Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Oct. 09 Iranian officials have announced they intend to continue with a nationwide crackdown on corruption in society a euphemism for suppressing dissent, according to opposition sources.
Iran says will continue crackdown against dissent
BBC Persian and Arabic TV channels to receive funds
Reuters: The government is to give 70 million pounds of extra funding to the BBC World Service to help fund a Persian-language television news channel aimed at Iran and enhance a forthcoming Arabic channel.
Sarkozy talks tough on Iran before Putin meeting
Reuters: France will not compromise on the need for tougher sanctions on Iran, President Nicolas Sarkozy said in an interview published on Tuesday, hours before he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin near Moscow.
Iran and IAEA discuss on nuclear questions
AFP: Iran on Tuesday began talks with a delegation from the UN nuclear watchdog on Tehran’s controversial uranium enrichment programme, state television said.
Iranian students attack ‘fascist Ahmadinejad’
Daily Telegraph: To chants of “death to the dictator”, hundreds of Iranian students have mounted a vociferous protest against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Trucks roll as Iran reopens Iraq border
AFP: A cacophony of horns greeted Iran’s reopening on Monday of its border with northern Iraq as trucks rolled across again two weeks after Tehran shut its frontiers in protest at the US military seizure of an Iranian national.
UN nuclear official to ask Iranians to clarify technical issues
Bloomberg: The United Nations nuclear agency will ask Iranian officials about technical aspects of their work with uranium, under an agreement in which Iran pledged to answer questions previously posed by UN inspectors.
Austria rejects separate EU sanctions against Iran
Reuters: Austria opposes the idea of separate European Union sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend its nuclear enrichment programme, Austria’s foreign minister was quoted on Monday as telling a German newspaper.
Iran, Kosovo hangs over Sarkozy meeting with Putin
Reuters: French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday holds his first bilateral summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where their shared pragmatism might help them do business despite sharp diplomatic differences.
Did Hillary duck a sucker punch?
Newsweek: Last March, Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia introduced a bill to insist that President Bush get congressional authorization if he wanted to attack Iran. The bill languished in obscurity until last week, when Webb got his first and only cosponsor: the Democratic presidential front runner, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was evidently in too much of a hurry to give Webb the customary senatorial heads-up.
