Lebanese Groups Underline Strong Relations with Iran

Fars News Agency- Different Lebanese groups, including Amal and Hezbollah, in a statement underscored that the recent visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Beirut indicated the strong and friendly ties between the two countries.

The two Lebanese movements issued a joint statement on Friday, expressing gratitude to the Iranian president for his assurances of support for the Lebanese people.

Ahmadinejad met with Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday before wrapping up his two-day state visit to Lebanon.

The two discussed the results of the historic visit in the meeting at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut.

Ahmadinejad arrived in Tehran on Friday morning after paying a two-day landmark visit to Lebanon which was warmly welcomed by the Lebanese people and officials.

During the official visit, which came at the invitation of President Sulayman, the Iranian president met with top Lebanese officials, political leaders, academicians and university students and addressed large crowds of people in Beirut and south Lebanon. 

Iran takes over OPEC presidency

Tehran Times - Iran assumed the rotating presidency of the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after being elected in the 157th session of the OPEC’s ministerial meeting, which was held in Vienna on Thursday.

Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi will take over the presidency for the first time in 36 years on January 1, 2011. He will hold the post through next year.  

The OPEC presidency is currently held by Ecuador.
Iran holds about 10 percent of world oil reserves and is the second-largest oil producer among OPEC nations, which provides 35 percent of global oil demand. Apart from Iran and Ecuador, the other members of OPEC are Algeria, Angola, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Venezuela.

The OPEC members also agreed to leave the organization’s oil production target of about 24.84 million barrels a day unchanged.

---- OPEC members not fully benefiting from oil price

Iran’s oil minister said OPEC members are not fully benefiting from the current oil price due to rising commodity prices, echoing statements by other members.
 

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Masoud Mirkazemi said, however, that he was satisfied with current prices as the world economy recovers from the recession. Continued…

Russia may sell S-300 missiles to Venezuela, instead of Iran: analyst

Tehran Times– Russia’s S-300 air defense systems, which Moscow refused to deliver to Iran under the pretext of a new round of UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic, could be sold to Venezuela instead, a Russian arms trade expert said on Friday. Russia signed a deal to deliver five battalions of S-300PMU-1 air defense systems to Iran in 2007 but banned the sale in September, claiming the systems, along with a number of other weapons, were covered by the fourth round of the UN Security Council sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program.

"Russia is looking for a buyer of five battalions of S-300PMU-1 air defense systems ordered by Iran, which are worth $800 million, and Venezuela could become such a buyer,"" said Igor Korotchenko, head of a Moscow-based think tank on the international arms trade.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is currently on a visit to Russia, earlier said his country was interested in buying different types of Russian-made air defense systems to create a multilayered air defense network.

Venezuela has already purchased 12 Tor-M1 air defense systems, a number of ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns and Igla-S portable short-range air defense systems from Russia.
The S-300PMU-1 (SA-20 Gargoyle) is an extended range version of S-300PMU with a limited anti-ballistic missile capability.
Korotchenko said that if the S-300 deal with Venezuela goes through, Caracas should pay cash for the missiles, rather than take another loan from Russia.

""The S-300 is a very good product and Venezuela should pay the full amount in cash, as the country’s budget has enough funds to cover the deal,"" Korotchenko said.

Moscow has already provided Caracas with several loans to buy Russian-made weaponry, including a recent $2.2-million loan on the purchase of 92 T-72M1M tanks, the Smerch multiple-launch rocket systems and other military equipment.

Hariri denies Iran offered to act as domestic mediator

Daily star- Prime Minister Saad Hariri was quoted Friday as denying any proposal was made by the Iranian president to broker a political compromise over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), in a meeting held on Thursday, during which the premier reiterated commitment to the Cabinet’s policy statement
Hariri made his remarks, according to a March 14 source, ahead of Wednesday’s government session when debate over issues relating to the STL is expected to resume after a truce in the media between rival parties in line with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Beirut.

“Hariri described the atmosphere of his discussions with Ahmadinejad as friendly, positive and honest,” the source, said of the premier’s comments during a meeting of the Future Movement bloc on Friday.

Ahmadinejad, who left for Tehran on Thursday, held talks with the premier earlier that day, during which they addressed the ongoing debate over the STL.

But officials of both parties denied that Iran has proposed to mediate a compromise between Hariri and Hizbullah over the UN-backed Tribunal.

Hizbullah has condemned the STL as an Israeli project and accused the court of seeking to frame the party for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, saying the STL’s indictment would implicate Hizbullah members.

“Hariri stressed to Ahmadinejad his commitment to the ministerial statement in all its internal, Arab and international aspects,” the source from the Future Movement bloc said. Continued…

Briefing Skipper: Israel, Venezuela, Taliban, Ahmadenijad, Pyongyang

Foreign Policy- In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. These are the highlights of Friday’s briefing by spokesman P.J. Crowley:

· Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in San Francisco Friday night to give a speech at the Commonwealth Club. "The secretary will discuss her 21st century statecraft agenda, which leverages new tools and technologies to advance our nation’s interests and values around the world," Crowley said. Special Representative Richard Holbrooke was in Brussels today for the Friends of a Democratic Pakistan meeting and moves   to Rome tomorrow.  · The U.S. is "disappointed" at Israel’s decision to move forward on 238 new housing units in East Jerusalem. "It is contrary to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties. We will continue to work, as we have, to try to create conditions for direct negotiations to resume," Crowley said. "The Netanyahu government is determined to thwart any chance of resuming direct negotiations," Sa’eb Erekat, the top Palestinian negotiator said in response.      

· Crowley said Israel had notified Washington in advance and the State Department had said the U.S. was unhappy with the move. "The government of Israel is well aware of our concerns about this." He also said that the U.S. government was working furiously to save the peace process. "We are doing everything in our power, and we are making clear to the parties that we want to see this direct negotiation continue." The planned trip to the region by Special Envoy George Mitchell is up in the air, Crowley said. Continued…     

Iran welcomes talks with 5+1

ILNA: Iran welcomed on Friday a proposal to restart talks with six major powers on its nuclear program early November.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton suggested Vienna on Thursday as the venue for three-day talks involving the United States, Germany, Russia, France, Britain and China.
"As you are fully aware, recently I announced that October or November from our point of view is a good time to restart talks between Iran and the 5+1 (major powers)," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters in Brussels.
"It is good news that authorities here are following the matter. This is the way to coordinate some specific, fixed date for starting talks," he said before international talks on the economic development of Pakistan and fighting terrorism.
Iran, a major oil producer, says it needs nuclear fuel-making technology to generate electricity.
Ashton and Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili have exchanged letters about resuming talks, but no date has been agreed for a meeting and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has set conditions for further talks.
There was no indication that Mottaki and Ashton would discuss the resumption of talks during his stay in Brussels but the Briton confirmed she had not received a formal response to her proposal to resume talks next month.
"I’ve always said we want to see negotiations. We do believe a solution can be found and we’d like to get on with it," Ashton told reporters before the international talks on

Turkish PM says US backing world terrorists

IRNA- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks published on Friday that the United States is supporting world terrorismand the common enemies of Pakistan and Turkey.

Erdogan in an interview with Pakistan’s daily The News was very hard on the “double standards” of the US and said that a recent Israeli attack on a Turkish ship Freedom Flotilla has unmasked the so-called civilised face of Washington who openly and shamelessly supported the state terrorism of Israel.

“Nine Turkish martyrs on the ship received 21 bullets from Israeli soldiers in their bodies, we provided post mortem reports and even the pictures to the EU and the US but Washington is not ready to condemn the state terrorism of Israel against Turkey which means that the USA is supporting an international terrorist who killed our citizens in international waters”.

When asked what would be his advice to Pakistan for making diplomatic relations with Israel, Erdogan responded very carefully and said that “despite diplomatic relations, Israel never behaved like a civilised country with Turkey and I cannot give any advice to my Pakistani brothers, it is their right to decide about making relations with Israel”.

“The US was supporting some common enemies of Pakistan and Turkey and the time has come to unmask them and act together,” the Turkish Prime Minister said, who paid a two-day visit to Pakistan this week.

Erdogan said that Pakistan and India must resolve Kashmir dispute by peaceful talks. “You need strong political will for resolving Kashmir dispute,” he added.