Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Rejects Direct Talks With U.S

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected any idea of bilateral talks with the United States on Thursday in a speech in which he scoffed at Iranian officials who might consider such negotiations.

A staunch ideologue who has often rejected dialogue with America, Ayatollah Khamenei was apparently responding to a United States offer of one-on-one negotiations between the two countries on a range of topics, including Iran’s disputed nuclear program, a suggestion that Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. reinforced last week during a security conference in Munich. The Iranian foreign minister said then he was open to such talks, although Mr. Biden noted that they could proceed only if the ayatollah showed serious interest.

The ayatollah’s objection is an edict to which other Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, must adhere, and it comes after several high-ranking Iranian officials, including Mr. Ahmadinejad and Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, had said the Obama administration had been taking positive steps toward Iran. Ayatollah Khamenei was straightforward in his speech on Thursday before air force commanders in his Tehran office, which was reported on his personal Web site.

He said that while some “simple-minded people” might be happy about the prospect of bilateral talks, Iran had seen nothing from Washington other than the same conspiracies.

“The Iranian nation will not negotiate under pressure,” he said. Noting the international sanctions against Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei said: “The U.S. is pointing a gun at Iran and wants us to talk to them. The Iranian nation will not be intimidated by these actions.”

“Direct talks will not solve any problems,” he added.

His remarks came after new restrictions were imposed on payments for Iranian oil on Wednesday, a move that increased economic pressure on Iran, and as Iranian and Western officials said Iran had agreed to resume multilateral nuclear talks with world powers this month in Kazakhstan. The ayatollah’s rejection of talks with the United States will not affect the Kazakhstan talks, set to begin Feb. 26.

He said the United States was desperate for talks because its policy in the Middle East had failed. “They need to draw a trump card,” he said. “Their trump card is urging Iran to sit at the negotiating table.”

“I’m not a diplomat, I’m a revolutionary, and speak frankly and directly,” he said. “If anyone wants the return of U.S. dominance here, people will grab his throat.”

His speech was a reaction to continuing United States sanctions against Iran, people close to him said.

“There is no room for any optimism,” said Hamid Reza Taraghi, an influential politician. Pointing to the new sanctions, decisions by American courts to seize Iranian assets and the support for the opposition in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is Iran’s last regional ally, he said, “We haven’t seen anything good from the U.S.”

Iran experts outside the country said they were not surprised that Ayatollah Khamenei had ruled out dialogue with the United States, given his longstanding antipathy toward the Americans. But some said his unyielding stance was not necessarily working in Iran’s best long-term interests as the cumulative economic effects of the sanctions grow more corrosive.

“This is expected from Khamenei, his ideological view of the United States is getting in the way,” said Alireza Nader, a senior policy analyst at the Washington offices of the RAND Corporation. “Khamenei may be reluctant to negotiate — perhaps he does not want to form a weak position — but his hand is going to get weaker as time goes by.”

Shoes thrown at Iran President Ahmadinejad in Egypt

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Cairo on Tuesday, the first by an Iranian leader in more than three decades, highlights efforts by Egypt's Islamist leader to thaw long frigid ties between the two regional heavyweights.

Although the official welcome was warm, there was unscripted discord from Sunni protesters angry over Iran's support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, as well as decades of sectarian animosity between Shiite-led Iran and the region's Sunni majority.

At one point, Ahmadinejad was forced to flee an ancient mosque in downtown Cairo after a Syrian protester took off his shoes and threw them at him.

ater, anti-Iranian protesters raised their shoes up while blocking the main gates to Al-Azhar, the Sunni world's most prestigious religious institution, where Egypt's most prominent cleric chided Ahmadinejad for interfering in the affairs of Sunni nations.

The protests illustrate the limits to how far and how quickly Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi can go in reaching out to Iran: His Sunni allies at home view mainly Shiite Iran as a bitter rival, and Cairo can't afford to alienate Washington and Gulf Arab states who seek to isolate Tehran.

The three-day visit, centered around an Islamic summit, was an attempt by Morsi to strike an independent foreign policy and reassert Egypt's historic regional leadership role following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, a close US ally who shared Washington's deep suspicions of Tehran. Such a visit by an Iranian leader would have been unthinkable under Mubarak.

Morsi gave Ahmadinejad a red-carpet welcome on the tarmac at Cairo airport, shaking his hand, hugging and exchanging a kiss on each check.

The two leaders then sat down for a 20-minute talk that focused on the civil war in Syria, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. Iran is Damascus' closest regional ally, while Egypt is among those that have called on Assad to step down.

Still, the chasm inherited from 34 years of bitter relations and the rift between overwhelmingly Sunni Egypt and Iran's Shiite leadership were on display.

Sunni-Shiite tensions dominated talks between Ahmadinejad and Egypt's most prominent cleric, Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, who upbraided the Iranian leader on a string of issues and warned against Iranian interference in Gulf nations, particularly Bahrain, where the ruling Sunni minority has faced protests by the Shiite majority.

El-Tayeb said attempts to spread Shiite Islam in mainly Sunni Arab nations were unacceptable and called for a halt to bloodshed in Syria, where Tehran's ally Assad has been battling rebels, according to a statement by Al-Azhar about the meeting.

The Sunni cleric also demanded that Ahmadinejad speak out against insults hurled at the first caliphs who succeeded the Prophet Muhammad and other figures close to the prophet in the 7th century. Those figures are widely resented among Shiites because they are seen as having pushed aside Ali, the prophet's son-in-law, who Shiites consider his rightful successor. The dispute over succession is at the root of the centuries-old split between Islam's Shiite and Sunni sects.

The meeting was "tense," acknowledged an aide to the sheik, Hussein al-Shafie, speaking at a news conference with Ahmadinejad that el-Tayeb did not attend.

Earlier, a Syrian man was arrested by police after he hurled his shoes at the Iranian leader outside the ancient al-Hussein mosque in downtown Cairo, according to security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Ahmadinejad's visit came nearly six months after another historic first: a trip by Morsi to Tehran, where disdain for Egypt led the ruling regime to name one of its streets after the ringleader of the assassination team that gunned down President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

Egypt was once closely allied to Iran's former ruling shah. The two countries severed relations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution brought a clerical rule to power in Iran and Egypt offered refuge to the deposed shah. Ahmadinejad's visit to Al-Azhar brought him not far from a grandiose Cairo mosque where the shah - despised by Iran's clerical rulers - is buried.

Relations further deteriorated after Egypt's peace treaty with Israel.

"For the first time, we are witnessing breaking of ice between the two countries," said political analyst Rafaat Sayed Ahmed.

Ultraconservative Islamists known as Salafis, who view Morsi as too pragmatic and compromising but ally with him in the face of secular opposition, see Iran as Sunni Islam's greatest enemy. Salafi clerics often rail against Shiites and Iran in their sermons.

On Tuesday, Egypt's hard-line Daawa Salafiya, which is the foundation of the main Salafi political party Al-Nour, released a statement calling on Morsi to confront Ahmadinejad on Tehran's support for the Syrian regime and make clear that "Egypt is committed to the protection of all Sunni nations."

Egypt-Iran diplomatic overtures have raised concerns among Sunni Gulf nations, who are keeping a close eye on the Iranian leader's visit. The Gulf states accuse Iran of supporting Shiite minorities in the Gulf and harbor concerns about Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

Gulf countries, especially the United Arab Emirates, have made little effort to hide their enmity to the new Egyptian government out of fear the Islamists will export Egypt's revolution to their countries. The UAE has cracked down on Egyptian expatriates for links to Morsi's fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood and has given refuge to former Egyptian regime members.

Morsi and the Brotherhood have sought to ease Gulf concerns, stressing that the security of the Gulf nations - which Egypt has relied upon for financial aid to help prop up its faltering economy - is directly linked to Cairo's own.

Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr Kamel reiterated that on Tuesday, saying "Egypt's relationship with Iran will never come at the expense of Gulf nations."

Morsi's government has presented the moves to improve ties as a policy of greater independence from the United States. He may also have geopolitical considerations: Gulf powerhouses Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are cool to Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and his rule, and several experts said Morsi wants to keep the option of ties with Iran open as an alternative.

Israel to Regret Attacking Syria: Iran's Security Chief

Iran's head of supreme national security council Saed Jalili said here Monday that Israel will regret its recent attack on a Syrian military research center.

Speaking at a press conference Monday at the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Jalili said that as Israel had regretted previous wars and aggressions, it will also regret its attack on Wednesday, adding that the Syrian government and people are serious in that regard.

His remarks came against the backdrop of the Israeli airstrike that hit a Syrian military research center in the Jumraia suburb of the capital Damascus on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Jalili, who arrived in Syria on Saturday to discuss the Israeli attack, said that Iran will capitalize on all its relationships in the international circles to support Syria, adding Syria is an important part of the Islamic world, which " will never permit any aggression on it."

The Israeli attack "has proven its failure to stir up internal differences in Syria," he said. "The Zionist enemy, its allies and tools are trying to hit the resistance in the area" as they have realized that there is a "genuine chance for a unity around the idea of resistance."

Jalili pointed out that Syria is espousing the path of resistance and has defended its causes "and subsequently it would be an aim for the enemies who will go on with avenging it."

On the crisis in Syria, Jalili reasserted that the solution for the crisis in Syria can only be "Syrian," emphasizing the " democratic means and national dialogue" as the way out.

"We have stressed, from the very beginning, that terrorism and violence could not be conducive to bringing in stability in this country," he said, adding that supporting the Syrian people could not be done through undermining the infrastructure but rather through national dialogue.

"We believe that the political program outlined recently by Syrian President Bashar a-Assad will pose the appropriate base for dialogue," he stressed, adding that "foreign intervention, terrorist practices and violent acts are all condemned."

On Sunday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said during his meeting with Jalili that Syria is capable of repulsing any aggression that might target its people, thanks to the strength of its military and the awareness of its people.

During the meeting, Assad stressed that "this aggression reveals the real role Israel is playing in cooperation with external hostile powers and their tools on the Syrian ground to destabilize the stability of Syria."

Although the details surrounding the rare air raid are still murky, Syria threatened Thursday to retaliate for the brazen attack, and its main regional ally Iran said there will be repercussions for the Jewish state over the air raid.

Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak confirmed the airstrike on Sunday at a time the United Nations called for self-restraint.

Syria said the bombed facility in Jurmaya had been repeatedly targeted by rebels who failed to storm it, adding that Israel did what the rebels could not.

U.S. officials said the Israeli airstrike targeted a convoy carrying anti-aircraft weapons and heading form Syria to Lebanon. Syria denied the claim and said the air raid targeted a research center for scientific purposes.

Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant almost ready: Russia

Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant is almost complete, with all work set to finish on schedule, the chief of Russia's state-owned nuclear energy company has said.

"We have an agreed schedule, all of the work is in the final stages... We've sent a large group of our specialists to Iran, they are now adjusting the systems," Rosatom Director Sergey Kirienko said.

Under a bilateral agreement, which has received approval from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Russia will initially operate the plant, supplying fuel and taking away the spent fuel for the next two or three years, but will eventually hand over full control to Iran.

Families call on Iran to release hikers ahead of espionage trial

The families of two American hikers set to stand trial this week on charges of spying called on Tehran on Monday to release the men.


Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, who have been jailed in Iran since 2009, are set Wednesday to answer charges of illegal entry and espionage -- charges that can carry the death penalty in the country.

The case has been delayed twice before because a third American defendant, Sara Shourd, has not appeared in court to face similar charges.

"For more than 21 months, Shane and Josh have been locked up, isolated from their families and the world and denied any semblance of due process," the families said in a statement.

"The charges they face are as cynical, unjust and unreasonable as the length of their incarceration and it is time for Iranian judicial authorities to stop playing games with their lives."

The three graduates of the University of California at Berkeley had been hiking together in Iraq's Kurdistan region when they were detained by Iranian border forces on July 31, 2009, for allegedly crossing into Iran illegally. They have pleaded not guilty.

In September, after 14 months in prison, 32-year-old Shourd was released on $500,000 bail because of a medical condition.

She has since said she will not return to Tehran, citing depression and post-traumatic stress disorder caused by her imprisonment.

Iranian authorities have said Shourd, who is engaged to Bauer, will be tried in absentia if she doesn't show.
"More than anything, I want Shane and Josh to be free," said Shourd in an article she wrote for according to an article written last year by Shourd..

U.S. officials and others have repeatedly called for the release of Bauer, 28, and Fattal, 33.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa was the latest to ask Iran to release the two men, calling their detention "morally unacceptable."

"There is no evidence to support the charges against them," Tutu said in a written statement released over the weekend.

The families called on "authorities to take this opportunity to end the mistreatment of of two young men who have done no wrong to Iran and mean more to us than anything."

The two men, who share a 10-by-14-foot cell, have not spoken to their families since November, according to freethehikers.org, a website dedicated to freeing the two men. Nor have they had access to their Iranian lawyer, it added.

Their Iranian lawyer, Masoud Shafii, has said all three pleaded not guilty. According to Iranian law, he has said the cases "should be separated so the trials can go on."

Ahmadinejad attends cabinet after boycott rumours

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended his first cabinet meeting for more than a week on Sunday, dismissing rumours of a damaging split with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, news agencies reported.

Ahmadinejad's close relationship with Khamenei -- the senior cleric who has the last word in the Islamic Republic's affairs -- was strained two weeks ago, according to some analysts, over the president's attempt to sack his intelligence minister, a move vetoed by the supreme leader.

Since then Ahmadinejad has missed two cabinet meetings -- something some foreign analysts said was akin to a boycott.

Speculation began to circulate that Ahmadinejad no longer enjoyed the unqualified support of Khamenei, something the government denied. Khamenei had endorsed his re-election in June 2009 in a vote the opposition said was rigged.

The Tehran Stock Exchange lost 6 percent in value over the last three trading days due to the political uncertainty. Without the supreme leader's support, any Iranian president risks becoming a lame duck.

Ahead of Sunday's cabinet meeting, the head of national broadcaster IRIB told news agencies that Ahmadinejad would express his allegiance to Khamenei.

FATHER-SON RELATIONSHIP

"His speech to the cabinet today will foil all the plots of the enemies of Islam and the revolution and will show that enemies of the Iranian nation are not able to comprehend his father-son relation with the revolution leader (Khamenei)," the semi-official Fars news quoted Ezatollah Zarghami as saying.

Some members of parliament had called on Saturday for a closed session to discuss Ahmadinejad's apparent refusal to attend his own cabinet meetings.

On the Tehran bourse, where traders are used to seeing steadily increasing prices, the broad share index fell 2.5 percent on Sunday. Shares on that index have lost some 6 percent in the last three session, bourse data showed.

"When the president is not around it's something natural in any country," one share dealer told on condition of anonymity, saying people were concerned about Ahmadinejad "not going to work." Fars news agency said the share slide was due to "day to day political issues and some other issues."

Rifts between factions in the conservative elite that runs the Islamic Republic have become more apparent since mass opposition protests against Ahmadinejad's re-election were stamped out by the end of 2009.

The president has many critics on the right who accuse him of seeking more power for himself at the expense of other state bodies such as parliament.

Many conservative clerics have also criticised his closest aide, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaie, for promoting an "Iranian school" of Islam, which they consider a dangerous nationalistic stance.

The jostling for influence is happening less than one year before a parliamentary election set to be a battle among fellow conservatives. Leading reformist candidates are unlikely to be allowed to stand if they are deemed too close to the opposition "Green" movement, which the establishment considers to be part of a foreign-backed conspiracy to overthrow the Islamic system.

Opposition leaders deny any such thing.

Missing Iran leader Ahmadinejad under pressure from MPs

Powerful MPs in Iran have called for a closed debate on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's apparent boycott of his official duties.

The president has not been seen at his office for days, missing two cabinet meetings and cancelling a visit to the holy city of Qom.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, recently re-instated a cabinet minister he had pushed out.

Analysts believe an internal power struggle may be under way.

One conservative MP, Gholamreza Mesbahimoghadam, told parliament on Saturday: "Let the Majlis [parliament] do its legal job."

This was a tacit call for Mr Ahmadinejad's impeachment, Mohsen Asgari in Tehran says.

Some MPs have accused Mr Ahmadinejad's supporters of putting pressure on ministers to sign a letter backing president against the supreme leader.

Simmering tensions between supporters of the two men came to a head on 17 April, when Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi was forced to resign, our correspondent adds.

Mr Moslehi was promptly re-instated by the supreme leader.

Under the constitution, the president is in charge of appointing ministers - who then need to be approved by parliament.

Nearly 300 MPs urged Mr Ahmadinejad, in a letter, to respect Ayatollah Khamenei's decision.

While the president has not been seen at government meetings, Mr Moslehi attended a cabinet meeting last Sunday, the Associated Press news agency reports.

One unnamed reformist politician told the that a "game of chicken" had begun.

"I hope one side yields at the end - otherwise it will move the country toward unprecedented instability that will certainly suck the current Arab uprisings into the country," the politician added.

Ahmadinejad blames West for regional unrest

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the West for unrest bubbling throughout the Middle East and North Africa in a speech Monday on Iran's National Army Day.

"They are trying to foment discord in the region. They are trying to cause destruction and provoke wars between nations and governments in order to sell their weapons," Ahmadinejad said in a speech translated into English by state-run Press TV. "They are seeking destruction and a reinforcement of their evil dominance in the region."

The Iranian president's accusations come as NATO planes are enforcing a U.N.-approved no-fly zone over Libya and also are launching airstrikes on Libyan government troops as opposition forces battle them.

Ahmadinejad also warned of what he said are Western efforts to trigger sectarian strife between Shia and Sunni Muslims, while calling for cooperation between nations in the region.

Unrest has spread across parts of the Middle East and North Africa since January when popular uprisings began in Tunisia and Egypt, which eventually unseated the governments there. The political unease has spread in varying degrees to more than a dozen other nations.