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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 5:27
Sunrise: 6:51
Noon: 12:18
Evening: 18:05
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Weather Guide
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TUE |
WED |
Tehran: |
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High: |
7oC |
6oC |
Low: |
-5oC |
-3oC |
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Athens |
1 |
5 |
Ankara |
0 |
-1 |
Paris |
-1 |
-2 |
New Delhi |
8 |
10 |
Rome |
-3 |
-1 |
Riyadh |
9 |
10 |
Frankfurt |
-6 |
-2 |
Cairo |
8 |
14 |
Kuwait City |
5 |
6 |
Karachi |
11 |
8 |
Copenhagen |
-8 |
-6 |
London |
-1 |
-1 |
Moscow |
-2 |
-5 |
Madrid |
-3 |
-4 |
Vienna |
-5 |
-2 |
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Identification
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Published by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
Address:
Iran Cultural & Press Institute, #212 Khorramshahr Avenue Tehran/Iran
Managing Director: Mohammad T. Roghaniha
Executive Editor: Amin Sabooni
Editorial Dept. Tel: 8755761-2
Editorial Dept. Fax: 8761869
Advertising Dept. Tel: 8753119, 8757702, 8733764
Internet Address:
www.iran-daily.com
E-mail Address:
iran-daily@iran-daily.com
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Hariri KilledIn Bomb Blast
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 14--Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, a political veteran who resigned four months ago after falling out with Syria, was killed in a massive bomb blast in central Beirut on Monday.
Another nine people were killed and about 100 wounded when the explosion ripped through Hariri's motorcade, leaving a trail of carnage and devastation in a busy seafront area in scenes reminiscent of the Lebanese civil war, AFP reported.
More than 350 kilograms (770 pounds) of explosives were used, according to an estimate on state-run Tele Liban.
Media reports said the blast was caused by a car bomb and that the dead included bodyguards of the 60-year-old Hariri, a self-made billionaire and key figure on the Lebanese political scene who was five times prime minister.
No one has yet owned up the blast, which plunged Lebanon into grief and despair and raised fears of a resurgence of sectarian strife 15 years after the end of the civil war.
The assassination came at a time of high political tension in Lebanon and international pressure over Syria's dominance in its political affairs, just a few months before legislative elections are due to be held.
The explosion brought down concrete walls and gouged a crater several meters into the road, leaving a dozen flaming vehicles and debris scattered over a wide area.
Meanwhile, IranÕs Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi strongly condemned the terrorist car bombing in Beirut. He voiced deep sorrow over the incident, expressing sympathy with the families of the victims and the Lebanese government and nation on behalf of the Iranian government and nation, IRNA said.
Asefi said the Lebanese people and government should be fully vigilant and closely watch the conspiracies of those who are against the security and stability of the country.
The attack was condemned from the White House to the Gaza Strip, while Lebanon's former colonial power France called for an international inquiry.
Lebanon's official news agency ANI confirmed the death of Hariri, whose every move in Beirut was normally conducted under tight security, upon his arrival at the American University Hospital.
Weeping supporters of Hariri gathered outside the hospital, many banging their heads in signs of grief.
Among the injured was one of Hariri's former ministers, Bassel Flayhane, who suffered burns and whose condition was described as serious.
Hariri's rise was a rags-to-riches story. Born to a poor farmer in the southern city of Sidon, he became one of the world's 100 richest people credited with spearheading Lebanon's postwar reconstruction.
A Sunni Muslim, he headed five governments from 1992, but later became a thorn in the side of Beirut's political masters in Damascus and resigned as premier in October after disputes with pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud over the role of Damascus in Lebanon.
The attack was swiftly condemned by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad as a "terrible criminal act", the official news agency SANA said.
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US Urged to Join EU Initiative
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14--The United States must join Europe's effort to persuade Iran to abandon nuclear ambitions or face either Tehran as a nuclear power or the need to invade the country to prevent it, a leading Democratic lawmaker said on Sunday.
"We're at odds with our European friends, and it doesn't leave many options," Sen. Joe Biden, the ranking Democrat on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told "Fox News SundayÓ, Reuters reported.
Biden said the effort of Britain, France and Germany, on behalf of the European Union, only had the chance to succeed if the nations were willing to invoke economic sanctions, including on Iranian oil sales.
The three countries have been trying to persuade Iran to scrap potentially weapons-related activities in return for economic incentives.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer signaled a tougher tone on Sunday, warning Iran it would be referred to the UN Security Council for possible action if it restarted nuclear enrichment.
Iran denies it is pursuing nuclear bombs.
Biden said the Bush administration, which says it does not rule out any option to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, had to be willing to sign on to a "genuine nonaggression pact."
"This is a case where we're remaining to sit on the sidelines," Biden said. "The three European countries that are negotiating with the Iranians are saying, 'Look, we've got to get in the deal with them. We can't just sit on the sidelines.'"
Biden criticized Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for indicating recently that the United States might not sign on to a deal with Iran even if it forswore a missile capability and nuclear weapons in a verifiable way.
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Moin Promises Greater NatÕl Strength
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Mostafa Moin
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TEHRAN, Feb. 14--Presidential candidate Mostafa Moin said on Sunday he will boost national strength by respecting the rights of every citizen and forming an efficient government.
Addressing academics of Mashhad University, Moin also said a collective decision on the basis of scientific management and democratic means would give momentum to the reform process.
Noting that justice forms the basis of every social step, he promised to fight inequality and discrimination and respect the rights of citizens.
"I have entered the electoral scene to help the university serve the country and take the university from the periphery of social affairs to occupy center-stage," he said.
Moin, also a former Higher Education Minister, further said his platform is based on helping citizens enjoy their constitutional rights and mobilizing the university to empower the entire society in light of respect for individual rights.
He stressed that the university plays an effective role in upholding the citizensÕ rights and national strength.
"The main thing that the university can do is uphold fundamental rights and civil rights, and carry out reform. The strength of science and university is interlinked with national and Islamic strength. Reliance on learned people will create new capacity for human resources," Moin said.
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Iran Ranks 40th For Generating Knowledge
Eminent Iranian Scientists Locally-Trained
TEHRAN, Feb. 14--During the first six weeks of 2005, Iran surpassed its closest rival Ukraine in terms of registered scientific documents and ranked 40th in the world, vice president of InstructorsÕ Training University, Mir Fazlollah Mousavi, told ISNA on Monday.
ÒBased on the data of Institute for Scientific Information, during this period IranÕs registered scientific documents amounted to 651 and UkraineÕs 582. In the same period, IranÕs registered scientific articles reached 617 and UkraineÕs 561,Ó he said, noting that Ukraine had surpassed Iran last year in the two categories.
Mousavi pointed out that in the past 10 years UkraineÕs total registered scientific documents were 44,429 against IranÕs 14,413.
He expressed hope that by the end of 2005 IranÕs ranking would improve further.
The official also noted that 10 Iranian scientists from the universities of Shiraz, KermanshahÕs Razi, Hamedan, TehranÕs Medical Sciences and Amir Kabir as well as IsfahanÕs University of Technology were among the top scientists of the world.
Stressing that these scientists were educated inside the country, Mousavi said, ÒThis reveals that the domestic doctorate programs are of good quality. LetÕs bear in mind that doctorate programs have been conducted since last 20 years only, while other countries have been offering doctorate programs for over a hundred years,Ó he said.
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UN:
Egypt Failed to Report Nuclear Activities
VIENNA, Austria, Feb. 14--The UN atomic agency has determined that Egypt is guilty of repeated failures to report nuclear materials and activities, and this is "a matter of concern", a senior diplomat close to the agency said Monday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also found traces of plutonium in the so-called hot cells, the diplomat said, reading from a report by the agency, AFP reported.
He noted, however, that Egypt is cooperating in the investigation and that the incidents were small, with some taking place as long as 40 years ago and could be related to research into the nuclear fuel cycle rather than part of an atomic weapons program.
The Egypt report will be submitted to a meeting that opens in Vienna February 28 of the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors, which decides whether to take nations that violate safeguard before the Security Council.
The diplomat said Egypt's undeclared work was small scale and not comparable to Iran or even to South Korea, a non-atomic-weapons state which has admitted carrying out rogue nuclear experiments.
ÒThe experiments the IAEA is looking into involve making uranium metal, which could be used to make weapons-grade plutonium, and carrying out the first steps of uranium enrichment by making uranium tetrafluoride,Ó the diplomat said, noting that Egypt did not do any enrichment.
Egypt admitted on January 27 to failing to signal a "number of research experiments" to the IAEA, after diplomats said the agency was investigating an Egyptian lab that could be used to make plutonium, a nuclear weapons material.
The reprocessing laboratory is at Egypt's Inshass center, 35 kilometers (20 miles) northeast of Cairo, where there are two research reactors, and consists of "hot laboratories, procured from France in the early 1980s, which allow for treatment of spent fuel and laboratory-scale plutonium separation," a diplomat said.
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Abbas Sees "New Era" in Middle East
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Mahmud Abbas
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BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS, Feb. 14--Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said the Palestinians and Israel are embarking on a "new era" after more than four years of violence, according to a New York Times interview published on Monday.
Abbas told the newspaper, in comments that appeared on its website, that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who reached a ceasefire deal with the new Palestinian leader at a Feb. 8 summit, is speaking a "different language", Reuters reported.
He praised Sharon's plan to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 in the West Bank this summer as "a good sign to start with" on the road to peace.
"And now he (Sharon) has a partner," said Abbas, who was elected on Jan. 9 to replace Yasser Arafat on a platform of non-violence and reviving a US-backed peace ÔroadmapÕ envisaging the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Asked if the armed Palestinian uprising that began in 2000 after peace talks collapsed was a mistake, Abbas replied: "We cannot say it was a mistake. But any war will have an end."
Abbas said the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups, which have pledged to suspend anti-Israeli attacks while weighing the truce, were committed to "cooling down the whole situation, and I believe we will start a new era".
Both militant factions "want to come to power if they can" in legislative elections in July, "and if they win...it is their right," he said.
"Now Hamas and Jihad are running for elections, and what does it mean? It means they will be converted in time into political parties," Abbas said.
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Dealing With EU3
By S. Sadeghi
Another round of negotiations between Iran and three European states over our nuclear program ended at the weekend. The extended talks have become one of the hot subjects in both the local and foreign media in recent months.
Progress (of which there is little) in the sensitive deliberations, results obtained so far and the flexibility that each side is demanding from the other are indeed important.
Europe seems to be serious this time around and wants to play a key role in resolving the dispute because it could not play a part compatible with its status in the Afghan and Iraq wars. The EU is also not unaware that hawks in the Bush team are making noises about Ògoing after IranÓ after the resolution of the Iraq crises.
For more than a year Europe has made many promises to Iran, but delivered nothing in substance. As a first step the EU3 called on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities in exchange for nuclear technology and meaningful economic collaboration. Iran complied to demonstrate its good intentions to the international community and build confidence.
Consequently, the International Atomic Energy Agency was allowed freedom to inspect every Iranian site that it deemed necessary to remove the ambiguities surrounding IranÕs civil nuclear program.
Now it can be said that a large part of the international pressure exerted on Iran in the past months has been reduced due to the flexibility and openness shown by Tehran in talks with the Europeans. Sources close to the Iran-EU talks maintain that under the conditions both sides are satisfied with the negotiations.
Related to the same subject they point out that as the US-engineered Iraqi crisis was coming to some sort of solution, George Bush got a second term. His victory almost coincided with elections in occupied Iraq.
With increasing focus of pro-Israeli Washingtonian rulers on the Middle East and especially IranÕs nuclear program, a new anti-Iran propaganda campaign has been unleashed by the White House.
Furthermore, the Europeans claim Tehran is not making enough progress on the human rights front. Europe, which has come to accept, albeit reluctantly, AmericaÕs dominant role in the world after the conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq, has proposed that America join its nuclear talks with Iran.
Needless to say, the offer was not received well by the Bush team as the Europeans had expected. Last week US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice rejected the idea of her government participating in the negotiations.
Iran remains a key unresolved issue for the US foreign policy think tanks. European officials note they are at a loss to make any decisions about Iran without US consent.
They have often said that their American counterparts are regularly briefed on their interaction with Tehran.
So, a logical question that arises is whether Europe is a reliable negotiating partner at this stage.
If we accept that most of the concessions and privileges the Europeans have announced will not see the light of day without US approval, then it would make little sense to keep our uranium enrichment program suspended.
It is crucial that in talks with the EU3 our reps proceed in a manner that France, Germany and the UK respect the Paris Accord and deliver on their declared commitments vis-a-vis our programs to employ nuclear technology for civilian use.
We must do our best to convince the Europeans to adhere to some respectable level of independence in the nuclear talks. They also need to know that unwanted and unhelpful US interference in the negotiations remains a red line for the Islamic state.
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