also carrying pro-Palestine banners. Some Iranian political figures participated in the protests as well.
At the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Al-Quds’ Old City on Friday, Israeli police permitted only certain older men, women, and children to enter the sprawling hilltop compound for prayers, trying to limit the potential for violence. Only 5,000 worshippers made it into the site, the Islamic endowment that manages the mosque said. On a typical Friday, some 50,000 gather there for prayers.
In Beirut, thousands of supporters of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group waved Lebanese, Palestinian, and Hezbollah flags, chanting slogans in support of Gaza.
In Baghdad, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square — the protest hub of Iraq’s capital — for rallies called by the influential Shia cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr.
“May this demonstration ... terrify the great evil, the United States, which supports Zionist terrorism against our loved ones in Palestine,” al-Sadr said in an online statement.
In the Syrian capital of Damascus, protesters — including Palestinians from the Yarmouk refugee camp formed after the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation — also rallied.
In Yemen’s Sana’a, demonstrators crowded the streets waving Yemeni and Palestinian flags.
After Friday prayers, Egyptian demonstrators ringed the historic Al-Azhar Mosque — the Sunni Muslim world’s foremost religious institution — in downtown Cairo, chanting that Israel remained their enemy “generation after generation”.
In Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad, some worshippers trampled on American and Israeli flags.
“International media and international courts turn a blind eye to the injustices that befall Palestinians. They only notice the actions that the Palestinians take to defend themselves,” said Faheem Ahmed, a worshipper in Karachi. “They call those actions terrorism.”
KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL:
-- ‘Gaza Op Epitomized Piled-Up Palestinian Anger’
The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps paid tribute to the Palestinian resistance forces for their success in dealing a crushing blow to the Zionist regime without any help from the others.
Major General Hussein Salami said Operation Al-Aqsa Storm launched outside Gaza marked the Israeli regime’s biggest defeat since 1948. The operation, he said, symbolized the piled up anger of the Palestinian people.
-- Terrorists Target Shia Mosque in Afghanistan
A suicide bomber blew himself up among worshippers attending Friday prayers at a Shia mosque in northern Afghanistan, martyring at least seven people and wounding 15 others, a police spokesperson said.
The attack happened in the city of Pol-e-Khomri, the capital of Baghlan province, police spokesman Sher Ahmad Borhani said in a statement. Security officials were working to determine how the attacker reached the area to strike at the Imam Zaman mosque.
Iran condemned the bombing, calling it one of the “most vicious of terrorist crimes.”
A statement by the ministry’s spokesman Nassern Kanaani condemned the “painful” attack in the strongest terms and said it shows its perpetrators are “diverted from Islam’s genuine teachings.”
He extended condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery for those injured.
A separate statement by Iran’s embassy in Afghanistan also condemned the terror attack, blaming “extremist terrorists backed by the U.S. and the Zionist regime.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but blame is likely to fall on the Daesh terrorist group, which targeted Afghanistan’s minority Shia Muslims in past large-scale attacks.
The Taliban footage from the mosque showed debris strewn over a red-carpeted floor, scattered personal data-x-items and bodies covered with shrouds.
The regional affiliate of Daesh, known as Daesh in Khorasan Province, increased attacks on mosques and minorities across the country after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
Daesh, which has operated in Afghanistan since 2014, is seen as the greatest security challenge facing the country. Following their takeover, the Taliban launched a sweeping crackdown against the takfiri group.
Since 2022, the terrorists have conducted more than 190 suicide bombings, leaving some 1,300 injured or dead, a UN Security Council report said in May.
Daesh terrorists are blamed for the September 2022 bombing of a study hall in a Shia neighborhood of the capital Kabul, that martyred at least 53 people, including 46 girls and young women.
-- Millions Rally for Gaza on Day of Rage
Million of Muslims demonstrated Friday across the Middle East in support of the Palestinians and against the intensifying Israeli bombardment of Gaza, underscoring the risk of a wider regional conflict as the occupying regime prepares for a possible ground invasion.
From the typically sedate streets of downtown Amman in Jordan, to Yemen’s war-scarred capital of Sanaa, huge crowds of Muslim worshippers poured into the streets after weekly Friday prayers, angered by devastating Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that began after Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise operation against Israel last Saturday.
At Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Al-Quds, Zionist troops were permitting only certain older men, women and children to enter the sprawling hilltop compound for prayers, trying to limit the potential for protests. Only 5,000 worshippers made it into the site, the Islamic endowment that manages the mosque said. On a typical Friday, some 50,000 perform the prayers.
“We can’t live, we can’t breathe, they are killing everything that is good within us,” said Ahmad Barbour, a 57-year-old cleaner, red-faced and seething after troops blocked him from entering for prayers.
“Everything that is forbidden to us is allowed to them,” he added, referring to the Israelis.
Hundreds of young Palestinian worshippers who had been turned away from the Old City threw down small prayer rugs on the street in the east Al-Quds neighborhood of Wadi Joz and prayed in the open. When some of the men started shouting, Zionist forces charged into the crowd with batons and fired rounds of tear gas at the worshippers, wounding at least six people, said the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Thousands demonstrated in Amman in neighboring Jordan, some crying out: “We are going to Al-Quds as millions of martyrs!”
“What do they want from Palestine? Do they expect them to leave?” asked protester Omar Abu-Sundos. “For what remains of Palestine to leave? They won’t leave.”
In Beirut, thousands of protesters waved Lebanese, Palestinian and Hezbollah flags, chanting slogans in support of Gaza and calling for “death to Israel.” The resistance movement in neighboring Lebanon has launched sporadic attacks since the Hamas operation.
However, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general warned that it would be “on the lookout” for the United States and British naval vessels heading to the Mediterranean Sea.
“Your battleships do not interest us, nor do your statements frighten us,” Sheikh Naim Qassim said at a rally in a southern suburb of Beirut. “When the time is right to take action, we will do so.”
In Baghdad, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square — the protest hub of Iraq’s capital — for rallies.
“We, as Iraqis, know the pain of having an occupier on our land,” said protester Alaa al-Arabyia, referring to the U.S. occupation of Iraq following its 2003 invasion. “Palestinian women have husbands, loved ones and sons fighting the occupation. We stand with them in their struggle.”
Across Iran, millions of demonstrators also streamed into the streets after prayers. In Tehran, they burned Israeli and American flags, chanting: “Death to Israel,” “Death to America,” “Israel will be doomed,” and “Palestine will be the conqueror.”
“The Palestinian people are fed up, now your idea is to destroy Gaza, the houses of the people,” Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said in a speech in the country’s southern Fars province. “The people of the world and Palestine will cause trouble for you.”
In the Syrian capital of Damascus, protesters — including Palestinians from the Yarmouk refugee camp formed after the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation — also rallied.
“I tell the people not to leave their homes otherwise they will be like our grandparents who left Palestine and came to Syria but never returned,” Ahmad Saeed, a 23-year-old Palestinian living in Syria, said, referring to the 1948 war.
In Yemen’s Sanaa, demonstrators crowded the streets waving Yemeni and Palestinian flags. The people’s slogan long has been: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse of the Jews; victory to Islam.”
“We are ready to participate actively and send hundreds of thousands of mujahedeen ... .to defend Palestine, the Palestinian people and the holy sites,” the Sanaa-based government said in a statement Friday.
Thousands of people in the Qatari capital of Doha took part in demonstrations in support of the
Palestinian people after Friday prayers.
Videos and photos showed huge crowds, made up of locals and expatriate workers, gathering in the city’s central West Bay area, carrying Palestinian flags and chanting in support of Gaza’s residents.
After Friday prayers, Egyptian demonstrators ringed the historic Al-Azhar Mosque in downtown Cairo, the Sunni Muslim world’s foremost religious institution, chanting that Israel remained their enemy “generation after generation.” They repeated the traditionally nationalistic slogan, “We give our souls and blood to Al-Aqsa.”
Pro-Palestinian protests were also held in Syria, Tunisia and Libya.
Political and religious parties staged dozens of demonstrations across the Pakistani cities of Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and the capital Islamabad, where U.S. and Israeli flags were burned.
“International media and international courts turn a blind eye to the injustices with the Palestinians. But they only notice the actions that the Palestinians take to defend themselves,” said Faheem Ahmed, a worshipper in Karachi. “They call it terrorism.”
Protester Shahid Husain, 47, said the leaders of Muslim nations were failing to stand up for Palestinians.
“We came to the streets to make our rulers realize that they don’t need to be scared of the U.S. and that the public wants them to be on the side of Palestine - not Israel and America,” he said from Peshawar’s historic Qissa Khwani Bazaar.
In Afghanistan, people gathered in the cities of Kabul and Jalalabad for pro-Palestinian rallies.
“Palestine you are not alone, we are with you,” one speaker told the crowd. “We are poor, but we will do whatever we can. We can’t do much today but use our feet and stand in your support.”
-- Putin Warns Against Nazi Tactics in Gaza Siege
Russian President Vladimir Putin cautioned Israel on Friday against laying siege to Gaza in the same way that Nazi Germany besieged Leningrad, saying a ground offensive there would lead to an “absolutely unacceptable” number of civilian casualties.
Putin said there had been calls even in the United States for a blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on a par with “the siege of Leningrad during World War Two”.
-- Iran FM: War to Spread If Israeli Attacks Don’t Stop
Iran’s foreign minister warned Friday that if the occupying regime of Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip don’t stop immediately, the conflict could spread to other parts of the Middle East.
Hussein Amir-Abdollahian is on a tour that took him to Baghdad before Beirut, and later in the day he was scheduled to travel to the Syrian capital, Damascus. Iran heads the so-called “axis of resistance” that includes powerful resistance movements in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq.
Amir-Abdollahian spoke to reporters in Beirut after a meeting with his Lebanese counterpart, during which the two officials called for an end to Zionist attacks on Gaza. He also met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, as well as caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the speaker of parliament.
Local media outlet Al-Mayadeen said the Iranian minister and Nasrallah had discussed Hamas’ operation against the occupying regime of Israel.
Hezbollah has exchange fire with Israel across the border this week, in the most serious escalation since the 2006 war between Hezbollah and the Zionist regime.
Amir-Abdollahian told reporters on Friday that Israel was committing “war crimes” in Gaza, adding that Iran had asked Egypt, which borders Gaza, the United Nations and aid groups to allow it to send humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
There have been concerns that the war could spread to Lebanon’s border where Hezbollah fighters have been on alert following Hamas’ attack on southern Occupied Palestine on Saturday that left hundreds of Zionists dead.
U.S. President Joe Biden has warned other players in the Middle East not to join the conflict, sending American warships to the region and vowing full support for the occupying regime of Israel.
“What is funny is that at a time when America is calling on parties for self restraint, it is allowing the criminals in the fake Zionist entity to kill women, children and civilians in Gaza,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
He warned that “if these organized war crimes that are committed by the Zionist entity don’t stop immediately, then we can imagine any possibility.” He did not elaborate but it was an apparent hint that resistance groups could join the war.
Senior Hamas official Ali Barakeh told The Associated Press this week in Beirut that allies like Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah “will join the battle if Gaza is subjected to a war of annihilation.”
Amir-Abdollahian said: “America cannot send weapons and bombs to kill women, children and civilians in Gaza and at the same time calls on all sides for self-restraint.”
Amir-Abdollahian called on the foreign ministers and the leader of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a grouping of 57 countries with important Muslim populations, to hold a meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza.
After meeting Mikati, Amir-Abdollahian said the aim of his visit to Beirut is to preserve security in Lebanon amid regional tensions. “What is important for us is security in Lebanon and how to preserve calm,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
He added that what Hamas did over the weekend was in response to the policies of the occupying regime’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Early Thursday, Amir-Abdollahian had visited Iraq, where he made similar statements after a meeting with Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani.
The Iranian minister said the Islamic Republic welcomes and supports any initiative by Muslim countries meant to support the Palestinian nation.
Sudani, for his part, said that the Palestinian issue is not a political but an ideological issue and that supporting Palestine shows the conscience of Muslims and freedom-seeking people.
Iraq was not surprised by Operation Al-Aqsa Storm because the rights of the Palestinian people cannot be ignored or consigned to the oblivion by the normalization of ties with the Tel Aviv regime, he said.
Upon arrival in Baghdad, the top Iranian diplomat held talks with Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji.
During the meeting, Amir-Abdollahian said Iran is aware of Iraq’s “good position” in support of Palestine.
He also noted that the Islamic Republic has always supported the inalienable rights of Palestinians.
“What happened in Operation Al-Aqsa Storm was a completely Palestinian action, a spontaneous move in reaction to the Zionists’ continuous and provocative crimes against the Palestinians as well as repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque,” he said.
“What is happening in Gaza by the Zionist regime is a clear example of war crimes and if it is not stopped, it can affect the entire region,” the Iranian minister said.
Amir-Abdollahian said the United States is sending weapons to Israel at a time when the regime is massacring the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The foreign minister thanked the Iraqi government for implementing a security pact between the two neighboring countries and underlined the need for its full implementation.
-- Poll: 94% of Israelis Say Regime Failing to Protect Them
Almost all Israelis – 94 percent – hold their regime responsible for the collapse of the m military systems in the southern settlements, while 67 percent of respondents believe the failure of the current war is greater than the failure of the October War in 1973.
The latest Israeli public opinion poll, published Thursday by the Walla news site, showed that as many as 56 percent of Israelis believe prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu should resign at the end of the war, including 28 percent of right-wing voters, while 52 percent believe that war minister Yoav Galant should resign at the end of the war.
According to the poll; 84 percent of respondents believe the Qassam fighters’ storming of the Gaza envelope settlements reflects the Zionist regime’s leadership failure, including 79 percent of right-wing voters.
Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they do not trust the regime’s management of the war, while 88 percent of right-wing voters said they do not trust the regime.
According to the poll; a majority of the respondents – 92 percent – suffer from fear and panic after Saturday’s events, a third of whom said they are “very afraid”.
Meanwhile, the European Union is facing increased criticism over its double standards on the Zionist-Palestinian conflict and past remarks it has made in support of Ukraine.
In recent days, following the surprise operation by Palestinian fighters, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “Israel has the right to defend itself – today and in the days to come. The European Union stands with Israel.”
Since those comments were made by von der Leyen, the occupying regime has imposed a total blockade on the Gaza Strip, cutting off fuel, water, energy, and food supplies. Gaza’s sole power plant shut down on Wednesday after running out of fuel.
Von der Leyen’s past comments on similar actions taken by Russia have re-emerged.
In October 2022, Von der Leyen said Russian “attacks against civilian infrastructure, especially electricity, are war crimes”.
“Cutting off men, women, children of water, electricity, and heating with winter coming - these are acts of pure terror,” she said at the time.
Those comments have now been contrasted with the EU’s unwavering stance in favor of the Zionist regime during its onslaught against Palestinians.
The occupying regime has since carried out a punishing bombing campaign on Gaza, home to over two million people, causing widespread destruction and flattening entire neighborhoods.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, urged the European Commission president on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to make the “same declaration” it did against Russia towards the occupying regime’s campaign in Gaza.
“If not, people could think that European institutions do not value the protection of Palestinian children, women and men as much as that of Ukrainians,” said Albanese.
TEHRAN TIMES:
-- Iran says any scenario plausible if Israeli war crimes continue
Iran’s foreign minister who made a three-nation tour around the region has warned the Israeli regime to stop its “war crimes” against Palestinians unless it wants to face a larger response. During a press conference with his Lebanese counterpart in Beirut, Hussein Amir Abdollahian said new unforeseen scenarios might unfold if Israel does not change its criminal behavior. “If the war crimes of the Zionist regime are not stopped, any possibility is conceivable,” said the top Iranian diplomat. He added, “We have announced our readiness for a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation since three days ago. We had initial coordination with the Secretary-General of this organization. We believe that war crimes against the people of Palestine must be stopped immediately, and the humanitarian siege, cutting off water, electricity, and medicine for the people of Gaza, must be lifted.” He also condemned the U.S. for its hypocrisy, saying Washington urges regional countries to practice restraint while it allows Israel to commit any sort of crime against Palestinian civilians and even provides the regime with weapons.
-- Qatar says committed to deal on freed Iranian assets
Qatar’s Prime Minister on Friday announced his country is committed to fulfilling a deal with Iran and the U.S. which involves $6 billion of Iranian funds parked in a Qatari bank. “Qatar is committed to an agreement and will fulfill its obligations and will not do anything without consultations with our partners,” Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, adding that the money will be spent in accordance with the deal. The U.S. and Iran reached a deal to exchange prisoners in September after some $6 billion of Iranian assets once frozen in South Korea reached Qatar. The money was brought to the limelight after American media reported “Washington and Doha have agreed to stop Iran from tapping the $6 billion fund” after Hamas successfully carried out an attack on the occupied territories on October 7. Some American officials ended up confirming the reports. “None of the funds that have now gone to Qatar have actually been spent or accessed in any way by Iran,” Antony Blinken told reporters in Israel on Thursday when asked about the funds. “Indeed, funds from that account are overseen by the Treasury Department.
-- Western complicity in Gaza massacre
In a heart-wrenching turn of events, the Gaza Strip is witnessing a devastating humanitarian crisis as Israel rains down indiscriminate bombs on civilians, killing hundreds of children. Thousands of others remain under the rubble of collapsed buildings. Shockingly, the Western world remains largely silent on the war crime, even as entire families are being slaughtered in the conflict. Add to these mad air raids cutting electricity, water, fuel and food to 2.3 million people. Instead, the West, with the United States and the United Kingdom in particular, are supporting these war crimes, both diplomatically and militarily. For decades, Israel has been a recipient of substantial U.S. military assistance, with a 10-year deal inked in 2016 for $40 billion, covering annual grants for military equipment and $5 billion for missiles.
-- More than 1,800 Palestinians have been martyred
The death toll from Israel’s savage attacks on the Gaza Strip continues to rise nearly a week after the regime launched its brutal onslaught on the besieged Palestinian territory. The Health Ministry in Gaza announced on Friday that at least 1,850 Palestinians, including 583 children, and 351 women have been martyred in six days of incessant Israeli bombardment of the blockaded territory. More than 7,000 Palestinians have also been wounded in the bombardment. The regime’s air raids claimed at least two dozen lives in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on Thursday. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have also been displaced as a result of the regime’s relentless and indiscriminate attacks. At least 423,000 people have now been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said.
-- Palestinians blood on Biden’s hand
The Bulwark.com published a political analysis on October 11 titled “Blood on Biden’s Hands?”. Cathy Young, the writer of the article, probed the layers of the ongoing massacre in the Gaza Strip with an attempt to blame the U.S. president for the death toll in Israel, so Biden was directly addressed somehow as a convict from Young’s point of view for Zionists’ successive defeats. Al-Aqsa Storm purely Palestinian “We do not have any information to suggest that Iran either directed or orchestrated these attacks by Hamas… we have not yet seen anything to suggest that they supported or were behind this current attack,” said Mathew Miller, spokesperson for the United States Department of State earlier on October 10 regarding claims that Hamas is being backed by Iran. “Saturday’s assault (Oct. 7)… followed two years of subterfuge by Hamas that involved keeping its military plans under wraps and convincing Israel it did not want a fight,” said Samia Nakhoul to Reuters on October 10.
-- Best in children’s works receive Golden Butterfly awards in Isfahan
The 35th International Film Festival for Children and Youth concluded in Isfahan on Thursday, awarding winners of different sections. The Golden Butterfly for the Best Film was awarded to the feature “Tegar,” directed by Anggi Frisca and produced by Chandra Sembiring from Indonesia, ISNA reported on Friday. The movie also received the Special Jury Award of the International Center of Films for Children and Young People (CIFEJ) and an Honorable Mention for the child actor M. Aldifi Tegarajasa.
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