NOURNEWS- The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Sunday, August 20, 2023:
IRAN DAILY:
-- Iranian offshore bank to be established overseas: Minister:
Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ehsan Khandouzi announced on Saturday that for the first time, permission has been granted for an offshore bank, as the Central Bank of Iran is issuing the required approval.
One of the main priorities of the country for economic growth is to introduce measures that lead to an increase in investment in Iran, the minister said, reported IRNA.
In the field of domestic investment, despite the fact that the investment rate in the previous government was zero, last year there was a 6.7% increase in investment in Iran’s economy, Khandouzi noted. The minister added that in the field of foreign investment, the amount of attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) during the recent 18 months has been higher than the same period in the previous government. Foreign investors will receive a residence permit for a period of five years once they transfer at least $100,000 to the country, he said.
-- Iran’s trout exports hit 4,000 tons:
Iran has exported about 4,000 tons of trout to target markets including Russia and Arab nations since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21), said Arash Nabizadeh, the managing director of Iran’s Coldwater Fish Farmers Association, adding that hitting the Chinese market is on agenda.
Nabizadeh noted that, currently, due to water resources restriction, up to 115,000 tons of trout is produced in cold water farms across the country, however, the actual capacity of trout farming in the country is 196,000 to 200,000 tons per year, according to IRNA.
“The provinces of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Lorestan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad, and Zanjan account for the largest share of trout production in the country,” the official said.
Iran ranked first over the last few years, but presently Turkey has taken first place in trout production in the world, as Iran is expected to increase its trout exports this year, Nabizadeh stated.
-- News in Brief:
Bitcoin drops to new two-month low
REUTERS – Top cryptocurrency bitcoin hit a fresh two-month low on Saturday, breaking out of its recent tight range as a wave of risk averse sentiment swept through world markets.
On Thursday, bitcoin fell 7.2% in its biggest one-day drop since November 2022 when top exchange FTX collapsed. It then slipped to a two-month low of $26,172 during Asian trading hours on Friday, its lowest since June 16.
ECB to raise objections to Italy’s windfall tax on banks
CNBC – The European Central Bank (ECB) is preparing to send a letter to Italy raising objections about the government’s windfall tax on banks’ profits, the Corriere della Sera daily wrote.
The letter will criticize the fact Rome announced the tax last week without previously informing either the Bank of Italy or the ECB as it is supposed to do under EU rules, the newspaper wrote, without citing sources.
Brazil gov’t pushes Congress to approve ‘green’
AFP – Brazil’s government expects Congress to approve a series of energy transition-related bills in the next 100 days that it believes will boost the country’s decarbonization credentials at the upcoming COP28 climate summit, an official said.
Rodrigo Rollemberg, a secretary at Brazil’s development ministry, said in an interview that the package of bills are set to include projects aimed at increasing the use of renewable fuels and regulating related sectors, such as offshore wind farms.
KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL:
-- IRGC Foils Terrorist Plans on Tasua, Ashura:
The Islamic Republic Guards Corps (IRGC) neutralized terrorist attempts against Ashura and Tasua mourning processions this year, commander of IRGC Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour said Saturday. The enemies, he said, planed to carry out terrorist and destabilizing operations which were thwarted by the dispatch of five IRGC ranger units to border regions. The commander said that the IRGC carried out a drone and missile operation which aimed to force disarm the anti-revolutionary groups or force them back to their camps.
-- 1,340 Intel Veterans Warn Israel ‘Plunging Into Abyss’:
The Israeli air force has suspended several high-ranking reservists, a report said, a day after the navy suspended a senior reservist who had vowed to halt volunteer duty to protest the occupying regime’s judicial overhaul.
The commanders of the IAF and navy can either return the high-ranking reservists to service later, or opt to replace them, Kan reported.
The report did not name the IAF reservists who had been suspended, or specify how many of them there were.
Vice Adm. David Sa’ar Salama, the head of the navy, suspended Doron on Thursday, after he and another top reservist, Rear Adm. (res.) Eyal Segev, announced that they would end their volunteer reserve duty, saying they refused to serve in “a dictatorship.”
Segev’s status was to be examined, the Israeli militar said in a statement. Doron and Segev both serve as heads of operational headquarters and as deputies to Salama in emergencies.
The pair joined a long line of navy reservists and other officers who have announced in recent weeks that they would stop showing up for volunteer reserve duty, sparking fears within the military of harm to its operational preparedness.
Salama’s decision was approved by military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the military said.
Also Friday, the organizers of a petition from veterans of special intelligence units appealed to hardline prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and war minister Yoav Gallant, asking them to “halt the judicial overhaul, come to an agreement and stop the incitement”.
The activists said 1,340 intelligence veterans had signed the petition warning that the occupying regime of Israel was in an “unprecedented time of emergency and plunging into the abyss,” Ynet reported.
-- U.S. Intelligence: Ukraine Offensive Failing:
The U.S. intelligence community assesses that Ukraine’s counteroffensive will fail to reach the key southeastern city of Melitopol, people The Washington Post reported, a finding that, should it prove correct, would mean Kyiv won’t fulfill its principal objective of severing Russia’s land bridge to Crimea in this year’s push.
The grim assessment is based on Russia’s proficiency in defending occupied territory through a phalanx of minefields and trenches, and is likely to prompt finger pointing inside Kyiv and Western capitals about why a counteroffensive that saw tens of billions of dollars of Western weapons and military equipment fell short of its goals, the paper said.
Ukraine’s forces, which are pushing toward Melitopol from the town of Robotyne more than 50 miles away, will remain several miles outside of the city, U.S. officials said.
Melitopol is critical to Ukraine’s counteroffensive because it is considered the gateway to Crimea. The city is at the intersection of two important highways and a railroad line that allow Russia to move military personnel and equipment from the peninsula to other occupied territories in southern Ukraine.
U.S. officials foresee that Ukraine’s push to retake Russian-occupied territory will stall before reaching the key southeastern city of Melitopol. Ukrainian forces are currently pushing south around the village of Robotyne.
Ukraine launched the counteroffensive in early June. But in the first week of fighting, Ukraine incurred major casualties against Russia’s well-prepared defenses despite having a range of newly acquired Western equipment, including U.S. Bradley Fighting Vehicles, German-made Leopard 2 tanks and specialized mine-clearing vehicles.
Joint war games conducted by the U.S., British and Ukrainian militaries anticipated such losses but envisioned Kyiv accepting the casualties as the cost of piercing
through Russia’s main defensive line, said U.S. and Western officials.
-- Two Zionists Killed by Palestinian Fighter in Retaliatory Op:
Two Zionists have been shot dead south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank by a Palestinian fighter in a retaliation attack.
The occupying regime’s ambulance service said two men – ages 60 and 29 – were shot near the Palestinian village of Huwara. Paramedics said the two people were targeted inside a carwash.
“Both were unconscious and had sustained gunshot wounds to their bodies,” a spokesperson for the ambulance service said.
The occupying regime’s army spokesperson for Arabic media, Avichay Adraee, confirmed the two had been killed.
TEHRAN TIMES:
-- Iranian official meets Hezbollah chief:
Mehdi Shoushtari, an aide to the Iranian foreign minister and the head of the bureau of West Asia and North Africa at the Iranian foreign ministry, met with Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The meeting took place in Lebanon and was also attended by Mojtaba Amani, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon. “In this meeting, the latest developments in Lebanon, the region and current regional political contacts were discussed,” according to Fars News. Shoushtari also met with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday. They discussed the general situation in Lebanon and the region and bilateral relations between Tehran and Beirut.
-- ECOWAS issues “D-Day” for Niger:
The West African regional bloc says it has agreed on a “D-Day” for military intervention in Niger to restore the deposed President Mohamed Bazoum. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made the declaration at the end of a two-day meeting of West African army chiefs in Ghana’s capital Accra, where they have been carefully discussing the logistics and strategy for a possible use of force in Niger. ECOWAS has not disclosed a date for when a military intervention will take place, saying it will resort to the use of force if diplomatic efforts fail. The 15-member bloc has insisted that it will not be holding endless talks with the military rulers. The bloc did, however, say that any military action would be considered as a last resort. “We are ready to go anytime the order is given,” ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Abdel-Fatau Musah said during the closing ceremony.
-- Iran, Iraq confer on drafting mutual agricultural calendar to boost co-op:
Iran and Iraq have approved a series of agricultural cooperation documents including a mutual calendar to expand cooperation in the mentioned sector according to the standards of the two sides and the seasonal needs of the two markets, IRNA reported. The mentioned documents have been approved in a meeting between Iranian Agriculture Minister Mohammad-Ali Nikbakht and his Iraqi counterpart Abbas Al-Maliki on Saturday. In this meeting, Nikbakht underlined the role of an agricultural calendar in ensuring the stability of trade relations between the two countries, saying: “We have a calendar and production plan for all kinds of agricultural products in Iran, and if the two countries coordinate based on such an agricultural calendar, we can supply part of Iraq’s needs while supplying the domestic market, and on the other hand, import that part of our market’s from Iraq.
-- Cartoon festival to highlight friendship between Iran, Brazil:
An international cartoon, caricature and poster festival is planned to be held to enhance the friendship between Iran and Brazil, Masud Shojaei-Tabatabai, the secretary of the event, said in a press conference in Tehran’s Art Bureau on Saturday. The festival will be held in both countries and will have the theme of ‘Resistance against Racism’, Shojaei-Tabatabai said. The caricature section of the event is dedicated to the theme of Pele and Vinicius Junior, two world-renowned football players, who have always faced racism due to their skin color, he added.
NOURNEWS