New York Times: Iran and its European partners pledged Monday to work to overcome their differences and lingering suspicions as they began negotiations for a long-term agreement on nuclear, economic and security cooperation.
Iran and Europeans Open a New Round of Negotiations
New York Times: Iran and its European partners pledged Monday to work to overcome their differences and lingering suspicions as they began negotiations for a long-term agreement on nuclear, economic and security cooperation.
Mentally-ill girl who was sold for sex faces death penalty in Iran
The Independent: A teenage girl with a mental age of eight is facing the death penalty for prostitution in Iran. The trial comes only four months after the hanging of another mentally ill girl for sex before marriage in a case that has prompted a human rights lawyer to prepare a charge of wrongful execution against the presiding judge.Teenage sex slave sentenced to death
Daily Telegraph: A 19-year-old Iranian girl with a mental age of eight who was forced into prostitution by her mother has been sentenced to be flogged and executed for 'morality-related' offences, Amnesty International said yesterday. The human rights pressure group has asked Iran's supreme court to stay the execution. The girl, named only as Leyla M, had suffered a "litany of abuse", it said.Hardliners cement power in Iran, nuclear ambitions worry world
AFP: Iran's Islamic regime remained at the centre of international concerns in 2004 by pressing on with a suspect nuclear programme, testing new ballistic missiles, ousting reformists from office and clamping down on dissent. After an often turbulent experiment with reforms, powerful hardliners marked the Islamic republic's 25th anniversary by barring allies of President Mohammad Khatami from standing in February's parliamentary elections on the grounds of their questionable loyalty to the regime.Clashes in northern Iran leave scores injured, security vehicles destroyed
Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 13 - Workers and local residents in the northern Iranian city of Amol clashed with the security forces, leaving scores injured and a number of security vehicles destroyed. Workers from Amol's Textile Factory demonstrated outside the local governor's office after the factory claimed bankruptcy whilst owing the workers back-pay ...Iran nuke talks launched
Reuters: Three European powers and Iran have begun talkson a long-term agreement on nuclear, economic and security cooperation with both sides seeking to build trust amid continuing suspicion over Tehran's atomic programme. The meeting between Iranian negotiator Hassan Rohani, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana followed Iran's agreement last month to suspend activities that could help make a
nuclear bomb.
Iran: Girl With Mental Age of Eight Given Death Sentence After Mother Forced Her Into Prostitution F
Amnesty International: A 19-year old girl, Leyla M, who has a mentalage of eight, reportedly faces imminent execution for morality-related offences after being forced into prostitution by her mother as a child. According to a Tehran newspaper report of 28 November, she was sentenced to death by a court in the central Iranian city of Arak and the sentence has now been passed to the Supreme Court for confirmation.
Iran parliament launches probe into reformist culture ministry
AFP: Iran's conservative-held parliament has decided to investigate the activities of the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance, one of the few institutions still run by reformers, the official news agency IRNA reported Monday. According to the report, deputies in the parliament's culture committee ...Iran government voices concern over journalist 'confessions'
AFP: Iran's reformist government admitted Monday that it was concerned over how the hardline judiciary managed to exact written apologies and confessions from several detained dissident journalists. "People making statements that go against their convictions cannot win the confidence of public opinion and raise questions," government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh told journalists.
Former head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards announces bid for presidency
AFP: The former head of Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezai, announced on Monday that he will stand in presidential elections scheduled for mid-2005. "People need candidates who are efficient as well as politically serious," Rezai told a news conference, adding that he had "clear plans for management and solving people's problems." Tension rises as Iran is accused of trying to rig Iraq poll
Sunday Times: Claims of an Iranian plot to manipulate forthcoming elections in neighbouring Iraq have complicated plans for next months polls and heightened tension between the Sunni and Shiite factions in Baghdad. Scrutiny of Tehrans role in allegedly attempting to influence the Iraqi poll has risen after a claim by King Abdullah of Jordan that more than 1m Iranians have crossed their 900-mile long border with Iraq. WTO Agrees Entry Talks with Iraq, U.S. Blocks Iran
Reuters:The World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed Monday to begin accession talks with Iraq and Afghanistan, but the United States again blocked any such negotiations with Iran, diplomats said. The go-ahead for Iraq and Afghanistan came with no dissenting voice among the trade body's 148 member states, but Washington said it was still studying Iran's request -- the same answer it has given for the past three years.British FM presses Iran to respect nuclear freeze, Iran says research exempt
AFP: Iran must respect the spirit as well as the letter of an agreed nuclear fuel cycle freeze, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said ahead of EU-Iran talks Monday on confidence measures to show Tehran is not making atomic weapons. But Tehran hinted it was ready to reintroduce a demand, already refused by the European Union, for some nuclear equipment to be exempted from the freeze.IAEA Leader's Phone Tapped
Washington Post: The Bush administration has dozens of intercepts of Mohamed ElBaradei's phone calls with Iranian diplomats and is scrutinizing them in search of ammunition to oust him as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to three U.S. government officials. EU and Iran begin difficult talks on nuclear program
AFP: The European Union and Iran begin talks Mondaytowards giving Tehran trade, technology and security rewards for suspending crucial nuclear activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons. The process is fraught with difficulties since Iran says its suspension of uranium enrichment, a key step in making nuclear fuel, is a temporary measure designed to show its intentions are peaceful while EU negotiators ...
Iran is not imminent nuclear threat: ElBaradei
AFP: Iran's nuclear programme does not constitute an immediate threat, the head of the UN atomic watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, said in an interview published here on Sunday. Iranian customs officers arrested over smuggling
AFP: Iran's judiciary has arrested 18 people, most of them customs officials, for involvement in a smuggling racket that brought in millions of dollars of televisions, DVD players and hi-fi systems, the state news agency IRNA said Sunday. Iran says US Mideast reform agenda 'not beneficial' to region
AFP: Iran on Sunday accused the United States of selfishly "pursuing its own interests" by pushing for reforms in the Arab and Muslim world, saying the initiative was of no benefit to the Middle East. "America is only pursuing its own interests, and we believe plans imposed from the outside will not be of any benefit to the region," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. Iran Refuses to Give Up Nuclear Research-Diplomats
Reuters: Iran intends to use Monday's talks with France, Britain and Germany to ensure it has the right to go on carrying out research with equipment that could be used to develop nuclear weapons, Western diplomats said. Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rohani, will meet foreign ministers of the EU's "big three" in Brussels on Monday for talks on details of a deal that would reward Iran for taking steps to assure the world it is not developing an atom bomb.Iran warns it will quit nuclear talks with EU if no progress made
AFP: Iran's top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani warned Sunday that the Islamic republic would abandon key talks with the European Union on its nuclear programme if it was clear no progress was being made. The talks, set to begin in Brussels on Monday, are aimed at building on Iran's agreement to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment ... Iran says permanent enrichment freeze 'not on agenda' in talks with EU
AFP: Iran said on the eve of crucial talks with Britain, France and Germany that it was not prepared to accept a permanent freeze of its controversial nuclear fuel work. "The permanent suspension of enrichment is not on our agenda. A short-term freeze is what we are stressing," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. Whitewashing Iran
Washington Times - Editorials: In just the latest move thatcalls into question the seriousness of its efforts to learn the truth about Iran's nuclear weapons program, the International Atomic Energy Agency apparently withheld information suggesting that Iran had attempted to purchase large quantitities of dual-use material (items with civilian and military uses) which can be used to detonate an atomic weapon.
Iran Human Rights Conference, Exhibition in Paris Draws Crowds
Iran Focus: Paris, Dec. 11 A three-day exhibition of aquarter-century of human rights violations in Iran, sponsored
by over 30 European human rights organizations, began with
a conference in Paris on Friday and is drawing large crowds
of French and Iranian visitors.
U.S. and Europe Are at Odds, Again, This Time Over Iran
New York Times: Despite a renewed American effort to repair relations with Europe, a disagreement between the Bush administration and European leaders over how best to persuade Iran to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons program has deepened in recent weeks, diplomats on both sides say.
