Financial Times: The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has suggested that Iran’s nuclear technology represents an effective deterrent that should be dealt with through a security dialogue as well as inspections.
UN concern over Iran’s nuclear technology
Irans Judiciary Arrests Three Cultural Officials
Reuters: Iran’s judiciary has arrested three cultural officials for organising a festival containing a brief display of dancing by a male and female theatre group, the government-run Iran newspaper reported on Thursday.
Iran Rejects Accusations Over Iraq Vote
AP: Iran on Thursday rejected accusations it was trying to influence January elections in Iraq, saying that Iraqis have made it clear they won’t take orders from abroad, state media reported.
Iraqi officials know Iran considers the right of Iraqis to determine their own fate a step toward stability and tranquility
in Iraq, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told state-run radio.
Iran Rejects Accusations Over Iraq Vote
AP: Iran on Thursday rejected accusations it was trying to influence January elections in Iraq, saying that Iraqis have made it clear they won’t take orders from abroad, state media reported.
Iraqi officials know Iran considers the right of Iraqis to determine their own fate a step toward stability and tranquility in Iraq, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told state-run radio.
Iran officials held over theater festival
UPI: Three officials in the province of Khosestan in southern Iran have been arrested on charges of encouraging corruption by sponsoring a theater festival. The Iranian News Agency said Wednesday that Ali Reza Ajnak, director of the Department of Culture and Islamic Guidance in the province, and two of his colleagues were arrested at the behest of the president of a committee that overlooks the strict application of Islamic rules.
Iranian asylum seekers begin hunger strike in Australian detention centre
AFP: Six Iranians held at an outback immigration detention centre north of here have begun a hunger strike, some with their lips sewn together, in an attempt to have their plea for asylum reviewed, officials said Wednesday. The six are members of a group of 70 Iranian men who have been held, some for years, at the Baxter detention centre, near Port …
Iran’s intelligence chief denies Al-Qaeda members sentenced
AFP: Iran’s Intelligence Minister Ali Younessi has denied claims by the judiciary that members of Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network have been tried and sentenced. “Probably the judiciary in Tehran was speaking about the sentencing of Al-Qaeda sympathisers and not their principal members,” Younessi was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.
Iraq, Jordan See Threat To Election From Iran
Washington Post: The leaders of Iraq and Jordan warned yesterday that Iran is trying to influence the Iraqi elections scheduled for Jan. 30 to create an Islamic government that would dramatically shift the geopolitical balance between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the Middle East. Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar charged that Iran is coaching candidates and political parties sympathetic to Tehran and pouring “huge amounts of money” into the campaign to produce a Shiite-dominated government similar to Iran’s.
Bush administration planning to increase pressure on Iran
Knight Ridder Newspapers: As 150,000 U.S. troops battle to stabilize Iraq, some officials in the Bush administration are already planning to turn up the heat on another member of the president’s axis of evil. Officials in the White House and the Defense Department are developing plans to increase public criticism of Iran’s human rights record, offer stronger backing
to exiles and other opponents of Tehran’s repressive …
US wants Iraq, Afghanistan in WTO but not Iran
AFP: The United States said Tuesday it was backing Iraq’s and Afghanistan’s bids to join the World Trade Organization but said there was no consensus on Iran’s effort to join. Baghdad and Kabul were expected to present their candidacies December 13 to join the multilateral organization, which must make a unanimous recommendation.
