AFP: Around 200 members of Iran’s hardline Basij militia staged a fresh rally outside the French embassy in Tehran Tuesday in protest at a ban on Muslim girls wearing the headscarf in French state schools. 
USA TODAY: Iran’s increasing support for insurgent Shiites in Iraq is giving the fighting in Najaf the appearance of a proxy war between Iran and the United States, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. 
Iran Focus: Irans Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the Islamic Propaganda Agency have been waging an extensive campaign in recent days to undermine the position of senior Iraqi Shiite clerics who have been reluctant to tow Tehrans line in Iraq, targeting in particular Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. 
Iran Focus: The editor of the influential state-owned daily, Kayhan, made a clear link between the current turmoil in Iraq and the developments on the internal political scene in Iran, noting that mounting problems facing the U.S. in Iraq have silenced those who were hoping for regime change in Iran. 
Iran Focus: A new budget amendment adopted by the dominant ultra-conservative faction in the Iranian parliament is set to concentrate enormous powers over the mass media in the hand of a former general of the Revolutionary Guards who now heads the Voice and Vision of the Islamic Republic, the state-owned broadcasting monopoly in Iran. 
Iran Focus: The commander of Revolutionary Guards in the southern province of Kerman told thousands of his troops and members of the para-military Bassij that U.S. forces were not capable of defeating Moqtada Sadrs forces in Iraq and were massacring Shiite children in the south. 
Iran Focus: Some 100 Iranians holding fake Afghan identity cards were arrested on August 8 in Diyala Province, bordering Iran, according to sources in the area. They crossed the border illegally and entered Iraqi territory and initial investigations showed they had ties with the Iranian regimes security services. Iran Focus: Some 100 Iranians holding fake Afghan identity cards were arrested on August 8 in Diyala Province, bordering Iran, according to sources in the area. They crossed the border illegally and entered Iraqi territory and initial investigations showed they had ties with the Iranian regimes security services. 
Iran Focus: Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, the spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, rejected British demands for the return of military boats and equipment seized by Iran, saying that Tehran is awaiting for further answers from London before making any decision. 
Iran Focus: A state-owned Iranian daily, Kayhan, described the United States in Iraq hostage of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
