Sunday Times: Claims of an Iranian plot to manipulate forthcoming elections in neighbouring Iraq have complicated plans for next months polls and heightened tension between the Sunni and Shiite factions in Baghdad. Scrutiny of Tehrans role in allegedly attempting to influence the Iraqi poll has risen after a claim by King Abdullah of Jordan that more than 1m Iranians have crossed their 900-mile long border with Iraq.
Tension rises as Iran is accused of trying to rig Iraq poll
WTO Agrees Entry Talks with Iraq, U.S. Blocks Iran
Reuters:The World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed Monday to begin accession talks with Iraq and Afghanistan, but the United States again blocked any such negotiations with Iran, diplomats said. The go-ahead for Iraq and Afghanistan came with no dissenting voice among the trade body’s 148 member states, but Washington said it was still studying Iran’s request — the same answer it has given for the past three years.
British FM presses Iran to respect nuclear freeze, Iran says research exempt
AFP: Iran must respect the spirit as well as the letter of an agreed nuclear fuel cycle freeze, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said ahead of EU-Iran talks Monday on confidence measures to show Tehran is not making atomic weapons. But Tehran hinted it was ready to reintroduce a demand, already refused by the European Union, for some nuclear equipment to be exempted from the freeze.
IAEA Leader’s Phone Tapped
Washington Post: The Bush administration has dozens of intercepts of Mohamed ElBaradei’s phone calls with Iranian diplomats and is scrutinizing them in search of ammunition to oust him as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to three U.S. government officials.
EU and Iran begin difficult talks on nuclear program
AFP: The European Union and Iran begin talks Monday
towards giving Tehran trade, technology and security rewards for suspending crucial nuclear activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons. The process is fraught with difficulties since Iran says its suspension of uranium enrichment, a key step in making nuclear fuel, is a temporary measure designed to show its intentions are peaceful while EU negotiators …
Iran is not imminent nuclear threat: ElBaradei
AFP: Iran’s nuclear programme does not constitute an immediate threat, the head of the UN atomic watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, said in an interview published here on Sunday.
Iranian customs officers arrested over smuggling
AFP: Iran’s judiciary has arrested 18 people, most of them customs officials, for involvement in a smuggling racket that brought in millions of dollars of televisions, DVD players and hi-fi systems, the state news agency IRNA said Sunday.
Iran says US Mideast reform agenda ‘not beneficial’ to region
AFP: Iran on Sunday accused the United States of selfishly “pursuing its own interests” by pushing for reforms in the Arab and Muslim world, saying the initiative was of no benefit to the Middle East. “America is only pursuing its own interests, and we believe plans imposed from the outside will not be of any benefit to the region,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
Iran Refuses to Give Up Nuclear Research-Diplomats
Reuters: Iran intends to use Monday’s talks with France, Britain and Germany to ensure it has the right to go on carrying out research with equipment that could be used to develop nuclear weapons, Western diplomats said. Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rohani, will meet foreign ministers of the EU’s “big three” in Brussels on Monday for talks on details of a deal that would reward Iran for taking steps to assure the world it is not developing an atom bomb.
Iran warns it will quit nuclear talks with EU if no progress made
AFP: Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani warned Sunday that the Islamic republic would abandon key talks with the European Union on its nuclear programme if it was clear no progress was being made. The talks, set to begin in Brussels on Monday, are aimed at building on Iran’s agreement to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment …
