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Fresh from an unprecedented performance in Israel, exiled Iranian rock musician Shahin Najafi says he will not allow his Iranian detractors' death threats to scare him away from collaborating with Israeli artists in the name of peace.

Najafi, 36, sang alongside Israeli rock star Aviv Geffen at a concert in Tel Aviv on Thursday the first performance by an Iranian artist at an Israeli rock concert.

Iran and Israel have endured decades of hostility, with Iranian leaders threatening to destroy the Jewish state and Israeli leaders refusing to rule out using force against an Iranian nuclear program they see as designed to make nuclear weapons.

Threatened with imprisonment

Najafi, born in the northern Iranian province of Gilan, fled Iran in 2004 under threat of imprisonment by Iranian authorities for creating songs deemed offensive to Islam. After Najafi settled in Germany, an Iranian cleric labeled him an apostate and an Iranian Islamist website offered a $100,000 bounty to anyone who would kill him.

Undeterred by Iranian threats, Najafi met with Geffen in Milan late last year and accepted an invitation to perform in Tel Aviv and reach out to Israelis through his art.

Exiled Iranian rock musician Shahin Najafi, right, sang alongside Israeli rock star Aviv Geffen, left, at a concert in Tel Aviv -- the first performance by an Iranian artist at an Israeli rock concert -- on March 2, 2017.

Show of bravery

In an interview with VOA Persian on Friday by telephone from Tel Aviv, Najafi said he might face more death threats for appearing in Israel, but added, "I'm willing to die for peace."

Najafi also praised Geffen for enabling his visit and said he would love to partner with the Israeli again to promote the cause of world peace.

At Thursday's concert, Najafi read a message he addressed to U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and "all politicians," expressing opposition to "walls" anywhere in the world and urging national leaders to "stop dividing people before it's too late."

Trump has pledged to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico to stop the entry of undocumented migrants, some of whom he says bring drugs and crime. Netanyahu has fortified Israel's boundaries with walls and fences to block infiltrations of African migrants through Egypt and to keep out Palestinian and other anti-Israel militants. Netanyahu and Trump also have pledged to boost cooperation in preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons something Tehran denies seeking.

Exiled Iranian rock musician Shahin Najafi, right, sang alongside Israeli rock star Aviv Geffen, left, at a concert in Tel Aviv -- the first performance by an Iranian artist at an Israeli rock concert -- on March 2, 2017.

Neither the Israeli nor the Iranian government has commented on Najafi's Tel Aviv show.

'Wrong information'

In his interview, Najafi accused Tehran of feeding Iranians like himself "wrong information" about Israelis. "For those of us born after Iran's [1979 Islamic] Revolution, we were brainwashed with propaganda," he said. "Here in Israel, I got such a good vibe from the crowd that, for a moment, I thought I was back in Iran."

Najafi also criticized the boycotting of Israel by Western pop stars angry with its treatment of the Palestinians. "Unlike [former Pink Floyd band member] Roger Waters, I'm not going to stay in the U.S. and boycott the people I come to Israel and sing for the people to make a statement in the heart of the place where I see a problem."

Many of the Iranian singer-songwriter's Iranian fans welcomed his gesture with supportive messages on his Facebook page. But there was some social media criticism, too, including from an Iranian woman who posted a message on an Iranian communist website and shared it on Facebook. Asal Akhavan accused Najafi and Geffen of lying about supporting peace between Israel and the Palestinians and said the joint concert's real intention was to oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

WATCH: Israeli Rocker Geffen Discusses Meeting, Collaborating With Iran's Najafi

'Break this iron wall'

In a separate interview with VOA Persian via Skype on Friday, Geffen, 43, expressed admiration for Najafi as "brave" for coming to Israel to perform and speak out against Trump and Netanyahu.

Geffen is a longtime left-wing critic of the Israeli prime minister and more recently of Trump. "I'm trying to break this iron wall between Iran and Israel, because Netanyahu just can't do it," he said. "I want to make it clear that we [Iranians and Israelis] can talk and want to live side by side."

The Israeli singer-songwriter said the smiling faces and sustained applause by the 7,000 concertgoers showed that he and Najafi had succeeded in changing attitudes.

More performances

Geffen said he planned to invite Najafi to participate in some of his overseas shows and would like to get other artists to join them on tour in New York or London. "For me [this week's concert] is only the start," he said. "I'm willing to go with Shahin all over the world to spread the message that we can achieve a real peace between the nations."

Behrooz Samadbeygi of VOA's Persian service contributed to this report.

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Iranian Rock Artist Defies Threats, Performs in Israeli Peace Concert - Voice of America

The government has earmarked $100 million to combat dust storms in the next fiscal year that begins on March 21. The money, which will be supplied from the National Development Fund of Iran, will be used to implement key projects such as reforestation, mulching and revival of wetlands and rivers that have become major hotspots for sand and dust storms, also known as SDS. The news comes on the heels of recent reports that the embattled Khuzestan Province in southwest Iran is besieged by intense dust storms that have disrupted life in the oil-rich province. Dust storm hotspots cover around 300,000 hectares of Khuzestan, while Deputy Agriculture Minister Abdolmehdi Bakhshandeh said some 700,000 hectares have the potential to become hotspots, ISNA reported. He said 345,000 hectares have been prioritized for reforestation projects. About 43,000 hectares are believed to be in a supercritical condition, he said. Bakhshandeh noted that a comprehensive plan outlining measures to be implemented across 700,000 hectares of potential hotspots will be presented to the government in three months. In the past month, storms knocked out power grids in many cities and forced the closure of schools and public offices, and filled emergency rooms with young and old suffering from breathing difficulties. While the budget of $100 million is about a quarter of what experts say is needed to effectively tackle dust storms sourced in Iran, what worries environmentalists is that the administration of President Hassan Rouhani might not be able to come up with the money. Environmental projects rarely receive all the budget they are promised. Even publicized restoration programs such as that of Urmia Lake in the northwest do not get the funding they need. Nevertheless, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, a vice president and head of the Management and Planning Organization, promised last week that the government will supply the budget to the last dime. Although about 75% of dust storm emissions worldwide come from natural (as opposed to manmade) sources, the vast majority of hotspots that contribute to SDS in Iran and the Middle East at large are caused by human activities. Turkeys rampant dam construction since the 1970s has significantly cut water flow to Iraq and Syria, leading to the desiccation of key rivers and marshlands. To make matters worse, the internal conflict in Syria and Iraqs battle with the terrorist group Daesh (aka the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group) have knocked out environmental issues in these countries from the list of priorities. In Khuzestan, local land degradation driven by unsustainable development has led to large swathes of the province becoming major contributors to dust storms. Outdated oil extraction methods and failure to uphold the water rights of wetlands have led to the drying up of major rivers and marshlands in the province. Mohammad Darvish, an official at the Department of Environment, believes blaming Khuzestans predicament on sources of SDS in neighboring countries is an excuse. The province has been grappling with dust storms regularly for the past 15 years, but theyve only become frequent and intense in the past three years, thanks to local sources created by us, he said.

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$100m for Combating Dust Storms in Iran - Financial Tribune

The USNS Invincible is seen in an undated Navy photo.

U.S. Navy

A U.S. Navy surveillance ship had a close encounter with an Iranian navy frigate in the Middle East, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

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Tensions between the Trump administration and Iran are flaring up. The U.S. hit Iran with new sanctions. Iran responded with a new round of short...

The frigate came within 150 yards of the USNS Invincible on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, just south of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The gulf separates Oman from southeastern Iran.

The encounter was deemed unprofessional but not unsafe because the frigate was on a parallel course with the Invincible at the point of closest approach.

The Invincible is outfitted with sonar to track submarines and radar to monitor missile tests.

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US Navy, Iran ships have close encounter in Middle East - CBS News

A scene from The Nights Of Zayandeh-rood, directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

A film by one of Irans most prominent film-makers is due to be released for the first time 26 years after it was made, after the director retrieved censored rushes from an Iranian censors office.

The Nights of Zayandeh-rood, by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, follows the story of an anthropologist and his daughter in Iran before, during and after the 1979 Islamic revolution and caused huge controversy in Iran after its production in 1990, earning the filmmaker death threats.

Now the film has been smuggled out of Iran and restored by Makhmalbaf, who is currently living in exile in London. I succeeded in stealing it but I cant possibly give more details about how it was done, he told the Guardian.

Curzon Bloomsbury, which will screen the film in London on Saturday, said: Its a miracle it got made in the first place and that it still exists, albeit in a fragmentary form.

Originally 100 minutes long, censors in Tehran cut 25 minutes without the film-makers permission before allowing it to be screened as part of Tehrans annual Fajr festival in 1990.

According to Makhmalbaf, some waited through the whole night until morning to be able to get into the theatre to watch the film.

Makhmalbaf describes suicide as a major theme; a metaphor for a nation losing hope. I questioned the hope that people had in the revolution, I also questioned the people themselves, that they were reproducing tyranny.

The film was never given a public release and was later banned after the supreme leader allegedly watched it, prompting the censors to confiscate a further 12 minutes of film.

They said its a critique of Islam, of the political system and the revolution, Makhmalbaf said before the London screening. They accused me of insulting the families of the martyrs and taking away peoples hope about the revolution.

Makhmalbaf said though many scenes were removed he was surprised to see that the main structure remained unharmed when he re-watched the film recently.

The film looked like a living thing with no limbs but it was still breathing and its story and meaning wasnt lost, he said.

Makhmalbaf, a star of Irans post-revolutionary cinema, is the director of internationally acclaimed works including Gabbeh (1995), The Cyclist (1987) and Kandahar (2001).

Unlike The Nights of Zayandeh-rood, most of his films have been shown widely in Iran, but in 2009 he became a persona non grata due to his support for the opposition Green movement.

He was also the subject of a film by fellow director and Palme dOr winner Abbas Kiarostami, a giant of Iranian cinema who died in July 2016.

The 1990 docu-fiction Close-Up centres on the trial of a man who impersonated Makhmalbaf, Hossein Sabzian, who conned a family into believing they would star in his new film. It features the people involved, acting as themselves.

Cinema has flourished in Iran since the 1979 revolution, due to its ability to represent peoples lives more freely than the even more stricly censured TV station, Makhmalbaf said.

Cinema became a mirror for Iranians to see a more real reflection of who they are, he said. Before the revolution, the opposition was being expressed through poetry, after the revolution, it is being expressed in cinema.

Last weekend, fellow Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadis The Salesman won the countrys second Oscars.

The film is released on Curzon Home Cinema today

Read more:
Censored Iranian film to be released after 26 years - The Guardian

Candidate Trump boasted he would rip up the agreement, then renegotiate a much better document. This sent shivers of joy up the spine of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and many of his conservative allies, who have opposed any document negotiated with Iran as a cave-in to their existential enemy.

The fact is that Trump will not be touching that Iran nuclear agreement. And, it seems, the Israelis are not unhappy about this -- at least for the moment. There are several interesting reasons for this.

First, Israeli military leaders have told Netanyahu they can't win that war. The war in question, of course, would likely be the consequence of a rapid chain of events that would quite clearly be unleashed the moment the Iranian treaty was torpedoed.

Of course, it would likely take barely a year for a determined Iran to reverse this trend and work toward sufficient material to build an arsenal of nuclear weapons. At some point, likely quite early in that cycle, Israel, which has long believed itself to be the principal first target of any Iranian bomb, would launch a first-strike attack to put any such enterprise out of business.

What the Israeli military has come to realize is the same that the US military understands. Any such attack would require interdiction of multiple, deeply buried or hardened, targets deep inside Iran.

Their deployment would require full complicity if not participation on the part of the US armed forces. The consequences of that are too horrific to imagine, but range across all-out terrorist war against US interests worldwide by Iranian proxies, ostracism by all US allies globally, but particularly in Europe. And in the end no certainty at all that the United States, or even Israel, would wind up any more secure.

More than Israeli sensitivities, or paranoia, are at stake here these days. Iran is increasingly coming to play a central role in the battle against the threat of radical Islamic terrorists -- or at least the Sunni threat. For while Trump correctly and publicly echoes the refrain of Netanyahu that Iran is a principal aider and abettor, not to mention financier, of international terrorism, or Middle East misery, it is also the most virulent opponent of the Sunni branch of Islam, which is embraced by ISIS and the various branches of al Qaeda.

Particularly when Iraqi forces, with American advisers, complete their seizure of Mosul and turn their attention to ISIS headquarters in Raqqa, Syria, then Iranian forces will be essential in these final stages of the war.

So, while Trump is prepared to continue embracing his decision to slap new sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile program, the President has also backed away from, or at least refrained from any further embrace, of former national security adviser Michael Flynn's attitude toward Iran.

At the same time, it was becoming increasingly clear that if Trump were to follow through on his ill-considered threat to "tear up" the agreement, he would be doing so alone. None of the other signatories to the pact -- the permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, France, Russia, China) plus Germany -- have made any move to follow him.

At some point, though, it is not inconceivable that Trump could try to put his mark on an Iranian treaty by extending the accord, not with sticks, but carrots. After all, some elements begin to expire barely 10 years from now, lifting Iran's uranium enrichment capacity to a level that could allow the production of a bomb within six months. A number of senior ayatollahs have suggested, however, that a nuclear arsenal is not in keeping with the dictates of Shia Islam, though more militant Revolutionary Guard elements are still chafing at their inability to add the atom to their palette of threats. Further incentives to more moderate elements in Tehran could prolong the agreement's reach indefinitely.

Hopefully he will not be tested by the Bannon view. But if he is, we can only hope he stands firmly behind his belief.

Read more from the original source:
Why Trump won't tear up Iran nuclear deal - CNN