***IRAN DAILY
-- Raisi urges self-sufficiency in basic foodstuffs
President Ebrahim Raisi instructed the Agriculture Ministry to devise scientific plans to make the country self-sufficient in the production of basic commodities and end reliance on imports.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Raisi highlighted the significance of ensuring food security and achieving self-sufficiency in the production of basic and strategic commodities.
-- Iran top commander calls for enhanced military ties with Tajikistan
Iran’s top military commander said the expansion of military interactions with Tajikistan is among the main priorities of the Islamic Republic’s Armed Forces given the two countries’ strategic position in the West Asia region.
Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri, who was in Tajikistan at the head of a high-ranking delegation, made the remarks in a meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe on Tuesday.
-- Draft agreement on resuming JCPOA compliance is ready: France
France said on Wednesday that a draft deal on the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, is ready for implementation.
“The draft agreement on resuming compliance with the JCPOA has been ready for more than two months. That is why the E3 negotiators left Vienna. They were convinced that it could be finalized within a very short time,” a spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry said, referring to the three European parties to the JCPOA, France, Britain and Germany.
*** KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL
-- $120bn of Iran’s Assets Illegally Trapped
Iran has between $100 billion and $120 billion trapped in foreign accounts because of U.S. sanctions, a United Nations human rights envoy told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday.
Alena Douhan, the UN Special Rapporteur on Unilateral Coercive Measures, is visiting Iran to assess the impact of Washington’s penalties on the Islamic Republic.
“I urge the states that have frozen the assets of Iranian Central Bank to immediately unfreeze Iran’s funds based on international law,” she told reporters here.
Douhan said decades of sanctions have wholly affected Iranian people’s lives and have particularly hit the low-income section of the society.
She called on Washington to abandon its hard-nosed policy of maximum pressure against Iran and other countries.
-- Russia Expels 85 European Diplomats in Retaliation
Russia said on Wednesday it was expelling a total of 85 embassy staff from France, Spain and Italy in response to similar moves by those countries.
The Foreign Ministry said it was ordering out 34 diplomatic staff from France, 27 from Spain and 24 from Italy.
The three countries are among European nations that have collectively thrown out more than 300 Russians since the Feb. 24 war. In many cases, they accused Russian diplomats of spying, which Moscow has denied.
-- Watchdog: U.S. Handed Over Afghanistan to Enemy
A government watchdog says decisions by Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden to pull all US troops out of Afghanistan were the key factors in the collapse of that nation’s military.
The new report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, mirrors assertions made by senior Pentagon and military leaders in the aftermath of the U.S. troop withdrawal that ended last August in the chaotic evacuation of Americans and other civilians from the embattled country.
*** TEHRAN TIMES
Iran’s advanced military technology luring customers
Iran has taken a big stride forward in its military knowledge by establishing a drone factory in Tajikistan. What does this imply?
The drone production unit was opened in Tajikistan's capital at the presence of Iran's Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri and Tajik Defense Minister General Shirali Mirzo.
The production of Ababil 2, an all-Iranian UAV, in Dushanbe is intended to increase defense and military cooperation between Iran and Tajikistan. The factory was built with the assistance of specialists from the Iranian Ministry of Defense.
-- Iran, Cuba finalize roadmap on barter trade
Iran and Cuba have finalized a roadmap for barter trade between the two countries and signed a document in this regard during the 18th meeting of their joint economic committee in Tehran on Tuesday.
As reported by the portal of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), the document was signed by Iran’s Deputy Industry Minister for Commercial and Trade Affairs Mohammad-Sadegh Mofatteh and Cuba’s Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz.
During the meeting, the officials explored the existing capacities and market needs of the other side in various fields and good agreements were reached for long-term cooperation in order to improve the level of trade exchanges.
-- Iranian children honored at Louis François Center art competition
Iranian children have won awards at the 28th International Visual Art Competition in Troyes, France.
Avina Aliasghari, a member of the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA –Kanoon), won third prize in the category for the children aged between 3 and 5, the institute announced on Wednesday.
Sama Sheikhi received a prize in the category for the children aged between 6 and 9.
Miad Taqipur, Erfan Arbabi, Sana Sedqi, Mehrana Toluei, Atena Abbasi and Sadra Qolinia, all of whom are the members of Kanoon branch offices across Iran, were awarded diplomas of honor.
-- EU-UK trade war looms as London seeks Brexit changes
The British government’s plan to take unilateral action and change the post-Brexit deal sparks anger and threats from the European Union.
UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has proposed legislation in parliament that would change one of the most sensitive elements of the Brexit agreement that handles how goods move in and out of Northern Ireland, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has threatened to retaliate with “all measures at its disposal” if the UK Conservative government goes ahead and changed the rules of the Protocol.
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