I think when we say " مایه تاسف دانست" there is also a sense of "محکوم کردن" and I prefer not to translate "محکوم کردن" here in the first Paragraph (introduction) of a news to keep the form and not to make it complicated for the audience. we may translate it in news details.

آزمایش هسته ای کره شمالی را محکوم و آن را تاسف بار توصیف کرد

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Note added at 7 mins (2013-02-12 09:11:40 GMT)
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هولناک / تکان دهندهcan also be used for depolorable

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Note added at 20 mins (2013-02-12 09:25:09 GMT)
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I forgot to delete the first کرد. However, in the sentence I provided in the answer box (محکوم و آن را تاسف بار توصیف کرد), I eliminated the first کرد which is more used and correct. As you may know, model verbs (افعال معین) can be eliminated where they are used twice in a sentence like the one above. It is called حذف به قرینه. (eliminated as the symmetry) not sure of its translation!

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Note added at 2 hrs (2013-02-12 11:22:28 GMT)
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Interestingly enough, I haven't encountered such usage of به in other phrases in Persian or at least didn't pay enough attention to it. Actually, I believe it could be the same as به عنوان. But in Dehkhoda Dictionary, one of the meanings of به that can be similar to this به in حذف به قرینه is به همراه. e.g
حرف اضافه ٔ «به » بمعانی ذیل آید: بهمراه : به ادب سلام کرد.

By the way, thanks for your translations. I especially liked the last one.

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