Thursday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 2.2.2005:

The War of Words Escalate.

Iran's President Strikes Back at Bush.

• Yahoo News reported that Ahmadinejad called George W. Bush a warmonger who should be dragged before a "people's tribunal" and "God willing, in the near future we will judge you in a people's tribunal."
• Reuters reported that Ahmadinejad on Wednesday angrily rejected international pressure on Iran saying: "I am telling those fake superpowers that the Iranian nation became independent 27 years ago and ... on the nuclear case it will resist until fully achieving its rights."

Bush Responds.

• Reuters reported that President Bush, when asked if he meant the United States would rise to Israel's defense militarily, said: "You bet, we'll defend Israel."

The IAEA Confronts Iran.

• The New York Times reported that the IAEA says it has evidence that suggests links between Iran's ostensibly peaceful nuclear program and its military work on high explosives and missiles.
• The Wall Street Journal published a copy of the text of European Draft IAEA Resolution on Iran.

The Tehran Bus Strike: unifying opposition to the regime?

• Eli Lake, The New York Sun reported that the strike of Tehran Bus drivers has the potential for Iran's various opposition factors to present a sustained and unified front, then a strategy to support them in the interest of regime change could become a more attractive policy option for the West.

The Other Iranian Threat to the US.

• The Daily Times reported that Iran proposes to set up by March 2006 an “oil/energy bourse” for trading based on the euro which represents a grave threat to the United States.

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

• Financial Times reported that the direct appeal by President George W. Bush to the Iranian people to “win your own freedom” was a barely disguised call for regime change in Iran.
• The Associated Press reported that the United States is compromising on hard-line positions regarding Iran and Hamas.
• And finally, The Christian Science Monitor reported that Turkey, caught in the fray: enters a debate on Iran's nuclear program.