NOURNEWS- The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Monday, December 11, 2023.
IRAN DAILY:
- Iran talks with 20 countries to foster air transport cooperation: CAO
The head of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) said negotiations were conducted with 20 countries on the development of air transportation cooperation on the sidelines of the 15th ICAO Air Services Negotiation Event (ICAN2023) which was held on December 3-7.
Speaking on the occasion of commemorating International Civil Aviation Day, Mohammad Mohammadi-Bakhsh pointed to organizing the ICAN2023 in Saudi Arabia and said the talks were held on the development of the flight network, reported Tasnim news agency.
He said the realization of the two components of safety and security, emphasized in the Chicago Treaty, is given serious attention in Iran’s aviation transport industry.
The CAO has gained eye-catching achievements in this industry, especially in recent years, he further emphasized.
Despite the economic war the US and its allies have waged against Iran over the past 43 years, the CAO has been successful in the fields of repair and maintenance, design and construction of planes, using the technical know-how and experience of new technology-based companies, Mohammadi-Bakhsh said.
Also, in the ceremony of commemorating International Civil Aviation Day, the memorial stamp of the CAO was unveiled.
In April, Mohammadi-Bakhsh said his organization had taken giant strides in the current Iranian year (started March 21) to develop the air transportation fleet as well as to boost the flight network.
He went on to say that the CAO has inked memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with 30 countries over the past 18 months, adding that the country has launched direct flights to 60 destinations worldwide.
- Huge fire erupts at refinery; reservoirs explode in East Iran
A huge fire broke out on Sunday morning at an oil refinery in the eastern Iranian province of South Khorasan, leading to the simultaneous explosion of several gas condensate reservoirs, Tasnim news agency reported.
The fire started at one of the reservoirs of the refinery, which is located in Birjand Special Economic Zone, at 8:45 a.m. local time (0515 GMT), the report said.
Firefighting, rescue and emergency teams were dispatched to the scene immediately, while firefighters were trying to contain the fire, it spread to other nearby reservoirs, causing them to explode simultaneously, added the report.
“Five firefighting groups as well as a number of fire engines are at the scene trying to cool the nearby reservoirs down to prevent the further spread of the blaze,” Tasnim quoted Birjand’s Governor Ali Fazelifard as saying.
He added that the refinery had been completely evacuated to minimize potential human casualties, noting the cause of the incident had not been determined yet.
According to Tasnim, the refinery belongs to the Azaran Sanaat Barsava Company, which produces light and heavy hydrocarbons using gas condensates.
- Iran unveils drones armed with air-to-air missiles
In what it considers a significant shift in technological power in the region, Iran has unveiled new combat drones with air-to-air missile capabilities.
“Dozens of Karrar drones, armed with air-to-air missiles, have been added for air defense in all border areas of the country,” the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
The drones, with an operational range of up to 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), were exhibited on Sunday morning during a televised ceremony organized at a military academy in Tehran, AFP reported.
“The enemies will now have to rethink their strategies” because the Iranian forces have “become more powerful and will have the upper hand in aerial battles,” IRNA quoted the Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Army Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi as saying.
The Karrar interceptor drone, the first version of which was unveiled in 2010, has been equipped with a Majid thermal missile, with a range of eight kilometers (five miles).
“We have been feeling the need to produce a drone that is made entirely in Iran, isn’t expensive to produce, and can carry out our operations.”
Karrar drones “succeeded in their operational tests” during military exercises held in October, Mousavi said.
The first batch of the drones were supplied to the army for use last month, the commander pointed out.
The development of Iran’s military arsenal has sparked concern among many countries, particularly the United States and Israel, the sworn enemies of the Islamic Republic.
The latter accuse Tehran of providing fleets of drones to its allies in the Middle East, notably to the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah, and to the Houthi group in Yemen.
Tehran has been accused by Kyiv and its Western allies of providing Russia with drones for use in the Ukraine war, a claim Tehran vehemently denies.
Western governments, however, imposed several rounds of biting sanctions on Iran over the alleged arms sales.
Iran began manufacturing drones in the 1980s during its eight-year war with Iraq.
KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL:
- President Raisi: U.S. Main Support of Gaza Massacre
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday criticized the United States for vetoing a UN resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
At a time that the world demands an end to Israel’s war crimes in Palestine, the U.S. veto of the UNSC ceasefire resolution proves that it is the root of the regime’s war on Gaza and its crimes against people in the besieged territory, Raeisi said. “The U.S. is the main supporter of the massacre of innocent Gazan women & children.”
- Minister: Iran to Launch Astronauts in 2028
Minister of Information and Communications Technology Issa Zarepour said Sunday Iran will launch astronauts into orbit with indigenous bio-capsule by the end of 2028.
Referring to the successful test fire of an indigenous bio-capsule, Zarepour said through a post on his page on Iranian social media on Sunday that according to the 10-year plan of the country’s space industry, Iran will launch astronauts into orbit with indigenous bio-capsule by the end of 2028.
- Zionist Tanks Face Hell in Khan Younis
Hamas announced on its Telegram channel that its Qassam Brigades targeted Israeli tanks in the battlegrounds areas of Khan Younis and Jabalia.
The resistance movement also released footage of its fighters targeting an Israeli tank in Tal El Zaatar, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Residents told the agency that tanks had reached the main north-south road in the middle of the city, as intense fighting continued throughout the Saturday night.
The intensified fighting came as Zionist military chief Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi told soldiers they needed to “press harder” in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army launched a website publishing its military casualties.
The website claims 425 soldiers have been killed since October 7, with at least 1,593 wounded, but Palestinian resistance groups say the death toll is much higher. The Zionist army claims that from this tally, 97 soldiers from the names it can publish have been killed in the ground invasion of Gaza, with 559 wounded.
This comes after the Israeli Y-net website said Palestinian fighters had wounded at least 5,000 Zionist soldiers in Gaza.
The Zionist regime ordered residents out of the centre of Khan Younis on Saturday and pounded the length of the enclave, after the United States wielded its UN Security Council veto to shield Israel from a demand for a ceasefire.
It pummeled the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of Gaza, martyring at least 57 people, while heavy fighting in Khan Younis intensified, as the Palestinian death toll reached 18,000.
With more than 85 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million displaced by Israel’s barbaric bombing campaign, UN agencies say there is no safe place to flee to in the entire strip.
The occupying regime said its artillery corps started operating inside the Gaza Strip for the first time since the beginning of its ground invasion.
The Lebanese border also saw repeated exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
The occupying regime said six of its soldiers were wounded in a drone attack by Hezbollah on its bases in western Galilee.
The Israeli army heavily bombed the outskirts of Lebanese towns near the border and destroyed a home in Aytaroun.
The Zionist regime’s security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said Tel Aviv “can no longer accept” the presence of Hezbollah’s forces along the Lebanese border.
Meanwhile, several Arab officials spoke of the situation in Gaza at the Doha Forum conference held in Qatar.
Most notably, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said the U.S. must be held accountable for giving “the greenest of green lights” to Israel’s attacks in Gaza.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned that Israel is trying to “empty Gaza of its people”.
“Israel challenges the world, violates international law, and commits war crimes,” he said.
At the conference, Qatar ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani awarded the commissioner-general of the UN relief agency UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, with the Doha Forum Award for the agency’s work in Gaza.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the decision of the United States to veto the resolution made it complicit in “war crimes” against Palestinians.
The Biden administration filed a motion in federal court calling for a lawsuit accusing the president and his team of failing to prevent genocide of Palestinians in Gaza to be dismissed.
The Biden administration’s filing was submitted on Friday, a day before the 75th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations’ Genocide Convention, and stated that the suit should be dismissed.
Biden has also rushed increased arms shipment to the occupying regime of Israel and has pledged to give the entity billions of dollars in military assistance, in addition to the $4 billion the U.S. already gives Israel each year.
As the lawsuit continues its way through the U.S. court system, Biden is facing growing discontent from both the American public and within his own administration over his policy approach to the Zionist regime’s barbaric war on Gaza.
The Biden administration has used an emergency authority to allow the sale of about 14,000 tank shells to the Zionist regime without congressional review, the Pentagon said.
The State Department used an Arms Export Control Act emergency declaration for the tank rounds worth $106.5 million for immediate delivery to Israel, the Pentagon said in a statement.
Khan Younis, a city Israel initially designated as “safe” for Palestinians fleeing the northern Gaza Strip, finds itself as the new epicenter of the Zionist regime’s genocide.
The city’s history, along with the role it played in Palestinian history, dates back to the 14th century under the Mamluk Sultanate.
Ever since the start of the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007 and the ensuing wars, the city has been subject to regular Israeli bombings.
As Khan Younis’s hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties and injuries from the intensified battles in its neighborhoods, the city faces its toughest challenges yet.
- Iranian FM Thanks EU in Letter to Borrell
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said Sunday the EU’s recent position toward the current situation in Gaza is commendable, urging the bloc to work for a permanent end to Israeli’s atrocities there.
Amir-Abdollahian sent a letter to the EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell as Israel continued its crimes in Gaza.
The EU should take “more effective” measures to permanently stop the regime’s attacks, completely lift the blockade and end the occupation, the top Iranian diplomat said.
He welcomed the EU’s position regarding the necessity for establishing a permanent ceasefire, ending the massacre of civilians in Gaza, observing international humanitarian law and sending the urgently needed aid to the homeless.
Amir-Abdollahian praised Borrell’s announcement that Israeli settlement expansion is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and his condemnation of the regime’s acts of violence in the occupied West Bank.
In a five-page proposal on Thursday, Borrell said the EU should consider visa bans against extremists attacking civilians and use the EU human-rights sanction against the regime.
“Settler violence is escalating from an already high level and Israeli army actions [in the West Bank] are becoming more frequent.”
In a phone call with the Iranian foreign minister earlier this month, Borrell said tensions in Gaza and the West Bank must end as soon as possible.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief said the bloc believes diplomacy is the best solution to the issue of Palestine.
A senior leader of the Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian resistance group based in Gaza, said Sunday the United States continues to offer unlimited support without condition to the Zionist regime amid its onslaught on Palestine.
“We said from the beginning ... that the American generals are
main architects of this war,” said Abu Samer Musa in an interview with Al Alam TV news channel.
Abu Samer said U.S. generals have been present at the operation meetings held in the occupied Palestine for the purpose of managing the war.
He said Washington has delivered more than 10,000 metric tons of weapons and ammunition to the Israeli regime via over 200 military flights it has carried out to the Israeli occupied Palestine since October 7.
The senior resistance leader said, however, that despite the massive support provided by the U.S., the regime has failed to secure a clear victory.
“The best proof of this is that Israeli newspapers are expressing doubts about (prime minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s claims of victory in the war on Gaza,” said Abu Samer.
- 100,000 Rally Again for Gaza in London
Tens of thousands of people have converged on London for another weekend of protests, calling for an immediate end to the occupying regime of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza and criticizing their government for failing to vote in favor of a ceasefire in the besieged enclave.
The protesters marched from London’s Bank Junction to Parliament Square, holding placards saying “Ceasefire now”, “End genocide” and the popular Palestinian slogan: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Many at the march criticized the UK for abstaining from a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which was vetoed by the United States.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had triggered the vote by invoking Article 99 of the UN charter, a measure unused in decades, saying that “the people of Gaza are looking into the abyss”.
The article allows the secretary-general to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition and Friends of Al Aqsa were among the groups that participated in the London rally, attended by 100,000 people, according to the organizers.
The London Metropolitan Police said an estimated 40,000 attended, local media reported.
The march went on without major incidents and under strict conditions set out by the police, including an exclusion zone to prevent the demonstrators from assembling around the Israeli embassy.
Police, in a statement on X, said 13 protesters were arrested. A woman was identified through the police’s specialist Voyager CCTV monitoring team and arrested for an alleged offence that took place during a previous protest.
A man with a placard “making comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany” was also arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence, the police said.
Protests and solidarity marches have been held in London and cities across the world since the start of the Israel-Palestine conflict two months ago.
Last month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sacked Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who drew anger for accusing the police of being too lenient with pro-Palestinian protesters and calling such demonstrations “hate marches”.
TEHRAN TIMES:
- Iran says Zionists established medieval inquisition courts in 21st century U.S.
Iran has denounced the Zionist lobbies in the U.S. for initiating a campaign of disinformation at college campuses to restrict free speech under the guise of combating anti-Semitism. The Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, said in a post on X on Sunday that pro-Israel organizations have established “medieval inquisition courts” in America in the twenty-first century to conceal the Israeli regime’s extermination of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. “The exertion of pressure by the U.S. Congress to oust the presidents of several prominent universities in the country on charges of spreading anti-Semitism, which followed the expansion of protests by the students of these universities against the massacre of the defenseless people of Palestine, unmistakably reveals that the Zionist lobbies in America have set up medieval inquisition courts in the 21st-century America to censor the crimes of the Israeli apartheid regime in Gaza,” Kanaani noted.
- UK support for the war on Gaza
Campaigners and anti-war advocates in the UK have condemned the British government’s military and intelligence support for the devastating Israeli war on Gaza and its war crimes in the besieged enclave. Calls have been made for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to question the roles of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Home Secretary James Cleverly, and Defense Secretary Grant Shapps over this support. On October 13, Britain announced it was deploying military assets to the eastern Mediterranean to “support” the Israeli regime as it bombarded Gaza. This involved naval patrol and surveillance aircraft whose duties included searching for any transfer of weapons to the Palestinian resistance. A Royal Navy task group was also deployed to the eastern Mediterranean. The military package also includes two warships, three helicopters and special forces who are “on standby to deliver practical support to Israel”. The UK has a large air base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, 370 kilometers from Gaza, where seven British Typhoon warplanes are stationed.
- Media’s gathering in the Land of the Red Dragon
The fifth World Media Summit took place in the Nansha district of Guangzhou, the central province of Guangdong, China, from December 1 to 6. Themed “Boosting Global Confidence, Promoting Media Development”, the event brought together 450 media practitioners from around the world, representing nearly 170 media outlets. This gathering provided a valuable opportunity for media experts from 140 countries to engage in dialogue and discuss various issues related to the agenda. It also served as a platform for increased familiarity and collaboration among media outlets worldwide. This event had several unique approaches and significant impacts on global media relations, some of which I will briefly highlight in this note. 1. An opportunity to enhance media integration and coordination: The topics presented by experts and media managers in the World Media Summit were carefully chosen to thoroughly examine the challenges faced by the media from a global perspective
NOURNEWS