President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

NATANZ, Isfahan, April 9--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday Iran has managed to enrich uranium at the industrial scale.
“I’d like to congratulate the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and the Iranian nation on the great [nuclear] achievement,“ he said, criticizing “Western and powerful countries“ for taking a political position on the issue.
According to ISNA, the president, who was addressing a special ceremony in the central city of Natanz to mark the National Nuclear Technology Day, also said that the Iranian nation has encouraged the country’s scientists to develop nuclear technology based on the fact that “Nuclear energy is our inalienable right“.
“Last year, the nation enjoyed great advances in industrial, agricultural, cultural and medical fields,“ he said, adding that the enemies of the Iranian nation are trying to hinder its scientific progress.
He said Iran managed to master the nuclear fuel technology over the past 12 months, adding that it is among few countries in the world capable of enriching uranium at the industrial scale.
Ahmadinejad said Iran’s uranium enrichment program will serve the wellbeing and progress of the Iranian nation as well as world peace.
“There is no way back on Iran’s path of progress,“ he said, stressing that the Iranian nation has so far acted in compliance with rules and regulations set by the Western countries themselves.
“We are still willing to continue on the peaceful path,“ he said, warning Western countries that the Iranian nation has the capability to revise its attitude toward them.
The president said the International Atomic Energy Agency has not reported any violation in Iran’s nuclear activities and that the Western countries also make maximum use of nuclear energy.
He said Iran will continue to work to realize its long-term objective of generating 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power and use the technology in medical sciences, agriculture and industries.
Ahmadinejad also said Tehran would welcome any “legal and just“ approach toward resolving the nuclear issue.
“We will warmly welcome talks with all countries willing to hold negotiations on the issue,“ he said, calling for countries which oppose Iran’s nuclear program to stop bullying, because the Iranian nation is vigilant, supports its leadership and will defend its rights.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, April 9--Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah proposed on Sunday that a referendum could resolve the political deadlock between the pro- and anti-Syrian camps in Lebanon.
A solution to the crisis since the six pro-Syrian ministers walked out of the Western-backed government in November, paralyzing the cabinet, could come through “either organizing a referendum or holding early elections“, he said, AFP reported.
Nasrallah, whose Syrian-backed Shiite Muslim group heads the opposition, has been pressing for the formation of a new government of national unity while the cabinet of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has ruled out early polls.
In criticizing Siniora, the Hezbollah leader said in a televised speech that the way to resolve domestic problems was “not to resort to foreign parties but to the people“.
He slammed a call by 70 anti-Syrian MPs for the UN Security Council to step in and use its power to set up an international court to try those involved in the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri.
Many Lebanese accuse Syria of killing Hariri and 22 others in a massive car bomb in Beirut. Damascus has denied any involvement.
MP Saad Hariri, son of the murdered man, has suggested the UN could act under Chapter Seven which would mean the Security Council could impose its decision on Lebanon.
The United Nations and Lebanon’s government have signed a deal to set up the tribunal, but it must be ratified by the country’s divided parliament.
Lebanon’s pro-Syrian opposition objects to the way the Beirut government has handled plans to create the court under UN auspices and has so far blocked all moves to set it up.
Criticizing the tribunal in its current proposed form, Nasrallah said the court was “conceived in such a way that it would return pre-established verdicts“.
He also said the opposition would not send a counter-request to the UN because “that will signify consecrating the division of Lebanon and the Security Council as a point of reference in this Lebanese constitutional question“.
Hezbollah would not allow itself to be dragged into a civil war, Nasrallah reasserted. “We will continue to use peaceful, democratic and civil means“ of protest.
Nasrallah said the Siniora government was deluding itself by counting on major regional changes to transform the situation in Lebanon, such as a US attack on Iran, another major backer of Hezbollah.

NAJAF, Iraq, April 9--Tens of thousands of people waving Iraqi flags staged a peaceful rally in the southern city of Najaf on Monday to demand the withdrawal of US forces, four years to the day since Baghdad fell to invading American troops.
The streets of the Iraqi capital itself were largely empty after authorities clamped a 24-hour ban on vehicles to prevent any insurgent attacks, especially car bombings, AP reported.
The anniversary comes as Iraq’s Shiite-led government is trying to avert full-scale civil war between majority Shiites and minority Sunnis who were dominant under Saddam Hussein. Sunni and Shiite clerics marched alongside each other in Najaf.
US military spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox said that four years ago US-led forces had “liberated Iraq from Saddam’s republic of fear“. That had allowed Iraqis to exercise their democratic rights and stage protests such as the one in Najaf.
“While there have been substantial accomplishments, the first four years have also been disappointing, frustrating and increasingly dangerous in many parts of Iraq,“ he said.
The protestors in Najaf were responding to a call by powerful anti-American cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, who blames the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 for the country’s woes and wants a timetable set for a US troop withdrawal.
Waving red, white and black Iraqi flags, marchers choked the 7-km-long road between Najaf and neighboring Kufa and clogged streets leading to Sadrayn Square, the main rallying point. Many had come from Baghdad and Shiite towns and cities in the south.
Sadr was not at the rally. He has kept out of sight since the Baghdad crackdown.
His ability to muster such a large gathering was a signal to the Iraqi government and Washington that, despite his absence from public view, he is still a force to be reckoned with.
Speaking against the backdrop of an Iraqi flag, a senior Sadrist, cleric Abdelhadi Al-Mohammadawi, called on US forces to leave. His speech was interrupted by the periodic chorus of “Leave, leave occupier!“ and “No, no, to the occupation.“
“We demand the exit of the occupier and withdrawal of the last American soldier and we also reject the existence of any kind of military bases,“ he said.
Four years ago to the day, the world watched as Iraqis, helped by US soldiers, toppled Saddam’s 20-foot (six-meter) statue in Baghdad’s central Firdous Square. A crowd trampled over what was left of the statue and danced for joy.

TEHRAN, April 9--Iran’s Fashion and Clothing Law has reportedly moved a step closer to implementation following a decision by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to set up a committee to follow up the execution of the groundbreaking law, said a lawmaker on Monday.
Fatemeh Alia, a member of Majlis Cultural Commission, also told ISNA that members of the committee were appointed on Sunday, adding that the law could create strong bonds between Iran’s academic centers and industrial sector. She expressed hope that the law would also reconcile designers with the clothing industry.
“The law has earmarked financial facilities for research activities in clothing-related fields as well as subsidies (for garment production),“ she said.
The MP said the law pursues long-term objectives, admitting that it might not be able to meet the people’s demand for new clothing patterns in the short run.
Under the law, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and the Culture Ministry are obliged to promote Iranian clothing designs and patterns confirmed by the committee and to prevent the promotion of designs that are alien to the Iranian-Islamic culture.
As per Article 3, the Culture Ministry will hold national, provincial and international festivals for promoting cultural cooperation among Muslim nations with the assistance of Commerce Ministry.

ANKARA, Turkey, April 9--Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the Iraqi Kurds on Monday that hostility toward Turkey could result in a “very heavy cost“ for them in the future.
His warning came in response to remarks by Massoud Barzani, the head of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, who reportedly threatened to interfere in Turkey’s affairs if Ankara continued to oppose Kurdish claims on the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, AFP reported.
“A northern Iraq which neighbors Turkey is gravely wrong in the way it is currently acting and this could result in a very heavy cost for them afterwards,“ Erdogan told reporters.
Barzani has “overstepped the line“, he said, adding: “I advise them not to say words they cannot live up to and to know their place because they could be later crushed under those words.“
The Turkish media quoted Barzani as saying at the weekend that Iraqi Kurds would meddle in Turkey’s already restive, predominantly-Kurdish southeast if Ankara continued to oppose their ambitions to attach Kirkuk to their autonomous region in northern Iraq.
Turkey says a referendum on Kirkuk’s future status, scheduled to be held by the yearend, should be postponed, arguing that thousands of Kurds have been moved into the city to change its demography.
Kirkuk is also home to Arabs and Turkmen, a Turkish-speaking community backed by Ankara.
Barzani reportedly said that if Turkey “interferes in Kirkuk over just a few thousand Turkmen, then we will take action regarding the 30 million Kurds in Turkey“.
Following the remarks, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul also conveyed Turkey’s annoyance to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a telephone conversation at the weekend, a senior Turkish diplomat told AFP.
Asked by reporters Monday what Turkey’s response to Barzani would be, Gul only said: “You will see.“
“Barzani’s words are extremely disturbing, unacceptable and are considered as a provocation,“ the English-language Turkish Daily News paper quoted Gul as telling Rice.
Ankara worries that the Kurdish control of Kirkuk and its vast oil reserves would embolden what it believes are Kurdish ambitions to break away from Baghdad.
Kurdish independence, it fears, could fuel the two-decade Kurdish separatist insurgency in adjoining southeast Turkey, which has already resulted in more than 37,000 deaths.
Tensions are already high between the two sides over Turkish accusations that Iraqi Kurds tolerate, and even support, thousands of armed Turkish Kurd rebels who have found refuge in the mountains of northern Iraq.
Ankara has threatened a cross-border operation into the region to crack down on the rebel camps if Baghdad and Washington fail to act against them.