Free Republic

SNIPPET: "Washington: A US court has sentenced an Iranian and an American national for their roles in a plot to ship aircraft and its parts to Islamic Republic Iran. While the Iranian citizen Hamid Asefi, 67, was sentenced to 23 months, a US citizen Behzad Karimian, (52), also known as "Tony" Karimian who holds a valid Iranian passport and is employed as a Mesaba Airlines Pilot, was sentenced to 52 months in prison yesterday."

Iran accused the United States on Sunday of steering Europe away from a possible compromise on Tehran's disputed nuclear program. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the U.S. insistence on conditional negotiations over a Western package of incentives has narrowed the scope of possible talks and made it tougher for all parties to reach a solution. The incentives are meant to persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium, a process that can make nuclear fuel for a power plant or fissile material for an atomic bomb. "We feel that the Americans are trying to take Europe to a point that...

Iran on Sunday rejected what it termed conditional negotiations with Europe over Tehran's nuclear program and said it wanted instead to have talks with the UN nuclear watchdog agency. FM spokesman 'Asefi' said any future nuclear negotiations would not include the USA, which contends Iran wants to build atomic weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is solely to produce electricity. "Since EU has demanded conditional negotiations, Iran will not accept that and negotiations won't be held," Asefi told reporters. "We are interested in negotiations and working with the IAEA, as our partner." Earlier this week Britain's Foreign Office said there...

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi here Saturday said that the claims of US administrators on Iran's interference in Iraq are mere hallucinations. Speaking to reporters, he said that Iran's contact with various Iraqi groups has been in line with following its democratic policy. He added that the world has declared on various occasions the role played by Iran in promoting tranquility in Iraq. "The US troops are impotent in controlling Iraq, while the explosions and assassination of defenseless Iraqi people has a growing trend. "The current events in Iraq are quite shocking and mark the US wrong policy in administration...

FM Spokesman recommends US not to make "big mistake" by denying visa to Iran's President Aug. 8, 2005 Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi on Sunday recommended the United States not to make a "big mistake" by denying visa to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian president is scheduled to deliver a speech at the upcoming UN General Assembly in September, IRNA reported from Tehran. "There is no reason for the US refusal to issue visa for Ahmadinejad. We hope the Americans will not make such a big mistake," Asefi said during his weekly press briefing in presence of...

EU had better avoid threatening Iran: Asefi Sunday, July 24, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com LONDON, July 24 (IranMania) - Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi recommended Europeans not to use the language of threat against Iran as it would be of no use, but instead try to take the initiative of cooperation with the country. According to Iran's Official News Agency (IRNA), Asefi made the remarks in response to a recent comments attributed to French President Jacques Chirac by an Israeli newspaper. The paper had quoted Chirac as warning Tehran that EU would refer Iran's nuclear case to the UN...

LONDON, July 22 (IranMania) - Iran accused the United States of extensive violation of human rights both inside and outside the US soil, IRNA reported. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi reacting to interfering statement of US President George W. Bush, said, "The United States is talking about violation of human rights in Iran, while the whole world is disgusted of extensive violation of human rights in USA and by US government around the world". Issuing a statement on Tuesday, President Bush expressed regret over continuation of Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji's imprisonment, asking for his "Immediate release" and proper...

Ever since the German defense minister accused the Iranian president of having been involved in terrorist activities, the diplomatic exchange between Berlin and Tehran has taken an unusually acrimonious tone. In an interview for the German weekly Der Spiegel, published Monday, the German interior minister Otto Schily expressed his concern about "a fundamentalist coming to power in Tehran." He was referring to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was elected president of Iran on June 24. "We can't be certain that he (Ahmadinejad) has absolutely distanced himself from terrorism," Schily said. The spokesperson of the Iranian ministry of foreign affairs, Hamid Resa Asefi,...

Iran Demands Pakistan Head Explain Remarks Sunday May 29, 2005 By ALI AKBAR DAREINI /Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran demanded an explanation Sunday from Pakistan over a purported comment by President Pervez Musharraf that Tehran was ``very anxious'' to develop nuclear weapons. In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel news weekly published Saturday, Musharraf was asked how Iran could be dissuaded from trying to make a nuclear weapon. ``I don't know. They are very anxious to have the bomb,'' he was quoted as responding. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters Sunday it was unlikely...

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran indicated Sunday it could harden its position against the U.N. nuclear agency, a day after freezing international inspections to protest a critical resolution by the watchdog agency. On Saturday, Tehran said it was indefinitely barring inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, hours after its 35-nation governing board adopted a resolution that said it "deplores" recent discoveries of uranium enrichment equipment and other suspicious activities that Iran had failed to reveal. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Sunday the resolution's tone "was unfair and insulting. We don't allow anybody to talk to us in such...

Oct. 28, 2003 Iran rejects U.S. demand to extradite al-Qaida operatives By ASSOCIATED PRESS TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran rejected a U.S. demand to hand over senior al-Qaida operatives in its custody, Tuesday, saying the terror suspects would stand trial in Iranian courts, state-run radio reported. A day earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted that senior al-Qaida operatives held by Iran should be turned over to their countries of origin or to the United States for interrogation and trial. "Al-Qaida operatives currently in (our) custody have committed crimes in Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted by...

Tehran, Aug 11, IRNA -- Iran will try those Al Qaeda suspects whose nationality remain unclear as well as those who are rejected by their country of origin, a senior Foreign Ministry official said here Monday. "If the nationality of some individuals are not known and no country accepts them, as the information minister has said, we will take action ourselves," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters at a weekly news briefing. Information Minister Ali Younesi said on Saturday that Tehran will put some of the Al Qaeda operatives in Iranian custody on trial instead of allegedly swapping...

The United States and Iran held several meetings in Geneva, Switzerland, in an effort to ease friction between the two countries, a senior U.S. official said Monday. The meetings focused on a wide range of issues, including postwar Iraq, in which the Bush administration is attempting to deter Iran from trying to influence the formation of a new government in Baghdad. Secretary of State Colin Powell, during a news conference here after a meeting with Egyptian officials, said the administration opposes a fundamentalist regime as not being in the interest of the Iraqi people. Powell echoed a similar statement weeks...

Tehran, April 28, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi here on Monday warned Iranian pilgrims not to visit Shiite holy shrines in Iraq. Addressing reporters, he stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran has no plan to dispatch any pilgrims to the holy sites in Iraq until an Iraqi government is established. During a conference of Iraqi dissident groups which opened in Baghdad this morning, he said that the Iraqi groups may decide themselves whether to take part in the confab or not. "The Islamic Republic does not interfere in Iraqi domestic affairs," he stressed. Reiterating the need...

Tehran, March 18, IRNA -- Iran on Tuesday strongly rejected allegations of Tehran's financial assistance to resistant Palestinian groups, including the Islamic Jihad. The reaction came from Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi when asked by IRNA to comment on a recent report of the Washington Institute for Foreign Policy Watch, which claimed Iranian financial assistance to resistance groups in Lebanon was funneled to Palestinian groups. "Iran, based on its fundamental and transparent support of the Palestinian cause, backs the genuine ideals of the Palestinian people for freeing their lands from the Zionist regime's occupation, but it strongly rejects any...

Tehran, Feb 9, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi here Sunday denied the news published in Washington Post on contact between Iran and US officials regarding Iraq. The daily recently claimed that Iranian and US officials met in Europe to discuss the crisis in Iraq. Responding to a question on Ariel Sharon's re-election as Zionist regime's prime minister, he said the signals received from the Zionist authorities are not promising and the new election proves that the Zionist regime still believes in pursuing an iron fist policy and seeks to violate Palestinian rights. "We should observe future developments but...

Tehran, Nov 4, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi Monday said the recent anti-Iran remarks by US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld showed that he had absolutely no knowledge of politics. Rumsfeld was cited as saying in Washington on Wednesday that he saw signs of an early overthrow of the Islamic Republic by the Iranian people, or the government collapse. Speaking at his weekly press conference, Asefi said Iran considers Rumsfeld's recent remarks to have been uttered by one who has no knowledge of politics.