*** IRAN DAILY
-- $10b invested in Iran’s Azar Oil Field: Minster
Iranian Minister of Petroleum Javad Owji said $10 billion has been allocated to the development project of Azar joint oilfield in the city of Mehran, Ilam Province, western Iran.
The minister made the remarks in a visit to Mehran on Friday, adding, “The top priority in the Petroleum Ministry is to expand oil fields in Ilam, which could lead to a daily production of 330,000 oil barrels [in the province] in coming years,” IRNA reported.
Owji announced the Ministry of Petroleum’s plans to invest further $4 billion in the oil and energy projects of the western Iranian province in the next 4-5 years, with nearly half of the sum defined in the downstream sectors.
-- Iran’s MSC breaks own daily steel output after energy restrictions lifted: CEO
The Mobarakeh Steel Company (MSC) in central Iranian province of Isfahan set a new daily production of 146 batches equal to 26,100 tons of slabs, announced the company managing director on Friday.
Hamidreza Azimian said that the MSC could not reach its steelmaking capacity in the last two months due to severe energy restrictions, but as soon as the energy restrictions were lifted, it increased its production and set the daily production record.
-- Historical Kasma Bath to be turned into a museum of culture and art
The historical Kasma Bath in Someh Sara, Gilan Province, will be turned into a museum of culture and art, announced the northern city’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Department.
Head of Someh Sara Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Department Alireza Mehrgan described the village of Kasma as one of the most important centers and bases of the fighters of the Jungle Movement, led by Mirza Kuchak Khan, that played a key role in the history of Gilan, CHTN reported.
Mirza Kuchik Khan, an experienced activist in the Constitutional Revolution, launched the movement in 1915, in the forests of Gilan, demanding an end to central government corruption as well as foreign interference in the affairs of local peoples. The movement’s members fought against foreign invaders.
*** KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL
-- 2nd Iranian Fuel Tanker Arrives in Syria
Hezbollah on Friday announced the arrival of a second Iranian tanker ship loaded with diesel in Syria in order to help ease crippling fuel shortages in crisis-stricken Lebanon amid a dire economic crisis.
Hezbollah’s media relations office, in a statement, said the fuel shipment from Iran arrived in Syria’s northwestern port city of Baniyas at around 10 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) on Thursday.
The statement added that truck convoys carrying Iranian fuel deliveries will enter Lebanon from Syria within the next few days.
-- Iraqi Oil Minister: OPEC+ Working to Keep Oil at $70
OPEC+ is working to keep prices around $70 per barrel, Reuters has reported, citing Iraq’s oil minister, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismail.
The official said the ministry hoped that oil prices would remain above $65 per barrel.
OPEC—and its allies led by Russia—agreed earlier this year to add 400,000 bpd to total production beginning August until they restored their production levels to those from before the pandemic, which would occur by the end of the first half of 2022.
-- Kyrgyz, Iranian Officials Explore Ways to Develop Trade Ties
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian and his Kyrgyz counterpart Ruslan Kazakbayev have discussed bilateral relations, especially trade and economic cooperation, at a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
During the meeting, the Kyrgyz foreign minister congratulated Amir-Aabdollahian on his appointment as Iran’s top diplomat and proposed a direct flight between Bishkek and Tehran. Kazakbaev also expressed willingness to use the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas’s capacity for transit cooperation.
*** TEHRAN TIMES
-- Russia says Iran's decision to join SCO is beneficial
The Russian President’s special representative for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has stated that Moscow and its partners consider the decision of Iran to join the organization beneficial.
"According to the remarks and promises made by the former president of Iran and the new president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, about Tehran's readiness to use its capabilities to strengthen the Shanghai Organization, a very serious ground is provided based on which the decision on Iran's membership in this organization will be very beneficial," Bakhtiar Hakimov noted in an online meeting on Friday.
-- Iranian Film Days feature war dramas for Azerbaijanis
– The Iranian Cultural Center in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku is organizing the Iranian Film Days by streaming a number of war dramas on YouTube.
Five films have been selected to be screened in the program, which has been organized to commemorate the anniversary of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, the center has announced.
The five-day program, which has commenced on Wednesday, has been arranged after consultation with Azerbaijani cineastes, including Ayaz Salayev, Anvar Abluc and Hamida Omarova, and film critic Aygün Aslanova.
-- Discoveries cast new light on history of life near Masouleh
Iranian archaeologists have discovered important clues about early human life in mountainous areas adjacent to the touristic Masouleh village in northern Iran.
Their survey was carried out as part of a preliminary process to compile an all-inclusive dossier for the village to be presented to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. The scenic village is famed for its Lego-shaped earthen houses built on another’s rooftop.
According to Mohammad Sanaei, the director of the Masouleh Cultural Heritage Base, in order to complete the nomination file “Cultural landscape of the historical city of Masouleh” for the UNESCO World Register list, a preliminary archaeological survey was carried out under the direction of Fereidoun Biglari, a senior researcher at National Museum of Iran, on the mountain ranges in the core and buffer zones of Masouleh, in the Gilan province.
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