JERUSALEM - A top Israeli security official said on Sunday he expected no change in arch-foe Iran's foreign policy when its new president takes office next week.

"I estimate, to my sorrow, that in the big picture there will be no change in Iranian policy, certainly no change in its foreign policy and that includes its attitude to Israel," said Uri Lubrani, Israel's chief policy-maker in Lebanon and an expert on Iran.

"An Overstaffed, Inefficient Diplomacy", State-controlled daily Salam, July 14

... There are many problems with the structure of the Foreign Ministry. This ministry is overstaffed and inefficient. The number of its employees has swelled from 3,000 to 8,000 and Velayati has an extraordinary group of 50 advisors.

The conduct of the foreign ministry has in many times led to humiliation for our diplomacy. Some of the examples are the ministry's claims about mediation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Sudan and Uganda, Turkey and Greece, etc. These mediations are not taken seriously by the relevant parties and have only won scorn for our country.

While only a few foreign officials have visited Iran in recent years, our diplomatic corps regularly pack up and travel from one place to another.

Meddling in Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, The Washington Times, July 26 

... Another tender geopolitical point is Azerbaijan... Unlike the Central Asian countries, where the Sunni branch of Islam dominates, Azerbaijan has a Shi’ite population and borders Shi’ite Iran.

This year Azerbaijan’s courts convicted the leaders of an Iranian-backed Islamic political party of collaborating with Iranian intelligence. Newspaper editor Rauf Talshinsky, who has not been reluctant to criticize government heavy-handedness, said there was no outcry of discrimination because the government presented ample evidence against the Islamists.

Assim Mollazade of the popular Front Party, a leading element of Azerbaijan’s democratic opposition, is still wary.

"Iran is ready for any action. It is ready to use force," Mr. Mollazade warned, estimating the neighboring mullahs have spent nearly $50 million on propaganda in his country in the last three years. Iranian agents have been known to pay men in the provinces to join Islamic clubs and pay their wives $50 a month to wear chador, he claimed.

Khamenei: U.S. Administration, a Symbol of Despotic Power, IRNA, July 21 

Tehran—…Ali Khamenei said here on Monday that the U.S. administration is a symbol of despotic power within the empire of bullying capitalists….

…Referring to international issues, Khamenei said, ''today, the footprint of the U.S. can be seen behind any tension and repressive act in any part of the world and behind any war imposed on world nations.''

U.S. Won't Bar Pipeline Across Iran, The Washington Post, July 27

The Clinton administration has decided not to oppose a $1.6 billion pipeline that would carry huge quantities of Central Asian natural gas across Iran, the first significant easing of the economic isolation of the Tehran regime, according to U.S. officials and other sources...

The pipeline would carry gas from Turkmenistan on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea across a 788-mile stretch of northern Iran to energy-needy Turkey and, eventually, to Europe...

Iran would reap a portion of transit fees for allowing the gas to flow through its territory, and sources indicate the pipeline eventually might also transport Iranian gas...

State Department officials testifying in Congress Wednesday took a firm stance against Western investment in Iran's domestic oil and gas industry, citing their success in blocking foreign investment in 11 Iranian projects...

However, any perceived concessions toward Iran risk stirring passions in Congress at a time when U.S. investigators are looking into a possible link between Iran and the bombing of a U.S. military compound in eastern Saudi Arabia that caused the death of 19 American servicemen last year...

The administration's acceptance of the trans-Iranian pipeline "means there is some easing in our policy toward Iran," said Zalmay Khalilzad, director of strategic studies at Rand Corp. and a former Reagan administration foreign policy official. "The question is, can you stop at this? Will it just lead to more pressure to allow Iranian gas to go to Turkey, too?"...

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