TEHRAN, Aug. 5--No nation will give up its absolute rights for fear of sanctions, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said on Sunday.
Addressing domestic and foreign reporters at his weekly conference, Hosseini said sanctions would be harmful for those who attempt to impose them, IRNA reported.
He made his remarks while commenting on the US-Europe row over imposing further sanctions on Iran.
Europeans’ reaction to the recent approval of the US Senate has indicated “EU’s rational and realistic attitude“, Hosseini said.
He hoped that EU would stick to its approach and “not be influenced by US unilatralism“.
The spokesman further said a team from International Atomic Energy Agency will arrive in Tehran on Monday to discuss technical aspects of Iran’s nuclear issue with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran’s (AEOI) officials.
“The IAEA team will talk with the Iranian side on drawing up the guidelines for inspecting the Natanz nuclear facilities,“ he said.
In an IAEA statement issued on July 13 following the first round of Tehran-IAEA talks, Iran agreed with the finalization of arrangements for implementing the Safeguards Agreement at Natanz.
The guideline drawn by the two sides would specify methods of inspection and monitoring of Natanz uranium enrichment facilities.
Once the types of inspection of nuclear facilities are specified, the IAEA would have to observe the framework. Calls raised beyond the Safeguards Agreement would henceforth be turned down.
Following the compilation of the guidelines for inspection at Natanz, similar guidelines for inspecting other nuclear facilities, including inspection of Isfahan’s uranium enrichment facilities within the framework of Safeguards Agreement, would be worked out.

The Iranian Saeqeh (Thunderbolt) fighter jet

ISFAHAN, Aug. 5--Iran’s indigenous Azarakhsh fighter jet conducted a successful test flight on Sunday.
The fighter jet is designed and built by the experts of Iranian Army, Defense Ministry and Armed Forces Logistics, Fars reported.
Morteza Bakhtiari, governor of Isfahan, said in the ceremony to conduct the test flight that the fighter jet indicates the Iranians’ scientific development.
“The successful flight of the domestically manufactured fighter is a sign of our country’s scientific and technical achievement,“ he said.
He noted that Iranian military experts will take greater strides for boosting their national defense capabilities.
“At a time when the US plans to sell arms to its allies in the region, our country’s technicians take greater giant strides for national defense self-sufficiency,“ he said.
Azarakhsh is the second Iranian fighter jet after Saeqeh, meaning thunderbolt.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to leave for Algeria today for a three-day meeting, where he will meet his Algerian counterpart Abdulaziz Bouteflika.
President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Algeria can be discussed from two aspects:
Economic Aspects: Iran and Algeria, after resuming relations in the early 1980s, have signed several trade agreements. These agreements have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of Iranian investment in Algeria. This volume of investment, according to the officials of the two countries, does not match the economic capabilities of the two Muslim states.
Algeria has the world’s 7th largest gas reserves in the world and is the 4th biggest exporter of gas after Russia, Canada and Norway. It has experienced noticeable economic development during the last few years and has put infrastructural development plans on agenda.
Mass housing construction and development of industries, especially food and car, are among the Algerian government’s priorities. And Iran has good experience in these sectors and can help Algeria march ahead.
Shiites comprise nearly 300,000 of the 33.8 million Algerian population.
Nuclear ties between the two Muslim states can also be discussed in President Ahmadinejad’s trip, as the Algerian government sought nuclear cooperation with Tehran earlier this year.
Iran and Algeria are not members of World Trade Organization and the two could take serious steps for expanding their economic cooperation.
The US, France, China and even the United Arab Emirates have expanded their economic ties with Algeria and it is necessary for Iran to play a more crucial role in this regard to better serve its international interests.
Political Aspect: Algeria’s ties with Iran have registered a retreat after it supported the United Arab Emirates in its disputes with Iran over the Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf. However, the two countries can rely on their diplomatic capabilities and expand their political relations, while trying to solve the islands issue.
Algeria has proved its high political capacity by mediating between Iran and Iraq in 1975 and in the hostage crisis in 1980. The truth is that Algeria is known to have played a balancing role between the Arab world and northern Africa. This position has been strengthened after its successes in the energy sector, which is crucial at the present juncture.
Therefore, President Ahmadinejad’s trip to Algeria, at a time when Iran is making efforts to guarantee its right to peaceful nuclear technology, is crucial. Expansion of political ties between the two countries can influence Iran’s future status in the international arenas.

Iranian players celebrate after winning the Asia Basketball Championship in Tokushima, Aug. 5.

TOKUSHIMA, Japan, Aug. 5--Hamed Haddadi scored 31 points on Sunday as Iran defeated Lebanon 74-69 in the final of the FIBA Asia Championship, securing a spot in the Beijing Olympics.
Lebanon’s Omar ElTurk hit a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left to cut Iran’s lead to 70-68, AP reported.
But Haddadi’s jump shot with 20 seconds left gave Iran a 72-68 lead, and Mohammad Nikkhah closed out the scoring with a dunk at the buzzer for the Iranians.
Iran, playing in its first Asia Championship final, was the only team from the 16-nation tournament that booked a place in next summer’s Olympics.
Lebanon and South Korea could advance to Beijing through a FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament, which will be played in July 2008.
Earlier Sunday, South Korea defeated Kazakhstan 80-76 to win the bronze medal and earn a place in the qualifying tournament.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday felicitated the nation on the victory of the Iranian basketball team in the 24th Asian Championship.
“I felicitate the entire nation, the young and especially the basketball team on the victory in the Asian Championship. It was a pleasure that the honorable flag of the Islamic Republic was hoisted on the happy occasion,“ the president said in his message.

WEST BANK, Occupied Palestine, Aug. 5--Former adviser to the president of the Palestinian Authority Bassam Abu Sharif, said Yasser Arafat died after being poisoned by Israel.
Speaking at a press conference in Ramallah on Saturday, Abu Sharif added that the poison injected into Arafat’s body halted the production of red blood cells and led to his death, Qodsna reported.
“It’s not my duty, and it wouldn’t be wise, to give an advance warning to the perpetrator,“ he said.
French doctors who treated Arafat at a military hospital near Paris said he died of a massive stroke after suffering intestinal inflammation, jaundice and a blood condition known as disseminated intravascular coagulation.
Abu Sharif, who himself was the target of an Israeli assassination attempt in the 1970s, accused former French President Jacques Chirac of covering up for the alleged conspiracy.
“Chirac has deliberately kept his information secret in order to protect Israeli interests,“ he said.
The three doctors who treated Arafat also knew how Arafat died and the type of poison that was used. A commission of inquiry set up by the Palestinian Authority leadership failed to determine the cause of Arafat’s sudden illness and death in late November 2004, triggering a wave of speculation that some of his closest aides had conspired with Israel to kill him.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5--Democratic US presidential hopeful Barack Obama was criticized by Pakistani officials as ’irresponsible’ for saying in a policy speech last week that, if elected, he might order unilateral military strikes in the country against al-Qaeda.
Following the Pakistani officials’ comments, hundreds chanted anti-US slogans and burnt a US flag, AP reported.
Bush administration officials had already angered Pakistanis last week by saying they would consider such strikes if intelligence warranted them.
In Miran Shah, a major town in the troubled region bordering Afghanistan, about 1,000 tribal people condemned the recent Pakistani military operations in the area and vowed to repel any US attack.
“We are able to defend ourselves.
We will teach a lesson to America if it attacks us,“ a local cleric, Maulvi Mohammed Roman, told the rally.
Elsewhere in the country, a suicide attacker killed nine people after detonating a car bomb at a busy bus station in an area bordering Afghanistan. The attack wounded 35 others, officials said.
Army helicopter gunships and troops repelled a guerrilla raid on a military checkpoint earlier last week, killing at least 15 Islamists, the military said.

SANGIN, Afghanistan, Aug. 3--British troops could remain in Afghanistan for more than the 38 years it took them to pull out of Northern Ireland. That is the bleak assessment by Army commanders on the ground in Helmand province.
In an interview with The Observer at HQ in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, Brigadier John Lorimer, commander of UK forces in Helmand, said, “If you look at the insurgency then it could take maybe 10 years. Counter-narcotics, it’s 30 years. If you’re looking at governance and so on, it looks a little longer. If you look at other counter-insurgency operations over the last 100 years then it has taken time.“
His scenario is the starkest assessment yet from a senior officer tasked with defeating the Taliban, tackling the heroin trade and rebuilding the war-ravaged country. Last week troops pulled out of Northern Ireland after 38 years, the longest operation in UK military history.
Afghanistan, commanders fear, may take longer.
Lorimer said he could visualize UK forces staying in Helmand after the Taliban and a growing counter-insurgency was defeated. His comments came as British infantry, often fighting for hours in temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius, pushed north against well-defended Taliban positions.
Scores of soldiers have succumbed to heatstroke while hundreds have battled on despite dehabilitating illness. Almost 50 out of 160 forward troops reported severe sickness and diarrhoea in the forward base at Sangin last month. A number of troops have lost limbs during firefights in the upper Gereshk valley, south of Sangin.
The 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglians, with 650 soldiers in Afghanistan, has used 480,100 rounds since the start of April. Former Defense Secretary John Reid envisaged operations could be conducted without firing a single bullet.

FORT CAMPBELI, USA, Aug. 5--A US soldier was sentenced to 110 years in jail for raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and slaying her family, the army said.
“Private First Class Jesse Spielman was sentenced to 110 years in prison with the possibility of parole for his involvement in the March 2006 rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the murders of her and three family members,“ an army statement said on Saturday, AFP reported.
A court-martial found Spielman guilty Friday of rape, conspiracy to commit rape and housebreaking with the intent to commit rape and four counts of felony murder.
Spielman had pleaded not guilty on Monday to raping and killing Abeer Kassem Hamza Al-Janabi and murdering her family, but he pleaded guilty to lesser charges including arson and obstruction of justice.
Sergeant Paul Cortez and Specialist James Barker, both of whom admitted to raping the girl, received life sentences after pleading guilty earlier this year.
The case was the second high-profile incident involving soldiers from Kentucky’s storied 101st Airborne. Three 101st soldiers pleaded guilty to the murder of three Iraqi detainees during a raid north of Baghdad.
That investigation focused a critical light on the US military’s controversial rules of engagement in Iraq.