Sunday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 3.05.2006:

How Iran duped the West.

• Telegraph reported that Iran's former nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rohani has revealed how Teheran played for time and tried to dupe the West.

Iran threatens to leave the IAEA.

• Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported that Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani threatened to leave the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) if it referred Tehran's nuclear program to the UN Security Council.

More Warnings from inside Iran.

• Iran Focus reported that Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said of Western leaders: “The decision-makers must be careful not to create hardship for themselves and the region.”
• Iran Focus reported that Iran’s Interior Minister accused the United States of using its infiltrators in al-Qaeda to carry out terrorist attacks.
• Iran Focus reported that a representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared that Islam must “conquer the world” by defeating the West.

Iran's Leaders worry about March 15th celebrations in Iran.

• Iran Focus reported that Iranian authorities are using a fatwa, or religious decree, to ban the use of fireworks during this year’s traditional “fire festival” marking the end of the Persian year.

The US seeks a deadline for Iran.

• The Washington Post reported that the Bush administration is seeking a 30-day deadline for Tehran to halt its nuclear program.
• Voice of America reported that President Bush said the entire world would be in danger if Iran manages to build or possess nuclear weapons.
• Reuters reported that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United Nations Security Council was unlikely to impose sanctions on Iran as a first step.

Bush makes a concession to India and Pakistan on Iran.

• BBC News reported that President George W Bush has dropped its staunch opposition to a proposed gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan.

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

• Channel 4 News reported that Iran has granted unprecedented access Channel 4 News and a team of a dozen journalists, cameramen and technicians, to produce a series of live program from Iran beginning on Monday 6 March. Watch the videos.
• Amir Taheri, The New York Post argued why it's time for Iraq's Ibrahim al-Jaafari to quit.
• The New York Times examined the question: How long will it be before Tehran has the ability to produce a bomb?
• The Power and Interest News Report argued that the United States does not have the leverage to prevent it from pursuing its aggressive nuclear policy.
• Rooz Online reported that the Esteshhadiyun group (martyr-seekers) official website in Iran and invites people to register and ready for martyr suicide operations. The website even quotes religious scripts indicating that it is permissible for Muslim women to forego the hijab for a higher purpose and cause.
• And finally, Rooz Online reported that a group of 50 or-so women who had gathered outside the Azadi stadium in Tehran to enter the stadium to watch the soccer match and were attacked by Security Forces. See Photo.