Sunday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 7.3.2005:

A "Terrorist, Torturer and Executioner"

Tony Allen-Mills, The Times UK:

Ahmadinejad'’s surprise victory in last month'’s poll has unleashed a flood of accusation, innuendo and investigation of his militant pedigree. Accused by his enemies of orchestrating a string of murders in the 1980s and 1990s, Ahmadinejad, 49, is also being scrutinized by US intelligence agencies over claims that he participated in the student takeover of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979. READ MORE

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

• Middle East Newsline reported the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah has offered $100,000 for the abduction of an Israeli soldier.
• Khaleej Times reported that Iran threatened Bahrain after a newspaper published a cartoon deemed insulting to the Islamic republic'’s supreme leader.
• The Post-Gazette suggested that the blatant manipulation of an already sham election to install a hard-line reactionary as president " suggests that the Ayatollah Khameini, chief of the Guardian Council, no longer sees a need to put a "reformist" face on the regime. That suggests to me that Iran is very close to -- or already possesses -- a nuclear weapon and the means to deliver it.
• Khaleej Times reported that a close aide to Iranian president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran's nuclear policies will change under the new government.
• BBC Monitoring Service provides a glimpse into a week in the Iranian courts.
• St Petersburg Times reported that Iranian leaders are just waiting for U.S. troops to leave Iraq.
• The Washington Times reported that Ahmedinejad said his country needs a strong army to "form a great resource for the country and its people." He added that Iran was "pivotal in bringing security to the Islamic world."
• The Jerusalem Post counseled Tony Blair to push the EU to place Hezbollah on its list of terrorist organizations, as a first step towards dealing with Iran.
• The Peninsula reported that Iran is in talks with Indian and Chinese firms that are interested in developing the Azadegan oil field.
• And finally, The Guardian UK reported that Iran claimed that its hardline president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was the victim of a smear campaign.