Wednesday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 3.15.2006:

Again the MSM ignores: Massive Iranian defiance of the Islamic Regime.

• Iran Press News reported that the Iranian regime failed to stop ancient Persian festival & New Year celebrations tonight which the regime considers to be religiously prohibited or unclean.
• Photos of the festival of fire celebrations in Tehran.
• SMCCDI reported that Islamic regime's security forces attacked Iranian celebrators/demonstrators in several cities by beating brutally women and especially young kids using clubs, chains and even knives have been used by foreign speaking militiamen.
• SMCCDI reported that an increasing number of Iranians went into most Iranian into the streets in a flagrant sign of defiance to the Islamic regime.
• Iran Focus reported that Iranian authorities imposed a de facto martial law in several volatile cities in the north-western province of Kurdistan as restive youths used the occasion of Iran’s traditional “fire festival” to hold anti-government protests.
• SMCCDI reported that inmates at the infamous Evin Political jail found a way to commemorate the banned "Tchahr-Shanbe Soori" (Fire Fiest).
• Iran Focus reported that anti-government demonstrations erupted across the Iranian capital as well as in towns and cities across the country and protestors set on fire an effigy of Iran’s Supreme Leader.
  
• Cox & Forkum published a cartoon a while back that was appropriate for today: Bonfire of the Mullahs.

Ganji release from Prison denied.

• Iran Press News reported that despite Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji's having served his six year prison sentence this week, his release has been denied.

The UN Security Council is preparing to meet on Iran.

• The Times reported that Britain unveiled a proposal at the United Nations last night to give Iran 14 days to suspend all work linked to uranium enrichment.
• The Washington Post reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she is confident the United States eventually will get strong backing from other members of the U.N. Security Council.
• The Times reported that Britain will seek support for United Nations action on Iran from the full 15-nation Security Council today after the “Permanent Five” powers failed for a third day to agree a joint approach.
• Dow Jones Newswires reported that French President Jacques Chirac said that Europe can't make "the slightest concession" to Iran on regulations governing the nonproliferation of nuclear arms.

Bush turns on the heat.

• Telegraph reported that after five years of indecision and internal disputes the Bush administration has started a new, more vigorous phase in trying to undermine the ruling mullahs of Iran.
• Reuters reported that President George W. Bush said "some of the most powerful IEDs (improvised explosive devices) we are seeing in Iraq today include components that came from Iran."

The Iranian regime knows how to use the media.

• BBC News reported that the leaders in Iran are highly conscious of the power of the media. They use a two-pronged approach. At home, they enforce controls and abroad, Iran harnesses satellite TV and radio to get its views across.

The Iranian regime uses the Washington Post.

• Michael Ledeen, National Review Online responded to a recent article by Karl Vick on American efforts to help Iranians who dare to challenge the mullahs. “U.S. Push for Democracy Could Backfire Inside Iran.”
• Eli lake, The New York Sun reported that the Tehran regime has already started cracking down on democracy activists in the country who have received aid from the West.
• Azarmehr reported that the Islamic Republic is now using the Washington Post instead of State TV for propaganda against Iranian dissidents.

Iran's Leaders talk tough.

• Reuters reported that Iran's president says he would welcome a travel ban imposed by the UN.
• ABC News reported that Iran's supreme leader said that Iran's nuclear fuel program was "irreversible."
• Bloomberg reported that Iran may review some of its contracts with foreign oil and gas companies if the United Nations Security Council imposes sanctions.

Still more unrest in Iran.

• Iran Press News reported that last Saturday the angry residents of Piranshahr (Kurdish town in Province of West Azerbaijan) clashed with the regime's brutal security forces.
• Iran Press News reported that the regime's forces clashed with young activists in Tehran suburb of Fardees-Karadj.
• Iran Press News reported the anger on Iranian universities over the regime's plan to bury martyrs on the university grounds.

Rumors of War.

• New York Post reported that if the Security Council won't act Europe's leadership on the Iranian nuclear problem suggests a third option: NATO.
• The Jerusalem Post reported that the Pentagon is looking into the possibility of Israel launching a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Harvard to hold an "Iran Freedom Concert."

• Atlas Shrugs reported on that Harvard students plan to hold an "Iran Freedom Concert" in solidarity with Iranian Student Movement for Democracy and Civil Rights.

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

• The Washington Times reported that Iran's clerical and business establishments are increasingly turning against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• Amir Taheri, Gulf News suggested ways to nip Iran's designs.
• Los Angeles Times reported that in spite of the hostile rhetoric in recent days over Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Islamic Republic may be losing its long-standing reluctance to speak directly with the United States.
• And finally, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen, FrontPageMagazine.com examined the Mullah-Hamas Axis.