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Iran says US has failed in Iraq

IRNA

Tehran, Nov 30, IRNA -- Iran seized on US President George W Bush`s 
hush-hush travel to Iraq on the Thanksgiving Day Thursday, saying the 
event indicated that Washington had come to face defeat several months
after announcing the mission accomplished. 
"America has failed in Iraq; both in guaranteeing security and 
other issues. It is now up to the American people to ask their rulers 
where America stands and why the country`s president cannot travel 
even to a friendly country," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza 
Asefi told here Sunday. 
The official recalled statements aboard US warship Abraham Lincoln
in May by Bush, who pompously announced the victory of the coalition 
in Iraq and said `we are now working to guarantee security` in the 
war-torn country. 
"Seven months have passed since then and those statements as well 
as Bush`s nocturnal visit to Baghdad on the Thanksgiving eve 
contradict each other. If he claims to be Iraq`s liberator, he must 
have arranged a magnanimous travel to have the Iraqi people to welcome
him," Asefi said. 
The official also commented on a range of other issues, including 
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini`s postponed visit to the 
Islamic Republic, Palestine, the militarization of the Caspian Sea 
and Tehran-Cairo relations. 
Asefi said Tehran believed the four Iranian diplomats held by 
Israel are still alive and that `the regime has conceded it is holding
them`. 
"The (Zionist) regime must be accountable to the public opinion in
the region and the world and bring the fate of these beloved 
individuals to light," he said. 
Asefi said, "The Italian foreign minister was scheduled to visit 
Iran several days ago, but it was postponed since there was no 
possibility to hold all the meetings in one day." 
The official sounded pessimistic to any revival of peace 
negotiations with the regime of hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel 
Sharon. 
"No peace plan can be implemented with the participation of the 
Sharon government and his authority in the Israeli regime," he said. 
Asefi stressed, "Any plan which fails to guarantee the rights of 
the Palestinian people and address their fundamental problems will 
fail. 
"In any (peace) plan, Sharon must be pressured, to begin with, on 
paying attention to the public opinion. We believe if the main issues 
are not raised, this will amount to erasing the incriminating facts." 
Asked about Kazakhstan`s intention to deploy military force in the
Caspian Sea, he said, "Kazakhs have announced that they will have such
presence within their own maritime waters and this has nothing to do 
with the whole sea and dispatch of military forces. 
"If it is decided that we, as a powerful country, enter such 
rivalries, we will definitely overtake others, but we believe that the
Caspian must remain a sea of peace, tranquility and friendship," Asefi
said. 
The official refused to comment on whether there was any potential
al-Qaeda threats to Iran following the group`s recent bombings in 
Turkey. 
"You had better ask this from intelligence and security 
officials," he said. 
On Tehran-Cairo ties, he said that Iran and Egypt are moving on a 
right track which must be maintained. 
Asked to comment on the Argentine foreign minister`s interest in 
visiting Tehran and speculation about Iran`s cancellation of the 
visit, Asefi said, "No date has been set for the Argentine foreign 
minister`s visit to be cancelled. As for the intention, the issue must
be examined." 
BH/AH/210 
End