Iran's Khamenei gives qualified support to opening to West

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/media/ALeqM5ijKU8Y6ITGGaKyvpvtsQErRTB5jQ?size=s3" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/media/ALeqM5ijKU8Y6ITGGaKyvpvtsQErRTB5jQ?size=s3" width="400" /></a></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Tehran — Iran's supreme leader on Saturday backed President Hassan Rouhani's overtures to the West but criticised some aspects of a UN visit during which he spoke with US counterpart Barack Obama.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Obama, meanwhile, said Iran was "a year or more away" from acquiring a nuclear bomb -- a claim Tehran vehemently denies -- indicating that Washington is operating on a different timetable than its ally Israel.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> The comments from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in Iran, were his first public response to Rouhani's opening to the West in New York last week that was capped by a historic 15-minute telephone conversation with Obama.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> ?We support the diplomatic initiative of the government and attach importance to its activities in this trip,? he told military commanders and graduating cadets in remarks carried by his website,<a href="http://khamenei.ir/" style="color: #551a8b; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Khamenei.ir</a>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> However, Khamenei added that ?some of what happened in the New York trip was not appropriate... although we trust in our officials.?</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> While he did not elaborate, analysts said it was directed at the September 27 telephone call -- the first direct conversation between presidents of the two countries since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Rouhani's visit to New York for the UN General Assembly came after Khamenei had given the government permission to show ?heroic flexibility?, raising hopes of a breakthrough in long-stalled talks on Iran's controversial nuclear programme.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> But conservative commentator Mehdi Fazayeli said the government had made a mistake in ?cashing in too quickly its coupon? of direct contact with the US administration.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> ?If the call had achieved a valuable outcome, the leader would not have disapproved,? the Tehran-based Fazayeli told AFP.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> However Saeed Leylaz, a pro-reform political analyst, said Khamenei's criticism should not overshadow the new softer tone in Iran's foreign policy, considering that ?there are domestic politics in play as well.?</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> ?Even if the supreme leader is critical, one should not forget that without his permission the diplomatic initiative would not have been put in action in the first place,? he told AFP.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state including foreign policy, has evinced little faith in a rapprochement with an enemy long derided as the ?Great Satan.?</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> ?We are pessimistic towards the Americans and do not put any trust in them. The American government is untrustworthy, supercilious and unreasonable, and breaks its promises,? Khamenei said.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> General Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, said Monday that Rouhani should have waited for US concessions before agreeing to the call with Obama.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Rouhani has pledged to take a more pragmatic approach to the international nuclear talks in a bid to win relief from crippling US and European sanctions on Iran's oil and banking sectors.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Representatives of Iran and the six powers are to meet in Geneva later this month to seek ways to jumpstart decade-old negotiations that were put on hold in April ahead of the presidential election in which Rouhani won a surprise first-round victory.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> In an interview with the Associated Press released on Saturday, Obama said Rouhani had staked his credibility on dialogue and it was up to the United States to see if he had the political weight to follow through.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> ?He is not the only decision maker -- he is not even the ultimate decision maker,? Obama said, in reference to Khamenei.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> US, Israel divided on nuclear 'red line'</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Obama also laid out a timetable on a possible Iranian atomic bomb that contrasted with that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has warned that Tehran could cross an Israeli red line within ?weeks".</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <br /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> However, an Israeli official on Saturday insisted Netanyahu was not referring to the time it would take Iran to manufacture an atomic bomb, but the time it would take to enrich the necessary uranium for one.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Netanyahu had secured a tougher line from Obama in his public comments after their White House talks last Monday, with the US president saying the use of military force was still on the table to stop Iran?s nuclear drive.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> In his address to the General Assembly last Tuesday, Netanyahu himself warned that Israel was ready to unilaterally strike Iran.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Khamenei fired back after Netanyahu's comments, saying the US government is "seized by the international network of Zionism, and has to put up with the usurper (Israeli) regime and show flexibility towards it".</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> "We hear the repetitive and disgusting threats of the Iranian nation's enemies. Our response to any mischief will be serious and harsh," he said, echoing previous warnings of retaliation against the Jewish state and US bases and warships in the region in case of an attack.-AFP</div>

Iran's Khamenei gives qualified support to opening to West

Tehran — Iran's supreme leader on Saturday backed President Hassan Rouhani's overtures to the West but criticised some aspects of...

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Libyan PM accuses 'political party' of kidnapping him

<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Tripoli — Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has accused a "political party" of organising his brief abduction by armed gunmen on Thursday, the latest example of the lawlessness prevailing since Moamer Kadhafi's overthrow.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <img src="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/media/ALeqM5hfKb3ZkqPNwxH_33yyxNM9VlR89A?size=s3" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> The premier appeared in good health when he arrived at government headquarters after his ordeal, waving to waiting well-wishers as he climbed out of an armoured car.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> "I hope this problem will be resolved with reason and wisdom" and without any "escalation," Zeidan later said in comments broadcast by state television as he left a cabinet meeting.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> The pre-dawn seizure of Zeidan came five days after US commandos embarrassed and angered the government by capturing senior Al-Qaeda suspect Abu Anas al-Libi on the streets of Tripoli, whisking him away to a warship in the Mediterranean.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Witnesses said Zeidan was held at a police station south of the capital, and that his captors released him after armed residents surrounded the building and demanded he be let go.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> An employee at the hotel -- where Zeidan had taken up residence for security reasons -- told AFP a "large number of armed men" had entered the building but that the staff did not know what was happening.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> A Libyan government statement said Zeidan had been taken "to an unknown destination for unknown reasons by a group" of men believed to be former rebels.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> In comments made later to France24 television, Zeidan accused a "political party" of organising the kidnapping him, without naming the group.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> "It's a political party which wants to overthrow the government by any means," he said.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> "In the coming days I will give more information on who this political party is that organised my kidnapping," Zeidan added.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> After being freed, Zeidan met with his ministers and members of the General National Congress (GNC) -- Libya's highest political authority.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> The Operations Cell of Libyan Revolutionaries, former rebels who had roundly denounced Libi's abduction and blamed Zeidan's government for it, said it had "arrested" the premier under orders from the public prosecutor.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> But the cabinet said on its Facebook page that ministers were "unaware of immunity being lifted or of any arrest warrant" for him.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Later, the Brigade for the Fight against Crime, a police division made up of former rebels, claimed responsibility, the official LANA news agency.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> The government said it suspected both groups of being behind the abduction.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> The two groups fall under the control of the defence and interior ministries but largely operate autonomously.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> A country awash with weapons</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Two years after the revolution that toppled Kadhafi, Libya's new authorities are still struggling to rein in tribal militias and groups of former rebels.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Many Libyans blame political rivalries for the problems plaguing a country awash with militias and weaponry left over from the 2011 NATO-backed rebellion.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Zeidan, who was named premier a year ago, had condemned the US capture of Libi and insisted that all Libyans should be tried on home soil.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> The GNC has demanded that Washington "immediately" hand Libi back, claiming his capture was a flagrant violation of Libyan sovereignty.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Libi -- whose real name is Nazih Abdul Hamed al-Raghie -- was on the FBI's most wanted list with a $5 million (3.7 million euro) bounty on his head for his alleged role in the 1998 twin bombings of US embassies in East Africa.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> US Secretary of State John Kerry denounced Zeidan's abduction as "thuggery," while UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned it "in the strongest possible terms".</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Britain, which along with France had led the creation of a NATO no-fly zone in Libya at the start of the uprising, had earlier condemned the kidnapping and called for Zeidan's "immediate release".</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen welcomed Zeidan's release but said "the situation in the country is a matter of concern" and that the international community has the "responsibility to help Libyan authorities".</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> Public anger in Libya is growing as widespread violence -- including political assassinations -- proliferates, particularly in the east of the country.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> A number of foreign missions have come under attack in Tripoli and in the eastern city of Benghazi, the cradle of the 2011 revolution.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> On September 11, 2012, four Americans, including the ambassador, were killed when militants swarmed into the US consulate in Benghazi.-AFP</div>

Libyan PM accuses 'political party' of kidnapping him

Tripoli — Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has accused a "political party" of organising his brief abduction by armed gunmen on T...

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