Week in Review

DoctorZin provides a review of this past week's [9/18-9/24] major news events regarding Iran. (The reports are listed in chronological order, not by importance)

Ahmadinejad - Returns Home.

• UN.org published Ahmadinejad Saturday's UN Speech. The entire video of the speech can be viewed here.
• Barkeshli, Flickr a slideshow of Ahmadinejad's Gala Event in NYC.
• Rooz Online reported that Ahmadinejad, Iran's hardline president left New York last night for Tehran.
• David Gollust, Voice of America reported that the United States called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's a United Nations speech very aggressive.
• BBC News reported that UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Ahmadinejad's speech was disappointing.
• Iran Press News reported on Ahmadinejad's comments upon arrival in Tehran.
• Kenneth R. Timmerman, FrontPageMagazine reported that the MEK rented demonstrators outside the UN.
  
• Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that nuclear power was an "inalienable right."
• Newsweek published an interview with Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• Dafna Linzer, The Washington Post reported that Ahmadinejad's speech was able to do what weeks of high-level U.S. diplomacy had not: convince skeptical allies that Iran may, in fact, use its nuclear energy program to build atomic bombs. A must read.
• Iran Press News reported that Ahmadinejad said about the EU3: They think they own the world; hopefully an enormous shock will bring them to their senses and they'll realize that things aren't what they think.
• The Daily 'Cuz reports on the similarities between Ahmadinejad and Hitler.
• Rooz Online reported that at the UN, Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's new president called for the establishment of democracy, justice and love of human beings. He asks whether Mr. President's sense of justice includes defending women’s rights.
• The Daily Times reported that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said his country will not follow Pakistan in making official contact with Israel.
• Iran Press News reported on Ahmadinejad's continued terrorist threats at Thursday's military parade.
• Reuters reported that Iran showed off its military might on Thursday and Ahmadinejad said: those who decide to misuse our nation's honour and dignity and want to test what has been tested in the past, should know that the flames of the nation's wrath are very hot and destructive.
• Iranmania reported that EU military attaches walked out in protest at a parade in Tehran Thursday after ballistic missiles were rolled past carrying vitriolic anti-US and Israeli slogans.
• Iranian blogger, Hossein Bastani, Rooz Online compared Khatami's and Ahmadijehad's trips abroad and the accidental events the went with them.
  

Iran's Nuclear Program.

• Reuters reported that the European Union's three main powers began drafting a resolution on Sunday urging the U.N. nuclear watchdog to report Iran to the Security Council.
• The NY Times reported North Korea has pledged to give up its nuclear weapons program. Now the world focuses on Iran.
• Adam Zagorin, Time Magazine warns that Iran is preparing to use oil as a weapon if the EU3 refer Iran to the UN Security Council.
• Kuwait News Agency reported that French Foreign Minister Philipppe Douste-Blazy said referring the Iranian nuclear file to the Security Council is still on the agenda.
• The Observer reported that Iran invited private firms to join its nuclear program, further escalating tensions with the West.
• Eli Lake, The NY Sun reported on the showdown in Vienna Monday, America, Britain, France, and Germany were lobbying for the votes necessary to take Iran to the U.N. Security Council.
• Adnkronos International reported on the inevitable consequences for Iran of North Korea's historic decision to abandon its nuclear activities and rejoin the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
• Forbes reported that the UN atomic agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed El Baradei called on Iran to finally allow access to sensitive sites and key people.
• Louis Charbonneau, Reuters reported that Europe and the United States called for the United Nations' atomic watchdog to bring Iran before the Security Council.
• Bloomberg reported that Iran today agreed to allow stepped- up inspections by United Nations atomic experts.
• Nasser Karimi, Chicago Sun Times reported that Iranian officials said that they have no plans to resume uranium enrichment soon but warned that they might change its mind.
• Ynetnews reported that a majority was secured for referring Iran's nuclear case to the U.N. Security Council.
• Indian Express reported that Iran warned the West on Tuesday it would start uranium enrichment and review its membership of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if sent to the UN Security Council.
• Richard Beeston, The Times UK reported that Britain, France and Germany signaled that they had had enough of Iran’s “failures and breaches” and urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer the country to the UN Security Council.
• Iran Press News reported that Secretary of the High Council of National Security of the regime, Ali Larijani, said: The Security Council is indeed a big stick that's being held over our heads but this is no threat to us and it does not mean that the regime is on it's deathbed.
• USMC_Vet, The Word Unheard argued that while it is being reported today that the EU is set to ask the IAEA to refer Iran to the UN Security Council, it should be noted by the careful observer that this is little more than a stage show worthy of Broadway.
• The Times UK reported that Iranian negotiators threatened to restart uranium enrichment and accused the West of trying to humiliate them.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that an Iranian nuclear official said that if Europeans wish to change the rule of the game, Tehran will reciprocate.
• IranMania reported that France, England and Germany (EU3) distributed their proposed draft resolution against Iran among delegates of 35-member IAEA Governing Council.
• Peter Brookes, RealClearPolitics reported on the burning mysteries that concern world leaders about Iran's nuclear program.
• News Max reported that a Russian diplomat said: Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is really pissed off with the Iranians.
• Reuters reported that top officials from the United States, European Union, Canada and Japan failed to persuade Russia that Iran's nuclear program should be reported to the U.N. Security Council.
• Reuters reported that Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said: Iran may be as little as six months away from completing the know-how to build a nuclear bomb.
• 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 Independent reported that Israel is warning that Iran could have the knowledge to produce a nuclear bomb within six months.
• Zaman reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned: Sending Iran to the United Nations Security Council might back fire.
• Louis Charbonneau, Reuters reported that the European Union's three main powers have dropped a demand that the U.N. nuclear watchdog report Iran to the Security Council.
• The Washington Times reported that any vote on referral of Iran to the UNSC would not come before November.
• EU leaders Philippe Douste-Blazy, Joschka Fischer, Javier Solana and Jack Straw, The Wall Street Journal wrote Iran's nuclear policy requires a collective response.
• Louis Charbonneau, Reuters quoted a EU diplomat who said: The question is, can we live with a Russian 'no' vote? That's what we have to decide.
• Iran Press News on Iranian newspaper suggested the"Trigger Mechanism" for withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
• The Jerusalem Post discussed two things that set the North Korean nuclear case apart from the Iranian one.
• Eli Lake, New York Sun warned Iran and North Korea are the very definition of rogue actors. Trusting them is akin to trusting crack dealers to respect drug-free school zones.
• Louis Charbonneau and Francois Murphy, Reuters reported that the EU powers demand UN report over Iran atomic plans.
• ABC News reported that the European Union has submitted a resolution to the U.N. nuclear watchdog requiring the agency's board to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council.
• Dow Jones Newswires reported that Iran's allies urged it to compromise Friday in an effort to blunt a U.S. backed European push to refer the country to the U.N. Security Council.
• Louis Charbonneau and Francois Murphy, Reuters reported the U.N. nuclear watchdog passed a resolution on Saturday requiring Iran to be reported to the Security Council.
• Mehr News [Regime's News Agency] claimed the International consensus against Iran failed.
• NewIndPress reported that Iran's parliament speaker warned they may suspend the additional protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
  

Akbar Ganji - Back in Jail.

• Dow Jones Newswires reported that a U.N. rights expert asked Iran to release an imprisoned journalist Akbar Ganji.
• Reporters Without Borders noted that Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji has not been allowed any visits since his return to Evin prison, 25 days ago.
  

Who's who in Iran.

• Iranian blogger, Arash Motamed, Rooz Online reported that Commander Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, an extremist in Iranian politics and the former Commander of the Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps has been appointed deputy to Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. He has vowed to destroy those whom he considers to be “enemies” of Islamic culture.
• Iranian blogger, Soheyl Asefi, Rooz Online provided more information on the Hojatieh group.
  

The Power Struggle inside of Iran.

• Iran Press News reported on several multi-million Dollar embezzlement cases within Iran's Ministry of Guidance & Enlightenment.
• 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.
  

Iran's troublemaking.

• Richard Beeston, The Times UK reported the targeting of British military in Iraq by Iran.
• Aawsat.com reported that a teenager was forced against his will to bomb a Shi'a mosque in Iraq. The attack failed; he later admitted to being forced to carry out this mission after being kidnapped, badly beaten and drugged by terrorists.
• 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.
  

U.S. Policy.

• Fox News produced an interview with Secretary Rice. Watch it here.
• Agence France-Presse reported that US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Iran overnight not to overplay its hand in southern Iraq.
• Voice of America reported that President Bush has cautiously welcomed North Korea's pledge to give up its nuclear weapons.
• Time Magazine in an interview with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said U.S. and European diplomatic efforts will soon bear fruit.
• 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.
  

The Iranian Military.

• Claude Salhani, The Washington Times asked: Is Iran preparing for war with the United States?
• IsraCast reported that Iran will launch a Spy Satellite by the end of September.
• Iran Press News reported that the Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Rahim Safavi said: The enemy better comprehend that the regime is not solely a regional power but a world power.
  

Human Rights/Freedom of the press inside of Iran.

• Iran Focus reported that an Iranian man was hanged in Ahwaz and another in Tehran.
• Iranian blogger, Omid Memarian, Rooz Online reported that a member of the central committee of the Islamic Coalition Party once again called for combating civil society groups in Iran.
• Iranian blogger, Morteza Abdolalian, Iran Watch Canada reported that a reporter in Iran exposing about the violation by members of city council and the officials of the municipality in Karaj was forced to resign from his job.
• Iran Press News reported that the Iran's Minister of Information and Security confessed to torturing prisoners.
• Pink News reported that a 22 year old gay Iranian has escaped his home country after being subjected to 100 lashes.
• Iran Press News reported the disappearance of a 19-year-old activist in Mahabad (Greater Kurdistan Province).
• Iran Press News reported that Iran recently arrested 12500 people for the socially corruptive and disorderly use of 3000 satellite dishes.
• Iran Press News reported that Mullah Ahmad Alam-Alhadi said: women must be cast down for improper veiling and those whose one strand of hair even is seen by an unfamiliar male are a tool of the enemy.
• SMCCDI reported that the Islamic regime admits to arresting over 12,000 people in Tehran this month.
• SMCCDI reported that the beginning of the Iranian New Academic Year, starting Saturday, was marked by spread protest actions.
  

Protests inside of Iran.

• Iran Press News reported on further uprisings in the southern city of Ahvaz (Province of Khuzestan).
  
• Iran Focus reported clashes erupted at night in the strategic oil-rich city of Ahwaz, southern Iran, between people and State Security Forces (SSF).
  

The Pro-Democracy Forces Outside of Iran.

• The Associated Press reported that a French-based media watchdog has released a free guide with tips for bloggers and dissidents to sneak past Internet censors in countries from China to Iran. See guide here.
  
• Shaheen Fatemi, Iran va Jahan called upon the Iranian democratic opposition living in the free world to set aside their possible ideological differences and push the international community to support the Iranian people’s campaign for democracy and human rights as a means of solving the nuclear program issue.

Iran and the International community.

• Chanan Tigay, JTA News reported that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned the world: Wake up, the world is facing a serious threat in Iran.
• Iran Press News reported on Rafsanjani's trip to Saudi Arabia and the regime mounting fear regarding a showdown with the West.
• Robert Gibbons, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said: U.S. policy in Iraq is widening sectarian divisions to the point of effectively handing the country to Iran.
• Iranian.ws reported that a South African Foreign Ministry spokeswoman dismissed claims of South Africa's participation in Iran's nuclear program.
• 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.
• Ilan Berman, The Washington Times reported that Iran has been a chief beneficiary of tensions between the U.S. and Turkey.
• 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.
• The Times UK argues that Iran is fast emerging as the only clear beneficiary of the Iraq war.
• LA Times reported that Iran succeeded Wednesday in getting Interpol to cancel international wanted notices for 12 Iranians sought by Argentina in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center.
• Iran Mania reported that Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal's statement implicating Iran in Iraq unrest was surprising and illogical.
• The Arab Network for Human Rights Info reported the Iranian government banned next weeks UN sponsored Regional Civil Society Forum on the Information Society for the Middle East and West Asia.
• Khaleej Times Online reported that Federal investigators in Germany have unearthed new evidence linking Iran to the 1985 bombing of a US military base that injured 35 persons.
  

Insight into the Iranian people.

• The Washington Post reported that Iran has the highest proportion of opiate addicts in the world and some claim the government is encouraging drug use.
  

Can You Believe This?

• Iranian blogger, Mehrdad Sheibani, Rooz Online reported that the new head of the Islamic Republic News Agency apparently thinks the Soviet Union still exists.
• The Washington Post argues that Yahoo Inc. has been assisting despots to shutdown dissident reports from inside of totalitarian regimes.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Britain's Liberal Democrats suggested the European Union should offer Iran a new set of proposals to break the deadlock in negotiations over the country's nuclear program.
• The Guardian UK reported Iran's Islamic rulers are to reconstruct a spectacular tent city that hosted kings, sheikhs and sultans in a 1971 extravaganza. This is a departure for the regime which has denigrated its Persian history in favor of its Islamic identity.
• Iran Press News reported that Mullah Emami-Kashani said: we highly recommend that these Americans come to their senses soon and not embarrass themselves anymore in front of the world. He added: Western youth are depraved and sinister.
  

Must Read reports.

• Stefania Lapenna, Tech Central Station reported that after the London bombings, most of Europe has begun to wake up to the nature of the enemy.
• Telegraph UK reported a serious rift has opened between Tony Blair and Jack Straw over whether to retain the threat of military action against Iran.
• Iranian blogger, Arash Motamed, Rooz Online reports that Ahmadinejad and Larijani are taking the country towards war.
• Pepe Escobar, Asia Times Online argued why Iran can't become the new China.
  

The Experts.

• Amir Taheri, Weekly Standard examined the world's failure to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions.
• Michael Ledeen, The National Review provided a review of under-reported news on Iran and explains why the regime is being so aggressive lately.
• Amir Taheri, Arab News thinks Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s new administration is walking into a trap partly of its own making.
  

Photos, Cartoons, Audio and Video of the week.

• Rooz Online published another cartoon: Target Iran.
• Cox & Forkum published another of their cartoons: UNrehearsed.
• Photo of the leaders of the world: Ahamidnejad Stands Out in a Crowd.
• Iranian Student News Agency published photos of an Alcohol Smuggling Gang Bust in Tehran.
• A Photo from Fars News: Regime Parades Its Military Units.
  

And finally, The Quote of the Week.

Reuters reported that Iran showed off its military might on Thursday and Ahmadinejad said:

"Those who decide to misuse our nation's honour and dignity and want to test what has been tested in the past, should know that the flames of the nation's wrath are very hot and destructive."