Manouchehr Mottaki

TEHRAN, Dec. 17--Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the Islamic Republic is determined to promote cooperation with the Arab League.
Given the cultural and religious commonalities between Iran and the Arab League, they can further develop their relations, Mottaki told Alalam TV on Sunday.
He referred to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa highly important, adding that the two sides underlined the significance of expanding cooperation between Iran and the Arab League.
He noted that Iran is seeking a free trade accord with the Persian Gulf littoral states.
The Iranian president had proposed the signing of a free trade accord between Iran and the littoral states, during a recent meeting of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) in Doha.
Mottaki said the PGCC Chief Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Attiyah had said Iran’s proposals were on the council’s agenda.
He also stressed that Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West must be resolved in the International Atomic Energy Agency and urged Washington to take “further steps“ after the US intelligence recently admitted that Tehran did not have a nuclear weapons program.
“Iran’s nuclear issue should be solved away from the Security Council and within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency,“ he said.
The foreign minister also praised Russia’s stance in supporting Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
Russia is constructing Iran’s first nuclear energy plant in Bushehr which will have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts.
The two countries recently said they have resolved all disputes holding up the nuclear power station’s construction and reached agreement on a timetable.
“We have taken all steps for the completion of the Bushehr nuclear plant and the last step is the transfer of nuclear fuel to Iran, and we are confident that Russian officials will do that,“ he said.
Commenting on ties with Egypt, Mottaki said Tehran seeks to resume diplomatic relations with Cairo, adding that it is the political will of the two countries’ officials.
Mottaki said “secondary issues“ dogging relations between the two countries would be resolved “in the near future“.

ALGIERS, Algeria, Dec. 17--Head of Iran’s Interests Section in Cairo, Hossein Rajabi, discussed expansion of Tehran-Cairo relations with Egypt’s Speaker of People’s Assembly Ahmed Fathi Sorour on Sunday.
They stressed the significance of boosting parliamentary relations between the two capitals for developing economic, political and cultural ties, IRNA reported.
Rajabi expressed Tehran’s readiness to boost parliamentary relations with Cairo by exchanging visits and experiences, stressing the need for broader bilateral and international cooperation.
The Egyptian speaker referred to an upcoming visit to Egypt by his Iranian counterpart, Gholamali Haddad Adel, saying the visit would play a key role in promoting bilateral parliamentary relations.
The Iranian Majlis speaker is invited by Sorour to pay a visit to Cairo in late January to attend a meeting of the Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) during January 29-February 1.
Haddad will be the highest ranking Iranian official to visit Egypt after the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Referring to the Iranian speaker’s visit to Egypt as a “turning point“ in the history of their bilateral relations, Sorour said such visits would help promote ties in all fields.
Iran and Egypt currently have diplomatic ties only at the level of interest sections.

BERLIN, Dec. 17--German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the US intelligence report on Iran’s nuclear program had won more time for negotiating a solution, but he doubted Tehran would use it.
In an interview published on Monday, Steinmeier told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily that the bad news is that the US secret services are sure that Iran worked on a nuclear weapon until 2003, AFP reported.
“The good news is that the time pressure to find a political solution has lessened. This does not change the task at hand. It remains the same--stopping Iran from developing its nuclear capacities to such an extent that in the end it can produce material for weapons,“ he said.
A US intelligence report released this month said Iran had no nuclear weapons program.
It was welcomed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a U-turn in US policy.
Steinmeier said Washington was showing “a great willingness to use the time gained in a creative manner“.
Germany is involved in talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council on a strategy aimed at offering Iran incentives to halt enrichment and imposing sanctions if it does not.

TEHRAN, Dec. 17--Tehran will host the fourth meeting of Iran-Russia Defense Cooperation Commission, Iran’s Defense Ministry announced.
Head of the Russian Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, Mikhail Dmitriyev, will arrive in Tehran on Wednesday to take part in the meeting, said the ministry in a report released on Monday.
A high-ranking Russian delegation will accompany Dmitriyev on his trip to the Iranian capital, Presstv reported.
According to the report, senior defense representatives from the two sides will study ways of expanding the scope of bilateral defense ties. They will also examine agreements reached during earlier meetings of the commission.

Seyyed Mohsen Hakim

TEHRAN, Dec. 17--Washington is making more efforts to sit at the same table with Iran over Iraq for the fourth time, an Iraqi political activist said on Sunday.
Seyyed Mohsen Hakim, advisor to the head of United Iraqi Coalition for political affairs, told IRNA that American officials appear to have become more interested in talks with Iran.
He said he realized this during a meeting with American officials in Washington.
Referring to the effective steps taken by Iran to establish security in Iraq, Hakim said American officials are turning back from their allegations against Tehran.
“The Iraqi government has now become stronger, its security forces are reinforced and religious challenges have reduced,“ he said, underlining the role of Iraq’s neighbors in restoring security to the country.
Hakim noted that members of the former Baath party are calling for negotiations with the Iraqi government.
“The government has set conditions for conducting negotiations with them. The government will negotiate with those members of Baath who have not killed Iraqi people,“ he said.
Hakim said Iraq’s budget for 2008 amounts to $48 billion.

TEHRAN, Dec. 17--Social Security Plan will continue and the police will ensure its forces behave properly toward people while enforcing the plan, Police Chief Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan said on Monday.
Speaking on the sidelines of his visit to the Police Public Supervision Center, Radan told reporters that the police supervision system will control police forces to prevent any misbehavior, Fars News Agency reported.
Asked about some officials’ criticisms about the plan’s implementation, he said, “Some officials are worried about the improper treatment of people, but we are overseeing our colleagues and will confront violators.“
Social Security Plan includes confronting hooligans, overseeing security of parks, observation of Islamic dress code as well as rounding up of addicts.

MEDINA, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 17--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Medina on Monday.
President Ahmadinejad and his accompanying delegation proceeded to the mosque of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) to say their prayers, IRNA reported.
The Iranian president is in Saudi Arabia at the official invitation of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdelaziz.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Majlis Vice Speaker Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi-Fard and president’s senior advisor, Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, are among members of the president’s delegation.