Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Friday that the country neither believes in atomic bombs nor is it seeking to develop such weapons, reports Press TV.

The Leader said the continuation of allegations by the West that the country is pursuing military objectives in its civilian nuclear program signals that the propaganda campaign against Iran has failed.

Iran has announced many times, he said, that its fundamentals and religious principles consider weapons of mass destruction as “illegal and haraam” — meaning forbidden and prohibited according to Islamic rules.

The West accuses Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of seeking a nuclear weapon. Tehran, however, rejects the allegation and says its program is aimed at the civilian applications of the technology.

Iran in no way believes in an atomic bomb, and it does not seek one, Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Iran on Tuesday began enriching uranium to a level of 20 percent at its Natanz enrichment facility under the surveillance of inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog.

The move comes after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tasked the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) with enriching uranium to 20 percent in order to meet the demands of the country’s cancer patients.

Iran has earlier informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it would start enriching uranium to 20 percent on Tuesday in the presence of the inspectors and observers from the agency.

Iran needs 120 kg (264 lb) of 20 percent-enriched uranium to fuel the Tehran research reactor, which produces medical isotopes for cancer patients and is soon to run out of fuel.

The Tehran research reactor, which produces 20 different kinds of radio-medicine for cancer patients, runs on 20 percent-enriched U-235.

The AEOI Director Ali-Akbar Salehi on Tuesday confirmed the beginning of uranium enrichment to 20 percent purity level at Natanz plant.

“The enrichment started on Tuesday in a separate cascade from the production line that enriches uranium in Natanz,” Salehi told the Islamic Republic News Agency.

Meanwhile, Haaretz reports that U.S. President Barack Obama has pushed toward new international sanctions against Iran.

Read more here.

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Dozens of Basiji militants, supporters of the Iranian government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have tried to assault the Italian embassy in Teheran shouting “Death to Italy, death to Silvio Berlusconi,” reports Corriere della Sera.

The militants, dressed as civilians tried to assault the embassy with stones and continued their aggressions against both the French and Dutch embassies.

The news was released by the Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, during a Senate hearing. There were no reports about wounded staff, but the attack, he said, was ‘worrying’.  The cause of the Iran militants’ assault is Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s criticisms of Ahmadinejad made during a visit to Israel. According to Iranian state television, Berlusconi and the Italian government were named as ’slaves of Israel.’

The Italian Foreign Minister Frattini then announced that he had given instructions to Italy’s ambassador in Tehran, Alberto Bradanini, to have no part in the ceremonies taking place on Thursday at the 31^st anniversary of the Iranian republic.

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that Iran’s enemies will not be able to block the country’s scientific progress.

In an address to the Second National Festival of Innovation and Prosperity in Tehran on Monday, Ahmadinejad said that young Iranian students would continue to attain great achievements in various technological fields.

The Iranian president also said the enemy assassinated Iranian particle physicist Massoud Ali-Mohammadi but added that such attacks would only strengthen the country’s resolve to strive to attain even greater scientific achievements.

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has praised the Mauritanian government for breaking diplomatic ties with Israel.

During a meeting with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz in Tehran on Monday, Ahmadinejad called the move a valuable step which “should set an example for the rest of the Islamic countries.”

Mauritania cut its ties with Israel during the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza war, during which over 1400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed.

The Iranian president also called Israel the “root of all the corruption in the region.”

Mauritania’s president is currently visiting Tehran with a high-ranking delegation.

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Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Wednesday rejected the speculations that the US and Israel might launch an attack against the country, stressing that the Zionist regime does not dare to attack Iran.

We believe that the Zionist regime is not experiencing proper conditions to dare to attack Iran, Mottaki told reporters in a joint press conference with his Omani counterpart Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah here in Tehran today.

The Iranian top diplomat also described the possibility of a military attack against Iran’s nuclear installations as media propaganda by the Zionists and Americans which was heated during the presidency of George W. Bush.

“Since its illegal establishment in the region, Israel has brought the Muslim people of the region nothing but problem, annoyance, aggression, terror and massacre,” he added.

“Israel is a useless member which has been imposed on the region,” Mottaki said, reminding that due to the aggressive nature of the Israeli regime, it should always be watched and monitored.

Speculations that Israel could bomb Iran mounted after a big Israeli air drill in 2008.

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At the meeting with the British diplomat, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Director-General for West European Affairs, Aboulqassem Delfi, voiced Tehran’s strong protest against London’s meddling with Iran’s domestic affairs, especially the stances adopted and the remarks made by the British officials over the recent unrests in Tehran.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast had earlier warned London against interference in Tehran’s internal affairs, and announced his ministry’s plans for calling the British envoy to Tehran to voice strong protest against the meddling remarks made by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband over the recent unrests in the Iranian capital.

The spokesman also described Miliband’s comments as “hasty and undiplomatic”, and called on London to review its policies towards Iran.

Miliband on Monday hailed what he called as the “great courage” of the Iranian pro-opposition supporters, and criticized Tehran for confronting the rioters, says Iran’s FARS News Agency.

Tehran’s police headquarters announced earlier that eight people were killed in clashes, but meantime underlined that the police forces neither used violence nor fired a single bullet during the Sunday unrests.

The unrests broke out after a number of supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, a defeated candidate of the July presidential election in Iran, took to the streets in Tehran on a highly revered religious day commemorated by Shiites in Iran and across the world.

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The Tehran Prosecutor General’s Office has announced that 86 of the people arrested for participating in “illegal gatherings” in Tehran on Monday have been released.

Tehran’s police chief had said earlier on Tuesday that 204 people were arrested during anti-government demonstrations on Monday, which was Student Day in Iran.

Brigadier General Azizullah Rajabzadeh added that 165 men and 39 women were arrested during “riots for instigating violence and disrupting public order.”

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Rallies marking the 30th anniversary of the US Embassy takeover in Tehran have started in capital Tehran as well as other cities across the country, reports Press TV.

Tens of thousands of people from all walks of life and many political persuasions have staged a rally at the site of the former US embassy in Tehran, better known in Iranian history as the ‘Den of Spies’.

November 4 marks three important events in Iranian history: the takeover of the former US embassy in Tehran by Muslim students following the Imam’s line in 1979 and the exile of the late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini by the deposed Shah in 1964.

The declaration of the day as the Students Day, however, is overridingly in remembrance of several students martyred in 1978 while taking part in a protest against the Shah.

Since the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, Iranians have been celebrating the occasion every year by holding rallies on the anniversary and marking it as the National Day against the ‘Global Arrogance’.

People carried placards expressing their hatred of the bullying of arrogant powers and the US in particular. They also chanted slogans against the United States and Israel.

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A leading Iranian cleric has warned against the enemy’s plots to damage the Islamic establishment and called for proper counter measures to be taken.

“We must identify where the enemy seeks to penetrate the Islamic establishment and then counter it,” said Tehran’s Interim Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Mohammad Imami-Kashani.

He touched upon Iran’s great achievements in different fields saying, “We must realize that aside from enemy media outlets, the rest of the world supports the Islamic and scientific movements in Iran.”

“When science is founded upon faith and Islam, no one will be able to stop it,” added the cleric.

“History has shown that the Islamic civilization, which incorporates science, faith and effort, was taking over the world, when certain parties stepped in and laid claim to the achievements of Muslims. They proclaimed themselves as the owners of the world and enslaved Muslim countries,” he said.

Read more here.