Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf (r) in talks with Secretary of the Guardians Council Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati in Islamabad on Monday.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf urged greater cooperation between Iran’s Guardians Council and Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology to reach out to the downtrodden Muslims and bring about a positive change in their lives.
Talking to a delegation led by Ayatollah Jannati, secretary of Guardians Council, on Monday, the president called for further strengthening relations in view of the geographical, historical and cultural affinities between the two countries, APP reported.
Musharraf stressed the need for adopting a conciliatory approach, rather than a confrontationist one, as it was vital for peace in the region.
The Iranian official said it has a special relationship with the Iranian legislative body, expressing his appreciation over the smooth transition to complete democracy and the transparent conduct of general elections.
He said Iran believes in having close ties with Pakistan and desired further strengthening of bilateral relations.
Appreciating the reconciliation efforts in Pakistan, Jannati said those who wanted to destabilize the country were against Islam and lauded President Musharraf’s positive approach.

The government spokesman said on Monday the Cabinet does not need to get the Majlis vote of confidence after the recent replacement of interior minister.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the induction ceremony for the new Interior Minister Mehdi Hashemi, Gholamhossein Elham said according to the law if half the Cabinet is reshuffled, the government needs to get a new vote of confidence vote from the parliament, IRNA reported.
“The Cabinet has 21 members,“ he said.
Earlier, the Guardians Council said if half the cabinet is reshuffled, the ministers should get the Majlis vote of confidence.
GC Spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodaei told reporters in Tehran that according to Article 136 of Iran’s Constitution, the government needs to get the Majlis ’yes’ vote again if half of the Cabinet is changed.
He expressed hope that such an event does not occur.
Kadkhodaei’s comments followed Elham’s announcement that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will replace two ministers, including Economy Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari and Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi.
Since coming to power in 2005, Ahmadinejad has changed some of his ministers, including those for oil, education and industry as well as the country’s central bank governor.

Former Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said under the present circumstances Mehdi Hashemi is the best choice for the post of interior minister because he has a good grip on the ministry’s affairs.
According to Mehr News Agency, Pour-Mohammadi, who was talking to reporters on the sidelines of his farewell ceremony on Monday, said, “We are all duty-bound to support the government, because the president is the choice of the nation and we must respect the public view. We must leave political rivalries to the time of presidential election. At present all political factions must stand united.“
Pour-Mohammadi noted that he was always accountable to the people during his tenure.
“I believe all administrators should be accountable (to the people),“ he said.
Upon a decree issued by the president, Hashemi replaces Pour-Mohammadi.

UN Secretary-General’s special representative for Iraq, Staffan de Mistura, praised Iran’s significant role in Iraq on Monday.
The UN envoy made the remark in a meeting with Iran’s Ambassador in Baghdad Hassan Kazemi Qomi.
Spokesman of Iran’s Embassy to Baghdad, Manouchehr Taslimi, told IRNA that the UN envoy lauded Iran’s support for Iraq’s democratically-elected government.
“The UN envoy also called on Iran to render more support for the Iraqi democratic government and help bring the Iraqi political groups closer,“ he said.
Taslimi pointed out that the two sides also reviewed issues of mutual interests along with current developments in Iraq.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (r) in talks with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan Kai Eide in Tehran on Monday.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran calls for full restoration of democracy to Afghanistan and for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country.
The president made the remark in a meeting with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan Kai Eide on Monday, IRNA reported.
Ahmadinejad called current developments in Afghanistan as very important and very complicated.
“As history testifies, direct interference of foreign forces has not helped resolve the Afghan problems and, therefore, all efforts in the war-shattered country should be based on democracy and support for the Afghan people,“ he said.
He pointed out that Iran is among the countries directly affected by ongoing developments in Afghanistan, adding that Iran fully supports restoration of security and stability to Afghanistan.
Ahmadinejad further said the adoption of double-standards regarding Afghanistan has complicated the country’s problems, stressing that Afghan problems will not be resolved until correct policies are taken.
“The issue of drug trafficking is one of the major topics for the whole region, including Iran,“ he said.
“Unfortunately, the production of drugs in Afghanistan has increased, which favors terrorist groups.“
The president called for defining the role of foreign countries in restoring security to Afghanistan.
“Issues including drugs, correcting contradictory relations and presenting a timetable for restoring stability to Afghanistan are among the main duties of the UN envoy in the country,“ he said, adding that Iran will spare no efforts to cooperate to this end.
Referring to ample cultural and historical commonalities between Iran and Afghanistan, he said Iran regards Afghanistan’s security, stability and development as its owns.
The UN envoy, for his part, briefed the president on his duties and responsibilities, and said the Afghan people should administer their own affairs.
“Afghanistan’s problems have no military solution,“ he said.

Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei

Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said that different dimensions of the Shiraz terrorist incident have been revealed and new suspects have been arrested.
According to IRNA, Ejei made the announcement while talking to reporters on the sidelines of the induction ceremony for new Interior Minister Mehdi Hashemi.
“The dossiers of these people have not yet been sent to the judiciary. The Intelligence Ministry is examining the case,“ he said.
He stressed that Iran will certainly follow up the issue of the US-UK involvement in the bomb blast through international forums.
Commenting on his ministry’s involvement in issues related to land and housing mafia, Ejei said, “Fighting against economic corruption is, generally speaking, one of the Intelligence Ministry’s duties. We are working on the matter.“
Iran said on Wednesday that the blast in a mosque that killed 13 people in the southern city of Shiraz last month was a bombing and that suspects linked with the country’s western foes have been arrested.
“Through the efforts of the law enforcement forces...the main person involved in the Shiraz mosque explosion was arrested in one of the northern cities of the country,“ the Fars News Agency quoted Ejei as saying.
“The main culprit, who was an accomplice in the bombing, was arrested during an attempt to leave the country. The person was armed when arrested,“ Ejei said.

Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad Al-Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah received a message from his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki on Sunday about bilateral relations.
Mottaki’s message concerned bilateral ties between the two capitals and ways to promote them, IRNA quoted Kuwait’s News Agency (KUNA) as reporting.
It did not provide further details about the message.
Mottaki was in Kuwait on Friday evening on a short visit to convey the sympathy and condolences of the Iranian government and people on the demise of Kuwait’s former Emir Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, who died last Tuesday of a chronic disease at the age of 78.
He also met with Kuwaiti Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jabir Al-Sabah and his counterpart who also serves as the deputy prime minister of Kuwait.

A senior Iranian official said the Islamic Republic deserves to be the leading power in the region, given its vast resources.
“Our Islamic country holds vast spiritual and material assets, the most important of which is the support of its people. Hence, it deserves to be the region’s leading power,“ said the Chairman of State Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Monday.
Rafsanjani also said the Iranian nation could achieve that goal by making a strong showing in social arenas, Presstv reported.
The former Iranian president made the remark in an address to a group of political and scientific figures in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan.
Rafsanjani’s speech focused on ways to develop the province, drawing on its oil, gas and water resources.

The West should pursue a policy of dŽtente vis-ˆ-vis Iran which should include an end to western sanctions over its nuclear program and direct talks between both the sides, said a leading German Middle East scholar on Sunday.
The former head of the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Christoph Bertram, wrote in an op-ed piece for the Sunday daily Der Tagesspiegel that the present western Iran strategy had ’failed’.
He urged western leaders to “review the strategy toward Iran“ instead of issuing futile threats and repeatedly passing “toothless sanctions“.
Bertram, who is to unveil on Monday evening his new book on Iran titled ’Partner, not rival: For another Iran policy’, stressed that any basis for a western rethinking should remember that the West had not been able to stop Iran’s nuclear program over the past six years.
Bertram, the ex-director of London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies, called on western nations to engage in nuclear talks with Tehran “without any preconditions“.
The German expert noted that a western detente policy with Iran should include Tehran’s right to enrich uranium for its civilian nuclear program and “fair solutions“ for all remaining non-nuclear problems.
“Such a western Iran initiative has to be led by the US,“ he said.
Bertram is among several prominent German experts on Iran who have expressed deep skepticism over Berlin’s current policy toward Tehran.

A legislator said Iran believes the crises in Middle East and other parts of the world are fomented by the US and other big powers.
Making the remark in a meeting with Bosnian lawmaker Baqer Izetbegovic on Sunday, Alaeddin Boroujerdi added that Iran is located in a critical region and witnesses crises to the west and east of its borders, which have been triggered by the presence of the US and multinational forces, IRNA reported.
Pointing to good relations between Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Boroujerdi said the Iranian government and nation are pleased with the stability and tranquility in the European country after a bloody civil war.
“Iran has always supported independence and tranquility in Bosnia-Herzegovina,“ he said, adding that the two parliaments can play a key role in expanding cooperation in political, economic and cultural arenas.
The Bosnian lawmaker, for his part, said Iran is a big and important country in the region and the world, and his nation believes Iranians are the real friend of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Referring to the satisfactory inter-parliamentary relations between the two countries, Izetbegovic noted that parliaments play a decisive role in developing ties in all fields.