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Prayer Time (Tehran)
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Dawn: 5:35
Sunrise: 7:00
Noon: 12:18
Evening: 17:56
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Weather Guide
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MON |
TUE |
Tehran: |
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High: |
10 oC |
11 oC |
Low: |
3 oC |
4 oC |
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Athens |
6 |
4 |
Ankara |
2 |
0 |
Paris |
6 |
7 |
New Delhi |
27 |
27 |
Rome |
8 |
11 |
Riyadh |
25 |
27 |
Frankfurt |
0 |
3 |
Cairo |
20 |
21 |
Kuwait City |
20 |
20 |
Karachi |
29 |
28 |
Copenhagen |
-3 |
3 |
London |
6 |
10 |
Moscow |
-16 |
-18 |
Madrid |
10 |
13 |
Vienna |
-3 |
1 |
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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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Nobody Can Take Nuclear Technology Away
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
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TEHRAN, Feb. 5--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a message addressed to the nation on Sunday reiterated Iran’s firm will to uphold its rights on the international scene and said no foreign country has given Iran the nuclear technology to be able to take it away.
“These days, the leaders of certain bullying powers, who are disappointed at not being able to hurt you, have resorted to psychological warfare. By creating an atmosphere of fear, intimidation and terror, they intend to block the progress of talented Iranian youth in every possible manner,“ he said.
Referring to the western claim that Iran does not have the right to conduct nuclear research, Ahmadinejad said, “Their pretext is that Iran may turn toward the atomic bomb. This is while given the extensive inspections of Iranian sites, so far no evidence has been detected to prove this claim. Therefore, I feel obliged to discuss a few points with the nation.“
He stated that the peaceful nuclear technology has been acquired by Iranian youths and scientists, and “no foreign country has given us this technology to be able to take it away from us“.
“Nuclear technology has wide applications in industrial, agricultural, medical and energy sectors, and we cannot meet our long-term socioeconomic objectives without nuclear technology. If we allow foreigners to deprive us of this right, then in the not-so-distant future, we will regret it and have to beg these bullying powers for giving us access to nuclear technology,“ he said.
The president further said these bullying powers are using their leverage in international forums and leveling baseless accusations to prevent Iran from carrying out completely transparent, legal and peaceful nuclear activities, including research.
“Iran suspended its nuclear activities voluntarily and even beyond international norms and standards for some three years in order to promote trust with the West. However, despite this collaboration, the bullying powers did not appreciate our efforts and increasingly made more demands. They know that they cannot do anything against Iran and wish to make us retreat by exerting political pressure on us,“ he said.
Ahmadinejad declared that the government, which is at the service of the nation, feels obligated to firmly uphold the rights of the dignified and brave people of Iran.
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Aqazadeh:
Iran to Stay With NPT, IAEA
Europeans Never Had Good Intentions
TEHRAN, Feb. 5--Europe never sought to build trust with Iran, which not quit the Non-Proliferation Treaty and will continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Gholamreza Aqazadeh said on Saturday.
Speaking to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’s Channel-2 News program, Aqazadeh noted that despite all efforts to build trust, including facilitating 1,400 man-hour per day of inspections and agreeing to measures beyond the Additional Protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it appears that the International Atomic Energy Agency has only now become familiar with Iran and its nuclear program, IRNA reported.
“Despite various negotiations, the Europeans always believed that the only way to build trust is by assuring them that we have completely ceased our nuclear activities,“ he said.
The IAEO chief further said Europeans know that Iranians gained access to nuclear technology through indigenous efforts, but they created international concerns in this respect.
“It is a mistake to assume that Europeans had good intentions. The issue at stake is not building trust, but rather denial of nuclear technology,“ he said.
Stressing that Iran has not quit NPT and will continue to cooperate with the agency, he said, “We did not reject the Russian proposal although it has many fundamental problems.“
Referring to the votes of Russia and China in favor of the IAEA resolution to report Iran to the UN Security Council, Aqazadeh said, “These two countries have considered their own interests and their motives are not the same as the US and European interests. Above all, these two countries have not agreed to imposing sanctions against Iran and voted in favor of the resolution only to inform the UN Security Council (about Iran’s nuclear program).“
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Violence Spreads Over Blasphemous Cartoons
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Lebanese demonstrators gather
in front of the Danish consulate after setting fire to it in Beirut, Feb. 5. (Reuters Photo)
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BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 5--Thousands of Muslims rampaged Sunday in Beirut, setting fire to the Danish Consulate, burning Danish flags and lobbing stones at a Maronite Catholic church as violent protests spread over cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Demonstrators attacked policemen with stones and set fire to several fire engines, witnesses said. Black smoke was seen billowing from the area. Security officials said at least 18 people were injured, including policemen, firefighters and protesters. Witnesses saw at least 10 people taken away by ambulance, AP reported.
Protestors also took to the streets in Afghanistan, the West Bank, Iraq and New Zealand, a day after demonstrators in Syria charged security barriers outside the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus and sent the buildings up in flames.
Those attacks earned widespread condemnation from European nations and the US, which accused the Syrian government of backing the protests.
Anger has broken out across the Muslim world over 12 caricatures of Islam’s prophet which were first published in Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten in September and reprinted in European media and New Zealand in the past week.
Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Mohammed Rashid Kabbani denounced the violence and appealed for calm, accusing infiltrators of sowing dissent to “harm the stability of Lebanon“.
Prime Minister Fuad Saniora also urged peaceful protests.
“Those who are committing these acts have nothing to do with Islam or with Lebanon,“ he said. “This is absolutely not the way we express our opinions.“
In Beirut, protestors came by the busloads to rally outside the Danish Embassy, where they chanted, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad (PBUH) is the messenger of God!“ Some 2,000 troops and riot police were deployed.
The trouble threatened to rile sectarian tensions in Beirut when protestors began stoning St. Maroun Church, one of the city’s main Maronite Catholic churches, and property in Ashrafieh, a Christian area. Sectarian tension is a sensitive issue in Lebanon, where Muslims and Christian fought a 15-year civil war that ended in 1990.
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Peaceful Nuclear Activities to Continue
Support of Cuba, Syria, Venezuela Appreciated
TEHRAN, Feb. 5--Iran holds no negative attitude toward countries that voted against Iran in the recent meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and will continue its peaceful nuclear activities, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Sunday.
“We believe that the US political will seen in the IAEA governing board meeting stemmed from its hostility (toward Iran), but do not think the same about other countries,“ said Mottaki at a joint press conference with his Cuban counterpart, Philippe Perez, IRNA reported.
On the suspension of voluntary cooperation, Mottaki noted that the government is duty-bound to implement the Majlis approval in this respect and, on the same basis, the president has ordered Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization to enforce the parliamentary approval.
He stressed that Iran will continue its peaceful nuclear activities within the framework of the Safeguards Agreement and the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“Our response to the US adventurism is based on insisting on the rights of Iran to enjoy peaceful nuclear technology and we will continue to follow the path,“ he said.
Mottaki thanked those IAEA member-states that supported and defended Tehran’s stances by saying, “We shake their hands sincerely.“
“These countries’ positive move will open another page in the record of bilateral friendly relations,“ he said.
Cuban Foreign Minister Philippe Perez, for his part, said Cuba resolutely supports Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology and uranium enrichment.
“We are opposed to the plans of countries that seek to refer Iran’s nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council,“ he said.
Perez emphasized that Iran’s access to nuclear technology is in compliance with NPT.
Cuba, Syria and Venezuela voted against the IAEA resolution to report Iran’s nuclear activities to the UN Security Council.
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Repercussions
By Mohammad Reza M. Karimi
Twenty-six countries on Feb. 4 not only bowed to the diktat from the United States to report Iran’s nuclear issue to the UN Security Council, but also sold out the global clout of the European Union, undermined the professional integrity of the International Atomic Energy Agency and hammered the last nail in the coffin of the Non-Aligned Movement. This will go down in the history of international relations as a black day.
The EU was touted as a counterweight to the US imperialist hegemony on the global scene. They have repeatedly belied this expectation by acting as a stooge of the US in all important international events.
The IAEA resolution backed by these countries expressed “serious concern that the Agency is not yet in a position to clarify some important issues relating to Iran’s nuclear programme“. This admission of inefficiency, despite the agency’s numerous trips and tests, is a matter of disgrace for the agency and deeply shaming for IAEA members who ignored this lack of evidence simply because they had an axe to grind with the US.
And the NAM had long been tottering on the fringes of irrelevancy. Thanks largely to India, the policy sellout should now consign NAM to the dustbin of history.
The most ironical part of the latest resolution is its stress on the so-called lack of trust in Iran. Who is more trustworthy: Iran or the US and Israel?
The nuke-armed duo has not only attacked other nations but is also currently occupying two countries. While the US has the sole distinction of dropping nuclear bombs on Japan in 1946 and Israel attacked Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, the two are also occupying Iraq and Palestine respectively. This is while Iran has not launched aggression against another country in the last 200 years.
The American neocons said in 2000 that Iran is five years away from nuclear weapons and they are saying the same in 2006.
Doesn’t it ring a bell? They are spinning another Iraqi WMD scenario to take the world on a wild goose chase.
The Bush administration is desperate for any diversion to deflect attention from the failure of his policies at home and abroad. So when the US lights up another fire and the heat rises, that’s when these 26 allies would be ordered to jump from the frying pan.
As far as the Iranian response is concerned, its parliament in November 2005 mandated the government to opt out of the NPT’s Additional Protocol that was voluntarily observed by Iran and to resume uranium enrichment, in the face of a Security Council referral. And that’s what the government intends to do.
What this also implies is that any UNSC action against the government will face the wrath of Iranians for whom the nuclear program has become a matter of national prestige.
What’s more, Iran’s adversaries should seriously weigh the consequences of their actions. Will they achieve their goal of stopping the country’s nuclear program? Their guess is as good as mine.
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