Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in a statement on Saturday that the comment recently made by the US Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, about the Iranian people is unethical.
McCain’s hostile policy against Iranians is not new, as the Republican senator once sang “Bomb, bomb Iran“ to the tune of the old Beach Boys classic, “Barbara Ann“.
Hosseini added that the ugly and unethical interpretation of McCain hints at his malicious and disgusting line of thought, and also of the Bushies in the arena of foreign policy, Fars News Agency reported.
“This type of attitude is regretful, lacks value and is seriously denounced,“ he said.
Hosseini added that such comments are not within the dignity of a politician who is running for the presidency of a country that boasts of being civilized.
“It is obvious that the cultured people of Iran and America do not support such disgraceful remarks,“ he said.
On Tuesday, an AP reporter asked McCain for comment on the news organization’s report that US exports to Iran increased tenfold during the last seven years--with cigarettes ranking as the top export item.
“Maybe that’s a way of killing them,“ McCain responded. He quickly followed up: “I meant that as a joke, as a person who hasn’t had a cigarette in 28 years.“
After his wife corrected him--it’s actually been 29 years since the veteran’s last smoke--McCain said he’d like to look into the Iran export issue more thoroughly and might have a better answer later.

A senior official said Iran respects all divine religions.
Mehdi Mostafavi, the head of Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO), also said on Saturday that the Islamic Republic is willing to promote its relations with Thailand that is Buddhist, IRNA reported.
In a meeting with a number of Thai senators from the Thailand’s Upper House (Senate), Mostafavi said Islam and Buddhism are two great religions.
Stressing Iran’s goodwill toward all religion, he said, “Both religion and science are firm bases for forging relationships between human beings.“
Mostafavi called on Tehran and Bangkok to further religious, scientific and cultural ties.
Iran and Thailand, as the two Asian countries, enjoy considerable cultural commonalities that help them meet spiritual needs.

Ali Saeedlou

During three years of the government’s tenure, 1,700 billion rials have been saved by curbing unnecessary foreign travels of government employees compared to the corresponding period of the previous presidency (2001-5), said vice president for executive affairs, Ali Saeedlou.
Referring to the 1994 Majlis ratification about optimizing the foreign travels of state employees, Saeedlou said, “A group, comprising the president’s representative, deputy ministers of intelligence and foreign affairs and two MPs, supervises the foreign travels of state employees.“
The veep recalled that the secretariat of the supervisory group is situated in the Presidential Office and every week a meeting is held about the travel requests of 52 organizations, the Persian daily ’Iran’ reported on Saturday.
“In the past three years, a suitable atmosphere for exercising more serious supervision (on foreign trips) has been facilitated. All important and necessary travels to foreign countries have taken place during this time-span while substantial amounts of money have been saved compared to the corresponding period of the previous presidency,“ he said.
“Some 1,450 billion rials have been saved in terms of accommodation, food and other costs. Furthermore, 250 billion rials have been saved in terms of ticket fares and related matters. On the whole, due to pertinent plans and serious supervision and elimination of unnecessary trips, 1,700 billion rials have been saved.“

First Vice President Parviz Davoudi on Saturday sent a congratulatory message on the occasion of Venezuela’s National Day.
According to the presidential website, Davoudi sent the message to Venezuelan Vice President for Executive Affairs Ramoun Karizalez, IRNA reported.
Davoudi felicitated the Venezuelan government and nation on the occasion of their National Day.
He expressed hope that given the current trend of cooperation, both sides will expand bilateral relations in all fields of mutual interests.

An Iranian official issued fresh warning to Israel and the United States against attacking the Islamic Republic.
Mojtaba Zolnour, deputy representative of the leader to the Islamic Revolution’s Guard Corps (IRGC), also told Fars News Agency on Saturday that if Iran was attacked, the country would ’destroy’ both Israel and 32 American bases in the Persian Gulf and Middle East.
The official added that both Israel and the US bases were within reach of the long-range Shahab-3 missile.
Iranian officials have in recent days played down the recent missile tests in Iran by IRGC, saying Iran did not pose any threat and had no intention of violating any country--but is only determined to defend itself.
During a three-day military exercise in the Persian Gulf last week, the IRGC test-fired multi-range missiles aimed at improving the reaction of armed forces against possible threats.

An expert on strategic issues said in case European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana shows constructive and positive flexibilities, resumption of nuclear negotiations between Iran and Group 5+1 will not be difficult.
Mohammad Farhad Koleini, who was commenting on negotiations between Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary Saeed Jalili and Solana slated for July 19, added that Iran has special experience with Solana who is competent enough to continue talks.
Expressing hope that Solana can stick to the needed framework for resuming negotiations with Jalili on the basis of agreements recently reached in Tehran, he said, “It seems that the first round of negotiations, which is of particular importance and which has its own special foundations, also has a special value. Therefore, the negotiations, which is the course of action based on a new approach and a new roadmap, can lead to a new paradigm.“
Koleini noted that any prejudgments before negotiations is more like fortune-telling.
“However, it is expected that Solana can continue the first phase of negotiations in an appropriate manner on the basis of the idea of change,“ he said.
Asked about the comments made by American statesmen regarding the precondition of Iran suspending its uranium enrichment activities, the expert said, “It looks like the US should put aside setting preconditions and suspend its attitude of interference in the affairs of other countries and gradually prove that it has corrected its attitude.“
Koleini underlined that Solana’s peers should not give him wrong guidelines and any form of change in the nuclear stalemate finds its meaning only when past issues are not attended to and when the two sides can reach a favorable vision.
“We are not duty-bound to be very pessimistic or very optimistic. I personally believe that mutual understanding is something that we must create, as otherwise it will not be created. Hence, negotiations should continue on the basis of new standards,“ he said.

French oil major Total has denied claims it has pulled out of energy investments in Iran and says it is still considering developing a project in the South Pars gas field.
A Total spokesman told Middle East Business Intelligence (MEED) on Saturday that the company’s standpoint has not changed and it is still considering its Iran option.
After news about Total’s withdrawal from Iranian energy projects spread on Friday, the value of the company’s shares declined by about 3 percent.
Total is expected to take charge of Phase 11 of South Pars development project with a capital outlay exceeding $10 billion.
The spokesman, however, said Total is not in a position to take decisions about the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project of South Pars, as there are still many risks at stake.
“This is the same stance highlighted a few months ago. We will maintain contact with Iran and will not turn our backs on Iran. We also intend to maintain our relationship with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC),“ the spokesman said.
In another development, Iran’s Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari confirmed on Saturday that Total has dropped out of a multibillion-dollar gas investment in the Islamic Republic.
“In our eye, Total is considered out,“ Nozari was quoted as saying by IRIB.
“Total’s recent move in withdrawing from Phase 11 of South Pars is a completely political move and not a commercial one,“ he said.
“As soon as we heard this news, we started work on this phase with full force and will continue powerfully.“
The French firm’s chief Christophe de Margerie said in an interview published on Thursday that it was too politically risky to invest in Iran at present.
Total was to develop Phase 11 of Iran’s giant South Pars gas field to produce LNG alongside Malaysia’s Petronas.
Iranian energy officials had repeatedly said they would go ahead with Phase 11 of the gas project--even if they had to abandon the idea of producing LNG--with other foreign or domestic firms.
Iran has the world’s second-largest reserves of natural gas. The South Pars field in the Persian Gulf has around 500 trillion cubic feet (14 trillion cubic meters) of gas, which represents about 8 percent of world reserves.
Iran shares the wider South Pars fields with Qatar on the other side of the Persian Gulf.

Gholamhossein Elham

Government Spokesman Gholamhossein Elham said on Saturday any attack on Iran will be a sign of stupidity, the consequences of which would engulf all.
Talking to reporters during his weekly press briefing, Elham stressed that such a military stupidity will not take place, IRNA reported.
He added that no country will dare take military action against the Islamic state.
As to the test-firing of the long-range Shahab-3 missile on Wednesday, he said Iran’s three-day military maneuvers, which ended on Friday, were aimed at displaying Iran’s combat readiness and potentials.
Elham added that the maneuvers displayed only a small part of Iran’s combat and defense power.
“Iran’s potentials are at the service of regional stability and security,“ he said.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has never posed any threat to any country and will not accept any threat by other states.“
However, he added, the peace-seeking Iranian nation will not give up from its legitimate rights.
The updated Shahab-3 missile with a range of 2,000 km was test-fired on the third day of the war game launched by the Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps dubbed ’Payambar-e Azam III’ (the Great Prophet III) on Wednesday.

Cabinet Reshuffle
Elham confirmed the replacement of Minister of Roads and Transportation Mohammad Rahmati, adding that Rahmati’s expertise will be used in another post within the government.
He noted that the ministry’s caretaker will be announced soon.
Since taking office in 2005, President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad has changed nine ministers as well as head of the Central Bank.
“The government and all ministries are making great efforts to serve the people and materialize the country’s objectives,“ he said.
Elham added that Ahmadinejad will introduce the new minister of economy and finance in due time.
Ahmadinejad appointed Hossein Samsami as caretaker on April 22 after economy minister, Davoud Danesh-Jafari quit.
Samsami previously served as secretary of the government’s Economic Commission.

5+1 Talks
Elham said Iran is ready for fair talks with Group 5+1 on its nuclear dispute, noting that Iran’s stance on holding fair talks with G5+1 has not changed.
Asked about the Group of Eight (G8) Industrialized Countries’ stance on Iran’s nuclear program, Elham said Iran’s stance on the country’s peaceful nuclear activities is transparent and unalterable, regardless of what others say.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran cannot stand any imposition from the industrialized nations,“ he said, adding that G5+1 has made effective, rational moves.
Elham added that talks between Iran and G5+1 would improve under fair conditions.
“If they try to derail talks into other direction, Iran is not the party that may suffer,“ he added.

An Iraqi website has claimed that Israeli warplanes have been using Iraqi airspace to practice for a possible bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.
For the past month, Israel has been using US bases in Iraq to conduct overflights, Nahrainnet.com, quoting unnamed sources in the Iraqi defense ministry, reported.
Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Mohammed Al-Askari dismissed the report on Friday.
“We have no information about Israeli jets using Iraqi airspace for rehearsals,“ he told AFP.
In Beit-ul-Moqaddas, meanwhile, an Israeli military spokesman told AFP he was aware of the report and said, “I have no information on this.“
The US military did not comment on the report.
Nahrainnet.com, a news portal, said the defense ministry sources were told by retired army officers that Israeli jets had been entering Iraqi airspace from Jordan and landing at an airport in Haditha in the western province of Anbar.
The report said its sources estimated that should Israeli jets take off from the American bases in Iraq it would take them no more than five minutes to reach Iran’s nuclear reactor in Bushehr. The report came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki earlier said that his country will not allow any country to use Iraq for a probable attack on Iran.
In response to a report that Israel planned to attack Tehran’s nuclear sites, Iran declared that any attack would provoke a reaction and that “anyone who attacks will regret their actions very quickly“.
During a three-day maneuver in Persian Gulf, which ended on Friday, Iranian armed forces test-fired multi-range missiles aimed at improving the country’s readiness against probable threats.
Barak’s US Visit
In another development, diplomatic sources said on Friday Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak and armed forces chief, Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, will separately visit Washington this month for discussions on Iran’s nuclear program.
According to Reuters, they said Barak, who was last in the US capital in October, would fly out on Monday and hold three days of talks with senior Bush administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Ashkenazi was provisionally scheduled to begin his first working visit to Washington around July 25, diplomatic sources said. They had no further details on the general’s itinerary.
“Such trips are routine, given our alliance, but of course Iran will top the agenda,“ an Israeli diplomatic source said.
The talks have stoked global speculation that the allies are planning preemptive military strikes, though both say they support continued UN Security Council sanctions designed to deny the Iranians nuclear program.
Iran held wargames this week that were widely seen as a warning to Israel and the United States not to venture attacks.
Barak said on Thursday that Israel , which is assumed to have the Middle East ’s only atomic arsenal, “is the strongest country in the region and has proved in the past it is not afraid to take action when its vital security interests are at stake“.
Israel held a large-scale air force drill last month that, once leaked by a Pentagon official, was described by analysts as a “dress rehearsal“ for a possible bombing run against Iran .

Iran has released five Saudi Arabian fishing boats and their Indian crews which had strayed into Iranian waters, Saudi border officials said on Saturday.
The move followed the freeing earlier this week by Saudi authorities of two Iranian vessels that had entered the kingdom’s territorial waters.
“Iran on Thursday released five vessels which were held for two weeks after they entered Iranian territorial waters,“ said General Abdurrahman Al-Brahim, head of the Saudi border guard in the Eastern Province.
The boats returned to the port in Darin, on the Saudi east coast and the 22 Indian crew members were questioned about how the incident occurred, he told AFP.
Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday it had released two Iranian fishing boats that strayed into its waters and said it hoped the gesture would lead Iran to do the same with the Saudi vessels.
Fars News Agency said on July 3 that Tehran had seized the fishing boats in territorial waters near its first nuclear power plant which is currently under construction in Bushehr.
In June 2007, Iran arrested the crew of three Emirati boats it had seized for illegal entry and fishing in its territorial waters.
In March 2007, Iranian naval forces seized 15 British sailors and marines in the Persian Gulf, saying they had entered Iran’s territorial waters but Britain insisted they had been engaged in anti-smuggling operations in Iraqi waters.
The group was freed after two weeks.

Mohammad Ali Hosseini

Mohammad Ali Hosseini was appointed deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs in a decree issued by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
Hosseini was previously acting deputy foreign minister for Asia and Pacific, as well as the ministry’s spokesman, Mehr News Agency reported on Friday.
Abbas Araqchi, who was deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, has been appointed Iran’s ambassador to Japan toward the end of last year.
Meanwhile, Hosseini will fly to China on July 13 to hold talks with Chinese officials.
During his two-day stay, Hosseini is scheduled to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, assistant foreign minister and some other officials.
Iran-China talks will focus on mutual relations as well as international and regional developments.

Vatican Prime Minister Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone says the Vatican supports talks over Iran’s nuclear case within the IAEA regulations.
“The Vatican, as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, strongly opposes any military option against Iran and would do its utmost to make others accept Iran’s nuclear rights for peaceful aims,“ Bertone said in a meeting with Iran’s charge d’affaires to the Vatican, Mohammad Hossein Mirza-Aqaei, Presstv reported.
“The Vatican has a clear stance on Iran’s nuclear case and believes outstanding issues should be settled through talks,“ he said, adding that the Vatican respects Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology.
The premier also stated that the Vatican attaches special significance to bolstering relations with Iran in various fields.