** IRAN DAILY
--Iran posts 70% rise in transit through northern ports
Transit of goods through Iranian ports along the Caspian Sea has increased by 70 percent in the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2022), announced the head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO).
“The traffic of all kinds of foreign goods to the country’s commercial ports this year has increased between eight and 10 percent compared to the same period last year,” Ali-Akbar Safai said.
-- Iranian airline restores Boeing grounded over sanctions
An Iranian airline restored a Boeing 737 aircraft to its fleet as part of a domestic overhaul program that is aimed at offsetting the impacts of US sanctions on the Iranian aviation industry.
IRNA said in a Saturday report that the aircraft had returned to Aseman Airlines fleet after a successful test flight on Thursday that lasted one and a half hours.
The report said Iranian technicians had carried out heavy checks on the plane’s cabin and cargo sections, adding that two landing gears on the aircraft had also been replaced.
--Pigeon towers in central Iran
When people see dovecote or pigeon tower, many of them think of a military fortification. But it is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves.
Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest, varzanehnight.ir wrote.
Why did people build them?
During the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly around the time of the Safavid Dynasty, Iranians built a large number of towers to house pigeons. At its peak, the city of Isfahan had about 3,000 pigeon towers.
** KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL
-- Arvand Petrochemical Plant Breaks Production Record
Arvand Petrochemical Company, with the production of 2.58 million tons of products in the first 11 months of the current Iranian calendar year which began on March 21, set a new production record and registered a unique performance with 7.5 trillion tomans of net profit.
According to Arvand Petrochemical Company, the plant’s production, sales and profits showed significant growth in the complex this year.
According to the data published by the Arvand Petrochemical Management Planning Unit, in the course of the period under review, the production of two highly-used and strategic products of chlorine and Caustic grew 15% from a year earlier in the first 11 months of this calendar year, which is a new record in the company’s books.
-- IKCO, SAIPA Await Certification to Export Cars to Russia
Spokesperson for Iran’s Trade Ministry Omid Ghalibaf has said that Iranian automakers Iran-Khodro and SAIPA are awaiting certification in Russia for the export of cars.
Ghalibaf said that SAIPA had already signed an agreement with a Belarusian company to supply 45,000 Shahin and Quick model cars, which will also be delivered to the Russian market.
However, Ghalibaf did not clarify whether the cars will be shipped directly to Russia or via Belarus due to Western sanctions. While negotiations with Moscow are underway, there are currently no direct agreements between Iranian automakers and Russia.
--Iraqi, Iranian Defense Ministers Hold Talks in Tehran
Iran’s defense minister has said the interference of trans-regional countries in the Middle East is aimed at ensuring the security of the occupying regime of Israel as well as the flow of energy.
In a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Thabet Muhammad Saeed al-Abbasi in Tehran, Brigadier General Muhammad Reza Gharaei Ashtiani stressed that trans-regional states never seek to promote democracy but to create unnecessary crises, discord and conflicts in the region.
“Experience has proven that the presence of trans-regional countries in any part of the world has been accompanied by insecurity and division. This presence in our region is meant to ensure the flow of energy and strengthen the Zionist regime’s security belt through creating artificial crises, differences, and conflicts between Muslim countries,” Ashtiani added.
--Army, IRGC to Hold Joint Air Defense Drills
Iran’s Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) are set to stage joint air defense maneuvers aimed at bolstering their defenses against enemy threats to the country’s skies. According to a statement by Iran’s Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base, the operational exercise will be carried out Saturday night in certain areas across the country.
The exercise will be conducted in coordination with the integrated air defense network.
** TEHRAN TIMES
--Intelligence chief rejects bogus claims on IRGC drill near Karaj
Iran’s intelligence minister disputes “fake news” concerning a recent military exercise staged by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Basij Force in Karaj, near Tehran. Ismail Khatib was responding on Saturday to reports of an explosion and firing in Karaj last week, when footage of what seemed to be anti-aircraft fire in the skies circulated on social media.
Iran’s minister of intelligence referred to the explosions and gunfire in Karaj, which official media initially reported as military drills, as a “fake operation by the enemy” two days later.
-- Isfahan International Sculpture Symposium to showcase top 14 works
Top 14 works of the first edition of the Isfahan International Sculpture Symposium will be on view in an exhibition in the central Iranian city. Eleven sculptures from the collection have been created by Iranian artists and three others have been produced by sculptors from Russia, Armenia and Turkey, the Isfahan Municipality’s Beautification Organization announced on Saturday.
Six editions of the symposium were organized nationwide over the past six years. Thirty-seven Iranian and foreign artists have participated in the symposium, which ends on Monday.
-- Commodities worth more than $836m traded at IME in a week
During the past Iranian calendar week (ended on Friday), Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) witnessed trade of 1,970,854 tons of commodities and 10,000 vehicles with a total trading value of more than $836 million, posting growth of 4.56 percent in value of trades compared with the week before that.
As reported by the IME’s Public Relations and International Affairs Department, the exchange saw on its metals and minerals trading floor trade of 1,509,259 tons of commodities worth more than $551 million.
On this floor the IME sold 1,080,744 tons of cement, 293,472 tons of steel, 88,000 tons of sponge iron, 29,000 tons of iron ore, 9,000 tons of copper, 8,225 tons of aluminum, 600 tons of zinc, 210 tons of molybdenum concentrate, 48 tons of precious metals concentrate, 15 kg of gold bars and 10,000 vehicles.
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