Following Zarqawi's footsteps in Iran
Newsweek: The Bush administration has repeatedly fingered Abu Mussab al-Zarqawiself-confessed beheader of U.S. hostage Nicholas Berg and other Western captivesas a critical link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. In thevice presidential debate, Dick Cheney said that after U.S.
forces attacked Afghanistan seeking to roust Osama bin Laden, al-Zarqawi "migrated to Baghdad." But other U.S.
officials say the Jordanian terrorist's contacts in neighboring
Iran are probably more extensive than any dealings he had with Saddam.
Washington Times - Commentry: Well, the talks and meetings will go on and on to the next Ramadan and the Ramadan after that and Iran will go on working on its nuclear arms program until it has the Bomb. There will be no deal with Iran no matter how costly nuclear bomb manufacture might be. With oil prices going through the roof, money is not a problem now nor in the foreseeable future. 
Xinhuanet: ABU DHABI - Iran needs to show the world itspeaceful intentions over its nuclear issue, a visiting US official said here on Monday, the official WAM news agency reported.
AFP: The United States on Monday warned Iran against providing any type of support to Al-Qaeda-linked foreign
Xinhuanet: Iran said on Monday that it was well-prepared for "any scenario" over nuclear issue, the official IRNA news agency reported. "I believes that Iran's case will not be referred to the UN Security Council. But, Iran is also well-prepared beforehand for any scenario in this respect," government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh was quoted as saying.
AFP: Spain's leading energy group Repsol YPF has signed a 27-million-dollar (21.6-million-euro) deal with Iran to obtain prospection rights in two fields over the next 30 months, the financial newspaper Expansion reported on Monday. A Repsol YPF statement confirmed the firm would prospect at Mehr and Foruz, near Kish Island off the port of Bushir in the southern Persian Gulf, with the total project covering 14,600 square kilometres (5,000 square miles). 
AFP: Iran's hardline Basij militia has written to UN secretary general Kofi Annan to ask if the Islamic republic can send observers to the US presidential election in November, a government newspaper said on Monday.
Asia News: Hamid Pourmand is a Protestant minister of the Assemblies of God Church. He converted from Islam several years ago. Since September he has been held in prison at an undisclosed location and under Iranian law he can be put to death for "apostasy against Islam". He was arrested on September 9 in Karaj, a town 30 km west of the capital Tehran during a police raid against the annual General Council of the Assemblies of God Church. 
Iran Focus: Tehran, Oct. 18 - The Supreme Court has
Associated Press: Iran won't permit its diplomats to negotiate with European nations over its nuclear program if the goal of talks is to deprive Iran of the right to enrich uranium, Iran's top nuclear negotiator said Monday. 
AFP: Fourteen people were killed and six others injured when
Wall Street Journal - PAULO CASACA: Last April, on a tour of Iraq, I spent several days in a camp north-east of Baghdad populated by several thousand Iranians. They were members of Iranian People's Mujahedeen, an organization the regime in Tehran considers as its enemy number one, with America and Israel. Arriving at Camp Ashraf after traveling around Iraq felt like reaching an oasis. Traffic police who imposed fines on speeding; Ashraf was the only place I found in Iraq where
Financial Times: Iranian officials reacted cautiously to plans
South Florida Sun Sentinel: The war in Iraq has developed into what can be viewed as a battle between the free world and Islamic fundamentalism. The mullahs in Iran wish to destroy the hopes of the Iraqi people for freedom and democracy by provoking instability in Iraq and eventually to bring an Islamic fundamentalist government to power. Iraq is the arena where international terrorism demonstrates its real face -- Islamic fundamentalism -- and its actual sponsor, the Islamic
AP: Iran reiterated Sunday that it won't accept any proposal depriving it of the right to enrich uranium, saying it can't be bullied into giving up its nuclear energy program, state media reported.
TIME Magazine: On one subject, at least, Europe and the U.S. are united: neither wants Iran to get the bomb. But officials on both sides of the Atlantic are pessimistic about a deal with Tehran that could prevent it from developing the capacity to build a nuclear weapon. "We're giving it another try, but there's
BBC: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Iran must take more steps to dispel concern about its nuclear programme, Russian media have reported. He said Iran should ratify a protocol signed last year with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and end its uranium enrichment programme. Iran says it will reject any proposal for a complete halt to such activities. .jpg){kind=icon}
