TEHRAN, Feb. 22--Guardians Council cannot disqualify eminent personalities, the interior minister told ISNA on Tuesday.
Commenting on the presidential election slated for June 17, Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari added that the presidential election is different from parliamentary elections.
ÒExecutive boards are in charge of vetting Majlis candidates and Guardians Council will act as supervisor in the second round. However, in the presidential election, the Guardians Council should directly take charge of the vetting procedure,Ó he said.
He stressed that the disqualification of reformist MPs during the last Majlis elections during the vetting procedure will not be repeated.
Lari denied that the Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, has been arrested.

Mark Gwozdecky

WASHINGTON,
Feb. 22--A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency conducted a routine inspection of Natanz this month and said it found no evidence of IranÕs weapons program.
"Natanz is a frozen facility," said Mark Gwozdecky, an IAEA spokesman in Vienna. "The inspectors' job is to ensure that the suspension is in force."
The United States and other Western governments are not so sure about the Natanz facility, about 160 miles south of Tehran, USATODAY.com reported.
One reason is that Iran has refused to give IAEA inspectors visas that would allow them to visit more frequently to check the facility. Delays in providing visas to IAEA inspectors have raised suspicions.
Western officials worry Iran could continue to perfect its centrifuge technology even under the eye of the inspectors.
"Even with intrusive IAEA inspections at Natanz, there is a serious risk that Iran could use its enrichment technology in covert activities," George Tenet, then-CIA director, told Congress in March.
Iran failed last year to get European agreement to continue work on a project for 20 centrifuges at Natanz. In addition, IAEA officials say Iran recently upgraded 164 centrifuges at Natanz and described the operation as routine maintenance, according to the Associated Press.
Hossein Mousavian, a top negotiator with the Europeans on the nuclear issue, says Iran "already has achieved the capability and know-how for all enrichment processes".
It needs enrichment capability to ensure it can supply fuel for a power reactor nearing completion at Bushehr and 20 others it would like to construct, he says.
After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Germany halted work on the Bushehr reactor, despite the fact Iran had paid billions for it.
As a result, "we have to diversify (uranium) sources," Mousavian says. "We have had a very bad experience with Europe ... No one can guarantee this would not happen again."
Mousavian says Iran will guarantee it is not making weapons.
ÒIt is willing to remain a member of the non-proliferation treaty and give the IAEA access to all nuclear sites,Ó he says.
In return, Iran wants an end to its isolation by Europe and full engagement in political, security, economic and technological fields.
"If we had 100 billion euros in European investment in Iran, and if we had Iranian investment in Europe, Iran would never even think of diverting the nuclear enrichment because the damage would be huge for Iran," he says.
The Bush administration has supported the European efforts but refuses to participate directly.
Philip Gordon, an expert on Europe at the Brookings Institution in Washington, describes the US policy as one of "malevolent neglect".
By not joining the talks, he says, the administration can say "I told you so" if they fail. The Europeans, he says, will say "the reason they failed is because the United States did not join us".
Geoffrey Kemp, an Iran specialist at the Nixon Center, a foreign policy think tank, says US ambivalence will be exploited by the Iranians.
"Without a combined approach with the Europeans, the Iranians will drive a truck between the two sides and come out a winner," he said.
Kemp says the United States should clarify what it is prepared to give Iran in return for indefinite suspension of Iran's enrichment program.
Possible carrots for Iran from the United States: help joining the World Trade Organization; the sale of spare parts for Iran's decrepit fleet of Boeing airliners; and the unfreezing of Iranian assets held in the US.

Javier Solana

BERLIN, Feb. 22--Only coordinated cooperation between the European Union and the US can lead to a lasting political and nuclear accord with Iran, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana wrote in an article for Tuesday's edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
"Only coordinated action between the US and EU offers the best chances to further consolidate the progress which we have already achieved with Iran, and lead it to a real success," he said.
He further said the current EU-Iran talks are aimed at "seeking objective guarantees for the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program".
Underscoring its hardline anti-Iran stance, America refuses to support Europe's diplomatic efforts to seal a long-term political and nuclear accord with the Islamic Republic.
In an interview with the French Television Network LCI on Monday, Solana called on the US to adopt a more transparent policy in support of EU's nuclear talks with Iran.
"We should strive to push the diplomacy marked by the European countries vis-ˆ-vis Iran," he said.
He referred to US President George Bush's statements in Belgium, saying "I hope Bush will tackle the issue from a more open-minded position".
"Iran has the right to use nuclear energy for production of electricity," he said.
"The Americans have supported us (on Iran). What we would like is active support because eventually for us to succeed, a more active engagement on the part of the US would be welcome," a senior EU diplomat told journalists in Brussels.
He suggested that the US should adopt a policy toward Iran which was similar to the line taken toward North Korea.
"We will also make another point. We think that negotiations for a possible WTO entrance of Iran would help. It would help because those kind of negotiations would help to open up, to be transparent."
Meanwhile, a leading European Parliament lawmaker of the German Green Party, Angelika Beer, called on the United States to "actively support" Europe's diplomatic Iran initiative by providing Tehran with "positive incentives"-- easing sanctions and giving security guarantees to the Islamic Republic.
"If Bush really has an interest in a peaceful development of the Near and Middle East, he should actively support the European Union negotiations," Beer said Tuesday in an interview with the online daily Netzeitung.
"Don't threaten with a military strike; reason with positive incentives. That's the only possibility to commit Iran to a peaceful use of atomic energy," she added.

TEHRAN, Feb. 22--Visiting Secretary of IranÕs Supreme National Security Council Hassan Rohani met with Tunisian officials on Tuesday in which the two sides discussed regional and international issues.
In a meeting with Tunisian Minister of National Defense Hedi Mhenni and Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry Hatim bin Salim in Tunis, the two countries' officials expressed their readiness to enhance Iran-Tunisia political, economic, cultural, academic and defense cooperation, IRNA reported.
The officials also held talks on restructuring the United NationsÕ charter, increasing the permanent members of the UN Security Council and establishing a rotating membership for countries from the Asian and African continents.
Rohani elaborated on Iran's nuclear policy, saying European capabilities in resolving international issues are being tested through Iran's nuclear talks. He termed uranium enrichment as the main challenge and said international laws have permitted member-states of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) to make use of fuel cycle.
ÒAbandoning the right to have fuel cycle means to give up the legal and legitimate rights of NPT member-states,Ó Rohani said.
He added that terrorism was also among the main challenges of the international security.
Pointing to the US role in the creation of Al-QaedaÕs terrorist group, Rohani said the activities of Al-Qaeda were the main US pretext for meddling in Muslim affairs worldwide.
The Tunisian defense minister, for his part, pointed to the Iranian civilization and its effects on world's progress, expressing his country's readiness to bolster all-out ties with Iran.
He termed the Palestinian issue as the most important problem facing the Muslim world, calling for restoration of the rights of the Palestinian nation and settling the issue based on justice.
Rohani currently is in Tunisia and expected to visit Germany and France.

TEHRAN, Feb. 22--Judiciary Spokesman Jamal Karimi-Rad said no complaint has to date been filed by families of victims or any individual affected by the massive fire that gutted the Arg Mosque in downtown Tehran, killing tens and injuring hundreds of worshippers.
ÒNo complaint has been lodged with the judicial body and Judiciary Chief Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi is insisting that the case be followed with utmost care and sensitivity, and all precautionary actions be taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents,Ó ISNA quoted Karimi-Rad as saying on Tuesday during his weekly news conference.
Asked about reports of tampering with evidence at the scene of the fire before the experts arrived, the spokesman said first-hand observations showed a faulty electrical heater had caused the blaze and there was no reason for any misrepresentation.
He said the reason the place was cleaned up immediately after the fire was to help resume mourning ceremonies marking the martyrdom of Imam Hossein (AS), the third imam of Prophet MuhammadÕs (AS) infallible household.
Karimi-Rad then advised reporters against adding fuel to political and judicial debates regarding certain cases and said he was also critical of the way some sections of the press had covered the judicial procedure and outcome of certain anti-corruption cases.

TEHRAN, Feb. 22--A top official wants the Intelligence Ministry to identify those who will probably use the fake title ÔGulfÕ in their correspondence, Fars News Agency reported.
Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Hassan Rohani, in a letter Tuesday to First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref, urged him to follow up the issue.
He noted that since several commercial and tourism units do not use the full form of ÔPersian GulfÕ in their correspondence, the Intelligence Ministry should take up the matter. It added that Kish and Qeshm free trade zone organizations should change names of streets and other places from ÔGulfÕ to ÒPersian GulfÓ.
Rohani also asked Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry to instruct newspapers, magazines and publishers to avoid using ÔGulfÕ in their articles and advertisements.
ÒCultural Heritage and Tourism Organization should prevent activities of travel agencies that operate under the name of ÔGulfÕ in the country,Ó he said.