By IRNA,
Tehran : British member of parliament and anti-war activist said here on Sunday that an international aid convoy from London, dubbed “Miles of Smiles”, is expected to head to Gaza from the port city of Latakia in Syria.
Talking to IRNA on the sidelines of the meeting of Iranian expatriates, George Galloway said the convoy will carry 10 million dollars worth of aid to Gazans.
Commening on the Zionist regime of Israel’s attack on Peace Flotilla bound to Gaza, he reiterated that the attack on the caravan of ships heading to Gaza was a damaging issue for Israel.
Elsewhere in the interview, Galloway blasted the US “hypocrisy” in calling on Turkey and Brazil to enter talks with Iran on nuclear issue, which led to the May 17 Tehran Declaration, and then turning against the document the next day, pushing for an anti-Iran sanctions resolution at the United Nations Security Council on June 9.
He then hailed Tehran decision that it would not need 20 percent uranium enrichment to provide Tehran Research Reactor with a supply.
Iran’s parliament approved a bill recently to urge the government to continue the 20-percent uranium enrichment.
Under the bill, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) is obliged to provide 20-percent enriched uranium fuel for Tehran’ s research reactor.
The bill, approved by the majority of the lawmakers, calls for the prohibition of implementing IAEA requests which go beyond the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligations.
Earlier in June, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani called for the extension of Iran’s uranium enrichment to a base level of 20 percent.
Galloway also criticized double-standards in dealing with Iran and Israel. He said Iran has been loyal to international regulations, while Israel is not a NPT signatory, having hundreds of missiles and being financially supported. He said Israel with so much violations is not subject to sanctions.
He called the UN Security Council’s sanctions against Iran “unjust and illogical.”
Hailing successful organization of the meeting of Iranians overseas, underway in Tehran’s Summit Conference Hall (August 2-5), Galloway said the meeting is good for Iran and the Iranians.
In a speech to the meeting ahead of interview with IRNA, Galloway had said it is necessary to back Iran’s rights for peaceful nuclear energy.
“It is our duty to support Iran’s rights for civilian nuclear energy, the West’s behavior towards Iran is strange since countries should not be treated based on double standard, he noted.
He then referrred to the US President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo on more engagement with the Islamic World and said, “his words have not been implemented in practice, his remarks were beautiful, but in practice they did not come true.”
Galloway also turned to the issue of Zionist regime, saying that, “Israel has most violated the UN resolutions and refused to comply with them and joint the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).”
“Iran is sanctioned whereas it neither has any nuclear weapons nor seeks such weapons, also the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirms it has no evidence that Iran is pursuing nuclear arms.”
The meeting of Iranian expatriates opened here at Tehran Summit Conference Hall on Monday, featured by inaugural speech of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
After his speech to the audience, the president formally opened a foreign exchange fund for Iranian expatriates. The account to the value of 2,000 dollars was in the name of a little girl, named Melika.
The measure came after Iranians residing abroad had called for pouring part of their investment in Iran. Iranians can start making investments on Tuesday.
Mottaki in his opening speech to the conference called for providing more services to Iranian expatriates.
Some 1,500 Iranian expatriates as well as high-ranking officials took part in the conference, that is sponsored by the Council of the Overseas Iranians’ Affairs.