Archive for the ‘Presstv’ Category
The leader said Washington and its allies are well aware that Iran is neither in possession nor in pursuit of nuclear weapons and the real reason behind their enmity against Iran is their thirst for the nation’s oil.
The leader, however, said all of the plots of Iran’s enemies were thwarted in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19) courtesy of the forward movement and wise decisions of the Iranian nation.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Mark Glenn, from the Crescent and Cross Solidarity Movement, to share his opinion on this issue.
The following is a transcript of the interview:
Press TV: When we are looking at the situation that the US is currently engaged in regarding military actions– Mark Glenn in Idaho, I like to put this question to you-do you think that the US is actually looking at military attack as an option here in the case of Iran or is it just sticking to that economic pressure as President Obama has publicly announced?
Glen: Well it is virtually impossible for us to get a hundred percent accurate bid on what Washington is planning to do at any given moment but I can’t agree with Dr. Fetzer’s assessment on this which is that the Pentagon and more importantly the White House, they understand that the mass is simply not there.
The United States cannot get involved in another theatre of war especially with a country as large as Iran.
And so I think that this alone explains why Washington has been dragging its feet now for a good six to seven years with regards to this Israeli demand, an attack upon Iran.
So I think that they were in a very dangerous position here because the wild card in whole of this course is Israel. Israel has invested a huge amount of resources in terms of propaganda, in terms of money, just as a political ramification that would be the fallout of the United States, not attacking Iran could be absolutely devastating for Israel who has to maintain this tough guy image on the world scene with regards to her control over Washington D.C.
So the dangerous situation we are facing here is what Israel is going to do in order to push the United States into this conflict with Iran.
Is she going to attack another ship the way she did in 1967 with the USS Liberty? Is she going to assassinate the American President like one of her writers suggested be done just a few months ago and of course blame this on Iran?
I mean that is the wild card in the whole thing and makes the situation so unpredictable.
Press TV: Is the United States do you agree facing a weaker situation now looking at the region, the issue of energy supplies? We know that according to some reports the United States and the European Union members, they are not going to have enough energy supplies to supply themselves with. They will be dependent on energy supplies in the region and with looking at the Arab Spring influencing the geopolitics in the region, is the United States now in a weaker position?
Glen: Well I would like to address something very quickly that was mentioned in the previous question which is what is it that has got the United States and Israel in such inimical position to Iran?
My position on this is that if Iran did not have a drop of oil, if Iran did not have a square millimeter of natural gas, she would still be subject to the same kind of hostile and aggressive activities on the part of United States and Israel for the simple reason that Iran achieved in 1979 when no other country in that region has been able to achieve, which is complete political and economic independence from the West.
So in a region where Israel and United States need to keep all of these Middle Eastern countries in a state– if they not being ruled by puppet governments that are friendly to United States and Israel- then you have societies that are very unstable and subject to all sorts of turmoil.
This is what Israel and United States have to hit if they are going to maintain their hegemony in the region. So Iran being a stable country, Iran having achieved its independence since 1979 and Iran being in a position of deciding what is in her own best interest, both in terms of her domestic policy and her long range foreign policy objectives, this is what threatens the United States and Israel more than anything else is that Iran is going to eventually become like a rallying point for all of these countries in the Middle East and of course Iran having a favor good relations with Russia, having a favor good relations with China, this only adds to the situation in that Iran acts as something as a magnetic north for all these other countries.
So you could imagine the nightmare that United States and Israel are looking at in terms of all of these other countries that have been under the US fear of influence now for the last century, all of these countries falling out of that fear of influence and instead kind of forming a political confederacy with Iran that is backed up by the military and the economic might of Russia and China.
So I think that this best explains– I am not going to say that the oil and natural resources do not play a part in this but I think more than anything else it is the psychological power that Iran has in that part of the world that makes her such a threat to America and Israel in long-term foreign policy.
AHK/JR
Article source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232710.html
The first round was held on Sunday to find a successor to Former President Malam Bacai Sanha, who died in January.
62-year-old Gomes garnered 48.97 percent of the votes and Former President Kumba Yala came second with 23.36 percent.
Yala, along with five opposition candidates, have called for the first round’s results to be annulled, saying the polls were riddled with fraud.
The West African country, one of the poorest in the world, has a history of coups and uprisings since it declared independence from Portugal in 1974.
HSH/MRS/HN
Article source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232719.html
PressTV – Mali soldiers mutiny, seize presidential palace
FTP/HN
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Article source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232720.html
The protesters said there will be no improvement in the country as long as Saleh loyalists and his family members are in control of power positions in the government, the military and security apparatus.
Demonstrators also chanted slogans against the US and Saudi Arabia, accusing the two countries of running plots against Yemenis’ revolution. Washington and Riyadh had a major role in replacing Saleh with his deputy Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in a single-candidate presidential election.
Saleh, who ruled Yemen for 33 years, stepped down under a US-backed power transfer deal in February, which granted him immunity, after nearly a year of mass street protests against his rule.
Meanwhile, Yemeni ministers loyal to Saleh walked out of a cabinet meeting on Tuesday hours after Saleh reportedly threatened to pull his supporters out of the unity cabinet as part of his attempts to bring down the new government, AFP reported.
Saleh has also telephoned Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa personally and “threatened” his government. He has accused Basindawa’s government of being “weak” and of “not understanding anything about politics.”
According to a source close to Yemeni President, Hadi has appointed a committee of leading politicians in a bid “to convince Saleh to abandon his threats”. Saleh’s General People’s Congress (GPC) party has 17 ministers in the 34-member unity cabinet.
HM/JR/AZ
Article source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232671.html
Annan’s six-point plan calls for a UN-supervised halt to fighting, a daily two-hour humanitarian pause to hostilities, withdrawal of government troops and heavy weapons from crisis-hit cities and access to all areas affected by the fighting.
A statement is not binding and carries less weight than a formal resolution, but the 15-nation body has warned that it will consider “further steps” if President Bashar al-Assad fails to cooperate with Annan to end a year of unrest in the country.
Russia and China, who have already vetoed two UNSC resolutions against the Syrian government, signed on to the statement after Western powers agreed to soften it.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised the UNSC statement, calling it a “positive step”.
“To President Assad and his regime, we say, along with the rest of the international community, take this path, commit to it, or face increasing pressure and isolation,” Clinton told reporters.
Annan will return to Syria soon for further talks with Syrian officials. During his last visit earlier this month, the former UN chief called for a peaceful solution to end the year-long unrest in the country.
The Syrian president has said that he is ready for any honest effort to resolve the situation in the country.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March and many people, including security forces, have lost their lives in the violence.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing the protesters. But Damascus blames ”outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
HM/JR/AZ
Article source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232703.html
Saleh’s threat came after Yemeni Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa blamed him for the killing of hundreds of Yemeni protesters and shortcomings in the country.
In response to Basindawa’s remarks Saleh called on his party ministers to boycott cabinet meetings until the prime minister apologizes for his remarks. Saleh’s General People’s Congress (GPC) party has 17 ministers in the 34-member unity cabinet.
Saleh has also accused Basindawa’s government of being “weak” and of “not understanding anything about politics.”
Press TV’s correspondent in Yemen says Saleh successor President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has threatened to form a new government if Saleh loyalists refuse to attend cabinet meetings.
Analysts believe that Saleh’s attempts to cause the failure of the consensus government aims at damaging process of power transfer in the country.
Saleh, who ruled Yemen for 33 years, stepped down in February after nearly a year of mass street protests against his rule under a US-backed power transfer deal in return for immunity.
But Yemenis say that so far there has been no improvement in the country and their demands are not met yet since Saleh loyalists and his family members are in control of power positions in the government, the military and security apparatus.
“The unity government up to this point has not solved the issues and problems which we have been going through for years. Part of the reason is because Saleh and his inner circle continue to intervene and the other reason is because the unity government is made of people who are not fit for the job,” said Osama Shamsan, a spokesperson for the Yemeni Youth Revolution movement.
YM/HM/JR
Article source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232714.html
Speaking in the region’s capital of Arbil on Tuesday, the president of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said the partnership that had built the national unity government in the country was now “completely non-existent and has become meaningless,” AFP reported.
He also said that the oil-rich Kirkuk had to be incorporated into a future independent Kurdistan.
Diplomats regard the dispute as one of the greatest threats to Iraq’s long-term stability.
Barzani’s threat comes amid strained relations between him and the central government since he gave sanctuary to the fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi in December.
Hashemi is wanted in Baghdad for alleged involvement in terror activities. The Kurdistan region has defied calls to hand him over to Baghdad for trial.
MHB/HN
Article source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232718.html
In a Wednesday interview with Saudi Arabian newspaper, Al-Sharq, Othman said that Egypt and Gaza would start work on connecting their power grids within a few weeks.
“This will lead to a real relief for the deepening crisis in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
He explained that the plan to end Gaza’s power crisis was a two-phased one.
During the first phase, Egypt will supply diesel to Gaza’s sole power plant and in the next one, which will take 18 months to complete, Gaza will be connected to a regional power grid in Egypt.
Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, causing a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.
The full-scale land, aerial, and naval siege has turned the enclave into the world’s largest open-air prison.
In mid-February, Egypt blocked the flow of diesel through the tunnels lying beneath its border with Gaza, which are used to transfer supplies into the impoverished coastal sliver amid the siege.
The stoppage forced the territory’s sole electricity power plant out of work, causing the enclave to start experiencing blackouts of up to 18 hours a day.
MHB/HN
Article source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232724.html
“The CIA and other US officials admit they now have no information about the Iranian leadership taking the political decision to produce nuclear weapons,” Sergei Lavrov told Moscow’s Kommersant FM radio on Tuesday.
“But I am almost certain that such a decision will surely be taken after (any) strikes on Iran,” he added, AFP reported.
The pre-recorded interview was aired shortly after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warned enemies of Iran that the country is ready to strike back against an attack “at the same level as they attack us.”
Lavrov argued that his country is not simply defending an ally, but is trying to avert a broader conflict or possible nuclear arms race from breaking out in the Middle East region.
He added that Israel’s threats against Iran were only pushing other nations on poor terms with the West to consider pursuing their own nuclear weapon drives.
Lavrov noted that if a real attack happened, it “…will force a lot of Third World countries to pause and realize that if you have a nuclear bomb, no one will really bother you.”
He particularly raised the case of North Korea and its decision to both develop and test nuclear weapons — a move that was never followed by a threat of an attack from the United States.
“But we are all behaving responsibly [toward North Korea]. We are not proposing to bomb North Korea. We are all insisting on the immediate resumption of negotiations and looking for ways to make these negotiations productive,” Lavrov said.
“Scientists of almost all nations…agree that strikes against Iran can slow its nuclear program. But do away with it, close it, eliminate it — never,” he added.
The US and Israel have been escalating their war rhetoric against Iran in recent months, claiming that there is diversion in the country’s nuclear energy program towards a military program.
Tehran refutes their claims noting that as a member of International Atomic Energy Agency and signatory to Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has every right to peaceful uses of the nuclear energy.
SS/AZ
Article source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232673.html
“China opposes any country implementing unilateral sanctions on another country according to its domestic law,” Hong Lei said at a daily press briefing on Wednesday.
“China legally imports oil from Iran through normal channels in a reasonable and fair manner,” he added.
“Beijing imports oil based on the country’s economic development needs without violating relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and undermining the third parties’ and international community’s interests,” the Chinese official said.
On New Year’s Eve, the United States imposed new sanctions against Iran aimed at preventing other countries from importing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with its central bank.
However, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement on Tuesday that Washington has exempted financial institutions from 11 nations – Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, from new sanctions.
The most important countries which have not been included on the exemption list are China, India and South Korea.
China is the biggest buyer of the Iranian crude and figures released by US Department of Energy show that about 22 percent of Iranian oil exports go to the East Asian country.
The US and EU have imposed tough financial and oil sanctions against Iran since the beginning of 2012, claiming that the country’s nuclear energy program includes a military component.
Tehran refutes their claims noting that frequent inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency have failed to prove any diversion in Iran’s nuclear energy program toward military purposes.
MYA/AZ
Article source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232682.html
