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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 3:21
Sunrise: 5:03
Noon: 12:11
Evening: 19:39
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Weather Guide
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WED |
THU |
Tehran: |
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High: |
40 oC |
40 oC |
Low: |
27 oC |
27 oC |
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Athens |
32 |
33 |
Ankara |
32 |
32 |
Cairo |
37 |
36 |
Copenhagen |
28 |
30 |
Frankfurt |
36 |
38 |
Karachi |
35 |
35 |
Kuwait City |
50 |
50 |
London |
34 |
33 |
Madrid |
35 |
35 |
Moscow |
20 |
21 |
New Delhi |
35 |
35 |
Paris |
39 |
38 |
Riyadh |
45 |
45 |
Rome |
35 |
34 |
Vienna |
34 |
33 |
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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
Executive Editor: Amin Sabooni
Editorial Dept. Tel: 88755761-2
Editorial Dept. Fax: 88761869
Advertising Dept. Tel: 88501499, 88737250
Internet Address:
www.iran-daily.com
E-mail Address:
iran-daily@iran-daily.com
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Ralliers Support Lebanese, Palestinian Resistance
Speaker:
Israel’s Desperation Exposed
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Demonstrators denounce Israel's military offensive against Lebanon in Tehran, July 18. (IRNA Photo)
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TEHRAN, July 18--Thousands of people on Tuesday staged a rally at Tehran’s Palestine Square, denouncing the recent Zionist atrocities and the killings of innocent Lebanese civilians.
Ralliers carried placards reading ’The Iranian Nation Will Always Remain With Hezbollah’, ’The Great Move of the Palestinian Nation Will Continue’ and ’America is the Greatest Terrorist in the World’, IRNA reported.
Speaking at the gathering, Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad-Adel said Israel is the symbol of US hostility towards the world of Islam.
Addressing the US and supporters of the Zionist regime, he said, “Either stop your support for Israel, or do not expect to reconcile with the world of Islam.“
Haddad-Adel further said that Hezbollah’s power panics Israelis who are determined to paralyze Lebanon by taking the lives of innocent people.
A university instructor, Amir Haj-Mohammadi, told IRNA on the sidelines of the rally that the people of the world, especially Muslims, should support the rights of the Palestinian and Lebanese people.
“The international community and the so-called advocates of human rights never wanted to believe that the innocent Palestinian and Lebanese people have been oppressed,“ he said.
A high school teacher, Maryam Qassemi, said, “The Muslims, who are being martyred in Lebanon and Palestine, are our religious brothers and sisters. Every Muslim’s heart breaks when he or she witnesses such brutalities.“
She pointed out that the Zionist forces do not have mercy on even children, women and elderly citizens while the human rights advocates worldwide have remained silent vis-ˆ-vis these crimes.
Qassemi also said, “As Muslims, we are duty-bound to uphold the rights of the people of Palestine and Lebanon.“
At the end of the rally, the protesters issued a communiquŽ condemning the merciless aggressions of the Zionists and the silence of international forums over the Zionist atrocities.
The statement urged Muslim states and international forums to immediately pressure the Zionist regime to prevent the further killings of innocent Palestinian and Lebanese people.
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Iran to Hold Talks With Europeans
TEHRAN, July 18--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday Iran will hold talks with the Europeans to advance efforts to settle its nuclear case.
The president made the remark in his closing address to the third meeting of the Iranian Students’ Parliament, IRNA reported.
“The United States should not add to the current problems for no reason at all. If a problem arises, it will affect all,“ he said.
Ahmadinejad further said that access to the nuclear fuel cycle is the inalienable right and demand of the Iranian nation.
He said Iran would hold talks with those who have concerns over its nuclear activities, adding that “our policy is based on the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes within the framework of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)“.
The president noted that the era of weapons is over and an era of constructive thought has begun.
Referring to the Zionist aggressions in Gaza, the president said, “After the United States surrounded Iran through its occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and failed, it is now putting pressure on Iran over its nuclear case and planning to invade Lebanon.“
He said the Zionist regime mistakenly believes the domino effect would apply to the region, that is invasion of Lebanon would open the door to other regional countries that are supposedly part of a weak chain.
The Iranian Students’ Parliament, founded in 2001, has 150 members elected from among Iranian students for a term of two years.
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Elham: IRIB Independent
TEHRAN, July 18--Government Spokesman Gholamhossein Elham said on Tuesday the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) acts independent of the government.
“IRIB is neither at the service of the government nor against it. IRIB performs on the basis of national interests while representatives of the three branches of power are also present in it. The government’s relation with IRIB is good, although we are critical about its performance,“ he told his weekly session with reporters, IRNA reported.
“Unlike the past, no section of the mass media is controlled by the government or disseminates the government’s stances. Some sections of the mass media, which side with the government, are also occasionally critical of the government,“ he said.
Commenting on the closure of the Persian daily ’Iran’ as the government newspaper, he said, “This newspaper is subjected to judicial laws and we must wait and see what decision the judiciary takes about it.“
The spokesman also announced the establishment of the Headquarters for the Constitution’s Article 44.
“The headquarters is currently working on ways of implementing the leader’s directives in this respect. It will use the views of the government and all sectors that play a consultative role so that the leader’s guidelines would be properly executed and there would arise no diversion from the correct path,“ he said.
Elham stressed that the government is not a rival of the private sector and will do everything possible to facilitate the private sector’s activities.
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Iran, Syria Ties to Iraq Friendly
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Jalal Talabani
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BAGHDAD, Iraq,
July 18--President Jalal Talabani said on Tuesday the mass media cannot push him to adopt stances against Iran or Syria.
Addressing a press conference, Talabani told reporters that they cannot force him to adopt an anti-Iranian or anti-Syrian standpoint, IRNA reported.
Several Arab and foreign correspondents tried to pressure Talabani to speak against Iran and Syria by claiming that the two countries have been interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs.
Talabani described Iran and Syria as two friendly neighboring countries.
“Deep inside, I have certain considerations regarding these two countries and you cannot compel me to adopt stances against them,“ he said.
He described Iraq’s relations with Iran and Syria as favorable.
At the end of the press conference, a correspondent asked Vice President Tareq Al-Hashemi to outline his views regarding “the interference of Iraq’s neighboring countries in its internal affairs“.
“If foreign countries intend to interfere in Iraq’s internal affairs under the pretext of defending their own national interests, this interference must be of a positive nature. An interference that leads to insecurity inside Iraq is not in the interest of any party. This is what these countries must heed,“ he said.
The Iraqi president denounced the Israeli crimes committed against the innocent people of Lebanon and described them as an “evil war“.
Talabani expressed the solidarity of the people and government of Iraq with the people and government of Lebanon and stressed the need to immediately stop the Zionist attacks on Lebanon.
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Progress Demands Attention
To Scientific Issues
TEHRAN, July 18--Chairman of State Expediency Council (SEC) Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Tuesday called for rendering material and moral support to the elite, researchers and inventors.
Addressing a group of the elite, researchers and inventors, Rafsanjani added that national progress requires paying attention to scientific considerations in all decision-makings, Mehr News Agency reported.
“The 20-year Vision Plan places a great deal of importance on knowledge generation and on this basis executive organizations can ensure a dynamic future for the country,“ he said.
He noted that the world owes its advancement to the attention paid to the elite and research activities.
“Given the large number of talented and innovative youth, Iran can ensure a stable scientific position in the world,“ he said.
Rafsanjani, a former president, stressed that the elite are a source of glory for the Islamic state.
“The country relies on these brains for a bright future and they must be protected as a valuable asset. The fact that Iranian inventors won precious prizes in the recent Swiss exhibition indicates the high scientific level of the country,“ he said.
He emphasized that Iran’s membership in international patent organizations can ensure the intellectual rights of the Iranian elite.
Rafsanjani further said research endeavors will grow automatically when the people become familiar with the true worth of the activities of the elite.
“The participation of non-governmental organizations and those contributing to the country’s scientific growth along with state organizations can help enhance innovations and research activities,“ he said.
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UNSC Resolution Will Trigger NPT Abandonment
TEHRAN, July 18--A prominent lawmaker said on Tuesday if the UN Security Council were to issue a resolution asking Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program, the Majlis would consider quitting from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an open Majlis session, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said ever since Europe offered its package of incentives, Iran has examined the package positively and therefore the G8 statement is “unacceptable and illogical“, IRNA reported.
Boroujerdi, also the head of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, noted that the West is aware of the Majlis performance, especially regarding the stoppage of the voluntary implementation of the NPT’s additional protocol.
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Rules Are Changing
By Mahdi Armin
Israel has once again displayed its evilness and lawlessness to the international community by attacking Palestine and Lebanon and threatening Tehran and Damascus. For decades the US-financed regime in Tel Aviv has been a serious threat to stability in the strategic Middle East and beyond.
We intend not to get into details about the scale and scope of ’today’s Zionism’ and analyze regional developments from wider and realistic lenses.
Every nation or political order that views international relations and developments from a realistic and unvarnished framework has a well-defined but complicated structure to operate from.
This premise includes two main constituents. One being the initial nucleus founded on the basis of objectives, nature and approach of a country. The other incorporates the peripheries aimed as a cover for the initial nucleus. These two are indeed the net result of the performance of a state or political current, which uphold realism in managing their international relations.
Based on this approach, war and usurping others’ territory and relying on military force to enable one political current dominate the others in the field, is considered as the first and final word.
The Qods occupying regime, after the Arab-Israeli war in 1967 preferred to maintain its initial nucleus and at the same time fortify the surrounding layers with the aim of deceiving world public opinion. In the process Tel Aviv isolated itself in the Middle East, by signing the so-called Oslo Accords recognized a state called Palestine by signing the Oslo Accord, ostensibly stopped fomenting violence in the region...
In post-1967 Zionist strategists in the US and Israel have strived to introduce the peripheries of their political regime to the world rather than the initial nucleus. Zionist rulers including Ehud Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ariel Sharon, Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Olmert have all gone the extra mile to achieve this goal.
The main nucleus of Israel and world Zionism is to implement the plan to expand Israel’s control ’from the Nile to the Euphrates’ and rewrite the Mideast map in the best interest of the occupying power and America--its self-appointed protector.
Despite blind support from George Bush, Israel’s staunchest backer in the history of US-Israel relations, Tel Aviv has come across a new and hard reality in the Middle East. That is nothing but the rapid strength and popularity of Islamist forces in the region.
The unprecedented victory of Hamas in Palestinian elections and the electoral victory of Iraqi Shiites in a matter of a few months are not at all compatible with Israel’s agenda for the third millennium.
Interesting developments have taken place in the past few days.
First is the unflinching Anglo-American support extended to Tel Aviv in its latest crimes in Gaza and Lebanon, and the fact that Washington has characterized Zionist savagery as a prelude to a long war in the volatile region.
In 2008 the embattled Bush will be gone from the White House and so is mobilizing whatever he can to show the true colors of the war-mongering neocons in the remaining two years.
According to recent polls and surveys, the Republicans have little chance of winning the 2008 presidential race. Therefore, it is likely that we will see Bush venture into new misadventures in ways more abhorrent than his failed performance in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The role of Lebanon’s Hezbollah in regional developments has been identified characteristically by its leaders as a resistance movement and not an Islamist political party.
It is truly unparalleled in contemporary Middle East history that a resistance group could resist Israel and challenge its destructive power in the way Hezbollah has done.
Hezbollah and its fearless fighters have caused serious trouble for half a million residents of a Jewish township and disabled an Israeli warship. When Hezbollah started hitting Haifa and has warned it could also hit Tel Aviv if necessary, the Zionists got desperate. Israel has come to realize that it will have to pay dearly for its crimes against innocent civilians.
It has come to known that the ’rules of the game’ had changed and is talking about a ceasefire in the week-old war with Lebanon.
The Israeli nucleus and its ominous nature have been exposed further to the world. It is up to the free peoples and their true representatives, both in the Muslim and non-Muslim world to rise to the occasion and add their strong voice to calls for peace with justice in the Middle East before things get out of control.
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