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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 5:10
Sunrise: 6:36
Noon: 11:48
Evening: 17:19
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Weather Guide
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THU |
FRI |
Tehran: |
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High: |
19oC |
19oC |
Low: |
11oC |
11oC |
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Athens |
15 |
16 |
Ankara |
1 |
2 |
Paris |
1 |
2 |
New Delhi |
12 |
12 |
Rome |
8 |
10 |
Riyadh |
16 |
17 |
Frankfurt |
0 |
2 |
Cairo |
18 |
17 |
Kuwait City |
16 |
15 |
Karachi |
18 |
18 |
Copenhagen |
3 |
3 |
London |
6 |
3 |
Moscow |
-3 |
-4 |
Madrid |
4 |
3 |
Vienna |
0 |
6 |
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Identification
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Published by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
Address:
Iran Cultural & Press Institute, #212 Khorramshahr Avenue Tehran/Iran
Managing Director: Mohammad T. Roghaniha
Executive Editor: Amin Sabooni
Editorial Dept. Tel: 8755761-2
Editorial Dept. Fax: 8761869
Advertising Dept. Tel: 8753119, 8757702, 8733764
Internet Address:
www.iran-daily.com
E-mail Address:
iran-daily@iran-daily.com
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Khatami:
Troop Pullout Will Restore Calm to Iraq
Iraqi Envoy Defends Fallujah Attack
TEHRAN, Nov. 10--President Mohammad Khatami on Tuesday discussed regional developments, including the Iraqi crisis, with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara, ISNA reported.
Khatami stressed the need for regional governments to maintain their vigilance in resolving their problems.
Referring to the situation in Iraq and problems stemming from the presence of foreign troops in that country, Khatami said, "Departure of foreign forces from Iraqi territories will help establish peace and calm in Iraq and maintain its territorial integrity. This is something the people of the region want to see happen."
Al-Shara, for his part, expressed his satisfaction over the close bonds between Tehran and Damascus, and lauded Iran for its prudent policies on the international scene.
Speaking in a joint press conference with Al-Shara on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said Iraq's security crisis cannot be resolved by use of force and should be dealt through democratic means.
Kharrazi noted that causing Iraqi civilian casualty by military action is not the right way to resolve the crisis and would further deteriorate the humanitarian situation, IRNA reported.
Al-Shara noted that his visit to Iran after negotiations with Turkish officials is aimed at discussing the latest developments in Iraq and the disproportionate American military action in Fallujah.
The Syrian foreign minister noted that a conference will be held by Iraq's neighboring states and the eight industrialized nations in Sharm Al-Sheikh, Egypt, to help resolve the Iraqi deadlock and reach a consensus on ensuring the country's independence and national sovereignty.
Al-Shara arrived in Tehran from Turkey on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, visiting Iraqi special envoy Wael Abdul Al-Latif said here Tuesday the condition in the restive city of Fallujah was such that it mandated a military attack.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Kharrazi, he said Fallujah's conditions are "very dangerous" and 'sensitive'.
He added that there are many terrorists in the city and the Iraqi interim government has arrested many of them.
On the detention of many Iranians in Iraq, Al-Latif said, "Most of them were pilgrims and have been released."
According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Bureau, any visit to the war-shattered country should take its legal course, including visa acquirement.
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Americans Vow to Conquer Fallujah
Allawi Relatives Kidnapped
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An Iraqi boy walks along a road past thick black smoke and flames burning from an oil pipeline south of the restive city of Fallujah, Nov. 10. (AFP Photo)
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FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 10--US troops were confident Wednesday of taking full control of Fallujah within 48 hours, as kidnappers threatened to kill at least two members of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's extended family unless the assault was stopped.
As the military noose tightened around most of the besieged Iraqi city, seen as the epicenter of an insurgency gripping Iraq, violence raged elsewhere, AFP reported.
Six Iraqi guards and a US soldier were killed in a string of roadside bombings, while at least three Iraqi policemen, a national guardsman and a member of a security firm, whose nationality was unknown, were killed in Mosul.
Allawi has vowed to crush the rebellion ahead of elections planned for January and sees the fight for Fallujah as key to achieving this goal.
But the tough-talking premier's own family became caught up in the mayhem after a gang in three cars abducted his cousin, Ghazi Allawi, and the latter's daughter overnight, a source from Allawi's political party said.
It was unclear whether the wife of his cousin, a businessman who had nothing to do with politics, had also been abducted.
But a previously unknown group threatened to kill the three within 48 hours unless Allawi halts the assault on Fallujah and releases all Iraqi prisoners, in a statement on the Internet that was impossible to authenticate.
They were taken from a house in southern Baghdad.
"This act will not bend the will of the government to fight terrorism," Allawi's spokesman said in a statement.
By Wednesday morning, a senior military official said the military already controlled more than two-thirds of the rebel enclave after rolling into the city from the north and pushing through its mesh of dusty streets to the south.
Unwilling to damage the buildings, marines held positions outside.
"We are seeing suspicious activities inside mosques but we are not moving in. We provide security around the site and wait for Iraqi security forces to move in," said marine spokesman Lieutenant Lyle Gilbert.
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Call for Participation In Qods Day Rallies
TEHRAN, Nov. 10--Cabinet ministers in a session chaired by President Mohammad Khatami here Wednesday called for a massive participation in the Qods Day rallies held worldwide on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The statement issued by the ministers said all members of the cabinet, along with the noble Iranian nation as well as other freedom-seekers across the world, will take part in the international event, IRNA reported.
"Qods Day is the day of defense of and support for the oppressed Palestinian people against Zionists who have violated the principles of human rights and committed atrocities against them," the statement said.
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Fischer Denies Anti-Iran War Option
BERLIN, Nov. 10--German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer expressed "great concern" about Iran's nuclear technology programs, but said he did not expect Western allies to go to war with Tehran over the issue.
"I do not think that we are heading anytime soon into a confrontation similar to the one in Iraq," Fischer told German news weekly Stern in an issue to be published Thursday, AFP reported.
"I think it is clear to all those involved that war is not an option," he said, adding that he believed this was also the view held by the United States and Israel.
Fischer said he was, nevertheless, worried by Iran's atomic ambitions, noting that Tehran's acquisition of a nuclear bomb "would have unforeseeable consequences in one of the most dangerous regions in the world".
"That would not only threaten Israel but Europe as well," he said.
Fischer said Germany would continue to pursue talks with Iran along with its partners in Britain and France.
"The negotiations are difficult. The mistrust of Iran is justifiably large but a positive outcome is possible," he said, adding that it was "too early" to discuss economic sanctions for pressuring Tehran.
Iran and the European Union's "big three"--Britain, France and Germany--managed to strike a tentative agreement Sunday centered on demands that Tehran maintain and widen a suspension of its sensitive uranium enrichment activities. But the deal is subject to approval by the decision-making bodies of the two sides.
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Ebadi Rally Request Rejected
TEHRAN, Nov. 10--Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shrin Ebadi's application for holding a rally to protest the execution of criminals below the age of 18 was turned down.
Director general of Tehran Governol General's Office for security and police affairs, Ali Ta'ali, on Wednesday said there is no reason to pursue specialized legal arguments beyond the legal domain.
The official also told ISNA that the governor general's office in an intensive meeting, which lasted for an hour, explained to Ebadi's representatives why it was opposed to the request.
"Ebadi's representatives were convinced with our arguments before they left the meeting," he said.
Ta'ali stressed that the idea of holding a protest rally was basically rejected, because the governor general's office believes the issue must be pursued via legal and specialized channels.
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Japan: EU Threat Over
Nuke Fusion Reactor 'Shameful'
VIENNA, Austria,
Nov. 10--The European Union's suggestion that it might go its own way and build the world's first nuclear fusion reactor in France is shameful and destructive, a Japanese official said on Wednesday.
Six-party talks on where to build the $12 billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which would try to replicate the way the sun generates energy, ended on Tuesday with no decision on rival sites in France and Japan.
Before the talks with South Korea, Russia, the United States, China and Japan ended, an EU spokesman suggested Europe might go ahead and build the fusion plant in France with any willing partners if its offer did not prevail.
"That is a very shameful, destructive way (of negotiating) because it's something like opening a war," Satoru Ohtake, head of nuclear fusion at Japan's Science and Technology Ministry, told Reuters. "We agreed to the six-party process. If the EU does this, it's a break of the six-party framework."
Nuclear fusion has been touted as a long-term solution to the world's energy problems as it would be low in pollution and use limitless seawater as fuel. However, 50 years of research have failed to produce a commercially viable fusion reactor.
After the meeting, European Commission Spokesman Fabio Fabbi toned down his comments when asked if the EU would act alone.
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Rafsanjani:
Regional Conditions Disfavor US
Charges of Interference Refuted
TEHRAN, Nov. 10--State Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said here Wednesday regional conditions are not favorable to US interests.
During his meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara, Rafsanjani referred to the current complicated situations in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon, and stressed that the nations' resistance is the determining strategy for tackling dilemmas, IRNA reported.
Earlier on Tuesday, Rafsanjani said Iran is not interfering in Iraq's internal affairs.
Speaking after visiting injured Palestinians under treatment in a Tehran hospital, he told reporters that "the claims that Iran is interfering in Iraq are a lie".
On the issue of Iran peaceful nuclear program, he said, "We should bear patience to pass through the tough times. Those who are spreading false rumors are wrong and hopefully Americans and Europeans will wise up."
On the West's double standards regarding Iran's nuclear program, he added that Israel is a multipurpose base for the West and the US in the region, and Iran refuses to bow down to their whims.
On the prospects of running for president in the next year's elections, he said, "I prefer others to come forward."
Regarding the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories after Yasser Arafat, Rafsanjani said, "Arafat needs our prayers to get healthy and return to Palestine, but if the destiny decides otherwise, then there are other worthy Palestinian figures who can lead the people to restore their lost aspirations."
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Dutch Police Mount Major Raid on Terror Suspects
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Nov. 10--Dutch police on Wednesday mounted a major anti-terror raid against suspects holed up in an apartment in The Hague, who retaliated by hurling a grenade that wounded three policemen.
Authorities closed down airspace over the city, police said, evacuated people living in five streets near the targeted apartment and cordoned off the area, AFP reported.
Officials would not identify the suspects, but said police had surrounded the building in a working class neighborhood near the Holland Spoor train station.
The Netherlands has been on alert since the November 2 murder of controversial Dutch director Theo van Gogh, killed by a suspected Islamist radical in the capital Amsterdam.
Last week Van Gogh, the 47-year-old filmmaker, was shot and stabbed while cycling near his home in Amsterdam in a brutal murder that shocked traditionally tolerant Dutch society, fueled ethnic tensions and touched off a spate of violence.
Six people, including the alleged killer, have been arrested in connection with van Gogh's murder and provisionally charged with belonging to a "terrorist conspiracy".
The incident touched off a surge in attacks against Muslim targets in the country. Several mosques and Islamic schools have since been targeted by arsonists and vandals.
Dutch authorities have also stepped up their actions against suspected Muslim radicals.
Van Gogh's suspected killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, who has dual Moroccan and Dutch nationality, left a letter on van Gogh's body threatening several Dutch politicians and quoting from the Qur'an, police said.
Some 900,000 Muslims out of a total population of 16 million live in the Netherlands.
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Preparing For Post-Arafat Era
By M. Khalid, Al-Quds
As uncertainty continues to hover over the exact health status of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat who is fighting for his life in a hospital outside Paris, Palestinian leaders are holding talks aimed at consolidating national unity and preventing possible chaos after Arafat's death.
Earlier this week, PA Prime Minister Ahmed QuraiÕ held Òpositive and constructive talksÓ with leaders of 13 Palestinian factions and organizations, including the powerful Islamic resistance group, Hamas.
He emphasized the need to manage differences through dialogue and avoid contention and violence. ÒViolence is not the solution. Any domestic problem must be solved by national dialogue. This is the only way. Taking up arms is not the solution.Ó
According to informed sources in Gaza, where the meeting took place, there was a general consensus among all factions over the need to demonstrate utmost responsibility at Òthis delicate juncture.Ó
Hamas representative to the talks, Ismael Haniyyeh, said his group was making every possible effort to cooperate with the PA to overcome the Òpresent crisis.Ó
He dismissed reports originating in Israel about the prospect for inter or intra-factional violence as Òwishful thinking.Ó
ÒThey (Israel) have been trying to stalk the flames of civil war among Palestinians but we have always proved that we are a strong people.Ó
One PA official told IRNA that the often contentious security agencies, particularly in Gaza, constituted the Òweak linkÓ at the present. A few months ago, violence erupted after Arafat appointed his widely despised nephew Mousa Arafat as security chief in Gaza.
The ensuing demonstrations eventually forced the Palestinian leader to revoke the appointment, which only temporarily ÒfrozeÓ the problem. This is not to say though that Hamas is willing to give the post-Arafat Palestinian leadership a Òblank checkÓ using the words of a Hamas representative.
ÒWe are willing to give them a grace period for a few months to prevent the occurrence of lawlessness and chaosÉbut after that they will have to pay attention to the masses,Ó said the veteran Islamist leader.
He explained that ArafatÕs autocratic style, which was tolerated for psychological and objective reasons, would not be accepted or tolerated from the new Palestinian leadership.
ÒThey will have to be answerable to the people, and this can only be put into effect through free and fair elections.Ó
Hamas, while careful to display national responsibility, is nonetheless worried that the Ònew leadershipÓ might slip back to the Oslo path and find itself once again, Òon American and Israeli laps.Ó
This, argue Hamas leaders, would translate almost automatically, into a showdown with Hamas, since Òfighting terror,Ó e.g. cracking down on the Islamic opposition, would be the sin qua non for any conceivable revival of an Oslo-style peace process, including the American-backed ÒroadmapÓ.
Hamas is unlikely to allow the new leadership to evolve into another ÒOslo gangÓ as the erstwhile Oslo-time leadership was often dubbed by the Islamists.
Notwithstanding, Hamas is likely to find itself in a somewhat advantageous position vis-a-vis the Palestinian leadership once Arafat becomes history. With Arafat and his galvanizing effect gone for ever, the evolving Palestinian leadership would be less able and probably less inclined to confront Hamas head-on since an impetuous and reckless measure as such would portray the leadership as working in cahoots with the Israelis against Palestinian interests.
There is no doubt that even the appearance of collaborating with the Israelis or Americans, against Hamas is the last thing the new post-Arafat leadership would want to see. This at best would be a certificate of bad conduct, and at worst a political suicide.
Eventually, the new Palestinian leadership would have to maneuver very carefully and very wisely between the Palestinian "main street" where the Hamas presence is conspicuous and an international community making nearly impossible demands on an untested and unelected leadership that should be struggling to obtain acceptance and support from the Palestinian masses.
Under the conditions, elections may be the solution, which all Palestinian factions accept. The vote would not only sort out things between the PA and the Islamist camp, but also enable the people to punish through the ballot boxes those elements, especially within Fatah, who are deemed corrupt.
Interestingly, the legion of corrupt elements couldnÕt have survived and thrived that long without Arafat for whom they always acted as sycophantic and obedient cronies and hangers-on in return for tolerating their financial and occasionally moral indulgences.
In the final analysis, what worked under Arafat is unlikely to work under Abu Mazen, Ahmed Qurai' or any other post-Arafat leader, elected or otherwise.
Besides the Israeli occupation, this undoubtedly is going to be the ultimate challenge not only for the new leader(s), but the Palestinian masses as well.
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