AFP: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged officials on Monday to press on with nuclear work and take no heed of US allegations Tehran is seeking a nuclear weapon, two days before a new round of Iran-EU nuclear talks. “I advise the officials not to pay attention to the enemies’ threats and to go their own way, doing their job,” Khamenei said in the northeastern city of Mashhad, in an address broadcast on state television.
Iran’s supreme leader urges no let-up in nuclear work
UN urges US engagement over Iran
BBC: The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has urged the US to become more engaged in attempts to resolve a dispute about Iran’s nuclear programme.
IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei said Washington would have to step in as Tehran needed security guarantees beyond those given by the EU.
New year party gets political on streets of Tehran
The Guardian: At first the ear-splitting explosions, blazing bonfires and choking stench of teargas could have been mistaken for the prelude to a new Iranian revolution. In reality the occasion, Chahar Shanbeh Souri, was celebratory. Iranians young and old, male and female, were gathered in Mirdamad Street, in one of Tehran’s most affluent neighbourhoods, to mark the opening of festivities for Norouz, the new year in the ancient Zoroastrian calendar.
In Iran, a time for courage
Denver Post: This is a time to celebrate the acts of courage. This is a time to reflect on progress we’ve made. This is a time to call for change. This is a time to salute the women around the world who have strived for freedom and equality. Iranian women have faced the darkest period of their history in the last three decades and wish to prevent the same thing happening to the women of Iraq.
Iran to set up secret nuclear faculty: intelligence source
AFP: Iran is to establish a secret nuclear engineering faculty within a year to provide engineers for what the United States claims is a covert project to develop atomic weapons, a Western intelligence source told AFP. “This is a very significant step towards training an Iranian nuclear cadre,” the source, who asked not to be named, said in a recent interview.
US military not conducting spy flights over Iran: Rumsfeld
AFP: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Sunday said he had never authorized sending reconnaisance planes over Iran to spy on the country’s alleged nuclear program, contrary to Tehran’s assertions. “I checked and I know we had no US aircraft doing what … Iran was saying,” Rumsfeld told ABC television’s “This Week” program.
Iran plans secret ‘nuclear university’ to train scientists
Sunday Telegraph: The Iranian government has given approval for the establishment of a secret nuclear research centre to train its scientists in all aspects of atomic technology, The Telegraph can reveal. Recent reports received by Western intelligence show that Teheran has recently approved the establishment of a faculty of applied nuclear engineering that will be attached to the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI).
Tending an Oasis of Uprising
Los Angeles Times: CAMP ASHRAF, Iraq Residents of this sprawling commune an hour north of Baghdad pride themselves on their self-sufficiency. They bake their own bread, purify their own water, even make their own carbonated cola. They spend their days tending to their gardens, sprucing up their living quarters and listening to performances of John Lennon’s “Imagine.” And they conduct military drills while they wait for their chance to overthrow the Iranian government.
Future uncertain for Iranian dissidents living in Iraq
Knight Ridder Newspapers: CAMP ASHRAF, Iraq – Iraq has an oasis where fountains gurgle over pebbles and flowers blossom in lush gardens. The hospital is spotless and fully stocked, schools offer violin lessons and drivers obey traffic laws. The electricity is always on, and the water is always
clean in this serene, self-sufficient compound.
U.S.: Iran needs to allay enrichment fears
UPI: The U.S. State Department Friday called on Iran to assure the international community its uranium enrichment program would not be used to make weapons.
“They have to answer the concerns of the international community and to date, they have not done that,” deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said.
