Photo by Amir Hesam Zarafshan

Drills by anti-aircraft defense units of the Army and the Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps (IRGC), started Monday for three days in the general airspace, and received wide coverage by the regional media.
The London-based newspaper ’As-Sharq al-Awsat’ said that the main goal of the drills is to defend Iran’s nuclear sites against a contingent attack by the US and Israel, Fars News Agency reported.
It reported that the maneuvers are meant to display Iran’s national might and progress in key military areas, maintain and upgrade the preparedness of anti-aircraft units and test new weaponry.
A headline of the Damascus-based ’Teshreen’ said Iran’s military exercise is being held with anti-missile defense systems, and comes at a time when the US and Israel have threatened to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities on the pretext that Tehran is developing nuclear weapons.
It quoted ’Iran Daily’ as saying that the maneuvers aim to help augment the combat power of various military units and test new weapons.
Xinhua News Agency reflected the news by quoting IRNA and said that the objective of the games is to improve Iran’s defenses.

First Time
The Syrian newspaper Al-Watan said the joint exercises by the Army and the elite IRGC are the first of its kind in the region. It also quoted Israeli President Shimon Perez as saying that the Zionist regime opposes any military strike against Iran’s nuclear sites. The paper recalled that Iran will give an appropriate response to any attack by the enemy.
Jordan’s ’Al Ra’i’ reflected the news of the drills and said that the economy and inflation are two main issues that candidates in the upcoming presidential elections in Iran will focus on.
The website www.alarabonline.info also covered the news of the military exercise and tried to link to possible military action by the Zionist regime against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The headline of the news website ’Ilaf’ wrote Iran stages war games for three days. It cited the target of the drills as defending Iran’s nuclear sites against the probable attacks.
The news of the maneuvers was also covered by Al Jazeera and Al Arabia news networks and Egypt’s radio and TV. Reuters and Agence France Presse also covered it in their Arabic-language reports.

Rapproteur of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kazem Jalali said that Vice President Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei attended a meeting of the commission on Monday and said that he fully abides by the policies of the Islamic establishment.
Rahim-Mashaei had recently said that Iran has no problem being friends with the people of Israel.
“In the meeting he explained his stance toward the Zionist regime and his recent remarks in Sanandaj,“ Jalali added, Mehr News Agency reported.
Jalili recalled that members of the commission emphasized that calling the people the Israel an ’Israeli nation’ is unacceptable and has been denounced by 220 MPs, senior religious authorities and the people of Iran.
“Rahim-Mashaei said that Iran’s policies vis-ˆ-vis the Zionist regime is transparent. É He also recalled that he did not use the term Israeli nation and only said the people of Israel. Subsequently, the commission members complained that we do not recognize the Israelis as a people and that the true owners of the occupied territories are the Palestinian people.“
According to Jalali, Rahim-Mashaei admitted that the most abhorred word is ’Israel’ and he says death to Israel a thousand times.
Jalali said that regarding his remarks in Sanandadj, the vice president said, “I lauded Kurds as one of the oldest and most authentic Iranians. I said that Kurdish compatriots live in parts of West Azarbaijan while non-Kurdish people, including Azaris
live in parts of Kurdestan. I said this of itself shows the solidarity among different Iranian tribes. I did not say West Azarbaijan is the land of Kurds.“

Iran led calls on Monday for OPEC to cut output ahead of a meeting of the oil producer group, with analysts expecting the organization to begin scaling back production to help support prices.
Oil prices have plummeted from their highs of 147 dollars a barrel in July to about 107 dollars, with the OPEC meeting on Tuesday seen as a test of what price level the group wants to defend and its power to influence the market.
Most analysts surveyed by AFP expected the 13-nation group to agree to trim its output informally before waiting until later, possibly at a scheduled gathering in December, to alter its official output target.
The trimming will be achieved by members, mainly powerhouse Saudi Arabia, agreeing to cut their excess production above their OPEC quota, which would remove oil from the market but not amount to a formal change in policy.
“Of course there is an oversupply,“ Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said Monday as he arrived, underlining Tehran’s desire to see the organization enforce its quota system.
At present, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is believed to be producing up to one million barrels more than its quota of 29.67 million barrels per day (bpd), with Saudi Arabia accounting for most of the excess.
Under fierce pressure from the United States, Saudi Arabia agreed in May and June to increase production by 500,000 bpd to help calm the runaway crude market.
“Both Libya and Algeria have been very critical of the Saudis since their unilateral move,“ an analyst for Washington-based consultancy PFC Energy, David Kirsch, told AFP.
“The key issue in the meeting is reestablishing the consensus and consultation.“
The stakes are entirely different from the last time OPEC met in March, when crude prices had broken through 100 dollars a barrel and were on a steep upwards trajectory.
This time, oil prices are on the way down approaching 100 dollars a barrel -- a level many members, above all the traditional price hawks of Iran and Venezuela, are keen to protect.
Prices rose slightly on Monday and developments in the oil market over the next 24 hours will influence OPEC’s final decision, analysts say.
In early European trade, New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, rose 1.41 dollars to 107.64 dollars a barrel in electronic deals.
Ministers from Algeria, Kuwait, Nigeria, Qatar and Venezuela are set to arrive in Vienna on Monday and begin informal talks ahead of the policy meeting late on Tuesday.

Cluster bombs left by the Israeli occupying regime in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war still threaten defenseless civilians in the area, Al-Alam reported Monday.
The report quoted recent statistics as confirming that cluster bombs can easily be found in almost half of southern Lebanon.
It said the organization in charge of demining the area has been complaining that clearing the areas is a very difficult undertaking.
The head of the ’Mag’ demining group, Salam Mohammad Amin, told Al-Alam on Sunday that deminers have discovered 8 boxes in the area each containing 650 cluster bombs.
He said the Israeli regime used mines and cluster bombs such as M77, M85, and M42 in the 33-day war on a massive scale.
After the Israeli occupying army experienced a crushing defeat in that conflict, the Lebanese army in collaboration with several UN institutions joined hands to clear vast areas contaminated with cluster bombs in south.
Mission Unaccomplished
The year 2007 was set as deadline for accomplishing the task of demining. However, given the scale and scope to the Isareli-engineered disaster, the mission is not yet accomplished, Amin said.
Israeli artillery and warplanes dropped an estimated 4 million cluster bombs over south Lebanon, most during the last 48 hours of the conflict - after a ceasefire was assured - the UN estimated. Earlier this month, the body responsible for demining, the UN Mine Action Co-ordination Center, said it would be forced to halt its work due to a lack of funds.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has renewed calls for Israel to pay Lebanon around $1 billion in compensation for damage inflicted during the summer 2006 hostilities.
The figure, which is based on calculations made by the World Bank, is intended to reimburse Lebanon for environmental and material damage it suffered during the war but most notably Israel’s bombing of the Jiyyeh power station.