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West Wants to Humiliate Muslims
Asefi: Cooperation Not Deadlocked
TEHRAN, Feb. 5--Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad-Adel said on Sunday blaspheming Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the IAEA vote against Iran both pursue the same cause.
Speaking at an open Majlis session, Haddad-Adel noted that the West cannot tolerate Muslim dignity and authority, therefore it is determined to humiliate them, IRNA reported.
“The Muslim world is vigilant. As they have expressed outrage and protest at the blasphemy against Islam’s prophet, they will not keep silent against the bullying remarks passed in the form of the UN nuclear agency’s resolution,“ he said.
The speaker pointed out that Iran is a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and has cooperated with the nuclear agency voluntarily with regard to the implementation of the Additional Protocol to NPT in its peaceful nuclear program.
“Why does the US and Europe oppose Iran’s peaceful nuclear program while they support the occupied regime of Qods’ (Israel) stockpiling of warheads?“ he asked, adding that the agency has not found any indication that the Iranian nuclear program has diverted its civilian nuclear activities.
“We proposed that Europe hold Dialogue Among Civilizations, but it desecrates Islamic sanctities. Surely, they have not understood the new wave reverberating in the Muslim world,“ he said.
Referring to the Majlis ratification that obliges the government to end voluntary cooperation with the IAEA, if Iran were to be reported to the Security Council, he said, “We cannot approve a decision that deprives us of our right.
Otherwise, it preserves the nation’s right.“
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a letter ordered the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) to rescind the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol, maintaining that Iran respects NPT and the Safeguards Agreement of IAEA.
The IAEA’s Board of Governors on Saturday voted to report Iran’s nuclear dossier to the United Nations Security Council.
Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on Sunday Iran does not believe cooperation with the IAEA has been deadlocked.
Addressing his weekly press conference, Asefi said, “The situation has become more difficult but we will cooperate with the IAEA within the frameworks of the Safeguards Agreement and the Non-Proliferation Treaty.“
Asefi stressed the importance of IAEA functioning in a professional and technical manner and said Iran cooperated with the IAEA deputy chief during his visit to Tehran on Safeguards Agreement.
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IAEA Vote Politically-Motivated
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Mohammad Majid Al-Shikh
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KERMANSHAH, Feb. 5--Iraq’s Ambassador to Iran Mohammad Majid Al-Shikh said on Sunday the International Atomic Energy Agency’s vote against Iran was politically-motivated.
“These countries had apparently planned in advance to report Iran’s nuclear case to the Security Council,“ he said on the sidelines of the inaugural ceremony of Iraq’s Consulate in the border city of Kermanshah, western Iran, IRNA reported.
The IAEA’s Board of Governors on Saturday voted to report Iran’s nuclear case to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) without consensus.
According to the reports received from Vienna, of the 35 member-states 27 voted in favor of the resolution on reporting the case to the UNSC, five abstained and three others opposed it.
The Iraqi envoy stressed that the resolution against Iran is nothing but a propaganda and a political move.
“I do not think that Iran’s nuclear case would be referred to the Security Council,“ he said.
Al-Shikh stressed that it is the right of Iran and other nations to use nuclear energy for civilian purposes.
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Public Prevention of Vice Underscored
TEHRAN, Feb. 5--Prosecutor General Qorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi called on the people to revive and implement the Islamic tenet of promoting virtue and preventing vice.
Addressing a gathering on Sunday, Dorri-Najafabadi stressed that the correct knowledge of the Islamic principle is a public obligation, IRNA reported.
He added that an Islamic government presents the ground for humans to achieve perfection.
Dorri-Najafabadi also said confronting movements that are trying to weaken an Islamic government is akin to preventing vice.
“Promoting virtue and preventing vice is performed through appropriate vehicles such as art, pen, thought, language and ethics,“ he said, adding that those who sacrifice humanitarian principles for personal interests are grounds for preventing vice.
The prosecutor general called for strongly confronting those who promote corruption and negligence in society, stressing the importance of awareness, accountability and participation of all social strata, particularly the elites, the three branches of government and those who are preventing vice and promoting virtue.
Referring to the valuable attainments of the Islamic Revolution, Dorri-Najafabadi concluded that any negligence with regard to Islam and the 1979 Islamic Revolution cannot be condoned.
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6m Informal Settlers in Iran
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Social and economic isolation in suburban areas will increase crimes and social misdemeanors.
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ARDEBIL, Feb. 5--Presently six million people or 800,000 families are living as illegal settlers in Iran, an advisor to the national scheme for organizing the country’s informal settlements said on Sunday.
Addressing Ardebil’s city councilors, Farzin Sadraei noted that due to an increase in migration of villagers to cities during the next 20 years, 90 percent of Iran’s population will settle in urban areas, IRNA reported.
Sadraei pointed out that if concrete measures are not taken for organizing informal settlements, the country will face insecurity and crimes in future.
Noting that social and economic isolation in suburban areas will increase crimes and social misdemeanors, Sadraei pointed out that it usually takes between 30 and 40 years for an informal settler to become a real urban resident.
“During this period, city managers face problems, the most evident of which is interference in providing urban residents with suitable basic services,“ he said.
Sadraei further said the plan for organizing informal settlements was first implemented in Zahedan after the World Bank extended a 17-million-dollar loan to Iran.
“There are 120,000 informal settlers in Ardebil, a majority of whom have migrated from neighboring provinces,“ he said.
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Quake Rocks Zabol
TEHRAN, Feb. 5--An earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale hit the outskirts of Zabol, capital city of the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province, early Sunday, IRNA reported.
According to Zabol’s seismological base, affiliated to the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University, the quake occurred at 10:08 hours local time (0638 GMT).
The quake was felt in an area measuring 61.06 degrees longitude and 31.37 degrees latitude.
Quakes of varying magnitudes often occur in Iran, which is situated on some of the world’s most active seismic fault-lines
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Diplomacy
IRAN: Board of Directors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a completely politicized move voted in favor of reporting Iran’s nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council. Britain, Germany and France, which negotiated with Iran over two years on the same issue, as well as the US were behind reporting Iran’s nuclear dossier to the UNSC. Firstly, the fact that the board positively voted to reporting Iran’s dossier to UNSC and negatively voted to referral of Iran’s dossier shows that westerners have already failed to convince all board members to vote in favor of referral of Iran’s nuclear dossier to UNSC. Secondly, diplomatic option is still available and reporting Iran’s nuclear dossier to UNSC does not imply that Tehran should think that its nuclear deadlock cannot be resolved through diplomacy. Hence, Iran should take its time and try to overcome its nuclear problems through diplomatic means.
Rules of the Game
SHARQ: What makes a statesman and a politician distinct from each other is the fact that the former is well-versed in international relations. Hence, it is due to this characteristic of statesmen that people attach credence to them and their statements. European diplomats are exemplary in terms of making optimum use of their diplomatic relations with other countries. European statesmen usually consider their national interests first and then they think how important decisions at the global level would affect their diplomatic relations with other states. To put it differently, Europeans are quite familiar with the rules of the game in the field of International relations. Moreover, they can make optimum use of these rules in their diplomatic and economic ties with other countries.
Book Prize
HAMBASTEGI: Ceremonies marking Iran’s 23rd Annual Book Prize will begin in Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on Monday. Annual book prize has become quite controversial in recent years and many critical articles have been written on this topic. An important consideration amid this all is that there are only a few jurors in charge of judging about books written in different fields. Although people were usually informed about the names of the judges through mass media, no such action was taken this year. Furthermore, no Persian poetry book or novel was considered for the prize. The last thing to mention is that many literary critics feel reluctant to comment on the books that have won the annual prize in newspapers or magazines.
Vital Points
DONYA-YE EQTESAD: The budget bill of each country shows the details of economic activities of the government. In fact, budget bill is a financial document that contains macro information about different governmental sections and subsections. The budget law should enable the government to achieve its objectives in a suitable manner. There are certain vital points pertaining to the government’s budget bill for the next Iranian year (starts March 21). Firstly, the government has not considered a boundary between itself and the private sector. Secondly, the government has not included details of its expenditures and revenues in the budget bill. Thirdly, fiscal and monetary policies should be independent from each other in order to avoid increasing inflation. Fourthly, both fiscal and monetary policies should be prepared in such a way to strengthen the national currency.
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