Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN, Jan. 29--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said no one in history has ever committed the heinous crimes perpetrated by the Zionist Israeli regime against Palestinians.
Addressing a gathering titled “Commemorating the Servants of Martyrs“ late Monday, Ahmadinejad said that for the last 60 years, the Zionist Israeli regime has besieged the Palestinian people in their homes and slaughtered children and adults, calling it a fight against terrorism, Presstv reported.
Pointing out that the global hegemonic order has reached the end of the line, the president reiterated that this is the era of the decline and fall of the hegemonic order.
“Any culture that resorts to force reaches a dead-end. The hegemonic powers take recourse to guns or threaten to attack any time they become desperate. This demonstrates that they have reached the end,“ he said.
Ahmadinejad stressed that these powers should bear in mind that people will never accept their logic.

TEHRAN, Jan. 29--An official said rapid deployment defense councils have been established in five provinces.
Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali, in charge of the Rapid Deployment Defense Organization, also said on Tuesday, “We are following up the issue to establish similar councils in other provinces.“
Training sessions for the new defense system were launched on Tuesday in the presence of Brigadier General Jalali, Mehr News Agency reported.
“We intend to strengthen the country’s political system by establishing the new defense system and without taking military actions,“ he said.
The rapid deployment defense system aims to safeguard the military facilities and manage any war crisis with the help of the Basij (volunteer) force.
The commander reiterated that Iran intends to strengthen the political system via non-military measures.
Referring to the establishment of the rapid deployment defense councils, Jalali noted that a number of working groups will be formed in the councils and all Basij members will attend the training sessions.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 29--It will take weeks before the UN Security Council is ready to vote on a new round of sanctions against Iran proposed last week by six world powers, council diplomats said on Monday.
Britain, France, the United States, Russia, China and Germany circulated a draft proposal on Friday for new UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The text calls for asset freezes and mandatory travel bans for specific Iranian officials and vigilance on all Iranian banks, Reuters reported.
On Monday, the five permanent council members met with the 10 nonpermanent members to discuss the sanctions proposal and prepare for the drafting of a formal sanctions resolution. China’s envoy said this process could take weeks.
“It will take maybe a few weeks,“ deputy Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Liu Zhenmin, told reporters ahead of the meeting at the British mission. He gave no further details.
A US intelligence report released last month said Iran had no nuclear weapons program. Several western diplomats said the proposed penalties, which they described as a mild step up from previous sanctions, were the best they could do given the surprising new US intelligence.
South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said his country would like to wait for the upcoming progress report by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the United Nations’ Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, on inspections in Iran.
“I think the IAEA report is very important because they are...the experts,“ he said. “Let’s see what they have to say.“
South Africa is a key member of the Non-Aligned Movement, a bloc of developing countries that has resisted the idea of forcing Tehran to halt uranium enrichment. They worry that wealthier countries want a monopoly on enriching uranium fuel.
ElBaradei is expected to submit his next report to the Security Council in the third week of February.
Several diplomats have said the IAEA chief plans to report that he has made significant progress in clarifying outstanding questions about Iran’s past nuclear program.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the IAEA report was significant, but added that council demands were also crucial.
“The track of Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA is very important and I hope it will continue,“ he said.

QOM, Jan. 29--Government will not support any political party during the next parliamentary election on March 14, government spokesman, Gholamhossein Elham said late Monday.
Addressing a local gathering in this central city, Elham said the government would only act as an executive body and avoid interference in the election process by supporting any particular political party or group, IRNA reported.
The spokesman stressed that the government accords significance to having a massive turnout in the election and is confident that the Iranian nation would vote for those who are true supporters of revolutionary values.
Over 7,000 hopefuls have registered for the next Majlis elections and the midterm election of the Experts Assembly in the constituencies of Tehran, Qazvin, Ilam and East Azarbaijan provinces. The two elections will be held concurrently on March 14. Those who are 18 years old and above are eligible to vote.
Religious minorities, including Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, have five representatives in the Majlis.

Alireza Jamshidi

TEHRAN, Jan. 29--Judiciary Spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said a customs contractor has been hanged for corruption and three customs employees have also been sentenced to death.
Jamshidi told reporters on Tuesday that the three customs employees at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport and one contractor were sentenced to death for “corruption and other economic crimes“ but did not give details, IRNA reported.
The spokesman said it was ’rare’ for financial offenders to be given a death sentence in Iran.
“The death sentence for one of them has been carried out,“ he said, adding that the three others had appealed for their sentences to be commuted to life imprisonment and that this was being studied by the judiciary authorities.
“The main issue in their case is that they received a bribe of more than 10 billion rials (about $1.07 million),“ Jamshidi said, without specifying if this was the total amount or pertained to each individual.
He said that “disrupting the foreign exchange, monetary or banking system“ was punishable by death under the Iranian law.
Capital offences in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, serious drug trafficking and adultery.
Earlier this month, the judiciary said an Iranian court sentenced three state gas company managers to 10 years in jail and 74 lashes each for taking bribes totaling 23 billion rials.
Jamshidi also said that eight more university students arrested for taking part in an unrest would be released soon.
“The initial investigation into their cases is complete and they will be released on bail in the coming days,“ he said.
The spokesman had also announced on January 15 that 11 university students would be released on bail, noting that some 19 students were in custody.
Jamshidi also said three members of the Bahai sect have been sentenced to four years in prison and 51 others to suspended jail terms of up to one year on security-related charges.
A total of 54 Bahais were convicted of “propaganda against the system“ in the southern city of Shiraz, he said, without giving further details.
Those jailed for four years are already serving their sentences.