** IRAN DAILY
-- EU countries resume crude imports from Iran: Eurostat
Figures by the European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat, showed that Bulgaria and Poland as two EU members have imported oil from Iran this year. Bulgaria raised its oil imports from Iran in the quarter to March by 113% compared to the same period last year to 314 metric tons (mt). Poland’s oil imports from Iran, a first reported in the past two years, was a 19 mt shipment that took place in March.
Georgia, an EU candidate country, imported 544 mt of oil from Iran in the March quarter, down from 974 mt reported in the same quarter last year. Eurostat figures also indicated that Turkey has resumed importing oil from Iran in March this year nearly four years after it cut shipments to zero to comply with US sanctions on Tehran.
-- Candidates seeking to expand voter base ahead of July 5 runoff
Election fever is heating up in Iran as more officials and political parties threw their weight behind the two presidential candidates ahead of the Friday run-off election. Ali Tayebnia, economy minister under former president Hassan Rouhani, held a meeting with the Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and supported him in the upcoming election.
Meanwhile, a group of religious scholars, clerics and pundits in a statement on Monday supported Pezeshkian who secured a narrow lead over Conservative candidate Saeed Jalili in the first round of election which was held on June 28.
-- US, European support emboldens Israel to continue crimes: Iran
Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani on Monday said the Western support for Israel in international bodies paves the way for the regime to press ahead with its atrocities in the Gaza Strip.
Bagheri Kani was speaking at a ceremony that marked the national day of campaigning against chemical and microbiological weapons on the 37th anniversary of a chemical attack on the Iranian city of Sardasht by the Iraqi army under former dictator Saddam Hussein.
** KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL
-- IRICA: Agrofood Exports Increase 30%
The Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) has reported that the country’s export of agricultural and food products increased by 29.8 percent in terms of value in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-June 20), year on year.
The exports of the mentioned products also rose by about 24 percent in terms of weight, IRICA announced.
-- Official: Iran’s Aviation Survived 4 Years of Sanctions
Head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization Muhammad Muhammadi Bakhsh says the country has successfully weathered four years of brutal U.S. sanctions without suffering a single civil aviation incident.
Muhammadi Bakhsh said that the Iranian aviation industry had relied on “domestic expertise and the high potentials” of its technicians and engineers to be able to cope with the sanctions.
-- Holy Qur’an Competition Begins Across Iran
The preliminary round of the 47th edition of Iran’s National Holy Qur’an Competition has kicked off across the country. In this stage, contenders compete at the level of towns and cities.
The preliminary round will run for a month until July 30, and the top winners in different categories will make it to the provincial stage. Registration for the Qur’anic event started in late May and concluded on June 18.
** TEHRAN TIMES
-- Olympic medalist Hadadi elected Iran Athletic Federation president
2012 Olympic Games medal winner Ehsan Hadadi was elected as president of Iran Athletic Federation on Monday. He was elected for a four-year term till 2028.
In the elections held at Iran’s Academy Olympic in Tehran, Hadadi secured 40 of 59 votes cast.
-- Davoud Rashidi to be commemorated in Energy Festival
The organizers of the first edition of Energy Film and Photo Festival plan to pay homage to the late legendary Iranian actor Davoud Rashidi with a ceremony in Tehran.
The memorial ceremony for Rashidi, a prominent and influential figure in Iranian art, will take place on July 7 at the festival venue, honoring his lifetime of artistic contributions, ISNA reported on Monday.
-- 7 flare gas recovery projects to come online soon
Managing Director of the Persian Gulf Bidboland Gas Refinery Mahmoud Aminnejad said seven projects for gathering associated gases, worth $400 million, will be completed over the first half of the current Iranian calendar year, which ends on March 20, 2025.
Speaking with Shana, Aminnejad said by launching the projects 16 gas flares will be turned off in the East Karoon region and as much as 250 million cubic feet of gas will be collected for use as feedstock.
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