Tuesday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 7.5.2005:

The Prez and the Hit Squad

Amir Taheri, New York Post:

THE winner in Iran's recent presidential election, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, makes no secret that he is a professional revolutionary, having spent all his adult years in the service of the Khomeinist movement. But was he the chief interrogator of American diplomats held hostage during the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979-80? And was he involved in the assassination of three dissident Kurdish leaders in Vienna in 1989? ...

Ahmadinejad's presence at the killing of the Kurdish leaders in Vienna on July 13, 1989, however, is an established fact. He was wounded in the shoot-out and spent a day in a Vienna hospital before being whisked out of Austria with a diplomatic passport. READ MORE

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

• SMCCDI reported that for the third time this year, the SMCCDI website was shut down, allegedly for emailing spam.
• Iran Focus reported that guards in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, where political prisoners are held, carried out a raid on cells in Ward 350.
• Iran Focus obtained the photograph of Iran’s President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with Ayatollah Khomeini’s Chief Representative in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in the 1980s. Photo.
• Iran Focus reported that a clique of 300 men with family ties have been running the Islamic Republic from the time of the 1979 Iranian revolution until present.
• Iran Focus reported that a hospital belonging to the Revolutionary Guards in the Iranian capital is refusing entry for women not wearing the head-to-toe covering known as chador.
• St Petersburg Times reported that Russia is reportedly in talks to upgrade three Iranian submarines with missile weapons systems.
• The Jerusalem Post reported that the leading Polish presidential candidate said, an Iranian attempt to develop nuclear weapons would be the greatest threat to peace on earth.
• Voice of America News reported a meeting between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and France's new foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy. The French minster said, the EU-Three will never accept a resumption of military nuclear activities by Iran.
• Adnkronos International reported that the Iranian opposition views this G8 Summit with hope.
• IranMania reported that Iran's Judiciary system says will not carry out eye-for-eye verdict.
• The Guardian UK reported that Iran's hard-line Revolutionary Guards pledged their loyalty to the country's ultraconservative president-elect.
• Iranian blog, Roozonline reported that days before the G8 summit, rumor has it the U.S. will arrive with plans in tow for military action against Iran. Another.
• Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem Post reported that the mask is off the Iranian regime, but the world does not seem to care.
• Eli Lake, The NY Sun reported that jailed Iranian dissident journalist Akbar Ganji has defied the will of his captors, vowing to refuse to end his 26-day hunger strike.
• BusinessWeek reported that since the Iranian President-elect is anti-capitalist and anti-West, investment may suffer.
• Reuters reported that the government of Iran seeks to toughen punishments for alcohol crimes.
• And finally, The Jerusalem Post reported that there are three potential futures for Arab countries and the recent election in Iran tells a great deal about these alternatives.