The Iranian Speaker of Parliament has denounced U.S. intervention in Egypt and accused it of supporting violent confrontations among Egyptian protesters.
"Of course you want American-style democracy in the region," Mehr News quoted Ali Larijani as saying. "If you wanted real democracy, you wouldn't order that the protesters be attacked by camels and horses."
Yesterday, on the ninth day of unrest in Egypt, at least five people were killed and 1,500 injured when supporters of President Hosni Mubarak attacked protesters. Egyptian protesters say the pro-Mubarak forces are police in plainclothes, brought in from various cities and paid by the government to suppress the uprising. Armed with batons and bludgeons, Mubarak supporters were mounted on camels and horses as they attacked protesters.
Western countries including the U.S. have condemned the violence in Egypt and pleaded for restraint from both sides.
Larijani said: "Today the bullies of the world want to throw dust in the eyes of the people of the Middle East so that they can't see the truth. But [the bullies] are mistaken; the people of the Middle East have awakened."
Larijani accused some foreign media of confusing the issue by attributing Marxist leanings to the uprising in Egypt and other popular movements in the region. He insisted those uprisings are "a kind of Islamic awakening."
"It is no use cutting off broadcasters and the internet," he said, referring to measures taken by the Egyptian government to control information. "The Islamic nation has reached maturity."
The Iranian government also blocked internet and mobile phone services during the mass protests that followed the 2009 presidential elections in Iran. As in Egypt, Iranian protesters were confronted by violent pro-government forces who left dozens dead and many more injured.
source: Radio Zamaneh
Iran could make a nuclear weapon in as little as one or two years if it wished, an influential think-tank said Thursday, but industrial sabotage and the Stuxnet computer worm had probably slowed its progress.
Evidence showed “beyond reasonable doubt” that Iran was seeking the capability to produce nuclear weapons should its leaders decide to go down that route, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said in a report.
However, allegations that Iran had carried out prohibited chemical or biological weapons activities “cannot be determined from the available public information and may have been exaggerated,” the IISS said in a 128-page report on “Iran’s nuclear, chemical and biological capabilities.”
Iran is locked in a standoff with the United States and other powers over its nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West suspects aims to develop a nuclear bomb.
IISS said Iran’s nuclear program looked to have been dented by the Stuxnet computer worm, widely believed to have been built by Western or Israeli experts for the purpose. Iran says the worm infected some computers at its primary nuclear plant but did not affect operations. Western and other intelligence agencies have also been involved in a worldwide campaign to slow nuclear smuggling and make it harder for Tehran to acquire essential equipment. Some previous estimates over the last decade had suggested Iran could have a bomb by as soon as late last year.
“I think the world has been pleasantly surprised by the limitations that have been imposed on the program through industrial sabotage and the Iranians’ reliance on inefficient methods,” Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the IISS non-proliferation and disarmament program, told Reuters.
He said so far Iran’s leaders had not gone “all out” to develop a nuclear weapon, but they clearly wanted the option to ramp up production should they make the decision to do so.
source: Reuters
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