Sunday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 8.7.2005:

Iran not worried about Security Council referral

Parisa Hafezi, Reuters:

Iran insisted on Sunday it would resume uranium conversion this week after rejecting EU incentives to end its nuclear fuel work, and said it was not worried about being referred to the U.N. for possible sanctions. ...

The hardline Kayhan newspaper, which has long called for Iran to kick out U.N. inspectors and withdraw from the NPT, on Sunday argued that Iran was in fact not a member of the treaty since parliament had not ratified it. READ MORE

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

• Payvand News reported that Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told the U.S. not to make a "big mistake" by denying visa to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• Reuters reported that Shirin Ebadi urged her client, dissident journalist Akbar Ganji, to end a 58-day-old hunger strike.
• Reuters reported that two people have been killed, eight injured and 145 arrested in unrest among the Kurds of western Iran.
• Iranian blogger, Windsteed, Iran Hopes discussed recent arguments in the Iranian press that Iran is no longer a bound to the Non-proliferation Treaty.
• Iran Focus, an MEG website, reported that women will not be included in the cabinet of Iran‚’s new hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• Iran Focus, an MEK website, reported that Iran's State Security Forces have been on heightened alert on Sunday in the Kurdish town of Bukan.
• Yahoo News reported that Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called for closer cooperation with Syria in the face of pressure on both countries from the United States.
• The Sunday Times UKreported that Iran signaled a confrontation with the West yesterday by rejecting the European Union's offer.
• Kuwait News Agency reported on the visit Sunday of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to Tehran saying it is of great importance.
• SMCCDI reported on the general strike has started to paralyze northwestern Iran.
• EurasiaNet provided a briefing on the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and its expanding role in Ahmadinejad's government.
• The International Herald Tribune reported that Iran on Sunday reiterated plans to resume uranium conversion this week, possibly as soon as Monday.
• Canada Free Press took issue with Jimmy Carter's statements against U.S. policy and reminded us of his contribution to our current problems with Iran.

And finally, a couple of cartoons of Ahmadinejad:

• Roozonline: Big chair or small president.
• Roozonline: the nuclear pressure on the new president.