TEHRAN, Jan. 2--Iran and Iraq will hold talks on Arvand Roud river in the first half of January, Iraq's Foreign Ministry announced in a statement.
Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Haj Hamoud told Al-Sabah daily that Iran has preliminarily agreed to Tehran-Baghdad talks on the Arvand Roud, IRNA reported.
He added that no exact date has yet been set for talks, noting that negotiations between Iranian and Iraqi officials would have a great impact on reinforcing stability in Iraq.
The official noted that Tehran and Baghdad have no differences over defining their borders and stressed that all agreements signed earlier, including the 1975 Algiers Accord, remain valid.
The 1975 Algiers Accord was signed on March 6, 1975, between the former Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the then vice president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, as a political contract for dividing Arvand Roud river.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani had reportedly said that he did not recognize the Algiers Accord because it was signed between the former shah of Iran and Iraq's executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and not between Iran and Iraq.
His comments provoked widespread condemnation from Iran, with Iran's Foreign Ministry saying the accord was 'irrevocable' and that factors such as war and change of governments cannot harm its credibility.
Then Talabani retracted his earlier statement saying that the treaty remains valid.
Talabani reaffirmed his government's adherence to Algiers Accord with Iran, describing it as an international agreement.
"In my view, this agreement is not null," Talabani said. "I'm calling for a long-term strategic agreement between Iran and Iraq."
IRNA also quoted a statement released by Talabani's office saying that the Algiers Accord was 'valid' but Iraq had "some reservations" about it and wanted mutual talks with Iran on the issue.
Saddam tore up a copy of the treaty in a televised broadcast five days before his troops invaded Iran in September 1980, starting a bloody eight-year war that ended in a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1988.
Arvand Roud, located 400 kilometers to the south of Baghdad, is 190 kilometers long. Its width at some points reaches 2 kilometers. The river is formed from the crossing of Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Al-Ghaznah City and pours into the Persian Gulf.

Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi

TEHRAN, Jan. 2--A team of experts is studying a plan to relocate the capital Tehran, Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters after a government meeting, Pour-Mohammadi said relocating the capital is a "huge project" which requires expert studies, IRNA reported.
"A team of experts has already begun studies in this regard," he said, adding that no timetable can be set for relocating the capital yet.
He said all aspects of the issue should be discussed by experts.
Asked about the next parliamentary elections, Pour-Mohammadi said the March 14 elections will be held electronically in some constituencies as per the Interior Ministry's agreement with the Guardians Council.
He said the Interior Ministry is making its best effort to hold elections in Tehran electronically.
Pour-Mohammadi said elections will be held electronically in other provinces, only if the infrastructure and human resources are in place.

(Photo By Ali Hassanpour)

TEHRAN, Jan. 2--Iran's Meteorology Organization has called on travelers and public bus drivers to take precautionary measures while traveling on mountainous roads.
The announcement came on Wednesday as heavy snow covered capital Tehran and several other provinces, ISNA reported.
The organization also forecasted that snow and rain will continue on Thursday and Friday. It also predicted heavy snow on Saturday and Sunday for northern, northwestern and western provinces.

TEHRAN, Jan. 2--The Fokker-100 plane mishap on Wednesday morning had no technical fault before takeoff, the spokesman of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization said.
Reza Jafarzadeh also told IRNA that the plane skidded off the runway before takeoff.
"Relief teams removed all passengers from the plane immediately," he said.
He further said small parts of the plane caught fire in the accident and were extinguished instantly.
Jafarzadeh added that the fire was not serious enough to endanger the lives of passengers.
A few passengers were slightly injured and underwent treatment immediately after the accident.
An Iran Air plane carrying 100 passengers, heading from Tehran to the southern provincial capital Shiraz, at 07:20 hours local time (0350 GMT) skidded off the runway while trying to take off.
Jafarzadeh said the cause of the plane accident is under investigation.

ALGIERS, Algeria, Jan. 2--Tehran and Cairo have agreed to continue political consultations over major regional and bilateral developments, Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in Cairo on Tuesday.
Speaking in a joint press conference with the visiting Iranian official, Ali Larijani, the Egyptian minister said he discussed various regional issues with Larijani, including issues "from the east of Persian Gulf to the east of Mediterranean Sea". Larijani represents Iran's leader at the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). He arrived in the Egyptian capital on December 24 and has so far met with Arab League's Secretary-General Amr Moussa, head of Egypt's national security organization, Omar Sulayman, Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar University Muhammad Al-Tantawi and head of Al-Azhar University, Ahmad Tayyeb.
Meanwhile, spokesman of Egypt's Foreign Ministry, Hossam Zaki, released a statement after Larijani's one and a half hour meeting with Aboul Gheit on Tuesday.
The spokesman said the two stressed continuation of bilateral talks with the aim of reaching further mutual understanding over major bilateral, regional and international issues.
Zaki added that Larijani and Aboul Gheit also discussed Iran's peaceful nuclear activities as well as ways of preparing the grounds for restoring stability to the region.

TEHRAN, Jan. 2--Health Minister Kamran Baqeri Lankarani said no confirmed instances of the avian flu have been seen in the country.
Speaking in the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Lankarani added that the outbreak of bird flu is reportedly on the rise in other countries, therefore Iran needs to pay more attention to the issue, IRNA reported.
"The Health Ministry cooperates with Agriculture Jihad Ministry, Department of Environment, the police and Interior Ministry while preparing to combat the flu," he said.
The health minister noted that given the numerous cases in neighboring countries, Iran is also vulnerable.
He stressed that no case of bird flu has been confirmed, but the country should take the Health Ministry's recommendations seriously.
Asked about the 600-billion-rial budget deficit of the Health Ministry, Lankarani said the next year's budget will undergo more scrutiny.

TEHRAN, Jan. 2--Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei rejected reports on dissolution of the International Center for Dialogue Among Civilizations, saying the center has been merged into a new body.
Mashaei, who is also head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO), made the remark while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet session on Wednesday, IRNA reported.
"Some are trying to make others believe that the center was dissolved. This is not correct. The International Center for Dialogue Among Civilizations has been merged into the National Globalization Research Center," he said.
The new center was formed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who appointed Mashaei on December 30 as the head of the globalization center.
Mashaei said he would later comment on the objectives and activities of the globalization center.

Illegal Afghans are seen in Mesgarabad Camp, in south east of Tehran province.

TEHRAN, Jan. 2--Iran said it has warned one-and-a-half-million Afghan refugees living in the country without proper papers that they face arrest and detention in camps for up to five years.
"Until now we have dealt peacefully with people who were illegal and returned them on buses to their country," said Taqi Qaemi, the head of Interior Ministry's Bureau for Alien and Foreign Immigrant Affairs, on Wednesday.
"Now after legal powers were obtained, we intend to keep illegal refugees in camps for a maximum of five years," he added in comments published on the Interior Ministry's website, IRNA reported.
Last April, Iran launched a drive to expel Afghans without registration papers, rounding up tens of thousands in just days and taking them in buses across the border.
Detention camps already exist for Afghan refugees but the authorities say they have until now been used mainly as transit points for those being expelled.
"The conditions in these camps are like prisons for punishment of the people who have entered illegally or who have committed a felony," he said.
He, however, did not provide updated figures on the numbers expelled since April.
Qaemi confirmed there are currently around 1.5 million Afghans living illegally in Iran, in addition to 925,000 Afghans with proper residential papers.
Iran has been working with the UN refugee agency and Afghanistan to repatriate registered refugees but the numbers signing up to the scheme have dwindled in the last years amid worsening security conditions in Afghanistan.
Qaemi said registered refugees were allowed to live and work in a limited number of occupations in 15 of Iran's 30 provinces, including Tehran, but were 'prohibited' from being in the others.
Millions of Afghans, mostly Shiite Hazara or Sunni Persian-speaking Tajiks, fled to Iran from the wars that devastated Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion to the Taliban. At the peak, Iran was hosting around four million Afghans.
Iran has expressed frustration with the condemnation of its crackdown on illegal refugees, arguing that no European country had provided sanctuary to such a large number of refugees for so long.