Manouchehr Mottaki

MASHHAD, Khorasan Razavi, Aug. 18--Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has outlined the prospects of Iran’s active presence in the international arena in the future.
“We are going to witness a very bright prospect due to the strong foreign presence in the coming years,“ he said in this northeastern city on Friday.
Speaking at a banquet thrown in his honor by the province’s governor general, he said, “The prospects of this presence are already clear.“
The minister said the main mission of Foreign Ministry is to strive to safeguard national security, secure national interests and promote ideological and cultural principles of Iran.
Addressing the gathering, which included a group of Iranian ambassadors, the minister said the policy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is based on self-esteem and the motto of “We Can“.
“This policy encourages a more active role played by Tehran in domestic and foreign arenas,“ Mottaki said.
The Iranian ambassadors are in Iran to attend a seminar to review the latest domestic developments.
Addressing a press conference in Mashhad, Mottaki said the Iranian ambassadors’ acquaintance with the latest domestic economic, social and cultural developments calls for new steps to be taken with other nations.
The foreign minister added that numerous debates would be held in the seminar during the next two days in Mashhad.
“A part of our discussions would be about Iranians living abroad and the problems they are entangled with, including our students, elites and merchants residing, or temporarily living overseas, and the way our representative offices solve them,“ he said.
Mottaki also said discussions on international developments would be held on the second day of the seminar on August 19 in Mashhad, about which the Foreign Ministry would present more details later.

TEHRAN, Aug. 18--Majlis Research Center said on Saturday one of the reasons for the US and Western countries opposing Iran’s nuclear program is to prevent other countries from following the same path.
The center’s Political Studies Office examined the effect of probable sanctions on Iran’s nuclear diplomacy and said in a report that the US is imposing restrictions to prevent Iran from becoming an independent nuclear country, IRNA reported.
“Information and knowledge form the main basis of power in today’s world, therefore Iran’s efforts for gaining access to nuclear technology have given rise to the US opposition,“ the report said.
The center further said those who intend to intensify sanctions against Iran should understand that they will not be successful, because Iran has various commercial partners and many countries will not support the US sanctions.

TEHRAN, Aug. 18--Former President Mohammad Khatami said the failure of nationalist and socialist movements and “isms“ has created greater inclination toward Islam.
Speaking in a meeting with members of the International Institute for Dialogue Among Cultures and Civilizations, Khatami said the Islamic identity in recent periods has led to the formation of a kind of resistance in the Middle East against tyrants and arrogant powers, IRNA reported.
“The West wants to dominate the world and this is imperialism,“ he said, adding that imperialists in the Middle East have been blocked by the Islamic identity of nations.
Referring to Islamophobia as the main problem of the Muslim community, Khatami called on Muslim nations to beware of the extensive psychological warfare and media propaganda of the West against Islam.
“Today the world of Islam is facing challenges due to the animosity of the West and Zionists,“ he said.

Manmohan Singh

NEW DELHI, India, Aug. 18--India says Iran’s nuclear issue should be resolved through peaceful talks, as Iran has the right to nuclear technology.
“I told President Bush, I can’t be a cheerleader or be part of a warmongering group. The nuclear dispute with Iran should be resolved through peaceful processes,“ Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told India Today.
He also said that it was not in India’s interest for Iran to become a nuclear weapons power, although it had the right to have nuclear energy as an NPT member.
The prime minister’s comments came in an interview conducted over two months back but just published, while he was returning from the G-8 Summit of Industrialized countries in Germany. Singh had met Bush and other world leaders during his trip in June.
The Indian government has come under fire for giving the impression that it is under US pressure about Iran.
Earlier, a senior American senator said no one can “practically or reasonably“ ask India to disengage from its relationship with Iran.
Senator Joseph Lieberman made the remark when he was asked by journalists about the US asking India to ’diminish’ ties with Iran, PTI reported.
Senator Lieberman, who met Singh, expressed confidence that the civil nuclear deal would be confirmed by both countries after overcoming debate and dissent.
“There will be debate, there will be some dissent but ultimately it will be confirmed by both countries,“ he said here, when asked about opposition to the nuclear deal.
On his meeting with Singh, Lieberman said the prime minister told him that the draft agreement of the nuclear deal was negotiated over a period of time and “not pulled out of the hat“.
A section of people believed that India yielded to the US on several aspects, while in the US, many in the Congress and a section of the media were of the opinion that Washington had yielded to New Delhi.

TEHRAN, Aug. 18--An Iranian military helicopter has crashed in West Azerbaijan province, which killed six members of the Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps and injured five others during an operation near the Iraqi border.
Officials say the crash, which was caused by a technical problem, occurred near Tamarchin late Friday, media reports said on Saturday.
“An armed forces’ helicopter with 11 on board hit the mountains because of a storm while on a border maneuver near Piranshahr,“ a town around 10 kilometers (six miles) from the Iraqi border, the state radio said.
The experts are investigating the matter.
“A funeral was held in Piranshahr today (Saturday) for the martyrs who were members of the Revolutionary Guards,“ it said of the Friday crash.
The area is known for its bad weather conditions and heavy storms.
Tamarchin is located in Piranshahr south of Orumieh, the provincial capital of West Azerbaijan.
According to Mehr News Agency, the plane crashed during a Revolutionary Guards’ military operation against the terrorist Kurdish rebel group Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PEJAK), an Iranian branch of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) which is fighting for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey.
Iran’s northwestern West Azerbaijan province, which borders Turkey and Iraq, is the scene of regular deadly clashes between Iranian security forces and PEJAK and other terrorist militant Kurdish separatists linked to Turkey’s outlawed PKK.
In February, 14 Iranian military personnel, including two Revolutionary Guards commanders, were killed in a helicopter crash during an operation against rebels close to the Turkish border.
Iran is bound by treaty with Turkey to fight the PKK. In return, Turkey has pledged to fight Iran’s main armed opposition group, the Iraq-based terrorist Mujahideen Khalq organization.
Turkey has praised Iran’s efforts to crack down on Kurdish rebels linked to the PKK, who have been waging a deadly armed struggle for self-rule in the southeast of Turkey since 1984.

TEHRAN, Aug. 18--An official said on Friday the Islamic Republic of Iran Police would soon launch its Internet Police Patrol.
General Mehrdad Omidi, deputy head of IRIP’s Force for Special & Computer Crimes, was quoted on IRIP’s Internet site as saying that the Internet Patrol Police would initially be commissioned in Tehran and one of its first missions would be to pursue the suspicious advertisements on the Internet.
According to General Omidi, dozens of such ads have been reported to concerned organs for follow-up activities, IRIB reported.
“The police force is currently trying to identify the weak points and find the root causes of economic offenses on the Internet and, for doing so, we rely on the cooperation of concerned organs to lower the people’s vulnerability in confronting such offenses,“ he said.
Brigadier Omidi said certain crimes such as fraud, which are committed under the cover of fake companies with forged documents, take place due to legal vacuums and the police can do nothing about it.
“Since no organ is responsible for overseeing such cases, the IRIP felt obliged to step in to support the people that suffer from them,“ he said.
Omidi reiterated hope such crimes will decline due to police interference.
“Keeping in mind the financial fraud and economic offenses, the people feel worried and defenseless, based on an opinion poll launched by the IRIP, which is another reason why we have stepped in,“ he said.

TEHRAN, Aug. 18--State Expediency Council on Saturday reviewed civil defense policies.
In a statement released to the press, the council’s secretariat noted that civil defense is one of the most effective and durable methods for dealing with probable threats, IRNA reported.
Civil defense helps Iran increase its authority and reduce its vulnerability in dealing with natural disasters as well as foreign threats.
“It is vital for the county to take advantage of the civil defense system,“ it said.
The council ratified the outlines of civil defense policies.
Civil defense means taking non-military and preemptive measures to help promote preventive measures, reduce vulnerability, strengthen national resistance, facilitate crisis management in case of natural disasters and counter any probable military actions of enemies.

TEHRAN, Aug. 18--Iran will establish an embassy in the Ecuadorian capital Quito to strengthen relations with the Latin American country.
The Iranian government approved a proposal by the Foreign Ministry to open the embassy in Ecuador, Presstv reported.
Some 600,000 euros will be allocated to the ministry for launching the embassy.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad toured the Latin American country in January to attend the swearing-in ceremony of new Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa. Ahmadinejad and his Ecuadorian counterpart, in a meeting in Quito on Jan. 15, agreed to follow up the opening of their respective embassies to boost bilateral ties.