Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged the police chief to take immediate action to provide security to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.
Ebadi said on Monday the number of threats against her and her family has increased in recent months. She sent a letter to Police Chief Brigadier General Esmael Ahmadi-Moqaddam with copies of three anonymous handwritten warnings, ISNA reported.
“Threats against my life and security and those of my family, which began some time ago, have intensified,“ wrote Ebadi, 60, who won the Nobel prize in 2003 for her work in defending human rights.
“I defend only victims of human rights, free of charge. Therefore, those individuals who wish my death have no personal enmity against me but are opposed to my thoughts and ideas,“ the mother of two wrote.
Stressing on the importance of guarding the dignity, rights and health of all Iranian citizens, Ahmadinejad commanded the police chief to investigate the case and alleviate Ebadi’s concerns.
According to the president’s verdict, Moqaddam has been obliged to find the origin of the threatening letters and introduce those behind them to the judiciary.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for cooperation between friendly countries, saying these countries should change the tyrannical situation in the world.
In a meeting with Malawian Foreign Minster Joyce Hilda Banda in Tehran on Tuesday, Ahmadinejad noted that Iran is ready to help develop this African country, especially in agricultural and health fields, IRNA reported.
Banda, for her part, thanked the Iranian government’s efforts to promote her country’s development and called for further mutual cooperation.
On the upcoming meeting of the African head of states in Tehran, she said the meeting will provide a suitable opportunity to broaden ties and cooperation between Iran and African countries.
She said the upcoming visit of Malawian President Bingu Wa Mutharika to Iran can open a new chapter in bilateral cooperation.
On Monday, Banda met with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and reviewed developments in bilateral ties and ways of further strengthening them..
Banda said “while Iran continues to face the heavy negative propaganda bombardment of the West, the prestige of the Islamic Republic has been constantly improving in the hearts and minds of other nations“.
Referring to Iran’s valuable experience in agricultural engineering, technical and vocational fields, electricity generation and chemical products’ manufacturing, she expressed hope Malawi would be able to take advantage of such broad potentials for the African country’s advancement and development in the framework of the Malawian president’s state visit of Iran.
Banda termed all propaganda campaigns against Iran as fabricated and said during his stay in Tehran he personally realized that existing realities in the country differed from anti-Iran propaganda.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Google’s plot to forge a name for the Persian Gulf is a desperate attempt to falsify historical facts.
Hosseini told reporters on Tuesday that forging a name for the Persian Gulf will definitely tarnish the reputation of the website in the eyes of Iranians and other nations, IRNA reported.
“The attempt to forge historical facts and legal documents of the international community, including the United Nations, indicated the opportunist and ambitious attitudes of the website’s directors,“ he said, expressing regret over the failed and seditious conspiracy.
He noted that the Foreign Ministry has succeeded in foiling such falsifying attempts through authentic historical documents and defended the identity of Iranian heritage, including the Persian Gulf, in international organizations, IRNA reported.
“The Iranian nation has made all-out efforts to send online petitions to safeguard their territory,“ he said, adding that the nation showed national solidarity in this respect.
Hosseini further thanked all Iranians and expatriates for resisting the irrational and opportunist plot of Google.
Iranians are signing a petition with one million signatures to protest Google’s act at the following address: http://www.petitiononline.com/sos02082/petition.html.

Mohamed ElBaradei

Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is set to discuss Iran’s peaceful nuclear program in Berlin on Thursday before attending a conference on nuclear fuel.
The German Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday ElBaradei would meet Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, DPA reported.
Germany is leading efforts to promote non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The two-day Berlin conference, which will be attended by 80 experts from 32 nations, would discuss global challenges facing nuclear fuel, the ministry said.
It is to be jointly hosted by Germany, Britain and the Netherlands. While Germany has legislation in force to phase out all nuclear plants by early 2020s, Britain plans to build new nuclear plants as a way to cut carbon-dioxide emissions.
Tehran, which denies its program pursues nuclear weapons, has said it aims to install at least 54,000 centrifuges to process uranium for supplying fuel to nuclear power plants.
A senior Iranian nuclear official recently said Iran is installing state-of-the-art centrifuges named IR-2 manufactured by domestic scientists.

Women carry the coffins of those killed in a mosque blast on April 12 in Shiraz.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in a message on Monday expressed his condolences to the nation and the families bereaved after the explosion of Shiraz.
In the message, the leader said, “The sad and sorrowful incident at “ Rahpooyan-Vesal Center“ in the city of Shiraz, in which a number of citizens were martyred and many others were wounded deeply saddened me,“ IRNA reported.
Twelve people died and more than 200 others were wounded in an explosion at the cultural center that is part of Seyyed-ush-Shohada Mosque in a residential area of Shiraz, the capital of southern province of Fars on Saturday evening. “I pray Almighty God grant patience to the bereaved families, forgiveness and salvation to the dead and prompt recovery for the wounded,“ the message read.
Ayatollah Khamenei also urged officials to follow up the case with resolve and speed.
On Tuesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condoled the bereaved families of victims of the Shiraz explosion.
In his message, the president expressed hope that by probing the causes of the incident, such events would not recur.

Mohammad Reza Ashtiani

Iran would “eliminate Israel from the global arena“ if it was attacked by the Zionist regime, Deputy Army Commander-in-Chief Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warned on Tuesday.
“We are not worried by Israeli maneuvers, but if Israel takes such action against the Islamic Republic of Iran, we will eliminate it from the global arena,“ Ashtiani was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
His comments come a week after Israeli National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer warned that any Iranian attack against Israel “would lead to the destruction of the Iranian nation“.
On Friday, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaei, filed an official letter of complaint against Ben-Eliezer on Friday, citing his threats to obliterate Iran should it attack Israel.
Khazaei submitted the letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, noting that Ben-Eliezer’s remarks were “another example of the aggressive, terrorist nature of the Zionist regime“. He called on the UN Security Council to take action.
A lack of action, he warned, “will encourage Israel to continue its dangerous policy of threats“.
Khazaei further demanded the UN order Israel to stop making threats against UN members.
Ashtiani, whose comments were also reported by IRNA, was speaking at a news conference ahead of Iran’s Army Day on Thursday when a major military parade is held in Tehran.
“As the president (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) has said, we have a great motivation to defend the frontiers of our country,“ he said.
“In the case of any action by Israel, we are ready to eliminate it from the global arena.“
Israel last week held a five-day exercise codenamed “Turning Point“ by simulating air and missile attacks on cities, including by non-conventional weapons, in the biggest drill of its kind carried out by the regime.
Israel, the Middle East’s sole undeclared atomic arms power, has never explicitly ruled out a military attack against the Islamic Republic.
But Iran, which does not recognize Israel, insists that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and solely aimed at generating energy for a growing population.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan values its relations with Iran and the new government would take steps for further strengthening relations between the two brotherly countries.
“Pakistan attaches the highest priority to its relations with Iran, which are marked by shared history, geography, faith, culture as well as goodwill and understanding,“ Gilani said in a meeting on Tuesday with the head of Tehran-based Forum for Proximity Among Islamic Schools of Thought Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri, IRNA reported.
The Pakistani prime minister said both the countries are important members of the Jeddah-based Organization of the Islamic Conference and have a special responsibility to confront the challenges facing the Muslim community from within as well outside.

Minister of Defense Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said Iran has always supported establishment of security and stability in Iraq.
Addressing the senior staff of his ministry on Tuesday, Najjar said Iran has always supported the country’s popular government, IRNA reported.
He stressed that Washington has challenged the security and stability of neighboring Iraq.
Referring to the recent remarks of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, he asked, “Why does Washington repeatedly call for talks with Tehran, if Iran’s role in Iraq is not acceptable? “
The defense minister advised Gates to announce the timetable for taking his occupation forces out of Iraq, instead of taking an aggressive position against the Iraqi nation. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is among few regional states enjoying amicable ties with Iraq,“ he said, stressing that Washington is trying to tarnish such consolidated relations.
Najjar urged the United Nations to send an independent fact-finding committee to Iraq to find out the realities concerning the presence of US forces in Iraq.
“Tension, conflict and violence do not benefit any of Iraq’s neighboring states,“ he said, stressing that only the US and its allies take advantage of such critical conditions in that country.
The minister noted that withdrawal of occupation forces from the country and all-out support of regional states for the Iraqi government are the only solutions to the Iraqi problems.