European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has invited Saeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, to talk about European sanctions in response to Iran's nuclear activities. AFP reports that Ashton wrote to Jalili after the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions against Iran for their refusal to negotiate over its nuclear program. The West accuses Iran of covertly trying to develop nuclear weapons but Iran denies these accusations and repeatedly maintains that its nuclear activities are purely peaceful.
EU foreign ministers are meeting in Luxembourg to review the UN sanctions on Iran and discuss imposing their own set of sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, had earlier announced that Tehran is willing to meet with Catherine Ashton to discuss nuclear matters.
In addition to blocking the Islamic Republic's development of weapons and extraction of uranium, the new draft of European sanctions against the Islamic Republic also stops new investments in sale of technology and services in the oil and gas industries to Iran. Iran has the second largest natural gas resources in the world and is the second largest exporter of oil in the OPEC oil region. source: Radio Zamaneh
Green Movement leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi has released a statement in which he has described the recent attack against the house of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri and the office of Grand Ayatollah Sanei in the holy city of Qom as means of distracting the public's attention away from the country's real problems.
In the statement, published by the Kaleme website, Mousavi said that the refusal to grant authorisation for holding demonstrations on the anniversary of the June 12th presidential elections was "more than anything an indicator of the government's fear of a recurrence of the epic [demonstrations] on June 15th 2009.”
Mousavi claimed that the attack against the prominent clerics was part of a move to conceal the true extent of the government's failure in handling the country's economic, cultural, political and foreign policy concerns. "More than ever before, the people in government need to create ‘incidents’ that enable them to conceal the consequences of the misfortunes they have brought about for the country. Attacking the office of an eminent cleric and an admired student of Imam Khomeini is entering a new phase in creating such crises. Have they forgotten that it was an attack against the house of Imam Khomeini which paved the way for liquidating the roots of tyranny on 6 June 1963 and laid the foundation for [the revolution of] February 1979? Have they still not learned their lesson?" source: The Green Voice of Freedom
The office of the late Ayatollah Montazeri in Qom was sealed yesterday morning by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence. Ahmad Montazeri, the reformist cleric's son, posted an announcement on Ayatollah Montazeri's official website to confirm this news. According to the statement, 15 ministry officials carrying a warrant from the Special Court for the Clergy searched the premises and sealed the office entrance after confiscating some items. On Sunday night the office was also attacked by a number of pro-government forces. Ayatollah Montazeri, who was one of the most outspoken critics of the Islamic Republic government, passed away last December and his funeral was carried under strict security measures,
The plain clothes forces attacking his office, which Jaras reformist websites describes as "Basij, Hezbollah and Ansar forces" swarmed the offices of Ayatollah Montazeri and Ayatollah Sanei on Sunday morning at 4 am in protest to the presence of opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, who was visiting Qom. According to Ahmad Montazeri, they broke the windows and the office furniture while tearing the curtains and vandalizing the office. The crowd chanted slogans against Mehdi Karroubi, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and in support of Ayatollah Khamenei.
The attackers of Ayatollah Sanei's residence insulted the Shiite leader and Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. In a video taken from the crowd surrounding Ayatollah Sanei's residence, the speaker of the plain clothes forces threatens Hassan Khomeini that from September, he would not be allowed to teach at the Qom Seminary School. He warned the Intelligence and security forces saying: "We will not allow it; we will do our job; the guys from Intelligence, security and military forces should know and not say something tomorrow. We expect that in September we don't have to deal with the presence of this indecent son of Haj Ahmad Khomeini (son of Ayatollah Khomeini) in Qom." He also threatened Ayatollah Rafsanjani, the Chairman of the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts saying: "Mr. Hashemi has to return to the right path, otherwise we will get rid of him easily."
Mehdi Karroubi, who is on a visit in Qom, was also attacked on Sunday by the plain clothes pro-government forces. source: Radio Zamaneh | |
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