Bloomberg: Syria’s central bank said a $1 billion credit line from Iran will help to prop up the pound, which weakened after the U.S. decided last week to arm rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. Read more...
Reuters: Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief, Prince Muqrin, once told American diplomats the Middle East's so-called Shi'ite Crescent where the Muslim sect holds sway was "becoming a full moon" as Iranian influence spread.
AFP: Iran's ancient citadel of Bam, almost completely destroyed by a major earthquake in 2003, has been removed from the UNESCO list of "World Heritage in Danger", a spokesman said.
AFP: The European Union and Iran begin talks Monday
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ...
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.
Washington Times - Editorials: In just the latest move that
Iran Focus: Paris, Dec. 11 A three-day exhibition of a
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.
New York Times: The Bush administration says the prospect
AFP: An Iranian woman arrested in a judicial crackdown on reformist journalists was freed on bail but needed hospital treatment due to her detention, her husband told AFP on Saturday. According to Ahmad Beigloo, journalist Fereshteh Ghazi "was kept in solitary confinement for 38 days and had to be checked into hospital as she was not in a good physical or mental shape".
AFP: German investigators probing the possible illegal sale of lorries to Iran have searched offices at giant automaker DaimlerChrysler, the company said on Saturday. A DaimlerChrysler spokeswoman confirmed a report set to be published on Monday in German weekly Focus.
AFP: Iran goes into crucial nuclear talks with the EU Monday under a new cloud of suspicion that it is bent on developing an atomic bomb, after diplomats said it was conducting secret high-energy neutron experiments that could have a dual use. The diplomats told AFP there was concern since the experiments are allegedly taking place under military supervision, in a country which claims its nuclear program is a strictly civilian peaceful endeavor.
AFP: Iran will be looking for concrete EU support and a slight softening of United States policy when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meets Monday to consider the Islamic republic's membership application. The question has been raised at the WTO's General Council meetings since May
AFP: A crash involving four cars in southeastern Iran has killed 15 people and left three others injured, the state news agency IRNA reported Saturday. Local traffic police chief Ardavan Ghasemi said the accident occurred between Zahedan and Khash in Sistan-Baluchestan province.
The Independent: The treatment of Arash Nassouri was brutal. "They hung me upside down and handcuffed me with a bar under my knees," he says. "They started kicking and punching me ... beating me in every part of my back, my stomach, face, everywhere. My backbone was broken. But the pain was worst when they hit my face. My nose was already broken, ...
AFP: High-energy neutron experiments in Iran that could be either civilian oriented or related to making an atomic bomb have raised suspicions since they are allegedly conducted under military supervision, diplomats told AFP Friday and in recent interviews. The experiments, carried out with a neutron generator, are thought to be taking place at an alleged base of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.
Radio Free Europe: Baha'is are Iran's largest religious
Gulf Daily News: German steel and engineering group ThyssenKrupp has ended a 30-year relationship with Iran, appearing to bow to pressure from the US in a move which could lead Tehran to sell its remaining shares. ThyssenKrupp will not nominate an Iranian representative to its ...
UN High Commissioner for Refugees: For more than a year and a half, they had lived under tents in the inhospitable desert of the no man's land between Jordan and Iraq. In the early hours of Thursday, waiting for the plane that was to take them to their
AFP: Substantive talks on a nuclear, political and trade cooperation pact between Iran and the European Union will begin next week with a ministerial meeting in Brussels, an Iranian official said Friday. "After an agreement at the ministerial level, I believe we can start the working groups immediately on December 14 or 15," said Hossein Moussavian, an aid to Iran's nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani.
AFP: US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday that the international community must keep a close eye on Iran's nuclear activities to ensure it does not violate a hard-won deal to suspend uranium enrichment. He told French television that while the United States accepted the accord struck by Iran and the European Union, it would not drop its guard.
UPI: The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog is warning Iran's nuclear program remains a danger to world security. But Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also says there is no alternative to dialogue between Tehran and the IAEA plus credible inspections, the Financial Times reported Friday.
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
