Hassan Kazemi Qomi

Iran criticized US military operations in Baghdad’s main Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City, warning they will worsen tension as fresh fighting there on Saturday claimed at least 14 lives.
The crackdown in Basra and the fighting in Sadr City are part of a government campaign against followers of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr as well as Shiite splinter groups that the US has identified as grave threats to a democratic Iraq.
Iran’s Ambassador to Iraq Hassan Kazemi Qomi told reporters that his government supports the Iraqi move against “lawbreakers in Basra’’ but that the “insistence of the Americans to lay siege’’ to Sadr City “is a mistake’,’ AP reported.
“Lawbreakers (in Basra ) must be held accountable...but the insistence of the Americans to lay siege to millions of people in a specific area and then bombing them randomly from air and damaging property is not correct,’’ Ambassador Qomi told reporters.
Qomi warned that the American strategy in Sadr City “will lead to negative results for which the Iraqi government must bear responsibility“.
Fighting in both Basra and Baghdad erupted last month when Iraqi soldiers and police launched a major operation against Shiite militias and criminal gangs in the southern port city.
The conflict spread rapidly to Baghdad, where Shiite militiamen based in Sadr City fired rockets at the US-protected Green Zone, killing at least four Americans.
The Iranians helped mediate a truce on March 30, which eased clashes in Basra and elsewhere in the Shiite south. But fighting persisted in Baghdad as US and Iraqi forces sought to push militiamen beyond the range where they could fire rockets and mortars at the Green Zone.
At least 14 people were killed and 84 wounded on Saturday in Sadr City fighting, police and hospital officials said.
Al-Sadr’s followers believe the campaign is aimed at weakening their movement to prevent it from winning provincial council seats at the expense of Shiite parties that work with the United States in the national government.
Qomi also called on people to resolve their differences through dialogue and urged the government to dissolve all militias in the country.
“We are in favor of a strong army in Iraq. All weapons must be in the hands of the government. There are 28 militias that exist in Iraq. We want to see all of them dissolved,“ he said.

Iran has blocked Canada’s request to host the next spring’s assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, citing its strict visa regulations.
The decision on Canada’s request to host the 120th IPU assembly was put on hold by the Iranian delegation to the 118th assembly held in Cape Town, South Africa.
The proposal, supported by parliamentary representatives from Algeria, Venezuela, Sudan, Peru, the Philippines, Syria and North Korea, cited ambiguities in the country’s visa regulations.
“As a democratic institution, the IPU requires the host country to grant visas to all countries associated with the Inter-Parliamentary Union without any discrimination,“ Seyyed Mohsen Yahyavi, secretary-general of Iran’s Inter-Parliamentary Group, told Fars News Agency.
“But Canada’s strict visa policies have undermined its application to host the assembly. Therefore we have called on the union to more closely scrutinize Ottawa’s request,“ he said.
Canada has not hosted the conference since 1985.
The 118th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and its related meetings were held during April 13-18, 2008, with the participation of 140 member-states.

Head of Iran’s Election Headquarters has said about 21 million are eligible to vote in the upcoming parliamentary runoff elections.
Alireza Afshar noted that the eighth Majlis runoff elections will be held in 54 constituencies in 100 cities, IRNA reported.
“A total of 164 candidates, including 12 women, will compete for 82 parliamentary seats in the second round,“ he said.
Afshar noted that unlike the first round, candidates are allowed to display publicity posters in their campaign headquarters.

A Bahraini delegation will travel to Iran on April 23 to survey investment opportunities in Iran’s tourism industry.
According to Peyman Bayat, the head of Investment Department affiliated to Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, the delegation aims to discuss hotel construction with related officials, IRNA reported.
Bayat noted that the delegation, which consists of representatives from trade companies, will negotiate the construction of a modern hotel in the holy city of Mashhad in Khorasan Razavi province.
“So far, three Bahraini delegations have traveled to Iran with the goal of investing in hotel construction,“ he said.

A security agreement between Iran and Turkey is in the stage of finalization.
Announcing this on Sunday, Abbas Mohtaj, deputy interior minister for security affairs, stated that the agreement is ready to be signed by the two countries, IRNA reported.
Mohtaj described his recent visit to Turkey as successful, adding that the security agreement was drawn up during the visit.
Referring to the upcoming parliamentary runoff elections on April 25, Mohtaj said full security has been established for the polls.
“As in the first round of elections on March 14, security forces are well prepared for the event,“ he said.

Iran’s Ambassador to the UAE Hamid Reza Asefi held talks with UAE Justice Minister Hedef bin Juaan Al-Dhahiri on issues of mutual interest.
During the meeting on Sunday, Asefi called for expansion of bilateral judicial ties, IRNA reported.
He also referred to Iranians residing in UAE as a distinguished community, adding that the low number of Iranian prisoners in the country is a proof of such a claim.
Al-Dhahiri, for his part, referred to the Islamic Republic as an important neighboring country.

Iran stands to benefit highly from stability, security and prosperity in Iraq, Iranian representative to the United Nations said in a statement.
Iran’s best interest lies in a democratic and prosperous Iraq at peace with itself and with its neighbors, the statement was quoted as saying by IRNA.
“Therefore, we reject the baseless allegations made against Iran by US officials with regard to Iraq. Undoubtedly, as an immediate neighbor, Iran stands to highly benefit from stability, security and prosperity in Iraq, as it will immensely suffer from insecurity and instability in that country. Iran’s best interest lies in a democratic and prosperous Iraq at peace with itself and with its neighbors,“ it said.
The UN was informed that there has never been any evidence presented by the US officials to corroborate such allegations.
“To the contrary, realities on the ground along with clear statements by Iraqi officials attest to the invalidity of such claims,“ the statement said.
Referring to Iran’s support for the Iraqi political process, the statement said, “Iran has taken concrete steps to help the Iraqi government bring about stability and development to the country, and has been unequivocal in both its strong support for stability and national unity in Iraq and in its condemnation of any efforts to cause instability, insecurity and sectarian violence and terrorism in the country.“
The statement pointed out that Iran has strongly condemned the attacks on the Green Zone where the Iraqi government’s offices and diplomatic missions are located, as it has condemned the attacks on Iraq’s residential areas, including those in Sadr city and Basra.
“These allegations are futile efforts to distract the international community’s attention, along with that of the US public opinion, from the real causes of the problems facing the US in Iraq, which is continuation of foreign occupation and wrong policies and practices on the part of the occupying forces,“ it said.

British boats are seen in this file photo.

Iran has repeatedly called on Britain to hold talks on the possible return of its boats seized in disputed Arvand waters but to no avail.
“One of the issues continually being kept from the British public is that we have on several occasions announced our readiness to return the boats confiscated in 2004 and 2007,“ Mehr News Agency quoted an informed source at Iran’s Foreign Ministry as saying.
“But, for some unknown reason, the British government has ignored our requests,“ the source said on condition of anonymity.
According to a report by the London daily Times on Thursday, British troops, who were held by Iran for two weeks last year, were seized in waters that are not internationally recognized as Iraqi, contrary to what the UK government had claimed.
“Based on accurate information from GPS systems, we provided a set of coordinates and announced that the 15 Britons had violated our territorial waters,“ the Foreign Ministry source said.
The source maintained that the recent report in the British newspaper has exposed the UK’s “deliberate manipulation of data“ and Iran’s righteousness in the dispute.
The recent report adds that the British sailors had apparently pulled their weapons first before the Iranian gunboats neared their boats.

Mohammad Ali Hosseini

Compiled by Davood Baqeri

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini charged US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with fomenting ’Iranophobia’ on Sunday by blaming Tehran for Iraq’s security problems.
Rice claimed last week she would press Iraq’s Arab neighbors at a meeting on Tuesday in Kuwait to do more to support Baghdad’s government and shield it from Iran’s “nefarious influences“. Iran, as a neighbor of Iraq, will also attend the gathering.
“These statements are not new. American officials pursue the policy of Iranophobia,“ Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters in a weekly news conference, IRIB reported.
“Developments in Iraq today are the outcome of the US administration’s illogical policies. The American officials want to externalize the problems they are facing inside Iraq,“ he said, noting that US policies in Iraq had failed.
Hosseini said Tehran would encourage Arab states to be more active in Iraq where Iran, unlike Arab states, has an embassy.
“We have always encouraged those countries to play a more active role inside Iraq...and also resume diplomatic relations and open their embassies and support the political process in Iraq,“ he said.
Although Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic ties for almost three decades, officials from the two countries held three rounds of talks last year to discuss Iraqi security.
A fourth round of talks has faced several delays, although Baghdad has been encouraging discussions to continue.

Heinonen’s Visit
Hosseini also rejected claims presented to the UN atomic watchdog that the country is studying how to develop a secret nuclear program, a day ahead of a visit by a top International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) official.
“These are nothing but baseless and unfounded allegations,“ he told reporters.
“The peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program has already been proven.“
IAEA deputy director general, Olli Heinonen, is due in Tehran on Monday for talks with officials over the country’s nuclear drive, the Vienna-based atomic agency announced on Saturday.
Hosseini played down the importance of the alleged weaponization studies to Heinonen’s trip, which he called a ’normal’ visit “within the framework of Tehran-IAEA cooperation“.
“We have presented our evaluation (to the IAEA) regarding the alleged studies,“ he said, without elaborating.
Iran has repeatedly said that it considers its nuclear case closed after it answered the UN watchdog’s questions about the history of its nuclear activities.

EU Talks
Asked about the possibility of talks between Iran and members of the Group 5+1 on Iran’s nuclear issue, he said the modality issues have been resolved and currently Iran and the IAEA have normalized relations.
The group includes the five UN veto powers plus Germany.
Hosseini reiterated that there are appropriate grounds and good opportunities for dialogue on other issues, regretting that potentials have not been used appropriately.
“Iran-EU relations could be stabilized in a more appropriate manner,“ he said.
Asked whether the visit to Germany of Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari was aimed at making preparations for talks with Group 5+1, Hosseini said his visit had nothing to do with dialogue with that group.
Safari’s visit took place at the invitation of his German counterpart and focused on bilateral cooperation and regional developments.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will make his first visit to India at the end of April.
He will hold discussions with the Indian leadership during his visit, which follows Iran’s refusal to heed United Nations sanctions and freeze its uranium enrichment program.
“Ahmadinejad is coming to New Delhi shortly on his way to Sri Lanka,“ India’s National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan was quoted as saying by the PTI news agency on Sunday.
According to reports, Ahmadinejad is scheduled to arrive in Colombo for a two-day state visit on April 28, during which he will launch a hydropower project and sign pacts for modernizing a Lankan refinery.
The previous visit of an Iranian president to India was of Mohammad Khatami in 2003. The last Indian head of state to visit Tehran was Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001.
The Indian advisor, who was addressing a conference on security affairs in Delhi, called for better treatment of Iran.
Narayanan appealed to the international community: “Please do not treat Iran like any other (nation)“.
“It is a big country; it is a major country with tremendous influence. You need to deal with it diplomatically,“ he said.
India maintains that Iran has the right to develop the peaceful use of nuclear energy, but should also fulfill its international obligations.

Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan, Fada Hossein Maleki, discussed issues of mutual interest with the European Union envoy in Kabul, Francesc Vendrell, in Kabul on Saturday.
According to the Iranian Embassy in Kabul, the two sides exchanged views on international issues and cooperation between the European Union and regional countries for expansion of stability, security, economic prosperity and democracy in Afghanistan, IRNA reported.
The two ambassadors agreed on the necessity of taking more serious efforts to find a political solution for Afghanistan and decreasing poverty in that country.
Maleki also met with President Hamed Karzai and a number of Afghan ministers to discuss issues related to Afghanistan.

Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi arrived in Moscow on Sunday to inaugurate Iran’s first Cultural Week in Russia.
Harandi was welcomed by Russian cultural officials and Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Gholamreza Ansari at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, IRNA reported.
The minister is due to hold talks with Russia’s Minister of Culture and Mass Communications and the chief of Russian Muslims Council.