Week in Review

DoctorZin provides a review of this past week's [2/06/06 -2/12/06] major news events regarding Iran. (The reports are listed in chronological order, not by importance) READ MORE

Iran's Nuclear Program - The IAEA Reports Iran to the UN Security Council.

• Yahoo News reported that Iran ended all voluntary cooperation with the IAEA but would still hold talks with Moscow. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki added: "Yesterday we had two options. One was the option of resistance and the other was surrender. We chose resistance."
• Mehran Riazaty reported that Ahmadinejad, in reaction to the IAEA vote on Iran, said: "The foes cannot do a damn thing. We do not need you (enemies) at all. It is you (enemies), who need the Iranian people."
• Fox News reported that after the vote, President Bush again addressed the Iranian people directly, saying that the international community is not trying to deny Iran its right to a civil nuclear energy program, but that Iran's best interest lies in not trying to pursue nuclear weapons.
• New York Daily News published an interview with U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton on Iran. He said: "The first step would be to make it clear that we are trying to strengthen the hand of the International Atomic Energy Association."
• The VOA News reported that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said the international community expects unequivocal answers from Iran about its nuclear program.
• Dow Jones Newswires reported that Iran has now achieved the "capability to develop nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them."
• CNN News reported that Iran said inspectors from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog will visit in the next few days to oversee the resumption of uranium enrichment - a process that can be used to make bomb-grade material.
• Breitbart.com reported that Iran told the IAEA to remove surveillance cameras and agency seals from sites and nuclear equipment.
• Forbes reported that Russia's foreign minister warned against threatening Iran over its nuclear program.
• Reuters reported that French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said: the international community is not seeking a confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program.
• The Washington Times argued that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's explicit the analogy between the current Iranian regime and the Third Reich does not match the Western democracies' current approach toward Iran.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that while Washington has China's support on Iran's referral to the UNSC, China may still part company.
• The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel's Ambassador to the US said that Iran is the biggest problem facing the world since World War II.
• Mel Levine, Alex Turkeltaub and Alex Gorbansky, The Washington Post examined 3 myths about the Iran conflict.
• RIA Novosti reported that Russia's foreign minister would guarantee the return of uranium to Iran after its enrichment.
• The New York Post reported on Iran's secret lab, where as many as 11 projects related to weapons research are under way.
• Reuters reported that diplomats said that Iran's order that U.N. nuclear surveillance gear be removed from key sites by mid-February may prevent U.N. inspectors from discovering whether Tehran's atomic drive has wholly peaceful aims.
• ePolitix reported that prime minister Tony Blair said Iran would be making a "very serious mistake" by pressing ahead with its nuclear activity.
• Reuters reported that Vice President Dick Cheney said the nuclear standoff with Iran was a dangerous situation.
• Rebecca Hagelin, Townhall.com argued that the west has “one ace left to play before a final showdown looms,” we should extend NATO membership to Israel.
• Shmuel Rosner, Slate argued that while everybody talks about the "pressure" Iran is under, the real strain is on the international community.
• Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem Post argued that the IAEA's resolution has simply boxed the US into a policy that has no chance of succeeding.
• Iran Press News reported that general manager of security and guardianship of Isfahan's Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) nuclear complex discussed its nuclear enrichment program.
• Zaman.com reported that the US administration wants Turkey to send a warning to Iran.
• The Washington Post reported that Iranian engineers have completed sophisticated drawings of a deep subterranean shaft designed for an underground atomic test.
• Yahoo News reported that the Pew Research Center conducted a poll in which he said: "two of three [Americans] saying Iran's nuclear program represents a major threat."
• U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, The Kansas City Star reported that we must get this right on Iran and offered some action we should take.
• Reuters reported that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Iran on to freeze its nuclear activities so negotiations can go on.
• The New York Times reported that the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States denounced Iran's uranium enrichment program and US policy.
• Con Coughlin, The Telegraph reported that Iran's controversial Natanz uranium processing plant has successfully restarted their equipment that enable it to produce material for nuclear warheads. A major development.
• Monsters & Critics reported that three major Russian news agencies - RIA Novosti, ITAR-TASS and Interfax - published a statement by a certain 'expert', saying: 'the situation around Iran is very bad and is going from bad to worse.' '
• Iran Press News reported that Britain, France and Germany have begun compiling a list of the Islamic regimes hierarchy in order to impose possible sanctions and travel bans on Iranian leaders.
• Reuters reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said: "We have undertaken a series of initiatives to try to persuade them that their behaviour is harmful to a new Iraqi government and indeed harmful to the region. Thus far we've not been successful." "I think they're making a mistake."
• Iran Press News reported that Hasan Nasrollah, the Lebanese Hezbollah leader said: "We stand behind the Islamic Republic of Iran in their nuclear pursuits... [Western] dictators want to deprive them from obtaining such technology."
• Rooz Online reported that the Islamic Republic warned the local press not to publish any news reports or stories regarding Iran’s referral to the UN Security Council which imply that all is lost and that the Islamic Republic has suffered a defeat.
  

Tehran Bus Strike - Growing International Support.

• Rooz Online reported that Iran’s domestic media have been banned from publishing news on the government crackdown of the strike of bus drivers who again took to the streets in protest.
• LabourStart published a report and photos of trade unionists picketing the Iranian embassy in London.
• Iran Press News reported that Hasan Mohammadi, an activist member of the Bus drivers union was arrested at midnight on Monday, after contacting international media about the strike.
• Workers-Iran.org reported that about 200 workers have thus far been released following the mass arrests on January 28th, that none of the 200 released workers have been able to return to their jobs and hundreds others are still in prison.
• ICFTU Department of Trade Union Rights joined the global labor movement in calling for the release of more than 500 Iranian bus drivers and invited members of the Iranian-American community in Washington DC to join the AFL-CIO, the Solidarity Center and the DC Metro Labor Council in a solidarity demonstration with striking bus drivers in Iran, February 15, 2006.
• The ITF is urging transport workers across the world to support an international day of action demanding the release of over 1000 trade unionists imprisoned in Iran. The action day, set for February 15th.
  

Iranian Leaders On the Offensive.

• Mehran Riazatyreported that Ahmadinejad said that selflessness and martyrdom-seeking is the only way to save mankind, adding, "We are all obliged to keep alive the culture of martyrdom-seeking in the society."
• Adnkronos International reported that Iran's supreme leader has given his blessing to violent demonstrations targeting Denmark's embassy in Tehran, defining them as "justified and even holy."
• Iran Press News reported that the Supreme Leader's newspaper called for taking the IAEA inspectors hostage and prosecuting them for espionage.
• Iran Press News reported that Ahmadinejad's special inspector chastises Minster of Culture and Islamic Guidance over certain films that were chosen and permitted to be screened at this years Fajr Film Festival.
• Mehran Riazaty reported that Iran's Interior Minister Security Deputy, Brigadier General Zolghadr said: "Americans tried to establish a dependent regime in Iraq and increase their pressure on Iran, but their policies in Iraq were failed and today, Iran's friends in Iraq seized the power."
• Mehran Riazaty reported that Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi, said: "The statements of certain western officials show that contrary to their absurd claims, westerners are disqualified, and impetuous, lacking any cultural background."
• Iran Focus reported that the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps have said: “Merkel in her childish dreams imagines herself as Hitler and ... she can give orders to the world and free countries.”
• The Jerusalem Post reported that an Iranian vice president said he did not believe that the United States will attack his country over its nuclear program, and compared US defense secretary Rumfeld's strong warnings to "Dracula showing his teeth."
• Rooz Online interviewed an Iranian Majlis Deputy who complained that now we are at the UN Security Council: "It is now clear that the Eastern policy, i.e. relying on the East, was completely wrong... you cannot create a block with weak states."
• Iran Press News reported that the E.U. in a formal statement called for the Islamic regime to sever all ties to various Palestinian and Lebanese terror groups; the Islamic regime however, immediately rejected the appeal.
• WorldNetDaily reported that Ahmadinejad said Palestinians and "other nations" will remove Israel from the region.
• BBC News reported that Iran could abandon the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if forced to limit nuclear activities.
• Mehran Riazaty reported that Khatami called the Prime Minister of Denmark is "Stupid."
  

Ahmadinejad's Worldview.

• Slater Bakhtavar, Tocqevillian argued that a new anti-Christ has emerged from the land of Ancient Persia who may gain the means to commit mass genocide if the West continues to ignore the demands of the Iranian people for a free democratic society.
  

Rumors of War.

• MosNews reported that the Azeri president said: Azerbaijan will not allow the U.S. to launch military attacks on Iran from the country’s territory.
• Bob Roberts, Mirror reported that Tony Blair yesterday refused to rule out a British military invasion of Iran, saying: "You can never say never."
• Channel4 News reported that Jack Straw has played down suggestions that military action against Iran is unavoidable.
• The Wall Street Journal argued that despite many commentators arguing that a pre-emptive air attack against Iran's nuclear installations is unfeasible, the chance of success are in fact rather good.
• Reuters reported that in a private meeting with European diplomats this week, a former senior U.S. official raised the idea of launching a dozen B2 bombers in an air raid aimed at crippling key Iranian nuclear facilities.
• Edward N. Luttwak, Los Angeles Times asked: Would Iranians Rally 'Round the Flag?
• Reuters reported that while Israel has long pursued a policy of preemptive attack as its preferred form of defense. But when it comes to tackling arch-foe Iran, that option may have been put on hold under a protective "umbrella" on offer from the United States.
• Philip Sherwell, The Telegraph reported that strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran's nuclear sites as a "last resort" to block Teheran's efforts to develop an atomic bomb.

More Calls for an Internal Regime Change in Iran.

• Amir Taheri, The Jerusalem Post argues that when arguing for international support for regime change in Iran, we should focus on Iran's leaders stated plans to create a clash of civilizations culminating in a pan-Shi'ite caliphate.
• ABC News reported that American and British diplomats held talks this week on ways to promote democracy in Iran. FINALLY!!!
• RezaPahlavi.org published Reza Pahlavi's communique regarding Iran's nuclear crisis, in which he warns of the danger the Iranian leaders have put the country and called for unity and a new government in Iran.
• Iran va Jahan published excerpts of an interview conducted by to Kayhan (London) with Sean McCormack, US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs discussing why the Iranian people need US assistance to replace their government with one that supports the principles of freedom and true democracy.
• 600 Student Activists, Rezapahlavi.org published a letter from Iranian Students to the freedom-loving people of the world. A must read.
• Jordan Times reported that Washington is quietly backing Iran's pro-democracy forces.
• NewsMax reported that Newt Gingrich says the United States must do everything in its power to bring about regime change in Iran.
• Rooz Online is reporting that despite Ahmadinejad's promises to help the poor, unexpected price hikes are devastating Iranian families.

The Cartoon Unrest.

• The Dawn reported that Iran recalled its ambassador to Denmark over the publication of cartoons depicting Islam's Prophet Mohammad. Iran's culture ministry warned it may ban reporters from publications that have printed the cartoon.
• HeraldSun reported that Iran has cut all trade ties with Denmark because of the publication of satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
• News.com.au reported that a crowd of about 400 demonstrators threw petrol bombs and large rocks at the Danish embassy in Tehran.
• SMCCDI reported that despite a massive effort by the Iranian regime it could only muster 400 Bassji to protest the cartoons of Mohammed, in a city of 12 million.
• News.com.au reported that Iran's largest selling newspaper announced today it was holding a contest on cartoons of the Holocaust in response to the publishing in European papers of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
• SMCCDI reported that 300 Bassij threw Molotov cocktails and pieces of rocks at the Danish embassy in Tehran for the second consecutive day but these organized rallies are designed to shift the focus of the world's attention away from the struggle of Iranians who are seeking freedom.
• Radio Free Europe reported that the United States has condemned an Iranian newspaper's plan to hold a contest for cartoons about the Holocaust.
• Reuters reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes and the world ought to call them on it."
  
• Reuters reported that an Iranian newspaper's call for Holocaust cartoons is an attempt to drag Israel into a conflict between Europe and the Muslim world.
  
• Amir Taheri, The Wall Street Journal exposed many of the myths repeated by the media to explain the Islamic reaction to the cartoons of Mohammed. A must read.
• Amir Taheri, The New York Post exposed the ABC's of the Rent-A-Riot in the Middle East.
• The Washington Post reported that Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen Thursday said the governments of Iran and Syria had intentionally inflamed Muslim protests against a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad to distract attention from their own diplomatic crises.
• Eli Lake, The New York Sun reported that Secretary of State Rice said: "I don't have any doubt that given the control of the Syrian government in Syria, given the control of the Iranian government... to use this to their own purposes."
• Bernard-Henri Levy, The Wall Street Journal examined the unrest created by the cartoons of Mohammed and probed the question: What made this demented scene, this planetary upheaval, possible?
• Iranian Student News Agency published photos of Iranian Security Forces "battling" what is supposed to be an "angry mob" attacking the UK Embassy in Tehran.
• Reuters witnesses said a crowd of about 70 protesters gathered in front of the French embassy, then a crowd of about 200 people hurled stones at the Danish embassy and finally, the same crowd then moved to the nearby British diplomatic compound.
• OhMyNews reported that the leader of Hezbollah said U.S. President George W. Bush and his secretary of state should "shut up" after they accused Syria and Iran of fueling protests over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
  

Iranian Oil a Weapon?

• CNNMoney.com reported that oil could shoot to more than $130 a barrel, if Iranian oil stops flowing.
  

Iran's Dissidents.

• Rooz Online reported that Akbar Ganji's imprisoned attorney, Soltani, is still in legal limbo since his court dossier is reportedly "lost".... adding that Ganji is supposed to be released from prison in 40 days.
• Rooz Online reported on new accusations being leveled against Web-bloggers in Iran.
  

The Unrest inside of Iran.

• SMCCDI reported some sporadic but violent clashes in the North Tehran, started bt zealous militiamen who were angered, by the lack of attention of tens of young Iranians for the Shia ritual of Moharam.
• Iran Press News reported on the protests and clashes between people and Islamic regimes forces in Mahabad (Province of Kurdistan).
  

Human Rights/Religious and Press Freedom inside of Iran.

• A compilationof Iranians executed or sentenced to death from December 05 through January 06.
• World Tribune reported that Iran has forced the United Arab Emirates of Dubai to halt live Persian-language television broadcasts. But Sen. Santorum has introduced the Iran Freedom and Support Act, which would increase support for a free media in Iran. Write or call your Senator now.
• SMCCDI reported that three more Iranians were executed, yesterday, in Sabzevar, the scene of several riots.
• FrontPageMagazine.com published an interview with Joseph Akrami, an independent filmmaker who is the director of A Few Simple Shots, a film documenting the Iranian regime's human rights atrocities.
  

Iran's Military.

• Middle East Newsline reported that Iran has quietly acquired three Su-25UBT twin-seat attack fighter-jets from Russia.
• DefenceTalk.com reported that Iran secretly tested a new surface-to-surface missile (SSM) on January 17, seeking to establish the measurements needed for long-range missiles.
• Iran Focus reported that Iran will buy several 30 Russian-made Tor M-1 surface-to-air missiles from Russia as part of its arsenal to protect its nuclear sites.
  

Iran and the International community.

• The New York Times reported that Iran is hoping to unite Arab Muslims, but finding it is a difficult sell.
• NetForCuba reported that Cuba honors its friendship with Iran's mullahs.
• Pravda reported that senior diplomats from Israel and Afghanistan met secretly in London last week.
• Haaretz reported that Hamas is expected to grow much closer to Iran which will center on financing, operational know-how and political support.
• Telegraph reported that Iraqi insurgent groups are turning against their former al-Qa'eda allies, and that Zarqawi has fled to Iran.
• Iran Press News reported that two weeks ago the regime had begun exporting gas to Georgia, for only one week.
• The Financial Times reported that Iranians seeking visas for Germany ahead of this summer's football World Cup could face heightened background checks and some might be barred.
  

Can you believe this?

• Iran Press News reported that the Iranian Regime expressed anxiety over the continued arrests and incarceration of its minions in Iraq.
• John Rosenthal, TCS Daily reported that when Chirac gave his much-trumpeted speech on French nuclear deterrence, his warning was not just to Iran, but also a "warning a signal to the US."
• The NY Times, in an editorial, is now on record that it supports the Bush administrations assessment that Iran is pursuing nuclear power, but hope for enough time for the world to put greater pressure on the regime to change.
• The Economist argued that Ahmadinejad is growing in popularity inside of Iran.
  

Insight into the Iranian People.

• The New York Times reported that in Iranian eyes, the 'Cross-Eyed British' are to blame for its historic problems with the international community.
• SMCCDI reported that the vast majority of Iranians chose not to attend the Islamic regime's 27th anniversery of the revolution.
  

Must Read reports.

• The Washington Post said the good news in the vote by the IAEA is that the United States and its allies have managed to broaden the international coalition. But the coalition-building nevertheless has had a clear cost: The action taken is slow and weak.
• Eli Lake, The New York Sun reported that the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is studying 12 hours of audio recordings between Saddam Hussein and his top advisers that may provide clues to the whereabouts of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
• Per Ahlmark, The Wall Street Journal nominated Ken Timmerman and John Bolton for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
• Yahoo News reported that the Pew Research Center conducted a poll in which he said: "two of three [Americans] saying Iran's nuclear program represents a major threat."
• Eli Lake, The New York Sun reported that a former special investigator for the Pentagon during the Iraq war said he found four sealed underground bunkers in southern Iraq that he is sure contain stocks of chemical and biological weapons.
• 600 Student Activists, Rezapahlavi.org published a letter from Iranian Students to the freedom-loving people of the world. A must read.
  

The Experts.

• Amir Taheri, The Jerusalem Post argues that when arguing for international support for regime change in Iran, we should focus on Iran's leaders stated plans to create a clash of civilizations culminating in a pan-Shi'ite caliphate.
• Amir Taheri, The New York Post exposed the ABC's of the Rent-A-Riot in the Middle East.
• Kenneth R. Timmerman, FrontPageMagazine.com reviewed yesterday's Washington Post article and argues once again someone is leaking critical US intelligence for political gain.
• Amir Taheri, Asharq Alawsat warned us to watch the forthcoming election of a new Assembly of Experts, a body of mullahs whose task is to elect the Supreme Leader. The new elite’s ideological guru, Ayatollah Muhammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi could emerge as the leading candidate. The most radical of Iran's Ayatollah's.
  

Photos, cartoons and videos.

• Iran Press News published graphic photos of the Iranian Regime's brutality toward three young men who were recently attacked by the regime's thugs in Zahedan.
• Cox & Forkum published a cartoon:Undeniable.
• A cartoon: Iran's WMD's.
• Iranian Student News Agency published a photo of Iranians being bussed in for the Islamic regime's 27th anniversery of the revolution.
  

And finally, The Quote of the Week.

Yahoo News reported that Iran ended all voluntary cooperation with the IAEA but would still hold talks with Moscow. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki added:

"Yesterday we had two options. One was the option of resistance and the other was surrender. We chose resistance."

Sunday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 2.12.2005:

What the Media's Video of the 27 Anniversary of the Revolution rally didn't tell you.

• SMCCDI reported that the vast majority of Iranians chose not to attend the Islamic regime's 27th anniversary of the revolution.
• Iranian Student News Agency published a photo of Iranians being bussed in for event.
  

More Threats and Insults by Iranian Leaders.

• WorldNetDaily reported that Ahmadinejad said Palestinians and "other nations" will remove Israel from the region.
• BBC News reported that Iran could abandon the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if forced to limit nuclear activities.
• Mehran Riazaty reported that Khatami called the Prime Minister of Denmark is "Stupid."

Iranian Regime attempts to keep its citizens from learning the truth.

• Rooz Online reported that the Islamic Republic warned the local press not to publish any news reports or stories regarding Iran’s referral to the UN Security Council which imply that all is lost and that the Islamic Republic has suffered a defeat.

Growing Support for Regime Change in Iran.

• Jordan Times reported that Washington is quietly backing Iran's pro-democracy forces.
• NewsMax reported that Newt Gingrich says the United States must do everything in its power to bring about regime change in Iran.
• Rooz Online is reporting that despite Ahmadinejad's promises to help the poor, unexpected price hikes are devastating Iranian families.

US Military Prepares Attack Plans on Iran.

• Philip Sherwell, The Telegraph reported that strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran's nuclear sites as a "last resort" to block Teheran's efforts to develop an atomic bomb.

Iranian Dissidents.

• Rooz Online reported that Akbar Ganji's imprisoned attorney, Soltani, is still in legal limbo since his court dossier is reportedly "lost".... adding that Ganji is supposed to be released from prison in 40 days.
• Rooz Online reported on new accusations being leveled against Web-bloggers in Iran.

Ahmad Khatami: Prime Minister of Denmark is Stupid

Mehran Riazaty, Iran Analyst:

IRNA Substitute Friday prayers leader of Tehran Hojatoleslam Ahmad Khatami called on the cartoon protesters not to attack embassies. He added that "They should be deprived of the pretext; but undoubtedly, your anger and resentment should continue until their complete repentance."

Calling Danish Prime Minister "foolish," Khatami said, "The stupid Prime Minister of Denmark says it is worthy of enduring economic losses for the sake of freedom but on the other hand these individuals do not allow comments on the Holocaust myth in the west." READ MORE

Calling western approach towards such issues as human rights, freedom of expression and disarmament "contradictory", Khatami said, "On the one hand, they are preaching human rights and on the other hand, impudently desecrate holy prophet of Islam, thus insulting more than one billion Muslims."

Analyst Comment: Above statement by Ahmad Khatami clearly shows Ayatollahs double standards on Iran’s political issues. On one hand, Ahmad Khatami condemning attacks on embassies and on the other hand he tells people to continue their anger and resentment through demonstrations against west. The double standards by the Iranian authorities are also could be seen on Iran’s nuclear activities.

Furthermore, in the past, the Iranian authorities have constantly disrespected other countries leaders by calling them stupid or other improper names. There should be reaction by western world towards the Iranian authority’s behavior, because leaders of other countries have been chosen through election by people. Therefore, disrespecting other countries leaders means disrespecting people of other countries indirectly.

Mehran Riazaty: a former Iran analyst for the Central Command of the Coalition Forces in Baghdad.

US prepares military blitz against Iran's nuclear sites

Philip Sherwell, The Telegraph:

Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran's nuclear sites as a "last resort" to block Teheran's efforts to develop an atomic bomb.

Central Command and Strategic Command planners are identifying targets, assessing weapon-loads and working on logistics for an operation, the Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

They are reporting to the office of Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, as America updates plans for action if the diplomatic offensive fails to thwart the Islamic republic's nuclear bomb ambitions. Teheran claims that it is developing only a civilian energy programme.

"This is more than just the standard military contingency assessment," said a senior Pentagon adviser. "This has taken on much greater urgency in recent months." READ MORE

The prospect of military action could put Washington at odds with Britain which fears that an attack would spark violence across the Middle East, reprisals in the West and may not cripple Teheran's nuclear programme. But the steady flow of disclosures about Iran's secret nuclear operations and the virulent anti-Israeli threats of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has prompted the fresh assessment of military options by Washington. The most likely strategy would involve aerial bombardment by long-distance B2 bombers, each armed with up to 40,000lb of precision weapons, including the latest bunker-busting devices. They would fly from bases in Missouri with mid-air refuelling.

The Bush administration has recently announced plans to add conventional ballistic missiles to the armoury of its nuclear Trident submarines within the next two years. If ready in time, they would also form part of the plan of attack.

Teheran has dispersed its nuclear plants, burying some deep underground, and has recently increased its air defences, but Pentagon planners believe that the raids could seriously set back Iran's nuclear programme.

Iran factfile

Iran was last weekend reported to the United Nations Security Council by the International Atomic Energy Agency for its banned nuclear activities. Teheran reacted by announcing that it would resume full-scale uranium enrichment - producing material that could arm nuclear devices.

The White House says that it wants a diplomatic solution to the stand-off, but President George W Bush has refused to rule out military action and reaffirmed last weekend that Iran's nuclear ambitions "will not be tolerated".

Sen John McCain, the Republican front-runner to succeed Mr Bush in 2008, has advocated military strikes as a last resort. He said recently: "There is only only one thing worse than the United States exercising a military option and that is a nuclear-armed Iran."

Senator Joe Lieberman, a Democrat, has made the same case and Mr Bush is expected to be faced by the decision within two years.

By then, Iran will be close to acquiring the knowledge to make an atomic bomb, although the construction will take longer. The President will not want to be seen as leaving the White House having allowed Iran's ayatollahs to go atomic.

In Teheran yesterday, crowds celebrating the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution chanted "Nuclear technology is our inalienable right" and cheered Mr Ahmadinejad when he said that Iran may reconsider membership of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

He was defiant over possible economic sanctions.

Ahmadinejad to Iranians: Israel 'will be removed'

WorldNetDaily:

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today echoed his earlier threats to "wipe Israel off the map" by telling a mass demonstration in Tehran, commemorating the 27th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, that Palestinians and "other nations" will remove Israel from the region, adding a warning to the West that harsh measures against the nation's nuclear program would result in Iran walking away from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"The policy of Iran has so far been pursuing nuclear technology within the framework of the NPT and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)," he said. "If we see you (the West) want to violate the right of the Iranian people by using those regulations (against us), you should know that the Iranian people will revise its policies. You should do nothing that will lead to such a revision in our policy," said Ahmadinejad. READ MORE

The crowd, numbered in the hundreds of thousands according to state media, responded to Ahmadinejad's defense of its nuclear program – believed by U.S. intelligence to be an effort to acquire atomic weapons – with cries of "Nuclear energy is our undisputable right," "Death to America," "Death of Israel," "Death to Denmark."

"The West is hiding its ugly face behind international bodies, but these bodies have no reputation among nations. You have destroyed the reputation of the NPT," the Iranian president said.

Ahmadinejad blamed "Zionists" for the publication of cartoons that featured caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed in a Denmark newspaper, according to the German news agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The resulting backlash has been angry Muslim protests around the world.

"I ask everybody in the world not to let a group of Zionists who failed in Palestine (referring to the recent Hamas victory in Palestinian elections) insult the prophet. "Now in the West insulting the prophet is allowed, but questioning the Holocaust is considered a crime," he said, accusing Europaeans of not allowing "neutral scholars" to investigate "the truth about the fairy tale of Holocaust."

"We ask, why do you insult the prophet? The response is that it is a matter of freedom, while in fact they are hostages of the Zionists. And the people of the U.S. and Europe should pay a heavy price for becoming hostages to Zionists," Ahmadinejad declared.

"We ask the West to remove what they created sixty years ago and if they do not listen to our recommendations, then the Palestinian nation and other nations will eventually do this for them. Do the removal of Israel before it is too late and save yourself from the fury of regional nations."

Ursula Plassnik, foreign minister of Austria and current president of the EU condemned Ahmadinejad's renewed threat against the Jewish state.

"That this type of completely unacceptable remarks are continually being repeated does not mean we should accept them in silence," he said, stressing that peace in the Middle East meant both Palestinians and Israelis co-existing side by side in separate, secure states.

Ahmadinejad concluded his warning to Western nations to disassociate from "the Zionists" with almost evangelical zeal: "On the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian nation, numbering by the millions, call upon those governments to worship the Almighty God," reported the Islamic Republic News Agency. "The era of military force is over, today is the era of nations, logic and worshippers of God," he said.

Newt Gingrich: U.S. Must Stop Iran

NewsMax:

Facing a potential nuclear holocaust at the hands of Iran, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says the United States must do everything in its power to bring about regime change there, even if it means invading that nation.

Saying that he hopes President Bush, "will focus first of all on telling the American people the truth about how dangerous the world has become," he warned that if we don't have a very serious systematic program to replace the government of Iran, we're going to live in an unbelievably dangerous world."

Speaking to Human Events magazine, Gingrich, a noted historian, compared the president's handling of the Iran problem to the way British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin handled Nazi Germany in the mid-1930s, when Baldwin refused to rearm or recognize the threat Adolf Hitler posed to Britain and Europe. He contrasted Baldwin's polcies with those of another prime minister, Winston Churchill, who adopted a hard-line stance against the Nazi dictator's ambitions. READ MORE

"This is 1935 and [Iranian president] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is as close to Adolf Hitler as we've seen. We now know who they are -- the question is who we are. Are we Baldwin or Churchill? " Gingrich said, noting that Churchill recognized the danger from Nazi Germany and urged that Britain prepare to meet it.

Asked what Churchill would do about Ahmadinejad, Gingrich said he had just read the opening passages of Churchill's book, "The Gathering Storm," the first volume of his World War II memoir. In the book Churchill recalled that President Franklin D. Roosevelt once asked him "What should they call the war?." Churchill's reply: "We should call it "The Unnecessary War," noting that "had we done simple, practical things in 1935, 1936, we would have saved 100 million lives."

Gingrich laid out his strategy for dealing with the Iranian threat:

• Recognize the reality of the threat. He said the United States must understand thoroughly who the current Iranian dictatorship is -- a dictatorship that has been at war with the us since 1979. Ahmadinejad, he recalls, has said openly and publicly that Iran must "defeat the Anglo-Saxons and eliminate Israel from the face of the Earth."
• Come to the aid of the oppressed Iranian people the majority of who are pro-American, by starting "with all-out help to the forces of independence in the country," given covertly. He cited such groups as student and trade union organizations, suggesting that we make every effort to supply them with the resources needed to bring about regime change while making it clear that we are going to do everything in our power to make that a reality. And, he adds, we should tell the Europeans that there is no imaginable diplomatic solution that can solve the Iranian problem.
• Put our money where our mouth is. "I would actively right now be funneling money into Iran," firstly by actively supporting a Radio Free Iran, helping the trade unionists in the oil fields to have money for strike funds. And if there is no choice other than to invade Iran we need to avoid the mistake we made in Iraq by making sure that if we have to invade "we want to make sure there is a network of Iranians prepared to run their own country."

Asked if such aid would need congressional approval, he said "absolutely," noting that a bill by Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., that "shamefully had a part taken out by Democrats just before Christmas. He had a bill for getting to a free Iran. And Rick Santorum has done yeoman's work on this."

When asked if the administration is working with Iranian exiles, he told Human Events that he asked White House spokesman Scott McClellan at a briefing if they were in touch with the exile community from Iran. The answer was no.

Said Gingrich: "The current behavior of the bureaucracy is perfectly compatible with Stanley Baldwin and totally incompatible with Winston Churchill." He added that he hopes the president "will impose his will." Short of that, he said, "It is inconceivable that the current system would be prepared to take on the Iranian government."

If all else fails, Gingrich said, the United States will have to invade.

"Look, I think that winning the long war -- and that's the only way you can think of this, this is a 50- to 70-year campaign if we're lucky -- is going to be a long, difficult process. But I think there are certain ground rules we have to set very early. One of them has to be: We are not going to accept dictatorships with weapons capable of destroying the United States."

Censorship of the Press: Do not “Imply Defeat”

Sara Isfahani, Rooz Online:

The secretariat of Iran’s National Security Council (NSC) has asked the managers of the local press not to publish any news reports or stories regarding Iran’s referral to the UN Security Council which imply that all is lost and that the Islamic Republic has suffered a defeat.

The request asks that writers and commentators to demonstrate Iran’s national unity to foreigners by writing nationalistic and heroic articles portraying the nuclear issues as a national and popular cause. The NSC has exercised control over what the local press and publications print through such verbal or written notices to the media whenever sensitive issues take place in the country.

Last Saturday’s request specifically asks the media to observe the following in their stories:

1. Prevent fermenting any concern or fear among the public,
2. Do not imply that the issue is at an impasse or ended, and,
3. Do not imply that the Islamic Republic has failed or been defeated.

The NSC document further says that any disregard for the above is interpreted to be against the national interest of the regime. The media has also been warned that non-compliance could result in the banning of the publication.

Unexpected Price Hike Cripples Iranian Families

Shervin Omidvar, Rooz Online:

In his election campaign promises, hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had promised to commit to short-term economic projects and allow Iranians to benefit from rising oil revenues. But six months after he has been in power, not only has the life of Iranians deteriorated qualitatively, but it is even imposing a new wave of price hikes, creating grave concerns among ordinary citizens who are not able to meet their daily needs. READ MORE

Recent reports in a number of local publications confirm the new wave of price increases. The price of basic commodities has drastically risen. The Commerce Minister that his ministry which is legally responsible for price controls advises Iranians to consume more chicken to prevent the price hikes of red meat. The minister appears to ignore the fact the due to threat of Avian Flu and a considerable cut in chicken consumption, prices have had a 6% increase. While according to Central Bank figures the consumer price of chicken continues to regularly increase, he believes that the public can help control the price rise by consuming more poultry. He has also asserted that Iran is free from the Avian Flu virus and that the ministry has banned government imports of red meat.

Based on figures recent released by the Central Bank, the price fruits, beans, rice, sugar and red meat has also risen considerably in recent weeks. In the last three months, the price of red meat has dramatically increased by 40%. Although, Mohammad Mousavi, the executive director of the country’s meat products union, and the president of the meat producers association have both acknowledged the recent price hikes, Hamshahri daily quotes the executive director of the central husbandry association that the country is not suffering form a shortage of red meat. It believes that the dramatic increase in prices is due to the activities of middlemen who want to increase meat imports. He stresses that the animal husbandry industry has not only had no role in the price hikes but has in fact sustained heavy losses.

When the deputy Minister of Commerce announced two weeks ago that the price of bread will increase in the forthcoming two months, some government critics objected arguing that the price of bread had been kept constant for the last two years, despite market pressures. They argue that the hardline government and conservatives ruling the Majlis seem to have forgotten their campaign promises of justice and equality.

Economic experts believe the steep price increases in housing, transportation as well as fruits and beans, will be continue because of international pressures on Iran due to the nuclear standoff and possible referral of Iran to the United Nations Security Council. While this rising inflation rate is expected to continue and drastically impact the lives of ordinary low-income Iranians, recent studies by Iran’s Nutrition and Food Industry Institute indicate that millions of Iranians are already suffering from vitamin deficiencies.

The empty campaign promises of supporting the oppressed still echo in Iran. And while the government expands its powers, its weekly announcements indicate poverty is rampant the oil-rich country. Iran’s oil revenue in the first 9 months of the Iranian fiscal year passed the $35 billion mark. Not exactly pennies for a third world country.

Soltani’s Dossier is Lost?

Rooz Online:

The case of Abdol-Fattah Soltani, the prominent Iranian lawyer imprisoned in July 2005 on charges of illegally revealing information from one of his clients who was charged with disclosing Iran’s nuclear secrets, remains in limbo, according to his wife. After her recent visit, she said that while the investigator of the case says that he has sent the file to the court, the court denies receiving any such documents.

Mrs. Soltani also said that her husband’s health had deteriorated and that he suffered from knee pains, which had been confirmed by prison officials. Soltani had been issued a bond of 800 million Tomans (about $941,000) as his bail and his wife said that she had still not heard any response from officials regarding her request to reconsider the outrageous amount so she could provide the amount.

On another case, Ganji’s wife also said she continues to be in the dark about the state of her husband’s case, Akbar Ganji, who a few months ago ended his hunger strike. Ganji continues not to have regular visitations from his family members. Prison officials call Mrs. Ganji on an ad-hoc basis to inform her that she can go and visit her husband. Mrs. Ganji awaits the release of her husband at the end of his term which is to take place in about 40 days. But she is not absolutely hopeful that he will be released and says he may be, unless they create another charge against him.

New Accusations Against Web-bloggers

Shahram Rafizadeh, Rooz Online:

While the filtering of internet sites has dramatically increased in Iran, Farid Modaressi and Hussein Abdollahpour, two web-bloggers from the religious city of Qom have been charged with spreading propaganda against the Islamic regime while communicating with Ahmad Shamlou, Iran’s prominent poet who passed away 5 years ago and Ayatollah Montazeri, the senior Qom cleric who was once the second most senior political figure after ayatollah Khomeini, until he fell out of favor and was put under house arrest. The court looking into the webloggers case claims that contacts with such anti-revolutionary individuals (Shamlou and Montazeri) are against the laws of the country. READ MORE

In another similar imprisonment, Arash Sigarchi a web-blogger who was sentenced to 14 years of prison was recently transferred to Rasht prison to spend his 3-year imprisonment.

Among those arrested in the wave of last year’s crackdowns on bloggers in Iran, were Farid Modaressi, Hussein Abdollahpour, Hamed Mottaghi and Masoud Rahbari. Other bloggers in other cities such as Arash Sigarichi, Mohammad Reza NasabAbdollahi and Mojtaba Samieenejad were also arrested following their support and sympathy for their imprisoned friends.

Mistreatment, arrest and torture of internet activists has sparked angry reactions of human rights activists and even some Iranian government officials. The persistence of an official investigative presidential committee created during former president Khatami's government has forced judicial officials to acknowledge the mistreatment and excesses of imprisoned web-bloggers.

In his court hearing in Qom, Fardi Modaressi explained in detail the inhumane mistreatment that he had received in prison to the shocking ears of the listeners. He accused Qom judiciary officials of torturing him to extract fake confessions which were later published in pro-government hardline newspapers. Based on these forced confessions, the radical officials in the Qom judiciary have put Madaressi on trial and accused him of spreading propaganda against the Islamic state.

The crackdown on bloggers has again intensified in recent months. Many popular and professional internet sites have been filtered to deny access to Iranians. Arash Sigarchi, the editor of Gilan daily and supporter of imprisoned bloggers was arrested and imprisoned recently. Mojtaba Samieenejad was also charged and sentenced to prison for “offending religious beliefs” in his blog and is spending his two-year sentence in prison for it.

Following an investigation conducted by an institute affiliated to the hardline ministry of culture, a number of bloggers have shut down their sites in recent weeks without specifying their reasons. The study has divided Iranian bloggers into two groups of supporters and opponents of the Islamic regime. The report claims that the blogs that support the Islamic regime are more popular among web users. The research neglects to mention the harsh and inhuman mistreatment of the arrested webloggers whose conditions have even brought tears to listening government officials.

Washington Quietly Backs Iran Reformers

George Gedda, Jordan Times:

Akbar Ganji has a term for the dangers of challenging Iran's Islamic government: "Playing with death." Ganji is perhaps Iran's best known political prisoner. A veteran of hunger strikes and long bouts of solitary confinement, Ganji has been imprisoned since 2001 after writing that regime allies were responsible for "serial murders" of prominent dissidents during the 1990s.

It is Iranians like Ganji and others disenchanted with the Islamic republic whom the Bush administration is trying to reach through pro-democracy Internet messages into the country and local language broadcasts. Broadcasting has been expanded significantly lately. READ MORE

VOA Persian TV and Radio Farda were launched in late 2002 with a combined budget of $6.4 million. It is now up to $18.8 million, and the Bush administration is seeking $19.6 million for next year.

Separately, the US administration launched a $3 million programme in November to advance human rights and promote groups independent of Iran's Islamic government. Additional money, perhaps even more of it, is expected to be approved by Congress this year.

Such programmes are common throughout the Middle East but officials won't discuss details about the activities involving Iran because of the potential risk that the Iranian partners could face if found out.

One Iranian resistance group ineligible for US assistance is the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, an armed insurgency that is on the State Department's list of international terrorist organisations. Officials accuse it of supporting the Iran hostage-taking in 1979 and of killing Americans. MEK leaders deny both charges.

Communicating with dissidents inside Iran is extraordinarily dangerous for the dissidents and difficult on both sides, and officials won't discuss the subject.

There is no official American presence in Iran.

Public US defence of Iranian reformists can leave them open to charges that they are American lackeys, as happened during the administration of former president Bill Clinton.

The public silence about details of the US push for democracy contrasts sharply with the daily condemnations of Iran's nuclear programme from the White House, the State Department and elsewhere.

Not surprisingly, US-Iranian mutual suspicions run deep.

The United States has been the chief protagonist internationally in calling attention to what it says is Iran's secret plan to develop nuclear weapons, Iran denies that and says its nuclear programme is for electric power only.

For their part, the ruling mullahs in Tehran frequently remind Iranians that the United States and Britain collaborated in the ouster of an elected Iranian government in 1953.

The administration has stopped short of its "regime change" policy that led to the US military's overthrow of President Saddam Hussein's government in neighbouring Iraq. At the same time, it has been increasingly vocal in discussing its support for Iranian reformers.

In his State of the Union address last week, President George W. Bush said in remarks directed at Iranians: "America respects you, and we respect your country. We respect your right to choose your own future and win your own freedom. And our nation hopes one day to be the closest of friends with a free and democratic Iran." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on January 18 that it is important for the many Iranians alienated from their government to know that they have outside support.

"The Iranian people deserve a better future and deserve an elected future," Rice said. "Iran is simply 180 degrees out of step with the rest of the trends in the Middle East." The United States has been financing a website since May 2003 that serves as a "virtual embassy" by providing a channel for official US statements in Farsi.

A VOA television operation tailored for Iranian viewers started in July 2003 with a modest 30 minutes a day of programming. An upgrade to four hours a day is planned by September, and the budget is up by almost half to $11 million for this year.

Kenneth Tomlinson, chairman of a board that oversees US broadcasting abroad, says TV programming into Iran "is the most important thing the VOA has done in recent years anywhere." On the radio side, separate VOA operations for Iranian listeners broadcast four hours daily and round-the-clock.

The United States spent $1 million in 2004 to document human rights abuses inside Iran. The National Endowment for Democracy, the US government-funded group that supports democracy around the world, has allocated $500,000 or programmes in Iran.

Abdul Wahab, an endowment Iran specialist, says endowment grants teach Iranian activists how to create and manage dissident organisations and to be effective human rights advocates. The endowment helps anti-regime groups both inside and outside Iran.

Wahab said that with his organisation's help, US-based Iranian exiles set up a website last month that identifies 10,000 Iranians alleged to have been killed by Iranian authorities since the 1979 revolution.

It identifies when where and how each was killed, and which international convention was violated in the process, he said.

Iran 'Could Quit Nuclear Treaty'

BBC News:

Iran could abandon the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if forced to limit nuclear activities, its hardline president says. He said if the rights of the Iranian people were violated, Iran would "revise its policies".

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the comments in a speech marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

On 4 February, the IAEA decided to report Iran to the UN Security Council over its disputed nuclear programme.

Iranians show massive rejection of the Islamic regime at the occasion of its 27th birthday

SMCCDI (Information Service):

Millions of Iranians inflicted another heavy slap to the face of the shaky and unpopular Islamic regime by boycotting its "27th anniversary revolution celebration" by staying home, or far from the official gatherings.

The regime's desperate leadership was hoping to bring millions in the streets by playing their nationalistic or religious feelings. But in Tehran, which was supposed to become a show room, the regime was unable to muster more than 70 or 80 thousand professional demonstrators and government employees and schools' students. Many of them, such as most governmental employees, are known to be forced to participate in official gatherings and others are fanatics or paid demonstrators. Hundreds of buses had transferred thousands of such demonstrators to the Capital.

For reference purposes, there are more than 12-million inhabitants in Tehran, the capital of Iran. READ MORE

The SMCCDI Coordinator, who was interviewed by the Persian service of "Voice of America" (VOA) Satellite TV, slammed the Islamic regime for its dark records and the threats posed to the People of Iran and the world.

In part of the live interview from Washington DC, Aryo B. Pirouznia, who was speaking at the occasion of the Islamic revolution's anniversary, stated: "The dark event plunged Iran in the situation which we're now and has more in its package due to its fanatical and backwarded ideology... Without doubt, millions of young Iranians are wondering how this happened and why the elder generation facilitated the take of power of a group which took from Iranians all their social and economic liberties and plunged the country into the barbarian age..."

"The younger generation of Iran, which is composed by millions of individuals, has long turned its back to the Islamic regime and it’s looking toward modernity, secularity and nationalism... This claim can be easily backed due to the lack of popular participation in the today's official rallies, as well as, the refusal of Iranians to participate in those anti-cartoons' violent demos..." Pirouznia added.

On the question of the prospect of a unified Iranian opposition, he stated:" You have more and more Iranians that are breaking their silence and protesting openly against the regime.. The problem till now has been the negative influence exerted by some of those so-called opposition leaders that are not even able to reach the minds and souls of millions of young Iranians who are fed up with the same usual slogans... A clear National and Secular program, along with persistency and consistency is needed and hoped by millions of Iranians.. They don't want just talks or those looking simply to seize the power by making controversial deals...The road should be open now for active and trusted opponents as Iranians have clearly shown the rejection of the same usual faces and their old methods..."

Iranians Bussed in for Regime Photo Op

Iranian Student News Agency:

Saturday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 2.11.2005:

Iran challenges the West twice in one day.

• Con Coughlin, The Telegraph reported that Iran's controversial Natanz uranium processing plant has successfully restarted their equipment that enable it to produce material for nuclear warheads. A major development.
  
• Iran Press News reported that the E.U. in a formal statement called for the Islamic regime to sever all ties to various Palestinian and Lebanese terror groups; the Islamic regime however, immediately rejected the appeal.

The Russians are unhappy with Iran.

• Monsters & Critics reported that three major Russian news agencies - RIA Novosti, ITAR-TASS and Interfax - published a statement by a certain 'expert', saying: 'the situation around Iran is very bad and is going from bad to worse.' '

Western leaders examining other options.

• Iran Press News reported that Britain, France and Germany have begun compiling a list of the Islamic regimes hierarchy in order to impose possible sanctions and travel bans on Iranian leaders.
• Reuters reported that in a private meeting with European diplomats this week, a former senior U.S. official raised the idea of launching a dozen B2 bombers in an air raid aimed at crippling key Iranian nuclear facilities.
• Reuters reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said: "We have undertaken a series of initiatives to try to persuade them that their behaviour is harmful to a new Iraqi government and indeed harmful to the region. Thus far we've not been successful." "I think they're making a mistake."

The phony and the real unrest in Iran.

• Reuters witnesses said a crowd of about 70 protesters gathered in front of the French embassy, then a crowd of about 200 people hurled stones at the Danish embassy and finally, the same crowd then moved to the nearby British diplomatic compound.
• Iran Press News reported on the protests and clashes between people and Islamic regimes forces in Mahabad (Province of Kurdistan).

Iranian student activists call for help.

• 600 Student Activists, Rezapahlavi.org published a letter from Iranian Students to the freedom-loving people of the world. A must read.

More calls for support of the Tehran Bus Strikers.

• The ITF is urging transport workers across the world to support an international day of action demanding the release of over 1000 trade unionists imprisoned in Iran. The action day, set for February 15th.

Hezbollah.

• OhMyNews reported that the leader of Hezbollah said U.S. President George W. Bush and his secretary of state should "shut up" after they accused Syria and Iran of fueling protests over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
• Iran Press News reported that Hasan Nasrollah, the Lebanese Hezbollah leader said: "We stand behind the Islamic Republic of Iran in their nuclear pursuits... [Western] dictators want to deprive them from obtaining such technology."

Iran's other ticking bomb.

• Amir Taheri, Asharq Alawsat warned us to watch the forthcoming election of a new Assembly of Experts, a body of mullahs whose task is to elect the Supreme Leader. The new elite’s ideological guru, Ayatollah Muhammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi could emerge as the leading candidate. The most radical of Iran's Ayatollah's.
  

Do these analysts speak to Iranians?

• The Economist argued that Ahmadinejad is growing in popularity inside of Iran.
  
• Edward N. Luttwak, Los Angeles Times asked: Would Iranians Rally 'Round the Flag?

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

• The New York Times reported that in Iranian eyes, the 'Cross-Eyed British' are to blame for its historic problems with the international community.
• Iran Focus reported that Iran will buy several 30 Russian-made Tor M-1 surface-to-air missiles from Russia as part of its arsenal to protect its nuclear sites.
• Reuters reported that while Israel has long pursued a policy of preemptive attack as its preferred form of defense. But when it comes to tackling arch-foe Iran, that option may have been put on hold under a protective "umbrella" on offer from the United States.
• And finally, A cartoon: Iran's WMD's.