Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 26 The issue of halting Irans nuclear activities has never been on the agenda of talks between the European Union and Iran, a senior official told an Iranian news agency. Hossein Moussavian, head of the foreign affairs committee of the Supreme National Security Council and Tehrans point man in nuclear negotiation, denied an Associated Press report that quoted European diplomats as saying that nuclear negotiations between Iran and the European side had come to a dead-end over Irans refusal to consider scrapping its uranium enrichment program.
Iran says will never “halt” nuclear activities
EU Makes No Headway on Iran Nuke Program
AP: A confidential summary of talks between key European powers and Iran made available to The Associated Press on Tuesday shows there has been no progress in getting Iran to scrap nuclear enrichment – even though Tehran acknowledged it does not need nuclear energy. The United States and several other countries fear Iran is seeking to enrich uranium not to the low level needed to generate power but to weapons-grade uranium that forms the core of nuclear warheads.
Exonerated in terror case, 4 brothers still locked up
San Fransisco Chronicle: Four Iranian brothers have spent the past 40 months locked up in federal detention despite a court ruling last summer clearing them of terrorism-related charges leveled by the Department of Homeland Security. The men, real estate agents in the Los Angeles area, are accused of being members of an Iranian group that is on the U.S. government’s terrorist list, although the group is regarded by some American lawmakers as a legitimate resistance organization.
We won’t forget that you sided with America, Iran warns BP
Daily Telegraph: Iran warned yesterday that it ‘will not forget’ a decision by oil giant BP not to invest in the Middle Eastern republic because of US sanctions against companies investing in its energy industry. The state’s anger was roused by fresh comments at the weekend from Lord Browne of Madingley, BP’s chief executive, who said that “politically, Iran is not a flyer” because of the sanctions.
Iran produces multi-purpose plane
United Press International: Iran is planning to manufacture 80 airplanes to be used for both civilian and military purposes, officials said Monday. Jaafar Zadwar, deputy chief salesman
for the Iranian Institution for Aviation Industry, said a five-year plan calls for 12 “Iran-120” planes to be produced annually.
Women biggest victims of Iran quake
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 25 More than two thousand women in the earthquake-stricken city of Bam in southern Iran live in extreme poverty, without any support. Seventy percent of these women have no surviving family members. The December 26, 2003 earthquake that struck the ancient Iranian city of Bam took more than 70,000 lives and left survivors to pick up the pieces of their wrecked lives.
Women biggest victims of Iran quake
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 25 More than two thousand women in the earthquake-stricken city of Bam in southern Iran live in extreme poverty, without any support. Seventy percent of these women have no surviving family members. The December 26, 2003 earthquake that struck the ancient Iranian city of Bam took more than 70,000 lives and left survivors to pick up the pieces of their wrecked lives.
Iran to Inaugurate Uranium Ore Plant
AP: Iran will inaugurate a uranium ore concentrate production plant near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas within a year, Iran’s nuclear chief said.
Gholamreza Aghazadeh was quoted by state-run radio on Sunday as saying the Bandar Abbas Yellowcake Production Plant would open during the next Iranian calendar year, which begins March 21.
Straw to push EU line on Iran in talks with Rice
Financial Times: Britain will on Monday seek to narrow differences between Europe and the US over Iran’s nuclear programme, with Jack Straw, foreign secretary, expected to urge Washington to take a positive approach to talks with the Islamic republic. Mr Straw is expected to meet Condoleezza Rice, incoming US secretary of state, for the first time since her appointment to replace Colin Powell. The British foreign secretary enjoyed a close relationship with Mr Powell and will be seeking to establish a similar rapport with his successor.
Iran Attempts to Pull Plug on Web Dissidents
Los Angeles Times: The criminal seems younger than his 25 years. He is the quiet type, shy and lanky, peering solemnly through octagonal glasses. He has no weapons, not in the traditional sense. His name is Hanif Mazroui, and the tools of his crime are a handful of ideas and skinny fingers flying over the keyboard. He is one of about 20 Iranian Web loggers and journalists who have been arrested and jailed in recent months.
