LATEST: Women’s Rights Activists Campaign for Right to Watch Volleyball Matches
TUESDAY FEATURE
Supreme Leader Rejects Release of Detained Opposition Leaders Mousavi & Karroubi
Iran publicly renewed its support to the Assad regime in Syria on several fronts on Monday.
First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri phoned Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi to declare that the Syrian people will not allow “militants and extremists” to undermine their resolve: “The Syrian nation showed in the country’s presidential election that it advocates the settlement of the crisis through peaceful means.”
Jahangiri expressed hope that the regime would take effective steps for national unity and reconstruction, promising more humanitarian aid from Iran.
Jahangiri’s phone call is one of three Iran-related stories featured by Syrian State news agency SANA on Tuesday morning.
SANA headlines a statement by Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan declaring that the Islamic State must be held accountable for “the war crimes and barbaric actions in Syria and Iraq”, as well as an assertion by leading MP Esmail Kowsari that “the US, the Zionist entity, and the Saudi regime are the ones controlling” the Islamic State.
And the lead story is the visit of Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian to Russia, meeting his counterpart Mikhail Bogdanov: “Abdollahian pointed out that Moscow and Tehran’s policy towards the crisis in Syria are on the right track, adding that some regional countries are offering support to the extremist takfirists.”
Women’s Rights Activists Campaign for Right to Watch Volleyball Matches
Women’s rights activists have pursued their campaign for the right to watch sporting events, circulating a petition with more than 130 signatories to the Head of the International Federation of Volleyball.
Women were turned away from an Iran-Italy match last week, and female journalists were ordered to leave. The letter also notes occasions when women have been arrested as they tried to attend events.
Presidential advisor Shahindokht Molaverdi promised that President Rouhani would look into the issue.
The letter claims that Iran’s Volleyball Federation has allowed a few female staff members to be present in stadiums to portray that they are meeting international regulations.
Supreme Leader’s Representative: Islamic State Used by US and Europe to “Disintegrate” Iraq
Another representative of the Supreme Leader has declared that the Islamic State, a leading force in Iraq’s insurgency, is a tool of the US.
rigadier General Mohammad Ali Asoudi, a representative of Ayatollah Khamenei in the Revolutionary Guards, said:
The real plan of the US and the states that support terrorism in Iraq is to disintegrate the country. ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham) is the military arm of the US and Europe to divide Iraq….
This murderous group acts within America’s strategic plans. This is the US that leads such actions.
Asadi assured, “As the people follow religious references, this ominous group will be annihilated with the help of God and it will be dumped in history.”
Iraq Propaganda of Day: “Islamic State Militants Fleeing Tikrit in Women’s Clothing”
Fars News, the outlet of the Revolutionary Guards, claims that Islamic State fighters fled defeat in Tikrit in northern Iraq, wearing women’s dresses and hiding in civilian cars.
The website cites the head of the Council of Salaheddin Province, Ahmed Al-Karim, who adds, “The Islamic State is a terrorist group supported by some regional countries and it is just trying to create a chaotic atmosphere in the region.”
Insurgents, including the Islamic State, repelled an assault by Iraqi forces on Tikrit — taken by the insurgency on June 11 — although fighting continues on the southern outskirts of the city.
