|
Weather Guide
|
Tehran
High: 28 - Low: 14
Bandar Abbas
Gorgan
Orumieh
Shiraz
Zanjan
Baghdad
Bern
Kabul
Kuala Lumpur
Muscat
|
|
Identification
|
|
Published by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
Address:
Iran Cultural & Press Institute, #212 Khorramshahr Avenue Tehran/Iran
Chief Editor:
Amir Ali Abolfath
Editorial Dept. Tel: 88755761-2
Editorial Dept. Fax: 88761869
Subscription Dept. Tel: 88329002-4
Advertising Dept. Tel: 88500616-7
Internet Address:
www.iran-daily.com
E-mail Address:
iran-daily@iran-daily.com
|
|
|
|
|
Europe Should Not Cross Redlines
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned European countries against crossing Iranian redlines.
Addressing a joint press conference with his Yemeni counterpart Abu Bakr Al-Qurbi, Mottaki made the remark on Saturday in response to the new proposal made by Group 5+1 in London, IRNA reported.
World powers met in London on Friday and said they would offer new incentives to encourage Iran to halt uranium enrichment.
Iran refused the last such offer made in 2006 and officials have in the past described a demand that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program as a ’redline’. They say it is Iran’s right to carry out such work, the aim of which is peaceful.
“The European countries are well aware of Iran’s redlines,“ he said.
Mottaki referred to his recent meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in Kuwait and said he was informed that on 2nd May, the Group 5+1 would gather in London to write a letter to Tehran.
“I told him that you are quite familiar with Iran’s redlines, therefore you should avoid crossing those lines,“ he said.
Commenting on the recent visit of a Russian delegation to Tehran, Mottaki said, “We have informed the Russian delegation of the content of our proposal package.“
On ties between Iran and Yemen, Mottaki said Iran attaches importance to expansion of its ties with Yemen.
“Iran fully backs Yemen’s territorial integrity,“ he said.
The Iranian foreign minister also predicted that the prospects of future ties between the two countries would be very promising.
“The two sides’ high-ranking officials are to exchange visits in the near future to help broaden bilateral ties,“ he said.
He noted that Iran-Yemen Economic Cooperation Commission is to meet in Tehran in the near future, adding that Iran is now engaged in a number of energy projects in Yemen.
On regional developments, Mottaki said both Iran and Yemen are concerned about current developments in Iraq and Lebanon, stressing that Iran backs the efforts of Yemen to settle problems in those regions.
“We strongly condemn atrocities of the Zionist regime in Gaza and expect the international community to discharge its duties to this end,“ he said.
The Yemeni foreign minister, for his part, said during his meeting with Mottaki, the two sides reviewed the deep rooted ties between Iran and Yemen.
“We do our best to turn into a model for other nations in terms of relations,“ he said.
On expansion of political and economic relations with Iran, Qurbi said Yemen gives priority to expansion of economic cooperation with Iran and believes that establishing good economic relations would help broaden political ties.
|
|
|
Solidarity
The presence of the three heads of powers in the State Expediency Council’s Saturday session once again demonstrated solidarity among the Islamic Republic’s officials and their firm determination to resolve the country’s problems.
Photo shows President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (l), Chairman of State Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (c) and Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel in the session.
|
|
|
Syria:Nuke AllegationsMadness
Syria said US allegations about a weapons-capable nuclear reactor are part of a policy of ’madness’.
Syrian ambassador to nuclear talks, Faysal Al-Hamoui, told the Conference on Non-Proliferation Treaty that US allegations about the reactor were “manufactured in order to create further crisis in the Middle East“.
On Friday, the US submitted a paper to the conference claiming the treaty’s problem was noncompliance by Syria and Iran.
“North Korea assisted Syria’s covert work in building a nuclear reactor capable of producing plutonium and not intended for peaceful purposes,’’ the paper claimed.
The US paper made no mention of allegations that the reactor was destroyed in an Israeli bombing raid in September.
Al-Hamoui said the allegations by the administration of US President George W. Bush were part of a “disinformation campaign“.
“We call upon member-states to exercise caution and not to follow as other people have followed the vein of an administration which can only be described as madness,’’ he said.
Al-Hamoui said Australia and France “lack credibility’’ for referring to the US allegations and for failing to mention the Zionist regime’s own nuclear arsenal.
He said French Ambassador Jean-Francois Dobelle had twice referred to the US allegations.
“France played a major and pivotal role in building the Israeli nuclear program and continues to supply Israel with nuclear technology, which is a clear infringement of the NPT,’’ Al-Hamoui said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tsunami Hits Labour
By Armin Hedayati
Britain’s Labour Party failure in local elections this week can best be described as a slow political tsunami. It has also turned out to be the embattled party’s worst drubbing over the past four decades.
It was Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s first test at the hustings that turned out to be a debilitating blow. How and when the seriously dented image of the Labourites will be reversed is a foregone conclusion, election-watchers said at the weekend.
The Mr. Bin of British politics said after the poll results that his ruling party had experienced a disappointing and “bad night“. Labour slumped from first place to third among the three main British political parties.
It also suffered a major loss in the vote for the London mayoral office and local council elections. In the former, Labour’s Ken Livingstone lost to his Conservative rival Boris Johnson after eight years.
Another factor that makes the Labour downfall almost complete is the fact that it was forced to give away constituencies which traditionally were its bastions.
The vote results, among other things, demonstrate the deep public resentment over Brown’s economic performance.
It was largely assumed that Brown’s premiership would polish Labour’s tarnished image under Blair who, to appease his friend and ally in the White House, dragged Great Britain into the quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now Brits across the Labour political spectrum say they were wrong, and that there is little reason to believe Brown would succeed where his predecessor failed.
The bitter reality is that in the past 10 months after his transition from economic chief to prime minister, Brown have been struggling with some serious economic decline, in particular with respect to food and fuel prices.
Brown’s failure to check the systematically rising prices across the board is all the more troubling because less than a year ago he was admired as chancellor of the exchequer -- a post he held for 10 years.
Undoubtedly, Labour will face mounting difficulties in the coming months as the opponent Conservatives get ready to oust Brown in the next general elections he was due to announce sooner rather than later.
With the week’s wholesale reverse of fortunes, Brown will in the remaining two years before parliamentary elections will strive to give a push to the economy saddled by the US sub-prime crisis, and thereby increase Labour’s chances of staying as the ruling party.
Given the widening economic crisis across Europe and the US, and the fact that Britain has for long been better known as America’s junior partner in all things that have gone wrong, Brown does not seem to have much time. May be he will have to go Blair’s way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
