BBC: A number of jazz and classical music concerts in Iran have been cancelled by the authorities because of their “corrupting” influence, diplomats say. The concerts had been arranged by foreign embassies in Tehran.
Two jazz performances organised by the Italian mission were called off last week only hours before they were due to start.
Iran stops concerts in crackdown
IRAN AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Voice of America: In the latest U.S. State Department report on religious freedom, Iran is again listed as one of the most serious violators. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the report singles out eight countries of particular concern: “We are re-designating five countries that, in our judgment, continue to violate their citizens’ religious liberty: Burma, China, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan. We are also adding three additional countries to this list: Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.”
IRAN COULD OPEN NEW FRONT IN YEMEN
MENL: Iran might have opened an insurgency front in Yemen
in an effort to weaken U.S. influence in the region.
A new report by the Washington-based Jamestown
Foundation said Yemen regarded the recent insurgency by former parliamentarian and Shi’ite cleric Al Houthi as backed and financed by Iran.
PM: Iran is running Arab agents in Israel
AP: Iran is using Islamic religious organizations in Israel as a cover to run Israeli Arab agents in the country, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday. He did not elaborate.
Sharon’s accusation came amid Israel’s increasingly vocal concern over Iran’s nuclear development program, which, Jerusalem says, is aimed at producing nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge, saying it is intended for electricity generation.
Iran Hard-Liners Drafting Uranium Bill
AP: Iran Iran’s conservative-dominated parliament is drafting a bill that would force the reformist government to resume uranium enrichment – a necessary step toward producing nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons – over the objections of the international community.
Iran cancels music concerts under hard-line pressure
Reuters: Iranian authorities have cancelled several musical concerts organised by European embassies after religious hardliners warned the Islamic state against the “corrupting” influence of Western culture.
Analysts said the concert cancellations reflected a new political climate in Iran where religious hardliners now firmly have the upper hand over the pro-reform allies of moderate President Mohammad Khatami.
Iran doing ‘a lot of meddling’ in Iraq: Rumsfeld
AFP: Iran is sending money and arms into neighboring Iraq to try to influence the outcome of elections there in January, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday.
Iran, as a predominantly Shiite country that fought a war with Iraq in the 1980s, has a big interest in what happens in Iraq,
he said.
Vice president submits resignation in Iran
AFP: One of Iran’s most outspoken reformists, Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, announced he had submitted his resignation from the increasingly isolated pro-reform government.
“It is up to the president to approve this decision,” Abtahi told the student news agency ISNA on Monday …
Increased unemployment for hundreds of thousands of workers
Iran Focus: Tehran, Oct. 4 – The executive director of the Khaneyeh Karegar (House of Workers) in an interview with
the Iranian state-run wire service admitted that hundreds of thousands of workers are presently unemployed.
Ali Tarshavand accused senior officials of the Iranian governments inner circle of being at the centre of enormous corruption.
Iraqi Interior Minister: Armed Iranian fighters arrested in Samarra
Iran Focus: Baghdad, Oct. 4 – The Interim Iraqi Interior Minister stated that armed Iranian agents have been arrested among rebels fighting in the city of Samarra. The Al-Hurriya TV aired footage of Falah Naqib who accused Iran of backing insurgents in this presently volatile region of Iraq.
