Saturday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 7.15.2006:

Why Putin will not help the US with Iran.

• Amir Taheri, The New York Post reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin has long envisioned Russia's return as a major world power. This weekend, Putin will see part of that dream realized serving as President of this year's G-8 summit. Putin said he was seeking a "multipolar" world in which the United States would no longer be "the sole superpower that tries to dictate to the world how to behave."

Ganji will meet US officials.

• Eli Lake, The New York Sun published an interview with Akbar Ganji, on the eve of his first visit to America. Iran's leading dissident says Iran's democracy movement will reject American financial assistance, and that he would meet with American officials only to urge them not to bomb his country.

Hezbollah attacks Israeli warship with an unmanned aircraft.

• Globe and Mail reported that an unmanned Hezbollah aircraft rigged with explosives rammed into an Israeli warship.

More in MSM point to Iran as the source of the present conflict.

• The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel's escalating incursion into Lebanon could turn its border fight with militant Islamists into a regional war that might lead to Syria, and Iran.
• David Ignatius, The Washington Post argued that behind the crisis us Iran's push toward war.
• New York Post in an editorial argued that while Israel today finds itself waging an undeclared war on two fronts, the Islamic Republic of Iran is the one pulling the strings.

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

• The Washington Post reported that a a copy of the agreement that the Perm-5 plus 1 offered Iran was finally made public.
• Mehran Riazaty reminded us of the history of Hezbollah of Lebanon, its ties with Iran and how this explains the recent crisis in the Middle East.

Tags: iran, news, nuclear, israel