Russia Nuclear Envoy Due in Tehran

Russia’s representative in international talks with Iran over its nuclear program, Sergei Ryabkov, is expected to meet Tehran’s top negotiator, Saeed Jalili, news agencies reported.
Ryabkov, who is also deputy foreign minister, will be on a one-day visit to Tehran, AFP reported on Wednesday.
His visit comes days after he was quoted as telling The Financial Times that Moscow would support direct talks between Iran and the United States.
However, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi responded Monday by saying any ‘decision on comprehensive, bilateral political talks between the two countries... is up to the supreme leader’, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
Iran has not ruled out direct talks with Washington but says these will not come overnight.
Salehi also hoped that negotiations on its nuclear program with the so-called P5 1--the UN Security Council’s five permanent members plus Germany--would resume soon.
Last month, the White House said it is prepared to talk one-on-one with Iran to find a diplomatic settlement to the impasse over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program, but there’s no agreement now to meet.
“It’s not true that the United States and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks or any meeting after the American elections,” Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman. But he added that the administration was open to such talks and has ‘said from the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally’.
The P5+1 has for years sought through negotiations with Iran to resolve a claim over Tehran’s atomic ambitions, which the West believes has military aims despite repeated denials by the Islamic Republic.
The last high-level talks, which all but failed, were held in Moscow in June.
According to Salehi, Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the world powers in the talks, are to hold a telephone conversation ‘to decide on a venue and date’.
The UN atomic watchdog has said it will hold a new round of talks in Tehran on December 13.
The Security Council has imposed four sets of sanctions on the Islamic Republic, which coupled with unilateral western restrictions on its oil sector and banks, have begun to cause major problems for its economy.

Moscow for Continuation of Talks
Ryabkov has also urged continuation of talks between Iran and the P5+1 group over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
“Negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group must continue under any circumstances,” Ryabkov was quoted by AFP as saying on Tuesday.
Asked what Moscow’s reaction to one-to-one talks between Tehran and Washington would be, Russia’s chief nuclear negotiator said that Moscow will not oppose direct talks between the two countries.
“We will not have a word against this. Of course, we would hope we would be informed on the content of these arrangements,” he added.

US-Led Sanctions Kill Teenager

A hemophiliac Iranian teenager living in southwestern Iran lost his life at the hospital reportedly due to the shortage of required medication caused by the US-led sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The 15-year-old, identified only as Manouchehr, who lived as part of the nomadic tribes close to the Dezful county, located in Iran’s Khuzestan province, was sent to the hospital after an incident, but died as it was too late for him to be saved, the head of the Iranian Hemophilia Society, Ahmad Qavidel said.
Hemophilia is a group of hereditary genetic disorders, which adversely affect the body’s ability to control blood clotting or coagulation, necessitating medication.
Qavidel expressed regret over the human loss, blaming Europe and the US sanctions against Iran for the shortage of medicine.
“Currently, the storages of medicine for hemophiliac patients are [either] depleting or have depleted in a large number of cases,” he told Khabar Online news website in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
“The Iranian Hemophilia Society is of the opinion that the US and the European Union have hidden behind a useless ratification, according to which medicine and food are not in the list of the items subject to sanctions.”
The illegal US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use 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 Iran’s nuclear energy program has been diverted towards military objectives.
Earlier in the month, the head of Iran Medical Council criticized the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his silence over the US-led restrictions on the sales of medicine to the Islamic Republic.
In a letter to the UN chief, Shahaboddin Sadr described as ‘inhuman’, the US-engineered restrictions, applied by western and European countries on the sales of medication and medical equipment to Iran.
On September 4, The Washington Post published an article titled ‘In Iran, Sanctions Take Toll on the Sick’, which detailed how drug shortages are particularly affecting ‘cancer patients and those being treated for complex disorders such as hemophilia, multiple sclerosis, and Thalassemia, as well as transplant and kidney dialysis patients’.
Iran’s Charity Institute for Special Diseases, has voiced grave concern for the six million patients suffering from special diseases and their families, who are desperately wrestling with related problems.
Pundits have called for the trial of the US President Barack Obama for the imposition of the illegal restrictions and killing of Iranian children.

Zionist Aggression on Gaza Deplored

Foreign Ministry on Wednesday deplored aggression of the Zionist regime on Gaza Strip and escalation of Israeli violence against Palestinians fighting to liberate territories from Israeli occupation.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast strongly condemned Israel’s indiscriminate and disproportionate air raids on Gaza Strip which claimed the lives of innocent civilians and injured tens of others, IRNA reported.
He criticized international bodies and human rights organizations for keeping silent on the escalation of Israeli violence in Gaza.
“We believe that they go ahead with perpetrating systematic crimes in Gaza to divert public opinion from domestic problems in the occupied territories,” he said.
The Israeli military has intensified attacks on Gaza Strip since Sunday after four of its troops were injured by a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave. So far, seven Palestinians have been killed and over 45 others injured in the Israeli attacks.
On Tuesday, Israeli warplanes carried out overnight attacks on central Gaza, but there were no reports of casualties.
Reports suggest that Tel Aviv is planning a major attack on the besieged Palestinian territory. At least 1,400 Palestinians were killed after Tel Aviv launched an all-out war against Gaza in 2008.

MP Urges End to Bahrain Suppression

A lawmaker has warned Bahraini regime over violent suppression of peaceful protests stressing that the Al-Khalifa ‘rulers’ should learn from the fate of other regional dictators.
“Force and suppression can never resist popular demands,” spokesman of Majlis Cultural Commission Seyyed Ali Taheri said on Tuesday, Press TV reported.
“The Al-Khalifa regime should learn a lesson from the fate of [other] dictators in the region,” Taheri added, referring to the ouster of western-backed rulers in the aftermath of a wave of popular revolts that started from Tunisia in early 2011 and swept trough Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
The lawmaker said that the people of Bahrain are fed-up with the continued crackdown by the western-backed regime, advising Bahrain’s rulers to implement reforms to meet their people’s demands before it is too late.
Taheri further criticized international organizations for acting like ‘instruments in the hands of hegemonic powers’, and denounced their inaction toward the killing of peaceful protesters in the Persian Gulf sheikdom.
“The international community must not turn a blind eye to the Al-Khalifa’s crackdown,” he said.
A popular anti-regime revolution started in Bahrain in February 2011. Scores of people have since been killed and hundreds of others wounded in the regime’s violent crackdown of the protests. Bahraini protesters say they remain resolute to continue demonstration despite the Al-Khalifa regime’s ban on all demonstrations and public gatherings across the state, until their demands are met.

FM, Kenyan Premier Meet

Foreign minister in a meeting with Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga hailed friendly relations between the two countries, and called for further strengthening of bilateral ties.
At the meeting in Nairobi on Tuesday, Salehi stressed Iran’s will to expand relations with Kenya in all fields, and said, “The agreements endorsed by the two countries provide proper grounds for extensive cooperation,” Fars News Agency reported on Wednesday.
Odinga, for his part, emphasized the need to expand bilateral ties, and described further cooperation between the two countries’ private sectors as a ‘determining factor’ in further bolstering mutual trade cooperation and investment.
Salehi left Tehran on an African tour on Monday which will also take him to Central African Republic, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia.
The top diplomat is also scheduled to attend a ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the East African country of Djibouti.
Iran also has an observer status in the African Union (AU) and has had an active presence in earlier AU summits. The country is considered as one of the AU’s strategic partners along with India, Japan, China, several South American states and Turkey, while Tehran is also believed to be prioritizing promotion of economic and political ties with African states.

Leader Censures Western-Style Freedom

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Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with scholars, researchers, academic and seminary teachers on Tuesday.
The Leader also criticized the particular way of thinking that equals freedom with absolute lack of restrictions.
Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the differences between the notion of freedom in Islam and the West and stated that the main difference between the Islamic and western viewpoints on freedom lies in the basis of freedom.
The Leader said that, in the liberal way of thinking, freedom is rooted in the notion of Humanism, while belief in God and non-belief in idolatry is the basis of freedom in Islam.
He also described human dignity as one of the major principles of freedom in Islam.

Cmdr. Elaborates On Electronic Interception Systems

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The upgraded high-precision long-range S-200 ground-to-air defense system is designed for use against strategic aircraft.
During the third day of the drill on Wednesday, two indigenous missile systems of Qader and Ya Zahra III were also successfully tested.
The third day of the drill also entailed the testing of electronic and surveillance systems to detect and intercept manned and unmanned enemy aircraft flying at low altitudes.
The F-14 and F-4 fighter jets of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, guided by radar systems, also intercepted and destroyed targets on Wednesday.
Testing artillery fire, shoulder-launched weapons as well as low-altitude missile systems was on agenda on the maneuver’s third day. Anti-cruise missile defense systems were tested on the day.
A US-based military analyst says Iran’s ongoing extensive military maneuver involving the Army and the IRGC shows the readiness of the country and its military self-reliance.
Omar Lamrani, a military analyst with the Texas-based global Security think-tank Stratfor said, “The Iranians are demonstrating to themselves and the world that their air defenses are at the highest state of readiness,” US News reported on Monday.
Referring to the seven-day, Modafe’an-e Aseman-e Velayat 4, Lamrani said Iran aims to demonstrate and develop its existing capabilities by holding the drill.
“What we know for sure is they are making progress,” the analyst said. “They are becoming more independent from foreign markets.”

Syrian Anonymous Opposition

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To cover their actions, they claimed to be opponents of the Syrian government. However, with billions of dollars of logistic and financial support they failed to implement the plan. The Syrian government and people stood against them.
When they found that their plan is not working and the Syrian Army is capable of defending the citizens, they tried new scenarios. They tried to build a group of Syrian oppositions from the Syrian people inside and when they were not able to, they worked on building a council of opposition outside Syria. The Syrian people refused to cooperate with this group and it failed.
Now they established a new opposition group against the Syrian government, a group that has no links with the Syrian people. In all their interviews, the members of this group just seek recognition and financial support. It seems that they only seek the financial part. The fate of this group will not be better than its predecessors since no Syrian inside the country supports them. The Syrian people are not the kind of people who accept others to decide for them.

Neither Simple, Nor Taboo

Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi said direct talks with US are neither a taboo which cannot be touched on in Iran nor a simple event to happen overnight.