President Zardari calls Ahmadinejad

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari called Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday.

According to the president’s spokesperson, two leaders discussed on Pak-Iran ties, economic cooperation and regional situation.

Both leaders agreed on stepping up economic cooperation. TrendPK

Ahmadinejad slapped by top Revolutionary Guard: WikiLeaks

The chief of the Revolutionary Guard angrily slapped Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in early 2010, as Tehran was still dealing with the fallout from last year”s election, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.

The cable, written in February, said Revolutionary Guard Chief of Staff Mohammed Ali Jafari blamed Ahmadinejad for the post-election “mess” in 2009, which saw the country roundly criticized by the West amid allegations of fraud and tough crackdowns on large-scale protests in Tehran.

The guard was founded after the Islamic revolution in 1979 to prevent dissident activity and is a strong internal force within the country, with economic and military wings.

Jafari is seen as close to the most conservative Iranian elements, but Ahmedinejad himself is also deemed a stalwart hawk.

The cable, titled “He who got slapped,” quotes an Iran watcher in Baku, Azerbaijan, who related that Ahmedinejad felt that in the aftermath of the post-election street protests, which turned violent, “people feel suffocated.”

In a meeting with his national security council, the president “mused that to defuse the situation it may be necessary to allow more personal and social freedoms, including more freedom of the press,” according to the source.

This provoked an angry retort from Jafari, according to the cable:

“You are wrong! (In fact) it is YOU who created this mess! And now you say give more freedom to the press?!”

The top guard then slapped the president in the face “causing an uproar and an immediate call for a break in the meeting” which did not resume for another two weeks, the cable said.

It took the intervention of Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, a senior member of the top oversight body, the Guardian Council, to get Jafari and Ahmedinejad back to the table, according to the cable.

The source cited in the cable released by WikiLeaks “predicted that events are trending towards major developments and a new phases” during 2010.

Russia to urge Iran to discuss nuclear programme

MOSCOW: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will urge Tehran to resume talks with global powers over its nuclear programme when he meets with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday, a Russian official said.

Medvedev is also willing to listen to Iran’s concerns on the issue when he meets with Ahmadinejad at a summit of Caspian Sea states in Azerbaijan, an official in the Russian delegation said in remarks authorised for release on Wednesday. AGENCIES

Ahmadinejad aide says Iran not ready to talk nuclear

TEHRAN: Iran is not prepared to discuss its nuclear programme at talks with global powers which might happen next month, an adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on Sunday.

“We will not be talking with the Western party about the nuclear energy issue in this round of the negotiation with this party,” Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a media adviser to the president, said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Iran has said it is ready to resume talks with the P5+1 group, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, after Nov. 10 but the final date, venue and agenda have yet to be agreed. AGENCIES

Syrian, Saudi leaders to discuss Lebanon, Iraq

RIYADH: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday for talks with King Abdullah expected to focus on tension in Lebanon over a U.N.-backed tribunal and the political void in Iraq.

The Saudi state news agency SPA gave no details about the talks after Assad began his second trip to the world’s top oil exporting country this year, the latest sign of a thaw in bilateral relations.

The meeting comes a few days after a state visit to Lebanon by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, whose disputed atomic energy programme Riyadh fears could lead to Tehran becoming a nuclear-weapons state.

The Saudis have been trying to convince Syria to loosen its alliance with Iran and adopt a more Arab-focused foreign policy with the kingdom, dangling the prospect of stronger economic cooperation.

The 2005 killing of Lebanese statesman Rafik

Ahmadinejad heads to Lebanon for two-day visit

BEIRUT: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left for Lebanon on Wednesday, embarking on a two-day visit underlining the power of Hezbollah which has put Western-backed factions in the government on the defensive.

Hundreds of posters of Ahmadinejad and Iranian flags have gone up in Beirut and Hezbollah’s heartland in southern Lebanon in support of the Iranian leader ahead of his first state visit to the country.

Ahmadinejad plans to meet Lebanon’s president and the pro-Western prime minister – but the biggest splash will come from his welcome by Hezbollah.

Iran has ironclad ties to Hezbollah, which boasts the strongest arsenal in the country and in many Shiite areas runs nearly a state-within-a-state.

During his visit, Ahmadinejad is scheduled to make public appearances expected to draw giant crowds in two Hezbollah strongholds – one in south

Ahmadinejad gets hero’s welcome in Lebanon

BEIRUT: Thousands of Lebanese gave Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a tumultuous welcome on Wednesday at the start of a visit which has highlighted Western fears about Tehran’s growing influence in Lebanon.

Throwing rice and flowers at the smiling Iranian leader, who waved from the open roof of his car, they lined the main road from Beirut airport to the presidential palace where Ahmadinejad was due to meet Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman.

Iranian flags, banners, balloons and posters of Ahmadinejad were draped along the route as well as pictures of Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the founder of Iran’s Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Ahmadinejad’s visit has raised concerns in Washington, which wants to isolate Iran over its nuclear programme and says Iran’s support for Hezbollah undermines Lebanese

Soldiers killed by blast at Iranian military base

TEHRAN: An explosion at an Iranian military training base that was apparently triggered when a munitions cache caught fire by accident killed and injured several servicemen on Tuesday, Iranian news agencies reported.

An Iranian official quoted by the Fars news agency said bodies were still being identified and the exact number of those killed would not be announced until Wednesday.

The explosion at a base in Khoramabad, western Iran, occurred roughly three weeks after a deadly bomb attack on a military parade in northwestern Iran and only days after gunmen killed several police officers in the capital of Iran’s Kurdistan province.

Analysts have said the killings could raise pressure on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose government has been plagued by infighting and economic woes linked in part to foreign sanctions imposed over Iran’s disputed nuclear

Tehran: Assad meets Ahmadinejad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met in Tehran and discussed bilateral relations, including investment, development and increasing trade between the two countries.
The two leaders also expressed their support for the formation of an Iraqi national unity government that represents all Iraqis, and Ahmadinejad briefed Assad on developments related to Irans nuclear programme, the report added.

Obama condemns Ahmadinejad’s UN speech

TEHRAN: US President Barack Obama has described as “hateful” and “offensive” the claim by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that most people believed the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks.

Obama was speaking exclusively to BBC Persian television, which broadcasts to Iran and Afghanistan.

Ahmadinejad’s speech at the UN General Assembly triggered a walkout.

Obama said it was inexcusable to make such remarks in New York itself, where most of the victims of 9/11 died.

Nevertheless, he reaffirmed America’s commitment to reach out to the people of Iran.

The Iranian president suggested the US government could have “orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy, and its grips on the Middle East, in order to save the Zionist regime”. Mr Ahmadinejad usually refers to Israel as the “Zionist regime”.

President

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