Hundreds of questions unanswered over 9/11
The US and its allies used the September 11 incident as a pretext to come to the Middle East region and carried out whatever they wanted, President Ahmadinejad said on Sunday in a visit to Tehran’s suburban city of Hashtgerd.
The Iranian chief executive urged the United States to respond to hundreds of questions that still remain unanswered regarding the 9/11 attacks.
He emphasized that the US started a game in order to attack the Middle East, adding that Washington seeks to plunder regional assets and dominate the entire region. President Ahmadinejad demanded that the US stop committing crimes and pull out of the region before regional nations drive it out by force
Turkish petroleum giant breaks all contracts with Iran
News.am- Turkish oil giant company Turkish Petroleum Refineries Co (TUPRAS), followed European energy giants by announcing the breaking off of all existing contracts with Iran. The breaking of relations with Iran was a direct result of pressure from the United States, expressed in an official request from the State Department. However, Turkey’s oil minister Taher Yaldiz stated that TUPRAS is a privately held firm and made a decision without any consultation with the authorities. ”The private sector can continue to trade or stop trading. The Turkish Government has no relation to the sanctions and does not have any statements in this regard”, - said the Turkish minister. Earlier, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu said that Turkey will expand economic ties with Iran because it is in the national interest of Turkey, Tehran times reported. As Armenia News-NEWS.am reported earlier, four major energy companies will also stop work in the Iranian market in accordance with the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. against Iran. The companies Royal Dutch Shell, French Total, Norwegian Statoil and Italy’s ENI, stopped trade in order to avoid penalties by the U.S. against companies doing business in Iran. Despite the threat from the Americans, the Swiss Naftiran Intertrade Co the company chose to remain in the Iranian market.
Iran Arrests Unidentified `Nuclear Spies,’ Says Can Fend Off Cyberattacks
BLOOMBERG--Iran has total control of its computer networks and the ability to foil cyberattacks by the nation’s enemies, Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi said yesterday, the state-run Mehr news agency reported.
Authorities have arrested a number of “nuclear spies,” Moslehi said, without providing details, according to the report.
The intelligence chief spoke days after Iranian officials confirmed that the Stuxnet computer worm had affected its computer systems, including personal computers of employees at the Bushehr nuclear power plant. A worm is a self-replicating piece of malicious software, or malware, that can damage computer systems.
The malware, which has infected industrial computers in several countries, may be part of a campaign to disrupt the operation of nuclear installations in Iran, international computer-security researchers said on Sept. 24.
Almost 60 percent of the affected systems are in Iran, according to data from Symantec Corp., a computer-security software maker.
“All of the destructive activities perpetrated by the oppressors in cyberspace will fast be discovered, and ways to counter them will be implemented,” Moslehi said, according to Mehr
. “The intelligence ministry is aware of a series of activities carried out against the Islamic Republic by enemy spy services.” Stuxnet’s programming and ability to hide itself suggest it may have been designed by a government-sponsored organization in the U.S. or Israel, said Frank Rieger, the technology chief at GSMK, a manufacturer of encrypted mobile phones.
The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear program, which the U.S., Israel and their allies suspect is cover for the development of atomic weapons.
Iran rejects the claim and says it needs the technology to generate electricity and provide medical research for its population. Iran inaugurated its first nuclear-power plant in the southern province of Bushehr on Aug. 21.
Palestinian Ulema confer with Iran’s ambassador to Beirut
IRNA – A delegation of Palestine Moslem Ulema Society, residing in Lebanon, conferred with Iran’s Ambassador to Beirut Ghazanfar Roknabadi here on Saturday.
In the meeting, in which Secretary General of the Society Sheikh Saeed Qassem was present, the two sides, by exchanging views on the latest developments in Palestine, underlined necessity of supporting Palestinian and Islamic resistance rights against the Zionist regime aggression.
Sheikh Saeed Qassem and Sheikh Mahmood al-Jeshi, another member of the society, both appreciated Iran’s stances in supporting Palestinian rights against the Zionist regime invasion.
The ambassador, by referring to the basic principle of Iran’s nation and government in defending justice and truth, called this stance as a definite principle of Iran’s foreign policy and added that reviving Palestinian rights and defending resistance for liberating the Holy Qods and all Palestinian territory are among the most important and necessary issues in current world and said that all nations should resist against the Zionist regime as the sole enemy of humanity.
He said that invasion, sedition and instigation are among permanent policies of the Zionist regime in the Islamic world and the region adding that Islamic umma awareness and unity against sedition of the Zionism and the US is quite vital
Syrian leader visits Iran to discuss regional issues
LATIMES- Bashar Assad’s meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad comes after an improvement in U.S. -Syrian relations. The trip may be an attempt to reaffirm Syria’s close ties with Iran.
Syria’s president paid a one-day visit to Iran on Saturday to discuss "the exceptional ties" between the two countries, but the meeting came amid a cluster of regional developments that could divide them.
The substance of the talks between Bashar Assad and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was unclear, but on the agenda were the Iranian leader’s upcoming visit to Lebanon and the intensified power struggles over the formation of a new government in neighboring Iraq.
Assad’s visit to Tehran also comes after a recent improvement in U.S.-Syrian relations that is worrying to Tehran, which views Damascus as one of its strategic partners in its ideological campaign against the West.
Syria’s official SANA news agency said that Assad would meet with Ahmadinejad to discuss "the exceptional ties" between the two countries. Assad’s official delegation included a number of top Syrian officials, including Foreign Minister Walid Moallem and Vice President Farouq Shara.
Iranian state television aired the red-carpet arrival festivities live, showing Ahmadinejad and Assad standing side by side, and reported that Ahmadinejad would award his Syrian counterpart a medal of valor for supporting the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and the militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
After the flowery formalities, the two leaders immediately retreated into a meeting and got down to business, discussing bilateral and regional issues as well as "Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine," the Iranian Students News Agency reported.
Assad’s visit comes on the heels of increased political turbulence in Iraq, where Iyad Allawi, former prime minister and fierce Iran critic, recently said that he had asked the Syrian authorities to get Iran to stay out of his battle for the premiership. The incumbent, Nouri Maliki, appears to be headed toward retaining his post with the backing of cleric Muqtada Sadr, an ally of Iran. More
US cannot make resistance obsolete: Ayatollah Khamenei
TABNAK- "There are no two countries in the region which enjoy such strong, excellent and mutual 30-year relations."
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says efforts by the United States to make resistance obsolete will bear no fruit.
Speaking in a meeting with visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Tehran on Saturday, the Leader described the US as the main opponent of the regional axis of resistance.
The Leader said Iran and Syria’s political relations are "excellent" and expressed satisfaction with economic and technical cooperation between the two countries.
"There is still much potential to expand such [bilateral] cooperation," Ayatollah Khamenei said.
"There are no two countries in the region which enjoy such strong, excellent and mutual 30-year relations," the Leader added.
Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized the importance of promoting cooperation among neighboring countries in the region and expressed hope Iraqi groups would maintain unity and work towards rebuilding Iraq, resolving the Iraqi nation’s problems and ending the occupation of their country.
The Syrian president, for his part, described Tehran-Damascus relations as "exemplary" and stressed, "Iran and Syrian are on the same front and have the same goals."
Assad reiterated that the two countries would expand relations in all fields and achieve greater success in the region.
The Syrian president, who arrived in Tehran on Saturday, wrapped up his one-day visit, following the meeting.
Earlier in the day, Assad discussed the latest regional and international developments with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Assad received the Grand National Order of the Islamic Republic of Iran for his resistance against arrogant powers, defense of the rights of the Palestinian and Lebanese nations, his key role in the stability and tranquility of regional countries and great efforts to strengthen brotherly Iran-Syria ties.
Flow of import increased the unemployment among workers
ILNA: The 7 percent unemployment rate in Iran requires creation of more than one million job opportunities annually by the government.
The excessive flow of import, which so far brought the criticism of economical expert alongside workers and employers, has become more apparent among ordinary people.
Although private sectors underline lack of transparency in government plan on imports yet the labor and social affair minister believes supporting domestic producers is the priority of Ahmadinejad government plan and called on permanent employment.
The labor minister stressed that government will ban the entrance of unnecessary goods to Iran.
However the government most talked about plan subsidies law if not apply correctly will hit the workers and employers while the importers stays safe.
The role of trade ministry is more evident on high rate of imports, according to statistics more than 24 billion dollars imports, which indicate 22.21 percent increase in the import comparing to last year.
The unemployment rate in Iran is 14 percent and the economists predicts the number reaches to 15 percent in the future. However the labor minister believes the unemployment rate will drop to 7 percent but the increase of annual import make it hard to see such changes.