A view of the first annual conference dubbed "Iran: Seeking Security and Partnership", which opened in Tehran on Saturday (Fars Photo)

TEHRAN, Sept. 2--Former Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said on Saturday growing oil and gas demands will heighten the importance of the Middle East which supplies 62 percent of the world’s energy, stressing that having ties with the United States is not in Iran’s interest.
Speaking at the first annual conference of Ravand Institute for Economic and International Studies dubbed “Iran: Seeking Security and Partnership“, Shamkhani referred to Iran’s foreign policy of establishing fraternal ties with its neighbors.
“We pursue the vision of becoming the top Middle East nation in economic, political and cultural terms and a model for other regional countries,“ he said.
Commenting on Iran-US relations, he noted that Iranian interest is not in having ties with America.
Also addressing the two-day conference, Walter Posch of the European Union Strategic Studies said European countries have reached consensus over Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities.
“However, there is a problem with Iran’s confidence-building measures,“ he said, adding that Iran cannot rely on the support of regional Arab countries and its interests require being with Europe.
Posch noted that the Europeans are not seeking to change the system in Iran, adding that the continuation of negotiations will intensify tensions.
Rosemary Hollis, the director of research in London’s Chatham House, said the EU is concerned over the proliferation of nuclear technology to Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Hollis said Iran’s nuclear negotiations are “very sensitive“ for the US and Britain because what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan is against their interests.
More than 190 international relations researchers from home and abroad are participating in this conference which aims to stimulate transnational discourse and international cooperation for fostering sustainable economic and industrial growth in Iran and the region.

TEHRAN, Sept. 2--Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar-Harandi said on Saturday the Persian daily ’Iran’ will be published soon with some changes.
Saffar-Harandi told ISNA that the change in staffers will be enforced by higher institutions since the daily is a government newspaper.
Asked about a recent letter by government spokesman, Gholamhossein Elham, to Tehran Public Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, Saffar-Harandi responded that Elham’s letter is about sites that publish false news.
He noted that some sections of the print media misunderstood Elham’s letter and thought that Elham was referring to them.
Commenting on rumors that some Internet sites support the government, Saffar-Harandi stated that these sites publish false news and they have no affiliation whatsoever to the government.
“The government has plans for making information dissemination on Internet more systematic,“ he said.

Yahya Rahim-Safavi

TEHRAN, Sept. 2--Developments in recent decades indicate that the Middle East Muslim nations are moving toward vigilance and unity, and global power equations are changing, Commander of the Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Yahya Rahim-Safavi said on Saturday.
Speaking in a gathering of Basiji (volunteer forces) students participating in the “Velayat Plan“, Rahim-Safavi declared that the Muslim world will soon become one of the world’s strongest power poles.
“The world is facing intense political pressures and unstable polarization. And the Americans have failed to monopolize the world in economic, political and security terms,“ he said.
He said that a great world power is likely to be formed in Asia with the centrality of China, Russia and India, stressing that the world today is moving towards multilateralism.
The IRGC chief noted that while the 25-member European Union will emerge as a great power, the Muslim community with 57 members in the Organization of Islamic Conference, 50 percent of the world’s energy and 1.5 billion population spread over 37 million square kilometers of landmass can become a great world power in the coming decades.
Referring to the failure of the United States and Israel in the so-called “Greater Middle East“ initiative, Rahim-Safavi pointed out that the current century will mark the failure of the hegemony of the United States and Zionism at the hands of vigilant Muslim nations.
“Fifty-seven Muslim states can move toward convergence by creating a unified market and banking system, and by consolidating unity in cultural, tourism, defense and security fields,“ he said.

SHAHINDEJ, West Azarbaijan, Sept. 2--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday the Iranian nation insists on its inalienable right to the full nuclear fuel cycle.
Ahmadinejad made the remark on the last day of a three-day tour of West Azarbaijan province in a huge public gathering of Shahindej, IRNA reported.
The president noted that the world powers cannot prevent the Iranian nation from achieving progress.
Addressing the world powers, particularly the United States and Britain, he said, “You are losing your vantage positions in the world. The anger of nations all over the world is increasing against you.“
Ahmadinejad pointed out that countries, which say they are against nuclear weapons but maintain nukes are liars.
“Countries which do not believe in God are pursuing science, technology, progress and welfare to materialize certain ends,“ he said, adding that the wars they launched in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and African states were meant to promote their own interests.
Ahmadinejad blasted measures taken by international bodies to bully other nations, the Iranian nation in particular, into giving up their legal rights.
This was the president’s 19th visit to a province, since launching the initiative of bringing the government closer to the people.

BRUSSELS, Belgium, Sept. 2--The European Union expressed on Friday its sincere condolences to the government and people of Iran over the tragic plane accident that took place in Mashhad on Saturday.
The current Finnish EU Presidency in a statement extended its sympathies to the families and friends of those killed and injured in this terrible accident, IRNA reported.
An Iranian airliner, a Russian-made Tupolev TU-154, crashed while landing in the holy city of Mashhad on Friday, killing 28 people and wounding 50 others. There were 148 people on board.
Also on Saturday, Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu expressed condolences to the Iranian government and families of victims of the plane crash.
In his message to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ihsanoglu expressed his sympathies with the president and the nation, regretting the loss of lives in the tragic incident.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev also expressed condolences to the government and families of the victims of the plane crash on Saturday.

TEHRAN, Sept. 2--Tehran Public Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi said four million square meters of lands occupied by force in the past six months have been reclaimed.
Speaking at a meeting of the Council for Public Property Rights Protection Council, Mortazavi noted that the occupied lands were worth 4,070 billion rials, IRNA reported.
Some people had illegally occupied the lands by making false documents and through other means.
“The performance of special court branches dealing with land-profiteering offenses shows that land-profiteering has increased,“ he said.
Meanwhile, head of Tehran Justice Department, Alireza Avaei, noted that protection of public land should be enforced in all parts of Iran, particularly Tehran province.
Avaei pointed out that some issues, particularly judicial ones, can only be resolved through strong motivation due to their complexity.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki (r) speaks with a member of France's parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee Jacques Langue in Tehran on Saturday. (IRNA Photo)

TEHRAN, Sept. 2--Iran is pursuing a new approach based on seeking justice and fair international relations and cooperating with parties that have commonalities with Iran.
Speaking in a meeting with a visiting member of France’s parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee Jacques Langue on Saturday, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki added that France has the appropriate capacity for bolstering ties with Iran.
Mottaki elaborated on the stances of Iran toward regional and international issues, and said the Zionist Israeli regime should immediately release the Palestinian speaker, ministers and officials.
On Iran’s nuclear case, he said the world should acknowledge Iran as a country with peaceful nuclear technology.
Jacques Langue, who is also a Socialist Party member, stressed that Iran plays a decisive role in international relations and the Middle East.
“All parties involved in Iran’s nuclear case should realize that negotiation is still the best solution,“ he said.