Taking the Iranian nuclear danger seriously

The Washington Times – Editorial: As the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors prepares for its quarterly meeting in Vienna, Austria, the press is breathlessly playing up what is said to be good news about Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons: that Iran permitted IAEA inspectors to visit a uranium-enrichment facility last week, and that the agency says it has verified that the regime has frozen its activities there. But
unfortunately the significance of this is questionable.

Rep. Weldon says Iran key to insurgency

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UPI: Iran may not have the largest number of insurgents in Iraq, but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality, Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., said Sunday. Weldon, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said Iraqi officials have told him “Syria may have the largest number (of insurgents) from outside of Iraqi country, but Iran overwhelmingly has the quality behind the insurgency.”

Iranian women defy police whips to demonstrate against ‘dictatorship’

The Independent: Hundreds of women demonstrated outside Tehran university, calling for greater rights and a boycott of Friday’s presidential election. They shouted “down with dictatorship!” and “shame on you!” in response to the aggressive tactics of police, who tried to prevent protesters reaching the demonstration yesterday.

Iran: Thousands join women’s anti-government demonstration in Tehran

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Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 12 – A protest that began with a gathering of dozens of women in downtown Tehran this afternoon drew thousands of anti-government protesters and streamrolled into one of the largest demonstrations against Iran’s clerical rulers in recent months. The protest began in front of Tehran University as a small group of women began chanting “freedom, freedom” and calling for a referendum on religious rule.

Iran pre-election blasts raise questions

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Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 13 – An hour after a state-run news agency reported a second explosion in Tehran, eye-witnesses reported that the blast near the capital’s Vali-Asr Square seemed to have been an accidental fire in the basement of a computer shop. A
local police chief’s account seemed to confirm suspicions that mysterious hands within Iran’s clerical regime wanted to present the incident as the latest in a series of bombings that took place in Tehran and the provincial city of Ahwaz, claiming eight lives in a single day and wounding 75 others, according to official statements.

Hundreds of Women Protest Sex Discrimination in Iran

New York Times: Hundreds of women staged an unauthorized demonstration in Tehran today, protesting sex discrimination under Iran’s Islamic leadership just days before the June 17 presidential elections. The protest was the first public display of dissent by women since the 1979 revolution, when the new regime enforced obligatory veiling. “We are women, we are the children of this land, but we have no rights,” they chanted.

A hollow vote

The Times – Leader Article: When Iran votes for a new President on Friday, the real question is not whether the winning candidate will be a pragmatist or a hardliner, but whether the election has democratic validity at all. After a call last week by the conservative head of Iran’s Council of Guardians for a huge turnout to declare “death to America”, most Iranians, and especially a restless younger generation, regard the contest as mired in the clichés of the past and a device by which a clerical coterie hopes to perpetuate its power.

Main Iran rebel group denies hand in bombings

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AFP: Iran’s main armed opposition group denied Sunday that it had any hand in a wave of deadly bombings that rocked Tehran and the southwestern city of Ahvaz just days before a presidential election. The Iraq-based People’s Mujahedeen “strongly condemned” what it described as “efforts by the Iranian regime and its agents to blame” it for the blasts, in a statement received by AFP in Nicosia.

Murky motives seen behind Iran blasts

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Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 12 – An hour after a state-run news agency reported a second explosion in Tehran, eye-witnesses reported that the blast near the capital’s Vali-Asr Square seemed to have been an accidental fire in the basement of a computer shop. A
local police chief’s account seemed to confirm suspicions that mysterious hands within Iran’s clerical regime wanted to present the incident as the latest in a series of bombings that took place in Tehran and the provincial city of Ahwaz, claiming eight lives in a single day and wounding 75 others, according to official statements.