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A group of Iranian and American musicians are using digital media to create music together, which they hope will spread joy and promote unity at a time when the two countries with strained relations are reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

A video of the performance, produced with help from the North American Iranian Friendship Association (NAIFA), was released this week.

In the video, 19 musicians performed the musical composition in a socially distanced setting at Tehran's famed Roudaki Hall, while seven American opera singers in Washington sang along.

The performance was overlaid with recitations of poetry from Rumi, the 13th century Persian poet and philosopher.

Fatemeh Keshavarz, director of the Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland, and Vahid Abideh, founder of the NAIFA, came up with the idea in April.

Besides a beautiful performance, Abideh told CNN they wanted to combine Western music with Persian poetry to help bridge the cultural divide between the United States and Iran.

"The musicians on both sides are tremendously excited about helping us transcend the toxic threats of war and sanctions, rise above politics, and acknowledge each other's art and humanity," Keshavarz said in a statement.

"This is particularly needed at a time like this when the world is in the grips of a ferocious pandemic," she said. "It is a time to see each other's humanity and help each other heal. Nothing can do this better than art."

Timothy Nelson, artistic director for IN Series, described the collaboration as an effort to "make the impossible possible."

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated which Iranian orchestra participated in the musical collaboration. It was the Solidarity Chamber Orchestra of Tehran.

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Iranian and American musicians join forces to spread joy amid the pandemic - CNN

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced in early July that China and Iran were in the process of negotiating a 25-year strategic agreement, aiming to work together more closely in the coming decades.

The agreement is apparently close to being signed, with The New York Times reporting on it in detail after obtaining a Farsi version of the document.The deal foresees not only an economic partnership worth billions but also close military cooperation.

Read more:What is China's world order for the 21st century?

China sees Iran as a major market for its commodities and as a source of oil. Iran, for its part, hopes Chinese investments and its own exports will lessen some of the economic pressure of ongoing US sanctions.

Tehran's move toward Beijing is partly a reaction to the Trump administration's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement, said Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. But the US isn't the only reason, he told DW: Tehran is also disappointed that the Europeans have not lived up to their economic commitments.

Read more:Iran's declining birth rate alarms country's leaders

Iranian politicians have seen US power and international standing decline under President Donald Trump

Azizi said China and Russia were the only two countries that had maintained their economic ties with Iran, leading the Iranian government to see expanded ties with these two powers as the only viable option to save its economy from collapse. At the same time, he said, Iranian politicians increasingly had the impression that US power and international standing had begun to decline under President Donald Trump.

"As such, their understanding is that the best way to preserve Iran's interests in the long run is to define frameworks for long-term partnership with 'non-Western' powers," said Azizi.

But Ali Fathollah-Nejad, a senior lecturer of Middle East and comparative politics at the University of Tbingen's Institute of Political Science, believes Iran is negotiating from a weak position. Not only because the government is under immense economic pressure, he told DW, but also because the proposed cooperation has met with widespread disapproval in Iran.

Fathollah-Nejad said the agreement runs counter to Iran's aims to establish and maintain independence from both Western and Eastern major powers, put in place after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He also pointed out that China has a very negative image in Iran, where it has been omnipresent since the Europeans withdrew from the country under US pressure.

Read more:Aging populations challenge China, India, Iran and Japan

"Cheap Chinese products that have hurt the development of local industry, and China's role in the spread of the coronavirus in Iran, have both been targets of disapproval," he said.According to research by British broadcaster BBC, however, the Iranian airline Mahan Airoperated more than 100return flights to China in February and March, despite such flights being banned at the time.

As the pandemic raged through Iran, China sent medical supplies

Human rights organizations have accused the governments of both countries of committing serious human rights violations, with Amnesty International (AI) describing the way both regimes treat dissidents in almost identical words. AI has also criticized the justice systems in both countries, calling them unfair and arbitrary.

"As far as repression goes offline or online China is an important purveyor and inspiration for Iranian autocrats," said Fathollah-Nejad. He said it's no coincidence that the biggest advocates of Tehran moving toward an "Eastern" geopolitical orientation have come from the most authoritarian segments of the country's power apparatus.

Read more:Opinion: China is looking to challenge the US

"They see China as a kind of great savior that will guarantee the regime an economic lifeline for years, if not decades, while standing side by side with Iran politically and diplomatically as it opposes 'Western imperialism,'" he said.

Azizi believes the partnership with China could potentially worsen relations between the Iranian government and its people. "Given the dominant Western-oriented political culture in the Iranian society, long-term partnerships with nondemocratic powers could deepen the gap between the Iranian state and society," he said.

Together with Russia, Iran has resolutely supported Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the country's civil war and China has consistently backed their actions at the UN Security Council. Would a greater cooperation between Tehran and Beijing lead to repercussions elsewhere, boosting other authoritarian regimes?

Azizi doesn't think so, pointing out that such regimes don't need outside affirmation. For world powers, he said, the importance of the Middle East has always stemmed from its geopolitical situation and its natural resources.

Read more:China's lack of press freedom causes problems for the world

"[World powers have] publicly called for democracy and human rights in the region [but they've] never really cared about how Middle Eastern leaders rule their countries, as long as they continue to have favorable relations with those powers," he said.

As example, he points to Arab countries around the Persian Gulf, which have always been ruled by authoritarian monarchies. He said foreign powers have never had a decisive role in establishing democracy and human rights in the region.

"Those authoritarian governments cannot be more authoritarian, regardless of the composition of their foreign partners," he said.

People passing by on the other side of the street could mistake this for a mediocre suburban market in a small town in China. In fact, it's a shopping mall full of Chinese products in Zambia's capital, Lusaka. Here, at the JCS Food Town, visitors can buy vegetables, fruits, seafood, spices and even mobile phones as well as eat authentic Chinese dishes.

Most of the visitors to the market are Chinese expats. There are also a few westerners and Zambians who like the taste of Chinese cuisine. Few tourists have it on their itinerary. The Zambian employees perform mostly menial tasks such as cleaning, cooking and selling vegetables.

In this kitchen, mostly Sichuan cuisine is prepared. The Chinese chef has several Zambian assistants whose help is needed particularly at noon when most expats flock in to place their orders. The market offers a variety of Chinese delicacies, including roasted duck and crayfish yummy!!

These Zambian vegetable traders said they are fairly new in the market and business is "okay." One commented: "We can learn how to do business from the Chinese." Any contact is limited to the workplace; neither of them has any Chinese friends.

This Chinese expat says he has Zambian friends. He has been living in Zambia for 13 years. He told DW he is very fond of Lusaka and has got used to life there. "I am well integrated, but most Chinese people may not be. Chinese nationals generally prefer to stay amongst themselves," he said.

This Zambian employee said she couldn't complain about her work. Her boss (on the left) is very good to her and her colleagues, she maintained. And he "pays very well." However, she is vastly outnumbered by the number of locals who tell negative tales about their Chinese employers.

This young lady is one of the main reasons why the market looks spick and span. She's not used to people showing interest in her work and rewarded the DW reporters with a big smile.

Author: Abu-Bakarr Jalloh, Fang Wan

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Iran looks to partner with China, as the West steps back - DW (English)

PRESS STATEMENTMICHAEL R. POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE

Irans nuclear, ballistic missile, and military programs pose a grave threat to international peace and security. To address these threats, I am announcing a major expansion of the scope of State Department-administered Iran metals-related sanctions. Today, the State Department is identifying 22 specific materials used in connection with Irans nuclear, military, or ballistic missile programs. Those who knowingly transfer such materials to Iran are now sanctionable pursuant to Section 1245 of the Iranian Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act.

Under the same provision of law, I am continuing my determination that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) controls Irans construction sector. The IRGCs construction firm and many of its subsidiaries remain sanctioned by the United Nations because they were directly involved in the construction of the uranium enrichment site at Fordow. As a result of this IRGC determination, any knowing transfer of certain materials, including graphite or raw or semi-finished metals, to or from Iran to be used in connection with the construction sector of Iran remains sanctionable.

The 22 materials I have determined are used in connection with Irans nuclear, military, or ballistic missile programs are:

By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 30 July, 2020 | Topics: Key Officials, News from Washington | Tags: Iran, Sanctions, Secretary Pompeo

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Expansion of the Scope of Iran Metals Sanctions Targeting Iran's Nuclear, Military, and Ballistic Missile Programs and the IRGC - US Embassy in...

-Analysis-

LONDON Iran is busy with its diplomatic maneuverings in the Middle East and beyond, but it has yielded little. As Iran's oil minister, Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh, put it: "No country is willing to sign a deal with Iran anymore."

The country's most recent overtures were to Moscow, where Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif went seeking two things from his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. One was to renew a 20-year accord the countries signed in the 1990s under President Mohammad Khatami, set to expire late in February 2021. The second was for Russia to respond to Israeli fighter jets intermittently bombarding Iranian positions in Syria and those of its proxy militias.

The Russians were evasive with the first request, saying they were unprepared to renew any agreement, and repeated their position on Syria, namely that they deplore the attacks but would not act against Israeli jets.

While Zarif was in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin found time to speak by phone to U.S. President Donald Trump and discuss, in particular, the renewal of an arms embargo on Iran that is to expire in mid-October 2020. Russia opposes its extension sine die, but may accept a renewal of four or five years. Certain European countries are planning to present that option to the UN Security Council.

On an earlier trip, to Iraq, Zarif also left empty handed. The Iranian diplomat is often termed Iran's Tariq Aziz, a reference to the Iraqi foreign minister under Saddam Hussein. Aziz was arrested after the dictator's overthrow and died in prison in 2015. He was the only regime official that Hussein, considering him considered able to exert some influence on his European counterparts, would send abroad. And at times he was effective, as is Zarif, who has occasionally managed to "sell" the Islamic Republic's policies to Western states including the United States under President Barack Obama.

In Baghdad, as a presidential adviser told Kayhan London, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi told Zarif, in so many words, that it was time for Iran to stop meddling in Iraq's internal affairs and for it to "understand the new situation." Al-Kadhimi reportedly made it clear that the United States was a "suitable" partner for Iraq and the departure of U.S. troops which is an Iranian demand is not desirable. He said his only stipulation, with respect to the U.S. military presence, is that Iraqi soil not be used for military action against neighbors, including Iran.

The unnamed Iraqi official told this paper that al-Kadhimi wants to open the Iraqi market to trade with Arab states and did not want Iran to be Iraq's sole gas and power supplier. Iraq is reportedly negotiating with Saudi Arabia for gas supplies and with other countries for electricity.

Before Zarif's visit, al-Kadhimi visited two border districts where in recent months, the Iran-backed Hashd al-Sha'bi militia had been charging money to let goods across the frontier. The Iraqi government has retaken control of the posts.

In a recent meeting with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, al-Kadhimi stressed Iraq's independence and politely ignored Ayatollah Khamenei's request for reprisals against the United States for its targeted killing in Iraq of Qasem Soleimani, the late major general with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, head of an allied militia.

Khamenei said Iran would not interfere in Iraq's relations with the United States, but expected its "Iraqi friends" to "get to know America and know that America's presence in any country is the source of corruption, damage and destruction." He repeated that Iran wants U.S. troops to leave, as their presence "is a source of insecurity."

Al-Kadhimi insisted, in turn, that Iraq wants cordial relations with its neighbors, but would pursue a foreign policy based on its national interests.

Lebanon and Iraq are starting to push the clerical regime away.

In Lebanon, despite the country's bankruptcy and the influence Iran's proxy militia Hezbollah wields over the government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab, the government has refused an offer to buy Iranian oil and pay for it in Lebanese pounds. Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar stated days before that Lebanon was not planning on buying Iranian oil, in an apparent response to the proposal made by the Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah.

Beirut-based analyst Said Kaywan told Kayhan London that Nasrallah's proposal had one goal, which was to pay the Lebanese pounds directly to Hezbollah as Iran, now under U.S. sanctions , had little money left to pay its militia.

Until recently, Lebanon and Iraq were part of Iran's regional "resistance" against Israel and the West. But now they too are starting to push the clerical regime away. And while Iran's ambassador in Moscow, Kazem Jalali, has recently insisted that Iran would buy Russian arms, Moscow seems less keen on expanding ties with Iran as crucially, these could harm its extensive ties with the monarchies of the Persian Gulf.

Even China is dragging its feet over a reported 25-year strategic pact with Iran. As a Xinhua agency correspondent told Kayhan London, this too would threaten China's ties with the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. Currently, he pointed out, China had trade worth over $350 billion with the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Iraq, roughly equivalent to the total amount in would hypothetically invest over the course of 25 years were the treaty to go through.

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Iran's Deepening Isolation On The World Stage - Worldcrunch

Mrs. Rajavi hailed the oppressed workers, called on everyone to support them in obtaining their rightsToday, Saturday, August 1, 2020, workers and employees of Abadan and Mahshahr refineries, Qeshm Heavy Oil Refinery, as well as workers and employees of Parsian Refinery, Petrochemical Company in Lamerd (Fars Province), and phases 22 and 24 of South Pars in Kangan (Bushehr Province) staged a strike in protest against harsh working conditions, the lack of the minimum safety provisions, and the non-payment of their wages and bonuses.In a statement, the striking workers condemned those breaking the strike and underscored that their names would be published in the next phase of the protest campaign.On Wednesday, July 29, workers, and employees of the North Azadegan oil field stopped work in protest against low wages. The strike occurred after the executive director of the oil field threatened to fire some of the employees and workers.Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), hailed the striking workers at Abadan, Mahshahr, Qeshm, Parsian, Lamerd, and South Pars, and emphasized that the oppressed workers have risen to obtain their plundered rights by the anti-labor regime.Mrs. Rajavi underscored that through oppressive contracts, the clerical regime exploits the workers and does not even pay their meager wages. It squanders the countrys capital in nuclear and missile projects as well as terrorism or plunders it or sends it to the bank accounts of its officials and their families abroad.Mrs. Rajavi called on everyone to support the workers who have staged a strike to obtain their violated rights.Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)August 1, 2020

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Iran: Oil Workers Stage Strike in Abadan, Mahshahr, Qeshm, Parsian, Lamerd and South Pars Refineries in Protest Against Harsh Working Conditions, the...