TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran will not return to a full freeze of its disputed nuclear fuel activities and rejects Western demands for such confidence building measures, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned.

"We support the resumption of work at the UCF (uranium conversion facility) and we will continue," Ahmadinejad said Sunday, rejecting demands that Iran return to a full freeze agreed to in November 2004 in a deal with Britain, France and Germany.

"The previous government backed down in the name of confidence building so much that they voluntarily suspended the fuel cycle in Isfahan and Natanz," he complained, referring to Iran's uranium conversion and uranium enrichment installations.

"Recently the government realised that this confidence building claim is wrong."

Reacting to Western pressure against Iran, he said: "They want to deprive us of the fuel cycle. They are lying and they don't want the Islamic republic to have the fuel cycle."

These activities, Ahmadinejad insisted, were "100 percent lawful and there was no deviation" towards military purposes.

"It is a big lie that Iran has concealed things for 18 years," he asserted.

HE is the man who would have his finger on the button if Iran ever got its hands on a nuclear bomb.

So when Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he’d like to see Israel “wiped off the map,” the world shuddered
Iran ... Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
the sun

Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) was founded in Mahabad, Iran, on August 16, 1945. PDKI replaced the " Komalay Ziyanaway Kurd " (Council of Kurdish Resurrection) which had been formed three years earlier. Just 159 days after its foundation in January 22, 1946, the Party, availing itself of expedient circumstances in a section of Iranian Kurdistan, established the " Republic of Kurdistan ", usually referred to by historians as the " Republic of Mahabad ", the reason being its choice of Mahabad as the capital.

The " Republic of Mahabad " lasted not more than 11 months. Following a pact signed by the Iranian central government and the ex-Soviet Union, the Iranian army launched a vast offensive into the region, destroying the " Republic " December 17, 1946. The " Republic " having collapsed, a great number of PDKI leaders were imprisoned, of whom 20 people including Ghazi Mohammad, head of the Party and president of the Republic, M. Hossein Seyfi-Ghazi, minister of Defence, and Abulghassem Sadri-Ghazi, a member of the Iranian Parliament from Mahabad, were hanged in the capital of the Republic, and the others in Saqez and Buckan.

In less than two years after the collapse of the Republic, PDKI started its political and organizational activities anew, striking roots in most parts of Iranian Kurdistan, which was due mainly to the Kurdish people's desire to join the struggle aimed at fulfilling the Party's aspirations and reviving the honour of the Republic of Kurdistan.

Following the collapse of Dr. Mossadegh's government in 1953, when democratic rights and freedoms of the peoples throughout Iran were suppressed, PDKI's activities came almost to a standstill. A great number of Party activists were either imprisoned or went underground, though they resumed their activities after a very short time.

Two widespread police raids against the Party in 1959 and 1964 dealt heavy blows to its organization: some 300 Party activists were imprisoned, with an even greater number hiding away or fleeing Iran. Nevertheless, not having sunk into despair, the Party embarked on the task of reviving its organization. Its activities picked up such a speed that in 1967-68, a large number of its members and high-ranking cadres started an armed insurrection - lasting 18 months - against the Shah's regime, a glorious deed, which struck horror into the ruling circles. But as this armed movement lacked a safe rear zone, the Shah's regime managed somehow to crush it.

The Kurdish people in Iranian Kurdistan and PDKI played an active part in the Iranian people's uprising against the Shah's dictatorship. A group of PDKI leaders, who were living in exile either in neighbouring countries or in Europe, returned to Iran before the collapse of the monarchy, actively participating in the uprising of the Kurdish people and assuming the status of leadership in the movement.

The uprising of the Iranian peoples having succeeded, PDKI declared its public activities in a meeting held in Mahabad, which was attended by representatives from all parts of Iranian Kurdistan. Despite the Party's sincere endeavours to settle its differences over the democratic rights and freedoms of the Kurdish people peacefully with the newly established regime in Tehran, the rulers in Tehran took no account of the responsible efforts made by PDKI. Instead, following the " fatwa " issued by ayatollah Khomeini against the Kurdish people, the Iranian armed forces ruthlessly embarked on a widespread offensive against the Kurdish population, shelling and bombing villages and towns of Kurdistan. PDKI had to resort to armed resistance, a valiant deed that, despite all ebbs and flows, has been going on till today.

On 13 July 1989, Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, Secretary-general of PDKI, and two of his collaborators, were assassinated in Vienna (Austria) as they were negotiating with envoys of the Iranian regime, at the latter's invitation, for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in Iran. Dr. Ghassemlou's successor, Dr. Sadegh Sharafkandi met with the same fate on 17 September 1992 in Berlin where he had attended the Congress of the Socialist International. They all were victims of Iranian State terrorism.

PDKI has held thirteen congresses. The 1st congress was convened in 1945, the 2nd in 1964, the 3rd in 1971, the 4th in 1980, the 5th in 1982, the 6th in 1984, the 7th in 1985, the 8th in 1988, the 9th in 1992, the 10th in 1995, the 11th in 1997, and the 12th in 2000 and the last congress was held in July 2004.

During the 20th Congress of the Socialist International held in the UN headquarters in New York (9-11 September 1996), PDKI was given the status of observer member. In 2005, PDKI's membership was elevated to consultive status.
The highest body of PDKI is its Central Committee, which is usually composed of 21 permanent and 10 substitute members. The Central Committee also elects about 7 of its members as the Political Bureau, which also includes the Secretary-general.

Main principles:

-PDKI's main slogan -" The attainment of Kurdish national rights within a democratic federal republic of Iran "- has won the support of all of the ten million Kurds in Iran.
-PDKI rejects all acts of terrorism.
-PDKI's long-term objective is to establish a socialist democratic society.
-PDKI supports the fight of peoples of the world for their freedom and against oppressive and reactionary regimes. It supports peace and friendship between the peoples of all countries.

-PDKI support the national struggle of Kurds in other part of Kurdistan

PDKI fights for:

-A democratic, independent and non-aligned Iran
-The right of the peoples of Iran to self-determination
-Realization of worker's social and economic demands
-Equality of men and women in society and within the family
-Separation of religion and State

NEWSDESK, Oct 28 (DozaMe.org) - A trial against four Village Guards accused of killing a 13-year-old shepherd in the village of Duzce in the Nusaybin district of Mardin in Kurdistan (southeastern Turkey) continues.

The four paramilitary Village Guards Ahmet Dinç, Abdurrahman Dinç, Hasan Dinç and the village elder Ibrahim Dinç are accused of killing the 13-year-old shepherd Selahattin Günbey near the village of Duzce in Nusaybin. Selahattin Günbey was killed in March 22, 2005, with one bullet to the neck while herding his sheep.

The Turkish judge postponed the trial with the reason that he hadn't examined the trial documents.

A delegation consisting of officials from the pro-Kurdish party DEHAP's Mardin province office, activists from the Human Rights Association IHD's Mardin office and 12-man delegation from the German Democratic Socialist Party (PDS) wanted to enter the village in March to investigate the murder, but were prohibited from doing so by Turkish military.

Two KONGRA-GEL members imprisoned in the Urmiye prison in eastern Kurdistan (northwestern Iran) have been handed over to Turkey by Iranian authorities.

The two KONGRA-GEL member Ramazan Özbek had been imprisoned for 3 years in Urmiye and Hogir Öztürk for one year. They were handed over after a request from the Turkish consulate in Urmiye.

A third KONGRA-GEL member, the Sulaymaniya-born Rêbwar Elî Mihemed, will be handed over to Iraq, according to the Kurdish news agency ANF. Elî Mihemed was accused of conducting 'illegal activities' for the Kurdish organisation PJAK in Iran. Elî Mihemed stated that he was a member of PÇDK, which is a member organisation of the KONGRA-GEL.

TEHERAN – AFP - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday dismissed widespread international condemnation of his call for Israel to be “wiped off the map”, saying his controversial remark was “right and just”.

“They are free to talk but their words do not have any validity. It is natural that if a word is right and just it will provoke a reaction,” he was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.

“My words are the exact words of the Iranian people,” said the hardline president.

The report said he went on to criticise “international Zionism and the expansionist policies of the world arrogance” - terminology usually used to refer to the United States and Israel.

“They are cheeky humans, and they think that the entire world should obey them,” Ahmadinejad said. “They destroy Palestinian families and expect nobody to object to them.”

Tony Blair has expressed "revulsion" at the Iranian president's assertion that he wanted Israel "wiped off the map".
Mr Blair told an EU summit at Hampton Court, near London, that he had "never come across" comments like those made by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday.

He added that Iran, suspected of having a nuclear weapons programme, could soon be considered a "real threat".

EU leaders earlier issued a joint statement saying they condemned Mr Ahmadinejad's remarks.

'Unacceptable'

The Iranian charge d'affaires in London had already been summoned to the Foreign Office for the UK to lodge a protest.

Speaking after a one-day EU summit, Mr Blair said the Iran leader's sentiments were "completely and totally unacceptable".

He said: "This is unacceptable - and their attitude towards Israel, their attitude towards terrorism, their attitude on the nuclear weapons issue, it isn't acceptable.

"Now if they continue down this path then people are going to believe that they are a real threat to our world security and stability.

"And, as I say, that they may believe that with everything else the eyes of the world will be elsewhere. But I felt a real sense of revulsion at those remarks."

Mr Blair also said: "Can you imagine a state like that with an attitude like that having a nuclear weapon?"

Earlier, the US said the Iranian president's comments highlighted concerns about nuclear plans, which Iran says are for peaceful purposes only.

Mr Ahmadinejad made his comments at a conference in the Iranian capital Tehran entitled The World without Zionism.

Referring to Iran's late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Mr Ahmadinejad said: "As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map."

Mr Ahmadinejad came to power earlier this year, replacing Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who attempted to improve Iran's relations with the West.

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe strongly condemned Iran's president on Thursday for saying Israel should be wiped out and said the call raised concerns about the aims of a country the West suspects is planning to build an atomic bomb.

Support for the Palestinian cause is a central policy pillar for the Islamic Republic, which does not recognize Israel, and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday the Jewish state should be "wiped off the map."

European Union leaders and Russia joined the United States and Canada in roundly condemning the comments attributed to Ahmadinejad and Iranian envoys in capitals across Europe were summoned to explain the remarks.

"Calls for violence, and for the destruction of any state, are manifestly inconsistent with any claim to be a mature and responsible member of the international community," EU leaders said in a statement issued at a one-day summit outside London.

"Such comments will cause concern about Iran's role in the region, and its future intentions," they said.

Under reformist President Mohammad Khatami's eight-year tenure Iran had shown signs of easing its hostility toward Israel and officials said Tehran might not object to a two-state solution to the Arab-Israel dispute, if Palestinians wanted it.

But Ahmadinejad, a former member of the hardline Revolutionary Guards and traditional religious conservative who came to power earlier this year, made no mention of that possibility.

Tehran also supports Palestinian militant groups such as the Islamic Jihad faction behind a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Iran should be expelled from the United Nations.

A statement from the prime minister's office quoted Sharon as saying: "A country that calls for the destruction of another people cannot be a member of the United Nations."

"Such a country that has nuclear weapons is a danger, not only to Israel and the Middle East, but also to Europe," he said in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

NUCLEAR INTENTIONS

Lavrov said Ahmadinejad's comments were unacceptable and would give powers seeking to halt Iran's nuclear program more arguments to refer the Islamic Republic to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, in a later statement, denounced what it called "propagandist rhetoric" and said it hoped "that Tehran will realize the extent of damage that can be inflicted by confrontational approaches."

The United States accuses Iran of seeking nuclear arms but Tehran denies that, saying it needs atomic fuel only for power stations. Iran has developed ballistic missiles able to hit Israel.

Russia and China oppose the referral of Iran to the U.N., saying the uranium conversion it is carrying out is a step short of the actual enrichment needed to produce atomic weapons.

An influential London-based think tank said this week that if Iran made a bomb it could spark an arms race as countries such as Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia may seek one too.

Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Ireland and Italy all sent strong messages of condemnation on Thursday to Iranian envoys in their countries.

"The content and tone of such unacceptable comments confirmed worries over the policies being followed by the new Iranian leadership, particular concerning the nuclear issue," said Italy's foreign ministry.

Josep Borrell, president of the European parliament, said he was "shocked, outraged and revolted" by the Iranian comments.

"For its part, the EU remains committed to a solution to the Arab-Israel dispute based on the principle of two states living side-by-side in peace and security. It urges all parties in the region to do their utmost to bring that vision to fulfillment," the EU leaders' statement said.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Thursday that Iran should be expelled from the United Nations after its president called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map."

A statement from the prime minister's office quoted the Israeli leader as saying: "A country that calls for the destruction of another people cannot be a member of the United Nations."

"Such a country that has nuclear weapons is a danger, not only to Israel and the Middle East, but also to Europe," Sharon said in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The Organization of the defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan reports that a Sanandadji youth, Morteza Soleimani who was arrested in the summer clashes in Kurdistan has been charged with "acting against national security and combat against the order/rule". He was sentenced by branch one of the revolutionary court of Sanandadj. This young man who did not have access to any money for his bail has remained in custody since his arrest in July.

Based on reports from the town of Mahaabad (Province of Kurdistan) thousands of locals starting from noon on Tuesday, Oct. 25th poured into the streets of this town, honking their car horns and shouting, expressed their rage at the execution sentence imposed on local youth, Mustafa Rasoulinia who was arrested in the summer clashes between the people of Kurdistan with the disciplinary forces of the regime. People rioted in Esteqlaal Square and the surrounding streets. People from other parts of town joined the crowd that had already gathered at Hasanzadeh School and took the protest from neighborhood to neighborhood. The regime's disciplinary forces, which had surrounded the town at that point, began to launch tear gas into the crowds, attacking the protestors. The protestors chanted anti-regime slogans in unison and loudly.

On Wednesday the some unrest continued and the town was half shut down.

The regime has blamed the murder of one of the regime's disciplinary officers on the Mahaabadi youth and therefore sentenced him to death. The young man rejected the charges during his trial and said that he had been severely tortured by his captors and was pressured into making a confession.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada strongly condemned Iran's president on Wednesday for urging that Israel be "wiped off the map," saying the comments were particularly worrying because of Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his remarks on Wednesday, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"This is the 21st century. We cannot tolerate comments of such hatred, such anti-Semitism, such intolerance," Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew told reporters.

"And these comments are all the more troubling (given) that we know of Iran's nuclear ambitions. So I think it is very important that all countries do stand up together to make sure that we do not accept that Iran continues a nuclear program."

Iran says it needs nuclear energy to meet booming demand and dismisses the idea it will make atomic weapons.

Canada, which has had bad relations with Tehran, plans to put forward a resolution at the United Nations for the third year in a row accusing Iran of human rights violations.

BERLIN – AFP- Iran is providing refuge to around 25 leading members of the Al Qaeda terror group including three of Osama bin Laden’s sons, a German magazine reported on

Cicero magazine said Saad, Mohammed and Othman bin Laden as well as other Al Qaeda members from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, north Africa and Europe were living in and around Tehran under the protection of Iran’s Republican Guard.

The magazine quoted a “top-ranking Western secret service agent” as saying the Al Qaeda members were free to move around.

“They are not under arrest or house arrest,” the unnamed source told the respected monthly Cicero. “They can do what they like.”

Saad bin Laden, who is around 25, is thought to have played a key financial and logistical role in several Al Qaeda attacks and is on a US most-wanted list.

WASHINGTON – AFP- The White House said on Wednesday that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s call for Israel to be “wiped off the map” underlined US concerns about Teheran’s nuclear ambitions.

“It just reconfirms what we have been saying about the regime in Iran. It underscores the concerns we have about Iran’s nuclear operations,” spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

JERUSALEM – AFP- Israel regards Iran as a “clear and present” danger, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Wednesday after the Islamic republic’s hardline president called for the Jewish state to wiped off the map.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Shalom said it was clear that Iran was trying to develop an atomic weapons capability.

“We believe that Iran is trying to buy time... so it can develop a nuclear bomb,” said Shalom, adding he believed “Iran is a clear and present danger”.

Speaking at a conference in Teheran entitled: “The World without Zionism”, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel’s establishment was “a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world”.

“As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map,” added Ahmadinejad, referring to Iran’s late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Shalom said Teheran had consistently shown its desire to wipe out Israel.

“This is not the first time that this regime has wished for the destruction of the state of Israel,” he said in remarks to reporters after the press conference.

“This kind of regime is very, very extreme and it would be a nightmare for all the international community if they had a nuclear bomb.

“We believe that the time has come to move the Iranian file to the (UN) Security Council and the sooner the better

Lawyers and family members of the Kurdish national leader Abdullah Ocalan were once again stopped from traveling to the Turkish Military Isolation Prison on the island of Imrali to meet with Ocalan.

The obstacle was once again a damaged boat, so the Turkish military officials at the Gemlik seaport claims. Lawyers of the Kurdish leader have been blocked for the 22nd week from meeting the Kurdish leader. The majority of the reasons given by the Turkish authorities have been a damaged boat or severe weather conditions.

International and local human rights groups, European observers and lawyers of the Kurdish leader have long asked for the Turkish government to move Ocalan to a prison facility on the mainland. The government has refused to do so, without giving any reason.

Kurds are now worried that something may have happened to Abdullah Ocalan. Tension is likely to rise in Turkey and Kurdistan in the coming weeks.

Tehran – AFP - IRAN'S hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday has openly called for Israel to be "wiped off the map".

"The establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world," the president told a conference in Tehran entitled 'The World without Zionism'.

"The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land," he said.

"As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," said Presiden Ahmadinejad, referring to Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

His comments were the first time in years that such a high-ranking Iranian official has called for Israel's eradication, even though such slogans are still regularly used at regime rallies.

Addressing about 4000 students gathered in an interior ministry conference hall, President Ahmadinejad also called for Palestinian unity, resistance and a point "where the annihilation of the Zionist regime will come".

"The Islamic umma (community) will not allow its historic enemy to live in its heartland," he said in the fiery speech that centred on an "historic war between the oppressor and the world of Islam".

The term "oppressor" is used by the clerical regime to refer to the United States.

"We should not settle for a piece of land," he said of Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip.

"Anyone who signs a treaty which recognises the entity of Israel means he has signed the surrender of the Muslim world," President Ahmadinejad said.

"Any leaders in the Islamic umma who recognise Israel face the wrath of their own people."

President Ahmadinejad, a veteran of Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards, took office in August after scoring a landslide win in a June presidential election.

His tone represents a major change from that of former president Mohammad Khatami, whose favoured topic was "dialogue among civilisations" and who led an effort to improve Iran's relations with the West.

But President Ahmadinejad instead spoke of an "historic war".

"It dates backs hundreds of years. Sometimes Islam has advanced. Sometimes nobody was winning. Unfortunately over the past 300 years, the world of Islam has been in retreat," he lamented.

"One hundred years ago the last trench of Islam fell, when the oppressors went towards the creation the Zionist regime. It is using it as a fort to spread its aims in the heart of the Islamic world."

President Bush meets at the White House Tuesday with Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq's Kurdish region.

The two men are scheduled to speak to reporters after their meeting.

A White House spokesman praised Mr. Barzani Tuesday as a leader committed to building a free and democratic Iraq.

Mr. Barzani, who is a former Kurdish rebel leader, was elected regional president by Kurdish lawmakers in June. He has pledged to strengthen Iraqi national unity, and he took part in negotiations on Iraq's new constitution.

Kurds in northern Iraq have enjoyed relative autonomy since the Persian Gulf War of 1991.

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded on Tuesday in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya and a hospital official said at least nine people had been killed.

Police and witnesses said the blast was caused by a car bomb which exploded near a building housing regional officials who deal with Kurdish militia forces, known as the peshmerga.

Sulaimaniya, in the northern mountains, has been

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among the most tranquil spots in Iraq, rarely troubled by the violence that has racked the country in the past two years, and has been the focus of considerable business investment.
The blast came on a day when the final result of Iraq's constitutional referendum are expected to be announced.

All the indications are that the constitution, which enshrines Kurdistan's broad autonomy, will be passed. Sunni Arab insurgents fighting the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government in Baghdad opposed the charter.

Kurds have also been attacked by Sunni Arab supporters of ousted President Saddam Hussein, who went on trial in Baghdad last week. Among the accusations he faces are genocide against Kurds and the gassing of Kurdish civilians in 1988 at Halabja, 80 km (50 miles) from Sulaimaniya.

Sulaimaniya is the base of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), headed by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. The PUK is one of the two main Kurdish parties that dominate the region

Reporters Without Borders today reiterated its outrage at the treatment of journalist Akbar Ganji after his wife, Massoumeh Shaffii, and one of his lawyers visited him on 17 October and confirmed that he is still physically and psychologically debilitated after his hunger strike and that he has been put in a “special” wing of Tehran’s Evin prison where inmates are often tortured.

“As a journalist and prisoner of conscience, Ganji has no place in a high security wing,” the press freedom organisation said. “We again call for his immediate and unconditional release and at the same time we urge the authorities to let independent international organisations visit him at once in Evin prison to verify his condition and the torture allegations.”

Shaffii said after visiting her husband that his situation “was even worse that anything we could have imagined.” She also said he need treatment to his left shoulder.

Ever since his transfer back to Evin prison from Milad hospital on 3 September, Ganji has been in solitary confinement in this special wing. Only Revolutionary Guards can go there. Former detainees say torture sessions are common in this section of the prison.

While the uncertainty continues about the fate of Ganji, the former editor of the weekly Rah-e-No and Iran’s leading prisoner of conscience, the intelligence ministry has been summoning independent journalists and representatives of journalists’ associations for questioning.

Some have been threatened during these interrogation sessions and all have been notified of a ban on talking about the appointment of Revolutionary Guards to key positions in national and local government. Many journalists now fear that a new wave of arrests may be imminent.

For the past 15 years, Reporters Without Borders has been operating a sponsorship programme in which international news media are invited to adopt imprisoned journalists. More than 200 news organisations throughout the world are currently sponsoring journalists by repeatedly asking the relevant authorities to free them and by publicising their cases so they will not be forgotten.
Akbar Ganji is sponsored by Le Devoir, Nice-Matin and La Montagne.

Tony Blair has sent a warning to Iran, saying life could become "a lot more difficult" if the nation continued to defy thei nternational community.He was speaking to James Rubin, former advisor to Bill Clinton, on Sky's new World News Tonight show.

British officials have recently accused Iran's Revolutionary Guard of giving Iraqi insurgents bomb-making technology that they have used in attacks on British troops in Iraq.

Mr Blair himself said explosive devices, that have killed eight British

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troops in southern Iraq since May, were similar to those used by the Iranian-linked militant group Hezbollah.

Mr Blair said Tehran must allow Iraq to develop in the way its people want and it must stop supporting terrorism.

Mr Blair also said that Iran must abide by its nuclear weapons obligations.

"Iran has to realize that there is the possibility of having a different relationship with the western world but only on the basis of certain very clear things," he said.

NEWSDESK, Oct 24 (DozaMe.org) - Iranian Revolutionary Guards (Pasdarans) have raided the village of Keyika in eastern Kurdistan close to the border with northern Kurdistan after a clash with Kurdish HPG guerrillas in which one Iranian Pasdaran officer and two Pasdaran soldier were killed and more than 10 Pasdaran soldiers were injured.

The clash took place near to the village of Keyika close to the Baskale district of Van on the other side of the border. The Iranian Pasdarans were set to ambush the Kurdish guerrillas, but were themselves ambushed when the guerrillas noticed the trap.

The clash took place near to the village of Keyika close to the Baskale district of Van on the other side of the border.

After the clash, Iranian Pasdarans raided the village and arrested 15 villagers, blaming them for the death of the Iranian Pasdarans. The villagers are still in the hands of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who is threatening to execute the villagers.

HPG's Press and Liaison Office issued a statement saying that the villagers had nothing to do with the clash and that the Iranian soldiers were killed in clashes with HPG guerrillas, warning the Pasdarans to not harm the villagers or the HPG guerrillas would avenge the villagers killing more Iranian Pasdarans

NEWSDESK, Oct 23 (DozaMe.org) - 23 Kurdish prisoners in the Mardin E-Type Closed Prison have been punished with one month isolation for hunger striking for two days in support of five PKK prisoners in the same prison who themselves were on hunger strike in protest of the isolation of the Kurdish national leader Abdullah Ocalan and the ongoing Turkish military operations.

The PKK prisoners Abdullah Oral, Kemal Zengir, Cafer Gül, Ikram Gören and M. Nezir Gümüs were on hunger strike between August 15 and September 7 to protest the isolation of the Kurdish national leader Ocalan and the Turkish military operations against HPG guerrillas in the mountains of Kurdistan.

The five PKK prisoners were punished with one month in isolation and were afterwards transferred to the Bolu F-Type Isolation Prison.

The Mardin E-Type Prison Administration decided to punish the 23 prisoners after the transfer of the five PKK prisoners.

The names of the punished 23 Kurdish prisoners are Ramazan Ildem, Mehmet Ildem, Ferhan Ay, Salih Atli, Cuma Tanirgan, Firat Arzu, Ismet Çandak, Ayhan Bayar, Lesker Acar, Levent Cin, Mehmet Savur, Muhittin Piriçioglu, Ramazan Özalp, Ahmet Izer, Ismet Aydin, Kamuran Yusuf, Ramazan Çetedir, Halis Geçger, Seyfettin Aydemir, Kenan Erdemir, Sabri Ürek, Ismail Sayir and M. Ali Yasa.

NEWSDESK, Oct 19 (DozaMe.org) - The lawyer of the Kurdish national leader Abdullah Ocalan and two human rights observers were stopped by Turkish military authorities from visiting Ocalan on Wednesday.

The lawyer Ibrahim Bilmez and the human rights observers Ayse Batumlu and Muharrem Erbey were on their way on a Turkish military ferry boat to the island of Imrali when the soldiers suddenly turned back giving the lawyers the reason that the boat was damaged. Soldiers from the Gemlik Gendarmerie Commandership, responsible for the transport to and from the Imrali Special Type Closed Military Prison on the island of Imrali, have given the same reason to Ocalan's lawyers before, returning them halfway from the island.

The Kurdish national leader Abdullah Ocalan has not been allowed to meet his lawyers since July 1, 2005

LONDON (Reuters) - Military action against Iran over its nuclear program is not on the agenda, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

But she added that President George W. Bush would not rule out any option while the international community pursued diplomatic means to address fears that Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons.

"Military action isn't on the agenda. The agenda is a diplomatic one," Rice told BBC Television in a joint interview with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

"We are on a diplomatic course and we believe that with strong international support, with strong international coherence about this, we can succeed," she said.

Straw, who has been touring Rice's home state of Alabama with his U.S. counterpart, has said military strikes against Iran are inconceivable.

On Sunday, he said it was a completely "abstract issue."

Rice came back: "The American president never takes any option off the table ... It is as Jack said at this point, however, an abstract issue."

Iran, which Western countries suspect is developing atomic weapons under cover of a civilian program, insists its program is intended only for peaceful electricity generation.

Washington's top diplomat played down differences with Russia after a recent visit to Moscow to discuss Iran.

Diplomats say Rice learned during her trip that Russia would actively oppose any push to refer Iran's case to the U.N. Security Council.

Washington won a vote last month at the International Atomic Energy Agency threatening Iran with referral to the Council but Russia abstained and no deadline was set.

"The Russians have had a view that it is not yet time to refer this to the Security Council but ... the Russian didn't vote down the IAEA resolution, they abstained. An abstention is a wait-and-see," Rice said.

"The Russians in their wait-and-see mode want to do what we all want to do which is to pursue a diplomatic path and see if the Iranians will come along," she said.

Russia is building the $1 billion Bushehr nuclear power station in Iran and has long opposed any escalation of the stand-off over Tehran's nuclear program.