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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that the Islamic Republic of Iran is now emerging as a new power which has left vital impacts on global developments.
President Ahmadinejad made the remarks in a meeting with the new Iranian Ambassador to Bolivia Alireza Ghezili.
Iran attaches importance to expansion of ties and cooperation with Bolivia, he said and called for expansion of political, economic and cultural ties with the country.
There are amicable ties between the two countries in various fields which are expected to be bolstered, he said.
The new Iranian ambassador to Bolivia should try to help upgrade current level of cooperation between the two countries given Iran’s status among world countries, said the Iranian president.
The status of Iranian ambassadors to other countries is outstanding as Iran has been recognized as a new power having crucial impacts on global developments, he said.
Source : IRNA
Showing posts with label ath on Iran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ath on Iran. Show all posts
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Monday, December 7, 2009
Syria interested in Iran’s experiences in water supply
Damascus, Dec 7, IRNA – Syrian Minister of Construction and Housing Umar Ibrahim Ghalwanji called Sunday for exchange of experiences with Iran in the areas of sewage and water systems.
Ghalwanji also called for materialization of a protocol on bilateral cooperation already signed by the two sides.
He welcomed investment of Iranian companies in various projects, including housing construction and water purification as well as sewage and water systems in his country.
For his part, the Iranian minister called for further expansion of bilateral cooperation and underscored the need for removing the existing obstacles on the way of mutual ties.
Namjou also voiced Iran’s readiness to exchange experiences with Syria in various fields.
Later in the day, the two countries signed an agreement on construction of Jandar power plant in the Syrian province of Homs.
The signing ceremony was held in presence of Namjou and Syrian Minister of Electricity Ahmad Qusay Kayali.
Source : IRNA
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Iran's Mousavi urges defiance
Mir Hossein Mousavi, the politician at the centre of Iran's opposition movement, has encouraged his followers to continue their protests over the presidential election.
In a statement on his website on Sunday, Mousavi said that people had the right to protest against "lies and fraud", but urged them to show restraint as they take to the streets.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the conservative incumbent president, was declared the winner of the June 12 election with a landslide victory, but Mousavi and another challenger have complained that it was rigged.
Mousavi's statement appeared on the website of his Kalameh newspaper as reports emerged of police attacking a vigil by about 100 people outside the offices of the United Nations in Tehran.
The capital had been largely calm until then after state television reported that at least 13 people had been killed as police and pro-government militia clashed with protesters the previous day."I as one of the mourners invite my dear people to self-restraint. The nation belongs to you," Mousavi said.
"The revolution is your legacy. To protest against lies and fraud is your right. Be hopeful that you will get your right and do not allow others who want to provoke your anger ... to prevail."
'Terrorist groups'
Television reports on Sunday blamed rioters and "terrorist groups" for the previous day's violence, saying two petrol stations and a mosque had been set alight, and a military outpost attacked.
About 3,000 opposition protesters had tried on Saturday to enter the area, undaunted by a warning from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, not to continue demonstrations against Ahmadinejad's re-election.
Security forces responded with live rounds, batons and tear gas, while protesters fought back with stones and set fires in the streets.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the foreign spokesman for Mousavi, defended the actions of the protesters.
"These people are in the streets to say 'We don't want atomic bombs, we want democracy'," he told Al Jazeera from Paris.
Witnesses said that dozens of people were hospitalised after being beaten by police and the pro-government Basiji militia.
The New-York based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said that scores of injured demonstrators had been arrested as they sought medical treatment.
It said doctors in Tehran's hospitals had been ordered to report injuries to the authorities, and that some seriously wounded protesters had sought refuge at foreign embassies in a bid to evade arrest.
"The arrest of citizens seeking care for wounds suffered at the hands of security forces when they attempted to exercise rights guaranteed under their own constitution and international law is deplorable," Hadi Ghaemi, the spokesman for the campaign, said.
Reports on community-driven websites such as Twitter claimed that a number of protesters were killed by police.
One video uploaded to YouTube on Saturday alleged to show a teenage girl - referred to as Neda on social networking sites - dying on the street after being shot by police.
British blamed
As the clashes took place, local news agencies said that a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up outside the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic revolution in 1979, injuring at least two people.
Government-run television said members of the exiled Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK)opposition group were arrested in connection with Saturday's unrest.
The report claimed they were acting under British influence.
Al Jazeera was unable to verify the authenticity of the video or other reports of violence due to an official ban on independent reporting in the capital.
State broadcaster IRINN said 100 people were injured Saturday's violence.
Amnesty International (AI) cautioned that it was "perilously hard" to verify the casualty figures.
"The climate of fear has cast a shadow over the whole situation," Drewery Dyke, AI's chief Iran researcher, said.
"In the 10 years I've been following this country, I've never felt more at sea than I do now. It's just cut off."
Scholars critical
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who was key figure in the Islamic revolution in 1979 but is now under house arrest after falling out with the current religious leadership, criticised the crackdown and called for three days of mourning for the dead.
"Resisting people's demand is religiously prohibited," he said in a statement on his website.
Mohammad Khatami, a former president, also spoke out, criticising the decision to allow the Guardian Council, the country's top legislative body, to rule on the legitimacy of the vote.
Five members of Rafsanjani's family were arrested after Saturday's protests [EPA]
"Referring the dispute to a body which has not been impartial regarding the vote, is not a solution," he said in a statement reported on the Mehr news agency.
The Guardian Council has offered a partial recount of ballots in order to appease protesters, but Makhmalbaf told Al Jazeera: "We want [a] revote, not [a] recount."
"We ask all people around the world not to confirm Ahmadinejad as our president," he said.
Five family members of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, another prominent Iranian politician and former president, were reported to have been arrested on Saturday, including his eldest daughter, for taking part in an illegal protest.
Last week, state television showed images of Faezeh Hashemi speaking to hundreds of Mousavi supporters.
After her appearance, pro-Ahmadinejad students gathered outside the Tehran prosecutor's office and accused her of treason, state radio reported.
All apart from his daughter were later released.
Rafsanjani heads two very powerful groups in Iran: the Assembly of Experts, which can elect and dismiss the supreme leader, and the Expediency Council, a body that arbitrates disputes between parliament and the unelected Guardian Council.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
In a statement on his website on Sunday, Mousavi said that people had the right to protest against "lies and fraud", but urged them to show restraint as they take to the streets.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the conservative incumbent president, was declared the winner of the June 12 election with a landslide victory, but Mousavi and another challenger have complained that it was rigged.
Mousavi's statement appeared on the website of his Kalameh newspaper as reports emerged of police attacking a vigil by about 100 people outside the offices of the United Nations in Tehran.
The capital had been largely calm until then after state television reported that at least 13 people had been killed as police and pro-government militia clashed with protesters the previous day."I as one of the mourners invite my dear people to self-restraint. The nation belongs to you," Mousavi said.
"The revolution is your legacy. To protest against lies and fraud is your right. Be hopeful that you will get your right and do not allow others who want to provoke your anger ... to prevail."
'Terrorist groups'
Television reports on Sunday blamed rioters and "terrorist groups" for the previous day's violence, saying two petrol stations and a mosque had been set alight, and a military outpost attacked.
About 3,000 opposition protesters had tried on Saturday to enter the area, undaunted by a warning from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, not to continue demonstrations against Ahmadinejad's re-election.
Security forces responded with live rounds, batons and tear gas, while protesters fought back with stones and set fires in the streets.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the foreign spokesman for Mousavi, defended the actions of the protesters.
"These people are in the streets to say 'We don't want atomic bombs, we want democracy'," he told Al Jazeera from Paris.
Witnesses said that dozens of people were hospitalised after being beaten by police and the pro-government Basiji militia.
The New-York based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said that scores of injured demonstrators had been arrested as they sought medical treatment.
It said doctors in Tehran's hospitals had been ordered to report injuries to the authorities, and that some seriously wounded protesters had sought refuge at foreign embassies in a bid to evade arrest.
"The arrest of citizens seeking care for wounds suffered at the hands of security forces when they attempted to exercise rights guaranteed under their own constitution and international law is deplorable," Hadi Ghaemi, the spokesman for the campaign, said.
Reports on community-driven websites such as Twitter claimed that a number of protesters were killed by police.
One video uploaded to YouTube on Saturday alleged to show a teenage girl - referred to as Neda on social networking sites - dying on the street after being shot by police.
British blamed
As the clashes took place, local news agencies said that a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up outside the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic revolution in 1979, injuring at least two people.
Government-run television said members of the exiled Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK)opposition group were arrested in connection with Saturday's unrest.
The report claimed they were acting under British influence.
Al Jazeera was unable to verify the authenticity of the video or other reports of violence due to an official ban on independent reporting in the capital.
State broadcaster IRINN said 100 people were injured Saturday's violence.
Amnesty International (AI) cautioned that it was "perilously hard" to verify the casualty figures.
"The climate of fear has cast a shadow over the whole situation," Drewery Dyke, AI's chief Iran researcher, said.
"In the 10 years I've been following this country, I've never felt more at sea than I do now. It's just cut off."
Scholars critical
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who was key figure in the Islamic revolution in 1979 but is now under house arrest after falling out with the current religious leadership, criticised the crackdown and called for three days of mourning for the dead.
"Resisting people's demand is religiously prohibited," he said in a statement on his website.
Mohammad Khatami, a former president, also spoke out, criticising the decision to allow the Guardian Council, the country's top legislative body, to rule on the legitimacy of the vote.
Five members of Rafsanjani's family were arrested after Saturday's protests [EPA]
"Referring the dispute to a body which has not been impartial regarding the vote, is not a solution," he said in a statement reported on the Mehr news agency.
The Guardian Council has offered a partial recount of ballots in order to appease protesters, but Makhmalbaf told Al Jazeera: "We want [a] revote, not [a] recount."
"We ask all people around the world not to confirm Ahmadinejad as our president," he said.
Five family members of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, another prominent Iranian politician and former president, were reported to have been arrested on Saturday, including his eldest daughter, for taking part in an illegal protest.
Last week, state television showed images of Faezeh Hashemi speaking to hundreds of Mousavi supporters.
After her appearance, pro-Ahmadinejad students gathered outside the Tehran prosecutor's office and accused her of treason, state radio reported.
All apart from his daughter were later released.
Rafsanjani heads two very powerful groups in Iran: the Assembly of Experts, which can elect and dismiss the supreme leader, and the Expediency Council, a body that arbitrates disputes between parliament and the unelected Guardian Council.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Friday, June 12, 2009
UAE, Saudi among world's top website censors - project
by Neeraj Gangal
The UAE ranks high among countries that have blocked most websites, a recent report has revealed.
Internet users in the country reported the eleventh highest rate of blocked websites from among the countries in the world, according to the Herdict project.
Herdict is a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. It seeks to gain insight into what users around the world are experiencing in terms of web accessibility. As on June 12, 11am UAE time, UAE users reported that 509 different webpages were flagged as “inaccessible”, the Herdict Web project statistics revealed.
China is the most reported country when it comes to website censorship, according to the report. From among the Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia ranked at No.4. and Bahrain at No.6 in the top 10 slots.
A noteworthy aspect of the report is that the Western countries were equally vigilant about restricting websites. Germany was ranked at No.2, US at No.3, France at No.7, Australia at No.8 and the UK at No.9.
According to the www.herdict.org website, Herdict is a portmanteau of 'herd' and 'verdict' and seeks to show the verdict of the users (the herd).
Speaking to the UAE’s The National newspaper, Jillian York, the social media manager for the project said that the websites that were found by UAE users to have been blocked ranged from pornography and dating websites to religious pages.
“But then, you also get some sites where you’ve got to wonder why they’re blocked – like Flickr.”
Top 10 countries that reported the most-restricted sites as on June 12, 11am, UAE time:
1. China (4,969)
2. Germany (6,972)
3. United States (5,162)
4. Saudi Arabia (2,364)
5. Iran (990)
6. Bahrain (1,004)
7. France (1,530)
8. Australia (911)
9. United Kingdom (1,237)
10. Philippines (909)
The UAE ranks high among countries that have blocked most websites, a recent report has revealed.
Internet users in the country reported the eleventh highest rate of blocked websites from among the countries in the world, according to the Herdict project.
Herdict is a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. It seeks to gain insight into what users around the world are experiencing in terms of web accessibility. As on June 12, 11am UAE time, UAE users reported that 509 different webpages were flagged as “inaccessible”, the Herdict Web project statistics revealed.
China is the most reported country when it comes to website censorship, according to the report. From among the Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia ranked at No.4. and Bahrain at No.6 in the top 10 slots.
A noteworthy aspect of the report is that the Western countries were equally vigilant about restricting websites. Germany was ranked at No.2, US at No.3, France at No.7, Australia at No.8 and the UK at No.9.
According to the www.herdict.org website, Herdict is a portmanteau of 'herd' and 'verdict' and seeks to show the verdict of the users (the herd).
Speaking to the UAE’s The National newspaper, Jillian York, the social media manager for the project said that the websites that were found by UAE users to have been blocked ranged from pornography and dating websites to religious pages.
“But then, you also get some sites where you’ve got to wonder why they’re blocked – like Flickr.”
Top 10 countries that reported the most-restricted sites as on June 12, 11am, UAE time:
1. China (4,969)
2. Germany (6,972)
3. United States (5,162)
4. Saudi Arabia (2,364)
5. Iran (990)
6. Bahrain (1,004)
7. France (1,530)
8. Australia (911)
9. United Kingdom (1,237)
10. Philippines (909)
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Obama follows Bush path on Iran
Agencies
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama yesterday extended one of the many levels of sanctions against Iran, imposed in 1995 over claims Tehran dealt in terrorism and sought weapons of mass destruction.
The sanctions, prohibiting US companies from aiding the development of the Iranian oil industry and halting trade, export/import and investment ties with Iran, were imposed by the Bill Clinton administration and have been extended on an annual basis by successive presidents. They would have expired without Obama’s formal action to extend them.
“The actions and policies of the government of Iran are contrary to the interests of the United States in the region and pose a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security and the US economy, Obama said in a message to Congress.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the US move as “childish.”
“If you (world powers) had not blocked the road, Iran would not have become a nuclear power and would not have had a presence in space,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency in Assalouyeh.
“They thought that through such childish and harassing moves they can stop a great nation’s scientific path toward perfection,” he added while inaugurating a gas refinery there.
“You take your decisions, and we do our work ... Knowingly or unknowingly, you have opened our nation’s path to progress ... You are too small to block our path,” he said.
The Iranian president described yesterday’s commissioning of Phases 9 and 10 of the South Pars field, Iran’s single biggest natural gas deposit, as a “happy gift” for the Iranian nation, which is also the world’s fourth-largest oil producer.
The investment amounted to about $4 billion, media said.
“This grand achievement happened under conditions in which some in the world with immorality and misbehavior did not fulfill their promises,” Ahmadinejad said.
“They signed contracts to provide equipment and spare parts but ... some of the equipment and spare parts remained aboard ship and were taken back,” he said, in an apparent reference to Western firms scaling down their investment plan in Iran.
The sanctions are one portion of the large range of punitive US, United Nations and international measures imposed against Iran, for various reasons, including Tehran’s alleged nuclear drive.
Washington has steadily upped sanctions against Iranian entities in hopes of pressuring Tehran to pull back on its nuclear program — which the US says is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.
The United States says Iran must also halt its alleged support for groups Washington has labeled “terrorist,” including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestinian groups.
Obama came to power promising to offer diplomatic engagement to US foes, including Iran, to test if there might be scope for negotiated solutions to conflicts.
That was a clear shift from President George W. Bush, who rejected talks unless Iran halted uranium enrichment, the process which makes fuel for nuclear power plants but can also be used to produce the core of an atomic bomb.
In January, Obama said: “If countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fists, they will find an extended hand from us.”
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama yesterday extended one of the many levels of sanctions against Iran, imposed in 1995 over claims Tehran dealt in terrorism and sought weapons of mass destruction.
The sanctions, prohibiting US companies from aiding the development of the Iranian oil industry and halting trade, export/import and investment ties with Iran, were imposed by the Bill Clinton administration and have been extended on an annual basis by successive presidents. They would have expired without Obama’s formal action to extend them.
“The actions and policies of the government of Iran are contrary to the interests of the United States in the region and pose a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security and the US economy, Obama said in a message to Congress.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the US move as “childish.”
“If you (world powers) had not blocked the road, Iran would not have become a nuclear power and would not have had a presence in space,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency in Assalouyeh.
“They thought that through such childish and harassing moves they can stop a great nation’s scientific path toward perfection,” he added while inaugurating a gas refinery there.
“You take your decisions, and we do our work ... Knowingly or unknowingly, you have opened our nation’s path to progress ... You are too small to block our path,” he said.
The Iranian president described yesterday’s commissioning of Phases 9 and 10 of the South Pars field, Iran’s single biggest natural gas deposit, as a “happy gift” for the Iranian nation, which is also the world’s fourth-largest oil producer.
The investment amounted to about $4 billion, media said.
“This grand achievement happened under conditions in which some in the world with immorality and misbehavior did not fulfill their promises,” Ahmadinejad said.
“They signed contracts to provide equipment and spare parts but ... some of the equipment and spare parts remained aboard ship and were taken back,” he said, in an apparent reference to Western firms scaling down their investment plan in Iran.
The sanctions are one portion of the large range of punitive US, United Nations and international measures imposed against Iran, for various reasons, including Tehran’s alleged nuclear drive.
Washington has steadily upped sanctions against Iranian entities in hopes of pressuring Tehran to pull back on its nuclear program — which the US says is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.
The United States says Iran must also halt its alleged support for groups Washington has labeled “terrorist,” including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestinian groups.
Obama came to power promising to offer diplomatic engagement to US foes, including Iran, to test if there might be scope for negotiated solutions to conflicts.
That was a clear shift from President George W. Bush, who rejected talks unless Iran halted uranium enrichment, the process which makes fuel for nuclear power plants but can also be used to produce the core of an atomic bomb.
In January, Obama said: “If countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fists, they will find an extended hand from us.”
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