Human Rights Watch: The Iranian author Taqi Rahmani, who has spent a total of 17 years in prison, was awarded a Hellman/Hammett grant for persecuted writers, Human Rights Watch said today. Each year, Human Rights Watch awards Hellman/Hammett grants to writers targeted for expressing views that the government opposes, for criticizing government officials or actions or for writing on topics that the government does not want reported. Iran: Dissident Wins Award for Besieged Writers
Human Rights Watch: The Iranian author Taqi Rahmani, who has spent a total of 17 years in prison, was awarded a Hellman/Hammett grant for persecuted writers, Human Rights Watch said today. Each year, Human Rights Watch awards Hellman/Hammett grants to writers targeted for expressing views that the government opposes, for criticizing government officials or actions or for writing on topics that the government does not want reported. Germany Optimistic on Iran Nuclear Talks
Reuters: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Monday the United States backed EU efforts to persuade Iran to give up nuclear fuel production and he was optimistic talks with Tehran would succeed. Britain, France and Germany are leading European diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to scrap uranium enrichment, which can be used to make nuclear bombs, in return for trade and other benefits. Iran says OPEC has no obligation to cool prices
Reuters: OPEC does not feel it must cool scorching world oil prices by raising production at its March 16 meeting and will continue its suspension of the $22-$28 price band, Iran’s OPEC governor said on Sunday.Iran says it won’t halt uranium enrichment
AP: Iran said Saturday it will never agree to permanently stop making nuclear fuel and warned that any attempt to haul it before the Security Council for possible sanctions would lead to more instability in the Middle East. Any effort by Washington to bring Tehran’s suspended uranium enrichment program under Security Council scrutiny is a dangerous path, warned Hasan Rowhani, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator. Iran criticises EU for lacking “seriousness” in nuclear talks
AFP: Iranian officials on Sunday doled out heavy criticism of the European Union for lacking “seriousness” in negotiations aimed at securing guarantees the Islamic republic will not acquire nuclear weapons. Quoted by the state news agency IRNA, top diplomat and negotiator Hossein Moussavian complained that Britain, France and Germany had so far “not shown any seriousness” and that Iran was “seriously doubting their capacity” to strike a deal.
Iran and EU resume nuclear talks in sharp disagreement
AFP: Negotiators from Iran and the European Union meet in Geneva this week for new talks on Tehran’s nuclear policy, with Iran flatly refusing to accede to the Europeans key demand that it abandon uranium enrichment, a fuel process which can also make atom bombs. Iran’s top nuclear official Hassan Rowhani warned Saturday that his country would never agree to a permanent halt on enriching uranium.
Images show Iran heavy-water plant nearly done – ISIS
Reuters: New satellite images show a heavy water plant in Iran, intended to supply a research reactor that could eventually produce plutonium for one atomic bomb a year, is nearly complete, a U.S. think-tank said on Friday. Stalemate Lengthens Brothers’ Detention
Washington Post: They waited more than a thousand days for good news, and on a chilly February afternoon it came: A guard at the Terminal Island immigration jail walked into the dorm room of the four Mirmehdi brothers and said they were being released. Iraqi claims Iran, Syria against democracy
AP: The head of a small secular political party in Iraq who lost his two sons in a suicide bombing last month is making the rounds of the U.S. capital to warn that Iran and Syria are trying to throttle democracy in his country. Iran Says to Make Atomic Fuel if Sent to UN Council
Reuters: Iran warned on Saturday it would return to making nuclear fuel and that the Middle East would get even more unstable if the Islamic Republic was sent to the U.N. Security Council over its atomic program. 