IRAN STILL INSISTS NO WAY

I JUST LOVE THE WAY GOD IS GETTING PEOPLES ATTENTION WHO DENY THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. PRAISE KING JESUS.

PICTURES FROM WND
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MUCH ABOUT HISTORY Old Testament proof: Royal seal discovered. Archaeologists unearth ancient relic from prince mentioned in Jeremiah August 03, 2008 7:35 pm Eastern By Joe Kovacs
2008 WorldNetDaily

A team of archaeologists in Israel has unearthed what's believed to be the royal seal of an Old Testament prince who is said to have tossed the prophet Jeremiah down a well.Royal seal bears name of Gedaliah, a prince to Judah's King Zedekiah, mentioned in the Old Testament Book of Jeremiah. (courtesy Dr. Eilat Mazar)The stamped engraving, known as a bulla, was discovered earlier this year about 600 feet south of the Temple Mount, but is just now making headlines.

Team leader Dr. Eilat Mazar of Jerusalem's Hebrew University says the imprint was found in clay, astonishingly well-preserved, bearing the name of Gedaliah, the son of Pashur.How absolutely fantastic and special this find is can only be realized when you hold in your hand this magnificent one-centimeter piece of clay and know that it survived 2,600 years in the debris of the destruction, and came to us complete and in perfect condition, Mazar said.

Gedaliah is mentioned by name in Jeremiah 38:1 as he served Judah's King Zedekiah in the final days before Jerusalem was conquered by Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.The excavation area in the section of Jerusalem known as the City of David, looking east. (courtesy Dr. Eilat Mazar) The prophet's writings tell of the actions that Gedaliah and his fellow princes took against him:

Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire. (Jeremiah 38:6)

The prophet was rescued after an Ethiopian eunuch pleaded with the king on Jeremiah's behalf, saying, he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city. (38:9)The king then ordered 30 men to hoist up the prophet before the city fell to the Babylonians.A 19th century Bible depicts the prophet Jeremiah being lifted out of a well.The letters on the seal are in ancient Hebrew, and Mazar told WND the relic was recovered through a wet-sifting process. She says the method was learned after the illegal excavations by the Waqf, the Islamic custodians of the Temple Mount, who have been dumping debris in huge mounds.

Dr. Eilat Mazar

The wet sifting that we did for the destruction debris from our excavations indeed allowed us to uncover hundreds of different kinds of small finds such as tiny fish bones, Phoenician glass beads, Hebrew, Babylonian and Egyptian bullae and seals, pits and seeds, hematite and limestone weights, arrowheads, figurines, jewelry and more, she said.This is actually the second recent discovery of an ancient bulla from the time of Jeremiah.In 2005, Mazar found another seal with the name of Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, who is mentioned twice in the prophet's book. That artifact was found in a stone structure Mazar believes was part of King David's ancient palace.She added, It is not very often that such a discovery happens to archaeologists in which real figures of the past shake off the dust of history and so vividly revive the stories of the Bible.

INTERESTING THINGS COMMIN OUT NOW, WHAT IS THE TRUTH. ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

ELECTION 2008 Book links Obama to massacre of Christians
Senator's continuing ally launches genocidal tribal violence
August 03, 2008 9:35 pm Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily

CHURCH VIOLENCE VIDEO
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Barack Obama and Raila Odinga

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama has continued to support Kenya's Raila Odinga, even after Odinga has been blamed for inciting tribal violence and slaughtering Christians, according to an explosive new book written by WND senior staff reporter Jerome R. Corsi.In The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality, Corsi argues that Odinga's protests following his loss to U.S.-backed Mwai Kibaki in Kenya's 2007 presidential election led to a wave of tribal and religious violence aimed against Kibaki's majority Kikuyu tribe.The violence Obama's ally was blamed for included the slaughter of some 50 Pentecostal Christians.As WND reported earlier, during his first visit to Kenya as a U.S. Senator in 2006, Obama openly campaigned for Odinga, to the point where Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua accused Obama of meddling inappropriately in Kenyan presidential politics. Mutua charged during a television news video that Obama had become a stooge to Odinga during the Kenyan presidential election campaign. Obama's father belonged to the same Luo tribe as Odinga.In the disputed Dec. 27, 2007, presidential vote, Odinga charged he was denied winning the presidency by voter fraud.After the election, Odinga pressed for a power-sharing arrangement in which he would be the prime minister in a government where Kibaki was president, with the two factions sharing a 50-50 power split in the cabinet.Odinga's claim led to widespread fighting that killed more than 1,000 people in the weeks after the election, leaving more than 350,000 Kenyans displaced.While proving involvement is difficult, many in Kenya assumed the post-election violence was supported, if not organized, behind the scenes by Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement party.

In a horrifying incident following the election, at least 50 people, including women and children, were killed when an angry mob forced Kikuyu Christians into an Assemblies of God Pentecostal church and set fire to the church, hacking with machetes any of the Christians who tried to escape the flames.The violence occurred in the village of Eldoret, about 185 miles northwest of Nairobi. The massacre in the church was part of youth gang violence aimed at harassing the Kikuyu Christian minority, which before the election numbered around 20 percent of Eldoret's 500,000 people.After the church burning, the vast majority of Eldoret’s Kikuyu Christian minority fled the city, in fear of their lives.Christian missionaries report over 300 Christian churches were severely damaged or destroyed in the violence that swept the country, but mosques were left undisturbed.Another horrific report came from the Telegram in London, reporting the wave of post-election violence involved members of President Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe being attacked in Nairobi slums by ethnic groups including gangs of Luo tribe youth and men who were engaging in gang rapes of women and sodomizing boys as young as five years of age.The Telegraph reported the vast majority of the victims were assaulted in their homes and all had been targeted because of their Kikuyu tribe membership.Mobs slashed their way into homes, attacking everyone they found with machetes and clubs. Youths raped women in front of their husbands and many wives were then dragged from their homes and killed.In the final days of the New Hampshire Democratic Party primary, after the post-election violence in Kenya, Obama told reporters he had telephoned Raila Odinga by telephone.Obama sided with Odinga, indicating Odinga was willing to meet with Kibaki.

Obviously he [Odinga] believes that the votes were not tallied properly, Obama told reporters, almost as if he were running for election in Kenya. But what I urged was that all the leaders there, regardless of their position on the election, tell their supporters to stand down, to desist with the violence and resolve it in a peaceful way with Kenyan laws.Reporters asked if Obama had telephoned Kenyan President Kibaki.I have not spoken to President Kibaki as yet, the senator answered, but I hope to get in touch with him some time soon. I want to see if I can be helpful.It is unclear whether Obama ever spoke with Kibaki, after a rough initial meeting during Obama’s 2006 Kenyan trip.

PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS

JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME

PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).

WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

WELL THE BIBLE CLEARLY SAYS BEHEADINGS WILL BE COMMON PLACE, WE SEE ITS GOIN WORLDWIDE NOW NOT JUST IN THE MIDEAST AND MUSLIM COUNTRIES.

Police tape: Canada bus killer ate victim's flesh
Internal communication leaked on Internet; suspect charged in beheading

James Turner / AP Vince Weiguang Li, 40, is led into the Manitoba Provincial Court in Portage La Prairie on Friday. updated 8:55 p.m. ET, Sat., Aug. 2, 2008 TORONTO - A police officer at the scene of a grisly beheading on a Canadian bus reported seeing the attacker hacking off pieces of the victim's body and eating them, according to a police tape leaked on the Internet Saturday. In the tape of radio transmissions, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer refers to the attacker as Badger and says he is armed with a knife and scissors and is defiling the body at the front of the bus as we speak.On the tape, which lasts about 80 seconds, officers continue to detail the attacker's movements until one reports, Badger's at the back of the bus, hacking off pieces and eating it. The RCMP described the tapes as operational police communications and, as such, are not meant for public consumption. Police said permission had not been given to use the radio transmission, which was posted on LiveLeak.com and picked up by other Web sites. Officers were responding to a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway about 12 miles from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, after the bloody attack late Wednesday on the bus traveling from Edmonton, Alberta to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Vince Weiguang Li, 40, faces second-degree murder charges for the murder of a 22-year-old man, who friends and family identified as Tim McLean. Police have not confirmed the victim's identity.

Suspect called model employee
Passengers said they had just reboarded the bus following a break when the suspect — for no apparent reason — stabbed the man sitting next to him dozens of times as passengers fled in horror. He then severed the man's head, displayed it and began hacking at the body.

Li's employer said in an interview Saturday that he was shocked to learn that his model employee had been accused of the grisly attack. Vincent Augert, an independent contractor who distributes newspapers in Edmonton, said that Li was one of his most reliable carriers. He was very punctual and always cleanly dressed, he told The Associated Press. He was a very nice, polite guy. We would've had no reason to let him go before all this happened.Augert said Li had worked for him since last July and caused no problems. I had no odd suspicions about him at all, said Augert. Augert said that Li called him two weeks ago to say he needed a day or two off to go to Winnipeg for a job interview at the end of July. He said Li called him back and left a message with the dates, but never followed up after that. That was unusual for him not to call back and then when he didn't show up for work on Tuesday we got worried, said Augert, who said it was sometimes difficult to understand Li because he spoke quickly and had a strong Chinese accent.Ken Gigliotti / AP
Canadian police inspect the Greyhound bus.Augert said he called Li's cell phone on Thursday and his wife answered. She told him that she hadn't heard from Li, who had told her he had to leave for a few days because of a family emergency. Li, who shuffled into a courtroom Friday in Portage la Prairie with his head bowed and feet shackled, appeared before the court without a lawyer. He did not reply when the judge asked him whether he was going to get a lawyer, and only nodded slightly when asked whether he was exercising his right not to speak. He was not required to enter a plea. The prosecutor asked for a psychiatric assessment, but the judge said he wanted to give Li a chance to meet with his lawyer. Li's next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday. The RCMP said Li has no known criminal record.

Victim's family speaks out
McLean's family spoke publicly Saturday for the first time since the brutal attack. He was a little guy with a heart bigger than you could know, McLean's uncle, Alex McLean, told reporters in a prepared statement from the family. Tim spent his life traveling and meeting new people and always saw the good in everyone. He had the most infectious giggle. You could hear him laughing a mile away, said Alex McLean. It didn't matter what kind of a day you were having, because when you heard him laugh, you couldn't help but join in.William Caron, 23, said McLean was quiet, though he liked to socialize with friends. He was small — about 5-foot-4 and 130 pounds — and tended to stay away from a fight, Caron said. All the time I've known Tim, he's never been the type of guy to get into a fight with. He always kept to himself when there's strangers around, Caron said. The killing has spawned a vast online community, with tens of thousands showing support for McLean's family and expressing disgust for the attack. One of the many groups on the social networking site Facebook has accumulated over 40,000 members with more than 2,000 wall posts. It's something right out of a horror movie, said Sheena in Edmonton.

Santorini butcher gravely ill By Malcolm Brabant BBC News, Athens

A man who decapitated his girlfriend and paraded the head around a village on the Greek island of Santorini is now fighting for his life in hospital. Athanassios Arvanitis, a 31-year-old chef, was shot five times by police before his arrest. He has wounds to his lungs and is in intensive care. The authorities believe the deadly rampage was triggered by his dismissal as a chef in a hotel. Three women injured during the police chase are said to be out of danger.

The trail of violence began when the man used a butcher's knife to decapitate his girlfriend's dog on the balcony of their home in the village of Vourvoulos, near Santorini's main town Thira. Next, Mr Arvanitis allegedly killed his girlfriend, a 25-year-old teacher called Adamantia Karkali, by stabbing her in the armpit. He then cut her head off and began parading it around the streets. During a dramatic chase, Mr Arvanitis tried and failed to behead a policeman. He was then shot five times and arrested. Doctors at Santorini's medical centre say that despite his injuries they found it almost impossible to restrain him. Two women doctors knocked from their motorbike by Mr Arvanitis as he tried to get away in a police jeep are said to be out of danger, as is a Greek woman tourist who was hit by a ricocheting bullet as she watched the sunset. People living in Santorini say they have not witnessed such savagery on this iconically beautiful island since the Germans carried out executions during the World War II occupation.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Iran defiant on nuclear deadline AUG 3,08

Mr Ahmadinejad remains adamant Iran's nuclear programme is peaceful
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said his country will not retreat one iota on its nuclear programme. He was speaking after meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is on a two-day visit to Tehran. The meeting coincided with an informal deadline set by Western officials in a dispute over Tehran's uranium enrichment plans. Mr Assad had promised France he would use his ties with Iran to help resolve its nuclear stand-off with the West. In a statement published on the Iranian president's website, Mr Ahmadinejad said: In whichever negotiation we take part... it is unequivocally with the view to the realisation of Iran's nuclear right, and the Iranian nation would not retreat one iota from its rights.He said that international agreements meant Iran, like every other country, had the right to engage in uranium enrichment and possess nuclear power stations. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had earlier urged Iran to give a clear answer on a deal offered by the international community, telling it to stop dallying. But Iran had said it had no intention of observing the 14-day deadline attached to the offer, a deadline that ran out on Saturday. The offer pledged not to impose new sanctions in return for halting uranium enrichment.

Assad pledge

Tehran has claimed consistently that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, but the US and its allies believe it could be used to develop a nuclear weapon. During a visit to Paris in July, Mr Assad had promised French President Nicolas Sarkozy he would try to persuade Iran to offer proof it is not developing nuclear weapons.


Iran appears to be pressing ahead with its nuclear programme

But, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran, it would be hard to see him persuading Mr Ahmadinejad to meet Western demands on the nuclear issue. With Israel and Syria holding indirect peace talks, our correspondent adds, it is more likely that Mr Assad's visit is aimed at reassuring Tehran about the alliance between Iran and Syria. Iran was set the informal deadline on 19 July after its chief nuclear negotiator met officials from the UN, EU and the US in Geneva. It was the first time senior officials from the US and Iran had held face-to-face talks on the issue. In an interview with the weekly Der Spiegel, Mr Steinmeier appealed to the Iranians to provide an answer to the offer. I appeal again to the Iranian side no longer to play for time, but to give us a usable answer to our offers - stop dallying, he said. But Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said no deadline had been agreed. We have not had any discussion [or] agreement of the so-called timeline of two weeks, he said.

Sanctions

Meanwhile, Israel's deputy prime minister warned that Iran was near a breakthrough in its nuclear programme. Shaul Mofaz, a frontrunner to succeed Ehud Olmert as prime minister later in the year, said Iran could be capable of producing uranium for military use by 2010. The UN Security Council has already imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran. The US has hinted that a fourth could follow if the current offer is rejected by Tehran. On the face of it, our correspondent says, Iran is pressing ahead with its nuclear programme with no immediate prospect of new sanctions, but the Iranian government must be worried that it faces the danger of steadily growing international isolation.

US: Major powers to seek new sanctions on Iran By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer AUG 4,08

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration says the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany have agreed to pursue further sanctions against Iran over its suspect nuclear program after it failed to meet a weekend deadline to respond to an incentives package designed to defuse the dispute. The State Department said the group decided in a high-level phone call on Monday that it had no choice but to seek additional punitive measures on Iran. Iran has told the lead European negotiator that it will provide a written response to the offer on Tuesday but a State Department spokesman said sanctions would come in the absence of a proper reply.

EU, Iran in new nuclear talks as answer awaited by Farhad Pouladi AUG 4,08

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's nuclear negotiator and the EU foreign policy chief Monday held their latest talks on the atomic standoff amid growing pressure on Tehran to give a clear answer to an offer to end the crisis. Iran's Saeed Jalili and the EU's Javier Solana agreed in a telephone conversation to continue talks, Iranian state television reported.The talks, the first contact between the two men since they met in Geneva last month, came a day after an apparent deadline passed for Iran to give its answer to the package presented by world powers.Six weeks after the offer was first proposed, Iran has yet to give a final response to the package which offers Tehran technological incentives if it suspends the sensitive process of uranium enrichment.The conversation took place and Solana will report on it to the representatives of the group of six world powers, a Solana spokesman told AFP, referring to Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

The spokesman for Solana -- who is negotiating on behalf of the six powers -- gave no details of the conversation or how long the two men talked.Iranian television merely added that the pair also emphasised that preserving this path (of talks) needs a positive and constructive atmosphere.The United States had insisted that Iran meet a weekend deadline to respond to the package but Tehran has so far refused to give any ground on the key demand that it suspend uranium enrichment.Iran has also not given any answer to an additional offer to start pre-negotiations under which it would not expand its enrichment capacities any further while further UN sanctions proposals would be frozen.World powers fear that Iran could use enrichment to make a nuclear weapon but Tehran insists it only wants nuclear energy for a growing population whose fossil fuels will eventually run out.Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi dismissed the idea of a deadline, saying that negotiations are an ongoing process and the question of a deadline is media speculation.At the last Jalili-Solana meeting in Geneva on July 19, Solana asked for a response in two weeks to the package which aims to draw the line under a crisis that has sent oil prices spiralling and raised fears of regional conflict.But an EU diplomat said: If it's in 16 days instead of 14, it's not a problem. We are not obsessed with a date.Solana had presented the offer of economic and trade incentives in mid-June, while Iran has put forward its own proposal, an all-embracing package of suggestions to resolve the problems of the world, including the nuclear issue.Iran has so far been slapped with three sets of UN Security Council sanctions for its refusal halt uranium enrichment but President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has defiantly insisted that Tehran will not budge an inch.

The United States has warned that more sanctions loom if Iran does not give a positive response to the package.Along with its regional ally Israel, Washington has warned that the option of military action against Iran remains open if Tehran sticks to its defiant line.Amid the continued tensions, Iran announced on Monday that it had successfully test-fired an anti-ship missile with a range of 300kilometres (180 miles) that it had developed with homegrown technology. No enemy vessels would be able to escape it within a 300-kilometre radius from the borders of Iran, the commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said on state television. Iran has in recent months frequently boasted of developing new weapons and military hardware but the claims have often met with scepticism from Western defence analysts. World oil prices -- which have been driven to record levels by worries over a possible military strike on OPEC's number two producer -- were mixed on Monday. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, fell 16 cents to 124.94 dollars a barrel in electronic trading, reversing earlier gains.

Iran: New weapon for use at sea tested 5h 4m ago AUG 4,08

Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has tested a new weapon for use at sea, the chief of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards was quoted Monday as saying by the official IRNA news agency.The commander, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, claimed the new marine weapon is unique in the world and has a range of 300 kilometers (186 miles).The report provided no further details and didn't say when or where the weapon was tested, but it quoted Jafari as saying that there is no similar weapon in the service of armies in the world.The alleged new weapon's range indicated it may be some type of torpedo.Iran and the West are locked in a standoff on the country's disputed uranium enrichment program, which the U.S. and its allies fear is aimed at making nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge and says the program is only for producing electricity.Both the U.S. and Israel have said they would prefer a diplomatic solution to the standoff, but have not ruled out other options, including a military one.To show their readiness to defend, the Guards test fired missiles and torpedoes in the Persian Gulf last month, and Tehran claimed it tested a new Shahab missile with a range of 2,012 kilometers (1,250 miles).In case of a possible strike on Iran, Jafari said the country will respond in every way it can. The enemy, he said, would prefer to make the duration of the war as short as possible.
But, we will prolong it, Jafari said.The Associated Press

Oil jumps above $126 in Asia on Iran AUG 4,08

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices jumped above US$126 a barrel Monday in Asia on concern that a showdown over Iran's nuclear program could threaten crude supplies out of the Middle East.

A fuel price board at a petrol station in Manila.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday that the United States would have no choice but to begin again to prepare sanctions resolutions for the (U.N.) Security Council if Iran did not halt the development of its uranium enrichment program.Rice said that given the U.N.'s current scheduling, sanctions probably could not be expected in the next few weeks, but the U.S. will begin working with allies toward that goal.There's concern about a potential confrontation down the line, said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz consultancy in Singapore.Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose US$1.20 to US$126.30 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore. The contract gained US$1.02 on Friday to settle at US$125.10 a barrel.In London, September Brent crude was up 96 cents at US$125.14 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

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Iran says diplomacy key to nuke dispute
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday that diplomacy is the only way out of his country's standoff with the West as an informal deadline expired on an offer of economic and other incentives by six world powers if Iran agreed to curb enrichment.

Iran's leader made the comments a day after asserting that his country would not give up its nuclear rights, signaling that it would refuse demands to stop enriching uranium or at least not to expand its enrichment work.The United States and its European allies fear Iran intends to use the technology to develop material for nuclear weapons under the cloak of a civilian nuclear power program. Iran denies the accusation.On Friday, oil shot up as much as US$4 after news reports quoted Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying that Iran's nuclear program was nearing a major breakthrough and that his country must be prepared for every option.Mofaz, a hawkish former defense minister and military chief, is a top contender to succeed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who announced last week he will resign in September amid a corruption probe.Oil prices also rose Monday in Asia on concern Tropical Storm Edouard may disrupt oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico.The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch Sunday for the coast of western Louisiana and eastern Texas, which means that hurricane conditions are possible from Edouard within the next 24 hours in the area.The fifth named storm of the 2008 hurricane season has sustained maximum winds of about 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour. By Sunday night, Edouard was located about 80 miles (129 kilometers) east-southeast off the mouth of the Mississippi River and about 390 miles (630 kilometers) east of Galveston, Texas.It's expected to strengthen before making landfall Tuesday morning in Texas.In Nigeria, two French oil workers were kidnapped in country's volatile southern oil region Sunday. A statement released by France's Foreign Ministry confirmed the kidnappings of the French nationals, but did not provide additional details about the two or say for which company they worked.You've got three supply-side worries pushing oil higher today: Iran, the storm and Nigeria, Shum said.In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 2.82 cents to US$3.465 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline prices gained 4.57 cents to US$3.13 a gallon. Natural gas futures increased 8.9 cents to US$9.478 per 1,000 cubic feet.