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آذربايجان کاروانی از کاميونهای باری به قصد ايران را متوقف کرد
21/04/2008
مقامات آذربايجانی يک کاروان کاميونی دارای محموله ای برای تاسيسات هسته ای ايران در بوشهر را متوقف کرده اند.
مقامات مسول روسيه و آذربايجان می گويند پليس در امتداد مرز ايران (آستارا) و آذربايجان محموله روسی را در روز شنبه دهم فروردين متوقف و از ورودش به ايران جلوگيری به عمل آورده است.
آژانس خبری آذربايجان، توران، گزارش می دهد که مقامات دولتی به منظور حصول اطمينان از اينکه ارسال اين محموله به زير پاگذاشتن تحريم های وضع شده عليه تهران، بخاطر فعاليت های اتمی تهران، منجر نخواهد شد از روسيه خواسته اند تا «ماهيت اين محموله را روشن سازد.»
شورای امنيت سازمان ملل تاکنون سه مجموعه تحريم را عليه جمهوری اسلامی ايران بخاطر تمرد از خواسته های بين المللی و عدم توقف غنی سازی اورانيوم وضع کرده است. غنی سازی اورانيوم هم مصارف صلح آميز دارد و هم می توان از آن در ساختن بمب اتمی استفاده کرد.
روسيه، که سرگرم ساختن اولين تاسيسات اتمی بوشهر در جنوب ايران است، کار تحويل سوخت به بوشهر را به اتمام رسانيده است.
اين مطلب را برای يکی از دوستان

تیراندازی ماموران رژیم بسوی تظاهرکنندگان؛ 6 کشته و مجروح
خبرگزاری دیده بان حقوق بشر کردستان:
سردشت: بدنبال تیراندازی نیروی انتظامی به تجمع اعتراضی شماری از شهروندان "ربط" دست کم یک نفر کشته و پنج نفر دیگر هم زخمی شدند در جریان تیراندازی نیروهای گارد ویژه نیروی انتظامی به تجمع شماری از مردم شهر "ربط" حداقل پنج نفر زخمی شده و یک جوان 21 ساله به نام " حسین پویایی فر" به دلیل اصابت گلوله و خونریزی شدید جانش را از دست داد این تجمع روز یکشنبه هفته جاری و در اعتراض به توقیف یک خودروی باربر بدست نیروهای انتظامی اتفاق افتاد و در جریان آن معترضین به توقیف این خودرو نخست در مقابل کلانتری "ربط" تجمع کرده و بعد از مدتی تجمعی را در ورودی شهر به راه می اندازند نیروهای گارد ویژه هم بعد از حضور در مکان تجمع، اقدام به تیر اندازی –کمر به بالا- می کنند و در این بین حداقل پنج تن از ناحیه کمر به بالا زخمی شده و "حسین پویایی فر" هم جانش را از دست می دهد.جنازه نامبرده به طور شبانه و مخفیانه در گورستان "ربط" خاکسپاری شده است---سه شنبه 3 اردیبهشت 1387

افراد مسلح امام جمعه رژیم را ربودند
سایت حکومتی تابناک: شب گذشته چهار نفر با لباس بلوچي مانند با متوقف كردن خودرو امام جمعه فهرج، وي را ربودند . حجت‌الاسلام جواد طاهري، شب گذشته ساعت 23 در يكي از خيابان‌هاي اصلي فهرج ربوده شد.
صبح امروز فرماندهي نيروي انتظامي استان كرمان با تأييد اين خبر اظهار داشت: شب گذشته چهار نفر با لباس بلوچي مانند با متوقف كردن خودرو امام جمعه فهرج، وي را ربودند . تحقيقات براي شناسايي ربايندگان و آزادي وي به طور گسترده آغاز شده است.
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سایت حکومتی جهان: حجت الاسلام حسين طاهري امام جمعه شهر فهرج از توابع شهرستان بم حدود ساعت ‏22‏ ديشب توسط افراد ناشناس مسلح در مسير منزلش ربوده شد‏. شهر فهرج در ‏60‏ كيلومتري شرق بم در استان كرمان قرار دارد . یک مقام آگاه گفت بر خلاف اينكه برخي سايتهاي خبري اين اقدام را منتسب به گروهك جندا... مي كنند بر اساس شواهد موجود احتمال مي رود ربايندگان مسلح از طايفه شه بخش بوده كه با انگيزه اخاذي دست به اين اقدام زده باشند‏. وي افزود‏:‏ تاكنون هيچ گزارشي مبني بر وجود انگيزه هاي سياسي در اين گروگانگيري ديده نشده است‏. اين مقام آگاه گفت‏:‏ تلاش نيروهاي امنيتي و انتظامي براي آزادي امام جمعه فهرج به علت نامساعد بودن شرايط جوي و طوفان شن ديشب بدون نتيجه مانده ولي اين مهم ادامه دارد‏.

Russia: Azerbaijan stops cargo for Iran atomic plant : Mon Apr 21, 2008

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Azeri customs and border officials have halted a cargo of Russian heat insulators destined for Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant, Russian officials said on Monday.
The cargo was detained at Astara, on the border between Azerbaijan and Iran, on March 29 and has not been released yet, the officials said. "Azeri border guards, citing an order from their bosses, have detained our road convoy for the Bushehr plant in the customs control area," said Irina Yesipova, a spokeswoman for Atomstroiexport, which is building the plant. "We are trying to influence the situation and responding to numerous inquiries from the Azeri customs and border guards despite the fact that the cargo sent to the Bushehr atomic power plant had earlier gone through all export control procedures." She said the negotiations had made no progress so far and that Iran was also involved in the negotiations. Russia has already finished delivering nuclear fuel to Bushehr, the Islamic Republic's first atomic power plant.

New Jobs Set for 2 Generals With Iraq Role
By THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON — Under a plan announced at the Pentagon on Wednesday, the two commanders most closely associated with President Bush’s current strategy in Iraq would be elevated into new posts with responsibilities extending into the next administration over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gen. David H. Petraeus would take charge of all military affairs across the Middle East and Central Asia, and would be succeeded as the senior commander in Iraq by Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who returned to Washington in February after serving 15 months as General Petraeus’s deputy. Asked whether the planned nominations by Mr. Bush were a sign that American policy was to “stay the course” in Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said that the security gains that had been achieved under General Petraeus’s command meant that “staying that course is not a bad idea.” The nomination of General Petraeus could, however, portend a renewed American focus on Afghanistan, where the American war effort is widely recognized to be lagging, with violence by the Taliban and Al Qaeda on the rise. Mr. Gates already has expressed the desire to send several thousand additional troops to Afghanistan next year, although that could require further reductions in troop commitments to Iraq. General Petraeus would be expected to apply his views of counterinsurgency to Afghanistan, which may include a push toward increased troops. Mr. Gates said he and President Bush settled on General Petraeus for the post because his counterinsurgency experience in Iraq made him best suited to oversee American operations across a region where the United States is engaged in “asymmetric” warfare, a euphemism for battling militants and nonuniformed combatants.
The previous Central Command chief, Adm. William J. Fallon, chose early retirement in March after rankling the Bush administration with public comments that seemed to suggest differences with the White House. If General Petraeus and General Odierno were to win Senate confirmation to their new posts, Mr. Gates said, they would take over in late summer or early fall. The situation in Iraq remains fragile, as General Petraeus acknowledged in testimony to Congress this month when he warned that recent security gains could be easily reversed. Under his command, an increase in American forces brought troop levels as high as 165,000, and even critics of the increase say it contributed to a decline in violence, along with the cease-fire proclaimed by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr for his Mahdi Army militia and a shift in sentiment among Sunni tribes that turned them against Sunni militants. Among the three candidates still vying to become the next president, Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, has defended the idea of maintaining high troop levels even after the troop increase runs its course in July, bringing the number down to slightly more than 140,000.
The two Democratic contenders, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, by contrast, have pressed for troop reductions at a pace far faster than those that General Petraeus has endorsed and have pledged to carry out withdrawals even if it meant going against the advice of field commanders. It would be unusual for a new president to replace a senior general new to his assignment. In a statement, Mrs. Clinton described General Petraeus as “an able and respected leader in Iraq under incredibly difficult circumstances,” and said she looked forward to hearing. “how he will meet these important challenges” of the broader Central Command region. Mr. McCain, at a news conference on Wednesday, said that General Odierno “is maybe not perfect, but I think he has done a magnificent job.” Referring to General Petraeus, Mr. McCain said, “I think he is by far the best-qualified individual to take that job” as the regional commander. After three tours in Iraq, General Petraeus, 55, has become perhaps the best-known military officer of his generation, and it had been expected that his next assignment after Iraq would be as the top American commander in Europe. Chosen instead to take charge of a region that includes Pakistan and Iran, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan, General Petraeus issued a statement on Wednesday saying, “I am honored to be nominated for this position and to have an opportunity to continue to serve.” General Petraeus and General Odierno have built a strong working relationship and are believed to see eye to eye on how to carry out the complicated Iraq mission — one they believe requires offensive military operations, more subtle counterinsurgency missions and society-wide reconstruction, all at once. Mr. Gates said General Odierno was the logical choice to succeed his old boss because he was familiar to the officers and troops in Iraq and, not least, to the Iraqis. “In most parts of the world, especially the Middle East, personal relationships make a big difference,” Mr. Gates said. The defense secretary also announced that Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, Mr. Gates’s senior military assistant, would be nominated for Army vice chief of staff, a post that General Odierno had been expected to take. General Chiarelli has had two tours in Iraq — first as commander of the First Cavalry Division and coalition forces in Baghdad, and then as the No. 2 commander in the country. The Central Command position would be General Petraeus’s fourth tour in the region since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He first served as commander of the 101st Airborne Division, which invaded Iraq from the south and set up an area of control across the north. However, parts of the north, in particular the city of Mosul, are today among the most unstable in the nation. He returned to Iraq to serve as commander of training Iraqi security forces, then commanded Fort Leavenworth, where he oversaw the writing of the Army’s new counterinsurgency manual, certain to influence his efforts in Afghanistan, too, if he is confirmed to the Central Command job. General Petraeus’s challenge as leader of Central Command will be to avoid being trapped in continued, detailed management of the Iraq mission as he takes on vast geographical responsibilities across North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, which clearly are the focus of American policy today far and above Europe or East Asia. Mr. Gates said he believed that General Petraeus would win quick confirmation, based on recent conversations that he had with leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee. But he said “a good handoff” of responsibilities. That transfer could come about the time that General Petraeus has promised to begin a new review of troop levels in Iraq, after the departure of five brigades by July will leave a force of about 140,000, slightly more than were in Iraq before the troop increase began. The announcement that General Petraeus, 55, would head Central Command, and Mr. Gates’s emphasis on operations in Afghanistan as well as Iraq, reinforced the impression that Pentagon leaders expected the United States to have significant numbers of troops deployed in those two countries for some time to come. When he was asked whether General Petraeus’s promotion to the theaterwide post, coupled with the selection of his former deputy, General Odierno, to lead forces in Iraq, should be interpreted as a warning to Iran, which has often been accused of meddling with the affairs of its neighbor Iraq, Mr. Gates did not answer directly.
But he did not discourage the suggestion of a warning to Iran, saying: “What Iranians are doing is killing American servicemen inside Iraq.” General Odierno had been criticized in some quarters during his first tour in Iraq, as commander of the Fourth Infantry Division based in Tikrit. A high point was the capture of Saddam Hussein by forces under his command, but his troops also were criticized for heavy-handed operations that, critics said, helped fuel frustration and, perhaps, the insurgency itself. Yet he received high marks during his most recent tour, as day-to-day commander of operations playing an important role in prosecuting that troop increase strategy.

U.S. and Gulf Allies in Exercise to Block Ships Carrying WMDs

ABU DHABI -- The United States has held a rare naval exercise with Gulf states which it said was not directed at Iran. The U.S. Navy began the exercise on April 19 meant to test Gulf Cooperation Council capabilities to block the entry of ships that carry weapons of mass destruction.....

Gates Calls Iran 'Hell Bent' on Getting Nuclear Arms
April 22, 2008 The Associated Press Robert Burns

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he believes Iran is "hell bent" on acquiring nuclear weapons, but he warned in strong terms of the consequences of going to war over that.

"Another war in the Middle East is the last thing we need and, in fact, I believe it would be disastrous on a number of levels," he said in a speech he was delivering Monday evening at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.A copy of his prepared remarks was provided in advance by the Pentagon.He said he favors keeping the military option against Iran on the table, "given the destabilizing policies of the regime and the risks inherent in a future Iranian nuclear threat — either directly or through proliferation."Gates also said that if the war in Iraq is not finished on favorable terms the consequences could be dire."It is a hard sell to say we must sustain the fight in Iraq right now, and continue to absorb the high financial and human costs of this struggle, in order to avoid an even uglier fight or even greater danger to our country in the future," he said.But he added that the U.S. experience with Afghanistan — helping the Afghans oust Russian invaders in the 1980s only to abandon the country and see it become a haven for Osama bin Laden's terrorist network — makes it clear to him that a similar approach in Iraq would have similar results.Gates said the U.S. military was not organized and equipped for the kind of wars it finds itself in today."The current campaign has gone on longer, and has been more difficult, than anyone expected or prepared for at the start," he said. "And so we've had to scramble to position ourselves for success over the long haul, which I believe we are doing."He called a drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq "inevitable," with the debate mainly over timing."But the kind of enemy we face today — violent jihadist networks — will not allow us to remain at peace," he said. "What has been called the `long war' is likely to be many years of persistent, engaged combat all around the world in differing degrees of size and intensity. This generational challenge cannot be wished away or put on a timetable. There are no exit strategies."

Japan Freezes Assets of Iranian Companies, Individuals
TOKYO -- The cabinet on Tuesday approved new sanctions to freeze the assets of 12 organizations and 13 individuals related to Iran’s nuclear development programs, in line with a March 3 U.N. resolution.An Insider's View of Iran
Regime change? Activist's book is brimful of lessons on why the West should steer clear of force.

Speech by Ebrahim Yazdi in Middle East Institute
a) Iran is in the state of a transition from a traditional society to a modern one. This process towards modernization of politics and economy, which started almost 150 years ago, has been expedited by 1979 Revolution

Room for Two: US, Iran in the Middle East
WASHINGTON -- By negotiating a Shi'ite truce, Tehran embarrassed Washington last week and arguably proved itself to be a more potent stabilizer of southern Iraq

UN Official in Iran for Nuclear Talks Gets Hostile Reception
A senior UN official has received a hostile reception ahead of sensitive talks regarding Iran's nuclear activity. Olli Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) deputy general arrived in Tehran today and is due to hold talks with Iran's deputy national security chief Javad Vaeedi later

The Threat of Iran
Recently I took part in a conference call with Benjamin Netanyahu on The Threat of Iran sponsored by The Israel Project. Netanyahu is a former Israeli Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and Finance Minister. As current head of the Likud party, Netanyahu is projected to be Israel’s next Prime Minister. I had the privilege to speak with him.

Hawkish Talks with Iran?
When Sen. Barack Obama questioned Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on April 8, he expressed the conviction that the United States would find a solution for Iraq only when talking with that country's neighbors, including Iran. Mr. Obama may be right — but not for the reason he seems to think.

Middle East Efforts by Rice, Carter Spark More Violence
While Syrian president Bashar Assad talked about an exchange of messages with Israel through a third party – Turkey and Norway – Sunday, April 21, elsewhere in Damascus, Syrian and Iranian intelligence officers were meeting secretly with Hamas leaders and promising them every support for stepped up rejectionist violence.

Iran News Round Up [Michael Rubin] - Sunday, April 20, 2008 - (Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation)

Asr-e Iran's political commentator challenges the Iranian president's speech in Qom:
- "1. From the very beginning of his presidency, Mr. Ahmadinejad has continuously mentioned some unknown elements who 'sabotage the efforts of the government' and 'make the lives of people hell.' But the Iranian president has never mentioned the names of such elements now that he claims he knows them so well?...
- 2. If the rising housing prices which has made the 'Iranian youth miserable', are the work of a single bank and its political supporters, why does the Iranian president not tell the Iranian public which bank he is referring to and what political supporters he blames for the misery? If he did so, the Iranian nation would not hesitate a moment to do away with them and will forever pray to the person of the president.
- And why does the name of a simple thief, a wallet snatcher appear in the press, but not the names of mega-criminals who live a good life with no punishment, and how come the president, who is the chief of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic and the employer of the minister of intelligence is not even able to mention the names of such criminals? [...]
- The Iranian president also claimed the U.S. government has never published the names of the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks, but such a claim is simply not true and the name list has been published on several occasions. Why does the Iranian president provide so much material for criticism for the exiled opposition and the foreign press?"
According to Mehr News Agency, Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani, speaking to Shi'a religious leaders and Friday prayers leaders at the Martyr Mottahari Theological Seminary, said that the clergy should not "fear a single man and say the truth for the sake of God."
- Mahdavi Kani, who is also the general secretary of Combatant Clergy Society and a member of Assembly of Experts continued: "With regard to the rising prices we witnessed that the government was blaming the parliament, and sometimes, some parliamentarians would blame the government. We do not wish to meddle in such affairs. We are the representatives of the people and the clergy, and believe if our cultural poverty is done with and materialism is defeated, a lot of economic ills could also be overcome."
- "We are all responsible (for the spread of materialism), and we are not allowed to blame others for the ills of the society."
- On Ahmadinejad, Mahdavi Kani continued: "I have already told Mr. Ahmadinejad during a meeting that he should not consider us [the clergy] as an instrument. We are not the preachers of the Sultans of the past, and that he should not expect praise from our side. If a clergyman becomes a praise singer he is no a clergyman. In our country, there is no absolute goodness. Therefore one should not expect absolute praise. But one must also see to it not to weaken the government in the criticism."
Minister of justice and government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham discusses Ahmadinejad’s public relations campaign and his direct contact with common people during his provincial trips. More.
Iranian reformist theoretician Said Hajjarian says parliamentary election participation in Tehran was as low as 26 percent and admits total reformist defeat. "As long as there are no serious social forces behind parliamentary elections [...] and no serious political party organizations [...] one can't expect parliamentary rule in Iran."
Iranian reformist theoretician Mostafa Tajzadeh one day prior to the second round of parliamentary elections: "Concentration of power in one institution with one political grouping leads to anything but democracy.”
Ansar News publishes analysis of the political behavior of former commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezai, who also led a political formation ahead of the latest round of parliamentary elections in the Islamic Republic. The news agency criticizes what it calls Rezai's "attempt at monopolize the moral superiority of the Revolutionary Guards," and discusses conflicts between Rezai and former Revolutionary Guards commanders Qalibaf and Larijani who led the two other factions of the Comprehensive Principalist Alliance group.
Kayhan editor Shariatmadari says the so-called serial killing (“chain murders”) of intellectuals and regime critics in the 1990's was directed and executed by "foreign spy agencies."
In an interview with Ansar News, the official organ of the Ansar-e Hezbollah vigilant organization, Seyyed Hamid Rowhani attacks former president and current chairman of the Assembly of Experts and the Expediency Council, Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's memoirs, especially what he calls Rafsanjani's "forgery of the words of the Imam [Khomeini]."
In a new volume of his memoirs, former Islamic Republic minister of intelligence, Reyshahri claims Grand Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini was never happy with appointment of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri as his successor.
Partov Sokhan weekly, the mouthpiece of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, condemns the Ahmadinejad's meeting with the widow of Prime Minister Musaddiq’s foreign minister. The weekly accuses Musaddiq of being a traitor who by nationalizing the Iranian oil industry "desired to give Iran's oil to the United States." The weekly also warned that such a move could lead to rise of "nationalist thought" to the detriment of "Islamic identity."
The Seventh Parliamentary Congregation in action. Pictures by former parliamentarian Aboutaleb.
Military and Security
Tehran Law Enforcement Forces chief and former Revolutionary Guards officer, Radan says the Basij is to start patrolling in the streets, and enforcement of the Islamic dress code will also be strengthened in private companies.
Iranian and Turkish authorities hold a meeting to discuss the PKK and PEJAK terrorist groups. In English.
Iran publishes a commentary celebrating Army Day in the Islamic Republic.
- Various declarations by the Islamic Republic of Iran Army on the occasion of the Army Day, here and here.
- Ahmadinejad’s speech on Army Day.
- Defense Minister’s speech.
- Army commander-in-chief’s speech.
- Speech of Falahat Pisheh, member of the National Security and Foreign Policy committee of the Iranian parliament.
Religion, Culture, and Society
Mashhad Friday prayers leader Ayatollah al-Hoda and Mashaayee, head of the Islamic Republic Tourism and Cultural Heritage Organization - now the father in law of the Iranian president's son - engage in an open dispute, after Alam al-Hoda demands Mashhad to be "exempted from all cultural schemes of the ministry of culture and Islamic propagation to strengthen piety in the holy city."
- Asr-e Iran accuses the Mashhad Friday prayers leader of behaving like a "local prince."
Head of the Research Institute of the Iranian parliament defends his publication of a comprehensive report on the Azad University of Tehran, which Jasbi, the dean of the university, considers as a part of a conspiracy of the Ahmadinejad government against the university leadership, which is close to former Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani.
The society of the scholars and professors at the theological seminaries of Qom condemns arrest of Iranian religious thinker Hadi Qabel.
Background article on Iranian war cinema.
Nuclear Issue
For the first time since the 1979 revolution, an Iranian press agency publishes a comprehensive interview with Akbar E'temad, the first head of Iran's Nuclear Energy Organization.
Ansar News hails Ahmadiejad as the victor of the "nuclear battle."
Iran’s nuclear progress stuns West.
El Baradei: We cannot inspect intentions.
Trade
Water transmission from the Afghan side of the border to Lake Hamoun reduced to zero.
Iran-UAE gas price dispute.
Iran to launch auto plant in Turkey.
Diplomacy
Iranian commentary responds to Gen. Petraeus.
Official Friday sermon: All Muslims should confront the United States.
The Emirati delegation demands handover of three disputed islands in the Persian Gulf from Iranian control to the United Arab Emirates at an interparliamentary union meeting in Capetown, South Africa.
Ali Jannati, the Islamic Republic's ambassador to Kuwait, celebrates Islamic Republic Army Day in Kuwait.
Deputy Chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran says in the case of conflict between Iran and Israel, Israel will disappear from the face of the earth.
Photo of the Day

Battle To Retake Basra Was 'complete Disaster

'The British-trained Iraqi Army's attempt to retake Basra from militiamen was an "unmitigated disaster at every level," British commanders say. the mission was undermined by incompetent officers and untrained troops who were sent into battle with inadequate supplies of food, water and ammunition.
Rice Says Carter Was Warned Against Meeting With Hamas

Rice said the administration explicitly warned former President Jimmy Carter against meeting with Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls the Gaza Strip regarded by the US as a terror group. "The United States is not going to deal with Hamas and we had certainly told President Carter that we did not think meeting with Hamas was going to help" further a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, she said.

Clinton On Iran Attack: 'Obliterate Them'

Good Morning America: "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton said. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."

Russia: Iran cargo halted on purpose
msnbc Wednesday, April 23, 2008 12:43:00 AM CEST
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The Russian state company building Iran's first nuclear power plant accused Azerbaijan on Tuesday of intentionally obstructing a shipment of cargo for the plant....

Swiss Freeze Assets of 12 More Iranian Firms
April 23, 2008 AFP Yahoo News!
GENEVA -- Switzerland said on Wednesday it had frozen the assets of a further 12 Iranian companies in accordance with new United Nations sanctions aimed at stopping Tehran's alleged nuclear programme.The 12 companies, and 13 individuals, have been added to an existing blacklist of 23 companies and 27 people. ]Five Iranian nationals are also banned from entering and passing through Switzerland, the country's Federal Council said in a statement.Switzerland will also ban the delivery of so-called "dual use" materials that could be used for the manufacture of nuclear plants, and the export of some drones and missiles, the statement said.The UN Security Council last month imposed its third set of sanctions against Iran in the space of 15 months to punish Tehran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, which world powers fear Iran could use to make nuclear weapons.The resolution gives Iran three months to comply with demands to suspend uranium enrichment, and includes an outright ban on travel by officials involved in Tehran's nuclear and missile programmes, as well as broadening a list of individuals and entities subject to an assets freeze.Switzerland's own trade and diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic have come under fire in recent months after Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey travelled to Tehran in March to sign a gas deal.Jewish-American group the Anti-Defamation League took out full-page advertisements in Swiss and international papers earlier this month accusing Switzerland of "funding terrorism" through the deal, a charge vehemently rejected by Bern.The ADL placed advertisements headed, "Guess who is the world's newest financier of terrorism? Switzerland," in the International Herald Tribune, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times earlier this month.Israel and the United States also criticised the deal between Iran's state gas firm and Switzerland's Elektrizitaets-Gesellschaft (EGL) Laufenburg, whereby Iran will reportedly supply 5.5 billion cubic metres (194 trillion cubic feet) of gas annually from 2011.