Iran backtracks on reports of kidnapped guards’ release

 

DUBAI: The status of five kidnapped Iranian border guards remains unclear, Iran said on Sunday, retracting earlier reports by Iranian military officials that they had been freed in Pakistan.
“Until now, reports about the fate of the five border guards are not reliable,” an Iranian Interior Ministry official said, according to the state news agency IRNA.
An Iranian Sunni Muslim rebel group called Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) claimed responsibility for the Feb 6 kidnapping of the five men in Sistan-Balochistan province, according to a Twitter account purporting to belong to the group. Its authenticity could not be immediately verified.
The group also denied the border guards had been released.
“There is no truth to the rumour in Pakistani media and some Iranian news websites about the freeing of Iranian soldiers heldprisoner,” Jaish al-Adl tweeted on Saturday.
On Saturday, IRNA had said the Iranians were among 11 foreign hostages freed in an operation by Pakistani forces.
Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps said it had released three Africans abducted by drug traffickers in the Pakistani province of Balochistan on Saturday, but had not rescued the Iranians.
Iran's impoverished and relatively lawless Sistan-Balochistan province has been a hotbed of rebellion by minority Sunnis against the Shia government in Tehran.
Angered by cross-border attacks by Jaish al-Adl, Iran said two weeks ago that it might pursue the rebels into Pakistani territory. Islamabad warned it against any such incursion.
Iran accuses Pakistan and Saudi Arabia of supporting Sunni rebels. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif enjoys warm ties with Saudi Arabia, where he lived in exile after an earlier military coup. His government also hopes for Saudi funding.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are rivals for influence in the Muslim world.
A Pakistani delegation was in Tehran on Sunday to discuss the fate of the missing border guards.

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Minister admits Iran cannot block Facebook forever

Culture Minister Ali Janati says the government is working to remove the online constraints.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran will not be able to keep up forever its ban on legal access to Internet hubs such as Facebook, which has four million Iranian users, Culture Minister Ali Janati said Sunday.
Such remarks by an Iranian official would have been unimaginable before President Hassan Rouhani, a reputed moderate, took office in August with a vow for more freedom.
"Four million Iranians are on Facebook, and we have restricted it," said Janati.
"We cannot restrict the advance of (such technology) under the pretext of protecting Islamic values," said the minister.
Access to the popular social networking site -- along with others which Iranian authorities regard as un-Islamic, immoral or undermining the Islamic establishment -- is obstructed by a massive filtering mechanism.
But tech-savvy Iranians have resorted to measures, known as anti-filters, to circumvent the restrictions.
Janati drew a parallel with a ban on fax machines and video tapes and players imposed the 1979 Islamic revolution.
"If we look back, we see many of the actions we took after the revolution were ridiculous."
Rouhani has adopted a policy that promises greater tolerance on social, cultural and media issues -- a vow that helped him beat his conservative opponents in the presidential election last year.
But the government has faced resistance from hardliners resisting a reversal in such policies.
A committee of 13 members determines what online content can be reached on Iran s Internet, which is notoriously slow.
Unapproved sites are put under the filtering system. The ban includes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and numerous other sites, including blogs.
On Sunday, Janati suggested that the government was working to remove the online constraints.
"The six ministers who are members of the (filtering) committee have clearly stated that we cannot continue to isolate ourselves from the world," he said.
But, he added it would take time.
"However, (filtering) is one of those issues whose solution requires time. And it will be resolved in time," Janati said.
Despite the bans, several Iranian officials are active on social networking sites.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has attracted nearly 850,000 Facebook followers by posting regular updates in Persian, and he operates the only "verified" account of an Iranian official on Twitter.
He also has a YouTube channel.
Several pages are also apparently run by Iranian officials, including a popular Twitter account, @HassanRouhani, believed to belong to the president s office.
Iran s ultimate authority, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also has an online presence, with a Twitter account in Farsi and a Facebook page (facebook.com/www.Khamenei.ir) dedicated to him.

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Pakistan obliged to complete gas pipeline:Iran says

TEHRAN: Iran’s oil ministry said Wednesday that Pakistan is contractually obliged to complete a major pipeline project which would allow Tehran to export gas to its southeastern neighbour.

The warning came a day after Pakistan’s oil minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, said work on the pipeline was not possible because of sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union on Tehran over its controversial nuclear drive.

“Iran has carried out its commitments … and expects the Pakistani side to honour its own,” the deputy oil minister, Ali Majedi, said in a statement seen by AFP.

“They should even pick up the pace of work and make up for falling behind schedule” in constructing Pakistan’s 780-kilometre (485-mile) side of the pipeline, he said.

Iran, which has the world’s second largest gas reserves, says work on its side in the $7.5-billion project launched in 2010 is almost finished.

But the project’s fate has faced uncertainty, with Pakistan repeatedly running into problems, including major financing issues, while being pressured by the US.

On Tuesday, Abbasi told AFP that the work on the pipeline “is affected by the sanctions imposed” on Tehran. He did not elaborate on how the sanctions could derail the project.

In Tehran, Majedi rejected the argument, saying the issue of sanctions was not a new development.

“Pakistan faced pressure at the time of signing the deal,” he said. “But fully aware of the situation and the issue of sanctions, it still signed the contract.”

Majedi added that the option of “bringing in a third party to finish the pipeline” had been raised in recent negotiations with Pakistani officials.

He did not elaborate.

Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said in late October he had “no hope” for the project, after Islamabad asked Tehran for $2 billion in financing to build its side of the pipeline.

That request was denied by Iran.

Iran currently produces nearly 600 million cubic metres of gas per day, almost all of which is consumed domestically.

Its only foreign client is Turkey, which buys about 30 million cubic metres of gas per day.

Pakistan is struggling with a severe gas crisis, with natural gas supplies running out in winters, forcing consumers to rely on liquid gas cylinders.

 Posted By : Muhammad Usman

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