Moderate earthquake jolts southern Iran

TEHRAN: Iran’s state TV says a magnitude 5.3 earthquake has jolted a sparsely populated district in the south of the country. The quake was moderate and no injuries were reported.

The TV says the quake struck in Shonbeh on Thursday morning, at 04:01 a.m. local time (Wednesday 23:31 GMT).Last April, a magnitude 6.1 quake killed dozens and injured hundreds in the same district but authorities said it did not damage the nearby nuclear reactor in Bushehr, about 96 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Shonbeh.

Iran sits on a series of seismic fault lines and experiences one slight earthquake a day on average.

In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.

 

White House to Iran: No visa for UN envoy pick

WASHINGTON: The United States, in a rare diplomatic rebuke, will not grant a visa to Tehran's pick for envoy to the United Nations, the Obama administration said Friday.

The move could complicate efforts to thaw the decades-long diplomatic freeze between the US and Iran, as the two countries negotiate a deal to curb Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

President Barack Obama's administration had previously said only that it opposed the nomination of Hamid Aboutalebi, who was a member of the group responsible for the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran as a revolution erupted in Iran. US officials had hoped the issue could be resolved by Tehran simply withdrawing the nomination.

That did not happen, so the US made the unusual, if not unprecedented, move to not grant a visa to a U.N. ambassadorial nominee.

"We've communicated with the Iranians at a number of levels and made clear our position on this - and that includes our position that the selection was not viable," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "Our position is that we will not be issuing him a visa."

Aboutalebi is alleged to have participated in a Muslim student group that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days during the takeover. His nomination has outraged members of Congress, who passed a bill barring entry to the US to an individual found to be engaged in espionage, terrorism or a threat to national security.

Carney would not say whether Obama would sign the bill but said the president shares its sentiments.

United Nations officials had no immediate comment on the US decision.

Iran passes law to boost cooperation with Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Despite tensions prevailing between Pakistan and Iran in the past few months over incidents on the Pak-Iran border in Balochistan and Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province, Sunday saw a marked difference.

Iran's parliament adopted a bill which seeks to enhance security cooperation with Pakistan which The News understands would bind the two countries to cooperate against terrorist and militant groups on the border.

This week will also see the navies of the two countries carrying out joint military exercises in Iran. Despite reaching out to the Foreign Office and the Inter Services Public Relations, there was no response for more details. Neither was there any statement on their websites in what is an important development.

It is unbelievable that when there are efforts for an improvement in bilateral relations between Pakistan and an important neighbour, both the civil and military authorities maintain a stony silence.

The passing of a bill in parliament and news of naval exercises between the two navies come on the eve of a visit to Tehran by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for which both sides are working on mutually agreed dates.

Recently, the Sunni terrorist group Jaish al-Adl which operates on the Iranian border has on several occasions kidnapped and killed Iranian border guards. Pakistan has denied that these activities take place on its territory. Only recently relations had soured to an extent that the Iranian interior minister threatened hot pursuit inside Pakistan to recover six kidnapped border guards. His threat came as a result of an uproar in the Iranian parliament which demanded that the government seeks the release of its border guards.

Pakistan reacted quickly warning Iran that it had no authority and such an act would be seen as violation of international law. Consequently five of the security guards were handed over to Iranian authorities but one of them had been killed, with Pakistan once again saying that all this was done inside Iranian territory.

In the past this same terrorist group had killed a dozen Iranian soldiers. Sunday also saw the Pakistani fleet inside Iranian waters where they would coordinate with Iran for holding of joint military exercises in the Eastern waters of the Strait of Hormuz.

Pakistan's fleet includes a warship, a submarine and a logistics warship. "The most important programme of the Pakistani fleet, during its stay in Bandar Abbas, is to launch joint maneuvers with selected units of Iran's Navy in eastern waters of the Hormuz Strait," Iranian Rear Admiral Shahram Irani told IRNA. Irani also said that the Pakistani flotilla is slated to stay for four days and that the naval drills are part of a broader cooperation between the two countries.

 

Iran passes law to boost cooperation with Pakistan

 

ISLAMABAD: Despite tensions prevailing between Pakistan and Iran in the past few months over incidents on the Pak-Iran border in Balochistan and Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, Sunday saw a marked difference.
Iran’s parliament adopted a bill which seeks to enhance security cooperation with Pakistan which The News understands would bind the two countries to cooperate against terrorist and militant groups on the border.

This week will also see the navies of the two countries carrying out joint military exercises in Iran.Despite reaching out to the Foreign Office and the Inter Services Public Relations, there was no response for more details. Neither was there any statement on their websites in what is an important development.

It is unbelievable that when there are efforts for an improvement in bilateral relations between Pakistan and an important neighbour, both the civil and military authorities maintain a stony silence.

The passing of a bill in parliament and news of naval exercises between the two navies come on the eve of a visit to Tehran by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for which both sides are working on mutually agreed dates.

Recently, the Sunni terrorist group Jaish al-Adl which operates on the Iranian border has on several occasions kidnapped and killed Iranian border guards.Pakistan has denied thatthese activities take place on its territory. Only recently relations had soured to an extent that the Iranian interior minister threatened hot pursuit inside Pakistan to recover six kidnapped border guards. His threat came as a result of an uproar in the Iranian parliament which demanded that the government seeks the release of its border guards.

Pakistan reacted quickly warning Iran that it had no authority and such an act would be seen as violation of international law.Consequently five of the security guards were handed over to Iranian authorities but one of them had been killed, with Pakistan once again saying that all this was done inside Iranian territory.

In the past this same terrorist group had killed a dozen Iranian soldiers.Sunday also saw the Pakistani fleet inside Iranian waters where they would coordinate with Iran for holding of joint military exercises in the Eastern waters of the Strait of Hormuz.

Pakistan’s fleet includes a warship, a submarine and a logistics warship.“The most important programme of the Pakistani fleet, during its stay in Bandar Abbas, is to launch joint maneuvers with selected units of Iran’s Navy in eastern waters of the Hormuz Strait,” Iranian Rear Admiral Shahram Irani told IRNA.Irani also said that the Pakistani flotilla is slated to stay for four days and that the naval drills are part of a broader cooperation between the two countries.

Four abducted soldiers back in Iran

TEHRAN: Four Iranian soldiers abducted by extremists have returned home after being held for two months, state media on Sunday cited the intelligence ministry as saying.

The ministry did not address the fate of Jamshid Danayifar, a fifth soldier abducted along with his fellow border guards on February 6. The Jaishul Adl (Army of Justice) rebel group said Danayifar was executed in late March.

“Four of the abducted border guards returned to the homeland,” the ministry said in a statement carried by state broadcaster IRIB’s website.Reports on Friday said the four, along with Danayifar´s body, had been handed over to Iranian officials after being released. No details were immediately available where the soldiers had been held while prisoner, or how Iran secured their freedom.

The five were abducted in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, while serving their 24-month mandatory military service near the border with Pakistan.The news that Danayifar had been “executed” drew international condemnation, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling it an “appalling act”. A US State Department spokesman called for the “swift release” of the Iranian conscripts.

Jaishul Adl had warned of further killings if Tehran refused to “release their prisoners”. — AFPOnline adds: Four Iranian freed border guards have been received by some Sunni and Baloch influential men and security officials at a frontier point near the provincial capital Zahedan, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

According to the reporter of ‘SunniOnline’, the Iranian hostages have been released after continuous efforts made by prominent religious and tribal elders under the supervision of Islamic Sunni scholar, Mawlana Abdol-Hamid.

The outlawed armed group, Jaish al-Adl, claimed the responsibility of abducting five Iranian border guards on February 8, this year. The spokesman of the group told Iranian news agencies that they released four of the guards to respect the appeal of the tribal and religious elders; however, one of the hostages had been shot dead two weeks ago.

Abducted Iran border guards freed by militant group

TEHRAN: A semi-official Iranian news agency is reporting that an al-Qaida-affiliated militant group Jaish al-Adl operating in a lawless frontier area along the Pakistan-Iran border has released Iranian border guards abducted two months ago.

Friday´s report by the Fars news agency quotes an unnamed official as saying the guards were handed over to Iranian officials in Pakistan. It did not elaborate.

According to Pakistan's Interior Ministry sources this was Iran's internal matter and the guards were released as a part of Tehran's prisoner swap with Jais al-Adl.

In February, the Jaish al-Adl group abducted five Iranian guards outside Sarbaz, a town in Iran´s restive Sistan-Baluchistan province near the border with Pakistan. The guards were reportedly taken to Pakistan.

A local official said last month that one of those abducted was killed. Also in March, Iran´s President Hassan Rouhani phoned Pakistan´s Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif asking for "serious action" to free the guards.

US allows Boeing to sell plane parts to Iran

WASHINGTON: The United States has issued a license allowing Boeing to do business with Iran for the first time since the US embargo of 1979, a company spokesman told AFP Friday.

The license covers a "limited period of time" and allows Boeing only "to provide them spare parts that are for safety purposes."

Boeing will still not be allowed to sell new planes to Iran, the spokesman said.

The license was granted by the US Treasury Department in the context of an interim deal between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program signed in November, the spokesman added.

At the end of February, another US company, General Electric, indicated it had requested permission to sell spare airliner parts to Iran, but so far it has not received a response.

The United States and European nations have imposed severe economic sanctions on Iran in recent years aiming to pressure Tehran to reduce permanently, or at least long term, the scope of its nuclear activities to make it extremely difficult for it ever to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran has always denied any such ambition.

The sanctions were partially lifted in January, after Iran agreed to freeze a part of its contested program.

The West and Tehran are currently negotiating a definitive agreement which would guarantee Iran's nuclear program would be peaceful, and would ultimately lead to all sanctions being lifted.

Washington severed diplomatic relations with Iran in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

 

US allows Boeing to sell plane parts to Iran

WASHINGTON: The United States has issued a license allowing Boeing to do business with Iran for the first time since the US embargo of 1979, a company spokesman told AFP Friday.

The license covers a "limited period of time" and allows Boeing only "to provide them spare parts that are for safety purposes."

Boeing will still not be allowed to sell new planes to Iran, the spokesman said.

The license was granted by the US Treasury Department in the context of an interim deal between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program signed in November, the spokesman added.

At the end of February, another US company, General Electric, indicated it had requested permission to sell spare airliner parts to Iran, but so far it has not received a response.

The United States and European nations have imposed severe economic sanctions on Iran in recent years aiming to pressure Tehran to reduce permanently, or at least long term, the scope of its nuclear activities to make it extremely difficult for it ever to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran has always denied any such ambition.

The sanctions were partially lifted in January, after Iran agreed to freeze a part of its contested program.

The West and Tehran are currently negotiating a definitive agreement which would guarantee Iran's nuclear program would be peaceful, and would ultimately lead to all sanctions being lifted.

Washington severed diplomatic relations with Iran in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Iran seeks UN’s help for release of border guards

 

TEHRAN: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged the United Nations to help secure the release of Iranian border soldiers abducted by extremists, the media reported on Thursday.
Zarif sent a message to UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday evening demanding action from the international community, saying “mere condemnation of acts of terrorism is not enough.” His urgent plea to the UN chief came after Jaish-ul Adl, the rebel group operating in southeast Iran, claimed to have killed one of the five abducted soldiers and threatened further executions. Ban had on Tuesday condemned the reported killing as an “appalling act” and urged that the perpetrators be brought to justice.

The young soldiers, who were serving their 24-month mandatory military service, are believed to have been taken into neighbouring Pakistan after being kidnapped in February. Zarif linked the abduction to what he termed a series of “terrorist atrocities against Iranian citizens, including diplomats and other officials”, according to a copy of his letter to Ban posted on his Facebook page.

He decried action against Iran by “state-sponsored extremist groups, with similar patterns of funding, coordination, support and direction”. Zarif did not name any countries but Iranian officials have pointed the finger of blame at regional rivals for a number of attacks against Iranian diplomatic missions in Lebanon, Pakistan and Yemen.

A diplomatic source in Tehran said the letter could pave the way for a debate within the UN as “state-sponsored terrorism” was a regional issue. Jaish-ul Adl warned of further executions should Tehran refuse to release their prisoners. It claimed responsibility for killing a local prosecutor and 14 Iranian border guards in an ambush in 2013.

Ties with Islamabad have taken hit since the abduction, with Iran criticising what it calls Pakistan’s inability to secure its borders and purge its soil of militants. In a phone call with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani demanded “serious and swift action” to free the soldiers.

Our correspondent adds: Meanwhile, Pakistan categorically denied that the recent killing of an Iranian Border Guard took place on the Pakistan territory and said that managing any border was the responsibility of both the sides.

“We are neither apologetic nor we are expected to be aggressive. As both the sides have repeatedly said, we have a very strong relationship and we will continue to work together with Iran to further strengthen it,” said the Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson.

Five Iranian Border Guards disappeared 10-15 kilometres inside the Iranian territory in the Sistan-Baluchestan province, but Pakistani authorities, after thorough investigations, could not find them nor were there any signs that they were brought inside Pakistan, the FO spokesperson said.

About the recent Iranian rhetoric mostly for domestic consumption, Pakistan says it does not want to take up a very sensitive issue using the media.“We have condemned the killing of the Iranian guard and we have full sympathy with the families and with the Iranian government. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We stand ready, as we have done in the past, to help Iran locate them but we have no indication that they are in the Pakistani territory,” said the spokesperson.

Iran warns Austrian embassy over Ashton meeting with rights activists: IRNA

DUBAI: Iran has warned the Austrian embassy in Tehran after it hosted a meeting between the EU foreign policy chief and Iranian human rights activists during her first visit to Iran over the weekend, the state news agency IRNA said on Monday.
Ashton met several human rights activists including the mother of Iranian blogger Sattar Beheshti at the embassy on Saturday, which coincided with international women's day.
Beheshti died in jail a few days after he was arrested in 2012 over a blog critical of the government.
"These actions (the meeting) will lead to an increased suspicion between our people and the West and it doesn't help relations between Iran and Europe," Iranian foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Afkham had conveyed an official warning to the Austrian embassy in Tehran over the "unplanned meeting," IRNA said, without elaborating. Ashton's two-day visit was the first by an EU foreign policy chief since 2008.
Ashton had said after meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif there was a potential for a dialogue with Tehran over human rights issues in the future.
Human rights activists fear that Tehran's rapprochement with the West since pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani's election in June could lead to a relaxation of international scrutiny of its widely criticised human rights record.
At least 80 people and perhaps as many as 95 have been executed in Iran already this year, a surge in the use of the death penalty that has dampened hopes for human rights reforms under Rouhani, the United Nations said on Feb. 21.

EU chief diplomat Ashton arrives in Iran

TEHRAN: EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who coordinates nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, arrived Saturday in Tehran, media reported, amid a thaw in ties between Iran and the European bloc.
"Ashton and her political and economic delegation arrived in Tehran and were officially welcomed by Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi," official IRNA news agency said.
Ashton's visit is the first to Iran by an EU policy chief since 2008.

Iran, Japan hold ’fruitful’ talks on frozen assets: Zarif

TEHRAN: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday he had held "constructive and fruitful" talks in Japan on repatriating some of Tehran's assets frozen under international sanctions.
Iran and world powers reached a deal in November under which Tehran agreed to temporarily curb parts of its controversial nuclear programme in exchange for limited relief from international sanctions, which included effectively shutting Iran out of the international banking system.
Iran has had said it wants to use Japanese, South Korean and Swiss banks to handle international trade exempted from Western sanctions under the November deal.
Zarif, who met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida Wednesday, said "we reached practical and executive agreement in different areas including the implementation of the financial parts of the Geneva deal, whose results will become clear in banking transactions very soon."
The official IRNA news agency said Zarif, who posted his remarks on Facebook, also asked Japan to play a "more active role" in freeing up Iranian petrodollars, of which a "large part is in Japan."
Japan has traditionally been a major importer of Iranian oil.
The same mechanism would be used for revenues from the slightly more than one million barrels per day in oil exports Iran is allowed to make under the agreement, expected to generate some $15 billion (10.9 billion euros).
And it would handle Iran's petrochemical exports, fully exempted from sanctions, which previously ran at just over $8 billion a year.
In addition, it would be used to manage some $4.2 billion in frozen assets that the European Union and the United States are to release in stages during the next six months.
The United States, other Western powers and Israel have long suspected Iran of using its civil nuclear energy programme as a cover for developing atomic weapons, a charge denied by Tehran.
In return for eased sanctions, Iran undertook to limit enrichment of uranium to five percent purity, halting enrichment to the higher levels that had prompted Western concern on whether its intentions were entirely peaceful.
It also undertook to neutralise existing stockpiles of higher-enriched uranium and to suspend work on a heavy water reactor it had been building.
Talks aimed at reaching a comprehensive and permanent deal are to begin in New York next month.

Minister admits Iran cannot block Facebook forever

TEHRAN: Iran will not be able to keep up forever its ban on legal access to Internet hubs such as Facebook, which has four million Iranian users, Culture Minister Ali Janati said Sunday.
Such remarks by an Iranian official would have been unimaginable before President Hassan Rouhani, a reputed moderate, took office in August with a vow for more freedom.
"Four million Iranians are on Facebook, and we have restricted it," said Janati.
"We cannot restrict the advance of (such technology) under the pretext of protecting Islamic values," said the minister.
Access to the popular social networking site -- along with others which Iranian authorities regard as un-Islamic, immoral or undermining the Islamic establishment -- is obstructed by a massive filtering mechanism.
But tech-savvy Iranians have resorted to measures, known as anti-filters, to circumvent the restrictions.
Janati drew a parallel with a ban on fax machines and video tapes and players imposed the 1979 Islamic revolution.
"If we look back, we see many of the actions we took after the revolution were ridiculous."
Rouhani has adopted a policy that promises greater tolerance on social, cultural and media issues -- a vow that helped him beat his conservative opponents in the presidential election last year.
But the government has faced resistance from hardliners resisting a reversal in such policies.
A committee of 13 members determines what online content can be reached on Iran's Internet, which is notoriously slow.
Unapproved sites are put under the filtering system. The ban includes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and numerous other sites, including blogs.
On Sunday, Janati suggested that the government was working to remove the online constraints.
"The six ministers who are members of the (filtering) committee have clearly stated that we cannot continue to isolate ourselves from the world," he said.
But, he added it would take time.
"However, (filtering) is one of those issues whose solution requires time. And it will be resolved in time," Janati said.
Despite the bans, several Iranian officials are active on social networking sites.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has attracted nearly 850,000 Facebook followers by posting regular updates in Persian, and he operates the only "verified" account of an Iranian official on Twitter.
He also has a YouTube channel.
Several pages are also apparently run by Iranian officials, including a popular Twitter account, @HassanRouhani, believed to belong to the president's office.
Iran's ultimate authority, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also has an online presence, with a Twitter account in Farsi and a Facebook page (facebook.com/www.Khamenei.ir) dedicated to him.