Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that his country is committed to helping build a durable peace and security worldwide based on justice, spirituality and dignity. "Our nation is prepared to warmly shake all those hands which are honestly extended to us," he told the United Nations General Assembly. "We welcome real and human exchanges and stand ready to actively engage in fundamental global reforms." He called for a "return to monotheism and justice," calling it "the ...

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Wednesday denounced the structure of the U.N. Security Council, criticizing the permanent seats and veto power granted to a limited number of nations. Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly's annual debate session, Gadhafi called for world unity in confronting global crises such as climate change and food shortages. But he elaborated on what he believes is the unfairness of the structure of the Security Council, which has five permanent members -- the United States, ...

Facetime with Reinhard Mitschek, Managing Director, Nabucco Gas Pipeline Project The Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally, in support of the Palestinian people, is observed on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. This year, the rallies were particularly tense, following the unrest over Iran's disputed presidential elections in June. Opposition supporters near Tehran's Revolution Square chanted anti-regime slogans on one side of the street while regime supporters chanted pro-government slogans on the other ...

Iran is spending more time investigating the victims of torture and rape behind bars than investigating those who committed such abuses, a human rights group claimed Thursday. Amnesty International has been monitoring reports about the treatment of detainees arrested in the bloody fallout over the Islamic republic's disputed June 12 presidential election. On Thursday, the group called on Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to ensure the safety of the victims and hold the abusers accountable. "The Iranian authorities appear more ...

Venezuela will begin exporting 20,000 gallons of gasoline to Iran next month as the nations strengthen bilateral cooperation, Iranian state media reported. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez announced the agreement on Sunday. It will begin in October, according to Iran's Press TV. Iran produces 60 percent of its domestic gasoline demand and imports the remaining 40 percent, Press TV reported. Despite having large oil reserves, Iran lacks the refining capacity to cover all of its ...

Iran and Venezuela plan to stand up against "imperialist" foes by strengthening bilateral cooperation on a range of issues, including nuclear power, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday. "Expansion of Tehran-Caracas relations is necessary given their common interests, friends and foes," Ahmadinejad said after a meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart President Hugo Chavez, according to Iran's semiofficial FARS news agency. Chavez was in Tehran on Saturday with a team of high-ranking officials for a two-day visit. Chavez reiterated the goal: ...

There was a smile, a quick wave hello, a brief chat. Yet, despite the exchange of pleasantries, the simmering tensions between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and one of the nation's most powerful clerics became quickly evident at a major ceremony in Tehran on Monday. Ahmadinejad and former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were attending the inauguration of Sadeq Larijani -- brother of Iran's prominent parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani -- who was tapped by Iran's supreme leader to be the new ...

Iran's influential parliament speaker dismissed allegations that post-election detainees were raped while in custody, calling the claims by an opposition leader "sheer lies," state-run media reported Wednesday. Ali Larijani said that a special panel of Iran's parliament, or Majlis, conducted a "precise and comprehensive inquiry" into the treatment at Tehran's Evin and Kahrizak prisons, and found "no cases of rape or sexual abuse," Press TV reported. Larijani's fiery response was to accusations made by opposition candidate Mehdi Karrubi who, along ...

There was an "alarming spike" in the number of Iranian executions between the disputed June 12 presidential election and Wednesday's inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term, Amnesty International reported Friday. "In just over 50 days, we recorded no less that 115 executions. That is an average of more than two each day," said Irene Khan, secretary-general of the human rights watchdog. "This represents a significant increase, even compared to the appallingly high rate of executions that has been ...

On the morning of the inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to his second term, the regime knew it had the upper hand. Baharestan Square, next to the Majlis, the Iranian parliament, is not a good place to hold a protest rally. The space is small and the streets around it are large, easily filled with cops who can then see everyone and everything that tries to approach. One witness said there were three soldiers in full riot gear for every ...