IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

TEHRAN – Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday that it is natural for U.S. and European countries to heap up accusations against Iran as they oppose the country’s growth and progress.

“Today, they are against what IRGC did to make Iran stronger, and this is natural,” Raisi stressed.

He strongly ruled out U.S. and some European countries’ accusations that the recent Noor-1 satellite launch was in breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

“We should not pay attention to this ballyhoo, rather we should continue the course with more power,” he said.

Touching upon May 1 and the Labor Day, he pointed to the key role of workers in surge in production, adding that without workers’ efforts it would be impossible to materialize the slogan of the year “Surge in Production.”

He also blasted some countries which criticize the health condition of prisoners in Iran’s prisons, adding that they criticize while they ignore furloughs granted by the Judiciary to prisoners whereas prisoners’ condition in those countries is worsening.

He blasted those countries double-standard approach towards the prisoners’ health condition and human rights. Raisi reiterated that world public opinion will not accept such contradictory behaviors from those who claim defending human-rights.

Reacting to government officials’ reactions to the Supreme Audit Court’s recent report on missing of some $4.8b, Hojjatoleslam Raisi defended the report, reiterating that the Judiciary have started probe and will strongly confront with the offenders.

He once again underscored that the Judiciary will not be affected by recent attacks and criticisms on the Supreme Audit Court’s report and urged the critics to abide by law.

He added that the Judiciary would welcome any transparency from any organ, adding that all organs should also welcome transparency and should not let improper comments and remarks overshadow probes in the case.

He further said that a work group has been formed to pursue the case of missing dollars where representatives of the related bodies are also present.

Raisi said that his colleagues in the Judiciary will probe the case very carefully and will announce its result publicly.

The Director of the Supreme Audit Court of Iran (SAC), Adel Azar, has recently in a Majlis open session read the court’s report, claiming almost $5b is missing.

Based on the official rate of 42,000 rials for one dollar, the government distributed billions of cheap dollars among local importers to buy essential goods from overseas.

Nevertheless, according to the SAC director, Adel Azar, $4.8 billion has been distributed, but no goods and products have been imported. The cheap dollars provided by the government for imports is in effect a subsidy.

The Judiciary Chief also noted that 26 managers and staff of the Central Bank have been prosecuted on their offences regarding allocation of forex.

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According To Iran News, Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday summoned Kuwait’s charge d’affaires over a recent anti-Iran meeting between some Kuwaiti officials and a representative of a separatist group.

The Kuwaiti charge d’affaires in Tehran went to the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday to receive Iran’s strong protest against the anti-Iran session in the Arab country which was held between Kuwaiti officials and a representative of a terrorist group that pursues separatist goals.

The Foreign Ministry reminded the Kuwaiti official that such moves show a blatant interference in the Islamic Republic’s internal affairs and are a clear violation of the amicable ties between the two neighboring countries.

The charge d’affaires was also notified that countries cannot shirk responsibility in such cases.

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IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

President Hassan Rouhani says the country is ready to sit for talks with the United States shortly after Washington removes the unlawful anti-Iran sanctions.

“If America lifts the sanctions, we are ready to talk and negotiate, even at the level of heads of the 5+1 countries (major powers),” Rouhani said in a Wednesday gathering.

He said Tehran hasn’t closed the window on talks with the U.S. but reiterated his government’s standing condition that the Trump administration lift sanctions imposed on Iran before any negotiations can take place.

“We wanted to break this plot and conspiracy, and tell the world we have no problem for talks and connection, but we want the U.S. president to remove all the sanctions first, and then we’ll meet one hour later,” he stressed.

“Whenever the U.S. is ready to set aside its wrong, unlawful, cruel, and terrorist sanctions, the leaders of Iran and P5+1 can immediately meet, and we have no problem in this regard,” he added.

There’s no barrier from the Iranian side for meeting with the heads of 5+1 nations, Rouhani said.

He said Iran has no other option but to defy those who imposed sanctions on Tehran, “but we have not closed the window on talks.”

“We are under sanctions, and that’s not our fault. The Zionists and the regional reactionary are the ones who provoked [U.S. to impose] these sanctions. This situation is a [result of] cruel act by the White House.”

“Today we have no way but to resist and stand up to the imposers of the sanctions. But at the same time, we have not closed the door to negotiation. If they are ready to set aside the sanctions, we’d be prepared to talk and negotiate, even at the level of P5+1 leaders. We have already announced it clearly,” he noted.

On recent riots in the country, he called for the release of any unarmed and innocent people arrested during the protests against fuel price increases after two weeks of violent clashes.

“Religious and Islamic clemency should be shown and those innocent people who protested against petrol price hikes and were not armed … should be released,” Rouhani said.

“The aim of our enemies was to endanger the existence of the Islamic republic by igniting riots in Iran… But America and the Zionist regime [Israel] lack political wisdom about Iran and the Iranians,” said the chief commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, in another televised speech last week.

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According To Iran News, The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced on Monday that in a “complicated” operation, it has managed to arrest the head of an anti-Iranian media outlet “directed and supported by France’s intelligence service”.

In a statement on Monday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps announced that Ruhollah Zam, who ran the “counter-revolutionary” website “www.amadnews.org” and Telegram channel “Amadnews”, has been arrested and is in custody.

The IRGC emphasized that Zam had been running extensive psychological warfare in recent years with direct logistical support of foreign intelligence services and counter-revolutionary agents outside the country in order to sow discord inside Iran, stoke Iranophobia, disseminate lies, foment doubt among the young generation about religious beliefs, prepare the ground for acts of violence and terror and create chaos and unrest inside the country.

“This evil mercenary element” was busted during a “sophisticated” intelligence operation, according to the statement.

“Despite being under the guidance of the French intelligence service and the support of the US and Zionist intelligence services…, and being guarded round the clock by various means and covers, he fell into a trap laid by… the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization,” the statement read.

Amadnews was suspended by the messaging app Telegram last year after Iran accused it of carrying calls for violence during protests that started in late 2017 and continued across the country. But the channel soon reappeared under a new name.

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He also said these groups include terrorists and criminals who have the blood of thousands of Iranian people on their hands and served as Saddam Hussein’s mercenaries in the 1980-1988 war imposed on Iran.

They also include certain separatists who are on the payroll of foreigners and seek to harm the country’s territorial integrity, the Foreign Ministry’s website quoted Mousavi as saying.

Mousavi made the remarks in response to the reports that anti-Iran terrorist and separatist groups are to be gathered together by a cover organization called “United Against Nuclear Iran”, in a ridiculous show, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo playing the main role.

The Iranian spokesman strongly condemned such moves by Washington, especially by the US state secretary.

“Of course, they are just disgracing themselves because our beloved homeland has been proud and stable for thousands of years and will remain strong and solid for thousands more, and the enemies and mercenaries will not be able to inflict the slightest damage on it,” he underlined.

“These futile struggles will be broken by the unity of the Iranian nation and government as proven during the imposed war and in various incidents,” Mousavi added.

The spokesperson emphasized that Iran would begin the process of considering adding the US cover organization “United Against Nuclear Iran” to its list of terrorist groups soon, due to its close cooperation with terrorist groups.

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He added that such measures will not get anywhere and will only add “dark pages” to the history of the US’ conspiracies against Iranians.

The spokesman went on to say that the US officials will definitely be held accountable for their actions someday.

The spokesman’s remarks came after the US State Department announced a reward of up to $15 million for any person who helps Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, which includes zeroing out Iran’s oil sales.

The reward was declared by Brian Hook, who made a series of allegations against Iran and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) during a press conference on Wednesday.

Hook also announced new sanctions against what he called a “shipping network”, including 11 vessels and 25 entities and individuals involved in Iran’s oil trade.

On Friday, the US blacklisted the Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, formerly known as Grace 1, and sanctioned its captain, according to the US Treasury Department.

A report by The Financial Times revealed Wednesday that four days before the US imposed sanctions on the tanker, the vessel’s Indian captain received an unusual email from Hook.

According to several emails seen by the Financial Times, Hook wrote to Akhilesh Kumar on August 26 that the Trump administration was offering him several million dollars to pilot the ship to a country that would impound the vessel on behalf of the US. To make sure the captain did not mistake the email for a scam, it included an official state department phone number.

Hook has emailed or texted roughly a dozen captains in recent months in an effort to scare mariners into understanding that helping Iran evade sanctions comes at a heavy price, the report added.

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Cairo did not send a delegation to the meeting, the latest gathering held to advance the US-led effort to bind Arab allies into a security, political and economic pact to counter Iran, the source said.

Uncertainty about whether US President Donald Trump will win a second term next year and whether a successor may ditch the initiative contributed to the Egyptian decision, the Arab source said.

“It’s not moving well,” a Saudi source said of the initiative.

The so-called initiative, which Saudi Arabia first proposed in 2017, also is aimed at limiting the growing regional influence of Russia and China, according to a classified White House document.

The Egyptian embassy in Washington and the White House did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

In addition to the United States and Saudi Arabia, the MESA participants include the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Jordan.

Two days after the Riyadh meeting, Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visited Washington for talks with Trump. Before the meeting, Trump said they would talk about security issues, but it was not clear whether they discussed MESA issue.

Two sources said the countries remaining in MESA were moving ahead with the initiative and would press Egypt diplomatically to revoke its withdrawal, with one saying that the decision did not appear to be final.

“We all want them back,” said the other source.

The withdrawal of Egypt, which has the Arab world’s largest military, is the latest setback to the so-called MESA initiative, informally referred to as the “Arab NATO.”

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“Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that #WarsawCircus begins? Especially when cohorts of same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with twitter bots?” Zarif said in a post on his official Twitter account.

“US seems to always make the same wrong choices, but expect different results,” he added.

It came after a terrorist attack against members of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) killed more than 20 people in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan on Wednesday.

The IRGC personnel were traveling between the cities of Zahedan and Khash, in Sistan and Baluchestan, when their bus was targeted in a suicide car bomb attack.

The IRGC’s Quds Base said in a statement that an explosives-laden car rammed into the bus, which was taking the personnel back to their homes.

The attack killed 27 IRGC members and injured 13 others.

The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

Earlier in the day, the anti-Iran summit organized by the United States kicked off in Poland.

The Warsaw conference is considered as part of US attempts to heap pressure on Iran globally.

Since withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal last year, the US administration has steadily ratcheted up pressure on Tehran and vowed to increase it until Iran halts what US officials describe as its “malign activities” throughout the Middle East and elsewhere.

As part of its policy of maximum pressure, Washington in early November re-imposed what it called the harshest-ever sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The meeting has, however, received a cold welcome from Washington’s European allies, which are engaged in a diplomatic process with Tehran aimed at saving the 2015 nuclear deal.

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