AFP: Iran warned France it was prepared to go ahead with a major gas project with Total using Iranian firms alone if the French oil giant gives in to political pressure and does not swiftly implement the deal.
Iran warns France over Total oil project
Iran condemns U.S. move to brand Guards “terrorist”
Reuters: Iran has said any U.S. move to brand its elite Revolutionary Guards a foreign terrorist organisation would be illegal and amount to a confrontation with the entire Islamic Republic.
Turkey sees Oct. accord on firms for Iran gas deal
Reuters: Turkey expects to sign an agreement with Iran in October naming the companies to take part in their natural gas deal, Turkish officials said on Thursday.
Saudi minister sees risk of Iran-West confrontation
Reuters: Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Wednesday he saw a “confrontation in the making” between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear program and called for a diplomatic solution.
The Iran impasse
Washington Post – Editorial: The furor that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has created in New York this week has served his repugnant purposes in a couple of ways. First, like other anti-American demagogues, he has managed to use a visit to the U.N. General Assembly to convey an image of himself as engaged in mano-a-mano ideological combat with the U.S.
Bush and Iran
Wall Street Journal – REVIEW & OUTLOOK: The traveling Mahmoud Ahmadinejad circus made for great political theater this week, but the comedy shouldn’t detract from its brazen underlying message: The Iranian President believes that the world lacks the will to stop Iran from pursuing its nuclear program, and that the U.S. also can’t stop his country from killing GIs in Iraq. The question is what President Bush intends to do about this in his remaining 16 months in office.
The crazies and Iran
New York Times – Editorial: Like Mohamed ElBaradei, we want to make sure what he calls the crazies dont start a war with Iran. We fear his do-it-yourself diplomacy is playing right into the crazies hands in Washington and Tehran.
US Senate brands Iran Guard ‘terrorist organization’
AFP: The US Senate has called for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to be officially designated a “foreign terrorist organization,” a day after the House of Representatives passed a similar measure.
Washington sees an opportunity on Iran
New York Times: A year and a half after President Bush told top aides that he feared he might be forced someday to choose between acquiescing to Irans nuclear ambitions and ordering military action, the struggle to find an effective alternative sanctions with real bite is entering a new phase.
US: Missile defense will avert Iran war
AP: The chief U.S. missile defense negotiator defended plans to place anti-missile sites in Eastern Europe, saying Wednesday that the system could prevent a war with Iran by building an effective deterrent.
