Wednesday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 10.18.2005:

Iran Supreme Leader hints at a nuclear breakthrough

Iran Focus:

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a blistering attack on “the corrupt global powers” that the Islamic Republic of Iran was on a historical mission to challenge “the domination of the corrupt financial and political powers on the international scene”, state-owned dailies reported on Tuesday.

“The only entity capable of challenging the hideous world order is a common international entity that is taking shape with the Islamic Republic of Iran at its core”, Khamenei told a group of hard-line university students, who frequently interrupted his speech with chants of “death to the opponents of the Supreme Leader, death to America, death to England (sic.)”. ...

Khamenei noted intriguingly that “the Islamic Republic of Iran has resolved the nuclear problem”, in what some analysts believe could be a hint at a possible breakthrough in the theocratic state’s quest to develop nuclear weapons. READ MORE

Is it too late?

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

• The Financial Times reported that Syria's fractious opposition groups joined forces to release the "Damascus declaration" which calls for ending all forms of political repression.
• CBC reported that more than 20 suspects have been detained for bombings in southwestern Iran and Iran's president accused Britain of being behind the bombings.
• Winston, The Spirit of Man asked will Iran disintegrate after the fall of the regime?
• Iran Focus reported that students from a female dormitory of Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran started another protest.
• Iran Press News reported that prisoners of Adelabad prison in Shiraz protested their horrible conditions and brutal treatment.
• Iran Press News reported that Revolutionary Guard commander Ahmadi-Moqadam reported the regime is preparing a new way to deal with social corruption and said: This plan will be soon implemented all over Iran.
• Iran Press News reported that with the creation of the squads of women terrorist martyrdom-seekers, a new independent organization has begun encouraging men to do the same.
• Iran Press News reported that in Iran one of the most important factors for the death of newborn babies is the mothers' illiteracy.
• Iran Press News reported that a group of teachers this time from the provinces of Fars and Kermanshah, gathered today in protest in front of the main gates of the Islamic Parliament's Assembly.
• Iran Press News reported that blogger, Omid Sheikhaan was sentenced to prison but first 2 lashes!
• Iran Press News reported that Ali Larijani, the secretary of the High Council of National Security of Iran, traveled to South Africa for talks on the nuclear issue.
• Iran Press News reported that a member of the Islamic Parliament's Assembly, representing the city of Sanandadj said: The Kurds and Sunnis in the Province of Kurdistan have had it... their patience has been tested and will not stand for a non-Kurd, Shiite Governor.
• Reuters reported that Iran appears to have imposed a ban on South Korean imports in retaliation for Seoul backing a U.N. nuclear agency resolution against it.
• Amir Taheri, The NY Post argued that with the latest vote in Iraq we should now prepare for the real fight.
• Reporters Without Borders accused the Iranian government of seeking to increase its control of the Internet, with more sites banned and an overhaul of filtering system planned.
• Dan Plesch, The Guardian asked: Are we Going to War with Iran?
• Agence France-Presse reported that Iran sent its own indictment against Saddam Hussein to Iraq's government.
• Iran Focus reported that in some regions of the country, Iran’s para-military police, the State Security Forces (SSF), have been given unlimited powers to raid and search premises
• John Ross, American Daily argued that the Mullahs of Iran should return to their Mosques, before they destroy Iran.
• Michael Ledeen, National Review Online published one of his famous interviews with the deceased "James Jesus Angleton" on the Zawahiri-Zarqawi letter.
• TurkishPress reported that Iranian police said they had defused a large bomb planted under a bridge in the restive southwestern city of Ahvaz.
• Folkpartiet reported on member's of the Swedish Parliament support of political prisoners in Islamic Republic prisons.
• Shahram Rafizadeh, Rooz Online reported that Iran is preparing to block SMS (Short Message Service) fearing it can be used by the government's critics and opposition groups.
• ICFTU Online reported that the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions reported on repression and violence in Iran.
• And finally, Reuters reported that Iran's leading hardline newspapers called for the cutting of diplomatic ties with Britain.