Back to Brief on Iran
TEHRAN - Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled out on Tuesday any normalization with the United States, saying no ties with Washington "benefits the Iranian people 100 percent."
"(Western) propaganda feeds rumors to the effect that the break in relations between Iran and America's government is detrimental to the Iranian people. No sir, it benefits the Iranian people 100 percent," Khamenei said in a speech marking the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
"Iran is today loved and honored throughout the world because it says 'no' to arrogance (the West)," Khamenei said in the speech, which was broadcast on Tehran radio.
"Some people...are trying to make our people stop saying 'no'. But, by God's grace, they will fail," Khamenei said.
Relations between Tehran and Washington have thawed slightly since Iranian President Mohammad Khatami called in January for people-to-people exchanges.
But Khamenei, who outranks Khatami, has repeatedly ruled out establishing ties with the United States, the Islamic republic's arch-foe.
Tehran Made Assassination Attempt on Arafat, Dow Jones News, November 3
JERUSALEM - A senior aide to Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat Tuesday said Palestinian security agents have foiled attempts by Iran to assassinate Arafat and senior Palestinian Authority officials.
Iran is training and funding a secret Hamas group to carry out the assassinations as well as suicide bombings in Israel, said Tayyeb Abdel Rahim, the secretary general of the Palestinian Authority.
Last week, Iran's spiritual leader, Ali Khameni, attacked Arafat during a sermon, calling him a traitor for signing the latest peace agreement with Israel.
Guards Kill 7-year-old Child in Demonstration, Iran Zamin News Agency, November 2
A 7-year-old child was killed and many people were wounded when revolutionary Guards opened fire at protesters in Piranshahr last Wednesday, reports from Iran say. The protest erupted when Arsalan Ghorbani, 20, was shot dead by members of the State Security Force at a checkpoint.
Chanting anti-government slogans, more than 3,000 angry demonstrators marched toward the headquarters of the State Security Force and continued on to the Governor's Office, where they damaged parts of the building, shattered all windows, and set fire to 14 vehicles belonging to the State Security Force and the Governor's Office.
The Intelligence Department of Piranshahr cut off all telephone communication to prevent the news of the riots from spreading to other cities.
Torture, Easier to Accomplish Goals, State-controlled Daily Salaam, October 31
In fact, exercising torture is the easiest way to accomplish the goals, while there are right but more difficult ways of reaching the goals... For instance, an aircraft with its passengers in the air is supposed to be blown up, question is this, in such circumstances can one extract the information from the suspect by exercising bodily and mental torment or should one submit to the disaster happen?
People Have Not Forgotten, State-controlled Daily Salaam, October 31
We have not forgotten that some of those who are now chanting slogans against Taliban are the very people who used to hit women in the streets under the guise of mal-veiling. In the name of religion they did what ever they wanted to. If you have forgotten, people have not.
21 Million Traitors!, State-controlled Daily Salaam, November 1
One of the high-ranking ayatollahs, who had said refraining from casting vote in the Assembly of Experts elections, is betraying the late Imam Khomeini. Considering his words, we are facing 21 million people who refrained to take part in the elections.
We (staff in the Salaam daily) are also very sorry about this matter. We hope this could be a lesson for every one of us in order to be more cautious in what we write or say.