Category: Iran

Iran: Ahmadinejad: Iran Willing to Provide Assistance to Lebanon to Confront Israel 239 Reads

Tuesday, November 25, 2008 - 12:58 PM

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday Iran was willing to provide assistance to Lebanon to face up to Israel.

"We will stand by Lebanon under any circumstances and we are willing to provide assistance to confront the Israeli enemy and to rebuild Lebanon," Ahmadinejad said at a joint press conference with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman.
"We will set up a joint committee that would take appropriate decisions regarding strengthening and widening our relations," he said.

Ahmadinejad said he will plan a visit to Lebanon as soon as possible to meet the various political officials.

Suleiman, for his part, said he discussed with Ahmadinejad the return of Palestinian refugees and the need to unite in order to counter terrorism as well as other global issues.

Suleiman said he invited Ahmadinejad to visit Lebanon as soon as possible.

Beirut, 25 Nov 08, 14:58

Iran: Iran Hangs Convicted Spy for Israel 246 Reads

Saturday, November 22, 2008 - 10:25 PM

Security Official in Tehran Sees 'Intensifying Intelligence War'
By Thomas Erdbrink
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, November 23, 2008; Page A18

TEHRAN, Nov. 22 -- Iran has executed a man convicted of spying for Israel in an "intensifying intelligence war" between the two countries, a high-level Iranian security official announced Saturday at a rare news conference.

Ali Ashtary, a businessman who sold communication and security equipment to Iranian security organizations, was arrested in 2007 and found guilty in June of spying for the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, the semiofficial Mehr News Agency quoted the official as saying.

The official, who heads the counterespionage unit of the Intelligence Ministry but was not identified by name, said Ashtary was put to death Monday morning. The Associated Press reported that he was hanged.

The case "shows a new dimension and intensifying of the widespread intelligence fight between us and the Israeli intelligence service," the official reportedly told a select group of local reporters.

Israel has repeatedly said it is prepared to attack Iran over its nuclear program. Israel and the United States say Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran, which does not recognize Israel, maintains that its nuclear program is meant only for energy purposes.

The counterespionage official said the Mossad is using satellite television advertisements and Internet chat rooms to recruit Iranians in order to obtain information about Iran.

Pars TV, one of the dozens of Farsi-language opposition satellite television channels that broadcast from California, is running advertisements offering $10 million for information about a missing Israeli airman, Ron Arad, whose plane was shot down in 1986 over Lebanon. The ads urge Iranians to call or fax if they have information about his case.

"Some people inside our country who were trying to make some money got in touch with that organization. But they fell into the intelligence operation created by the Zionist regime," the official said. "Those people were changed into pawns in the hands of the Mossad, but they didn't have any news on the Israeli pilot. Neither do we. They were used by Mossad to gather information."

Offering insight into Iran's international intelligence operations, the official said that four people had been "identified and arrested" in the neighboring Kurdish region of Iraq, where anti-Iranian militant groups are active.

"This team had gadgets and weapons made by Israel and intended to assassinate people who were not officials of the country. But now they are important for us," he said, adding that the targets were not politicians or other members of Iran's leadership. "Because we control the borders and have operations there, this group was arrested before they could carry out any action." His comments were carried in the semiofficial Fars News Agency.

Iran: Iran denies nuclear-bomb ambitions 330 Reads

Friday, October 03, 2008 - 04:10 AM

Mottaki said Iran aims to press ahead with what he called its civilian programme [AFP]
Iran has accused the US of perpetuating a "huge lie" about its nuclear ambitions.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported last month that Iran was not co-operating, and could be hiding some nuclear activity.

But speaking at a symposium sponsored by the Asia Society in New York on Thursday, Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, said Iran has no intention of building an atomic bomb and intends to press ahead with its civilian nuclear programme.

He restated Tehran's view that the Iranian nuclear programme is peaceful and not geared towards the production of nuclear weapons, pointing out that possession of weaons of mass destruction violates Islamic teachings.

Improvement unlikely

Mottaki ruled out any improvement in his country's ties with the US unless Washington alters its foreign policy following the election of a new president next month.

"Whatever candidate becomes the next president of the US, he will have no other option than to bring about new developments in American foreign policy," he said.

He said that the next US president would have to try to "reach out to other countries around the world, including the countries in the Middle East".

Iran: Iran would fight fire with fire 274 Reads

Sunday, September 21, 2008 - 11:13 PM

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:40:19 GMT

Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warns that the country will harshly respond to any strike against its nuclear installations.

At a Sunday military parade, President Ahmadinejad said the Iranian armed forces would 'break the arms of aggressors' should they dare and try to 'overstep the boundaries of the Islamic Republic'.

The parade, which marks the 28th anniversary of the Iraqi war on Iran, displayed Iran's defensive capabilities at a time when speculation is running rife that Israel and the US are drawing up plans to strike Iranian nuclear sites.

Washington and Tel Aviv have long threatened Tehran with war under the pretext that Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is hell-bent on developing nuclear weapons.

The allegation comes contrary to the findings of the UN nuclear watchdog, which - according to its latest report on Iran's nuclear activities - has not been able to find any 'components of a nuclear weapon' or 'related nuclear physics studies' in Iran.

The UN body has extensively monitored Iranian nuclear facilities and activities since 2003.

In his televised address at the parade, President Ahmadinejad brushed aside the issued threats as 'psychological warfare', saying that neither Washington nor Tel Aviv would be able to endure the repercussions of a strike on Iran.

"Iran will not be lenient toward aggressors," he cautioned.

Iran: Iran warns against attack; War may be inevitable: Israeli 268 Reads

Sunday, September 21, 2008 - 11:06 PM

JERUSALEM, Sept 21, (Agencies): A former top Israeli general said on Sunday said Iran threatened the West in the same way Adolf Hitler once did and that if economic and political sanctions failed conflict would be “inevitable.” “Today, we in the West are facing the same situation, the lack of decisiveness towards a threat that is no less severe than that which Hitler posed in 1939,” former army chief Moshe Yaalon told army radio. “We can still stop Iran with political and economic measures but if we do not, then a military confrontation is inevitable.” Israel has long considered Iran its main strategic threat because of its accelerating nuclear programme and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s frequent predictions of the demise of the Jewish state.

Israel, the region’s sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, and the United States have said they prefer to address the nuclear issue diplomatically, but neither country has ruled out the use of military force. Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and vowed massive retaliation against any strike on its territory. Ahmadinejad said his the country’s military will “break the hands” of any invaders. “If anyone allows themselves to invade Iranian territory and its legal interests... our armed forces will break their hands before they pull the trigger,” he told a military parade.

“Our nation is seeking friendship and peace... but today it is not in a position to show the least flexibility towards its bullying enemies.”

The phrase “legitimate interests” is Iranian parlance for the country’s nuclear program, which the West says is a cover for developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which denies the charge, already is under three sets of sanctions by the UN Security Council over the issue.

Washington and its Western allies are pushing for quick passage of a fourth set of sanctions to underline the international community’s resolve. But Ahmadinejad said Sunday that sanctions only help Iran achieve self-sufficiency.

“Those who once imposed sanctions, today should open their eyes and see our nation’s technical achievements,” he said. Both the United States and its ally Israel say they support a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with Iran but cannot rule out the military option. “Today, Iran is not in a position to show even the smallest flexibility against the bullying of the enemies. History has shown that those who wish ill for Iran will gain nothing but regret,” Ahmadinejad said. “The enemies of humanity ... had imagined that by military attack and economic and scientific sanctions they could break down our revolution and our nation,” he said, adding that Iran’s enemies had “lost hope”.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was “absurd” to accuse the Iranian president of acting like a lunatic in relation to Israel, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
Berlusconi told a Jewish organisation in Paris on Tuesday, in reference to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that “we must pay the utmost attention to the lunacy of someone who says, perhaps for internal reasons, that Israel must be wiped off the map”.