Iranian Parliament Research Center [IPRC] said that the three countries [including the United Arab Emirates [UAE], China and Iraq] accounted for about 54 percent share of Iran’s total value of non-oil goods in 2018.

There is a relatively strong focus on Iran’s export target markets in such a way that the aforementioned three countries accounted for about 54 percent of country’s total exports share value of non-oil goods, Head of Iranian Parliament Research Center Mohammad Ghasemi added.

According to IPRC, about 42 percent of Iran’s imports from 2018 to 2011 has been made from the three countries of China, UAE and South Korea while over 70 percent of products has been imported from 10 countries in the same period.

MA/

Islamic Republic of Iran will be turned into the largest producer of raw materials of pharmaceuticals in the Middle East region in very near future.

Iranian Minister of Health and Medical Education Dr. Saeed Namaki made the remarks on Sun. and added, “benefited from high scientific capacity and capability of domestic scientists and materials needed to produce pharmaceuticals, Islamic Republic of Iran will be turned into the largest producer of pharmaceuticals in the Middle East region soon.”

Speaking in the inaugural ceremony of the first township of producing pharmaceutical’s raw materials in the Middle East region in Markazi province, Arak on Sunday through video conference, Namaki said, “despite cheap production of petrochemicals in Iran such as benzene, which is used in the production of intermediates for drug production, the country enjoys high capacity in producing raw materials of pharmaceuticals while these cheap raw materials are exported to the countries including India and China.”

Inauguration of the first township of producing raw materials of pharmaceuticals in the year named after ‘surge in production’ is a giant step taken by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Namaki added.

This move has been taken at the condition that tough and cruel sanctions have been imposed by US against Iran, he added.

MA/

Caretaker of the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade Hossein Modaress Khiabani said that his ministry has targeted exporting $10.5 billion worth of minerals in the current Iranian calendar year [started March 21, 2020].

Speaking in a meeting with members of the Board of Directors of Iranian Mine House on Wed., he expounded on the mineral policies taken in the Ministry of Industry in the current year named after ‘surge in production’ and added, “moving towards producing added-value products and strengthening exports in total steel chain are the main policy of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade in the current year.”

A major part of 200 operational projects which would be inaugurated by 2021 is related to the mining and mineral sector, he said, adding, “a considerable portion of these projects would be put into operation by the yearend.”

Despite tough sanctions imposed against the country, huge development projects are being launched in this sector, he emphasized.

Activating small-scale and inactive mines in the country is one of the main policies taken by the Ministry of Industry in the mining and mineral sector.

Iran is home to 5,600 active mines which 400 million tons of minerals on average are extracted from annually, and about 60 to 65 percent of the extracted minerals is related to the construction materials, caretaker of the Ministry of Industry highlighted.

MA/

Iran’s cultural centers in Kazakhstan and Serbia will commemorate the 31st death anniversary of Imam Khomeini by organizing exhibitions of photos of the founder of the Islamic Republic.

Both of the exhibitions will be online on the websites of the cultural centers, Iran’s Islamic Cultural Relations Organization (ICRO) announced on Sunday.

The exhibition in Serbia named “Separation from the Friend” opened on Saturday.

The showcase displaying over 100 photos throws the spotlight on his family life, official meetings and funeral.

About 50 pictures have been selected to be put on view at the exhibit in Kazakhstan titled “Hello to the Sun”.

The collection shows photos of Imam Khomeini from when he was a teenager to his life in exile in Iraq and France.

The exhibition, which opens on Tuesday, will also showcase pictures of his return to Iran in 1979, his meetings with foreign personalities, his family life and finally his large funeral in June 1989.

The death anniversary of Imam Khomeini, which falls on June 3 this year, will be observed in numerous cultural events across the country.

The Art and Cultural Organization of the Tehran Municipality has organized book fairs across the capital to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the passing of Imam Khomeini.

Twenty-five book fairs underway at Tehran’s libraries and cultural centers are offering a large, well-chosen selection of books, which are mostly about Imam Khomeini and the Islamic revolution. /T.T/

Five Iranian universities were ranked among the top 100 universities of Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2020, ISNA reported on Monday.

The Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2020 use the same 13 performance indicators as THE World University Rankings, but they are recalibrated to reflect the attributes of Asia’s institutions.

The universities are judged across all their core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook – to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons available. China is home to the continent’s top two universities for the first time this year, as Tsinghua University holds on to first place and Peking University climbs three places to second.

Meanwhile, Japan is once again the most-represented nation in the list with 110 institutions, up from 103 last years.

Elsewhere, Macau University of Science and Technology is the top new entry in the table, debuting at 32nd place.

The 2020 ranking includes just under 500 universities from 30 territories.

Mohammad Javad Dehghani, head of the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC), said that there are 40 universities from Iran, including the Noshirvani University of Technology in Babol, Sharif University of Technology, and the Amirkabir University of Technology, ranked the three top universities of Iran.

The number of Iranian universities has risen from 29 in the Asian Times 2019 rankings to 40 in 2020 (the number of universities in the ranking has risen from 417 to 489). In 2019, four universities in the country ranked below 100 in Asia, while in 2020 this number reached five. However, Iran’s best ranking in 2019 was 43rd, but this ranking rose to 48th in 2020, he explained.

In 2020, Iran had 40 universities among the top Asian universities, which was 29 in 2019, 18 in 2018, and 14 universities in 2017, he highlighted.

Although Iran has grown significantly in terms of the number of universities compared to the previous years, the growth in terms of rank is seen in only a number of universities, including Sharif University of Technology, University of Science and Technology, Tehran Medical Sciences, Mashhad Medical Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University.

T.T/

In the Name of God

In today’s world and at a time when humanity is suffering from unbridled insanity prevailing among social relations as well as discrimination, violence and the imposition of racist and unlawful policies, more than ever there is a need to invoke religious teachings. The Messengers of God including Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (PBUT) along the irrighteous followers, made every effort to prevail justice, love, brotherhood, sustainable peace and security and human salvation.

However, today it is, however, regrettable to witness that religious teachings are either ignored or taken advantage of in order to give legitimacy to extremist, racist and inhumane actions which have eventually led to chaos in human societies, to violations of human rights and have placed them against each other.

Aracist and heinous murder sadly took place in America a few days ago and was observed by the people around the world. We expected the US leaders to unequivocally condemn this inhumane act but not only did the US President not apologize and condemn it but also went on to use the Holy Bible as justification for the violence he and his troops used.

In the past decades, there were terrorist groups who justified their actions with reference to religious scriptures, but now we see the head of a state has used the Holy Bible as a justification for his crimes.

It is our conviction that it falls upon the church officials and leaders of other Abrahamic religions as well as all humans to denounce this ill exploitation and do not allow any group, state or individual to take advantage of the Holy Book.

It is hoped that US leaders would put an end to their divisive actions and would not take advantage of religious teachings but instead listen to people’s rightful demands. It is our hope that they do not impose pressure and discrimination and do not use the Holy Book as an excuse for their continued oppression.

Looking forward to expanding the culture of compassion and friendship.

 

Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue

 

 

Tehran

June 2020

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, in a message on the occasion of the demise anniversary of the founding father of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini [RA], said on Tue. that resisting and standing up against enemies, persisting on beliefs and also relying upon the religious democracy were of the key success factors of the late Imam Khomeini.

In this message, Rahmani Fazli reiterated, “by expressing sublime ideals of humanity, the late Imam Khomeini [RA] revived the liberating song and resistance against the excessive demands of enemies of humanity throughout the world.”

Relying upon the assistance of the Almighty God, the country would overcome difficulties imposed by enemies against the Islamic Republic of Iran successfully through unity, amity and self-credence under the wise leadership of the Leader of Islamic Revolution, interior minister stressed.

MA/

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said here on Wednesday that “What is being witnessed in US cities today is a result of realities that had always been kept concealed. However, today these have been revealed leading to the disgrace of the US government.”

The Leader made the remarks while addressing the nation live on TV on the occasion of the 31st demise anniversary of Imam Khomeini.

He hailed the charismatic character of the Late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini and said he managed to initiate the greatest changes in his time.

The Supreme Leader further commented on the demise anniversary ceremonies and, noting that the content, not the form is the most important item in holding tributes to the Late Imam Khomeini, said the Late Imam is still very much alive in the minds and hearts of people despite lapse of many years since his passing away.

He highlighted “appeal for change” as the most basic characteristics of the Late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini and said that “Imam caused the U.S. presidents to say themselves that Khomeini had humiliated them.”

Outlining the most outstanding characteristics of the Late Founder of the Islamic Republic, he highlighted his multi-faceted character the most notable of which the Leader described as his search and appeal for change.

Ayatollah Khamenei further stressed that the Late Imam was not a mere instructor or rhetorician but functioned as a commander who went to the very heart of operations and was a “leader” in the true sense of the word.

He further pointed to the new methods the Late Imam Khomeini used in changing people’s minor and insignificant demands into more important ones regarding the country’s most basic issues like non-independence on any world powers.

He further outlined many other changes the Late Imam initiated like the way people regarded world powers and the superpowers.

At that time, no one even imagined questioning the US power and never thought of doubting its power. Or, doing things which could go contrary to the US will, he said.

While, the Supreme Leader stressed, Imam Khomeini acted in a way that even the US presidents themselves admitted that he had humiliated them. And that was the true reality. The Late Imam and his young followers and admirers managed to humiliate the superpowers in the true sense of the word. They managed to break the authority of the superpowers, defeat them and expel them from the scene.

The late Imam showed everyone that superpowers are easy to defeat, easy to break. And the future too proved this notion. Everyone saw what became of the Soviet Union. And this is what is happening to the US today and the events going on there, he added.

The Supreme Leader further noted that “Imam caused the U.S. presidents to say themselves that Khomeini had humiliated them,” as quoted by his official website Khamenei.ir

“Nations resemble an ocean. Creating a storm in an ocean is not something anyone could do. Imam Khomeini created a storm in the ocean of the Iranian nation, turning the Iranian nation that had abandoned self-determination into a determining, influential nation in the world.”

“During the Pahlavi rule, the Iranian nation had a contemptuous outlook towards itself, not only before world powers but also before govt officials. It didn’t occur to people they could rise up against the Pahlavis and global powers. Imam Khomeini inspired this belief in people,” the website wrote.

“The Iranian nation regarded a despotic government to be a natural matter. Imam Khomeini turned such a nation into a nation that determined their own type of government. People’s demands progressed from trivial, limited requests to great, global demands.”

“Imam Khomeini revolutionized people’s view of religion. Religion developed from being a personal matter limited to prayers and fasting into being a matter for building a civilization, a society and human beings. Such a change was even produced in the jurisprudents.”

He further said: “Imam Khomeini caused the US leaders at that time to admit that Khomeini had humiliated them. Imam Khomeini proved that superpowers can be broken and beaten. You saw how the USSR collapsed, and you can see the status of the US today.”

“Khomeini was an Imam of change but believed all this to be from God. He saw the spiritual evolution of the youth as God’s doing. He believed in “You didn’t throw when you threw, it was God who threw.” [8:17] He said the youth’s evolution was greater than the Pahlavis’ defeat.”

“What is being witnessed in US cities today is a result of realities that had always been kept concealed. However, today these have been revealed leading to the disgrace of the US government.”

“The crime committed against this black man is the same thing the US govt has been doing against all the world. They have done the same in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Vietnam, and many other countries in the world. This is the US govt’s nature and character that is being exposed today.”

Referring to the slogan of “I cannot breathe”, which the American people have been chanting in recent days, the Supreme Leader stated, “This is what the nations that have been the victims of US’ oppressive usurpation want to say from the bottom of their hearts.

“By God’s favor and grace, the US has been disgraced as a result of its own actions,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, adding, “Their management of the Coronavirus brought them to disgrace, and their weak handling of the situation caused them to have several times as many casualties as other countries. The American people feel embarrassed and ashamed of their government.” “In dealing with its people, the US government has behaved in the worst manner. They kill people and yet claim they advocate human rights. Was not the black man whom you murdered a human being?”

Ayatollah Khamenei said that the people of the United States have every right to feel embarrassed and ashamed by their governments, particularly the current government.

In addition to different channels of the Iranian state television, the Leader’s speech is also available on his official Instagram page and Twitter account as well as his website (KHAMENEI.IR).

Ayatollah Khamenei has given a speech every year for the large crowd of people who gathered at the mausoleum of the late Imam Khomeini to pay tribute to the founder of the Islamic Republic. But this year, the ceremony at the mausoleum is canceled due to the restrictions imposed to contain coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Imam Khomeini, who led the Islamic Revolution of Iran to victory (1979), passed away in 1989 at the age of 87.

His charismatic character and political approach inspired many leaders and popular uprisings against dictator powers across the world. / IRNA/

In an interview with Mehr news, the Filipino professor, who lived some years in Iran, told of his understandings about the personality of the Late Leader of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini, underlining the message of hope he transmitted to the Muslim world.

Following is the full text of the interview with him:

Please introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Dr. Henelito A. Sevilla, Jr, a Filipino, and working as an Associate Professor at the University of the Philippines Asian Center. I am handling graduate courses in West Asian Studies and Foreign Relations. I got my Masters from Shahid Beheshti University and Ph.D. at the Faculty of Law and Political Science, Tehran University. I currently served as President of the Philippine-Iran Cultural and Scientific Society (Friendship council ), Incorporated based in Manila.

Would you please let us know if you have ever met Imam Khomeini (ra)?

In my entire life, I have not met Imam Khomeini (ra), except that I was privileged to visit his tomb in Behesht Zahra way back when I was a student, but his idealism, his works, and his vision to have a world far away from injustices and where everyone and every nation has to be respected and treated equally no matter how big or small, no matter what status they have in life, and no matter what race they belong to, are important lessons I have heard and learn from him. As I always look into this idealism in my venture for a better understanding of complexities of life as a person, a scholar on the Middle East, and as an individual, It seemed therefore that I have met him.

How did you find his personality?

Imam Khomeini (ra) is a humble religious scholar who lived in simplicity and who had accepted his fate during his time for the sake of truth and justice for his own nation-Iranian nation. In spite of being politically exile abroad, he maintained his personal composure by helping Iranian people to emancipate them from a corrupt and ugly images of governance and policies which had dominated in the economic, political, security, and socio-cultural wellbeing of Iran during his time. His call for an Islamic revolution was made not from a conventional way in which tanks and bullets defined people’s protests but that of a soft, bloodless and peaceful one. His use of cassette as a critical mode of informing and teaching his countrymen reverberated in various areas in the country that even people in small villages would be able to listen to his teachings. While he was in exile, Imam Khomeini did not stop from his traditional role as an Islamic scholar and a clergy. Indeed a significant source of inspiration to his people and to those who followed his works and thoughts.

How far do you think his personality impressed the world?

The exiles of Imam Khomenei from Iraq to France, his return to Iran and his continued works and opposition to the injustices that many Iranian experiences from the hands of the Pahlavi’s regime as well as that from foreign countries who exploited and exerting influence on Iran’s political, economic, and security wellbeing were few critical selling points of his impressive personality to be given attention not just by his own countrymen but by many scholars and leaders in the world arena.

While Imam personified a living figure that could unite his own nation from decades of mismanagement, he had also brought an important message of hope for the Muslim Ummah as well as non-Muslim nations and communities who suffered the same fate with Iran, such as countries in Africa and Asia. In addition, Imam also carried a serious message to world leaders both in East and the West that the power of the people coupled with their faith to God can shake governments if they continue to remain anti-people and remain blindfolded from the emerging demand for a change of the majority of the people they govern. Finally, the triumph of the Islamic revolution in 1979 and the succeeding official establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran through peaceful means certainly caught the attention of the world on Imam’s impressive personality.

If you have read the books written by him, please share with us your opinion about them.

I have read some of his works especially the one that talks about the Islamic Government and the role of the jurist which I believe is the foundation of the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

MNA