|
Prayer Time (Tehran)
|
|
Dawn: 4:29
Sunrise: 5:53
Noon: 11:57
Evening: 18:19
|
|
Weather Guide
|
|
|
SAT |
SUN |
Tehran: |
|
|
High: |
31oC |
31oC |
Low: |
22oC |
22oC |
|
|
|
Athens |
21 |
19 |
Ankara |
21 |
23 |
Cairo |
31 |
34 |
Copenhagen |
20 |
20 |
Frankfurt |
23 |
25 |
Karachi |
33 |
33 |
Kuwait City |
42 |
42 |
London |
22 |
22 |
Madrid |
22 |
19 |
Moscow |
20 |
23 |
New Delhi |
36 |
37 |
Paris |
25 |
23 |
Riyadh |
40 |
40 |
Rome |
25 |
25 |
Vienna |
21 |
23 |
|
|
Identification
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
I’m Ready For Martyrdom
Hezbollah Will Not Disarm
|
|
Hassan Nasrallah
|
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 22--Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah told hundreds of thousands of supporters Friday that he is ready for martyrdom and would never betray the resistance movement or the sacred cause of the Lebanese people against Israeli oppression.
The popular revolutionary leader declared that his fighters will never surrender their weapons-including 20,000 rockets he claims his group has left after its 34-day war with Israel.
“No army in the world will be able to make us drop the weapons from our hands,“ the cleric said in his first public appearance since the start of the war in July, wire services reported.
But Nasrallah said he would consider disarming his group once the Lebanese government is strong enough to protect the country.
“When we build a strong and just state that is capable of protecting the nation and the citizens, we will easily find an honorable solution to the resistance issue and its weapons,“ he told the flag-waving crowd gathered in Beirut’s bombed-out southern suburbs.
The militant leader thanked God for what he called “a divine, historic and strategic victory“ over the Israelis and said his group would not release two captured Israeli soldiers except in an exchange for Lebanese prisoners.
Hezbollah guerrillas took the two soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, which prompted 34 days of Israeli air strikes in Lebanon.
Nasrallah said he decided to appear at the rally despite threats to his life.
“They said that this square would be bombed and this stage would be destroyed to frighten the people and keep them away.“
He said he debated with his aides about whether to attend until 30 minutes before the rally. “But my heart, mind and soul did not allow me to address you from afar,“ he said.
Security was tightened in advance of Nasrallah’s arrival. Although Israel had threatened to kill Nasrallah during its offensive, an attempt to assassinate him now was considered unlikely since it would risk plunging the region back into conflict.
The rally was held at a barren 37-acre lot about a mile from the guerrilla group’s flattened headquarters. Thousands had arrived at the site from the south by foot, in buses and in cars, chanting Nasrallah’s name and waving Lebanese and Hezbollah flags. Members of Christian parties and pro-Syrian groups in northern Lebanon also traveled to the capital to participate.
|
|
|
Sacred Defense Week Marked
Stance of Nuclear
Weapons States Irrelevant
TEHRAN, Sept. 22--First Vice President Parviz Davoudi said Friday that Iran’s civilian nuclear program is based strictly upon international regulations and that nuclear weapons states do not hold the high moral ground to express concern over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
Speaking at a ceremony marking beginning of the annual Sacred Defense Week, Davoudi recalled that the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has banned the development or deployment of nuclear weapons by calling such weapons unlawful, IRNA reported.
Noting that it is strange that those who have banned weapons in their arsenals should express concern about Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities, he reiterated “use of nuclear technology for military purposes has no place in Iran’s defense doctrine.“
Iran’s achievements in different fields are primarily geared to peaceful purposes and seek to promote justice and stability.
Referring to 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War that is known in Iran as Sacred Defense Era, Davoudi pointed out that unfortunately some international bodies such as the United Nations Security Council supported the deposed Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, who had started the bloody conflict that reportedly killed a million people on both sides.
In commemorating the first day of Sacred Defense Week, Iran’s armed forces marched near the holy shrine of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini in south Tehran.
Local and foreign reporters and photojournalists covered the event at which some latest defense productions and achievements of the military industries on display.
|
|
|
President: Quarrel With
Zionists, Not Jews
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 22--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responding to western criticism of his questioning of the Holocaust and a call for Israel to be “wiped off the map,“ said on Thursday his quarrel was with Zionists and not Jews.
“We love everyone around the world. Jews, Christians, Muslims, non-Muslims, non-Jews, non-Christians--we have no problem with people,“ he told a news conference on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly meeting, Reuters reported.
“Zionists are Zionists, period. They are not Jews, they are not Christians, and they are not Muslims,“ he said. “They are a power group, a power party, and we oppose the oppression and the aggression that any party that seeks pure raw power goes after.“
Zionism is the name of the movement to establish a Jewish homeland that led to the creation of the state of Israel nearly 60 years ago.
He said Zionists were aggressors and murderers who had driven Palestinians from their home to set up the Jewish state and then occupied Palestinian lands.
Ahmadinejad says he favors a return of Palestinians to the land now called Israel, and a referendum “with the participation of everyone“ to determine its fate.
In a meeting with the key US religious figures on Thursday night, Ahmadinejad complained against US’ failure in providing Iran with a response to a call for inauguration of direct flight between Tehran and New York to facilitate exchange of visits by Iranian and American scientific and cultural figures.
Ahmadinejad said, “We are for expansion of ties between the Iranian and American people ... we are in efforts to find a way through which different groups could build ties and hold dialogue.“
The president ruled out anti-Islamic claims in certain western states, saying, “Muslims are not after clashes and war and due to the same reason most cases of war have been visible in Europe and in the US.“
|
|
|
Rafsanjani Supports Unconditional Talks
TEHRAN, Sept. 22--Chairman of the State Expediency Council, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said here Friday that Iran is ready for unconditional talks on its civilian nuclear program.
Addressing the weekly prayer congregation, he noted that demands by the West to suspend uranium enrichment as a condition for talks is simply ridiculous.
Rafsanjani asked the westerners “You say that suspension is the pre-condition for talks, so on what will the negotiations be based?“
Referring to American failures in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan, he noted that despite such major setbacks Washington was still looking for mischief, IRNA reported.
On recent statements by some US officials regarding international issues, Rafsanjani said some American military officials say things that are rather mischievous and unhelpful.
“Although the Americans have made a big issue about Iran’s nuclear program, we have regularly declared that Iran is ready for talks without conditions.“
The senior cleric warned the neocons in the Whitehouse not to make a mockery of the rights of the people in different countries, and said the occupying power in Palestine only stands to lose by escalating tensions in the volatile region.
On the deteriorating security conditions in Iraq, the former president said the US is responsible for the ongoing crises.
“More than 7,000 civilians have died within the last two months in Iraq,“ he complained.
Referring to presence of about 145,000 US troops in the war-tron neighboring country, the SEC chief said it is the responsibility of the Americans to establish peace in that country.
Rafsanjani described the recent controversial statements by Pope Benedict XVI about Islam as “untrue.“ He said the papal statements could negatively impact interaction and dialogue among religions.
“Linking Islam to violence, the sword and war is an oppression of human history,“ he said.
|
|
|
IAEA to Consider Global Atom Fuel Bank
VIENNA, Austria,
Sept. 22--Proposals for a global nuclear fuel bank meant to boost economic development while stemming the spread of atom bomb know-how are to be put to a UN watchdog’s decision-making board in 2007, officials say.
The handful of proposals were put to a special debate by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 141 member nations in Vienna this week, Reuters reported.
In general, the proposals would allow states wanting to fuel nuclear reactors for more electricity to draw enriched uranium from a multilateral reserve if they did not try to master sensitive enrichment technology themselves.
Charles Curtis, chairman of the three-day debate that ended on Thursday, said the IAEA Secretariat would conduct feasibility studies and submit the results to the agency’s 35-nation board of governors for consideration next year.
Tariq Rauf, the debate’s scientific secretary and a top aide to IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei, said earlier indications by some of the proposals’ sponsors that recipient nations “would have to give up rights“ had clearly triggered resistance.
“It seems that as a result of the (debate), one way forward would be for some states to have a very small research and development capability for enrichment, while continuing to rely on (enriched uranium supplied from abroad),“ he said.
That formula might be opposed by the United States and other enrichment powers, mostly western allies and Russia, behind the proposals. They aim to keep technology with bomb-making potential away from unstable regions.
Many developing nations see a double standard in the West doing nothing about Israel’s reputed nuclear arsenal while striving to shut down Iran’s nuclear fuel program, fearing a precedent that would curb their own atomic energy options.
Demand for nuclear energy is booming because of soaring oil and gas prices and global warming linked to fossil-fuel use.
|
|
|
Iran, Turkey, Iraq Key Regional Players
ANKARA, Turkey, Sept 22-Iranian ambassador to Turkey, Firouz Dolatabadi said Thursday that Iran, Turkey and Iraq are key players on the international geopolitical scene.
Speaking to a group of Turkish professors, researchers and journalists at the Ankara-based Center for International and Strategic Research, he elaborated on Iran’s policies on promoting ties with Turkey, its regional policies and Iran-US ties, IRNA reported.
He noted that some strategists believed that Russia is the world’s key region and whoever controlled the Baltic Sea could control the entire world.
“However, developments after the collapse of the former Soviet Union reject the above-mentioned doctrine and prove that the key areas in this part of the world are Iran, Turkey and Iraq.
Whoever controls these regions will control the world.
“History has it that whenever Iran and Ottoman Empire had normal relations, the world witnessed positive developments,“ he told the meeting.
Cordial ties between Tehran and Ankara have helped improve conditions in the Middle East, the diplomat said.
Tehran-Ankara commercial ties during the first half of 2006 have had 85 percent growth compared to the same period last year.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Afghan Imbroglio
By Mohammad Reza Erfanian
A special UN envoy to Afghanistan has expressed concern over the deteriorating security conditions in the post-Taliban era and called for more international help in the war-battered country.
“Security sector reform is needed more than ever. The effort has to be increased,“ Tom Koeings told a press conference on Monday.
Deadly clashes between NATO forces and the Taliban, revelation of secret covert talks between NATO and medieval militia that once ruled over the country, lawlessness, shocking increase in poppy cultivation, wholesale instability, poverty, and socioeconomic degradation...have made a mockery of statecraft over the past five years.
Official statistics suggest Afghans produce 92 percent of the narcotics of the world.
A large part of what is going on in that country, among other things, shows how ruinously out of step US foreign policy has become since George Bush took over in 2001.
One can say that pauperized Afghanistan is one of the known victims of America’s political blunders. Although Bush’s America entered the country supposedly with a well-prepared plan, developments took such a turn that now NATO is more serious trouble than it can envisage.
Conditions for the NATO military presence are so precarious that some regional watchers are floating the idea of doubling NATO’s strength, concentrated largely in the south, from the present 19,000 troops.
The fact of the matter is that security and Taliban-linked insurgency in the six southern provinces has visibly become worse after NATO took over responsibility from the Americans to help return normalcy to some parts of Afghanistan.
Under the conditions, the US military and spy networks have taken special caution to ’process’ news and information related to the recent fighting in which an increasing number of foreign troops are dying. Of course what is regularly trumpeted is the death of Taliban fighters at the hands of the western soldiers.
Violence in the dangerous southern regions has so far claimed the lives of 31 Canadian and 36 British soldiers.
Violence and insatiability in Afghanistan is such that the US, EU, NATO and their allies have been overwhelmed and privately voice serious concern about their ability to turn things around.
Similar to the US humiliation in occupied Iraq since the illegal invasion of March 2003, the Afghan scenario is stubbornly moving in the opposite direction and contrary to what the western powers had anticipated.
The situation has been so critical that NATO secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was forced to visit the country in July and officially call for increasing the number of troops. In recent days several senior commanders of the Atlantic Alliance have echoed the stance of their boss.
It is apparent that the Anglo-American bracket has done terribly well in hurling Afghanistan into a black hole and making it more attractive for terrorists and organized crime.
Notwithstanding that Washingtonian politicians of the neocon and hawkish stripes regularly chatter about US and NATO “battle victorious“ against the militancy, the undeniable reality is that half the Muslim country is run by opponents of the Kabul government.
While America has so far spent more than $100 billion for its illegal presence in the country, it has hardly made available $80 million to the embattled Karzai government in the past five years.
There are real and valid concerns that if the economic and security situation does not improve in the near future, President Hamed Karzai’s position will be seriously undermined.
Most Afghans complain that Karzai has failed to deliver and performs according to the wish and whim of the occupying forces.
First by creating the hardline Taliban and then in wake of the 9/11 attacks, the US set the stage for controlling the strategic region as its policeman and banker.
Despite all its military adventures and political machinations, the US has been forced to witness its reckless Afghan policy go down the drain. Westerners, in particular the arrogant regime in America, aware of the fighting spirit of the Afghans and humiliation of the former Soviet Union in this troubled country not very long ago, would be naive to have expected a better deal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
