Wednesday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 9.21.2005:

Iran Taken on a War Path

Iranian blogger, Arash Motamed, Rooz Online:

With the performance of Iran’s UN delegation in New York, Iranian political circles inside and outside the country now have more reason for concern. Ahmadinejad spoke of combat at the UN and shut the door to “politics” while Larijani has appointed hardliners as negotiators over the nuclear issue. Both issues are interpreted in Iranian political analysts to mean one thing: Ahmadinejad and Larijani are taking the country towards war. ...

Observers note that with the North Korean agreement, Iran now remains the only member of axis of evil challenging the West. It is perhaps in this light that Aftab website which is close to Jamiate Isargaran (Islamic Revolution Devotees’ Society) which had endorsed Galibaf as the presidential candidate claims that US president Bush has forwarded the missile attack on Iran to NATO. READ MORE

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

• Iran Press News reported the disappearance of a 19-year-old activist in Mahabad (Greater Kurdistan Province).
• Iran Press News discussed Kuwait's Daily, Al Seyassah which said: The regime in Tehran has refused to heed the warnings... that will result in punitive actions leading up to their being surrounded and finally going to war.
• Iran Press News reported on several multi-million Dollar embezzlement cases within Iran's Ministry of Guidance & Enlightenment.
• Ilan Berman, The Washington Times reported that Iran has been a chief beneficiary of tensions between the U.S. and Turkey.
• Pepe Escobar, Asia Times Online argued why Iran can't become the new China.
• JTA News reported that Sen. Rick Santorum introduced legislation in the Senate to restrict American businesses from obtaining nuclear-fuel assemblies from anyone that also sells them to Iran.
• Reuters reported that the EU hardened its stance on Iran.
• The Guardian UK reported that while the U.S. pressed its case to have Iran hauled before the U.N. Security Council, Iran sent Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh to Vienna to try to build support for Tehran.
• BBC Monitoring reported that Iranian newspapers in Iran are in defiant mood in respect to its nuclear crisis.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that the recent surge of violence in Basra, Iraq's second-biggest city, has raised new doubts about the U.S.-led coalition's strategy for pacifying southern Iraq by giving free rein to Shiite religious militias with ties to neighboring Iran.
• The Independent reported that Israel is warning that Iran could have the knowledge to produce a nuclear bomb within six months.
• Yahoo News reported that Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew said he told Iran again that Canada expected justice to be rendered in the murder of Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi.
• ABC News reported that Israel and Iran clashed at the United Nations General Assembly, accusing each other of threatening Middle East and world peace.
• Adnkronos International reported that Faezeh Hashemi, the president of the Iranian women's sports federation, launched a scathing attack against the country's new president.
• Zaman reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned: Sending Iran to the United Nations Security Council might back fire.
• And finally, Iranian Student News Agency published photos of an Alcohol Smuggling Gang Bust in Tehran.