Photo by Ali Hassanpour

President Mahmoud Ahmadineajd said if Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal cares about Arab territories, he should do something about the Palestinian dilemma.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, the president was commenting on Faisal’s statement that Saudi Arabia may dispatch military forces to Lebanon.
“If Arab countries could mobilize military forces, the priority (for dispatching them) should be an Arab territory that foreigners have occupied for a long time. If Faisal cared about Arab territories not in the past 60 years but rather in the past 10 years, he should have done something when people were being massacred every day,“ he said.
According to Fars News Agency, Ahmadinejad said, “I remember when we reached an agreement with King Abdullah to establish a working group to resolve Lebanon’s problems, the Saudi king told Faisal that he should represent Saudi Arabia and work alongside Iran for resolving (Lebanon’s) problems.
However, Faisal replied that Riyadh will resolve the problems by itself. The king reminded him that Riyadh and Tehran have reached an agreement, but once again Faisal said that he would resolve the problems himself and did not listen to the king. I believe Faisal does not implement King Abdullah’s orders.“
The chief executive noted that every intervention such as the dispatch of military forces is not in the interests of the people of Lebanon.
“Let’s remember that the Lebanese nation broke Israel’s back,“ he said.
Asked whether Iran is prepared to negotiate with the US directly, he said, “We hold talks on the basis of reciprocity. Our only exception is the Zionist regime and we have no restrictions on negotiating with other countries.“
Ahmadinejad recalled that last year when he was in New York, he expressed his willingness to hold a debate with George W. Bush at the United Nations in the presence of media correspondents.
“Bush’s tenure is approaching its end. So this year we say that we are prepared to hold a debate with the US presidential aspirants on various global issues,“ he said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the president said the time of the Zionist ideology’s supremacy in the world is up and the Zionist regime can no longer defend its founding philosophy.
“It is no use to hold a birthday party for the dead who will not come back to life,“ he said.
Commenting on the accusation leveled against Iran by some countries that it interferes in Lebanon’s internal affairs and dispatches arms to the troubled country, Ahmadinejad said, “Hegemonic powers should realize that they face the people of Lebanon and not countries like Iran and Syria, as otherwise they will suffer more damage on Lebanon. When the US ambassador (in Lebanon) dictates Bush’s guidelines to (Prime Minister Fouad) Siniora who in turn makes decisions that lead to unwanted developments, it is clear who is interfering in Lebanon’s affairs.“
He stressed that the solution to Lebanon’s crisis lies in the fact that there should be no interference whatsoever in its internal affairs.
“The people of Lebanon should themselves make decisions about their destiny. The war in Lebanon is not between Shiite and Sunni groups, but against the expansionist and hegemonic policies of Bush,“ he said.
Asked what incentives Iran will accept from Group 5+1, he said, “We believe that giving incentives does not make sense and we should instead encourage them to take the correct path. The Iranian nation loves humanity and is ready to hold dialogue for the resolution of global problems. We have proposals in mind for holding multilateral talks to resolve international problems. We also welcome proposals and packages put forth by different countries.“
Commenting on the skyrocketing prices of goods and services, and the government’s remedial measures, he said, “The government has tried its best to pave the way for raising the salaries of the retired people and clerks. The issue will be finalized in Sunday’s Cabinet meeting and we will have a decent raise in salaries.“
On Tehran’s policy vis-ˆ-vis Moscow after the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev, Ahmadinejad said Iran and Russia must be united as the two countries have common interests in regional and global developments.

A military official on Tuesday denounced Washington’s efforts to strike a security agreement with Baghdad and called for clarifying the imperialist aspects of such an agreement.
Brigadier General Seyyed Masoud Jazayeri, deputy for cultural and defense propagation affairs of the armed forces, made the statement in a telefax sent to Iran Daily.
“Americans, who in the name of freedom and democracy crossed into Iraq with tanks, airplanes and missilesÉhave now become the biggest problem of Iraq as well as the Middle East and Persian Gulf,“ he said.
Jazayeri emphasized that the US seeks hegemony over the regional oil reserves, supports the illegitimate state of Israel, killed many people in Afghanistan and Iraq and has devised plans for a permanent presence in Iraq to safeguard its interests in the region and even control Russian moves.
“Despite the hostile US attitude, the regional conditions are not to the liking of the White House and the Pentagon. This failure, more than being rooted in the moves made by others, has to do with the inefficacy of American leaders in controlling the crisis that they themselves created,“ he said.
The general emphasized that the US imposed agreement will not entail anything for the Iraqis but misery and hence the people of Iraq will not allow its implementation.
“By practicing tactics such as long-term control over Iraqi affairs, the Americans are trying hard to prevent the fall of Israel,“ he said.
Jazayeri concluded by saying that it is the duty of all thinkers, non-governmental organizations, personalities and journalists to prevent the implementation of the agreement.

Russia’s third-largest mobile phone operator, MegaFon, is prepared to invest around 3 billion euros ($4.64 billion) to build a GSM network in Iran, the company said late on Monday.
MegaFon hopes to win a tender for the third GSM license in Iran, the firm quoted its general director Sergei Soldatenkov as saying at the opening of a representative office in Tehran.
There are currently two mobile service providers in Iran--state-controlled Iran Telecommunications Company (ITC) and MTN Group, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cellphone operator, Reuters reported.
Iran, which has 28 million mobile phone users, is expected to auction its third GSM license in the middle of the year but the tender has not been announced yet.MegaFon said in February it was considering long-term investment opportunities in the Iranian telecom sector despite US efforts to hinder foreign investments in Iran by imposing sanctions.
The Russian firm currently has more than 36 million clients mainly in Russia, lagging behind market leaders Mobile TeleSystems and Vimpelcom. Besides Russia, MegaFon’s only other part of the ex-Soviet pie is Tajikistan.