TEHRAN, May 20--The draft on holding the next round of parliamentary and presidential elections concurrently, which was rejected by the Guardians Council, is no longer on the Majlis agenda.
According to IRNA, the draft--assumed to have been referred for final decision to State Expediency Council (SEC)--was rejected by parliamentarians in the Majlis open session on Sunday.
Of the 215 MPs present, 107 lawmakers voted in favor of not sending the draft to SEC after a report by Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission was released on Sunday.
The commission had proposed the removal of the draft from the Majlis agenda.
Having scrutinized the bill twice, the Guardians Council announced on May 9 that the draft is against Iran’s Constitution.

Brigadier Esmaeel Ahmadi-Moqaddam

TEHRAN, May 20--A top law-enforcement official criticized the police treatment of hooligans on Sunday by calling it unacceptable.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with sports managers of the Islamic Republic of Iran Police, IRIP Chief Brigadier Esmaeel Ahmadi-Moqaddam added that some police forces humiliated hooligans in public while it is the judiciary’s responsibility to deal with them, IRNA reported.
“Humiliating hooligans and parading them indecently in public are not acceptable. When we learnt about it, we demanded an explanation from the police officers involved,“ he said, adding that putting the public spotlight on hooligans requires the permission of Tehran’s prosecutor.
“We want to let people see the hooligans and file complaints against them, if they were harmed by them,“ he said.
The IRIP chief noted that confronting hooligans is part of a national drive, which will continue.
Referring to statistics about drug addiction in the country, Ahmadi-Moqaddam said researches show there are 400,000 heroin addicts and 900,000 opium addicts in Iran.
“If addicts were to visit recovery centers, they will not be treated as a criminal,“ he said, pointing out that some 700,000 use drugs for recreation.

TEHRAN, May 20--Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Iran will not discuss mutual issues with Americans unless they change their policies regarding Iran.
Speaking in his weekly press conference on Sunday, Hosseini said the May 28 meeting between Iran and the United States will be held in the presence of Iraqi representatives within the specific framework of security issues and the responsibilities of occupying forces in Iraq.
“We will remind them [US] of their responsibility to ensure security in Iraq and delegate more authority to the Iraqi government,“ he said, adding that the presence of foreign forces and terrorists is behind Iraqi insecurity.
Asked about the details of negotiations, he said no agenda has yet been set, adding that the framework of negotiations is based on what the leader of the Islamic Revolution has defined.
Commenting on rapprochement with Egypt, Hosseini said Iran’s ties with regional and Muslim states are not marginal issues.
“We have not yet received a definite message from the Egyptians. What President Ahmadinejad brought into limelight in connection with resumption of political ties with Egypt is related to the whole world of Muslim and regional states,“ he said.
Hosseini also said regional countries can establish relations with each other based on their interests and expediencies, if great powers do not interfere.

Mohammad Reza Baqeri (c), deputy foreign minister for Arab and African States, talks to Iran DailyÕs Sadeq Dehqan (l) and Al-VefaqÕs Mokhtar Parto, in Tehran on Saturday. (Photo by Abolfazl Nesaei)

The second and last installment of Iran Daily’s exclusive interview with Mohammad Reza Baqeri, deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, is also focused on the ramifications of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent visit to the Persian Gulf littoral states of Oman and the United Arab Emirates during May 13-14. Excerpts follow:

Do you think that the media propaganda during this trip affected negotiations?
We should have closer relations with the UAE because enemies do not want us to have good relations. They want to exploit the distance between the two countries. This is the old divide and rule policy. I’d like to point out that a great deal of effort was made to aggravate misunderstandings between Iran and UAE. Even after the trip, they said President Ahmadinejad has made promises to the Emirati officials, but it’s not true.

Dick Cheney, the American vice president, earlier visited UAE. Did it influence Ahmadinejad’s decision to visit this neighboring country?
Dick Cheney’s visit had no effect. We discussed America’s presence in the region for plundering Iraq’s oil resources and humiliating the Iraqis. The UAE also stressed on the necessity of ending the US occupation of Iraq. It was interesting for them to see Iran inviting Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and Arabs to unite. We also discussed regional security issues and agreed that if the region’s security is ensured by its own peoples, it will be sustainable.

Did you discuss regional security issues in the Emirates? I mean what was your offer to them? Are UAE and Oman ready to sign security agreements with Iran?
We believe that we can sign security agreements with the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council; therefore we invited its six member-states to sign a security agreement. We even went further and said that we are ready to sign joint defense agreements, which means Iran is ready to stand beside them if they’re attacked. They welcomed our proposal and we hope to see them discussing the issue in their meeting. They said they are ready for free trade with Iran in return.

Iran announced its readiness to revive ties with Egypt. Does it have any preconditions?
Both Egyptians and Iranians like each other and one can actually see this. During our trip to Egypt on the nuclear issue, we saw that both the Egyptian officials and people like Iranians and Iran is considered a model by them. We also view Egypt as a great country with an ancient civilization. We have had some problems in the past and it’s now time to solve them.
However, there are some elements that prevent the two countries from reviving their ties. In any case, the two countries are interested in reviving their ties and they will do that.
When President Ahmadinejad was asked about relations with Egypt, he said that we’re ready. He explained that if Egyptians announce their readiness, we will reopen our embassy in Cairo immediately. Both countries have interest sections but not political relations. They enjoy trade relations and Iranian commodities are exported to Egypt. We have even discussed the production of Iranian car Samand in Cairo.
Iranian cultural officials visit Egypt regularly and their cultural officials also reciprocate. If Egyptians announce their readiness, we will have no problem in reviving these ties.

What is Egypt’s view and the basic reason for differences between the two Muslim states?
They will have representatives for talks like us. We will hold negotiations to come to a joint conclusion. The main reason for the distance between the two countries is a third element.

Could you expand on the third element?
Americans create obstacles. For reviving ties, the two countries should have a strong political will.

How determined are the governments of Iran and Egypt for solving their problems?
The Egyptian people are interested in Iran and their officials are also keen on reviving relations. As for Iran, when the president makes such positive remarks, it shows that we are also interested.

Was there any determination in previous governments for reviving ties with Egypt? If so, why didn’t it materialize?
The previous governments were also interested in ties with Egypt, but as I said the third element prevented that.

Is Iran ready to overlook certain issues for reviving ties with Egypt?
We can stick to our principles and also have ties with others. That’s why I say once again that we do not want to cut ties with other countries. Some might say why don’t you then revive your relations with the US? Our officials, including President Ahmadinejad, have stressed it several times that if the US stops its conspiracies and interferences we see no obstacles to reviving relations. We do not have any problem with the American people and our cultural personalities can visit the US. Our problems are political because they still want to interfere in the internal issues of other countries and behave like a guardian.

Iran recently agreed to hold talks with Americans on Iraq. Will these talks be effective while the leader of Islamic Revolution said in a recent speech that Iraq does not concern the US?
Americans should realize that they are not the guardians of Iraqis and that they are not speaking on behalf of Iraqis. The Americans are occupiers and responsible for the killings, explosions and unrest in that country. We are not ready to discuss the interests of the occupying country. If anyone, including the US, says that it’s ready to talk for the betterment of Iraq and that Iran can help as a strong neighbor, we are ready to negotiate from this standpoint. But if Americans consider themselves guardians of Iraq and if they want to solve their own problems through talks, that is not acceptable to us.

TEHRAN, May 20--More than 400 Iranian researchers along with experts from nine countries will visit Perspolis, Fars province.
The researchers are hosted by the First International Conference of Medical Universities, which will be held during May 23-25 in Shiraz, IRNA reported.
Experts from England, Russia, Japan, Philippines, Sudan, India, Italy and Canada will deliver speeches in the conference.