Iran Focus: New York, Sep. 23 – Thousands of Iranians on Thursday rallied outside the United Nations headquarters in New York to protest the visit by the Islamic Republic’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Thousands of Iranians rally against Ahmadinejad in NY
Protesters at U.N. call Ahmadinejad a ‘murderer’
CNN: They journeyed to New York from faraway places, they said, to give voice to those who are silenced in their homeland.
German steel giant pulls out of Iran
AFP: ThyssenKrupp became on Thursday Germany’s latest corporate giant to announce it was pulling out of Iran as part of Western pressure on the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme.
US delegation walks out of Iran leader’s UN speech
AFP: The United States led an enraged Western walkout of the UN General Assembly Thursday after Iran’s leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad evoked US government involvement in the September 11 attacks.
Iran drops bid for seat on UN atomic agency board: diplomats
AFP: Iran withdrew Thursday its bid for a seat on one of the key policy-making bodies of the UN atomic watchdog because it was unable to secure consensus backing for its candidacy, diplomats said.
Iran is far from united behind Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Los Angeles Times: Opposition figures, moderate politicians and even hard-liners openly criticize the divisive Iranian president.
US ‘unaware’ of secret Iran-US talks
AFP: The United States on Wednesday dismissed a news report that US and Iranian officials had opened secret contacts in New York aimed at establishing a channel of communications.
Iran sentences rights activist to 6 years in jail
AP: An Iranian newspaper says a court has sentenced a prominent human rights activist to six years in prison on security charges.
Russia bans some weapons exports to Iran
Wall Street Journal: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a decree prohibiting the delivery of S-300 air-defense missile systems to Iran, explicitly halting a politically sensitive and long-delayed weapons deal with a longtime trading partner.
Italian customs seize 7 tonnes of explosives from Iran
Iran Focus: Rome, Sep. 22 – Italian customs officials announced they had seized nearly seven tonnes of explosives smuggled from Iran.
