Ahmadinejad: Iran, Lebanon Resisting Hegemony

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described Lebanon as the ‘center of resistance’, saying the Iranian and Lebanese nations carry the message of convergence and resistance against hegemony.
“The two Iranian and Lebanese nations have enormous cultural and historical commonalities and are harbingers of peace, justice and fraternity for all people and are against the occupation, cruelty and bullying dominant in the international scene and the region,” President Ahmadinejad said on Saturday in a message to an international conference on resistance, Press TV reported.
He added that the admirable resistance of the Lebanese nation, army and government brought dignity to the people of the region and all justice-seekers.
The chief executive emphasized that the Islamic Republic has always welcomed expansion of ties with Lebanon.
The Iranian nation will always stand by the brave Lebanese people and will make use of the utmost potential to strengthen constructive relations, Ahmadinejad pointed out.

Economic Independence Undermines US Power

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani cautioned about enemy’s plot to disrupt Iran’s economy, saying that improving the country’s economic conditions and reaching self-sufficiency and independence will weaken US power.
“The enemy seeks disrupt our economy as its main tactic,” Larijani said while addressing an open session of the parliament in Tehran on Sunday, adding that improving the country’s economic status is the best way to confront the enemy.
“The fake power of the US will be undermined through economic independence,” Larijani said, adding that strengthening Iran’s economy and increasing employment together with a proper foreign policy comprise a major part of the strategy needed to deter the United States’ adventurist policies, Fars News Agency reported.
Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West’s calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.
Tehran has dismissed the West’s demand as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians’ national resolve to continue the path.
Political observers believe that the United States is at loggerheads with Iran mainly over the independent and home-grown nature of Tehran’s nuclear technology, which gives the Islamic Republic the potential to turn into a world power and a role model for the other third-world countries.

Human Rights, US Tool To Advance Goals

An Iranian lawmaker said countries that have imposed sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran are the biggest violators of human rights.
Deputy chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Mansour Haqiqatpour on Sunday described human rights as a tool for the US to advance its objectives in the world.
Commenting on a recent report by Ahmad Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, Haqiqatpour said these rapporteurs do not have the courage to expose the realities of the international community, ICANA reported.
“Sanctions threaten the lives of some Iranian patients,” he said, adding that the West is responsible for a decline in production in Iran and the unemployment of workers in the country by stopping the sales of certain products to Iran, which is the most obvious instance of human rights violations by the West.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Foreign Ministry dismissed Shaheed’s report as politically-motivated, biased and without any legal basis.
“ Shaheed’s report contains repetitive claims, which the Islamic Republic has dismissed several times. In addition, his claims are based on accounts by Iran’s enemies, resulting in an unsubstantiated report that does not reflect the realities in the country,” the statement said.
On Thursday, Ahmed Shaheed said in the report that the Islamic republic has repeatedly limited freedom of media and right activists inside the country, detained a number of them and mistreated them.
On June 17, 2011, the UN Human Rights Council, under pressure from the United States and its allies, named former Maldivian foreign minister Shaheed as its human rights investigator on Iran.
Tehran insists that the appointment of a UN special rapporteur on Iran’s human rights is a selective, politically-motivated and unacceptable move.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed Shaheed’s report as politically motivated, biased, and without any legal basis.

Washington’s Influence
Another lawmaker also lashed out at the United Nations Special Rapporteur for making fabrications about the country, saying all UN reports on Iran have been drawn up under influence of the West.
“Based on US and Zionist regime’s instructions, the [UN] rapporteur pursues lines drawn up by them,” member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Esmaeili told ICANA Sunday.
He added that the UN reports about Iran do not reveal the truth, emphasizing that the body’s rapporteur announces what has been dictated to him by twisting facts.
The Iranian legislator reiterated that Shaheed is under the US’ command.
The United Nations prepares its false reports based on unconventional sources such as the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group and the Islamic Republic’s enemies, Esmaeili pointed out.
He said the Iranian nation and the Islamic establishment will never accept UN reports against the country, adding that as an independent state, Iran is targeted by the ominous objectives of the United States.

North Americans Condemn US Warmongering

Thousands in US, Canada condemned economic sanctions, warmongering against Syria and Iran.
On the 11th anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan, thousands staged rallies in 15 US cities as well as cities stretching from west to east of Canada on October 5-7, the Solidarity with Iran Campaign reported.
The demonstrators condemned war crimes in Afghanistan and called for end to economic sanctions and threats of war against Syria and Iran.
As the marches coincided with the presidential elections in Venezuela, the demonstrators also condemned US meddling in the elections.

Anti-War Rallies in US
New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit, Tallahassee, Seattle, Oakland, Minneapolis, Boston, Richmond, Albuquerque, and Columbus were among the cities in which anti-war activists took to the streets on the anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan.
A broad spectrum of antiwar organizations and alliances took part in organizing the rallies, including the Answer Alliance, International Action Center, Veterans For Peace, Solidarity with Iran Campaign, Students for Peace Palestine, World Can’t Wait, and Muslims Alliance for Peace.
Demonstrators carried banners and placards and chanted slogans like ‘No Sanctions, No War Against Syria and Iran’, ‘US Exit From Afghanistan, Now!’, ‘Allocate Budget for Employment and Education Not for War and Occupation’, ‘We Don’t Want Your Racist War’, and ‘Stop the War Machine’.
Except for ‘Get Your Hands Off Syria and Iran’, which was the slogan common to all the demonstrations, the rallies in each of US cities had slogans of their own. In San Francisco, for example, most of the slogans focused on the Middle East.
There were banners reading ‘Occupation of Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine Is a Crime’, ‘US Must Exit Mideast”, and ‘From River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free’.
In the Hollywood Boulevard of Los Angeles, 200 demonstrators led by American war veterans and students, carried coffins draped in Iraqi, Afghan, Palestinian, and American flags, symbolizing the human cost of the wars.
They left the coffins at the Army’s recruitment center in Los Angeles.
Pat Alviso, a member of Military Families Speak Out, who said his son had just returned from his fifth mission in Afghanistan, gave a speech about the Afghan war’s costs and human losses.
A representative of the Veterans for Peace announced the group’s solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and urged US soldiers to refuse to fight in Afghanistan.
At the end of the demonstrations in Los Angeles and other US cities, anti-war statements from different groups and organizations were read out. In New York, some of the war veterans taking part in the rallies were arrested by the police.

Rallies in Canada
The October 6 demonstrations in Canada centered on defending Iran.
The rallies, unprecedented in their kind, were held in cities stretching from Halifax in the eastern coast of Canada to Vancouver in the west. Thousands of antiwar activists took part.
The main organizer of the event, which had been in the making from weeks before, was the Canadian Peace Alliance.
The main cities were the rallies took place included Halifax, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton and Vancouver, with the biggest demonstrations in Toronto and Vancouver.
Thousands of antiwar activists, including Muslims, Christians, Jews and others were present in the Toronto rally.
The speakers denied the western propaganda against Iran’s nuclear energy program, condemned economic sanctions and war mongering and reiterated the Iranian nation’s right to develop peaceful nuclear energy.
Some of the placards carried in the rally read ‘No More Wars for Safeguarding Israel’s Interests’, ‘No War Against Iran’, and ‘Keep Your Hands Off Iran’.
Sid Lacombe from the Canadian Peace Alliance, Gerry LeBlanc from the Steelworkers Union, Niaz Salimi from Iranian-Canadian Community Association, and Canadian Muslim leader Ali Mallah were among the speakers.
Demonstrators marched from Queens Park to the Israeli Consulate in Toronto and condemned Israeli warmongering against Iran.

No Disruption in Tehran-Dushanbe Flights

Iran’s ambassador to Tajikistan has dismissed reports that the Tajik state airline has cancelled direct flights to Tehran in line with western sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
On October 13, TajikAir cancelled a Dushanbe-Tehran flight, which some Tajik and western media rushed to interpret as the airline’s support for anti-Iran sanctions and relate it to the sharp depreciation of the Iranian rial in the past weeks, Press TV reported.
“TajikAir’s last Tuesday flight was cancelled due to disarrangements in Tehran and Dushanbe, but the flight operated today with almost full capacity,” Ali-Asghar She’rdust told IRNA late on Saturday.
The Iranian ambassador said there are four flights per week between the Iranian and Tajik capitals, and stated that the flights will continue without changes in schedule.
“The flights by [Iran] Aseman Airlines on Mondays and Thursdays and TajikAir’s flights on Saturdays and Tuesdays operate every week on a round trip basis,” She’rdust said.
“There is also a weekly charter flight between Iran and Tajikistan when there is a demands for it,” he added.
On Friday, a source within TajikAir denied reports that it intended to indefinitely suspend flights to Tehran.
The official said that the October 13 flight was cancelled due to problems, but was later restored.
The airline’s ticket selling clerks also confirmed that the Saturday flight would take place and all the tickets had been sold out.

New Drone for Air Defense, Bombing Missions

A senior Iranian commander said that the country’s newly unveiled Haazem (Determination) drone is multi-purpose and multi-range vehicle with air-defense, reconnaissance and aerial bombardment capabilities.
Commander of Khatam-ul-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaeli stressed that Iran’s defense industries enjoy a high capability in designing and producing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and stated that Haazem is a drone designed and manufactured by Iranian air defense experts in three short-, mid- and long-range models and for air defense missions.
He said that the drone can be used as a target for air defense systems and also for reconnaissance missions.
Esmaeli said the UAV can also be equipped with missiles and used for aerial bombardments as well.
Last month, Iran announced that it has started using UAVs for its air defense units as part of its broader plans to strengthen the country’s air defense capability.
Speaking to reporters on the occasion of the National Day of Air Defense in Tehran on September 3, Esmaeli said Iran has equipped its air defense units with Haazem drones.

New Envoy to Baku

Iran’s new Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pakaein Sunday submitted his credentials to President Ilham Aliyev.