03/09/2010 Thousands of Iranians have gathered in the capital, Tehran, on Friday to mark al-Quds day, the country's annual Palestinian solidarity day.
 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the crowd saying that the people of the Middle East are "capable of removing the Zionist regime from the world scene" in an annual Palestinian solidarity day address, AFP reported.
  
"If the leaders of the region do not have the guts, then the people of the region are capable of removing the Zionist regime from the world scene," the president said as the crowd chanted "Death to America! Death to Israel!"
  
Ahmadinejad said that direct talks which Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas relaunched with Israel in Washington on Thursday after a 20-month hiatus were "doomed" to fail. "What do they want to negotiate about? Who are they representing? What are they going to talk about?" the Iranian president said of the Palestinian leadership.
  
"Who gave them the right to sell piece of Palestinian land? The people of Palestine and the people of the region will not allow them to sell even an inch of Palestinian soil to the enemy. "The negotiations are stillborn and doomed."
 
Ahmadinejad was also quoted by the local IRNA news agency as saying in a pre-sermon address at Tehran University that Israel was endangering the dignity and culture of the world in its quest for survival and victory.
 
According to Iranian state media, millions of people were attending the state-run rallies throughout the country and voice their support for Palestinians and the "liberation of their lands from the Zionist regime's [Israel's] occupation." "Today millions of people will shout out their will for liberation of the holy Quds from the devil's claw of Zionists," the Fars news agency reported.
 
Al-Quds Day was started by the late Ayatollah Imam Ruhollah Khomeini as a way of expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and underscoring Jerusalem's importance to Muslims.
 
Iranians across the country, including in the capital Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad, held rallies in opposition to the continued occupation of Palestinian land.

02/09/2010 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to make a brief visit on Sunday to Qatar, Iran's closest ally among the Gulf Arab states, the Iranian ambassador in Doha, Abdollah Sohrabi, said.
  
Ahmadinejad will hold talks with Qatari emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, on issues including the Palestinian question and the devastating floods in Pakistan, Sohrabi told reporters on Thursday. "The visit will last for a few hours," he added.
  
Qatar has maintained friendly relations with Iran, unlike other Gulf Arab states.

Google News Alert for: Iran

01/09/2010 Iran has dismissed as "unacceptable" the continued deployment of American troops in Iraq as US President Barack Obama was to announce on Tuesday the end of combat operations in the country.
 
"You see in practice that the massive presence of US forces under different pretexts such as training (Iraqi) forces is not acceptable," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters. It "shows that they have not taken serious measures for pulling forces out of Iraq," he said.
 
Seven years after Iraq's invasion, Obama marked on Tuesday the date of the end of US combat operations in the country in a White House speech.
 
The size of the US force in Iraq has dropped below a symbolic threshold of 50,000 troops. Starting Wednesday, their mission will be to "advise and support" the Iraqi army.
 
"We believe if American and other foreign forces go back to their own countries and leave security in the region to its people, stability and security will be restored faster," Mehmanparast added.

01/09/2010 Iran's Association for liberation of the holy al-Quds (Jerusalem) slammed Western and US support for Israel, insisting that global resolve to annihilate the Israeli regime has strengthened.
 
"The US and European Union, as staunch allies of the occupying Zionist regime (Israel), and certain Arab and Muslim governments are openly and covertly supporting the illegitimate Israeli regime and its extensive crimes, particularly the oppression of the Palestinian people," the association said in a statement on Wednesday, two days before the International Quds Day.
 
The statement also censured US-led efforts to bring "betraying and compromising" Palestinian elements to the negotiating table with Israel.
 
"However, on the other side of the Palestinian coin, there is the resistance movement of a new generation that selflessly engages in battles against the occupiers of their homes and land," it said.
 
"This generation has strengthened the international resolve to annihilate Israel," the statement added.
 
The association also emphasized that Israeli policymakers and planners have reached an understanding that following Israel's 33-day war against Lebanon's Hezbollah and the 22-day war in Gaza, "the alarm bell for eradication of the Jewish government in Palestine has started ringing." It insisted that victory is near.
 
The association called on all Muslims across the globe, particularly the vigilant Iranian nation, to massively take part in the International Quds Day rallies.
 
Initiated by the late founder of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Imam Khomeini, the International Quds Day marks the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims throughout the globe are urged to hold rallies in support of the Palestinian resistance against what Imam Khomeini commonly referred to as "the illegitimate Israeli regime occupying Palestine."
 
Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Israel has been created by colonial powers with the aim of halting the growth of Middle Eastern countries.
 
In a statement published on Tuesday, Rafsanjani praised Imam Khomeini, for his initiative in establishing the Quds Day as it has influenced the global equations and assured the Palestinian people that they are not alone in their resistance against Israel's crimes, Fars news agency reported.
 
According to Rafsanjani, the creation, existence and future of Israel has been planned by a number of Western powers to move the dissident Jews away from Europe and also extend their control over the strategic Middle East region.
 
The chairman of the Expediency Council noted that arrogant powers have so far employed different tactics such as creating division among regional countries to maintain the existence of Israel.
 
According to Rafsanjani, while unity must be the concern of Palestinian resistance groups within Palestine, the Islamic world should provide financial and intellectual support for the resistance against Israel.

Source: Press TV

Google News Alert for: Iran

31/08/2010 Iran will publish a list of Israeli-linked companies by next week to apply sanctions against them, Iran's Vice-President for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad-Reza Mir-Tajeddini said.
 
Iran's Foreign Ministry presented a list of multi-national companies with Israeli connections to the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission last week, Mir-Tajeddini told Mehr news agency on Monday.
 
The Iranian official further pointed out that the list will be published in the media upon an agreement made by the Iranian Parliament and the country's government. He went on to say that Israel has an influential economic cartel across the world and it is constantly establishing new companies under new brands and Iran will expose them after the anti-Israel sanction is applied.
 
In June, Iranian lawmakers approved a bill calling on the Foreign Ministry to establish a major effort to enforce a total embargo on Israeli goods. They agreed to task a committee with identifying Israeli companies and institutions.
 
The Iranian lawmakers stipulated that the Foreign Ministry present the list to the Majlis within two months of the ratification of the bill.
 
The ministry has also been required to put forward a proposal for the boycott of Israeli commodities at international meetings, including the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement.


Source: Press TV

31/08/2010 Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has backed the Iranian government's plan to scrap subsidies in the coming weeks. Sayyed Khamenei has asked the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to "seriously apply... the plan for removing subsidies," state news agency IRNA reported late Monday quoting the Supreme leader as telling members of the government, including Ahmadinejad.
  
"The people have embraced you (Ahmadinejad) for slogans such as those seeking justice, adherence to religion and fighting arrogance," Imam Khamenei added. "Thus, you should attempt to maintain these policies with determination and intensity."
  
The government intends from late September to phase out subsidies on energy products, which according to official estimates cost state coffers around 100 billion dollars annually. But the government has not yet indicated what the new prices will be once the subsidies have been removed.
 

31/08/2010 A senior Iranian legislator on Monday dismissed the recent allegations made by Washington's former envoy to the UN John Bolton about the United States' military supremacy over Iran, and stressed that Iranian Armed Forces are capable of repelling any foreign military aggression against the country, Fars news agency reported.
 
Head of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi told FNA, "I think, Mr. Bolton has not been in normal conditions when uttering these remarks and he has definitely been drunk during the interview, because the US forces are well aware of Iran's military power."
 
He pointed to the US failures in Iraq despite the assistance of the NATO and 40 US allies, and said that the death of over 4,000 US troops in the country is just one of the indications of the weakness of the US army.
 
Referring to Bolton's previous remarks in which he had asked for an Israeli strike on Iran's first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr, Boroujerdi reminded Israel's failure in its war on Lebanon and Gaza, and cautioned that an Israeli attack on Iran would end in the destruction of the Zionist Regime.
 
The lawmaker said Bolton lacks military knowledge, and further described his remarks as "political bluffing".
 
In his latest remarks, Bolton told the Arabic Language Russia al-Youm (Russia Today) that Iran can maintain control over the Strait of Hormuz only for two days if attacked by the US.
In an interview with the US television network Fox earlier in August, Bolton had asserted that Israel has until August 21 to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.
 
"Once the rods are in the reactor an attack on the reactor risks spreading radiation in the air, and perhaps into the water of the Persian Gulf," Bolton said at the time.
 
Brigadier General Seyyed Masoud Jazayer also rapped Bolton for his 'nonsensical' war rhetoric against the Islamic Republic. The deputy head of Iran's Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Bolton kept his "notoriety for idiotic remarks," Mehr news agency reported on Monday.
 
"Apparently, the former US official in the UN is in the dark about the changes in the global situation and thinks America can do whatever it wants especially militarily," the Iranian commander said. He further noted that the Islamic Republic is fully capable of defending its sovereignty.
 

31/08/2010 Iran will still need two more weeks to fully load the fuel in its Russian-built first nuclear power plant, a process which began 10 days ago, atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi has said.
  
On August 21 Iran began loading the fuel roads, also supplied by Russia, into the nuclear power plant located in the southern port city of Bushehr.
  
The entire loading of the 163 fuel rods was to be complete by September 5, but late on Monday state news agency IRNA quoted Salehi as saying that it will take another two weeks to shift the rods into the plant. "From now on it will take 10 to 15 days for the 163 fuel rods to be moved into the main building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant," Salehi said.
  
Salehi blamed the delay on Bushehr's "severe hot weather" and said that the rods were being moved during night time. The Bushehr plant's actual commissioning is expected in October or November when the electricity it generates is connected to the national grid.
  
After three-and-a-half decades of delay, engineers began transferring the atomic fuel into the Bushehr plant from August 21. Russian officials have said the loading of the fuel marked the physical launch of the power plant, the construction of which initially began in the 1970s under the rule of the late shah.

30/08/2010 Lebanon's resistance groups, along with Iran must stand together to thwart foreign aggressors, Iranian ISNA news agency quoted Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying on Monday, adding that such an alliance would work against the "enemies of humanity."
 
Speaking during a meeting with the Lebanese resistance group Amal in Tehran, Ahmadinejad said that "Iran and Lebanon share heavy responsibilities and missions against Arrogant powers and enemies of humanity."
 
"Enemies are endeavoring to damage Lebanon's solidarity and unity, but Lebanese' resistance groups will thwart their plots and conspiracies with their tact and promotion of solidarity," the Iranian president added.
 
Amal officials present at the meeting said, concurring with Ahmadinejad's remarks, that the "Lebanese nation and groups stand firmly against Zionists and do not let them conduct any aggression."
 
 

30/08/2010 The former commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said that Iran should prepare to respond to various scenarios since the country is in a complicated situation, Tehran Times reported.
 
“We are already in an extremely complicated situation and ambiguous future events and we do not have control over them… and we should prepare ourselves for all scenarios and should not let sanctions become problematic for us in the future,” former IRGC commander Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi said on Sunday.
 
Commenting on the UN Security Council’s latest sanctions resolution and other unilateral sanctions imposed on Iran, Safavi said, “In my view, the coalition for the war on Saddam Hussein, with its political, economic, and cultural characteristics, has been reestablished.”
 
“In other words, certain countries from Europe and other parts of the world, headed by the United States, which could not realize their hostile plot against Iran during the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, are making efforts to create problems for the Islamic Republic by imposing economic sanctions, mounting political pressure, and attempting to increase tension inside the country,” he indicated. Thus, Iran should be prepared for any emergency and imaginable scenario, Safavi ended by saying.

30/08/2010 Iran inaugurated the production line for the country’s longest-range artillery ammunition, Tehran Times reported. During the inauguration ceremony on Sunday, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the advanced 130mm artillery shells with a range of 42 kilometers can be used to hit enemy targets in the distance.
 
These artillery shells act like ballistic missiles and they use a solid propellant, Vahidi stated. Base-bleed projectiles were used in the new type of 130mm artillery shells to increase their range from 27 kilometers to 42 kilometers, he added.
 
Utilizing such ammunition will make the Iranian armed forces self-sufficient, which is particularly important at a time when Iran is under a number of sanctions, he indicated. Base bleed is a system used on some artillery shells to increase their range, typically by about 30%.
 

Source: Iranian Press

28/08/2010 Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Abadi voiced Iran's readiness to provide Lebanon with weapons, an issue that he discussed with President Michel Sleiman and Defense Minister Elias Murr.
 
“We are prepared to answer President Suleiman's call to arm the Lebanese army, and the meeting with minister Murr on this matter was excellent,” Abadi said in an interview with Lebanese daily An-Nahar published on Saturday.
 
Asked if the army may be equipped with advanced rocket systems, Abadi noted that the Iranian defense minister was clear on this matter. “Everything is open before Lebanon in supplying it with arms and supporting it other fields,” he pointed out.
 
Addressing Lebanon's electricity file, the Iranian ambassador said that there have been no advances in Lebanon in this field in 15 years, announcing that Iran is ready to solve this problem if requested by Lebanese officials.
 
“We are ready to solve the electricity problem in Lebanon. We can implement the plan in six months and with the best international prices,” he said. “We have informed Energy Minister Gebran Bassil of this,” he added.
 
Abadi also revealed that Iran is ready to help Lebanon in drilling for petroleum.  

28/08/2010 Three people, including two children, have been killed and 40 others injured in an earthquake which struck Iran's biggest desert, Dasht-e Kavir, state television reported on Saturday. The 5.9 magnitude quake struck on Friday south of the northern city of Damghan.
  
In a separate report, the state television website quoted secretary general of Iran Red Crescent, Zaher Rostani, as saying that an elderly woman was also among those killed in the quake. The website said six villages near Damghan were damaged in the quake which was about 278 kilometers (167 miles) east of Tehran.
  
The tremor, which struck at 11:53 pm (1923 GMT) Friday, was also felt in the capital Tehran. Iran sits astride several major fault lines in the Earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes, many of which have been devastating.

26/08/2010 Iran has stockpiled enough low-enriched uranium for 1-2 nuclear arms but it would not make sense for it to cross the bomb-making threshold with only this amount, a former top UN nuclear official was quoted as saying.
 
In unusual public remarks about Iran's nuclear program, Olli Heinonen, the former chief of UN nuclear inspections worldwide, told Le Monde newspaper that Iran's uranium reserve still represented a "threat."
 
Until he stepped down earlier this month for personal reasons, Heinonen was deputy director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and head of its nuclear safeguards department, which verifies that countries' nuclear programs are not being diverted for military use.
 
In the interview published on Thursday, Heinonen said the Islamic Republic now possessed three tons of low-enriched uranium, material which can be used to fuel nuclear power plants, or form the core of a bomb if refined much further.
 
"In theory, it is enough to make one or two nuclear arms. But to reach the final step, when one only has just enough material for two weapons, does not make sense," Heinonen said in the interview carried out just before he left office.
 
In comments translated from English to French, he suggested this was not sufficient to constitute a serious bargaining chip in any negotiations with the United States, the Islamic Republic's old adversary. "But this constitutes a ... threat," he said, apparently referring to Iran's LEU stockpile.
 
Heinonen said the United States estimated that Iran would need a year to convert its low-enriched uranium to higher-grade material, adding that this was a not a "bad estimate."
(Reuters)

26/08/2010 Iran has made a proposal to Moscow to jointly produce nuclear fuel for its Russian-built Bushehr plant and future facilities, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization was quoted as saying Thursday.
  
"We have made a proposal to Russia for the creation of a consortium, licensed by that country, to do part of the work in Russia and part of it in Iran," state news agency IRNA quoted Ali Akbar Salehi as saying. "Moscow is studying this offer," he said. "We (Iran) should show the world our capability in uranium production and transforming it to nuclear fuel."
  
Iran is under four sets of UN Security Council sanctions for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. Iran says it is capable of making nuclear fuel as it continues to enrich uranium to 20 percent for a research reactor.
  
Last week Russia started fuelling Iran's first and long-delayed nuclear power plant near Bushehr in southern Iran. Russia has pledged to supply the plant with fuel for 10 years.
(AFP)

Google News Alert for: Iran

25/08/2010 Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi expressed on Wednesday his country’s readiness to offer military aid to Lebanon, one day after Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah called on the Lebanese government to take the decision to ask Iran for help in equipping the national army.
 
"Lebanon is a friend and its army is our friend," General Vahidi told reporters after an Iranian cabinet meeting, state television reported on its website. "We are prepared to help them ... should there be a request."
  
On Tuesday, Sayyed Nasrallah proposed the Lebanese government seek military aid from Iran. “I call on the government to take the decision to ask Iran for help and I pledge that Hezbollah will work on this and will invest all its friendships to realize this,” his eminence said during an iftar banquet. “President Ahmadinejad will visit Lebanon and I believe that Iran has been helping Lebanon for the past 28 years and will not refrain from granting the Lebanese army any kind of help.”

25/08/2010 Iran has test fired its home-built surface-to-surface Fateh 110 missile, state television reported on Wednesday, less than a week after a similar test was carried out on another missile.
State television showed a sand-colored missile being launched. It did not say when the missile was fired.
 
Iran's English-language Press TV said the Fateh 110 (Conqueror) missile is nine meters long and weighs 3,500 kilograms.
 
The channel's website quoted Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying that the third generation Fateh 110 was a "single stage solid propellant" missile with a longer range.
He did not specify the range of the missile but Iran has previously paraded a version of Fateh 110 which it said could travel between 150 and 200 kilometers.
Vahidi said the latest version of Fateh 110 was "more accurate."
 
The launch of Fateh 110 follows an announcement by Vahidi on Friday that Iran had successfully test fired its Qiam (Rising) short range missile, which was propelled by liquid fuel.
The test firing of Fateh 110 comes two days after Iran began mass-producing two high-speed variants of missile-launching assault boats, the Seraj and Zolfaqar.
 
On Sunday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled Iran's home-built bomber drone, which he described as an "ambassador of death" to Iran's enemies.
The military announcements come as Iran marks its annual "government week," during which it flaunts its latest achievements in various fields.

Sources: Press TV, AFP

24/08/2010 Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mahmoud Rida Sajadi told Al-Manar Website that any reckless and irrational move or game against the Islamic Republic could take America and its interests out of this region.
 
In a special interview after the inauguration of the Busheher nuclear plant in Iran,  Sajadi warned that such uncalculated moves will also put Israel’s existence at a very dangerous level, “because the Islamic Republic has proven itself as a hard number, not the kind of country that tolerates violence and aggression against it.”
 
Addressing the threat of an Israeli strike against nuclear plants in Iran, and namely the Busheher plant, Sajadi told Al-Manar that there were no Russian guarantees that Israel will not attack, however he underscored Moscow’s cognizance of Tehran’s prowess and potentials. “This is why Russia rules out any Israeli strike to Busheher or to Iran in general.”
 
Sajadi said that “Israel is the USA’s dummy and it executes its policies, so it can never make a move in this direction with an American cover, otherwise we regard the USA as the aggressor working behind the curtains.” The Iranian diplomat pointed that the US’s capabilities have become limited “because it is drowning in the Iraq and Afghanistan quagmires and has so far failed to score points on the Middle East crisis track, not to forget the major problems which the Democrat Party is facing today. Therefore, it would be irrational for (US President Barack) Obama to engage in a new aggression and therefore break his promise to the American population to maintain a different policy than his predecessor’s,” signaling George W. Bush who waged two wars against Afghanistan and Iraq.
 
Sajadi said the United States, Europe, and Israel had pressured Russia over supplying the Busheher plant with nuclear fuel. “If the Russians had no intention to live up to their commitments, they wouldn’t have built the Busheher plant in the first place.”
“We shall continue enriching uranium for the Busheher plant if the concerned nations stopped supplying Iran with the necessary fuel,” Sajadi said. “There are no differences with the Russians in this regard,” he added.

The interview was conducted by Al-Manar correspondent in Russia Ahmed Hajj Ali

22/08/2010 One day after the activation of the nuclear reactor in Bushehr, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled another new achievement: a long-range drone, dubbed Karar, which reportedly can bomb targets at high speed.
 
The unveiling of the aircraft comes as Iran marks on Sunday its annual Defense Industries Day. Television footage showed the president applauding as a blue cloth which had been covering the drone was pulled back to reveal a short aircraft painted in military-green with the words "Bomber jet" written on its side.
 
Images were then broadcast on television showing the aircraft flying. Ahmadinejad made a speech at the ceremony, held in a hall of Tehran's Malek Ashtar University, but did not mention the drone.
 
State television's website reported that the drone has "different capabilities, including carrying bombs to destroy targets." It said the plane can fly for a "long range at high speed."
 
The website cited Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying that the Karar is a "symbol of the versatility and advancement of Iran's defense industries."
 
The unveiling of Karar, the nickname of Imam Ali, the first Muslim Shiite imam, comes two days after Iran test fired a domestically built surface-to-surface missile, Qiam (Rising).
 
Over the next few days Iran is expected to make series of further military announcements as the nation marks the annual government week, a period used by Tehran to tout its achievements.
 
In this period Iran is also expected to test fire a third generation Fateh 110 (Conqueror) missile. Iran has previously paraded a version of Fateh 110 which has a travel range of 150 to 200 kilometers (90 to 125 miles).
 
Also during government week, the production lines of two missile-carrying speedboats, Seraj (Lamp) and Zolfaqar (named after Imam Ali's sword) are due to be inaugurated.
 
The unveiling of Karar comes days after Iran took delivery of four new mini-submarines of the home-produced Ghadir class. Weighing 120 tons, the "stealth" submarines are aimed at operations in shallow waters, notably in the Gulf.
 
Iran's archfoes the United States and Israel have not ruled out a military strike against Tehran to stop its uranium enrichment program.
 
EXPERTS SAY IRAN NOT SO CLOSE TO BOMB
Meanwhile, Israeli media on Sunday reported that experts believe that the historic activation of the Iranian nuclear reactor in Bushehr on Saturday was indeed an important move forward in the Islamic Republic's nuclear program and theoretically the facility could be helpful in Tehran's efforts to attain a nuclear weapon; however it will not be able to do so.
 
The move evoked a protest and expression of concern on Israel's part, but according to the experts, the Iranians would find it difficult to deceive the Russian inspectors and use the facility's nuclear waste to create a bomb, according to Israeli media reports.
 
The facility's activation was a historic movement, in which Iran joined the list of countries in possession of a nuclear power station. The reactor was inaugurated after decades of construction and preparations, with the nuclear fuel loaded under the supervision of technicians from Russia, which has helped Iran build the facility since the 1990s.
 
Nonetheless, it will take several months before the reactor starts producing electricity. The Russians are expected to continue examining the site in the future as well, while making certain that Iran will not use the nuclear waste to create an atom bomb.

21/08/2010 Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised a global response if Tehran is attacked, in an interview with Qatari daily Al-Sharq published on Saturday. "Our options will have no limits... They will touch the entire planet," he said in reply to a question about Tehran's reaction in the event of such an attack.
  
Iran's arch-foes the United States and Israel have never ruled out military strikes against Tehran.
 
"I believe that some think about attacking Iran, especially those within the Zionist entity (Israel). But they know that Iran is an indestructible bulwark and I do not think their American masters will let them do it," Ahmadinejad said. "They also know that the Iranian response will be hard and painful," he added.

21/08/2010 Iran started loading fuel into its Russian-built first nuclear power plant on Saturday after more than three decades of delay.
 
Engineers finally began loading the Russia-supplied fuel into the plant in the southern port of Bushehr, in the presence of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, a statement by Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said.
  
"Despite all pressures, sanctions and hardships forced by Western nations, we are witnessing Iran's peaceful nuclear activities through the start of the Bushehr power plant," Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi told a news conference in Farsi comments translated by English-language Press TV.
  
"This is the symbol of the heroic Iranian nation's resistance and determination in achieving its goals," he said, adding that the plant's construction came after "lots of ups and downs."
 
Hours later, Salehi indicated that Iran will press on with enriching uranium to 20 percent purity until nuclear fuel needs are met, but not refine the material to this level "forever"."We are not intending to convert all our uranium to 20 percent enriched uranium. We will go as far as our needs are met," Salehi said while noting that Iran has a "right" to the process as a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
 
Salehi's Russian counterpart Sergei Kiriyenko said the "countdown" for the actual running of the plant had begun. "Today is a great day and we have entered the physical launch of the Bushehr plant," Fars new agency quoted Kiriyenko as saying in Russian when the fuel loading began.
  
Kiriyenko later told the news conference the construction of the plant was done under the supervision of IAEA inspectors, adding that "any country which sticks to IAEA norms and safety regulations has the right to peaceful nuclear technology." "For us it (completion of Bushehr plant) is a proof of Russia meeting its obligations."
 
Salehi said it was a "memorable" day for the plant, given its history of "ups and downs."  "I should thank the great nation of Russia and respect the Russian government for playing a very effective role in launching the Bushehr plant... which is an important symbol of cooperation between the two nations," he said.
 
Last week, Salehi said the entire transfer of fuel into the reactor would be complete by September 5. On Friday, Iranian Atomic Energy Organization spokesman Ali Shirzadian said the one-billion-dollar plant's actual commissioning would come in October or November when the electricity it generates connects to the national grid.
 
Work on the Bushehr plant, which is not targeted under UN or other sanctions, began in the 1970s under the rule of the US-backed shah using contractors from German firm Siemens. The project was shelved when the shah was toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution, and was revived a decade later under current supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei. In 1994, Russia agreed to complete its construction, but since then "technical problems" and squabbling between Moscow and Tehran delayed its completion.
  
Kiriyenko explained that the Bushehr plant was a "unique project which has no equivalent in the world as several equipment were installed on top of the equipment installed by the Germans."

19/08/2010 Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that  the Islamic Republic would not conduct talks with the United States about its nuclear program unless sanctions and military threats are lifted.
 
"What they say, our president and others are saying, that we will negotiate - yes we will - but not with America, because America is not negotiating honestly and like a normal negotiator," Sayyed Khamenei said in a televised speech to senior officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
 
"Put away the threats and put away the sanctions," he added.
 
"The reason is that America does not enter the field honestly as a normal negotiator. They should drop the face of a superpower, they should drop threats, they should drop sanctions and they should not set a goal for negotiations. Then we are ready," he added.
 
Western and European nations have approached a dual-track policy of imposing sanctions and calling for talks with Iran. They suspect the program masks a weapons drive, a charge strongly denied by Iran.

Google News Alert for: Iran

Google News Alert for: Iran

12/08/2010 Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the West will "regret" its decision to impose "illegal" sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. 
 
"Like previous years, we will make the West feel sorry for its illegal moves," Mottaki told reporters in Tehran on Thursday upon his arrival from an official visit to Syrian capital, Damascus. 
 
"The US hatched plots in every field over the past 30 years to exert pressure on Iran. The recent ratification by the US Congress of illegal and unfair sanctions against Iran was in line with such plots," he was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency. 
 
He said that imposing sanctions against Iran by the European Union was not a new issue and added that "the US hegemony has overshadowed the policies of Europe." 
 
The Iranian foreign minister said the EU unilateral sanctions against Iran would lead to the loss of opportunities for the bloc to make economic interaction with Iran. 
 
He said that the incorrect policies of the EU over the past five years made Iran establish its foreign economic relations with other parts of the world. 
 
On Brazil's decision to sign the recent UN resolution against Iran, Mottaki said, "Countries are not expected to take negative stance on UN resolutions. 
 
"We have great potential to form our economic cooperation with other countries in line with these resolutions," he said. 

12/08/2010 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad stressed Thursday that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's "very damning evidence has exposed all of the Zionist enemy's conspiracies."
 
He said that Israel aims to create disputes through an assassination, which it then tries to pin on another side.
 
"Syria was first targeted and then after lack of proof, Hezbollah was being accused" of assassinating former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the Iranian president said.