NOURNEWS- The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Monday, December 18, 2023.
IRAN DAILY:
- Raisi, FM offer condolences to Kuwait over Emir’s death
President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian of Iran have extended their condolences to Kuwait on the passing of Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah.
In a message on Saturday, Raisi offered his condolences to the new Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Mishal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah and the country’s government as well as its Muslim nation
- UN Security Council condemns terrorist attack in southeast Iran
The members of the UN Security Council have strongly condemned the terrorist attack on a police station in Rask County, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, calling for the prosecution of the perpetrators and sponsors of such “cowardly” acts of terror.
“The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the cowardly terrorist attack on the Rask police station in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran,” read a statement released on Saturday.
- Tehran Auction wraps up with over $123m in sales
The 18th edition of Tehran Auction, a prominent event showcasing contemporary Iranian art, concluded on December 15 with an online sale totaling $123,552,000.
This edition of Tehran Auction marked a departure from its traditional format, combining the contemporary and modern art auctions into a single online event.
KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL:
- Iran Says Reserves Right to Respond to UK, U.S. Sanctions
Iran says it reserves the right to take an action to respond in kind to the “unacceptable” approach taken by the United States and Britain after they announced a raft of new sanctions targeting the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and representatives of the Palestinian resistance groups in Tehran.
Britain on Thursday said it had adopted fresh sanctions against head of the IRGC’s Quds Force Brigadier General Esmail Qa’ani, five IRGC forces, Khaled Qadoumi, representative of Hamas in Iran; Nasser Abu Sharif, representative of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Iran and the Palestinian branch of the Quds Force.
- OPEC: Iran’s Crude Oil Production Exceeds 3 Million bpd
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has reported that the Iran’s crude production volume in November 2023 reached 3.128 million barrels of oil per day (bpd), showing a hike of 7,000 barrels compared to a month earlier.
Iran produced 3.121 million bpd of crude oil in October, the report said.
The Islamic Republic’s average crude output for the third quarter of 2023 stood at 3.003 million bpd indicating a 35,000 bpd increase compared to the figure for the second quarter of the year, the report said.
- Official: FTA With EUEA to Spur Iran’s Profitability
Vice Chairman of Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce Kambiz Mirkarimi has said that the profitability of industries in Iran will improve upon the conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Mirkarimi pointed to the salient advantages of signing the much-awaited free trade agreement between Iran and the EAEU’s member states and added, “Since the member states of the union have a high population, inking the agreement will be a very suitable incentive to spur exports to these countries.”
- Minister Urges Pakistan to Secure Borders With Iran
Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi on Sunday called on the Pakistani government to preserve security within its border areas and not allow terrorists find a safe haven on its territory.
The minister said that terrorist elements who attacked the police station crossed into the Islamic country through Pakistan in order to kill Iranian security protectors. The Iranian official condemned the heinous attack, noting that the terrorist could not achieve their vicious goals.
- Nation Bids Farewell to 290 Martyrs
Funeral processions were held across Iran on Sunday for some 280 unknown martyrs of the Iraqi-imposed war in the 1980s and 11 policemen martyred in Sistan and Baluchestan on Friday.
One-hundred and ten of the martyrs belonged to Tehran province, and the remaining 170 martyrs came from other provinces.
Huge crowds of mourners attended the nationwide services. President Ebrahim Raisi attended the procession in Tehran.
The bodies of the unknown martyrs will be laid to rest in pre-determined locations in the coming days.
The funeral ceremonies coincided with the anniversary of the martyrdom of Fatima al-Zahra (SA), the daughter of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him), for which Iranians are in mourning nationwide.
The chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) addressed the procession in Tehran, saying Iran is a great power in the world today and no country dares to attack the Islamic Republic, while all its neighboring countries are at war.
“This power comes from the blessing of the leader’s guardianship, martyrdom and jihad,” Major General Hussein Salami said.
Pointing to Iraq’s war of aggression against Iran in the 1980s, Gen. Salami said the Islamic Republic’s enemies planned to make the Iranian nation regret its revolution and prove that it’s impossible to form an independent government without relying on evil powers.
“They tried to make this land the focus of all the fires accumulated in their warehouses and planned to steal our identity and rule our destiny, but with the sacrifice of our nation and with the guardianship of Imam Khomeini, all their plots were thwarted,” he added.
Gen. Salami further lashed out at the Americans for provoking serious conflicts among Muslim nations and imposing a blockade on the Gaza Strip while preventing the establishment of a ceasefire there.
He said the more destruction the Zionist regime causes in Palestine, the more nails they drive into their coffin.
Gen. Salami said the Palestinian people will continue to resist Israeli occupation, and the U.S. and the Zionist regime are doomed to failure in their war on Gaza.
“In the war in Palestine, the more Israeli forces destroy, the more nails they drive into their coffin,” Salami said, urging the Israeli forces to fight in the battlefield like real warriors, rather than turning hospitals into battlefields.
“Rest assured that Palestinians will never die away by martyrdom, and as Imam Khomeini said, a nation blessed with martyrdom will never face enslavement,” he said.
The IRGC chief said the Iranian people will support Palestine to the end until the Palestinian people’s struggle to free their land from the Israeli occupation comes to fruition.
Gen. Salami said the hatred toward the U.S. has spread all over the world and American officials do not dare to show up in any Islamic country, as Muslim nations are infuriated with U.S.-backed war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Addressing American officials, he said, “Wherever you go, you’d face hatred and insecurity from the nations.”
The top Iranian commander said the war in Palestine has once again exposed the brutality and crimes of the enemy.
“The U.S. is repeating its mistakes during the past 45 years and thinks it will reach victory through occupation of lands,” Salami said, adding that the developments in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria demonstrate that the Americans are being forced to withdraw from different countries.
Gen. Salami also said that the American officials, instead of solving their country’s domestic problems with about 50 million citizens living under poverty line, have spent American taxpayers’ dollars on a failed war in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.
- CIA-Mossad Hand Clearly Visible in Rask Terrorist Attack
It is naïve to think that last Friday’s terrorist attack on a border security post in southeastern Iran that left eleven police personnel martyred and six others injured was an act by some disgruntled local people.
No, it was not. It was planned by the super terrorist US in coordination with agents of Mossad, the notorious Zionist spying outfit, and carried out by criminals based across Iran’s eastern borders in Pakistan’s lawless Balochistan State where Americans agents actively operate against the interests of both Islamabad and Tehran.
It was meant to distract attention from the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel and to try to portray the Islamic Republic of Iran as insecure, as well as to tarnish the image of Pakistan.
At a time when the Iranian nation is observing solidarity with the defenceless people of Gaza with declarations of support for the past two months by all strata of society, including the various ethnicities as well as Shi’a and Sunni Muslims, the US ordered its hirelings to shed innocent Iranian blood.
Washington which has silenced its clients in the Arab world to stand as passive spectators to the carnage in a part of Occupied Palestine by allowing them only meaningless verbal condemnations, while supplying the most lethal weapons to usurper Israel for the general massacre of so far 20,000 civilians, mostly women and children, is greatly alarmed at the resolve of the Axis of Resistance to continue its support for the HAMAS and Islamic Jihad liberation movements.
It knows fully well that even if the cowardly Zionists were to slaughter many more thousand Palestinians it cannot weed out the resistance forces in either Gaza or the West Bank, and save Israel from its fast approaching end.
With this in mind, the CIA and Mossad planned the terrorist attack on an Iranian outpost in Rask county of Sistan-Baluchistan Province in a vain bid to create chaos.
As usual, the enemies of Iran and Islam blundered badly, since it is the blood of martyrs that strengthens the spirit of resistance, as was evident by the nationwide funerary ceremonies held yesterday for the newly discovered remains of over 200 martyrs of the 8-year war that the US had imposed on the nascent Islamic Republic over forty years.
By firmly following the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) and his Ahl al-Bayt, the people of Iran have ensured that the memory of martyrs will always inspire the nation in its indomitable campaign against terrorists and terrorism.
This is the vital lesson the Resistance Forces throughout the region have learned, whether in Gaza or any other place with full confidence of eventually defeating US hegemony and weeding out the cancerous tumour called Israel.
As for the perpetrators of the December 15 terrorist attack, they and their sponsors should know that the Iranian people are determined to bring them to justice, undaunted by their barbarism or supposed military might of their Godless godfathers.
TEHRAN TIMES
- Army Chief accuses enemies of being behind terrorist attack in southeast Iran
The chief commander of the Iranian Army, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, accused enemies of orchestrating the terrorist attack that took place in southeast Iran, saying their “dirty hands” are clearly seen in the bloody attack.
Stating that enemies’ involvement is evident, he added that his forces would provide full support to the Iranian Police, expressing confidence that the perpetrators would be identified and brought to justice.
- Iran’s Barkhordari claims gold at Wuxi 2023 Grand Slam
Mehran Barkhordari of Iran won a gold medal at the Wuxi 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Slam Champions Series on Sunday.
In the -80kg final it was a repeat of the final from the previous Grand Slam with Mehran Barkhordari facing Uzbekistan’s Jasurbek Jaysunov.
- Iran-Russia trade up 18% in 8 months on year
The value of trade between Iran and Russia rose 18 percent during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-Novemebr 21), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.
Mohammad Rezvani-Far said that 3.748 million tons of products worth $1.756 billion were traded between the two neighbors in the mentioned eight-month period.
NOURNEWS