Salehi Kicks Off Africa Tour

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi heading a political delegation left Tehran on Saturday for Cotonou, Benin on the first leg of his African tour.
During his African tour, Salehi is to confer with officials in Benin, Burkina Faso and Ghana on issues of mutual interests as well as regional and global developments, IRNA reported.
Porto-Novo is the capital city of Benin but its government is now located at Cotonou city where the Iranian delegation is to confer with officials of that country on mutual, regional and global developments.
Benin is rotating chair of the African Union.
Benin’s foreign minister visited Tehran last year when the two sides inked memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on expansion of economic cooperation as well as easing consular formalities for their nationals.
Salehi’s visit to Africa is in response to the visits made by his counterparts from Benin, Burkina Faso and Ghana to Tehran last year.

Cairo Visit
Meanwhile, Salehi will visit Egypt next week for talks on bilateral ties and the crisis in Syria, the ISNA news agency reported Saturday quoting an Iranian diplomat.
Salehi will meet with his counterpart Mohammed Kamel Amr and President Mohamed Morsi during his two-day visit which begins on January 9, said Mojtaba Amani, the head of Tehran’s interests section in Cairo.
Salehi is expected to discuss “bilateral issues, the issue of Syria as well as other regional and international matters” with Egyptian officials, Amani said.
He said a meeting between Salehi and UN-Arab League peace envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi was also likely to happen.
The ISNA report did not specify whether Salehi’s Cairo visit is part of a diplomatic mission or within the framework of a regional contact group on conflict-stricken Syria -- involving also Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Salehi was in Cairo in mid-September to attend the group’s meeting, but as a foreign minister he has never visited Egypt for bilateral talks.
Iran and Egypt maintain interests sections in their respective capitals ever since the two cut diplomatic ties in 1980 in the wake of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
Morsi attended a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran in late August, the first time an Egyptian head of state set foot in Iran since the cut in ties.

Largest-Ever Morphine Cargo Seized

Police intercepted a large morphine consignment en route from the southeastern province of Kerman to western borders and seized over 1.5 tons of morphine.
Provincial Police Chief General Hossein Chenarian said his forces took necessary actions after intelligence operation against international drug network showed a shipment was to be trafficked from the southeastern province of Sistan-Balouchestan to Kurdistan, Fars News Agency reported on Saturday.
He said after receiving the intelligence police forces embarked on blocking drug transit routes and could eventually discover and seize 1,614kg of morphine and 71kg of opium from a fuel tanker during a checkpoint operation.
Eastern Iran borders Afghanistan, which is the world’s number one opium and drug producer. Iran’s geographical position has made the country a favorite transit corridor for drug traffickers who intend to smuggle their cargoes from Afghanistan to drug dealers in Europe.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Iranian police have lost more than 3,700 of their personnel in the country’s combat against narcotics.
Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan held the sixth ministerial meeting on anti-drug campaign in Tehran on December 18.
According to figures released by the UN, Iran ranks first in the world in preventing the entry of drugs and lowering demand for narcotics.

Turkey Grateful for Iran Help Against PKK

Iran’s Ambassador to Turkey Bahman Hosseinpour said Ankara is grateful for Tehran’s cooperation on issues related to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
In a Friday interview, Hosseinpour said Iran has great relations with Turkey and there have been “no lapses in Tehran’s communication and intelligence exchange with Turkish officials.”
“The developing relations between Iran and Turkey have reached their highest level this year and this development of ties has influenced all areas [of contact] including…security relations,” he added.
The Iranian envoy went on to say that Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) is in contact with Iran’s Intelligence Ministry on a regular basis and both sides are satisfied with their relations.
The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.
Referring to the unrest in Syria, the Iranian official said Tehran and Ankara have some differences of opinion with regard to the Syria crisis.
Hosseinpour added that Tehran and Ankara are, however, in agreement about a major part of the Syrian issue and the difference is mostly about the transition of power in Syria.
We are against massacre and conflict, and anything that puts Syrians under pressure and causes them to suffer,” said the Iranian diplomat.
Many people, including a large number of Syrian security forces, have lost their lives in the ongoing Syria unrest which began in March 2011.
Damascus says certain Western states, especially the United States, and their regional allies are fueling the unrest, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants fighting in the country are foreign nationals.

Ahmadinejad Wishes Health For Chavez

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a telephone conversation with Venezuelan Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, enquired about health condition of President Hugo Chavez.
According to the Presidential Office website, President Ahmadinejad was informed about the latest medical treatments on President Chavez and prayed for his health.
Venezuelan VP Maduro briefed President Ahmadinejad on efforts to treat President Chavez’s illness.
Chavez is recovering from a respiratory infection following his fourth operation in Cuba since he was diagnosed with cancer in mid-2011.
The 58-year-old won another six-year term in October’s presidential election and is expected to start a new term on January 10.
Chavez has named Maduro as his successor, asking Venezuelans to vote for him in fresh elections, should his health fail him.

Brazil Hopes for Fresh Nuclear Talks With P5+1

Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio de Aguiar Patriota has expressed hope over the revival of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group, describing the 2010 Tehran Declaration as a missed opportunity.
Patriota made the remarks in an exclusive interview with the English-language Hurriyet Daily News in Istanbul on Thursday.
“The attempt [in 2010], I think, was one of genuine good faith to adopt a confidence-building measure that would represent a step forward in dealing with a very challenging issue. What we’ve seen since May 2010 is that other strategies have not produced better results, namely the unilateral sanctions or the other threats that have been directed against Iran,” he said.
The Brazilian foreign minister further said he has been hearing many voices say the new round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 group--Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany--may possibly bring diplomacy back to the scene.
Iran issued a declaration with Turkey and Brazil on May 17, 2010, under which Tehran expressed readiness to exchange 1,200 kg of its low-enriched uranium on Turkish soil with 20 percent-enriched nuclear fuel rods.
The 20-percent enriched fuel would be used to power the Tehran Research Reactor, which produces radioisotopes for the treatment of cancer patients.
The trio’s agreement was issued in line with efforts to end the standoff between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear program.
The US and its European allies, however, snubbed the declaration and used their influence at the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear work. The United States, Israeli regime and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program. Iran argues that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Tehran to Stand Along Afghanistan

Iran Ambassador to Kabul Abolfazl Zohrevand said Tehran will continue to support Afghanistan after the pullout of foreign forces from the country.
“We have been helping Afghans in different sectors and we will continue to support them after 2014 because the two countries have many things in common. So we will stand alongside the Afghan people and their government,” Zohrevand said.
He also said that Tehran will continue to support Afghans in the reconstruction and development of their country, Press TV reported on Friday.
The envoy added that the US mission in Afghanistan which was allegedly aimed at restoring peace and stability to the country has failed, describing the presence of foreign troops as the main source of instability in Afghanistan.
Zohrevand stressed that peace is possible only if the US and its allies leave Afghanistan. The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but the country is still grappling with insecurity.
Foreign forces are scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and to hand over responsibility for security to the Afghan government forces.
The US, however, intends to keep some forces in Afghanistan for “training and counter-terrorism operations”.
On May 2, 2012, US President Barack Obama and Afghan President Karzai signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement that authorizes the presence of US troops for a period of 10 years after 2014.

US Think Tank Hails Iran’s Anti-Terror Measures

A US Congress think tank has described Iran’s Intelligence Ministry as the most active and most successful one in the Middle East in terms of conducting counterterrorism operations.
The Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress in a 64-page report published in December wrote that with more than 30,000 officers and support personnel, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry is ranked by experts as the largest and most active intelligence agencies in the region, Fars News Agency reported on Saturday.
It added that the Iranian ministry uses all means at its disposal to protect Iran’s Islamic Revolution through arresting spies and exposing conspiracies deemed threatening as well as maintaining liaison with other foreign intelligence agencies.
The research institute then mentioned several instances of the Intelligence Ministry’s successful operations since the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.
The ministry uncovered the Nojeh Coup, an attempt to overthrow the new post-revolution government by air force officers loyal to the former regime, in July 1980, it reminded.
The institute added that foiling the Nojeh coup attempt in 1980 is considered as one of the main operations of the Iranian intelligence apparatus after the revolution.
Even though the intelligence structure of Iran was young at the time, agents had discovered that a number of air force officers were plotting to overthrow the Islamic government.
It also pointed to the capture of the ringleader of the terrorist Jundullah group, Abdolmalek Rigi as one of the most successful operations by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry, which received widespread coverage both inside and outside Iran.
After Iran arrested Rigi, the ringleader of Jundullah, in late February 2011, the criminal ringleader confessed that he was traveling to Bishkek to meet with a high-ranking US official at a nearby military base to discuss new terrorist attacks on Iranian territory. Rigi was executed in June 2011.
The notorious group had built a safe haven in Pakistan and it escaped to this Eastern neighbor of the Islamic Republic each time it staged a terrorist operation in Iran before it was disbanded and its leaders were arrested and executed.

Iran, Oman Keen To Enhance Ties

Iranian Ambassador to Oman Ali Akbar Sibouyeh and Chairman of Oman’s State Council Yahya Bin Mahfouz Al-Munthari in a meeting in Masqat on Saturday discussed ways of bolstering the two states’ mutual cooperation in different fields.
At the meeting, the two sides reiterated their countries’ interest in broadening relations in different areas in view of their age-old ties.
Al-Munthari voiced satisfaction in the two countries’ exemplary relations, specially in area of parliamentary cooperation.
“The will and determination of the two countries’ political leaders has provided the necessary grounds for all-out development of the bilateral relations …,” he said.
Sibouyeh, for his part, pointed to the relentless efforts and activities of the Iran-Oman joint economic commissions and committees as instances of successful attempts by the two countries to broaden their relations at different levels.
Earlier this year, Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Saeed underlined his country’s determination to expand bilateral relations with Iran.
Over the last few years, Iran and Oman have expanded their bilateral relations. They have also boosted their defense ties and cooperation specially over security in the Persian Gulf.
Iran and Oman have expanded cooperation in a variety of areas such as economy and defense. The two countries signed a security agreement in August 2009.
In August 2010, Iran and Oman signed an agreement to further boost mutual cooperation in the field of defense.
In December 2010, the Iranian parliament approved a bill that allows Tehran to implement an agreement on security cooperation and coordination with Oman.

36 Pakistanis Deported

Iran handed over 36 Pakistani laborers with expired visas to officials on Pakistan’s Taftan border on Friday.