Annual Per Capita Meat Consumption In Iran Drops To 3kg

"As the EU said two weeks ago, the text they tabled then is the best and only basis on which to reach a deal,” the spokesperson said on Monday in response to an inquiry by Iran International’s correspondent Samira Gharaei. “Our position is clear: we stand ready to quickly conclude a deal on the basis of the EU’s proposals,” the State Department Press Office noted.

“Over the past few days, the EU Coordinator engaged in further consultations to help clarify and finetune any remaining questions regarding that text. Those consultations were completed today and we’ll now await the EU’s next steps,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said Iran repeatedly says it is prepared for a return to mutual implementation of the JCPOA, underlining that the current text “is the only possibility basis on which to do so.” Let’s see if their actions match their words."

American and Iranian diplomats left Vienna Monday after the European chair of talks offered a fresh and “final” text for renewing the deal.

European officials described the document to journalists as a ‘take it or leave it’ offer for both sides. One told Iran International that Enrique Mora, the European Union official coordinating talks, had circulated a “final text…with all the necessary points to put into action.” Another European official told AFP that the text was “not subject to further negotiations” and that a result was expected in “the next few weeks.”

The Depp lookalike is reportedly identified as Amin Sa'les, who apparently does some modelling gigs thanks to his uncanny resemblance to the American actor.

Sa'les lives in Iran and is reportedly from the north-western city of Tabriz. His modelling work is with local agencies.

Huge gatherings have been held in Iran and some other Muslim countries in the past 10 days, the first days of the first month of the Islamic calendar, to commemorate the third Shiite Imam Hussain.

Such ceremonies are vastly popular among Iranians as they are complemented by copious supplies of free food and drinks, known as nazri. They are given free by individuals and groups at kiosks called heyats set up all over the country.

The highlight of the month-long ceremonies of Muharram are the Days of Tasu'a and Ashura, the anniversary of the slaying of Shiite Imam Hussein and his 72 companions by his rivals to the leadership of Muslims in the 7th century.

Ceremonies have been held for centuries in Iran and among Shiites in other countries, marking the event in the 680 AD battle of Karbala, in present-day Iraq, and have gained greater state support since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

According to reports by Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya and other Arabic-language news outlets, dozens of Houthi militants were also killed as the blast triggered a second explosion in a nearby factory and weapons depot near Yemen’s capital Sa’ana.

Yemeni websites also quoted a military source as saying that these explosions were caused by the unsuccessful launch of a missile from the Al-Hafa military base by Houthi militias.

Later in the day, Yemen’s internationally recognized government accused the Iran-backed Houthis of not abiding by a key element in a UN-brokered truce to reopen roads to the besieged city of Taiz, saying the group was “running away” from its commitments.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak also said in a news conference in Amman that his Aden-based government supports any move to expand the truce beyond the latest two-month extension to a durable peace deal.

The Houthis receives military and political support from Iran in their conflict with other Yemenis backed who are backed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2014. Iran has been sharing its missile and drone technology with Yemen’s Houthis and has also supplied other proxy forces, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militias.

The United States, its Western allies and others blame Iran’s drones and missiles for attacks by Houthis on Saudi and Emirati energy facilities.

While the Shiite mourning ceremonies were held privately for Ali Khamenei, similar to the past two years in fear of the spread of the coronavirus, authorities did not announce any measures for the large gatherings across the country.

The highlight of the month-long ceremonies of Muharram are the Days of Tasu'a and Ashura, the anniversary of the slaying of Shiite Imam Hussein and his 72 companions. Ceremonies have been held for centuries in Iran and among Shiites in other countries, marking the event in the 680 AD battle of Karbala, in present-day Iraq, and have gained greater state support since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The number of infections and deaths caused by the virus has doubled in the last two weeks, and it is expected that this upward trend will continue in the coming days. The Health Ministry said the number of new patients on Sunday, August 9, was at around 5,500 and the death toll at 63.

In July, the government organized a “10-kilometer-long” ceremony to celebrate a religious holiday in Tehran as health authorities had announced the seventh wave of the pandemic.

According to epidemiologists, two new subvariant of Omicron, namely BA4 and BA5 -- which started in the African continent -- may soon prevail over the country.

The number of overall deaths in Iran since Covid-19 emerged in February 2020 has been 300,000 higher than in previous years, suggesting pandemic deaths may be more than officially reported.

Iran has reported nearly 143,000 deaths from Covid, the Middle East’s highest official level, leaving 160,000 more deaths unexplained.

The Iranian government’s official news website IRNA quoted the unnamed official as saying that the talks are still underway on some important issues and that “we are not yet at a stage where we can talk about a finalized deal.”

“Given the continuation of discussions on some remaining important issues, we’re not yet at a stage to finalize the text. Iran has presented its constructive views to the other party so as to move forward and the result is up to their political decision,” the source said. “We believe that Vienna Talks can be concluded soon provided that the other party makes an appropriate decision. But we are not at that stage yet.”

He made the remarks in reaction to a Sunday report by The Wall Street Journal that cited the European Union's coordinator Enrique Mora as saying the negotiations to restore the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) are close to completion but it remained unclear whether Tehran will accept the final deal. The text of a deal could be closed in the coming hours, Mora had said.

However, Iran must still decide whether to set aside its demand that the nuclear deal can only be revived if a multiyear United Nations’ atomic agency safeguard probe into its nuclear program is closed, the report added, noting that “Sev­eral West­ern diplo­mats said Sun­day that Tehran has dou­bled down on this con­di­tion in the past few days of talks and there is no agree­ment on the is­sue.”