Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Lieutenant Commander Brig.-Gen. Hossein Salami on Sunday reiterated Iran's control over the world's energy supplies, warning that Iran has the power to cut energy supplies to Europe whenever needed, especially in winter."Iran sits on 50% of the world's energy and if it wants, Europe will spend the winter in the chill," he said.
"We say the first word in the region today and Iran is the main player in Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon, and in influencing regional developments," said Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar.
Iran 'not co-operating' says new IAEA chief
[BBC News]
Iran is not co-operating with the UN nuclear watchdog's investigation into the country's nuclear programme, the new head of the agency has said. Iran's insistence its nuclear programme was peaceful could not be confirmed, Yukiya Amano told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.
Mr Amano is taking a more critical line than his predecessor, analysts say. The news is likely to strengthen calls for sanctions on Iran. Iran's foreign minister has rejected Mr Amano's claim.
"The agency continues to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran, but we cannot confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities because Iran has not provided the agency with the necessary co-operation," Mr Amano said.
He was speaking at a 35-nation board meeting of the IAEA in Vienna, the first since he took over as the head of the organisation in December.
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Join the dots, anyone?
And here is another dot...
ReplyDeleteThere is something provocative in Syria's behavior over the last few weeks. Compared with Iran, the messages coming out of Damascus are still moderate. But the Syrians certainly seem attracted by the Iranian strategy of baiting the West.
Precisely as the United States strives to buy good will by returning an ambassador, Robert Ford, to Damascus; and just after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton turned to Syria with a request to curb arms smuggling to Hezbollah - Syria has responded by convening an 'Axis of Evil' summit at the presidential palace in Damascus.
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, and Khaled Meshal, head of the Hamas politburo, were the star guests at the meeting last week. The message was clear. Efforts by the Americans and Europeans to cozy up to Damascus are all very well; but in Syrian eyes, the real strategic partnership remains in the east. To emphasize the solidity of ties between them, Iran and Syria announced at the summit that their citizens would no longer need visas to visit each other.
Source: "As the West woos Syria, Assad aligns himself with Iran" Haaretz March 2nd 2010
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1153066.html