Tuesday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 5.17.2005:

Tehran's Conservative Bazaar Now Reject the Whole System

Robert Tait, The Guardian:

With polling a month away, those in Tehran's conservative bazaar now reject the whole system

Sitting in Tehran's grand bazaar, once the spiritual heart and financial lifeblood of Iran's Islamic revolution, the man fidgeting with the prayer beads ventured a fiercely uncompromising opinion of his country's ruling elite.

"We won't vote for any of them, they are all robbers," he declared, his voice rising with indignation. "All of them have been lying to us."

The trenchant views of Hasan, 50, a textile wholesaler, might have been unremarkable but for his Islamic background and the staunchly conservative setting in which they were expressed. READ MORE

This is a HUGE development! If this report is accurate and the regime has lost the support of the Bazaaree, its days are numbered. The Bazaar is an economic powerhouse in Iran.

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• Iran Press Service reports an Iranian activists as saying, “People are expecting something to happen; something like in Ukraine...”
• Dow Jones Newswires reports that Total SA (TOT) Chairman Thierry Desmarest Tuesday said the French oil company will respond to an inquiry from the U.S. stock-market watchdog for details about its operations in Iran.
• The Globe and Mail reports that Canada will further limit diplomatic contacts with Iran to push for a new investigation into the death of a Canadian photojournalist.
• CNN.com reports that Iran's foreign minister arrived in Baghdad for talks with top Iraqi officials.
• The New York Times reports that Britain has concluded that Iran is "quite serious" in its threats to resume uranium enrichment activities.
• WorldTribune.com reports that China has dismissed U.S. sanctions and apparently believes it can more than compensate for lost U.S. business by continuing to export missile components and technology to Iran.
  
• World Tribune.com reports that Israel's military and Hizbullah have engaged in their heaviest clash in 2005.
• And finally, The Student Movement's website is back online. Thanks to everyone who helped. It may take a day or two for everything to work properly, be patient. (psst... the link above works).