Subject: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran will give Putin's offer serious thought

From: "Tisha Le" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:40:39 +0300

"Iran's cooperation with the IAEA is a logical and correct path and will continue. We are determined to meet our country's need for nuclear energy. That's why we are taking the issue of enrichment seriously," IRNA quoted Khamenei as saying.Trains across France and the Metro -- Paris's subway system -- are expected to come to a halt starting Wednesday night, Ricard said.Russian officials could not immediately be reached to verify the report and the Iranian news agency provided no details on what Putin had proposed.The strike is expected to cripple France's national train network.Railway workers will join bus, power, gas and some state employees for the action called after President Nicolas Sarkozy refused to back down over planned pension reforms, according to Monique Ricard, spokeswoman for the French railway SNCF.At talks Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, he ridiculed U.S. plans for a missile defense system in eastern Europe, supposedly to stop an Iranian attack.Putin has bluntly spelled out his disagreements with Washington, saying last week that he saw no "objective data" to prove Western claims that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.Prompted by government attempts to cut pension privileges, the strikes will be for 24 hours but could be prolonged to Friday, Ricard said.Putin met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and attended a summit of Caspian Sea nations Tuesday, the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Iran since Josef Stalin attended a 1943 summit with Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.About 80,000 rugby fans are expected to attend Saturday's World Cup final between England and South Africa.Only one in four trains will be running on Thursday, including suburban services linking Paris to its three international airports, she said."We are certainly concerned about the impact for fans. So far we've been assured the disruptions should be manageable but it remains to be seen," Jessica Chambers, a spokeswoman for the England Rugby Supporters Club.With Paris hotels booked full many fans are staying 30 kilometers (20 miles) outside the city in hotels around Disneyland's Paris resort.A police officer and the woman's lawyer also were injured, but not seriously, police said.Commercial flights to the French capital were sold out, while thousands of England supporters have booked to travel on the Eurostar rail service from London to Paris.Officials close to hard-liners within Iran's ruling Islamic establishment said they believed the proposal by Putin was a type of "time out" on U.N. sanctions against Iran, if Tehran suspends uranium enrichment. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.