Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 06 The head of police in the province of Isfahan, central Iran, said in a gathering on
Saturday that members of the Bassij, paramilitary vigilantes loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were authorised to assist the police in cracking down on dissent.
Paramilitary vigilantes given police role in Iran
New president warns Iran will not submit to other nations
AFP: New President Mahmood Ahmadinejad said Iran
would respect international regulations but would not accept “submission” to any other nation, as he took the oath of office
before parliament Saturday.
“We will not accept anything that violates our nation’s rights, it’s
an inviolable principle of our policies,” said the hardliner who takes over as head of state amid an intensifying stand-off with the international community over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Iran Rejects EU’s Civil Nuclear Proposal
AP: Iran on Saturday rejected Europe’s proposal for ending the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program, calling it “unacceptable” and not up to Tehran’s “minimum expectations.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the government would send its official rejection to the Europeans within days.
Iran swears in hardline president
BBC: Iran’s new ultra-conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been sworn in at a ceremony in parliament in Tehran. The ex-Tehran mayor succeeds the pro-reform Mohammad Khatami, who held office for eight years. Correspondents say that with the new president in office, hardliners now control all institutions of power and the reform period is over.
Showdown looms as Europeans give Iran a stark choice
The Times: Europe and Iran were last night headed for a serious diplomatic showdown, after Tehran vowed that it
would resume work on its controversial nuclear programme, appearing to snub a long-awaited compromise from Britain, France and Germany.
Iran looks set to reject nuclear peace deal
Daily Telegraph: Iran gave a cool reception last night to a long-awaited series of European Union proposals aimed at staving off a confrontation over Teheran’s nuclear ambitions. Following two years of diplomacy, the “EU3” – Britain, France and Germany – offered a range of economic and political incentives to try to persuade Iran to abandon its controversial uranium-enrichment activities.
Canada threatens Iran with UN action on rights record
AFP: Canada threatened Friday to introduce a UN resolution
on Iran’s human rights record as it called on the Islamic republic’s new government to improve its human rights record and change its position on nuclear ploriferation.
U.S. Supports European Offer to Iran on Its Nuclear Program
New York Times: The United States gave its explicit support
on Friday to a European proposal to defuse the West’s confrontation with Iran over what is suspected of being its nuclear weapons program, while in Tehran the Iranian government received the proposal and said it would study its contents before commenting. “I can say that we very much support the E.U. 3’s negotiating effort,” said R. Nicholas Burns, under secretary of state for political affairs, referring to the proposal put together by Britain, France and Germany under the auspices of the European Union.
Some Bombs Used in Iraq Are Made in Iran, U.S. Says
New York Times: Many of the new, more sophisticated roadside bombs used to attack American and government forces in Iraq have been designed in Iran and shipped in from there, United States military and intelligence officials said Friday, raising the prospect of increased foreign help for Iraqi insurgents. American commanders say the deadlier bombs could become more common as insurgent bomb makers learn the techniques to make the weapons themselves in Iraq.
Fischer warns Iran not to escalate nuclear crisis
AFP: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called on Iran to renounce plans to resume sensitive nuclear activities and warned the Islamic Republic not to escalate the crisis, in an interview set to appear Saturday. Speaking with daily newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, Fischer said Germany, France and Britain took Iran’s intentions to break the seal on a uranium conversion facility in Isfahan very seriously.
