Davoud Danesh Jafari

WASHINGTION, Oct. 26--Iran’s Economy Minister Davoud Danesh Jafari said here US sanctions against Iran have had little effect on the Iranian economy.
Speaking at a press conference after a joint annual meeting between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), he warned that any threat against Iran will only destabilize the global economy, Fars News Agency reported.
Despite full-fledged US propaganda against Iran to undermine the Islamic state’s investment climate, the country has maintained its economic status quo, the minister said.
“Whenever political differences between Iran and the US increase, the former indulges in more negative propaganda against us which by extension further destabilizes global oil prices.“
Tehran has almost always been the winner in this tug-of-war with Washington, he said.
Commenting on share of different countries in the international monetary bodies (IMF and WB), he noted that Iran believes the share of rich countries which enjoy extra advantages from the IMF and the WB should be cut.
Jafari opined that some of the extra shares given to the rich world should be shifted to developing countries.

KUWAIT CITY,
Oct. 26--Interior Minister of Iran Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said here Wednesday that US has set up training centers in Afghanistan to train terrorists and has dispatched them to other countries including Iran.
“There are enough documents in this regard“ he told a press conference on the sidelines of the fourth meeting of interior ministers of Iraq’s neighboring countries, IRNA reported.
The meeting was attended by ministers from Iran, Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
As in previous meetings to review Iraqi security, interior ministers from Egypt and Bahrain were also in attendance.
The Iranian minister further said that the Bush regime has also created a “terrorist-training school“ in Iraq.
“Whoever fans the flames of insurgence, will be burned in the same flame,“ he warned.
Referring to the “destructive role“ of the US forces occupying Afghanistan, Pour-Mohammadi said illegal drug production which was about 1,000 tons a year before the US-led coalition forces arrived in Afghanistan, has now increased by 800 percent reaching 8,000 tons.
He warned against any military actions attack against Iran by the US or its allies and said if attacked Tehran’s response would be crushing.
“Any country or power which invades Iran will face a crushing response.
We will defend our security and country in the strongest way if attacked.“
Asked if the US is likely to carry out military action against Iran, Pour-Mohammadi said, “If you ask US authorities, they will tell you that there is a remote possibility for such a move. (But) both the US domestic and international climate would not allow Washington“ to embark on such dangerous action.
“The US is aware that it may be easy to start such an action against Iran, but ending it would certainly not be in the hands of the Americans.“
He noted that regional states had openly voiced their opposition to any hostile action against Iran.
Officials of regional countries including Kuwait have decisively announced that they would not assist any hostile move toward Iran, the reporters were told.
“We are sure that regional states, by no means, would help Iran’s enemies.“

WASHINGTON, Oct 26--Undaunted by three decades of failed sanctions on Iran, the US is taking new measures to halt the Islamic Republic’s peaceful nuclear activities.
Unveiling the new sanctions, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice renewed an offer to meet her Iranian counterpart for talks “anytime, anywhere“ and on any issue if Tehran agrees to suspend its enrichment of uranium, AFP reported.
But Rice also warned: “If they choose to continue down a path of confrontation, the US will act with the international community to resist these threats of the Iranian regime.“
Analysts questioned the sanctions’ effectiveness in the absence of concerted UN action against Iran, and opposition Democrats saw worrying parallels to the drumbeats of war that preceded the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“Every day now, it seems that the confrontational rhetoric between the United States and Iran escalates,“ senior Democratic Senator Robert Byrd said.
“President (George W.) Bush needs to understand that the Congress will not be kept out of the loop while his administration plots another march to war.“
The sanctions targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the elite Quds Force.
Three Iranian state-owned banks were also blacklisted, along with IRGC-controlled companies and the logistics arm of Iran’s defense ministry.
Through ever-stricter sanctions, Washington has tried and failed to exert pressure on Iran ever since the US embassy hostage crisis that erupted following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Doomed
Responding to Thursday’s move, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the United States would fail again.
“The hostile American policies towards the respectable people of Iran and the country’s legal institutions are contrary to international law, without value and -- as in the past -- doomed to failure,“ he said.

Madman Approach
In related news, Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced what he called the “madman waving a knife’’ approach to diplomatic negotiations aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program.
“To run around like a madman waving a knife is not the best way forward,’’ Putin said in response to a reporter’s question at a Lisbon press conference today, following talks with Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva. “Why drive the situation into a dead end? We are categorically against breaking all norms of international law,’’ Putin said.
The Russian leader has rebuffed western calls for more sanctions against Iran by saying he has seen no evidence the Iranians are working on atomic weapons.

LONDON, Oct. 26--World oil prices surged to historic highs Friday, breaching 92 dollars for the first time in New York on rising tension in crude-rich Iran and tight US energy supplies, analysts said.
“Now that oil is in the 90s, it is much easier to reach 100 dollars. Anything can happen in this market,“ Astmax fund manager Tetsu Emori said, AFP reported.
New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, soared to a record-high 92.22 dollars per barrel.
It later stood at 91.44 dollars, a rise of 98 cents from Thursday’s close.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for December delivery struck an all-time pinnacle of 89.30 dollars per barrel Friday. It later stood at 88.14 dollars, up 66 cents.
Crude futures have rocketed by about 10 dollars in only a month and by 30 dollars, or 50 percent, in a year.
“Supply tightness and developments surrounding Iran remain the focus of attention,“ Sucden analyst Michael Davies said Friday.
The United States on Thursday escalated tensions over Iran’s peaceful nuclear program with a raft of new sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s military and banks.
Iran denounced the sanctions as illegal and “doomed to failure“.
Crude futures had leapt by more than 3.0 dollars on Thursday in reaction to the news, before extending their gains Friday.
Sucden’s Davies meanwhile added that oil prices were winning support from a weak dollar, which makes commodities priced in the US currency cheaper for buyers using stronger units.
The dollar slumped to a record low against the euro on Friday after poor US economic data heightened expectations of a fresh cut to US interest rates next week, dealers said.
Iraqi ministers held crisis talks Friday seeking to persuade an increasingly impatient Turkey against launching military strikes against rebel Kurd bases in northern Iraq, which is an oil-producing region.

BEIRUT, Oct. 26--Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Reza Sheibani said Friday that the Islamic Republic supports consensus among the Lebanese to solve their political crisis.
Sheibani made the comment after meeting with the head of Lebanon’s Kataeb (Phalangist Party) Amin Gemayel, who is a key player within the so-called March 14 group, IRNA reported.
“Lebanese elections and the candidates’ right to run for the presidency is entirely a Lebanese issue.“
He appreciated Gemayel’s efforts to help bridge the gaps between Lebanese political groups.
Sheibani also expressed support for efforts by Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabi Berri and Christian religious leader of the Lebanese Maronite party Nasrallah Sefir to resolve the political crisis.
The Lebanese Parliament’s next session to elect a new president is slated for November 12.
The session was initially scheduled for September 25, but postponed to October 23. But Berri announced on that date that he was again delaying the crucial meeting and set Nov. 12 as the new date “to provide more time for consultations and help forge a consensus.“

TEHRAN, Oct. 26--A military advisor to Iran’s leader said Friday that warmongers and neocons who support the US unilateralist policies are in fact owners and/or directors of oil cartels and US vice-president, Dick Cheney, is one of them.
Speaking to members of the University Students Islamic Association, Major-General Yahya Rahim-Safavi said over 65 percent of the world’s oil reserves are located in the Middle East.
One of the main objectives of the American military invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan was to fully control the region’s oil and energy resources, he added, IRNA reported.
“The US military industry and its patrons are among supporters of the US unilateralist policies.“
Safavi termed the second American goal in war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan as selling weapons to the Middle East governments.
“As is always reported, almost $60 billion worth of weapons are sold to the regional countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE,“ he recalled.
Safavi, a former commander of the Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps, agreed that there were other political motives for invading Iraq and Afghanistan beside those mentioned above. He did not elaborate.
Asked about the fate of one of associates of the executed Iraqi dictator, Hassan Ali Majid known as Chemical Ali, he said what is important with regard to the use of chemical weapons by Saddam’s regime is which countries sold him the banned weapons.
“The Europeans, especially France and Germany, as well as the UK provided Saddam’s regime with the sophisticated and deadly chemical weapons including mustard gas.“
Referring to presence of 300,000 disabled Iranians in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, he noted that about 45,000 are victims of poison gas.
Asked about US plots against Iran, he said the Americans are facing three problems vis-a-vis Iran.
“First, they do not know how Iran will respond to any hostile action and what will be America’s fate when Iran retaliates. Second, is the problem of oil prices.
When there are only rumors about some military conflict, the price of oil is nearing $100. One can imagine what will happen if the actual war begins.“
Safavi said the present instability in Israel and the unpopularity of its hawkish prime minister is George Bush’s third obstacle to any reckless action against the Islamic Republic.
“The government of Ehud Olmert is on the verge of collapse, and he and his associates are going to be tried on corruption charges.“