Monday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 10.23.2005:

Blair's New Tune on Iran

James G. Forsyth, Foreign Policy:

British officials used to be certain that a military attack on Iran was out of the question. Now, it seems, they’re not so sure. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has decided to play hardball with Iran. Frustrated by the lack of progress in negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program, the British—who used to give Iran the benefit of the doubt—are now hedging their bets on nuclear diplomacy by using Iran’s meddling in Iraq to make military options more palatable to the British public.

Blair’s policy of treating Iran with kid gloves was born out of the conviction that Iran would soon evolve into a democracy. In 1998, a year after Blair won his first election, full diplomatic relations were restored between Britain and Iran (despite the fatwa on British author Salman Rushdie remaining in place). Jack Straw became the first British foreign secretary to visit Tehran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Straw assured the Iranians they were not a target in the post-9/11 war on terror.

Now, though, the tide is turning. READ MORE

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

• Reuters reported that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said military action against Iran over its nuclear program is not on the agenda.
• The Peninsula reported that Iran yesterday rallied behind Syria, its only regional ally, by praising Damascus for cooperating with a UN probe into the killing of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.
• Azar Nafisi, SF Chronicle reported that Akbar Ganji has come to represent the democratic movement in Iran because he has revealed the "true face of the system in the Islamic Republic of Iran."
• Amir Taheri, Jerusalem Post encourages the new leaders in Iraq to get their act together soon.
• And finally, Berlin Alliance against the Al-Quds Day is organizing a protest against the radical Iranian Al Quds day event there.