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ASTANA Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov paid an official visit to Tehran on April 26, meeting with senior Iranian officials to enhance bilateral ties. Export contracts worth $60 million, bilateral documents in tourism, sport, youth work, customs training, and an agreement to develop transportation between the ports of Kuryk and Amirabad are among the key outcomes of Smailovs visit, reported the governments press service.

Smailov and Raisi shake hands during their meeting. Photo credit: primeminister.kz.

Smailovs one-day visit included meetings with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber with the aim to follow up on the implementation of the agreements reached between the presidents of the two countries.

During the meeting with Raisi, Smailov emphasized the importance Kazakhstan places on developing relations with Iran. The two sides discussed trade and economy, investment and cross-border cooperation, and the implementation of joint initiatives in the cultural and humanitarian spheres.

Currently, the governments of the two countries are actively working on the practical implementation of the tasks set at the highest level. I am confident this year will be marked by new high results of our cooperation in bilateral and multilateral formats, said Smailov.

The new high results are expected from the first meeting of the Kazakh-Iranian working group on agriculture planned in Tehran this year and the appointment of a special trade representative at the embassy of Kazakhstan in Iran.

Raisi described Kazakhstan as one of the most influential countries in the region.

Although the significant growth of trade relations between the two countries last year has made the situation different from before, this level of relations is not commensurate with the capacities of the two countries, and we have to work hard to improve it, said Raisi, as quoted by his press office.

Raisi also spoke about the investment in transit infrastructure from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf, transportation development to facilitate commercial cooperation, increasing cooperation in agriculture, and using innovative mechanisms in the monetary and banking fields.

Promising areas for trade

Development of trade and economic relations, deepening cooperation in agriculture, attracting investment, implementation of promising projects in the transit and transport sector, and increasing the volume of freight were on the agenda of Smailovs meeting with Mokhber.

Mokhber and Smailov. Photo credit: primeminister.kz.

Iran is one of Kazakhstans key partners in the Persian Gulf, said Smailov. Last year, bilateral trade turnover between the countries grew by nearly 20 percent, reaching $528 million.

Smailov stressed that Kazakhstan is ready to increase exports of 75 commodity items worth approximately $250 million.

I am confident that as our economic potential is fully unlocked, we can bring the mutual trade up to $3 billion. We have significant potential for this in areas including energy, transport and logistics, agriculture and industry, said Smailov.

Agriculture offers substantial opportunities in achieving this goal, accounting for more than 70 percent of the mutual trade. To expand trade in agriculture, Smailov said Kazakhstan is ready to supply the Iranian market with flour, confectionery and pasta products, meat products, and vegetable oils. Kazakhstan is interested in vegetables and fruits from Iran, particularly during the off-season.

Connectivity and transport

The two countries can also leverage their strategic location and transport infrastructure to boost trade and commerce.

Mokhber and Smailov address a joint press conference. Photo credit: primeminister.kz.

Iran, strategically located at the crossroads of the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, has an extensive transport network making it an ideal gateway for trade between Asia and Europe. The same can be said for Kazakhstan, a landlocked country with vast natural reserves and a key transit hub for goods flowing between China and Europe.

Both countries can tap into the development of the North-South transport corridor, a multi-modal transport network that connects the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via Iran and then onwards to Russia and Europe.

The government of Kazakhstan aims to fully implement the tasks set by the heads of our states and bring the Kazakh-Iranian partnership to a qualitatively new level, said Smailov.

Mokhber agreed with Smailov on the untapped potential in trade and said the two countries should stimulate the private sector.

We invite Kazakh companies to take an active part in developing our partnership, stated Mokhber.

Export contracts

Export contracts worth more than $60 million were signed as part of the third trade and economic mission in Tehran for supplies to Iran of Kazakhstans fertilizers, oil and fat products, and cattle meat.

Third trade and economic mission in Tehran on April 26. Photo credit: primeminister.kz.

The event, organized by the QazTrade Center for Development of Trade Policy, was attended by representatives of the Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture, the joint Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce, Mining and Agriculture of Iran, 20 Kazakh companies in the food, chemical, construction, light industry, and metallurgy sectors, and more than 150 delegates from the Iranian side.

Iranian companies showed particular interest in Kazakh producers of phosphate fertilizers, ferroalloys, and food products.

Link:
Kazakh Prime Ministers Visit to Iran Results in Commitment to Boost ... - Astana Times

BEIRUT (AP) Irans foreign minister said Thursday that Tehran wants Lebanons rivals to reach an agreement to elect a new president in the crisis-hit country that has been without a head of state since October.

Hossein Amirabdollahian made his comments during his first visit to Lebanon since Iran and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement in China last month to re-establish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions that had major repercussions in the tiny Mediterranean country.

The agreement negotiated with China lowers the chance of armed conflict between the Mideast rivals both directly and in proxy conflicts around the region. The effects of the agreement include eased tensions and an exchange of prisoners between Saudi Arabia and Yemens Iran-backed rebels, as well as improved relations between Saudi Arabia and Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Lebanese groups are deeply divided between an Iran-backed coalition led by the powerful Hezbollah group and a Western and Saudi-backed alliance. The deep divisions in Lebanon have left the country without a president since the term of President Michel Aoun ended in late October.

Speaking during a joint news conference with Amirabdollahian, Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib told reporters, I am optimistic that every regional agreement and any deal between regional countries is good for Lebanon.

The agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia is important for peace in the region, Bouhabib said. He did not elaborate.

Amirabdollahian said Iran encourages all sides in Lebanon to speed up the elections process.

We will back any election and any agreement that is reached between parties in Lebanon regarding the electing of a president, Amirabdollahian said before heading to a meeting with caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Hezbollahs ally Sleiman Frangieh and army commander Gen. Joseph Aoun, are the top candidates for president. Lebanons parliament held about a dozen sessions over the past months but failed to elect a head of state amid deep divisions.

The largest Christian blocs in parliament have rejected the election of Frangieh and there have been reports in local media that Saudi Arabia is opposed to him becoming president.

On Wednesday, Frangieh gave a long TV interview in which he said that if he is elected president, he will work for better relations between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Frangieh also added that his close relations with Hezbollah and Assad could be used for the good of Lebanon.

Read more from the original source:
Iran urges Lebanese sides to reach agreement over president - The Associated Press

Last year, protests broke out in Iran against the regime. The slogan Woman, Life, Freedom became the motivating voice behind a movement. Today in Israel, five recently-unveiled murals highlight that very message.

In Jerusalem on Thursday, Hooman Khalili, the producer of the Woman Life Freedom Murals Project, said he wants to show that Jews stand with the people of Iran. He spoke at The Jerusalem Posts Celebrate the Faces of Israel conference at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem.

In an interview with Tamar Uriel-Beeri, managing editor of Jpost.com, Khalili discussed the way he came to lead this unique project. He is a movie-maker who made the first feature film to be filmed on a smartphone and had a theatrical release. The film was called Olive, and Dolly Parton wrote the music for it. As a successful DJ, he also had a line in the film Cars.

The murals project began in San Francisco, he said. He told how he was approached by a muralist in California who wanted to win attention for the protesters in Iran. The first mural painted in California soon went viral, and was then noticed by Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, who invited him to Israel.

Khalili credits a number of people as key to the way this project has seen success and support, including Emily Schrader and former MK Ruth Wasserman Lande. She has helped him to find walls for the project and to speak to mayors of cities where the murals appear. He has now made five murals in Israel. He says these show that Jews stand with the people of Iran.

In an interview, he said, I know Im the only artist invited to Israel to create Murals supporting the Persian people and I had to take this opportunity. Khalili was born Muslim and left Iran with his mother, eventually ending up in San Mateo, California. He became a Christian and was taken in by the Presbyterian Church. When he came to Israel his first mural made a major impact.

I was in the Holy Land praying a lot and so when that first mural went up everyone was blown away and the mural was shown on Iranian television every hour on the hour for 36 hours straight. That was the first one that was in Jerusalem. Both the Iranian government and opposition media showed it, he said.

I prayed a lot and if God wanted it to keep going, I feel like the designs are downloaded from heaven and Im looking at images downloaded from Iran; the whole idea is to unify the Israeli and Persian customs in one image. Youll see the flag of Jerusalem because I want everything pointing to Jerusalem. In Netanya, one image had the nightingale, which is the national bird of Iran, and the one being unveiled on April 30 will have the hoopoe, which is the national bird of Israel, he added.

Khalili says that Persians have been friends of Jews for 3,000 years. From the time of Cyrus, and theyve only been enemies for less than 50 years. I feel like Im called to at least start building that bridge [between Jews and Persians]. If Iran becomes stable, the whole Middle East becomes stable; I will pay for every one of these murals until I go broke or until a wealthy patron comes along, he says. That is how important this project is to him, and he is hoping to make 18 murals in Israel.

That was a divine number that was a given. Two different people prayed over me. One was a Jewish woman and one was a guy named Daniel Lim, who serves as the chief executive officer of the International House of Prayer of Kansas City, and they both said God was telling them the number 18, he said.

He added that he hopes the next 13 murals turn out perfect. All these are 95% there. In the world of art we have this phrase for film-making, which is Great art is never finished, its abandoned, so I have to move on from one and keep going, he said.

My hope is to spread the love throughout Israel with these murals. He says the murals are meant to inspire the Iranian people. They are meant to show the Jewish people are standing with the Persian people. He also praises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for supporting the people of Iran. In addition, he thinks the recent visit by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi was important. Pahlavi visited the mural in Netanya.

The mural in Nazareth is particularly special, Khalili says. The second mural is in Nazareth, and that wall is owned by a Muslim man. The artist Benzi Broffman said we should pick Nazareth to build a bridge between Arabs and Jews, so you have a wall owned by Muslim men painted by a Jew and organized by a Persian Christian.

See more here:
Hooman Khalili: Jews stand with the people of Iran - The Jerusalem Post

The UK, US and EU are today announcing further sanctions on Iranian regime officials responsible for human rights violations, including from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The UK has designated more than 70 Iranian officials and entities for human rights violations since October 2022, with the total number of Iran-related designations amounting to more than 300. The list includes the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety, the Iranian Prosecutor General and the Morality Police.

The UK, US and EU have taken consistent and coordinated action to hold the regime to account, announcing sanctions on a monthly basis on those response for human rights abuses. The latest UK sanctions are against 4 IRGC commanders, under whose leadership IRGC forces have opened fire on unarmed protestors resulting in numerous deaths, including of children, and have arbitrarily detained and tortured protestors.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:

The Iranian regime are responsible for the brutal repression of the Iranian people and for exporting bloodshed around the world. Thats why we have more than 300 sanctions in place on Iran, including on the IRGC in its entirety.

The UK and our international partners are again making clear today that we will not overlook the regimes brutal oppression. We will continue to take a range of action to hold the regime to account for its actions.

Those sanctioned include:

Mohammad Nazar Azimi: IRGC Commander Najaf Ashraf West HQ, responsible for the violent repression of protests in Kermanshah Province, with IRGC forces using machine guns against unarmed protestors resulting in multiple deaths

Habib Shahsavari: IRGC Commander provincial corps West Azerbaijan Province, responsible for repression of protestors in Mahabad and Piranshahr, with IRGC forces using heavy weapons that resulted in multiple deaths. IRGC forces are accused of the death of protestors following torture in detention facilities

Mohsen Karimi: IRGC commander Markazi Province, responsible for the violent repression of protests, including 19-year-old protestor Mehrshad Shahidi who was reportedly beaten to death in an IRGC detention centre, and the arrest of women for failing to wear the hijab (head covering) in public

Ahmad Kadem: IRGC Commander of the Operational Base Karbala, responsible for the repression of protests in the town of Izeh, Khuzestan Province, during which a 10-year-old child was shot and killed. IRGC forces under the command of Kadem in Kohgilyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province are blamed for the abduction of a child labour activist who subsequently died after torture

The UK has also played a leading role in international efforts to hold the Iranian regime to account for its repression, for example through working with partners to kick Iran off the UN Commission on the Status of Women and to establish a UN-led investigation into the response to the protests.

These sanctions will ensure that the individuals on the list cannot travel to the UK and any of their assets held in the UK will be frozen.

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UK and international partners announce new sanctions on Iranian ... - GOV.UK

TEHRAN, Iran Irans president Tuesday reiterated threats against Israel while marking the countrys annual Army Day, though he stayed away from criticizing Saudi Arabia as Tehran seeks a dtente with the kingdom.

The comments by Ebrahim Raisi came as fighter jets and helicopters flew overhead in Tehran, and as Iranian submarines sailed across its waters during a ceremony carried live by state television.

The day celebrates Irans regular military, not its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, whose expeditionary forces operate across the wider Middle East and aid Iranian-allied militia groups like Lebanons Hezbollah. The Guard also routinely has tense encounters with the U.S. Navy.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, left, watches combat drones alongside high-ranking officials and commanders during a military parade marking the country's annual Army day in Tehran on April 18, 2023. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)

Speaking at the ceremony, Raisi threatened Israel, which is suspected of carrying out a series of attacks targeting Iran since the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers.

Enemies, particularly the Zionist regime, has receive the message that any tiny action against [our] country will prompt a harsh answer from the armed forces, which will accompany the destruction of Haifa and Tel Aviv, Raisi said.

Raisi also reiterated a demand for the U.S. to leave the Mideast. American policy since the Carter administration has viewed protection of the Persian Gulf region as crucial to securing global energy supplies. A fifth of the worlds supply of oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

While not specifically naming Saudi Arabia, Raisi did offer an olive branch in his remarks.

The hand of our armed forces warmly shakes the hand of the regional nations that intend to create security in the region, the president said.

In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions, a diplomatic agreement reached in China. In the time since, Saudi Arabia also has been involved in a prisoner swap with Yemens Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, with hopes such a deal could see an end to that countrys yearslong proxy war.

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See what Iran showed off at its military parade - Defense News