Leader: Nation Undaunted by Sanctions

Political Desk

Leader of the Islamic revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that pressures and sanctions could not undermine the resolve of the Iranian nation.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remark during meeting with seminary scholars and students as well as people from Qom province in Tehran, IRNA reported.
Stressing that sanctions will have no impact on the Iranian nation, the Leader said that the hegemonic powers seek to discourage people from being present on the scene through imposing sanctions and putting pressure on Iran, but “they are mistaken and will never achieve their goal.”
Ayatollah Khamenei added that Iranian nation has chosen their path with insight and will not yield to pressures to change the path. Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated that while the supposed power of the world hegemony has been waning, the clout and capabilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran have grown increasingly in the past three decades.

Parliamentary Elections
The Leader also pointed to the upcoming March parliamentary elections, stressing that people’s huge turnout in the polls will strike another blow to the enemy.

Ahmadinejad in Venezuela To Cement Ties

Political Desk

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Venezuela to begin a four-nation Latin American tour aimed at boosting relationships with Tehran’s close allies.
It is the Iranian leader’s fifth visit to Venezuela, AP reported.
Ahmadinejad smiled and waved as he stepped off a plane at Simon Bolivar International Airport near Caracas to greet Venezuelan officials including Vice President Elias Jaua on Sunday evening.
Ahmadinejad was to meet with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez on Monday, and the two both plan to travel to Nicaragua for Tuesday’s inauguration of newly re-elected President Daniel Ortega.
He will also travel to Cuba and Ecuador.
US Warning
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dismissed a US warning to avoid close ties with Iran, denouncing Washington’s attempt to dominate the world as he welcomed the Iranian president to the Latin American nation.
“A spokesman or spokeswoman in Washington from the State Department or the White House said it was not convenient for any country to get close to Iran. Well, the truth is, it made you laugh,” Chavez said in a televised speech. “They’re not going to be able to dominate this world. Forget about it (President Barack) Obama, forget about it. It would be better to think about the problems in your country, which are many,” he said “We are free. The people of Latin America will never again kneel, dominated by the imperial Yankee. Never again,” he said, to applause from his audience at an oil processing facility.

Renovation of Dilapidated Schools Expedited

About 6 million square meters of old schools are expected to be renovated by 2014, said deputy education minister for development.

Sensor to Detect Lung Cancer From Exhaled Breath

Tecnalia, through the Interreg project Medisen, is contributing to develop biosensors capable of detecting the presence of tumor markers...

India Seeks Waiver On Iran Oil Embargo

Political Desk

India has expressed concerns over the new US sanctions on the Iranian oil sector, saying it will seek waivers on the embargo to deal with the potential impacts of the measures on its crude supply.
Senior Indian officials are set to begin negotiations with the US to win waivers to minimize the possible repercussions of the US-led sanctions on India which imports more than ten percent of its oil from Iran.
India’s Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai is expected to discuss the matter further during his upcoming visit to Washington.
India’s National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon also met with US Ambassador to India Peter Burleigh on Friday to discuss the issue.
India meets about three-quarters of its crude demands through imports and Iran is its second-largest supplier after Saudi Arabia.
On December 31, US President Barack Obama signed into law fresh economic sanctions against Iran’s Central Bank in an apparent bid to punish foreign companies and banks that do business with the Iranian financial institution.
The bill requires foreign financial firms to make a choice between doing business with Iran’s Central Bank and oil sector or with the US financial sector.

Syria Lashes Out At Qatari Premier

International Desk

Syria’s permanent representative at the Arab League criticized the Qatari prime minister on Monday for his “biased stance” regarding the ten-month crisis in Syria, Syrian state-media reported on Monday.
Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, chairs the Arab League’s committee on Syria, which on Sunday decided to increase the number of observers sent to Syria.
Bin Jassim “placed himself and his country in an awkward position when he tried to speak on behalf of the Syrian people despite him knowing that the greater majority of the Syrian people reject external interference,” Ahmad, who is also Syria’s ambassador in Cairo, said. The Syrian envoy called on the Qatari official to state “who among the Syrian people gave him authorization to speak on their behalf or defend them.”
The Arab League demanded Sunday that the Syrian government immediately stop all violence and allow more monitors in.
Fierce clashes in the south between government troops and military defectors left 11 soldiers dead, activists said. The Arab League also called on other armed parties to halt all bloodshed, an apparent reference to the defectors. Qatari premier said the ministers did not agree to call for UN experts to join the observers’ mission in Syria, but said UN experts will train the monitors in Cairo before they leave.

Linking Trade To Nuclear Program Rejected

A top Chinese diplomat on Monday rejected linking Iran’s nuclear program to trade, adding to tensions with Washington on the eve of a visit by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to seek support for sanctions on Tehran’s oil industry.
A deputy foreign minister, Cui Tiankai, said China’s trade with Iran, an important oil supplier, has nothing to do with the Iranian nuclear program, AP reported.
Washington is pressuring Tehran to abandon what Western governments claim is an effort to develop nuclear weapons, a claim Iran rejects.
Sanctions approved by the US President Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve would bar financial institutions that deal with Iran’s central bank from the US market.
“The normal trade relations and energy cooperation between China and Iran have nothing to do with the nuclear issue,’’ Cui told reporters.
“We should not mix issues with different natures, and China’s legitimate concerns and demands should be respected.’’
China’s fast-growing economy is the world’s biggest energy consumer and obtained about 11 percent of its oil imports from Iran last year.
Industry analysts say Beijing is unlikely to support an oil embargo against Iran because such huge imports would be next to impossible to obtain from other sources.
The sanctions have led to a clash of interests between Washington and key commercial and strategic partners in Asia.
South Korea and Japan also depend on Iranian oil and are negotiating with Washington in an effort to keep supplies flowing. South Korea obtains up to 10 percent of its oil from Iran, while Japan gets nearly 9 percent.

Haniya Promises Difficult Days For Israel

Palestinian elected Prime Minister Ismail Haniya on Sunday promised “difficult days” for Israel, and at a rally in Tunis urged Arab Spring revolutionaries to fight for an independent Palestine.
Ismail Haniya received an ovation from the crowd of some 5,000 men, women and children gathered in a stadium waving Palestinian, Tunisian and Hamas flags, AFP reported. “Israel no longer has allies in Egypt and in Tunisia, we are saying to the Zionist enemies that times have changed and that the time of the Arab Spring, the time of the revolution, of dignity and of pride has arrived,” he said to loud cheers.
“We promise you that we will not cede a single part of Palestine, we will not cede Jerusalem, we will continue to fight and we will not lay down our arms,” he said. He urged “the people of the revolution to fight the army of Al-Quds” as Jerusalem is known in Arabic.

Esteqlal Hoping To Stretch IPL Lead

In the 19th round of Iran’s Premier League (IPL), Esteqlal will meet Damash in Rasht.
According to ISNA, the league pace setter was failed to beat title holder Sepahan in Tehran to extend its lead on top of the table. The capital-based club has collected 37 points. In this match Esteqlal is without Andranik Teymourain, who is facing an injury.
On the other side, Damash with its new coach want to jump in the IPL rankings. The team with 23 points is 9th in the 18-team league table.
Speaking to ISNA, Esteqlal’s top trainer Parviz Mazloumi said, “Damash is a good team. I hope we can beat them in this away game and stretch our lead in the table. Arash Borhani will miss the game due to suspension.”
Recently the managing director of the club Ali Fatollahzadeh said that if Mazloumi will be able to win IPL or Hazfi Cup title his contract will be extended.
Referring to this he added, “Right now I want to focus on my team’s games. We are in two fronts and I want to be victor in both of them.”

US Expels Top Venezuela Diplomat

The United States has declared Venezuela’s consul general in Miami persona non grata and given her until Tuesday to leave the country.
The diplomat, Livia Acosta Noguera, is alleged to have discussed possible cyber attacks against the United States while stationed at the Venezuelan embassy in Mexico in 2008, RIA Novosti reported.
The FBI had been investigating the allegations after four members of Congress wrote to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December raising “grave concerns” about Acosta.
The US authorities would not comment on the reason for the expulsion.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the decision was taken in accordance with Article 23 of the Vienna Convention on consular relations.
Last month, a documentary aired on the Spanish-language network Univision alleged that Acosta had discussed a possible cyber attack against the US government with diplomats from the Iranian and Cuban missions, the New York Times said.
In Caracas, President Hugo Chavez made no mention of the consul’s expulsion in his Sunday radio and TV program but accused Washington of “inventing” Iranian plots to attack the United States from Latin American countries like Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.
For the United States to say “no country should get close to Iran really is a laugh,” Chavez said.
Chavez has long been a vociferous opponent of Washington.

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