Shivshankar Menon

While supporting to Islamic Republic of Iran’s right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy, India said technical assessments over Iran’s nuclear issue are best done by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
While speaking on Iran’s peaceful nuclear issue on Saturday, India’s Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon during an interactive session at the India Global Forum said it was not in India’s interest to have another nuclear weapons state in its neighborhood but Tehran had the right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy subject to its international obligations, PTI reported.
Menon said India has clarified its stand that while Iran may have the right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy, it also has an obligation to various international commitments.
“Ultimately it is an issue of whether or not it is implementing the obligations it undertook. It depends on technical assessments which are best done by the IAEA,“ he said.
Stressing on the need to change the way the world looks at non-proliferation, Menon favored new international consensus on the issue.
“We need to have a system in place to which Iran is a party,“ he said, adding that sanctions and military action will only exacerbate the situation.
Sanctions or military action--none of them is a lasting solution--will only exacerbate the situation. We need to evolve something that involves Iran.“
Commenting on the nuclear fuel bank issue, Menon said India would be happy to participate in providing a home to a nuclear fuel bank for supplying fuel to nations interested in renewing their atomic energy programs.
“We run a full nuclear fuel cycle of our own and we would be happy to participate in providing a home for a nuclear fuel bank,“ he said.
However, he pointed out that discussions on this issue of setting up a nuclear fuel bank “were a long way away“.

Abbasali Kadkhodaei

Compiled by Davood Baqeri

The Guardians Council said if half the cabinet is reshuffled, the ministers should get the Majlis vote of confidence.
GC Spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodaei told reporters in Tehran on Saturday that according to Article 136 of Iran’s Constitution, the government needs to get the Majlis ’yes’ vote again if half of the cabinet is changed, Mehr News Agency reported.
He also expressed hope that such an event does not occur in the cabinet.
Kadkhodaei’s comments followed after Government Spokesman Gholamhossein Elham announced that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will replace two ministers, including Economy Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari and Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi.
Since coming to power in 2005, Ahmadinejad has changed some of his ministers, including those for oil, education and industry as well as the country’s central bank governor.
Referring to a letter by former President Mohammad Khatami and former Majlis Speaker Mehdi Karroubi asking for recounting the results of Tehran Majlis elections, Kadkhodaei said that the council members studied the letter but did not agree on the recount.
He noted that the GC reached the conclusion after reviewing the reports of election observers.
Meanwhile, Fars News Agency quoted Kadkhodaei as saying that the vetting body voted for the cancellation of election’s results in three cities, namely Dashtestan, Chabahar and Varzaqan.
He noted that 52 cities will participate in the runoff Majlis election on April 25 to elect their lawmakers.
On Thursday, the Interior Ministry announced that 162 candidates have launched their campaign for the second round of parliamentary elections.
The race for the remaining parliamentary seats began on Thursday in 21 provinces.
“It will end at 8:00 am local time on April 24,“ said Mohammad Hossein Mousapour, head of the the ministry’s Information Council.
Only 82 of the 162 contenders will enter the 290-member parliament in the second round.
Mousapour noted that the Guardians Council has verified the results of the March parliamentary vote. The second round of parliamentary elections is slated for April 25.

Iran’s proposal on the drive against antiquities’ smuggling was approved in the 17th session of the UN Crimes Commission.
Iran’s proposed resolution, passed during the last session of the commission, underlined the need for preserving antiques as part of the common human heritage, IRNA reported.
It also said that serious measures should be taken to stop organized groups from smuggling in antiquities.
The five-day session, which opened in the Austrian capital on Monday, concluded its work on Friday evening.
Confronting violence against women and the struggle against organized crimes, particularly human smuggling and the drive against administrative corruption and terrorist operations, were among major issues discussed in the UN commission’s sessions.
Iran was represented at the meeting by the country’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, who currently heads the Asian group at the UN commission. Addressing the session, Soltanieh called for more effective measures by international circles against smuggling in antiquities.
“All countries and relevant bodies should make serious efforts to help strengthen international and judicial cooperation against smuggling of historical objects,“ he said.
The Iranian envoy also called for the return of stolen objects to their countries of origin.
Speaking on behalf of all Asian states, he underlined the need for confronting administrative corruption and bribery.
Soltanieh also urged all states to confront the violation of women’s rights and violence against women.

Two million immigrants have entered Iran illegally.

Iran is wary of the heavy burden illegal immigrants impose on the national economy, as Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi on Saturday put the figure of refugees in Iran at three million.
Pour-Mohammadi added that two million immigrants have entered the country illegally.
“Since three decades ago, Iran has seriously been affected by the influx of refugees and the trend of their illegal entry to the country has not decreased despite all preventive measures taken by the Iranian officials,“ Pour-Mohammadi said on the sidelines of a conference on non-conventional immigration, IRNA reported.
He referred to the issue of Afghan occupation by the US forces and their presence in that country, saying a close look at the situation of Afghan people would show that the occupying countries and other international bodies have failed to fulfill their commitments in Afghanistan.
Pour-Mohammadi added that the Afghan people were suffering from lack of proper security, economic, health and welfare conditions.
The minister dismissed speculations that he will be replaced after the 8th Majlis runoff elections, slated for 25 April.
“I have not heard of it and it is unlikely that this will happen,“ Pour-Mohammadi said in response to a question on whether he would leave the Interior Ministry after elections to assume the position of intelligence minister.
Meanwhile, another senior official also told reporters at the conference that about 91 percent of refugees have flooded into the country from Afghanistan.
Foreign Ministry’s director general for foreign nationals and refugees affairs, Taqi Qaemi, said Iran made proposals for resolving the problem of illegal immigration, but the related international organizations have not yet supported Iran in this respect.
Confirming the figure of three million refugees in Iran, the official said non-conventional immigration inflicted heavy damage on Iranians, including the problem of illegal marriages, unattended children and the subsequent negative social, political, security and economic impacts and other illegal activities such as drug, human and weapons trafficking.
“If you estimate that the country must spend only two dollars in subsidies for each refugee per day, you will reach the figure of $6 million per day which is the least possible burden on Iran,“ he said.
Qaemi pointed out that in many countries, illegal immigrants would face a six-month jail sentence as well as a 11,000-dollar fine after being arrested by police.
“However, Iran’s Islamic values and principles do not allow the country to adopt punitive measures for illegally preventing immigrant,“ he said.

US military and intelligence officials urged elements in terrorist group PKK to back its Iranian offshoot PJAK to create problems in Iran, a Turkish daily said.
According to the daily Cumhuriyet, following the meeting between Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President George W. Bush on Nov. 2007 in the White House, US military and intelligence officials in Iraq entered into negotiations with PKK elements in Qandil Mount.
After giving the green light to Turkey for carrying out military operations in northern Iraq, the US warned PKK insurgents that it could either choose to stay in the area and be subjected to Turkish attacks or join hands with PJAK and cooperate with the Americans, the article in the daily, titled “Secret Contact with the Terrorist Organization“, said.
Cumhuriyet added that Washington does not want to lose its “Kurdish trump card“ and intends to use it against Iran.
According to the article, the US officials met again with the representatives of PKK in Suleymaniyeh and Irbil to warn them about Turkish military operations for encouraging them to join PJAK.
The newspaper noted that the proposal shocked PKK elements, prompting them to ask local northern Iraq authorities to discourage Americans.
In recent months, Cumhuriyet says, American officials provided military assistance to PJAK through third parties or organizations.
“In recent months, PJAK received assistance from the US, Israel and local northern Iraq officials and, especially after Turkey’s military operations in northern Iraq, thousands of PKK members joined PJAK,“ the paper concluded.
The US State Department considers the PKK a terrorist organization, but has long been accused of supplying PJAK with arms to provoke ethnic unrest in Iran.
In his November 2006 article published in the New Yorker, the investigative US journalist, Seymour Hersh, revealed that the US military and Israel were assisting PJAK by providing the group with equipment, training and vital intelligence to create problems inside Iran.
The Los Angeles Times also reported on April 15 that the US funds and supports several terrorist groups, including PJAK, to carry out acts of sabotage inside Iran.

Speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly, Fahmida Mirza, in Cape Town, South Africa, voiced her country’s support for Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, which she said is within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
She made the remark in a meeting with head of Iranian delegation and secretary-general of Iran’s Inter-Parliamentary Group, Mohsen Yahyavi, on the sidelines of the Inter-Parliamentary Union session, IRNA reported.
Referring to the current amicable ties between the Iranian and Pakistani nations, she stressed further expansion of relations between the two neighboring states.
Lauding Iran’s efforts to establish peace and stability in the region, Mirza called for finalizing the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline.
The Iranian official, for his part, referred to religious, cultural and historical commonalties shared by the two nations and said such characteristics would help promote bilateral political, economic and cultural cooperation.
Praising great potentials in both the countries, Yahyavi called for using all potentials in line with further promotion of bilateral ties.
As to the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, called “the Peace Pipeline“, he said the pipeline is an indication of the friendly ties between the three major regional states.
He expressed hope that the project, when operational, would benefit the Pakistani people.
Outlining Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities, Yahyavi added that Iran’s move has always been based on the NPT framework.

The satellite image of the Persian Gulf

Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies will host the 18th International Conference on the Persian Gulf.
In view of the special geo-strategic position of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf in terms of their rich energy resources, the two-day conference, scheduled for June 16 at the institute in Tehran, will discuss avenues for expanding regional cooperation, strengthening stability and security, and boosting regional cooperation, Presstv reported.
IPIS believes that holding talks and exchanging views among experts and researchers on the Persian Gulf would prepare the ground for finding effective ways to promote regional convergence, stability and security.
Exploring ways of dealing with regional threats and challenges, trade and economic cooperation, regional understanding, Iraq’s stability and security, and the role of media in consolidating cooperation are among issues to be raised and discussed at the conference.