TEHRAN, Sept. 23--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the American people are eager to hear diverse views from across the world and he looks forward to provide them with “correct and clear information“.
Ahmadinejad left on Sunday for New York at the head of a delegation to address the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly and speak at a forum in Columbia University, IRNA reported.
In an interview with CBS News, the president said his visit will give Americans a chance to hear a different voice.
“The United States is a big and important country with a population of 300 million. Due to certain reasons, the American people in the past years have been denied correct and clear information about global developments and are eager to hear different opinions,“ he said.
Talking to reporters before his departure, Ahmadinejad said the UN General Assembly is an important venue for presenting the views of nations.
He added that the UN General Assembly is an effective and influential annual gathering, in which officials from various countries set forth their stands and viewpoints.
“The UN General Assembly is also a good opportunity for presenting the Iranian people’s clear views regarding the problems of the world and the materialization of peace and tranquility,“ he said.
On the agenda of his trip, the president said he is scheduled to meet senior officials of participating delegations on the sidelines of the meeting.
“Such meetings will create good opportunities for expansion of bilateral and multilateral relations with other countries,“ he said.
He added that talking with independent and prominent US scholars will be among other programs of his visit.
Ahmadinejad further said that delivering a speech at Columbia University and holding discussions with a number of American Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders will be among his other programs.
The president is scheduled to address the assembly and hold talks with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The president will also give interviews to a number of leading US media networks and meet Iranian expatriates residing in New York.
President Ahmadinejad will proceed to Bolivia from New York with a stopover in Venezuela.

Yahya Rahim Safavi

TEHRAN, Sept. 23--Iran is working only for the peace, security and the welfare of the Iranian nation as well as the nations of the region, said a senior military advisor to Iran’s leader, Yahya Rahim Safavi.
Speaking in an exclusive interview in Press TV’s “4Corners“, Major General Safavi added that the West will not succeed in its propaganda war against Iran.
“We are in the headlines of the western media. They have started a media war against Iran in the last few years but they already realized that it is doomed,“ he said.
Safavi, the former head of Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps (IRGC), was speaking on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the onset of the Iraq-imposed war in which Iranians courageously defended their country against the brutal onslaught of Saddam Hussein’s Army, which was supported by the West and most Arab regimes.
He noted that the Revolutionary Guards have made tremendous progress in the field of defense.
“Right now, the IRGC has turned into a regular revolutionary army with an Islamic ideology while at the beginning of the war it was only a force to defend the country,“ he said.
The military advisor, who prefers to be called a professor due to his years of teaching in a university, said the IRGC shares the role of defending the country with the Iranian Army, since the two are arms of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Referring to foreign threats, he said, “It seems very unlikely that the foreign troops in the region could start another attack because they have been busy with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and they should focus on that.
Wise and rational people, who are taking care of the war in Iraq, will not risk another attack.“
Safavi stressed that Iran is ready to foil the enemies’ attacks.
Commenting on Iraqi insecurity, he said, “The CIA has armed some 10,000 forces of former Baathist members to fight Al-Qaeda. So, the main problem is the US policies and their improper understanding of cultural and tribal complexities of Iraq.“
He reiterated that Iran has had no military role in Iraq, pointing out that the US has not been able to come up with any evidence to prove Iran’s military involvement in Iraq.
“However, we have enough evidence to show that the US has been arming the counter-Iranian military forces in Iraq,“ he said.
Safavi noted that the security of Iraq is important for Iran for the simplest reason that there are millions of Iranian pilgrims going to Iraq’s holy sites annually and Iraq’s security is to the benefit of the two countries.
“Iran has now a strong intelligence system and missiles. We are closely watching the foreigners’ moves in the neighboring countries by highly advanced satellite technology and advanced radars. If they enter our airspace or our territorial waters, they will get a fair response,“ he said.
Safavi said the equipment shown in the Saturday’s military parade only offer a glimpse of the Iranian arsenal and Iran will not reveal its true defense capabilities unless it’s necessary.
“Our military capabilities are beyond the imagination of our enemies,“ he said.

TEHRAN, Sept. 23--Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the Islamic Republic is a great phenomenon in the history of Iran and the eight years of Sacred Defense was the brilliant era in the Iranian society.
Speaking in a meeting with high-ranking officials on Saturday, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “For thousands of years, dictatorial regimes ruled this country and small groups of people made decisions for all the people. But now, democracy, in its most transparent form exists in Iran and the elected officials have done a great job and resisted the world tyrannical system with the support of the whole nation.“
Sacred Defense refers to the courageous defense displayed by Iranians during the 1980-88 Iraq-imposed war, IRNA reported.
Referring to some of the Iranian accomplishments during the past 28 years, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The enemies are doing their best to suggest that the Islamic Republic is an inefficient system but there are many facts to prove the opposite and the arrogant world powers cannot deny these facts.“
The leader cited the development of national self-confidence in scientific, technological and political fields, revival of the destroyed agriculture sector, expansion of public services, progress in modern sectors like nanotechnology, establishment of democracy in its best manifestation and the undeniable status of Iran in regional and international affairs as examples of the efficiency of the Islamic Republic.
Commenting on the continuous threats posed by the enemies since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “These threats, first of all, make us more prepared. Of course, those who threaten us should know that attacking Iran in the form of ’hit and run’ is not possible and any aggressor will have to bear the full consequences.“
The leader said the enemy aims to frighten people and officials by threatening the nation but they have never been afraid of these threats.
On domestic issues, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed on the importance of the upcoming parliamentary elections and urged all officials to act in a way that the elections become another means to strengthen “national dignity“ and make the enemy further lose hope.

TEHRAN, Sept. 23--Iran Telecommunications Company has estimated Iranian Internet users to be over 12 million.
ITC has also estimated the number of Internet users to exceed 30 million by March 20, 2010.
According to ITC, its international bandwidth has increased by 8,386 megabytes per second and the number of electronic bank branches has reached 10,875.
A total of 289 Iranian universities are connected to the Internet via optic fiber and 1,138 schools throughout the country are also connected to the national Internet network.
ITC has 1,424 data centers and 21,575 accessible Internet ports.
The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer network that transmits data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol.
It is a “network of networks“ that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business and government networks, which together carry information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer and interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web.
IT experts say just having widespread Internet access, servers or more fiber-optic cables does not mean that the sector has expanded.
The Internet and the World Wide Web are not synonymous: while the Internet is a collection of interconnected computer networks linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables and wireless connections, the Web is a compilation of interconnected documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs.
The World Wide Web is accessible via Internet, as are many other services including e-mail, file sharing and others described below.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 23--The United Nations Security Council’s recent resolution on Iraq indicated the defeat of US unilateralism and its autocratic policy in Iraq, said Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday.
Mottaki arrived in New York on Saturday to attend the UN General Assembly, due to start on Tuesday, IRNA reported.
He made the remarks in a high-level meeting on Iraq held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The meeting was co-chaired by UN Chief Ban Ki-moon and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki.
Criticizing US contradictory behavior on the question of Iraq, Mottaki said, “On the one hand, US claims to support the Iraqi government, while on the other, it undermines the government in different ways. The United States says it seeks to provide security and stability for Iraq while American troops are actually disturbing the country’s security.“
As for the UNSC Resolution 1770 on Iraq, the Iranian minister referred to the responsibilities envisaged for the UN in the resolution and said, “The international community and the United Nations should avoid repeating mistakes made by the occupier forces in Iraq.“
Mottaki said the question of Iraq “is an Iraqi issue and should be settled by the Iraqi people“.
“The international community should act based on its supporting and complementary role to help the people and government of Iraq at this juncture,“ he said.
Condemning the recent detention of an Iranian government employee in Iraq by the US occupying forces, Mottaki said, “This is not the first time Iranian officials have been arrested during an official visit to Iraq.“
The minister referred to such “illegal and unreasonable“ behavior as “obstacles to cooperation for reconstruction of Iraq“.
Mottaki added that such behaviors were against the US claims that it supported the Iraqi neighbors’ efforts for rebuilding the war-ravaged country.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 23--Eighteen countries opened UN-sponsored ministerial talks here Sunday to review efforts to spur reconstruction and good governance in Afghanistan which is beset by a resurgent Taliban insurgency and soaring opium output.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and UN Chief Ban Ki-moon are co-hosting the three-hour high-level meeting, which got underway shortly after 10:00 a.m. (1400 GMT), two days before world leaders are to begin summit talks during the UN General Assembly session.
The Afghan leader is due to address the assembly on Monday, AFP reported.
Organizers say the talks focus on ways the international community and the United Nations can help the Kabul government tackle issues of security, good governance, regional cooperation and drug trafficking.
Joining Karzai and Ban at the talks are the foreign ministers of France, India, Iran, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and the United States.
Also attending are delegations from Britain, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Spain as well as representatives from the Asian Development Bank, the European Union, the European Commission, NATO and the World Bank.
Afghanistan was in tatters after the 2001 fall of the Taliban regime, which led the world community to spend billions of dollars on development and send in tens of thousands of troops to fight a growing Taliban insurgency.
Participants at the meeting will review progress toward implementing the Afghanistan Compact, a five-year development blueprint launched in January 2006 by Kabul and some 70 foreign partners.
Under the deal, Afghanistan promised to take specific steps in the areas of security, governance, rule of law and human rights, and economic and social development in return for military and economic support.
The UN-mandated ISAF force is at 39,000 people from around 37 nations, its most powerful since 2001, even though original estimates of troops and equipment requirements still have not been met. It operates alongside a US-led coalition of about 15,000 and the fledgling Afghan security forces.
Around 168 international soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year--the bloodiest since the insurgent Taliban were removed from government.
Opium production, meanwhile, reached a record high in Afghanistan this year and more people are being killed in a Taliban insurgency that has seen suicide attacks spiral.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 23--Top Hezbollah official Mohammed Fneish said on Sunday MPs in the Shiite party would not attend Tuesday’s parliamentary session to elect a new president if no agreement was reached beforehand on a candidate.
“Without advance agreement on the name of the new president a quorum will not be assured--and so far there is no accord“ with the parliamentary majority, he told AFP.
Fneish was energy minister in the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora before he and five other pro-Syrian ministers resigned last November.
He said that Hezbollah was “in permanent contact“ with another opposition stalwart, parliament speaker Nabih Berri, ahead of next week’s planned poll.
“We support Mr. Berri’s initiative demanding that the majority respect the constitution on the necessity of a two-thirds quorum required to elect a new president,“ Fneish said.
Berri has called a session of parliament for Tuesday to elect a successor to pro-Syrian incumbent Emile Lahoud, but he has also warned that there will be no vote and the presidential election will be postponed if there is no two-thirds quorum of MPs.
Lebanon’s president, a Maronite Christian by convention, is elected by MPs rather than by popular suffrage. A two-thirds majority is required for a candidate to be elected. In the event of a second round, a simple majority suffices.