IRAN DAILY

License Holder: (IRNA) www.irna.ir ● Number 4298 ● Sunday August 5, 2012 ● Mordad 15, 1391 ● Ramadan 16, 1433 ● Price 2,000 Rials ● 12 Pages ● www.iran-daily.com

200,000 Housing Units Planned for Iraq

UN Chief Due Late August

Argentina Bans British Ships From Docking

‘Close Up’ Among Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time

Iranian Pilgrims Kidnapped in Syria

New Precision Missile Test-Fired

Iran successfully test-fired the fourth generation of the indigenously-made Fateh 110 precision missile, said Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi.
“The 4th generation of the Fateh 110 precision missile with a range of more than 300 kilometers (190 miles) was successfully test-fired by the Defense Ministry’s Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO),” Vahidi told reporters on Saturday.
He added that the latest surface-to-surface missile with improved precision in targeting and advanced navigation and control systems has been completely engineered by Iranian experts as part of the Islamic Republic’s plan to bolster its military might, IRNA reported.
The Armed Forces can use the Fateh 110 missile to hit and destroy ground and sea targets, missile sites, arms cache, radars and other targets, the minister explained.
He emphasized that Iran is among the few countries in the world capable of producing this type of missile.
The Fateh-110 is a short-range, road-mobile, solid-propellant, high-precision ballistic missile with advanced navigation and control systems.
Vahidi said that Iran’s capabilities are in line with the Islamic Republic’s doctrine of defense and deterrence. “Iran’s capabilities are defensive and will only be used against aggressive countries and those who threaten our country’s interests and territorial integrity,” the minister pointed out.
The Defense Ministry has made great achievements in designing and producing missiles, including the surface-to-surface solid-fuel Sejjil missiles, the long-range Shahab-3 ballistic missile which has a range of up to 2,000 km, and Zelzal and Fateh missiles.

New Method for Increasing Resistance of Car Coatings

A team of Iranian researchers has recently come up with a new method to increase the scratch resistance of automotive coatings.

Efforts for Reinforcing Family

Imam Khomeini Relief Committee (IKRC) is following the guidelines of Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on reinforcing the economic....

Southeast Asia Discovers Credit

More credit is coursing through Southeast Asia than at any time since the region’s 1997 financial crisis, much of it finding its way to an ebullient new middle class in the form of credit cards, car loans and mortgages.
That is fueling strong growth that has helped the region of 600 million people defy a stubborn downturn in the US, Europe and even Asian powerhouse China, making it a firm investor favorite this year with stock markets in Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore all posting double-digit gains, Arab News wrote.
But the wave of credit--on the back of low interest rates, solid economic growth and banks’ robust health--is also producing signs of over-exuberance as traditionally prudent Southeast Asians become more like American consumers in their willingness to spend now and pay later. Young Malaysians already in debt from college are buying smartphones on credit, low-income Indonesians are going into debt to buy motorbikes and Filipino couples are being helped on to the property ladder with generous mortgages.
“Excessive consumption now might be good, but over the next few years if this pace continues I think we will enter unsustainable consumption,” said Aekapol Chongvilaivan, an economics fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Warning Flags
The double-digit annual pace of credit growth in the region has triggered warning flags for some countries.

Israel Losing Int’l Support

The British ambassador to Israel has said international support for the regime among those in the political mainstream is eroding, driven by settlement expansion in the West Bank and continued restrictions on Gaza.
There is “growing concern” in the UK over lack of progress towards peace with the Palestinians, and Israel was now being seen as Goliath against the Palestinians as David, said Matthew Gould, in reference to the biblical story, The Guardian reported.
In an unusually forthright interview for Israel’s Channel 10 news, Gould said he detected a shift among the middle ground of British members of parliament towards a more critical view of Israel.
“Israelis might wake up in 10 years’ time and find out that the level of understanding in the international community has suddenly changed, and that patience for continuing the status quo has reduced,” he said.
“Support for Israel is starting to erode and that’s not about these people on the fringe who are shouting loudly and calling for boycotts and all the rest of it. The interesting category are those members of parliament in the middle, and in that group I see a shift.”
But, he added, Britain was “by no means unique” in its growing concern about the lack of progress towards peace. “Anyone who cares about Israel’s standing in the world should be concerned about the erosion of popular support.”

Rostami Wins Olympic Bronze

World champion Kianoush Rostami of Iran has won the bronze medal in the weightlifting competitions in the London 2012 Olympic Games with an aggregate of 380kg in the men’s 85-kg category.
Rostami, 21, lifted 171kg in snatch and 209-kg in clean and jerk Friday night to bag the first medal for Iran in this year’s Olympic Games. He missed his 214-kg clean and jerk to win the gold, Press TV wrote. Adrian Zielinski collected Poland’s first gold medal in the London Olympics and its first in weightlifting in 40 years as he won a close battle for the 85-kilogram category Friday to break Asia’s grip on the competition.
Zielinski’s total weight of 385 kilograms equaled the result of Russia’s Apti Aukhadov, but the Pole won the gold by virtue of lower bodyweight.
Poland had not won an Olympic gold medal in weightlifting since Zygmunt Smalcerz’s flyweight triumph in 1972, AP wrote.

Sound G5+1 Stand Will Ensure Successful Talks

Tehran, Moscow Rejects Foreign Intervention in Syria

Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said if the six major world powers (G5+1) adopt a rational approach in talks with Iran, the negotiations will have a high chance of success.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that negotiating is the only solution to issues relating to Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy dossier. Nuclear talks can only lead to an appropriate result through negotiation and cooperation,” Amir-Abdollahian said on Friday.
He added that Iran’s rational and sustainable policy of defending its absolute peaceful nuclear energy rights is of priority in the nuclear talks with the G5+1, ISNA reported. The official pointed to a Thursday telephone conversation between Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and said that if the G5+1 takes up a technical and legal approach, instead of a political one, there would be an important step in the negotiations.
“The G5+1 should know that they will not benefit by pursuing the approach of pressure and threat against Iran,” Amir-Abdollahian pointed out.
In his telephone conversation with Ashton, the SNSC secretary called on the G5+1--China, Russia, Britain, France, the US and Germany--to provide a clear response to the ideas put forward by Tehran in the negotiations.
The deputies to Jalili and Ashton held day-long talks in Istanbul on July 24. The meeting between Ali Baqeri and Helga Schmid was held three weeks after Iran and the G5+1 held an expert-level meeting on July 3 in Istanbul with the participation of representatives and experts from both sides.
The two sides had agreed to hold the expert-level talks during their negotiations in the Russian capital, Moscow, in June.

Foreign Intervention Opposed
Russia and Iran confirmed Friday their principal position that the Syrian crisis must be settled without foreign intervention.
During a meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and his visiting counterpart Amir-Abdollahian, both sides also sought an end to violence in the crisis-torn Syria, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“The two sides highlighted the need to end bloodshed and violence in that country, whatever it originates from, without delay to settle the intra-Syria problems by the Syrians themselves with no outside involvement,” the ministry said in a statement.
The two diplomats also urged ‘consolidated international efforts’ for a peaceful settlement to the 17-month Syrian crisis based on UN-Arab League joint special envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan and the Geneva agreements that envisage a Syrian-led transition, the ministry said.

Saudi Arabia Unrest Leaves 2 Dead

Compiled by Javad Mohammad Ali

An 18-year-old Saudi protester has died of his injuries, a day after he was shot in the chest by security forces in the eastern part of the country, Press TV reports.
According to the Saudi interior ministry, Hussain Yousef Al-Qallaf, who succumbed to his wounds on Saturday, was among a number of young protesters who clashed with regime forces in the Qatif region of the oil-rich Eastern Province on Friday.
The ministry claimed that the protesters shot and killed a policeman and injured another as they were patrolling the area.
The deaths bring to 11 the number of people killed in the Qatif area since November in protests by members of Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority over what they see as entrenched discrimination, Reuters reported. “A security patrol was exposed to heavy fire from four armed rioters on motorbikes when pausing at a street intersection in Qatif,” state news agency SPA reported, quoting Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Turki.

Sanctions Aim Iran’s Progress

Ali Akbar Javanfekr
In 2005, the Iranian nation made an unexpected choice and elected someone as president who was outside of the closed circle of power. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with a hopeful heart and unwavering steps, began a path that now, seven years on, has completely transformed the image of the country. His performance record shows the completion of enormous and lasting construction projects in the country. Indexes show that the volume of his administration’s accomplishments and activities exceeds that of the years before and after the victory of the Islamic Revolution combined.
During Mr. Ahmadinejad’s term, Iran turned to a nuclear state and currently 11,000 centrifuges are operating in the country. During the reformists’ term, they had agreed to have 3,000 centrifuges but even that had not been allowed (by arrogant powers). The production of radiopharmaceuticals has begun in the country and is growing rapidly. The rate of Iran’s scientific growth has been several times that of the world average; the number of medical research centers has tripled and production of medicine using advanced technology has grown 12 times.
In Mr. Ahmadinejad’s government, Iran ranked among the 10 top countries in terms of mining, with annual capacities of 340 million tons. Annual cement production capacity rose to 80 million tons, and aluminum production to 457,000 tons. Producing 255,000 tons of copper a year, Iran has been placed among the top ten countries in the field. Tiles and ceramics production of Iran was 380,000 tons in 2011, placing Iran among the first 5 countries in the world. In exporting of non-oil products and gas condensates, we gained the 23rd rank in the world, exporting $50 billion of these products.
The number of households having access to natural gas rose by 70 percent in 2011, hitting 19 millions. In the same year, the number of industrial units using natural gas grew to 50,000, five times that of the figure for 2005. Production of enriched gas grew from 436 million cubic meters in 2005 to 622 million cubic meters in 2011.
Despite the 2.5-fold rise in the number of cars, petrol consumption dropped to 60 million liters a day. While we imported 35 million liters of fuel every day in 2005, the government now exports the same amount on a daily basis.
Also, the total investment volume in oil and gas sector during the 9th and 10th administrations reached $142 billion, two times more than the investments made previously.
During Mr. Ahmadinejad’s 7 years in office, some 10,000 kilometers of highways and freeways were constructed, showing a 3-fold rise compared to the roads built during Mr. Khatami’s term. The country’s port capacity and air cargo capacity have increased 2.4 and 3.1 times, respectively. The number of locomotives and railway cars has also grown by 125 percent and 110 percent, respectively.