TEHRAN, Oct. 21--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said both the Majlis and the government are pursuing fundamental reforms.
Addressing a joint session of the Cabinet and Majlis on Saturday, the president said the government believes the Majlis would help settle problems facing the country and the people, IRNA reported.
He referred to Majlis as the major supporter of the government and said the government considers safeguarding the status of the Majlis as its main task.
Stressing that his administration welcomes constructive criticism, he said a friendly atmosphere prevails over the country in which everyone is free to express its views.
He briefed the session on the developments of different sectors through the great efforts of Cabinet members.
Ahmadinejad then lauded the positive achievements of the Second Summit of the Caspian States held recently in Tehran and the agreements reached between Tehran and Moscow during the visit to Tehran of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
“Recent developments indicate that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a great international power,“ he said.
President Ahmadinejad, who also heads the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, notified a ratification by the council which obliges all Iranian universities to teach in the Persian language.
The ratification noted that all students, including foreigners, should be taught in the Persian language.
According to Article 15 of Iran’s Constitution, the official language and script of Iranians are Persian, and all documents, official letters and education should use this official language.

TEHRAN, Oct. 21--Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said approaches and objectives of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program remain unchanged.
Talking to reporters on Sunday, Hosseini said, “There is full solidarity between officials and Iranians inside and outside the country with regard to the objectives of Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities, which will continue at full capacity.“
The spokesman said former top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani will accompany the new chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, in his meeting with the European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, in Rome on Tuesday, IRNA reported.
“As a representative of Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei at the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and due to the emphasis of the leader and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Larijani will attend the talks with Solana,“ he said.
Larijani is one of the two representatives of the leader at the SNSC.
Hosseini stressed that the appointment of Jalili as the new SNSC chief has been finalized.
Commenting on the resignation of Larijani, he said, “The resignation has been accepted by the president but the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear policies, approaches and objectives will not change.“
On the Caspian Sea legal regime, he said, “Consensus among the Caspian Sea littoral states is the fairest way to determine the sea’s legal regime. The issue of the Caspian legal regime is a specialized and time-consuming issue.“
The spokesman noted that the 50-percent share of Iran and Russia was not explicitly mentioned in the previous accords.
“The Caspian Sea is a lake, therefore the sea’s convention does not apply and consensus is the fairest possible way,“ he said.
Asked about the condition of the kidnapped Japanese national who was reportedly abducted by gangsters and taken across the border to Pakistan, he said he is currently in good health and Iran will follow up the case through the Interior Ministry and the police.
“We will make use of legal channels to seek his release,“ he said.

TEHRAN, Oct. 21--An official said on Sunday Iranian radio drugs are standardized and are more pure than their foreign counterparts.
Naming radio medicines such as molybden and iodine-131 as examples, deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Qannadi, added that most industries in the world need nuclear technology to gain progress, Mehr News Agency reported.
He further said another product of Iranian nuclear experts, radio medicine technetium-99m, can be used in X-raying bones, brain, thyroid, lungs, kidneys and other parts of the body.
“Iodine-131 is the only radio medicine effective in treating thyroid cancer,“ he said.
Qannadi stressed that Iran has not used foreign experts in producing radio medicines such as technetium-99m, molybden and iodine-131.
According to the official, some 10,000 patients in the country use radio medicines in 110 atomic medical centers each week.
Qannadi expressed hope that Tehran’s reactor will not face any problem before the Arak reactor becomes operational.
The Arak research reactor, which is under construction, will replace Tehran’s reactor.
Nuclear medicine is a specialty that involves injection of radioactive isotopes to take the body’s image. Instead of passing ionizing radiation through the body, the patient becomes temporarily radioactive and is placed near gamma cameras, which detect the radioactivity and store it as an image. Images made with nuclear medicine are usually physiological, not anatomical; that is, the images show functions, but not anatomic structure.

TEHRAN, Oct. 21--Iranian scientists have discovered a new method for treating wounds.
Researchers at the Medical Engineering Faculty of Amir Kabir University of Technology say the new method can be a good replacement for suturing wounds, IRNA reported.
Mohammad Etrati Khosroshahi, in charge of the project, said they can stitch the wounds through laser beams and biological mending.
“This can be promising as the new method can replace stitching,“ he said, adding that INVIVO tests should be undertaken to achieve more precise results.
Khosroshahi said the new method is more efficient than suturing and can join two separated parts of the skin stronger together.
He said skin tissues will undergo less harm and less bleeding at the time of stitching. The top researcher said the new method can reduce the time taken for stitching with a better quality, adding that the wound will be healed in less than five days. Khosroshahi added that the technique does not require any needle and the stitching is undertaken by laser.

TEHRAN, Oct. 21--Iran will host the 44th meeting of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union’s General Assembly.
The meeting will be held from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4 in Tehran, Mehr News Agency reported.
Addressing a press conference, head of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Ezzatollah Zarghami said on Sunday the union currently has over 170 members in 53 countries with a potential audience of about 3 billion people.
“Over 300 personnel of the union have registered to attend the meeting,“ he said.
Zarghami noted that the union is a professional association of broadcasting organizations formed in 1964 to facilitate the development of broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific region and organize cooperative activities amongst its members.
Zarghami stated that the IRIB has over 100 national and transnational television and radio networks, is an influential union member and plays an effective role in the body’s Policymaking Committee.

TEHRAN, Oct. 21--Iran and Japan should boost parliamentary relations to “an ideal level“, said the chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on Sunday.
In a meeting with the outgoing Japanese ambassador to Tehran, Hideaki Domichi, Alaeddin Boroujerdi added that parliaments of the two countries should play a more significant role in boosting relations in different sectors, Mehr News Agency reported.
“There are good opportunities and capacities for both sides to cement ties in political, economic and cultural areas,“ he said, underlining the role of parliamentary groups in promoting friendship between the two nations.
Turning to Iran’s nuclear issues, Boroujerdi said the nuclear policy of the Islamic Republic has always pursued peaceful purposes.
He said Tehran will continue efforts and cooperation to resolve the remaining issues regarding its peaceful nuclear program.
Boroujerdi added that the current close cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency will continue in a logical manner.
Boroujerdi also said that an Asian Parliament would be formed with its secretariat in Tehran.
The outgoing ambassador of Japan said Iran-Japan relations are “good and progressing“.
“During my three-year political career in Tehran, I always tried to maintain and improve traditional ties between Iran and Japan,“ he said.
He hoped Iran’s nuclear case would be settled in a peaceful manner.
On parliamentary relations between the two countries, Domichi said Iran-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Group can strengthen regional and international cooperation between the two countries.
Domichi added that Tokyo is interested in expanding ties with Tehran.

KUWAIT CITY, Oct. 21--Head of the Iranian delegation to the conference of Iraq’s neighbors, Rahim Noei-Aqdam, called for the pullout of foreign forces from Iraq.
“The greatest help would be to leave Iraq to its people and government to run their own country,“ said Noei-Aqdam who is also director of the Interior Ministry’s Foreign Affairs Department.
“Iran currently plays an active role in many of Iraq’s reconstruction plans such as educating and training the police force in a bid to reinforce the Iraqi government,“ IRNA quoted Noei-Aqdam as saying on Sunday.
He added that so far Iraq has made 21 requests to Iran to help fortify its security, all of which have been accepted by Tehran.
This meeting comes ahead of a major conference of Iraq’s neighbors planned in Istanbul in late October in which the neighbors will discuss the country’s problems. In a similar conference held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, neighbors promised to prevent foreign terrorists from joining Iraq’s insurgency.

TEHRAN, Oct. 21--A member of the House of Commons said London is trying to chart an independent approach toward Iran by not following US policies.
“A parliamentary delegation will visit Iran in November,“ Fabian Hamilton, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, also told Mehr News Agency.
“Britain, as a member of the European Union and the European Troika (comprised of UK, Germany, and France), is trying to make firsthand contacts with Iran,“ he said.
Hamilton, a member of the Labour Party (Britain’s ruling party), explained, “We wish to pursue an independent approach toward Iran and are waiting for Javier Solana’s visit with Iran’s secretary of Supreme National Security Council and his report in that regard.“