Nine plans are contending for the Vista Contemporary Art Prize during the third edition of the annual award established by Tehran’s Vista Gallery to honor the best artistic idea from young Iranian artists.

One of the plans has been provided by Hamidreza Azad to organize an installation exhibition, in which a horn-shaped figure produces voices, causing visitors to refer to history in a reflective way.

In another plan, Sanahin Babajanian will create solids representing geometrical motifs from Iranian architecture and paintings of Christian monuments.

In a plan for an installation, Iman Jesmi represents some perfect characters of the sounds being produced by objects and visitors’ reactions to them.

Hufer Haqiqi displays some imaginary landscapes of Tehran in a delicate process in his plan.

In her plan, Ulduz Nabizadeh develops new concepts and functions of ceramics.

Shana Abdollahian and Ehsan Alizadeh are jointly competing with a single plan.

Plans by Kolsum Salehi, Aisa Rashid and Samira Rohbani have been selected to compete for the prize.

The winner will be honored with a check worth 300 million rials (about $7,200) during a special ceremony at the gallery on Friday. The organizers also will help the winner accomplish his/her new project in an exhibition at the gallery./T.T/

The medicine of Edaravone Alsava for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) patients was unveiled on Sunday morning in the presence of Iran’s Vice President for Science and Technology.

The medicine for patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) was unveiled in the form of Edaravone injection vials by a knowledge-based company in the Growth Center of Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS).

It is for two months that the medicine has hit the domestic consumer market and about 50 patients have used it.

Edaravone Injection Vial is a thick product which is prescribed for patients with ALS.

ALS disease causes destruction of mobile cells in the spinal cord and is considered as a type of degenerative disease.

Statistics showed that 10 and 90 percent of patients with ALS have either been genetically or diagnosed with the disease respectively.

According to neurologists, the ALS disease is a degenerative disease that cannot be cured. /MNA/

The US assassination of IRGC’s Quds Force commander, Lt. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, on Trump’s order has sparked wide criticism amid American celebrities.

“Dear #Iran, The USA has disrespected your country, your flag, your people. 52% of us humbly apologize. We want peace with your nation. We are being held hostage by a terrorist regime. We do not know how to escape. Please do not kill us. #Soleimani,” wrote American actress, activist, and author Rose McGowan in a tweet.

Her tweet received backlash from several accounts, prompting her to add in another tweet that she was scared of the prospect of an impending war.

Kathleen Mary Griffin, an American comedian and actress, also took to Twitter to voice her opposition to the US move by saying “Donald Trump has put every American, all over the world, in grave danger by this incredibly ignorant and thoughtless act of war.”

American documentary filmmaker and author Michael Moore also slammed Trump for his airstrike, saying that Americans are being led into an unwitting war with Iran.

The United States terrorist forces assassinated Lt. General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s pro-government Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) — better known as Hashd al-Sha’abi — in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday. The Pentagon said in a statement that US President Donald Trump had ordered the attack.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump claimed in a Saturday tweet that his military would hit “very important” targets related to Iran and the “Iranian culture” in case of retaliatory action against the US for the assassination of the senior Iranian military commander.

The threat came under severe backlash for its blatant nature of pertaining to a war crime, which targets civilization and cultural monuments instead of military sites. /MNA/

A script has remained from General Soleimani that has been written hours before his martyrdom.

The spiritual text has been written before his flight’s departure from Damascus to Baghdad on Thursday. He had left the paper in his residing room.

“O God! don’t leave me alone

O God! Accept me

O God! I love meeting You

The same meeting which made Moses unable to stand and breathe

O God! Accept me

‘All the praises and thanks be to God who is the Lord of the universe’

O God! Accept me purified.”

Lt. General Soleimani was assassinated on Friday by US terrorist forces at Baghdad airport. Iran has vowed to take a hard revenge on Washington for this act of terror. /MNA/

The director of Art Bureau’s Visual Arts Office, Masud Shojaei-Tabatabai, said on Sunday that a number of Iranian artists are creating artworks of commander Qassem Soleimani in a project initiated by the organization.

About 30 painters, graphic designers and sculptors, including Mehdi Farrokhi, Ahmad Qolizadeh, Kamiar Sadeqi, Shahram Shirzadi, Abbas Ganji, Nasser Seifi and Malek-Dadyar Garusian, are collaborating on the project.

Painter Hassan Ruholamin’s painting “The Apocalyptic Companion of Aba Abdillah”, which depicts Soleimani’s remains embraced by Imam Hussein (AS), the third Imam of the Shias, is one of the artworks created for the project.

An image of the artwork was published on Friday on khamenei.ir, the official website of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

The artworks being created for the project are scheduled to be showcased in exhibitions, which will be organized across the country in the near future./T.T/

Pahlevani armband, called ‘Bazouband’ in Persian, was awarded to family of Commander of IRGC Quds Force Major General Qassem Soleimani on Sunday.

In the ceremony held in the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs headquarters, sports minister Masoud Soltanifar awarded the armband to General Qassem Soleimani’s family.

Chief of IRGC’s Sarallah Headquarters Brigadier General Esmaeil Kosari and head of Iran’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) Reza Salehi Amiri were among attendees.

Commander of the IRGC Quds Force Major General Qassem Soleimani was martyred in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport on Friday morning.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei declared three days of public mourning in the country.

Iran’s Ministry of Sport had announced that the all competition which are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday were canceled.

General Soleimani was at frontline positions in battles against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

General Soleimani and Deputy Commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, who were separately leaving Baghdad airport in two cars were targeted and assassinated early hours of morning on Friday./ T.T/

A large group of literati came together at Tehran’s Felestin Cinema on Friday evening to commemorate Quds Force Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, who was martyred in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, during a poetry night entitled “Tough Revenge”.

The poetry night was organized on the sidelines of the 10th Ammar Popular Film Festival, which is currently underway in Tehran.

The session was attended by several prominent poets, including Ali-Mohammad Moaddab, Ahmad Babai, Nafiseh Sadat Musavi, Mohammad-Mehdi Sayyar, Milad Erfanpur, Fatemeh Nanizad and Mobin Ardestani as well as cultural officials and the families of the martyrs who lost their lives in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war or in fighting against terrorism.

At the beginning of the session Forugh Monhi, whose three sons were martyred during the war, noted that Iranians are not alone and the U.S. should await their tough revenge.

“General Soleimani trained thousands of soldiers like himself. These soldiers will fight the enemies of Islam, the U.S. and Israel,” she added.

Afterwards, poets recited selections from their works about resistance and fight against the world arrogance.

Established by a number of Iranian revolutionary figures, the Ammar Popular Film Festival has been named after Ammar Yasir, a close companion of Prophet Muhammad (S).

The festival, which opened in Tehran on Wednesday, will come to an end on January 9./T.T/

The Statement of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Dhaka, Bangladesh on the Occasion of the Heinous Crime of the United States in Martyring the Iranian Major General, Qassem Soleimani

مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ ۖ فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ قَضَىٰ نَحْبَهُ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَنْتَظِرُ ۖ وَمَا بَدَّلُوا تَبْدِيلًا

“Among the believers are men true to what they promised Allah. Among them is he who has fulfilled his vow [to the death], and among them is he who awaits [his chance]. And they did not alter [the terms of their commitment] by any alteration –“

(Holy Quran, Chapter 33, Verse 23)

The Gallant Nation of Bangladesh,

The flags of the Iranian Embassies around the world including ours in Dhaka have been flown at half-mast to salute the exalted soul of the great and exemplary soldier of Iran, the martyred General Soleimani who was an untiring combatant fighting the current of extremism and terrorism. The Glorious commander-in-chief, Qassem Soleimani was a credit and dignity not just for the people of Iran but for all the Muslims and all the oppressed and destitute in the entire world. The blatant act of the United States in dastardly assassinating the glorious commander of Iran’s Quds Army in the city of Baghdad is the symbol of unilateralism, criminality and encroachment upon Iraq’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. This wicked action violated all the international rules and laws as well as the regional peace and stability and it was aimed at escalating tensions and war-mongering. However, the unwise and heartless perpetrators of this horrible crime should know that they will receive a teeth-shattering response.

Today the United States is viewed as the embodiment of “State Terrorism” by the freedom-living nations of the world and its government is considered the most hated of all the governments. This assassination once again bears witness to this reality. Those running the White House and Pentagon should  know that the era of bullying and hit-and-run is long gone and a harsh vengeance awaits the criminals on whose hands the pure blood of this free man and others martyred in this nefarious crime will remain forever. Qassem Soleimani devoted all his life to the path of struggles for sake of Allah and martyrdom was his ultimate prize.

General Soleimani was a nightmare for Israel, Al-Qaeda and ISIS and he was the person who saved Syria and Iraq from the clutches of the barbaric terrorists of ISIS. Yes … His only sin was that he was the destroyer of ISIS which was created in the first place by the United States itself and that is why he was highly sought-after by the U.S. government.  Without a doubt, the blood of this great commander of Islam that was spilled unjustly will make the tree of resistance bulkier and will make the tension-raising policies of the US even more ineffective than before. The name and the memory of the exalted commander-in-chief Qassem Soleimani as well as his accompanying martyred comrades specially Mr. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (one of the greatest strugglers of the Islamic World and the Deputy of the Popular Mobilization Forces of Iraq), will forever stay alive in the minds and hearts of the freedom-loving people of the world and will remain an eternal shame for the history’s worst criminals.

وَسَيَعْلَمُ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا أَيَّ مُنْقَلَبٍ يَنْقَلِبُونَ

“And those who do wrong will come to know by what overturning they will be overturned”.

(Holy Quran, Chapter 26, Verse 227)

Deputy Culture Minister for Cultural Affairs Mohsen Javadi said on Monday that over 60,000 book titles have been published in Iran over the past year.

Speaking during a press conference in Tehran, he added that there is a five-percent increase in the number compared with previous year’s figures.

“The ministry has also purchased 400,000 books, out of which over 350,000 have been distributed across the country,” he added.

He also said that the ministry annually holds some seasonal book fairs across the country to help promote book reading.

He added that the 33rd Tehran International Book Fair will take place at Imam Khomeini Mosalla from April 14 to 24, 2020, and Turkey will be received as the guest of honor at the cultural event.

Javadi announced a culture ministry’s plan to merge the Iran Cultural Fairs Institute, Iranian Fiction and Poetry Foundation and the Khaneh Ketab Institute, and said that by the downsizing, the ministry intends to promote the private sector to play a key role in the national economy. /T.T/