ECONOMIC IDEAL – Tehran, April 17, IRNA – The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Saturday:
** IRAN DAILY
— Top Iranian commander vows harsh response to enemies’ threats
Iran’s highest-ranking military commander warned the enemies that any threat or hostile move will draw a crushing response from the Iranian Army and other military forces.
Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri on Friday sent a message to Army Commander Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, congratulating him on the Army Day and the Ground Force Day.
— Iran rolls out major gas processing project in south
Iran launched a major refinery to process the natural gas extracted from its major gas fields in the south.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered the rollout of the Parsian Sepehr Refinery Project on Thursday using a videoconference call from his office in Tehran.
— IMF corrects estimate about Iran forex reserves: CBI
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) corrected its wrong estimate about the amount of Iran’s foreign exchange reserves in an official note sent to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), said a CBI statement.
The statement released on Thursday by the CBI said that the IMF had sent an official email to the bank announcing that Iran’s gross international reserves had amounted to $115 billion in 2020, thereby correcting a previous estimate of only $4 billion.
** KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL
— Iran to Refrain From Attritional Negotiations
Iran’s foreign minister has ruled out talks over the 2015 nuclear agreement for the sake of talks, saying the timing and duration of the negotiations are determined only by national interests. In a post written in Persian on his Instagram page, Muhammad Javad Zarif thanked Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei for his remarks on Wednesday. “The Leader’s advice to refrain from ‘attritional negotiations’ has always been a beacon for us,” Zarif said.
— Iran’s Giant Nuclear Stride for Peaceful Progress
After years of undue stagnation and unwarranted reduction, Iran has taken the commendable step to increase uranium enrichment from the recently enhanced 10 percent purity to 60 percent purity, in order to meet its growing industrial needs.
The question is: Does the Islamic Republic need permission from any country or international body to upgrade its peaceful civilian nuclear programme?
Before answering the above query, a question that could immediately be posed is: “Does the US, or for that matter any another nuclear-capable country, require outside permission to develop their nuclear projects?
— Iranian Letter Rebukes EU Silence on Inhuman Sanctions
The Iranian Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights (HCHR) has condemned certain European governments for numerous violations of the Iranian people’s rights, criticizing the European Union for remaining indifferent to such abuses and coercive measures, which do not even spare child patients.
In a letter to Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union Jeppe Tranholm Mikkelsen, Ali Baqeri-Kani enumerated the rights violations against Iranian citizens in European countries, including the cutting off of cooperation with Iranian company Armita Teb Novin in the field of blood transfer by Germany as well as declining to provide services to Iranian passengers at airports in Sweden and Spain.
***TEHRAN TIMES
— Iranian universities hosting students from 133 countries
Students from 133 countries are currently studying in Iranian universities, Afshin Akhoundzadeh, head of the office for non-Iranian students at the Organization of Student Affairs said on Thursday. In 2013, 18,684 Iranian students were studying in Iran, which increased to 57,675 in 2020, he added, IRNA reported.
Some 25,000 of the students are studying in universities affiliated with the Ministry of Science (4,000 with scholarship, 16,600 without a scholarship, and 10,000 through the Iranian national university entrance exam), while 25,000 others are receiving education in Azad University, and about 2,000 in medical universities, he explained.
— Vacation destinations in northern Iran: Gilan awaits you with wonders
The lush green Gilan province, bounded by the Caspian Sea and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the north, is one of the most picturesque places to visit in Iran.
Gilan favors from mild climate and stunning landscape such as sea, dense timberlands, waterfalls, plenty of flowing rivers, green gardens, and the forested coastal plains rise up quickly into the Alborz mountain range. Rasht is the capital city of Gilan province.
— Natanz sabotage is U.S. job, says Iranian MP
Seyed Mahmood Nabavian, a senior Iranian MP, on Friday blamed the U.S. for the sabotage in the Natanz nuclear facility, saying Israel will not do anything without the permission of the United States. “This is the United States of America that has even imposed a medicine embargo on us. The medicine embargo shows America’s cowardice and savagery,” Nabavian said.
Speaking at a ceremony in Qom about the Sabotage attack, he said, “The government wants to say that it is Israel’s job, but it is the United States’ job, unless Israel does something without U.S. permission.”
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