Iran proposes plan for Libya stalemate

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says Iran has put forward a proposal to resolve the crisis in Libya in a meeting with Algerian officials. In an exclusive interview with Fars News Agency on Saturday, Salehi said the main task of Iran's proposed plan, agreed by Algeria and several other countries, is to end the bloodshed in Libya, which is the outcome of NATO's aerial attacks and the ongoing civil war in the country. He added that the Iranian proposal seeks the creation of a new political structure in Libya, comprised of existing elements, as well as an end to foreign NATO-style intervention in the country. NATO airstrikes caused a series of powerful explosions in Tripoli, Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi stronghold, early on Sunday. Witnesses reported a number of dull rumbles and flashes and huge plumes of smoke billowing to the east of Tripoli in the aftermath of the NATO aerial attacks. The state-run Al Jamahiriya television network reported that "the colonialist crusader aggressor" (NATO) had attacked civilian and military sites in the Ain Zara and Tajoura districts in the eastern suburbs of Tripoli. The television network added that there have been several casualties as a result of the attack but did not give any figures. Meanwhile, the 68-year-old Libyan ruler told his supporters that he would never leave the land of his "ancestors" and those who have “sacrificed” their lives for him. “They are asking me to leave. That's a laugh. I will never leave the land of my ancestors or the people who have sacrificed themselves for me," Muammar Gaddafi said in an audio address to his supporters in the city of Zawiya, located some 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Tripoli, on Saturday. “After we gave our children as martyrs, we can't backtrack, or surrender or give up or move an inch," he said. Gaddafi's remarks came after the opposition National Transitional Council was recognized as the legitimate authority of the country by representatives of countries involved in the NATO-led war in Libya.