In his first interview with IRIB as president, Raisi added, he had announced before that negotiation over the nuclear agreement otherwise known as the JCPOA was on his administration’s agenda.

He however noted, Iran wants all sanctions lifted, adding he will not retreat an iota from the rights of the Iranian people.

The Iranian president rejected the idea of talks for the sake of talks and said Tehran wants result-based negotiations to get the sanctions removed and improve people’s livelihoods.

He also spoke of Afghanistan, saying the US oppression inflicted a big wound on Afghanistan.

He cited international organizations as saying 30 thousand Afghan children have been maimed in the US war.

Raisi said Iran has hosted 3 million Afghan refugees whose rights have been infringed by the US-led occupation of their country.

The president reiterated that the way forward in Afghanistan is to form a government elected by Afghans themselves.

He added, “Afghanistan security is our security and our priority is to have relations with neighbors”.

Raisi said he held talks with more than 50 officials from different countries over Afghanistan and the discussions will continue.

Raisi also touched on economic opportunities in Iran and urged Iranians living abroad to invest inside their country.

Raisi said government bodies have been instructed to receive foreign investments.

In other remarks, Raisi said a big percentage of Iran’s production capacity remains intact, “40 percent of factories are not operating due to different reasons,  Iran plans to ramp up production and the prospects are very promising.”

Raisi urged manufacturers to increase their production as plans are afoot to begin exports of Iranian goods.

He also said that people’s damaged confidence should be recovered by remaining true to promises in a way that people feel government’s honesty.

Raisi referred to the first and foremost issue that has entangled the country, namely the coronavirus pandemic, praising health staff, the scientists who devoted themselves to produce vaccines for the virus and the people who voluntarily came to help the health system.

He also condoled with those people who have lost their loved ones because of the virus and underlined that his administration recognized the pandemic as a priority which needed an immediate but wise solution.

However, the administration came to the assessment that domestic production couldn’t meet demands, Raisi added, as 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccine was certainly needed.

The President noted that he included the issues of importing vaccines in his conversations with some world leaders and the import of 40 million doses was secured this way.

Any decision to reopen schools and education centers requires vaccination of vast majority of people, Raisi said as the school year is looming in Iran. He added that this necessitates buying COVID-19 vaccines from foreign sources, besides supporting domestic production.

He also called on people to observe health protocols, including keeping social distance and reducing contacts outside their homes.

The President vowed to supply 40 million doses of coronavirus vaccines by September 22, as he has tasked Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Health Ministry and the Basij forces as well as a number of other governmental bodies with prioritizing the supply of national and foreign currency for this purpose.

People’s damaged confidence must be restored, he highlighted, adding that this could be fulfilled by being true to promises and people should be informed of details if there was an obstacle in the way.

Raisi said that he has created a department within the president’s office to follow up decisions made during provincial trips to address problems in any region in the country and the unit has been tasked with reporting on the issue to the president.

He ensured Iranians that there was no problem with basic goods in the country, as there have been measures taken during his less than a month into office.

The President noted that there was a dormant capacity in production sector, amounting to 40 percent of plants and workshops, and said his administration has a plan on the agenda to reactivate the latent wealth.

The mastermind of the administration’s economic performance is a group of people in and outside the government, Raisi underlined, adding that they would survey the condition and present their solutions to the administration’s economic headquarters so that they would be able to decide accordingly.

The administration will make no out-of-the-blue decision, he insisted, the people would be informed continually and all economic plans and discussions within the administration would be supervised by the First Vice President who has been appointed as the coordinator of the administration’s economic team.

Investing in Iran is secure, foreseeable and assessed, the President underlined, inviting investors in Iran and from abroad to invest, as the administration is activating tourism and sea economy.

The President insisted on his campaign promise of building 1,000,000 houses every year and said that this was the minimum of the country’s current need and the required legislation was in place to fulfil the promise.

On his other campaign promise, Raisi said that he has tasked his administration staff to locate corruption venues and holes as a special duty and that he was going to announce an anti-corruption charter.

He persisted that he would be closely in contact with ordinary people, as he has been during his previous job as Chief of the Judiciary and his trip to two provinces as President.

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Some 35,000 volunteer forces have taken part in the national plan, IRIB reported.

In December 2020, the first phase of the plan named after martyr Qassem Soleimani started to help contain the disease.

Aimed at cutting the transmission chain of the disease, the plan is being implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, Basij, and the Red Crescent Society, through which volunteer forces provide information, testing, diagnosis, referral of suspects to health centers, and offer services by visiting people’s homes.

One of the most valuable measures of the plan was to prevent the death of 400 people across the country, and today it continues focusing on vaccination with the opening of centers within the next two weeks, Hassan Hassanzadeh, Commander of Mohammad Rasulullah Corps said.

It is planned to prepare and educate the people to follow the health protocols, and there are also diagnostic treatment cards and home quarantine among the programs, he added.

Hassanzadeh went on to note that the Basij is directly involved in vaccination in 40 centers, and Mohammad Rasulullah Corps is operating in 30 vaccination centers.

Volunteer efforts in light of pandemic

In the fight against coronavirus, the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), Basij along with the Ministry of Health and other responsible organizations, has undertaken important activities, from rapid diagnosis and screening to providing medical services and shelter, but the most important activity of this population has been informing the public about healthcare and treatment.

Since the onset of the outbreak, more than 980 voluntary plans and projects to contain the epidemic has been implemented across the country, with 72,694 volunteers participating in the implementation of these projects, Karim Hemmati, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, said in May 2020.

The first phase of public donations was allocated to provide health and essential items for the deprived and unprivileged areas, and besides, 500,000 patients suffering special diseases were provided with essential health items, he stated.

Through the second phase, the IRCS, to provide medical items for COVID-19 patients in hospitals, purchased 100 ventilators worth approximately 160 billion rials (around $3.8 million), 52 devices have been provided with the help of charities and public participation, he added.

With the efforts of the Basij, the Soleimani plan decreased the transmission chain of the disease by 50 percent.

Some 22,530 monitoring teams have been formed within the framework of the plan since December 2020 with 103,000 members, of which more than 270,000 are in contact to identify COVID-19 patients, said Jafar Sadeq-Tabrizi, head of the Network Management Center of the Ministry of Health.

Some 6,730 home care teams have been formed in the country with the participation of 18,000 forces, who have taken care of 41,000 people at home, and rapid result tests have been performed on 7,500 suspects, he explained.

Since December 2020, with the participation of 61,000 people, more than 10,000 monitoring teams have been formed. About 782,000 visits and monitoring of various places and centers have been formed.

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“If we look at history, we see that we have never been defeated by the enemies, and if there was a weakness, it was due to the weakness of our faith, not the power of the enemy,” the top military official said in the western province of Kermanshah.

The power of the enemies is just in appearance and according to the Quranic teachings if all the infidels and enemies gather, they will not be able to make even one mosquito and they will not have the slightest value before God, he said.

However, he said, the Basiji forces and sincere forces of the Islamic world are dear to God, as they are sublime.

Emphasizing that Basij will put an end to the problems and dangers that are being created for the Iranian nation, the IRGC commander-in-chief stated, “The job of Basij is to rescue. We have a powerful force that we use to solve problems wherever the country faces problems, and Basij is in the realm of reality and in the field of solving the problems of society.”

Recalling the history of the Basij since the victory of the Islamic Revolution until now, which has been accompanied by continuous brilliance, General Salami said during the Sacred Defense the Basij was the focal point of ending the war in favor of the Iranian nation.

Iran refers to resistance against the invading Saddam army in the 1980s as Sacred Defense.

“After the era of Sacred Defense, Basij continues to work vigorously and in the service of the people in all difficult crises, including natural disasters or pressures imposed on the Iranian nation by the enemies.”

Salami pointed out that the activity that what Basiji forces are doing today is in line with the activities they have done in the past and their activity is moving in a long and endless path, which is to serve the people.

“The enemies are waiting for opportunities at the same time and have come to the scene with all the means to paralyze our economy and separate our people from the system,” he said.

Salami noted that the enemies want to block the path of jihad for the Iranians.

“They cut off our external connection with the Islamic world to finally surrender us, but all these dreams failed,” he highlighted.

The commander mentioned the Basij as a place for training the righteous and devotees. “Certainly, people who grow up in such a spiritual atmosphere can be prepared to serve the country and the Islamic Revolution.”

Salami stated that the enemies of Islam tried hard, but the more they try, the more they sink into the swamp.

He added, “By relying on God Almighty, sanctions are becoming ineffective one by one, and with the efforts of the faithful and talented youth of this region, we are making significant progress day by day in all areas.”

The commander pointed out that the Islamic Republic’s plan is not to fail.

“We plan to win and conquer larger arenas, and our jihad is to win against the extravagance of the enemies,” he added.

He described Basij as “a school of love and a center for education, training, and character building of young people” who are known as a model of society.

The general said that the Basij is trying to win the hearts and minds of the people. “We in the Basij must act as a refuge for the people to solve their problems.”

“Despite all the conspiracies and tricks, today the enemies of the Iranian nation have realized that the military threat against us is ineffective.” Salami said, adding, “Our enemies are not idle and are using every means to strike at the Revolution and the holy system of the Islamic Republic. They are not accountable, and if they take military action against Islamic Iran, it will backfire and they regret it.”

“Any military act will backfire on perpetrators”

The commander also warned the enemies that any military action against Iran will backfire on the perpetrators.

He stressed that all the conspiracies against the country are doomed to failure.

“Despite all of their plots and contrivances, the enemies of the Iranian nation have found out today that [issuing] military threats against us is useless,” Press TV quoted Salami as saying.

Such an option “does not bring them [their expected] outcome,” he said. “If they resorted to military action against Iran, they would get the opposite result and end up regretting [it].”

“However,” the top general said, “military warfare does no longer rank among the enemy’s choices.”

The adversaries even stopped short of conquering the battlefield through their proxies, including Takfiri terrorists, he remarked.

He said now that the enemies have lost hope of military action against Iran, they have taken aim at the Islamic Republic’s economy.

In remarks on Monday, he added though economic sanctions put pressure on the nation, they will lead to the victory of Islamic Iran.

In his Tuesday remarks, he said the enemies have also started targeting the people’s affinity with the country’s establishment and the nation’s sense of hope.

However, all of the enemies’ provocative schemes are doomed to fail, he noted.

The general added the Iranian youths are nullifying all of the enemies’ sanctions and realizing remarkable instances of advancement every day.

“We have blocked the enemies’ path and their calculations aimed at sowing sedition [among the nation] will get nowhere,” he said.

“They have been defeated in all of these dreams,” said the commander, adding the more they try, the more frustration they would experience in their efforts to target the Islamic Republic.

The senior general went on to say that the Islamic Republic’s goal no longer rested only in avoiding defeat, asserting the country was now in pursuit of victory and conquest of greater arenas.

“We stand until the end, and the end of this steadfastness equals complete decline of an enemy, whom as we see is experiencing its twilight [era],” he stated.

Earlier on Sunday, General Salami also hailed the Iranian nation’s vigilance against the hostile plans for inciting insecurity and creating problems in the country.

He was indirectly referring to a series of protests in the southwestern province of Khuzestan over water shortages which have been misused by the opponents of the Islamic Republic and Persian language media outlets based in the West.

In his Sunday remarks, the commander also said the enemies are trying to create insecurity in Iran’s border areas.

“Afflicting insecurity on Islamic countries’ borders, including those of Iran, has invariably formed one of the enemies and foreigners’ strategies,” he stated.

“However, they will take this dream to their graves,” he added.

“Our borders are safe and strong, and the Islamic Iran’s youths are standing strong and preserving the security,” he noted while visiting the western border province of Kordestan’s Sanandaj County.

The commander made the remarks during a ceremony entitled to commemorating those who have been martyred in the service of defending the country.

He acknowledged the province’s decades-old sacrifices in the face of the “vehement invasions” that the global arrogant powers have been waging against the country on various fronts, Press TV reported.

General Salami also paid tribute to the province’s ongoing endeavors towards ensuring the country’s security.

Earlier this week, General Salami paid a visit to Khuzestan, where he said that the IRGC will stay with the people of Khuzestan until problems in the province are resolved.

Speaking on the sidelines of his visit to Khuzestan on Saturday, Salami said the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbia Construction Headquarters has laid hundreds of kilometers of water pipes in different areas and stationed tankers in villages to alleviate the water shortage problem.

Regarding the sewage system in Ahwaz, the provincial capital of Khuzestan, the Khatam al-Anbia Construction Headquarters has signed a contract and provided equipment for the project, he added, according to Press TV.

“The important point I want to make is that we are committed and loyal to these people. We will not leave them alone and we will stand with them during hardships, as was the case in the 2019 flood,” Salami asserted.

“We will work with these people until the work is done and we will never leave them alone.”

Referring to Khuzestan’s resistance during the eight years of war imposed on Iran by Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein, the IRGC chief said the province “is not only important but also sacred to us.”

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According To Iran News, Iran’s Basij (mobilization) Force Commander Brigadier General Gholam Reza Soleimani said it plans to unveil a strategic plan in the coming days.

Speaking to Tasnim in the central city of Kashan on Saturday, Brigadier General Soleimani said the Basij Force has prepared “a strategic document” that has envisaged future plans for the next 10 years of the organization.

The document is based on Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s statement on “the second phase of the revolution”, he said.

The commander went on to say that the strategic plan will be unveiled on Wednesday.

In February 2019, Ayatollah Khamenei issued a statement to explicate the achievements of the Islamic Revolution in the past four decades and outline the “second phase of the revolution” and its necessities.

In the major and strategic statement released on February 13 on the occasion of the beginning of the fifth decade of the Islamic Revolution, the Leader thanked the Iranian nation for magnificent presence in the countrywide demonstrations in celebration of the 40th anniversary of victory of the revolution.

In the statement, addressing the younger generation, the Leader explicated the glorious achievements of the Islamic Republic over the past forty years, highlighted the realistic hope for the future and the role of the youth in making great strides towards the aspirations, and outlined the necessary elements for such a great move in 7 chapters.

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IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

TEHRAN – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has lauded the Iranian nation’s tremendous victory in thwarting a “dangerous” enemy plot to take advantage of the government’s gas price hike as an opportunity to commit acts of violence and vandalism in line with a subversive agenda.

Ayatollah Khamenei was addressing members and commanders of Iran’s volunteer Basij force in Tehran on Wednesday on the occasion of the Basij Week. The week marks the anniversary of the Basij force’s creation in the months leading to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution under the direction of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini.

The Leader noted that the enemies had hatched a “profound, extensive, and very dangerous” plot against the country, and were seeking to enact the conspiracy through acts of destruction, homicide, and mischief.

“The issue of gasoline was the opportunity they had in mind, and [therefore] brought their legion into the scene,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. “However, the Iranian nation destroyed the enemy’s act in a glorious display [of national presence].”

Using a recent hike in the price of gasoline as a pretext, foreign-backed riotous elements began staging acts of violence across the country, setting fire to, looting, and vandalizing public facilities, including banks, gas stations, and department stores.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the show of national will in the face of the adversarial drive was to be valued higher than the measures taken by Basij, the IRGC, and the Law Enforcement Force to contain the violence.

The Leader described the great national movement, which began in the northwestern cities of Zanjan and Tabriz, and even reached some rural areas before culminating in Tehran, as “a slap” dealt to the global arrogance and Zionism, forcing them to retreat.

The nation’s main enemies comprehend the meaning and message conveyed by the national drive, the Leader stated. “This past week truly witnessed the height of the Iranian nation’s glory and magnificence. We are grateful towards God and are thankful towards the dear people, too,” Ayatollah Khamenei noted.

The Leader said the hegemonic system and the U.S. have expended all in their power since the Islamic Revolution to confront Iran’s Islamic establishment.

The establishment, however, has grown in power and strength every day and come to flaunt these qualities before the enemy’s eyes, Ayatollah Khamenei added.

The Leader warned that expansive and magnificent institutions such as Basij in Iran and its kindred organizations in some other countries were more likely to be targeted by the global hegemony’s adversarial plots.

“Victory is guaranteed for the Iranian people, Basij, and the country’s revolutionary movement,” the Leader stated, citing the divine pledge of assistance to those following the divine path.

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The Islamic Revolution Leader appreciated efforts of ex-commanders in both positions and called on the new appointees to ramp up efforts to ensure Iran’s security and tap into potentials of the youth generation.

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A host of Basiji students from Iranian universities and seminaries warned the Expediency Council about the dangers and threats of Iran’s accession to the convention against the funding of terrorism (CFT).

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 The Commander of Iran’s Basij Resistance Force Gholamhossein Gheybparvar has called on the Basiji forces to have a more active presence in the cyberspace.

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“You are not alone … Basij’s experts are at your service in medicine, industry, and other areas,” Gheybparvar said, urging the government to pave the way for the Basij forces to act as a panacea for the country’s problems.

He also called for decisive legal action against hoarders, describing them as similar to Daesh (ISIL) terrorists in being merciless toward people.

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 The Commander of Iran’s Basij Resistance Force Gholamhossein Gheybparvar said on Wednesday that Basij is ready to help government in solving economic issues.

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