Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 20 – There are currently “200,000 sufferers of the Hepatitis C virus in Iran”, according to the head of the Iranian Medical Association. Speaking to a state-run news agency, Dr. Iraj Khosronia warned, “One of the most dangerous viruses affecting human society is Hepatitis C … but people’s awareness about this disease is very limited”.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 20 – Homes in the city of Mashad (northeast Iran) were raided over the past few days by State Security Forces for “illegal satellite dishes”. The SSF Public Relations Office announced that two individuals were arrested, on charges of installing satellite dishes, during the raids. Some 45 satellite dishes and receivers were confiscated thus far.

Reuters: Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice articulated a firm U.S. line against Iran’s ruling mullahs, whose nuclear ambitions the Bush administration considers a major threat, in testimony at her Senate confirmation hearings. In two days of Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings that ended on Wednesday, Rice repeatedly emphasized differences with Tehran’s clerical leaders, saying: “It’s really hard to find common ground with a government that thinks Israel should be extinguished.”

Reuters: Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says there is no alternative to Europe’s approach of using diplomacy to try to persuade Iran to give up any technology that could be used make nuclear weapons. In an interview with the Financial Times, Straw defended the policy of Britain, France and Germany to talk to Iran rather adopt Washington’s more hardline stance.