About 90 percent of the mosques damaged in the recent riots in Iran have been repaired and prepared to host congregational prayers during the month of Ramadan, an official said.
AhlulBayt News Agency: About 90 percent of the mosques damaged in the recent riots in Iran have been repaired and prepared to host congregational prayers during the month of Ramadan, an official said.
The secretary of the National Mosque Headquarters made the remarks at a press conference in Tehran on Sunday.
Hojat-ol-Islam Ali Nouri said mosques throughout the country were built by the people and at their expense, and they have a popular aspect and are considered part of religious rituals.
Mosques are public centers and are also considered the House of Allah, he noted.
Hojat-ol-Islam Nouri noted that in the riots that took place in the country in January, “the Holy Quran was set on fire and attacked, our youth were martyred in mosques, and 300 mosques were desecrated.”
He said that in religious literature, attention to mosques and their construction is a sign of the faith of the believers. “What happened was in conflict with our religious spirit; people were very upset that their neighborhood mosque, where they gathered on the Nights of Qadr, Muharram, and other occasions, was attacked, and they felt a religious duty towards the Quran and the mosque.”
He said that after these events, people spontaneously came to the field to donate Qurans, rebuild and honor mosques, and make the enemy understand that although the cover of the Quran and the building of the mosques were burned, the spirit of the mosque and the truth of the Quran never burns.
“During this time, people, merchants, marketers and other segments of society came to us to donate cash and even their gold to rebuild mosques. For this reason, from the first of (the lunar Hijri month of) Shaaban, the popular movement ‘Iranian Garlands’ began to collect donations for the restoration and reconstruction of mosques.”
The development of the Chabahar and Jask ports, integrated with the International North-South Transport Corridor, positions Makran to capture a substantial share of the multi-trillion-dollar Eurasian trade flow by offering a route that dramatically reduces transit time and costs compared to the Suez Canal.
Through the construction of the Goreh-Jask pipeline and expanded port facilities, Makran provides Iran with its first viable oil export terminals beyond the Strait of Hormuz, fundamentally enhancing national economic security by rendering the country less vulnerable to closure of this strategic chokepoint.
The region's fisheries already account for one-seventh of Iran's entire national fish catch, and with fourteen major new fishery projects spanning 65,000 hectares and the recent inauguration of the country's largest fish processing complex, Makran's marine economy is rapidly emerging as a significant global supplier of tuna and other seafood products.
For centuries, Iran’s Makran coast lay parched and sparsely populated, bypassed by Silk Road caravans and maritime merchants alike.
Today, however, this long-neglected “lost paradise” stands at the center of an ambitious national effort to transform it into the next great economic hub of the Indian Ocean.
Stretching nearly 500 kilometers along the Gulf of Oman from the Strait of Hormuz to the Pakistani border, the Makran coast has endured millennia as one of Iran’s most overlooked frontiers.
Its scorching temperatures, scant rainfall, and treacherous tidal creeks long conspired to keep this rugged shoreline isolated, an anomaly in a country celebrated for its ancient urban civilizations.
That narrative is now being decisively rewritten. Guided by a maritime-oriented strategy championed at the highest levels of government, and propelled by massive infrastructure investment, new international trade corridors, and intensifying great-power competition in the Indian Ocean, Makran is emerging from the shadows.
Deep-water ports at Chabahar and Jask, newly built dams and desalination plants, expanding fisheries and industrial zones, and the region’s strategic position astride some of the world’s busiest seaborne energy routes together position Makran as more than a development project. They signal its potential rise as a transformative node in twenty-first-century global commerce.
Understanding Makran’s historical context
To grasp the magnitude of Makran’s transformation, one must first appreciate the formidable geographic and historical headwinds it has faced.
Unlike Iran’s densely populated Persian Gulf littoral, with its sheltered anchorages and ancient mercantile cities, Makran has long presented a far more forbidding face to the sea.
Summer temperatures regularly exceed 45 degrees Celsius. Annual rainfall rarely surpasses 100 millimeters. The coastline is broken by shallow bays and silt-choked seasonal rivers that historically grounded vessels more often than they welcomed them.
The great overland Silk Road passed hundreds of kilometers to the north, while maritime trade between India and the Persian Gulf favored the safer harbors of Bushehr and Bandar Abbas.
Even Chabahar, now the region’s flagship port, remained a fishing village of fewer than 2,000 residents as recently as the mid-twentieth century.
This enduring isolation, described by Iranian officials as a centuries-long condition, meant that Makran entered the modern era with scant infrastructure, a small population, and virtually no industrial base.
Cliffs near Chabahar
Water, power, and the foundations of growth
Before Makran could host factories, ports, or millions of new residents, it first had to secure the most basic prerequisite of human settlement: reliable fresh water.
That foundational challenge is now being met through an unprecedented wave of civil engineering projects. Across the Beshagard mountain range, a network of dams, including Gabrik, Jegin, Kahir, and Pishin, now captures seasonal river flows, converting once-ephemeral waterways into stable, year-round reservoirs.
These efforts are reinforced by rapidly expanding desalination capacity near Chabahar, part of a $3.2 billion national water-transfer megaproject. When fully operational, the system is designed to deliver 2.4 billion cubic meters of water annually, not only to coastal communities, but deep into the Iranian interior, reaching as far as Mashhad, the country’s second-largest city.
Energy infrastructure is advancing in parallel. Most notably, construction has begun on the Iran-Hormoz nuclear power plant near Bandar Sirik, a project expected to generate 5,000 megawatts of electricity. This new capacity will provide the industrial-scale power essential for heavy manufacturing, port operations, and large-scale urban expansion.
Makran’s integration into global trade networks
Makran’s evolution from remote periphery to integrated trade hub depends most critically on its ports, which are rapidly transforming from modest local facilities into strategic nodes of continental connectivity.
Chabahar Port, long recognized by Russian strategists a century ago as a potential warm-water outlet, has benefited from sustained Indian investment and technical cooperation. It is now positioned as a strategic gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia, offering access routes that bypass Pakistan entirely.
Farther west, Jask Port is undergoing parallel expansion. Its development is closely linked to the Goreh-Jask crude oil pipeline, which provides Iran with an export terminal beyond the Strait of Hormuz – an important strategic redundancy amid recurring geopolitical tensions in that narrow maritime chokepoint.
These ports function not as isolated facilities but as integral components of the International North-South Transport Corridor, an ambitious multimodal network connecting Indian Ocean ports to the Caspian Sea, Russia, and Northern Europe.
By significantly reducing transit times and costs compared to the Suez Canal route, the corridor positions Makran at a pivotal crossroads of Eurasian commerce.
Gulf of Oman coast near Konarak
Fisheries, aquaculture, and marine wealth
While sweeping visions of global trade corridors dominate headlines, a quieter economic transformation is already unfolding along Makran’s coastline, driven by the extraordinary marine wealth of the Indian Ocean.
Fishermen operating out of Chabahar now land approximately 200,000 tons of fish annually, accounting for roughly one-seventh of Iran’s total national catch. Tuna, in particular, has emerged as a major export commodity, linking the region directly to international seafood markets.
This maritime abundance has spurred downstream industrial growth. Near Chabahar, Iran recently inaugurated its largest integrated fish packaging, cold storage, and canning facility, marking a decisive shift from raw export toward value-added processing.
Momentum continues to build: in mid-2023, authorities announced fourteen major fishery-related projects spanning some 65,000 hectares, initiatives expected to significantly expand production capacity while generating thousands of jobs.
Aquaculture, especially shrimp farming, is becoming another pillar of the coastal economy. Makran’s extensive tidal creeks and mangrove ecosystems provide ideal conditions for sustainable marine cultivation, reinforcing the region’s emerging identity as a fisheries powerhouse.
Untapped earth: Mineral resources and industrial diversification
Beneath Makran’s sun-scorched terrain lies a largely unexplored geological inheritance. For centuries, the region’s mineral resources remained untouched, a casualty of isolation and underinvestment.
Preliminary surveys have identified notable chromite deposits in the Beshagard mountain range, suggesting the potential for a mining sector that is only beginning to take shape. This latent mineral wealth, combined with expanding energy infrastructure and growing port capacity, creates the foundation for industrial diversification well beyond primary extraction.
Iranian planners envision shipbuilding and repair yards leveraging Makran’s direct access to the Indian Ocean; electronics manufacturing zones supported by stable, large-scale electricity generation; and petrochemical complexes capitalizing on proximity to domestic feedstock supplies and global export routes.
The planned establishment of twenty-seven new urban centers and coastal settlements, designed to accommodate an additional 2.5 million residents, underscores the scale of the ambition.
What is today one of Iran’s most sparsely populated regions is being reimagined as a dense, industrialized corridor of production, trade, and urban life.
Chabahar coast
Shores of discovery: The emerging tourism potential
Makran’s natural wealth extends well beyond fisheries and minerals to encompass landscapes of striking beauty, long remote, but now gradually opening to visitors.
The coastline unfolds in wide stretches of untouched sandy beaches framed by dramatic cliffs. Inland, color-banded mountains rise from the desert floor, active mud volcanoes punctuate the terrain, and vast mangrove forests shelter diverse birdlife and marine species. These ecological features give Makran a visual and environmental character unlike any other region in Iran.
This natural patrimony is enriched by distinctive cultural traditions shaped by centuries of exchange across the Indian Ocean. Architectural influences from the Indian subcontinent remain visible in older settlements, subtle reminders of maritime connections that once linked this coast to distant shores.
For domestic travelers accustomed to the crowded resorts along the Caspian Sea or the Persian Gulf, Makran offers an alternative: an expansive, undeveloped coastline paired with authentic local culture.
For international visitors, particularly those from the Persian Gulf states seeking seasonal respite or European travelers drawn to off-the-beaten-path adventure tourism, the region holds considerable untapped appeal.
Realizing this potential will require not only continued infrastructure investment but also careful stewardship. Sustainable tourism policies will be essential to ensure that development enhances, rather than erodes, the fragile environmental and cultural assets upon which the sector ultimately depends.
Geopolitical crosscurrents: Makran in the arena of great powers
Makran’s rise cannot be understood solely through the prism of domestic development. The region has also become a focal point of intensifying great-power competition.
India’s substantial investment in Chabahar reflects its strategic imperative to secure access to Central Asian markets while counterbalancing China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which terminates at Gwadar Port, just eighty kilometers east of the Iranian border.
Russia likewise views Makran’s ports as critical components of the International North-South Transport Corridor, offering members of the Eurasian Economic Union the shortest pathway to warm-water ports and global markets.
China, though deeply invested in Gwadar, maintains cooperative relations with Tehran and has signaled interest in linking Chabahar to broader regional connectivity frameworks.
By deftly balancing its partnerships with New Delhi, Moscow, and Beijing, Iran has transformed Makran from a neglected frontier into an indispensable strategic space, one in which multiple major powers now hold tangible economic and geopolitical stakes.
Satellite image of Makran coast
Strategic autonomy: reducing reliance on the Strait of Hormuz
Among Makran’s most consequential strategic functions for Iran is its capacity to reduce the national economy’s vulnerability to disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.
Roughly one-fifth of global petroleum consumption transits this narrow maritime chokepoint between Iran and Oman, making it both a source of Iranian leverage and a profound strategic exposure. Any closure, whether through conflict or coercive pressure, would reverberate immediately through global energy markets and Iran’s own export lifelines.
The expansion of Jask Port, coupled with the Goreh–Jask crude oil pipeline, fundamentally alters this calculus. By enabling crude oil and petroleum products to reach the Indian Ocean directly, without entering the Strait, Iran gains the ability to sustain exports even under maximum-pressure scenarios. What was once a single point of vulnerability becomes a more diversified and resilient system.
This strategic redundancy extends beyond hydrocarbons. Chabahar provides an alternative gateway for general merchandise trade, allowing imports and exports to bypass both the Strait of Hormuz and the congested overland crossings along Iran’s western frontiers.
The maritime-oriented policy articulated by Iranian leadership thus fuses economic ambition with geopolitical prudence, embedding national development within a framework of enhanced strategic security.
From lost paradise to future hub
Makran’s transformation from historical backwater to emerging economic center ranks among the most ambitious regional development initiatives of the early twenty-first century.
The obstacles remain formidable. Water scarcity, though mitigated by dams, desalination plants, and transfer systems, will demand disciplined, long-term management.
Plans to expand the population to 2.5 million residents require job creation on a scale unprecedented in the region’s history. And the geopolitical rivalries that have attracted capital and attention could, if mishandled, entangle Makran in broader strategic competition.
Yet the direction of change is unmistakable. A coastline that for millennia supported barely half a million people across 100,000 square kilometers is being deliberately reshaped through state policy, large-scale capital investment, and integration into the rapidly expanding trade networks of Eurasia.
The vision articulated by Iranian officials – that Makran must evolve from a “lost paradise” into the economic hub of Iran and its surrounding region – appears as a vivid reality.
As the Indian Ocean consolidates its role as the central arena of twenty-first-century commerce, the once-forbidding shores of Makran may soon become not a peripheral frontier, but a coastline the world cannot afford to overlook.
For several years, the issue of hijab and its legal status for Iranian women has been a constant topic in political, intellectual, and human rights circles connected to Iran. Since the online campaigns that began in 2017, the subject has rarely left the media space. Every few days, a major outlet publishes an article, broadcasts a documentary, or produces news coverage that keeps the issue alive in public attention. During the 2022–2023 unrest, the topic reached its peak and became a tool for broad international pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Thousands of posts were shared, portraying the “horrors” of life with hijab. Hundreds of media articles were written about years of “restriction and oppression” against Iranian women, with front pages filled with images of their hair: “Their Hair Long and Flowing or in Ponytails, Women in Iran Flaunt Their Locks.”
Flaunting
Take a look at the recent negative propaganda about hijab. Do you see stories about Iranian women being denied education? Do Western media talk about Iranian women being excluded from social life? Are Iranian women fighting for the right to vote or to run in elections and need Western support?
For any fair reader, the answer is obvious.
So why this constant focus on showing and promoting the unveiling of some Iranian women? The answer is the very thing Western culture accuses Muslim culture of: patriarchy.
The truth is that the current campaign against the hijab of Iranian women is itself an expression of Western patriarchy, a form of patriarchy that has now crossed borders and gone global:
“One of the signs of Western patriarchy is that they want women for men. They tell women to wear makeup to please and satisfy men! This is patriarchy. It is not women’s freedom. It is in fact men’s freedom. They want men to be free, even for visual pleasures. That is why they encourage women to remove their Islamic covering, wear makeup, and flaunt themselves in front of men!”
This bitter and degrading reality became openly visible in recent days, as talk of military confrontation between Iran and the United States intensified. Many Western users expressed it bluntly, and it was even welcomed:
These are just a few examples from the wave of content over the past two months that has focused on the objectification and sexualization of Iranian women. And there was no sign of the so-called “cultural critics” who spent decades writing against the “male gaze.”
Just as Western colonial policies are now visible without their human-rights and legal masks, Western patriarchy is also becoming increasingly visible without disguise.
Historically, the West is a patriarchal and misogynistic civilization, and this misogyny has been expressed in its most literal form. They hate women, truly! There was a time in Europe when public debates were held over whether women were even human. It seems that, in the end, Western civilization concluded that they’re not. This is why even an absurd question like “What is a woman?” has gained such wide attention in the West.
But this hatred did not remain only at the cultural level. In a civilization built on economic capital, income becomes the main measure of social status. Now look at the paths open to Western women and girls for achieving high income. Do Western media portray doctors, engineers, professors, entrepreneurs, or lawyers as high-earning women? A simple glance shows a different pattern: The more a Western woman submits to the patriarchal system, the more she undresses and sexualizes herself, the faster she climbs the capital-based social ladder. This model has led to more than three million women and girls in Western countries selling nude images of themselves online, often for very little money.
Is such a social structure not degrading? Are Western politicians and rulers unaware of the humiliation embedded in nakedness? Do they not themselves strip prisoners and detainees to extract confessions?
The answers to these questions make the hostility toward hijab clearer and help explain the billions of dollars spent on propaganda. It becomes easier to understand why Iranian women have become the target of such a comprehensive campaign.
The woman who sees without being seen
Today, more women around the world understand what lies behind the slogans about “supporting the freedom of Iranian women.” Alongside the wave of sexualization, a wave of resistance has also emerged:
Perhaps no one captured this Western anxiety better than Frantz Fanon, the Algerian anti-colonial thinker:
“This woman, who sees without being seen, frustrates the colonizer.”[1]
It was the Iranian woman who, after the Islamic Revolution, once again covered her body from a degrading gaze and opened her eyes to a life of real dignity. Women who once had only 37 percent literacy picked up books and pencils, and today more than 90 percent of them are literate. Iranian women played a fundamental role in the justice-seeking Islamic Revolution, endured the loss of loved ones in war, and carried heavy economic pressures, but, in Fanon’s words, they did not allow themselves “to be seen.”
Wearing the very hijab, they became doctors, engineers, members of parliament, and ministers. Women who were once portrayed in pre-revolutionary “Filmfarsi” cinema in the most degrading ways, for the purpose of reshaping their identity, presented a new form of cinema to the world, one that reached high artistic levels without objectifying women and while preserving hijab.
This conscious choice to protect their dignity and block the degrading external gaze allowed Iranian women to move faster than societies that have spent decades struggling with sexual violence in workplaces, universities, and social spaces.
But the Western gaze does not want to see this. It only sees what it wants to see. Millions of Iranian women can live every day with faith in Islamic law, observe hijab, raise children, study, teach, invent, win global scientific and sports medals, and build businesses, and they will remain invisible. But the moment they remove their clothing, hundreds of cameras turn toward them, their stories are broadcast, and their concerns are amplified.
For Iranian women who know their own history, this backward step means nothing. They will not trade four decades of achievement for a few hundred likes and a handful of obscene comments.
“The West and capitalists insist on exporting this culture [of promiscuity], so they fabricate justifications for doing so. They say, that if a woman observes the hijab and sets these limitations for herself, she won’t be able to progress! The Islamic Republic has refuted and crushed that nonsensical logic. In the Islamic Republic, it’s been demonstrated that a Muslim, devote woman — a woman who observes the hijab and follows the Islamic dress code — can progress further than anyone else in all areas… What our ladies and women have achieved today in intellectual and research centers in these fields is definitely unprecedented in Iran’s history. We’ve never had this many female scholars and intellectuals in Iran.”
Head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) Hassan Salarieh has announced that the launch of the Salmas and Chenaran ground stations has enabled more precise control of Iranian satellites and faster reception of satellite imagery.
Speaking to reporters regarding the details and the importance of the two facilities, Salarieh said Salmas and Chenaran stations are among Iran’s key space facilities, located in the northwest and northeast of the country.
The stations, he added, provide access to satellite data and enable full control of Iranian satellites.
He explained that multiple antennas operating across different wavelengths and frequency bands have been installed at the stations.
Satellite mission control centers are also based at the sites, allowing for the transmission of commands and the reception of satellite data, he further said.
Salarieh emphasized that increasing the number of ground control centers—especially with coverage extending from east to west—expands communication opportunities during satellite passes. This leads to longer communication windows with satellites and allows larger volumes of imagery to be downloaded.
He added that the expanded ground infrastructure shortens the process of satellite control and stabilization in orbit, enabling faster and more efficient satellite operations, which he described as a key strategic advantage.
According to Salarieh, the Salmas ground station has already been inaugurated, while the Chenaran station is expected to be officially launched in the near future.
Iran unveils three homegrown strategic projects on National Space Technology Day
Iran unveiled and inaugurated three domestically developed and strategic achievements in the fields of infrastructure, communications, and satellite imagery as it commemorates National Space Technology Day.
Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Sattar Hashemi and Defense Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh attended the ceremony in the capital Tehran.
The main prototype of the first satellite system project, named after top anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, as well as the first images captured by the recently launched Paya satellite, were put on display during the event, alongside the inauguration of the Salmas space facility.
A drone view of Neve Daniel, an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. (File photo by Reuters)
More than 80 countries, along with several international organizations, have condemned Israel’s decision to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank as “unlawful” and in violation of international law.
At a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, read a joint statement supported by countries from across Europe, West Asia, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, as well as the European Union, the League of Arab States, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Mansour emphasized that the recent Israeli decisions, which include expanding settlements and authorizing land purchases by Israeli settlers, are “contrary to Israel’s obligations under international law” and called for their immediate reversal.
He also reaffirmed the international community’s “strong opposition to any form of annexation,” warning that such steps undermine peace efforts and jeopardize the so-called two-state solution.
The joint statement condemned Israel’s recent attempts to tighten its control over the occupied West Bank, particularly through the registration of land in Area C as so-called “state property,” which represents a de facto annexation of Palestinian land.
“Such measures violate international law, undermine the ongoing efforts for peace and stability in the region, run counter to the comprehensive plan, and jeopardize the prospect of reaching a peace agreement ending the conflict,” the statement read.
The group of nations further highlighted that these actions contradict the findings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories illegal in its 2024 advisory opinion and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds.
They also reiterated their opposition to any actions that seek to alter the demographic composition, character, or status of Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, expressing support for the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and pledging to take “concrete measures” to counter the illegal settlement policy.
The condemnation comes amid escalating violence in the West Bank, including East al-Quds, which has seen a sharp increase in military operations, killings, and arrests since the beginning of the Gaza genocide in October 2023.
By the end of 2025, Palestinian authorities estimated over 1,102 Palestinians killed and 9,034 wounded in the West Bank amid intensified military operations and settler attacks.
Israel’s recent approval to register large areas of the West Bank as so-called “state property” marks the first such move since the territory was occupied in 1967, leading Palestinian authorities and resistance groups to warn that this could pave the way for a formal annexation of the area.
Registration of land in the occupied territories establishes permanent ownership, effectively consolidating Israeli control over the Palestinian lands.
The West Bank is among the areas that Palestinians seek for a future independent state, along with Gaza and occupied East al-Quds. Much of the West Bank is now under direct Israeli military control, with extremely limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas, governed by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
TEHRAN--Initial studies show that human settlement was established in the hill of Sarcham in Holeylan county, Ilam province, from prehistoric to historical eras, as well as the Bronze Age.
Announcing this, Habibollah Mahmoudian, a specialist in prehistoric archaeology, told ISNA that the prehistoric hill of Sarcham is located 700 meters northeast of Sarcham village in Holeylan district. The asphalted Holeylan-Piyazabad road extends from the northern edge of the hill, he added.
He explained that the geographical area of Zardalan is one of the subordinate areas of Holeylan county, and Zardalan rural district, centered on Piyazabad village, is located in the farthest reaches of Ilam province.
The height of the site is 952 meters above the sea level, and the permanent Seymareh river flows in the eastern and southeastern parts of the studied area, he pointed out.
The archaeologist stated that Zardalan includes two different climatic zones; The northern part has high altitudes and is more than 2,500 meters above the sea level and enjoys a temperate mountainous climate. “However, the southern lowland area and the banks of the Seymareh river, which includes the area of this monument, have temperate and warm winters.”
Mahmoudian noted that Sarcham hill is located in the eastern part of the road between Towhid city and Piyazabad village in Zardalan region, in the middle of agricultural lands. Erosion caused by the flow of Pol Jamshid seasonal river has exposed a major part of the ancient layers of the monument at a depth of five meters, he said.
He added: “The economic activity of the people of this region is based on agriculture and animal husbandry, and the cultivated lands in this region include irrigated and dry crops.”
“This site, located south of the Sarcham site, contains stone pottery, blades, stone tools, and bone remains, the most important surface findings of the Sarcham hill. The pottery is simple and decorated, and is mostly handmade. The density of pottery and stone blades shows the importance of this hill.”
Mahmoudian noted that during the investigation and identification of the Zardalan area, a total of 26 pieces of potteries and 14 pieces of stone tools and blades were removed from the surface of the hill and studied. The inner coating of the pottery was brown and red clay, and their designs were parallel lines and stripes, he added.
“The chronology of the surface markers of the site, which includes stone tools and blades in the side elevations of the Pol Jamshid valley, shows that this work also belongs to prehistoric periods.”
Ilam province is located in western Iran and shares about 425 kilometers of border with Iraq. It also borders the Iranian provinces of Kermanshah, Lorestan and Khuzestan.
The name ‘Ilam’ comes from ‘Elam’ the pre-historic civilization that ruled the area in modern southwest Iran from 2700 BC to 539 BC. Archaeological findings date human settlement of the area to around 5000 BC.
Alwaght- One of Donald Trump's extraordinary abilities is his instinct for lying when he feels he is in a tight spot. His experience in undergoing over 4,000 legal cases and countless scandals have made lying super easy for the US president.
As Epstein scandal files come out to further sink him in a legal case, Trump is struggling to clear himself of any relations to the sexual criminal's case. But while his name is mentioned over 38,000 times, can Trump really clear himself of the Epstein’s case.
The latest release of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case includes over 3 million pages of records, tens of thousands of emails, and videos, but it still does not constitute the complete file . The Justice Department is legally required to release all documents, including unverified or disputed claims, but reports indicate that significant portions of the files have been withheld or redacted .
Amid the disclosure, Trump has pushed his own narrative regarding his connection to the case. He recently claimed in sharp terms that he stopped speaking to Jeffrey Epstein years ago because Epstein was engaging in inappropriate behavior. Trump has asserted that he banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club and cut all ties with him .
Trump's statements about the Epstein case appear aimed at defending himself, but they stand in stark contrast to documented historical facts. Three years after the date Trump claims he severed ties with Epstein, he sent the financier a lewd and sexually suggestive poem in 2003 to mark Epstein's 50th birthday, complete with a drawing of a nude woman . According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump wrote in the note: "We have certain things in common, Jeffrey... A pal is a wonderful thing."
Trump's contradictory narrative of the reason for cutting off ties with Epstein
According to the Washington Post, Trump's relationship with Epstein unraveled not in 2000 but in 2004 over competition for properties in Palm Beach, Florida. This contradicts Trumps claim suggesying that he cut off ties with Epstein for his immoral behavior and deeds.
Trump's partnership with Epstein
Trump and Epstein met for years with "young women," many of them underage. Court records and witness accounts released in the Epstein case have documented the 1992 "calendar girls" parties at Mar-a-Lago, where the two men allegedly paraded underage girls before guests .
The Miami Herald newspaper has reported that "American girls said Epstein enjoyed spending time backstage at beauty pageants and fashion shows with his Palm Beach and New York neighbor and friend, Donald Trump" .
Records suggest Trump himself ran three different beauty pageants. In a 2005 radio interview, he described going backstage: "You know they're standing there with no clothes. And you see these incredible looking women, and I sort of get away with things like that."
In 1999, Trump founded Trump Model Management, also known as T Models . The agency recruited girls as young as 14 with tourist visas, luring them with promises of fame and wealth. Once they arrived, they were paid minimum wage under what former model Rachel Blais described to American media as conditions resembling "modern-day slavery." Blais called it "the most crooked agency I've ever worked for, and I've worked for quite a few."
On the other side of the ledger, reports indicate Epstein was looking to launch a modeling agency of his own. He poached models from Trump's company and sought to replicate Trump's business model. Model Courtney Powell Sorensen told the Miami Herald: "Epstein needed to have his own evil people, and Brunel was Epstein's ideal person to create evil with." Records show that Brunel, who was accused of sexual abuse of models at his agency in 1988, lived in Trump Tower in New York during the 1990s . A model named Braden told the Miami Herald that she regularly saw Brunel, Epstein, and Trump together at parties in the early 1990s . Brunel was charged with rape in 2021 and died by suspected suicide in a French prison in 2022, roughly two years after Epstein's apparent suicide.
Also in the Epstein files, a note that appears to be from a Florida real estate investor includes a photo of Epstein holding a large check seemingly from Trump . The caption jokingly says Epstein sold a "fully depreciated" woman to Trump for $22,500.
Scandal of boastful president
Although the Epstein files contain the names of many of Trump's associates and friends, the broader scandal for Trump is amplified by his own self-proclaimed image. While he presents himself as a president with global leadership skills, his name is one of the most frequently mentioned in the Epstein sex trafficking case .
The documents abundantly detail the close relationship between Trump and Epstein, and they directly contradict Trump's narrative that he cut ties and was unaware of Epstein's activities. According to a Justice Department-released FBI document, a former Florida police chief stated that Donald Trump told him on the phone in 2006 that everyone knew about Epstein's activities .
The released document is a transcript of the FBI's 2019 interview with the former Palm Beach police chief, in which he claims Trump contacted him after the Justice Department began investigating Epstein. Trump allegedly said, "Thank goodness you're stopping him! Everyone knows he's been doing this" . Donald Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing regarding Epstein and has stated he was unaware of his crimes . In 2019, when Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges, reporters asked Donald Trump if he had previously had any "suspicions" about the disgraced financier. He replied, "No, I had no idea. I had no idea. I haven't spoken to him in many, many years" . However, this account from Trump has proven to be completely false .
In fact, Trump can neither deny participating in Epstein's sex trafficking operations nor claim ignorance of them. This leaves the international community facing a fundamental question: Can a man implicated in a sex trafficking ring credibly claim the mantle of world leadership?
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