Reuters: European Union foreign ministers will agree on Monday to press on with a diplomatic initiative to try to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions despite gloom since the election of an Islamic hard-liner as president. EU diplomats said Britain, France, Germany and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana would brief their colleagues on a package of economic and political incentives they plan to offer Tehran next month if it gives up uranium enrichment activities that could give it the atom bomb.
Gloomy EU to press on with Iran initiative
Iran to head agenda at foreign ministers talks
DPA: European Union foreign ministers meet in Brussels next week for a review of the bloc’s relations with Iran, Middle East nations and China. The talks on July 18 will be chaired for the first time by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw following Britain’s take-over of the rotating E.U. presidency from Luxembourg on July 1.
Iran ayatollah says Blair government could have bombed London
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jul. 15 One of Irans most powerful clerics hinted during the Friday prayers sermon in Tehran
today that last weeks London bombings could have been the work of the United Kingdom government. Addressing worshippers at the site of Tehran University, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who heads the powerful Guardian Council, the unelected constitutional watchdog, said, At times they blame this [London bombings”> as the work of AlQaeda.
Iran ayatollah says Blair government could have bombed London
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jul. 15 One of Irans most powerful clerics hinted during the Friday prayers sermon in Tehran
today that last weeks London bombings could have been the work of the United Kingdom government. Addressing worshippers at the site of Tehran University, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who heads the powerful Guardian Council, the unelected constitutional watchdog, said, At times they blame this [London bombings”> as the work of AlQaeda.
Iran government jamming exile satellite TV
Iran Focus: London (UK), Jul. 13 The Iranian government has jammed the signals of a major Persian-language satellite television, a spokesman for the channel, Simaye Azadi, said. In Blatant violation of ITU [International Telecommunication Union”> regulations, the Iranian regime is sending out illegal jamming signals to censor our broadcasts from Iranians inside and outside Iran, spokesman Behruz Pirhosseini said.
Iran-US dialogue even more far off: Khatami
AFP: The prospect of dialogue resuming between the United States and Iran is more distant now than for years, with the situation unlikely to change under a new government in Tehran, outgoing President Mohammad Khatami said. “We are further from it (a resumption of dialogue) today than we have been for some years,” the reformist president said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television broadcast Thursday.
Iran: VEVAK arrests author of controversial book
Iran Terror Website: London, Jul. 14 Irans Ministry of Intelligence and Security (VEVAK) has confirmed that Reza Golpour, the 28-year-old author of a controversial book on the secret past of some of the top officials of the clerical regime, has been under arrest since last week. Reza Golpour was identified and arrested by VEVAK agents last Thursday, three days after he went into hiding, a VEVAK official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the government-run website Baztab.
200 police conduct midnight raid in northwest Iran city park
Iran Focus: Tabriz, Iran, Jul. 14 At least 200 agents of Irans State Security Forces on Monday conducted a midnight raid in the central park in Tabriz, northwest Iran, according to eye-witness accounts. At one in the morning, more than 200 of the regimes security forces were brought to Baghe Golestan Park in their cars and they started arresting anyone in sight, said one eye-witness, who requested anonymity.
200 police conduct midnight raid in northwest Iran city park
Iran Focus: Tabriz, Iran, Jul. 14 At least 200 agents of Irans State Security Forces on Monday conducted a midnight raid in the central park in Tabriz, northwest Iran, according to eye-witness accounts. At one in the morning, more than 200 of the regimes security forces were brought to Baghe Golestan Park in their cars and they started arresting anyone in sight, said one eye-witness, who requested anonymity.
Former French PM wants Paris to be tough on Iran
Iran Focus: Paris, Jul. 13 Frances former Prime Minister Edith Cresson urged Paris to adopt a firm policy on Iran in the wake of the consolidation of power in the hands of the ultra-conservative faction in the Islamic Republic. Speaking at a conference on Tuesday attended by 300 political dignitaries, nuclear and terrorism experts, and representatives of non-governmental organisations, the former prime minister and European Union commissioner said, “Today, we are witnessing extremists seize all the levers of power in Iran. I think that it is time to adopt a firm policy vis-à-vis the Ayatollahs in this country.
