TEHRAN, June 5--Plans are underway to establish special tribunals to deal with organized crime and terrorism.
According to the plan, a new police rapid deployment force will also be established soon.
Office of the prosecutor general will supervise establishment of anti-terrorism courts and preliminary courts, Fars News Agency reported.
Article Five of the Law on Establishment of Public and Islamic Revolutionary Courts was amended recently to pave the way for anti-terrorism courts and preliminary courts to be established in all provincial capitals and regions mandated by Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi.
According to the new plan, courts and preliminary courts are part of the judicial administration and the judiciary chief can transfer his right of supervising the above courts to the prosecutor general or one of his deputies.
If the plan is approved, organized crime, espionage, armed raids, terrorist acts, sabotage, intimidation and plots against Islamic System, and crimes against humanity will come under the jurisdiction of these courts.
However, crimes whose perpetrators are condemned to serve at least 10 years in jail, or are exiled or fined up to 100 million rials will be referred to Islamic Revolutionary courts.

Representatives of Sunni minority groups last week met with the candidates of the ninth presidential elections to help resolve problems of their constituencies and eliminate existing discriminations.
About 16 Sunni lawmakers from the Sixth and Seventh Majlis met with majority of the candidates and exchanged views on the poor quality of life in the border regions, lack of participation of Sunnis at different state managerial levels, and the need for more attention towards the need to fight smuggling.
In a meeting with the former police chief and presidential aspirant, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the delegates informed him that the majority of smugglers and traffickers are from the underclass and include jobless in the border areas who live in misery and under some of the most difficult conditions.
In a separate meeting with former Majlis speaker, Mehdi Karroubi, the lawmakers urged him to help provide people in their constituencies with electricity and safe water facilities.
Meanwhile, other presidential aspirants, Mostafa Moin, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad in meetings with the Sunni MPs promised to help resolve the problems of their people.
President Mohammad Khatami’s motto of “Iran for All Iranians“ is still very appealing to the Sunnis in Iran and they expect the next president to follow in his footsteps.
The lawmakers believe they have many intelligent and efficient people in their communities who are as better and qualified as their Shia compatriots and can serve the society and the system.
In their meetings, the former and present legislators argued that even governors-general, governors and their deputies are not appointed from amongst the Sunnis in the Sunni-dominated regions.
All presidential candidates conceded that there exist obstacles and constraints preventing the Sunnis from their fair share in government posts.
A Sunni lawmaker told Iran Daily that Articles 12 and 15 of the Constitution reiterate that all Iranian tribes are equal in the eye of law and justice should be implemented for all people.
Bayram Gildi noted that different interpretations of the law have resulted in a selective approach towards the Sunnis rendering them as second-class citizens.
He recalled that 15 percent of Iranians adhere to the Sunni school of thought and they live in border towns including Golestan, Rezvanshahr, Bandar Abbas, Bandar Lengeh, Torbat-e Jam, Kha’ar and some cities in Kurdestan province.

VIENNA, Austria, June 5--Iran wants talks with the European Union aimed at guaranteeing its nuclear program is peaceful to resume soon as it rejects a two-month delay in negotiations it had provisionally accepted, EU diplomats said Friday.
“They want working groups to resume and for there to be a major meeting of the principals within one month,“ a diplomat from one of the three countries negotiating with Iran told AFP.
The diplomat said Iran also insisted that its enriching uranium be part of any talks or agreement with EU negotiators Britain, France and Germany.
Iran has temporarily suspended uranium enrichment, which makes what can be fuel for civilian power reactors or the raw material of atomic bombs, but insists it has the right to carry out enrichment within the framework of a peaceful nuclear program.
Disagreement over enrichment, which the European trio wants Iran to definitively abandon in return for trade, technology and security incentives, had almost scuttled the EU-Iran talks that began in December.
But Iran and the foreign ministers of the European trio had agreed in Geneva on May 25 to resume talks in August, after Iran’s presidential elections June 17 and after the EU had come up with concrete proposals on cooperation with Iran over its nuclear program by the end of July.
Iran however on Thursday notified ambassadors in Tehran from the three European states that this timing was not acceptable, said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.
The diplomat said “this was really a big surprise“ and that Iranian officials had made the notification “orally, not through a letter.“

Hamid-Reza Asefi

TEHRAN, June 5--Iran reacted Friday to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s comments on the upcoming presidential elections saying, “Rice is actually angry about the Iranian foreign minister’s successful visit of Iraq.
Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid-Reza Asefi said, “Rice feels belittled when comparing Kamal Kharrazi’s successful visit with her own (almost simultaneous) visit of Iraq, that was ridiculed even in the US media.“
According to a report by the Information and Pres Bureau of the Foreign Ministry, Asefi noted, “Iran is simply not moving in line with the imposed plans drafted by the United States for the region, believing that regional powers are politically mature enough to decide their own fate.“
The comment was in response to statements by the hard-line top US diplomat and a staunch advocate of the illegal US invasion of Iraq. Rice accused Tehran of not being in line with Bush’s neocon agenda in the strategic region.
Denouncing Rice’s irresponsible stance on the June 17 presidential election, Asefi said, “Her comments are not only undiplomatic since they are interference in Iran’s domestic affairs, but also beside the point, due to her poor knowledge about the way different institutions were born in Iran and their functions.“
Asefi went on to say that, “High voter turnout in the upcoming elections will be a resolute and timely response to US officials.“
In a recent interview Rice said the United States’ picture of the upcoming Iranian elections is bleak due to vast disqualification of hopefuls.

BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 5--An evaluation report has drawn positive conclusions on the performance of Iran’s Foreign Ministry and its foreign missions and embassies.
The annual report-a kind of barometer on the performance of the Foreign Ministry and Iranian missions-is prepared under the supervision of Ambassador Behrouz Kamalvandi, director general for evaluation and supervision in Iran’s foreign ministry.
“This year’s report shows very good improvement in the facilities we are giving both to Iranian expatriates and foreigners and also in other issues dealing with the economy and security of the country,’’ Kamalvandi told IRNA in an interview in Brussels.
The report, which takes into consideration issues, related to economy, security and services is to be presented to the President Mohammad Khatami and other authorities in the coming days.
“Considering the indicators, the result shows marked improvement in the performance of our colleagues in the world,’’ said Kamalvandi who is currently visiting Iranian diplomatic missions in Europe.
He cited developments in the economy. “Lot of work has been done by the chancellery and headquarters to ensure that the way paved for the economy of the country is smooth.’’
The report also contains good news for Iranian expatriates and for foreign tourists and businessmen wanting to visit the Islamic Republic.
“We want more foreigners to come and personally see the realities in the Islamic Republic. For that reason we are facilitating visa issuance. Now tourists can receive visas more easily,’’ he said.
Iranian expatriates will have easier access to passports and other official papers and services.
’’We are trying to find if there are any obstacles so that we can remove them and make things easier,’’ he noted.
The annual report also pinpoints deficiencies in the services and recommends ways for improvement.
“If for example it takes one week to issue a passport to an Iranian living abroad, we try to find ways to be able to issue it in 3 days,’’ said Kamalvandi.
He said there are some deficits in public relations of Iranian missions, which need to be improved.
“There should be more activity in this field.’’

DHAKA, Bangladesh, June 5--Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance said here Friday creating a media movement to get acquainted with countries, including Iran and Bangladesh, will help direct news exchange.
In a talk with the Bangladeshi minister of Information, Ahmad Masjed Jamei added, “Media circles should accept the realities of the global village and play an effective role in its management“.
As reported by IRNA, Masjed Jamei stressed,“ We believe in the need for establishment of direct media links between our two countries and prefer to hear from your media about Bangladeshi events“.
Bangladesh Information Minister Mohammad Shamsul-Islam, for his part, said “To promote culture we better go through one another’s media, although we have not been successful in doing so in the past. But now that Iran has expressed intention and will to do so, we hope for the success of the move.“
He emphasized on more media interaction and exchange of journalists between the two sides and urged Iran assist Bangladesh in Persian language teaching and journalism workshops for Bangladeshis.
Masjed Jamei is visiting Bangladesh on an invitation from his Bangladeshi counterpart Salimeh Rahman.

TEHRAN, June 5--Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Hassan Rohani is to launch a weeklong four-nation tour of Asia at the head of a delegation.
Head of the Policymaking and Propagation Committee at the SNSC, Ali Aqamohammadi told IRNA on Sunday Rohani will visit Yemen, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
Rohani will discuss bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest with officials in the four Muslim countries and brief them on recent developments in the Iran-EU3 nuclear talks.
Yemen presently sits on the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are members of the Non-Aligned Movement.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, June 5--Kazakhstan foreign minister said Saturday in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has agreed to allow Iran, India and Pakistan to join the organization as observers.
At the end of a meeting of foreign ministers member states in Astana, the Kazakh minister, Kassymozhomart Tokaev told reporters about the decision, IRNA reported.
The SCO was founded in 1997 in Shanghai, China, and five countries were among the founders; China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Uzbekistan joined the organization on June 15, 2001.
Main goals of founding the organization include confidence building, decreasing border guard forces and strengthening security in the member states.

TEHRAN, June 5--Brigadier General Alireza Afshar, deputy commander of the Armed Forces Main Headquarters (AFMH) for cultural affairs and defensive promotions, stressed here Sunday that no member of the military will participate in executive and supervisory affairs of the upcoming elections.
The armed forces will help ensure the security of elections if they are asked to, IRNA reported him a saying.
According to a report by the AFMH, Afshari stated that members of Basij (volunteer forces) are regarded as “armed forces“ only when they are on duty. The forces are
banned from political activity unless they are off duty and without the uniform and title of Basij.