Week in Review

DoctorZin provides a review of this past week's [11/13-11/19] major news events regarding Iran. (The reports are listed in chronological order, not by importance)

Ahmadinejad.

• Iran Focus reported that 75% of the ministers and deputy ministers in the government of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad come from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
• William O. Beeman, The Age reported that Mr Ahmadinejad has rejected the establishment Islamic leadership of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
• Iran Press News reported that the Islamic regime’s ambassador to Turkey has been called back to Iran to be replaced.
• Iran Focus reported that Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed one of his nephews as his new security chief.
• Reuters reported that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said: Criticism of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is unfair.
• Times of Oman reported that Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has pulled out of the UN's World Summit for the Information Society in Tunisia this week.
• Iran Press News Ahmadinejad’s newest proposed oil minister has a US Green Card.
• Iran Press News reported that Iran is no longer scared of exacerbating relations with the international community.
• Meysame Tavab, Rooz Online reported that a group of Turkemen Iranians asked Ahmadinejad to look into their living conditions and problems, he bluntly responded: “Go to the candidate for whom you voted and ask him to look into your problems.”
• Rooz Online reported that in his harshest words ever, former president Mohammad Khatami, directed an attack on Iran’s hardliners saying their dogmatic and regressive ideology is similar to that of Bin Laden.
• Iran Focus reported that still more of Iran’s military commanders are being appointed to government position by the new administration.
• Iran Focus reported that Ahmadinejad has had to cancel scheduled visits to several foreign countries while “a majority of governments around the world” have been canceling visits to their capitals by Iranian government delegations.
• Gareth Smyth in Tehran, The Financial Times reported that Rafsanjani attacked president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad for damaging “national unity and solidarity”.
• Paul Hughes, Reuters reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's devotion to a mystical religious figure that is arousing greater interest inside Iran.
• The Guardian reported that Ahmadinejad faces a range of critical problems with the west. But the Iranian president's handling of these flashpoints is also creating internal problems - reaching the highest levels in Tehran.
• The Guardian reported that Iran is facing political paralysis as its newly elected president purges government institutions.
• Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that the Iranian President forbids bullet-proof cars.
  
• Iran Focus reported that Iran’s former President Mohammad Khatami defended the hard-line stance of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against the state of Israel.
  

Iran's Nuclear Program.

• The People's Daily reported that Iran said on Sunday that it is pursuing a balance between the West and the East during nuclear negotiations.
• CBS News reported that El Baradei has thrown his weight behind a plan calling on Iran to move its uranium enrichment program to Russia.
• MosNews reported that the work to construct the Bushehr nuclear power plant is 80 % complete.
• The Hindu reported that a senior Russian official who is visiting Iran has denied giving specific proposals to his hosts that would help defuse the Iranian nuclear crisis.
• The Financial Times reported that Iran dismissed the latest U.S. allegations about its atomic ambitions.
• Ken Timmerman, News Max reported that IAEA Director General Mohammad ElBaradei wants to give Iran "one last chance" before sending Iran's case to the United Nations Security Council.
• Hindustan Times reported that a key ally of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has indicated it could "rethink" its support if India did not abstain from voting on the Iran nuclear issue at the upcoming IAEA meeting in Vienna.
• RIA Novosti reported that following talks with Syrian leaders Tuesday, Iran's foreign minister said the country would be in a better position by the upcoming IAEA session.
• Agence France Presse reported that Iran will start converting 50 tonnes of uranium ore from the end of next week.
• Iran Press News reported that IAEA inspectors in Iran were accused of raising "illegal" issues "outside their authority to ask."
• Iran Press News reported that Iran's parliament is conducting an investigation of Ahmadinejad's conduct and may consider impeachment proceedings.
• Memri.org published an excellent report: The ‘Second Islamic Revolution’ in Iran: Power Struggle at the Top.
• Dafna Linzer, The Washington Post reported that Iran ignores pleas to halt uranium Work.
• Hemscott reported that EU negotiators Britain, Germany and France have turned down a Russian offer to host an EU-Iran meeting in Moscow next week.
• Dow Jones Newswires reported that Iran's reluctance to act to allay international fears about its nuclear agenda is increasingly alienating Russia.
• CBS News reported that Russia is increasingly frustrated with Iran's reluctance to compromise on its nuclear activities, and that anger is helping the United States.
• Forbes reported that the US said an informal meeting on Iran's nuclear program would be held in London on Friday.
• Mark Heinrich and Francois Murphy, Reuters:Iran has told the U.N. nuclear watchdog that it received a black-market document which diplomats said on Friday contained partial instructions for making the core of an atomic bomb.
• The Times of India reported that India's Left resigned to India voting in favor of the US resolution if voting is resorted to again.
• Reuters reported that Bush backed an initiative by Russian President Putin to end a stalemate over Iran's nuclear project.
• Reuters reported that Iran on Friday took the highly unusual step of running a costly full-page ad in the New York Times defending its nuclear activities.
• Steve Schippert, Threats Watch thinks Ahmadinejad may be overplaying his hand with Russia. A great new blog, by some of the best.
• Alissa J. Rubin, The LA Times reported that Iran is still NOT opening up to the IAEA.
• Carla Anne Robbins, The Wall Street Journal discussed the most recent IAEA report on Iran and stirs questions about Iran's nuclear program.
• Hamed Irani, Rooz Online reported that in the corridors of power of the Iran’s government there is talk of relegating Iran's sensitive nuclear talks to the Expediency Council lead by former president Hashemi Rafsanjani.
  

Who's Who.

• Maryam Kashani, Rooz Online published an interview with Ayatollah Hassanali Montazeri.
• Hossein Bastani, Rooz Online provided more background information on Mesbah Yazdi.
• Maryam Kashani, Rooz Online reported that Mesbah Yazdi thinks that Iran's new government is God’s gift to enact Islamic values. But others believe that Ahmadinejad’s presidency is an era filled with dangers.
  

Iranian Dissidents.

• Rooz Online published the letter political activists sent to the head of Iran’s Judiciary to impartially review Akbar Ganji's case.
• Iran Press News published a translation of letter by Iranian prisoners asking for international help.
• Iran Press News reported that the spokesman for the regime's judiciary said: "Ganji has a prison sentence and a few months remain on his sentence; it's not like if foreign countries demand his release, that we would comply!"
• Morteza Abdolalian, Iran Watch Canada reported that Akbar Ganji has been awarded the 2006 Golden Pen of Freedom.
• Laura Secor, The New Yorker reported on Iran’s new generation of dissidents and the collapse of the nation’s reformist movement.
• Khaleej Times reported that Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi said on Tuesday she has been repeatedly threatened with death.
• ABC News reported that Iran's judiciary said it would ask Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to pardon 18 pro-reform students.
• Iran Press News reported that blogger Mojtaba Saminejad, twenty-five year old university student in Iran has been transferred to ward 30 where 30 Afghanis who have all been charged with murder.
• Farhad Mahdavi, Rooz Online wonders how is Ganji going to survive without food and water?

The Unrest Inside of Iran.

• Iran Press News reported on workers protests in Tabas, Yazd and Abadan.
• Iran Focus reported that more than a hundred people have been arrested in the province of north-western province of Ardebil for “disturbing the peace” and “causing trouble.”
• Iran Press News reported that a sports photographer was attacked and beaten to near death by the regime’s disciplinary forces in front of thousands of spectators, players and reporters.
• Iran Press News reported that the law library of Tehran University caught fire; the majority of the library burned. Some suspect arson by pro-regime forces since this library contained massive volumes of books on western jurisprudence and internal law.
  

Human Rights/Freedom of the press inside of Iran.

• Babak Mehdizadeh, Rooz Online published an interview with three Iranian publishers discussing their latest struggles to publish inside of Iran.
• Shahram Kholdi, ScanIranic issued the first part of its report: The unending list of Bloggers, Students, and Journalists under Prosecution in Iran.
• Iran Press News reported that 11 student publications were banned by Oroumiyeh University.
• Reuters reported that an Iranian appeals court has ordered the case concerning the 2003 death in custody of a Canadian journalist re-opened, upholding Ottawa's opinion that the original trial was flawed.
• Mercury News reported that an Iranian appeals court has upheld the acquittal of an Iranian secret agent in the killing a Canadian-Iranian journalist.
• Amnesty International in a public statement said it welcomes the announcement of a new investigation into the murder of Canadian journalist Kazemi in Iran, but renews its calls for a fully independent investigation.
• Reuters reported that a U.N. General Assembly committee narrowly approved on Friday a resolution expressing serious concern over a long list of human rights abuses in Iran.
• CNET News.com reported on Iran's recent effort to remove control the internet from the US.
• Lillian Swift, The Telegraph UK reports that Iran is on the brink of entering another dark age.
• Reporters Without Borders called for the reopening of the investigation into the murder of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi.
• J. Grant Swank Jr., American Daily reports that despite last weeks's international vote on the control of the internet, there are those "out there" determined to take the Internet out of US control.
  

Iran's troublemaking.

• Iran Press News reported Iran is preparing to use Satellite Television to harass Muslim emigrants to the west.
• Iran Press News reported on a gathering of the suicide-bombers at Shahroud Industrial University, 1000 new volunteers turned up in order to register themselves for suicide missions.
  

U.S. Policy.

• The Associated Press reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave her strongest rebuke yet on Sunday to the renewed hardline Islamic leadership of Iran.
• U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held hearings on Iran where Senators were shown disturbing graphics discovered by this blog.
• Radio Free Europe reported that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried has said the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency should "act with determination" when it meets next week at a key meeting on Iran's nuclear program.
  

The Iranian Military.

• Middle East Newsline reported that Iran was said to have nearly completed another intermediate-range missile capable of striking most of Europe. The so-called Ghadr missile was said to have a range of up to 3,000 kilometers.
• The Washington Post reported that Iran said its first satellite is capable of spying on the Jewish state.
• The Associated Press reported that an Israeli diplomat claims Iran has supplied Hezbollah with more than ten-thousand short-range rockets.
  

The Economy.

• Meysam Tavab, Rooz Online in a special report provided behind the scenes details of a meeting of government economic advisors meeting with Ahmadinejad and their counsel to temporarily close Tehran’s Stock Exchange.
• Iran Press News reported on Iran's brain drain as 300,000 educated and skilled Iranians emigrate from Iran every year.
• Gareth Smyth in Tehran, The Financial Times reported that Iran's state-owned Keshavarzi agriculture bank yesterday reduced its lending rate to 9 per cent, a signal that Ahmadinejad is pressing ahead with his populist agenda of "social justice".
  

Iran and the International community.

• Iran Press News reported that Italian Defense Minister, Antonio Martino said: Tehran’s regime supports terrorist activities and terrorists and is therefore considered a threat to Italy and all European countries.
• Pak Tribune reported that Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri Monday made it clear that Pakistan was opposed to use force against Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
• Daily Star reported that the loyalty of Hizbullah and the Lebanese Shiite community is again under scrutiny.
• Iran Press News reported that Jalal Talebani, Iraqi President, severely criticized the Europeans. He said: One day, Europeans must grasp that 27 million Iraqis finally have freedom, democracy and human rights because of this war.
• Iran Press News reported that Tehran's torturers were at the secret prison in Baghdad.
• Gianfranco Fini, Italy's FM The Wall Street Journal said: We are convinced that an Iran finally liberated from the shackles of radical fundamentalism can play an essential role in ensuring the stability of the entire region.
• The Washington Times reported that the discovery of a secret Iraqi Interior Ministry torture chamber confirms what has been an open secret in Baghdad for months: Pro-Iranian militia have deeply infiltrated the ministry and are acting as a law unto themselves.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that UK Foreign Office Minister Lord Triesman said that the "evidence is compelling" about the sequence of events that led the UK to proscribe the MKO as a terrorist group.
• Iran Focus reported that a visit to Iran by Iraq’s top security official and his profuse praise of the Iranian government’s policy have aroused serious questions.
• Iran Focus reported that a top official in Iran’s notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) was running the secret Iraqi Interior Ministry prison in Baghdad.
• Walid Choucair, Al-Hayat reported on Iran and the truth behind its support for Syria.
• Adnkronos International argues that while Europe needs to try to persuade Iran to show greater respect for human rights and to live up to nuclear conventions - the country must not be isolated.
  

Insight into the Iranian people.

• Iran Press Newsreported that 68.5% of Iranian's polled found Ahmadinejad’s attire to be a complete embarrassment.
• ET, A View from Iran reported that isolating Iran is what the Fundamentalists want inside of Iran. An interesting debate between to Iranians.
• Amy Kellogg, FOX News published her reporter's notebook: Inside Iran.
  

Can You Believe This?

• Mehr News reported that Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi dismissed allegations that Iran is interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs.
• Adnkronos International reported that Iranian websites are publishing a list of countries to be boycotted by Tehran, should they vote against it at an upcoming meeting of the UN's nuclear watchdog.
• Amnesty International reported that a man was sentenced to death for drinking alcohol.
• Iran Press News reported that recently clothing manufacturers in Iran have begun marketing a new style of jacket, referred to as Ahmadinejad Windbreakers. The jackets are only $5. Now you can dress like Ahmandinejad.
• Newsmax reported that ex-president Bill Clinton urged Israelis not to overreact to comments by Ahmadinejad saying: true peace and security can only come through principled compromise.
• Iran Mania reported that Iran's volunteer Islamic militiamen known as 'Bassijis' are vowing to form a human chain along the length of the country's borders as a show of force. Sounds like a good day for a demonstration.
  

Must Read reports.

• Eli Lake, The New York Sun reported on the backlash in Zarqawi's hometown over the suicide attacks in Jordan.
• Shahram Rafizadeh, Rooz Online reported that workers strikes are seen as one of the principal challenges that the new hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will have to deal with as the strikes are expected to grow in size.
• Iranian.ws discussed the characteristics of the alternative to the Islamic regime of Iran.
• U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held hearings on Iran where Senators were shown disturbing graphics discovered by this blog. Transcripts of testimony included.
  
• The American Thinker reported on how Ahmadinejad’s terror policy must be fought.
• John R. Bradley, The Straits Times argued that with the West focused on long-term fears of Iran's nuclear ambitions, a short-term threat posed by the Iranian regime is not getting the attention it deserves.
• Avigdor Haselkorn, FrontPageMagazine reported on Iran's current war on Israel.
  

The Experts.

• Michael Rubin, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs published a report: Ethnic Unrest in Iran is Not a Sign of Separatist Sentiments.
• Amir Taheri, Arab News reported that French Muslims are being told that rather than obeying the laws of the French Republic, they should follow “fatwas” concocted by the Muslim Brotherhood and members of various militant Islamist groups presenting themselves as an alterative to state authority.
• Mordechai Abir, The Jerusalem Issue Brief published a report: Iran's New Revolutionary Guards Regime: Anti-Americanism, Oil, and Rising International Tension.
• Amir Taheri, Gulf News contrasted the so called "reformists" with the new conservatives in Iran. A long overdue analysis. A must read.
• Amir Taheri, Arab News reported why Iran cannot be trusted and the problems with UN sanctions.
• Michael Rubin, The Daily Star warns that a serious problem for democracy in the Middle East is the corruption of its leaders and the hopelessness it creates.
  

Photos, cartoons and videos.

• Iranian Student News Agency published photos of Tehran University students protesting against the poor conditions.
• MemriTV published a video with proof that most Iranians lack revolutionary zeal.
• Winston, The Spirit of Man published a photo of Iran's radicals having fun destroying an American symbol.
  

And finally, The Quote of the Week.

Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting:President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Wednesday:

"Tendency toward leading luxurious lives has not a place in this government and we would not permit imports of to 5 billion Rial (30 to 50 thousand US Dollar) bullet-proof cars, or permit some government officials to keep using such cars."