Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

TEHRAN, Aug. 22--State Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Wednesday the youth play a pivotal role in society.
In a meeting with those in charge of the youth branch of political parties, Rafsanjani noted that the constitution has emphasized on a multifaceted society and everyone is entitled to work for strengthening political parties, ISNA reported.
The SEC chairman pointed out that if elections are held in a healthy manner, people will have more confidence and the status of Islamic Revolution will be enhanced.
Noting that the most influential section of Iran’s Republic Party (Hezb-e Jomhouri) was its youth section, he further said senior officials give so much credit to young people that two young members were inducted in the High Council for Cultural Revolution.
Rafsanjani also said paying attention to youth in the Islamic system is based on Islamic beliefs.
“The Iranian youth have proved their capabilities in different arenas,“ he said.
Rafsanjani opined that education is the first priority of young people.
“The educated youth of today are future experts and they pave the grounds for society’s real independence,“ he said.
The youth branches of political parties, including National Confidence Party, Islamic Coalition Party, Islamic Iran Participation Front, Farmer’s House, Moderation and Development Party, Assembly of Imam’s Path, Executives of Construction Party and Islamic Revolution’s Mujahideen Organization, attended the meeting.

TEHRAN, Aug. 22--Several members of a separatist group in the oil-rich western province of Khuzestan have been arrested, the Intelligence Ministry announced on Wednesday.
The ministry said in a statement that its personnel also seized a cache of weapons from their hideout, Mehr News Agency reported.
“They were arrested after a tip-off from the public. Following a search of their hideout, a large number of military weapons were found,“ it said.
There were no details on the number of people arrested.
“The aim of this separatist group was to create division and propagate sectarian division,“ the statement said.
The provincial capital Ahvaz was the scene of deadly attacks in October 2005 and January 2006, which Iran blamed on elements linked to Britain, whose forces are stationed in the Iraqi city of Basra across the border.
Earlier this month, the Intelligence Ministry said it had foiled a plan to carry out a “terrorist act“ in the oil-rich border province.
Iran accuses arch-foe the United States and its Western allies of fomenting unrest in its sensitive border provinces, many of which are home to ethnic and religious minorities.
According to the statement released by the ministry’s Public Relations Office on Tuesday, the Intelligence Ministry arrested six culprits involved in the murder of Sheikh Hashem Samiri, a prominent cleric, in Ahvaz.
Those arrested are members of a separatist terrorist group who planned to cause insecurity in the region and trigger sectarian violence by killing prominent religious figures of the province.
The terrorist group was not identified by the ministry.
In July, Samiri was killed while leaving the Fatemeh Zahra (SA) Mosque in this southwestern city.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 22--A group of Iranian hostages freed from gunmen in Pakistan’s Balochestan province were handed over to Iranian authorities on Wednesday.
A criminal gang on Sunday abducted 21 people, including a number of local administrators, from the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan and took them across the border to Pakistan, DPA reported.
Government troops later rescued the hostages in the border town of Baleeda after a shootout that left one kidnapper dead and two wounded.
“The freed persons were handed over this morning to the Iranian Consulate in Quetta,“ said Major-General Saleem Nawaz, the head of the paramilitary Frontier Corps that carried out the rescue operation.
“Security forces also arrested 16 kidnappers whose fate would now be decided by a Pakistani court.“
The motive for the abduction was not yet clear. Media reports suggested that a militant organization called Jundullah (Army of God) was behind the action.
Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in Tehran on Wednesday that the hostages will leave Pakistan for Iran from the Quetta airport.
The spokesman noted that they have been rescued thanks to the efforts made by Iran’s foreign and interior ministries, Sistan-Baluchestan Governor General’s Office, Iranian Consulate in Quetta, as well as disciplinary and armed forces.
“An Iranian delegation, headed by Iran’s consul to Quetta, was welcomed by the governor general of Balochestan province and other senior officials in Pakistan,“ he said.
Hosseini added that the Pakistani officials underlined the need for strategic ties with Iran given the two countries’ common interests, and called for constant cooperation between the two neighboring states to fight bandits and illegal border crossing.
“The Pakistani officials handed over the released hostages to Iran’s Consulate in Quetta,“ he said, pointing out that the grounds are prepared for their return to Zahedan aboard an Antonov plane.

Hassan Beheshtipour

TEHRAN, Aug. 22--A political expert has said relations with Arab nations are essential but should be reciprocal.
Hassan Beheshtipour also told ISNA on Wednesday that it is necessary for the Islamic Republic to bolster ties with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
“Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan have problems (with Iran), which should be solved separately,“ he said, adding that every Muslim nation should move toward Islamic solidarity.
Commenting on Egypt ties, Beheshtipour said although the two countries have good cultural and economic ties, their political relations are strongly influenced by domestic developments.
He said Saudi Arabia cannot tolerate Iran’s status and might in the Middle East.
“Ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia were expanding, but recent developments such as religious edicts by Wahhabis, the victory of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the conflict between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq have negatively affected relations between the two nations,“ he said.
The political expert said Jordan has established close ties with Israel and the United States, which are Iran’s arch-foes.
He, however, rejected any connection between the push for a fresh resolution against Iran’s nuclear case in the United Nations Security Council and Tehran’s relations with Arab states.
Beheshtipour urged Muslim nations to maintain unity to withstand the Zionist regime and the United States.

TEHRAN, Aug. 22--Some 211 MPs on Wednesday castigated the US attempt to designate the Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist outfit.
“The IRGC is a sacred tree whose sapling was planted by the late Imam Khomeini,“ the lawmakers said in a statement.
They declared that the IRGC has become a thorn in the eyes of enemies of Islam and they developed animosity with this Iranian defense force to the extent that they label it as terrorist, IRNA reported.
“This move is not surprising on the part of the US, whose hands are stained with the blood of hundreds of innocent people killed by its executives every day around the world. The nation is proud of IRGC for safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity,“ it said.
The Iranian MPs said the world public opinion knows very well who is terrorist, pointing out that the world public opinion is aware of the US Army’s shameful involvement in running the Guantanamo Bay prison, Abu Ghraib, tens of secret prisons in Europe and the Middle East, and the indiscriminate bombardment of Iraq and Afghanistan during which tens of people are killed every day.
The statement also said that the world knows well that the US Army is providing the Zionist Israeli regime with every possible means to enable it to kill 10,000 Palestinians in a systematic genocide in the occupied territories.
“So, who should be labeled as terrorist? The US Army is the only one in the world which dropped atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed thousands of civilians. The US Army trained Al-Qaeda during the occupation of the former Soviet Union and escalated terrorism and violence across the world. So, who should be labeled as terrorist?“
The statement said the US administration, especially President George W. Bush, should know that the Iranian nation regards any affront to the IRGC as disrespect to the Iranian nation, which will stir hatred for the US administration.
The lawmakers stated that the IRGC is a constitutional defense force and the US conspiracy will only further strengthen national solidarity.

ÒQasedÓ weighs 2,000 pounds and is guided by a precision system, whose technology has been mastered by only a few countries.

TEHRAN, Aug. 22--The Defense Ministry will unveil a precision-guided bomb dubbed “Qased“ (Courier) next week.
According to a report by Fars News Agency, the Defense Ministry’s Defensive Propagation Department said “Qased“ weighs 2,000 pounds and is guided by a precision system, whose technology has been mastered by only a few countries.
The bomb has been indigenously developed and produced by Iranian engineers.
Qased has been successfully tested on F-4 and F-5 fighter jets.
The Defense Ministry will launch several defense projects in the coming weeks.

TEHRAN, Aug. 22--Tehran’s mayor has called for increasing the authority of municipalities, insisting that its status has been neglected in the government circles and bureaucratic system.
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf made the remark at the joint meeting of Majlis urban management fraction and the council of mayors on Tuesday, Fars News Agency reported.
“Enhancing the standard of living in terms of material and spiritual aspects is the common goal of the government, Majlis and municipalities,“ he said.
Referring to the limited powers of mayors, Qalibaf said they cannot even solve minor urban problems.
The mayor called on the Majlis urban fraction to pass the bills related to the country’s public transportation, housing and the plan of municipalities’ banks in the remaining period of the current Majlis.
Qalibaf stated that metropolises’ problems arise from security, cultural and social issues.

TEHRAN, Aug. 22--Iranian border guards have arrested 50 Pakistani nationals who had illegally crossed the 900-km Iran-Pakistan border in Taftan, Balochestan province.
The Pakistani nationals, who were not carrying any legal documents, intended to travel to Europe via Iran, Presstv reported.
At least 2,000 Pakistanis have been arrested over the past five months and handed to the country’s officials. They were heading for European countries via Iran in search of jobs.
Iran deported more than 15,000 Pakistanis last year.