TEHRAN: An unidentified group of US-based philanthropists plans to send 150,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Iran in the coming weeks, Iranian media reported Monday, in a step that could bring the hardest-hit country in the Middle East closer to inoculating its citizens against the coronavirus.
Details remained scarce in the report by semiofficial Tasnim news agency. It quoted the chief of the country’s Red Crescent Society as saying he expects the vaccine created by American drug maker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech to be imported by Jan. 19 “based on coordination with a group of benefactors in the US“
Iran has struggled to stem the worst virus outbreak in the Middle East, which has infected over 1.2 million people and killed nearly 55,000.
Karim Hemmati, the Red Crescent director, said his organization plans to receive an additional 1 million vaccine doses, which on Sunday the semiofficial Khabaronline.it news website reported would come from China. The vaccines will be offered to citizens free of charge, Hemmati said.
Officials have said previously that importing the Pfizer vaccine, which must be shipped and stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit), poses major logistical challenges for Iran.
Iran has signed up for COVAX, an international program designed to distribute coronavirus vaccines to participating countries regardless of their wealth. It’s run in part by Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance. which says the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control has already issued a license for Iran to take part. The US Treasury has not reacted to Iran’s participation.
The chief of Iran’s central bank, Abdolnasser Hemmati, told state TV last week that Iran had received approval to transfer a $244 million payment through an unnamed bank in a “third country” to obtain nearly 17 million doses of vaccines from COVAX. He did not provide further details, such as which vaccine or how the money would be sent. Under COVAX rules, Iran could at a maximum order enough doses to vaccinate half of its 82 million people.
President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday that Iran would refuse to make the COVAX payment through US financial institutions for fear of confiscation. Since the start of the pandemic, political figures in Iran have pushed anti-American conspiracy theories about the spread of the virus and vaccine production, dismissing the prospect of US assistance.
“Who trusts you? Wherever you found our money you stole it,” Rouhani said.
He added that Iran would not participate in human trials of foreign-made vaccines, vowing to provide the country with imported and locally produced vaccines.
Iran’s homemade vaccine is due to enter a Phase 1 clinical trial soon, enrolling 54 volunteers across the country to receive two shots, state-run IRNA news agency reported. Iran’s vaccine research has gained urgency as officials allege that heavy American sanctions will hamper the Islamic Republic’s mass inoculation efforts.
Although Iran retains routes to vaccines despite sanctions, including through its participation in COVAX, international banks and financial institutions are reluctant to deal with Iran for fear of American penalties.
Meanwhile, hard-line officials in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard have rejected the use of foreign-made vaccines altogether. Last week, deputy chief of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, said the Guard “does not recommend the injection of any foreign vaccine” candidates based on genetic material known as messenger RNA, which carries the instructions for cells to make proteins.
Iran says Pfizer vaccine batch expected from US benefactors
https://arab.news/2ehcc
Iran says Pfizer vaccine batch expected from US benefactors
- Details remained scarce in the report by semiofficial Tasnim news agency
- Iran has struggled to stem the worst virus outbreak in the Middle East, which has infected over 1.2 million people and killed nearly 55,000
Gaza civil defense says 16 killed in Israel strikes
GAZA: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli strikes killed 16 people on Friday across the territory, where Israel has ramped up its military offensive in recent days.
The toll from “Israeli strikes in various areas of the Gaza Strip since midnight totals 16 dead,” agency official Mohammed Al-Mughayyir told AFP.
US and regional countries team up to resolve the issue of Daesh prisoners in Syria
- President Trump asked the Syrian government to “assume responsibility” Daesh prisoners
- Some 9,000 Daesh prisoners are being held by the US-backed SDF in northeast Syria
ISTANBUL: Turkiye, the United States, Syria and Iraq have formed a working group to try to resolve the issue of Daesh group prisoners held in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in comments published Thursday.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, control large parts of northeast Syria bordering Turkiye and Iraq and oversee more than a dozen prison camps holding thousands of suspected Daesh — also known as Islamic State or IS — fighters and their families.
US President Donald Trump asked the Syrian government to “assume responsibility” for some 9,000 Daesh prisoners when he met Syrian President President Ahmad Al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on May 14.
Erdogan said a committee had been formed to work out what to do with the prisoners, particularly women and children held at refugee camps such as Al-Hol in northern Syria. His comments on the presidential website were released as he returned from a trip to Hungary.
“Iraq needs to focus on the issue of the camps,” Erdogan said. “The vast majority of women and children in the Al Hol camp in particular belong to Iraq and Syria. They should do what is necessary for them.”
In 2014, Daesh declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria and attracted tens of thousands of supporters from around the world. The extremists were defeated by a US-led coalition in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019. Tens of thousands of people linked to the group were taken to Al-Hol camp close to the Iraqi border.
It is anticipated that the government in Damascus will take control of the prison camps, a move Erdogan said would make it easier to integrate the Kurdish forces in Syria.
Kurdish fighters in Syria have ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which on May 12 agreed to dissolve and lay down its weapons following a four-decade insurgency against Turkiye.
Turkiye to provide Syria with 2 billion cubic meters of gas annually
- Deal signed to activate gas pipeline connecting Syria with Turkiye
- Turkiye will also start supplying 500 megawatts of electricity to Syria by yearend
DAMASCUS: Turkiye will provide 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Syria each year, Turkish energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Thursday.
In a joint news conference with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus, Bayraktar said that Turkiye’s gas exports to Syria will contribute to an additional 1,300 megawatts of electricity production in the country.
Ankara, which supported rebel forces in neighboring Syria throughout the 13-year civil war that ended this month with the ousting of Bashar Assad, is now positioning itself to play a major role in Syria’s reconstruction.
Turkiye will also provide an additional 1,000 megawatts of electricity to neighboring Syria for its short term needs, he added.
Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed Al-Bashir said they agreed to activate a gas pipeline that connects Syria with Turkiye, with gas flows expected in June.
“This will significantly boost electricity generation, which will positively impact the Syrian people’s electricity needs,” Al-Bashir said.
The two minister discussed completing a 400-kilovolt line that links the countries, contributing to importing around 500 megawatts of electricity into Syria, to be ready by the end of the year or shortly thereafter, he added.
Cooperation also includes opening the door for Turkish companies to invest in mining, phosphate, electricity generation and electricity distribution in Syria.
“There is very intensive work underway regarding the discovery of new natural resources, whether gas or oil, on land or at sea,” Bayraktar said. (Reporting by Riham Alkousaa in Damascus and Huseyin Hayatsever in Ankara; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Louise Heavens)
WHO chief begs Israel to show ‘mercy’ in Gaza
- Tedros said only a political solution could bring a meaningful peace.
GENEVA: Fighting back tears, the head of the World Health Organization on Thursday urged Israel to have “mercy” in the Gaza war and insisted peace would be in Israel’s own interests.
In an emotional intervention at the WHO annual assembly, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the war was hurting Israel and would not bring a lasting solution.
“I can feel how people in Gaza would feel at the moment. I can smell it. I can visualize it. I can hear even the sounds. And this is because of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder),” said Tedros, 60, who has often recalled his own wartime upbringing in Ethiopia.
“You can imagine how people are suffering. It’s really wrong to weaponize food. It’s very wrong to weaponize medical supplies.”
The United Nations on Thursday began distributing around 90 truckloads of aid which are the first deliveries into Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2.
Tedros said only a political solution could bring a meaningful peace.
“A call for peace is actually in the best interests of Israel itself. I feel that the war is hurting Israel itself and it will not bring a lasting solution,” he said.
“I ask if you can have mercy. It’s good for you and good for the Palestinians. It’s good for humanity.”
WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said that 2.1 million people in Gaza were “in imminent danger of death.”
“We need to end the starvation, we need to release all hostages and we need to resupply and bring the health system back online,” he said.
“As an ex-hostage, I can say that all hostages should be released. Their families are suffering. Their families are in pain,” he added.
The WHO said Gazans were suffering acute shortages of food, water, medical supplies, fuel and shelter.
Four major hospitals have had to suspend medical services in the past week, due to their proximity to hostilities or evacuation zones, and attacks.
Only 19 of the Gaza Strip’s 36 hospitals remain operational, with staff working in “impossible conditions,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
“At least 94 percent of all hospitals in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed,” it said, while north Gaza “has been stripped of nearly all health care.”
It said that across the Palestinian territory, only 2,000 hospital beds remained available — a figure “grossly insufficient to meet the current needs.”
“The destruction is systematic. Hospitals are rehabilitated and resupplied, only to be exposed to hostilities or attacked again. This destructive cycle must end.”
Israel PM names new security chief, defying attorney general
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday his pick for the next head of the Shin Bet domestic security agency, defying the country’s attorney general and a significant segment of the public.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu announced this evening his decision to appoint Major General David Zini as the next head of the Shin Bet,” a statement from the premier’s office said.
The decision is the latest development in a long-running controversy surrounding the role, which has seen mass protests against the incumbent chief’s dismissal, as well as against moves pushed by Netanyahu’s government to expand elected officials’ power to appoint judges.
The supreme court on Wednesday ruled the government’s decision to fire current domestic security chief Ronen Bar was “improper and unlawful.”
Netanyahu’s move to tap Zini to replace Bar directly defied Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who had said that, given the court ruling, the premier “must refrain from any action related to the appointment of a new head of the Shin Bet.”
Netanyahu immediately responded in a rare press conference that his government would make an appointment despite Baharav-Miara’s stance.
Following Thursday’s announcement, the attorney general released a statement saying that the prime minister was acting “contrary to legal guidance.”
“There is serious concern that he acted while in a conflict of interest, and the appointment process is flawed,” the statement said.
Zini, the son of immigrants from France and the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, has held “many” operational and command positions in the Israeli military, Thursday’s announcement said, including for some elite units and combat brigades.
The announcement comes after more than two months of political and legal wrangling over who should head the powerful agency.
In March, Netanyahu said that he was dismissing Bar due to “ongoing lack of trust.”
