Month: September 2009

Tehran, September 28: As Iran and the major world powers prepare to hold talks about leading global issues, a top Iranian nuclear official has slammed Germany’s support for terrorists.

“We believe that common concerns of the international community about terrorism can be a topic for [bilateral] cooperation,” Der Spiegel quoted Saeed Jalili Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council as saying.

“Firstly, we must reach a common definition about terrorism. Following this, areas which are threatened by terrorism will be determined,” he added.

Kabul, September 28: Seven NATO soldiers including four French troops have been killed across Afghanistan, marking yet another deadly weekend for the foreign forces there.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement on Sunday that three of its members were killed in southern Afghanistan during ‘enemy attacks’, while another three died in the east from ‘non-combat incidents’ in the past 24 hours.

On Saturday, two US soldiers were fatally wounded in separate incidents in southern Afghanistan and later died, ISAF said.

Jerusalem, September 28: Jordan’s foreign ministry has summoned the Israeli envoy to Amman to protest violation of the al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli soldiers.

The Jordanian foreign ministry handed a strongly-worded protest to the Israeli charge d’affaires on Sunday, condemning the breaking into Jerusalem’s (Al-Quds) al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli soldiers, the official Petra news agency reported.

Tehran, September 28: Iran says the sudden commotion over a nascent enrichment facility outside Tehran is a Western ploy to create high international tensions ahead of crucial nuclear talks.

Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani said Sunday that Western powers seek to make an issue out of Iran’s nuclear activities in order to “impose their will on the country during the upcoming negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group.

Tehran, September 28: The Islamic Republic of Iran has successfully tested lng range Shahab-3 and Sejil missiles in the third stage of a defense drill in a bid to bolster its defense capabilities, Press TV has learned.

The missiles were launched on Monday as part of an advanced military exercise named The Great Prophet IV which was carried out by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The optimized Shahab-3 has a range of 1,300 to 2,000 kilometers.

The Sejil is a two-stage missile powered by solid fuel which was tested by the IRGC for the first time in the maneuver.

Ankara, September 28: The Turkish president has condemned Western countries’ focus on Iran’s nuclear program, stressing that the world should deal with Israel’s nuclear weapons instead.

Turkey’s “Radikal” newspaper on Sunday reported that Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s strong comments against Israel’s nuclear program was similar to his “one minute” stance in Davos in January when he walked out of a televised debate with his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres.

Erdogan told reporters in New York that Iran’s nuclear program is not aimed at “military ends”.

Gaza, September 28: Several Palestinian factions, including the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the Hamas resistance movement have warned of a new Intifada, or uprising.

The warning by the Palestinian groups came after Israeli police beat up Palestinian Muslim worshippers in al-Quds on Sunday. The Israeli police had accompanied a radical Jewish group.

The Jewish group tried to break into the yard of the al-Haram al-Sharif, where the Muslims first Shrine, the al-Aqsa mosque is, in the eastern part of al-Quds.

Tehran, September 28: Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has identified and arrested some of the main suspected perpetrators of the recent series of assassinations in the western province of Kurdistan.

According to the ministry, two of the terrorists were killed and some of them were arrested in an operation carried out on Sunday, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.

“The terrorists, extremists linked to some foreign services, had been ordered to carry out a mission to divide Sunni and Shia brothers,” the report said.

Cairo, September 28: Khaled Meshaal the exiled leader of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, has arrived in Egypt for fresh talks on Palestinian unity, an airport official says.

On Sunday, a delegation of Hamas leaders headed by Meshaal arrived in Egypt via the Rafah crossing from Gaza, AFP quoted a Cairo airport spokesman as saying.

Damascus-based Meshaal will meet Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and “give an answer to Egypt’s written proposals on reconciliation with Fatah,” senior Hamas member Sami Abu Zuhri had said on Thursday.

Tehran, September 28: Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs Basile Ikouebe has expressed willingness to open his country’s embassy in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Ikouebe made the remark in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki on the sidelines of the 64th United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on Sunday.

Kabul, September 28: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has played down any split between the US military and civilian leaders over the handling of the war in Afghanistan.

“I don’t think that’s the case at all,” he told ABC television in an interview on Sunday.

The comments come following Monday’s proposals by General McChrystal, a top US general in Afghanistan, warning that the US-led mission will “likely result in failure” unless more troops are deployed across the war-ravaged country.