As Iran prepares for the Persian New Year, the Judiciary chief said Sunday the events of the past year, which ends March 21st, have made the Islamic Republic stronger than before.

Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani said although the year was “bittersweet,” its events had paved the ground for the foundation of the revolution, the Iranian Labor News Agency reported.

“Although the harsh post-vote events lacerated the public’s emotion, the active and conscious presence of the people foiled the [anti-Iran] plots,” he said in an allusion to the unrest that followed the presidential election in June.

Iran says Western powers, particularly the UK, were responsible for the unrest. The West, however, denies any involvement in the events that claimed the lives of a dozen civilians.

Ayatollah Larijani also expressed hope that the next year would be filled with success and public satisfaction.

Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani calls on Iranian youth and university students to choose a “rational” manner to express their views.

Rafsanjani said Sunday that everybody should be free to express their views, adding that “I will never ask them to remain silent.”

However, the former president added, “We should speak in a way that our crouching enemies and arrogant [powers] will not take advantage of it.”

He advised students to “express their views in a rational manner.”

“We ask you to assess the current situation well… despite unrests, long-term wars and sanctions, the Islamic Republic has been able to take major strides forward,” Rafsanjani said.

“I think individuals, including students, who have good things to say will be successful in rational situation, eventually,” the head of the Assembly of Experts said.

Early results from Iraq’s general elections show Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s coalition having a wide lead in the southern oil hub of Basra.

Maliki’s State of Law coalition had 219,657 votes compared to 121,497 for the Iraqi National Alliance.

Iraqiya, led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, had 36,093 votes. The totals represented 63 percent of the vote in Basra Province.

The electoral commission’s Sunday announcement comes one day after results showed Maliki’s Law of Coalition leading in the capital Baghdad.

Initial results since Thursday have put the Rule of Law in the lead in the predominantly-Shia southern provinces of Najaf, Babil, Karbala and Muthanna.

More than 6,200 candidates from six major coalitions and several other tribal and minority groups contested the parliamentary elections on March 7, despite the prospects of violence and fear of subversion on the part of the loyalists to Baath — the outlawed party of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The event kicked off following the disqualification of suspected Baath sympathizers.

The elections day also saw more than 30 people killed in violent attacks.

After of series of breakthroughs in space research and technology, Iranian scientists prepare to send a rocket carrying a new payload of living organisms into orbit.

Mohammad Rezaei, a senior expert with Iran’s Aerospace Organization, said Sunday that the space mission may take place as soon as next year, Mehr News Agency reported.

“As soon as the Kavoshgar 3 (Explorer 3) satellite carrier completes its current operation in space, we will launch our second mission with a new load of live organisms,” he said.

With the exclusive ability to transfer electronic data and live footage back to earth, Kavoshgar 3 was launched in space in February while carrying a rat, two turtles and worms onboard.

In February 2009, Iran joined a small group of countries that have the ability of both producing satellites and sending them into space using domestic launchers after placing its first domestically-made Omid (Hope) satellite into orbit.

The Omid data-processing satellite was designed to circle the Earth 15 times every 24 hours and to transmit data via two frequency bands and eight antennas to an Iranian space station.

The country is also studying preliminary plans to send its very first astronaut into orbit in near future.

Iran’s space-related accomplishments have come as a surprise for European powers and the US, mainly because the country has been under Western sanctions for nearly 30 years.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says US is concerned about Iran’s influential role in Latin America, Central Asia and Africa, adding that the Islamic Republic is currently among the top world powers.

“This is not a rhetoric issue in a political war. This is a fact. The countries on the opposite side can do nothing without Iran,” he was quoted by IRNA as saying on Saturday.

“They (US officials) do not want to see Iran’s presence in international relations and equations. They have no option but to keep silent about consecutive victories of the Iranian nation,” he added.

The head of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said, “Before the swear-in ceremony in 2005 I asked the the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, [Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei], to issue a permission for breaking the seal of Iran’s nuclear facilities, and the leader agreed.”

“Despite oppositions [to the move] and threats of the enemy’s military attack, the government insisted on its stance,” Ahmadinejad said.

He touched upon the enemy’s “political game” in Iran’s nuclear case and said, “It aims to block and stop the path of the countries’ progress.”

He reiterated that the West could not stop Iran’s nuclear program by adopting further resolutions or imposing sanctions.

The Iranian president questioned NATO’s achievements in Afghanistan and said only Iran can help resolve regional crisis.

He disclosed efforts by certain powers and countries to change regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying, “They seek to prevent nations from making progress, but the Iranian nation will not let them.”

Israeli police have barred men under 50 from attending prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem Al-Quds on Sunday due to fear of another round of clashes.

On Friday, Israeli forces clashed with Palestinian worshippers after Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, injuring one Palestinian and arresting three others.

In a measure meant to prevent more violence, on Saturday the Israeli police issued an order stating that no male under the age of 50 and no visitors from other religions will be allowed to enter Islam’s third holiest site for prayers on Sunday. Women will not be affected by the order.

Tension has risen since March 5, when Israeli police attacked Muslim worshippers after Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and imposed indefinite restrictions.

And the situation took a turn for the worse following Israel’s announcement last Tuesday that it plans to build another 1,600 homes for settlers in mostly Arab East Jerusalem Al-Quds, which Palestinians say should be the capital of their future state.

Israel’s illegal settlement construction continues despite international calls for a complete freeze on building on occupied Palestinian territories.

Israeli officials have insisted that they will not accept a ‘complete freeze’ on settlement construction and that the plan to build homes for settlers in East Jerusalem Al-Quds will not be cancelled.

IRI Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said by reviving the concepts of jihad and martyrdom, Islamic Revolution created real awakening in the Islamic Ummah.

Speaking in the open session of parliament Saturday, Larijani said martyrdom is of great value in Islamic culture as it can change any political situation.

Being reluctant for martyrdom would push nations toward accepting abjection, he reiterated.

Larijani said 1,5 billion Muslims more than 60 years have lost the will to take action against the Zionist regime because of forgetting Jihad and martyrdom.

He described the victory of Lebanon’s Hizbollah and Palestinian’s resistance in 33-day and 22-day wars as the main result of the path.

“Although the arrogance forged the word of terrorism to make it equal with Jihad in the mind of nations but terrorism is a blind move and Jihad is a sacred one,” Larijani said.

He added that Jihad is not a personal issue but it follows Islamic revival and defending Muslims’ rights.

Preliminary returns from Iraq’s recent general elections award Premier Nouri al-Maliki’s parliamentary squad the lead in the capital, Baghdad.

The prime minister’s Rule of Law coalition is reportedly trailed by the Iraqi National Alliance and former prime minister Iyad Allawi’s Al-Iraqiya Alliance.

Maliki’s team also emerged victorious in two provinces to the south, the United Press International reported on Saturday.

Initial results since Thursday have put the Rule of Law in the lead in the predominantly-Shia southern provinces of Najaf, Babil, Karbala and Muthanna, AFP reported.

More than 6,200 candidates from six major coalitions and several other tribal and minority groups contested the parliamentary elections on March 7, despite the prospects of violence and fear of subversion on the part of the loyalists to Baath — the outlawed party of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The event kicked off following the disqualification of suspected Baath sympathizers. The elections day also saw more than 30 people killed in violent attacks.

Abbas al-Bayati, a senior member of Maliki’s coalition was, meanwhile, quoted by AFP as saying that the Rule of Law had formed a committee to begin negotiating with rival blocs to hammer out a government. “The committee met with representatives of four political entities that made progress in the elections,” he said.

This is while, Jamal al-Battikh from Allawi’s side is, recently told US-funded Radio Sawa that Al-Iraqiya might be deserted by a number of its members after they secure parliamentary seats.

A senior adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Ummah and Opressed People on Saturday criticized the German government for releasing the ringleader of the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) terrorist organization.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a former foreign minister and senior adviser to Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said Germany had broken international law by releasing Abdolrahman Haji Ahmadi, the PJAK leader.

Haji Ahmadi was arrested two weeks ago but was released a few days later.

PJAK is an offshoot of the internationally-recognized terrorist group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which conducts deadly operations in Kurdish-populated regions of western Iran.

Velayati said Germany had tarnished his image in the international arena by showing that it lacked independence in its foreign policy.

He accused Berlin of being under the influence of the White House.

According to a New York Times report in October 2007, PJAK has “direct or indirect discussions” with American officials. Its ringleader reportedly visited Washington in the summer of 2007.

The group is branded as a terrorist group by the United States.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that no “Zionist” was inside the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, as the terrorists flew the two hijacked planes into the two towers.

President Ahmadinejad said the arrogance, which “demonstrates the satanic characteristics of Satan,” sought to evoke sympathy by showing the impact of the planes jamming into the towers.

Led by Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda is believed to have carried out the attacks. Fifteen of the 19 plotters of terror attacks were Saudi nationals.

The terror attacks paved the ground for former President George W. Bush to dispatch the US Army to Afghanistan and Iraq and initiate two unpopular, costly wars that continue to date.

President Ahmadinejad said the US government was quick to pronounce that the terrorists were “Muslims,” the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

“They launched a propaganda campaign for six months; they said 3,000 people were killed in the towers … but everyone knows that on the day of the attacks on the two towers, many of the Zionists had left the buildings since they already knew [about the terror plot],” he said.

“[The US Army] killed 100,000 people in Afghanistan and acted in a way that no one would ask them why this happened.”

Iran says the presence of foreign troops in the Middle East is the reason behind instability in the region.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says Tehran seeks to establish and fortify unity among Palestinians against Israel.

Mehmanparast on Saturday dismissed remarks by acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas who claimed that Iran was impeding reconciliation talks between his Fatah group and the Hamas resistance movement.

“Iran doesn’t want Hamas to sign the Cairo reconciliation document,” Abbas said during a meeting in the Tunisian capital on Friday.

In response, Mehmanparast said that Iran sought unity and solidarity among Palestinians.

“In the first place, the position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to create unity among Palestinians and in the second to seriously pursue the rights of the Palestinians to regain their land and return to their territory under a Palestinian government.”

Iran believes that the only solution to the Palestinian issue is to hold a free referendum, in which the Palestinians can determine their own fate.

Fatah and Hamas are yet to reach an Egyptian-mediated unity deal to end divisions.

The proposal put forward by Cairo, which acts as a mediator in the reconciliation talks, aims to lay the groundwork for new presidential and legislative elections.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has condemned the new Israeli plan to build 1,600 new Jewish homes in the occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The movement warned that the project seeks demographic changes in the occupied territories.

“The scheme is yet another part of a Judaization campaign that targets the holy city of al-Quds and a provocation of Muslim feeling, “the political party said in a statement released on Friday.

Hezbollah also accused the US of supporting Israel’s expansionist policies on Palestinian lands.

“The Zionist plan to construct hundreds of homes in al-Quds truly shows American cover to it.”

Israel’s interior ministry on Tuesday said it had approved the construction of 1,600 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo neighborhood in the mainly Arab eastern sector of al-Quds.

The announcement sparked swift condemnation from the International community including Turkey, Lebanon, Brazil, China, Russia, and even the US and UK.

There are currently 121 Israeli settlements and 102 Israeli outposts built on Palestinian land occupied by Israel in 1967.

These settlements and outposts are inhabited by a population of approximately 462,000 Israeli settlers. Some 191,000 Israelis are living in settlements around al-Quds and an additional 271,400 are spread throughout the West Bank.

Tehran lays out its foreign policy objectives for the new Iranian year, citing the nuclear issue, atomic disarmament and broader diplomatic ties as major priorities.

“Global disarmament will definitely be on the agenda for the country’s diplomatic body this coming year [which begins on March 21],” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told ILNA on Friday.

“We will try to lead the international disarmament campaign with the hope of intensifying the efforts and encouraging other countries to join in,” he added.

Mehmanparast also reiterated that Iran would move forward with its peaceful nuclear work, determined not to allow “greedy” powers to advance their hostile and unreasonable demands regarding Iran’s legitimate nuclear pursuits.

The spokesman added that Tehran would also try to expand ties with regional states, with the greater goal of establishing an Asia Union in mind.

Commenting on the prospective of stronger relations with the European Union, Mehmanparast emphasized that any sort of cooperation between the sides could only be possible if EU governments reduce Washington’s influence on their policy-making.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman will not attend an Arab League summit in Tripoli due to a row over the disappearance of prominent Shia cleric Mussa al-Sadr in Libya in 1978.

“President Michel Sleiman will not take part in the summit in Libya based on a request by speaker of parliament Nabih Berri,” AFP quoted a senior government official as speaking on condition of anonymity.

Imam Mussa al-Sadr, the founder of the Amal movement, went missing with two of his companions, Mohammed Yaqoub and Abbas Badreddin, while on an official visit to Libya in August 1978.

Sadr, who was scheduled to meet with officials from the government of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, is widely believed in Lebanon to have been kidnapped and killed on the orders of senior officials in Tripoli.

In 2008, Lebanon issued an arrest warrant for Gaddafi over the disappearance of the revered spiritual leader. But Gaddafi has so far managed to ignore Lebanese calls for more information on the case, never officially visiting Lebanon since 1978.

Several Lebanese politicians including Berri — who leads Sadr’s Amal party — had called for Lebanon in February to boycott the Libya summit scheduled for March 27-28.

During an interview in February, Sleiman said Beirut wishes to strengthen its ties with Tripoli but is also “determined to learn the fate” of Sadr and his companions.

The Higher Shia Council also called Lebanon’s probable participation in the 22 member strong summit a “catastrophe,” saying Beirut’s only condition for participating in the summit was that Sadr’s case be discussed publicly in the opening session and before the media.

Libya denies any involvement in Sadr’s disappearance, saying the trio left the country for Italy.

Italy has always denied the cleric ever arrived there; however, in 2004 Italian authorities returned a passport found in Italy belonging to the imam.

Tehran’s Substitute Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani condemned some western countries’ allegations regarding Iran’s attempt to access nuclear weapons.

Addressing worshippers in Tehran University campus, Emami Kashani termed such claims as a big lie, saying that they were trying to interpret Iran’s most peaceful nuclear activities as efforts to build nuclear weapons.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Emami Khashani condemned the arrest of Iranian TV correspondent in Rome by Italian government and described it as a token of west’s double-standard policies.

Hamid Masoumi-Nejad, an accredited journalist working for IRIB in Rome was arrested last week under allegations of selling arms to Iran in violation of international sanctions.

Referring to the arrest of PJAK terrorist group ringleader Abdolrahman Haji Ahmadi by German security forces, the cleric said that besides committing clear crimes against the Iranian people in northwestern border area, Haji Ahmadi was released just within 24 hours.

“Whereas Italy has kept in detention a person who has been working just as journalist for an Iranian TV channel for over 17 years,” Emami Khashani added.

He also noted that all these behaviors just show the Western countries’ double standard policy against global terrorism.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law coalition holds the lead in Iraq’s legislative election, closely followed by rival Shias amid allegations of fraud from secularist Sunnis.

Partial results from Iraq’s tight election race coming out on Friday indicated Maliki’s State of Law coalition sets the pace with the powerful Iraqi National Alliance, a coalition of major Shia parties, on its heels with only 16 percent behind.

The initial results for five provinces have been released so far, leaving the race too early to call as figures have yet to be announced for 13 other provinces. This is while the result is really difficult to foresee in key areas such as Baghdad, where the city’s 6-million strong population incorporate diverse ethnical and religious communities.

The parliamentary poll held amid highly tightened security on March 7 — the second such vote since the 2003invasion of the country by US-led forces — is viewed as a landmark test of democracy for the Iraqi government seven years after the ouster of former dictator Saddam Hussein.

The picture is, however, becoming increasingly more tainted by complaints of serious fraud from former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s secularist alliance, the Iraqiya List, which swept a noticeable majority of votes in two Sunni majority provinces in the north.

But the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) dismissed charges of serious fraud from Allawi’s camp, including reports that ballots were discovered in the garbage and more than 200,000 soldiers’ names were missing from voting lists.

“The process of counting and sorting ballots is going well, with the presence of observers from political parties and under international supervision,” Reuters quoted Hamdiya al-Husseini, a top IHEC official, as saying.

Five days after the election was held in Iraq, UN officials acknowledged the counting is taking longer than expected, but defended IHEC officials who have been citing a complicated system set up to thwart fraud.

Adding to the confusion in the counting process are technical challenges the IHEC suffered regarding the computer system used to enter polling data.

The system was slowed or was taken offline intermittently for maintenance, UN officials said. IHEC officials have, however, assured the problem was fixed now and that more initial results from at least another three provinces would be published on Friday.

On Thursday, Husseini said the electoral commission had received some 1,000 complaints over the vote, without providing further detail.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced on Friday that electricity has been provided to almost all villages across the country.

According to Ahmadinejad, all villages with populations of more than 20 families are now provided with electricity, IRIB News reported.

The president, who was making the remarks at a ceremony marking comprehensive national electricity distribution, hailed the development as a big achievement for the Islamic Revolution.

Iran is building nuclear power plants throughout the country to produce electricity for its growing nation and industries.

The Bushehr plant, which is being built with the help of Russia, is scheduled to go operational in the next few months.

Israeli forces have clashed with Palestinian worshippers after the Friday prayers at the highly revered al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem (al-Quds).

Reports from al-Quds said at least one Palestinian worshipper was injured in the clashes that broke out at the third holiest Islamic site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

Four others were reportedly arrested for throwing stones at Israeli forces and were taken in for questioning.

Tensions have been high in al-Quds since last week when Israeli forces stormed the courtyards of the mosque.

A week earlier, Tel Aviv announced a plan to include two holy shrines on Palestinian land in the West Bank cities of Hebron (al-Khalil) and Bethlehem in a so-called heritage restoration project.

The decision sparked outrage among Palestinians who vehemently denounced the decision and staged vast street protests against the Israeli administration’s confiscation of the holy sites.

On Friday, Tel Aviv closed off the occupied West Bank in response to a security request from Israeli security forces, who cited worries about protests pouring from al-Quds into the rest of the West Bank.

Since the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada (uprising) in September 2000, Israel has regularly sealed off the West Bank ahead of major holidays.

Palestinians in the Gaza strip have lit 1,000 candles and held a peaceful protest near the Erez (Beit Hanoun) border crossing in order to mark 1000 days of Israeli siege and blockade of the coastal enclaves.

“The siege has harmed the people, as well as the environment, health, the economy and social life. It constitutes a serious attempt to suffocate the people and break their will. A thousand days of the blockade on Gaza, however, show its residents’ steadfastness and patience despite the Israeli repeated attempts to undermine this determination,” Head of the Popular Committee against the Siege on Gaza, Jamal al-Khodari, said on Thursday.

Al-Khodari added that the committee will continue its peaceful activities and protests in order to save the lives of Palestinians living under the deadly Israeli siege on Gaza.

Israel has continued to close all border crossings to the Gaza Strip for more than two years. The illegal Israeli-imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has steadily tightened since 2007, has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the coastal enclave.

Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including the freedom of movement and the rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.

Poverty and unemployment rates stand at approximately 80% and 60% respectively in the Gaza Strip.

Three weeks of Israeli air strikes and a ground incursion into Gaza between Late December 2008 and early January 2009 resulted in the death of over 1,400 Palestinians and the injury of about 5,450 people in the Gaza Strip. Most of the victims were civilians.

The carnage also inflicted more than $1.6 billion of damage on Gaza’s economy.

Israel has ordered its military forces to impose a total closure on the West Bank in the occupied Palestinian territory for 48 hours.

The closure was enforced Thursday midnight amid reports on the possibility of fresh protests by Palestinians around the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem (al-Quds) after Friday prayers. The closure is to be lifted on Saturday night.

According to witnesses, Israeli police forces are increasing presence in al-Quds due to concerns that riots may break out in the holy city and spill over into the West Bank.

During the closure, entrance to the mainly Arab eastern sector of al-Quds will only be open to some 1,000 church employees, 550 teachers, 50 Palestinian Waqf employees and some 100 employees of religious bodies.

Riots broke out last week in al-Quds following Tel Aviv regime’s decision to illegally add the Ibrahimi Mosque and the Mosque of Bilal bin Rabah to its list of Israeli heritage sites.

This week’s tensions appear to focus on the new Israeli plan to build 1,600 new Jewish homes in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of the occupied West Bank it has annexed to al-Quds.