Turks protest Israeli mosque burning

Hundreds of people have taken to streets of Istanbul burning Israeli flags in protest at a recent attack against Palestinian mosques by Israeli settlers.

The demonstrators -- who rallied after the Friday prayer in the Turkish city's monumental Fatih Mosque -- chanted anti-Israeli slogans and warned of massive demonstrations against aggressive Israeli policies in the occupied Palestinian territories, IRNA reported on Saturday.

The latest anti-Israeli march comes after a May 4 case of "arson" in which Israeli settlers reportedly broke into a mosque in a village near the northern West Bank city of Nablus and set fire to the Muslim house of worship.

The blaze caused damage to the building, desecrating the Islamic site by charring holy books and prayer carpets.

Israeli authorities in the civil administration, however, have voiced doubts about the Palestinian claim, claiming that the fire could have been caused by an electrical short circuit.

The Palestinians, on the other hand, have condemned the latest arson attack and argued that all evidence indicated that Israeli settlers were behind the case.

The arson attack took place as US mediator George Mitchell arrived in the region to make a push for restarting the dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Since its establishment after the Second World War, Israel has either destroyed or seized more than 1,000 mosques in the occupied territories, IRNA quoted Palestinian officials as saying.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125790§ionid=351020204.

Anahita temple imperiled by construction work

The latest observations by reporters have revealed that the ancient temple of Anahita is threatened by construction materials stored around the historic site.

The Mehr News Agency reported that iron beams and spars were stored around the Anahita Temple in Kangavar in the province of Kermanshah.

The news agency released pictures showing some concrete footings at the site that have not yet dried out.

The construction facilities stored around the invaluable temple and the concrete footings have outraged archeological experts into voicing their concerns over the issue.

The construction work at the site has begun despite the fact that the heritage regulations forbid any constructions around cultural heritage sites.

The Anahita Temple is the second oldest stone structure in Iran after Persepolis. It is believed to hold a vast amount of historically significant artifacts and evidence of life and civilization dating back to 200 BC.

The building is believed to have been a temple dedicated to Anahita, the goddess of water, fertility, war and the patroness of women.

The remains at Kangavar reveal an edifice that is Hellenistic in character and yet displays distinctly Persian architectural traits.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116547§ionid=351020105.

Iran says arrests 4 suspects in prosecutor's killing

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran has arrested four suspects in the killing of a prosecutor in an attack which a judiciary official said may have been carried out by Kurdish guerrillas, Iranian media reported on Tuesday.

Vali Haji Gholizadeh, prosecutor in the northwestern city of Khoy in a region bordering Turkey, was shot dead in front of his home on Monday night.

"So far, no group has claimed responsibility for this terrorist act," provincial judiciary chief Mohammad Ali Mousavi was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.

"But in view of the threats and plans the PJAK group had announced previously, it is probable that this group is involved in the assassination," he said.

Iranian security forces often clash with guerrillas from the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which took up arms in 1984 for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey.

Like Iraq and Turkey, Iran has a large Kurdish minority, mainly living in the Islamic Republic's northwest and west.

Iran sees PJAK, which seeks autonomy for Kurdish areas in Iran and shelters in Iraq's northeastern border provinces, as a terrorist group. The United States, Iran's arch foe, in February last year also branded PJAK as a terrorist organization.

Khoy's governor, Ebrahim Mohammadlou, said four suspects had been arrested in connection with Monday's assassination.

He said the city's prosecutor appeared to have been killed by "hostile anti-revolution groups," the semi-official Mehr News Agency added.

The assassination took place six days after a remote-controlled bomb killed a university scientist in Tehran. Such incidents are relatively rare in Iran, which borders volatile Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

Iranian officials have blamed the United States and Israel for the bombing attack that killed the Tehran University Professor, Massoud Ali-Mohammadi. The United States dismissed the allegation of U.S. involvement as absurd.

An Iranian opposition website said he was a supporter of opposition leaser Mirhossein Mousavi.

Iranian lawmakers to increase in number

Iran's Interior Ministry said Monday that it is studying legislation to increase the number of lawmakers in Parliament by twenty.

Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said the bill would have to be approved by the Ahmadinejad cabinet before being sent to Parliament to be put to vote.

Najjar said legislation is being drafted based on studies of geographical and political divisions within the country, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.

There are currently 290 lawmakers in the legislative body. According to Article 64 of the Constitution, 20 people are added to the members of Parliament every 10 years.

Brigadier General Najjar said the bill is expected to be completed by the end of the Iranian year in March.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116456§ionid=351020101.

Iran to take legal action against ISSF for PG games

Iran says it will take legal action against the Riyadh-based Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF), one day after the athletic games planned in Tehran for April were canceled.

On Sunday, ISSF called off the athletic games scheduled for Tehran because of Iran's use of the term "Persian Gulf" on medals and pamphlets.

According to the federation, Iran "did not abide by the rules of ISSF " and "did not follow the decisions taken by the general assembly of the federation at a previous meeting in Riyadh."

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast criticized the move on Monday, saying that the Tehran government keeps the right to take legal proceedings against the federation for annulling the games at a time when Iran had already made the necessary preparations.

"We will pursue the issue given the costs and expenses inflicted upon us and their illegal demand”, he noted, adding that the Foreign Ministry and the National Olympic Committee will take legal proceedings against the move.

Mehman-Parast added that since the games were mainly aimed at strengthening the bonds between Muslim states, the use of lame excuses to postpone the games will prove to be a wrong and baseless approach.

The Iranian official stressed that the historical body of water in southeastern Iran has always been referred to as "the Persian Gulf" and any attempt to corrode this term is against UN regulations.

He added that Iran will do everything in its power to preserve the internationally-recognized term of the "Persian Gulf" for the 990 km long body of water that starts from Arvand Rud and ends at the Strait of Hormuz.

"We will never allow Arab states to discourage the use of the term 'Persian Gulf'," noted the Iranian Foreign Ministry official. "The region has always been, and will always be, the Persian Gulf."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116442§ionid=351020101.

Iran proposes two awards to UNESCO

The Iranian National Commission for UNESCO proposes founding two awards, the Ferdowsi and the Sheikh Bahaei to the international organization.

Mohammad Reza Saeidabadi, Secretary General of Iranian National Commission for UNESCO told ISNA that Iran aims to found the awards in the areas of cultural heritage and job creativity to promote the country's role in UNESCO programs.

“The Ferdowsi award, which is under the review process, is to be dedicated to the cultural heritage field,” Saeidabadi said. “The award may be finalized within a few months.”

Ferdowsi is renowned for his magnum opus, the Shahnameh, or the Book of Kings. He devoted over 35 years of his life to the creation of this treasure, which has a unique position in Persian literature.

The Iranian poet is honored for his efforts to regenerate Persian and Iran's cultural traditions after the Arab conquest of the seventh century.

“The Sheikh Bahaei award recognizes activists who have made important contributions to job creativity and who have been a source of support, motivation and inspiration for people around the world,” he added.

Sheikh Bahaei lived almost 400 years ago, and was a philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. He has a recognized legacy of 88 articles, letters and books along with poetry in Persian and Arabic.

As the architect of Isfahan's Imam Mosque, he demonstrated his knowledge of architecture and geometry.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116440§ionid=351020105.

Ahmadinejad warns against NATO's eastward expansion

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says NATO's eastward expansion does not serve the interests of the countries in the region.

"They (NATO) are ready to expend the prestige and [undermine] the national interests of all regional countries" to serve their own interests, Ahmadinejad said during a meeting with Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze in Tehran on Monday.

Countries in the region should strengthen their relations in order to prevent outside interference, he added.

The Georgia foreign minister said Tbilisi is keen to expand relations with Tehran.

He pledged that Georgia would "not act against Iran" at international organizations.

Earlier, Vashadze met with his Iranian counterpart Manoucher Mottaki.

Vashadze said Georgia welcomes Iran's participation in all regional projects.

He also expressed support for Iran's nuclear energy program.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116498§ionid=351020101.

Iran 'mulling to downgrade' ties with Britain

Amid tension in ties between Iran and Britain, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says Tehran is considering to sever relations with Britain in 12 working fields.

"Iran has carried out a thorough study on its relations with Britain in different fields particularly over the past six months," Mottaki said in an address to the 19th International Conference on the Persian Gulf in Tehran on Monday.

"There are 10-12 working fields between Iran and the UK. We are currently reviewing each area," he added.

He asserted that the Islamic Republic would make a final decision about the issue.

Dozens of Iranian lawmakers have expressed their support for a bill which calls for severing diplomatic ties with Britain.

Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, one of the authors of the bill, blamed British policies for the Tuesday bombing in northern Tehran, which claimed the life of an Iranian nuclear scientist.

Abtahi also criticized Britain for recognizing the Monarchy Organization of Iran (Anjoman-e Padeshahi-e Iran) as a legal entity, and said that London would go even further to insult the Islamic Republic, should Tehran fail to take a strong stance.

He then called for the closure of the British Embassy in Tehran arguing that should the mission remain open, "the Iranian people would not have a moment of peace."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116435§ionid=351020101.

Tehran air pollution exceeds acceptable level

Tehran's Air Quality Control Company (AQCC) has warned that the daily air pollution level in the capital is higher than an acceptable level.

“The level of air pollution in the Iranian capital Tehran has crossed its acceptable level,” IRIB quoted the AQCC Director Yousef Rashidi as saying on Monday.

“The environmental standard of harmful substances in exhaust must meet Euro-3 and Euro-4 specifications. However, Tehran norms hardly meet the Euro-2 standard,” he said.

“Officials in Tehran were supposed to upgrade 20 percent of the gas stations to the level of Euro-4. Recent air quality control sampling showed the stations are far above the expected level,” Rashidi noted.

The Euro 4 standard specifies a maximum of 50 parts per million of sulfur for diesel fuel, according to the United Nations Environment Program Web site.

“We can not measure the level of some polluting elements in Tehran because of limited facilities and expensive processes,” said Rashidi.

“Tehran has been experiencing higher level of sulfur dioxide than India and Bangladesh,” Rashidi commented.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116430§ionid=3510212.

Ex-Tehran prosecutor should stand 'trial'

The head of an Iranian parliamentary panel which blamed Tehran's former prosecutor for the death of three post-election protesters said Sunday the accused should stand before a judge and present evidence about the case.

Saeed Mortazavi, the former Tehran prosecutor who is now a deputy to the country's prosecutor general, has dismissed the charges.

He wrote a letter to Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Saturday, a copy of which was carried by Fars News Agency, saying he could not have ordered the detention of 147 protesters in Kahrizak prison — where at least three young men were killed last summer — as he was "on leave during the main period."

The protesters were rounded up after demonstrations erupted following the presidential election in June 2009.

Mortazavi said he supports the decision of his judges for taking actions against "thugs" in the riots who were wielding knives and daggers. He also warned against publicizing the report.

The parliamentary panel tasked with investigating the deaths pointed the finger of blame at Mortazavi for keeping the detainees in Kahrizak prison for "four days in a 70-square-meter (750-square-foot) space without ventilation in the heat of summer, hygienic standards, food and water, in addition to beating and intimidation by prison guards."

Parviz Sorouri, the lawmaker who heads the panel, told Mehr News Agency that the report was "based on undeniable evidence and documents" gathered by his team.

The lawmaker insisted a tribunal should be established to consider the panel's report. "Mr. Mortazavi should also present his evidence in this court," Sorouri said.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116381§ionid=351020101.

Iran's "WWII compensation commission" meets in Tehran

A task force assigned by Iran's president has begun their work in estimating the amount of damage inflicted on the Iranian nation during the Second World War.

The compensation commission, consisting of representatives from Iran's main ministries and organizations, concluded their first meeting on the task in Tehran Saturday.

Earlier this month, President Ahmadinejad had called for the need to demand reparations from the West for the damages inflicted on Iran during the world war that raged between 1939 and 1945.

At the outbreak of the conflict, Iran, which had declared its neutrality, was simultaneously invaded by Britain and the Soviet Union on August 26, 1941.

Iran served as a source of oil and a transit route for American war materials to the Soviet Union -- what the Allies came to call their "victory bridge" or the "Persian Corridor," as it was known.

Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States together managed to move over 5 million tons of munitions and other war materials across Iran to the Soviet Union.

The war had dire consequences for the ordinary citizens of Iran.

Thousands of Iranian civilians, from laborers and drivers to skilled mechanics, were forced to work the "little Detroit's" truck assembly plants at Iran's northern city of Andimeshk. In one year, 648,000 vehicles were built in Iran for shipment to the Soviet Union.

Severe inflation imposed great hardship on the lower and middle classes, while fortunes were made by individuals dealing in scarce items.

The country's population also suffered food shortages, as the invading forces had bought up most of the grain intended for the Iranian marketplace.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116376§ionid=351020101.

Hezbollah Accuses Arab Leaders of Caving to U.S. Pressure

BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah accused Arab leaders Saturday of caving in to U.S. pressure to bring the Palestinians back to peace talks with Israel.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah made the statement after meeting Friday with the political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Last week, the Obama administration laid out a bold shift in its Mideast peace strategy, stepping up pressure on Israel and the Palestinians to resume stalled talks by moving immediately to negotiations on the toughest issues dividing them, like the borders of a Palestinian state and the status of Jerusalem.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said last week that dealing with those matters first would eliminate Palestinian concerns about continued construction of Jewish settlements in disputed areas. The Palestinians have refused to return to talks until such building stops.

A Hezbollah statement said Nasrallah and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal discussed "the ongoing political movement to resume negotiations under Israeli conditions." It added that this shows "the level of retreat and weakness in the official Arab position facing Israeli dangers and American pressure."

President Barack Obama's special envoy, George Mitchell, is expected in the region this week to press for a resumption of peace talks.

Source: Fox News.
Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583194,00.html.

Young Iranian footballer sets Guinness record

A young Iranian footballer has been entered in the Guinness Book of World Records for being able to roll a tennis ball from his foot to his shin.

The bid by Iranian soccer whiz, Mehdi Hob Darvish, to set a world record ended in success Friday after he proved he could juggle a tennis ball on his shin 144 times a minute in Dubai. Officials from Guinness were present when the record was set.

The Deputy Iranian Consulate-General in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, Ali Naraqi, praised the achievement, noting that throughout history, Iranian youth have made quantum leaps in the realms of science, culture and sports.

Hob Darvish is currently training to set a world record of juggling a tennis ball for 10 hours straight on his shin.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116271§ionid=3510211.

Mousavi: Enemies behind scientist's assassination

Former Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi says Iran's enemies are behind the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Masoud Ali-Mohammadi.

"The depressing martyrdom of the renowned physicist and Tehran University academic, Massoud Ali-Mohammadi signifies this harsh reality that the enemies of Iran are set to take advantage of today's critical situation to pursue their own interests," said Mousavi.

"This criminal action is definitely a part of a huge plan that obliges all of us, irrespective of our political tendencies, to give it some thought to discover its other aspects," he added.

Iran's former prime minister sent his condolences to the Iranian nation, the academics and the family of the slain scientist.

Massoud Ali-Mohammadi was killed on Tuesday, January 12, after a booby-trapped motorcycle blasted near his home.

Iran's Foreign Ministry has announced that it has found traces of US and Israeli involvement in the assassination of the Iranian nuclear physics scientist.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116270§ionid=351020101.

Iran's police pledges security for scientists

Iran's Police Force has vowed to protect Iranian scientists and researchers against attempts made on their lives by providing the necessary security provisions.

"We were tipped off about the possibility of a [terrorist] attack. However, we suspected that installations in another place may be targeted," ISNA quoted Iran's Police Chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, as saying on Friday.

Ahmadi-Moqaddam was referring to the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist, Dr. Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, who was killed during a remote-controlled bomb attack in the Iranian capital on Tuesday.

The police chief said that Iran's Intelligence Ministry and the Police Force had launched a joint investigation into the scientist's death

He added that, from now on, Iranian scientists would be protected by uniformed or under cover security teams.

Authorities in Tehran say US or Israeli linked groups are responsible for Dr. Ali-Mohammadi's assassination.

In a Thursday speech, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed Tel Aviv for the attack, saying that the assassination method resembled tactics usually used by Israel.

Addressing a gathering in the southern Province of Khuzestan, Ahmadinejad said that the enemy was trying to obstruct Iran's path to scientific success.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116251§ionid=351020101.

Iran dispatches humanitarian aid to Haiti

Iran's Red Crescent society says it has dispatched about 30 tonnes of humanitarian aid including food, tents and medicine to quake-ridden Haiti.

"Iran's relief supplies were sent to Haiti via a cargo plane Saturday morning," Head of Iran's Red Crescent Ahmad Esfandiyari said.

Tents, sugar, tuna fish and detergents are among Iran's aid supplies to the disaster-hit nation.

The devastating earthquake that hit the nation has prompted countries across the globe to forward medical teams and relief supplies to the country in order to assist the survivors of the tragic incident.

Three Brazilian Air Force planes have also left Rio de Janeiro with a field hospital and medical equipment to help the victims. The United States has dispatched troops and ships to assist in earthquake rescue and recovery efforts.

US President Barack Obama says Washington will spend 100 million dollars for humanitarian aid and relief efforts.

European authorities have pledged millions in aid, both through Brussels and individually. The pledges include 6 million pounds from Britain, 3 million euros from Spain, 3 million euros from the European Commission, 2 million euros from the Netherlands and 1.5 million euros from Germany.

The European development ministers are due to gather in Brussels on Monday to see how to start reconstruction of the devastated land.

Although the Untied States and Europeans, such as France and Spain were quick to respond to the quake and send rescue teams to the country, UN peacekeepers have been warning that Haitians are increasingly angry that aid has not been distributed quickly enough.

A devastating earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck Haiti on 12 January 2010, killing hundreds and affecting thousands more.

Haitian Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime says the death toll from the devastating earthquake that hit the nation could reach 200,000.The earthquake is the largest to have hit Haiti in over two hundred years.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116253§ionid=351020101.

Hezbollah, Hamas urge support for resistance

Hezbollah and Hamas leaders in Beirut call for Arab and international support for the popular resistance against the "hegemonic policies" of the US and Israel in the region.

Speaking at the Arab-International Support the Resistance Forum on Friday, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah described Israel as an expansionist regime established by "hegemonic powers" to push ahead their policies in the Middle East.

He said the separation wall in the West Bank, the siege on Gaza and the deadly three weeks-long war against Gazans were all aimed at crushing the resistance in Palestine.

Nasrallah assured that the moves had failed to shake the resolve of Palestinian and Lebanese activists and only strengthened their will to fight occupation.

He also warned the Muslim world against Israeli and US plots to deface anti-Israeli resistance and called for support against Tel Aviv's psychological war and threats of a new offensive on Gaza.

The conference is attended by representatives from 65 Arab and international union.

Addressed the conference, Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal regretted doubts within the Arab and Muslim community and the need for conferences to explain the significance and legitimacy of resistance in Palestine.

He stressed that resistance is a legitimate right of every nation enshrined in all international laws.

The senior Hamas official said Israel considers Gaza as the weakest link in the Muslim world and a war against it the easiest it could wage. He, however, cautioned that any Israeli war would face strong resistance from the Palestinians.

Gaza will be the real killer of Israel, he said.

On Egypt's construction of an anti-tunnel steel wall on the border with Gaza, Meshaal urged Cairo not to take actions against its "Muslim brothers in Palestine but against its Israeli enemy."

He suggested the move was politically-motivated, saying security considerations could not justify such a move by an Arab nation against another Arab nation.

Gaza will never be a source of threat to Egypt, Meshaal underscored. It is the frontline in the resistance against Israeli occupation whose absence would have forced other Arab states to establish their own resistance movements.

Meshaal said his Hamas party was willing to hold direct talks with the Palestinian Authority led by the rival Fatah party to resolve the differences and establish unity among the Palestinian nation.

Meshaal is in Beirut for talks with top Lebanese officials.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116212§ionid=351020203.

Nasrallah vows to defeat Israel if a new war erupts

Beirut - The chief of Lebanon's fundamentalist Hezbollah movement, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, vowed Friday that Israel would be defeated if a new war erupts in the region. "The resistance (Hezbollah) is being subjected to psychological warfare, but we will defeat Israel and change the face of the Middle East in the event of a confrontation," Nasrallah said in a speech to the Arab International Forum for Supporting the Resistance.

"I promise you ... in any coming confrontation, we will foil the aggressors' objectives, defeat the enemy, achieve a historic victory, and change the face of the region," he said via video link to delegates at the UNESCO Palace in Beirut.

"Lebanon has abandoned the myth saying 'Lebanon's strength is in its weakness' to the more truthful 'Lebanon's strength is in the solidarity of its army, people, and resistance'," he added

Hezbollah and Israel were embroiled in a 33-day war in 2006 which destroyed most of Lebanon's infrastructure and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

Nasrallah said his movement had got where it was despite what he called the worst Arab situation and "being stabbed in the back" by some forces.

"The resistance is still facing many threats topped by defamatory accusations of committing crimes, drug trafficking and blind submission to Iran and Syria," he said.

Nasrallah was referring to a report published last week in the German magazine Der Spiegel, claiming his movement is using drug trafficking in Europe to gather funds.

Hezbollah is financed by Iran and supported by Syria.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304010,nasrallah-vows-to-defeat-israel-if-a-new-war-erupts.html.

'West using Israel as proxy to dominate Mideast'

Wed, 13 Jan 2010

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad slams the US, Britain and Israel for what he calls instigating another war in the region.

Speaking to thousands of people in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, Ahmadinejad said that the fabrication of Israel and the sending of arms to the Middle East were aimed at dominating the region and maintaining Western interests.

"The Zionist regime [of Israel] has been fabricated for the sake of dominating the Middle East region," he said. "Realizing the fact that they cannot achieve their goal through deception, they have resorted to military expeditions, launching wars and occupation."

President Ahmadinejad said that even the 9/11 attacks are believed by many experts to have been a US-Israeli plot to occupy Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Iranian president slammed Saudi Arabia's involvement in the Yemen war, saying that Riyadh had better used its weapons against the Zionists.

"The arms sold by the West to Saudi Arabia are being used against the people of the region and Muslims instead of protecting them against the Zionists," Ahmadinejad said, urging the Saudi government to contribute to the establishment of peace in Yemen.

The Iranian president also urged Yemeni parties to resolve the crisis through negotiation, be wary of the plots hatched by the enemies and protect the region from insecurity.

"Insecurity will help the arrogant powers of the world to interfere in regional affairs and we should hamper the opportunistic objectives of the enemies."

The president also urged the Pakistani government and nation to maintain their unity and be vigilant in the face of US plots.

"The US is only thinking of its own interests and the Pakistani people and government should not trust the United States," President Ahmadinejad said.

Addressing the global arrogance, the Iranian president said that they have faced a deadlock and the people of Iran and the region have today realized their schemes and will resist their conspiracies.

"You have no choice but to end your inhumane actions and respect the rights of the Iranian people and the region," he said, emphasizing that they would not be able to harm the people of Iran in any manner.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=116071§ionid=351020101.

Ahmadinejad begins regional tour in Tajikistan

Mon, 04 Jan 2010

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has arrived in the Tajik capital on the first leg of a regional tour that will also take him to Turkmenistan.

Ahmadinejad, heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, was officially welcomed by his Tajik counterpart Emamali Rakhmon on Monday.

The two presidents plan to hold talks on ways to enhance bilateral cooperation in fields including trade, judiciary, mines and geology, cultural heritage and tourism.

Presidents of Iran and Tajikistan will issue a joint statement.

On Tuesday, Ahmadinejad will fly to Turkmenistan where he will jointly inaugurate a second gas export pipeline to Iran with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

Iranian and Turkmen officials are to discuss Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway, promotion of trade ties, transportation and energy.

On his three-day visit, Ahmadinejad is accompanied by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Oil Minister Massoud Mir-Kazemi, Minister of Road and Transportation Hamid Behbahani and two lawmakers.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115297§ionid=351020101.