Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 19 – Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad arrived in Tehran on Wednesday to hold talks with Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, state media reported.
Syrian leader in Iran for talks
U.S. offered assurances about Iranian exiles days before Iraqi raid
Los Angeles Times: The Obama administration downplayed international fears about the safety of Iranian dissidents living at a camp in Iraq as recently as mid-July, days before a raid by Iraqi security forces killed 11 of the exiles and left scores wounded.
Iranian arms seized in Iraq, officials say
New York Times: Iraqi and American troops seized a rocket launcher loaded with about a dozen Iranian-made rockets aimed at an American base in the southern city of Basra, Iraqi officials said Tuesday.
Iranian cleric predicts opposition will topple Ahmadinejad
Washington Post: His newspaper was shut down Monday, and generals and hard-line clerics have called for him to be put on trial. Yet defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi says opposition to the government is growing by the day.
Russia to review air defence sale to Iran: Peres
AFP: President Dmitry Medvedev has promised to review Russia's planned sale of its sophisticated S-300 air defence system to Iran, Israeli President Shimon Peres said Wednesday, news agencies reported.
Yemen points to Iranian backing for rebels
Reuters: Shi'ite rebels in Yemen are receiving financial support from abroad, a government spokesman said on Tuesday, strongly implying Iranian involvement in an armed rebellion that has flared up in recent weeks.
Iran official denies he made nuclear talks statement
Reuters: A senior Iranian official denied on Tuesday he had made any statement saying Tehran was ready for talks with the West on its disputed nuclear program, state television reported.
Ahmadinejad facing objections to new cabinet
AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose disputed re-election plunged the nation into its worst crisis since the Islamic revolution, unveils his cabinet on Wednesday facing a dogged opposition and challenges from within his own hardline support base.
Iran’s Mousavi says government agents raped detainees
Reuters: Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi accused "establishment agents" of raping and abusing detainees imprisoned after Iran's June presidential vote and urged the powerful clerics to do their duty and speak out.
Iraqis find Iranian-made rockets after US attacked
AP: Police say Iraqi forces seized a launcher loaded with 13 Iranian-made rockets after an attack against the U.S. base outside the southern city of Basra.
