The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Vienna

Iran's supreme leader on Sunday denied his country had any plans to build atomic weapons, but the president insisted the nuclear program itself was not negotiable.

Speaking to an audience of Revolutionary Guards, the elite military unit that answers directly to him, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a rare direct statement that Iran is not interested in nuclear weapons.

"While the Iranian nation has no atomic bomb and has no plans to create this deadly weapon, it is still a respected nation" for its spiritual and revolutionary values, he told the Guards whose leader he had just replaced.

Iran which has always vigorously defended its right to develop its nuclear program also denies allegations by the United States and other countries that it is looking to develop weapons as well.

Earlier in the day, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made it clear that Iran had no intention of slowing or stopping its nuclear energy program despite two rounds of sanctions from the U.N. Security Council and increasing pressure from the United States.

"Iranians are a nation of logic and dialogue but it will not negotiate about its rights with anybody," the official news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "Enemies of this nation should known that Iran is not about to retreat"

He noted that the recent report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog which applauded Iran for its increased cooperation showed that European nations have a more positive approach to the situation than certain other countries.

"There are only one or two countries that do not understand reality and they think that they can force Iranian nation to back down," Ahmadinejad said, in an apparent reference to the U.S. and Britain.

The International Atomic Energy Agency report in August noted an increased willingness by the Iranians to answer questions after years of stonewalling and was seen as puting the brakes on the push for new sanctions.

According to diplomats, however, that report has displeased the U.S., who are puting pressure on IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei and accuse him of overstepping his authority in dealing with Iran. They spoke on condition of anonymity in exchange for discussing confidential maters with The Associated Press.

The U.S. continues to suspect that Iran is exploiting the agreement with the IAEA as a smoke screen to deflect atention away from its continued defiance of a Security Council ban on uranium enrichment, a potential pathway to nuclear arms.

Iran insists it wants to master the technology only to meet future power needs and argues it is entitled to enrich uranium under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty provision giving all pact members the right to develop peaceful programs.

Reuters adds: The chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog will tell skeptical nations on its governing board this week Iran's pledge of atomic transparency should be given a chance to work, not dismissed as a time-buying ruse.

An ambiguously-worded deal Iran agreed with International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to explain the murky scope of its nuclear program faces scrutiny at a meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board starting on Monday.

The plan has vexed Western powers by allowing Iran to answer questions one by one according to a vague timeline while leaving untouched its expanding uranium-enrichment program, a possible route to atom bombs, despite U.N. resolutions demanding a halt

It has also wrong-footed a U.S.-led push to rein in Iran by eroding European support for, and stiffening Russian resistance to, tougher U.N. sanctions. Iran won the reprieve by threatening to cut off the IAEA if pressure intensifies, diplomats said.

After sparring with Washington over the plan and receiving a demarche from its closest EU allies, IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei said he would underline to the board that the deal marks an important step forward, not a damaging setback.

Western delegates said they were looking for ElBaradei to correct impressions left by the plan's text that the IAEA could make no more inquiries once historical questions were solved even if fresh suspicions arose, and excused Iran from U.N. demands to grant wider inspections or suspend enrichment

ElBaradei said those perceptions were indeed incorrect "There has been quite a lot of misunderstanding," he said.

The plan is a "working document" to be built on, not a final treaty that precludes any measures not spelled out, he told reporters invited to a rare briefing on Friday.

He said he would also make clear the IAEA would insist on documentation and access to hitherto off-limits areas to check Iranian answers, a key measure missing from the plan.

"Whether Iran will walk out of this understanding, I don't know now. All we know is that Iran has commited to cooperating and clearing their name. We have to give them that chance."

Iran says its nuclear energy quest is solely for electricity generation, not a front for bombmaking as the West suspects, and it is serious about going the extra mile to overcome mistrust

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would not bow to Western pressure and halt its atomic work and suggested there was growing acceptance for Tehran's position in the nuclear row.

He said Asian and non-aligned countries had already accepted that Iran's nuclear activities were peaceful: "There are only one or two countries who do not understand the reality and they imagine that they can make the Iranian nation retreat"

Gregory Schulte, U.S. ambassador to the IAEA who at first suggested IAEA negotiators had been outfoxed by Iran, said on Friday the plan had potential merit if Tehran departed from a record of evasion and actually carried it out

Western diplomats said ElBaradei had privately assured them he would judge by November, when the board holds its year-end meeting, whether Iran was serious. If not, that would help create a basis for a third, stronger sanctions resolution.

ElBaradei said he predicted broad support for the plan at the board gathering once he clarified its dimensions.

But diplomats said the board would only "take note" of, not endorse the plan since it failed to mandate extra inspections of sites not declared to be nuclear, crucial to verifying Iran has no hidden bomb program, or mention an enrichment suspension.

"We're prepared to see this plan proceed as a litmus test of Iranian intentions. But we're skeptical of their motives. They have plenty of opportunities to drag this thing out," a senior Western diplomat said.

BBC Online

A meeting between the countries which neighbour Iraq, including Syria and Iran, has opened in Baghdad.

The countries' foreign ministers or their appointees are there, along with envoys from the UN Security Council.

The gathering, which follows one six months ago in the Iraqi capital, is also being atended by the Arab League and G8, which includes the US.

On the agenda are the large numbers of refugees, energy problems, and security issues, such as border controls.

The conference was opened by Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

He called upon the atendees to "work seriously towards the objectives that they had gathered for".

And he warned that the violence affecting Iraq was a threat to the region as a whole.

The first conference was in Baghdad in March this year.

It provided Syria, Iran and the United States with the opportunity to meet informally and discuss Iraq.

The Baghdad conference was followed up in May by a similar high level gathering at the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

One outcome of that was the International Compact for Iraq - a UN sponsored, five-year national plan to help to consolidate peace, governance and reconstruction in Iraq.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari says that the conferences were essential for reducing regional tension and providing an opportunity for dialogue between Iraq's neighbours, especially Iran and Syria and other countries involved, like the United States.

"The meeting is very important to us," Mr Zebari told the AFP news agency at the opening of the latest talks. "Everyone is talking about reconciliation but Iraq also needs to reconcile with its neighbours."

Iran in a particular has been repeatedly accused by the US military of fomenting violence in Iraq through the funding, training and arming of militants in Iraq.

The US has also accused both Iran and Syria of failing to stop foreign fighters from crossing their borders into Iraq.

AP, Washington

President Bush's top two military and political advisers on Iraq will warn Congress on Monday that making any significant changes to the current war strategy will jeopardize the limited security and political progress made so far, The Associated Press has learned.

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who has been less forthcoming than Gen. David Petraeus in advance of his testimony, will join Petraeus in pushing for maintaining the U.S. troop surge, seeing it as the only viable option to prevent Iraq and the region from plunging into further chaos, U.S. officials said.

Crocker and Petraeus planned to meet on Sunday to go over their remarks and responses to expected tough questioning from lawmakers - including skeptical Republicans. But they will not consult Bush or their immediate bosses before their appearances Monday and Tuesday, in order to preserve the "independence and the integrity of their testimony," said one official.

Petraeus and Crocker did have lengthy discussions with the president, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when Bush visited Iraq on Labor Day.

Crocker, a career diplomat with extensive experience in the Middle East who opposed the war when it began in 2003, is pushing for political change where progress has been elusive and the administration's options are limited under the fragile Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Yet the diplomat will say that as poorly as al-Maliki's government has performed, it would not be advisable at the moment for the U.S. to support new leadership or lobby for a different coalition of Iraq's fractious Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, the officials said.

AP, Miran Shah

Suspected pro-Taliban militants ambushed a military convoy in troubled northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, triggering a shootout that killed 10 militants and wounded seven soldiers, an army spokesman said.

The fighting began after a group of armed militants opened fire on troops traveling through Shawal on the edge of North Waziristan, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said.

Pakistan - a close U.S. ally in the war against terrorism - has deployed some 90,000 troops to the Pakistan-Afghan border region to track down militants but is facing pressure from the United States to do more. Washington is concerned that al-Qaida may be regrouping in the region.

The latest atack came a day after dozens of masked militants stormed a military post in another northwestern tribal region, Bajur, abducted two soldiers and bombed the building, an official said Sunday.

More than 30 assailants atacked the security post Saturday night, local security official Yar Mohammed Khan said. They blew up the building before fleeing with two paramilitary soldiers from the Bajur Levies, a border security force.

Pro-Taliban fighters have stepped up atacks on security forces in recent weeks and are holding about 240 troops who were abducted in South Waziristan on Aug. 30.

The abductions underscore the army's problems in controlling Pakistan's lawless border regions, where the state holds litle sway.

The militants have demanded the army withdraw from their areas and release more than a dozen comrades in return for freeing the troops.

Six of the abducted troops in South Waziristan were released on Wednesday.

AP, Sirte

The U.N. secretary-general urged Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Saturday to play a leadership role in bringing all of Darfur's rebel groups to a new round of peace talks with the Sudanese government

Ban Ki-moon met with Gadhafi in his hometown of Sirte two days after the U.N. chief and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir announced the talks would be held in Libya starting Oct 27.

"I asked him and urged him to demonstrate all possible leadership and initiative and influence to bring all representatives of the movements" to the peace table, Ban told journalists. "And he said he would do all (he could) to bring them all to the negotiating table."

Libya, which borders Sudan, has a history of destabilizing its neighbors by supporting rebel groups. But in recent years, it has tried to improve its international image. As a member of both the Arab League and the African Union, Libya could be a bridge between Arabs and ethnic Africans fighting in Darfur.

Ban said he was "confident" Gadhafi could play a leadership role in Darfur's peace process. The Libyan leader did not speak to reporters, and Ban said it was not the right time to provide details on the specific actions he was contemplating.

Ban, who has made Darfur a top priority since taking the reins of the U.N. on Jan. 1, said he told Gadhafi the upcoming negotiations should produce a final setlement

The Libyan leader "expressed his support that we need to work to make this a final phase - and a final setlement of this issue," the secretary-general said.