News in Brief
Leader urges gov’t, parl. to fight corruption
IRNA – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has called on authorities to seriously pursue the fight against the “seven-headed dragon of corruption.”
“If an official does not have the courage to confront the corrupt inside the country, s/he will not have the courage to fight the oppressors outside the country,” Ayatollah Khamenei said on Saturday morning.
He made the remarks in Imam Khomeini mausoleum, Tehran, where Iranian workers gathered from around the country to meet the Leader on the occasion of the Labor Week.
“It is hoped that the government and the parliament will pursue the fight against the seven-headed dragon of corruption,” he noted.
He highlighted the need to create a direct relationship between “income” and “work”, saying long-term plans are needed to achieve this ambitious goal.
“This is a very difficult task. This means that much of windfalls is wrongly earned. We must stop the culture of accumulating wrongly earned wealth in the country. This is a long-term and difficult task, but it must be done,” he said.
Defense Minister: SCO plays vital role in maintaining security
Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani met his Kyrgyz counterpart in India on the sidelines of the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) defense ministers.
During his meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Baktybek Bekbolotov, Ashtiani said that SCO plays an important role in maintain Central Asian region’s security.
“The development of bilateral relations between these two countries will definitely strengthen the bond and commonalities between Iran and Kyrgyzstan and will ultimately lead to all-round progress, especially in the field of defense of the two countries,” Ashtiani told his Kyrgyz counterpart.
Kyrgyzstan’s defense minister, for his part, stated that Iran’s presence in the region is “active and effective,” calling for further strengthening of ties between the two countries.