TEHRAN, Feb. 11--Iran expects Russia to do its utmost to prevent a resolution from being passed against Iran, an Iranian advisor said on Saturday.
Ali Akbar Velayati, the leader’s advisor for international affairs, made the remark to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting when asked about Russia’s votes in favor of two recent resolutions passed by the UN Security Council against Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, IRNA reported.
“We should not look at international issues plainly. We are not happy with Moscow’s move,“ he said.
However, Velayati pointed out that among the five veto-wielding members of the Security Council, Russia has been most active in trying to settle the nuclear case peacefully.
“It (Russia) succeeded in postponing the adoption of the anti-Iran resolution for one year,“ he said.
He urged the two countries to take practical moves to materialize the strategic views of their presidents to expand mutual relations.
Asked what message Iran wanted to convey to Russia on its peaceful nuclear program, Velayati said that Iran, “in talks with foreign states, has stressed its inalienable right to access peaceful nuclear technology and conduct enrichment activities“.
“It is our inalienable right and our redline,“ he said.

Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel (r) shakes hands with former Iraqi Premier Ibrahim Jaafari in Tehran on Saturday.

TEHRAN, Feb. 11--Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel said on Saturday stability, calm, development and progress in Iraq are among the demands of the Iranian people and system.
“Restoration of stability, calm, development and progress in Iraq are among the demands of Iranian people and system. We consider ourselves supporters of the people, parliament and government of the brotherly country, Iraq, in their endeavor to materialize the objective,“ said Haddad in a meeting with former Iraqi Premier Ibrahim Jaafari on Saturday, IRNA reported.
Deploring terrorist acts in Iraq, the speaker told Jaafari that despite all the problems and calamities that afflicted the Iraqi people and officials since past four years, the road to the country’s prosperity and progress is still open and election of all the members of state institutions and compilation of a constitution in Iraq constitute great victories.
Pointing to current developments in the Muslim world, Haddad said a conspiracy is at work to create discord among Muslims to divert their attention from the foreign enemy.
He noted that the occupier Israeli regime, using the same lever, has become more emboldened and desecrates the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Haddad noted that Americans stepped into the region immediately after the occupation of Iraq under the pretext of liberating Iraqis, but today they are seeking an exit strategy.
He said that the Iranian Majlis is fully prepared to cooperate with the Iraqi Parliament.
Jaafari congratulated the speaker on the 28th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and said Iran has made landmark achievements.
He said Imam Khomeini was a big personality, belonging not only to Iran but also to the world of Islam.
Jaafari said the Iraqi government is strongly following the restoration of stability and calm, and needs the support of all neighboring states, especially Iran.
Noting that Saddam’s execution was a right move, the former Iraqi premier said, “Despite different reactions shown in the world of Islam and the West towards the measure, Saddam was a dictator who ruined Iraq.“
He stressed that Iraq’s occupation will not last long and the day would come when Iraqis will run their country themselves.
Jaafari called for broader cooperation between the Iranian and Iraqi parliaments, especially in the judicial and legislative fields.
Member of Majlis Presiding Board Mohammad Sadeqi and head of Iran-Iraq Parliamentary Friendship Group Seyyed Ali Riyadh were present at the meeting.

TEHRAN, Feb. 11--Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Sunday basically failing governments blame others for their failures.
Mottaki was among the large number of people who joined the Bahman 22 rallies marking the 28th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, IRNA reported.
He made the remarks in response to recent allegations of British Prime Minister Tony Blair that Iran should not be allowed to have a nuclear program.
“Basically, governments who are at the end of their rope and under pressure from public opinion in their constituents try to find scapegoats for their failures,“ he said.
Recently criticisms from his own party against Blair’s blind support for the US policies have mounted.

Mohammad Saeedi

TEHRAN, Feb. 11--A senior nuclear official said setting up atomic power plants and cooperating with other countries and foreign companies are long-term plans of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.
In an exclusive interview with IRNA on Sunday, IAEO’s deputy head for programming, international and Majlis affairs, Mohammad Saeedi, added that while the current Iranian year (ending March 20) marked the stabilization of nuclear energy programs in Iran, nuclear capabilities will be developed next year.
“The development of nuclear technology is inevitable in all sectors of Iran, because we have no other alternative but to ensure our children’s future and develop this technology,“ he said, adding that developing nuclear energy has been the 40-year-old demand of the Iranian nation.
Saeedi noted that Iran has passed new stages of nuclear fuel production which are irreversible.
Asked about the planned installation of 3,000 centrifuges, he said uranium enrichment and nuclear material production programs are continuing within the framework of a plan presented to the International Atomic Energy Agency last year.
“As per this plan, we are preparing the grounds for industrial enrichment which should be launched in the first quarter of 2007. We are facing no technical problem in this sector,“ he said, stressing that IAEA inspectors are monitoring this project.
Commenting on the suspension of IAEA’s technical aid to Iran, the senior official said of the 55 national, regional and trans-regional projects undertaken within the framework of cooperation with the agency, the IAEA will not cooperate with Iran in seven projects.
The UN atomic watchdog agency has halted almost half of its aid programs to Iran, an IAEA report said Friday.
“It is a substantive measure...as aid is a valuable instrument for Iran,“ said a senior official close to IAEA, AFP reported.
The official noted that the IAEA was trying to comply with the United Nation Security Council’s wish “to send a strong message to Iran“.
Saeedi pointed out that the agency will also decide about cooperation with Iran in 12 projects on a case by case basis, stressing that Iranian specialists will do their best to prevent any disruption in its nuclear program by continuing its research activities.
“Essentially, Iran’s nuclear projects have been defined in a manner that does not require foreigners and even the IAEA,“ he said.

TEHRAN, Feb. 11--Iran’s Post Company will deliver the letters of Iranians written in protest to the United Nations Security Council’s anti-Iran resolution to the newly-appointed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
According to Fars News Agency, a large number of people have written letters in Arabic and English to protest the 1737 Resolution passed by the UN Security Council against Iran’s peaceful use of nuclear energy.
People delivered their letters to the company’s stations set up during the nationwide rally to mark the 28th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In their letters, people criticized the apathy of UN chief toward Israel’s nuclear weapons and double standards of the West with regard to the indisputable right of the Iranian nation to nuclear technology.

BEIJING, Feb. 11--Iran’s Embassy in China sent a protest letter to Phoenix TV officials, condemning the broadcast of a report distorting the Iranian scientific achievements in the field of peaceful nuclear technology.
First Secretary of Iran’s Embassy Mahmoud Rezvani said in the letter addressed to the president of the Hong Kong-based TV network Liu Changle that the 90-minute report was a “blatant insult to the noble people of Iran“.
Rezvani urged Liu Changle “to immediately follow up the case and make efforts to correct that“, IRNA reported.
The TV aired a biased report on February 3 providing a distorted image of realities in Iran. It was claimed in the report that the Iranians are determined to develop nuclear weapons.
By misrepresenting the comments made by Iranian officials and people about Tehran’s efforts to acquire peaceful nuclear technology, the report tried to portray a violent image of Iran and Iranians.
Meanwhile, after the protest letter of the Iranian Embassy was received by Phoenix TV officials, a representative was sent to the embassy by the satellite network’s president to offer Changle’s apology for airing the biased report.
Promising that such events would “never happen again in future“, the representative pledged that Phoenix would take measures to compensate for it.
Officials of the satellite network which has taken modest stands toward Iran’s developments have also announced that the report was provided by western networks.
Iran has repeatedly announced that its nuclear program--focused on peaceful purposes such as electricity generation--was being carried out within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency regulations.
The UN nuclear watchdog has repeatedly inspected Iran’s nuclear sites and found no evidence of deviation in the peaceful nuclear program.

MOSCOW, Feb. 11--Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles purchased by Iran have a purely defensive role and present no wider threat in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
“The contract for these missiles was signed long ago. It concerns purely defensive weapons with a range of about 30 kilometers (19 miles), which present no threat,“ Lavrov was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS news agency.
In December 2005, Iran purchased 29 TOR-M1 missile systems for an estimated $700 million (540 million euros). Deliveries were finalized in January this year.
Washington is leading international pressure against Iran’s development of a nuclear power program and says Russia should have cancelled the TOR-M1 sales because of international tensions.
In January, Washington banned Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport from doing business in the United States for two years.
However, Lavrov said “the systems in question do not come under any restrictions and in delivering them Russia did not break any international obligation“.

TEHRAN, Feb. 11--Surveillance cameras demanded by the UN nuclear watchdog have been installed at Natanz nuclear facilities, announced Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization on Saturday.
Installation of cameras would make it possible now for the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor the Natanz nuclear site thoroughly, IRNA reported.
Cameras were installed in the past 10 days ago.