Iran blasts West, US destructive policies

. PressTV- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki slams the West and the US for their destructive policies in the world, calling for strong resistance to counter their plots

"They have the objective to deprive countries and nations of their rights, including scientific progress and effective technologies such as nuclear energy," Fars news agency quoted Mottaki as saying in a meeting with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez in the Iranian capital of Tehran on Saturday.

Mottaki further added that cruel and illegal sanctions on Iran and Cuba can make nations move towards self-sufficiency and take steps toward a mechanism independent of world economy.
The Iranian minister described the current world management as "inefficient", referring to a new situation in the international arena, and the awareness of public opinion and independent countries.
He called on Tehran and Havana to establish a new structure appropriate for the current situation in the world by making use of the two sides’ potential and cooperating with other countries in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
The top Iranian diplomat expressed the country’s readiness to further promote economic and political relations with Cuba and said the two sides should upgrade relations by making use of new opportunities. Continued..

Iran calls for int’l will to disarm US, Zionist regime

ISNA-Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili called for international will to disarm the US and Zionist regime.

"Nuclear arsenals of the US and Zionist regime represent threat to global security," Jalili said in a meeting with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in Tehran on Saturday.

He also referred to the US quandary in adaptation of an influential policy on regional and international issues, saying that, "Iran and Cuba showed ineffectiveness of the weapon of sanction against freedom-seeking nations in practice."

He also turned to the failure of the US President Barack Obama’s motto of change, saying that, "the trick failed to rescue the country from strategic deadlock."

Cuban Foreign Minister on his part said his country supports Iran against the US political and economic measures and said that the US status has declined in the eyes of other countries. 

Nasrallah: Iranian cash rebuilt Lebanon after war

Jerusalem Post- Hizbullah leader emerges from hiding to plant tree near Beirut, says Ahmadinejad won’t throw rocks toward Israel
Money that Hizbullah received from Iran helped rebuild Lebanese houses destroyed by Israel in 2006’s Second Lebanon War, according to Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
He spoke on Saturday ahead of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Lebanon.
“Hizbullah does not trust Lebanese government bureaucracy, therefore the Iranians paid in cash,” Nasrallah said in a televised broadcast.
“The Iranian president is arriving as a guest of Lebanon, and he was invited by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman himself,” Nasrallah said.
“The recent reports that Ahmadinejad intended to visit the Lebanon-Israel border in order to throw stones across were ridiculous,” Nasrallah continued.
The US expressed concern to the Lebanese government over Ahmadinejad’s scheduled visit, US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
Crowley said that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with President Michel Suleiman last month, telling him that Iran, through Hizbullah, threatened Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Nasrallah said the Iranian leader would not go to the border and throw a stone into the Jewish state as had been widely reported in Lebanon. Continued…

’Ahmadinejad’s Lebanon visit significant’ 

PressTV- A top Lebanese official has described the upcoming state visit to the country by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as politically and economically significant.

Important bilateral agreements in the fields of investment, health, water and electricity as well as economic cooperation will be signed during President Ahmadinejad’s Lebanon visit; prominent Lebanese daily An-Nahar reported Lebanon’s State Minister Adnan al-Qassar as saying on Saturday.

Noting that he looks forward to welcoming the Iranian chief executive to his country, Qassar emphasized that Iran can effectively use its strong ties with Hezbollah and other Lebanese factions to help contain and reduce political tensions in Lebanon.

He added that Arab and Lebanese businessmen plan to meet and discuss economic collaborations with the Iranian president at his residence in Beirut which will undoubtedly promote economic and trade exchanges between the two nations.

The Lebanese minister also called for the continuity of official visits by leaders of both countries in order to promote and establish better understanding and further cooperation.

Qassar reiterated that the Islamic Republic has persistently remained on the side of the Lebanese people and government during difficult times -- the shining example of which is Iran’s support of the Lebanese nation during and after Israel’s 2006 aggression.

President Ahmadinejad is to make his first state visit to Lebanon this month, prompting many Lebanese political and community leaders to express excitement in anticipation of what has been widely described as a historic event.

Iran acknowledges Western spies got inside its nuclear program

LATIMES- Ali Akbar Salehi, the nation’s atomic energy chief, says security has been increased and other steps have been taken to counter the espionage efforts.Iran’s atomic energy chief has acknowledged that Western spies had infiltrated the country’s nuclear program, but he said that Iranian official had countered their efforts.
Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization, said officials have increased security to make it "almost impossible" for secrets to leak out, the pro-government Fars news agency said in a report late Friday.

"The issue of spies existed in the past, but is diminishing day by day," he saidSalehi’s admission was the most frank admission by an Iranian that Western clandestine services had been successful in attempts to penetrate the country’s nuclear program, now under scrutiny by the West.
The United States suspects Tehran of pursuing nuclear weapons capability, a charge Iran denies. This summer, Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, described by the United States as a defector, returned to the Islamic Republic in a murky case in which he reportedly had second thoughts.
Salehi said the West had stepped up efforts "to establish contact with experts" at his agency and "lure them with promises of further study and better jobs abroad." Continued...
 

FM Stresses US, Britain’s Failure in Sowing Discord between Iran, PGCC

FarsNewsAgency- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki reiterated on Saturday that the US and Britain have failed in their plots to
create rift and tension between Iran and members of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC)."They have made attempts galore to put the PGCC against Iran but they have not succeeded," Mottaki told reporters in a joint press conference with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla here in Tehran today.
He further explained that Iran’s relations with the other Persian Gulf littoral states are too good to be harmed by any third party, saying, "The level of relations, (reciprocal) visits, and the close ties between Iran and the members of the Council, which have always existed, blocked the materialization of their goals."
Noting that Iran’s relations with the PGCC countries are based on logic and common interests of the regional nations, Mottaki mentioned that Tehran strives to strengthen these relations and Washington’s attempts to prevent this trend are all in vain.
Yet, the Iranian Foreign Minister warned that the US and Britain are exercising plots to create a rift among different Arab countries and also between Arab states and their neighbors.
Senior Arab officials on different occasions have praised Iran’s successful diplomacy in expanding ties with the PGCC member states.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran’s diplomacy has been able to take good steps towards expansion of relations with PGCC member states," Bahrain’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nazar Sadeq Al-Baharna noted n September.
Al-Baharna also called for the further expansion of bilateral relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Bahrain and also the other PGCC member states.

Iran may be ready for nuclear talks by late October

Reuters- Iran is ready to hold talks with six major powers over its nuclear program "in late October or early November," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday.
"We think late October or early November will be an appropriate date for the talks by the representatives of Iran and 5+1 countries," Mottaki told a news conference.
He gave no details about the venue of the talks. Western officials say they could take place in Vienna or Geneva.
"If Iran is ready to hold talks, all they need to do is pick up the phone and set a date," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

Talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- as well as Germany -- meant to address concerns about Tehran’s uranium enrichment, stalled in October last year, leading to a toughening of international sanctions.
A spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said there was no official date set for nuclear talks with Iran.

"This is news to us. There has been no official date set for talks, nor has there been any official correspondence received by ... Ashton or her services with regard to a date for talks," the spokesman said.
Ashton "remains ready to talk and is hopeful this can happen very soon," he said.