Reuters: The governing board of the U.N. nuclear watchdog is expected to formally approve Mohamed ElBaradei’s third term as the agency’s chief on Monday after Washington ended its efforts to oust him, diplomats said. But the United States has not given up its battle against Iran’s nuclear programme, which Washington says is a front to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies this, insisting its atomic ambitions are limited to the peaceful generation of electricity.
US swings behind UN’s ElBaradei, takes aim at nuclear Iran
Some analysts suspect bin Laden slipped into Iran
Washington Times: Some within the U.S. intelligence community think Osama bin Laden is in eastern Iran, instead of the rugged tribal areas of Pakistan’s northwestern frontier, where most American officials think he is still on the run. U.S. officials said in interviews that the Iran theory, which is held by a minority, is based on bits of intelligence information and the fact that months of CIA intelligence operations, along with …
Taking the Iranian nuclear danger seriously
The Washington Times – Editorial: As the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors prepares for its quarterly meeting in Vienna, Austria, the press is breathlessly playing up what is said to be good news about Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons: that Iran permitted IAEA inspectors to visit a uranium-enrichment facility last week, and that the agency says it has verified that the regime has frozen its activities there. But
unfortunately the significance of this is questionable.
Rep. Weldon says Iran key to insurgency
UPI: Iran may not have the largest number of insurgents in Iraq, but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality, Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., said Sunday. Weldon, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said Iraqi officials have told him “Syria may have the largest number (of insurgents) from outside of Iraqi country, but Iran overwhelmingly has the quality behind the insurgency.”
Iranian women defy police whips to demonstrate against ‘dictatorship’
The Independent: Hundreds of women demonstrated outside Tehran university, calling for greater rights and a boycott of Friday’s presidential election. They shouted “down with dictatorship!” and “shame on you!” in response to the aggressive tactics of police, who tried to prevent protesters reaching the demonstration yesterday.
Iran: Thousands join womens anti-government demonstration in Tehran
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 12 A protest that began with a gathering of dozens of women in downtown Tehran this afternoon drew thousands of anti-government protesters and streamrolled into one of the largest demonstrations against Irans clerical rulers in recent months. The protest began in front of Tehran University as a small group of women began chanting freedom, freedom and calling for a referendum on religious rule.
Iran pre-election blasts raise questions
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 13 An hour after a state-run news agency reported a second explosion in Tehran, eye-witnesses reported that the blast near the capitals Vali-Asr Square seemed to have been an accidental fire in the basement of a computer shop. A
local police chiefs account seemed to confirm suspicions that mysterious hands within Irans clerical regime wanted to present the incident as the latest in a series of bombings that took place in Tehran and the provincial city of Ahwaz, claiming eight lives in a single day and wounding 75 others, according to official statements.
Hundreds of Women Protest Sex Discrimination in Iran
New York Times: Hundreds of women staged an unauthorized demonstration in Tehran today, protesting sex discrimination under Iran’s Islamic leadership just days before the June 17 presidential elections. The protest was the first public display of dissent by women since the 1979 revolution, when the new regime enforced obligatory veiling. “We are women, we are the children of this land, but we have no rights,” they chanted.
A hollow vote
The Times – Leader Article: When Iran votes for a new President on Friday, the real question is not whether the winning candidate will be a pragmatist or a hardliner, but whether the election has democratic validity at all. After a call last week by the conservative head of Irans Council of Guardians for a huge turnout to declare death to America, most Iranians, and especially a restless younger generation, regard the contest as mired in the clichés of the past and a device by which a clerical coterie hopes to perpetuate its power.
