AFP: Iran is tightening control of the Internet ahead of next month's presidential election, mindful of violent street protests that social networkers inspired last time around over claims of fraud, users and experts say. Read more...
AP: Several Iranian newspapers are citing a senior Revolutionary Guard commander as warning his forces will be on watch for possible unrest after the June 14 presidential election.
Wall Street Journal: The candidacy of Ali Akbar Rafsanjani for the presidential elections in Iran elevates the internal power struggle within the regime and poses a tremendous challenge to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran Focus: Paris, Jan. 06 An Iranian human rights exhibition was opened for the second time in Paris yesterday depicting human rights violations in Iran since the 1979 revolution.
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 05 There are more than 600,000 illiterate people in East Azerbaijan province (northwest Iran), according to the head of Literacy Front of East Azerbaijan.
AFP: The UN atomic agency will visit "within the next few weeks" the Parchin military facility in Iran where the US charges that Tehran is carrying out simulation testing of atomic weapons, the agency's chief Mohamed ElBaradei told AFP Wednesday.
AFP: Iraqi Defence Minister Hazem al-Shaalan took a fresh swipe at Iran, accusing it of being mainly responsible for the deteriorating situation in Iraq, in statements published here Wednesday.
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 05 A young man was killed by agents of Irans State Security Forces (SSF) in the town of Sanandaj (western province of Kurdistan) after he came to the aid of a young woman being assaulted by the SSF agents earlier this week.
Washington Times: Iran's increasing meddling in Iraq and its defiance in its nuclear weapons program pose the greatest challenge to peace and security in Iraq and the whole Middle East, as we enter 2005. By sending thousands of Revolutionary Guards and intelligence agents into Iraq, as well as spending hundreds of millions of dollars to recruit mercenaries and enlist support among destitute and impoverished Iraqis, Tehran is hell-bent on steering the Jan. 30 elections in its favor.
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 04 - A demonstration was held today by over 500 nurses in Shiraz (capital of the southern Fars province in Iran).
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 04 - A homeless man was eaten alive by wild wolves in the village of Vali-Asr, near the town of Torbat Heydariya (northeast Iran), Sunday evening. Witnesses at the scene said that they phoned emergency services for help and attempted to fight off the wolves until police arrived but failed as the police did not show up.
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 04 - A member of Irans Majlis (parliament) today admitted to the systematic use of excess force by security forces against citizens. Fakhroldin Heydari, a Majlis deputy from the town of Baneh (northwest Iran) revealed that two individuals in his constituency were shot and killed by aggressive security forces in the past month alone and a number of others were badly wounded.
Iran Focus: Cairo, Jan. 04 Iraqs Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan rejected the idea of direct dialogue with Iran yesterday, saying that Iran had no interest in dialogue and only sought to destabilise Iraq. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al-Gaith, Shaalan also hinted that Iraq should postpone its January 30th general election if Sunni groups who have threatened to boycott the election were willing to participate in one set for a later date.
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 04 - Students from the University of Tabriz (northwestern Iran) have continued their protest on campus following the deans decision to suspend two student union spokespersons.
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 04 - The head of Irans Office to Combat Smuggled Goods estimated that nearly $6 billion of
Iran Focus Analysis: Tehran, Jan. 03 Candidates set to stand in Irans June 17th presidential elections are seen by many Iran experts as right-wing extremists loyal to hardline Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Several of them, including former heads of Irans Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), have announced their candidacy for president.
UPI: Officials of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council said Monday they see no justification for Iran's nuclear program and are skeptical about it.
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 03 - Angry residents in Tehrans 17th district blockaded the main freeway on Saturday protesting against the unsafe conditions which regularly result in fatal accidents.
Iran Focus: Baghdad, Jan. 02 Iranian agents are systematically kidnapping Iraqis for ransom in the southern Iraqi province of Missan, local residents say. Iranian terrorist agents kidnap Iraqis on the Ozeys route and take them to Iran, demanding large ransoms for their return, a local Iraqi said.
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 02 An Iranian official in charge of combating drugs in Iran stated that there are presently more than four million drug addicts in the country. Moussalreza Servati, a member of the Iranian Majlis Social Committee,
Iran Focus:
Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 02 All schools and kindergartens throughout Tehran and Shahre-Rey, south of the Iranian capital, are closed today due to extreme air pollution in the region. Following an emergency meeting by representatives of Irans Health and Interior Ministries yesterday on Tehrans weather conditions it was announced that all schools and kindergartens would be closed today.
Iran Focus: Baghdad, Jan. 01 Iraqs Defence Minister,
Iran Focus: Baghdad, Dec. 31 - The Iraqi interim-Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi, speaking on Iraqi TV today echoed comments made yesterday by Iraqs Defence Minister, about Iranian and Syrian meddling in Iraq. There are countries which host those who are involved in activities that are harmful to the people of Iraq, he said.
Iran Focus:
Iran Focus: Baghdad, Dec. 31 The Iraqi Defence Minister announced yesterday that he has fresh information on Iranian and Syrian meddling in Iraq. I have important information regarding the interference into Iraq by these two countries, Hazem Shaalan said. Speaking on Al-Arabia satellite TV channel, Shaalan stated, The Iraqi people will soon see footage of the confessions of one of the perpetrators who has information about the meddling of these two countries in Iraq.
Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 31 - Recent studies reveal that fourteen percent of all children in Iran are currently working so as to provide income for their families.
If the US and her allies miss the valuable potentials these sensitive moments offer, future developments will not be as generous. READ MORE
The West must drop the dangerous pretence that talking to a regime not interested in listening constitutes the winning strategy. READ MORE
The terrorist attack against Iranian exiles at Camp Liberty, Iraq, is another sign of Iranian regime's weakness. READ MORE
Iran: Bloody crackdown targeting dissidents aims at terrorizing the people into submission. READ MORE
The wheels of Iran's Murder Machine turn in tandem with its nuclear machine. READ MORE
In Istanbul they merely agreed to talk about talking later in May in Baghdad, of all places. READ MORE
The brutal state-imposed bloodbath in Syria deserves uncompromising reproach. READ MORE
The clerical regime in Iran has predictably unleashed another wave of terror against the citizenry since the outburst of the latest string of mass protests beginning on 14 February. READ MORE
The latest round of nuclear talks had an all-too-familiar result: more time for Tehran and less time for the international community to prevent a nuclear-armed theocracy. READ MORE
What would the rest of us do if a mad gunman was in our midst, systematically murdering our fellow human beings in front of our eyes? The responsible amongst us would not look the other way, because that would serve as a source of encouragement for the murderers to carry on with their heinous acts unchecked. READ MORE
The Iranian regime's malicious noose has yet again taken an innocent life. Political prisoner Ali Saremi, 63, was hanged in Tehran's infamous Evin prison after a lifetime of peacefully espousing human rights and democracy. READ MORE
Another round of negotiations with Iran over its precarious nuclear program took place on December 6-7 in Geneva without any results except an agreement on a date for more talks in January. READ MORE
The U.S. State Department issued an advisory earlier this month telling Americans to be vigilant about possible terrorist attacks when travelling to Europe. READ MORE
