Iran

AP Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the U.N. nuclear watchdog of being in the pocket of the United States and illegally releasing the names of three nuclear scientists who were then assassinated by alleged Israeli-trained killers. In a wide-ranging interview Thursday evening with The Associated Press, he also claimed that explosive material — and not airliners alone — brought down the World Trade Center, attacked U.S. policies from Libya to Afghanistan, and said when his second and final term ends in two years “new elections will be held and someone else will occupy this office.” The interview took place hours after Ahmadinejad lashed out at America so fiercely in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly that diplomats from more than 30 countries, led by those from the United...

NOVANEWS Tehran accuses Israel of killing nuclear experts, says will push for greater international condemnation of such practices; Blaming Israel for assassinating its nuclear scientists, Iran said Tuesday it would not retaliate for the “ugly phenomenon” but would seek more international support against such killings.  Israel in turn accused Tehran of secretly working on nuclear arms, warning that it may be the first nation to develop such weapons while being a member of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The recriminations at and outside of a meeting of the 151-nation International Atomic Energy Agency reflected the bitterness dividing not only the Mideast’s most intractable foes but of the camps supporting them. Iran is under four sets of UN Security Council sanctions for not moth...

NOVANEWS by Eileen Fleming The first two reports come out of Iran and I play clean up from Florida. NY residents protest US support of IsraHell   A US analyst says that the preemptive nuclear threat presented by the Israeli regime threatens European cities as well as Arab and Muslim countries that fall within range of its missiles. In an exclusive interview with Press TV, Ralph Schoenman, author of Hidden History of Zionism, elaborates on the irony as Israel has recently signed an agreement with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). He says that Israel’s capacity to take nuclear action against European cities is a threat against Europe’s support for the Palestinian people and any other people in the region. Press TV: With Israel having great ties and influence with ...

NOVANEWS   Backed by Israel, it’s the only foreign policy issue that unites the GOP By Trita Parsi The rise of the Arab masses has pushed Iran out of the headlines — for now. Even Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose theatrics rarely pass unnoticed, has lately failed to grab the attention of the U.S. media. America’s attention has instead turned toward Egypt, Syria and Libya. This is likely to change in the next few months. Not as a result of any particular developments in Iran or between the United States and Iran, but because of the 2012 presidential elections. As the Republican presidential hopefuls turn their criticism toward President Obama and not each other, Iran will likely be one of the few foreign policy issues the Republicans will pursue. Though their campaigns will center on t...

NOVANEWS Iran’s top leader has warned Arab nations swept up  in uprisings against autocratic regimes not to allow the US or Nato to influence  the types of post-revolution political systems they form. “Never trust America, Nato, and the criminal regimes like Britain, France and  Italy who for a long time divided and plundered your lands,” Ayatollah Ali  Khamenei told an international Islamic conference in Tehran on Saturday. “Hold suspicion of them and don’t believe their smiles. Behind those smiles  and promises lie conspiracy and treason,” he added. Iran has sought to portray the popular uprisings transforming the Arab world  as a replay of its 1979 Islamic Revolution, which toppled the pro-US Shah and  brought hard-line clerics to power. In Iran’s view, the collapse of pro-US gove...

NOVANEWS Iranian president tells Washington Post ‘Zionist regime’ is behind all major conflicts; ‘Palestinian UN bid should be the beginning of liberation of entire Palestinian land’ Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the Zionist state of perpetuating terror, and blamed the “Zionist regime” for starting both the first and second world wars. “The Zionist regime is always doing the same thing. They destroy people’s homes and raze them to the ground,” Ahmadinejad told the Washington Post on Tuesday. “They have created a few major wars. They continue to assassinate and terrorize people; they continue their policy of coercion against other nations, including Iran.” The Iranian leader slammed the West for supporting the Jewish state, accusing the United States of sacrificing its ...

NOVANEWS Two Americans jailed for spying in Iran will be released in two days, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has told US media. Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal were imprisoned for eight years last month. The pair, in custody since their arrest in July 2009, claimed they strayed into Iran accidentally while hiking near the border. An Iranian judge told the BBC he would release the men on payment of $500,000 (£316,000) bail each. Mr Ahmadinejad revealed the news in an interview with NBC’s Today show. In a separate interview with the Washington Post, the Iranian president described the release as a “unilateral pardon” and a “humanitarian gesture”. In the more than two years that Josh and Shane have been in Evin prison, they were led to believe on several occasions that their releas...

NOVANEWS Iranian leader says September 11 attacks were used by US in complicated, designed game to affect public emotions, pave way for invasions The Iranian president says the United States used the September 11 attacks as an excuse for launching wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the attacks were a “complicated, designed game” to affect people’s emotions and pave way for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Also says US launched those wars to solve its own economic problems. Ahmadinejad’s remarks appeared on Iranian state TV’s website on Sunday. The Iranian leader has repeatedly questioned the official version of the events surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks, calling it a “big lie.”  In 2010, New York turned down his request to visit the World Trade Center site t...

NOVANEWS By Kourosh Ziabari   The Middle East is experiencing hard and complicated times. Tunisia and Egypt have already witnessed all-out revolutions which put an end to the decades-long tyranny of the U.S.-backed dictators while Libya, Bahrain and Yemen are engulfed in what might be called unambiguous civil wars. The world is anxiously pursuing the developments in the region. The United States, Israel and their European allies have so far exhibited a hypocritical reaction by supporting the suppression of anti-regime protesters in Bahrain, fomenting unrest in Syria and supporting military adventure in Libya. To the U.S. and Europe, the revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt have been nothing but a fait accompli. They had no option but to laud the popular uprising of the people there. From...

NOVANEWS Turkey plans to deploy radar station aimed at protecting NATO members from the threat of Iranian missiles. Iran on Thursday warned Turkey that plans for a NATO radar station on its territory would cause tension, the ISNA news agency reported. “We expect our friend and neighbor (Turkey) to be more careful and not prepare the ground for policies which would lead to tension and, beyond any doubt, to complicated consequences as well,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. The spokesman was referring to a Turkish agreement to deploy a missile defense system which is aimed at protecting NATO members from the threat of Iranian missiles. “Strengthening NATO’s presence in this region itself would be counterproductive to both regional security and also that of Turkey,” Mehm...