Saturday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 9.2.2006:

Most mainstream media bury the real news in the IAEA Report...

• United Press International reported that the IAEA told the U.N. Security Council its inspectors have found new traces of enriched uranium in Iran. The discovery marked the third instance that highly enriched uranium was found at an Iranian facility.

Now that Iran ignored the UN deadline: Europe blinks, Russia ...

• The Times Online reported that Iran's defiance of the United Nations' deadline was supposed to be the climax of this long-running stand-off. Instead, Europeans blinked. What happened...
• The Times Online reported that Iran’s defiance of the deadline to stop its nuclear work may have increased the chances of a US attack on Iran.
• Reuters reported that Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called sanctions on Iran a "dead end."
• Chicago Tribune reported that Iranians are used to sanctions. What made them bristle Thursday, as the United Nations deadline passed for Iran to halt its nuclear-enrichment program, was the thought that their country could become an international pariah.

Congressman rebel over the administration approval of Khatami's visit.

• Eli Lake, The New York Sun reported that the State Department's decision to grant a visa to Iran's former president is sparking a rebellion among Republican members of Congress who seek a tougher line on the rogue country.

Newt: no to military action on Iran and yes to an internal regime change.

• The Washington Times reported that Newt Gingrich in an impromptu speech said "I am opposed to a military strike on Iran because I don't think it accomplishes very much in the long run." Instead he argued "we need a strategy to replace the regime."

State Department calls for the release of Iranian dissidents.

• The International Herald Tribune reported that the State Department accused Iran on Friday of detaining a number of student activists and demanded their release. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement "The Iranian regime's continued efforts to suppress freedom of speech and assembly make clear the hollowness of professed openness to peaceful dialogue and debate."

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

• Michael Rubin, AEI Online published a must read report: Can Iran Be Trusted? He examined how the Iranians themselves approach and understand diplomacy.
• Michael Rubin, Bitterlemons-International discussed: "Is the West racist toward Muslims and Arabs?" and argued why the US should hold Arabs and Muslims to a universal standard.
• Amir Taheri, Asharq Alawsat reviewed the book: Guests of the Ayatollah - Was this the first clash between the United States and militant Islamism?
• Karl Vick, The Washington Post reported on a meeting in Tehran at the headquarters of Ansar al-Hezbollah where its speaker, Mehdi Koochakzadeh, said: "We have no such thing as majority rule in Islam ... If the majority says, 'We don't want an Islamic regime,' they have no right."
• The Scotsman reported that at least 30 people died when an Iranian airliner skidded off the runway and caught fire as a tire burst while it was landing at a north-eastern airport yesterday.
• Gary Varvel, Townhall.com published a cartoon: The UN Pressures Ahmadinejad.