Israel Matzav

Mutt and Jeff meet in Tehran

That Israel Radio report on Friday was a week off - Mutt and Jeff met in Tehran this Saturday. The 'international community' is trying to explain away the meeting as Syrian President Assad fulfilling a promise to French President Sarcozy that he would try to persuade Iranian President Ahmadinejad to drop his pursuit of nuclear weapons. And earlier this week, Israel chose to pretend that Syria is going to distance itself from Tehran as part of a 'peace' deal. But reports coming from both Damascus and Tehran indicate that Syria and Iran are as friendly as ever and that Tehran has no intention of giving up its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The Syrian government news agency SANA reports that Syria and Iran plan to 'boost' and 'develop' their 'distinguished bilateral relations.'

President Bashar al-Assad and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the Islamic Republic of Iran held on Saturday afternoon an official round of talks during which they discussed ways of boosting and developing the bilateral, distinguished relations between the two countries.

The current regional situations were also reviewed. Points of view of the two sides agreed on the importance of establishing security and stability in Iraq, supporting the political process to establish the national reconciliation among all walks of life in Iraq and the withdrawal of all the foreign troops from Iraq to guarantee the country's unity in people and land and sovereignty.

The talks also focused on the positive developments being witnessed by Lebanon since Doha Agreement. The two Presidents expressed support to the Lebanese national reconciliation process in Lebanon.

Presidents al-Assad and Ahmadinejad discussed the situation on the Palestinian stage, stressing importance of continuing the efforts to establish the Palestinian national reconciliation as the guarantor of the Palestinian people's rights.

The two sides discussed the Iranian nuclear dossier, stressing importance of finding a political solution through dialogue to ensure Iran's right in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

So much for Syria distancing itself from Tehran. Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad was quite clear about the nukes.

Iran will not retreat "one iota" from its nuclear rights, the Islamic republic's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday, the day of an informal deadline set by Western officials in a row over Tehran's atomic ambitions.

Ahmadinejad made the remark in a statement posted on the presidential website after talks in Tehran with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"In whichever negotiation we take part ... it is unequivocally with the view to the realization of Iran's nuclear right, and the Iranian nation would not retreat one iota from its rights," Ahmadinejad's statement said.

According to the statement, Assad said that based on international agreements, every country, including Iran, has the right to engage in uranium enrichment and possess nuclear power stations.

Engaging Iran in 'dialogue' is real productive, right Hussein?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:28 PM