Iran and Germany are to set up an international university, says the deputy president of Iran’s University of Science and Technology.

Touraj Mohammadi noted that the university’s initiation was decided during the last visit of a German trade delegation to Iran, Mehr news agency reported on Saturday.

He noted that Iran’s Science and Technology University follows various international initiatives, the latest of which is “becoming a communication portal between Iran and Germany’s universities.”

According to Mohammadi, the university will accept students from all over the world while similar cooperation with other countries is in the planning stages.

He refrained from giving a location, time-table or budget for the university’s establishment.

/ press TV /

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says tackling economic problems is Iran’s top priority, stressing that the Resistance Economy is key to resolution of the country’s economic woes.

Addressing the nation in his annual message on the occasion of the Persian New Year early on Sunday, the Leader said, “In my estimation, the issue of economy is the top priority. In other words, among high-priority issues, economy is the most pressing matter.”

The Leader added that “appropriate and decisive” economic actions by the Iranian government and nation could possibly influence other issues such as social, moral and cultural ones as well as social maladies, presstv.reported.

Highlighting the importance of paying attention to domestic production, job creation, elimination of unemployment, economic prosperity and tackling recession, Ayatollah Khamenei, added, “If we are to solve the problems of recession, [low] domestic production, and unemployment; if we are to curb inflation, [the solution to] all those fall within the purview of Resistance Economy.”

“Resistance Economy encompasses all of them. With the Resistance Economy, it is possible to fight unemployment and recession and to curb inflation; it is possible to stand up to the enemies’ threats; it is possible to create numerous opportunities for the country and use those opportunities,” Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out.

The Leader called on officials to take more “action and practical steps” in a bid to bring about tangible results that could be felt by the people, noting, “Therefore, I will choose the rubric ‘Resistance Economy; Action and Implementation’ as the motto of this year…This is a straight and bright road to what we need.”

The Leader expressed confidence that “if action and implementation are well planned” their results can be witnessed at the end of the year.

Elsewhere in his message, the Leader urged the Iranian nation to make itself invulnerable to the enemies’ threats and animosities.

“We need to make ourselves invulnerable to threats by the enemies and reduce [our] vulnerability to zero,” Ayatollah Khamenei stated. / Iran daily /

In a decision of far-reaching strategic implications, India is all set to sign a deal to have a direct subsea gas pipeline from Iran, by circumventing Pakistan.

The subsea pipeline would allow Iran to transfer natural gas from Turkmenistan to India, Tribune India reported.

The $4.5 billion gas pipeline project would supply 31.5 million cubic meters per day of gas to India’s west coast.

The 1,400-km pipeline will bypass the exclusive economic zone of Pakistan. Laying such a pipeline would need technical expertise for which a global consortium will lead the way.

A top official of the Narendra Modi-led government who did not wish to be named said, “Yes, the deal for the Iran-India subsea gas pipeline will be done. Matters have become easier, as the US-imposed economic sanctions on Iran have been lifted.”

India and Iran have held talks on key issues since the lifting of sanctions. Even during the sanctions, India was among the few countries allowed to buy crude oil from Iran.

New Delhi has also approved a three-pronged push toward Iran and Central Asia. It will fund a rail link between the Iranian port city of Chabahar and city of Zahedan, located on the junction of Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan.

The rail link, when concluded, will join Chabahar Port with International North-South Transport Corridor to provide direct access to Central Asia.

It will also be used to establish greater links with Afghanistan as the India-built Zaranj-Delaram Road in that country is close to Zahedan.

Tehran is also studying plans to lay a subsea pipeline that connects its gas facilities in the south to the Sultanate of Oman. The 260-km pipeline project is expected to be laid by 2019 at a cost of $1 billion. It will supply 28 mcm/d of natural gas (10 billion cubic meters a year) from Iran to Oman under a 25-year contract.

/financialtribune.com/

A 13-year-old Airbus A320 passenger plane has been delivered to Kish Airlines, the CEO of the Iranian company, Mohammad Ali Sadat-Akhavi announced on Wednesday.

Kish Airlines, which operates in Iran’s southern tourist hub and free trade zone of Kish Island, signed a contract in mid-February to acquire two Airbus by May 21.

“The second plane will land on Kish Island in the coming days,” Sadat-Akhavi was quoted as saying by IRNA. The airline is also in talks to buy two more Airbus jets, as part of its plans to add 10 planes to its fleet over the next Iranian year (to start March 20).

/financialtribune.com/

For the first time, New Year gifts will be given by the State Welfare Organization to families with twins or multiple births, said Anoushiravan Mohseni Bandpei, head of the SWO.

“So far, the SWO database has registered information about 10,000 twins and an amount equivalent to $30 will be sent directly to their bank accounts,” IRNA quoted him as saying.

On average, each day 16 pairs of twins are born across the country. The birth rate of twins in the country is 3% higher than the global average.

The SWO is responsible to assist families with twins or multiples if their financial condition is not favorable.

/financialtribune.com/

Iran’s largest solar power plant, with a generation capacity of one megawatt, has been successfully connected to the national grid, the executive director of the project, Davoud Mohammadi said.

“392 solar panels are used in this power plant which stretches over 1.6 hectares of land in the proximity of the central city of Arak in Markazi province,” Mohammadi said.

“The plant which is now considered as Iran’s biggest solar power plant is our first solar project on the scale of megawatt,” Mohammadi told Tasnim news agency.

The project got underway less than a year ago, he said, adding that minimizing pollutants, protecting the environment, and setting the scene for the programs and plans of the same kind to gain strength in the country are of the primary purposes of this project.

Mohammadi highlighted that the power plant will be officially inaugurated in the near future.  /  Tehran Times  /