Sunday, July 16, 2006

Monday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 7.17.2006:

Iran says Hezbollah won't disarm, but of course they don't control them.
  • The Financial Times reported Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said that Hezbollah, a key ally of Tehran, would not disarm.
Middle East updates.
  • The Guardian reported that Prime Minister Tony Blair has blamed Iran and Syria for the latest flare-up in the Middle East.
  • William Kristol, The Financial Times reminded us that if there were no Islamic Republic of Iran there would be no Hezbollah. No Islamic Republic of Iran, no one to prop up the Assad regime in Syria.
  • The Jerusalem Post reported that an Iranian military source said that between 1992 and 2005 Iran has transferred some 11,500 missiles and rockets to Hezbullah.
  • Michael Ledeen, The Corner reported that while the Lebanese—even in Paris are demonstrating against Hezbollah and Syria and Iran, there is a great opportunity to bring down Assad along with destroying Hezbollah.
Iran and the nuclear crisis.
  • Voice of America reported that Condoleezza Rice says the nations making that offer will bring Iran before the U.N. Security Council, because Tehran has not formally responded to the deal.
  • RIA Novosti reported that Russia's nuclear chief denied reports that the country would sign an agreement on nuclear cooperation with the United States in exchange for altering its position on Iran.
Here are a few other news items you may have missed.
  • Iranian.ws reported that once again, another Iranian woman, Malak Ghorbany, has been sentenced to death by the barbaric practice of public stoning. They have a petition to help me save her life.
  • The New York Times finally reported on that Iran is struggling with the cost of its gasoline imports and debating on how to deal with the expected unrest from the lack of fuel.
  • Potkin Azarmehr, azarmehr.blogspot.com reported on the final day of the hunger strike in London, which took place in solidarity with Iran's prisoners of conscience.