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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 5:30
Sunrise: 6:59
Noon: 11:55
Evening: 17:10
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Weather Guide
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SUN |
MON |
Tehran: |
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High: |
10 oC |
11 oC |
Low: |
2 oC |
4 oC |
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Athens |
12 |
10 |
Ankara |
-1 |
-2 |
Paris |
0 |
0 |
New Delhi |
10 |
8 |
Rome |
7 |
6 |
Riyadh |
9 |
10 |
Frankfurt |
-1 |
3 |
Cairo |
10 |
10 |
Kuwait City |
7 |
7 |
Karachi |
15 |
15 |
Copenhagen |
3 |
3 |
London |
3 |
6 |
Moscow |
-10 |
-1 |
Madrid |
-1 |
-2 |
Vienna |
-2 |
-2 |
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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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Presidential Choices Surveyed
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Ali Larijani
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TEHRAN, Dec. 4--State Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Majlis Speaker Mehdi Karroubi and former head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Ali Larijani, are the most popular choices for presidency in the descending order, Fars News Agency quoted a nationwide survey as announcing on Saturday.
The Independent League of Islamic Iran sought the opinion of 100 people in random in 30 provincial capitals of the country.
According to the survey, Rafsanjani was preferred by 15 percent of the people, Karroubi by 14 percent, Larijani by 12 percent, former Minister of Higher Education Mostafa Moin by 11 percent, Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad-Adel by 9 percent, former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati by 8 percent, Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by 7 percent and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Hassan Rohani by 4 percent.
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Khatami, Hakim Discuss Iraq
TEHRAN, Dec. 4--President Mohammad Khatami on Saturday expressed hope that the Iraqi people would see their dream of freedom and democracy fulfilled in the near future.
According to ISNA, the chief executive was receiving Chairman of the Supreme Assembly of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI) Abdolaziz Hakim.
Khatami stressed that holding general elections is a step forward for establishment of permanent democracy in Iraq and can pave the ground for security and calm.
The president reiterated that Iran does not wish to interfere in the affairs of other countries, including Iraq.
He also referred to the tragedies in Najaf and Fallujah, and denounced terrorism in all its forms.
Hakim, for his part, lauded Iran's Iraq policy and said the Iraqi people have always been supported by Iranians in the drive against terrorism.
He also briefed Khatami on the security issues pertaining to the upcoming general elections in Iraq.
Also on Saturday, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi urged all religious and national groups to forge unity in Iraq and help accelerate the transfer of power to their elected officials.
In a meeting with Hakim, Kharrazi discussed the impact of elections on the revival of a legal government in the country.
Hakim, who briefed Kharrazi on ongoing developments in Iraq, said the Iraqi nation regards the transfer of political power to their elected representatives as the real solution to the country's problems.
"The people were eager to participate in the upcoming elections and religious jurisprudents as well as religious and political groups were all for a government run by their real representatives," he said, stressing that this was what the upcoming election is expected to achieve.
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EU Deal Should Suit US
Tehran Needs To Tone Down Rhetoric
LONDON, Dec. 4--European Union's agreement on Iran's nuclear program should temporarily suit both the US as well as the Islamic Republic, according to the Iran editor of Jane's Sentinel magazine, Alex Vatanka.
"It is a win-win situation for both to some extent," Vatanka said in an interview with IRNA. "Time was essential for each to follow their own distinctive agenda with different goals."
Vatanka pointed out that Iran is not an aggressor and had not invaded any other country for over 300 years.
"Iran is no Saddam Hussein, who attacked neighbors every second day," he said.
If the US could get "reassurance from the Iranians they will behave themselves", a compromise could be reached to allow it to be nuclear like Pakistan, he said.
But for this to happen, the editor said Iran would "have to tone down its rhetoric".
The security analyst further said that the US "really needed time to prove their case" because of the lack of evidence, while for Iran, it "takes the pressure off for now".
"The Americans were fully aware of where they were going to stand. The Chinese, and particularly the Russians, had been saying for months that to solve the nuclear issue on Iran you don't need to take it to the Security Council," he said.
He added that the dilemma for the US was that it "had to prove Iran is up to no good and clearly the issue of imposing sanctions was not going to happen".
Vatanka suggested that there were conflicting opinions on whether the US had to depend upon claims made against Iran by terrorist groups like Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) or if Washington was effectively using the MKO as a mouthpiece.
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Military Drills Continue
TEHRAN, Dec. 4--The second phase of war games called Followers of Supreme Jurisprudent was implemented, Brigadier General Karimi, spokesman of the military exercise, told ISNA on Saturday.
"In this phase, the artillery branch of the Army and Air Force bombers participated. Our soldiers successfully countered the attack of a hypothetical enemy and the special taskforce units of the ground forces carried out operations in tens of helicopters," he said.
Karimi further said units stationed in the western parts of the country also carried out operations successfully in designated strategic areas. "The nature of operations in southern and western parts of the country is such that ground forces successfully destroyed the hypothetical enemy backed by air support," he said.
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Ansar Al-Islam, Al-Qaeda Elements Punished in Kurdestan
5 Non-Iranians Tried By Special Judges
TEHRAN, Dec. 4--Head of Kurdestan's Justice Department Mohammad Mehdi Khamesi on Saturday said there is no evidence of the infiltration of spies into the country.
"However, certain people from Ansar Al-Islam and Al-Qaeda groups have been arrested and punished," he told reporters on the sidelines of the nationwide meeting of directors general of justice departments.
According to ISNA, Khamesi noted that these people are of Iranian dissent and have been dealt with in a resolute manner.
Asked about the activities of illegal political groups in Kurdestan, he said, "Currently illegal groups such as Komoleh, Democrats, Pojhak and some others are active in Kurdestan and continue to provoke the people."
He, however, noted that if a member of Al-Qaeda is arrested and that person is not an Iranian national, based on the ratification of the Supreme National Security Council his or her case would be examined by a special judge in Tehran.
"So far five such cases have been reported," he said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Khamesi said by November, 636 arbitration councils were established in the province and this number would reach 687 by December.
Commenting on cases attended by the provincial arbitration council, he said, "Since Kurdestan is a border province, most cases pertain to smuggling, narcotics and illegal entry of alcoholic beverages."
Khamesi declared that smuggling has risen in the province by 200 percent compared to the previous year.
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3 More Rough Sleepers Die
TEHRAN, Dec. 4--Three more homeless people who slept rough in Tehran were found dead, ISNA reported on Saturday.
According to Judge Hosseini, a special interrogator for homicide, on average two rough sleepers have died in Tehran every night in recent years.
In the past 15 days, at lest 17 rough sleepers were reported dead in Tehran.
These are mostly people living in complete destitution, migrants, mentally retarded or addicts.
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Schroeder:
Calling on Iran to Forsake Nuclear Program 'Unrealistic'
Solana Talks of Carrot-and-Stick Package
BRUSSELS, Belgium, Dec. 4--German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said no country should expect Iran to give up its civilian nuclear program, calling any demand on it to this effect 'unrealistic,' the daily Die Welt quoted him as saying Saturday.
Asked whether he had any second thoughts about Iran's continued peaceful activities, Schroeder responded, "It might not suit one or the other. But to expect a giving up of the (Iranian) program would be unrealistic."
Schroeder also clarified that there are no reasons for new demands with regard to the Iranian nuclear program.
"What shall we demand? The International Atomic Energy Agency has announced it ended its special investigations. Iran will now be treated like any other country in the world," he declared.
Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana wrote in an article that Iran will be a key test for the European Union's foreign policy in 2005.
"The EU and America may have different approaches to Iran but we share the same goal: to avoid a proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD)," wrote Solana in his article "The World in 2005" published by the Economist, IRNA reported.
"The EU cannot accept the acquisition by Iran of a nuclear-weapons capability. To achieve their shared goal, the EU and America must agree to a balanced and comprehensive package of incentives and disincentives depending on which course of action Iran chooses to take," he wrote.
In Iraq next year, the EU will focus efforts on providing support ahead of and during the elections.
"There is another nation that needs to be built, if international peace is to be secured. The international community set 2005 as the deadline for the completion of the process leading to a viable, peaceful and democratic Palestinian state," he said.
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Covert Agenda
By Mohammad Taqavi
It is rather strange why senior officials and important segments of the US mass media should base their anti-Iran accusations on claims made by a terrorist entity. Perhaps finding an answer may help shed more light on US capabilities in the region in general and Iran in particular.
For sometime now Washington has been regularly claiming that Iran is secretly trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction and build an atomic bomb under the guise of its civilian nuclear program.
This is while IAEA inspectors never ever found any trace of a nuclear weapons program in the Islamic Republic.
Furthermore, European officials despite the extensive machinations against Tehran, last week reached a common position far apart from America's irritating and unworkable Iran policy.
US propaganda campaign against Iran is old stuff and almost all informed observers, including many opponents of the Islamic establishment, know that it is typical of Washingtonian rulers. But why the self-styled superpower on and off needs to "build its case" against Iran with the help of claims by the terrorist Mujahideen Khalq Organization is quite ambiguous.
On Thursday The New York Times wrote that Iran is secretly developing a ballistic missile with a range that can reach remote areas in Europe. The paper based its report on a claim by the MKO.
Leaders of the banned group made the claim at a press conference in Paris on Thursday and had sent "details" of their allegations to Times a day earlier.
Interestingly enough, the US daily in its article said that although MKO is condemned as a terrorist outfit by the State Department, most of its comments on present-day Iran are relatively authentic valid! In its report the daily also said the UN nuclear watchdog had sought to inspect the Parchin and Lavizan-2 military facilities in Iran but its inspectors were not allowed to do so.
State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher repeated the same claim and called on Iran to allow the inspectors to do their job. IAEA spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming on Friday rejected the report published in The New York Times and denied the agency had requested inspections of Lavizan-2 site. She did say that a request had been sent to Tehran in October regarding Parchin.
Last month outgoing US secretary of state, General Colin Powell one day after the MKO raised some anti-Iran claim, parroted the same charges and said his information was based on reliable sources!
There have been many instances in the past that the US has singled out Iran for condemnation on the basis of claims made by the MKO, an Iraq-based terrorist group armed, financed and supported by ousted dictator, Saddam Hussein.
But this in itself is a bit vague. Are MKO elements, one may ask, US espionage agents? Does the CIA have problems gathering information on Iran and needs MKO help? Has there been some new deal between Washington and MKO after the US occupation of Iraq? Is the MKO now at the disposal of the US in the same way that it was in the service of Saddam during 1980s and 1990s? Does the US intend to use the already disgraced MKO as a tool against Iran?
Irrespective of the answers, the important point is that the US, as a matter of policy, pursues double standards in its so-called fight against terrorism. It seems that terrorist groups that help promote America's agenda are the "good guys" and can function without any problem. Overt and covert US military support for MKO commanders and elements, which were abhorred by the Iraqi people during Saddam's reign of terror, speaks volumes.
If we accept that the US claim about WMDs in Iraq was a product of misleading intelligence, the new attitude of US officials and its mass media shows that this weakness has intensified further. How else could America repeat the same mistakes and hang on to baseless claims made by a terrorist organization whose members have killed hundreds of innocent Iranians and Iraqis?
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