NOURNEWS- The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Monday, December 4, 2023.
IRAN DAILY:
- Optimization plan, more gas storage to help Iranians enjoy winter
Trying to help get through the winter easily for Iranians is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Oil, which, in order to achieve this goal, has preventive strategies, including boosting gas and liquefied storage as well as implementing energy optimization plans.
The beginning of the cold season is always accompanied by an increase in the use of oil and gas products, especially in the household sector, while in recent years, Iran has experienced a daily gas shortage of about 250 million cubic meters.
Energy experts believe that the reasons for the gas shortage are related to indiscriminate consumption, both in the household and industrial sectors, improper planning for gas storage, reduction of investment in the energy sector, and the cheap tariffs of energy carriers.
By reviewing the experiences, the Ministry of Oil made efforts to take effective steps to pass through the winter easily, including making greater investment in the infrastructure sector, and developing gas storage plans along with implementing four big plans to optimize energy consumption.
Smartening plans
Smartening the gas distribution network of major industries and domestic and commercial consumers is also a priority action in the agenda of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC).
The national plan for optimizing the furnace room of residential and commercial units was also put on the agenda, in line with the policies of the Ministry of Oil to optimize the consumption of natural gas and as a result reduce air pollution and the cost of users.
The plan also helps create employment in the country, with financial and technical support for those who have a central heating system which will be checked for free.
According to the announcement of the NIGC, the number of optimization of furnace houses in the first year of implementation was 9,000, and in the second year, the figure hit 34,000, and now it has reached about 80,000.
Replacing 4.1 million high-efficiency heaters with low-efficiency ones is on the agenda, as it has been announced that this project will be completed in three years.
Storage of 3 bcm of natural gas
This Iranian year, in the field of storage, an unprecedented record was set in the last decade, as a total of about 3 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas were injected into the underground storage tanks of Sarajeh in Qom Province and Shourijeh D in Khorasan Razavi Province.
On the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Minister of Oil Javad Owji announced the increase in the daily production of 50 million cubic meters of gas since the beginning of the incumbent government in August 2021.
According to him, the volume of injected gas to storages is 3.1 bcm, as 3.2 billion liters of liquid fuel is now kept in tanks, which has increased by 15 and 21 percent, respectively, compared to last year.
Also, the Ministry of Oil and its affiliated companies have special plans for the development of storage projects, including the second phase of gas storage project in Shourijeh field as well as conducting feasibility studies on construction of other storage facilities.
Offering incentives
Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber recently announced the details of providing discounts and incentives to natural gas users, in line with encouraging gas clients for optimal consumption.
He urged ministries, organizations, institutions and state-run companies, the Armed Forces and general governorates to observe the optimal and safe consumption of natural gas.
Expert view
The average storage capacity of natural gas in the world is 11 percent of the total gas consumption.
This figure is, on average, 23 percent in European countries, and only 1.4 percent in Iran.
The storage capacity of the country is currently about 3.4 billion cubic meters, and the capacity of using hydrocarbon reservoirs for natural gas storage is up to a capacity of over 200 million cubic meters per day.
Nersi Qorban, an energy expert, believes that the government should offer low-interest loans or incentives to industries in order to build gas storage facilities.
Our country has surplus gas in the summer, he said, adding that we can provide this surplus gas to industries in various forms including LNG, LPG, CNG, and natural gas.
Gas storage by industries has a significant effect on solving the seasonal shortage of gas in winter and, at the same time, industries can store natural gas to use when they face a gas shortage, Qorban noted.
It is necessary to attract investors for gas and liquid fuel storage, Qorban emphasized, saying that measures have been initiated for gas storage, which must be developed.
Referring to the very low cost of energy in the country, Qorban said that gas consumption in the winter season can be lowered by increasing the price of energy.
- Iran, Russia witness growth in maritime transport
A senior official at Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization announced a significant increase in maritime transport between Tehran and Moscow in recent months.
Khosrow Saraei, the director general of the PMO office of transit, logistics, and agreements noted that Iran has offered an 80-percent discount on the roll-on/roll-off (RO-RO) ships to accelerate the process of transport between the two countries, IRNA reported.
Referring to the exchange of delegations between the two countries and the visit of the Russian delegations to the northern and southern Iranian ports, Saraei harbored hope that such exchanges and visits would expand bilateral maritime cooperation.
“Iran’s maritime transport is ready to transit 20 million tons of goods.”
- Iran, Iraq share ‘very close’ stance on Gaza war: Top general
Iran’s top military commander said Iran and Iraq pursue a “very close” stance on the Palestinian issue, particularly the ongoing Israeli large-scale war on the Gaza Strip.
Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri made the announcement in a meeting in Baghdad on Sunday with Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet Mohammed al-Abbasi, Press TV reported. Baqeri said the common stances of the Iranian and Iraqi governments, nations and religious authorities on leading regional and international developments are very important.
He highlighted Iraq’s high position in Iran’s foreign and defense policies, saying Tehran and Baghdad need to strengthen security and defense cooperation, given the current situation of the two countries and the region.
Pointing to the great achievements of the Iranian Armed Forces in tactical, strategic and technical spheres, the top general expressed the country’s readiness to share its knowledge, experiences and capabilities with Iraq.
Baqeri also said the Iranian Armed Forces are prepared to stage bilateral or multilateral naval rescue and relief drills in the Persian Gulf.
The Iraqi defense chief, for his part, said his country’s people, with different political views, feel bound to stand with the Palestinian people in the face of the Israeli regime.
In a meeting with Iraqi Minister of Interior Abdul Amir al-Shammari on Sunday, Baqeri hailed the measures taken by the Iraqi government to control border areas between the two neighboring states.
He noted that joint activities of the two countries’ border guards can help establish full security along the borders.
He added that 1,500 kilometers of common border between Iran and Iraq “should be the border of friendship, trade and safe tourism.”
- At least 700 Gazans killed in a single day as Israeli bombing intensifies
Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip sought shelter in an ever-shrinking area of the south on Sunday as Israel stepped up its bombing from air, sea and land across the enclave, killing at least 700 in a single day.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza announced on Sunday that more than 700 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, as a result of Israel’s ongoing aggression on the besieged strip.
The renewed warfare followed the collapse on Friday of a seven-day pause in the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters. The Israeli Army also ordered more areas in and around the enclave’s second-largest city of Khan Younis to evacuate.
Heavy bombardments were reported overnight and into Sunday in the area of Khan Younis and the southern city of Rafah, as well as parts of the north that had been the focus of Israel’s blistering air and ground campaign.
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas, but said international and humanitarian law must be respected, noting that too many Palestinians have been killed.
“Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering, and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating,” Harris told reporters. “So, we all want this conflict to end as soon as possible, and to ensure Israel’s security and ensure security for the Palestinian people. We must accelerate efforts to build an enduring peace.”
‘Too much to bear’
The UN human rights chief urged for an end to the war, saying the suffering of civilians was “too much to bear.”
Many of the territory’s 2.3 million people are crammed in the south after Israeli forces ordered civilians to leave the north in the early days of the two-month-old war, sparked by an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel.
Gaza deaths over
15,000
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll has surpassed 15,200, and 70% of those killed are women and children.
With the resumption of fighting, hopes for another temporary truce receded. A weeklong cease-fire, which expired Friday, had facilitated the release of dozens of Gaza-held Israeli and foreign prisoners and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Britain’s Defence Ministry confirmed at the weekend that its military will conduct surveillance flights over Gaza to help locate prisoners held by Hamas.
Hamas fighters seized around 240 Israelis and foreigners, according to Israeli authorities. Around 110 have since been freed, mainly during the recent week-long truce.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that France was “very concerned” by the resumption of violence in Gaza, and that he was heading to Qatar to help in efforts to kickstart a new truce.
Macron also told a press conference at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai that the situation required the doubling down on efforts to obtain a lasting cease-fire and the freeing of all prisoners. He said Israel “must more precisely define” what it seeks to accomplish in its war as the full elimination of the Hamas resistance group would take a decade.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the United States’ supportive policies are the main factor encouraging the Zionist regime to continue the massacre of civilians in the besieged strip.
In a Saturday phone call with the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Amir-Abdollahian stressed the necessity of putting an immediate end to Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.
“The Zionist regime’s military attacks against the people of Gaza must stop as soon as possible to pave the way for the dispatch of humanitarian aid,” he said.
More than 1.7 million people have been displaced, most of them from northern Gaza, since Israel launched its military offensive on Gaza.
- US providing bunker buster bombs for Israel’s war on Gaza
The US has provided Israel with large bunker buster bombs, among tens of thousands of other weapons and artillery shells, to help dislodge Hamas from Gaza, US officials said.
The surge of arms, including roughly 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells, began shortly after the Oct. 7 attack and has continued in recent days, the officials said. The US hasn’t previously disclosed the total number of weapons it sent to Israel nor the transfer of 100 BLU-109, 2,000-pound bunker buster bombs, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The airlift of hundreds of millions of dollars in munitions, primarily on C-17 military cargo planes flying from the US to Tel Aviv, shows the diplomatic challenge facing the Biden administration. The US is urging its top ally in the region to consider preventing large-scale civilian casualties while supplying many of the munitions deployed.
“I made clear that after a pause, it was imperative that Israel put in place clear protections for civilians, and for sustaining humanitarian assistance going forward,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Dubai on Friday.
Some security analysts say the weapons transfers could undercut the administration’s pressure on Israel to protect civilians.
Unlike in Ukraine where the US has published regular updates on some of the weapons it has provided to support Kiev’s fight against the Russian invasion, Washington has disclosed little about how many and what types of weapons it has sent to Israel during the current conflict. US officials say the lack of disclosure is a result partly of the fact that Israel’s weapons come through a different mechanism, including military sales. Israel also is one of the largest recipients of US military aid, receiving $3.8 billion every year.
The arsenal of artillery, bombs and other weapons and military gear have been used by the US in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and Libya, among other places, usually to target large groups of gathered enemy forces. In Gaza, by contrast, Israel is battling fighters who are among civilians in dense urban environments.
“They are kind of the weapons of choice for the fights we had in Afghanistan and Syria in open, nonurban areas,” said Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense and officer in the Marine Corps and CIA. “The US may use them in more urban areas, but first it would do a lot of target analysis to make sure the attack was proportional and based on military necessity.”
President Biden initially expressed full support for Israel and its military campaign against Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack, but the soaring civilian death toll in Gaza has caused the administration to shift in recent days.
More than 15,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the authorities in Gaza. The number doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Among the munitions the US has transferred to Israel are more than 5,000 Mk82 unguided or “dumb” bombs, more than 5,400 Mk84 2,000 pound warhead bombs, around 1,000 GBU-39 small diameter bombs, and approximately 3,000 JDAMs, which turn unguided bombs into guided “smart” bombs, according to an internal US government list of the weapons described to The Wall Street Journal by US officials.
The BLU-109 bunker buster carries a 2,000 pound warhead and is designed to penetrate a concrete shelter. The US military also used the bombs in the Persian Gulf War and the war in Afghanistan.
KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL:
- Omani FM in Tehran to Discuss Gaza
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Oman Sayyid Badr Albusaidi was to hold talks with his Iranian counterpart Hussein Amir-Abdollahian here Sunday and discuss the latest developments in the Gaza Strip.
The two sides would discuss the most important issues of mutual interest and bilateral relations, regional issues, including the dire conditions in Gaza and the need for a ceasefire, sending humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
- Schools Closed as Tehran Air Quality Plummets
The Tehran Air Quality Control Department on Sunday marked the air quality as red, signifying an unhealthy environment for all groups. Schools in the capital were declared closed on Monday.
Amid this red-level pollution, cautionary measures are strongly advised. Individuals with heart or lung conditions, the elderly, and children are urged to refrain from prolonged or intense outdoor activities.
- Gaza a ‘Death Zone’ Now
Israeli forces bombed wide areas of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, martyring and wounding dozens of Palestinians, as civilians in the besieged territory sought shelter in an ever-shrinking area of the south.
The Hamas movement said its fighters clashed with Zionist troops about 2 km from the southern city of Khan Younis, as residents said they feared a fresh Israeli ground invasion was building there.
The Jabaliya refugee camp in the north of the enclave was among the sites hit reported hit from the air. A Gazan health ministry spokesperson said several people were killed by an Israeli airstrike.
Footage showed a boy covered in grey dust, sitting weeping amid crumbled cement and rubble from collapsed buildings. “My father was martyred,” he cried in a hoarse voice.
A girl in a pink sweatshirt, also coated with dust, stood between piles of rubble saying: “No, no, no.”
Bombardments from war planes and artillery also concentrated on Khan Younis and Rafah, another city in Gaza’s south, residents said, and hospitals were struggling to cope with the flow of wounded.
The renewed warfare followed the end on Friday of a seven-day pause in the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas which had allowed an exchange of Israeli prisoners and Palestinian abductees.
More than 15,523 people have been martyred, according to Gaza’s health ministry, in nearly two months of warfare that broke out after a Hamas operation inside southern Occupied Palestine on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 Zionists were killed and more than 200 captured.
Gaza residents said on Sunday they feared a Zionist ground invasion on the southern areas was imminent. Tanks had cut off the road between Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, effectively dividing the Gaza Strip into three areas, they said.
The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate several areas in and around Khan Younis. It posted a map highlighting shelters they should go to west of Khan Younis and south towards Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
But residents said that areas they had been told to go to were themselves coming under attack.
Israel is seeking to “solidify the separation” between the occupied West Bank and Gaza in a bid to undermine a future Palestinian state, the Palestinian foreign ministry said on Sunday.
The statement, posted on X, formerly Twitter, also condemned the killing of 38-year-old Ahmed Assi, who was shot by Israeli settlers on Saturday evening.
It called the killing “a deliberate attempt to escalate the situation in the West Bank”.
The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, said Assi was left to bleed to death because settlers and Zionist forces did not allow medics to reach him.
Wafa said that the settlers were protected by Israeli forces during their rampage.
Israeli tanks shelled the eastern sector of Rafah on Sunday morning, residents said.
There was hardly any space for
more displaced people in the south after hundreds of thousands had fled the Israeli ground invasion in the north of the enclave, the residents said.
“Before, we used to ask ourselves whether we will die or not on this war, but in the past two days since Friday, we fear it is just a matter of time,” said Maher, a 37-year-old father of three, who spoke to Reuters by telephone.
“I am a resident of Gaza City, then we moved to Al-Karara in southern Gaza Strip and yesterday we fled to deeper shelter in Khan Younis and today we are trying to flee under the bombardment to Rafah,” he said.
UN officials and residents said it was difficult to heed Israeli evacuation orders because of patchy internet access and no regular supply of electricity.
Palestinian health officials said airstrikes destroyed several houses in the Al-Karara town near Khan Younis overnight, killing several people including children.
“Everywhere you turn to, there are children with third-degree burns, shrapnel wounds, brain injuries and broken bones,” James Elder, UNICEF’s global spokesperson, told Al Jazeera from Gaza.
“Mothers crying over children who look like they are hours away from death. It seems like a death zone right now.”
The director general of the Government Media Office in Gaza said more than 700 Palestinians have been killed since the Zionist regime resumed bombardment after a seven-day truce ended on Friday.
Journalists on the border between Gaza and Occupied Palestine said huge plumes of smoke were rising from a wide area, turning the sky grey.
Hamas said it targeted the coastal Israeli city of Tel Aviv with a rocket barrage.
On another front, Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters traded fire across the Lebanese border and the Zionist regime said several of its soldiers were wounded when an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon hit a vehicle in the Beit Hillel area.
About 1.8 million people, or 80% of Gaza’s population, have fled their homes since Oct. 7, the United Nations says.
More than 400,000 displaced people have sought shelter in Rafah and nearly 300,000 have taken shelter in Khan Younis, according to the UN humanitarian office.
- U.S. Warship, Multiple Vessels Targeted in Red Sea
An American warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack Sunday in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said, potentially marking a major escalation in a series of maritime attacks in West Asia linked to Israeli war on Gaza.
“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Pentagon said.
The Carney is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.
The British military earlier said there had been a suspected drone attack and explosions in the Red Sea, without elaborating.
The Pentagon did not identify where it believed the fire came from. However, Yemen’s armed forces have been launching a series of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, as well as launching drones and missiles targeting the Zionist regime as it wages war on the Gaza Strip.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the attack began about 10 a.m. in Sanaa, Yemen, and had gone on for as much as five hours. Another U.S. official who similarly spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason said the Carney had intercepted at least one drone during the attack.
Ambrey, a UK-based maritime security group, announced earlier on Sunday that the unnamed Bahamas-flagged cargo vessel was “struck by a rocket” while sailing south around 35 nautical miles off western coast of Yemen.
“The affected vessel was issuing distress calls relating to piracy/missile attack,” the maritime security firm said, adding that “an international naval asset in the vicinity of the incident” was likely proceeding to the ship’s location.
Providing further details on the incident, Ambrey said the targeted vessel — en route from the United States to Singapore — had transited the Suez Canal five days ago.
“The bulker was reportedly struck by a rocket and the crew retreated to the citadel,” it added. “Numerous vessels passed the incident location today but no unusual maneuvers were observed.”
Ambrey said the attacked vessel’s ownership and management was linked to Dan David Ungar, a British citizen listed as an Israeli resident.
In a separate report on Sunday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency, run by Britain’s Royal Navy, claimed that it had received “a report of Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) activity including a potential explosion... originating from the direction of Yemen.”
The agency said the blast took place in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that separates East Africa from the Arabian Peninsula, advising vessels in the area to “exercise caution.”
Yemen’s armed forces have launched a series of ballistic missiles at various sensitive targets lying across the southern part of the occupied territories in support of Palestinians since the Israeli regime waged a brutal war in Gaza in October.
Yemen’s armed forces and the Ansarullah resistance movement also warned of targeting any of the occupying regime’s ships crossing the Arab country’s territorial waters.
The Yemeni armed forces seized on November 19 an Israeli cargo vessel, named Galaxy Leader, in the Red Sea, in what they said was a response to the regime’s massacre of Palestinians in Gaza. The entire 52 crew members onboard were also detained by Yemen’s naval forces in the south of the Red Sea.
TEHRAN TIMES:
- Iran to EU: Washington main driver of Israeli carnage in Gaza
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has noted that the United States’ supportive policies are the primary element enabling the Zionist regime to continue slaughtering people in the beleaguered Gaza Strip. Amir Abdollahian made the remarks in a Saturday phone conversation with the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. During the talk, Iran’s top diplomat emphasized the need to put a stop to the Zionist regime’s atrocities against Palestinians as soon as possible. “The Zionist regime’s military attacks against the people of Gaza must stop as soon as possible to pave the way for the dispatch of humanitarian aid,” he said. Abdollahian went on to emphasize, “Supportive policies adopted by the United States have encouraged the Zionist regime to continue its military aggression and massacre of civilians in Gaza, and also play an important role in the continuation and further spread of the war.” Iran’s foreign minister also delivered a severe warning regarding the Zionist regime’s plan to forcibly deport Palestinians from the occupied territories
- Iran ranks 25th among world’s top commercial shipping fleet owners: CIA
The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), in its latest report on the state of the world’s commercial fleets, has ranked Iran 25th among the countries with the largest shipping fleet, higher than the United States, Germany and France. Based on the mentioned report, having 924 commercial vessels, the Islamic Republic stands at the 25th place among 186 countries, IRIB reported. According to CIA, last year (2022), Iran had 32 bulk carriers, 31 container ships, 393 general cargo ships, 83 oil tankers and 403 ships of other types. Brazil, Portugal, Denmark, Canada, Germany, Australia, Bangladesh, Spain, and Switzerland are among the countries that have smaller fleet compared to Iran, based on the mentioned report. The total number of active commercial ships in West Asia analyzed in this report in 2022 amounted to 4,398 ships, more than a fifth of which belonged to Iran. Back in January, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) ranked Iran as the owner of the world’s 22nd-biggest maritime fleet in terms of capacity.
- Israeli anxiety in Gaza
Backed by the United States, the indiscriminate Israeli attacks against the civilian population across the entire Gaza Strip continue unabated. There is a level of anxiety among the Israeli army, especially in the northern part of the enclave, as it is shooting at anything that moves. The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden claims it has pressured the regime to limit the number of civilian casualties in the next phase of the war on Gaza, following a seven-week-old ceasefire. The Israeli military, as instructed by the Israeli cabinet, has brushed the wider concerns of the international community on the rising civilian death toll. The regime is not taking into account any caution against the loss of civilian life amid Israeli military focus now in the densely populated southern Gaza Strip and in particular the city of Khan Younis where Palestinians had been forcibly displaced by the Israeli army. There have been multiple reports of Palestinian civilian casualties in Khan Younis and its surrounding areas.
- Iran’s support for Gaza is based on national constitution: Raisi
President Ebrahim Raisi has said that Iran’s support for Gaza is based on the “principles of the country’s constitution.” Speaking at a conference on the national constitution on Sunday, the president reiterated that support for the oppressed is one of the basics of the constitution, so from the victory of the Islamic Revolution, support for Palestine was the “first issue” of the Islamic Revolution. The support for the oppressed, said the president, is one of “our principles, so we cannot give up on them.” He also noted that some states’ stances regarding the Israeli-Palestine conflict would not halt Iran’s principle to support the oppressed, noting that the truth in the Gaza Strip has become clear to the entire world these days. Raisi further said that the Zionist regime’s racial discrimination, killings, injustice, cruelty, and oppression against the Palestinian people are clear to everyone. He went on to say that the “pure blood” of Palestinian children revealed the situation to everyone and caused huge pro-Palestinian gatherings around the world.
NOURNEWS