Week in Review

DoctorZin provides a review of this past week's [11/06-11/12] major news events regarding Iran. (The reports are listed in chronological order, not by importance)

Ahmadinejad - The purges continue.

• Mark Dooley, Irish Independent said Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes that he has been divinely ordained to bring about the final drama in the struggle for the world's soul.
• Iran Press News reported that Mullah Mehdi Karoubi exposed that Ahmadinejad's main cabinet posts are so far only being awarded to his friends and family members of friends.
• AME Info reported that Iran's Ahmadinejad has fired the directors of six state-owned banks.
• Iran Press News: Hamidreza Assefi, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: we are amazed at the depth of the European Unions' ignorance toward the flow of the world.
• BBC News reported that for a second time a number of Iranian MPs have called on President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to withdraw his latest nominee for the post of oil minister.
• Iran Press News reported that the regime’s hardliners give Ahmadinejad a warning.
• The Guardian reported that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is steering his country in a reckless fashion and there is no guarantee that the engine of the Iranian state is equipped to take such rough handling.
• Yahoo News reported that Iran's nominee oil minister, Sadeq Mahsouli, on Wednesday informed parliament he had withdrawn his candidacy.
• The Financial Times reported that the second coming for the hidden Imam is primary focus of concern for the Iranian President. A must read.
• Rooz Online in a Special Report discussed an attack on several grand ayatollahs in Qom.
• Hamid Ahadi, Rooz Online reported that Ahmadinejad threatened the Majlis.
• Angus McDowall, The Independent reported that Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is already facing a crisis of public confidence.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad answered the questions posed by reporters.
• Adnkronos International reported on the latest purges in the Iranian government. Ahmadinejad is now replacing regional governors with prison directors, with some asking if he is intent on turning Iran into a mega prison. He is also replacing bankers with IRGC commanders.
• Stephen Schwartz, The Weekly Standard reported that the new president of the Islamic Republic of Iran may unintentionally have helped undermine clerical rule in the country.

Iran's Nuclear Program.

• Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that Russian Ambassador to Iran Alexander Sadonikov said that the deepening relations between the two nations of Iran and Russia could solve or at least minimize political problems.
• Reuters reported that the EU foreign ministers will review the bloc's policy of engagement with Iran.
• Khaleej Times reported that India said it has reached a broad understanding with China and Russia that Iran should not be referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran's top nuclear negotiator called for a renewal of nuclear negotiations.
• Agence France-Presse reported that a European Union diplomat said an Iranian request to resume nuclear talks with the EU was unacceptable since Iran refuses to suspend fuel work.
• Adnkronos International reported that the recent vote against Iran could have motivated the removal of Natwar Singh from his post as India's foreign minister.
• Khaleej Times Online reported that Iran on Tuesday rejected a demand by the European Union to halt all nuclear fuel cycle activities.
• Frances Harrison, BBC News interviewed Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.
• Mail & Guardian reported that South Africa on Monday denied that it proposed taking part in any uranium-enrichment activities in Iran.
• RIA Novosti reported that Iran's nuclear program would dominate talks between Russia and the European Union in Moscow Wednesday.
• Reuters reported that British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Wednesday told Iran that referring it to the UN Security Council remained an option.
• RIA Novosti reported that the European troika of Britain, Germany and France is now against sending the Iranian "nuclear file" to the United Nations Security Council.
• AlJazeera reported that Iran offered to give the outside world a 35% share in its uranium enrichment program as a guarantee that its contentious nuclear project won't be diverted toward weapons.
• George Jahn, The Guardian reported that the United States and Europe have agreed on a compromise plan to accept expanded nuclear activities by Iran.
• 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.
• 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.
• The New York Times reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice distanced the Bush administration from a new proposal to resolve the Iranian nuclear dispute, saying: There is no U.S.-European proposal to the Iranians ... I want to say that categorically. There isn't and there won't be.
• Los Angeles Times reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made clear it would not support any solution that would leave Tehran in control of even small amounts of nuclear fuel.
• CNN reported that Iran said on Friday it would not accept any proposal aimed at solving its nuclear standoff with the West that did not allow it to enrich uranium on its own territory.
• Kaveh L Afrasiabi, Asia Times reported that the US is driving a wedge between Russia and Iran.
• The New York Times reported that a stolen Iranian lap top reveals Iran's nuclear aims.
• Radio Free Europe reported that Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov met today with Iranian nuclear officials to discuss Russia's role in helping Tehran develop nuclear-power plants.
• BBC News reported that Senior Russian envoy Igor Ivanov arrived in Iran with a proposal aimed at resolving the international dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.
• Telegraph reported that Iran has insisted upon its right to enrich its own uranium, rejecting a Russian proposal that the sensitive atomic fuel work be carried out abroad.
• MosNews reported that Russians are divided in their opinions on the nature of relations between Russia and Iran. Thirty-one per cent of those polled believe Iran to be friendly towards Russia, 25 per cent — unfriendly, while 43 per cent were undecided.
  

Who's Who.

• Shervin Omidar, Rooz Online reported that Ahmadinejad has appointed Mohammad Reza Naghdi, former intelligence commander of police forces as head of the committee to fight smuggling into the country. 70% of Iran's imports come into the country through the invisible and illegal ports which are under the control of former military-security officials, supporters of Ahmadinejad. This is the same commander that once said: the country would be cleared out of reformers if 100 of them were shot overnight.
• Rooz Online provided background information on the withdrawal of Ahmadinejad's second nominee Sadegh Mahsouli for the influential Oil Ministry.
  

Iranian Dissidents.

• Iran Press News reported that Massoud Mojiri, a journalist and student activist of the university of Esfahan was summoned to court in Esfahan to answer to charges of "printing corrupting material and action against the security of the regime".
  

The Unrest Inside of Iran.

• SMCCDI reported that hundreds of protesters clashed with Islamic regime's security forces, once again after a soccer game.
• BBC News reported that ethnic unrest has broken out in Iran's Arabic-speaking province of Khuzestan.
• Iran Press News reported that during the recent soccer protests, the regimes forces were overwhelmed and said to have been unable to control the crowds and stop the protest.
• Iran Press News reported on recent protests in Tehran and Dezfool.
• Iran Press News reported that hundreds of hungry workers protested in front of the Islamic Parliament’s Assembly saying: We’d rather die…take our lives. Photo.
• Morteza Abdolalian, Iran Watch Canada reported that political, economical and social unrest in Iran has entered to a new stage. The situation now seems uncontrollable and moving toward a disaster.
• Iran Focus reported that the chief of police in Greater Tehran announced that Iranian police are planning to boost a national security plan that will effectively increase a crackdown already in effect.
• Iran Press News reported that teachers and workers continue their protests all around Iran.
• 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.
  

Human Rights/Freedom of the press inside of Iran.

• Rooz Online in a special report claimed that a group of former Intelligence Ministry agents are back in action to control Iran’s news media. A must read.
• Iran Press News reported that thirty eight U.N. member nations lead by Canada are demanding the condemnation of the Islamic regime for continued and barbarous violation of human rights in Iran.
• Rooz Online published an interview with Shirin Ebadi.
• 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.
  

Iran and Al Qaeda.

• Dan Darling, The Weekly Standard reported on the German magazine Cicero and the insight it offeres into Iran's ongoing support for terrorism and Al Qaeda.
  

Iran's troublemaking.

• 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.
• 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 .
  

U.S. Policy.

• Iran Press News reported that the US, in addition to closing down Iranian broadcasts into the US, the U.S. has limited the activities of the Islamic regime's journalists in New York.
• Bloomberg reported on Bush's Iran policy and recent efforts in Congress to weaken the Iranian government.
• US State Department released the 2005 International Religious Freedom Report.
• The Wall Street Journal reported on the recent U.S. State Department Survey On Religious Freedom.
• Office of the Press Secretary, The White House reported on a message to the Congress of the United States from President Bush.
• The White House released a transcript of President Bush's speech Friday, at the Tobyhanna Army Depot where he discussed the war on terror, with references to Syria and Iran.
  

The Iranian Military.

• Mehr News reported that Armed Forces commander Major General Ataollah Salehi said: If we manage to acquire acceptable faith and spirituality, we can undoubtedly acquire military power, too.
  

The Economy.

• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Iran-China trade volume is expected to reach 10 billion dollars in 2005.
• Iran Focus added that capital flight in Iran over the past fortnight reached its highest recorded level since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
  

Efforts against the regime outside of Iran.

• The Associated Press reported that as many as 1,800 demonstrators rallied in LA outside a federal building to protest a statement by Iran's president about Israel.
• Iran Press News reported that following last week’s 15000 person strong anti-regime demonstration in front of the IRI embassy, in Rome, Khamanei’s newspaper called Italians, Mafiosi and corrupt evildoers.
• 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.
  

The Iranian Regime Accuses the West.

• Reuters reported that Iran claimed it had found the wreckage of two U.S. unmanned spy planes on its territory.
• Iran Press News reported that the Iranian government responded saying: The government of Canada must be held accountable for its own human rights violations.
• The Associated Press reported that Iran's intelligence minister said yesterday that Tehran has proof of a British connection to suspects in bombings in southern Iran, but never provided evidence.
  

Iran and the International community.

• Dexter Filkins, The New York Times reported that Ahmad Chalabi met with senior Iranian leaders here on Saturday in what appeared to be an effort to distance himself from their Islamist government.
• Roee Nahmias, Ynetnews reported that in a leaflet published by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades expressed their identification with Ahmadinejad.
• Aljazeera reported that British Prime Minister Tony Blair accused Iran of supporting terrorism which was preventing political progress being made in the Middle East and elsewhere.
• Iran Press News reported that the government of Turkey has expressed fear and anxiety over the Islamic regime's production of a new class of the Shahab series, the Shahab 4 and 5.
• Iran Press News reported that the Australian government deported 43-year-old Mansour Laghaii, back to Iran, because he posed a threat to the security of Australia.
• Bloomberg reported that UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said Syria and Iran are helping insurgents in Iraq because they fear a stable and democratic neighbor would destabilize their own regimes.
• Iran Press News reported that coalition forces in Iraq prohibited the return of a commercial Iraqi plane from Tehran to Baghdad.
• Iran Press News reported that the Ping-Pong federation of the Islamic Republic announced the German Embassy refused visas to the regime's Ping-Pong team. Britain and Argentina also recently refused visas to other sports teams.
• Eli Lake, The NY Sun reported that Iraq's deputy prime minister, Ahmad Chalabi, is scheduled to meet with four American Cabinet secretaries and the national security adviser. Mr. Chalabi visited Tehran over the weekend, where he met with President Ahmadinejad and made clear that Iraq is a strategic friend with the United States.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Iranian newspapers warned France that cracking down on unrest is not solution to the problem.
• Eli Lake, The New York Sun reported that the Al Qaeda bombings in Jordan have provoked mass demonstrations with calls for Zarqawi to 'Burn in Hell.'
• Erik Schechter, The Jerusalem Post reviewed Britain's Iranian problem.
• BBC News reported on the "hostage" taking of a British man, his wife and an Australian man by Iranian authorities.

Insight into the Iranian people.

• Iran Press News reported on a controversy in Iran over a destitute family's inability to receive their dead child's body from a hospital. The Iranian media is angry with the government.
  

Can You Believe This?

• Reuters reported that Iranian officials will submit a proposal to the United Nations for a peaceful solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Hint: it's a referendum.
• 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.
• Iran Focus reported that the radical group Ansar-e Hezbollah pledged to root out the “virus” of mal-veiled women, which they describe as more dangerous than the explosion of a nuclear bomb.
  

Must Read reports.

• Dan Darling, The Weekly Standard reported on the German magazine Cicero and the insight it offeres into Iran's ongoing support for terrorism and Al Qaeda.
• Abbas Milani, The International Herald Tribune reminds us of Iran's traditional support of the Jewish people and Iran.
• Rooz Online in a special report claimed that a group of former Intelligence Ministry agents are back in action to control Iran’s news media. A must read.
• Vahid Sepehri, Radio Free Europe discussed how a shift in power in Iran has left the "reformists" out in the cold.
• BBC News reported how Islam got political: Iran.
• Michael Young, Tech Central Station discussed Richard N. Haass's proposal for a new foreign policy doctrine which he calls "integration."
• The Epoch Times reported on the upcoming UN Summit to decide the future control of the Internet. Britain no longer supports the US position.
• The Telegraph UK published a first person account of the recent hostage taking of two British citizens and an Australian.
  

The Experts.

• Reuel Marc Gerecht, The Weekly Standard discussed Bush's great Middle East gamble and suggested that the US should work with dissident clerics in Iran as we champion religious freedom in Iran.
• Richard N. Haass, The New York Times advocated that the US jettison hopes for rapid change of regime in Iran and instead offer those countries security guarantees and substantial political and economic incentives.
  
• Ilan Berman, The American Foreign Policy Council reported on Iran's new favorite Iraqi politician, Ahmad Chalabi.
• 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.
• Amir Taheri, The Jerusalem Post reported that Ahmadinejad believes Iran can win in a clash with the U.S.
• Amir Taheri, The New York Post examined Jordan's "not taking sides" policy towards Iraq.
  

Photos, cartoons and videos.

• Peykeiran.com provided a peek into the Iranian majlis (Parliament).
  

And finally, The Quote of the Week.

Iran Press News: Translation by Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi

Hamidreza Assefi, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the regime reacting to a European Union statement said:

"...we are amazed at the depth of the European Unions' ignorance toward the flow of the world. The Europeans need to first and foremost start by criticizing themselves..."