Tehran interim Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said in his sermon today that the International Atomic Energy Agency's report on Iran's nuclear program was "solid evidence" of Iran's righteousness and of the U.S.'s failure.

Ayatollah Jannati congratulated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Iranian people and officials on the country's "nuclear victory" following the IAEA report, and added that the report was proof that there are no ambiguities in Iran's nuclear program, and that charges raised against the righteous Iranian nation were baseless.

He said that this nuclear victory would not have been possible easily without the courage of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or his success in securing the Supreme Leader's consent.

Turning to Turkey's lifting of the ban on the veil in Turkish public schools [sic], Ayatollah Jannati said the "humanitarian gesture," taken in light of Turkish nation's ceaseless endeavors and resistance, showed that democracy and religion can easily go alongside each other.

IRNA, IRIBnews, Iran, February 29, 2008

Iran, Russia, Qatar and Algeria are discussing the creation of a gas organization similar to OPEC, Gholam-Reza Ansari, Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, said in an interview with Russia's Interfax News Agency.

Qatar had earlier announced that the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) would discuss creating an OPEC-like organization in its June meeting in Moscow.

GECF members would include Algeria, Iran, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia and Venezuela.

Source:PRESSTV, Iran, February 27, 2008

The Qatari daily Al-Arab reports that Qatar is again working with Syria and Iran in a last-ditch attempt at salvaging preparations for the Arab summit in Damascus and resolving Lebanon's presidency crisis.

It was reported that the Qataris will present a proposal for resolving the presidency crisis and for Lebanon's participation in the summit.

Source: Al-Arab, Qatar, February 29, 2008

Source: Al-Watan, Qatar, February 28, 2008

On scarecrow: "U.N." On left: "Gaza."

Sources: Falastin, Palestinian Authority; Al-Madina, Saudi Arabia, February 28, 2008

During the February 27 Saudi-Jordanian summit, Jordan's King Abdullah II conveyed a Syrian proposal for a meeting in Riyadh between Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah.

The aim of meeting would have been to discuss the Lebanon crisis and to provide an opportunity for extending the king an invitation to the Damascus summit.

However, the Saudi king angrily rejected the proposal.

According to senior Jordanian officials who attended the Saudi-Jordanian summit, the Saudi-Syrian dispute seems to be worsening and to be moving towards a severing of relations.

Also, Arab diplomatic sources reported that Syrian authorities had arrested two Saudis visiting the country and intended to charge them with involvement in the assassination of senior Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniya. They said that this move was aimed at pressuring Saudi Arabia to participate in the Damascus summit and to not cut off relations with Syria.

Source: Al-Jarida, Kuwait, February 29, 2008

The signing of a contract with China National Offshore Oil Corp to develop Iran's Pars gas field has been postponed to the "near future" because [Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari] could not take part in the signature ceremony, an Iranian official said.

The deal was first announced in late 2006. An Oil Ministry news report said the deal was worth $16 billion, lower than the $20 billion previously reported.

In recent years, China has expanded its commercial ties with Iran and opposed the imposition of tough economic sanctions on Iran, which is China's third-largest supplier of oil.

Last December, China's Sinopec Group signed a deal to develop the Iranian huge Yadavaran oilfield.

[It is hard to believe that Iran’s minister of oil, who is often on the road touting new deals, could not find the time to sign one of the most significant gas exploration agreements in a long time.]

Source:al-Wasat, Bahrain, February 28, 2008

Source: Akhbar Al-Arab, UAE, February 28, 2008

On February 28, Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir led hundreds of thousands of people in a Khartoum demonstration against Denmark.

The demonstration came in the wake of the reprinting of the Muhammad cartoons by Danish newspapers.

At the demonstration, Al-Bashir announced the waving the banner of jihad in Sudan, and promised that Sudan would respond appropriately to the insult.

He said that no defiled Danish foot would step on Sudanese land, and called on the Arab and Muslim countries to follow Sudan's example and boycott Danish products and Danish officials.

The demonstrators shouted slogans such as "Oh bin Laden, Strike Denmark and Never Stop" and "Oh Denmark, You Have Opened the Door to Terrorism."

Source: Al-Sudani, Sudan, February 28, 2008

Sudan Liberation Amy/Movement (SLA/M) leader Abd Al-Wahid Al-Nur has announced that Darfur refugees who received asylum in Israel recently opened an SLA/M office.

He also praised the Israeli government for helping the refugees, and said that the SLA/M's vision was of a liberal, democratic Sudan that would normalize relations with Israel.

Source: Sudan Tribune, France, February 27, 2008