Los Angeles Times: Four Iranian brothers jailed as threats to national security were freed from an immigration detention facility Wednesday after more than three years in custody. The sudden release of the Mirmehdis Mohammed, 34, Mohsen, 37, Mojtaba, 41, and Mostafa, 45 was announced at 6:15 p.m. and came in time for the beginning of the Persian new year early Sunday.
4 Iranian Brothers Freed After 3 Years
Iran’s Khatami Says Halting Nuclear Program Is ‘Unacceptable’
Bloomberg: Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, said it’s “unacceptable” for the Islamic republic to halt its nuclear enrichment program as demanded by the EU and U.S. Iran is building a heavy-water nuclear reactor that it says is for generating electricity. It has rejected calls by the U.S. for it to abandon the program.
Bush Says Iran Faces UN Action If It Won’t End Nuclear Program
Bloomberg: President George W. Bush said the U.S. and its European allies are prepared to seek sanctions against Iran if the government there rejects a proposal offering economic incentives in exchange for ending nuclear development. “We go to the Security Council if they reject the offer, and I hope they don’t,” Bush said at a news conference today in Washington.
Iran hardliners keep lid on ancient fire festival
Reuters: Iranian authorities beat up and tear gassed exuberant young revellers as they breathed new life into a pre-Islamic fire festival with a night of dancing, flirting and fireworks. The Islamic Republic, which has an awkward relationship with its ancient Zoroastrian religion, only gave guarded recognition to the “Chaharshanbe Souri” festival last year.
Iran has officialy told EU it will not give up enrichment: top negotiator
AFP: Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, said on Wednesday that Iranian nuclear negotiators have definitively and officially told Europeans that Iran will never accept a permanent halt to its enrichment programme.
UN’s Nuclear Chief Tells Iran to Open Up More
Reuters: The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog Wednesday hailed last week’s offer by Washington of political concessions in European-led talks with Iran but said Tehran must open more to inspections for diplomacy to succeed.
Rice Seeks Details on Pakistani’s Nuclear Help to Iran
New York Times: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to press President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan for more information on the help a rogue Pakistani scientist, A. Q. Khan, is believed to have given Iran to develop a nuclear weapons program, a senior administration official said Tuesday. Speaking on the eve of talks that Ms. Rice plans to hold with Indian and Pakistani leaders on the first leg of her trip to Asia, the official said that Pakistan had been helpful in the past on sharing information from its own investigation of Dr. Khan, but that the administration wanted more.
Iranian rejectionists
Washington Times – Editorial: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in an exclusive interview published in this newspaper on Saturday, said that the United States is prepared to join with Europe in offering incentives for Iran to halt its efforts to develop nuclear weapons and end its support for terrorism. Within hours, the Iranian regime gave its answer: The Western democracies can in effect go jump in a lake.
U.S. dislikes Iran-India gas pipeline
UPI: A proposed natural gas pipeline from Iran to India has raised the ire of the U.S. Bush administration, concerned with existing sanctions against Iran.
The $4 billion project, which could be operational by 2011, would run through India’s historic rival Pakistan, leading some in India to refer to the system a “peace-pipeline,” the Washington Times reported Tuesday.
Uprising blazes throughout Iran capital
Iran Focus: Tehran, Mar. 15 Tehran was left in a standstill this evening as the population poured into the streets to mark the national ‘fire’ festival of Chahar-shanbeh Souri despite intense pressures by the Iranian regime to prevent a possible uprising. Eye-witnesses reported that full-size puppets of high-ranking officials, such as the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the regime’s president Mohammad Khatami, were set on fire by youths at numerous locations throughout the Iranian capital.
