Wednesday, December 02, 2009 TEHRAN: Iran hit out at its longtime nuclear partner Russia Tuesday over a yes vote for a censure motion at the UN atomic watchdog and insisted it was serious about plans for 10 more uranium enrichment plants. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that despite the support given in the International Atomic Energy Agency vote on Friday by Russia and China, Western governments would not succeed in their efforts to isolate Iran. In a rare tirade against the government that has been building Iran's first nuclear power plant in the Gulf port of Bushehr and had been expected to deliver advanced air-defence missiles for its facilities, Ahmadinejad said Russia had made a "mistake" in its vote at the IAEA. "Russia made a mistake. It does not have an accurate analysis of today's world situation," Ahmadinejad said in a televised interview.He vowed that despite the setback Western powers would not succeed in isolating Iran and dismissed any possibility of military action, a resort never ruled out by Israel or the United States. "Any finger which is about to pull the trigger will be cut off," Ahmadinejad said. "They need us more than we need them. It is psychological warfare and isolating Iran is impossible."He said that despite Friday's censure vote, which was backed by 25 out of 35 voting members of the IAEA to just three against -- Malaysia, Venezuela and Cuba -- Iran was deadly serious about its plans to build 10 additional uranium enrichment plants as a riposte.The vote called on Iran to stop construction of its second uranium enrichment plant under construction near the central Shiite shrine city of Qom.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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