Gholamali Haddad Adel

TEHRAN, Sept. 30--Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel said on Sunday the independent stance of Iran and China vis-ˆ-vis the hegemony of certain powers serves international peace and stability.
“The US plans to dominate oil and gas resources in the Middle East and control the fate of regional oil-rich nations to hold the trump card against countries like China,“ Haddad was quoted as saying by IRNA.
“They know that the Islamic Revolution of Iran created obstacles in the way of materializing their goals in the region,“ he said.
Haddad made the remark in a meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Iran Liu Zhentang.
The speaker said bilateral relations are not only ties between two countries, but are also links between two cultures and civilizations.
He expressed satisfaction with the growing ties between Iran and China, and said the two nations have experienced enhancement of ties, which was unprecedented in Iran’s relations with other countries.
Haddad also noted that officials of the two nations have a clear understanding of the situation to expand friendly ties in all fields.
Referring to pressures to hinder friendly relations between Iran and China, he expressed hope that mutual ties will increase more than ever.
The Chinese ambassador, for his part, said his country is open to cooperation with Iran.

Liu Zhentang

Calling for a developed and powerful Iran in the region, Liu said development of the country is beneficial for international peace and stability.
“China will never make a decision that will be contrary to Iran’s interests,“ he said.
Turning to the $20 billion transaction in oil and gas sectors as the most important factor for mutual ties in future, the Chinese envoy said Iran possesses the second largest oil and gas resources in the world.
“China will become the biggest market for the friendly country,“ he said.
Liu called for expansion of cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries.

Seyyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah

TEHRAN, Sept. 30--Lebanon’s top Shiite cleric, Allameh Seyyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, said the plan approved by the US Senate to divide Iraq into three ethnic parts is the main cause of dangers, which will pave the way for war and instability in the Middle East.
Criticizing the US government, Allameh Fadlallah noted that George Bush, who is aiming to become the world leader, believes he can do something new by creating a chaotic atmosphere in the Middle East.
“Arab leaders should not be na•ve and avoid whatever neocons dictate to them,“ he said.
The top Lebanese cleric noted that he is afraid efforts aimed at normalizing Arab-Israel relations will ruin bilateral ties between Arab neighboring countries.
Commenting on enlisting the Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group by the US, Allameh Fadlallah said IRGC is the main pillar of Iran’s Armed Forces and the Washington’s move is nothing more than declaring war with Iran.

Mohammad Javad Larijani

TEHRAN, Sept. 30--A senior political analyst said on Wednesday the West has launched propaganda against Iran’s rights issues, stressing that the main objective of such criticisms is to exert pressure on Iran.
Mohammad Javad Larijani, secretary of the judiciary’s Human Rights Department, noted that many criticisms lodged against the judiciary’s performance are politicized.
He told ISNA that his department is at the highest political and executive level and presided over by Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi.
“Ministers of foreign affairs, intelligence, interior, justice and culture are also members of the department,“ he said.
Larijani pointed out that several other officials, including the police chief and the head of state prisons, are also members.
“The West wants to impose its own liberal democratic interpretation of legal issues on us. We do not accept this. Holding the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit recently in Tehran was a step forward to defy the West’s imposition,“ he said.
Larijani noted that Iran has made many achievements in the field of human rights at the international level.
“The West found faults with Iran’s rights issues, but no one responded to their faults,“ he said.
Larijani pointed out that many criticisms of westerners are politically motivated.
“Iran has given over 2,000 pages of response to the issues referred to by the United Nations,“ he said.
Noting that Iran should adopt a professional stance toward criticisms made by the West, Larijani said the main objective of such criticisms is to exert pressure on Iran.

TEHRAN, Sept. 30--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the world heard the voice of Iranian nation whose positive effects will appear in future.
Presenting a report to the cabinet meeting on Sunday, the president added that his visit to New York was successful and the enemy’s attempts to sabotage the meeting in Columbia University failed, IRNA reported.
“They attempted to isolate Iran by sabotaging the process of the meeting in Columbia University, but thanks to God, they got negative results,“ he said.
President Ahmadinejad said that those who were present in the meeting and observed the entire program got the sense that Iranian officials were honest.
He also said Iran has plans for international peace, which contradicts what the world arrogant powers claim.
“Though the enemy had made preparations for not allowing Iran’s voice to be heard, they could not succeed,“ he said.
Press reports said the 500 million-strong audience of three international television networks listened to the Iranian president’s speech in the Columbia University.
President Ahmadinejad received the award of “Dove of Peace“ from the Society of US Churches.

Professor Majid Samie

BEIJING, Sept. 29--Renowned Iranian neurosurgeon, Professor Majid Samie, said the top honorary medal awarded to him by the Chinese government for his exemplary specialization belongs to all Iranians.
Speaking in a fast-breaking reception at Iran’s Embassy in Beijing on Saturday, Professor Samie said, “I appreciate all those who are endeavoring for the prosperity and prestige of Iran.“
He said he deems his presence in the Iranian Embassy in Beijing as being on Iranian soil, IRNA reported.
“All of us are Iranian and wherever and whatever post we occupy, we should try to elevate the status of our dear country,“ he said.
Addressing Iranian Ambassador Javad Mansouri, the embassy staff, Iranian officials and physicians studying medicine in Beijing, Samie said wherever they are, all Iranians are cultural messengers of Iran.
He said all Iranians residing in China should promote relations between Tehran and Beijing.
Noting that he felt all Iranians are happy with the medal awarded to him by China, he said, “I am very happy that the Chinese government awarded its special foreign specialists’ honorary medal to me. That’s the first time an Iranian has received such a medal and definitely, the medal belongs to the Iranian nation.“
The Iranian ambassador hailed the services of Prof. Samie to Iran and the world.
“The Iranian physician has thus far trained hundreds of students and physicians in neurosurgery,“ he said.
Noting that 150 Iranian students are now studying in China, Mansouri urged further exchange of students and professors, and joint research projects on Iranian and Chinese culture, language and civilizations.
He then presented a collection of poems by Iran’s renowned poet Hafez to Prof. Samie.
Professor Samie, an Iranian physician residing in Germany, was born in Rasht, Gilan province, in 1937 and received his degree in neurosurgery at the age of 33.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 30--Representatives of Iraq’s major political parties on Sunday strongly denounced a US Senate proposal calling for a limited centralized government with the bulk of the power given to the country’s ethnically divided regions, saying it would seriously hamper Iraq’s future stability.
The groups, which represented both Shiites and Sunnis, said the plan would diminish Iraq’s sovereignty and suggested the parliament draft a law permanently banning the splitting of Iraq along sectarian or ethnic lines, AP reported.
“This proposal was based on the incorrect reading and unrealistic estimations of Iraq’s past, present and future,“ according to the statement read by Izzat
Al-Shahbandar, a representative of the Iraqi National List, a secular political party, during a news conference.
“(The proposal) opposes all laws of the international community and its legitimate institutions which protect all the rights of people in self-decision, building their future and defending their unity and sovereignty,“ he said.
Shahbandar added that the international community should denounce the proposal and “support Iraq in its crisis and its efforts to restore security and stability in all its areas“.
Also on Sunday, a judge delayed court proceedings for a second US Army sniper accused in the deaths of two unarmed Iraqi civilians a day after a military panel sentenced a 22-year-old specialist to five months in prison for his role in the crimes. Jorge G. Sandoval also received a reduction in rank to private and a forfeiture of his pay after he was convicted on Thursday of planting evidence on one of the unidentified Iraqis who died last spring. He was acquitted of two murder charges.
Sectarian violence, meanwhile, claimed at least 40 more lives on Saturday across Iraq, with a flurry of attacks around the northern city of Mosul, where bombs, gunmen and mortar fire killed 14.

DAMASCUS, Syria, Sept. 30--The Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands in Syria called the claims of an Israeli strike “lies and fabrications“.
Center officials denied the reports and said that after they had seen pictures of the center in newspapers, they realized that the alleged strike was supposedly carried our in one of their abandoned sites, AFP reported.
An official message by the center read: “We were astonished by reports of an Israeli strike on one of our centers. The reports about the center in the Zionist press are lies and fabrications.“
The center also offered journalists from around the world a tour of the location.
Two weeks ago, Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Ja’afari said that nothing in Syria was bombed by the IAF, and nothing was damaged.
Reports of such an attack were “ridiculous and not true“, Army Radio reported Ja’afari as saying.
Ja’afari added that “Syria does not have North Korean nuclear facilities“.
The Washington Post reported that the US had been gathering evidence, mainly from Israel, over the past six months that North Korea had been cooperating with Syria on a nuclear facility. The evidence--codenamed ’Orchard’--was said to include “dramatic satellite imagery that led some US officials to believe that the facility could be used to produce material for nuclear weapons“.

KIEV, Ukraine, Sept. 30--Ukrainians began voting on Sunday in an early parliamentary election meant to bring an end to a months-long political standoff between the nation’s two feuding leaders.
President Viktor Yushchenko’s party appeared set for a dismal showing, with polls predicting the bloc led by rival Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych would get the largest share of votes, CNN.com reported.
But Yushchenko is pinning his hopes on a last-minute alliance with former Premier Yulia Tymoshenko--a partnership that could give their parties control of parliament if together they get more votes than Yanukovych’s bloc.
Forging a coalition with Tymoshenko, however, could mean weeks of negotiation and Yanukovych has signaled that he would not give up power easily.
Polls predict Yanukovych’s Party of Regions will receive the most votes, with the bloc of Tymoshenko in second place. Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense, hampered by voter disappointment with his failure to fulfill reformist promises that brought him to power in 2005, is expected to wind up third. Ukraine has 37.5 million registered voters. Watch polls open in Ukraine.
Yanukovych, who draws his support from Ukraine’s Russian-speaking east and south, fiercely resisted Yushchenko’s April decision to dissolve parliament and call new elections after the president accused him of seeking to usurp power. Yanukovych grudgingly agreed to the Sunday vote, but has hinted he would accept only one outcome: his victory.