President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (c) presents a plaque of honor to an exemplary teacher in Tehran on Sunday, as acting Education Minister Alireza Ali-Ahmadi looks on.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Iranian nation shoulders heavy responsibility to meet the needs of the world community.
Addressing a ceremony to honor exemplary teachers in Tehran on Saturday, the president said Iran’s progress in the fields of science and technology is in line with the need of the international community, IRNA reported.
The president called for the vigilance of Iranian people against the enemies’ conspiracies.
He said that the government attaches due attention to the status of Education Ministry, calling for advancing the country’s education system.
Ahmadinejad also urged officials to make greater efforts to settle the problems facing teachers.
Prior to the president’s speech, acting Education Minister Alireza Ali-Ahmadi briefed the gathering on the performance of his ministry.
At the end of the meeting, President Ahmadinejad presented plaques of honor to 14 exemplary teachers from among 180 selected teachers.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki (l) shakes hands with his Kenyan counterpart Moses Wetangula in Tehran on Saturday.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki discussed issues of mutual interest with his Kenyan counterpart Moses Wetangula in Tehran on Saturday.
Mottaki said the two countries have good political relations and bilateral cooperation is positive, IRNA reported.
He described the outlook of these ties as ’good’ and underlined the necessity of increasing communications in different fields.
“The two countries have good economic potentials and Iranian companies can be active in the fields of energy, agriculture, construction of dams and power plants and irrigation,“ Mottaki said.
Wetangula said relations between Iran and Kenya are friendly and deep, adding that his country is ready to use Iran’s experiences in the fields of energy, oil exploration and car manufacturing.
He also expressed hope that the 5th joint economic commission can be held as scheduled in Nairobi.
The visiting Kenyan foreign minister also conveyed the Kenyan president’s invitation for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to pay an official visit to Kenya.
In related news, Mottaki called for expansion of bilateral ties between Iran and Ethiopia.
In a meeting on Saturday with Ethiopia’s accredited ambassador to Tehran, Tofiq Abdullah Ahmed, Mottaki called for promotion of trade and economic relations between the two states.
Referring to the great potentials of the Iranian private sector, he said the sector can play a key role in Ethiopia’s development by making joint investments there.
As to Ethiopia’s good potentials in the areas of agriculture and natural resources, Mottaki voiced Iran’s readiness to cooperate in those fields.
The Ethiopian envoy, for his part, called for further expansion of relations with Iran.
During the meeting, Mottaki received a copy of credentials of the new Ethiopian envoy to Tehran.
Also on Saturday, Mottaki met with Ghana’s accredited ambassador to Tehran, Rashed Baba.
During the meeting, the foreign minister stressed that Iran attaches great importance to ties with all African states, adding that there are good opportunities for expansion of economic relations with the African continent.
Referring to Ghana as an important West African country, he called for expansion of cooperation between the two countries’ private sectors.
Baba, for his part, called for greater activities of the Iranian private sector in Ghana and expressed hope that the two countries’ bilateral ties would develop further.

Iran supports the Iraqi government’s fight against militants, the head of a delegation from Iraq’s ruling Shiite alliance said on Saturday after returning from a visit to Tehran.
Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Khalid Al-Attiya, reading a brief statement on Iraq’s Al-Furat television, said the delegation had “important and constructive“ talks with Iranian officials about the security situation in Iraq, Reuters reported.
Members of the United Iraqi Alliance had said the delegation was sent to Tehran to discuss Shiite militias and security in Iraq.
“The delegation saw a positive stance from the brothers in Iran to support the government’s efforts in extending the sovereignty of the state and to fight the outlaws,“ Attiya said.
“The delegation hopes this visit is the basis for strengthening relations between the two neighboring states.“
Members of the delegation, which included several influential officials including at least one close to Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, have not been reachable since they returned on Saturday from their trip, which lasted several days.
Iran and Iraq fought an eight-year war in the 1980s in which hundreds of thousands were killed.
On Thursday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the Iraqis will discuss the latest Iraq developments with Iranians.
“Iranian officials will talk with the delegation in pursuit of the policy for settlement of the ongoing differences and clashes in Iraq,“ Hosseini told IRNA.
Tehran has received the delegation in line with the policy to help restore stability and security in Iraq, he said, adding that the US-led occupation and terrorism are main problems threatening the neighboring Arab country.
“Iran will, as in the past, use all its capacity to help the Iraqi government and people,“ he concluded.
Shiite militiamen, mainly from the Mahdi Army, have fought fierce street battles with US and Iraqi forces since late March in Baghdad’s Sadr City, the cleric’s bastion in the capital.
The firefights fueled the overall bloodshed in April, with at least 1,073 people killed across the country at a time when the US military’s toll also hit a seven-month high.

Yemeni foreign minister lent his backing to Iran’s nuclear program, saying his country reserves the right to attain civilian nuclear technology for all countries.
Abu Bakr Al-Qurbi also told Alalam on Saturday that officials in Sanaa are opposed to production of weapons of mass destruction and warned that the Israeli regime poses a global security threat by stockpiling a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Al-Qurbi said, like any security strategy, a regional framework was required for the implementation of nuclear technology, which could bind all countries of the region.
Iran has defied three UN Security Council sanctions over its refusal to abandon uranium enrichment, saying it is entitled to the nuclear activity stipulated in the Non-Proliferation treaty.
Officials in Tehran stress the country’s nuclear program is solely for peaceful proposes, including electricity generation for a growing population when fossil fuel reserves would eventually run out.

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said western embargos on Iran would fail to stymie the Iranian nation.
In a speech in Nourabad town of southern Fars province, Ayatollah Khamenei said the sworn enemies of the Islamic Republic have been implementing anti-Iran plots for 30 years and are still continuing their hostile policies, Alalam reported.
Vowing to press ahead with the peaceful nuclear program, the leader said threats will not force the Iranian nation to back down.
The statement follows world powers stating that they had prepared a new package to end the crisis.
“Have you not tested the Iranian nation? We will continue on our path with power and not allow oppressors to deny this nation’s right,“ he said.
The United Nations Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Tehran over its refusal to stop uranium enrichment, which activity the Islamic Republic insists is ’non-negotiable’.
Iran has brushed aside western accusations over its nuclear program, saying it is solely for power generation for the growing Iranian population.
Ayatollah Khamenei said “economic sanctions are doomed to fail because Iran possesses immense wealth and abilities“ and “Islam is able to find solutions to all problems“.
On Saturday, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned Britain not to cross ’redlines’ when preparing incentives for Tehran over its nuclear program.
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’.
Mottaki said he recently met his British counterpart, David Miliband, in Kuwait where Britain and Iran were attending a multilateral meeting on Iraq last month.

Following the failure of the Bush’s anti-Iran policy, some sources disclosed that the embattled US president, who claims to be fighting terrorism, has resorted to a terror plot against the Islamic Republic.
According to counterpunch.org, six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret directive authorizing a covert offensive against Iran that, according to those familiar with its contents, “was unprecedented in its scope.“
Bush’s secret directive covers actions across a huge geographical area--from Lebanon to Afghanistan--but is also far more sweeping in the type of actions permitted under its guidelinesÐup to and including the assassination of targeted officials.
This widened scope clears the way, for example, for fully supporting the military arm of Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO), the cultish Iranian opposition group, despite its enduring position on the State Department’s list of terrorist groups.
Similarly, covert funds can now flow without restriction to Jundullah, the militant Sunni cult in Iranian Sistan-Baluchestan--just across the Afghan border--whose leader reportedly has cut his brother-in-law’s throat.
Other elements that will benefit from US largesse and advice include Iranian Kurdish separatists, as well the Ahvazi Arabs of southwest Iran. Further afield, operations against Iran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon will be stepped up, along with efforts to destabilize the Syrian government.
All this costs money, which in turn must be authorized by the US Congress, or at least by a few witting members of the intelligence committees. That has not proved a problem.
An initial outlay of $300 million to finance implementation of the finding has been swiftly approved with bipartisan support, apparently regardless of the unpopularity of the current war and the perilous condition of the US economy.
Until recently, the administration faced a serious obstacle to action against Iran in the form of Centcom commander Admiral William Fallon, who made no secret of his contempt for official determination to take Americans to war.
The US commander in the Middle East, William Fallon, departed from his post. His abrupt resignation in early March followed the publication of his unvarnished views on the US policy of confrontation with Iran, something that is unlikely to happen to his replacement, George Bush’s favorite general, David Petraeus.
A Marine amphibious force, originally due to leave San Diego for the Persian Gulf in mid June, has had its sailing date abruptly moved up to May 4. A scheduled meeting in Europe between French diplomats acting as intermediaries for the US and Iranian representatives has been abruptly cancelled in the last two weeks.
Petraeus is said to be at work on a master briefing for congress to demonstrate conclusively that the Iranians are the source of America’s troubles in Iraq, thanks to their support for the Shiite militia currently under attack by US forces in Baghdad.
Interestingly, despite the bellicose complaints, Petraeus has made little effort to seal the Iran-Iraq border, and in any case two-thirds of US casualties still come from Sunni insurgents.
“The Shiite account for less than one-third,“ a recently returned member of the command staff in Baghdad familiar with the relevant intelligence said, “but if you want a war you have to sell it.“

Mashhad MP Ali Asgari on Sunday gave word of the motion presented to the Majlis Presiding Board for impeaching Commerce Minister Massoud Mir-Kazemi.
According to Mehr News Agency, Asgari, who was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Majlis open session, added that the lawmakers supporting the motion believe that somebody in the Cabinet should assume responsibility for the recent hike in prices of all goods and services.
“Unfortunately no Cabinet member has done that so far,“ he said.
Asgari noted that the commerce minister, earlier in a meeting of Majlis Economic Commission, said the government’s economic policies are responsible for the high prices.
“Nevertheless, the legislators maintain that Commerce Ministry is duty-bound to control the market. The bad omen is that the ministry has not carried out its duty effectively and hence the MPs decided to impeach the commerce minister,“ he said.
Ten MPs should sign an impeachment motion for the Majlis Presiding Board to consider it.

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The senior Iranian official lambasted some officials of Muslim countries for their hesitation in implementing Islamic directives, including respect for the public votes.
“When Muslim youth see that there is freedom of choice in non-Muslim countries, but no parliamentary elections in their own country they feel humiliated. We must respect the people’s choices and seek their views. Consulting is one of the most fundamental Islamic tenets,“ he said.
He also warned about non-observance of women’s rights.
“The arrogant world powers criticize some Islamic countries for not observing women’s right. We should not allow the violation of women’s rights because of some baseless accusations that have gradually penetrated into the Islamic world. There should be no prejudices in the society,“ he said.
The prominent cleric denounced superstitions that have entered the realm of Islam in the wake of the machinations of Israelis and arrogant powers.
“It is necessary that Islamic scholars and professors distinguish such unacceptable thoughts from genuine Islam,“ he said.
Referring to the spread of discord between Shiite and Sunni scholars, Rafsanjani said, “This dispute has spread in the Muslim community like a virus. Why should some permit themselves to focus on historical disputes that are of no use to Muslims? The discord cannot be removed by the mass media, but it is the duty of religious scholars to settle it in an effective manner.“
“The crude and faulty thoughts of a Muslim in Iraq reach a point where he describes himself as a freedom fighter and then carries out a suicidal attack in a mosque where Muslims are praying, kills many Muslims and naively thinks that he will go to heaven. Such faulty thinking is the main dilemma facing the Islamic world and must be resolved,“ he said.
Rafsanjani criticized some Muslim leaders for their cooperation with the Zionist regime.
“They (some Muslim leaders) are not willing to conclude economic accords with regional Muslim countries, but they make friends with those who are Islam’s staunch enemies,“ he said.
He emphasized that the weaknesses of the enemies of Islam are more than those of Islamic states.
“We should not think that only Muslim countries have disputes. In fact, the disputes among western countries are more serious, but they are smart enough to hide them,“ he said.
Rafsanjani pointed out that the presence of North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) forces in Afghanistan and the US forces in Iraq, Persian Gulf and the Indian subcontinent is dangerous for regional Muslim countries and the whole world.
The 21st International Conference on Islamic Unity opened in the presence of 850 thinkers and intellectuals from 45 countries.
Over 100 articles from foreign and domestic authors have been received by the secretariat of the conference, of which 70 were selected for presentation.
Promoting unity and solidarity in the Muslim world and bringing closer cultural and scientific views are major goals of the conference.
The Islamic unity charter, which has so far been signed by over 2,000 Muslim thinkers and scholars, will be discussed by the delegates.