Iran ready to discuss nuclear dispute

"TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran is ready to discuss its nuclear programme with any country but will not yield to international pressure to halt the atomic work, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a rally on Wednesday.

"The Iranian nation is in favour of talks to resolve the (nuclear) issue with any of you (countries). We will slap those who want Iran to abandon its right (to nuclear technology) on the mouth," Ahmadinejad said in a televised address in the western city of Hamedan.

Ahmadinejad in March ruled out any talks with the West over Iran's disputed nuclear programme, saying Iran would only discuss the issue with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.

Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China want EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, to try to reopen talks on offers of incentives for Iran to halt its work.

But Iran, the world's fourth-largest crude exporter, says the nuclear programme aims to produce electricity so it can sell more of its oil and gas abroad."

This article shows the continuing dispute of what Iran's intentions are with its nuclear program. The fact that the country is willing to discuss its program with foreign nations, shows that there might be some resolution to the conflict in the near future.

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Clinton, Obama tackle Iran issue in debate

"PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The United States should offer to protect countries in the Middle East from Iran if those countries forgo nuclear weapons of their own, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.

Clinton, a senator from New York, and rival Barack Obama, a senator from Illinois, reaffirmed their commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and held out the possibility of military action if Tehran attacked Israel.

Clinton, who has painted herself as stronger on foreign policy issues than Obama, said Washington should bring other Middle Eastern nations in addition to Israel under a security "umbrella" to create a deterrent against an Iranian threat.

"I think that we should be looking to create an umbrella of deterrence that goes much further than just Israel," she said.

"We will let the Iranians know, that, yes, an attack on Israel would trigger massive retaliation, but so would an attack on those countries that are willing to go under the security umbrella and forswear their own nuclear ambitions." '

New tensions between Israel and Iran have offered the U.S. political candidates a new area for debate. It is likely that these debates will offer little constructive advice, but rather an opportunity to badger each other senselessly.

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Olmert says Iran will never be a nuclear power

"JERUSALEM (AFP) — Iran will never become a nuclear power, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted on Thursday as saying, as Iran's president was proclaiming his country the "most powerful nation" on earth.

Last week, Israeli National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer warned that any Iranian attack against Israel "would lead to the destruction of the Iranian nation."

That prompted a response from the deputy commander of Iran's army, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, that his country would "eliminate Israel from the global arena" if it were attacked by the Jewish state.

Ahmadinejad said all the branches of the armed forces would react forcefully in response to any attack against Iran, and boasted that no one would dare to launch a strike on the country.

The United States and Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, accused Iran of using its civilian nuclear power programme as a cover for attempting to develop an atomic bomb." '

This article shows the rising tension between Israel and Iran. Israel and Iran are eexchanging verbal attacks that might change into armed conflict much the way of the Iraq-Iran conflict.

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Iran will eliminate Israel if it attacks: agency

"TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will eliminate Israel if it launches a military attack on the Islamic state, a senior army commander was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Deputy commander-in-chief Mohammad Reza Ashtiani was echoing Iran's late founder of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who said Israel should be wiped off the map.

statement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad saying "Israel should be wiped off the map", outraged the international community.

Support for the Palestinian cause is a central pillar of the Islamic Republic which officially has refused to recognize Israel's right to exist since the Islamic Revolution.

Tehran denies accusations it trains and arms Palestinian militant groups, saying it only offers only moral support." '

This article foreshadows a possible militaristic confrontation between Israel and Iran. These verbal attacks from Iran are an example of the continuing conflict between worshipers Judaism and Islam.

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Iran denies confrontation at sea with U.S. Navy

"TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran denied a report that several of its boats taunted a U.S. Navy vessel in the Persian Gulf on Thursday night, according to IRNA, Iran's official news agency.

A U.S. military official told CNN Friday that the USS Typhoon, a small patrol craft, was approached by three small Iranian boats in a "taunting manner."

"There has been no confrontation between Iranian boats and the U.S. [Fifth] Fleet," IRNA quoted an unnamed Iranian source as saying.

The U.S. military source said U.S. Navy officers conducted bridge-to-bridge communications with the Iranian boats and two of them then turned away. But one came within 200 yards of the Typhoon, prompting it to fire a warning flare. The Iranian boat then turned away.

IRNA said the U.S. media "tries to portray the Persian Gulf as a turbulent area in order to prepare the grounds for the permanent presence of U.S. forces in the region." '

This article shows the safety precaution tken by Iran when U.S. boat entered the country's waters. Even though none was injured or killed, the media describes the Persian Gulf region as an area of geat violence.

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Defiant Iran expands nuclear operation

"TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran has begun installing 6,000 new centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, state television quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying Tuesday.

The U.S. immediately criticized the announcement as an example of Iran's continued defiance of international demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for a weapon.

Iran already has about 3,000 centrifuges operating at its underground nuclear facility in Natanz, and the U.N. has passed three sets of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Tehran insists its nuclear program is focused on the peaceful production of energy, not the development of weapons as claimed by the U.S. and many of its allies.

State television also quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that "we have reached new achievements" in Natanz that he would announce later Tuesday.

The president's trip was scheduled to coincide with Iran's National Day of Nuclear Technology, marking the second anniversary of Iran's first enrichment of uranium."

Iran's construction of these new centrifuges shows the country's ongoing defiance towards U.N. sanctions. Repeated by Iran many times before, uranium enrichment is for peaceful means, not to build nuclear weapons.

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With al-Qaeda on the run, Bush turns focus to Iran

"The Iraq war has featured a changing cast of U.S. adversaries. Saddam Hussein. Sunni insurgents. Foreign fighters. Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

In the latest shift, the two top U.S. officials in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, focused in this week's congressional testimony on "special groups" — Iranian-backed militias — as the greatest long-term threat to Iraqi democracy.

On Thursday, President Bush endorsed the officials' troop recommendations and again recast the enemy. Iraq, he said toward the end of his speech, is "the convergence point for two of the greatest threats to America in this new century: al-Qaeda and Iran."

Dealing with Iran, and the militias it backs, is not as straightforward as dealing with al-Qaeda. Iran is a country, not a terror network. It's a rising power in the region, vying for influence with the United States. It has the potential to make great mischief, both in Iraq and through its sponsorship of Middle East militants.


In fact, the United States and Iran are facing off in a duel almost as complex as that between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This requires a whole range of tools, beyond Bush's bellicose warning on Thursday that Tehran "has a choice to make." One key is to reinforce the sense of nationalism among Iraqi Shiites, many of whom are wary of too much Iranian influence, don't want to be sucked into the extremism of Iran's ayatollahs and have lingering resentment from the Iran-Iraq war."

This article shows the United States' growing fear of Iran's presence in Iraq. Though Iran has been instigating Iraqi's against the United States, it will not be as sraightforward it was for the United States to control Iran as it was to control Iraq.

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Signs of Iran's Hand in Iraq

"One of the armor-piercing roadside bombs in Iraq has a nickname among the militants who place the device. They call it the Najadia, a short variation on the long name of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "My group and I believe honestly in fighting the Americans — and getting financial benefit out of it," says Hussein Ali, an Iraqi Shi'ite guerrilla who recounted a journey to Iran for training in explosives in an interview with TIME. "We became very professional in planting and using the mine called BMZ2, which is a Russian mine modified in Iran for use against the American armor."

Despite a drop in violence across Iraq, U.S. officials in Baghdad and Washington have kept up accusations against Iran, saying Tehran is involved in nothing less than training and funding a shadow army of Shi'ite militants set against U.S. forces in Iraq. In the face of these U.S. assertions, the Iraqi government publicly says it has no evidence of an Iranian training program for Iraqi militants. "We don't have the proof that the American have," says Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh. "Normally the intelligence information the Americans have is not allowed to circulate." The issue was also not discussed, al-Dabbagh says, in official talks during Ahmadinejad's recent visit to Baghdad, where the Iranian leader enjoyed a warm reception that reflected deepening ties between Iran and Iraq. Iran has offered unflinching denials of subversive and anti-U.S. activity in Iraq.

According to U.S. claims, Iraqi recruits from the Mahdi Army of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and other militias have traveled in groups numbering between 20 and 60 to Iran in a training program organized by the Quds Force that dates back to 2004. Handlers from the Quds Force, an elite paramilitary wing of the Iranian army, allegedly transport recruits to training camps near Tehran."

This article discusses alleged claims by the U.S. that Iran is training militants to fight the U.S. forces in Iraq. Iran denys any anti-U.S. activity in Iraq. The Iraqi government states that it has found no evidence realating to militant training camps. Though the U.S. still believes in its claims, there is very little evidence to support it.

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Iran rep details nuclear program

"On the evening of March 19, the promise of a unique seminar drew throngs of students and professors into a packed lecture hall at Prague’s University of Economics. Hours before flying home to celebrate the Persian New Year, diplomat and nuclear physicist Ali Asghar Soltanieh, the Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna — a United Nations watchdog organization — candidly discussed the details of his country’s nuclear research program.

Adamant that Iran was using the enriched uranium for peaceful energy projects, Soltanieh rebuked the latest regulations. By outlining the program’s diplomatic and technical history from Iran’s perspective, he pledged to “remove ambiguities and questions, so that those ill-minded people cannot … manipulate and give biased information to the public and then make it into an excuse for an invasion.”

In the latest report, circulated to the Board of Governors (the IAEA’s policymaking body) Feb. 22, agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradai commended Iran for cooperating with the IAEA on a series of inspections. He also announced that a majority of questions — including the “most important issue” exploring the “scope and nature” of Iran’s enrichment program — had been resolved.

Soltanieh said he once escorted inspectors to a site flagged by a two-year CIA project as an undeclared uranium mine and conversion facility. After several fruitless days of searching, it was revealed that the undeclared facility was actually a stone-cutting workshop, which had recently built a few extra lavatories for their newly employed workers, Soltanieh said. “It was very embarrassing for the IAEA inspectors,” he added."

Soltanieh's seminar rebuked U.N. claims about Iran's nuclear program. Soltanieh affirmed that the country is following the rules of the security council and not using its program for militaristic means.

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U.S. punishes Bahrain bank for its Iran ties

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States Treasury Department announced sanctions Wednesday against a Bahrain bank accused of helping Iran's alleged nuclear proliferation activities.

The Treasury Department said Future Bank B.S.C. is controlled by Iran's Bank Melli, which has already been sanctioned "for facilitating Iran's proliferation activities."

Future Bank was started in 2004 in a joint venture between Bank Melli; Bank Saderat, also an Iranian bank; and a private bank based in Bahrain.

Under the designation, any bank accounts and financial assets in the United States must be frozen, and American citizens will not be permitted to do business with the bank.

Bahrain "has taken responsible steps to try to prevent Future Bank from abusing the country's financial system," Levey said." '

Abuse of Future banks funds in Bahrain is not very good. Giving the funds to Iran's nuclear program is even worse. This will ruin the the reputation of the bank among western countries against Iran's nuclear program.

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Iranians vote in general election

"Voting has been taking place in Iran, with conservatives expected to win after opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were barred from running.

The authorities in Tehran have called for a big turnout in the parliamentary polls, to defy the US and other countries they say are Iran's enemies.

The BBC's Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne says a lack of choice, due to widespread disqualifications of reformist candidates, could discourage people from voting.

With the field narrowed, he says, the only question is how seats will be shared out between competing conservatives.

The reformists seem to have given up the fight after many of their candidates were disqualified on the grounds of alleged lack of loyalty to Islamic values, says our correspondent.

They made up the bulk of around 1,700 candidates barred from running by Iran's Guardian Council - an unelected body of clerics and jurists that vets election candidates."

Though the parliamentary elections are expecting a large voter turn-out, voters will be discouraged by so few candidate choices. The conservative victory will only have one problem: how to share the seats in parliament.

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Getting Out the Vote in Iran

"She is known as the mother of two shahids, (martyrs) and is sometimes called "commander" by her "sisters." In a neighborhood close to the bazaar district in southern Tehran, Aghdas Moradi, better known as "the mother of Shahid Mohammad Mehdi Abolghasemi," is scurrying around with her black chador flailing around her, giving orders to the men on the other end of her walkie-talkie.

As an activist of the Islamic Alliance Party, perhaps the most hard-line of Iran's conservative factions, she is hard at work running a weekend of programs commemorating the martyrdom of three of the most venerated figures in Shi'ite Islam, the Prophet Muhammad, his grandson Imam Hassan and the only one of Shi'ism's original twelve imams buried in Iran, Imam Reza.

The speaker at this evening's event is the cleric Hojjatoleslam Gholamreza Mesbahi-

Moghaddam, a candidate of the United Principalists' Coalition (UPC) in Iran's March 14 parliamentary elections. About 700 women, all clad in black chadors, are seated on red carpets in the women's tent, with about the same number of men on the other side.
Everyone is offered tea and dates upon arrival and urged to pick up the UPC's list of 30 candidates for Tehran's share of seats in the Majlis, the national parliament.

Abolghasemi is the leader of 300 basij women, a network of volunteers allied with the Revolutionary Guard and political conservatives. It was the grassroots efforts of groups like hers that helped conservatives take control of the legislature from reformists in 2004, and swept President Ahmadinejad to victory in the 2005 presidential election."

This article shows the United Principalists' Coalition (UPC) preparing for Iran's march 14th parliamentary elections. It is ironic that even though Iran keeps women at a very low social level, a party from the country that is very conservative still has many supporters that are women.

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U.S. v. Iran: Running Out the Clock

Nobody on any side of the Iran nuclear dispute believes that yesterday's U.N. sanctions vote is going to break the deadlock. Faced with continuing Iranian defiance of the demand that it suspend uranium enrichment until concerns over the intent of its nuclear program can be resolved, the Security Council passed a package that incrementally tightens existing sanctions. It banned travel by certain officials of Iran's nuclear program, freezed the assets of certain companies and barred Iran from importing certain dual-use technologies. But Iran has made quite clear that it has no intention of complying with the U.N.'s demand, which it deems "illegal," and it is more than capable of absorbing the very limited pain inflicted by the new measures. Indeed, the package agreed upon on Monday reflected the lowest-common-denominator consensus between countries such as the U.S., Britain and France, which wanted tougher sanctions, and countries such as Russia and China that want to avoid measures with real bite, both because of their own commercial ties with Iran and because they believe putting Iran's back against the wall will simply exacerbate the conflict.

So, despite being the subject of a new sanctions package adopted by the overwhelming consensus at the Security Council (Indonesia's abstention was the only discordant note), Iran is not feeling particularly isolated or pressured. The Council vote came on the same day that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad concluded his historic state visit to Baghdad, where he was feted and hailed as a friend by a government entirely dependent on the U.S. for its security. Nor is Iraq alone among Arab states in ignoring Washington's calls for Iran's isolation. Ahmadinejad was the personal guest of the Saudi king during the recent Hajj pilgrimage, and even Egypt is responding to Iranian diplomatic initiatives aimed at ending almost four decades of hostility with the Islamic Republic. It's not that Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are simply ignoring the sources of tension with Tehran: instead theirs is a regional realpolitik that sees a cooperative relationship as a more productive way of addressing those issues than the more confrontational stance of the U.S.

Similarly, on the nuclear issue, Britain's ambassador to the U.N., John Sawers, told reporters that the Security Council would hold firm in the demand for Iran to suspend enrichment, but would pursue that goal through ongoing negotiations even as the limited sanctions are put into effect. Last year's U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, which concluded that Iran does not currently have a nuclear weapons development program has, in effect, removed the sense of looming crisis that had once driven the issue, and rendered the option of a U.S. military strike to destroy Iranian facilities highly improbable. (It is acknowledged, however, that Iran's current nuclear activities would put such capability within easy reach if the leadership in Tehran should opt to pursue such weapons.)

This article shows the continuing standoff between the U.S. and Iran over uranium enrichment. The U.S. continues to believe that they have evidence Iran is planning to build nuclear weapons and Iran continues to deny that claim by accepting any sanctions by the U.N.

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Iran rejects new EU nuclear talks

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has refused to enter into any new talks with the European Union about Iran's nuclear programme.

Mr Ahmadinejad said from now on Tehran would only discuss the issue with the UN's nuclear agency, the IAEA.

After imposing a new set of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, world powers on Monday called on Iran to hold more talks with the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.

In a strongly worded statement to the IAEA, the three countries said Iran's response to the agency's questions about its alleged weapons development activities had been "dismissive and unsatisfactory".

Britain's ambassador to the IAEA, Simon Smith, warned: "As long as Iran's choice remains one of non-cooperation, we for our part will remain determined to demonstrate the costs and consequences of that choice." '

This stance taken by Iran shows the country's continuing mistrust towards the U.N. Iran's unwillingness to negotiate will continue to keep its nuclear program ambiguous towards western countries.

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Iran's president: No one likes Americans

"BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, heading home after a two-day visit to Iraq, again touted his country's closer relations with Iraq and reiterated his criticism of the United States.

"No one likes them," Ahmadinejad told reporters prior to returning to Iran, referring to the predominantly U.S. makeup of coalition forces in Iraq.

"We believe that the forces which crossed oceans and thousands of kilometers to come to this region should leave this region and hand over the affairs to the peoples and government of this region," Ahmadinejad said.

His visit follows trips to Iran last year by top officials of Iraq's Shiite-led government, which has been fostering a closer relationship with predominantly Shiite Iran since the Saddam Hussein regime was toppled by U.S.-led forces in 2003.

His visit was greeted warmly by Iraq's Shiite Muslim leaders, whose links to Iran predate the overthrow of Hussein."

This visit by Ahmadinejad shows his continuing desire to advertise his country's dislike towards the United States. Spreading this news in Iraq during times of transition of power in the country will make it harder for the United States to leave Iraq.

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U.S. predicts quick vote on Iran sanctions

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States predicted a quick vote on a third resolution imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program as it begins to build a case against Iran's central bank for proliferation activities, senior State Department officials and European diplomats said.

Diplomats from Germany and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- met Monday at the State Department to discuss the latest draft, as well as other steps that could be taken to get Iran to cooperate.

The U.N. Security Council imposed two rounds of sanctions on Iran -- in March 2007 and December 2006 -- after Iran failed to comply with a U.N. deadline to suspend uranium enrichment and resume negotiations. Iran says its nuclear program is aimed solely at the peaceful production of nuclear energy.

The members agreed earlier in February on a draft resolution and were hoping it would pass by unanimous vote, but some countries on the council, including Libya, South Africa and Indonesia, have voiced concerns about the text.

Iran says its nuclear program is necessary to provide civilian energy for the country, but other countries have voiced concern that its true purpose is to produce nuclear weapons. The United States, which does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, has been the most vocal of those countries."

This article shows the continuing struggle between the U.N. and Iran's nuclear program. Because the U.N. is not decisive when coming to a consensus about sanctions against Iran, it will take them some time to before they can put a substantial amount of pressure on Iran.

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Syria, Iran to probe militant's death

"DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syria and Iran will conduct a joint investigation into the car bombing that killed Imad Mughniyeh, a commander of their Lebanese ally Hezbollah, Iran's state news agency reported Friday.

Mughniyeh, the suspected mastermind of 1980s attacks on the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Lebanon that killed hundreds of Americans, died Tuesday night in the Syrian capital Damascus.

A Lebanese security official said Hezbollah has appointed Mughniyeh's successor but did not make the name public.

In Tehran, Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Reza Sheik Attar said that during Mottaki's visit to Damascus, which began Thursday, Iran and Syria agreed to form a joint investigation team to "look into the root causes and dimensions of the assassination to identify the perpetrators of this dirty crime," the state IRNA news agency reported.

Syria has not said who it believes was behind the blast. On Thursday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said he expected the perpetrators to be identified soon."

This joint investigation between Iran and Syria shows Iran's determination to find the "perpetrators" of the assassination. Though Syria will not say who they believe was involved, Iran has made public that it believes that Israel killed the Hezbollah leader.

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Gay Iranian man loses asylum plea

"An Iranian homosexual man who has said he will be executed if he is deported from the Netherlands has had his claim for asylum overturned.

Mehdi Kazemi has said his life is in danger if he is returned to Iran, where he says his boyfriend named him as a partner before being executed. Homosexual acts are illegal in the Islamic republic

Mr Kazemi, 19, said he had travelled to Britain in 2005 to study English, and learned that his lover in Iran had been executed for sodomy, his lawyer Borg Palm said.

After his asylum application was turned down, he fled to the Netherlands in 2006, having narrowly avoided being sent back to Iran.

Mr Kazemi says his life will be in danger not only because he has been named as a homosexual, but also because of the extensive media coverage of his case,."

This controversial case brings homosexuality and Iran into the forefront. Iran's refusal to tolerate homosexuality and the Netherland's refusal to accept Mr. Kazemi's plea will most likely stir up some action from gay activists.

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Israeli PM warns of nuclear threats from Iran, NKorea

"TOKYO (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday warned Japan that Iran and North Korea posed a joint threat to the world, accusing Pyongyang of proliferating weapons to the Middle East.

His contention was strongly rejected by Iran, whose ambassador accused him of lumping the two countries together to stir up public opinion in Japan.

Echoing US President George W. Bush, Olmert warned of an "axis of evil," saying it linked North Korea, Iran and Syria, as well as the militant anti-Israeli Islamic movements, Hamas and Hezbollah.

Araghchi, a former senior troubleshooter at Iran's foreign ministry who was appointed to Tokyo this month, said Japan's position was just to "share concerns" about Iran's insistence on enriching uranium.

Olmert on his visit agreed to step up business with Japan, which has invested little in Israel in recent years."

This move by Israel is a cliche of what other western countries have been trying to do to Iran. Although, linking Iran with North Korea in a "axis of evil" is a rather new development. The statement does not seem to carry much alarm since Japan remains neutral on the issue.

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Iran 'targeting' women activists

"Amnesty International has called on Iran to stop persecuting people who campaign for women's rights.

In a new report, Amnesty says women activists have suffered an "acute" backlash since the campaign was launched in August 2006.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has insisted women in his country are treated better than anywhere else.

The so-called Campaign for Equality aims to collect a million signatures for a petition to push for an end to discrimination against women.

But Amnesty says those involved in it have suffered harassment, intimidation and imprisonment. Dozens of women have been arrested."

This move by Amnesty International has brought persecution of women in Iran to an international level. The petition will become one of many events that will eventually create equality for all women in Iran.

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