Iran Focus:
16-year-old boy sentenced to execution
Smoking up 31 fold by female students in Tehran
Earthquake jolts western Iran
Unpaid wages spark off demonstration
In Brief
Two Issues Could Hinder Deal to Freeze Iran’s Nuclear Program
Washington Post: A European deal to freeze Iran’s nuclear program, provide the Islamic republic with lucrative trade incentives and avoid sanctions by the U.N. Security Council could be signed by midweek if two critical issues can be quickly resolved, U.S., European and Iranian officials said in interviews Sunday. Iran has refused to accept a full
suspension on all its nuclear-related work and wants a …
Japanese envoy to urge Iran to suspend uranium enrichment
AFP: Japan, whose business ties with Iran have caused US concern, will send a senior diplomat to Tehran to urge the country to follow IAEA demands it suspend uranium enrichment, officials said Monday.
Deputy foreign minister Hitoshi Tanaka will hold a one-day meeting with Iranian foreign ministry officials Tuesday.
Iran Jails More Journalists and Blocks Web Sites
New York Times: Iran has continued its crackdown on journalists, with two arrests in the past week, and has moved against pro-democracy Web sites, blocking hundreds of sites in recent months and making several arrests. Mahboubeh Abbas-Gholizadeh, the editor of the magazine Farzaneh and an advocate of expanded rights for women, was arrested Nov. 1 after she returned from London, where she had attended the European Social Forum.
Agreement close on atom deal with Iran
Daily Telegraph: Iran appeared yesterday to have reached a tentative deal with Britain, France and Germany that would
avert the threat of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear programme. The provisional agreement, hammered out during two days of talks in Paris, has still to be approved by Teheran’s clerical leadership as well as by the European governments.
Iran’s nuclear threat
Miami Herald – Editorial: A round of talks that began Friday between Iranian diplomats and European officials represents the last chance to head off an escalating confrontation over that country’s nuclear-weapons program. The heart of the problem lies in Iran’s denial that it has such a program and Secretary of State Colin Powell’s unequivocal affirmation to the contrary.
Tehran agrees to nuclear freeze
The Guardian: The European powers secured a pledge from Iran at the weekend that Tehran would halt its uranium enrichment programme within weeks, an agreement that may avert a showdown later this month between Iran and the west. But the agreement, reached after a marathon round of negotiations in Paris between Iran and the EU troika of Britain, France, and Germany, looks unlikely to satisfy Washington and may yet fall apart.
Iran Focus:A look at various groups in Iran and Iraq that may be involved in insurgency
AP: Iraqi, Kurdish and U.S. officials have spoken of possible links between Iran and Iraqi insurgent groups. Here’s a look
at the various parties: …
Extremists Moving Across Iran-Iraq Border
AP: Islamic extremists have been moving supplies and new recruits from Iran into Iraq, say Iraqi Kurdish and Western officials, though it’s unclear whether Tehran is covertly backing them or whether militants are simply taking advantage of the porous border. Iranian involvement with extremist groups in the Iraqi insurgency would be potentially explosive, especially given the history of U.S.-Iranian animosity. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said recently Iran was engaged in “a lot of meddling” in Iraq but gave no details.
