Iran

"Gennady Yefstafiyev, a former general in Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, wrote: 'The US's long term goals in Iran are obvious: to engineer the downfall of the current regime; to establish control over Iran's oil and gas; and to use its territory as the shortest route for the transportation of hydrocarbons under US control from the regions of Central Asia and the Caspian Sea bypassing Russia and China. This is not to mention Iran's intrinsic military and strategic significance.'" [more]

There is a growing conviction among members of the United States military, and in the international community, that President Bush’s ultimate goal in the nuclear confrontation with Iran is regime change. [more]

"Two stories posted in the last week on the CNN website, one on nukes in Iran last Wednesday, and another on nukes in North Korea on Saturday, both use the same aerial photograph of the same purported nuclear power plant. [...] A different news organization has published a story using a different photo of the same alleged nuclear facility that CNN used in both it's North Korea and Iran stories! That story was also about... North Korea! A detailed update later ..." [more]

"If we study the recent propaganda war waged by Iran's enemies, we will see that it demonstrates their renewed use of old tricks that America has used for the past 25 years. Iran is very familiar with these tricks. However, as to why such accusations are raised at this time, it must be clearly connected with America's defeat in Iraq and the failure of the White House to force Iran to accept the unconditional surrender of its nuclear program." [more]

"In all parts of the world many scholars and those who want the world to be saved from the evil of America wished for Bush to be re-elected and for America to remain in the hands of his bullying friends in order to push America closer to ruination." [more]

The only way to find and eliminate Iranian nuclear weapons using military action would be to launch a full-scale invasion of Iran. If the Bush administration even began to contemplate this course of action, however, the U.S. military would probably be near open revolt. Invading Iran would likely make the bloody quagmire in Iraq look like a picnic. [more]

"Iran said on Sunday that America’s iron-fisted policies and the lack of security undermined Iranian efforts to bring calm to Iraq and that it would no longer cooperate with Washington on those endeavors." [more]

"It's unclear whether Naimi's death is connected to Iran's efforts at mediating the standoff between U.S. forces and radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the man at the centre of recent violence in Najaf." [more]

"Kimmitt reported the past week has seen an average of 21 daily engagements against coalition military forces, four attacks daily against Iraqi security forces, and just over three attacks daily against Iraqi civilian targets. / Over past 24 hours, Kimmitt continued, coalition forces in Iraq conducted 1,448 patrols, 15 offensive operations and seven raids. They captured 52 anti- coalition suspects and released seven detainees." [more]

"'The trap is sprung,' said a senior American administration official speaking from Washington, saying that the Libyan resolution sets a precedent for future I.A.E.A. resolutions on Iran. 'It makes it very hard not to at some point address Iran's breaches by referring them to the Security Council,' he said." [more]

"According to ISNA, the court also ordered the United States to pay $800 million to two Iranians who were 'kidnapped' by US forces and 'suffered damage,' also without elaborating." [more]

"Second Friday prayer sermon by Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Head of the Expediency Council, in Tehran." [more]

" 'We have been following the question of Iran pretty closely and there's no doubt in our mind that Iran continues to pursue a nuclear weapons program,' Armitage said in a press interview in Washington. Earlier Thursday, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Disarmament John Bolton made a similar remark in Berlin. 'We're not convinced Iran has come completely clean,' said Bolton." [more]

"The main reform party announced Monday that it would boycott upcoming parliamentary elections, but stopped short of asking Iranians not to vote ... Nearly one third of the 290 members of parliament resigned on Sunday after the unelected hard-line Guardian Council reinstated 1,160 reform candidates — but upheld rejections of 2,400 others over the weekend." [more]

"The furore began in early January when the Guardian Council, whose 12 members are appointed by Khamenei, disqualified more than 3,600 of the 8,200 people who filed papers to run in the polls. After protests, and an opinion from Khamenei, the council restored 1,160 low-profile candidates to the list on Friday." [more]

"[Ebadi] criticized U.S. military intervention in Muslim countries. Asked about Iraq and Afghanistan, she said in English, 'In Iraq and Afghanistan — especially in Iraq — people do not have water and electricity. And it is very important for people. How can we talk about human rights and freedom?' " [more]

"The draft resolution demand[s] Iran demonstrate full compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Washington says Tehran has violated. The toughly-worded draft, circulated at a closed-door meeting of the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors, also called on Iran to 'suspend all further uranium enrichment activities.' " [more]

"The senior administration official identified two of the Defense officials who met with Ghorbanifar as Harold Rhode, Feith's top Middle East specialist, and Larry Franklin, a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst on loan to the undersecretary's office." [more]

"Diplomats at the United Nations see the latest International Atomic Energy Agency annual report seeking Iran's cooperation on nuclear plant inspections as yet another sign of mounting pressure on Tehran." [more]

"European Union officials say they are bracing for the next tug-of-war in strained ties with Washington over whether to isolate or engage with the Islamic republic." [more]

"Officials said Washington was waiting to hear from international inspectors before deciding on a response to disclosures Iran's nuclear program was more advanced than previously thought." [more]

"Iran is also a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and has rejected claims that it is trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction. It says that nuclear plants are needed to help increase its electricity generation. 'We are ready to accept inspectors to check our [nuclear] activities in order to reveal the lies told by others,' Mr Khatami said on Sunday." [more]

"Despite a policy of 'active neutrality' in the crisis with Iraq, Iran has launched a strategy of conducting business as usual with Mr. Hussein's regime while also dealing with Iraqi opposition leaders." [more]

"Men from the designated countries who were 16 years or older and had overstayed their student, tourist or business visas were arrested immediately, even if they had applied already for legal residency." [more]

"Iranian-Americans in Los Angeles are angry about the arrests of some Iranian nationals by U.S. immigration officials. Thousands of protesters took to the streets Wednesday, saying hundreds of Iranians were detained in the city early in the week. The detainees were responding to a registration order, imposed as an anti-terrorist measure." [more]

"Kayhan Shakib said the Immigration and Naturalization Service was ill-prepared to handle the hundreds of people who went there to register, resulting in the unnecessary detainment of individuals." [more]

"Dramatic confrontations in Iran between hard-liners and reformers, suggesting that the Islamic Republic may be tottering, recall the lesson history taught Mikhail Gorbachev: A political system rooted in lies and repression cannot long survive the telling of truth that comes with free speech." [more]

"IRAN told Washington yesterday that it would never accept an American attempt to impose military rule on Iraq if Saddam Hussein were toppled from power. " [more]

"The common feeling among Iranians is that they are surrounded on all sides, with NATO- allied Turkey to the northwest, US bases in Uzbekistan to the northeast, US forces in Afghanistan, US bases in Pakistan, and the US navy in the Gulf and Indian Ocean. All that remains is for Washington to succeed in toppling Saddam Hussein, install a pro-US regime in Iraq, and the encirclement will be complete." [more]

"Talks had become bogged down in any case because of bitter political in-fighting in Iran, tough terms demanded by Tehran, and political uncertainty after the United States included Iran on an "axis of evil" with Iraq and North Korea." [more]

"Khatami's angry response revealed the possibility that, with its bellicose and intolerant words, the Bush administration may well achieve what 20 years of diplomacy has failed to bring about: an alliance between the beleaguered Tehran and Baghdad. Such an alliance would portend further instability in a region that contains two-thirds of the world's proven oil reserves ó and frustrate the United States' aim to be the unchallenged foreign power in the region." [more]

" 'Any interference into the domestic affairs of Iraq would be against the interest of the people of Iraq, the interest of the countries of the region and it would be against the peace and tranquility of the region and the world,' Khatami told a news conference." [more]

"Firstly, since when has the American administration been supporting the holding of elections? The American administration has friendly and close ties with countries in which their people have never even seen a ballot box. They have never touched a ballot paper. They have never taken part in any elections. None of their officials have been elected by the people. Mr Bush has very friendly relations with them and he has never talked about the holding of elections in those countries. The American government supported the shah's government. There were no elections in this country when the former regime was in power." [more]

Some time over the next six to nine months, the US will move militarily on Iraq, unless perchance Saddam makes an earlier exit. Europeans will howl in protest about US imperial unilateralism. They may want to consider that clear expressions of support for the Iranian opposition now could create changes there and in the larger region that might hold the best chance for making military intervention in an isolated Iraq unnecessary. [more]

Karzai, who arrived in Tehran on Sunday for a three-day visit to Iran, told a press conference here that "Iran has never interfered in the internal affairs of Afghanistan and has always shown goodwill toward Afghanistan and its people." [more]

"The leader of Afghanistan's interim government, Hamid Karzai, visited Tehran today and appealed to Iran and the United States to put aside their differences and help build his war-ravaged country." [more]

"US President George W Bush has warned Iran not to destabilise Afghanistan.
He also said Washington expected Tehran to hand over any members of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network who might have fled across the border from Afghanistan. His blunt comments reflect US concerns that Iran is trying to challenge the authority of the interim government in Afghanistan, and may be giving safe haven to al-Qaeda leaders fleeing US and allied military troops there." [more]