News Central - HERE & NOW

Hezbollah Trains Iraqis in Iran, Officials Say
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
An American official said the account of Hezbollah’s role was provided by four Shiite militia members who were captured in Iraq late last year and questioned separately.

Police and Army Officers Tied to Attempt on Karzai’s Life
By CARLOTTA GALL
The defense minister, Rahim Wardak, said one of the men may have been a sympathizer and the other was probably motivated by money.

The Iranian Chessboard: Five Ways to Think About Iran Under the Gun by Pepe Escobar

The Iranian Chessboard: Five Ways to Think About Iran Under the Gun by Pepe Escobar
document.write

Pepe Escobar continues to offer an extremely astute analysis of what is going on in and around Iran, especially in light of the relentless propaganda offensive the White House and Pentagon, not to mention Israel, which is literally salivating for Bush to attack Iran, have unleashed to attempt to demonize Iran in the last few days. An attack, Escobar points out, is going to be a disaster for everybody.

Consider the Consequences of Bombing Iran’s Nuclear Power Plants, and Pray - Submitted by Sheila Samples - document.write

The US is said to have 10,000 targets in Iran. Primary among these are all nuclear facilities, including the nuclear power plant at Bushehr on the Persian Gulf coast near Kuwait, and the nuclear enrichment facilities in Natanz near Esfahan. Bushehr is an industrial city, with nearly 1 million residents. As many as 70,000 foreign engineers work in the region, which includes a large gas field.

Iran dumps U.S. dollars in oil transactions Submitted by Sheila Samples - document.write

Due to the tensions with Washington in the past years over the nuclear disputes and the latest depreciation of dollars, Iran has vowed to decrease the greenback in its foreign trade. Iran central bank also has reduced dollars in the country's foreign reserves.

Bush Administration Insider Says 9/11 Was An Inside Job

Dr. Morgan Reynolds.9/11 911 9-11 truth conspiracy controlled demolition world trade center wtc twin towers pentagon thermate thermite iraq war al qaeda qaida osama bin laden bush cheney wolfowitz doctrine shock awe saddam hussein iraq missile flight 77 93 11 175 september 11 jersey girls mohamed atta alex jones loose change larry silverstein wtc7 building explosions puffs squibs hijackers alive put options NORAD stand down united american airlines terror terrorism gitmo guantanimo torture habeas corpus military industrial complex tribunals PNAC project new american century war crime crimes habeas corpus homeland security patriot act NIST Kevin Ryan Popular Mechanics FEMA molton steel steven jones scholars

9/11 Inside Job - The Most Damning Evidence Yet!
06:09 From: WizardofOunces
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Bush Gets Caught In His Own Lie
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9/11:Flight 93 Eyewitness Says No 757 Crashed in Shanksville

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9/11 Ten reasons why the hijackers were fake.

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911 Loose Change (full-length)

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Iran's "Moderates"

Iran's "Moderates"

With US Vice President Dick Cheney wrapping up his 10-day trip to the Middle East, made in part to allay regional fears of a growing Iranian influence, the Iranians themselves are busy preparing for the second round of parliamentary elections to be held in April (the first round was held on March 14th).

NEWS CENTRAL _ ALL THE LATEST NEWS

Iranian Dissident's Case Throws Light on a Key Defection -March 29, 2008 -Los Angeles Times -Borzou Daragahi -
DAMASCUS, SYRIA -- A diplomatic standoff over the fate of an Iranian dissident temporarily detained this week at a Turkish airport has revealed new clues about the defection of a high-ranking Iranian military official in late 2006 and exposed lingering tensions between Ankara and Tehran over the incident.The dissident, Amir Farshad Ebrahimi, was held for nearly 18 hours over Thursday and Friday in a cell inside Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport amid a tug-of-war over whether he would be sent back to Germany, where he lives, or deported to Iran, human rights activists and Western officials said.He was finally placed on an airplane to Berlin on Friday afternoon, his lawyer said.In a series of phone calls from his cell, Ebrahimi said Iranian officials wanted him to answer for his role in the defection of Brig. Gen. Ali Reza Asgari, a former Iranian deputy defense minister and Revolutionary Guard commander who disappeared during a trip to Turkey.Ebrahimi said Asgari now lives in the United States, where he is believed to have provided intelligence about Iran's military capabilities and operations.Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and a U.S. ally but maintains strong diplomatic and economic ties to Iran, which has been locked in a conflict with Washington since its Islamic Revolution in 1979.A U.S. official reached Friday in Ankara said American diplomats were aware of Ebrahimi's detention and had followed developments in the case. German consular officials were also in contact on the matter with Turkish authorities, a German diplomat said on condition of anonymity.Ebrahimi, 32, arrived in Istanbul from Germany on Thursday night to meet relatives coming from Iran for a holiday. Ebrahimi said he was taken from the passport counter, searched and physically abused by Turkish authorities and confronted with his involvement in the Asgari defection. He said he was threatened with deportation to Iran."A police officer came and said, 'Every time you come here, you do political work and create problems for us with Iran,' " said Ebrahimi, who was allowed to keep his cellphone while he was held.Ebrahimi said a man claiming to be an Iranian official demanded to be allowed to take him back to Iran, which Ebrahimi had fled after being released from prison in 2003.Asgari is believed to be the highest-ranking Iranian official to defect to the West. Analysts say he served as an intelligence official in Lebanon during the 1990s and became deputy defense minister under then-President Mohammad Khatami.After a business trip to Syria in 2006, Asgari left for Turkey, and then dropped out of sight. "Because of the intelligence he had he was very much in danger," Ebrahimi said. "He had very precious intelligence about the Iranian nuclear program."Ebrahimi said he coordinated with international organizations and U.S. officials to help Asgari leave Turkey for the West in late 2006. The two met in Nicosia, Cyprus, immediately after Asgari left Turkey, he said."I did nothing illegal," Ebrahimi said. "I helped him. We didn't get him out illegally."Reports in Western media suggest that Asgari has proved a gold mine for intelligence services seeking information about Iran's nuclear program and support for militant Islamic groups throughout the Middle East.Iranian authorities and Asgari's relatives blamed Turkey and Iranian opposition groups for the defection.Istanbul lawyer Nasrine Hosseinzadeh, who oversaw Ebrahimi's case at the airport, said Turkey and Iran had an agreement requiring each to hand over wanted political criminals. But international law requires that deportees be returned to the country where their flight originated."The law is very clear," Hosseinzadeh said in a phone interview from the airport. "I don't think they will allow him into Turkey, but they can't send him to Iran."Like Asgari, Ebrahimi turned against Iran's Shiite Muslim clerical government. He was once a government enforcer and an attache at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut.In a videotaped statement, he described connections between political leaders and pro-government militias in the violent crushing of student protests in 1999. He was arrested and imprisoned for several years in Tehran's Evin prison, including 18 months in an infamous solitary confinement ward for political dissidents. Since fleeing Iran, he has worked as a journalist and blogger.

daragahi@latimes.com


Seeing Iran's Shadow in Iraq Unrest
Black smoke swirled over central Baghdad on March 23, disturbing the fragile calm of the Iraqi capital. The attack on the Green Zone, which killed at least 13 Iraqis (NYT), was followed by the eruption of internecine Shiite violence in Baghdad's Sadr City and the southern oil port of Basra. Taken together the attacks renewed fears that a year of reduced violence, attributed in part to a beefed-up U.S. presence and a Shiite militia cease-fire, had ended. But in the eyes of U.S. military officials the attacks also highlighted another aspect of Iraq's security roller coaster: Iran's complicity in the conflict.
Dempsey to Become Central Command Chief
WASHINGTON -- One of the Army's most Iraq-savvy generals is taking charge, at least temporarily, of arguably the .most important command in the U.S. military, with responsibility for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
McConnell's Top Worry: Iran Getting Nukes
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell urged a Furman University audience today to consider a life of public service, providing an overview of his path from a Greenville childhood and defending the U.S. Senate version of controversial surveillance legislation pending in Congress
Iran, Not al-Sadr, Leading Shi'a Attacks In Iraq
As Shi’a militias and armed groups strike out at US and Iraqi targets from Baghdad to Basra, it is curious to note how many news reports attribute the attacks to Muqtada al-Sadr, either directly or indirectly.

Empire strikes back - US draws on its dominion to wreak havoc in Iran -

(CNN) -- The United States Treasury Department announced sanctions Wednesday against a Who is, politically, in better shape? Iran’s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad or his implacable opponent, US President George W. Bush? Both leaders are conservative hawks....

U.S. forces drawn deeper into Iraq crackdown

Articles: 56, Last update: Mar 28, 2008 2:59:00 PM, Start: Mar 28, 2008 3:56:00 AM

Bush: Iraqi PM Showing Leadership in Basra

Articles: 44, Last update: Mar 29, 2008 2:21:00 AM, Start: Mar 28, 2008 3:20:00 PM

Coalition forces join fighting in Basra

Articles: 41, Last update: Mar 28, 2008 5:58:00 PM, Start: Mar 28, 2008 11:48:00 AM

US Forces Launch Airstrikes in Iraq

Articles: 36, Last update: Mar 28, 2008 11:56:00 PM, Start: Mar 28, 2008 4:02:00 PM

Islamic Republic of Iran Campaign of Terror Against the Opposition

YOU MUST READ THIS ARTICLE

Islamic Republic of Iran Campaign of Terror Against the Opposition : February 20, 2008 Global Politician Ghazal Omid

The Iranian regime celebrated its 29th anniversary in January 2008 for a two week period called Fajar or Victory. No doubt the revolution has been a victorious event for the IRI government but it is an entirely different story for the Iranian people.For three decades, the Iranian regime has repeatedly broken international laws, the 1979 US hostage crisis for example. Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust and the right of the state of Israel to exist. However, nothing IRI has done to other countries is remotely comparable to the pain caused the citizens of Iran. For millions of self-exiled or politically displaced Iranians outside Iran, the interminable duration of the IRI is agony. Equally unbearable to watch is the slandering of the great Iranian nation in the name of Islam. Every average Iranian longs for a better life, or death, to escape the IRI.This regime has done nothing positive in the past three decades and nothing is more sickening than recent public Hamas style executions by masked men of Sepah Passdarn, the regime’s special army.

Attack Iran, With Words
For those who believe — as I do — that the clerics who rule Iran must never have an arsenal of nuclear weapons, the United States’ course of action ought to be clear: The Bush administration should advocate direct, unconditional talks between Washington and Tehran. Strategically, politically and morally, such meetings will help us think more clearly. Foreign-policy hawks ought to see such discussions as essential preparation for possible military strikes against clerical Iran’s nuclear facilities. more By The New York Times

Israel and Iran, After the NIE“Iran is today the world’s leading state-sponsor of terror,” declared President George W. Bush in a speech given in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, during his January trip to the Middle East. “Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere. So the United States is strengthening our long-standing security commitments with our friends in the Gulf—and rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late.” more By Scoop

Ahmadinejad In New Attack On "Savage Animal" Israel
TEHRAN -- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday launched a new strongly-worded attack against Israel, describing the Jewish state as a "dirty microbe" and a "savage animal". "World powers have created a black and dirty microbe named the Zionist regime and have unleashed it like a savage animal on the nations of the region," he told a rally in the southern city of Bandar Abbas broadcast on state television. more By AFP

Iran's Parliamentary Elections: Assured Victory for the Supreme Leader
As Iran's March 14 parliamentary elections approach, the prospects for the reformist / technocratic coalition are predictably bleak. Yet, President Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad is expected to lose ground as well. Although his conservative critics are likely to pick up a significant number of seats, the big winner will be Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whose role as arbiter and decisionmaker will be reinforced even more. more By The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Mr. President, Don't Forget IranDear Mr. President: A few months ago, it became possible to hear members and supporters of your administration going around Washington and saying that the question of a nuclear-armed Iran "would not be left to the next administration." As a line of the day, this had the advantage of sounding both determined and slightly mysterious, as if to commit both to everything and to nothing in particular. more By The Wall Street Journal

Beware of Iran's trap
LONDON -- The issue of Iran and the threat that it poses has been argued in public by two major groups. On the one hand we have had the anti-war lobby, with the neo-cons embracing the other extreme. These arguments have gone back and forth over whether Iran has a nuclear capability, whether it is carrying out terrorist actions and whether the human-rights abuses carried out in Iran should be of concern to us in the West. more By United Press International

Brains Drained
U.S. policy towards Iran’s rockets, reactors, and Russia. more By National Review Online

Iran Sentences Journalist to Death on Terrorism Charge
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran said Tuesday that it had sentenced an education activist and journalist to death for his alleged involvement in terrorism.

France Backs Sanctions On Iran: Kouchner
France will back international sanctions against Iran if it does not halt its programme of uranium enrichment. "We are united for sanctions on Iran, but we support the start of discussions," Kouchner said after talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres. Israel and Western nations led by the US accuse Iran of seeking to develop the atomic bomb, a charge which Tehran rejects, insisting that its nuclear activities are peaceful

The Increasing Encirclement Of Iran
In his testimony McConnell emphasizes Iranian attempts to enrich uranium as well as Iran's capacity to fire long-range weapons. The combination of these two are now being presented at the highest levels of power as the central argument for branding Iran as a danger to world peace. As if the National Intelligence Estimate never even existed.

Iran's vetting body reinstates candidates
Feb 19 2008 - An Iranian hardline vetting body has reinstated another 250 candidates who had been barred from running for the country's March parliament election, the official IRNA news agency reported

Vice president details Iran's nuclear history (By George Jahn) Washington Times

Ask McCain About The Power To Make War Hartford Courant, Connecticut

Hear the Cry of the People of Iran for Freedom Global Politician

SPIEGEL Interview with Henry Kissinger: 'Europeans Hide Behind the Unpopularity of President Bush' SPIEGEL Online

US breaks from policy for terror talks Scotsman.com 11:07 18-Feb-08
Iran-Iraq visit could aid regional stability Reno Gazette-Journal, Nevada

Five killed in Baghdad rocket barrage : 02-18-2008, BAGHDAD (AFP)

The deaths and injuries of the civilians occurred when Katyusha rockets crashed into a workers' housing complex within the perimeter of the airport, residents said. They said women and children were among the dead and injured. Many houses were damaged. "Eight Iraqis, including six children, were taken to a coalition force medical clinic for treatment," the US military said in a statement. It said rockets also struck areas of Camp Victory US military base adjoining the airport. Six suspects were arrested in the immediate aftermath of the attack, the military said.
"Coalition and Iraq security force quick reaction teams swept the area and captured several insurgents at the scene of the rocket launch," the statement said. "Six suspects were taken into custody for questioning and one unexploded rocket was recovered." Mortar and rocket attacks are usually blamed by the US military on Iranian-backed Shiite militias it terms "special groups." US military spokesman Real Admiral Gregory Smith told reporters on Sunday that "special groups" were increasingly using stocks from hidden caches to target US and Iraqi forces. "What we're seeing is an increase in the use of weapons by Iranian-backed special groups," he said. The military uses the term special groups to describe what it says are "rogue elements" in the Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who are ignoring his ceasefire order given almost six months ago and which expires at the end of February.

US military engineers move into place concrete barriers as they construct a fortified combat outpost in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, on February 17. A barrage of rockets slammed into Baghdad's international airport and an adjoining US military base Monday, killing five civilians and wounding 16, including two US soldiers, officials and witnesses said. (AFP/File)
A barrage of rockets slammed into Baghdad's international airport and an adjoining US military base Monday, killing five civilians and wounding 16, including two US soldiers, officials and witnesses said.

'Rogue' leader held in swoop
BAGHDAD: US troops yesterday captured a breakaway Shi'ite militia leader suspected of being a powerful criminal boss and providing Iranian weapons to fighters in western Baghdad, the military said. The arrest occurred a day after a US military spokesman said that Iraqi and US forces had captured 212 weapons caches around the country, with growing evidence of an Iranian link. "This is a significant capture of a top 'special groups' leader," said a military spokesman. "Special groups" is a term the US uses to describe Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias it says have broken with anti-US cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and refused to follow his cease-fire order.
The military said that intelligence reports led troops to the suspect, who was not identified, and he and another suspect were arrested without incident. The main suspect was reportedly in charge of all Shi'ite militia fighters in western Baghdad. The military said the suspect was responsible for providing weapons to militia members, including armour-piercing bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, which US officials say come from Iran. Tehran denies the allegations. The man also allegedly selected fighters for paramilitary training and was an associate of other senior criminal leaders involved in attacks on US and Iraqi security forces. Meanwhile two former Iraqi health ministry officials Hakim Al Zamili and Brigadier General Hamid Al Shammari went on trial yesterday over accusations that they allowed Shi'ite death squads to use ambulances and hospitals to carry out kidnappings and killings. Meanwhile three people were killed and 15 wounded when a barrage of mortars landed near Baghdad's international airport yesterday, the Iraqi military said. It was one of the deadliest mortar bomb attacks on a residential area in months. Spokesman for the military said the bombs hit an area in the mainly Sunni Khadhra district to the west of the airport. Officials said five suspects were arrested.

The Latest News on the Islamic republic of Idiots

Iranian Security Forces Arrest American Spies At Iran-Pakistan Border

IRGC Weekly "Sobh-e Sadeq": Iranian Security Forces Arrest American Spies At Iran-Pakistan Border -The Iranian weekly Sobh-e Sadeq, the mouthpiece of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei circulated among the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), stated that Iranian security forces have arrested a number of American spies at the Iran-Pakistan border. It said that the spies entered Iran illegally. The paper said, "On the Americans were found half a million dollars, modern spy cameras, and maps of sensitive areas in Iran." -Source: Sobh-e Sadeq, Iran, January 13, 2008

Blast kills British soldier in southern Afghanistan -British Soldier Killed By Afghan Mine
skynews Monday, January 21, 2008 2:05:00 PM CET :Security;
The mine apparently exploded underneath the vehicle they were travelling in. The Ministry of Defence said the victim was with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers attached to the 5th Regiment Royal Artillery. The casualties were evacuated by helicopter to a medical facility at Camp Bastion and Kandahar airfield.... More articles...

Iranian Revolutionary Guards Perpetuate Terror Within and Without

"Cold blooded murders", a friend of mine cried out recently as she recalled gruesome memories from Iran while reflecting on the newly levied sanctions against Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Encouraged and emboldened, her voice was filled with anger, determination, and a newfound hope that echoed the braveness of dissident university students in Iran of today. All a reminder that the Presidential executive orders 13382 and 13224 carry a subtle but dual benefit affecting not only Iranian regime's activities abroad, but also its enemies within.

Iranian Authorities Ban Media From Covering Avian Flu
Iranian authorities have prohibited the country's media from covering the problem of avian flu in Iran. Knowledgeable sources in the presidential institution told the reformist daily Rooz that "the reason for the censoring is that the crisis stems from the cold, and from the difficulties emanating from it." According to Iranian press reports from the past few months, several people have become ill with the disease. Source: Rooz, Iran, January 16, 2007

Security official urges U.S. to try to influence Iran public opinion
haaretzdaily Sunday, January 20, 2008 10:49:00 AM CET
The Iranian population is only around 50 percent Persian, with Azeris making up 25 percent of the population, while Kurds, Arabs and various other ethnic groups constitute the rest. These groups' interests do not always coincide with the policies of the current regime and the official argued that.......

Bush Gets Help From UBS, Deutsche Bank in Iran Sanctions Effort (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg - Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush is getting from UBS AG and Deutsche Bank AG what is eluding him at the United Nations: effective pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions....

Iranian Paper: UAE Leaders Will Pay Price For Bush Visit : Source: Jomhouri-e Eslami, Iran, January 15, http://www.thememriblog.org/iran/blog_personal/en/4610.htm

In an editorial, the Iranian daily Jomhouri-e Eslami stated that the rulers of the UAE "will pay the price for permitting the Great Satan to distort [the image of] Iran" during his visit there.
The paper said that the UAE rulers "are ignoring Bush's crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan" and that Bush is "baring talons and teeth" towards Iran because Iran's nuclearization has become "a huge nightmare for him and for his partners."

Iranian Gov't Body Asks Iranian Media To Present Bush Visit In Negative Light : http://www.thememriblog.org/iran/blog_personal/en/4593.htm
The online reformist daily Rooz reports that the Supreme National Security Council has instructed the media to portray President Bush's Middle East visit as "unsuccessful and pointless." The paper stated that in a previous incident, the council asked the media not to report that the resignation of Ali Larijani as council secretary stemmed from a dispute with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad's Spiritual Mentor To Step Down From Institute Leadership : Source: Alef, Iran, January 15, 2008 :http://www.thememriblog.org/iran/blog_personal/en/4590.htm
The Iranian website Alef, which is affiliated with conservative MP Ahmad Tavakkoli, director of the Majlis Strategic Research Center, reported that the spiritual mentor of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-e Yazdi, is planning to resign his post as head of the Imam Khomeini Education & Research Institute, due to the serious migraines from which he suffers. The site also reported that Mesbah-e Yazdi was unable to join last week's trip to Yazd by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei because of a worsening in his condition.

Iranian Presidential Officials Confiscate Reporters' Transcripts Of Ahmadinejad Speech : Source: Norooz News, Iran, January 14, 2008: http://www.thememriblog.org/iran/blog_personal/en/4586.htm
An Iranian reformist website reports that senior officials in the institution of the presidency have prevented the publication of a speech made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to preachers early last week, and have taken transcripts of the speech from correspondents who covered the event. According to the website, the transcripts of Ahmadinejad's speech, which was on the subject of religion, were confiscated because his speech contained statements contrary to the positions of Iran's senior ayatollahs.

U.S. Media Says ColumbiaUniversity Lecturers Deny Group Planning To Visit Iran To Apologize To Ahmadinejad : Iranian daily:http://www.thememriblog.org/iran/blog_personal/en/4581.htm
The Iranian daily Jomhouri-e Eslami reports that according to the U.S. media, Columbia University lecturers have denied the news that a group of lecturers from the university planned to visit the country to apologize to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Source: Jomhouri-e Eslami, Iran, January 10, 2008

Hundreds Arrested In Bandar-Turkman : http://www.thememriblog.org/iran/blog_personal/en/4581.htm
Iranian security and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) forces have arrested over 350 people following rioting two weeks ago in the city of Bandar-Turkman, on the Caspian Sea.
The rioting had been in protest against the coast guard's killing of a local Sunni youth and the wounding of two of his friends. The detainees' families were told that their relatives had been transported to the city of Zahedan, in the southeast of the country.

Latest News from the front lines....

Defending Death and Destruction

U.S. Diplomat Nicholas Burns Stepping Down
“This is a very bittersweet time for us because Nick Burns has decided that it is time for him to retire,” Ms. Rice said in announcing Mr. Burns’s resignation in the State Department’s ornate Treaty Room. “He has decided that it’s the right moment to go back to family concerns.”
Precision Bombing In Iraq And Afghanistan
It's part of the return to the post-Vietnam tactics that worked so well for Washington, substituting US bombs for US troop deaths: lessening the political damage in the US by increasing the physical damage in the place you're bombing. Marc Garlasco, a Human Rights Watch military analyst: "My major concern with what's going on in Iraq is massive population density...you have the potential for very high civilian casualties."

Iran Extends Submarine Range to Hit Tel Aviv and...DEBKAfile 10:39 19-Jan-08
Hezbollah's reclusive leader, in rare public appearance, claims to...International Herald Tribune 13:28 19-Jan-08
Iran's Supercomputer Envy Doesn't Make All Iranian IT Pros...LinuxInsider 12:20 19-Jan-08
U.S. Missile Defense Chief Hypes Iran ThreatNewsHog (Weblog) 18:38 19-Jan-08
State Department exodus continuesKuwait Times 21:20 19-Jan-08
humbling of the neoconsblogs World War 4 Report 21:21 19-Jan-08
Ottawa to rewrite controversial training manualThe Toronto Star 19:35 19-Jan-08
A US group lobbying for Washington to engage Tehran...TurkishPress.com 16:25 19-Jan-08
Jomaa brings a touch of Tunisia to Ankara thanks...Today's Zaman 12:29 19-Jan-08
No. 3 U.S. Diplomat, Lead Negotiator on Iran, RetiresThe New York Times 10:04 19-Jan-08

Latest news

Iraq 'on verge of genocidal war' The Guardian 01:13
Iranian-Americans held for plotting revolution in Tehran Guardian Unlimited 01:48
No launchpad for attack Trade Arabia 04:33
Saudi reassures Tehran Gulf Times 06:34
Russia won't allow US to use Azerbaijani radar: Teheran People's Daily 04:15
Kurds warn Turks of 'military disaster' The Raw Story 02:43
Faulting Allies' Anti-Terrorism Efforts Washington Post 02:28

Latest Articles about IRAN

Beckett: Ahmadinejad Shot Himself in Foot by Seizing British Soldiers
Earlier this month, 15 Royal Navy sailors and marines were released. They had been seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard while on patrol in Iraqi waters under a UN mandate and held for 14 days. It was a relief to all of us – above all for their families and colleagues, but also for the many in London and in our embassy in Tehran who worked tirelessly towards bringing them home.
By Margaret Beckett
>Read the Article
Posted 25/4/2007 @ 10:2:31 GMTIran's Nuclear Envoy Expects "New Ideas" From EU On UraniumANKARA -- Iran's top nuclear envoy said Wednesday he expected "new ideas" from a senior European Union official at talks on resolving the deadlock between Tehran's refusal to freeze its uranium enrichment program and U.N Security Council demands it do so. more By Dow Jones Newswires

Posted 25/4/2007 @ 9:15:12 GMTIran's Reformers Must Address Economic Problems, Panelists SayWashington -- Iran’s democratic reformers must offer solutions for the country’s economic problems, which for most Iranians represent the current government’s biggest failure, said participants at a recent seminar on the future of democracy in Iran. more By US Department of States

Posted 25/4/2007 @ 9:6:16 GMTPowers Consider Iran Nuclear ProposalANKARA, Turkey -- The United States and other world powers may be ready to allow Iran to keep some of its uranium enrichment program intact instead of demanding its complete dismantling, foreign government officials said Tuesday. more By The Associated Press

Posted 25/4/2007 @ 8:57:9 GMTBush Says Talks With Iran PossibleNEW YORK -- President Bush said Tuesday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might have one-on-one talks with Iranian leaders at an international conference on Iraq next month, but that Tehran's nuclear program would not be on the table. more By The Associated Press

Posted 25/4/2007 @ 8:51:21 GMTU.S. Now Negotiating Indirectly with IranWASHINGTON -- The United States has quietly increased its back-channel diplomatic contacts with Iran, a sign that those who favor engagement have strengthened their hand in the administration, U.S. officials say. more By McClatchy Newspapers

Posted 24/4/2007 @ 22:38:36 GMTU.S. Denies Mulling Proposals to Allow Iran to Continue EnrichmentThe United States denied Tuesday that it is considering proposals that would allow Iran to partially retain its uranium enrichment program. "We're not considering any proposals that would allow the Iranians to retain any enrichment-related activities," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "We would hope the Iranians would take us up on the offer for negotiations, but the conditions for entering those negotiations are the same." more By Ha'aretz

Posted 24/4/2007 @ 22:32:22 GMTHint of UN Deal to Resolve Iranian Nuclear Stand-offWorld powers could be ready to allow Iran to retain some of its uranium enrichment programme instead of demanding it be mothballed completely, diplomatic officials suggested last night. more By The Herald

Posted 24/4/2007 @ 22:2:1 GMTEU Spells Out New Iran SanctionsThe European Union set out a new set of sanctions on Iran on Tuesday, focusing on individuals and companies that could also be subjected to United Nations measures in coming weeks. more By The Financial Times

Posted 24/4/2007 @ 17:13:55 GMTThe Secrets of a Hizballah RenegadeThe white walls and guard towers of the hilltop Sheikh Abdullah military barracks are clearly visible from the home of Sheikh Sobhi Toufeili. As one of the founding fathers of Hizballah and its first secretary-general, the gruff 60-year-old cleric knows the barracks well — during the turbulent 1980s, it housed fighters from his organization and a contingent of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, as well as several Western hostages, including William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut who died in captivity. But that was then. more By Time Magazine

Posted 24/4/2007 @ 16:58:35 GMTIran Tones Down Rhetoric Ahead of Nuclear TalksIran's unusually conciliatory tone ahead of two key meetings tomorrow raised hopes that its tense confrontation with the US and some western countries on nuclear and security issues is beginning to subside. more By Guardian Unlimited

Posted 24/4/2007 @ 10:15:13 GMTSqueeze Play: Approach Tehran with Sticks, Not CarrotsConsider this scenario: The Saudis have gone nuclear. So have the Egyptians. Both countries had been signatories to the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, but that agreement is now dissolved. Riyadh and Cairo acquired their weapons from Pakistan, a Sunni ally, in response to the nuclear threat from Shia Iran. Meanwhile, Iraq continues to fester, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is far from settled, and Iranian proxies remain firmly entrenched within Lebanon's combustible sectarian mix -- a mix that pits Sunni against Shia and just so happens to exist on Israel's northern border. In short, all the key players in the Middle East -- Sunni, Shia, Israeli -- now have nuclear weapons at a moment when the simmering and, in some cases, quite open conflicts between the region's states, sects, and ethnicities are almost too numerous to count. more By New Republic

Posted 24/4/2007 @ 9:26:37 GMTU.S. Sanctions List Over Syria, Iran RisesThe United States has imposed sanctions on 14 foreigners, companies and government agencies, including the Syrian navy and air force, in an effort to stop transfers of advanced weaponry to and from Iran and Syria. more By The Washington Times

Posted 24/4/2007 @ 9:20:27 GMTUnder'cover' Crackdown in IranTEHRAN, Iran With the arrival of spring, Iranian police have launched a crackdown against women accused of not covering up enough, arresting nearly 300 women, some for wearing too tight an overcoat or letting too much hair peek out from under their veil, authorities said Monday. more By The Associated Press

Posted 24/4/2007 @ 9:2:59 GMTBritain To Rethink Relations With Iran in Formal Protest Over Hostage CrisisBritain is to protest formally to Iran as part of a "recalibration" of relations with the Islamic Republic since the seizure of 15 sailors and marines in the Shatt al-Arab waterway this month. more By The Guardian>

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Posted 8/3/2007 @ 10:49:1 GMTTension Rises in Iran Over Women's RightsTEHRAN -- Uncommonly high tensions between law enforcement officials and human rights activists ahead of today's annual commemoration of International Women's Day have led to dozens of arrests here in the capital. more By Los Angeles Times

Posted 8/3/2007 @ 10:41:57 GMTFormer Iranian Defense Official Talks to Western IntelligenceA former Iranian deputy defense minister who once commanded the Revolutionary Guard has left his country and is cooperating with Western intelligence agencies, providing information on Hezbollah and Iran's ties to the organization, according to a senior U.S. official. more By The Washington Post

Posted 8/3/2007 @ 0:45:34 GMTCountry Reports on Human Rights PracticesThe Islamic Republic of Iran, with a population of approximately 68 million, is a constitutional, theocratic republic in which Shi'a Muslim clergy dominate the key power structures. Article Four of the constitution states that "All laws and regulations…shall be based on Islamic principles." Government legitimacy is based on the twin pillars of popular sovereignty (Article Six) and the rule of the Supreme Jurisconsulate, or Supreme Leader (Article Five). more By The U.S. State Department

Posted 6/3/2007 @ 10:52:12 GMTTime for Iranians to Engage IraniansTo engage or attack? This is the question gripping pundits on U.S.-Iranian relations as the United Nations deadline for Iran's compliance on its nuclear program has come and gone, and as U.S. officials plan to take part in talks on Iraq's future that may include Iranian representatives. more By The Baltimore Sun

Posted 8/3/2007 @ 0:25:49 GMTEU Offers Olive Branch to Iran on Nuclear IssueThe European Union urged Iran on Wednesday to take up an offer to suspend its nuclear enrichment in return for suspending sanctions on Tehran. "We therefore urge Iran to take up the offer of double suspension, as endorsed recently by the director general," French ambassador Francois-Xavier Deniau said, speaking for the three EU powers mediating in the nuclear standoff. more By Agence France Presse

Posted 7/3/2007 @ 21:4:16 GMTIran Accuses US and Israel of Threatening Military AttacksIran took the US, Israel and the UN Security Council to task on Wednesday, accusing Washington and Jerusalem of threatening military attacks on its nuclear facilities and saying Security Council pressure on Tehran was illegal. more By The Associated Press

Posted 7/3/2007 @ 20:36:20 GMTBush Rediscovers DiplomacyWASHINGTON -- A caustic former U.S. ambassador named Chas Freeman compiled a volume he called "The Diplomat's Dictionary.'' It included several memorable definitions, including "Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock,'' and "Diplomacy is letting someone else have your way.'' more By The Washington Post

Posted 7/3/2007 @ 16:41:4 GMTIran to Ration Gasoline, Raise Price By 20%TEHRAN -- The Iranian Parliament decided Wednesday to ration gasoline, starting in May, the official IRNA news agency reported. more By Dow Jones Newswires

Posted 7/3/2007 @ 14:23:32 GMTIran in BooksIran may seem like a difficult country for Americans to get to know. It has been almost three decades since Washington and Tehran have had diplomatic relations. The Islamic Republic gives few Americans visas and, counting all diplomats and businessmen and their spouses, only about 3,000 Westerners live among the seventy million Iranians.[1] more By Middle East Quarterly

Posted 7/3/2007 @ 14:16:56 GMTIran: Teachers Stage Rally in Front of ParliamentThousands of teachers staged a rally on Tuesday in front of the Majlis, the Iranian parliament, in Tehran asking Iranian education minister Mahmoud Farshidi to step down, their salaries to be raised and that colleagues fired for political reasons be reinstated. The protest, the second in just a week by teachers, was called by 30 teachers' unions. Last Saturday, an estimated 50,000 professors protested, threatening to block mid-term exams and to strike until their fired colleagues, as many as 1,500 only in Kurdistan, were given their jobs back. more By AKI

Posted 7/3/2007 @ 14:10:12 GMTImproved Iranian Surface Missiles for Palestinian Hamas and Jihad IslamiAccording to DEBKAfile’s military sources, the two missiles which reached the southern part of Ashkelon Tuesday, March 6, were range-finding exercises for the new weapons. more By DEBKAfile

Posted 7/3/2007 @ 14:4:25 GMTUS Foriegn Policy Pragmatists in Driving SeatAs the US looks back at four years of failed efforts to pacify Iraq, more evidence is emerging of the dysfunctional state of the Bush administration's decision-making process back in 2003 and how, according to former officials and analysts, those unresolved failings continue to affect wider foreign policy. more By The Financial Times

Posted 7/3/2007 @ 13:56:22 GMTIranian Secrets on the Loose?Ali Reza Askari, a former aide to the Iranian defense minister and a retired general with long service in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has been missing since Feb. 7. He reportedly was last seen in Istanbul. After his disappearance, Arab newspapers quickly fingered Mossad and the CIA for his assassination or kidnapping. Iranian officials made similar claims. On Tuesday, the independent Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat offered a different explanation: Askari had defected, turning himself over to U.S. agents in Turkey. more By Stratfor

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TODAYS LATEST NEWS, FROM WHERE WE LEFT OFF LAST

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 12:38:56 GMTA Muckraker on the Wane?It's become a habit to greet whatever journalist Seymour Hersh writes with reverence. However, after his ludicrous claim last summer that Israel's war in Lebanon was a trial run for an American bombing of Iran—an accusation undermined by postwar narratives showing the confused way Israel and the United States responded to the conflict—my doubts hardened. In his latest New Yorker piece, Hersh maintains he has unearthed more dirt on the Bush administration: The U.S. is involved in containing Iran by directly or indirectly "bolstering Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda." more By Reason Magazine

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 12:31:52 GMTIran Cleric Says Pakistan Becoming 'Terrorist Sanctuary'A top Iranian cleric accused Pakistan on Friday of becoming a "terrorist sanctuary," following an upsurge of violence on the two nations' border area that Tehran blames on plots by arch foe the United States and on Pakistan's inability to control its border. more By Agence France Presse

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 12:21:21 GMTIf Iran Gets the BombWith the Bush administration now happily basking in the glory of positive coverage in The New York Times and enjoying the warm embrace of the James Baker/Brent Scowcroft wing of the Republican Party, it is hard to imagine that it will reconsider its decision to abandon the Bush Doctrine. That doctrine, named after President George W. Bush and most forcefully enunciated by him, eschewed appeasement of terror-supporting, weapons of mass destruction-proliferating enemies of the free world. more By The Jerusalem Post

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 11:1:44 GMTIran Sanctions Talks Make ProgressMajor powers of the world have made progress Thursday on imposing further sanctions against Iran for defying a UN deadline and refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, even though some differences still persist, UN diplomats said. more By Nasdaq

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 10:56:25 GMTAnalysis: U.S. Intel on Nukes in DoubtVIENNA, Austria -- New doubts are arising about the accuracy of U.S. intelligence on the nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran, only a few years after faulty warnings about weapons of mass destruction helped President Bush justify the invasion of Iraq. more By The Associated Press

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 10:53:25 GMTAhmadinejad: U.S., Israel Cause ProblemsKHARTOUM, Sudan -- Iran's president blamed the United States and Israel for the world's problems Thursday in a lecture to Sudanese officials and intellectuals during his visit to Sudan. more By The Associated Press

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 10:39:37 GMTStudent Rebels in Iran Expelled and Earmarked for ArmyIranian students involved in an angry protest against the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been expelled and earmarked for compulsory military service in an apparent act of official retribution. more By The Guardian

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Posted 1/3/2007 @ 11:32:26 GMTMaintaining Perspective'It's too soon to tell," The late Chinese leader Zhou Enlai is reported to have answered when asked for an evaluation of the significance of the French Revolution of 1789. This was nearly two centuries after the great upheaval of France. Revolutions are full of cunning, and the Iranian Revolution, now almost three decades old, has been no exception-cunning and ferocity side by side, the talk of a revolutionary millennium often concealing the skills of a leadership steeped in the ways of the bazaar. more By U.S.News & World Report

Posted 1/3/2007 @ 10:41:57 GMTIranian President to Visit Saudi on SaturdayTEHRAN -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will travel to Saudi Arabia on Saturday to hold talks on regional issues, an Iranian official said on Thursday. more By Reuters

Posted 1/3/2007 @ 10:32:3 GMTRussia Senator Uneasy On Iran's Nuclear Intentions After TripMOSCOW -- A Russian senator's recent trip to Iran indicated the country's nuclear program could turn to weapons development, he said Thursday, the Interfax news agency reported. Mikhail Margelov, who held talks with Iranian officials including the foreign minister last week, said he asked "direct questions on the nature of the country's military program." more By Dow Jones Newswires

Posted 1/3/2007 @ 2:10:40 GMTIs President Bush Changing Tack at Last Over Iran?From the beginning the Bush administration has been characterised by deep fissures between departments, particularly the Pentagon and the State Department, and vicious internecine warfare. It is still at it. more By Independent Online

Posted 1/3/2007 @ 2:5:16 GMTEurope, America and the drumbeat of war with IranAmerica’s capital is once again abuzz with talk of war, not only of the latest “strategy for victory” in Iraq, but now also of military action against Iran. more By Today's Zaman

Posted 1/3/2007 @ 1:57:46 GMTHeading For The ExitThe announcement that the US will participate in talks with Iran and Syria on the future of Iraq came as something of a surprise. more By The Guardian

Today's Latest News.

Iran has ignored a U.N. Security Council ultimatum to freeze uranium enrichment - a pathway to nuclear arms - and has instead expanded its program by setting up hundreds of centrifuges, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said yesterday.
By George Jahn
>Read the Article
Posted 24/2/2007 @ 10:52:46 GMTRivals in Iran Defiant Toward WestTEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's divided leadership closed ranks against foreign critics of the its nuclear program Friday, with both its current president and former president accusing the West of "bullying" Tehran through ultimatums and threats of new sanctions. more By The Associated Press

Posted 24/2/2007 @ 10:36:53 GMTCould Battle of Wills Escalate to War?Every time Robert Gates is asked whether the United States is preparing for war against Iran, the U.S. Defence Secretary becomes agitated and impatient, expressing disbelief the question would even be posed. more By National

Posted 24/2/2007 @ 0:32:45 GMTPlans, But No Intention for War With IranEarlier this week, the BBC carried a report that said it had learned "U.S. contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure." more By The Washington Post

Posted 24/2/2007 @ 0:22:4 GMTIran: Free Wife of Political Prisoner Seized on StreetNew York -- The Iranian government should immediately release Somaye Bayanat, wife of the well-known political prisoner Ahmad Batebi, and investigate the manner in which she was snatched from the streets, Human Rights Watch said today. more By Human Rights Watch

Posted 24/2/2007 @ 0:15:57 GMTIran and the Diplomatic FetishistsIran has an interesting take on international law. According to Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki, the UN Security Council's Chapter VII resolution from last December requiring Iran to cease all its uranium enrichment activities is illegal. As he put it Wednesday during a friendly visit in Turkey, "We were against [the resolution] for being illegal and politically motivated." more By The Jerusalem Post

Posted 23/2/2007 @ 20:19:42 GMTWhat Scares Iran's Mullahs?Iran has once again defied the United Nations by proceeding with enrichment activities, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported yesterday. And yet, simultaneously, Iranian officials have been sending a very different message — one that has gone largely unremarked but merits close attention. more By The New York Times

Posted 23/2/2007 @ 17:27:34 GMTSymposium: Iran: The CountdownWith Iran's Mullahs refusing to stop their nuclear program, a collision with the U.S. appears inevitable -- and approaching sooner rather than later. To discuss the Iranian threat and the options the U.S. has to deal with it, Frontpage Symposium has assembled a distinguished panel. Our guests are:
more By FrontPageMagazine.com

Posted 23/2/2007 @ 17:17:54 GMTThe Mullahs' VoiceIran’s ruling clerics have a new unofficial spokesman in Washington, who can talk circles around their official ambassadors. His name is Trita Parsi, and he is a protégé of Francis Fukayama, the policy heavy-weight who has now turned against the Bush agenda of promoting freedom in the Middle East as an antidote to terror. more By FrontPageMagazine.com

Posted 23/2/2007 @ 15:21:14 GMTArmed Conflict With Iran AvoidableU.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns says he does "not believe a conflict with Iran is inevitable," and "it is certainly not desirable": more By VOA News

Posted 23/2/2007 @ 15:4:48 GMTCheney Hints at Iran Military StrikeUS Vice President Dick Cheney vowed the United States would "do everything" it can to deprive Iran of nuclear weapons, and refused to rule out military action in a US television interview on Friday. "We haven't taken any options off the table," Cheney said in an interview with ABC News from Australia, where he is traveling. more By AFP

Posted 23/2/2007 @ 10:53:6 GMTSignals From TehranWASHINGTON -- The title of the two-page Iranian document is "Gentlemen's Agreement.'' In convoluted English, it lists 11 points of understanding supposedly reached last September between Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani and his European counterpart Javier Solana on a temporary, partial, not-quite suspension of uranium enrichment. more By The Washington Post

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Deutsch Français English . Make Iran va Jahan your home page / Front Page /Archives /Media /Gallery /Links /Contact Us / News & Feature For:Thursday, Febuary 22nd / Recent Headlines /
Iran has mastered crucial nuclear technology since August and could be as little as six months away from being able to enrich uranium on an industrial scale, the United Nations’ chief nuclear watchdog warned on Monday.
By Daniel Dombey
>Read the Article
Posted 21/2/2007 @ 10:34:20 GMTIran Vows to Continue with Nuclear ProgrammeIran has vowed to press ahead with its nuclear programme, as a key United Nations deadline for it to be halted passed today. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, remained defiant as a 60-day grace period Iran had been given to stop enriching uranium for nuclear fuel ran out. more By The Times

Posted 21/2/2007 @ 10:31:1 GMTIran 'Swiftly Seeks Nuclear Goal' Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Iran will try to achieve nuclear capability as soon as possible. His comments, reported by Iran's Isna news agency, come as a UN deadline for Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment programme expires. more By BBC News

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 19:55:42 GMTNovember Decree Used for First Time to Block Websites Regulations adopted on 27 November with the aim of facilitating control of the Internet have been openly used for the first time by the Iranian authorities to justify blocking access to the conservative online publication Baztab.com, Reporters Without Borders said today. more By Reporters Without Borders
Posted 20/2/2007 @ 19:30:56 GMTNew Tensions Over Iran's Nuclear Plans The tension over Iran's nuclear programme is increasing, with the expiry on Wednesday of a Security Council deadline for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment. At the same time, the BBC has reported that the United States has drawn up plans for an attack on Iran to cover two contingencies - the confirmed development of nuclear weapons by Iran, or backing by Iran for a major attack on US troops in Iraq. more By BBC News

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 19:23:41 GMTHow Iran is Vulnerable to a Decline in Oil Exports Tehran's chest-beating over its nuclear-development program has masked a longstanding but growing Iranian vulnerability: its oil exports. more By The Wall Street Journal

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 19:16:57 GMTHow the EU Subsidizes Trade with the MullahsOn the record, Europe claims to be as concerned as America about a nuclear-armed Iran. The record also shows, however, that Europe's biggest countries do a booming business with the Islamic Republic. And so far for the Continentals, manna trumps security. more By The Wall Street Journal

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 19:13:17 GMTStrategic Pressures on Iran are GrowingThe U.S.'s escalating pressure on Iran appears to be having some impact, opening up opportunities for real advancements in U.S. foreign policy, whether containing Iran's nuclear ambitions or underpinning a democratically elected government in Lebanon. But rather than seeking a quick fix in its contest with Iran, as the U.S. did in Iraq by launching a war, Bush administration officials say they are bracing for a protracted struggle to curb Tehran's influence in the region. more By The Wall Street Journal

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 19:6:4 GMTIran Will Regret Its Nuke Program; Here's HowThe Iranian people will regret their country's nuclear program. Instead of bringing them security or status, Iran's nuclear program will only bring Iran economic ruin, internal chaos, and possibly death on a massive scale. more By TCS Daily

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 18:49:18 GMTTapping at a Tyrant%u2019s Thin ShellWe all know the Iranian M.O. — nuclear proliferation, Holocaust denial, threats to wipe out Israel, vicious anti-Western rhetoric, lavish sponsorship of terrorists at work attacking Israel and destabilizing Lebanon. more By National Review Online

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 15:24:8 GMTIran Wants Unconditional Nuclear TalksThe Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said today his country wanted to resume negotiations over its nuclear programme but rejected demands that Tehran suspend its uranium enrichment programme first. more By Guardian

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 15:20:49 GMTIran's Ahmadinejad Rejects UN Nuclear DeadlineTEHRAN -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected a looming UN deadline for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, saying it would not halt the sensitive nuclear activity as a precondition to talks. more By Forbes

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 15:16:21 GMTWe Must Not Follow America Into War with IranYou would have thought that, by now, President George W. Bush and his advisers would have learned humility as they contemplate a war in Iraq that they cannot win but cannot afford to lose. Instead they pay not a blind bit of notice either to their remaining friends among the moderate Republican conservatives or to the growing number of Americans who think the Iraq war was a disastrous mistake. more By The Financial Times

Posted 19/2/2007 @ 12:19:2 GMTThe Rogue Weasels Flynt Leverett, known to readers of this page as "Our Man Flynt," continues to make hay in Washington by spreading tall tales about the willingness of Iran's clerical elite to "cut a deal" with the United States. Not only are the mullahs willing to talk to us, says Flynt. The alleged offer they made in April 2003 was .more substantive, more detailed, than the Chinese proposal that came into the Nixon administration. that opened the way for Nixon's trip to China in 1972. more By FrontPageMagazine.com

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 10:19:3 GMTUS 'Iran Attack Plans' Revealed US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned. more By BBC News

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 10:15:38 GMTIranian Spy 'Still on the Loose'An Iranian spy continues to roam free despite the fact that the Swedish Security Service has known of his activities for over a year. The man is said to have reported back to the Iranian embassy after infiltrating a number of groups opposed to the Tehran regime. more By The Local Sweden

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 10:8:38 GMTIran's Fourth Assembly Of Experts ConvenesIran's fourth Assembly of Experts convened today with an inaugural ceremony for its 86 newly elected members. Each member will serve for two years in the assembly. more By Radio Free Europe

Posted 20/2/2007 @ 10:3:35 GMTSecond US Aircraft Carrier Arrives Near the Gulf MANAMA -- A second US aircraft carrier arrived in Middle Eastern waters on Tuesday as promised by US President George W Bush in January amid an escalating crisis with nearby Iran over its nuclear programme. more By AFX News

Posted 19/2/2007 @ 18:14:28 GMTIran's Leader Urges Moves to Boost Private Sector TEHRAN -- Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told the government and officials on Monday to speed up moves to cut the state's economic role in the latest bid to revive a struggling privatisation programme. more By Reuters

Posted 19/2/2007 @ 12:43:26 GMTIran's Larijani To Meet IAEA Chief Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, will meet with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Muhammad el-Baradei in Vienna on February 20. The announcement was made today by Asghar Soltanieh, the Iranian ambassador to the IAEA. more By AFP

Posted 19/2/2007 @ 12:37:42 GMTIran Shuts Down Website Critical of PresidentAn Iranian website fiercely critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been shut down in an apparent fresh crackdown on anti-government dissent on the internet. Baztab, a fundamentalist site that has previously accused Mr Ahmadinejad of betraying the Islamic revolution by attending a female dance show, has been closed for acting against the constitution and undermining national unity. more By Guardian

Posted 19/2/2007 @ 12:34:7 GMTIran Won't Stop Uranium Enrichment TEHRAN -- Iran will not agree to suspend uranium enrichment as demanded by the U.N. Security Council, which has given Tehran until Feb. 21 to halt sensitive atomic work, the Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. more By Reuters