Iran's foreign minister insists cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency‘sincere'

Iran's cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog has been sincere and serious, its foreign minister said Sunday, a day ahead of the release of a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the issue.

Diplomats told Reuters last week that an IAEA inquiry into whether Iran covertly researched how to assemble an atom bomb appeared to have stalled while Tehran continued to expand a sensitive uranium enrichment program.

The diplomats said they expected this to be reflected in the agency's report Monday amid faltering pressure on Iran, with Russia and Western powers at loggerheads over Georgia and the imminent departure of the Bush administration in the US.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.dailystar.com.lb

Ahmadinejad assures Assad Iran is taking nuclear talks seriously

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday told visiting Syrian President and staunch regional ally BasharAssad that Tehran was serious about finding a practical solution to the nuclear crisis.

"We are serious in talks and we want the talks to be based on the law so it will bear practical results. We hope that other sides are serious too," Ahmadinejad told Assad in remarks broadcast live on staterun television.

On Saturday evening Ahmadinejad was quoted as telling his Syrian counterpart that Tehran "will not give up an inch on its nuclear rights."

His comments coincide with this weekend's US deadline for Iran to respond to an international package of incentives for it to freeze its drive to enrich uranium amid warnings of new sanctions if it does not.

After meeting Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on July 19 in Geneva, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana asked for a response in two weeks, but "if it's in 16 days instead of 14 it's not a problem. We are not obsessed with a date," an EU diplomat said earlier on condition of anonymity.

The Syrian leader's visit fol lows a trip to Paris a month ago during which French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Syria to "persuade Iran" to prove that it is not seeking nuclear weapons.

"When we were in France we told them about the Syrian position on Iran's nuclear issue but they asked us if we have details of the Iranian program," Assad said on Sunday in Arabic through a translator.

"On this trip we got details, so in the future if we are asked again we know Iran's position." Iran has so far been slapped by three sets of Security Council resolutions demanding that it halt uranium enrichment. This process to produce fuel for nu clear power plants can also be used to make the fissile core of an atomic bomb if refined to significantly higher levels.

To read the full article, click here..
Toread the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.dailystar.com.lb/

Iran test-fires more missiles in Gulf war games

Iran test-fired more weaponry on Thursday as it continued war games, ignoring global concern over its launch of a broadside of missiles amid efforts to end the crisis over its nuclear program.

The weapons fired in the Gulf by the naval section of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps included shore-touards Web site , Iran, Israel, Gulf, Gulf war games, enemy, weapon , nucle-sea, surface-to-surface and sea-to-air missiles, state television said.

It said the war games also included firing the Hoot (Whale) torpedo that Iran unveiled in April 2006 and which it says is a hogh-speed weapon capable of hitting enemy submarines.

Iran on Wednesday test-fired its Shahab-3 long-range missile, which the Islamic Republic says can reach Israel and US bases in the Gulf, and eight other medium- and short-range missiles.

The move sparked major concern in Western governments,which say they fear Iran's nuclear drive is aimed at making atomic weapons, a charge that Tehran vehemently denies.

In a separate land exercise late on Wednesday, the military also fired "longer- and mediumrange missiles," state television said, showing several missiles being fired into the night sky.

Footage was also broadcast of the naval maneuvers, showing divers fixing mines to a pier, missiles being fired from shorebased mobile launchers and the Hoot speeding toward a target.

Washington and its regional ally Israel have never ruled out military action against Iranian atomic facilities, while Tehran has warned of a fierce response if it is attacked.

"Iran rejects the international demand to halt the enrichment of uranium and the world must respond accordingly – by increasing and intensifying the sanctions against Iran," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Thursday.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israeli public radio Iran represented a challenge for the whole world.

"Israel is the strongest country in the region and we have already shown in the past that we are not afraid of acting when our vital interests are threatened," he added.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned that the United States would defend itself and its allies.

"We will defend American interests and the interests of our allies.We take very strongly our obligation to defend our allies and we intend to do that," she told reporters in Tbilisi.

There has been concern an attack against Iran could be imminent after it emerged that Israel had carried out maneuvers in Greece that were effectively dry runs for a potential strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.

The latest war games come amid increased diplomatic efforts to end the five-year standoff over the Iranian nuclear drive. Iran's response to a deal by world powers, in which it would be offered technological and economic incentives if it suspended uranium enrichment, is being analyzed by diplomats.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.dailystar.com.lb

Tehran test-fires long-range missile in face of mounting pressure from West

Iran on Wednesday test-fired a missile it said is capable of reaching Israel, angering the United States amid growing fears that the standoff over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program could lead to war.

The Shahab-3 was among a broadside of nine missiles fired off from an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert during maneuvers currently being staged by the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), state television showed.

"The aim of these war games is to show we are ready to defend the integrity of the Iranian nation," state-run Arabic channel Al-Alam quoted General Hossein Salami, commander of the IRGC's air force, as saying.

The United States led Western condemnation of the tests, complaining that they would reinforce suspicions over Tehran's military ambitions at a time when efforts are under way to resolve the long-running nuclear standoff.The United States carried out its own muscle-flexing in the region earlier the week, holding naval exercises in the Gulf.

Iran insists its nuclear work is aimed solely at generating energy, its right as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but the West fears the program could be aimed at making an atomic bomb and has called for a freeze of uranium enrichment.

Al-Alam said the missiles test-fired included a Shahab-3 with a one-ton conventional war head and a 2,000-kilometer range.

"Our missiles are ready for shooting at any place and any time, quickly and with accuracy," Salami warned. ‘"The enemy must not repeat its mistakes. The enemy targets are under surveillance."

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.dailystar.com.lb

Oil hits new record at $146.69 and $250 may not be far off

The price of oil set a record high above $146 a barrel here on Thursday, driven by falling reserves of US crude, simmering tensions over Iran and a weak dollar, traders said.

Russian energy giant Gazprom, meanwhile, forecast that oil would "very soon" hit $250 a barrel.

Brent North Sea oil for August delivery surged to a lifetime peak of $146.69 a barrel after breaching $146 for the first time earlier on Thursday.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, leaps to an all time pinnacle of $145.85.

"Prices rose to set new all time highs… supported by a decline in US crude oil inventories," said Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish.

After hitting new heights, Brent crude stood at $145.13 a barrel in electronic deals, up $0.87 from Wednesday's close as traders banked profits. New York crude was $0.28 cents higher at $143.85.

Oil prices, which have doubled over the past year, were driven by news that American crude stockpiles fell by 2.0 million barrels to stand at 299.8 million barrels in the week to June 27. The US government's Energy Information Administration also said on Wednesday that crude inventories were 15.3 percent lower than at the same stage one year ago.

"It was the first time inventory fell below the psychologi cally critical 300-million-barrel threshold since January," said PetroMatrix analyst Olivier Jakob.

The latest record-breaking price surge also came after Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hos sein Nozari warned Iran would react fiercely to any military attack against the oil exporter.

OPEC added that replacing Iran's crude output would be difficult should the country face attack.

"If something happened in Iran, it is difficult to replace [Iran's output of] 4.1 or 4.2 million barrels a day," OPEC Secretary General Abdallah alBadri told the daily newsletter of the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.dailystar.com.lb

Sarkozy tells Israel to curb settlers, share Jerusalem

French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on Monday for a halt to Jewish settlement activity in the Occupied West Bank while also proclaiming his staunch support for Israel in an address to its Parliament.

"There can be no peace without stopping settlement," Sarkozy told MPs.

"There is a proposal backed by many members of your Knesset for the adoption of a law that would encourage settlers to leave the West Bank in exchange for compensation and relocation in Israel," he noted with approval.

Israeli authorities have announced the construction of hundreds of new homes for Jewish settlers in the Occupied West Bank in recent months, infuriating the Palestinians and drawing criticism from the international community which regards all settlements on occupied land as illegal.

Sarkozy also called for an easing of travel restrictions in the Occupied West Bank, where the army operates hundreds of road blocks which the World Bank says are a major obstacle to economic growth but which Israel insists are vital to its security.

He said the Palestinians also had to do more in order to achieve peace,saying: "There can be no peace if Palestinians themselves do not combat terrorism."

Sarkozy stressed that France was strongly committed to Israel's security. "France will always be by Israel's side when its security, its existence are threatened," he said, adding that France would consider it "unacceptable" for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.

"France is determined to pursue with its partners a policy ranging from ever-tighter sanctions to an opening should Tehran opt to respect its international obligations," the French president said.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.dailystar.com.lb

‘As good as it gets:' Special park allows Tehran women to let their hair down

Nasrin and Kimia cast aside their Islamic headscarves and quickly unbutton their coats as soon as they pass a gate watched by male guards – the entrance to Tehran's first women-only park.

The mother and daughter lay out their picnic on the lawn and lie in the hot spring sun as a group of other women jog past them in spaghetti-strapped vests and lycra shorts.

An unusual sight indeed in Iran, where women are obliged to cover their hair and body contours in public to obey the country's strict Islamic dress code.

But last month theTehran municipality opened the Mothers' Paradise park in the upmarket north of the city to create a male free zone every day of the week except Friday. Built on hills and filled with lush evergreens,it was deemed an ideal spot for any park. It is now surrounded by metal sheets up to 4 meters high to keep out prying eyes.

"It is a good place to take in fresh air and finally dress as you want," said Nasrin,39,who lives nearby and comes to the park almost every day. "In an Islamic country this is as good as it gets."

"Taking into account the religious beliefs in our society, we have to wisely use all our capacities to care for the well-being of women," Tehran's conservative mayor, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said last month while inaugurating the park.

The 20-hectare park offers aerobics classes in the open air (something of a craze for both sexes in Iran), a cycling track, a sports hall for team games and even archery courses.

Nahid Foadi, 50, has arrived with friends swinging badminton rackets and gym bags. "We need vitamin D [from exposure to sunlight] and all these years our health has been neglected," she said. "They have to build more such parks everywhere."

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.dailystar.com.lb