President Hassan Rouhani and Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on Monday held talks in the capital city of Tehran to confer on the issues of mutual interests.

The President said that the United States, by withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and violating UN Resolution 2231 with the aim of overthrowing the Islamic Republic, has imposed cruel and unjust sanctions against the Iranian people for the past two and a half years, adding, “History has shown that the Iranian people will not give in to the bullying and coercion of a power”.

Speaking on Monday in a meeting with the Swiss Foreign Minister, Hassan Rouhani said that the relations between countries should be based on international regulations and UN Security Council resolutions, adding, “The United States has been seeking to eliminate the Islamic Republic and interfere in Iran’s internal affairsfor many years, and Mr Trump has made a miscalculation by thinking that he could overthrow the Islamic Republic within three months by putting pressure on Iran and waging an economic war”.

Emphasising that we have been -and will be- committed to international rules and multilateral agreements, Rouhani said, “Any day that the United States decides to admit to its mistakes, make up for its illegal actions and return to Resolution 2231 and the JCPOA, the path is clear for them”.

The President emphasised, “Today, it is clear to the Americans that they have made a mistake and will not achieve their goal through pressure and sanctions”.

The President described US sanctions and economic war against the Islamic Republic, the assassination of a high-ranking Iranian military official in another country, as well as the violation of Iranian airspace as clear examples of economic terrorism, terrorist operations and air terrorism by the country, adding, “We expect all friendly and free countries in the world not to remain silent in the face of terrorism and the illegal actions committed by the United States over the years”.

Dr Rouhani stated that we expected the European countries to take decisive and explicit action against the US economic terrorism, which has even prevented the entry of drugs into Iran during the outbreak of coronavirus, calling for a more active part on Switzerland’s financial channel and its more effective and useful role.

In another part of his speech, the President mentioned Switzerland as an important country in Europe, and referring to the good and friendly relations between the two countries over the past years, emphasised the development of Tehran-Bern relations in various fields of science, health, agriculture, environment, etc.

Dr Rouhani also referred to the outbreak of the global coronavirus in many countries around the world, and expressed hope that the two countries would share their experiences in the fight against COVID-19 and develop their cooperation in this regard.

Referring to the 100th anniversary of the establishment of political and diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis described the relations between Iran and Switzerland very good and sincere, and stressed the development and deepening of these relations in all fields.

“All countries around the world need to know that there is a strong legal system in the world so that they can live in security; therefore, it is important that everyone, especially powerful countries, fully comply with international rules and regulations,” said the Swiss foreign minister.

We are aware of the problems caused by the US sanctions on the Iranian people, said Foreign Minister Cassis, adding, “The Swiss financial channel has been designed and launched to solve these problems and we will try increase the useful role of this channel”.

The Swiss Foreign Minister said that we are still with Iran to solve the problems and we will try to play our part, adding, “During this visit, I had very good meetings with the officials of the Islamic Republic, which can be the basis for developing and strengthening relations between the two countries in different fields”.

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The direct flights between the Iranian and Spanish capitals resumed on September 2, after 17 years, and are currently underway on a weekly basis.

Mohammadreza Karimiyan, the deputy head of the airport operation at Imam Khomeini Airport Company, announced the resumption of weekly flights of Iran Air between Tehran and Madrid this week, saying, “Following a series of measures by the Iranian Embassy in Spain and through the coordination with the Civil Aviation Organization, and the Airlines of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran Air), as well as Spanish domestic institutions, the license for ordinary flights of Iran Air on the Tehran-Madrid route, was received,” IKAC news reported.

“Accordingly, the flights will be operated on Wednesdays each week.”

The flights will depart from Imam Khomeini International Airport at 09:50 a.m. and the return flight will leave Madrid on the same day at 15:30 local time.

Karimiyan noted that currently, many flights operate from Imam Khomeini International Airport to European cities including London, Moscow, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Vienna and Manchester

Passengers arriving by air must provide negative COVID-19 test results in English to gain entry to Iran their PCR tests for the coronavirus must have been conducted not more than 72 hours before boarding, he added.

Based on a statement by Iran Air, passengers with Visa C (tourist visa) will not be allowed to take the flight till further notice.

The country has been trying to resume its international flights after the coronavirus pandemic hit the sector since early 2020.

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Sadeq Hosseini, Farbod Khalili: As of the filming of this report, three months have passed since the coronavirus outbreak went from a news story on TV to an everyday reality for Iranians. Schools were closed, businesses shut and people sent home self-quarantining. In the meantime, while urban life as we all knew it, was almost put on hold, there were still some people who were busy working. Not for money. But for kindness and compassion. Thousands of Iranians volunteered to help their fellow citizens and provided these services:

Production and distribution of face masks and other protective gears
Disinfection of public places and cars
Distribution of essential food supplies and cash handouts
Volunteering at hospitals and other medical facilities

Tehran’s Autism Charity distribute over 80,000 packs

Since the early days of the corona covid19 pandemic, the Shokoufeha Charity for children with autism, In one of the Tehran’s eastern neighborhoods halted most of its activities and instead had these volunteers prepare and distribute for free sanitary packages.

Behrouz Khosravan CEO of Shokoufeh Charity for Autistic Children said: “The Charity was founded in 2017. It has taken 70 kids under its wings, providing them with food parcels and medicine. 30 kids receive monthly pensions while we provide rehabilitation services to 45 kids at the charity’s central branch.”

Director of Shokoufeh Charity added: “The activities of the rehabilitation center were halted soon after the start of the outbreak. Therefore, our psychotherapists and occupational therapists provided families of the autistic kids with educational content online. We also prepared sanitary packages and distributed them among the families. We have managed to distribute over 80 thousand packs among supported families and across the city.”
Haniyeh Abbasi is social worker in Shokoufeh Charity for Autistic Children said: “In early February 2020, after the outbreak, the charity decided to prepare and distribute sanitary packages that include a face mask, gloves and a hand sanitizer gel among the needy to help lighten the load for hospital staff and officials alike. We hope the recipients of these packages can use them in good health. We also gave these packages to the families of autistic children under the charity’s protection since most of them are financially challenged. So we decided we could prepare these packages with the help of donors to lighten the load for them.”

Hanieh mention that: “After outbreak we started to reduce the number of the classes and instead offered online sessions. We also pay their families some cash handouts every month to help them with their medical and other daily expenses.”

Retired teacher who is member of Charity member also said: “Whoever has to deal with autistic children inevitably becomes kind and compassionate. Therefore, all these people here have been doing voluntary work without ever once complaining.”

The volunteer who took the corona

Firouzgar Hospital has been one of the main coronavirus treatment centers in Tehran, and also where Meysam Ameri was working voluntarily until he contracted the disease.
Meysam Ameri is a 35-year old graphic designer working out of his home studio in north of Tehran. Since the early days of the outbreak, He began his voluntary work by handing out free face masks and gloves in Tehran subway, and disinfecting the Grand Bazaar.
In early April 2020, he volunteered to help the fight against coronavirus at Firouzgar hospital where he finally contracted the disease 20 days later.

Meysam recounted his story of joining Firouzgar Hospital:
It was 25 of us, men and women, who joined the hospital as the first volunteer group. We had an agreement to take care of all the things left unfinished after receiving initial training. For a while, we only did office work and disinfected the exteriors until we gained the trust of the hospital staff, and were then allowed in the Coronavirus ward after receiving appropriate training.
Aside from carrying out duties like taking test samples to the lab, and taking the results back, and going with patients to get CT Scans, we – as caregivers- also helped the patients getting to, using the toilet or changing their diapers.
We would form emotional bonds with patients to make their hospital experience and their battle with the disease more bearable. We would also help patients video call their family members. Other creative things we would do include giving them haircuts and even massage! We would also make fresh fruit juice. It was a favorite with patients and the medical staff alike!
We were later received training for some more technical nursing tasks like taking blood pressure and body temperature, and reading a pulse oximeter that monitors oxygen levels in the patients’ blood.
About 80 other caregivers joined us in the meantime. Still anyone who desired could leave. So on my last day at the hospital, there were about 20 of us volunteers there.
One other interesting thing we did was to throw a surprise birthday party for one of the nurses whose wedding had been cancelled due to the pandemic. We also held a ceremony to celebrate the birthday of Imam Mahdi on Mid-Sha’ban. Just like our other expenses like the cost of gowns and face masks, the cost of holding the event was paid through donations.

Meysam told us the hospital work was heavy and stressful. He would start working after performing his prayers at dawn, and would not go to bed until well after midnight. He believes his extreme physical fatigue contributed to his disease: One night, after twenty something days at the hospital, I realized I had a temperature and I was breathing heavily. At first, I thought it was just fatigue from working long hours. I went to the emergency department and underwent a CT scan just to realize my lungs were affected. I stayed there for three days until I could breathe easier. Then I spent 20 more days at home self-quarantining.
Coughing was not one of the symptoms. Instead, the symptoms were a high fever, and severe muscle and chest pains. Three weeks after the quarantine, my breaths are still short and heavy.
But none of these pains hurt Meysam as much as the pain of not seeing his family, he mentioned: I could not see any of my family members for 45 days, from the night I was admitted to hospital to the last day of my quarantine. I have a 9-month old son and a 5-year old daughter. My son had started crawling and grown his first teeth when I got to meet him again. Separation from my wife, kids and parents was my toughest experience.

Tehran municipality and volunteer work in Corona pandemic

Tehran Municipality, with extensive coordination, provided the possibility of volunteer groups. Groups that produced and distributed masks and hygiene items, groups that disinfected places, and groups that distributed food packages to the needy were able to provide their services with the help of the Tehran Municipality.

Pirouz Hanachi Tehran Mayor during the visiting thousands of food packages prepared for the needy said: All donors, volunteers, Tehran municipality and Basij forces are working to create a database so that the process of distributing food and health packages could be done fairly.

Faezeh Dolati is cultural deputy of Tehran 7 district municipality mentioned:
The municipality of borough seven, as one of the twenty-two boroughs of Tehran, provides various services to the citizens such as:
⁃ holding entertainment activities like street carnivals in the neighborhoods. In this way, people by respecting social distance, can watch and enjoy from their homes.
⁃ Managing and coordinating voluntary services, for example We produced around 2 million face masks with participation of local volunteers.
⁃ Preparing and Distributing nonperishable food packages for impacted families in collaboration with local businesses In order to participating in social responsibility.
⁃ Transforming neighborhoods centers into covid-19 service centers for monitoring and screening to help health care system
⁃ and finally, identifying vulnerable people and those who lost their jobs due to Corona virus crisis while distributing health packages

Mehdi Shirzad headquarters office of organizing social participation in Tehran mucipality about about Tehran’ voluntary work during the lockdown said: Fairly speaking, they did absolutely great with the fight against the coronavirus outbreak, and with collecting donations. So did mosque Imams and all who do social work there. Youth volunteer groups also helped a lot in the neighborhoods. This proved that urban crisis management is almost impossible without citizens’ help. The municipality’s most important achievement was the creation of a platform to connect NGOs to volunteers. So citizens can upload their resumes on this platform and then join events organized by NGOs, or even hold their own charity events.

Tehran Volunteer group preparing 3500 hot meals every day

Mostafa Foroutan who is Heydaraneh Campaign Manager said:
A number of Volunteer groups joined forces and created the Heydaraneh movement to be able to produce more comprehensive work during the coronavirus outbreak. In the beginning, like many other groups, and since we didn’t know how to exactly combat the virus, we began our activities by disinfecting public places, and later produced and distributed face masks.
In the next phase, and on the recommendation of hospitals, we started making a gravy-like puree from quail meat extract and medicinal herbs.
The movement also managed to prepare and distribute about 4000 essential food parcels for needy families.
We also collected donations for those directly impacted by the outbreak.

Hossein Bolandimonfared director of volunteer group that preparing food said: During the coronavirus outbreak, with the help of other volunteer groups, we have been preparing 3500 high quality hot meals every day.
Making fresh fruit juice for hospitals is another thing our group has done. A supervisor from the health ministry would oversee the whole process 24/7 to make sure the product meets health standards.
I should stress that we received an unprecedented amount of volunteer help for the supply, preparation and distribution of the meals. The level of participation was much higher than during the 2019 floods and Kermanshah’s 2017 earthquake.
Iranians have proven to be people of hard times. While people in other parts of the world were forming long queues outside supermarkets, and even seen fighting, Iranians were standing in line for voluntary work. This is really valuable that people care about one another in this situation.

The 6 months after the coronavirus pandemic, about 360 thousand Iranians have contracted coronavirus, and seven thousands -unfortunately- lost their lives. The first wave of the covid-19 is now behind us.
We, the people of Tehran, have brought this malicious outbreak under control for now, well of course, with the help of the government and municipality. The exact numbers are still to be fully worked out, but estimates show over half a million Tehraners have offered some kind of voluntary service during the first wave of the outbreak.

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Iran Air lines will resume flights between Tehran ,Istanbul and Dubai after Coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak.

Iranian airline to resume Tehran-Istanbul flights

Iran Air, the airline of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will resume flights between Tehran and Istanbul as of Monday, July 13, according to an official.

The head of Iran Air Public Relations Office, Hossein Jahani, said on Sunday that the airline will operate its first flight along the Tehran-Istanbul route on Monday after a four-month hiatus.

Iran Air is scheduled to operate two flights per week (Mondays and Fridays) from Tehran to Istanbul and vice versa, the official added.

Flights between Iran and Turkey were suspended about five months ago from the closure of borders due to the coronavirus outbreak.

In early March, based on the coordination between Iran and Turkey, two special flights were conducted from Istanbul to Tehran to bring home the Iranian visitors stranded in Turkey.

The two countries are considering reopening borders and resuming the flights which have been suspended since March over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tehran-Dubai tourist flights resumed

The tourist flights of Tehran and Dubai have been resumed since July 09 during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, by observing health protocols.

An Iranian Airline revealed the remarks on Sun. and announced, “the passenger flights of the Airline en route Tehran-Dubai-Tehran have been resumed since Thursday, July 9 amid the pandemic by fully observing health protocols and guidelines.”

In addition, the Airline has also revealed the launch of a daily flight via this route by full compliance with health guidelines.

It should be noted that passengers are admitted only with a tourist visa or a valid stay permit so that admitting passengers in transit form is impossible until further notice.

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Head of Iran Export Confederation Mohammad Lahouti says achieving the $42 billion non-oil export target which the country has set for the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021) is possible considering the recent improvements in exports.

“Considering the growth of [non-oil] exports in late 1398 [previous Iranian calendar year ended on March 19] which continued in the current year, the exports are expected to grow significantly in the second half of the year, and hopefully we will achieve the foreseen target,” Lahouti told ILNA.

“Of course, we missed the first quarter of this year due to the coronavirus outbreak and the closure of borders; however, since over 80 percent of the border crossings have been reopened, the exports growth will be much higher in [the Iranian calendar month of] Khordad (May 21-June 20),” he added.

He further noted that it could also be possible for the exports to increase in the second half of the year to even exceed the $42 billion target.

Mentioning the preferential trade deal with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the official said Eurasia will be a great export opportunity this year and we have also the largest markets in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“China and India are also among our target markets; we are trying to increase our exports to China and hopefully our exports to India will return to normal levels as well.”

According to Lahouti, the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade is targeting 15 neighboring countries for non-oil exports in the current year, and the diversity of the target markets has not changed much.

Iran to launch joint chamber office in Syria

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Export Confederation head said Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) has purchased a building in Syria and the office of Iran-Syria joint chamber of commerce in the Arab country will be opened soon.

“Naturally, by launching the Iranian Chamber of Commerce office in Syria, we can expand exports and investment in this country,” he said.

“When the Syrian market opens and conditions return to normal, we will have various plans for this country as well.”

The official noted that Syria is looking for joint investment, and Iran’s goal is to increase non-oil export to the country.

“Syria is also a good market for joint ventures, but infrastructure must be provided and protocols must be followed,” Lahouti emphasized.

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Acclaimed Iranian author and translator Najaf Daryabandari, who translated many of the world’s outstanding literary works into Persian, died on Monday at the age of 91.

His son, Sohrab, gave the news on his Instagram page. He wanted Daryabandari’s fans not to visit his house because of the coronavirus outbreak, IRNA reported.

Daryabandari began his translation career at the age of 18 with short works by William Faulkner.

Born in 1929 in Iran’s southern city of Abadan, Daryabandari has some masterpieces in his works, including ‘A Farewell to Arms’ and ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ by Ernest Hemingway.

Other translations by Najaf Daryabandari include ‘The Prophet and the Madman’ by Gibran Khalil Gibran, ‘Ragtime’ and ‘Billy Bathgate’ by Edgar Lawrence Doctorow, ‘A Rose for Emily’ and ‘As I Lay Dying,’ by William Faulkner and ‘A History of Western Philosophy’ by Bertrand Russell.

Daryabandari received the Thornton Wilder Prize from Columbia University for translating American literary works.

In 2017, Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) named Daryabandari as a “Living Human Treasure.”

After losing his wife and suffering from brain strokes, Daryabandari stopped working. He was a sociable man and many Iranian writers and poets were among his friends.

He never attended university and was a self-taught teacher.

Daryabandari once said that translation is not a science; it is an action to be learned through regular or irregular practice – through trial and error.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi, officials and literary figures and organizations have expressed their condolences over the sad demise of the acclaimed Iranian translator.

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Tehraners enjoy the chance to experience the drive-in cinema at Milad Tower parking lot to watch Ebrahim Hatamikia’s latest feature, Exodus.

The first night of the program on Friday 1 may 2020 received huge welcome by cinema fans and all the tickets were sold out in less than two hours. Ordinary cinemas are still closed due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The first case of Covid19 in Iran was officially announced on February 19, 2010

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Chief Executive of Isfahan Oil Refining Company (EORC) Morteza Ebrahimi on Mon. said that plans are underway to increase Euro-5 diesel production volume to 20 million liters.

With the commissioning of Diesel Treatment Unit and installing new equipment before the termination of the current year [to end March 20, 2021], 22 million liters of diesel will be produced in the refinery according to Euro-5 standard, he said.

Of total 22 million liters of diesel currently produced in the refinery, 2 million liters is produced according to the Euro standard.

Presently, 12 million liters of gasoline is daily produced in the refinery, observing Euro-5 standard rules and regulations, Ebrahimi stressed.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ebrahimi pointed to the commitments of his company in tandem with the social responsibilities and added, “Esfahan Oil Refining Company has assisted Municipality of Isfahan and Isfahan University of Medical Sciences financially in the fight against coronavirus.”

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The photo report depicts Social Distancing in practice in all over Iran to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus aka COVID-19.

Coronavirus deaths down 70% in Iran

Iran‘s Health Ministry says the country is witnessing a “declining trend” in the number of fatalities and cases of new coronavirus infections as a result of bilateral cooperation between the people and the government.

Iraj Harirchi, the deputy minister of health, announced in Tehran Saturday that more than 50 percent of coronavirus cases, and about 70 percent of coronavirus-related deaths have decreased across the country.

“There is a declining trend in corona disease in most provinces and this has been the result of effective actions by the people and the government,” Harirchi said.

“I would like to emphasize that at a time when smart and gradual social distancing takes place, any violation can have serious and irreparable consequences,” he added.

The deputy health minister also predicted that there would be “two to three outbreaks” over a year in most of the world’s countries before the discovery of corona vaccines and drugs, underlining that people should stick to the stay-at-home slogan and avoid unnecessary commuting.

In a meeting of senior officials in charge of the National Headquarters for Managing and Fighting the Coronavirus in Tehran on Saturday, President Hassan Rouhani expressed optimism that the chain of transmission would break “to some extent” in the country as long as people continue to follow the guidelines drawn up by the government.

“We are on the path to control the disease but if the level of warnings and awareness of the people decreases, the disease may peak,” Rouhani said. “In this situation, we have to reinstate the restrictions. Of course, we hope that people will continue to take warnings seriously and not leave home except for their livelihood.”

“The path to fighting and controlling this disease definitely cannot be traversed without the support of the people.”

Iran’s Health Ministry announced a day earlier that the country was no longer “in the red” as the daily death toll from the coronavirus had begun to slow.

Kianoush Jahanpour, the health ministry’s spokesman, said on Friday that 93 people had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll since the pandemic first emerged to 5,574.

More than 66,000 people were reported to have recovered from the infectious disease.

Jahanpour said out of 88,194 confirmed cases, 66,596 patients had been released from hospital and recovered from the illness.

“None of our provinces are in the red, but warnings remain, and the situation will not be considered normal at all,” the Health Ministry’s spokesman tweeted on Friday.
Jahanpour called on Iranians to continue to respect social distancing measures, avoid large crowds and frequently wash their hands.

Iran has been doing its utmost to contain the respiratory disease caused by COVID-19 despite the hardships caused by US sanctions.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has not only defied international calls on Washington in recent weeks to halt the draconian sanctions, but has even slapped more such restrictive measures on the Islamic Republic.

Washington re-imposed its sanctions on Iran in May 2018 after unilaterally leaving a historic nuclear accord with the Islamic Republic and other countries that has been endorsed by the UN Security Council.

Washington claims that it has exempted foodstuffs and medicine from the bans, something that Tehran entirely disputes.

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Tehran Symphony Orchestra invited the musicians of the world to join them for online performances to leave behind the home quarantine and break the chain of coronavirus infection.

After online performance of Iran‘s National Orchestra, Roudaki Foundation has put the performance of Tehran Symphony Orchestra on agenda.

Head of public relations office of Roudaki Foundation Omid Seddigh told IRNA that the invitation is for performing Beethoven’s 9th that will be broadcast in virtual space.

The peace will be led by Italian conductor Paolo Olmi, Seddig said.

Since the beginning of the outbreak, Iran cancelled all the concerts to stop the spread of the virus. Hence, many Iranian artists started to perform online.

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