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Iran rejected Arabs Support of Sheikhs Claim on its Islands
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Iran Press Service
TEHRAN 28 Mar. (IPS) Iran strongly rejected Thursday as "unacceptable" a call by the Arab leaders to support claims laid by the United Arab Emirtes on three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf.
"The islands of Abu Musa, and the Lesser and Greater Tunbs are, and will be, inseparable parts of the Iranian territory forever", said Mr. Hamid Reza Asefi, the senior spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry, quoted by the official news agency IRNA.
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Arab leaders back UAE over isles issue
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Gulf News
Arab leaders yesterday expressed their full support for the UAE's sovereignty over its three Islands of Abu Mousa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs, and called on Iran to end its occupation of the islands through peaceful means.
The final communiqué of the 14th Arab League Summit urged Iran to end the dispute based on international law or refer the issue to the International Court of Justice.
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Iran, not Iraq, causing U.S. most trouble in Mideast
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Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Although President Bush has made toppling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein his top foreign-policy priority after dismantling the al-Qaida terrorist network, Iran has emerged as the main troublemaker for the United States in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Iran arms and finances Hamas, the militant Islamic organization that staged the Passover suicide bombing that all but doomed U.S. efforts to broker a Palestinian-Israeli cease-fire, as well as Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, two other militant Islamic groups that oppose any compromise with Israel.
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Iran Awaits Arrival Of N. Korean Gunboats
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MENL
WASHINGTON -- Iran is preparing to accept delivery of North Korean gunboats, which will be converted into guided-missile naval vessels.
U.S. intelligence sources said the boats could arrive on an Iranian freighter within the next week. They said the United States is monitoring the shipment of the gunboats from North Korea to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
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Iran, Pakistan take aim at US over nuke policy
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Khaleej Times
GENEVA - Iran and Pakistan warned the United States yesterday that it risked triggering a new arms race if it went ahead with reported plans to develop new types of nuclear weapons.
In speeches to the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, they also criticised Washington's decision to pull out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) and press ahead with developing a defensive shield against missile attack.
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Azeri official blames Caspian impasse on Iran, Turkmenistan
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ITAR-TASS
Baku -- Correspondents Sevindzh Abdullayeva and Viktor Shulman: Strengthening of cooperation with Russia is "an uncontested line" in Azerbaijan's foreign policy, the head of the foreign relations department in the presidential administration, Novruz Mammadov, told a news conference in Baku today.
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Israel declares Arafat 'enemy'
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CNN
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is "an enemy" of Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Friday as he announced an extended military operation against Palestinian terrorism "everywhere it exists."
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Iranian-American fund-raiser sparks political spat in Delaware
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SMCCDI
WASHINGTON -- The head of Delaware's Republican Party wants Sen. Joe Biden to return money raised by an Iranian-American dentist, but Biden says the fund-raiser has no ties to terrorism and another Iranian-American group accused the state GOP of Muslim-bashing.
Sadegh Namazi-khah, a Los Angeles dentist, hosted a February event for Biden that raised an estimated $24,000 to $30,000.
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IGI Inc. Sold Substandard Vaccine, Broke Iranian Embargo
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Dow Jones News Wires
CAMDEN, N.J. -- An Atlantic County company knowingly sold substandard poultry vaccine and also broke an embargo by selling to a customer in Iran, the company and three former officers admitted Thursday.
IGI Inc. (IG), of Buena, pleaded guilty to violating the Virsu-Serum-Toxin Act and was ordered to pay a $15,000 fine and $10,000 in restitution to the government to cover investigative costs by U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas.
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Bahrain to strengthen ties with Iran and Iraq
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Gulf News
Bahrain is to strengthen its economic relations with Iraq and Iran by offering their businessmen and investors "major procedural concessions", a senior Bahraini official announced yesterday.
He also said the maritime line between the island and both countries will be reinstated "very soon".
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Militant Palestinian group rejects Arab peace overture to Israel, vows to continue attacks
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Associated Press
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hamas, one of the militant groups at the vanguard of the Palestinian uprising, on Thursday rejected the Arab peace initiative to Israel and vowed to continue "all kinds of resistance."
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Messages to Iran
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The Boston Globe
RECENT DISCLOSURES of cooperation between the hard-line clerical rulers in Iran and Yasser Arafat signify not merely a dangerous stoking of the Israeli-Palestinian conflagration but also an Iranian attempt to rearrange the kaleidoscope of power relations from the Mediterranean to Central Asia.
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Iran: Political activist advocates talks with US as deterrent
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BBC Monitoring Service
During the past few weeks, by referring to Iran as a part of the Axis of Evil, America has confronted Iran with a new challenge.
The aim of this article is to examine America's present stance and to show what kind of diplomatic approach can best safeguard our national interests. This writer believes that adopting the policy of "political deterrence" must be given priority over all other forms of deterrence.
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Turkey, Greece Sign Iranian Gas Pipeline Extension Deal
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Dow Jones News Wires
ANKARA (AP)--Turkey and Greece Thursday signed a $300-million deal to extend an Iranian natural gas pipeline from Turkey into Greece - an agreement that could eventually take Iranian gas to other European countries.
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US to help oil-rich Azerbaijan defend Caspian Sea
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SMCCDI
BAKU -- A senior US defense official announced on Thursday that the US military is to help Azerbaijan defend its maritime borders in the oil-rich Caspian Sea, which are the subject of an angry dispute with neighbouring Iran.
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A Time of Reckoning
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Tol
As the United States continues its campaign against terrorism and the "axis of evil," the strains are beginning to show in Russia's ties with Iran. The links will continue, but there is no strong geopolitical bond to be broken.
Iranian-Russian relations are approaching a reckoning point.
In recent months, Moscow has striven to remain on good terms with both the United States and Iran, two countries whose own bilateral relations have been marked by growing hostility.
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Israel attacks Arafat compound
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BBC
Israeli tanks moved into Ramallah at dawn
More than 20 Israeli tanks moved into the West Bank town of Ramallah early on Friday, surrounding the offices of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Tanks and army bulldozers have smashed through the perimeter of the compound, where the Palestinian leader has been confined for months.
One of Mr Arafat's advisers inside the compound said gun battles were going on between Israeli troops and Mr Arafat's bodyguards, some of whom had been wounded.
The move came after the Israeli cabinet decided to "completely isolate" Mr Arafat, after an all-night meeting.
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'Please, God, Let Me Keep One'
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LA Times
Afghanistan: Parents were helpless as roofs crushed their children in quake. Some lost them all.
NAHRIN, Afghanistan -- Abdul Majid stood in a hillside cemetery, staring at the four little mounds at his feet.
"When I look at them," he said, "my children suddenly appear before my eyes."
His neighbor Palwasha paced a ruined courtyard with dusty baby clothes in her hands. "Allah, Allah, Allah," she softly cried.
In market towns like this one, the streets are usually teeming with kids flying kites, playing soccer and trailing visitors. But Wednesday, there was a strange hush in Nahrin.
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Beirut Under Occupation
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NewsMax
On March 27, after much political preparation, an Arab Summit Conference convened in Beirut to convey the central issues and positions preoccupying the 20-state Arab League regional organization.
The symbolism of Beirut as the host demonstrates that Lebanon, despite its proud and particular national history and partial Christian character, now assumes an Arab identity like Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the other member countries.
For Lebanon, suffocating and exploited by Syrian military occupation, the Arab Summit represents its decline and defeat by the hegemonic forces of Arabism and Islam.
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Arafat to lead 'all-out war'? Israeli intelligence sources say Iran, Iraq, Syria pledge full support
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WorldNet
Israeli intelligence sources say they believe Yasser Arafat has decided to scuttle the ceasefire mission of American envoy Anthony Zinni after receiving pledges of full support from Iran, Iraq and Syria.
They say evidence is strong that the three Mideast countries have been putting pressure on Arafat to rebuff all U.S. attempts to curb his violent war of attrition, pledging they will back him militarily if Israel responds with further major army operations against his Palestinian Authority.
They add that the flap over Arafat's scheduled speech to the Arab League summit in Beirut yesterday is part of a struggle between pro and anti-American Arab countries over the pending larger conflict in the explosive Middle East.
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