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The upward trend in Irans popularity among air travelers looks like continuing during 2017, according to a study by ForwardKeys, the leading travel intelligence analyst.

Total international arrivals were up 18.3% last year, sustaining an upward path since 2013 (up 2.7%), 2014 (24.8%) and 2015 (12.7%). The pattern is reflected by a consistent year-on-year increase in total scheduled seats: 2014 (up 10.5%), 2015 (18.3%), 2016 (17.3%).

The study is timely, coming just weeks ahead of the inaugural Iran Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference (IHTIC) on 7-8 February 2017 in Tehran, which will be attended by numerous international investors and hotel industry experts.

ForwardKeys, which monitors future travel patterns by analyzing 16 million flight reservation transactions each day, also found that international arrivals to Iran saw positive monthly growth throughout 2016, with the exception of June because of the timing of Ramadan.

The main source regions for air travel to Iran are North America, Europe and the Middle East. Together, they made up 83.7% of international arrivals during 2016. Germany, with a 14.3% market share, was up 8.3%, followed by the USA (10.7% share) up 9.3%. Bahrain, Canada and the UK, all with significant market shares, also showed healthy growth in visitors to Iran.

Among the 12 top origin countries, only China and Pakistan were outside these main regions. ForwardKeys data also shows that 40% of Chinese visitors to Iran last year were on business trips.

Looking ahead, forward bookings, which means bookings already made for future travel, for the first half of 2017 are ahead 14.8%, based on those issued at the beginning of January, suggesting the upward surge of international visitors to Iran is still growing in momentum.

Arrivals in Iran during 2017 are being boosted by increased air connectivity from a number of centers one being that Italy is benefiting from Alitalia and Iran Air tripling their scheduled seats since November last year. Also, the Netherlands is connected by one more daily flight from Amsterdam to Tehran by KLM since October 2016. Additionally, an increasing number of Belgian travelers are using Amsterdam to transfer to Iran, while Swiss travelers tend to route via Vienna, from where Austrian Airlines is doubling its scheduled seats during the first half of 2017.

Olivier Jager, CEO of ForwardKeys, said our findings support the conclusion that political change in Iran is making the country more approachable, an attractive place to visit and potentially do business. The image of Iran around the world is changing. Its many tourist attractions, historic, religious and spectacular, are once again being emphasized. I expect visitor numbers to increase, so long as Irans airport capacity can keep pace.

HA/PR

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Iran's irresistible rise as tourist destination - Mehr News Agency - English Version

DOHA Kuwait's foreign minister will make a rare visit to Tehran on Wednesday to deliver a message to President Hassan Rouhani on a "basis of dialogue" between Gulf Arab states and arch-rival Iran, Kuwait's state news agency reported.

The visit comes days after Rouhani said countries including Kuwait had offered to mediate in the escalating feud between Shi'ite Muslim Iran and Sunni power Saudi Arabia.

Kuwaiti news agency KUNA quoted Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah as saying relations between Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of six Arab states "must be based on the UN Charter and principles of international law".

Iran and Saudi Arabia, the dominant member of the GCC, back opposite sides in civil wars in Syria and Yemen.

Riyadh and some other members of the GCC accuse Tehran of using sectarianism to interfere in Arab countries and build its own sphere of influence in the Middle East.

Iran, set to benefit from an easing of international sanctions after its nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, denies interfering in Arab countries.

Tensions in the Gulf have reached levels unseen since the 1980s, when Iraq received Gulf Arab funding for its 1980-88 war against Iran in a pan-Arab effort to stem the influence of its 1979 Islamic revolution.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in January 2016 cut diplomatic relations with Iran and some other Gulf states recalled their ambassadors in solidarity with the oil-rich kingdom after its embassy in Iran was torched by protesters.

But long-standing trade links and shared access to oil and gas fields have stopped many Gulf states from shutting the door on Iran.

Kuwait, which has a sizeable Shi'ite Muslim minority, is seen as a potential mediator. When Kuwait's emir visited Iran in 2014 it was the first by a ruler of the U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state since the 1979 revolution.

"We are partners in the region and we have many common interests and possibilities," said Sabah, adding that dialogue would be for the benefit of both sides.

(Reporting by Tom Finn; editing by Andrew Roche)

BEIJING/WASHINGTON China said on Tuesday it had "irrefutable" sovereignty over disputed islands in the South China Sea after the White House vowed to defend "international territories" in the strategic waterway.

LONDON Prime Minister Theresa May must give parliament a vote before she can formally start Britain's exit from the European Union, the UK Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, giving lawmakers who oppose her Brexit plans a shot at amending them.

JARABLUS, Syria A new Syrian police force trained and equipped by Turkey started work in a rebel-held border town on Tuesday, a sign of deepening Turkish influence in northern Syria, where it has helped drive out Islamic State militants in recent months.

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Kuwait to deliver message to Iran on dialogue with Gulf Arab states - Reuters

By Amir Hossein Mahdavi By Amir Hossein Mahdavi January 23

The recent death of Irans former president Hashemi Rafsanjani has triggered fears that Irans reformist camp has also been fatally wounded. Many are concerned that without Rafsanjanis imposing presence, current President Hassan Rouhani will be overpowered by the conservative religious establishment and a controlling IRGC. However, Rouhani may in fact emerge stronger from Rafsanjanis death.

Rafsanjani along with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was one of the last remaining founders of the Islamic Republic in 1979. His last position as head of the expediency discernment council did not give him much executive power. But his presence in key roles over 38 years of the Islamic Republic made him one of the few symbols of stability in the Iranian political context.

In his last years, Rafsanjani retained strong ties to dignified Shiite clerical figures and the Shiite Seminary. That strong bond protected him from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the conservative former president, and from other radical forces who wanted him out. Rafsanjani initially was a principal supporter of Ayatollah Khamenei and helped ensure his selection as Irans supreme leader but their relationship gradually soured.

Following Rafsanjanis defeat in the 2005 elections, he was sidelined: He was no longer Tehrans Friday imam, and two of his children were convicted in closed-court proceedings and imprisoned for fraud and political charges. The supreme leader never cut off Rafsanjani completely, however. And among the people who had access to Khamenei, Rafsanjani was the only moderate figure who expressed supported free trade and ties with the West.

Rafsanjani protected Hassan Rouhani and paved the way for Rouhani to succeed him as president. Rouhani was Rafsanjanis deputy from the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, continuing to 2013, when Rouhani won the presidential elections. Rouhani replaced Rafsanjani in the election after Rafsanjani was disqualified by the Guardian Council. In the years that followed Rouhanis election, Rafsanjani openly supported his government through several controversies, including the nuclear deal and the 2016 parliamentary elections. Many felt Rafsanjani articulated what Rouhani could not publicly say.

Given the sensitivity of the supreme leader to the governments involvement in partisan politics, the house arrest of Green Movement leaders, and the stringent limitations imposed on the reformist former president Mohammad Khatami, it fell to Rafsanjani to take on the role of leading the reformist movement. Under his guidance, reformist candidates won a majority in parliament in the March 2016 election.

Now that Rafsanjani has died, Rouhani has no choice but to undertake the leadership of the reformist movement himself. Most post mortems have suggested that everything is now harder for Rouhani just five months from the presidential election in June. Having lost his mentor, he now faces the hard-liners on his own.

Should Rouhani be defeated in the next elections and a radical government formed, it could negatively affect the long-term future of Iran. Under such conditions, Rafsanjanis death would be bad news for the conservative clergy, as well as for moderates and reformists in general. Notwithstanding its unwanted consequences, however, this important event could also present reformists with opportunities.

Adopting a role to lead reformists outside the government is admittedly not a role Rouhani would likely choose under his own volition, given that his previous positions second-in-command during the Iran-Iraq War and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council reflect his inclination toward managing security and defense affairs and away from engaging in partisan reformist actions. But the death of Rafsanjani brings Rouhanis interests and those of civil society into a closer alignment.

While before, Rouhanis role was as a proxy for Rafsanjani, now the possibility of him simultaneously leading both the administration and the reformist masses is buoyed. These new circumstances require that Rouhani take more explicit positions, articulate his supporters demands for political and cultural freedom and reduce the interference of militants in political affairs.

Rouhanis actions now will determine how his evolving political role will shift. Rouhanis direct cooperation with reformist grass-roots factions effectively makes him a proxy for reformers, as the only one to echo demands for reform to the circles of power. Undoubtedly, this will attract criticism, including from the supreme leader and those in unelected positions of power. Nevertheless, this role could also transform Rouhani into a political leader acceptable to a wide range of supporters of modernization and development, both within Iranian society and among foreign observers.

To protect himself against powers opposed to him, Rouhani will also especially need support from the West, which made economic demands in relation to the nuclear deal. Rouhani may be building his ambitions as he considers running for a second term in 2017, yet his complex political situation may also ultimately make him a threat to the implementation of any succession plan.

The continuous suppression since 2009 of both political leaders, parties and the reformist movements supporters present Rouhani with a well-timed bid at a reelection campaign. Considering Rouhanis membership in the assembly of experts in 1989 when then-President Ayatollah Khamenei was chosen as the next supreme leader (the only incidence of leader substitution in the history of the Islamic Republic) Rouhani has great potential to be proposed as a candidate for the leadership position himself if his public support is sustained.

The sudden death of Rafsanjani eliminated a moderate pillar of the Islamic Republic, but it did not put an end to the possibility of replacing it. Everything depends on how Rouhani plays his cards in the near future and on the support he gets from the grass roots during his encounters with radicals.

Amir Hossein Mahdavi is a researcher at Brandeis Universitys Crown Center for Middle East Studies and a graduate student at Harvard Universitys Center for Middle East Studies. He previously served as an editor at several of Irans daily newspapers.

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Why the death of Iran's leading moderate could strengthen its reformists - Washington Post

Foreign Policy (blog)

Trump Can Have This Iran Deal or No Iran Deal Foreign Policy (blog) His new defense secretary said at his confirmation hearing that America must honor the deal, and his nominee for CIA director placed the emphasis on enforcement, saying the agency must be rigorously objective on Iran. Neither spoke of a renegotiation. and more »

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Trump Can Have This Iran Deal or No Iran Deal - Foreign Policy (blog)

"Our colleagues in the fire department have lost their lives while trying to save the people in the fire," Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf told the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network.

Earlier Thursday, Tehran's fire department spokesman Jalal Maleki told IRINN an estimated 20 to 30 firefighters were on the third floor of the high-rise Plasco building when it collapsed.

Maleki also told a local journalist at the scene that 35 firefighters were missing and that rescue workers were trying to dig them out.

The cause of the building fire and collapse is being investigated, he added.

The journalist on the scene, who spoke to CNN but declined to be named, said police and other uniformed security personnel have blocked the area and are not allowing people or cars to enter.

The journalist said that when he got there, several firefighters were inside the collapsed building and were feverishly trying to clear the debris and find buried colleagues, but their commander, using a loud speaker, had ordered them all out before assigning them to specific tasks.

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported that the Plasco building -- a downtown commercial garment building and one of Tehran's oldest high-rises -- "no longer exists."

Official news agency IRNA cited the head of Tehran Emergency Services as saying 70 people had been injured in the fire.

A spokesman for Tehran Emergency Services, Hassan Abbasi, told IRNA that 23 seriously injured people were receiving hospital treatment. The remaining 47 had minor injuries and were treated at the site, Abbasi said.

Fars cited Maleki as saying that some 10 fire departments responded immediately to the blaze. But, he added, some people didn't realize the building was on fire because Tehran's air pollution masked the smoke from the blaze.

Maleki also reportedly said the fire is now out, but rescue operations are in full swing.

"The building collapsed on itself (vertically) and did not damage the adjacent buildings," IRNA quoted Maleki as saying.

IRNA said staff members at two nearby embassies and residents of many surrounding buildings had been asked to leave as a precaution.

The agency quoted Tehran Governor Hossein Hashemi as saying the fire was an accident and that no security issue was involved.

Fars cited Mojtaba Doroodian, head of the shirt makers' union, as saying that the fire was the result of a leak in a small gas cylinder on the 10th floor, which caused an explosion when a merchant turned on the lights in his store.

"When people in the building became aware of the fire they tried to put it out with fire extinguishers, but the fire extinguishers were empty," Doroodian is quoted as saying.

The fire blazed through the upper stories for over three hours, sending out thick plumes of black smoke, before the building came down.

The Plasco building, built more than 50 years ago, was home to hundreds of garment manufacturers and other businesses, Fars reported. Most were evacuated, it said.

Located on Jomhouri Avenue in central Tehran, the Plasco building was constructed in 1962. It was named after a successful plastics business, Plascokar.

Seventeen stories tall, it was the country's first private high-rise building and soon became a well-known feature of the city's skyline.

Alistair Esfahanizadeh, who took a picture of the building before the collapse, posted on his Instagram account Thursday: "I probably took one of the last pictures of the building standing yesterday before the sunset."

The building housed offices and shops. The Plasco Shopping Center, known mostly for its clothing stores, was spread across several floors.

CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr reported from Tehran and Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported from London. CNN's Judith Vonberg contributed to this report.

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Iran: 'More than 20 firefighters dead' in Tehran building collapse