Fast and Furious through the streets of Tehran - Video

Quick-paced drive through the streets of Tehran. Note the number of tower cranes and construction projects seen in the distance or passed by. In spite of the "tightest sanctions ever imposed" Tehran does not look anything like the state Baghdad experienced around 1999.

Video originally posted by Ye Tehrooni at Vimeo 4 days ago.

Iraq to Increase Searches of Iran Overflights to Syria

Iraq said today it will step up searches of Iranian flights via its airspace to Syria.

“Because of a lot of information which referred to transportation of weapons, we have increased the activity of inspections,” said Ali Mussawi, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. “We will carry out more random searches, to be assured that there is no weapons transfer.” (AFP, 30 March).

However, the head of Iraq's civil aviation authority told AFP that no planes had been searched since October. Last week, in a meeting with Maliki, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry criticized Baghdad for turning a blind eye to the Iranian overflights.

Kerry had told reporters while in Baghdad that he “made very clear to the prime minister that the overflights from Iran are in fact helping to sustain President Assad and his regime.” (AFP)

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the rebel Free Syria Army, Alaa Al-Basha, said that a number of IRGC personnel were injured on Thursday when an Iranian plane was shot down by FSA and caught fire after landing at a runway at Damascus airport. (Al-Arabiya, 29 March)

The state-run media in Syria has denied the incidence. Iran has not confirmed nor denied the report.

File photo: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) meets with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad. 24 March, 2013. (Jason Reed/Reuters/The Daily Star)

First Commercial Flight in 34 Years Leaves Cairo for Tehran

The first commercial flight to Iran from Egypt in 34 years ago took off from the Cairo airport en route to Tehran today. The Air Memphis Flight 8000, chartered by Egyptian businessman Ramy Lakah, carried eight passengers, including two Iranian diplomats. The flight launched the new air link between Egypt and Iran.

Air Memphis will operate charter flights to Iran from regional airports in Aswan, Luxor and Abu Simbel in southern Egypt. No further information on the frequency of the flights and the destination cities in Iran was released. (Egypt Independent, 30 March)

Egypt and Iran cut diplomatic relations in 1979. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi visited Iran last August to attend a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. In February, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also visited Cairo.

UPDATE: Air Memphis chartered flight has returned from Tehran and landed Saturday evening at Aswan airport with 50 Iranian tourists on board. 

File Photo: An Air Memphis Airbus A320-200 (Wikipedia)

Iran to Build Hydropower Plant in Tajikistan

Iran will soon start constructing Ayni hydroelectric power station on the Zarafshan River in Tajikistan, Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Friday during his visit to Tajik capital of Dushanbeh. (IRNA, 28 March)


Iranian engineers have developed a feasibility study for the 240-megawatt hydroelectric power station. Iranians have already built another hydroelectric power plant over the Vakhsh River in Tajikistan. That project will be formally inaugurated later this week.

File photo: Karun-4 hydroelectric dam constructed in Iran’s Khuzestan province. The project, producing 1000 MW electricity, was completed  in July 2011. (Amir Khaloosi/ISNA)

Turkey: Israel Apology Not Linked to Iran, Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in televised remarks on Thursday that Israel's apology to Turkey for the 2010 raid on a Turkish aid ship has nothing to do with the conflict in Syria or Iran.

“There is no causal link between the Israeli apology and Turkey's Syria or Iran policies,” Davutoglu said. “Israel has been subjected to serious diplomatic pressure in every field. Israel saw that its room to maneuver had been restricted with regards to its bids for membership in some international organizations.” (Today’s Zaman, 29 March)

Davutoglu was probably referring to Turkish previous objections to Israel's participation in NATO activities as part of a Mediterranean partnership program. Israel is not a NATO member but is a member of Mediterranean Dialogue, a NATO outreach program, along with six other non-NATO countries.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phoned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week to offer an apology in a surprise move that came as a result of President Obama’s personal mediation, who joined the phone conversation that resulted in resumption of full relations between Israel and Turkey.

Netanyahu had said that concern over Syria's chemical weapons ending up in the hands of militant groups bordering Israel and Turkey had prompted the apology. “The fact that the crisis in Syria intensifies from moment to moment was the main consideration in my view,” the Israeli premier wrote on his Facebook page, insisting that Israel and Turkey need to communicate with each other on the Syrian crisis.

File photo: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (WorldBulletin/News Desk)