New York Times: Iran pledged Sunday to meet its deadline
and suspend its uranium enrichment activities on Monday,
in a sign of cooperation even as the United States has been stepping up pressure over the country’s nuclear program.
“The suspension will begin tomorrow,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Assefi, told journalists.
Iran to Suspend Uranium Enrichment Today
Powell stands by accusations of Iran’s nuclear ambitions
AFP: US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday rejected criticism of his accusations that Iran is seeking to adapt its missiles to carry nuclear warheads. “The people who are raising the questions are people who have not seen the information,” Powell told journalists accompanying him on
a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Iran bans public commemoration of dissident murders
AFP: Iranian authorities have barred relatives of a dissident couple murdered by intelligence agents in 1998 from marking the anniversary in public this year, the couple’s daughter told AFP Sunday. Parastoo Foruhar, the daughter of Daryush Foruhar and his wife Parvaneh Eskandari, said “objections” to her plans for this year’s ceremony “were so strong” that the office of the governor of Tehran withdrew a permit issued two days ago.
Pentagon turns heat up on Iran
The Observer: Pentagon hawks have begun discussing military action against Iran to neutralise its nuclear weapons threat, including possible strikes on leadership, political and security targets. With a deadline of tomorrow for Iran to begin an agreed freeze on enriching uranium, which can be used to produce nuclear weapons, sources have disclosed that the latest Pentagon gaming model for ‘neutralising’ Iran’s nuclear threat involves strikes in support of regime change.
Week in Review
Washington Times: My e-mail fills up daily with dozens of press releases, analyses, articles and exhortations from interest groups; there seem to be as many of them in Washington as there are countries and causes. Many of these I kill out, either because I find the groups so extreme that nothing they say is to be taken seriously or because their causes are too obscure or bizarre. But there are others that have to be looked at, because they occasionally make news.
Iran wriggles to block nuclear sanctions bid
Sunday Times: Iran is expected to thwart American attempts to send its nuclear dossier to the United Nations Security Council this week, despite a fresh flurry of concerns about its apparent ambitions to make a bomb. Iran has pledged to suspend all activities linked to uranium enrichment an important stage on the way to making a bomb under a tentative deal last week with Britain, France and Germany.
Bush Says Iran Speeds Output of A-Bomb Fuel
New York Times: President Bush heightened the administration’s pressure on Iran on Saturday by using his first summit meeting since he won re-election to accuse Iran of speeding the production of the raw material used to produce fuel for a nuclear weapon, calling it “a very serious matter.”
Bush Warns Iran After Uranium Processing Reports
Reuters: President Bush on Saturday warned Iran of growing international concern over reports that Tehran is preparing large amounts of uranium for an enrichment process that can be used to make nuclear weapons. “This is a very serious matter …”
U.S. refuses to release Iranian brothers despite court decision
Knight Ridder Newspapers: Since they were locked up in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, the four Mirmehdi brothers have insisted that they aren’t terrorists. This summer, an immigration appeals court agreed, concurring with an immigration judge that the government’s case is weak and doesn’t conclusively tie them to terrorism.
Fresh suspicion over Iran’s nuclear aims
The Guardian: A breakthrough deal between Iran and the EU aimed at defusing an international crisis over Tehran’s alleged nuclear ambitions was thrown into uncertainty last night when diplomats said Iran was rushing to process feed material for the manufacture of bomb-grade uranium.
