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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 4:57
Sunrise: 6:22
Noon: 11:49
Evening: 17:32
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Weather Guide
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THU |
FRI |
Tehran: |
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High: |
22oC |
23oC |
Low: |
10oC |
11 oC |
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Athens |
23 |
22 |
Ankara |
20 |
13 |
Paris |
23 |
22 |
New Delhi |
32 |
31 |
Rome |
22 |
22 |
Riyadh |
33 |
33 |
Frankfurt |
18 |
18 |
Cairo |
29 |
27 |
Kuwait City |
32 |
36 |
Karachi |
35 |
36 |
Copenhagen |
15 |
15 |
London |
21 |
20 |
Moscow |
2 |
0 |
Madrid |
23 |
18 |
Vienna |
17 |
17 |
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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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Ahmadinejad:
Supporters of Israel Face Muslim Wrath
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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the conference entitled "The World Without Zionism" in Tehran, Oct. 26. (Fars Photo)
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TEHRAN, Oct. 26--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned countries and leaders recognizing the Zionist regime under pressure or due to lack of sound understanding, saying they face the wrath of Muslims and will forever be disgraced.
Speaking at a conference dubbed “The World Without Zionism“ on Wednesday which was attended by thousands of students, Ahmadinejad said any country acknowledging the Zionist regime will actually be acknowledging the surrender of the Muslim world.
He expressed his firm belief that the new wave of confrontations in Palestine and the growing turmoil in the Muslim world would wipe Israel away.
The president referred to the Zionist regime’s recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a ’trick’, noting that Gaza is part of Palestinian territory and the withdrawal is meant to make Muslim states acknowledge the Zionist regime of Israel.
Pointing to the evil attempts of the US and Israel to sow discord among warring forces in Palestine and other parts of the Muslim world, Ahmadinejad said such attempts were aimed at forcing Muslim countries to acknowledge the existence of Israel.
“The world arrogant powers founded the Zionist regime in the heart of the Muslim world as a base for implementing their expansionist intentions,“ he said.
Ahmadinejad further said a world without the US and Israel is possible.
“Since the issue of Palestine is a key matter facing the Muslim world, a particular group cannot declare their views in this respect behind closed doors,“ he said.
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Tehran Reviewing Seoul Ties
TEHRAN, Oct. 26--Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Wednesday Iran is reviewing bilateral cooperation with South Korea in all areas, stressing that the Islamic establishment believes there has to be a balance between political, cultural and economic relations with other countries.
In a meeting with the visiting deputy South Korean foreign minister, Lee Soo-Hyuck, the top Iranian diplomat said Tehran is still unclear why Seoul voted for the referral of Iran’s nuclear issue to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), noting that the Islamic Republic is not willing to harm the amicable bilateral relations.
He said nuclear weapons have no place in Iran’s defense doctrine, adding that the Islamic Republic has explicitly declared its stances regarding peaceful use of nuclear energy within the frameworks of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Mehr News Agency reported.
The Korean official, for his part, said Iran enjoys a special place in the Southeast Asian country’s foreign policy, stressing that Seoul is keen to improve bilateral interactions.
Referring to unofficial reports that trade cooperation between Iran and South Korea has declined, Lee said South Korea does not see the referral of Iran’s nuclear issue to the UNSC as the ultimate solution, stressing that Seoul hopes nuclear talks between Iran and the European Union countries will resume.
A parliamentarian confirmed in an interview with Iran Daily last week that Iran’s stance on economic and trade ties with South Korea has shifted.
Mahmoud Mohammadi, the deputy head of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, added that Iran is determined to revise its international relations with countries that have high trade volume, but which adopt an anti-Iran standpoint in the political domain.
South Korea’s Embassy in Tehran also told Iran Daily that Korean goods have been prevented from entering Iran.
Lee’s visit to Tehran was announced right after the Korean Foreign Ministry called in Iranian Ambassador to South Korea Jahanbakhsh Mozaffari to check why the Iranian government has blocked imports of South Korean products.
South Korea voted last month for an anti-Iran resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iranian officials have repeatedly announced that political developments will influence Tehran’s economic interactions with other states.
South Korea exported goods worth $2.13 billion to Iran last year, an increase of 20 percent from 2003. As of September this year, Seoul shipped products worth $1.58 billion to Tehran.
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IAEA Inspectors Expected
West Rallying For Russian Support
VIENNA, Austria, Oct. 26--A UN nuclear inspection team will travel to Iran soon to follow up on new information about its uranium program, diplomats said Tuesday.
The United States claims the program is weapons-related, but the International Atomic Energy Agency has been unable to substantiate those allegations, AFP reported.
“It’s going to be a quick visit,“ a diplomat close to the agency said, confirming the upcoming trip by Ollie Heinonen, IAEA’s deputy director general for safeguards.
Heinonen was to leave for Tehran later this week or early next week, diplomats said. The Vienna-based UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency’s officials declined to comment.
Iran says that its nuclear program is a peaceful effort to generate electricity.
The 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution in September finding Iran to be in non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
That paved the way for the matter to be referred to the UN Security Council, if Iran fails to suspend all nuclear fuel work or cooperate fully with the IAEA investigation.
An inspection team led by Heinonen earlier this month “got some cooperation from the Iranians--information about the P1 (centrifuge) program that they had been withholding before,“ a Western diplomat told AFP last week.
The United States and the European Union will hold off taking Iran before the UN Security Council over its nuclear program until they get Russia to back them and may even allow Tehran to do some nuclear fuel work, diplomats told AFP.
“If the Russians don’t come around, there could not be referral in November,“ a European diplomat said, referring to a November 24 meeting of IAEA, which could send Iran to the Security Council.
“The next month is all about Russia handling,“ a Western diplomat said about efforts to win Moscow’s support. Russia reiterated its support Monday for Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is a peaceful effort to generate electricity, and said all questions about it should be handled by the IAEA.
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130,000 Iranian Families
Suffer From Saddam’s Poison Gas
Four European States Supplied Chemical Weapons
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An Iranian war veteran suffering from chemical weapons injuries (IRNA File Photo)
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TEHRAN, Oct. 26--More than 130,000 Iranian families are still suffering from chemical weapons used by the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime in the 1980-88 war imposed on Iran.
Reza Aqanouri, spokesman of the Center for Commemorating Martyrs and Victims of Chemical Weapons, told reporters that based on statistics released by World Health Organization (WHO), there are 130,000 war veterans suffering from injuries caused by chemical weapons in Iran, IRNA reported.
Aqanouri announced that Iranian war veterans are planning to file a lawsuit against British government for its role in providing Saddam with chemical weapons.
He also said Britain must apologize to the Iranian nation and pay compensations to the victims’ families.
The official also said the German government has officially admitted its role in supplying chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein’s regime in a letter to the Center for Commemorating Martyrs and Victims of Chemical Weapons. n the role of Netherlands in equipping Saddam’s regime with chemical weapons, Aqanouri said the center will prepare an indictment once all evidences are collected.
“There are four other European countries, which the center believes helped Saddam acquire these weapons during the war,“ he said, declining to name them due to yet incomplete investigations.
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Fresh Bird Flu Outbreak in China
BEIJING, Oct. 26--Fears of avian flu spreading deepened on Wednesday after China reported another outbreak in poultry while India said it was testing blood samples from 10 dead migratory birds.
Croatia said on Wednesday tests had confirmed the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus strain in wild swans found dead in eastern Croatia last week. The strain has already been confirmed in Turkey, Romania and European Russia, Reuters reported.
There has been a spate of fresh cases in Asia and on the eastern edge of Europe ahead of the winter when H5N1 seems to thrive, experts say.
Scientists believe migratory birds escaping the harsh northern winter are helping spread the virus, and governments around the world are nervously monitoring their borders and testing wild birds landing on their shores. In China’s latest case of H5N1 infection, the third since last week, hundreds of chickens and ducks died in a village in central Hunan province.
World Health Organisation says 62 people have died in four Southeast Asian nations and 121 infected, a death rate of nearly 50 percent.
But scientists’ greatest fear is that H5N1 will mutate into a form that will pass easily among people, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions and cripple the global economy.
In populous India, officials are trying to find out what killed 10 dead migratory birds in West Bengal state, a state minister said on Wednesday.
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Dutch Confab Explores Roots of Terrorism
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Oct. 26--Tackling Islamic extremism “where it turns up“ must be a key plank of Netherlands’ fight against terrorism, Dutch Justice Minister Pier Hein Donner told an anti-terrorism conference here Wednesday, one year after the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh.
“Radicalization must be confronted where it turns up,“ Donner said. “All the legal measures, regulations and checks that we are introducing can fight terrorism, but they will never be enough to eradicate radicalism and its violent expression.“
“We have to recognize that radicalization is our problem“ and that it is taking root among Dutch citizens, he added.
“The idea of tackling radicalization where it turns up is still not very developed, but it should be part of our anti-terrorism measures,“ National Anti-Terrorism Coordinator Tjibbe Herman Jan Joustra told AFP.
“That’s the purpose of this conference,“ he said. The summit, organized by the Dutch anti-terrorism agency and held almost a year after Van Gogh’s murder, was entitled “One Year After: Society’s Response to Radicalization“ and gathered experts on immigration, Islam and terrorism as well as government officials.
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Key Lies In Moscow
By Nawab Khan, Brussels
Statements are coming out regularly from Brussels and Tehran calling for resumption of the nuclear talks between the European Union and the Islamic Republic.
The EU-Iran nuclear talks are in a limbo after the so-called EU3 (France, Germany and the UK) tabled a resolution adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Sept. 24 demanding Iran’s referral to the UN Security Council.
The move followed Tehran’s rejection in August of a package of EU incentives to suspend all work on the nuclear fuel cycle and its decision to resume uranium conversion at the Isfahan plant.
EU officials are calling for resumption of talks with the Islamic Republic on the condition that Iran goes back to the voluntary suspension of the nuclear fuel cycle.
But senior Iranian authorities have made known they want negotiations to resume without any prior condition. At this juncture both sides appear adamant not to give in to the other’s demand.
Now one has to find a face-saving formula, which could lead to the resumption of the crucial talks without injuring the pride of any side.
The key to unlock the closed negotiating door appears to be in Moscow’s hands. There are several reasons for it.
Russia has vested economic and strategic interests in Iran. It is helping Iran build the $800 million nuclear reactor in the southern city of Bushehr to generate electricity and other similar projects are said to be in the pipeline.
If Iran is hauled before the UN Security Council as desired by the US and its allies, Moscow is bound to lose lucrative business opportunities in Iran and also politically lose face in the region.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in her recent visit to Moscow failed to win Russia’s support for referring Iran to the Security Council. Russian President Vladimir Putin told her that the dispute must be resolved in the IAEA.
The West is now trying its outmost to woo Russia on its side before the IAEA board of governors meets in Vienna on November 24 to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.
The time is appropriate for Russian leaders to invite the EU and Iran plus South Africa and maybe China for talks on the nuclear issue. Russia is an important energy supplier to Europe and hence its voice would be given an attentive ear in Brussels.
South Africa is reportedly preparing its own proposals t o help restart the EU-Iran negotiations, which some observers in Tehran insist was an exercise in futility. However, others believe such a multilateral meeting could produce new ideas and initiatives to break the current impasse in the nuclear talks and move forward.
Russian officials assured Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki during his recently concluded visit to Moscow that Iran’s nuclear case should only be reviewed and resolved at the IAEA. The West seems to be having second thoughts over its hard-line stance on the nuclear issue, mainly because of the strong Russian position. According to western media reports, the US and EU will not demand a referral to the UNSC when the IAEA meets next month, and want to give more time to diplomacy.
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