Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Oct. 10 – Radical Islamist militiamen affiliated to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) are staging military exercises in the suburbs of Tehran on Friday to defend the Iranian capital against "natural disasters" and "enemy assaults".
Iran readies to fend off enemy assaults on capital
Iran Too little learned
Washington Times: Twenty-five years ago, several hundred U.S. Marines were stationed in Beirut on a peace-keeping mission. On Sept. 26, 1983, an official with the Iranian Intelligence Service in Tehran phoned the Iranian ambassador in Damascus and issued an order to have them killed. Twenty-eight days later, at 6:22 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, two suicide bombers struck.
Iran uses price power in $2 billion gas deal
Wall Street Journal: Oil prices may be softening, but the price of natural gas is climbing sharply in the Persian Gulf, thanks to the booming economies of the Arab petro-states.
Iraq must rid itself of US troops, Iran says
The Times: Iran is trying to derail an agreement that would allow US and British troops to stay in Iraq after their mandate expires at the end of this year.
Nuclear aid by Russian to Iranians suspected
New York Times: International nuclear inspectors are investigating whether a Russian scientist helped Iran conduct complex experiments on how to detonate a nuclear weapon, according to European and American officials.
U.S. fears Iran-backed killings ahead of Iraq polls
Reuters: U.S. forces in Iraq fear a wave of assassinations ahead of provincial elections, some carried out by militant cells trained in Iran, the U.S. general in command of the southern half of the country said on Thursday.
Iran suspends sales tax after rare merchant strike
AP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered his government to suspend a controversial new sales tax Thursday, a day after a rare strike by merchants worried about how the new measure would affect their business.
Russia indicates no S-300s for Iran
AP: Russia's Foreign Ministry suggested Thursday that Moscow would not sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, a possibility that has alarmed Israel.
Iran says OPEC to hold Nov emergency meeting
Reuters: OPEC will review oil market conditions at an emergency meeting planned for mid-November in Vienna, Iran's oil minister said, the official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.
Iran car maker says French politics hampering ventures
AFP: The chairman of Iran's biggest car maker accused France of "inappropriate policies", which he said are hampering joint ventures in a country where French manufacturers have a 40 to 50 percent market share.
