Iran Equips Army Aircraft with Sophisticated Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles

Iran started equipping its Air Force fighter jets with air-to-surface Nour cruise missiles in a project dubbed as Qaem. Nour has a range of 120 kilometers.

Nour is a well-known cruise missile used by the Iranian army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in different wargames and can be launched from coast, vessels and aircraft against enemy vessels, oil facilities and naval positions.

In September 2011, Iran unveiled its 200-km range Qader anti-ship cruise missile with a high-precision striking capability and the Iranian defense industries have mass-produced the powerful missile.

The missile enjoys automatic digital pilot system, high-precision navigation systems, high-precision striking capability, anti-jamming radar systems and a rapid deployment capability.

Its coast-to-sea and surface-to-surface versions have previously been tested by Iranian armed forces and now the air-launched version of the Qader missile was unveiled by the Iranian Army during the military parades held in Tehran on Thursday on the occasion of the National Army Day.

Arming Iranian aircraft and choppers with 200-km range Qader cruise missile will boost the Iranian Armed Forces' power for combating and repelling naval threats.

President Franco claims Venezuela regime supports terrorist group in Paraguay

Paraguayan president Federico Franco accused the Venezuelan regime of Hugo Chavez of ‘direct and malicious’ involvement in his country’s affairs in support of a ‘terrorist and criminal’ gang, the Popular Army of Paraguay, EPP, which has committed kidnappings, assaults and killings.

Franco made the statements during an interview with journalist Patricia Janiot from CNN in Spanish. He added that he has documents and other evidence to support his accusation of Venezuela interference in support of EPP.

According to the Paraguayan president the Chavez regime organized and developed training programs for members of EPP that have been involved in kidnapping for ransom, killings of police forces, assaults, arson and other criminal actions in Paraguay.

Franco said that some EPP terrorist group members were invited to Venezuela with scholarships for alleged agriculture training programs but once there “were not precisely involved in learning to till the land but rather in the use of weapons and guerrilla tactics”.

“We have evidence and documents to support what I am saying now” added Franco.

Asked what his administration was doing to confront the EPP, Franco said that it is based on two stages: immediate action and the long term.

“The first is to establish industries and agricultural activities to the north of the country with an effective participation of the State, the other, long term to combat the subversives”.

The interview took place at the Time-Warner studios in New York.

President Franco also had a brief encounter with British PM David Cameron in the UN grounds out of the two leaders’ agenda.

The Paraguayan president also met with Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative foundation Monday night.

Iran tries to obscure currency's new plunge

Iran's currency plunged nearly eight percent to a new record low against the dollar on Monday, but the dramatic drop was being suppressed within the country on mobile phone text services and some exchange websites.

One money changer told AFP by telephone that the street rate around midday (0730 GMT) was 26,400 rials to the dollar, sharply lower than the 24,000 rate late on Sunday.

The Mehr news agency reported a rate of around 26,000.

Mobile telephone text messages that included the word "dollar" in English or in Farsi were censored, with the message not being received, AFP noted. The Farsi word for "foreign money" was also blocked.

But text messages containing the words "USD", "euro" or the $ symbol were all transmitted and received normally.

Such text blocks on the word "dollar" were implemented before in Iran, on January 10, when the rial also dived precipitously. The country's two main mobile phone service providers, MCI and Irancell, claimed at the time they were not filtering messages.

Several Iranian websites that usually give real-time foreign exchange rates had the dollar rate blanked out on Monday. One website, mesghal.ir, did give a dollar rate, but at 25,650 it was lower than that reported by money-changers.

Visitors to the money-exchanging district in central Tehran saw many of the shops half-shuttered, and none displayed a rate for dollars in their windows.

Monday's plunge deepened a sharp slide of five percent recorded on Sunday.

Separate from the floating street exchange rate, Iran maintains a fixed official rate of 12,260 rials to the dollar, but that is reserved for the government and a few privileged businesses.

The rest of the country relies on the street rate, with the result that the price of imported goods have sharply risen in recent months.

The head of Iran's parliamentary budget commission, Gholam Reza Mesbahi-Moghadam, told the Fars news agency that "the government has committed its biggest historic mistake by not responding to the demands in the forex market." He was quoted as saying that the dollar's sharp rise against the dollar was because the central bank "has not injected dollars (into the market) in the past three weeks." Compared to the rate in December last year, the value of the rial against the dollar has halved under the impact of draconian Western economic sanctions. The measures are aimed at crippling Iran's all-important oil exports to punish Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme.

Iranian authorities have tried several times in recent months to stop the currency's slide -- even briefly at one point trying to impose a cap on the rate -- but the rial has returned to shedding value.

"The central bank cannot systematically lower the exchange rate, but we have attempted to control it," Central Bank chief Mahmoud Bahmani told reporters on Sunday, the ISNA news agency reported.

"Our situation is one of war. We are fighting an economic war with the world," he said.

Market uncertainty has been exacerbated by bellicose rhetoric from Israel, the Middle East's sole though undeclared nuclear weapons state, which has threatened air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Iran's authorities have vowed not to cede to the sanctions pressure, saying they will maintain their nuclear activities, which they insist are purely civilian in nature.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Cyprus on the weekend said they were considering imposing further sanctions on Iran.

After Romney's visit, Islamic Terrorist Ahmadinejad slams U.S. Republican for 'kissing Israel's foot'

Islamic Terrorist Ahmadinejad did not specifically name Romney, but his comments were an unmistakable jab at the Republican contender's stop this week in Israel.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is calling a visit to Israel by U.S.¬ presidential candidate Mitt Romney as "kissing the foot" of the Jewish state to boost his bid for the White House.

Ahmadinejad did not specifically name Romney, but his comments were an unmistakable jab at the Republican contender's stop this week in Israel. Romney strongly backed Israel's drive to stop Iran from possibly seeking nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the claims.

Ahmadinejad questioned why Romney would make "concessions to get some pennies for [his] campaign?" The Iranian president made the comments during a speech Tuesday broadcast on state TV.

Also on Tuesday, China critisized Romney s statement that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel, saying the remark could worsen an already tense Middle East situation, or even re-ignite a war between Palestinians and Israelis.

A commentary by the official Xinhua News Agency said Romney's "hawkish remarks" ignored the sensitive nature of Jerusalem. It said the comments disregarded the Palestinians' claim to the war-won eastern sector of the city, which was annexed by Israel in 1967 in a move that is not internationally recognized.

Romney also suggested during a trip to Israel that he was open to move the U.S.¬ Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, something the Israelis have long sought but the U.S. ¬has refused to do because it would imply recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the entire city.

"Romney's remarks totally neglect historical facts and are actually irresponsible if he just meant to appeal to voters at home," Xinhua said. Romney, who was on an overseas trip that also included stops in Britain and Poland to bolster his image ahead of the election, has previously upset some in China by threatening tougher action on Beijing in trade disputes if he is elected president.

Xinhua said Romney's "radical words" on Israel were aimed at winning over U.S.¬ Jewish voters in the presidential election in November, adding that the "status of Jerusalem will not be resolved until a comprehensive solution is found to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Palestinians said Romney didn't understand the complexities of one of the world's most intractable conflicts. Palestinian critics accused Romney of snubbing the Palestinians' president, dismissing their claims to Jerusalem and suggesting their culture is inferior to Israel's.

Earlier on Tuesday, in a speech broadcast on state television, Ahmadinejad told a group of oil officials that only "politically retarded" governments would use badly needed oil as a tool of "political warfare" in opposition to Iran's nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad's remarks came after the U.S. Congress pressed ahead late Monday with a new package of sanctions on Iran, expanding financial penalties and targeting Tehran's energy and shipping sectors in the hope that economic pressure will undercut the country's suspected nuclear weapons program. Iran denies it seeks atomic weapons

Iran relies on oil for some 80 percent of its foreign revenue.