BRUSSELS, Belgium, Sept. 14--European Union Foreign Ministers' Council has decided to support a Canadian resolution in the United Nations on Iran's human rights.
Addressing a press conference late on Monday at the end of the foreign ministers' meeting, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said Iran is expected to agree with full suspension of enrichment activities, IRNA reported.
The Netherlands holds the rotating EU Presidency.
"Once that is satisfactorily complied with, we would be prepared to enter into more detailed dialogue with Iranian representatives to explore the possibilities of future increased cooperation," he said.
The Dutch foreign minister noted that the council has decided to co-sponsor a Canadian resolution on human rights in the UN, "which is important because we are now convinced that the human rights situation in the country has deteriorated over the last few years".
In the last two years, the EU did not table any resolution in the UN on Iranian human rights.
Analysts see the move as hardening of EU position toward the Islamic Republic.
"We have appreciation of the efforts made by the EU 3--France, Germany and the UK--to bring about satisfactory and generally acceptable resolution," he said.
Bot, however, said what is important is that Iran should intensify cooperation with the IAEA and reinstate international confidence in its peaceful nuclear program.

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, Sept. 14--President Mohammad Khatami here Tuesday stressed the importance of expanding relations with Turkey based on mutual interests and respect.
In a meeting with Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the Economic Cooperation Organization's Summit, Khatami voiced Iran's interest in expanding regional cooperation, IRNA reported.
The president stressed obstacles to bolstering bilateral ties can be removed.
"We will establish exemplary ties in the region based on mutual respect and common interests and with no interference in each other's affairs," he said.
Erdogan, for his part, pointed to good ties between the two countries and voiced his country's interest in establishing trade balance. He also called for promoting economic and trade ties with Iran.
The two sides discussed important economic projects, including transfer of Iran's gas to Europe via Turkey and finalizing operation of a mobile phone project by Irancell and Turkcell. They agreed to continue gas talks in the future.
Earlier on Monday, Khatami met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and said the two countries enjoy similar stances and goals. He underlined the need for clearing accusations against Islam and said the two countries should help establish stability and security in the region.
Pointing to Tehran-Islamabad cooperation to restore stability, security and progress in Afghanistan, Khatami noted that cultivation, production and smuggling of drugs as well as terrorist and extremist moves can be prevented only through peace and strengthening of the Afghan government.
The Pakistani prime minister, for his part, referred to deep-rooted ties between the two sides and said his country is ready to boost bilateral ties and cooperation with Pakistan's neighboring states, particularly with Iran, in all fields.
Aziz outlined Pakistan's measures to fight extremism and said a stable and advanced Afghanistan would be in the interest of the Afghan nation and regional states.
"Pakistan participates in Afghanistan's reconstruction and supports a stable central government in that country," he said.
In related news, Khatami also met with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai on Monday and expressed hope a sound election would be held in Afghanistan.
"Security is the need of the region and we welcome a secure Afghanistan," he said, noting that the fate of regional states are interrelated and progress could only be achieved through peace.
For his part, Karzai said his country tries to establish democracy and a systematic government, adding that this is the only way of placing Afghanistan in the international system.
The 8th Summit of the Heads of State of ECO opened early Tuesday in the Tajik capital.
The one-day summit is scheduled to examine future plans as well as ways of expanding cooperation among ECO member-states.
The 10-member ECO comprises Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

TEHRAN, Sept. 14--France's leading newspaper 'Le Monde' has agreed with the Persian daily 'Seda-ye Edalat' over the publication of the Persian version of the monthly 'Le Monde Diplomatique'.
Hosein Abdollahi, a senior editor of the Persian daily, told ISNA that based on a bilateral agreement between the two newspapers, 'Seda-ye Edalat' is not entitled to implement any censorship in articles published by 'Le Monde' in French.
However, he noted that Seda-ye Edalat will avoid publishing articles it deems contradictory to Iran's national interests.
Abdollahi also said that the Arabic version of 'Le Monde Diplomatique' will be published in one of the Persian Gulf states next month.

TEHRAN, Sept. 14--Spokesman for the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps said Tuesday IRGC can act as a rapid reaction force in case of any possible attack and is capable of confronting weapons of mass destruction.
Speaking at the operational zone of the war game, Brigadier General Seyyed Masoud Jazayeri also told ISNA that experiences in the Iran-Iraq war and IRGC's innovations in the field of weapon manufacture have provided IRGC with considerable security capabilities.
"Ashura-5 War Game employs tactics similar to those used during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war," he said.
Scheduled for September 9-20, Ashura-5 War Game is in continuation of the series of Ashura war games previously held in different parts of Iran with the purpose of increasing Iran's security capabilities.

VIENNA, Austria, Sept. 14--Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi on Tuesday criticized France's ban on hijab (Muslim dress code) as fuel for fundamentalists, while praising Austria and Scandinavian countries for their religious tolerance.
"In these countries, Muslims are treated with friendliness and with respect," Ebadi told a media briefing in Vienna, where she was attending an academic conference, Reuters reported.
"Therefore, these problems (fundamentalism) do not exist there," she said, speaking through a translator.
France imposed a ban on headscarves in public schools early this month, and fewer girls than expected challenged it after Islamist militants took two French journalists hostage in Iraq.
"When one approaches these people with force, that leads to them closing themselves up in groups," Ebadi said. "And this, in turn, leads to fundamentalism."
The human rights lawyer received the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for children's and women's rights in Iran.
Ebadi, who appeared at the news conference without a headscarf, said it should be left to Muslim women everywhere to decide whether they wanted to cover their heads.
France has banned conspicuous signs of faith, including headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses, in state schools, basically in reaction to the growing profile of its 5 million Muslims and mounting tensions between Muslim and Jewish youths in schools.

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 14--Iran has agreed to train Afghan police forces based on an MoU signed Monday and again emphasized its policy of promoting stability in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali and Iran's Ambassador Mohammad Reza Bahrami signed the memorandum of understanding, based on which Iran will also help the Afghan law-enforcement body upgrade its equipment and facilities such as construction of border checkpoints.
The MoU is in line with Tehran's policy to engage in reconstruction of the war-devastated country. It is focused on protecting border areas and fighting drug smuggling.
Speaking in an interview with IRNA and BBC in Kabul on Monday, Bahrami said Tehran's Afghanistan policy is based on guaranteeing peace, security and stability, and ensuring full implementation of development projects.
"Last year alone, in Afghanistan, Iran completed or was engaged in dozens of large and small projects worth $130 million and fully covered by Tehran," he said.
Noting that Iran is in touch with all pro-stability forces in Afghanistan, Bahrami said, "Iran's policy in Afghanistan does not restrict contacts with one group or prominent politician. Our efforts during the past two and a half years have been based on establishment of meaningful and amicable relations with all Afghan citizens.
Commenting on events during the past few days in Afghanistan's Herat province, Iran's ambassador to Kabul said former Herat Governor Ismail Khan is a top commander of Mujahideen, who played a decisive and crucial role both in the Jihadi campaign against the former Soviet occupation forces, and against the despotic Taliban rule.
"I had a telephone conversation with Ismail Khan today (Monday) during which he also expressed his sorrow over the occurrence of the Sunday events in Kabul," he said, emphasizing that Iran supports stability in all parts of Afghanistan.
Bahrami noted that Ismail Khan's move in inviting Herat's citizens to remain calm proves that he wants peace and stability in the Afghan province.

KERMAN, Sept. 14--Provincial anti-drug squads seized 1,532 kg of drugs in the southeastern province of Kerman over the past week.
"The haul, including opium and hashish, were seized during several operations," a police official Ebrahim Rahimi-Nasrabadi told IRNA on Tuesday.
Police also arrested five drug-dealers and handed them to judicial authorities during the period.
Meanwhile, 1,020 kg of drugs were confiscated during two separate operations across the Tehran province, according to a report released by Meqdad Police Headquarters in the province Tuesday.
In related news, police forces clashed with drug traffickers who were carrying drugs on camels in the border town of Mirjaveh, Sistan-Baluchestan province, and seized 1,000 kg of hashish.
Domestic drug consumption is a persistent problem and according to official Iranian statistics there are at least 2 million drug addicts.
More than 3,600 members of Iran's armed forces have been killed in cross-border clashes with drug traffickers during 20 years of instability in neighboring Afghanistan.
The country is credited with intercepting 80 percent of the opium and 90 percent of the morphine worldwide.