Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said the US and Israel are behind regional violence and instability.
“Washington is intensifying the Lebanese crisis in a bid to strengthen Israel defense,“ said Major General Najjar in a Tuesday meeting with senior defense officials, Presstv reported.
“The United States presents itself as an advocate of peace and stability whilst using all political and military power to foment violence in the region,“ he added.
The defense minister warned against foreign interference in Lebanon and called on the country’s political parties to resolve the ongoing crisis through dialogue and negotiations.
“Foreign interference would benefit the enemy at the expense of the Lebanese nation and its resistance movement,“ he said.
Najjar stressed that the key to a lasting regional stability lies in the localization of stability as well as greater unity among Middle Eastern countries.
Tensions mounted among the feuding Lebanese parties and their supporters after the pro-US ruling coalition decided to ban Hezbollah telecommunications network and sack Beirut Airport security chief on Tuesday.
Hezbollah says its telecommunication network played a vital role during the 33-day war with Israel. The war inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Zionist regime.
Earlier, the US president, ahead of his trip to the region, said his country is prepared to strengthen the Lebanese Army so it could disarm Hezbollah.
“I don’t see how you can have a society with Hezbollah armed up the way they are,“ George W. Bush said, adding that the first step is to ensure that the Siniora government has got the capacity to respond with a military that’s effective.
The US president made the remark while the Lebanese Army remained neutral during the crisis.

Iranian officials and a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency continued talks on the second day of the third round of technical negotiations at Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization in Tehran.
An informed official told IRNA that Herman Nackaerts, director for regional department of Safeguards Operation, heads the IAEA delegation, while Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s permanent envoy to IAEA, leads the Iranian team in this round of negotiations.
The official said that the three-day negotiations are being held at the experts’ level and will be concluded on Wednesday.
“A number of experts from the Foreign Ministry were scheduled to take part in the talks.“
Technical delegations of both sides held talks about two weeks ago during April 28-30.
After the release of the report by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei on February 22, the first round of technical talks was held between Iranian officials and IAEA deputy director general, Olli Heinonen.
Tehran addressed all questions raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency in order to remove concerns about its peaceful nuclear program based on the modality plan signed on August 21.

Morteza Rahimi

Iranian ambassador in Muscat on Tuesday called for expansion of ties with Oman.
Morteza Rahimi told Oman-based newspaper Al-Shabiba that the recent visit of deputy to Oman Sultan Qaboos, Fahd bin Mahmoud Al-Said, is considered a positive step toward strengthening bilateral ties, IRNA quoted.
He added that during Al-Said’s visit, agreements in the fields of politics, economy, culture, oil and gas were signed and this was among the important achievements of his visit.
“On the sidelines of Al-Said’s visit, the possibility of establishing a joint research center, publishing books in Persian and Arabic languages and translating archeological books into Arabic were discussed,“ he said.
He announced that an educational Iranian center for teaching Persian language will be established in Oman under the supervision of the Iranian Embassy in Muscat.
Referring to the meeting of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with the deputy to Oman’s Sultan Qaboos, the envoy said ways to develop bilateral cooperation were also discussed.
Rahimi expressed hope that the Oman’s Sultan Qaboos would visit Iran in the near future.
Pointing to the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) Summit in Riyadh and transfer of its rotating presidency from Qatar to Oman, Rahimi said the Riyadh summit was very important.
“Oman plays a key role in bringing PGCC members closer,“ he said.
Referring to tourism cooperation, Rahimi noted that cooperation in the field of tourism is not very extensive, calling for establishing direct Tehran-Muscat air link.
During Al-Said’s visit to Iran on April 20, President Ahmadinejad named Oman a brotherly country, calling for expansion of bilateral ties. He also underscored the deep-rooted relations between the Islamic Republic and Oman, expressing hope that Al-Said’s visit would help develop bilateral ties and regional cooperation.
Ahmadinejad further said Iran-Oman cooperation should become a model for other regional countries, stressing that there is no obstacle to bolstering bilateral ties.

Iran’s Ambassador in Baghdad Hassan Kazemi Qomi said Tehran welcomes restoration of stability and security to Iraq, noting that an insecure Iraq would not be in the interest of neighboring countries.
“Iran’s strategy in Iraq is based on providing help to the government of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki to establish security, promote the economy and rebuild the war-stricken country,“ Qomi told IRIB.
He added that Iran calls for a stable and independent Iraq along with the preservation of its national unity and territorial integrity as well as the withdrawal of occupation forces.
“An insecure Iraq would not be in the interest of neighboring and regional countries,“ he said, noting that continuation of Iraq’s occupation and terrorist acts would get in the way of the Iraqi government’s development plans.
The Iranian diplomat expressed Iran’s all-out support for the Iraqi government’s plans aimed at completing the political process, beefing up security and reconstructing the country.
Qomi noted that cooperation in the fields of fuel and energy, including transfer of electricity and construction of power plants, road building, the opening of Iranian banks and consulates in Iraqi cities, supplying security and medical aid, and the annual reciprocal visits of two million pilgrims between the two countries attest to Iran’s amicable relations with the Iraqi government and nation.

The Foundation for the Preservation and Publication of Sacred Defense Works and Values will hold ceremonies to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr on May 24.
Head of the foundation, Brigadier General Mir Feisal Baqerzadeh, told a press conference that the organization has planned more than 100 programs for the occasion.
Mountain climbing, distribution of a pamphlet titled Victors of Khorramshahr and unveiling the Khorramshahr Photo Book are some of the scheduled programs.
Staging 15 plays related to the Sacred Defense (the 1980-88 Iraq-imposed war) is also among the programs.

Iran’s judiciary said on Monday it may take legal action against the United States and Britain over a mosque explosion last month that killed 13 people in the southern tourist city of Shiraz.
“Fortunately, the investigation into this case is complete and different governments, especially the United States and Britain, supported the bombers,“ judiciary spokesman, Alireza Jamshidi, told state television.
“With the information we have, I hope to present the case before an international tribunal,“ he said. “Those who claim to fight terrorism have equipped and financed the elements“ who bombed the mosque.
On Thursday, Iran blamed western-backed monarchists for the April 12 bombing which also wounded more than 200. Initial reports said the explosion was a bomb attack, but officials later said it had been an accident.
The blast ripped through a packed mosque during an evening prayer sermon by a prominent local cleric.
Iran has blamed US and British agents based in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan for launching deadly attacks in recent years in border provinces with significant ethnic minority populations.
But the strike in Shiraz was the first in decades in Iran’s heartland. The normally placid city is not in a border zone, nor is it home to any significant ethnic or religious minority population.
One of Iran’s most famous tourist destinations, Shiraz is popular because of its proximity to important ancient sites from the Achaemenid Empire that ruled much of central and southwest Asia from 331 to 550 BC.

Hans Blix

Former head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission Hans Blix has again criticized the US and its allies for not doing more to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
“There are many things that can be done on the western side,“ Blix said, contrasting the situation with the US approach to the issue of North Korea as but one example, IRNA reported.
“The North Koreans have been offered guarantees against any attacks from outside, the Iranians have not been offered this as far as we know, nor have they been offered diplomatic relations extended to the North Koreans,“ he said.
The former chief weapons inspector, who was also director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was in London to launch his new book, Why Nuclear Disarmament Matters, which includes specific suggestions for credible multilateral disarmament. Speaking in an interview with Channel Four News on Monday night, he criticized the double standards of the US in threatening other countries.
“When you see talks now with the North Korean and the Iranian, they sit there and are told by the US and other, who retain all these weapons, you should not have all these nuclear weapons, that it is a danger for you, it is not a danger for us, it is for the safety of the world. That is very hypocritical,“ he said.
Blix warned that the world was spending about $1,300 billion on military expenditure and suggested instead that it would be a better and safer world if the five permanent members of the UN Security Council did not have their arsenal of nuclear arms.
He said that after the end of the Cold War, “the convenient truth is not to get rid of these enormous quantities of weapons and threats“.
“We see how the US is building up a new policy of containment.“
Blix, who now chairs the independent Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission in Stockholm, last year criticized demands made against Iran to suspend its nuclear enrichment as an ’illogical’ precondition for talks.
Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Blix has also been scathing over US and UK fixing of the intelligence to justify the war based upon weapons of mass destruction that never existed.

Mohammad Jafar Behdad was appointed as the director of the Islamic Republic News Agency and the outgoing director Jalal Fayyazi will serve as advisor to the culture minister.
IRNA is an affiliate of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi has made the appointment.
Behdad has served at the Communications and Publicity Department of the Presidential Office, is a war veteran and prisoner of war in Iraq for many years, a member of the Board of Directors of Muslim Journalists Association with 12 years of press activities.
A graduate from Tehran University, Behdad has also served as managing director of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Department in Hormuzgan province.
Fayyazi served at IRNA for 20 months and was successful in promoting the professional capacity of the state-run news organization.

Iran on Tuesday offered condolences to the Chinese people and government over the quake disaster.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini expressed condolences to the Chinese people over the killer quake that devastated parts of the country and left nearly 12,000 dead, IRNA reported.
Hosseini offered the heartfelt sympathy of the Iranian nation and government to the quake-stricken people, the families of victims and the government.
Nearly 12,000 people were killed in the 7.9-magnitude quake that hammered Sichuan province in southwest China on Monday.
According to reports, the number of victims of the killer quake, China’s worst earthquake in three decades, is likely to soar.
The Sichuan quake was the worst to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan tremor in northeastern China where up to 300,000 died.

Iran’s ambassador to Syria said the occupying regime is currently in its worst-ever condition, getting weaker and moving toward extinction.
Seyyed Ahmad Mousavi, also the presidential advisor, made the remark in Damascus on Monday at the opening ceremony of a conference titled “Repatriation: A Sacred And Legitimate Right“, sponsored by the Damascus-based Arab Writers Union, IRNA reported.
Mousavi added, “Israel has ever since its establishment been serving the colonialist, and later on neo-colonialist Western powers as a tool for strengthening their hegemony in this sensitive region.“
He added, “The US President assumes that the entire nations in this region are waiting for him to issue commands and obey them, but the Americans are today beginning to realize that not only that has been a simple minded assumption, but also the US and Israeli plots for the region are facing humiliating defeats in the region one after the other.“
Referring to the existence of numerous conflicts and difficulties within the Islamic and Arab worlds, he said, “Despite all those problems and challenges, the root cause of most of which is US and Israeli plots, the victory of Muslims in the long run is easy to predict.“
Mousavi emphasized that freedom and liberation cannot be achieved without tolerating the hardships of undertaking a defensive war, resistance and unity.
“In order to achieve independence, freedom and competence in facing the ever-increasing challenges of today’s world, the world Muslims need to get acquainted with the culture of resistance and keep alight hope for embracing final victory in their hearts,“ he said.
Mousavi urged Muslims to beware of the incessant cultural onslaught of the West.
“The main objective of this onslaught is annihilation of the Islamic and indigenous values of our nations, as well as breaking the bonds of unity within the Islamic and Arab societies,“ he said.
The Zionists occupied major parts of Palestinian lands on May 15th, 1948 and in 1967 occupied the entire territory of that oppressed nation.
The two-day conference is attended by a large number of Iranian and Arab scholars and thinkers.