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Iran threatens to strike US spy planes over its territory

     Islamabad: Iran Intelligence Minister has confirmed the presence of "American Spying instruments" in the skies over Iran and warned on Wednesday that they would be shot down by the military. "We have the means to hit them and if they get near, our anti- aircraft defence systems will attend to it. Americans have been conducting spying activities in the Iranian sky for a long time," the Dawn quoted minister Ali Younessi, as saying. Earlier, a powerful earthworks blast had triggered fears of an attack underscoring the high state of tension in Tehran's stand- off with the West over its nuclear activities. The big explosion near Iran's Gulf port of Daylam raised speculation that missiles were fired at nuclear installations from an unidentified plane but the Supreme National Security Council spokesman, Agha Mohammadi, dismissed them and said it was an explosion set deliberately to blast through rock and open a road. Daylam is about 150 kilometres from Bushehr, where a controversial nuclear plant is being built with Russian help.

    The paper quoted some US media reports as saying that the United States has been operating secret flights over Iran since April last year with an aim to collect evidence of nuclear weapons programme and test Iran's air defence system. Iran continuously denies US charges that it has nuclear weapons ambitions, saying it wants to develop nuclear fuel to free up its oil and gas production for export. But the Bush administration has threatened for possible military action as the CIA director recently told the US Congress that Iran was stepping up efforts to build long-range missiles and remained a 'state sponsor of terrorism'. The head of the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, however, has asserted that there was no evidence that Tehran was developing nuclear weapons.

No Test at Ahmedabad, possibility of ODI, says Mahendra (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra today said that Ahmedabad has been scrapped as a venue for Test match against Pakistan during the upcoming cricket series. He said that the Board would approach the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to hold an ODI at the same venue to compensate for the loss by not holding a Test there. He said the decision was taken this evening after the visitors raised security concerns. The Ahmedabad Test has been shifted to Kolkata, Mahendra said at a press conference in New Delhi. "We'll propose to Pakistan to play an additional one-day match in Ahmedabad in place of the Test. We expect them to agree," Mahendra told reporters after a working committee meeting of the Board. The BCCI chief further said that a revised itinerary would be announced this week and the tour, scheduled to start on February 25, might be delayed by a few days. The PCB had earlier in the day said that it would consider cancelling the tour if the Ahmedabad test was retained. "We can't rule out the fact that the Indian board might not accept our request of shifting the test match from Ahmedabad and the tour can be affected," PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said.

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