Iran, Sudan Underscore Expanded Ties

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Taha said his country welcomes and supports Iranian investors in agricultural and construction sectors.
Both officials emphasized the need for political means to resolve regional and international issues and said their countries were against military intervention by foreign countries in the region.
Larijani left Khartoum for Tehran earlier on Wednesday. He arrived in Sudan on January 21 to take part in the eighth General Assembly Meeting of the IIPU.
The meeting was held on January 21 and 22, 2013, in Khartoum. The last meeting of the Union was held in the Malaysian city of Palembang in January 2012.
The IIPU was established in 1999 based on an initiative by Iran. It seeks to strengthen parliamentary cooperation among Islamic countries in order to solve challenges facing the Islamic world.

Ties With Africa
In a meeting with Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal on Tuesday, Larijani said the Islamic Republic attaches great significance to the expansion of relations with African countries.
Referring to terrorist attacks in Nigeria, Larijani said the issue of terrorism has become a challenge to the world and all countries need to work to eradicate it.
The Nigerian official, for his part, said his country and Mali were grappling with terrorism and expressed regret over the failure of other states to condemn the terrorist attacks in Nigeria.
Larijani also held a meeting with Mohamed Djemai, the vice president of the Algerian National Assembly, on Tuesday.
During the meeting, Djemai said the Iranian and Algerian people have many commonalities and called for more trade cooperation between the two countries.
He also criticized the French war in Mali, saying any foreign interference in the domestic affairs of countries would create problems in the region.
Larijani, for his part, said that domestic issues of countries need to be solved through negotiations and dialog, stressing that foreign interference will not yield results but will create problems in the region.
Chaos broke out in Mali after President Amadou Toumani Toure was toppled in a military coup on March 22, 2012. The coup leaders said they mounted the coup in response to the government’s inability to contain the Tuareg rebellion in the north of the country, which had been going on for two months.
On January 11, France launched a war on the pretext of halting the advance of the fighters who control the north of Mali. The United States, Canada, Britain, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark have said they would support the French war in Mali.

Military Threats Downplayed
At a news conference on the sidelines of the Meeting of the IIPU on Tuesday, Larijani downplayed threats of military action against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities, warning of a bitter response to any such attack.
“As the peaceful nuclear (energy) program of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been indigenized, it will not be destroyed by any strike or pressure,” the parliament speaker said.
“Moreover, the country’s response to any possible attack against its nuclear installations will be stinging,” he added.
Larijani told reporters that the US-led sanctions against Iran and the pressure imposed on its economy have failed to stop the country from pursuing its nuclear energy program.
He further downplayed threats of a military attack by Israel and the United States, and argued, “Since they have a little wisdom [left], they fear Iran’s response.”
The Majlis speaker also dismissed concerns about a possible radiation crisis at the nuclear power plant in Iran’s southern city of Bushehr and assured that the facility meets the standards set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The US and Israel have been spearheading a campaign against Iran, accusing Tehran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program. The US and its European allies have also imposed sanctions against the Islamic Republic over the unfounded allegation.
Iran has strongly rejected the accusation and argues that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the IAEA, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Syria Reforms Backed
Larijani says the Islamic Republic supports the implementation of political reforms in Syria without foreign and military interference.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s stance in this respect (the unrest in Syria) is [to support] the implementation of political reforms without any military and foreign interference in this country,” he told reporters.
“Those familiar with regional developments know that Syria’s problem can only be resolved politically,” he added.
The top lawmaker further added that democracy cannot be established by military force, stressing that suitable groundwork needs to be laid in the Syrian political scene for the implementation of reforms.
Larijani said Iran supports political reforms in Syria but certain parties do not want an opportunity to implement political reforms in the Arab country. He expressed his surprise, saying that those who cry out for democracy in Syria have a despotic system in their own country.
Asked about a possible US military intervention in Syria, the Iranian official said it was improbable that Washington would make such an unwise move as it has already learned its lessons from military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Larijani said the US, the UK and France are not after democracy in Syria but seek their own interests, adding that these countries are creating problems for Syria because they consider the Arab nation a supporter of the Palestinians.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.
The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.

US Weaves Nuclear Fairy Tale

By Ismail Salami

In a 155-page report, four US nuclear experts called on the Obama administration to impose tougher economic sanctions against Iran and resort to ‘overt operations’ by using warplanes and missiles on Iranian nuclear sites.
Apart from the fact that morbid mindset of this nature only helps fan chaos and serves as an impetus to widespread pandemonium in the region, any mention of any such policy let alone its adoption will gradually terminate in an endless array of military legitimizations.
Co-authored by Mark Dubowitz, who runs the Zionist Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) and David Albright, a physicist who heads the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) and who was responsible for concocting lies and myths about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction and drawing the country into an abysmal vortex of destruction and devastation, the report can be but seen in the light of yet another overtly brash attempt by the US to push ahead with further militarism in the Middle East.
Dubbed as ‘US Nonproliferation Strategy for the Changing Middle East’, the report falls short of mentioning any other Middle Eastern countries, which may be seeking a nuclear weapons program, and instead focuses heavily on Iran. The report urges Washington to ‘undertake additional overt preparations for the use of warplanes and/or missiles to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities with high explosives’ and ‘increase Iranian isolation, including through regime change in Syria and deepening Iran’s diplomatic isolation’.
Naturally, the words have been deliberately chosen in the report. By ‘overt preparations’, the authors explicitly admit that the US government has in the past used ‘covert operations’ as well i.e. assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists and infiltrating and disrupting the computer systems. Elsewhere in the report, the authors unambiguously refer to Washington’s sabotage activities in Iran. They say, “Press reports indicate that sabotage has been used to slow the Iranian nuclear program, including through infiltration and disruption of procurement networks and cyber attacks designed to inflict physical damage to the program. Judicious use of this tool should be included in continued US efforts to constrain the Iranian nuclear program.”
Iran will save itself, the report says, only if it accepts the terms set by the authors. In other words, Iran has to kowtow to the terms set by the report which are as follows:
1) Suspension by Iran of the following proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities: (a) all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, to be verified by the IAEA; and (b) work on all heavy water-related projects, including the construction of a research reactor moderated by heavy water, also to be verified by the IAEA;
2) Provision by Iran of such access and cooperation as the IAEA requests to be able to verify the suspensions and to resolve all outstanding issues, as identified in IAEA reports;
3) A full accounting and resolution of all outstanding questions about Iran’s past and any current (as of the time of agreement) nuclear weapons related activities;
4) Complete closure of the Fordow facility and any other deeply buried enrichment facility that is either complete or under construction; and
5) Iran’s binding agreement to intrusive and comprehensive inspections that are at a minimum as stringent as those outlined in the IAEA’s Additional.
If truth be told, these terms are nothing new and only reek of a Zionist influence contaminating the already decomposing American policy. On May 9, 2012, just ahead of the May 23 talks in Baghdad, where six world powers were slated to sit down with Iranian officials and resolve the so-called nuclear issue, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the talks will be successful only if Iran agrees to ‘halt all uranium enrichment, ship its current stockpile of enriched uranium out of the country and dismantle an underground enrichment facility near the city of Qom (Fordow)’. Interestingly, when the IAEA-Iran meeting took place in May, these three demands were exactly (but not coincidently) put on IAEA’s agenda and the Iranian side was demanded to abide by these if it sought any resolution of the issue.
What strikes the mind as reasonably acceptable is that the authors are no political well-wishers; rather, they are so morbidly obsessed with paving the way for another ravaging war in the Middle East that they are cooking up another fairy tale as David Albright and his ‘company’ did in Iraq.
Similar lies were told about Iraq before the US invaded the country. US intelligence agencies announced in 2003 that Iraq ‘could be planning a chemical or biological attack on American cities through the use of remote-controlled ‘drone’ planes equipped with GPS tracking maps’.
Analysts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said in 2002 that Saddam Hussein could be ‘months’ away from assembling a nuclear bomb and has stockpiled possibly thousands of liters of deadly anthrax.
Former US president George Bush came up with ‘new evidence’ which he said showed Iraq’s ‘continued appetite’ for nuclear bombs. His evidence: Iraq had tried to buy thousands of high-strength aluminum tubes which Bush said ‘were used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon’. Bush presented this as a document to the UN to justify his future invasion of Iraq. However, UN weapons inspectors conducted investigations for weeks and acquired conviction that the tubes were never meant to be used for enriching uranium (See Iraq, Lies, Cover-Ups, and Consequences By Rodney Stich p. 141).
The bitter irony is that those who are responsible for playing havoc with the lives of a million people are not surprisingly fettered by shackles to await a sore chastisement as the essence of humanity necessitates it; instead, they are free and to crown it all, they are even allowed the latitude to continue with their myths and engage in yet another military mischief.
Source: Press TV

IRGC to Mass-ProduceRelief, Rescue Vessels

Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps has designed a standard vessel for relief and rescue operations, a senior IRGC commander said, adding that the vessel will be mass-produced in next Iranian year (starting on March 21).
“Today, the standard sample of the rescue vessel for rescue and relief missions has been prepared and based on the contracts, we are manufacturing these vessels and a number of them will be mass-produced in the next (Iranian) year,” Commander of the IRGC’s Medical Center General Seyyed Ali Moussavi Jazzayeri said on Wednesday, Fars News Agency reported.
He added that the rescue vessels have been designed in two types, namely Saars (martins) and ambulances, adding that Saar is tasked with relief and rescue missions, but do not have the capacity to accommodate emergency works and operations like ambulance vessels or hospital ships.
A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces of various countries. Attacking a hospital ship is a war crime.

West’s Double Standards Hurting Anti-Terrorism Fight

Iran’s ambassador to Madrid said Spain’s move to invite a leader of the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) to the European country is another example of the West’s double standards in fighting terrorism.
Morteza Saffari made the remarks in an interview with Spain’s Efe News Agency on Tuesday, stressing that such acts by western countries will seriously hurt the fight against terrorism.
The diplomat noted that fighting terrorism is a global issue and all countries should be strongly committed to performing their duties in this respect.
A number of Spanish parliamentarians and senators invited the MKO leader, Maryam Rajavi, to their country in December 2012.
Saffari further said that the so-called National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) is the political wing of the MKO and that the people of Iran consider the MKO the most despicable terrorist cell.
He stated that the MKO receives financial support from western espionage networks and pays low-level American and European politicians who support it and take part in its events.
The MKO is responsible for numerous acts of terror and violence against Iranian civilians and officials.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it received the support of Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein and set up its camp near the Iranian border.
Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist attacks since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, almost 12000 have fallen victim to the acts of terror carried out by the MKO.
The group also sided with Saddam during Iraq’s eight-year imposed war against the Islamic Republic.
On December 20, 2012, the Canadian government removed the MKO from its official list of terrorist organizations.
The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations on September 28. The European Union had taken the MKO off its black list in 2009.

Worrisome HR Situation

Senior lawmaker Seyyed Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini said the international community is concerned about the widespread violation of human rights in the United States.