Iran’s ICT Minister Azari Jahromi announced the country’s readiness to join two international space projects which include “optical space observation” and “Data Sharing Service Platform”.

Announcing Iran’s readiness to cooperate with Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) on space projects, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said “since the foundation of this international organization, Iran has been an active member of the organization and we plan to continue on the same path.”

“APSCO’s efforts to share information and train different groups in various countries is very valuable and has an influential role in scientific and educational undertakings of member countries,” he added, pointing to APSCO’s activities in sharing space information and data.

Jahromi stated that sharing information and exchanging services help reduce costs and increase the country’s awareness about its surroundings.

ICT Minister emphasized that Iran is ready to increase their space security and monitoring satellites and space bodies by joining the Asia-Pacific ground-based Satellite Observation System (APOSOS) project.

He also referred to Data Sharing Service Platform (DSSP) as the other project in which Iran will cooperate and said “this project is an advanced program which can help save financial resources and improve the quality of life during natural disasters like earthquake and flood which is particularly important for APSCO members as these countries are more prone such natural phenomena compared to the rest of the world.” / Meher news /

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that America would pay a high price if U.S. President Donald Trump makes good on his threats to scrap the Iran nuclear deal.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in New York, Rouhani said: “Exiting such an agreement would carry a high cost for the United States of America, and I do not believe Americans would be willing to pay such a high cost for something that will be useless for them.”

Rouhani said such an action by the Trump administration “will yield no results for the United States but at the same time it will generally decrease and cut away and chip away at international trust placed in the Unites States of America.”

The U.S. extended sanctions relief for Iran last week as part of the 2015 nuclear agreement, which Trump has described as “the worst deal ever,” but this is mainly procedural.

The real test comes in October when Trump will decide whether to certify that Iran is complying with the agreement. If he does not, Congress has 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions waived under the deal. /  Tehran times /

The Sharif University of Technology has launched a science and technology park. So far four innovative companies have registered with the accelerator known as University of Sharif Tech Park.

It is set to provide firms with training and financing services, the official website of the university reported. Located near the university, the tech park expects to host at least 35 knowledge-based firms by the end of the current fiscal that ends in March 2018.

Parsa Polymer, Sharif Adrian Metal, Sharif Solar Technology Development, and Research and Technology Development Fund are the four firms which have registered with the Sharif TechPark.

Innovators including student teams, startups, and service providers can join for general and special consultation and training services plus financial support.

The fifth edition of Urmia Grape Festival held in Chi Chest coastal village in northwestern Iran. Chi Chest coastal village in West Azarbaijan Province, northwestern Iran, is currently playing host to the Fifth Urmia Grape Festival which was inaugurated on September 7 and  was open to visitors until September 15.

Earlier, commenting on the festival, Jalil Jabbari, the director general of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of East Azarbaijan, said the event is aimed at expanding the province’s tourism industry.

He added holding such festivals helps attract tourists and create investment opportunities for those interested in development of tourism industry in the province.

Jabbari said the holding of the festival is an outcome of collective efforts by all domestic apparatuses and a fruit of their favourable interactions with each other.

“Like the previous editions of the fest, a handicraft exhibition consisting 30 pavilions will present the province’s tourist attractions to visitors in this year’s event.”

In addition, he said, this year’s festival will feature a number of pavilions providing visitors with anthropological information about the province’s old and deep-rooted traditions and customs with a focus on grape as well as the culture of people in Urmia.

Commenting on the properties of grape and its health benefits, Jabbari noted that throughout the history, people of the province have found out about the nutritional values of the fruit and have included it in their food basket. / IFP /

Iran’s deputy economy minister said, within a 10-billion-dollar contract, China has allocated Lines of Credit (LOCs) to five Iranian banks.

Mohammad Khazaei made the remarks while speaking at the MoU-signing ceremony for a ten-billion-dollar LOC contract between CITIC Group Corporation Ltd. of China and five Iranian banks.

“The deal marks the first major contract signed with China in the era after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),” stated the official adding “upon signing this contract, we will be able to quickly finalize its executive procedures in Iran and China.”

Head of the Iranian Investment Organization added “Iran’s cooperation with CITIC Group is divided into three categories one of the main areas of cooperation with the large financial institution being financial analysis and project financing as signed by the parties.”

“CITIC is one of the largest economic groups in the world and taking advantage of its companies to execute major Iranian projects based on mutual agreement remains yet another aspect of cooperation between the two sides. The third area of collaboration between Iran and the CITIC lies in discussion of financial services of the Chinese side in Iran and signing of the agreement will boost ties between financial and economic groups of Iran and China. Given the presence of CITIC on the international level, the group can serve as Iran’s gateway for to the world,” he explained.

An agreement on a $ 10 billion credit line between Iran and China’s CITIC Group was inked in Beijing on Thursday at presence of Governor of Central Bank of Iran Valiollah Seif, Iran’s Ambassador to Beijing Ali Asghar Khaji, Chairman of Iran’s Investment Organization Mohammad Khazaei as well as CITIC Group directors. The meeting, which was held at the Chinese CITIC Center in Beijing, signed a $ 10 billion agreement on credit line of China’s CITIC Group with five Iranian banks.

CITIC GROUP is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, ranked among the top 500 groups. The China Construction Bank, CITIC Bank, Bidou Group, China Film Company and China Post Express Company are among subsidiaries of CITIC Group. / Meher news /

Iran earned their second consecutive win in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Grand Champions Cup on Wednesday.

The Iranian national volleyball team beat the U.S. 3-2 (20-25, 17-25, 25-21, 27-25, 25-21, 15-12) at the Nippon Gaishi Hall.

Milad Ebadipour, who was contained by the U.S. in the first two sets, stepped up on offence and finished with 18 points.

Amir Ghafour and Mohammadjavad Manavinezhad were among the Iranian players vital in comeback, scored 15 and 11 points, respectively.

Matthew Anderson and Taylor Sander made 17 points apiece on a losing effort.

Iran maintained their clean win-record, while the U.S. dropped to 1-1 in the 2017 edition of the World Grand Champions Cup.

Five of Iran’s six wins at the tournament have come in five sets.

Team Melli will play the event’s most decorated team Brazil on Friday.

The competition has brought six teams Iran, Japan, the U.S., France, Italy and Brazil together in Nagoya and Osaka, Japan from 12 to 17 September. / Tehran times /

New cast members including Greg Grunberg and Taylor Cole have joined Ali Atshani’s comedy ‘1st Born’, a US-Iranian co-production.

This movie is the first joint production of Iran and Hollywood whose filming will start in Los Angeles on September 11.

According to previous announcements, Val Kilmer, William Baldwin, Jay Abdo, Robert Knepper and Armin Amiri will also appear in this comedy.

The project centers on a newly married couple, Iranian-born Ben and his American wife Kate, who are living in California. When the couple’s first pregnancy faces complications, both sides of their family must come together – a rather complicated notion as Ben’s father Hamid is an anti-American Iranian politician, while Kate’s father Biden (played by Kilmer) is an American politician with a hardline stance against Iran.

‘1st Born’ is notable for being the first joint feature film co-production between Iran and Hollywood, using a cast and crew from both the US and the Middle East.

The film will be produced by LA Independent Film and Entertainment studio located in Hollywood. The screenplay has been written by Sam Khoze and Tarek Zohdy. / Meher news /

Five Iranian films have won awards in various categories at the Moondance International Film Festival in the city of Boulder, in the northern part of the U.S. State of Colorado.

“Weavers of Imagination” co-directed by Sadeq Jafari and Marzieh Vaziri received one of the two awards in the short documentary film category, the organizers announced last week.

“Niofar” by Hugo Lemant from France won another award in the section.

“Not Yet” by Arian Vazirdaftari was among the eight winners in the short film category.

Three of the eight awards in the animation film section went to “Light Sight” by Seyyed Moslem Tabatabai, “The Orangish Tree” by Amir-Hushang Moein and “The Servant” by Farnush Abedi.

Photo: Farhad Aslani (L) and Pantea Panahiha act in a scene from Arian Vazirdaftari’s short drama “Not Yet”. / Tehran times /

Iran opened the 2017 edition of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Grand Champions Cup with a 3-2 win over Italian rivals.

In their first match on the opening day of the sportive event, Iranian volleyball players took up Italian rivals on Tuesday morning in the Japanese city of Nagoya. At the end of a breath-taking stunning match, the Persian side managed to thrash Italy 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 28-26, 29-31 and 15-11).

Igor Kolakovic’s boys gained in the upper hand in the first, third and fifth sets while the European side was the winner only in the second and fourth sets.

The Men’s World Grand Champions Cup features a total of six teams that play in a round-robin tournament from September 12 to 17. Nagoya and Osaka host the seventh edition of the tournament.

Italy won the inaugural edition of the World Grand Champions Cup in 1993 and claimed bronze medals in 2005 and 2013, while Iran seek a medal in their third appearance. These two squads met for the second time at the World Grand Champions Cup. In their first encounter, Iran beat Italy in five sets 3-2 (26-24, 16-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-12).