AP: As Iran appears to move closer to resuming nuclear activities, support has been quietly building in Congress for new US sanctions, including penalties that could affect multinational companies and recipients of US foreign aid.
Sanction bill against Iran advances in Congress
EU foreign policy chief confirms warning sent to Iran
AFP: European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana confirmed on Thursday that the EU had sent a letter to Iran warning it of consequences if it resumes its suspended nuclear activities. “We communicated very clearly to our Iranian interlocutors that that will have consequences if they decide to breach or to do something that for us is a breach of the agreements of November,” he told reporters in Brussels.
Britain Backs Penalties if Iran Restarts Nuclear Program
New York Times: As the European Union warned Iran against resuming its nuclear program, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that Britain would support American moves to invoke United Nations Security Council countermeasures “if Iran breaches its obligations and undertakings.”
Iranian Volunteers Training for Attacks
AP: More than 200 young men and women presented themselves Thursday as volunteers to carry out suicide bomb attacks against Americans in Iraq and against Israelis. The meeting was organized at Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery, south
of Tehran, by the Headquarters for Commemorating Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement, a shadowy group that has sought volunteers for attacks in Iraq and Israel since last year.
Iranians hold their noses as they pick new president
The Guardian: Iranians may have to hold their noses when they go to the polls in next month’s presidential election. This is only partly the result of a new craze for surgical nose jobs among Tehran’s fashionable youth. Like the British electorate, Iran’s 46 million voters are a bit sniffy about the candidates on offer. The favourite, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 70, conveys a distinct whiff of mothballs. A loyalist of Iran’s revolutionary leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, he has been president twice before, from 1989 to 1997.
France: European lawmakers and jurists demand justice for Iranian opposition
Iran Focus: Paris, May 12 European lawmakers and jurists called on French authorities to drop charges against officials of the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran and put an end to what they described as harassment of opponents of Irans clerical regime in France. The call came from hundreds of parliamentary, legal and political figures who attended a seminar in Paris on Tuesday entitled, “Two years after June 17, 2003, Justice for the National Council of Resistance of Iran”.
France: European lawmakers and jurists demand justice for Iranian opposition
Iran Focus: Paris, May 12 European lawmakers and jurists called on French authorities to drop charges against officials of the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran and put an end to what they described as harassment of opponents of Irans clerical regime in France. The call came from hundreds of parliamentary, legal and political figures who attended a seminar in Paris on Tuesday entitled, “Two years after June 17, 2003, Justice for the National Council of Resistance of Iran”.
Brazilian author Paulo Coelho says his latest book banned in Iran
AFP: International best-selling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho said Thursday that his latest novel “The Zahir” had been banned in Iran, with some 1,000 copies confiscated this week at Tehran’s annual book fair. “The book was forbidden, even though we went through the normal procedures of getting a permit from the government for it to be published,” Coelho said in an e-mail message sent to AFP by his French publishers Flammarion.
France urges restraint on Iran nuclear programme
AFP: French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier on Thursday
urged Iran not to resume suspended nuclear operations, warning that to do so would incur “consequences.” “We continue to hope that Iran will not take this step, the consequences of which it is well aware,” Barnier said.
Iran won’t respect NPT if nuke rights denied – Rohani
Reuters: Iran warned on Thursday it would no longer respect the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if it was denied the right to pursue what it considers its right to develop a full civilian nuclear energy programme. “If Iran cannot use its legitimate rights in the framework of the NPT, it will no longer have respect for the treaty,” the semi-official ISNA students news agency quoted chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani as telling visiting Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Kislyak.
