BasharAl-Assad

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on Tuesday dismissed Israeli demands that Syria abandon an alliance with Iran as a requirement for a peace deal.
Assad told British parliamentarians that the Baath Party government intended to maintain “normal relations“ with Iran while it conducts indirect talks with Israel to regain the occupied Golan Heights, a source familiar with the meeting told Reuters.
Israeli officials have repeatedly said a peace agreement depends on Syria distancing itself from Iran and severing ties with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and the Palestinian group Hamas.
“The president said Syria has normal relations with Iran. He made it clear that any suggestion to drop them was not a reasonable request,“ the source said.
“He said if Israel could question Syria’s relations with Iran, then Syria could question Israel’s ties with other countries, particularly the United States.“
The parliamentarians, including former interior minister Charles Clarke, are on a trip to hear Syria’s take on the Middle East at first hand.
Syria and Israel said last week they were having indirect talks mediated by Turkey, the first confirmation of any talks since 2000.
A week after the announcement, Syrian Defense Minister Hassan Turkmani visited Tehran to discuss closer military cooperation, Syrian government newspapers said.
Hamas Leader Khaled Meshaal, who lives in exile in Syria, also made a separate trip to the Iranian capital.
The official Syrian news agency said Assad underscored to the British delegation the need for “comprehensive peace and full restoration of rights“, a reference to the Palestinian quest for a state on all the land Israel occupied in the 1967 war.
Syria’s alliance with Iran dates back to 1980, when Damascus, alone in the Arab world, took Iran’s side in its war with Iraq. It has reinforced its links with the Islamic Republic over the last few years to counter pressure from the United States, including sanctions imposed by Washington in 2004.
Syria’s link with Hezbollah contributed to an expansion of US sanctions on Syria and increased isolation from the West, but European officials have praised Syria for its role in this month’s agreement that ended the political crisis in Lebanon.
Assad said progress on the Syrian-Israeli peace track would encourage Lebanon and Israel to initiate their own talks.
“The president hinted that it would not be in Lebanon’s interest if it did not have its own talks if Syrian-Israeli talks advanced,“ the source said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has asked for an audience next week with Pope Benedict which would be the first meeting between the two leaders, a diplomatic source said on Tuesday.
Ahmadinejad is among the heads of state expected to visit Rome to attend a June 3-5 United Nations summit on global food security, hosted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Reuters reported.
Vatican sources said earlier this week that it was not yet clear if the pope would meet individual heads of state attending the UN event or hold a collective audience for them in order to save time.
The Holy See has diplomatic ties with Iran and Pope Benedict has met Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. The pontiff has repeatedly encouraged dialogue to resolve differences over Iran’s nuclear program.
Italy’s Foreign Ministry has already ruled out the possibility that conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will hold bilateral talks with the Iranian leader, saying there will not be enough time.

A Russian expert said the West is trying to facilitate the activities of terrorist forces and groups against Iran.
“However, the US and UK pursue preferentialism in providing security to diplomats and even have contacts with elements that assassinate diplomats,“ Rajab Safarov, the head of Russia’s Center for Contemporary Iranian Studies, also told Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.

Rajab Safarov

Commenting on terrorist acts against four Iranian diplomats on May 15, he said, “The recent provocations are not new. Iranian diplomats were arrested in Baghdad at the beginning of the current year. Finally it became clear that they are diplomats and have no links with saboteurs. It is natural that the Iranian society should be furious at the US over such incidents.“
Safarov emphasized that since Iraq has been occupied, the invaders are responsible for the country’s stability.
“The failure of occupiers in ensuring the security of diplomatic corps indicates their incompetence,“ he said.
Referring to the unease of Washington over the continuation of Tehran-Baghdad ties, the expert said, “One of the basic goals of war on terror was to once again sever Baghdad-Tehran bonds which, of course, did not materialize. This is because the majority of Iraqis support Iran and Iranians, while the White House knows that Iran has consolidated its influence in the region and can help thwart American plots against Islamic states.“
He maintained that though Iran has huge influence, “it has never wanted and will never want to wage a war against its neighbor“.
“Americans and their allies cannot level allegations against Iranian officials, because they have lost the trump card,“ he said.
Underlining America’s anxiety over Iran’s influence, Safarov said the West is trying to facilitate the activities of anti-Iranian forces and terrorist groups, and give the impression that these are “Tehran’s machinations“.
“This is why the West creates unbearable conditions for Iranian diplomatic corps, including for those stationed in Iraq,“ he said.

Gholamhossein Mohsen Ejei

Intelligence minister has ruled out any connection between recent bombings and the arrest of the brother of a rebel group’s chief Abdolmalek Rigi.
Such reports are untrue, but we are carrying out investigations into the issue, Gholamhossein Mohsen Ejei told reporters at the end of the Cabinet ministers’ meeting on Wednesday.
“The country’s security status is good,“ he was quoted as saying by Presstv.
Abdolmalek Rigi, the leader of terrorist group Jundollah, is believed to be responsible for countless murders, violence and hostage takings in southeastern parts of the country.
Asked about the recent car explosion in a western neighborhood of Tehran and the suspect in custody, he said that the detainee is not in the Intelligence Ministry’s custody, nor has it been informed of the details.
A car exploded west of Tehran on Monday afternoon, shattering the windows of nearby buildings. Iranian security forces arrested one suspect in connection with the explosion after the blast.
Ejei also described the probe into the Shiraz blast in southwestern Iran as positive, saying the investigation into the case is continuing.
A group affiliated to the US, Britain and Israel carried out a terrorist bomb blast at a mosque in the southwestern Iranian city of Shiraz in April, killing 13 people and wounding more than 200.
The Intelligence Ministry said in a statement that the terrorist group behind the Shiraz bombing had planned to attack Iran’s pipelines south of the country, bomb Tehran’s international book fair as well as scientific, religious and educational centers and other crowded locations in different cities.

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt says Washington and Tehran are likely to hold low-level talks during an upcoming UN conference.
According to AP, Bildt said on Wednesday he hoped low-level American and Iranian delegations “would not devote their time sightseeing“ and conduct direct negotiations.
He added that he would not try to bring together US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki for private talks as he does not foresee any meeting “on that particular level“.
Some 500 delegates from more than 90 countries will attend the conference outside Stockholm on Thursday.
The meeting will revolve around various topics, including the implementation of a peace and development plan to help rebuild Iraq, five years after the US-led invasion in March 2003.

(R-l) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, First Vice President Parviz Davoudi and veep for parliamentary and legal affairs, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, are seen in Tehran on Wednesday.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for closer and harmonious Majlis-government relations, noting that it will help tackle problems facing the two important branches of power.
Speaking at a ceremony for the inauguration of new vice president for parliamentary and legal affairs in Tehran on Wednesday, the president added that all state bodies should work together in line with serving people and establishing justice across the country, ISNA reported.
He noted that all branches of power and officials should have “harmonious cooperation“ and constructive interaction.
Referring to problems facing the government in its interaction with other branches of power, the president called for forming a joint group between the government, the Majlis and the judiciary for tacking these difficulties.
Ahmadinejad also said that no state body has the right to file a complaint against another state entity.
Earlier, Ahmadinejad in a decree appointed Mohammad Reza Rahimi as vice president for parliamentary and legal affairs. The post became vacant after the former veep, Ahmad Mousavi, was appointed Iran’s ambassador to Syria.
The president called on his deputy to create a balance between the Presidential Office’s relations with the parliament, noting that the government attaches great importance to this interaction.

Zbigniew Brzezinski

Former US national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, criticized Washington’s policies toward Iran, saying that the US threatening stance toward Tehran is futile.
In a joint article with William Odom published in Washington Post on Tuesday, Brzezinski said that the seemingly clever combination of the use of “sticks and carrots“, including the frequent official hints of an American military option “remaining on the table“, simply intensifies Iran’s desire to develop its nuclear program.
Alas, such a heavy-handed policy may work with donkeys but not with serious countries, the article said.
The United States would have a better chance of success if the White House abandoned its threats of military action and calls for regime change.
The item further said “consider countries that could have quickly become nuclear weapon states had they been treated similarly. Brazil, Argentina and South Africa had nuclear weapons programs but gave them up, each for different reasons.“
“Had the United States threatened to change their regimes if they would not, probably none would have complied. But when “sticks“ and “carrots“ failed to prevent India and Pakistan from acquiring nuclear weapons, the United States rapidly accommodated both, preferring good relations with them to hostile ones. What does this suggest to leaders in Iran?
“To look at the issue another way, imagine if China, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a country that has deliberately not engaged in a nuclear arms race with Russia or the United States, threatened to change the American regime if it did not begin a steady destruction of its nuclear arsenal. The threat would have an arguable legal basis, because all treaty signatories promised long ago to reduce their arsenals, eventually to zero. The American reaction, of course, would be explosive public opposition to such a demand.“
The article noted that a successful approach to Iran has to accommodate the security interests of both Americans and Iranians.
“Neither a US air attack on Iranian nuclear facilities nor a less effective Israeli one could do more than merely set back Iran’s nuclear program. In either case, the United States would be held accountable and would have to pay the price resulting from likely Iranian reactions,“ they said.
“Given Iran’s stated goals--a nuclear power capability but not nuclear weapons, as well as an alleged desire to discuss broader US-Iranian security issues--a realistic policy would exploit this opening to see what it might yield. The United States could indicate that it is prepared to negotiate, either on the basis of no preconditions by either side (though retaining the right to terminate the negotiations if Iran remains unyielding but begins to enrich its uranium beyond levels allowed by the Non-Proliferation Treaty; or to negotiate on the basis of an Iranian willingness to suspend enrichment in return for simultaneous US suspension of major economic and financial sanctions.“
The Washington Post article maintained that a broader and more flexible approach would increase the prospects of an international arrangement being devised to accommodate Iran’s desire for an autonomous nuclear energy program while minimizing the possibility that it could be rapidly transformed into a nuclear weapons program.
Brzezinsky and Odom stressed that an additional longer-range benefit of such a dramatically different diplomatic approach is that it could help bring Iran back into its traditional role of strategic cooperation with the United States in stabilizing the Persian Gulf.
“An eventual American-Iranian accommodation would significantly increase the flow of Iranian energy to the world market. Americans doubtless would prefer to pay less for filling their gas tanks than having to pay much more to finance a wider conflict in the Persian Gulf,“ the article said.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei pardons a large number of prisoners as Iran marks the 25th anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr.
Up to 3,500 convicts were granted pardon or commutation of their sentences by the leader upon the recommendation of Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi. Parts of Iran’s soil, including the port of Khorramshahr, were occupied by the forces of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the Iraq-imposed war.
Iranian forces, however, succeeded in recapturing the city after days of bitter fighting on May 24, 1982.

The distinguished Swedish newspaper ’Svenska Dagbladet’ carried a news report headlined “Conference on Iraq has attracted 80 countries to Sweden“ with three large pictures of Iranian, American and Iraqi foreign ministers.
In this article, the paper quoted Danflet, head of Middle East Department of Swedish Foreign Ministry, as saying that the focal point of the event is the presence of Iran, which benefited from the end of the 1980-88 war with Iraq and the ouster of Saddam Hussein.
The official was further quoted as saying that “the very presence of Iranian foreign minister in the conference is important and of high value“.
“Conditions in Iraq necessitate the continuation of negotiations between Iran and the US,“ he said. Furthermore, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, in an interview with the Swedish national radio, referred to the importance of Iran’s role in Iraqi affairs and said, “In view of the roles of countries like the US and Iran in Iraqi affairs, the presence of people such as (US Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice and (Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr) Mottaki in the conference is very important.“

Manager of an Iranian team of Internet hackers said the group has hacked about 100 Arab websites in protest at changing the name of Persian Gulf to the fake name of ’Arabian Gulf’.
According to IRNA, Behrouz Kamalian added that the team changed the appearance of Arab websites from countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Iraq by annexing a new page of the map of Iran with the name Persian Gulf.
Kamalian noted that the hacked websites included UAE’s Al-Khaleej newspaper and those of Iraq’s Ministry of Higher Education, Abu Dhabi’s Police Department and Oman Gas Company.