Independent: Iran spurned a previously undisclosed American offer from President George W Bush of talks aimed at reaching a “grand bargain” over long-standing differences between Washington and Tehran, a leading figure in the country’s theocratic regime has revealed.
Revealed: how Bush offered to bring Iran back into the international fold
Iranians have democratic values
Wall Street Journal: New research reveals that Iranian society has a pro-liberal value structure deeply at odds with the fundamentalist regime.
AP Exclusive: Drawing focuses on Iran’s nuke work
AP: A drawing based on information from inside an Iranian military site shows an explosives containment chamber of the type needed for nuclear arms-related tests that U.N. inspectors suspect Tehran has conducted there.
Rocard went to Iran on own initiative, socialist lawmaker says
Bloomberg: Former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard went to Iran for a private visit, not at the request of President-elect Francois Hollande, according to a Socialist lawmaker.
Iran warns West ahead of IAEA, Baghdad talks
AFP: Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said on Sunday that Tehran will not yield to pressure ahead of talks with the UN atomic watchdog and the world powers over its controversial nuclear drive.
Iranian president: Israel ‘nothing more than a mosquito’ to Iran
CNN: Ahead of upcoming nuclear talks, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad downplayed the threat Israel poses to Iran, comparing it to an annoying bug.
Salehi hopes Hollande win will boost Iran-France ties
AFP: Iran’s foreign minister hailed Francois Hollande’s election as French president, voicing hope it can boost bilateral ties, as he met visiting former French socialist premier Michel Rocard.
Exiles: Iran advancing active nuclear arms programme
Reuters: An exiled Iranian opposition group said on Saturday that Iran has some 60 scientists and engineers involved in a concerted and expanding programme to develop nuclear weapons under defence ministry auspices.
Iran curbs foreign-sourced email providers
AFP: Iran’s telecommunications ministry has barred local banks, insurance firms and telephone operators from using foreign-sourced emails to communicate with clients, a specialist weekly said on Saturday.
Support for Iran cartoonist after lashing sentence
BBC: Political cartoonists, like other journalists in Iran, have to tread a fine line – taboo subjects change with the ebb and flow of the political power play among the ruling factions, making it difficult for commentators to determine the lines they cannot cross.
