that's press tv, cats and dogs, lambodophic, don't miss it. issoly media raised to over 700, the death stole from operation alax the flood launched by palestinian resistance fighters inside of israel, more than 2000. 300 were also wounded, meanwile in besieg gaza strip, over 410 palestinians have been killed and more than 2, wounded in israeli attacks. the palestinian resistance movement, hamas says his fighters have captured more israeli soldiers on the second day of their anti-israeli operations and taking them to gaza. meanwile it says palestinian fighters have recorded video footage of the israeli killing of its own soldiers who were taken captive. the leader of the gaza based

resistance movement, the islamic jihad says the only way for israel to cut its losses is to admit defeat and to give into palestinian demands. ziad al-nahala said the israeli army is weaker than many believed and palestinian resistance fighters humiliated it during operation alasa flood. iran's president expresses support for what he called palestinians legitimate self-defense. ibrahim said israel and its supporters are responsible and must answer. for endangering the security of regional nations. he stressed that the accumulation of tyranny against palestinians and the desecration of alasamas will not last forever. and major international airlines cancelled dozens of flights to tel aviv as palestiny resistance factions, anti-israeli operation rages on. germany's flag carrierza says it has cancelled all flights to and from tel avib, citing the current situation. air france says it has halted telabe flights until further notice.

of of iran's railway network has become a focal point of the iranian government headed by ibrahim rc. one of the accomplishments has been the announcement of the completion of the shalam che basra railway connecting iran and iraq. well on the surface of... sound just like another railway connection, but it is lot more than that. hi, i'm kav tachway, welcome to economic divide. some of the highlights of this program: the shalam shassa railroad construction has been announced, it was announced decades ago, but now it's going to be completed. it will connect iran and iraq, and it will have passenger and cargo as transport. next up, let's take a look or some of the other highlights in this category is plusses for iran. what uh... that means is,

well, more trade activity, and also it's going to make iran a center of transport or be one of the connections making iran a center of transport, national network and regional integration, the other places for iran, but there are outside interferences when it comes to this, namely us, preventing iraq from the construction of this project, and it also does not want iran to advance. iran and iraq have laid the foundation stone for the cross-border railway line connecting the two neighboring countries. the railway will connect iraq's vastra with iranian bordertown of shalam cheh. crossborder railway project serves as introduction to strategic transportation projects. connect

iraq and neighboring countries. iranian officials said the 32 km railroad will be completed in 18 to 24 months. terman and bagdad first incton agreement to develop the route in 2014, but the project was halted after the daesh terrorist group began to conduct is violent offensive through large parts of iraq. as part of the project. iran aims to build an overpass on the waterway that divides the two countries known as the arvan river in iran and shatal arab in iraq. the railroad is ultimately envisioned to link iran to the mediterranean shores of syria. there are some speculations that iraq may be prioritizing the development road project with turkey over shalam chasra. development road due to be completed in 2025, aims to use railway and a parallel motorway to connect the southern port of alfah in busra governor it to turkey. the railway project connecting

the border city of shalamcha in iran and the city of baza in iraq will play very important role in the transportation of goods when completed. it will positively affect our economic ties as well as tourism. time now to take a look at some of the postings on this. this is the topic obviously that many are not uh very aware of so we zoomed in on websites to see what's being discussed. first up why is the shalam ch so important to iran and iraq? teran about that to begin the construction of the railing after decades of planning, but challenges do remain. now went to say it will facilitate the movement of millions of iranian pilgrims heading to holy sites in iraq, and then there has been speculation over the years that baghdad has been dragging its feet on the project with iranian media speculating that the us may be nudging it to slow down. next, railway of

resistance, a grand project to connect iran, iraq and syria. beyond is positive economic implications, the railway project connecting iran, iraq and syria will be geopolitical game changer. by connecting the mediterranean sea to the persian gulf. it adds iran's intention to construct a railway line connecting the persian gulf to the mediterranean sea, the iran, iraq, syria railway, link, as it's called. an ambitious project would run from basra in southern iraq to abu kamal on the iraqi iranian syrian border, and then extend to dear in northeastern syria. next, deep dive will iran, iraq. rail ambitions turn into reality. iran drives the project. it said that the rc administration is using the rail project as part of a strategy to secure its regional position, creating diverse transit routes with neighboring countries that employ sea, road and rail connections. adding tehran is

pursuing the basra, shalamsha railway, conjunction with connections to iranian ports on the persian gulf and a wide expansion of iran's national railway network that entails at least 15 major. projects. all right, some the opinions there through the websites that we peruse through, which we relate to you. let's see what our guests think, this is our first q&a. let me introduce them. first up, we have ahmed salhi joining us, he is a political economy analyst. welcome to economic divide. uh, so we have this announcement which is major one that has been uh really going on for decades, but finally it's been announced that it's going to be completed this railway project. which will collect connect shalamche with the southern iraq, but it's been touted to the point where it's so significant, why is this such an important railway project? yes, thank you for the question, actually what i can tell you is

that uh, according to the statistics, the global statistics, 60% of the trade of any country is with the neighbors if you. fullute china. it means that even when we are talking about the great britain, we are we are facing more than 53% of the trade with the surrounding countries. so this is the importance of neighboring countries each other, and in case of iraq of course, which is huge oil production, and low production capacity in consuming products, it means that the main trade between iran and iraq is not energy, actually. uh, it is going to be the consuming product, of course iran is now exporting electricity to iraq, but in future we will uh be more witnessing exporting of consuming goods and products to the

neighboring iraq countries. thank you for that, let me bring in now ali alashmi, historian and iraq affairs expert. alian nashmi, welcome to economic divide, do you agree with what our guest? said that this is going to be about products? i think this is a project it's very important for both country, because both country suffering from the same enemy, iran suffering the bloccade from united states and iraq suffering from under the table from many countries blockade and and you know the coast of the iraq is is very very narrow, iraq need another gates. to to transport the trade and to make his country is base for the trade of the world, especially in the asia, and even iran want to make their land is pace for or channel for the trade from asia, asia growth and become

the the largest in economy in the world, then that economy need some gates and various gates, then import is the geography of iran is very important for them, then iran will use that link for their trade and for another pakistan, uzbekistan, tajikistan, turkmenistan. china and another country, this is forest, in the past eight years alone, the united nations general assembly has approved 140 resolutions criticizing the zionist entity, and the world's last apartide regime was centured once again at the general assembly. last month, what tends to happen is they point someone's independent and who goes and finds out what's happening in uh israel

and design entity and uh discovers surprise surprise there's ethnic cleansing and there's appalling human rights violations and of course they report that and the zionist throw up their hands in horror, clutch their pearls and they say, oh these people are anti-semites, these these ngos were were playing for audience of one, washington essentially, and washington would then relay the talking point. uh of the un watch, so we were under constant pressure, of the program, iran and iraq have announced that work a railroad linking the two countries will begin, something that was initially planned decades ago, when complete, it will... facilitate the movement of millions of iranian pilgrims as for an example, along with the economic benefits that both will

reap from trade. so let's find out what this is all about. first up, we're going to take a look a map to give you an idea about the geography of the railroad. now as you can see over here, the railroad is to connect the iranian border town of shalamche with the southeastern iraq city of busra, as you see the trail tracks there connecting the two, which will transport transport passengers and also cargo. next, let's take a look at some the specs for this project of shalamshire basta railroad, in terms of the goals, um, as mentioned, it will connect iran and iraq, also, as a result of that trade is going to increase naturally between the two countries. one of the aims to fulfill religious pilgrimage, that's pretty important. it's also going to facilitate cargo transit and the use of iranian southern ports. so you can see how this rail is important when it comes to the... ports will also connect with syrian railway and the mediterranean shores. in

terms of the connection options, araq, kermanshah, hosravi corridor, that's important, and the dehraran, mehran corridor. then in terms of the rail distance, 34.5 kilometers, rail stops, there's three, and the approximate cost on this is $200 million dollars. okay, some of the specs to the next. graph, this is pretty important, because it's part of the project which is uh difficult, its aim is to build an overpass on the waterway that divides the two countries, it's known as the shatal arab and the arvand river in iran, shutter up in iraq, officials said the bridge needs to be movable because ships need to be able to pass under it, so that's a pretty big undertaking uh given the fact that you're looking at example, lots of minds, perhaps, a project that was actually delayed because of the daish terrorists. let's move

to the next graph, what is the railway's geopolitical significance is our focus here, you're going to find that out in a minute, mean it's not just about improving trade relations between iran and iraq, as you can see over there, the porini where koramshare is right above that, and the trade route, the project is going to go through the routes that you see, and that's important because is under harsh us sanctions, this way it's going to cement his regional position uh at the center of major transportation lines, and another thing, the railroad is going to connect iran to the mediterranean shores of syria, as you can see over here, holmes and damascus also being one of the offshots there in terms of albucamal and then damascus through homes, also one of the connections, and then latakakia uh, this as the u.s. uh sees is a threat because this pretty much spells. uh the access of resistance when it comes to the countries that iran is going to

connect to. all right, let's find out what our guests thinks about this, let me bring a bring back ahmad sali, he's a political econom economy analyst who rejoins us. ahmed, welcome back to economic divide. um, when you take a look at the project, it is reported that the us is trying to actually prevent iraq from uh cooperating with iran on this project. uh, some of the news is indicating that coming out of iraq. why would the us target this railway project? what are the matters of concern for the u.s. do you think on this? yeah, we take into account what i described as a corridor diplomacy, then you know that corridors act like a chain, and if you control one ring of this chain, it means that literally you're controlling the whole corridor, so and if you also take into account that the main priority of the united states is to control or constrain the huge

economy of china, it means that this corridor play a significant role or possess a significant value for united states in in in controlling china, and we know that if one ring of the corridor or one ring of the chain is controlled, the whole corridor is controlled, so this is very important for united states to prevent connection of china to europe through iran, iraq and these relatively independent countries. all right, that's pretty important, as matter of fact, what i guess there mentioned is going to be covered in the uh quick. section with mahdi abbasian, in which mahdi expands further on what he was referring to there in terms of stopping china, which iran is part of that equation when it comes to the belton road initiative. all right, let's bring back our next guest, ali al anashmi, historian and iraq affairs expert. alian ask me, welcome back, same question to you, what do you think, why is the us concerned about this

railway project? yes, united state will fight, fight to stop that project. to prevent iraq, to separate iraq from iran, because any cooperation between iraq and iran that it's not in the interest of united states, united state need iraq weak and iran weak, because the main enemy for united state now, it's iran, they thought that iran they cannot destroy it by army, because now the army of iran and have very strategy women, they cannot fight them by women, they try to or or they insist to fight. them by economy, by destroyed their country, then any link between iraq and iran that mean the dividing the economy on iran and will be iran many resist for the american policy, then i think another another goal, because any link between iraq and iran will make iraqi more

strong, have many strength, that's the thing they will use it against to face the... american policy, american policy now in iraq it's very strong because iraq is very weak, weak it's economic weakness. the railroad between iran and iraq can vastly benefit both countries. the shalam shassa railroad is to also connect iran to najaf and carbala in iraq, easing the burden of transporting millions of pilgrims who go through iran to the muslim holy sites in those cities. iran could benefit from improved transportation and more trade as it positions itself at the center of major transportation lines. the high volume of

goods exported from iran to iraq has caused the issue of transportation infrastructure between the two countries to be of great. importance, and according to experts, with the construction of the shalamsha railway, the income of the iranian railways will increase significantly. the cargo capacity of this railway is between 8 and 10 million tons and its passenger capacity is 12 million people. iran is pursuing more than dozen major rail projects. as the country expands its national network and works on regional integration, railways have proven central to the international north south transport corridor, a project that envisions connecting india to central asia and russia by iran. all regional and extra regional countries need two north south and east-west transporters.

برای ایران هم که در نقطه خیلی خاصی در جهان قرار گرفته ده و منافع اقتصادی و منافع جانبه ای برای کشورمون حتماً خواهد داشت. the iranian railway network is undergoing major. transformation through series of schemes including the construction of new lines. the amount of investment is reported to be around 8 billion us dollars. the 13th government headed by ibrahim rais is investing heavily in transportation systems with a particular focus on railroads. this is not just for domestic use, but also to expand connectivity with neighboring countries, to

ultimately provide a transit road for railway between china and europe. the domestic railway expansion is very ambitious. iran needs to make sure it is fulfilling demand inside of iran in order to contribute to the country's economy and expand its economic. growth: there are currently 28 projects underway in iran, totaling around 500 kilometers, to be completed by the end of 2026, there are additional 16 routes totaling 520 kilometers that are in progress, which includes repairs and construction schemes. another key project, the completion of the final section of the rash asta rail project which involves russia who has offered to finance this project. this will connect the iranian rail network to azerbaijan to be completed within the next three years. it is estimated that one million passengers as well as 10 million tons of cargo will be

transported in the first year of the operation. the project can bring about $20 billion dollars for the country annually. there are outsiders however that want to limit iran's international trade roots, especially when it comes to iran's integration within china's one belt. road initiative, israel and the u.s. in particular, are striving to compete or curtail iran's trade and economic ambitions. the recent g20 summit in new delhi witnessed the launch of a $20 billion dollar india, middle east europe corridor, an ambitious multipronged network aiming to connect goods and services between europe and asia via west asia. we just spoke about that great promise in the g-20 meeting that... you participated and led, you uh spoke about economic corridor that would link uh asia, the middle east and

europe together, and such a corridor will uh will make israel very important hub a a highway of unprecedented prosperity, and there are no efforts to hide the goals of this initiative, it is touted as an alternative trade corridor to china's belt and road initiative, a geopolitical counter rate to china. and its belt and road initiative. the us even says, this will check russia's interconnectivity aspirations. israel's attempt to thort iran will be fudal, for it can't alter iran's geographic location. iran is conveniently positioned in the world in such a way that it makes an ideal transportation hop. additionally, iran has seen a sudden rise in its importance as a transit and transport hop, connecting china and c central asia to europe and also russia with india along the international north south transport corridor, and that does it for this quick take section, send us your comments or any feedback, especially on ways

we can improve this section of the program. i'm mahi abbastian and i'll see you next week. the shalon char railway is just one of many rail connections that... iran is pursuing, what promises to be economic boom when it comes to income generated from this mode of transportation. now this despite other competitors who are posing as competitors, like israel, the us or turkey for that matter, but no one can replace iman's geographical position, which is why it makes it a transportation hub, never mind how it plays into the equation of the one belt one road, which is executed by china. that does it for this edition of the program. thank you so much for being with us, hope you enjoyed it, any questions or comments or critiques uh, we entertained that, actually lot more, do send them to us, contact information is behind me, fromway and entire team here at economic divide, it's goodbye

until the next program.

نظر قطعی جمهوری اسلامی این است که دولت هایی که قمار عادی س رو برای خودشون سرمشق

و شیوه کار قرار میدن ایننا ضرر خواهند کرد. بااخت منتظر این هاست. دارن اشتباه می کنن. به قول اروپایی ها دارن رو اسب باازنده شرط بندندی می کنن. رژیم صهیونیستی لببریز از کینه و قیض است نه فقط نسبت به ما حالا ما که اهمیت نمیدیم نسبت به جمهوری اسلامی که خب معلومه واضحه اما نسبت به کشورهای دیگه

هم همینور اینجور نیستش که رژیم صهیونیستی از کشورهای دور بر خودش خرسند باشه خوشول باشه نه اونا با مصر هم کینه دارن با سوریه هم کینه دارن با عراق هم کینه دارن چرا اونا هدفشون از میل تا فرات بود خب نشده.