Mohammad Ali Hosseini

Iran says it will not consider any package or incentives that violate the rights of its nation.
Talking to reporters during his weekly briefing in Tehran, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini added that no new package has been presented by the Europeans to Iran.
Earlier, senior officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and France agreed at a meeting in London to offer a new package to coax Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.
Iran ruled out halting its disputed nuclear work on Monday, saying it would not consider any incentives offered by world powers that violated the Islamic Republic’s rights to atomic technology.
He criticized the western governments for the incorrect approach they adopted toward Iranian nuclear program over the past years and said the Iranian nuclear program steers clear of the western accusations.
Iran got a clean health bill from the International Atomic Energy Agency on February 22.
Asked about an upcoming visit to Tehran of a delegation from the UN nuclear agency, Hosseini said an IAEA team is scheduled to arrive in Tehran soon.
“The head of the delegation has not been determined yet,“ he added.

Lebanon Crisis
The spokesman noted that Iran believes the best solution to Lebanon’s political crisis is national unity.
“The current situation in Lebanon can be dealt with in an acceptable way by holding negotiations and reaching an agreement among all domestic groups,“ he said.
Hosseini noted that Tehran has repeatedly stressed that the Lebanese people are the ones who should decide how to resolve the political crisis in their country.
“The way out of the Lebanese tension is completely domestic and should be eased by the Lebanese themselves. No one else can decide for the people of Lebanon,“ he said.
“Iran would welcome any effort leading to a proper way out of the current deadlock in Lebanon.“
Hosseini voiced Tehran’s readiness to help in this connection.
He said that Iran has repeatedly warned that Israel and its ally, the United States, stir up tension in Lebanon using all within their reach to ignore different Lebanese parties.
The spokesman added that the US and Israel are using their media to sow discord by saying that the current tension in Lebanon has resulted from conflicts between the followers of various religions in that country.
Hosseini criticized certain European countries for their indifference toward the ongoing situation in Lebanon and in the Middle East.

Zionist Crimes
Hosseini also called on the international community, Muslim countries in particular, to confront the crimes of the Zionist regime.
“It is time the world started paying attention to the real demands of the Palestinian people. It is necessary for the international community and Islamic states to put on their agenda confrontation with the criminal acts of the Zionist regime and support for the Palestinians with the aim of restoring their rights and establishing justice,“ he said.
The spokesman declared that the Islamic Republic regards the racist, aggressive and illegal nature of the Zionist regime the root cause of all crises in the region.
“The Zionist regime celebrates the 60th anniversary of its illegal establishment under circumstances wherein the rightful inhabitants of the historical land of Palestine are being subjected to great suffering and pain,“ he said, adding that the regime has a black record of committing brutal acts in Palestine.

Iraq Talks
Hosseini also said Tehran might consider resumption of talks with the United States on Iraq.
“If conditions were right, Iran would resume talks with the US on security in Iraq,“ he said.
The spokesman had said last week that Iran would not talk with the US as long as US forces targeted Iraqi civilians in their fight against militias linked to Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr.
Iran and the US have already held three rounds of talks in Baghdad, which led to an as yet unimplemented plan to form a trilateral security committee consisting of Iran, the US and Iraq to help bring stability to Iraq.

Abbas Araqchi

As a victim of unconventional weapons, Iran will never accept the use of such weapons against humanity, Iran’s envoy to Japan said.
“Just like the Japanese nation, the people of Iran has experienced the horror of these weapons, which gave rise to a religious decree against the production and use of nuclear weapons in Iran,“ the Iranian ambassador in Tokyo, Abbas Araqchi, told a gathering of Japanese women married to Iranian nationals in Tokyo, Presstv reported.
With more than 100,000 Iranians who fell victim to the use of chemical weapons during the 1980-88 Iraq-imposed war, the Islamic Republic has been severely affected by the consequences of the weapons of mass destruction.
“During the Iran-Iraq war, the West supplied Saddam Hussein with large quantities of chemical weapons, which were used against Iranian soldiers. Two decades after the end of the war, victims of Iraq’s atrocities are dying all over the country from the enduring effects of such weapons,“ Araqchi added.
In a 12,000-page weapons declaration delivered to the United Nations in 2002, Iraq identified 31 major foreign suppliers in its chemical weapons program, which included 2 US companies, 14 companies from Germany, 3 companies each from the Netherlands and Switzerland and 2 each from France and Austria.

A roadside bomb exploded on Sunday near the Iranian embassy in the West Baghdad neighborhood of Salihiyah, wounding four people and damaging a minibus, police said. ’’A roadside bomb exploded next to a minibus, damaging it and wounding 4 people,“ said an Iraqi policeman, whose name was not given.
AP Television pictures showed a minibus riddled with shrapnel holes near the Iranian Embassy and blood on the ground.
The blast occurred a few meters away from the fortified Green Zone--which houses the US and British embassies and the Iraqi leadership--and on the first day of a ceasefire between Shiite militants and US-backed Iraqi forces.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, authorities in Sadr City reported no violence on Sunday as gunmen withdrew from the streets and shops reopened after two months of intense clashes.
Also on Sunday, the US military announced that one US soldier was killed when the vehicle he was traveling in rolled over near Al-Asad, home to the second largest airbase in Iraq.
Sunday’s announcement raises the number of the US military losses in Iraq to at least 4,075 since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry has held a seminar in Bishkek on Saturday to study Iran-Kyrgyzstan ties jointly with the UNESCO Friends Society and the Iranian Embassy.
Twenty-five articles on economic, political, cultural and scientific cooperation between Iran and Kyrgyzstan were presented in several working committees, Presstv reported.
In a message to the seminar, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ednan Karabaev said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties between Kyrgyzstan and Iran in 1992, the two countries have significantly improved their cooperation in political, economic, cultural and educational fields.
“Mutual respect is a prerequisite for multilateral cooperation within the framework of international organizations and financial institutions,“ he added.
Karabaev said it goes without saying that the determination of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as well as the strong historical bonds between the two countries will pave the way for further improvement of Tehran-Bishkek relations.
Iran’s Ambassador in Bishkek Mohammad Reza Sabouri noted at the seminar that after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the Islamic Republic of Iran was one of the first countries to recognize Kyrgyzstan’s independence.

Iran’s representative in the International Atomic Energy Agency said technical negotiations between Iran and IAEA will be held on Monday in Tehran.
Ali Asghar Soltaneh told Fars News Agency on Sunday Hermann Nackartes, head of regional section of IAEA Safeguards Agreement, will lead the UN team in the three-day negotiations.
“The new round of talks is a follow-up of past negotiations,“ Soltanieh said.
Earlier, Olli Heinonen, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, ended his meetings with the Islamic Republic’s top security and nuclear officials behind closed doors at Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO).
Heinonen had met with Soltanieh and IAEO deputy head for international affairs, Mohammad Saeedi.
The Iranian delegation is headed by Javad Vaeedi, deputy head of the Supreme National Security Council for international affairs.
Nackartes accompanied Heinonen on his Tehran visit.
The IAEA delegation did not carry out any inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities and left Tehran following talks with Iranian officials.
IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei says these talks have led to good progress in verifying Iran’s past and present activities.

Mohsen Hakim

Iran played a very important and sensitive role in the agreement reached between the Sadr bloc in parliament and the ruling Shiite alliance, political advisor of Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council said.
“We hope Iraqi problems will be resolved as soon as possible upon the implementation of the agreement,“ Seyyed Mohsen Hakim said during a news program of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting on Sunday.
According to Mehr News Agency, Hakim also expressed hope that security, calm and peace would be restored to Iraq.
He stressed that the views of both sides have been outlined in the agreement, which should serve as the yardstick for overcoming all misunderstandings and problems from now on.
Meanwhile, Iraqi government spokesman, Ali Al-Dabagh, on Saturday said the government endorses the agreement to end fighting in the Baghdad bastion of Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr.
The Iraqi government has called on all citizens to assume responsibility for the ongoing developments in order to restore security and stability to Sadr City.

The outgoing Bosnia-Herzegovina’s ambassador to Iran, Senahid Bristric, met with Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel to bid farewell to him on Sunday.
During the meeting, Haddad said Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina enjoy amicable relations, IRNA reported.
The speaker expressed hope that bilateral ties would expand in the fields of politics, economy and culture, inviting his Bosnian counterpart to Iran.
Bristric, for his part, termed Iran-Bosnia ties as deep rooted.
Referring to the two countries’ commonalities, Bristric called for closer bilateral ties, adding that Bosnia-Herzegovina is interested in increasing bilateral cooperation.

Iran’s Red Crescent Society will hold a two-day workshop on Palestine as viewed by international law on Monday.
Some 12 Iranian and six foreign academics will study the Zionist regime’s illegal existence and long-term occupation of Palestine at the two-day event, IRNA reported.
Limitations on international human rights law during the occupation, illegal establishment of Israel and the need to prosecute Israeli officials and bring them to trial as war criminals are among the focal points of the workshop.
The workshop will be held at Tehran’s International Law College.
The fake Zionist regime is preparing to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its illegitimate establishment on May 15, while the real owners of the occupied Palestinian territories are suffering from oppression and humiliation.

Tehran says countries celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary are all “partners in the crimes committed by the regime occupying Palestine“.
“Zionists and their allies are now celebrating the 60th year of the foundation of the occupying regime,“ said Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in a meeting on Saturday with Secretary-General of the Parliamentary Union of OIC member-states, Mahmut Erol Kilic, IRNA reported.
“One must ask whose gravesite, among the innocent martyred Palestinians, are they celebrating on,“ he said. “Those commemorating the Zionist regime’s foundation will have no choice but to carry the burden of their crimes.“
Mottaki noted that the Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Union (IIPU) can play an effective role in creating unity among Palestinian groups and preventing cultural onslaught.
“Islamic values have become a prime target of the enemy’s cultural inroad and OIC member-states should stop at nothing to counter such threats,“ he said.
The foreign minister also said IIPU member-states should consolidate unity among themselves and strengthen their cultural interests,“ he said.
“Nowadays, Muslim culture and faith have been targeted internationally by our enemies and advocates of the idea of clash of civilizations.“
Mahmut Erol Kilic, for his part, called for consultations with Mottaki on ways of strengthening IIPU.
Appreciating Iran’s cooperation in strengthening IIPU, Erol Kilic said, “We hope that with joint efforts we can increase understanding among Islamic nations and gather them under one umbrella.“

Labor Minister Mohammad Jahromi and Qatari Minister of Labor and Social Affairs and Housing Sultan Hassan Al-Dosary are seen in Tehran in Doha on Sunday.

Iranian Labor Minister Mohammad Jahromi and his Qatari counterpart Sultan Hassan Al-Dosary discussed issues of mutual interest in Doha on Sunday.
During the meeting, Jahromi called for expansion of bilateral cooperation in labor-related fields, IRNA reported.
“The Islamic Republic has a say in the fields of agriculture, oil, petrochemical, steel, aluminum and copper industries, as well as information technology and tourism,“ he said.
He noted that Iranian universities have trained technical, engineering and medical specialists.
Jahromi further said training in Iran is based on labor market needs and conforms to international standards.
He also voiced Iran’s willingness to cooperate with Qatar in the field of training workforce.
Referring to training courses held by Iranian universities to create jobs, Jahromi said Iran is ready to share its valuable experiences with the Qatari government.
Jahromi regretted that the number of Iranians working in Qatar has declined.
Al-Dosari, for his part, called for expansion of bilateral cooperation in labor-related fields.
He also expressed hope Qatar would utilize the experiences of Islamic Republic in the field of workforce training.
“Iran has made great progress in medical and engineering fields,“ he said, calling for joint research by the two countries.
The Qatari minister noted that agreements have been signed with 11 countries to dispatch skilled workers to Qatar, adding that 800,000 foreign workers are active in Qatar currently.
Dosari looked forward to expansion of Tehran-Doha ties in future.

Ali Saeedlou

Expansion of Tehran-Baghdad ties in various sectors benefit their nations, Ali Saeedlou, vice president for executive affairs, said on Sunday.
Saeedlou made the remark in a meeting with Iraqi Ambassador in Tehran Mohammad Majid Al-Sheikh, IRNA reported.
He stressed that reconstruction projects in Iraq should be carried out more speedily.

Mohammad Majid Al-Sheikh

Pointing to the amicable relations between the Iranian and Iraqi nations, Saeedlou said preparations should be made for establishing closer links between the Iranian and Iraqi private sectors for boosting their trade exchanges.
According to the presidential website, Saeedlou also said religious, spiritual and historical commonalities between the two nations provide them with a very good opportunity to deepen their relations in all fields.
Saeedlou, who also heads the Iran-Iraq Economic Development Headquarters, referred to the fact that the enemies are afraid of solidarity between the two neighboring countries, adding that the enemies of the two nations are attempting to separate them.
The Iranian official underscored the need for providing pilgrims with appropriate services. Al-Sheikh, for his part, expressed satisfaction with the determination of both the sides for expanding mutual ties, saying that the Islamic Republic has had the best of cooperation with the Iraqi nation.
He hoped that mutual cooperation would continue in future.
Referring to numerous commonalities between Iranians and Iraqis, Sheikh added that the two nations are keen on promoting sustainable relations.
The ambassador also vowed to make efforts to resolve some of the problems facing Iranian pilgrims in Iraq.