Friday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 11.11.2005:

The Cicero Article

Dan Darling, The Weekly Standard: A German magazine offers insight into Iran's ongoing support for terrorism.

WHILE IRANIAN PRESIDENT Mahmood Ahmadinejad's recent call to wipe Israel off the map has elicited a great deal of much-needed international condemnation, relatively little focus has been paid since to Iran's long-standing support for international terrorism. Thankfully, a recent article published in the German political magazine Cicero, titled "How Dangerous is Iran?" serves as a welcome supplement to the Iranian president's remarks that, among other things, argues that Iran is currently harboring the surviving al Qaeda leadership.

This information is by no means new. In September 2003 for example, the Washington Post reported that "after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the locus of al Qaeda's degraded leadership moved to Iran. The Iranian security services, which answer to the country's powerful Islamic clerics, protected the leadership." But the same article also claimed that after the May 2003 Riyadh bombings "the Iranians, under pressure from the Saudis, detained the al Qaeda group." Most news reports on Iranian support for terrorism since then have claimed that the al Qaeda leaders are being held in some form of light detention or perhaps loose house arrest.

According to the new information in Cicero, however, whatever the situation might have been in May 2003, it is no longer the case. ...

The article's revelations, however, go far beyond that: READ MORE

A must read.

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

• Iran Press News reported that teachers and workers continue their protests all around Iran.
• Iran Press News reported that the Republic of Azerbaijan’s intelligence service had identified an Iranian spy network in their country.
• Iran Press News reported that the director of “The National Affiliation of Youth” announced, “taking the ‘red’ path of the martyrs is the shortest path to the final destination”. Photo.
• Iran Focus reported that Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security cautioned the heads of the various news organisations against publishing “unofficial news” regarding Tehran’s controversial nuclear work.
• George Jahn, The Guardian reported that the United States and Europe have agreed on a compromise plan to accept expanded nuclear activities by Iran.
• Karmel Melamed, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reported that at a protest in Los Angeles, representatives of eight Southern California-based Persian language media outlets - two newspapers, four television programs and two radio stations, all owned by Iranian Muslims condemned the Iranian president. Photo.
• Gordon Cucullu, The New York Post reviewed Peter Brookes new book, "A Devil's Triangle," a comprehensive, highly readable and fact-filled summary of the threats that confront America and the West.
• Office of the Press Secretary, The White House reported on a message to the Congress of the United States from President Bush.
• Reuters, Khaleej Times Online reported that the Germany’s designated foreign minister said that Iran is not being fully open with UN inspectors about its nuclear programme and may still be hiding something.
• Abbas Milani, The International Herald Tribune reminds us of Iran's traditional support of the Jewish people and Iran.
• Vahid Sepehri, Radio Free Europe discussed how a shift in power in Iran has left the "reformists" out in the cold.
• MSNBC reported that a Hezbollah militant has been identified as the suicide bomber in Argentina who flattened a Jewish community center in 1994, killing 85 people .
• Angus McDowall, The Independent reported that Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is facing a crisis of public confidence.
• David E. Sanger, The New York Times reported that the Bush administration and three European allies have approved a new offer to be made to Iran.
• BBC News reported how Islam got political: Iran.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad answered the questions posed by reporters.
• IranMania reported that several teachers who were laid off in the southern province of Fars joined protests by hundreds of workers from the western province of Qazvin against their dismissal and poor working conditions.
• And finally, Iran Press News reported that the relief efforts to help victims of the Bam earthquake need massive financial support, but so far this year they have not received one dollar.