Saturday, May 06, 2006

Sunday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 5.7.2006:

Gulf countries express fears over Iran.
  • Reuters reported that Gulf Arab countries have a number of public and private concerns about the nuclear program in Iran.
  • Al Jazeera reported that Gulf Arab leaders have called on Iran to do more to show it was not trying to obtain an atom bomb, thereby saving the region from another war.
As the UNSC ponders its Iran resolution...
  • Rooz Online reported that on the eve of the Security Council's decision on Iran, Tehran is changing its tone.
  • InsightMag reported that Vice President Dick Cheney has privately warned that the United States might not be ready to attack Iran.
  • YNet News reported that the Iranian president called the prospect that his country would face a Western strike "a joke."
Will Iran have a new Supreme Leader later this year?
  • Yahoo News reported that Iranians will vote November 17th for the powerful Assembly of Experts which is tasked with appointing or ousting the republic's leader.
More on the arrest of Jahanbeglou.
  • Rooz Online reported that the news of the arrest and detention of Iranian-Canadian scholar and researcher, Ramin Jahanbeglou, has stirred serious concerns among intellectuals that former intelligence agents are again targeting them.
  • The Toronto Star reported that Iranian-Canadian academic Ramin Jahanbegeloo has been hospitalized for a medical condition, not for any mistreatment. Why was he arrested? Is it because "he is a philosopher of non-violence," who did his Ph.D. thesis on Mahatma Gandhi?
What Iranian opposition groups want from the West.
  • David Horovitz, The Jerusalem Post published an excellent report on what Iranian opposition groups are seeking to bring down the ayatollahs of Iran.
Tehran protests turn regime's mantra "nuclear power is our absolute right" against the regime.
  • Rooz Online reported on recent demonstrations by Tehrani teachers protesting their grave living conditions and chanting "Better living conditions and dignity are our absolute rights". The regime's mantra that "nuclear power is our absolute right" is backfiring on the regime as it reminds people of other human rights the regime suppresses.
Here are a few other news items you may have missed.
  • BBC News reported that Iraq has expressed concern about troop build-ups by both Iranian and Turkish forces along their borders with Iraq and a number of cross-border bombardments by Iranian troops along Iraq's north-east border.
  • Rooz Online reported parallels between the battle outside Iran to find a compromise on the country’s nuclear dispute, and the debate inside country about women’s Islamic dress.
  • Philadelphia Inquirer reported that concern is rising over Baha'is in Iran.
  • BBC World Service released an audio interview with Reza Pahlavi.
  • MEMRI.org reported that a Saudi Cleric claims: 'America is Now Disappearing From the Hearts [of the Middle East] ... Whereas Islam is Growing Even Within America.' A response.