President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi on Tuesday called on scholars and intellectuals to come up with ideas to help develop Islamic humanities.
Addressing the closing ceremony of the 13th Farabi International Award for Humanities and Islamic Studies, Raeisi described Islamic humanities as “the drive force” for a religion-oriented system of governance.
He added, however, there are shortcomings in what should have happened in order to achieve humanities befitting Iran’s Islamic Revolution.  
“Scholars and intellectuals need to put forward suggestions and solutions to reduce the gap with the desired situation,” the president pointed out.
Raeisi stressed that researchers and scholars should abandon following in the footsteps of the West in order to help grow humanities and carry out innovative work based on the rich foundations of Islam.
 

Iran on Tuesday announced a megaproject to develop its largest oilfield with a $7 billion investment package, financed by a group of domestic banks and holdings as well as the National Development Fund of Iran (NDFI).
“The integrated development plan”, the first one in the history of Iran’s oil industry, aims to triple daily crude output at the joint Azadegan Oilfield from 190,000 barrels per day to 570,000 bpd.
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a memorandum of understanding with the financers of the project and oil companies in a ceremony on Tuesday attended by President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi.
Speaking at the ceremony, Raeisi hailed the plan as an “example of mobilizing internal capacity,” saying that it would boost confidence among private investors and people to get involved in such large-scale projects.
Oil Minister Javad Owji told at the same event that Iran’s oil industry would need at least an investment of $160 billion in the next eight years.
The oilfield, which is shared with neighboring Iraq, is located in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. It stretches in an area of 1,500 square kilometers and its in-situ oil reserves is estimated at 32 billion barrels.
Earlier in the day, Deputy Oil Minister Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr said major banks and oil exploration and production companies would be main shareholders but part of the project’s shares would be offered to the public.
Khojasteh-Mehr, who is also the NIOC CEO, predicted that the plan would go operational within two years and hit its expected return on investment target.
 

Russia on Tuesday said that some of the weapons the West is sending to Ukraine are spreading across the Middle East and ending up on the black market.
Speaking in televised remarks, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Ukraine had received more than 28,000 tonnes of military cargo so far, and some of the Western weapons were appearing in the Middle East, AFP reported.
“In the hope of prolonging the conflict in Ukraine, the collective West is continuing large-scale arms supplies to the Kyiv regime,” Shoigu said.
“According to information at our disposal, some of the foreign weapons supplied by the West to Ukraine are spreading across the Middle Eastern region and are also ending up on the black market.”
President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered Russian troops to press their offensive deeper into the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine after Moscow’s forces seized the strategic city of Lysychansk.
Shoigu told Putin on Monday that Moscow’s forces were now in full control of the Lugansk region.
On Tuesday, Shoigu said that Russia would continue its “special military operation” in Ukraine, which was launched on February 24, until the end.
“The special military operation will continue until the tasks set by the supreme commander-in-chief have been completed,” the defence minister said.