Ali Larijani

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani warned the UN nuclear agency on Saturday against playing for time in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
“The agency has submitted an ambiguous report. They might be pursuing a ’One Thousand and One Nights’ diplomacy whereby they continually play for time,“ IRNA quoted Larijani as saying.
The former nuclear negotiator was alluding to a collection of folk tales, also known as the “Arabian Nights,“ in which the storyteller Scheherazade, who is doomed to be executed, begins a new story each night but delays the ending till the following night as a way of staying alive.
In his latest report on Iran, IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei accused the Islamic Republic of withholding key information on “alleged nuclear studies“.
Iran has dismissed allegations as ’baseless’, insisting it has provided comprehensive responses.
“We worked with the agency in sincerity and if they want to complicate the nuclear issue, they will make problems for themselves,“ Larijani warned. “We are not interested in prolonging the issue.“
Larijani said Iran, however, does not seek to buy time and wants to promptly solve the issue.
Based on the modality plan agreed between Iran and the IAEA, the Islamic Republic provided answers to six outstanding topics regarding its nuclear case.
He said Majlis is ready to cooperate with government and officials over the nuclear issue and can extend support over the issue.
Larijani arrived in the northern city of Rasht on a daylong visit to discuss provincial issues.
The IAEA report prompted Larijani to warn last Wednesday that Iran might review its relations with the UN watchdog, which has been probing Iran’s nuclear program for years.
But President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took a milder position on Monday, saying that Iran had no immediate plans to revise cooperation with the IAEA. Tehran insists its drive is entirely peaceful.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has warned against threats of military action against states with suspected nuclear plants, charging that the threats are undermining the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a German news magazine reported on Saturday.

Mohamed ElBaradei

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei referred to the bombing of the Al-Kibar complex in Syria’s northeastern desert by Israeli aircraft in September last year and to Israeli warnings on Iran’s nuclear facilities, in an interview with the German news magazine Der Spiegel.
“One undermines the international treaty framework with unilateral military action,“ ElBaradei said, warning of a “historic change“ taking place, DPA reported
In an interview released on Friday, Israeli Transport Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said he believed Israel would have no choice but to attack Iran in order to prevent it from what he claimed “developing weapons“.
“If Iran continues its program to develop nuclear weapons, we will attack it,“ Mofaz, a former top general, claimed in an interview in the Yedioth Aharonoth newspaper to be published on Sunday.
Mofaz’s threats come despite the fact that the Zionist regime has more than 300 undeclared nuclear warheads and did not sign the NPT.
ElBaradei told Der Spiegel he saw a rising threat to world peace from nuclear arms and the increasing readiness to bomb nuclear plants, calling for “absolute transparency“ from Syria.
An IAEA delegation is to visit the country during June 22-24 with the aim of visiting the bombed Al-Kibar complex and other sites.
Meanwhile, the White House on Friday sidestepped questions about the Israeli threat to attack Iranian nuclear sites if it continues uranium enrichment, saying it was committed to dealing with Tehran through multilateral diplomacy.
“We are trying to solve this diplomatically,“ White House Spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.
Asked whether the United States was keeping military options open as a last resort with Iran, she said President George W. Bush had always said he “would never take any options off the table“ but that Washington was pursuing multilateral diplomacy.
Earlier, White House Spokesman Scott Stanzel, asked specifically whether the United States would support an Israeli strike on Iran, said, “I’m not going to talk about hypotheticals. I think we’ve been pretty clear in recent weeks and months about our approach on Iran.“
The Bush administration has repeatedly said it wants to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy.

Iran has manufactured a simulator for the F-4 Phantom fighter jet, a technology not developed by many states.
A military commander of the Islamic republic of Iran’s Army announced on Thursday that the simulator was built by Iranian experts over the past year.
The project cost nearly $1million, IRIB reported.
The commander said the technology offers many advantages for the country, including the easier training of pilots, a high index of security and foreign exchange savings.
Iran is self-sufficient in building numerous defense systems and aircraft, despite sanctions imposed against the country over the past 30 years.
In February 2008, Iranian technicians successfully developed the first homemade full flight simulator for gunship, making the country the first to achieve the technology in the Middle East.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alireza Sheikh-Attar says Iran is prepared to mediate in the dispute over the territory of Karabakh.
Speaking at a press conference in Azerbaijan on Friday, Sheikh-Attar said if the parties concerned in the dispute agree, Iran would be willing to mediate in the Karabakh conflict, Presstv reported.
He said Iran supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, adding that his country is keen to boost ties with Azerbaijan in political, economic and cultural arenas.
Ethnic Armenian forces took control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region during a war in the early 1990s. The war left thousands killed and forced nearly a million people on both sides to flee their homes.
A ceasefire was signed in 1994 but the dispute has so far remained unsettled. Clashes often erupt along the ceasefire line and negotiations have so far proved fruitless.
On Thursday, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev hailed Iran’s position vis-ˆ-vis Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity in international forums.
In a meeting with Sheikh-Attar in Baku, Aliyev said meetings between Iranian and Azeri officials are important for future relations between Tehran and Baku.
The Iranian official expressed hope that Iran and Azerbaijan will enhance relations in different areas.
“Iran and Azerbaijan have high potential for bilateral relations,“ he said.
Sheikh-Attar noted that the energy sector is one of the areas where Tehran and Baku can work closely.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has notified the Interior Ministry of a law based on which the next local council and the presidential elections will be held concurrently.
According to Fars News Agency, the fifth council elections will commence their activities one month after the new president takes over.
The law was passed by the Majlis last year. However, in accordance with Article 112 of Iran’s Constitution, the law was referred to State Expediency Council, which ratified it in May.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday slammed US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s pledge to work to ’eliminate’ the alleged threat posed by Tehran as “unacceptable and biased“.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini was quoted by IRNA as saying: “It is undeniable that the nature of the Iranian nuclear program is peaceful,“ Alalam reported.
Hosseini said the comments were “lopsided and unreal, and completely contrary to the nature of the Iranian peaceful nuclear program and unacceptable“.
Sounding a tone not unlike the Bush administration, Obama repeated baseless claims regarding Iran’s nuclear program on Wednesday and vowed to eliminate the alleged threat posed by Iran.
The spokesman expressed regret that the stances adopted by Obama are influenced by the Zionist lobby, which are contrary to his electoral campaign in which he vowed to defy any lobbyism.
Iran dismisses US accusation that its nuclear program might have diverted from peaceful purposes, with officials in Tehran stressing the nuclear program is solely intended for generating electricity for its fast-growing population.

Tehran’s interim Friday prayer leader, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said Iran’s nuclear program has left the enemies of Islam and the Islamic Revolution in despair and frustration, denouncing the proposed US security pact with Iraq.
Ayatollah Jannati made the remark to hundreds of worshippers gathered at Tehran University campus.
“As long as you have such a leader, you will be entitled to the peaceful use of nuclear energy,“ Ayatollah Jannati said, referring to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Alalam reported.
Jannati also blasted a proposed US security pact with Iraq for extending the American presence in the war-torn country beyond 2008 and said the agreement was not enforceable.
“The security agreement the US seeks in Iraq will not be enforced. Grand Ayatollah Sistani has said ’As long as I am alive, I will not let the agreement be implemented’,“ he said.
Ayatollah Jannati further called on the Iraqi people not to be ’afraid’ of the US for “God will make them prevail“.
He also called on foreign forces to end the occupation of Iraq and warned that the security pact will divide the government and the Iraqi people.
Referring to the 19th demise anniversary of Imam Khomeini, the Friday prayer leader said the Islamic Revolution was realized “under the auspices of Islamic jurisprudence, so if this is harmed, everything would be harmed“.
Millions of Muslims commemorated the occasion across the world to renew their allegiance to Imam Khomeini’s principles on Tuesday.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Tuesday dismissed allegations that Iran was working to acquire nuclear weapons, stressing that these weapons were useless.
The leader made the remarks at a ceremony commemorating the 19th death anniversary of the founder of Islamic Revolution, the late Imam Khomeini, at his mausoleum in southern Tehran, Alalam reported.
Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran would press ahead with its peaceful nuclear program and not bow to western pressure over its nuclear work.
“We are seeking nuclear energy for peaceful purposes for daily use and we will continue this path to the envy of our enemies. We will mightily achieve this aim,“ he said.
“No wise nation today would be interested in making a nuclear weapon. They are against rational thought. Nuclear bombs are not beneficial as they cannot be used ... They (Iran’s enemies) know that nuclear weapons are useless.“
The ceremony was attended by millions of people as well as high-ranking political and military officials from Iran and across the world.
Ayatollah Khamenei, who is leader of the Islamic Republic since 1989, highlighted the role of the late Imam Khomeini in the course of the nearly three-decade-old Islamic Revolution.
The late Iranian leader was the main force behind the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and initiator of an Islamic system that has posed a major political challenge to the West.
The US and the West are leading efforts to make Iran abandon its uranium enrichment, though the Islamic Republic is entitled to have the nuclear fuel cycle as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Iran has defied three rounds of politically-motivated UN Security Council resolutions and economic sanctions over its nuclear program.
Ayatollah Khamenei also lambasted US President George W. Bush for his failed policies in the Middle East, saying Bush and his advisors act like mentally-ill people.
The leader said: “Look at behavior of the US president and members of his team, their words are like those of the mentally ill.“
“Sometimes they threaten, sometimes they order assassinations...and sometimes they ask for help--it’s like mad people staggering to and fro,’’ he said.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the erratic behavior of the US leader is rooted in failures in Afghanistan and Iraq, as he urged nations to resist the American bullying.

Saudi King Abdullah (l) meets with SEC Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in Mecca on Wednesday.

State Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Iran is willing to play a key role to bolster interfaith solidarity among Muslims.
He said in his inaugural speech to the three-day International Conference on Muslim Interfaith Solidarity on Thursday that Muslims need to bolster unity in order to quell the troubles inflicting them, IRNA reported.
Rafsanjani expressed concern about the dangerous situation imposed by enemies of Muslims in the Middle East, saying that Palestine is a window to the world of oppression.
“Today, they have laid siege to the people living in Gaza Strip. Lebanon is suffering from political crisis and Iraq is under occupation and the occupiers pose threats to other states as well,“ he said.
Rafsanjani, who also heads the Experts Assembly, bitterly criticized the US attempt to sign a long-term security deal with Iraq, noting that the US is aiming to enslave the Iraqi people for a long period.
“We all should help Iraqis get out of US occupation and informal colony. Of course, it needs the vigilance of the Iraqi nation,“ he said.
He called for dialogue to rescue Muslims from calamities caused by the enemies and said lack of security and stability posed a threat to Muslim nations.
Rafsanjani also said there is no sense of security in the region where hundreds of thousands of foreign troops have been deployed.
On Wednesday, Rafsanjani in Mecca held talks with Saudi King Abdullah on bilateral ties, regional and Muslim issues.
Rafsanjani said the initiative to hold interfaith dialogue will be effective to find ways to remove problems of the Muslim world. Saudi King Abdullah appreciated Rafsanjani’s presence in the conference and expressed hope that the presence of Muslim dignitaries would bring the Muslim countries closer and help present appropriate ways to deal with issues of the contemporary world. King Abdullah remarked that the efforts of radicals in printing worthless books against religions are ’inappropriate’ and causing disunion among Muslims.

A senior Turkish military commander said his country and Iran are sharing intelligence against Kurdish insurgents based in northern Iraq.
The CNN Turk news channel quoted Turkish land forces commander Ilker Basbug as saying on Thursday that Turkey and Iran have also carried out coordinated strikes against the rebels.
“When they start action, we also do ... They carry out operations from the Iranian side of the border and we do so from the Turkish side,“ Gen. Basbug said.
He said no such coordinated action had taken place in the past two months, but could be launched again in the future.
Turkish and Iranian forces often shell militants’ positions across the border.
Separatist Kurdish militants of both Turkish and Iranian origin hole up in the mountains of northern Iraq, where the borders of the three countries meet.
Turkey and Iran have pledged to cooperate against the insurgents in the past, but the general’s remarks were the first confirmation that the two have been working together against the Kurdistan’s Worker’s Party (PKK) and against PEJAK, the group’s Iranian wing.
The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, including the United States and the European Union.

12 Terrorists Killed
At least 12 terrorists have been killed by Iranian security forces in the northwestern city of Piranshahr near Iraqi border, police said.
Colonel Shahnam Rezaei, head of the West Azarbaijan’s provincial police information center, told Fars News Agency on Thursday that the clash took place after some 40 insurgents infiltrated into Iranian territory from the Iraqi border. He added that dozens of the militants were also wounded in the fighting, while the terrorists killed four Iranian border guards and wounded another.
Rezaei said the militants had planned to carry out terrorist activities in the country.

Acting Interior Minister Mehdi Hashemi announced the summer gasoline quota for automobiles.
According to Fars News Agency, Hashemi, who was speaking to reporters on Saturday, noted that from June 21 unleaded gas cannot be bought by gas cards and will only be available at the open market rate.
“Each liter of unleaded gas will be sold at 5400 rials in the open market,“ he said.
He also said private vehicles will be entitled to 120 liters of gas per month while motorcyclists can receive 36 liters of gas every month.
Hashemi noted that as of June 21, there will be no fuel quota for locally-manufactured cars with an engine capacity exceeding 2000 cc and drivers of such vehicles can meet their gas needs at the open market rate.
“These cars are not many and are mostly owned by the rich people. Furthermore, operators of imported cars with an engine capacity of under 1300 cc can still use gas cards, but drivers of imported cars with an engine capacity of higher than 1300 cc will not be entitled to gas rationing,“ he said.
Regarding bifuel cars, he said, “Taxis will be subject to a monthly quota of 400 liters while cab agency vehicles, drivers’ training cars and high-consumption pick-ups will each be given 300 liters.“
Hashemi also said that the monthly quota for taxis, cab agency taxis, drivers’ training cars and low-consumption pick-ups using only gasoline will be 650, 400, 400 and 300 liters respectively.

Iran said the US is pressuring the UN’s nuclear agency to base its latest investigation of Tehran’s nuclear activities on doctored evidence.
Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, said on Thursday the US, France, Australia, Canada and Japan want to find an excuse for their hidden agenda, starting from government change to the deprivation of the Iranian nation from science and technology, IRNA reported.
Speaking at the closing session of the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors, Soltanieh said the failed attempt to push Iran into giving concessions on its nuclear program and give up uranium enrichment was only one example of a series of bad foreign policy decisions by Washington.
“The US administration has continuously miscalculated in dealing with world affairs,’’ he said in comments to the closed meeting.
“The dark record in our region clearly proves this assertion,’’ he said, referring to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian crisis that has seen no breakthrough since the US started the so-called peace talks.
Soltanieh also said that his country will implement additional steps to build confidence in its nuclear program if the UN nuclear watchdog were to take the nuclear issue off its agenda, Tehran’s ambassador said on Thursday.