The Globe and Mail: Better that voters stay home than endorse the country’s democratic facade, say freedom monitors: Iranian student leader Akbar Atri recently declared that “reform is dead” in his country. His pessimism is understandable. After eight years of futile attempts at democratic reform by the once popular President Mohammad Khatami, Iranians face a political moment as dark as any encountered during their 
AFP: Iranian President Mohammad Khatami on Thursday expressed concern that there was an “organised movement” attempting to disrupt the country’s keenly-fought presidential election. Khatami did not specify who was behind the attempts to interfere with Friday’s vote, but his comments appeared to refer to allegations of smear campaigns and physical harassment reported by candidates across the board. 
New York Times: Iran has admitted that it conducted small-scale experiments to create plutonium, one of the pathways to building nuclear weapons, for five years beyond the date when it previously insisted it had ended all such work, a senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to report Thursday. In an oral statement to be delivered at a meeting of the nuclear watchdog agency’s board, the agency’s deputy director, Pierre Goldschmidt, will say Iran made the admissions after being confronted with the result of laboratory tests conducted on samples collected from an Iranian nuclear site. 
Washington Post: In a profound departure from a quarter-century of politics grounded in appeals to religious duty, the presidential campaigns unfolding across Iran’s capital betray not the slightest suggestion that this is a theocratic state. Hard-line conservatives are running as reformers. Reformers, after years of being thwarted by hard-liners, are running scared. And most ordinary Iranians are holding themselves aloof — unmoved, they say, by a political transformation that many
The Wall Street Journal: The United Nations nuclear watchdog will criticize Iran for misrepresenting the extent of its experiments with plutonium and for failing to answer outstanding questions about its nuclear program. The criticism, which will be presented in a speech today to the International Atomic Energy Agency board, is unlikely to scuttle European-led negotiations intended to wean Tehran of its alleged weapons ambitions. 
Washington Times: It was 15 years ago, but still seems like yesterday. In mid-afternoon on March 14, 1990, I was sitting next to the driver taking me to the Istanbul airport, when we hit a traffic jam caused by an accident. Suddenly, a car carrying four men blocked our path. Another car pinned us in from behind. 
Associated Press: Iran has acknowledged working with small amounts of plutonium, a possible nuclear arms component, for years longer than it had originally admitted to the U.N. atomic watchdog agency, according to a confidential report made available Wednesday to The Associated Press. The report, to be delivered as early as Thursday to a board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also said Tehran received sensitive technology that can be used as part of a weapons program earlier than it originally said it did. 
Reuters: Iran has admitted to experimenting with producing plutonium, which can be used for atomic bombs, much more recently than it originally told the U.N. nuclear watchdog, according to a draft U.N. speech. 
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 15 – The Office for the Strengthening Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 15 – The Office for the Strengthening 
