Friday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 2.24.2006:

Iran Blames US and Israel for bombing of the Iraqi Shiite Shrine.

• FOX News reported that Ahmadinejad blamed the United States and Israel for the destruction of a Shiite shrine's golden dome in Iraq.

Iran Offers Information on the "Green Salt" Project.

• USA Today reported that Iran has offered the IAEA information on a secret uranium processing project that U.S. intelligence has linked to high explosives and warhead design.

US Keeps Up Pressure on Iran.

• IranMania reported that the United States accused Iran of engaging in double talk over its controversial nuclear program with deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli saying: "There are a lot of statements made by different Iranian officials every day that seem to contradict one another."
• The Voice of America reported that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "Iran is a country that is going one-hundred-eighty degrees in the other direction in terms of democracy for its own people."

Pentagon Probes Iran's Ethnic Minorities.

• The Financial Times reported that the Pentagon was examining the depth and nature of grievances of Iran’s ethnic minorities against the Islamic government.

Push for US to join Iran Talks, fails.

• Yahoo News reported that former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called on the United States to join now-sidelined European negotiations.
• The San Francisco Chronicle reported the Bush administration rejected the suggestion by former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer that the United States join now-sidelined European negotiations.

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

• Reuters reported that a Chinese vice minister will fly to Tehran to discuss ways of defusing the international crisis.
• And finally, Jim Hoagland, The Washington Post examined how Ahmadinejad tough talk and actions have unified the west against him.