Enemies Seek to Target Election Turnout

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that enemies may try to prevent a high turnout in the upcoming presidential election in Iran by causing political, economic and security distractions.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with a large group of people from the city of Qom on the occasion of the anniversary of an uprising by the city’s people against the Pahlavi regime in 1977.
The Leader further stated that one of the schemes of Iran’s enemies is to prevent a mass turnout in the election by distracting people by creating a political, economic or security incident.
The Iranian nation, however, is too prudent to be deceived by the hostile plots of the enemies or their agents, Ayatollah Khamenei added.
“Unlike the past, the arrogant powers explicitly admit that the aim of the sanctions is to tire the Iranian people, incite them to oppose the Islamic Republic, mount pressure on Iranian officials and ultimately change the calculations of the officials,” the Leader said.
However, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that Iranians are vigilant enough not to be deceived by enemies.
Iran’s eleventh presidential election will be held on June 14, 2013.
In the Islamic Republic, the president is elected for a four-year term and the qualifications of the candidates must be vetted by the Guardian Council.

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Iraqi Shiites Hold Demos in Support of PM

Thousands took to the streets in predominantly Shiite southern Iraq on Tuesday in a show of support for the Shiite premier after more than two weeks of protests in the mainly Sunni Arab north and west.
The loyalist rallies are the latest twist in a long-running standoff within Iraq’s unity government between Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his mainly Sunni Arab critics who accuse him of abusing counter-terror legislation to persecute the minority community, AFP reported.
In a show of support for anti-government demonstrations, meanwhile, several Sunni and Kurdish ministers boycotted Tuesday’s weekly cabinet meeting, a government source told AFP.
Pro-government demonstrations were held in the port city of Basra, and the southern cities of Kut, Diwaniyah, Karbala and Samawa, AFP journalists said, dismissing calls for reform of anti-terror laws and condemning the alleged involvement of other Middle Eastern countries in the anti-government rallies.

India Can’t Give Up Friendship With Iran

India is not going to give up its long lasting friendship with Iran, said External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in New Delhi.
In an interview with PTI, which included India’s relations with other countries such as Iran, China, Maldives, Bangladesh and Mauritius, Khurshid asserted that all countries provided ‘opportunities’ to India and not ‘challenges’.
Admitting that at times India had to deal with difficult issues such as imposition of sanctions against Iran, he said in such situations, the country takes a ‘principled’ stand.
Iran-India amicable ties should not be knocked out by the compliance of present sanctions imposed by the UN, he said, adding that New Delhi should let the UN know that it cannot damage its friendship with Iran.
Last week, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili had a three-day visit to India, where he held talks with his counterpart, Shiv Shankar Menon.
Jalili and Menon praised historical and cultural commonalties between Tehran and New Delhi and highlighted the significance of improving bilateral relations in political, economic and security fields.
During his three-day visit, the SNSC secretary also held meetings with Indian Foreign Minister Khurshid and Minister of Finance Palaniappan Chidambaram and discussed ways to expand mutual relations.

Global Downturn In 2013

The global economy risks sliding back into recession.
That’s the sober assessment from the UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013, which cites weak economic growth in 2012, and an anemic expected expansion over the next two years.
While economic woes in the United States, Europe and Japan have slowed global growth, once-seemingly supercharged economies such as China, India and Brazil are also shifting into lower gear, World Tribune reported.
Weakness in the major developed economies is at the root of the global economic slowdown, the report asserts.
Economies in Europe are trapped in a vicious cycle of high unemployment, financial sector fragility, heightened sovereign risks, fiscal austerity and low growth. The report warns that the US economy slowed significantly during 2012.
The global ramifications are clear. The economic woes in Europe, Japan and the United States are spilling over to developing countries through weaker demand for their exports.
With several European countries in recession, slower growth in Germany, and with France’s economy stagnating, GDP growth in the eurozone is expected to reach a feeble 0.3 percent in 2013.

Bleak Outlook
The United States economy weakened notably during 2012 and growth prospects for 2013 and 2014 remain sluggish, the report concedes.

President Urges Tapping National Resources

Inaugurates Several
Development Projects
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that domestic capabilities are the best means to develop the country.
Ahmadinejad made the remarks in a special ground-breaking ceremony for a combined cycle power plant in the central province of Semnan on Tuesday, IRNA reported.
“The country is very rich in natural resources but some try to monopolize them to their own benefits,” he said.
“If the Iranian nation gains access to these resources, the bullying powers cannot do the Iranian nation any harm,” he said.
“If the country’s mines come on stream, there will be no need for oil, he said, adding “This will dissuade the enemies from exploiting us”.
Great civilized Iranian nation is the flag bearer of justice and monotheism in the world, he underlined.
“We should be vigilant while utilizing the country’s natural resources,” he said.
President Ahmadinejad arrived in Semnan province this morning to inaugurate several industrial and construction projects.
Shahid Bastami power plant in the city of Shahrood and Quds power plant in the city of Semnan, with the production capacity of 648 megawatts, were inaugurated in the central province on Tuesday.

Obama Nominates Hagel for Defense, Brennan for CIA

US President Barack Obama has nominated his top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
On Monday Obama also formally announced his nomination of Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary.
“I urge the senate to confirm them as soon as possible so we can keep the American nation secure, and the American people safe,” Obama said.
Brennan was considered by Obama for the position in 2008, but the 25-year CIA veteran withdrew his name as he was being questioned at the time about his connection to enhanced interrogation techniques during the George Bush administration.
Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, said, “Brennan speaks Arabic and the president felt he had the qualifications and experience. However, there are many questions about whether he was sufficiently against torture.”
He added, “Obama [initially] put him in the White House in a position that did not require political confirmation.”
But he has since spoken out against and denied any involvement in the controversial tactics, which include waterboarding.
Brennan will succeed retired general David Patraeus, who resigned in November 2012 amid a scandal revolving around an extramarital affair.
The nominees for the Pentagon and the CIA must be confirmed by the senate.

Tehran Ready to Remove IAEA Concerns

By Farzaneh Shokri

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran is prepared to remove concerns of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) if it reaches an agreement with the UN nuclear watchdog that ensures Iran’s full rights to peaceful nuclear activities.
“If we reach an agreement where Iran’s nuclear rights are fully recognized, meaning the right to possess nuclear science and complete nuclear cycle for peaceful goals, Iran will be ready to take necessary measures to allay concerns expressed by the IAEA,” Mehmanparast told reporters in Tehran today. He was responding to a question about whether the agency would be given access to the Parchin military complex and whether Iran would impose any conditions for the visit.
While IAEA officials routinely inspect Iran’s declared nuclear facilities, such as enrichment plants at Natanz and Fordow, existing treaty arrangements do not compel the country to open up peripheral facilities such as Parchin.
Mehmanparast reiterated Iran’s argument that the evidence given to the IAEA by unnamed countries is not genuine, underlining that Iranian authorities, despite their requests, have not been given access to the documents. “Throughout the years the agency has never been able to share this intelligence with us and it hasn’t been authenticated,” he said.
He said many issues have been discussed during the latest round of talks between the Iranian experts and the IAEA representatives.

By Emad Abshenass Chief Editor

To Solve or Not to Solve Syrian Crisis

President Bashar Assad’s proposal to solve the Syrian crisis met with various reactions from different sides. Those who desire a solution to the crisis welcomed the plan while those favoring the destruction and killings in this country rejected the solution.
We can categorize the opinions into two groups namely: the majority of the Syrian people who are for the plan and for solving the 22-month-old crisis and some puppets and mercenaries who reject the proposal since they cannot grasp the voices of people--add to them the foreign mercenaries and fighters brought from more than 33 countries to fight against the Syrian people.
I am not writing this article as a supporter of Al-Assad but as a supporter of logic and a journalist who was able to travel to Syria many times and have a lot of Syrian friends from different sects.
I contacted many Syrians--even those who oppose President Al-Assad and even his father for decades. None of them accept what is happening in Syria as a revolution and all agreed that the only solution would be talks between Syrians themselves and this could only happen by stopping all military operations and threats to Syrian sovereignty, specially by foreign mercenaries.
Some opponents even told me that they are ready to fight side by side with the Syrian army to save their country.
They view the ongoing crisis as leading to the destruction of Syria--something that would not be acceptable to any true Syrian nationalist. They all expressed their anxiety about the crimes committed by the foreign mercenaries in Syria. They all agreed that no Syrian rebel would commit such crimes against other Syrians.
They believed that only foreign terrorists and Al-Qaeda members are able to commit such crimes.
The dialectic President Assad entered with is the normal logic any human being would accept. Let me put it this way. In fact it is now plain that the majority of those fighting within Syria are foreign mercenaries--a fact confirmed by observers from countries who are working against the present Syrian government.

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