Iranian president says Israel 'greatest danger'

Published yesterday (updated) 05/03/2015 11:28

(AFP/File)

 

TEHRAN (AFP) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday said Israel creates the "greatest danger" in the region, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned against a nuclear deal with the Islamic republic.

In a speech on Capitol Hill, Netanyahu said Tuesday the nuclear agreement US President Barack Obama wants with Tehran "is so bad... it paves Iran's path to the bomb" and "would spark a nuclear arms race in the most dangerous part of the planet".

Rouhani hit back on Wednesday in remarks to his cabinet.

Israel "claims to speak of peace and warns of future threats while it is the creator of the greatest danger for the region," the Iranian leader said, quoted by ISNA news agency.

Iran and the so-called P5+1 group -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany -- agreed in November to reach a political agreement by March 31 and a final deal before July 1.

But Iran now wants a single agreement that includes both a political framework and technical details.

"The people of the world are content with the way negotiations with the P5+1 group are moving forward... but there is only this occupying regime that is enraged by these talks", Rouhani said in reference to Israel.

"Americans and the people of the world are more intelligent than to listen to advice from an ever-warmongering regime," he said.

Rouhani accused Israel of possessing "many atomic bombs" and refusing to submit its "nuclear installations... to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency".

Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has said it will not rule out unilateral military action against Tehran to prevent it from developing atomic weapons.

Israel is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which governs and restricts the development of nuclear technology, although it has IAEA membership.

Bodies of 10 Illegal Immigrants Recovered Off Coast of Sicily

ROME – The Italian Coast Guard recovered the remains of 10 illegal immigrants from the Strait of Sicily after rescuing 121 people who were shipwrecked while traveling on a boat headed for the Italian coast.

The rescue team announced on Wednesday in a press release that the accident took place Tuesday afternoon when the Operations Center received an alert from an oil rig off the coast of Libya noting of a nearby shipwreck.

Italian ship Dattilo, which was carrying 318 other immigrants who had already been rescued, arrived at the scene to help take care of the remaining survivors and to recover the bodies.

The ship remained in the area to keep watch for more possible survivors.

The Italian Coast Guard launched on Tuesday a total of seven rescue operations at sea, saving a total of 941 immigrants trying to reach Italian soil.

The survivors are mostly Syrian, Palestinian, Tunisian and Libyan nationals, or from sub-Saharan Africa.

Among them are more than 30 children and 50 women, one who was with child and was rushed to the hospital on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The rest of the survivors were transferred to Sicily’s ports.

US ambassador slashed in South Korea

Seoul (AFP) - The US ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was slashed on his face and arm by a blade-wielding assailant shouting anti-war slogans in an attack in Seoul Thursday, police and television reports said.

The United States strongly condemned the "act of violence" which left the ambassador bleeding profusely as he was taken to hospital, and said that President Barack Obama had spoken with him.

"The President called (Lippert) to tell him that he and his wife Robyn are in his thoughts and prayers, and to wish him the very best for a speedy recovery," said Bernadette Meehan, National Security Council spokeswoman.

Witnesses said a man with a blade concealed in his right hand attacked Lippert as he was attending a breakfast function at the Sejong Cultural Institute in central Seoul.

Video footage in the immediate aftermath of the attack showed the ambassador being rushed out of the building holding one hand to his bleeding right cheek, and his other hand smeared with blood with an apparent wound to the wrist.

Lippert, 42, was bundled into a police car and rushed to hospital, where a US embassy spokesman said he was in a "stable" condition.

State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said that Lippert's injuries were not life threatening.

Iran news in brief, 3 March 2015

IRAN (Graphic Photos): Man hanged in public in Darab

NCRI – The Iranian regime’s henchmen in the city of Darab (southern Iran) hanged a man in public on Wednesday.

The public hanging takes place a day after the United Secretary General has described the high rate of executions in Iran as ‘deeply troubling.’

The report from the office of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the U.N. Human Rights Council cataloged U.N. concerns about rights violations in Iran.

The reports said: “The Secretary-General remains deeply troubled by the continuing large number of executions, including of political prisoners and juveniles”.

Also on Wednesday the clerical regime hanged six Sunni political prisoners in Gohardasht Prison in the city of Karaj.

The report by the Secretary General repeated a U.N. call for a death penalty moratorium and a ban on executing youths.

Chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Advises Military Aid to Ukraine

WASHINGTON – Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, has said that the U.S. should consider providing arms to help Ukraine in its fight against pro-Russian separatists.

“I think we should absolutely consider providing lethal aid in a NATO context,” said Dempsey at a meeting of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services Tuesday.

Dempsey joins many other voices in the American defense community who have counselled providing military support to the Ukrainian Government.

Other advocates include Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Dempsey argued that such action would be justified because the ultimate goal of Russian President Vladimir Putin is to break the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.

U.S. President Barack Obama is examining the possibility of extending aid to Ukraine to include weapons, something that some European partners fear would escalate military tensions.

Obama joined a videoconference Tuesday with British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Holland, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian President Mateo Renzi, and President of the European Council Donald Tusk.

The leaders discussed the situation in Ukraine and the possibility of providing weapons to the Ukrainian army, which has been overrun in the country’s east by separatists armed with Russian weapons including artillery and tanks.

The European leaders and Obama urged the conflicting parties to respect the ceasefire agreed on Feb. 12 in Minsk, Belarus.

They also warned the separatists, who have Russia’s backing, of escalating consequences should they breach the ceasefire.

Leftist Politician’s Body Found in Western Mexico

MEXICO CITY – The body of a leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, councilman who disappeared last month in the western Mexican state of Michoacan was found at a trash dump, state prosecutors said.

Ruben Magaña’s body was discovered near the municipal dump in Penjamillo on Sunday afternoon, the Michoacan Attorney General’s Office said.

The 67-year-old politician’s body did not have any visible “signs of violence,” the AG’s office said in a statement.

Magaña Reyes, who was a city councilman in Penjamillo, disappeared on Feb. 19 and his SUV was found close to the cemetery in the neighboring city of Numaran.

PRD chairman Carlos Navarrete expressed his regret over the councilman’s death and called for a thorough investigation in a Twitter post