Iranian experts will introduce six new types of drugs in the current Iranian year (started March 20), said Deputy Health Minister Rasoul Dinarvand on Monday.
He told reporters in Tehran that knowledge and innovation in Iran’s pharmaceutical field is booming, Mehr News Agency reported.
Dinarvand noted that the government has allocated special budgets to scientific plans in the current year.
Earlier, Iran started mass production of human recombinant interferon beta 1, making it the third world state to manufacture the drug.
During the ceremony for unveiling the drug, Health Minister Kamran Baqeri Lankarani noted that Iran is the third country to produce recombinant interferon beta 1, after the US and Germany.
According to the managing director of Exir Company, the drug will be available in drugstores across the country by May end.
Gamma Immunex (recombinant interferon beta 1) is an effective treatment for patients suffering from infectious diseases such as chronic granulomatous and malignant osteopetrosis.
Researchers believe chemically disabled war veterans with lung diseases may also benefit from the new drug.

Olli Heinonen

A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency began talks with Iranian nuclear officials in Tehran on Monday afternoon.
Olli Heinonen, International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) deputy head for safeguards agreement, arrived in Tehran on Monday morning at the head of a delegation and was welcomed by Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran’s permanent envoy to IAEA, at Imam Khomeini International Airport, according to an Iranian official.
The official told IRNA on condition of anonymity that Iranian and IAEA delegations were holding talks behind closed doors at Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO).
According to the official, IAEO’s deputy head for international affairs, Mohammad Saeedi, along with Soltaniyeh were also present in the talks. The Iranian delegation is headed by Javad Vaeedi, deputy head of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) for international affairs.
Hermann Nackartes, head of the regional section of IAEA Safeguards Agreement is accompanying Heinonen in his two-day visit to Tehran.
An informed source also told IRNA that the IAEA delegation will not inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities during its two-day visit and will depart on Wednesday.
Another official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the goal behind Heinonen’s visit was to hold talks on expanding cooperation between Iran and IAEA.
The current negotiations are being held with the aim of showing goodwill in resolving Iran’s nuclear case and reaffirming support for its peaceful nuclear program.

Iran’s Bank of Industry and Mines (BIM) will host the 31st annual meeting of the Association of Development Financing Institution in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) from April 28 to May 1 in Tehran. Addressing a group of journalists on Monday, Mehdi Razavi, BIM’s managing director, said banking officials from 37 countries will take part in the event, adding American-imposed sanctions are doomed to fail, IRNA reported.
He noted that during the four-day event, new strategies and policies in the field of industry will be analyzed.
Razavi termed innovation as the main objective of ADFIAP, adding that increasing the member countries, supporting financial innovations in the field of development and empowering development financing institutions are among the objectives of ADFIAP.
He also noted that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed with Vietnam Investment Bank, citing joint cooperation in establishing investment funds and transfer of knowledge as other goals of the MoU.
Established on October 1, 1976, with 31 charter signatories under the auspices of the Asian Development Bank, ADFIAP is the largest association of the development financing institutions in the Asia and the Pacific. It counts among its members the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

Heshmatollah Falahat-Pisheh

A high turnout in the upcoming Majlis runoff election will consolidate Iran’s position as a functioning democracy, Iranian MP says.
A member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Heshmatollah Falahat-Pisheh, made the remark in an interview with ISNA.
“There was speculation that Iranians would not take part in the Majlis elections, but their massive turnout in the first round was a resounding negation of the false claims that Iran holds sham elections,“ he said. The Islamic Republic’s 8th parliamentary elections were held on March 14, 2008.
The runoff elections will be held on Friday in 54 constituencies in 100 cities across the country, with 164 candidates competing for 82 parliamentary seats.

Iranian airborne radar is shown during ThursdayÕs parade in Tehran.

The army commander said the country is equipped with highly sophisticated military equipment that has not yet been unveiled.
“Today, the Iranian Army is equipped with highly sophisticated military equipment, which it does not deem necessary to show either insiders or outsiders,“ said Major General Ataollah Salehi in Tehran on Monday, Presstv reported.
Salehi added that the airborne radar shown during Thursday’s parade was only one product of Iran’s newly developed military technology.
The commander also said that the Iranian army is capable of producing and maintaining advanced weapons, as it has acquired their technology.
Comparing Iran in terms of military competence with countries that purchase their weapons from western states, he said, “Although some countries that have grown strong thanks to US support possess advanced weaponry, I can assure you that their foreign-supplied weaponry will be of little use if one day they decide to act independently because they do not have access to technology.“
“This is what makes the Iranian Armed Forces undefeatable,“ he added.
On Thursday, marking the National Army Day, Iran’s Air Force performed its biggest-ever aerial parade, showing the world its military prowess.
Tehran witnessed the air maneuvers involving nearly 200 aircraft, including MiG-29, Sukhoi, F4, F5, F7 and F14 fighters, interceptors, aerial refueling aircraft and passenger jet airliners Boeing 707 and 747 in the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
During the show, Iran’s Air Force also showcased its homemade combat and non-combat aircraft, helicopters and drones.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi

A senior Iranian lawmaker said the US has to accept the reality concerning Iran’s achievements in developing an indigenous nuclear capability.
“In the same way that the US has become interested in holding talks with Iran on developments in Iraq, it will have no choice but to apply the same strategy to other issues related to the Islamic Republic,“ Chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, told ISNA on Monday.
He added that Iran’s nuclear case would top the agenda of the next parliament, saying, “MPs of the 8th Majlis should deliberate on ways that will contribute to the settlement of the country’s nuclear case with a view to countering the UN Security Council sanctions against Tehran.“
He noted that Iran is currently stabilizing its nuclear situation and starting work on its first domestically built nuclear power plant.
The MP stressed the necessity of launching new initiatives to settle the ongoing crises in the region, particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq, and improve security along its borders.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei will be traveling to Fars province, officials have announced.
Shiraz’s Friday prayer leader, Ayatollah Haeri Shirazi, and Fars Governor Mohammad Reza Rezazadeh said on Sunday in a joint statement that the leader will be visiting the province on Wednesday April 30, IRNA reported.
It is the leader’s first visit to the province in 20 years, according to the statement.
Shiraz, located in southwest Iran, is the capital of Fars province.
The leader paid a visit to Yazd province in February.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will appoint the head of Supreme Audit Court as the acting interior minister.
SAC President Mohammad Reza Rahimi will be appointed caretaker of the Interior Ministry by the president next week, Fars News Agency reported on Sunday.
After weeks of speculation about a Cabinet reshuffle, Government Spokesman Gholamhossein Elham confirmed on April 9 there would be changes in President Ahmadinejad’s Cabinet.
He announced that the changes would be in the ministries of economy and interior.
Last week, President Ahmadinejad appointed Hossein Samsami as acting economy minister, replacing outgoing Davoud Danesh-Jafari. He officially took over the post on Saturday. On Saturday, however, Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi dismissed speculation that he would be replaced after Iran’s parliamentary runoff elections on April 25.
“I have not heard of it and it is unlikely,“ IRNA quoted him as saying on the sidelines of a conference on immigration.

Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Fada Hossein Maleki, on Sunday strongly rejected the alleged Iranian support for the Afghan anti-government groups, calling it “totally unfounded“.
He told reporters that this is nothing more than a plot, IRNA reported.
Maleki made the remark while responding to a question whether Iran has sent weapons for the Afghan anti-government groups.
“Those who hold direct talks with Taliban should answer this question,“ he said.
Referring to Tehran’s support for the people of Afghanistan during the past three decades, the ambassador said, “The Afghan people have gone through very difficult times in the past three decades and Iranians have always shared the sufferings of Afghan people.“
Maleki also said Tehran is seriously concerned about the presence of US troops in Afghanistan.
“As a country with 940 km of joint border with Afghanistan, Iran is sensitive about the situation in that country,“ he said. “If the US is in Afghanistan for its own interests, it should know that regional states are wary of the occupation of a neighboring state.“
The Iranian envoy noted that the consequences of the presence of other countries in the region would impact regional states and their neighbors, and that’s why Iran feels concerned over the US presence in Afghanistan.
Maleki stressed that the United Nations should take more responsibilities in Afghanistan and help allay the concerns of neighboring states and restore peace and security to Afghanistan.

The death toll from a blast nine days ago at a mosque in southern city of Shiraz rose to 13 after two of the wounded died in hospital.
Two men who had been admitted to Isfahan and Shiraz hospitals died on Monday of severe wounds, ISNA reported.
At least 200 people were also wounded when the explosion ripped through the packed mosque during an evening prayer sermon on April 12.
The original death toll was 12, but according to Mehr News Agency the correct figure at the time was 11 because an unrelated corpse had been counted among the dead from the incident.
Reports soon after the blast described it as a bomb attack, but authorities later denied that and said the explosion was an accident and not sabotage.