Intel Ministry to Unveil Plots Against N-Scientists

Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi said the Islamic Republic will soon publicize details of foiled attempts to assassinate the country’s nuclear scientists.
“Good news will soon be made public on thwarting assassination plots against some of the nuclear scientists of our country,” Moslehi told reporters on Wednesday.
He said that Iran has taken very good measures and dealt a heavy blow to the elements and terrorist groups that sought to target Iranian nuclear scientists, ISNA reported.
The minister added that the Islamic Republic has continued its intelligence operations and managed to identify and foil attempts by terrorist groups to carry out assassinations.
Moslehi said further details will be announced in the future.
Since 2009, five Iranian nuclear scientists have been the targets of terrorist attacks, which have killed four of them.
In the last series of attacks, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was assassinated in January 2012 after an unknown motorcyclist attached a magnet bomb to his car in Tehran.
The blast took place on the second death anniversary of university professor and nuclear scientist, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, who was also assassinated in a terrorist bomb attack in Tehran in January 2010.
The assassination method used in the bombing was similar to the 2010 terrorist bomb attacks against the then university professor, Fereydoun Abbasi and his colleague Majid Shahriari. Abbasi survived the attack, but Shahriari was killed on the spot.
Another Iranian scientist, Dariush Rezaeinejad, was also assassinated through the same method on July 23, 2011.
Iran blames the United States and Israel for the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists.
The United States, Israeli regime and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with Washington and the European Union using the false allegation as excuse to impose unilateral illegal sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Iran rejects the allegations over its nuclear activities and 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.
In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that its civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.

Drop in Oil, Gas Sales Denied

Oil Ministry spokesman Alireza Nikzad-Rahbar has denied the report of a 40 percent reduction in Iran’s oil sales and 45 percent decline in oil and gas earnings.
“Iranian Oil Ministry has passed the initial hard days of sanctions (on its energy sector) thanks to the industrious staff and the special attention given to oil industry in the country,” Nikzad-Rahbar said, Mehr News Agency reported.
Directors and workers in the oil industry work day and night and employ special ploys to ward off the sanctions, and they will leave the enemy disappointed, indicating that the sanctioning agents possess nothing by which to pressure the Iranian oil industry, he was quoted as saying.
On Monday, local media, quoting Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi, reported that due to western sanctions, Iran’s oil sales had dropped by 40 percent in the past nine months.
Also, head of Iran’s Majlis (parliament) Plan and Budget Commission, Gholam-Reza Kateb, referring to the oil minister’s remarks in the parliament, told ISNA that oil sales in the country have dropped by 40 percent, while gas and oil revenues fell by 45 percent compared to the same period last year.
Iranian officials, including the oil minister, had consistently denied that western sanctions had any impact on the country’s oil sales or revenues.
Iran for decades has been a major oil provider to the global energy market. Oil exports provide over 70 percent of the Iranian government’s revenues. However, the International Energy Agency (IEA) claimed the country’s oil exports declined from 2.5 million barrels per day in December 2011 to about 1.25 million barrels per day as of December 2012.
Iran is under unilateral western sanctions on its crude oil and natural gas exports. The West has accused Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under the guise of its civilian nuclear program, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.

Cmdr: Drug-Traffickers See NATO as ‘Safe Haven’

A senior Iranian anti-narcotics police commander lambasted the NATO forces in Afghanistan for the rise in drug production and trafficking, saying they have created a safe haven for drug-traffickers.
Speaking in a meeting with Bulgaria’s representative in counternarcotics affairs in Tehran on Tuesday, commander of the anti-narcotics squad of Iran’s Law Enforcement Police, General Ali Moayyedi said the westerners’ claims about support for human rights are nothing but ‘slogans’, Fars News Agency reported.
“Evidence substantiating our claim is the growth in the production of narcotics in Afghanistan after the presence of the occupying forces in that country,” Moayyedi said.
“Statistics show today that NATO’s soldiers provide a safe shelter for drug-traffickers and have themselves assisted the growth of drug production,” the commander noted.
Iran has always lambasted NATO forces in Afghanistan for increasing drug cultivation, production and trafficking in Afghanistan, and said that foreign troops in Afghanistan are fully aware of the production of almost all the world opium.
UN Undersecretary General and Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Yuri Fedotov recently in a letter to Iran’s Interior Ministry hailed Iran’s counter-narcotics measures.
According to a Sunday report by Iran Drug Control Headquarters, Fedotov appreciated initiative of Iran’s Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar to hold the sixth ministerial meeting of Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan on anti-drug activities.
Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan held their last ministerial meeting on anti-drug campaign in Tehran on December 18.
Since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has spent billions of dollars in the unending fight against drug rings in the region.

French Weekly Under Fire For Blasphemous Cartoons

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the publication of insulting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in a French magazine as part of Zionists’ Islamophobia campaign.
On January 2, the weekly Charlie Hebdo, already infamous for insulting Islamic sanctities, published a special edition with sacrilegious cartoons on the life of the holiest Islamic figure.
“Countering the wave of Islamic Awakening and overshadowing the crimes committed by the Zionist regime [of Israel] against the oppressed people of Palestine are among the main goals behind such insulting moves by Zionist lobbies,” Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said on Tuesday, Press TV reported.
Mehmanparast said West’s ‘systematic and persistent silence’ in the face of the British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie’s sacrilegious book, ‘The Satanic Verses’, and the blasphemous US-made movie, ‘The Innocence of Muslims’, is the main reason for the recurrence of similar blasphemous acts against Islam’s holy figures and values.
“It is obvious that the principle of freedom of speech and belief should never be used as a pretext for insulting religious beliefs of other nations of the world, which is in contradiction with the liberties stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations,” he added.
Mehmanparast also called on French officials to ‘understand Muslims’ religious sentiments’ and take the necessary measures to condemn Charlie Hebdo’s publication of blasphemous cartoons and prevent such insulting moves against religions.
In September 2012, the weekly published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) which provoked widespread outrage worldwide and prompted the temporary closure of several French institutes and cultural centers in some Muslim countries.

No Third Party Can Impact Ashgabat Ties

An Iranian lawmaker said that Iran attaches great importance to enhancement of ties with Turkmenistan, and reiterated that the two countries’ relations may not be influenced by any third party.
Speaking to Fars News Agency in Ashgabat on Wednesday, member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Javad Karimi Qoddousi praised the close ties between Tehran and Asghabat, and stated, “No (other) country can disrupt the good neighborliness between the two countries.”
He added that stability, prosperity, security and sovereignty of Turkmenistan will also affect Iran.
The lawmaker further announced that he had a meeting with Turkmen Deputy Foreign Minister Vafa Hajiov during which the two sides explored avenues for further expansion of ties and cooperation between the two nations.
“In this meeting, improvement of ties, border security, economic and trade issues as well as issuance of visa and border crossings were discussed. There are mutual understandings and common views on this.”
Iran attaches great importance to ties with Turkmenistan due to its strategic location in Central Asia.
In recent years Iran has initiated massive diplomatic efforts to expand ties with neighboring states, specially those in Central Asia.

Bushehr Nuclear Plant At ‘Full Capacity’

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Elsewhere in his remarks, Abbasi called on the IAEA to enter talks with Iran without any prejudgment.
Abbasi underlined that adoption of a cooperative approach by the UN nuclear agency would lead to the settlement of all problems.
“If the representatives of the Agency enter the talks with no prejudgment and aim to clarify the reality and give a consideration to our country’s rights, they will certainly achieve results in their next meeting with us, but if they want to enter talks with prejudgment, I don’t think that they can attain any result,” Abbasi told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday, Fars News Agency reported.
Asked about the level of the IAEA envoys to the talks with Iran, he said most probably IAEA’s deputy director general (Herman Nackaerts) and his team will participate in the upcoming meeting which is due to be held on January 16.
Meanwhile, Abbasi underlined that Iran will not accept any undertakings outside the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and added that Tehran will continue enriching uranium to the levels of 5% and 20% at its facilities based on the country’s needs.
The IAEA held talks with Iran in Tehran in December, their first since August, aimed at pressing the country to address allegations over its nuclear work published in a major report by the agency a year ago.
The two sides discussed a modality plan for their cooperation.
The IAEA said progress was made the talks on December 13 between the agency and Iran.
“We had good meetings” and “We were able to make progress,” the IAEA deputy director general told reporters at Vienna airport on Friday after returning from Tehran.
Nackaerts added that more talks are due with Iran on January 16. He also said that he expects to reach a deal with Iran in January on the remaining issues related to the country’s nuclear energy program.
The United States, Israeli regime and some of their allies have accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran argues that as a signatory to the nuclear NPT and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Salehi Stresses Ties With African Nations

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In a separate meeting, Salehi also met with Burkina Faso’s Parliament Speaker Vatar Songalou Apolinz, in which he called for the expansion of the ties between the two countries in economic, trade, agricultural, cultural, scientific and technical fields.
He described the political relations between the two countries as good and stressed the importance of mutual consultations and cooperation for the restoration of global peace, stability and security.
Salehi also invited Apolinz to visit Tehran on behalf of Iran’s Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani.
The African official said that Salehi’s visit could help enhance the relations and underlined the need to develop mutual ties between the two countries.
Salehi began his tour of three African nations on Saturday. He arrived in Burkina Faso on Tuesday, and was expected to leave for Egypt on Wednesday.
In Burkina Faso, he discussed the latest international developments and ways to expand relations with senior Burkinabe officials.
Salehi arrived at Ouagadougou International Airport on Tuesday and was welcomed by Burkinabe Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Vincent Zakane.

Invitation to Ghanaian President
Earlier in the day, during a stop in Accra, Salehi met Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama and delivered Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s invitation to pay an official visit to the Islamic Republic.
During the meeting, Salehi congratulated Mahama on his victory in the recent presidential election and described the presence of an Iranian delegation at the swearing-in ceremony of the new Ghanaian president as an indication of the Islamic Republic’s firm determination to expand cooperation with Ghana in all fields.
The minister also said that Iran is ready to share its experiences with the West African state in a number of areas, such as agriculture, science, technology, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals.
Mahama welcomed the invitation to visit Iran and promised to travel to the country as soon as possible. He also invited Ahmadinejad to visit Ghana.
The Ghanaian president hoped that the two countries would upgrade their cooperation when their business councils meet in mid-2013.
On January 5, Salehi began a three-leg tour of West Africa--with stops in Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso--in order to expand the Islamic Republic’s relations with those countries.

All Objectives Achieved

Navy Commander Real Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said on Wednesday all objectives set for the recently-held ‘Velayat-91’ naval exercises in the Persian Gulf were accomplished.