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Leader's insight made Iran a stem cell research center Tehran Times Science Desk TEHRAN - Iran is the only Middle Eastern state that has been able to clone a lamb, the director of the International Affairs Department of the Royan Institute said here on Saturday. "We owe our stem cell development to the discernment of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and Iran's ulema," Reza Omani Samani told the Mehr News Agency. Although Iran has the most advanced stem cell technology in the Middle East, several other countries are studying stem cells, including the United States, Australia, and Britain, he stated. However, in many countries the leaders have placed restrictions on stem cell research and scientists' efforts to clone certain creatures. "Fortunately, in the Islamic Republic, the situation is different. Due to the insight of the Supreme Leader, Iranian researchers have been given the opportunity to make Iran the leading country in the region in cloning living creatures," he observed. Iran's second cloned lamb was delivered through a caesarian at half past midnight on Saturday at the Royan Research Center in Isfahan and is now under special veterinary care. Iran's first cloned lamb died minutes after its birth on August 9. The director of the Royan Research Center of University Jihad, Hamid Gurabi, told MNA, "The newborn cloned lamb, just like the previous one, is of the Afshari breed." It looks exactly the same as the sheep from which the stem cell was taken, he added. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn