The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps naval forces have intercepted a vessel carrying 90 tons of smuggled gasoline in the Persian Gulf. The IRGC said on Tuesday that the vessel was bound for one of the Persian Gulf littoral states and was seized 20 miles southwestern of the Siri Island - situated 31 miles from Iran's Abu Musa Island.
The incident comes shortly after Iran, on September 16, assigned the IRGC to replace the Iranian coastguard in protecting the Persian Gulf. The measure was taken to prepare Iranian naval forces for a potential military conflict in the region.
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008 00:00 ||
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Tehran has rejected recent reports released by Arab media that a senior Iranian official has apologized to Egyptian scholar Qaradawi.
"Publishing false reports... will never tarnish the close ties and the brotherhood that exists among officials and scholars of Islamic countries. Such reports contradict the principles of Muslim unity and lack any value," read a statement released by the Iranian embassy in Riyadh.
"Iranian officials regularly hold discussions with religious and political figures in the Muslim world with the aim of strengthening views on Islamic unity ... and countering the ever-increasing plots and threats of the Zionist regime," the statement explained.
The statement came after several Arab media outlets claimed that the Foreign Policy Advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ali Akbar Velayati had apologized to Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi over articles published by an Iranian website.
The website criticized Qaradawi's stance after he launched attacks against Shia groups and organizations, accusing them of trying to spread their teachings in Sunni states.
Velayati met the President of the International Association of Muslim Scholars, Yusuf Qaradawi, at the sixth conference on Al-Quds in Doha.
According to an IslamOnline report, there was a warm exchange between the two officials, who sat next to each other during a special reception.
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
IO(N IRAN, IRNA > IRAN PROTESTS AMERICAN TROOPS' ACTIONS/HANDLING OF IRANIAN MUSLIM PILGRIMS IN IRAQ; + ISLAMIC COUNTRIES SUPPORT IRAN'S BID FOR UNSC MEMBERSHIP, + REGIONAL PEACE NOT POSSIBLE WITH PRESENCE OF FOREIGN FORCES.
Also from IRNA > PRESIDENT ADVISES NATIONS TO SAVE THEIR ECONOMIES FROM THE DETRIMENT OF CAPITALISM [end of Capitalism is nigh] + IRAN ON VERGE OF SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS. Islam + World had seen the COLLAPSE OF MARXISM, and now the ANNIHILATION OF LIBERALISM vee US Crisis. IRAN + WORLD AT A CROSSROADS = U-TURN > IRAN's MISSION IS NOW "GLOBAL".
Syria recognized Lebanon's sovereignty for the first time on Tuesday, with President Bashar Assad issuing a decree paving the way for the opening of full diplomatic ties with Lebanon, following six decades of independence, the official SANA news agency said on Tuesday. The decree provides for "the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Lebanese republic and the creation of a diplomatic mission at ambassador level in the Lebanese capital Beirut," it said.
Syria and Lebanon announced on August 13 their intention to open diplomatic ties for the first time since independence some 60 years ago, following up on a pledge made by Assad and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman in Paris in July. Assad said last month he expected full diplomatic relations between Damascus and Beirut by the end of this year.
On Monday, U.S. President George W. Bush had warned Syria that it must respect Lebanon's sovereignty and urged Damascus to open full diplomatic ties with Beirut. His comments came as Washington closely watched Syrian troop movements near the border with Lebanon, which have raised concerns among anti-Damascus figures in Lebanon.
Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman issued a statement on Saturday, after contacts with Assad, accepting that the troop movements were aimed at tackling smuggling as stated by Damascus.
In September, the Lebanese army revealed the deployment of 10,000 Syrian special forces in the Abbudiya region along the border between Lebanon and Syria. The move came a month after a Damascus summit between Assad and Suleiman at which it was agreed the neighbors would take formal steps to demarcate their borders.
In addition to trying to improve relations with Lebanon, Assad has also recently sought indirect peace talks with Israel, mediated by Turkey, and says he wants direct talks next year. The West is slowly changing its policy of the past three years of isolating Syria and has instead tried to engage it more in Middle East issues.
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
This is a HUGE step for Syria. They have always before declared that Lebanon was merely a Syrian province, and had no right to independence. This dates back to the early partitioning of the Ottoman empire by France and Britain in 1920, when both Syria and Lebanon were governed by the French as a single unit. This would be like China accepting an independent Taiwan.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/15/2008 12:43 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.