Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the US to choose between Israel and Iran on Tuesday night, according to Iranian state media.
Speaking in Istanbul at the 25th Session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Iranian president said that it was up to US President Barack Obama to illustrate his motto of "change".
"The support of both Israel and Iran can't go hand in hand," he was quoted as saying by IRNA. "No change is made unless great choices are made.
"We would welcome the changes, and wait for big and correct decisions to be made... We will clasp any hand that is extended sincerely toward us, but changes should be made in practice."
Addressing the same conference a day earlier, Ahmadinejad said that capitalist excesses caused the global economic meltdown and were un-Islamic, as leaders at a Muslim forum touted their religion's banking system a way to revive battered economies.
He also slammed investments that pay interest, deemed usury by Muslims, and said they had contributed to financial and social problems such as homelessness. "Usury, which is entrenched in the capitalist system, is perhaps the main reason why the system has gone bankrupt," Ahmadinejad said. "It is a way of accumulating capital without working. Usury, according to the Koran, is fighting with Allah."
Ahmadinejad did not mention Iran's struggling economy, nor did he refer to its dispute with the West over its nuclear activities.
The Islamic forum held its meeting in a plush hotel on the banks of the Bosphorus Strait that divides Istanbul between the Asian and European continents. Syrian President Bashar Assad and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan were also in attendance.
Meanwhile, Iran's defense minister on Wednesday urged Russia to ignore Israeli pressure against selling the S-300 missile defense system to the Islamic Republic.
"We have a contract with Russia to buy S-300 missiles. I don't think it is right for Russia to be seen in the world as a country which does not fulfill its contractual obligations," AFP quoted Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi as telling the IRNA news agency.
"Russia has to fulfill the contract and not be influenced by Zionist pressure," he added.
Russia signed a contract two years ago to sell the S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran but has not made any deliveries or given any explanation for the delay. The United States and Israel strongly oppose the deal because it would significantly boost Iran's air defense capabilities at a time of heightened tension over the country's nuclear program.
On Sunday, a senior Iranian lawmaker warned Russia that its delay in delivering the anti-aircraft missile defense system to Teheran could harm relations between the two countries, state television reported.
"If they do not fulfill their promise, this will be a negative point in relations between the two countries," said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, according to state TV.
The news report quoted Boroujerdi as saying that more delays "will be harmful to Russia since we have many areas of cooperation with them."
#2
OTOH SAME > YEAR 2019: BIG ASTEROID TO HIT EARTH [ELE = Extinction Level Event ala "DEEP IMPACT" movie].
Consistent what the RUSSIANS claimed back in 1990's of Year 2018 being a possib early date, ANTI-US "WAR NOT POSSIBLE BUT DESIRED" GEOPOLX NOTWITHSTANDING.
No worries for the Bammer - his POTUS SECOND TERM, iff any, ends in 2016.
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/12/2009 7:22 Comments ||
Top||
#4
If you ask any Iraeli, I'm sure he or she will tell you Barry has already made that decision. Evidently, President Ahmadinjad wishes to hear it again, and again.
Israel released documents and pictures on Wednesday which it said provided proof that a massive arms shipment seized at sea last week came from Iran.
Israeli commandos intercepted the Antigua-flagged "Francop" near the coast of Cyprus, claiming it was taking the weapons to Syria en route to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
Israel immediately accused arch-foe Iran of sending the cargo, but on Wednesday offered for the first time evidence to back up the charges and detailed the extent of the cache. "Hidden among the dozens of other containers on board, and disguised as civilian goods, the ship contained a consignment of 36 shipping containers with 500 tones of arms en route via Syria to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in Lebanon," the army and foreign ministry said in a statement.
"A total of about 9,000 mortar bombs of different types were seized, along with about 3,000 Katyusha artillery rockets, 3,000 recoilless gun shells, 20,000 grenades and over half a million rounds of small arms ammunition," the statement said.
It was accompanied by photos showing the ship's manifest, containers bearing the logo of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and cargo with Iranian armed forces customs labels.
Among the weapons seized were 2,124 Iranian-made 107mm artillery rockets and thousands of AZ111-A2 fuses manufactured only in Iran, the statement said.
Pictures also showed boxes of rockets labelled as "parts of bulldozers," a suggestion of attempts to disguise the shipment.
Iran and Hezbollah have both denied any link to the ship.
Israel, which was hit by thousands of rockets fired by Hezbollah during the 2006 war in Lebanon, has said the captured ship proved Iran was helping Hezbollah to prepare for another round of fighting.
A UN Security Council resolution which brought an end to the 2006 war demanded the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon and imposed a ban on all arms exports to them.
Israel views Iran as its main strategic threat because of Tehran's support for Hezbollah and Palestinian militants, its leader's frequent predictions of the demise of the Jewish state and its nuclear programme.
Israel, which has the region's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, believes Iran's programme is aimed at developing a bomb, a charge denied by Tehran.
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Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
See also TOPIX > ISRAEL ACCUSES HIZBOLLAH OF AMASSING HUGE WEAPONS STOCKPILE + HEZBOLLAH SPOKEMAN: ALL OF ISRAEL IS WITHIN OUR RANGE [threatens to strike TEL AVIV wid LR rockets in response to any Israel attack agz Beirut-Lebanon].
[Iran Press TV Latest] Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah dubs 'resistance' as the only way to end the Israeli occupation. If the only tool you've got is a hammer all problems require a hammer.
On the occasion of Hezbollah's Martyr Day, Nasrallah said Wednesday that while 18 years of Palestinian negotiations with Israelis failed to bring about a free Palestine, the 18 years of Lebanese resistance freed southern Lebanon from the Israeli occupation.
"During 18 years of resistance, many sacrificed their lives for defending Lebanon and liberating our country; the resistance movement owes its achievement to them and we will follow their path, which brought dignity to us," the Hezbollah leader said.
He also called on Palestinians not to expect gaining their rights by counting on fake mediation efforts of the US, which is totally committed to Israeli interests.
"America is creating our problems; it is giving Israel all kinds of military and strategic support. US is backing away from pressuring Israel on settlements. How can we expect Washington to help us with our problems?" he asked.
Nasrallah also discussed other issues such as Israel's espionage activities inside Lebanon, the new Lebanese national unity government and Yemen's military assaults against the Shia resistance fighters.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says his country has not set preconditions for holding peace talks with Israel, but adds that Damascus "will not renounce" its rights.
"Resistance [to Israeli occupation] forms the core of our policy, both in the past and in the future. We do not put forward conditions on making peace, but we do have rights that we will not renounce," the Syrian president told a meeting of Arab political parties on Wednesday.
Assad made the remarks in response to Israeli President Shimon Peres' proposal for "direct and unconditional" peace talks with Damascus in the near future.
Israel and Syria have been technically at war since 1967 when Israeli troops captured the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War. The two sides have so far held four rounds of indirect talks to reach a comprehensive peace agreement through Turkish mediators last year.
However, Syria formally suspended the talks in protest at Israel's three-week-long offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which left about 1,400 Palestinians dead at the turn of the year.
Damascus has repeatedly said that it will resume peace talks with Tel Aviv only after a full Israeli pullout from the strategic plateau, which Israel occupied in 1967 and annexed in 1981. The region has now an estimated population of 20,000 Israeli settlers and 20,000 Syrians.
Syria describes its demand for a complete Israeli withdrawal as a step towards reviving its rights and not a precondition.
Israel has so far refused to return the plateau, which is a key source of fresh water for the arid region. Returning the Golan Heights will also cost Tel Aviv billions of dollars since it will have to dismantle Jewish settlements in the territory and pay compensation to the settlers.
#4
If there are no consequences for starting a war, what's to stop people from fighting every day? Syria attacked Israel, Syria lost, Israel keeps the Golan. I see nothing wrong with that.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/12/2009 21:44 Comments ||
Top||
#5
putting the political leaders to death in defeat might have a curbing effect on that behavior. Escuche, Chavez?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/12/2009 22:14 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Assad, how about doing something for your people and making Syria's core policy be improving life in Syria?
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran hanged on Wednesday a Kurdish activist convicted of "armed action" against the Islamic republic, Fars news agency reported, quoting the justice chief in Kurdistan province.
"The death sentence against the convicted man (Ehsan Fatahian) was carried out this morning," Ali Akbar Gharoussi said.
The Iranian Kurdish activist "was found guilty of armed action against national security" and "admitted" being a member of the outlawed Komalah Kurdish leftist opposition group, Gharoussi said.
According to group leader Abdullah Moh'tadi, Fatahian left the non-violent Komalah two years ago.
When asked by Al Arabiya about why he thinks the young man was hanged Moh'tadi said: "the Iranian regime is trying to intimidate ethnic minorities from joining the Green Wave", referring to the movement started in Iran for democracy during the last presidential election.
"One of the methods to deter people is stricter sentencing in ethnic provinces such as Kurdistan, Baluchistan and Ahwaz," he added
The 27-year old Fatahian was initially to serve 10 years in jail but his sentence was changed to death by a higher court.
Rights group Amnesty International has listed Iran as the world's second most prolific executioner in 2008 after China, and says it put to death at least 346 people last year.
[Iran Press TV Latest] A Lebanese Military court has sentenced to death four people on charges of spying for Israel and conspiring with the regime to wage a war on the country.
Two of the defendants were tried in absentia because they had reportedly fled to Israel, the Lebanese media reported on Wednesday.
The other two were a staff sergeant in the Lebanese internal security services and his wife.
The four were found guilty of "conspiring with Israel, allowing it to launch an attack against Lebanon and to make contacts with its agents in Lebanon."
Lebanon launched a counter espionage crackdown last spring through which it arrested at least 100 suspects.
According to senior Lebanese security officials the arrests have dealt a severe blow to Israel's spy networks in the country.
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
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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.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah dubs 'resistance' as the only way to end the Israeli occupation. 
