Minister to Attend Islamabad Anti-Narcotics Conference

Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar is due to visit Pakistan in the next few days to attend a regional conference on campaign against narcotics.
Director General of the Public Relations Department of Iran’s Anti-Narcotics Headquarters Farzin Rahim-Nazari said that Mohammad Najjar, who is also secretary general of Iran’s Anti-Narcotics Headquarters, will participate in the conference at the head of a delegation, Fars News Agency reported.
He added that senior officials from the participating states will convene in Islamabad on Monday to draft a final statement for the ministerial meeting due to be held on Tuesday.
“The conference is aimed at strengthening regional cooperation by adopting a balanced, coordinated and unified strategy against narcotics and hallucinating drugs, reinvigorating the countries’ national capacities and discussing the prospects of regional cooperation on finding practical, durable and comprehensive ways of dealing with multifaceted challenges in the war on drug plantation, demand and trafficking,” he said.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari had earlier this month invited Iran to participate in the conference.
Ministers from twelve regional countries would participate in the Regional Ministerial Conference on Counter-Narcotics.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan have been invited to the conference.
Iran, located at the crossroad of international drug smuggling from Afghanistan to Europe, leads international efforts in fighting drug networks and narcotic traffickers.
Iranian police measures along the country’s Eastern borders have forced drug-traffickers to resort to other routes, including the Sea of Oman and the Persian Gulf, to smuggle their drug cargos which originate in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to the UN figures, Iran ranks first in preventing entry of drugs and decreasing demand for narcotics.
The anti-drug squads of the Iranian Law Enforcement Force have intensified their countrywide campaign against drug-trafficking by staging long-term systematic operations since last two years.

Iran’s Impartiality On Karabakh Lauded

Armenia’s Minister of Justice Hrayr Tovmasian praised Iran’s impartial stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“Iran has acted very logically and impartially on the issue of Karabakh,” Tovmasian said in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Morteza Bakhtiari in Tehran on Sunday, Fars News Agency reported.
On relations between the two neighboring countries, Tovmasian stressed that there is no impediment to further expansion of Iran-Armenia relations.
Both Azerbaijan and Armenia claim Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, which is largely populated by Armenians but located in Azerbaijan.
Ethnic Armenian forces took control of over 16 percent of Azerbaijan during a war that continued from February 1988 to May 1994.
The conflict left an estimated 30,000 people dead and one million displaced. The dispute remains unsettled.
Iran has on several occasions offered to mediate in the dispute.
Bakhtiari also hailed Armenia for defending Iran against the sanctions imposed by western states over its peaceful nuclear program, and underlined that there are no restriction for further expansion of Tehran’s ties with Yerevan.
“The Republic of Armenia has had a good position on the sanctions against our country,” Bakhtiari said.
Bakhtiari and Tovmasian also signed an agreement on extradition of criminals on Sunday.
Deputy Justice Minister Ali Sadati said that the agreement will be the first of such agreement between Iran and Armenia, adding that the deal envisaged extradition of 12 Iranian prisoners from Armenia to continue their prison terms in Iran.
He said that the prisoners are usually found guilty for lack of knowledge about laws and regulations of host countries.
Iran has signed about 20 of such agreements with different states and 30 of them are waiting to be signed with other countries, the judiciary official said.

ESCAP Urges Partnership to Benefit People, Planet

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In her address to the EGM on Sunday, Heyzer will propose five action areas in which PPP models can be improved: extending the traditional definition of the private sector; focusing on the critical role of small and medium-sized enterprises; working more closely with firms and foundations dedicated to social entrepreneurship; finding ways to help least developed countries to upscale homegrown solutions; and learning from best practice examples across the region.
Following the two-day EGM, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will convene a Business Forum with a view to appraising the Iranian private sector of global developments and trends in PPP outside of Iran. It will provide an opportunity for Iranian government officials to showcase a number of potential PPP projects to the Iranian private sector.

KRG Premier in Tehran For Talks

Prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Nechirvan Idris Barzani, is in Tehran for talks with Iranian officials.
Barzani arrived in Tehran on Saturday evening and was received by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed Majeed Al-Sheikh, and Nazem Dabbaq, the representative of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Tehran, the Fars News Agency reported.
KRG Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami, KRG Board of Investment Chairman Herish Muharam, and KRG Department of Foreign Relations Director Falah Mustafa Bakir are accompanying Barzani on the trip.
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) political bureau chief Fazil Mirani and two senior KDP members are also on Barzani’s delegation.
During his two-day visit to Tehran, Barzani is scheduled to meet Iranian officials to discuss regional developments, bilateral ties, and ways to expand economic cooperation.

Iran Will Counter Border Violations

Senior Iranian lawmaker Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini said the Islamic Republic will firmly respond to any unauthorized entry into the country’s territory.
“The American drone illegally entered Iran’s airspace and the Islamic Republic gave a firm response to this US aggressive act,” the spokesman for the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said on Saturday.
“We will confront any unauthorized entry into Iran’s geographical borders including air, sea and land borders,” Press TV quoted the lawmaker as saying.
Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said on Friday that the Iranian military had repelled an unidentified aircraft that had entered the country’s airspace ‘above the territorial waters of the Islamic Republic in the Persian Gulf’.
“Last week an unidentified aircraft entered the space over the territorial waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Persian Gulf area which, due to timely, prudent and decisive action of our armed forces, was forced to flee,” Vahidi said.
He noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran is investigating the incident and pursuing the case through relevant international channels.
The comments come a day after the Pentagon claimed that two Iranian warplanes had fired at a US drone last week as it conducted a ‘routine, but classified surveillance mission over the Persian Gulf about 16 nautical miles off the Iranian coast’.
Rejecting US claims that the drone did not cross Iran’s air border, Naqavi-Hosseini said that the US should be accountable for the violation of Iran’s airspace.
On Friday, Deputy Chairman of Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said that the Iranian Armed Forces would ‘firmly’ respond to any air, ground and sea aggression.
On December 4, the Iranian military’s electronic warfare units brought down the US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft, which intruded Iran’s airspace, with minimal damage. The spy drone was flying over the eastern city of Kashmar, some 225km (140 miles) from the Afghan border.
The radar-evading aircraft, designed and developed by the US company Lockheed Martin, had crossed into Iran’s airspace from neighboring Afghanistan.
Iran announced at that time that it intends to carry out reverse engineering on the aircraft, which is similar in design to a US Air Force B2 stealth bomber.
The loss of the drone, one of America’s most advanced surveillance aircraft, is considered a major embarrassment for Washington.

Violating Airspace, Provocation
Meanwhile, a political analyst described the violation of Iran’s airspace by a US drone as an ‘act of provocation’ and against the international law, Press TV reported.
“It is fairly obvious that it is another act of provocation that sends the wrong signal from Washington and I think that their own message is that the US continues to violate Iran’s airspace against international norms and law,” Kaveh Afrasiabi said.
He hoped that the swift reaction of the Iranian armed forces would send the message to Washington that ‘Iran is vigilant and is not like some other countries that allow the violation of their sovereignty all the time’.

Iran Proposes Joint ECO Satellite

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Telecom Fair
Meanwhile, over 200 foreign and domestic companies will take part in Iran’s Telecom Fair which is scheduled to begin in Tehran on Wednesday.
Some 22 companies from eight countries, including Germany, Britain, Italy, China, Switzerland, Canada, South Korea and Poland will participate in the 13th Iran Telecom Fair. Also, some 185 Iranian companies will take part in the four-day exhibition.
Iran Telecom Fair is the country’s main CIT event for professionals of telecom services and products, bringing together engineers, planners, operators as well as wholesale and retail suppliers in the industry.

Iranians Will Overcome Every Obstacle

President Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that the Iranian nation would overcome every obstacle thanks to its determination.
Addressing a meeting to honor exemplary retired employees, the president said anyone who tried to obstruct the progress of the Iranian nation would be ‘smashed’ by Iranians and with the help of God, IRNA reported.
Referring to the atrocities of Iraq’s toppled dictator Saddam Hussein during the eight years of imposed war against Iran, President Ahmadinejad said, “Today, Saddam Hussein is history while the Iranian nation is still standing firmly and with steadfastness.”

No Talks Unless US Changes Policies

A senior member of Majlis said the Islamic Republic will hold no talks with the United States if Washington refuses to change its policies regarding Tehran.
“We have problems with the US policies [that are] against the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Muslim world.
As long as these policies do not change, no talks will be held [with the US],’ Chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi told reporters on the sidelines of an open session of the Majlis on Sunday.
He added that before the US presidential election, the American president had expressed his willingness to hold negotiations with Iran through different channels, IRNA reported.
“We believe we cannot negotiate with the US, which hatches plots, adopts budgets, and imposes sanctions against our national interests,” Boroujerdi pointed out.
In October, Boroujerdi said that Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei makes the decision for Iran to enter into bilateral negotiations with the US if expedient.
“Anytime the interests of the Islamic Republic necessitate direct negotiations with the United States… such a decision [to hold the talks] will be made by the Leader,” he explained. “Such a decision has not currently been made.”
Last week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said only practical and fundamental changes in Washington’s policies can restore the trust of the Iranian nation towards the United States.
The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that only respect for the rights of the Iranian nation, as well as a fundamental and practical reconsideration of the US government’s wrong policies in the past could reduce the Iranian nation’s mistrust of the US administration, Mehmanparast said on Wednesday.
He stressed that Iran will judge the US by its actions not words. “Any evaluation of the promise of change will be based on the actual policy and performance of US officials,” he said.
Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani also said Iran does not rule out Tehran and Washington coming ‘to the negotiating table’ one day but warned it will not happen ‘overnight’.
Larijani said on Wednesday that ‘relations with the United States are not simple’.
Larijani’s brother, Mohammad Javad Larijani, international affairs adviser of the Judiciary Power, reiterated that negotiating with Washington ‘is not taboo’, but any decision to renew contact ‘is a prerogative of the Leader’ of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
“If the interest of the Islamic Republic requires, we are prepared to negotiate with the Satan in the pits of hell,” he said.
In recent months, Washington has expressed readiness to engage in direct talks with Iran. Tehran has declined, saying its conditions were not met.

Amano Optimistic About Tehran Talks

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“The activities at Parchin are ongoing, but I am not in a position to discuss the details today,” Amano told reporters after being asked whether Iran was continuing to dismantle the military site near Tehran.
The UN agency continues to see activity at Iran’s Parchin military site.
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly rejected reports about nuclear activity taking place at Parchin and argued that a mutually agreed framework will have to be worked out before the IAEA inspectors are allowed to visit the site.
Iran says the issue of Parchin, which the IAEA reported in November may have been the site of experiments on a trigger for a nuclear weapon, had become an ‘obstacle’ because it had become ‘politicized’.
Two series of separate inspections of Parchin by IAEA have showed no evidence of alleged nuclear activities there.