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EU To Retain Links With Iran Despite Bush speech
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| Spain's Minister for Foreign Affairs and EU President, Josep Pique (left) discusses Iran with EU member |
MADRID, Jan. 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Spain said the European Union intends to maintain its links with Iran despite U.S. President George W. Bush's statement describing it as a potential threat.
In a statement late Wednesday, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique said the E.U. "will act independently of President Bush's stance, which we respect and we will take into account."
"The E.U. will work as usual with Iran and will take whatever decisions it judges necessary," Pique told participants at a forum in Madrid, AFP reported. Spain holds the rotating E.U. presidency for the first half of this year.
In his annual State of the Union speech, delivered Tuesday, Bush had singled out Iran, Iraq and North Korea as belonging to what he called an "axis of evil". "By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred."
Meanwhile, the Tel Aviv-based daily newspaper, Ha'aretz, reported that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer met Wednesday with top defense officials to discuss Israel's policy regarding Iran. According to the Israeli paper, the meeting was also held to prepare the joint message the three top political leaders in Israel will be taking to Washington over the coming days.
Peres claimed Wednesday in the Knesset the "ayatollah regime" is threatening "genocide with missiles" against Israel. He declared Iran provided the Lebanese resistance organization, Hizbollah, with some 10,000 missiles with ranges of between 20 to 70 kilometers.
According to Ha'aretz, Peres alleged Iran is developing the Shihab-3 with a range of 1,300 km, and missiles that can threaten Europe, and in the future, North America.
Iran does not recognize the Israeli regime. It supports the Palestinian resistance movement in the occupied Palestinian lands. This notion was expressed clearly by the Iranian President, who spoke Tuesday with regards to various matters, particularly the Palestinian issue.
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami in Tehran Tuesday established an Islamic Media Forum for the support of the popular Palestinian uprising. He called upon countries from all over the world to boycott the racist Israeli regime and asked the United Nations to set up a criminal court to try the Zionist war criminals, according to the Iranian News Agency (IRNA).
Furthermore, the President appealed to the U.N, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to adopt necessary means to put a halt to “the hard conditions of the Palestinian people” as well as the “ongoing tragic and atrocious situation” in the occupied territories.
“A resolute condemnation of the Zionist regime's inhuman acts by the international community and support for the establishment of a fund to collect aid for the Palestinian Intifada” are amongst those measures needed, Khatami explained, while inaugurating the Islamic world media conference for the support of the popular Palestinian uprising.
Khatami praised the Intifada for serving as “the defending language of a nation which is being subjected to the most severe pressure, suppression and terror” amidst continuous world silence. “The Intifada of the oppressed Palestinian people is far from violence and terror; it is instead against violence and terror; that is why it must be hailed,” Khatami added.
He invited world intellectuals, including media persons, and news agencies to pay more attention to the continuous human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian lands. He commented that inattention to this would make the world more vulnerable to additional terrorism.
“American [actions] have brought about massive costs on the region and the world through support for the Zionist regime and inflexibility toward the realization of the minimal demands of the Palestinian people,” the Iranian president announced.
Khatami attacked the ongoing smear campaign, launched by some western media, who try to portray Muslims as “violent” and “bellicose”. "Let me announce this in plain words that every Muslim, because of his/her religion, condemns violence, terror and violation of human rights,” he stated.
“The oppressed Palestine belongs to Muslims, Christians and Jews. We do not just back the Muslims. We support the entire oppressed people of Palestine,” Khatami remarked.
The U.S. initially viewed Iran as a supporter of its so-called war against terror. However, in the past month, Bush has accused Iran of interfering in post-Taliban Afghanistan and relations have been further strained by Israeli allegations that Iran attempted to smuggle weapons to the Palestinians.
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