Los Angeles Times: A diplomatic standoff over the fate of an Iranian dissident temporarily detained this week at a Turkish airport has revealed new clues about the defection of a high-ranking Iranian military official in late 2006 and exposed lingering tensions between Ankara and Tehran over the incident.
Iranian dissident’s case throws light on a key defection
Brown to discuss Iraq and Iran in White House visit
Reuters: Prime Minister Gordon Brown will visit Washington next month for talks with President George W. Bush on a range of security issues including Iraq and Iran, the White House said on Friday.
Irans FM expected in Damascus to attend summit
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Mar. 28 – Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will visit Damascus on Friday to attend the 20th Arab League Summit from March 29-30 and hold talks with senior Syrian officials, state media reported.
Irans FM expected in Damascus to attend summit
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Mar. 28 – Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will visit Damascus on Friday to attend the 20th Arab League Summit from March 29-30 and hold talks with senior Syrian officials, state media reported.
Central/South Asia: Iran pushes cross-border TV project
RFE/RL: As part of its vigorous cultural diplomacy in neighboring countries that share its language, Iran is driving plans for a Persian-language satellite network to broadcast in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. But it’s unclear whether the region’s viewers will tune in to shows tailored to the tastes of the Iranian leadership’s arguably radical brand of Islam.
Asylum: the peers’ revolt
The Independent: Britain must radically change its immigration policy and end immediately the deportation of failed asylum-seekers who fear persecution in Iran, a group of leading peers will tell the Government today.
Lebanese authorities reverse decision to ban ‘Persepolis’
AFP: Lebanese authorities reversed on Thursday a decision to ban the prize-winning animated film “Persepolis,” following an outcry and claims the measure was aimed at pleasing Iran and Shiite clerics.
Analysis: Al-Sadr in trouble, Iraq headed for meltdown
CNN:The fighting among Shiite militias and government troops in Basra is a glimpse of Iraq’s future, and pivotal cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is in deep trouble, according to two CNN correspondents and a CNN military analyst.
Talks on Iran projects will take time – ONGC head
Reuters: Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), India’s top explorer, was in talks to develop oil and gas fields in Iran but a definitive agreement was still some way off, the company’s chairman said on Thursday.
Iran says will institutionalise moral crackdown
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Mar. 27 – The chief of Iran’s police vowed on Wednesday to institutionalise the current moral crackdown which is targeting mainly young Iranians, in yet another sign of the recent sharp increase in the repressive atmosphere in Iranian society.
