Iran Focus: London, Jan. 16 A top human rights group called Monday on Iran to end the execution of child offenders after death sentences were handed down to two teenage girls for crime they allegedly committed when they minors.
Amnesty calls on Iran to end child executions
Iran coastguard kill Iraqi, Basra governor says
Reuters: The Iranian coastguard has killed one Iraqi soldier and kidnapped nine others in a confrontation with the Iraqi coastguard, the governor of Basra told al Jazeera television on Monday.
Big Security Council members agree on Iran
AP: Moscow and Beijing joined the U.S. and its European allies in demanding Monday that Iran fully suspend its nuclear program, while Vladimir Putin held out hope for a compromise, saying Tehran might agree to move its uranium enrichment program to Russia.
Iran’s referral to UN now ‘a done deal’: diplomatic source
AFP: Referring Iran to the UN Security Council is now “a done deal,” a European diplomatic source said Monday, as talks on the brewing crisis over Tehran’s nuclear programme took place in London.
CNN banned from Iran
AFP: The US-based news channel CNN has been banned from working in Iran for having quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying his country is seeking nuclear weapons, a government official told AFP Monday.
Straw says Iran must do more to avoid UN nuclear referral
Bloomberg: U.K. Foreign Minister Jack Straw said Iran is failing to meet responsibilities to the world over its nuclear program as diplomats met in London to work out a timetable to refer the issue to the United Nations.
Merkel, Putin to meet amid tensions with Iran
Reuters: German Chancellor Angela Merkel heads to Moscow on Monday where she hopes to persuade President Vladimir Putin to join the EU and United States in ratcheting up diplomatic pressure on Iran, German officials said.
Rice says world must act fast against Iran
Reuters: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday Iran “crossed the threshold” with its recent nuclear actions and the world must act fast to send Tehran to the U.N. Security Council.
Cracks appear in united front as oil price threatened
Daily Telegraph: Senior officials from Europe, America, Russia and China will meet in London today to devise a joint strategy to restrain Iran’s nuclear programme.
Iran ‘could go nuclear within three years’
Daily Telegraph: Iranian scientists are expected to start work this week on the highly technical task of enriching tons of uranium to a level where it could be used in the production of atomic weapons, say the latest reports received by western intelligence agencies.
