Iran condemns terror attack on Syria

In a message to his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad on Friday, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi condemned the Thursday terrorist attack on a military college in Syria’s western city of Homs which has so far resulted in the death of 90 people and injury of more than 300 others.

“The continuation of terrorist attacks in Syria in recent months is rooted in the intelligence, security, and logistical support for the terrorists with the aim of preventing the formation of stability and establishment of security in this country,” he said, adding that the foreign supporters of these terrorists are acting in line with the interests of the Israeli regime.  

Raisi also called on the relevant international bodies, especially the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), to fulfill their obligations and help the Syrian government in its fight against terrorism. 

Also on Friday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian reaffirmed the president’s remarks during a phone call with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad. 
Mekdad provided the Iranian official with details on the attack and pinned the blame on US-funded terrorists. 

Both sides emphasized the need for the international community's serious determination and regional cooperation to effectively combat the heinous phenomenon of terrorism.

The spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nasser Kanaani has also extended condolences to the government, army, and people of the friendly and brotherly Arab Republic of Syria, as well as to all the families of the victims while wishing for a fast recovery of the injured.  

Kanaani attributed the responsibility for this tragic event to the foreign supporters of terrorist groups and called on international bodies to fulfill their responsibilities in this regard.

The terrorist attack was carried out with the help of an explosive-laden drone. Five children and 31 women are among the dead.

 

Jailed Iranian activist wins Nobel Peace Prize

According to Reuters, Iran's imprisoned women's rights advocate Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a rebuke to Tehran's theocratic leaders and boost for anti-government protesters.

The award-making committee said the prize honoured those behind recent unprecedented demonstrations in Iran and called for the release of Mohammadi, 51, who has campaigned for three decades for women's rights and abolition of the death penalty.

"We hope to send the message to women all around the world that are living in conditions where they are systematically discriminated: 'have the courage, keep on going'," Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told Reuters.

"We want to give the prize to encourage Narges Mohammadi and the hundreds of thousands of people who have been crying for exactly 'Woman, Life, Freedom' in Iran," she added, referring to the protest movement's main slogan.

There was no immediate official reaction from Tehran, which calls the protests Western-led subversion.

Semi-official news agency Fars said Mohammadi had received her prize from the Westerners after making headlines due to her acts against the national security.

Mohammadi is serving multiple sentences in Tehran's Evin Prison amounting to about 12-year imprisonment, one of the many periods she has been detained behind bars, according to the Front Line Defenders rights organization.

Charges include spreading propaganda against the state.

She is the deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a non-governmental organization led by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

"I congratulate Narges Mohammadi and all Iranian women for this prize," Ebadi told Reuters. "This prize will shed light on violation of women's rights in the Islamic Republic ... which unfortunately has proven that it cannot be reformed."

Mohammadi is the 19th woman to win the 122-year-old prize and the first one since Maria Ressa of the Philippines won the award in 2021 jointly with Russia's Dmitry Muratov.

Mohammadi's husband Taghi Rahmani applauded as he watched the announcement on TV at his home in Paris. "This Nobel Prize will embolden Narges' fight for human rights, but more importantly, this is in fact a prize for the 'women, life and freedom' movement," he told Reuters.

Arrested more than a dozen times in her life, and held three times in Evin prison since 2012, Mohammadi has been unable to see her husband for 15 years and her children for seven.

Her prize, worth 11 million Swedish crowns, or around US$1 million, will be presented in Oslo on December 10, 2023 the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.

Past winners range from Martin Luther King to Nelson Mandela.

Mohammadi was quoted by the New York Times as saying she would never stop striving for democracy and equality, even if that meant staying in prison.

"I will continue to fight against the relentless discrimination, tyranny and gender-based oppression by the oppressive religious government until the liberation of women," the newspaper quoted her as saying in a statement.

Her award came as rights groups say that an Iranian teenage girl was hospitalized in a coma after a confrontation on the Tehran metro for not wearing a hijab.

Iranian authorities deny the reports.

Mohammadi's win also came just over a year after the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police for allegedly flouting the Islamic Republic's dress code for women.

That provoked nationwide protests, the biggest challenge to Iran's government in years, and was met with a deadly crackdown costing several hundred lives.

Among a stream of tributes from major global bodies, the UN human rights office said the Nobel award highlighted the bravery of Iranian women. "We've seen their courage and determination in the face of reprisals, intimidation, violence and detention," said its spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell .

"They've been harassed for what they do or don't wear. There are increasingly stringent legal, social and economic measures against them ... they are an inspiration to the world."

Dan Smith, head of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute think tank, said that while the prize could help ease pressure on Iranian dissidents, it would be unlikely to lead to her release.

 

 

Pakistan: GSP Plus status extended for another four years

According to Pakistan’s leading newspaper Dawn, the European Parliament on Thursday unani­mously voted to extend the current generalized system of preferences (GSP) for another four years until 2027 for developing countries, including Pak­istan, to enjoy duty-free or minimum duty on exports to the European market.

The parliament voted with 561 in favor, five against and two in abstention to extend the current rules on the GSP schemes, including GSP Plus, after talks with the EU Council on the new rules were paused in June, an official statement issued by the EU Parliament said.

In September this year, the INTA Committee, a trade body of the EU Parliament, approved the extension of GSP schemes for 60 developing countries.

Caretaker Commerce Minister Gohar Ejaz told Dawn that the decision will ensure that Pakistani exporters can keep selling their goods to the EU market with certainty. He said the EU is a major market for Pakistani exporters, adding that all schemes under GSP were extended for four years.

“I take this opportunity to reiterate Pakistan’s commitments under the scheme for the betterment of all,” the minister said, adding that Pakistan will comply with all obligations and effective implementation of 27 EU conventions.

EU Ambassador to Pakistan Riina Kionka in a post on X said this rollover is proposed so as to avoid a cliff edge at the end of 2023. “It is unrelated to Pakistan’s performance or that of any other beneficiary country. EU member states will decide soon and monitoring will continue,” she further said.

In another post, Ms Riina said that together with the EU team, “I whole heartedly support the commitment of Minister Ejaz and government of Pakistan to fully meet GSP+ obligations, referring to the implementation of 27 conventions on labour, human rights, political rights and press freedom.”

It is worth mentioning that the current GSP regulation was set to expire at the end of this year, and negotiations between the EU parliament and the council of member states took place in January 2023 to establish new rules.

In June, talks were paused as the gap between the position of the parliament and member states could not be bridged, and as a result, the current rules were prolonged.

The draft report by rapporteur Heidi Hautala only amends the date of application of the regulation currently in place, extending it until December 31, 2027. The extension gives more time for the European Parliament and member states to agree on the new rules.

“By dealing swiftly and efficiently with this prolongation and rollover, the parliament underlines that it will not let beneficiaries down,” the rapporteur said during the plenary on Wednesday.

“However, this rollover is an unfortunate consequence of not being able to reach an agreement between the council and parliament on the ongoing review of the GSP regulation,” she said, adding that there are two outstanding issues: the link the council wants between tariff preferences and the obligation of readmission, and safeguarding rice producers without creating excessive trade barriers.

On the first issue, Hautala said, “The European Parliament’s position is against the inclusion of this type of migration policy measures because this is a trade and development policy instrument, which benefits two billion people in the developing world.”

She added, “The trilogues will continue, and it is vital to conclude them as soon as possible. Now it is very important that the parliament and the Spanish presidency go the extra mile and make this review a reality. This would require, however, a change in the approach by the council on the question of readmissions. We need to preserve the GSP as a development tool.”

The EU Council is expected to give its final approval for the extension of the current rules soon.

 

United States to transfer weapons seized from Iran to Ukraine

According to Saudi Gazette, the United States will transfer thousands of seized Iranian weapons and rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, in a move that could help to alleviate some of the critical shortages facing the Ukrainian military as it awaits more money and equipment from the US and its allies.

US Central Command has already transferred over one million rounds of seized Iranian ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces, it announced on Wednesday. The transfer was conducted on Monday, CENTCOM said in a press release.

“The government obtained ownership of these munitions on July 20, 2023, through the Department of Justice’s civil forfeiture claims against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” the statement says.

The Justice Department announced in March that it was seeking the forfeiture of one million rounds of Iranian ammunition, thousands of proximity fuses for rocket-propelled grenades, and thousands of pounds of propellant for rocket-propelled grenades that the Navy seized from Iran as it was in transit to Yemen.

“These munitions were originally seized by US Central Command naval forces from the transiting stateless dhow MARWAN 1, December 09, 2022. The munitions were being transferred from the IRGC to the Houthis in Yemen in violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216,” the statement says.

The Biden administration for months has been weighing how to legally send the seized weapons, which are stored in CENTCOM facilities across the Middle East, to the Ukrainians.

Over the past year, the US Navy has seized thousands of Iranian assault rifles and more than one million rounds of ammunition from vessels used by Iran to ship weapons to Yemen. The seizures, frequently carried out with regional partner forces, target small stateless vessels on routes historically used to smuggle weapons to the Houthis in Yemen.

In mid-January 2023, the US assisted French forces in the seizure of 3,000 assault rifles headed from Iran to Yemen, as well as 23 anti-tank guided missiles. Following the seizure, the US took custody of the confiscated weapons.

That illegal weapons interdiction capped a two month period in which the US and its partners seized a total of 5,000 weapons and 1.6 million rounds of ammunition, according to Central Command.

Justice Department and defense officials have been working together to find a legal pathway to send the weapons to Ukraine, officials said, and one way is through the US’ civil forfeiture authorities.

The Justice Department has filed at least two forfeiture complaints against seized Iranian ammunition and weapons this year. Apart from the announcement in March, DOJ announced in July that that it was seeking the forfeiture of “over 9,000 rifles, 284 machine guns, approximately 194 rocket launchers, over 70 anti-tank guided missiles, and over 700,000 rounds of ammunition” seized from Iran by the US Navy.

“At the end of the day, Ukraine needs various supplies for the war effort, and while this isn’t a solution to all of Ukraine’s military needs, it will provide critical support,” said Jonathan Lord, a senior fellow and director of the Middle East security program at the Center for a New American Security who pushed the US to send the seized Iranian weapons to Ukraine in an op-ed in February 2023.

Lord added that the move could also have implications for Iran’s relationship with Russia.

“For over a year, Iranian UAVs in the hands of the Russian military have been used to attack and murder Ukrainian civilians,” Lord said. “There is poetic justice in Ukraine utilizing seized Iranian weapons to defend its people against Russia’s criminal invasion and abuses. Additionally, this policy may put greater pressure on the burgeoning relationship between Moscow and Tehran.”

The decision could drive a wedge between Iran and Russia, which have formed a de facto defense partnership over the last several months, with Iran supplying Russia with drones for its war in Ukraine and Russia cooperating with Iran on missile and air defense production.

Norway’s Fosse awarded Nobel literature prize

Norwegian author and dramatist Jon Fosse won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable," the award giving body said on Thursday.

Born in 1959 in Haugesund on Norway's west coast, Fosse is best known for his dramas, though his writing spans poetry, essays, children's books and translations.

His work touches on the deepest feelings that you have anxieties, insecurities, questions of life and death, Swedish Academy member Anders Olsson said.

"It has a sort of universal impact of everything that he writes. And it doesn't matter if it is drama, poetry or prose, it the same kind of appeal of basic humanism," Olsson said.

Fosse, seen as a long-time contender for the prize and among this year's favorites in the betting odds, said he was overwhelmed and somewhat frightened by the award.

"I see this as an award to the literature that first and foremost aims to be literature, without other considerations," he said in a statement.

Fosse has spoken extensively of his recovery from alcoholism and a struggle to overcome social anxiety, and the role played by religious faith.

"It's possible to free oneself from alcoholism, but it's hard to transition from a life governed by addiction to one led by something other than alcohol," Fosse said in a Norwegian Salvation Army interview in 2021.

"My conversion (to Catholicism) and the fact that I am a practicing Catholic, has helped me," Fosse said at the time.

The 64-year-old is the fourth Norwegian and the first since 1928 to win the Nobel Prize for literature, this year worth 11 million Swedish crowns (about US$1 million).

"I was surprised but at the same time, in a sense, I wasn't," he told Swedish public broadcaster SVT on Thursday.

"I've been part of the discussion for ten years and have more or less carefully prepared myself for ten years that it could happen."

Past winners of the literature prize include Colombia's Gabriel Garcia Marquez and American John Steinbeck, alongside singer songwriter Bob Dylan and Britain's Second World War Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Fosse's European breakthrough as a dramatist came with Claude Régy's 1999 Paris production of his 1996 play "Nokon kjem til å komme" ("Someone Is Going to Come").

His magnum opus in prose was the "Septology" series of three books divided into seven parts which he completed in 2021 - "Det andre namnet" ("The Other Name" - 2019), "Eg er ein annan" ("I is Another - 2020), and "Eit nytt namn" ("A New Name" - 2021).

"The work progresses seemingly endlessly and without sentence breaks, but it is formally held together by recurring themes and ritual gestures of prayer in a time span of seven days," the Academy's Olsson said.

Fosse, writes in the least common of the two official versions of Norwegian. He said he regarded the award as recognition of that tongue and the movement promoting it, and that he ultimately owed the prize to the language itself.

Known as "new Norwegian" and used by only about 10% of the population, Fosse's version of the language was developed in the 19th century with rural dialects at its base, making it an alternative to the dominant use of Danish that followed from a 400-year union with Denmark.

"I started writing when I was 12 and the first book was published 40 years ago ... I will keep writing, but I don't plan to compete with myself," Fosse told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

Wearing a black leather jacket and sporting his trademark grey pony tail, Fosse said he would not attempt another work as extensive as the Septology and that he planned to celebrate "calmly, with the family. I'll try to enjoy it."

According to his publisher, Fosse's work has been translated into more than 40 languages, and there have been more than 1,000 different productions of his plays.

Since 2011 Fosse has lived at the Grotto, an honorary residence on the premises of Oslo's royal palace that has housed some of Norway's foremost authors and composers in the last century.

Established in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel, the prizes for achievements in literature, science and peace have been awarded since 1901, becoming a career pinnacle in those fields.

The economics prize is a later addition established by the Swedish central bank.

Alongside the peace prize, literature has often drawn the most attention and controversy, thrusting lesser known authors into the global spotlight as well as lifting book sales for well-established literary superstars.

 

Saudi Arabia extends voluntary cut

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday extended its one million barrel per day (bpd) voluntary crude oil production cut until the end of the year 2023.

An official source at the Ministry of Energy announced that the Kingdom would continue with its voluntary oil output cut of one million bpd for the month of November and until the end of the year and that it would review the decision again next month.

The Kingdom’s production for November and December will be approximately 9 million bpd, the ministry said in a statement, carried by the Saudi Press Agency. “This voluntary cut decision will be reviewed next month to consider deepening the cut or increasing production,” the statement said.

Saudi Arabia first implemented the additional voluntary cut in July and has since extended it on a monthly basis. The cut adds to 1.66 million barrels per day of other voluntary crude output declines that some members of OPEC have put in place until the end of 2024.

The source also explained that this reduction is in addition to the voluntary reduction that the Kingdom had previously announced in April 2023 and which extends until the end of December 2024.

Russia also pledged to voluntarily reduce exports by 500,000 barrels per day in August and by 300,000 barrels per day in September. The cuts are described as voluntary because they are outside of OPEC Plus official policy, which commits every nonexempt member to a share of production quotas.

The ministry source confirmed that this additional voluntary reduction comes to strengthen the precautionary efforts made by OPEC Plus countries with the aim of supporting the stability and balance of oil markets.

 

 

Iran to block normalization with Israel

Iranian foreign minister has said that his country aims at further strengthening relations with Saudi Arabia with the purpose to block normalization with the Zionist regime of Israel.

Hossein Amir Abdollahian made the remarks in a meeting with a group of foreign guests attending a Muslim unity conference in Tehran. 

Amir Abdollahian and a number of foreign ministry officials met with the guests of the 37th International Islamic Unity Conference. The annual conference was held in Tehran with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in attendance. 

In the meeting, Amir Abdollahian appreciated the efforts of the secretary general of the Association of Ecumenism in holding the unity conference, and considered this conference as a banner of unity and ecumenism in the Islamic world, according to a statement by the Iranian foreign ministry.

The foreign minister said, “According to scientific indicators, the international world order and system is changing, and in the change and evolution of the world order, United States, as a superpower that has been striving for unilateralism for decades, still has the characteristics of a hegemon, but it is not able to apply it.” 

Amir Abdollahian considered the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani by United States, and Iran’s decisive response to this act in targeting the Ain al-Assad base and the inability of the US to show the slightest reaction to it as an example that the US is not able to exercise hegemony and this is as an example of the changing world order.

“Today, the world is in a sharp historical turn that has multiplied the mission of scholars and thinkers all over the world,” he added. 

“We have entered a new stage of developments in the region and the world, and today the understanding is being strengthened that if we do not think about our security, others will not help,” the foreign minister pointed out.

He continued, “Today, we are witnessing the resumption of Iran-Saudi relations, our intention is to have deep and extensive relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia with an eye on the interests of the Islamic world and with the aim of disappointing the enemy and blocking the way to normalize relations.”

He also pointed to the improvement of relations between Iran and Egypt. “We have met with the Egyptian foreign minister and made good agreements that we hope to witness a good development for the benefit of the two nations.” 

Amir Abdollahian held talks with his Egyptian counterpart on the sidelines of the annual UN conference in New York last month.

Referring to the speech delivered by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at the session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Amir Abdollahian said, “Dr. Raisi, the president of our country, had two important initiatives while attending the United Nations; in addition to raising the Quran in this meeting, he raised the important issue of the family, because the global movement of solidarity with the family should be launched in the world. We are pursuing this issue in cultural institutions so that it becomes a global movement.”