TEHRAN (Iran News) Araghchi made the remarks in a meeting with Asadollah Eshragh Jahromi, the new Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Austria, who met with Iran’s foreign minister before departing for the place of his mission.

Araghchi underlined the importance of pursuing the agenda of the bilateral relations within the framework of the policy of expanding interactions with various countries.

He further wished the new ambassador  the best of luck.

During the meeting, Eshragh Jahromi presented his proposed plans for the expansion of bilateral relations with Austria in various fields.

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France says it was assessing all options in response to Australia’s scrapping of a $40 billion submarine contract last week in favor of a new deal with the U.S. and UK.

The decision enraged France, and earlier in New York, the French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian accused U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration of continuing his predecessor Donald Trump’s trends of “unilateralism, unpredictability, brutality and not respecting your partner.”

European Council President Charles Michel, speaking in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly gathering, stressed that he found the move by Australia, Britain, and the United States difficult to understand.

“Why? Because with the new Joe Biden administration, America is back. This was the historic message sent by this new administration, and now we have questions. What does it mean – America is back? Is America back in America or somewhere else? We don’t know”.

He also questioned that “If China was a main focus for Washington, then it was very strange for the United States to team up with Australia and Britain” he described the new agreement, dubbed AUKUS, a move that weakened the transatlantic alliance.

Top officials from the United States and European Union had been due to meet in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, later for the inaugural meeting of the newly established U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council. Still, Michel says some EU members have been pushing for this to be postponed.

The EU commissioner for internal markets told American media that “something is broken between our relations in Europe and the U.S.” before adding there was a “growing feeling” in Europe over the past few weeks and there had been a “lack of trust and confidence between allies.”

Speaking after a closed-door meeting on the sidelines of the annual UN gathering of world leaders and top officials, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says “Certainly, we were caught by surprise by this announcement.”

Borrell added that “more cooperation, more coordination, less fragmentation” was needed to achieve a stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific region.

In a concrete sign of the EU’s outrage, EU ambassadors postponed preparations for an inaugural trade and technology council on September 29 with the United States. This gathering was being publicized as a significant advance in the transatlantic alliance.

In defense of France, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said, “one of our member states has been treated in a way that is not acceptable, so we need to know what happened and why.”

Speaking from New York, where she is also attending the UN General Assembly, von der Leyen went on to say that the EU “will step up” to build its own defense capabilities.

Diplomats within the bloc say von der Leyen’s EU executive has requested preliminary talks for the U.S. trade and technology council to be taken off this week’s agenda. A spokesperson says the Commission was still determining whether the U.S. meeting should go ahead as planned.

Germany has sided with its biggest European ally. Berlin says Washington and Canberra had damaged trust between partners that would be difficult to rebuild.

The German European affairs minister Michael Roth said the EU needed to overcome its differences and speak with one voice. Speaking to reporters before meeting his counterparts in Brussels, he said, “we all need to sit down at a table; lost trust has to be rebuilt – and this will obviously not be easy.”

Lithuania’s deputy European affairs minister echoed Germany and referred to a “transatlantic mistrust.”

The dispute follows what NATO’s European allies also said was Washington’s failure to communicate and consult with the EU during the chaotic Western withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Australia says the United States’ offer of access to U.S. nuclear technology to build nuclear-propelled submarines was too good to refuse.

It will be only the second country after Britain in 1958 to be given such technology that will supposedly allow Canberra to help Washington prevent China from gaining military supremacy.

Australia said it would cancel its order for submarines from France, which were conventional, diesel-electric powered, and instead turn to U.S. and British nuclear technology under a new security partnership.

France says it could have provided the same nuclear technology if Australia had asked. French Foreign Minister Le Drian has said he wanted to know why his country, which has a strong military presence in the Indo-Pacific, was left completely in the dark.

The spat has also put in doubt free-trade talks between the EU, the world’s biggest trading bloc, and Australia.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly, U.S. President Biden made no direct reference to the controversial new security pact with Canberra and London. On the sidelines of the General Assembly, Biden said, “The United States has no closer or more reliable ally than Australia.” Biden has yet to arrange a call with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who has been left seething following the deal’s announcement.

To make matters worse, according to France’s defense ministry, Australian officials had written to their French counterparts to say they were “satisfied” with how a $90 billion submarine deal was progressing.

The ministry says it received the communication on the same day the U.S, Australia, and the UK announced the deal was being canceled.

A spokesman for the defense ministry also told U.S. media the French feel they have been cheated and blindsided by the announcement.

The spokesman added, “We received an official letter from the Australian ministry of defense, saying that they were satisfied with the advancement of the project and with the submarine’s performance, which meant that we could launch the next phase of development of these submarines… we were very surprised by the announcement, which was not at all in line with the official letter we had received”.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he had tried to call French President Macron on the evening before the announcement. Still, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Canberra only informed Paris one hour before Morrison joined a video link-up with British counterpart Boris Johnson and U.S. President Joe Biden to announce the new deal.

Morrison has also come under attack back home from former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who accused the current PM of not following “basic diplomatic protocol by failing to inform the French government of his decision.”

The former Australian Premier added, “such a failure is not acceptable between adversaries. It is even less so between allies. Besides, Morrison failed to understand the wider implications of his decision for foreign policy, and this is perhaps the most appalling of the whole story”.

French European affairs minister Clement Beaune described relations with Australia now as “very difficult.”

“We cannot act as if nothing happened. We need to look into all options,” Beaune told reporters in Brussels.

EU foreign ministers, meeting in New York, also expressed solidarity with France.

Beaune warmly welcomed the EU support, stressing that this was a European matter, not just a French problem, and the bloc should be more assertive in defending its interests. However, it remains unclear what steps the European Union will take in response.

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According to reports, the delegation will visit Austria on October 17-21 to develop bilateral trade relations.

In the visit, Iranian business activists are to meet their Austrian counterparts as well as some Austrian trade officials.

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The Austrian foreign minister made the remarks on Tuesday in a joint press conference with his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan who traveled to Vienna, where diplomats from Iran and the remaining signatories to the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have been negotiating since early April to revive the JCPOA.

During the last meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, the delegations expressed their satisfaction with the progress made in reviving the nuclear deal, reaffirming their determination and seriousness to pursue the dialogue process with a view to finding solutions to a number of unresolved issues.

Underlining the importance of security of the West Asia region to Vienna, the Austrian foreign minister said, “JCPOA may not be a great deal, but it is better than nothing. Sometimes in politics, the question is whether to wait for a good deal, or you exploit what is available.”

He stated that the efforts of the JCPOA parties to maintain and ensure the full implementation of this agreement are valuable, Iran’s state news IRNA reported.

Schallenberg said he was aware of the alleged concerns of countries in the region about Iran. “But the argument is that you are either saying that I would rather have no agreement until these issues are taken into account, or that we should move step by step.  In my opinion, the JCPOA is a valuable step and dialogue is very important in international politics.”

The Austrian foreign minister stated that in talks with his Saudi counterpart, he had discussed direct talks between Tehran and Riyadh. He called the move encouraging and added, “We have to see if these negotiations will continue in the new government (in Iran).”

He added, “Our goal in Austria is to have strong and friendly relations with all partners throughout the Middle East [West Asia].”

The top Austrian diplomat stressed the importance of regional security architecture and expressed readiness to help in that regard.

Yemen was another issue that the two sides discussed, according to Schallenberg. The Austrian foreign minister described the humanitarian situation in Yemen as catastrophic and said that the situation has recently changed from bad to worse. Without mentioning Saudi Arabia’s deadly attacks in Yemen, he called Ansarallah’s retaliatory actions unacceptable and stressed that the Yemeni crisis must be ended through a political solution, according to IRNA.

The chief Austrian diplomat also expressed concern about the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, adding that the differences between the two countries in this regard are not hidden from anyone.

Responding to a question about his meeting with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Saudi foreign minister said, “We believe that the role of the IAEA is important and it is necessary to support the activities of this organization to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful.”

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In the midst of the Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people all across occupied Palestine, Austria suddenly grabbed the international headlines after it announced that the Israeli flag will be flown over government offices in a show of support for Israel.

In a statement sent to AFP, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz denounced the retaliatory attacks from the Gaza Strip against Israel, saying that he supports Israel in the face of these attacks.

“Israel has the right to defend itself against these attacks. To show our solidarity … we have put up the Israeli flag,” on the chancellery and the Foreign Ministry, the statement added.”

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg also was keen to keep up with his young boss. “We strongly support the security of Israel,” he said.

The Austrian position was met with a combination of anger and condemnation in the region. Iran and Turkey, which work hand-in-hand with other countries to stop the Israeli crimes against civilians in Palestine, both rejected the Austrian ill-advised move.

Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for the Turkish presidency, criticized Kurz’s move, saying it will only encourage Israel to continue its attacks on the Palestinian people.

“This is what encourages Israel to continue its attacks on Palestinian people,” Kalin said in a tweet, according to Anadolu Agency. “I hope those Austrians and Europeans with a sense of reason and morality will reject these disgraceful politics.”

Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay also denounced the Austrian position, saying it will tarnish the image of Kurz.

“With this attitude, the Austrian chancellor has put his signature under Israel’s massacre in Gaza,” Oktay asserted.

In Iran, the resentment was even more evident. Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, was shocked to see the Israeli flag fluttering over Austrian government offices.

Araghchi, currently in Vienna to lead the Iranian negotiating team in the Vienna nuclear talks, expressed dismay at Austria’s decision to hoist the Israeli flag.

“Vienna is the seat of IAEA & UN, and Austria so far [has] been a great host for negotiations. Shocking & painful to see flag of the occupying regime, that brutally killed tens of innocent civilians, including many children in just few days, over government offices in Vienna. We stand with Palestine,” he said on Twitter.

In the meantime, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was paying a visit to Spain on the first leg of a tour of several European countries including Austria. He was planning to visit Austria for bilateral talks. But the foreign minister canceled the visit at the last minute in protest over the Israeli flag display.

The cancellation raised serious doubts about Austria’s reputation as a fair host for international meetings. Austria used to boast about its ability to build relations with all countries and play host to important international events such as the Iran nuclear negotiations. To be fair, Austria has been a capable partner in facilitating or at least playing host to some most important international events. But the continuation of this status hinges on Austria’s ability to avoid taking sides in international conflicts, especially those Austria has no real interest in embroiling itself in.

Araghchi gently reminded the Austrian government that he is conducting talks in Vienna when he said he voiced resentment at the display of the Israeli flag. Araghchi is holding important nuclear talks within a distance of a few meters away from the Austrian Foreign Ministry building. So, the Austrian government must have taken into the account the fact that the flag display would elicit pushback from Iran.

Iran has every right to ponder over whether there has been an intention on the part of Austria to stymie progress in the talks. Israel has been doing everything in its power to derail the Vienna talks. The Israeli officials descended on Washington in the wake of the Biden administration’s decision to resume talks with Iran to dissuade it from entering talks with Iran but they failed to do so.

Israel then began a campaign of harassment against the Palestinians in the West Bank, namely in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, which resulted in the current tragic war on the Gaza Strip, one in which Israel killed a large number of children and women. Israel has sought to use this war to encourage the Biden administration into halting talks with Iran based on claims that Iran had supplied Gaza with rockets. So, is the Austrian government, wittingly or unwittingly, playing into the hands of the Israeli regime’s plan to undercut the Vienna talks?

Regardless of the nuclear talks, Austria now risks being fallen into disrepute in the eyes of hundreds of millions across the globe for its support for an armed-to-the-teeth regime cold-bloodedly killing civilians and putting the lives of journalists in grave danger.

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IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

TEHRAN – The CEO of Imam Khomeini Airport City (IKAC) says talks are underway with German and Austrian flag carriers Lufthansa and Austrian to resume their flights to Iran as soon as possible.

Speaking to IRNA, Mr. Mohammad Mahdi Karbalaei said that the number of flights to Imam Khomeini Airport (IKA) has tripled in recent months comparing to the early months of the current year and it is expected to grow more in upcoming months.

He said since the outbreak of the Coronavirus in Iran and the world, international travels and flights had almost been halted due to the closure of borders, and the number of flights declined significantly and most international flights in the world were almost closed.

He added that in late March and early April of this year and exactly one month after the outbreak of the virus in Iran, the number of arrival and departure flights in the Imam Khomeini Airport decreased by 95 percent but after some months and taking some measures, observing the health protocols and also the demand of the international community for trade ties, the number of flights gradually increased.

Karbalaei further said that according to the statistics, the number of flights has currently been tripled comparing to the early months of the year, admitting that the number of current flights accounts for 10 percent of flights before the pandemic broke out and it is still a long way to back to normal situation.

He admitted that the current issue of decline in flights is universal and it has had negative impact on the world air industry in a way that all major international airports in the world are currently facing with serious economic challenges and most of airlines are facing bankruptcy.

He said but the whole IKAC body as well as domestic and foreign airlines did cooperate to restore flights by observing all health protocols to avoid hurting passengers’ health.

On resumption of flights of foreign airlines to Iran, he said since the outbreak of the virus, talks with airlines have been underway several times in order to assure them of observance of health protocols at Imam Khomeini Airport, noting that currently Qatar Airways, Emirates, and Turkish Air have restored their flights to Imam Khomeini Airport and last week talks with officials of Germany’s Lufthansa and Austria’s Austrian airlines began for resumption of talks.

Karbalaei admitted that the economy of airport city has seriously affected by the virus, saying that city airport is administered through two ways of aviation and non-aviation revenues. He added that currently due to the global crisis in air industry, the city is working to develop its economic sector and focusing on the special economic zone of IKAC.

He said that attention to the surge in production and boom in the zone through offering services to investors, producers and traders as well as developing ways of commercial revenues are of the major programs of the city.

On the probable rise in the air ticket fare, he said that the company has currently no intention for increasing the price of services at the airport, and the current prices are the same.

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IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

TEHRAN – Iran–Austria Joint Chamber of Commerce is to hold a webinar on the condition of business and trade in Austria on Monday, November 9.

According to the chamber, the specialized webinar will be held in collaboration with the chamber and Austria’s Embassy in Tehran as well as legal Austrian institute DORDA, and it will be focused on the business in Austria for introducing business condition in Austria to Iranian economic activists and companies which are interested in entering this European market.

In this virtual event which will be held on November 9 afternoon, some topics related to the trade opportunities for Iranian trade and companies in Austria and related mechanism for launching companies in this country as well as how they can open banking accounts or get residence.

In this webinar, Austrian Ambassador Christoph Grabmayr, DORDA senior associate Mr. Elmar Drabek as well las some Austrian experts are to participate and to answer the questions.

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French weekly Charlie Hebdo is a satirical weekly known as a far-rightist which hits the news-stands on Wednesdays in France.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

The hidden nature of this magazine is Zinonist-oriented and it has a critical rhetoric and it also pursues the hypocritical anti-racism policy with announcing that it pursues anti-religion policy.

Kind of approach, attitude and articles of this magazine is against religions from Islam to Christianity and rarely against Judaism. This magazine has started its German language version since December 1, 2016 with circulation of 200,000 copies for distribution in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Charlie Hebdo first appeared in 1970 as a companion to the monthly Hara-Kiri magazine which was being published between 1960 and 1961 and it was banned several times. The French government first in 1970 banned Hara-Kiri and once banned it at the order of French Interior Minister for mocking the death of former French president Charles de Gaulle. In 1981 its publication ceased, but the magazine was resurrected in 1992 by some of its experienced staff under the new name of Charlie Hebdo (the name is an innuendo to Charles de Gaulle). The number of circulation of the magazine was low and public criticism about the magazine’s low quality content almost closed it down till a group mostly Jews, it is better to say with Zionist intention and support, joined the magazine’s staff and they published new Charlie Hebdo Weekly in 1992.

One of the known goals of the weekly is to spread hatred among ethnics in France first and Europe the next. This weekly has taken a dangerous and at the same time sacrilegious action to incite Muslims’ sentiments so that one is ashamed to go through its content.

Before Charlie Hebdo commits such a flagrant offense, it was first a Danish magazine which had started such a dirty move which faced world Muslims’ anger. Publication of derogatory anti-Islam cartoons first was hit the news-stands some 15 years ago by a Danish newspaper, and one year later, Charlie Hebdo continued publishing derogatory caricature. This offensive action was faced backlashes and faced Muslims’ angry protests. The French weekly by publishing the offensive caricature intended to show “All Muslims are terrorists”.

This weekly in an article on the occasion of re-printing its derogatory caricature rudely emphasized that it would never retreat and would not budge an inch.”

Republication of that offensive cartoon happened on Saturday, September 5, which was brought from the digital version of the weekly into the printed version and it was distributed in the news-stands and infuriated millions of Muslims and wounded their hearts and souls.

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in a statement condemned this painful action. All organizations and personalities also condemned it and called it one of the methods of Zionists for fight with the daily growth of Islamic thoughts in the biggest phenomenon, dubbed Islamic Revolution, and warned of its dire consequences. The world witnessed staging protest rallies against this dirty act. On Wednesday and at Imam Hussein Square (A) of Tehran, people gathered to stage a protest gathering in condemnation of this French weekly rudeness and they condemned Charlie Hebdo’s act in a statement with one prelude and five articles as some part of the statement reads as follows:

“1 – We strongly and whole-heartedly express our heartily hatred and anger toward this offensive insult to the word of Allah and sacred realm of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the western countries, and strongly condemn humiliating silence of French officials under pretext of freedom of expression especially French President’s unacceptable justifications for this horrible sacrilegious act.

2 – With full awareness and not being negligent about anti-human plots of the enemy No.1 of the humanity, we still consider the Great Satan and criminal U.S. and its illegitimate child, fake and child-killer Zionist regime as the mother of all corruptions of the century and we consider whatever action that is geared towards Islamophobia and adversarial moves targeting billions of freedom-seeking people’s sanctities to be an outcome of their hostile policies and sinister plots.

3- We call on all international communities and all freedom-seekers and Muslims in the world and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s statesmen especially its Foreign Ministry, by taking strong and decisive stand against the shameful insults regarding the most sacred of all sanctities, the Word of God and Prophet (PBUH), take strong and decisive action and not to be content only with minimum condemnation.

4- Unforgivable betrayal of the doomed UAE leaders and allies of the Great Satan against Islam and Muslims for normalizing humiliating ties with the fake regime and usurper of first Qibla of Muslims is strongly condemned and we warn of repetition of such a crime and unforgiveable betrayal by any other unwise leader of Arab countries.

5- By practical commitment to the progressive principle of Velayat-e Faqih, we consider the secret of grandeur and power of the country of Imam Zaman (A) and bliss of all in the full obedience to the valuable recommendations of great and respected leader of Islamic ummah, and we announce our readiness to fight to death to protect insight, awareness and performing our duties.”

It seems the French Government to shut down this magazine for one year because in the past the weekly has been closed down due to its insult to former French President De Gaulles and if this government does not close the publication for its desecration by resorting to false pretexts like freedom of expression, it is undoubtedly the accomplice of Charlie Hebdo’s crime and it should wait for its consequence and punishment.

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