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
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.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 salesmanfor 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.
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.649 under-14 girls arrested in Iran capital
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jan. 23 The commander of Iran's State Security Forces in Tehran announced that 649 teenage girls under 14 years of age have been arrested in the Iranian capital over the past ten months.
The SSF chief told a press conference in Tehran yesterday, "Of the 59,121 individuals arrested in Tehran over the past ten months, 3969 of them were women; 649 were girls under the age of 14".
Iran town of 120,000 has only single expert doctor
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 23 The 120,000 residents of the town of Aq-Qala in Golestan province (northern Iran) only have a single children's doctor, and are forced to travel to neighbouring cities to have their children seen to. "Patients who are not able to get treatment in this town must travel to neighbouring cities", an Aq-Qala resident said, in an interview with the state-run news agency.Pakistan joins US in attacking Iran over support for terror
Sunday Telegraph: Pakistan, one of America's most important allies in the war on terror, has blamed Iran for fuelling a growing insurgency in Baluchistan, the strategically sensitive province where militant tribesmen have recently launched a series of terrorist attacks.
Officials in Islamabad believe Iran is encouraging "intruders" from its own Bal-och community to cross the 550-mile
Leading article: Blairs Iranian nightmare
Sunday Times - Leaders: Even with the finest speechwriters, President George W Bush never quite hits the rhetorical heights of some of his more spellbinding predecessors. But his inaugural speech last week, the first since America was changed for ever by September 11, pressed many of the right buttons. As a statement of his countrys modern-day mission, the pursuit of liberty and freedom around the globe, it could hardly have been more eloquent.
Iran denies women can run for presidency: Update
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 22 Iran has denied allowing women to take part in this year's presidential elections.
This morning Reuters news agency reported that Iran's legislative watchdog had said that women could run in June's presidential election, clearing up an ambiguous article of the constitution. Separately, several political groups within the regime congratulated the head of the Guardian Council.
Iran student to be flogged 74 times, serve 2 years in prison
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 22 An Iranian medical student was sentenced to two years prison time and 74 lashes by Iran's Revolutionary Court on political charges, according to a state-run news agency. Reza Ashrafpour, a young man studying dentistry in Iran's University of Medical Sciences had been charged with "acting against national security", ...Iran denies allowing women to take part in presidential elections
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 22 Iran has denied allowing women to take part in this year's presidential elections. This morning Reuters news agency reported that Iran's legislative watchdog had said that women could run in June's presidential election, clearing up an ambiguous article of the constitution.
Some 16,000 unemployed doctors in Iran
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 22 Iran has nearly 16,000 unemployed doctors and general practitioners, according to the head of Iran's General Practitioners Association. "Nearly 16,000 graduated general practitioners are either unemployed or working in other professions throughout the country", Hossein Hoveida said in an interview with a hardline state-run news agency.It wouldn't take a war to overthrow Iran's mullahs
Daily Telegraph - Leaders: We can be sloppy in our approach to foreign affairs. Because of their geographical and alphabetical proximity, we tend to bracket Iran and Iraq together.
You will hear even politicians and television presenters committing the solecism of describing Iranians as Arabs. It is imprecision of this kind that is clouding the debate over the proper response to the mullahs.
Father of political prisoner in Iran says son in solitary cell
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 21 The father of an Iranian political prisoner who has been held without charge in Tehran's notorious Evin prison said that his son was being kept in solitary confinement for the past three months despite government assurances that such practices were not being carried out. In an interview with the Prague-based Radio Farda the father of Saeid Massouri, a member of the main Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, said yesterday that his son was transferred to a solitary cell in Evin prison just over three months ago, without any explanation as to why he was forced there.90 percent of Iran population under poverty line: MP
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 21 - A member of Iran's Majlis (parliament) said today that at least 90 percent of the country's population is under the poverty line. "90 percent of the population are living under the poverty line and only ten percent of the people have access to social services provided by the government", Mohammad Abbaspour said in an interview ...25 people killed in Iranian bus accident
AFP: Twenty-five people were killed in northern Iran on Friday when the bus they were riding in skidded off a mountain road into a ravine, student news agency ISNA reported. Another seven people were injured in the accident on the road between Tehran and Babolsar, which occurred when the driver swerved to avoid rocks falling from the mountainside. Fear of imminent execution
Amnesty International - URGENT ACTION: Ali, a 16-year-old student, may be at risk of imminent execution for the murder of another student in his high school, which took place between mid-January and mid-February 2003. Amnesty International has recently learned that Ali was sentenced to death in June 2004, and his sentence has already been confirmed by the Supreme Court.
Over 1,000 arrested on drug charges in northern Iran province
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 21 At least 1,000 people were arrested in the Caspian province of Gilan (northern Iran) on drug related charges, according to the Public Relations department of State Security Forces in Gilan.
Thirteen kilograms of drugs including opium and cannabis were confiscated, over the past week.
8 injured after explosion in Iran prison
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 21 An explosion in the centralprison in the town of Zahedan (southeast Iran) left at least
eight wounded.
Officials announced that the explosion was due to a malfunctioning air capsule.
