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India-Pakistan

Iranian envoy warns against desert locust attack

2020-05-05

They haven't had a plague of boils yet, so that's one thing in their favor. So far. [The News (Pak)] Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini, Ambassador of the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... to Pakistain, has made some comments on the attack of desert locust and the need for regional cooperation. He said emergence of new challenges like virus originated global pandemics, climate change, pollution and infest of locusts require timely and collective response. He warned that infestation of locusts from different sides threatens food supply for millions of people in Iran and Pakistain. This year, the unusually warm and wet winter allowed an extra generation of breeding, meaning that the desert locust infestations will be much larger than normal and pose a major risk for the region. The envoy said it was predicted that the locust may swarm Iran and Pakistain in the worst desert locust outbreak in the last 50 years. In this regard, the two countries need more and early cooperation to prevent this disaster. The best way of preventing such horrible attack that can damage thousands of hectares of agricultural lands is early warning, spreading pesticides and countering them before breeding. Iran and Pakistain will enhance cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and benefit from its experiences. In the fight against the desert locusts, the Plant Protection Organization (PPO) of Iran has been reporting the situation to FAO on a regular basis. Iran and Pakistain should enhance the bilateral cooperation to tackle the situation. Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Iran and Pakistain are cooperating closely to enhance the connection between the related focal points.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran Says European Union Sanctions Against Bank Melli `Illegal'

2008-06-25

(Bloomberg) -- Iran called broadened economic sanctions by the European Union targeting the country's Bank Melli and other companies ``illegal'' and counterproductive to recent attempts to re-start talks over its nuclear work. The EU sanctions, which follow U.S. moves and freeze assets of 15 Iranian companies in Europe and impose travel restrictions on 20 people, are ``illegal and contradictory,'' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. Iran is examining an incentives package, offered by the EU, in exchange for a halt to the Persian Gulf country's nuclear program. Iran, which refuses to halt its atomic work, has presented its own package to the United Nations.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

West links drug war aid to Iranian nuclear impasse

2008-06-24

AP: Drug traffickers in well-armed desert convoys roll across the border from Afghanistan. Standing in their way are Iranian soldiers and drug agents trying to choke off one of the world's busiest pipelines for opium and heroin. The battles — waged far from the world's attention in the arid badlands of eastern Iran — represent one of the dwindling patches of common ground between Tehran and the West. The United States has applauded Iran's anti-drug campaign and European nations help fund the fight. But now this international support could be threatened by the standoff over Tehran's nuclear policies. Western nations have told Iran that they could cut off any new help to Iran's anti-drug units unless the Islamic regime halts uranium enrichment, which Washington and its allies worry could be used to develop nuclear arms. The warning was a small but potentially significant item tucked amid an array of trade and economic incentives seeking to sway Iranian leaders to strike a deal. Iran has not formally responded to the package, presented June 14 by the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany. But Iran has repeatedly said it will not back off uranium enrichment — pushing the European Union this week to expand sanctions. The EU froze assets of Iran's largest bank and updated the blacklist of Iranian nuclear experts and companies, but has not yet decided on whether to trim its aid to Iran's anti-drug fight. In response, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said Tuesday that the "carrot and stick policy" by the 27-nation EU won't stop Iran's "pursuit to realize its nuclear rights." The incentive package has been widely endorsed in the West as a way out of the impasse. But tying the drug battle to the offer could be counterproductive, some U.N. officials say. A "heroin tsunami" could hit Europe if the drug interdiction by Iran is weakened, warned Antonio Maria Costa, the director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. "We should definitely assist Iran in this respect," he said. Roberto Arbitrio, head of the U.N. drugs and crime office in Iran, said the war on drugs should be viewed as "a non-political area of mutual interest." The new stance is a sharp departure from the strong — but mostly behind-the-scenes — cooperation the United States and other Western countries forged with Iran on Afghanistan after the Taliban's fall in late 2001. The West and Iran shared a common enemy in the Taliban, the Sunni extremist group that gave shelter to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and now continues to fight the U.S. military and NATO. Taliban fighters help finance their battles by taxing Afghanistan's opium farmers, whose poppies provide the raw material for heroin. The West has had little success reducing the huge opium crop in southern Afghanistan where the Taliban is strongest. Overall opium production in Afghanistan has more than doubled in the last four years — and smuggling the drug into Iran is the first step toward reaching Western markets. Afghanistan produced 93 percent of the world's opium last year, and about 50 percent of the drugs leaving the country flowed through Iran, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime says. "Cooperating with Iran in Afghanistan on this and other issues is not a favor we do for Iran — but something we need to do in our own interest," said Barnett Rubin, an expert on Afghanistan at New York University. The incentive package promised Iran "intensified cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking" from Afghanistan — but only if it suspends uranium enrichment first. Iran claims its nuclear program is only for energy producing reactors and insists it has the right to have uranium enrichment technology. White House and State Department officials have refused to comment on how halting aid to Iranian anti-drug units might affect the flow of drugs from Afghanistan or the fight against the Taliban. Washington has recently accused Iran of providing support to the Taliban in order to bog down Western militaries in Afghanistan, although it has offered little public evidence. Iran denies the charge. The office of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who offered the Iran incentives, also refused comment on the new anti-drug link. "Fighting drug trafficking should not be politicized," said Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, the top anti-drug official in Iran. "When narcotics reach Europe, it is the people, not governments, that suffer." Establishing security and delivering aid in southern Afghanistan would do much more to tackle the drug problem and stop the Taliban, said Anthony Cordesman, a security analyst for the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The United States has spent $878 million since 2001 trying to wean Afghan farmers off growing opium — even as production has skyrocketed. Washington also has praised Iran's anti-drug steps. Iran has built a series of dikes and trenches along large portions of its roughly 560-mile border with Afghanistan to stop drug smugglers and has seized hundreds of tons of opium and heroin. Moghaddam said 900 tons of narcotics were seized last year, including what the U.N. estimated was 80 percent of total world opium seized. The efforts have taken their toll: More than 3,500 Iranian law enforcement officers have died in clashes with heavily armed drug traffickers over the last two decades, the Iranian government says. "There is overwhelming evidence of Iran's strong commitment to keep drugs leaving Afghanistan from reaching its citizens," said the U.S. State Department in its 2007 narcotics report on Iran. Despite that praise, the United States does not donate money to the U.N. to support Iran's anti-drug efforts because of unilateral sanctions. The United Nations, however, has received contributions from several European nations, including Britain, France and Italy, to aid Iran's drug-fighting efforts. But political disputes have made fundraising to help Iran difficult, Arbitrio said. His office has raised only $8.5 million since 2005 for a three-year program originally budgeted at $20 million to help Iran intercept narcotics smuggled from Afghanistan and other measures. "Iran is a front-line country," said Costa of the United Nations.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran says Israel not capable of threatening it

2008-06-24

Iran said on Monday Israel could not threaten it, a few days after a U.S. newspaper reported that Israel's air force had apparently rehearsed a potential bombing raid of Iran's nuclear facilities. Then why are your turbans in such a knot? Iran and Israel have engaged in a sharp exchange of words this month over suspicions Tehran is looking to develop nuclear weapons, helping to push global oil prices higher. "They do not have the capacity to threaten the Islamic Republic of Iran," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference. He was asked about a New York Times report on Friday that quoted U.S. officials as saying Israeli jets conducted a long-range Mediterranean exercise this month that appeared to be a practice for a mission against Iran. "They (Israel) have a number of domestic crises and they want to extrapolate it to cover others. Sometimes they come up with these empty slogans," Hosseini said in comments translated by Iran's English-language Press TV satellite station. Hmm. Seems they are projecting their own culture on another. Iran's defense minister on Sunday accused Israel of "psychological warfare", but said Tehran would give a "devastating" response to any attack. On Friday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, said a military strike on Iran would turn the Middle East into a fireball and prompt Tehran to launch a crash course to build nuclear weapons. Somehow I think that if this were the case then Iraq would be more than willing to roll right into Tehran and set up shop after wiping out whatever portion of Iran's army put up any resistance along the way. Western powers suspect Tehran is seeking to develop nuclear bombs and European Union president Slovenia said the 27-nation bloc was scheduled to agree a new round of sanctions against Iran on Monday over its refusal to stop uranium enrichment. Natter Natter Natter. Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, has described Iran's nuclear program as a threat to its existence. Earlier this month, Israeli Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told an Israeli newspaper an attack on Iran looked "unavoidable" given the apparent failure of United Nations sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential. I wonder if Israel has those deep-penetrating mini-nukes that they have been working on operational yet. Tehran, which does not recognize Israel and regularly predicts its demise, says its nuclear work is a peaceful drive to wipe Israel off the map generate electricity. Israel bombed an Iraqi reactor in 1981 and an Israeli air raid on Syria last September razed what the United States said was a nascent nuclear reactor built with North Korean help. Syria denied having any such facility. But many analysts say Iran's nuclear sites are too numerous, distant and fortified for Israel to take on alone. Who says they are? They might have all sorts of supernatural help. The likes of which only Goblins and Spirits might be able to provide. Iran has threatened to retaliate if it is attacked. Its Shahab-3 missile, with a range of 2,000 km (1,250 miles), is capable of hitting Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf, Iranian officials say.

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Iraq

4 wounded as Iranian convoy hit by gunfire in Baghdad

2008-05-17

An Iranian Embassy convoy came under fire in Baghdad, wounding four people, including three Iranians and an Iraqi, a spokesman said Friday. Teheran issued an angry response blaming the United States for encouraging attacks against Iranian interests in Iraq with its rhetoric against the Islamic republic. The US military said it "condemns any attack on guests or visitors of any country." It was not clear who shot at the convoy. An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Iraqi soldiers exchanged fire with guards in an argument that broke out when members of the convoy failed to produce identification cards. Iranian Embassy spokesman Manoucher Taslimi said he did not know who the gunmen were but said the convoy was attacked while it was en route to a revered Shi'ite shrine in the northern neighborhood of Kazimiyah. The shooting comes as relations between Iraq's Shi'ite-led government and the rulers in neighboring Iran have come under unprecedented strains as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki moves against rivals and negotiates long-term pacts with Washington. The US military also has stepped up allegations that Teheran is arming and funding Shi'ite militias who have been engaged in fierce clashes with American and Iraqi troops in Baghdad. Iran denies that it is fueling the violence in Iraq. The shooting occurred about 5:30 p.m. Thursday as the convoy approached a bridge that links Kazimiyah with the predominantly Sunni area of Azamiyah, Taslimi said. Taslimi said those wounded, including two Iranian diplomats and an Iranian and an Iraqi administrative employee, were in stable condition. The Interior Ministry official said five people were wounded when the two-vehicle Iranian convoy exchanged fire with Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint near the bridge after most of the Iranians failed to produce identification cards. "The checkpoint staff asked them for ID cards, but nobody had one except for one Iranian called Abu al-Fadhil," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information. Lt. David Russell, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said the Iraqi army had found four wounded Iranians in a vehicle with an Iraqi driver. The discrepancy in numbers could not immediately be reconciled. Reports indicate the Iraqi security forces "handled the situation appropriately and with a high degree of professionalism, once again demonstrating their capability at maintaining security in their districts," Russell said in an e-mailed statement. A spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry blamed the United States for the shooting, saying "the suspicious behavior of US forces" has led to "increasing insecurity in Iraq." "Responsibility for providing security to diplomats as well as diplomatic and international bodies in Iraq rests with the occupiers," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Friday in a statement that was obtained by The Associated Press. Hosseini said Iran will pursue the case with Iraqi government officials. The US military insisted the Americans were "in no way involved in this attack." Meanwhile, the so-called "general military command" of the Mahdi Army militia that is loyal to anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on followers to adhere to an agreement reached this week to end clashes in Baghdad's Sadr City district. In a statement circulated in the Mahdi Army stronghold before Friday prayers, the group praised the "resistance against occupation and tyranny." But it called on them to "cease fire and obey orders and instructions" to prevent more bloodshed among Iraqi civilians. "We are confident of your obedience to your leadership in spite of all the challenges, the statement said. "Let all hear, that if any party violates the agreement, we will have another attitude toward it."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran Accuses US, Israel of Provoking Lebanon Violence

2008-05-10

Iran on Friday accused the United States and Israel of fueling the deadly sectarian fighting in Lebanon between its Shiite militant Hezbollah ally and the Western-backed ruling majority. "Adventurous efforts and interventions by the United States and the Zionist™ regime are the main cause of the continuous chaotic situation in Lebanon," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said. "Unfortunately, part of the political plot which was predicted ... has been executed," said Hosseini, who was quoted by ISNA and Fars news agencies. "We hope that those who have been responsible for creating this situation exert the effort needed to restore stability and calm to Lebanon," he added, without elaborating. Hezbollah hardboyz gunmen seized control of west Beirut on Friday after a third day of battles with Sunni militants loyal to the Western-backed government that has killed at least 11 people, Lebanese security official have said. Hosseini said Iran will pursue "tireless efforts ... to help different political groups reach an understanding." The United States and Israel have repeatedly accused Iran of arming and financing Hezbollah in a bid to destabilise Lebanon -- a charge the Islamic republic has constantly denied. The United States has condemned the violence in Lebanon and demanded that Hezbollah, which is also backed by Syria, stops its "destructive activities." Israeli President Shimon Peres on Friday claimed the violence in Lebanon was fomented by Iran to further what he said was Tehran's goal to control all of the Middle East.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

US committing 'massacre' in Iraq: Iran

2008-05-06

Iran accused US-led forces on Monday of a “massacre” of the Iraqi people and said further talks with Washington about improving security in its neighbour would be meaningless now. The Foreign Ministry statement effectively puts on hold any new meetings between the two old foes, which last year held three rounds of discussions in Baghdad, easing a diplomatic freeze lasting almost three decades. It also voiced support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in cracking down on “illegal” militias, after an Iraqi delegation urged Tehran to stop backing such groups. Washington accuses Iran of funding, arming and training Iraqi militias to attack US and Iraqi government forces, despite its public commitment to stabilising Iraq. Tehran blames the violence on the US presence in Iraq. Despite the mutual accusations, US and Iranian officials launched talks in May last year aimed at easing the bloodshed. A fourth meeting has been postponed repeatedly. “Right now, what we observe in Iraq is a massacre of the Iraqi nation by the occupying forces,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference. On Sunday, in response to earlier remarks by an unnamed Iranian official who said Tehran saw no need for more talks because of US military action, the Iraqi government’s spokesman said this should not concern Tehran.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran demands Russian nuclear shipment

2008-04-27

Iran demanded Sunday that Azerbaijan deliver a Russian shipment of nuclear equipment blocked at its border with Iran for the past three weeks. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in his weekly briefing that his country has asked the Azerbaijani ambassador in Iran to get his government "to deliver the shipment as soon as possible." The blocked nuclear equipment "is in the framework of Iran-Russia cooperation" and there should be "no ban on it," he said about the shipment destined for a Russian-built nuclear reactor in the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr. Azerbaijan has said it was seeking more information about the shipment due to fears that it might violate any of the three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on Iran over its failure to halt uranium enrichment. On Monday, Russian state-run company Atomstroiexport said that one or two trucks carrying the equipment for Iran were stopped two weeks ago at the town of Astara, on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border. Company spokeswoman Irina Yesipova said officials were holding talks with both Azerbaijan and Iran about the incident. She said the shipment contained "heat-isolating equipment" essential to the plant's operation but that the holdup was not likely to delay the startup of the plant. Iran is paying Russia more than $1 billion to build the light-water reactor at Bushehr. Construction has been held up in recent months by disputes between Tehran and Moscow over payments and a schedule for shipping nuclear fuel. Russia delivered the final shipment of uranium fuel in January, and Tehran has said it was hoping the plant would begin operations by summer. The United States initially opposed Russia's building Bushehr, but later softened its position after Iran agreed to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia to ensure it does not extract plutonium from it that could be used to make atomic bombs. Washington and Moscow have also said the Russian nuclear fuel supply means Iran no longer needs to continue its uranium enrichment program — a process that can provide fuel for a reactor or fissile material for a bomb.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran denies claims of nuclear weapon

2008-04-21

Iran on Sunday rejected claims presented to the UN atomic watchdog that it may have been studying how to develop a nuclear weapon, a day ahead of a visit by a top International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) official. "These are nothing but baseless and unfounded allegations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters. "The peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme has already been proven." IAEA deputy director general Olli Heinonen is due in Tehran on Monday for talks with officials on the alleged weaponisation studies, the Vienna-based atomic agency announced on Saturday.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran 'will hit back over curbs'

2008-02-25

Iran yesterday warned it would hit back with an appropriate response to new UN Security Council sanctions over its contested nuclear programme, as Western powers stepped up efforts to punish Tehran. Britain, France and the United States are pushing for a new sanctions resolution in the coming week after the UN atomic watchdog said it could still not confirm if the Iranian atomic drive was peaceful. "In the case of the adoption of the resolution, we will make a deserving action. We will announce our decision at the right time based on the content of the resolution," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Franco-Iranian conflict opening salvos.

2008-02-04

TEHRAN: Iran criticised France on Sunday for adopting an “unfriendly” position in Tehran’s nuclear row with the West and setting up a military base in the Gulf which it said would harm peace in the oil-rich region. “So far, our policies regarding France and their unfriendly stances have been restrained, but if they continue this trend we will also review our stances,” the spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, told a news conference. France is among world powers trying to exert diplomatic pressure on Iran to halt atomic work they fear is aimed at making bombs and it has stepped up its rhetoric against Tehran since President Nicolas Sarkozy took office last May. Iran says its nuclear programme is a peaceful drive to generate electricity. France and Iran share commercial ties but relations took a turn for the worse after France’s foreign minister in September said the world should prepare for a war with Iran. Hosseini criticised a deal Paris signed with the United Arab Emirates to build France’s first permanent military installation in the Gulf, just across the water from Iran. The base, housing 400 to 500 personnel, will keep France within reach of sea lanes through which over a third of global oil shipments pass. Presence in Gulf: The French Defence Ministry on Jan 31 said forces from France, the UAE and Qatar would hold their first joint war games in the Gulf later this month. “We are against any kind of increase in the military presence of foreign forces in the region,” Hosseini said in comments carried by Iran’s Press TV. “We do believe that such a presence is not conducive to the security and peace in the region.” Envoy summoned: Referring to Israel, Hosseini said France was “ignoring the Zionist regime’s crimes” against Palestinians. On Friday, the French Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador to Paris over a new verbal attack on Israel last week by Ahmadinejad who in the past has called for the Jewish state to be “wiped off the map.” In a tit for tat response, Iran on Sunday summoned the French ambassador to Tehran. The state broadcaster’s website said Iran had summoned French ambassador Bernard Poletti to protest at “France’s dual policies regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities and the Zionist crimes in Palestine.” Hosseini had told reporters that Iran would call in Poletti to object to the summoning of its ambassador to Paris, Ali Ahani, on Friday. He also warned that Iran would reconsider its position towards Paris over its tougher line in the long-running nuclear standoff between the Islamic republic and the West. agencies

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran hits out at France over base, nuclear row

2008-02-04

TEHERAN - Iran criticised France on Sunday for adopting an ‘unfriendly’ position in Teheran’s nuclear row with the West and setting up a military base in the Gulf which it said would harm peace in the oil-rich region. A Foreign Ministry spokesman suggested that Iran would respond in kind after Paris last week summoned its ambassador over anti-Israeli remarks made by its hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. ‘So far, our policies regarding France and their unfriendly stances have been restrained, but if they continue this trend we will also review our stances,’ the spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, told a news conference. Hosseini criticised a deal Paris signed with the United Arab Emirates to build France’s first permanent military installation in the Gulf, just across the water from Iran. The base, housing 400 to 500 personnel, will keep France within reach of sea lanes through which over a third of global oil shipments pass. The French Defence Ministry on Jan. 31 said forces from France, the UAE and Qatar would hold their first joint war games in the Gulf later this month. ‘We are against any kind of increase in the military presence of foreign forces in the region,’ Hosseini said in comments carried by Iran’s Press TV. ‘We do believe that such a presence is not conducive to the security and peace in the region.’ Referring to Israel, Hosseini said France was ‘ignoring the Zionist regime’s crimes’ against Palestinians: ‘We will surely express our objections by summoning the French ambassador.’ On Friday, the French Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador to Paris over a new verbal attack on Israel last week by Ahmadinejad who in the past has called for the Jewish state to be ‘wiped off the map.’

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