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
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.
Yawar warns of Iran’s interference in Iraq
UPI: Iraqi Interim President Ghazi Yawar warned Iran Tuesday against meddling in Iraqi politics ahead of the Jan. 30
elections in Iraq. In an interview with the Washington Post, Yawar, a U.S.-educated civil engineer and Sunni Muslim tribal leader, said he was disappointed by political interference from Iran aimed at influencing the outcome of the Iraqi elections.
Egypt to try Iranian and Egyptian on spy charges
Reuters: Egypt will try an Iranian diplomat in absentia and a captured Egyptian on charges of spying and plotting to carry
out attacks at home and abroad, the public prosecutor said
on Tuesday.
Iranian diplomat, Egyptian charged in Egypt over assassination plot
AFP: Egypt said on Tuesday it has charged an Iranian
diplomat and an Egyptian national over a plot to assassinate an unidentified public figure.
Egyptian Mahmud Aid Dabbus is accused of being paid
50,000 dollars by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to kill the unnamed target and of spying for the Islamic republic,
charges that carry a possible 25-year prison term.
