Iran’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi met with his Iraqi counterpart in the Iranian capital on November 8, according to tech sources in Tehran.

Iraq’s Minister of Communications Hassan Al-Rashid led a delegation to Iran on Monday for a two-day business trip, local tech website ICTNA reported.

The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding for issuing permits for the use of Iraqi SIM cards in Iran.

“The SIM cards will be handed over to Iraqi tourists when they visit Iran,” Vaezi said.

The Iranian minister explained that the two sides will sustain cooperation in the area of cyber-defense, adding that one of the issues agreed upon by the two sides was to ease transit of parcels between the two countries using both air and land transport.

He added that the two sides have decided to launch direct calls and avoid the use of European digital switchboards.

Vaezi noted that the two countries have created a joint committee to follow up on the terms of the agreement later in the year.

“The two sides will also work to improve international roaming and enhance signals,” he said.

Tens of thousands of Iranian pilgrims travel to Karbala in Iraq annually to mark Arbaeen, also known as Chehlom, to commemorate the end of the 40-day mourning anniversary related to the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (PBUH), Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) grandson, in a battle in 680 AD. This year, the event falls on November 20.

Vaezi said proper telecommunications coverage will be provided for this event both on the way to and from Iraq and at the main venue of the congregation.

The Iraqi minister also met with Vahid Sadouqi, CEO of Hamrah-e-Avval (MCI), Iran’s largest mobile network operator, who said MCI will be offering free Wi-Fi services on the route leading to the congregation this year.

“Apart from MCI subscribers, users of Irancell, RighTel and Iraqi SIM cards will also be able to make use of the free Wi-Fi services,” he added.

Wi-Fi checkpoints will be set up at the Iraqi cities of Najaf, Karbala and Kazemein.

Iran has been working with Iraqi companies AsiaCell and Zain Mobile.

Sadouqi noted that the quality of services offered for this event is improving every year.

“Last year, 1.3 million MCI SIM cards were actively working in Iraq. We predict that the number will reach 2.5 million this year,” he said.

The Iraqi delegation also met with the CEO of Iran’s second mobile network operator MTN-Irancell, Alireza Ghalambor Dezfouli, who said Iran and Iraq will be working to ease mobile payments and transferring credit.

The two sides announced that they are eager to share knowhow and expertise in developing 3G and 4G Internet services and network maintenance.

/ Financial tribune /

Iranian film ‘Inversion’ directed and written by Behnam Behzadi will be screened at MedFilm Festival in Italy.

The Italian event kicked off on November 4 and will wrap up on November 12. It is home to different feature movies and documentaries made in the Mediterranean and the new Europe areas.

Inversion is Behnam Behzadi’s fourth directed feature film that has previously participated in Un Certain Regard section of Cannes Film Festival and received a positive review.

The title is a reference to thermal inversion, a meteorological condition causing air pollution. The drama centers around a woman, Niloufar (played by Sahar Dolatshahi), who decides to take charge and find ways to better express herself in the smog-teeming metropolis of Tehran.

The only festival in Italy dedicated to promoting the circulation of European and Mediterranean Cinema, MedFilm Festival was established in 1995 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Cinema.

The main objectives of the MedFilm Festival are to support Human Rights and Intercultural Dialogue; to raise young people’s awareness and understanding of social-cultural issues; to stand against racism and xenophobia; to promote European and Mediterranean Culture. / mehr news /

Iran exported seafood worth $110 million during the first six months of the current fiscal year (started March 20), the head of Iran Fisheries Organization said. Hassan Salehi added that the figure indicates a 30% rise compared with the same period of last year.  “As one of the sub-sectors of agriculture, fishing industry continues to enjoy a healthy trade surplus. During the past years, our exports were double our imports,” he said. “Last year, seafood production stood at about 1 million tons, out of which 82,000 tons were exported. Fishing industry is expected to register a 100% growth by the yearend,” Eranico quoted Salehi as saying.  Abbas Matinfar, another official with the organization, said some 20,000 tons of fish will be produced via cage farming by the yearend.  Arash Nabizadeh, the managing director of Cold Water Fish Farmers Association, said Iran accounts for 16% of global production of trout.  “This year’s trout production is expected to reach 125,000 tons,” he added. Tehran signed an agreement with Moscow for the export of 500 tons of trout in September and the first 20-ton shipment of the fish was delivered to Russia, Young Journalists Club quoted Nabizadeh as saying.

/Financial tribune /

The Salesman won the Best Film Award at 61st Valladolid International Film Festival in Spain.

Directed by Asghar Farhadi, The Salesman is a 2016 drama which was included in the In Competition section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Shahab Hosseini won the award for Best Actor and Asghar Farhadi won the award for Best Screenplay.

The Salesman tells the story of a young couple Emad and Rana who play the lead roles in a local rendition of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Meanwhile, their personal relationship takes a hit after moving into a house that was previously inhabited by a woman with a shady background.

The film was selected as the Iranian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film for the 89th Academy Awards, which will take place in 2017.

The Valladolid International Film Festival is one of the oldest and most consolidated in the whole of Europe.

/ Meher news /

Four Iranian competitors won medals at the 2016 Karate World Championships on Saturday. Sajad Ganjzadeh took the gold medal after beating Moroccan Achraf Ouchen in the Men’s over 84kg individual kumite.

“I am happy to win gold since the competition has brought a number of the best karatekas together. My only goal was to win the gold medal and I am very happy my silver medal in the previous edition has been upgraded to gold,” Ganjzadeh said.

Croat Andjelo Kvesic and Herolind Nishevci from Kosovo won the bronze medal.

Furthermore, Zabiollah Poorshab in the Men’s under 84kg individual kumite, Aliasghar Asiabari in the Men’s under 75kg individual kumite and Hamideh Abbasli in the Women’s over 68kg individual kumite also claimed three bronze medals in the event.

Over 2,000 participants from 135 countries are competing at the 23rd edition of the Karate World Championships in the Austrian city of Linz. / Tehran times /

West Azarbaijan Province exports 1,500 tons of honey worth $6 million to Turkey, Iraq, Azerbaijan Republic, China, Kuwait, the UAE and East Asian countries annually, says the head of the northwestern province’s Agricultural Jihad Organization, Esmaeil Karimzadeh. “West Azarbaijan is home to one million traditional and modern beehives that produce over 18,000 tons or up to 27% of all the honey made in Iran,” he added. Karimzadeh noted that modern beehive yields around 21.1 kg of honey compared to 5.7 kg produced from traditional beehives, Otaghnews.com reported. / Financial tribune /

In the first seven months of the fiscal year (March 20-October 22), Iranian banks allocated more than 38.5 trillion rials ($1.2 billion) in Qarzol-Hasana (interest-free microcredit) marriage loans to 440,300 applicants. “This volume of loan has been unprecedented in previous years and shows how committed banks and the Central Bank of Iran are in supporting matrimony for the youth,” reports the official website of the CBI. According to the system that registers statistics pertaining to this category of microcredit, from the time the system was founded in 2009 until October 22 of the current year, more than 242 trillion rials ($7.6 billion) in loans have been given to 8.03 million applicants. / Financial tribune /

Iran’s railway has launched a new luxurious five-star train, called ‘Fadak’, between Qom and Mashhad, the most important pilgrimage centers in the country.

The ‘fadak’ train is the first luxurious passenger train running from Qom to Mashhad and vice versa. The train operates each day between two cities, taking about 7 hours.

The facilities and services of this new Iranian-made train are designed to be luxurious.

Qom is the second holiest city in Iran after Mashhad.  Its main attraction is the impressive Holy Shrine where Fatima, Imam Reza’s sister, is buried./realiran.org/

Filmmaker Nasser Taqvai, famous for his TV series “My Uncle Napoleon” (1976), was honored for his lifetime achievements during a ceremony held in the Film Museum of Iran on Saturday.

The ceremony was followed by screening Taqvai’s short film “Greek Ship” (1998) and two documentaries “Tazieh” and “Last Rehearsal” both produced in 2004, Persian media reported on Sunday.

Taqvai directed the two documentaries, which were submitted to UNESCO along with Iran’s documents about the Iranian passion play tazieh that was registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010.

A number of veteran cineastes and theatrical figures including Bahman Farmanara, Behzad Farahani, Habib Rezai, Atefeh Razavi and Pari Saberi attended the ceremony.

Speaking at the ceremony, Taqvai said that among all arts, writing is the art most dependent on man.

“Many works might be ruined and destroyed, but there is art that will remain, and for me cinema is such an art,” he said.

Taqvai, whose “Captain Khorshid” (1987) was also a big hit, continued, “The past teaches us more compared with the future, since the future has not arrived yet.”

He added, “Even if we do not like one work by a filmmaker, when we see it is being threatened, we need to take action and defend that work, and nobody should decide on behalf of someone else.”

Next, several music videos by famous cineastes were screened for the audience.

Asghar Farhadi’s video message submitted from Spain, where he is making his new production, was shown to the participants where he talked about his interest in Taqvai and his works.

“Talking about you is both easy and hard. It is easy because one can easily name the number of films you have made and hard since you have a special character and you are like nobody else,” he added.

“Among the filmmakers who are working today compared to the ones who worked over past decades, we can hardly find one who is both able to make films and is also knowledgeable in other fields, and Mr. Taqvai is one of those few,” he added.

The ceremony concluded with a presentation of a portion of the screenplay of the film “Captain Khorshid” that was written by Taqvai and apparently lost, but film producer Harun Yashayai owned part of it and had donated it to the Film Museum of Iran. / Tehran times /