Iran, Azerbaijan to Ink 10 Cooperation Pacts ‘U.S. Senate Elections Won’t Affect Talks’ TEHRAN (Fars) -- Tehran and Baku will bolster mutual cooperation in different areas during an upcoming visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Azerbaijan by signing nearly a dozen cooperation pacts, Iran’s Minister of Communications and IT Mahmoud Vaezi said Saturday. He said a two-day visit by President Rouhani to Azerbaijan will start on November 12. “These documents are mainly aimed at developing cooperation between the two countries in power imports from Azerbaijan, facile customs procedures, transportation, power industry, tourism, trade, insurance and economy.” TEHRAN (Fars) -- Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said Saturday a recent Republican victory in U.S. Senate elections will not affect negotiations between Iran and the six world powers. “I do not see changes in the U.S. Senate having much impact on the trend of nuclear negotiations because Democrats and Republicans share similar views in areas related to national security and interests,” Larijani said. He said the outcome of the elections might influence the role played by the U.S. Senate, but what matters is the role that the U.S. government will be playing. VOL NO: LV 9614 TEHRAN / Est.1959 2FM Zarif in Oman for5 Viewpoint By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer U.S. Foreign Policy on Autopilot Russia ‘Hosts Thousands of Ukrainian Refugees’ Nuclear Talks TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- A failure by Iran and world powers to reach a comprehensive agreement over Tehran’s nuclear program would be dangerous “for the entire world”, a senior Iranian negotiator said on Saturday. Iran and six world powers are seeking a landmark deal by November 24 that would see Iran scale back its nuclear activities in return for a lifting of U.S.-led sanctions. “A nuclear deal is in the interest of both parties and the region,” Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in an interview with Iranian television the day before talks between Tehran and the socalled P5+1 group of nations resume in Oman ahead of a final deadline this month. “No one wants to return to the situation there was before the Geneva accord, as that would be a dangerous scenario for the entire world,” he said, referring to an interim agreement Iran signed last year that traded curbs on its nuclear program for limited sanctions relief. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Sunday and Monday with Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Oman along with EU former head of diplomacy Catherine Ashton in an attempt to bring the two sides closer together. “Negotiations have almost stopped on one or two issues and we hope that talks in Oman will allow us to make progress” on a final deal, Araqchi said. He added that “the level, capacity and the size of enrichment and the time needed to be able to have industrial enrichment are subjects of negotiations”. According to AFP, citing an unnamed diplomatic source in Tehran, new proposals from the P5+1 group (Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States plus Germany) could allow Iran to “quickly” seal a deal that would see sanctions lifted in exchange for reassurances that Tehran was not seeking a nuclear bomb. “The Islamic Republic would never look to make an atomic weapon,” Araqchi said. “But we understand that the other side will need assurances.” Araqchi said Iran sees no alternative to a diplomatic settlement with six world powers on its nuclear program and believes both sides are resolved to reach a deal by a self-imposed Nov. 24 deadline. “No middle solutions exist and all our thoughts are focused on how to reach a settlement,” he told the state news agency IRNA. “Both sides are aware of this, which is why I think a deal is within reach. We are serious and I can see the same resolve on the other Sunday, November 9, 2014, Aban 18, 1393, Muharram 15,1436, Price 10000 Rials side,” he said. The stickiest unresolved issues are Iran’s overall uranium enrichment capacity, the length of any long-term agreement and the pace at which sanctions would be phased out, according to Western diplomats involved in the negotiations. Kerry said on Wednesday the negotiations would get more difficult if the Nov. 24 deadline were missed, and the powers were not for now - weighing any extension to the talks. Iran says it is enriching uranium solely for a future network of civilian nuclear power stations and to yield isotopes for medical treatments. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday Moscow and Washington will do their utmost to help the conclusion of a deal over Iran’s nuclear energy program by the November 24 deadline. “We have a mutual disposition, with the Americans as well, to do everything possible in order to meet this deadline,” Lavrov said after a meeting with U.S. Kerry on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing. Lavrov said Iran and the P5+1 group are holding talks “to elaborate a system of guarantees of the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for a full gradual removal of sanctions against the country”. 7 8 EU Calls for Independent Palestinian State Iraqi Troops Retake Full Control of Baiji Zionists Facing Third Intifada A masked Palestinian demonstrator uses a sling shot to throw rocks at Zionist forces during clashes at the main entrance of the West bank city of Bethlehem. AL-QUDS (Dispatches) — Hun- top plateau known to Muslims as broader in preceding weeks. dreds of Palestinians knelt on prayer the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Muslims, who make up about a carpets in a Jerusalem Al-Quds the Temple Mount. third of the population of the city, street, faced by a cordon of Israeli The occupying regime of Israel say the security clampdown only police who blocked them from reach- argues that restricting access to the heightens fears that their traditional ing Islam’s third- holiest shrine in the shrine, which has been common in control of the holy site, home to nearby Old City. recent weeks, is needed to clamp the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the goldThe worshippers eventually dis- down on growing unrest in the con- topped Dome of the Rock, is under persed peacefully, but the scene tested city of 810,000 people. On threat from Zionist zealots. highlighted the escalating tensions Friday, Muslims under age 35 were In recent weeks, senior members over the holy site — a walled, hill- denied entry, while restrictions were of Israeli PM Benjamin Netan- ISIL Shuts All Schools in Eastern Syria BEIRUT (Dispatches) – ISIL militants have shut all schools in areas they control in eastern Syria pending a religious revision of the curriculum, residents and a monitoring group said. ISIL is tightening its rules on civilian life in Deir al-Zor province, which fell under near-complete control of the militant group this summer. The government still controls a military air base and other small pockets. The announcement came after ISIL held a meeting with school administrators at a local mosque on the outskirts of Deir al-Zor city, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors all sides of the conflict. “ISIL informed them that teachers shall undergo a religious instructional course for one month, and that ISIL officials were currently developing a new curriculum instead of the current ‘infidel’ education,” the Observatory statement said. At the start of the academic year in September, ISIL revised the school curriculum in areas it controls, eliminating physics and chemistry while promoting own teachings. Their latest move aims to further reduce the school day into several hours of religious learning at the expense of academic subjects, according to local activists. “They’ve announced that they will only teach religion and a little bit of mathematics. Their rationale is that all knowledge belongs to the creator, so even the multiplication table shouldn’t be taught,” said an activist called Abu Hussein al Deiri. Some locals protested the school shutdown, according to footage posted online by activists. It showed two dozen girls and boys appearing to be under 12 years of age marching with a few female teachers clad in black veils as required by ISIL since the beginning of the academic year. The children chanted: “We want school.” (Continued on Page 7) a sniper in the ruins of Donetsk’s international airport, where Ukrainian forces are almost surrounded by rebels, the military said in a statement. Another 15 servicemen were wounded as government positions around the conflict zone came under repeated bombardment, the statement said. The allegations that Moscow is stepping up reinforcements for the insurgents stoked fears that both sides could slide into a return to allout fighting. A column of 32 tanks, 16 howitzer cannons and 30 trucks carrying troops and equipment crossed the border into the separatist-held Luhansk region Thursday, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said, adding that another convoy including three mobile radar stations had also entered the same area. U.S. State Department spokes- woman Jen Psaki said Russian battle tanks, armored vehicles and cargo trucks had been seen Thursday about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the border, but added there was no “independent confirmation” of the reports. “If confirmed, the United States condemns this most recent incursion into Ukrainian territory,” she said. “It would be another blatant violation of the Minsk agreement (Continued on Page 7) Ukraine Claims Tanks Roll In From Russia KIEV (AFP) -- Dozens of tanks and truckloads of soldiers have crossed from Russia into Kremlin-backed rebel territory, Ukraine said, though neither NATO nor the U.S. were able to verify the claim. Meanwhile the Ukraine military said Saturday one Ukrainian soldier has been killed and 15 wounded in fighting with pro-Russian rebels over the past 24 hours, as clashes continued to break a nominal truce. One paratrooper was shot dead by yahu’s coalition have called for a greater Zionist presence, stirring Muslim worries about encroachment. Under an arrangement in place since the occupying regime of Israel’s capture of the Old City and its shrines in 1967, the sacred plateau is administered by Muslims reporting to Jordan. Any perceived attempt to change the existing prayer arrangements at the shrine is seen by local Muslims as highly provocative. They say they view it as another threat to their status and identity. Many Palestinian residents of the city complain of high taxes for poor municipal services, compared with those offered in Zionist neighborhoods, as well as severe restrictions on building permits. Muhammad Fakhouri, a 38-yearold shopkeeper in the Old City, said the restrictions on prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque are the last straw, adding that he hasn’t been able to attend for the past five weeks because of the age limits. “Like the Jewish people, we pay taxes, and we don’t get anything from Israel,” he said. “They don’t let us build houses. ... If you can’t go pray, what’s after this?” Muslims from the West Bank face even greater difficulties in reaching the shrine because they must have Israeli permits to enter Jerusalem Al-Quds. Those with permits pass through barbed-wire topped terminals in Israel’s separation barrier, often enduring long waits en route to the mosque. Earlier this week, Netanyahu reassured Jordan’s King Abdullah II that the occupying regime of Israel would not change the status quo at the holy site and that Zionist politicians expressing a different view were not speaking for the regime. Jordan had recalled its ambassador in protest after a police raid over a clash at the entrance to the mosque. On Friday, Netanyahu made no mention of those politicians, instead blaming “militant Islamic incitement” for the increasing violence in Jerusalem Al-Quds. This has included near-daily clashes between Palestinian stonethrowers and Israeli police in Arab neighborhoods of the city and two deadly attacks in which Palestinians drove vehicles into crowds waiting at light-rail stops in Jerusalem Al-Quds. In another incident, a Palestinian on a motorcycle shot and seriously wounded a Zionist zealot. The most recent attack, on Wednesday, was carried out by an activist from the Islamic resistance group Hamas who drove his minivan into a train stop, killing one man and wounding 13. One of the wounded, 17-year-old Shalom Ahron Badani, died Friday of his injuries. (Continued on Page 7)
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