Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Mar. 28 – Iran’s Defence Minister said that Tehran was planning to make use of new “smart weapons” to upgrade the armed forces within the next 12 months, the government-run news agency Fars reported on Monday.

Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar told military commanders in the southern province of Kohkiloueh-va-Bouyerahmad that the Islamic Republic’s armed forces would give a “decisive” and “destructive” blow to any possible aggression by “enemy” forces.

“As we have declared many times before, the response by the armed forces to any aggression to the country will be decisive and destructive so that the enemy regrets his actions”, the general said.

General Mohammad-Najjar was accompanying hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a cabinet trip to the province.

“With the very good progress that we have had in creating electronic technology, we have laid the groundwork to obtain technology to turn our ammunition into smart weapons to pinpoint and attack enemy targets with precision”, the Iranian Defence Minister said.

BEIJING, March 28, 2006 (AFP) - China said Tuesday an upcoming six-nation meeting in Berlin on the Iranian nuclear issue was "an important part" of efforts to solve the stand-off.

"The six-nation meeting is an important part of the efforts of the international community to properly resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiation," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular briefing.

"China will be open to any suggestion that is helpful to the proper solution of the Iranian issue through negotiation."

The Berlin meeting on Thursday will bring together Germany and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, including China.

Qin reiterated China's position that there was still room for solving the issue within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"We should properly resolve this issue through negotiation. Now there is still room to resolve this issue within the IAEA framework. The international community should not quit their efforts," he said.

There is growing impatience in Washington with the lack of a firm response by the international community to Iran, which insists its nuclear program is for strictly peaceful purposes.

The Security Council has been trying in vain for the past two weeks to reach agreement on a Franco-British statement, backed by Washington, that calls on Iran to honour its international nuclear commitments.

Russia and China have opposed language in the proposed statement that would even hint at punitive measures against their ally and key trading partner.