YEREVAN, Armenia, Oct. 23--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran should set conditions during nuclear talks.
Speaking in a gathering of Iranians residing in Armenia prior to his departure for Tehran, the president said, “Although we believe in negotiations, we do not bargain over our rights with anyone--since whoever bargains its rights would lose part of it.“
The few remaining bullying powers, he said, would soon understand that “they should respect the will of the Iranian nation“, IRNA reported.
Ahmadinejad further said that the Iranian nation is a peace-loving nation that believes in negotiations but will never give up its rights.
Referring to recent comments made by a western official regarding Iran, the president said, “A gentleman recently said that we would negotiate with Iran should the country suspend its nuclear enrichment activities. The gentleman should know that we have nothing to do with them and we do not need them.“
Ahmadinejad stressed that today Iran’s nuclear issue has returned to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the agency has regained its role, which is to monitor, help and support the member-states.
“It is impossible to stop the Iranian nation with threats. We tell them (western powers) that you are not in a position to do so (to intimidate Iranians). We tell them that the brave people of Iran are not afraid of you and would make you retreat while they are making progress step by step,“ he said.
Addressing countries that seek to ratify more sanctions against Iran, the president said the zealous young Iranian generation will enter the scene and foil every sanction.
The president also said Iran has had a remarkable progress in the field of aerospace, the news of which will be announced in the near future.
President Ahmadinejad wound up his two-day official visit to Armenia and returned on Tuesday.
Upon his arrival in Tehran, the president termed his two-day visit to Armenia as ’good’, adding that the two countries will witness a rise in all-out bilateral ties in future.
On Iran-Armenia economic cooperation, he said the two sides stressed the importance of following up strategic projects, including railroads, refineries, gas and electricity transmission lines, transportation and construction of Aras dam and power plant.
Referring to Tehran-Yerevan relations as “growing and lasting“, he said several memoranda of understanding on expansion of economic, banking, consular and energy cooperation were inked by the two countries’ officials.
“The joint statement issued by the two sides was among other achievements of Armenia visit,“ he said.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana (c) is flanked by Iran's new nuclear pointman Saeed Jalili (2nd l) and outgoing nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, in Rome, Oct. 23.

ROME, Oct. 23--EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana began talks here Tuesday with Iran’s new nuclear pointman Saeed Jalili, who vowed to pursue negotiations “with strength“.
It was Solana’s first sit-down with Jalili, whose appointment has been viewed as possibly signaling a tougher Iranian stance in the nuclear dispute, AFP reported.
Jalili vowed to maintain Iran’s defense of its nuclear rights, saying he would conduct talks over the atomic crisis “with strength“.
“We will continue the nuclear discussions with strength. The nuclear issue is an issue on which there is consensus and national harmony,“ he told Iranian state media in Rome.
“Many efforts have been made in this field and, God willing, this process will continue with strength,“ he added, in the first public comments since his appointment.
Jalili was in the Italian capital to attend his first talks later Tuesday with Solana, alongside his predecessor Ali Larijani.
Some western observers fear Jalili, an ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, could take an even tougher line than his predecessor who is a conservative but considered relatively pragmatic.
Iran has consistently refused to yield to the main demand of world powers--that it suspend sensitive uranium enrichment activities, which the West fears could be used to make a nuclear bomb.
Jalili thanked Larijani for his “very good and precious efforts“.
Meanwhile, Larijani also broke his silence for the first time after his sudden resignation, saying Iran’s nuclear policy would not change under his successor.
“Iran’s nuclear policies are stable and will not change with the replacement of the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council,“ he told Iranian media from Rome, referring to the official title of his former post.
“Even if there is a change in president, the policy will not change,“ he said.
Larijani, who resigned on Saturday, accused the western media of failing to understand how decisions are taken over Iran’s nuclear program, saying all moves must be approved by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
“The western media do not understand correctly our country’s decision-making methods. Strategic nuclear issues are decided at the level of the security council with the approval of the leader.“

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 23--Iran and Pakistan finalized a major agreement on the price of Iranian gas that will be carried by a pipeline to the neighboring country.
“Following technical negotiations on the gas pipeline, the Iranian and Pakistani delegations signed the deal and reached a final agreement on the issue of prices,“ said the head of Iranian delegation and the National Iranian Oil Company’s director for international affairs, Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, in Islamabad on Tuesday, Fars News Agency reported.
“For the agreement to become legally binding, the initial version must be examined and approved by the energy ministers and senior officials of the two countries,“ he added.
Ghanimifard and his delegation, which includes the head of National Iranian Gas Export Company, Nasrollah Seifi, have been negotiating with Pakistan’s officials in Islamabad since last week.
The Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline, also known as the Peace Pipeline, was originally proposed to transfer Iran’s gas to the Indian subcontinent.
A few weeks ago, Tehran hosted the first round of IPI pipeline talks, but the Indian officials refused to attend. Iran and Pakistan agreed to continue talks in Islamabad to formulate the terms of a final agreement without India, in case it failed to cooperate.
However, Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who is in Washington to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, said India is committed to the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, Press Trust of India reported.
The gas pipeline was discussed when Chidambaram met his Iranian counterpart, Davoud Danesh-Jafari.
“He asked me about our commitment to the pipeline. I said we remain committed to the pipeline. We would have to sort out one or two issues relating to the transit charges. He urged us to resolve these as quickly as possible,“ Chidambaram said.
“It is completely doable. We should do it. Iran has the gas and we need the gas. We have a problem on the transit charges and that is a problem India and Pakistan would have to resolve. I don’t know of any other problems. It is a commercial negotiation, a commercial matter and should be dealt with as a commercial matter.“

TEHRAN, Oct. 23--Judiciary’s First Deputy Ebrahim Raisi called on independent legal and judicial organizations to set up an international tribunal to put the US warmongering leaders on trial.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with a group of senior judicial officials and also commenting on recent statements of US President George W. Bush, Raisi said the crimes committed by American leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as rising threats in different parts of the world, will only result in the political isolation of American people, IRNA reported.
“Bush’s remarks indicate the bewilderment of American leaders in their relations with other countries, particularly with regard to Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities,“ he said.
Raisi pointed out that Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities have taken place under the technical and legal supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
US President Bush had claimed, “Iran will usher in the World War III if it continues its uranium enrichment activities.“
Referring to Iran’s diplomatic progress at the international level, the judiciary official pointed out that the consensus of people and officials guarantees victory despite the enemy’s threats.
“Everyone knows about political deadlocks caused by America’s warmongering diplomacy in Iraq,“ he said.
Raisi pointed out that if policies contradicting international regulations were to continue, the international community will begin to exert more pressure on the American statesmen to stop such behavior.

PRAGUE,
Czech Republic,
Oct. 23--The US might delay activating its proposed missile defense sites in Europe until it has “definitive proof“ of a missile threat from Iran, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday.
At a news conference after meeting Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, Gates said the US would proceed with current plans to build the sites in Europe but possibly wait before putting them in working order, Cnn.com reported.
The proposal has already been presented to the Russians, who strongly oppose it. The proposal has yet to be worked out in detail, Gates said.
“We would consider tying together activation of the sites in Poland and the Czech Republic with definitive proof of the threat; in other words, Iranian missile testing and so on,“ Gates said with Topolanek at his side.
The US wants to build a missile interceptor base in Poland and a radar site in the Czech Republic, but details have yet to be negotiated.
“We have not fully developed this proposal, but the idea was we would go forward with the negotiations, we would complete the negotiations, we would develop the sites, build the sites, but perhaps delay activating them until there was concrete proof of the threat from Iran,“ he said.
Washington has claimed that Iran’s defensive missile capability is a threat for Europe while Moscow has rejected the idea and believes that the US wants to misuse the controversial missile shield in Eastern Europe as means to undermine Russia’s national security.
Political observers opined that the US has retreated from its stance on the missile plan to appease concerned Kremlin authorities.
They believe that Washington tries to mix the missile shield plan with Iran’s defensive missile potential in order to divert attention from its ambitions and to conceal its threatening purposes in the eastern Europe.