TEHRAN, Sept. 30--Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel advised Iran’s enemies not to rejoice over the differences of opinion in the country.
“Enemies should not be delighted to see some divergence of opinion that may exist in our country,“ said Haddad while addressing the Majlis on Sunday, IRNA reported.
“The US and its allies should not rejoice over differences of opinion related to our country’s internal affairs and the existence of a majority and minority in Iran,“ he said.
He noted that Iranians are determined to defend their national interests in all fields.
Meanwhile, Lawmaker Mohammad Qomi slammed the rude behavior of the Columbia University Chancellor Lee Bollinger toward Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, noting that such a treatment indicated that the US preferred insult to Dialogue Among Civilizations.
Qomi, who represents Pakdasht in Majlis, stressed that a university should be the cradle of freedom, civilization and knowledge, but the American academic’s behavior showed to the world that the US slogans of democracy and freedom are all lies.

Jalal Talabani

TEHRAN, Sept. 30--MPs of Majlis Kurdish faction in a letter to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Saturday called for measures to release Mahmoud Farhadi.
Mahmoud Farhadi is a well-known merchant arrested by the US forces in Soleimanyeh, northern Iraq, early September.
The MPs appreciated Talabani’s follow up measures in the case of Farhadi and urged him to continue his efforts for the freedom of Farhadi, IRNA reported.
The members of the Kurdish faction expressed hope Iran and Iraq will enjoy mutual democratic trade and economic ties with Talabani’s help.
Mohammad Karimian, Jafar Aein-Parast, Seyyed Emad Hosseini, Houshang Hamidi and other MPs signed the letter.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi official announced on Sunday that Talabani will meet with US President George Bush on Farhadi’s case on Oct. 2 in New York.
According to ISNA, representative of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Nazem Dabbagh, added that Iraqi merchants gave a letter to Talabani, asking him to present it to Bush.
In the letter, they called on Bush to release Farhadi who is a member of an Iranian trade delegation in Kermanshah province.

Mohammad Ali Hosseini

TEHRAN, Sept 30--Iran will continue its cooperation with the UN atomic watchdog to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini also told a news conference in Tehran on Sunday that some Western states are trying to scuttle an agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
He called on the West to be patient and stick to the agreement as the main basis for settling the issue, Alalam TV reported.
The five veto powers plus Germany agreed on Friday to delay a vote on tougher sanctions on Iran until late November, by which time reports by the IAEA and EU negotiator Javier Solana would be in.
“The process that certain radical countries have followed so far is to disturb the positive climate that has been put in place through the cooperation of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the agency,“ he said.
“That has not helped them, therefore they have been forced to be patient.“
According to the Iran-IAEA plan, first the technical aspects should be clarified through IAEA inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites and political aspects should be discussed between Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, and Solana after the finalization of the IAEA report.
Hosseini noted that other states were backing Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA.
“To put a stop to possible sanctions, we are going to continue working with the agency and our diplomatic efforts will continue unabated.“
Foreign ministers of the US, Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain have asked Solana to hold more talks, while the IAEA tries to clear up doubts about past Iranian nuclear activities.
Elsewhere in his briefing, Hosseini said Iran needs to consider whether to hold further talks with the US on security in Iraq after US forces seized another Iranian there.
American and Iranian officials have held three rounds of talks on security in Iraq since May, the most high-profile meetings since Washington cut ties with Tehran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Asked about the possibility of further talks, Hosseini said: “In view of the fact that we have not seen any changes in American positions, and also they have taken certain actions which violate international laws...we need to conduct further studies about the possibility of continuing the negotiations.“
The spokesman pointed out that the recent closure of Iran-Iraq border was not related to the detention of an Iranian national in northern Iraq.
“The closure has other reasons, which are under discussion by respective officials,“ he said.
Mahmoud Farhadi, a member of an Iranian trade delegation, was arrested by the US forces in Sulaimaniya in northern Iraq on September 20 during an official visit at the head of an economic delegation.
Hosseini said the upcoming summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states will be held in Tehran on October 16.
Hosseini expressed hope that heads of state of participating countries would reach agreement on the sea’s legal regime.
The Caspian Sea bordering northern Iran is enclosed by Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf

TEHRAN, Sept. 30--Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said the capital city, whose affairs have been administered without proper planning for 40 years, is in need of expertise and scientific approaches.
Addressing a gathering of engineers on Sunday, Qalibaf said Tehran is facing serious challenges and fundamental problems, Mehr News Agency reported.
Qalibaf called on municipal officials to prioritize new ideas and plans to make Tehran Municipality more efficient.
“I don’t want to support foreign companies, but they have more experience than us,“ he said, adding that foreign companies do not rely on government revenues because they use new ideas.
Criticizing the political approach toward some fields, he said, “We are able to increase the revenues of Tehran Municipality to 75,000 billion rials without putting economic pressure on people.“
Qalibaf said the problems of finalizing development project should be removed as soon as possible.
Earlier, Qalibaf had called for increasing the authority of municipalities, insisting that its status has been neglected by government bodies and the bureaucratic system.
Qalibaf made the remark at the joint meeting of Majlis urban management faction and the council of mayors, Fars News Agency reported.
“Enhancing the standard of living in terms of material and spiritual aspects is the common goal of the government, Majlis and municipalities,“ he said.
Referring to the limited powers of mayors, Qalibaf said they cannot even solve minor urban problems.
The mayor called on the Majlis urban faction to pass bills related to public transportation, housing and the plan of municipality’s banks.
Qalibaf stated that the problems of metropolises are mainly related to security, cultural and social issues.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 30--Head of Lebanon’s pro-government parliamentary majority, Saad Hariri, held a meeting with Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Reza Sheybani.
According to Beirut-based daily ’Al-Anwar’, the two sides discussed developments in Lebanon and the region during the meeting in this capital city on Saturday.
Following his meeting with Hariri, who heads Al-Mustaqbal Movement in Lebanese Parliament, Sheybani described the atmosphere of the talk as positive and expressed hope that all Lebanese officials and political leaders would help end the current political standoff.
Lebanese political leaders and officials are currently in talks to reach consensus on choosing a presidential candidate.
Hariri also conferred with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri for the fourth time in the last three days over Lebanon’s future president.
On Saturday, Sheybani hailed the initiative of Lebanon’s parliament speaker as the most appropriate solution to end the country’s political impasse.
Sheybani said Tehran will support any initiative aimed at resolving the root causes of the crisis in Lebanon, ISNA reported Saturday.
Sheybani made the remarks in separate meetings with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and top Lebanese cleric Allameh Mohammad Hossein Fadlallah.
Sheybani said Berri’s plan can break the current deadlock in Lebanon.
According to Berri’s plan, the president should be elected with the two-thirds of the votes of political parties in parliament.
This is while Fadlallah called on regional and international parties to propose practical solutions for ending the impasse in Lebanon.
Referring to the recent positive developments in relations between Iran and Egypt, he said, “This can greatly help resolve problems of the world of Islam.“
Fadlallah warned that Europeans are toeing the US government’s line, which will lead to the deterioration of tension in the region.

TEHRAN, Sept. 30--A local cleric was targeted in an assassination attempt that failed in southwestern Iran, Ahvaz governor said on Sunday.
Abdolaziz Fadami also told ISNA that the prayer leader of Khatamol-Anbiya Mosque in Kian district of this oil-rich city, Sheikh Samir Dorkavandi, was on his way to the mosque early Saturday when he was shot and wounded by an unidentified man on a motorbike.
“Sheikh Samir Dorkavandi was hit by a bullet fired by a man on a motorcycle,“ Fadami said.
Dorkavandi was immediately taken to the Razi Hospital in Ahvaz, province of Khuzestan, where he underwent surgery.
He noted that the general condition of the cleric is satisfactory.
In the past two years, Ahvaz has witnessed fatal bombings by terrorist separatists.
Bomb attacks in October 2005 killed six people and another double bombing in January 2006 killed eight, according to official reports at the time.
Subsequent reports indicated that the total death toll was 30, with hundreds of others wounded.
Iran has already hanged at least 13 people for involvement in the bombings, including three people who were hanged in Ahvaz on September 13.
Iran has accused the United States and its allies of seeking to create ethnic tensions in the region, as their forces are stationed across the border in southern Iraq.

YAZD, Sept. 30--A group of Zoroastrians of this central province have voiced their readiness to attend the World Qods Day rallies scheduled for the coming Friday.
Talking to IRNA, the group termed the unity and solidarity of world Muslims in preventing the crimes of the Zionist Israeli regime as effective.
Sohrab Firouzfar, a member of the Zoroastrian community, said his community is willing to prevent the aggression of the Zionist regime against the oppressed Palestinian nation.
He stressed that as long as the Muslim Palestinian nation exists, resistance against the Zionist regime will continue.
“The Holy Qods belongs to all religions and, therefore, Zoroastrians will participate in the Friday rallies to express their hatred towards the criminal Zionist regime,“ said Siavosh Sassani, another member of the Zoroastrian community.
“Zoroastrians will express their support for the oppressed Palestinians by participating in the rallies.“
The late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, designated the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan as World Qods Day to mark the decades of Israeli oppression against the innocent and defenseless Palestinian nation.
On this day, Muslims and non-Muslims in huge numbers all over the world come out to renew their support for the Palestinians and condemn the cruel and illegal Israeli occupation.