UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 28--Six key powers failed in the US-led attempt to impose the third UN sanction on Iran Friday and decided to delay until November a new UN resolution.
A joint statement from the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany said they would finalize the new resolution and bring it to a vote unless reports in November from the chief UN nuclear official and the European Union’s foreign policy chief “show a positive outcome of their efforts,“ AP reported.
UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei and Iranian officials agreed in July that Tehran would answer questions from agency experts by December on more than two decades of nuclear activityÑmost of it secret until revealed more than four years ago.
In the statement issued after a ministerial meeting of the six countries attended by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the countries welcomed the IAEA agreement with Iran.
Two UN resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran have failed to persuade it to suspend uranium enrichment. Tehran insists its program is aimed at producing energy for civilian use.
In a Tuesday address at the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the nuclear issue is “closed“.
Russia’s foreign minister made clear ahead of the high-level talks that Moscow wants to see a UN agency report on Tehran’s nuclear work before considering new sanctions.
The Russian official, Sergey Lavrov, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice exchanged sharp words at a luncheon Wednesday on the subject.
Rice pushed for tough new sanctions to pressure Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, and Lavrov said Moscow wanted to give nuclear inspectors time to do their job, according to the Russian minister and US and European officials present.
“Interference by means of any sanctions would undermine the International Atomic Energy Agency’s efforts,“ Lavrov was quoted as saying. “The UN Security Council measures on Iran should be balanced and respond to the steps taken by Tehran itself that obliged it to answer all questions.“

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (r) and his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales raise their arms at the balcony of government palace in La Paz, September 27.

CARACAS, Venezuela,
Sept. 28--The leaders of Iran and Venezuela cemented an alliance aimed at countering the United States while the Iranian president reached out to a new ally in Bolivia and declared that together, “no one can defeat us.“
After his presence at the UN this week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled on to friendlier territory Thursday, first stopping in BoliviaÑwhere he pledged $1 billion in investmentÑand then visiting Venezuela to meet President Hugo Chavez, AP reported.
“Together we are surely growing stronger, and in truth no one can defeat us,“ the Iranian leader said through an interpreter. “Imperialism has no other option: Respect the peoples (of the world) or accept defeat,“ he added.
Chavez greeted the Iranian leader warmly on a red carpet in front of the presidential palace.
“We will continue resisting to the end in the face of imperialism,“ Ahmadinejad said. “And the age of imperialism has ended.“
Chavez embraced the Iranian leader, calling him “one of the greatest anti-imperialist fighters“ and “one of the great fighters for true peace.“
In his defiant speech to the UN General Assembly this week, Ahmadinejad rebuked “arrogant powers“ seeking to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
Chavez also strongly defends Iran’s nuclear research, insisting it is for peaceful energy uses despite US charges it is aimed at making nuclear weapons.
The Venezuelan leader also says his country plans to eventually develop a nuclear energy program.
Chavez said he was proud of Ahmadinejad’s courage while under hostile questioning at New York’s Columbia University. “An imperial spokesman tried to disrespect you, calling you a cruel little tyrant. You responded with the greatness of a revolutionary.“
In Bolivia, the Iranian leader pledged investment over the next five years to help the poor Andean nation tap its vast natural gas reserves, extract minerals, generate more electricity and fund agricultural and construction projects.
Bolivian President Evo Morales, who joins Chavez as one of Iran’s key allies, called Ahmadinejad’s visit historic as the two nations established diplomatic relations for the first time.
The trip again underscored his growing ties to Latin American nations, including Nicaragua and Ecuador, even as the US tries to isolate him internationally.
The closer relationship is viewed with alarm by Washington. US Rep. Connie Mack, a Florida Republican, said they remind him “of the relationship that Fidel Castro had with Russia.“
He urged Washington to reach out more to a region analysts say it has largely ignored since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Relations between Iran and Venezuela, meanwhile, have grown very close. Since 2001, they have signed trade agreements worth more than $20 billion in potential investment.
They have teamed up to begin producing cars, tractors and plastic goods, and signed an agreement to help Venezuela build public housing. Iran Air began flights between Tehran and Caracas, with a stopover in Syria, earlier this year.
It was Ahmadinejad’s third visit to Caracas.
Along with Nicaragua and Bolivia, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa also wants closer ties with Tehran, and Iran’s PressTV reported last month that Iran will for the first time open an embassy in Quito.

YANGON, Myanmar, Sept. 28--Security forces clamped down on protests in Myanmar’s two biggest cities Friday, firing warning shots and using baton charges in the third day of a crackdown that has left at least 13 people dead.
The military regime also appeared to have cut the main Internet link to block images and reports of the violence from the isolated nation, which have galvanized world opinion against the ruling generals, AFP reported.
About 10,000 people surged onto the streets of the main city of Yangon, playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as they repeatedly confronted police and soldiers before scattering and regrouping once more.
In the central city of Mandalay, thousands of young people on motorbikes rode down a major thoroughfare towards a blockade set up by security forces who unleashed a volley that witnesses believed could have been rubber bullets.
Intent on quelling the biggest anti-government demonstrations in 20 years, the ruling junta has also mounted an offensive against the Buddhist monks who have led nearly two weeks of mass rallies.
With dozens of monks arrested, beaten or confined to their monasteries, the mantle has now been taken up by student groups and youths who dominated Friday’s rallies.
At a separate protest in Yangon, around 500 people marched in the streets, singing the national anthem as thousands applauded them from the sidewalks.
Security forces have smashed cameras and cell-phones, and beaten people who were carrying them. Several newspapers in the country, which was formerly known as Burma, are no longer operating.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 28--Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki on Friday rejected a US Senate proposal calling for the decentralization of Iraq’s government and giving more control to the country’s ethnically divided regions, calling it a “catastrophe.“
The measure, whose primary sponsors included presidential hopeful Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., calls for Iraq to be divided into federal regions for the country’s Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities in a power-sharing agreement similar to Bosnia in the 1990s, AP reported.
In his first comments since the measure passed Wednesday, Al-Maliki strongly rejected the idea, echoing the earlier sentiments of his country’s vice president.
“It is an Iraqi affair dealing with Iraqis,“ he told The Associated Press while on a return flight to Baghdad after appearing at the UN General Assembly in New York. “Iraqis are eager for Iraq’s unity. ... Dividing Iraq is a problem and a decision like that would be a catastrophe.“
Iraq’s constitution lays down a federal system, allowing Shiites in the south and Kurds in the north to set up regions with considerable autonomous powers. But Iraq’s turmoil has been fueled by the deep divisions among politicians over the details of how it work, including the division of lucrative oil resources.
Many Shiite and Kurdish leaders are eager to implement the provisions. But the Sunni Arab minority fears being left in an impoverished central zone without resources. Others fear a sectarian split-up would harden the violent divisions among Iraq’s fractious ethnic and religious groups.
On Thursday, Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi said decisions about Iraq must remain in the hands of its citizens and the spokesman for the supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr agreed.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Sept. 28--Oil prices rose above $83 a barrel Friday as the weak dollar drove investors to the market and concerns remained about a decline in crude inventories at a key Oklahoma terminal.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 36 cents to $83.24 a barrel in electronic trading by mid-afternoon in Europe. It rose as high as $83.38 during early trading in Asia, AP reported.
On Thursday, the Nymex crude contract had jumped $2.58 to settle at $82.88 a barrel during the floor session.
Oil prices have risen to all-time highs in recent weeks, in part because the standoff between the West and Iran over its nuclear program has raised fears of a disruption in supplies from the Middle East.
The price gains have put the front-month contract back near the record levels hit late last week by the October contract on the day it expired. Last Friday, the October contract hit $83.90 a barrel before it settled at a record close of 83.32 a barrel.
The weak dollarÑwhich fell to a new low against the euro FridayÑmakes oil seem inexpensive to people dealing in other currencies.
Also stoking concerns about crude supplies was a slight decline in oil inventories at the Nymex crude delivery point of Cushing, Okla., last week.
“This is fueling speculation that a supply shortage could be seen mid-continent“ in the United States, said PVM Oil Associates in Vienna.
Analysts said a number of tropical weather systems were not affecting prices, as none are forecast to disrupt critical gas and oil infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico.

Alireza Afshar

TEHRAN, Sept. 28--Deputy interior minister for political affairs said Friday that active presence of political parties is a must for the progress of democracy, especially religious democracy.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on ’Untold Stories of the War’, Alireza Afshar, however, noted that compliance of political groups and parties with the interest of the Islamic system is a necessity.
He recalled that Iranian political parties are presently facing problems with regard to conforming with the overall values of the Islamic system because they “borrow from western concepts and political literature.“
“We reject those political parties that are trying
to gain power at any price,“ the senior official was quoted by the Mehr News agency as saying.
He pointed out that no one will tolerate the undermining of national interest for personal, party or factional gain.
The Interior Ministry is trying to computerize all aspects of the upcoming Majlis elections, including the vote tally process, Afshar told the press meeting.
He expressed hope that computerizing the electoral process would be undertaken in constituencies with at least two or more candidates because the voting process is slow in the big cities.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 28--The spiritual head of Iraq’s Shiites met the country’s Sunni vice president on Thursday for the first time, an AFP correspondent reported.
The meeting between Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and Vice President Tareq Al-Hashemi in the holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, comes amid reconciliation efforts by religious and political leaders in the face of rampant sectarian violence that has killed thousands of people in nearly two years.
No information about the contents of their discussion was immediately available, AFP reported.
Hashemi heads the Iraqi Islamic Party, and is one of the most respected Sunnis in Iraq, while Sistani is the most influential Shiite cleric in the country’s majority Shiite population.
Sistani rarely leaves his home and makes few public statements. But Sistani sponsored Maliki’s Shiite alliance and is hugely influential among Iraq’s Shiites.
Hashemi stressed he had not asked Sistani to put pressure on any Shiite group to return to cabinet, saying the purpose of the meeting had been to discuss the new initiative, known as the Iraqi National Compact.
“The meeting was profound and many issues related to the political process were discussed,“ Hashemi told reporters after his meeting with the highly influential Shiite cleric.
“I briefed his eminence on the Iraqi National Compact and he informed me he had already seen a copy and read, analyzed and expressed his remarks on the initiative,“ he said.
Sistani’s office declined to comment on the meeting.