Week in Review

DoctorZin provides a review of this past week's [3/05/06 -3/11/06] major news events regarding Iran. (The reports are listed in chronological order, not by importance) READ MORE

Iran's Nuclear Program.

• DW-World.de reported that the Islamic republic's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Iran will not freeze sensitive nuclear "research" work even if it is hauled before the UN Security Council.
• CNN News reported that Iran will resume large-scale nuclear enrichment if the IAEA board of governors refers the Islamic Republic to the U.N. Security Council.
• Reuters reported that Iran reiterated it had no plans to use its oil exports as a weapon in a dispute over its nuclear program but said it could still do so "if conditions changed".
• Reuters reported that the US administration warned that Iran faced "painful consequences" if it continued sensitive nuclear activities.
• The Times reported that the U.S. Administration is riven by divisions over how it should tackle Iran’s defiance of the international community.
• The Jerusalem Post reported that a senior State Department official said unless Iran executes a dramatic about-face and suspends all its nuclear activities, the UN Security Council will intervene "quite actively."
• Reuters reported that Iran said it could delay industrial-scale enrichment for up to two years, but the EU countered with a demand for a 10-year moratorium on all enrichment activity.
• BBC News reported that the United States has said it will not accept any deal which allows Iran to enrich uranium.
• Reuters is reporting that a covert Iranian program run by people closely linked to Iran's military includes plans to arm its Shahab-3 missiles with nuclear warheads.
• Telegraph reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guards have taken the extraordinary step of cutting down thousands of trees in Tehran to prevent United Nations inspectors from finding traces of enriched uranium.
• The Washington Times reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Washington yesterday hoping to sell a proposed compromise to process small amounts of uranium on its own territory.
• But then The Financial Times reported that Mr Lavrov denied the very existence of a new Russian compromise proposal, “There is no compromise, new Russian proposal.”
• CNN News reported that Vice President Dick Cheney said Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and warned "the United States is keeping all options on the table.
• FOCUS News Agency reported that a German diplomat confirmed that Iran had purchased 18 disassembled BM-25 mobile missiles with a range of around 2,500 km from North Korea.
• The Wall Street Journal argued that Europe's use of "soft power" has brought us to a point where the free world now has two options left on Iran: disaster or catastrophe.
• Rooz Online reported that Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, the deputy director for economic research at the Center for Strategic Studies belonging to the State Expediency Council of Iran said that the Russian nuclear proposal was “not worth a penny.”
• BBC News reported that Iran's nuclear program is being forwarded to the UN Security Council for consideration of possible punitive action.
• Reuters reported that the U.N. S.C. is expected to meet on Iran next week.
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office published a Statement on Iran on Behalf of France, Germany and The UK to the IAEA.
• Reuters reported that Iran's UN representatives said if the U.N. Security Council took up the issue of Tehran's nuclear research: "The United States may have the power to cause harm and pain but it is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if the United States wishes to choose that path, let the ball roll."
• Zee News reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned that the world must give in.
• The Financial Times reported that an Iranian official said that the calculations of Iran’s leadership on the nuclear issue were being complicated by a growing concern that the real interest of the Bush administration was not Iran’s nuclear program but in regime change.
• Reuters reported that the White House rejected as provocative Iran's statement's that the United States could feel "harm and pain" if the U.N. Security Council took up the issue of Tehran's nuclear research.
• The Financial Times reported that the US laid out a step-by-step plan to apply pressure on Iran starting with seeking a binding chapter seven resolution designed to “isolate” the Islamic regime.
• Reuters reported that Israel's defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, said if the United Nations Security Council is incapable of stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Israel will have no choice but to defend itself.
• The Guardian reported that a senior UK Foreign Office official said that Iran might gain the technical knowhow within months to build a serviceable nuclear weapon.
• Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said: "We will resist ..." 'If we give in this time, then the Europeans will come up next with new excuses to deprive us from scientific achievements."
• Reuters reported that Britain said it was taking seriously threats from Iran that it could inflict "pain."
• Reuters reported that Iran may have misjudged its recent confrontational tactics in the nuclear standoff.
• Ha'aretz reported that intelligence services in the West are convinced that Iran is taking covert means to develop nuclear weapons and that there is a secondary, smaller covert channel that is making steady progress.
• ABC News reported that the United States and Europe want the United Nations Security Council to give Iran a two-week deadline to halt suspect nuclear work.
• Santa Barbara News Press reported that French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy urged Iran to return rapidly to ''reason'' adding: ''We must move quickly.'' He did not elaborate.
• The New York Times reported that the Security Council is considering a statement that says "continued enrichment-related activity would add to the importance and urgency of further action by the Council."
• Reuters reported that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana raised the prospect of sanctions against Iran.
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office published an edited transcript of an interview in which the foreign secretary, Jack Straw said until they [Iran] clarify their intentions we do not believe it is safe for them to have full access to the nuclear cycle. "Until?"
• Reuters reported that Prime Minister Tony Blair vowed to pursue Iran's nuclear program through the U.N. Security Council.
• CNN News reported that U.S. President George W. Bush has called Iran an issue of "grave national security concern" but said he wanted a diplomatic solution.
• Kenneth R. Timmerman, FrontPageMagazine.com reported that the U.S. envoy to the IAEA said a closed-door meeting: Iran now has the materials to make up to ten nuclear weapons.
• The Times reported that a British official warned the Security Council yesterday that it should move fast as it was “reasonable” as Iran could acquire the technology to make nuclear weapons “within a year”.
• The Australian reported that General Moshe Ya'alon, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, revealed that Israel could neutralize the Iranian threat for several years.
• Canada.com reported that Iran threatened to use oil as a weapon if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions over its nuclear program.
• The Washington Post reported that the United States, backed by France and Britain, pressed Moscow and Beijing at a meeting of the council's five veto-wielding members to support the swift adoption of a Security Council statement.
• MosNews reported that Russia considers a joint uranium enrichment venture with Iran impossible if the Iranian side fails to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) demands.
• Arutz Sheva reported that England's Foreign Minister Jack Straw says that the world should worry about disabling Israel's nuclear capabilities as much as it is concerned with preventing Iran from going nuclear.
• New York Times reported that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Iranian Leaders On the Offensive.

• Iran Focus reported that Iran’s conference on Holocaust denial will begin on Tuesday.
• Taipei Times reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the UN nuclear agency to compensate Iran for its suspension of nuclear activities.
• Iran Focus reported that a senior Revolutionary Guards commander dismissed threats by the United States over Iran’s nuclear program as a “political bluff.”
• Reuters reported that Iran's UN representatives said if the U.N. Security Council took up the issue of Tehran's nuclear research: "The United States may have the power to cause harm and pain but it is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if the United States wishes to choose that path, let the ball roll."
• Iran Focus reported that Ayatollah Rafsanjani said that the United States was faced with defeat in the Middle East.
• Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said: "We will resist ..." 'If we give in this time, then the Europeans will come up next with new excuses to deprive us from scientific achievements."
• Iran Focus reported that Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said: "Iran’s enemies will not dare launch a military strike on the country’s nuclear installations because of the organized radical Islamists ready to defend the ruling theocracy."
• Rooz Online reported that the head of Iran’s Islamic Propagation Organization announced that the US had launched its plan for the larger Middle East because of its threat from the re-appearance and return of the 12th Shiite Imam.
  

What kind of "democracy" do Iran's new leaders want?

• Iran Press News reported that Ahmadinejad's spiritual mentor, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi said: "the only way to protect and promote the ascendancy of the Islamic rule is to set their entire world on fire" and "Islamic rule is not in the majority vote of the people; in general people are too stupid." Plus much more.
• Itar-Tass reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: “The world will be in the hands of Islam over the next few years.”
  

Power Struggle inside of Iran.

• Rooz Online reported on a recent meeting of the leaders of the Iranian regime where they met to try to forge greater unity as international pressure builds on the regime.
  

Rumors of War.

• Sunday Times reported that NATO Major-General Axel Tüttelman discussing NATO’s possible involvement in any future military strike against Iran, said: “We would be the first to be called up if the NATO council decided we should be.”
• IranMania reported that Iran owns advanced technology in electronic warfare and can combat any such attacks on its military equipment.
  
• The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli Special Forces are working in Iran to locate the precise sites at which Iran continues to enrich uranium.
• The Washington Post reported that former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami warned that tensions between the Islamic world and the West are taking the shape of a new Cold War.
• Yahoo News reported that Iran has arrested a nuclear spy who allegedly passed classified information to arch-foe the United States.
• Mehran Riazaty reported on the nuclear sites that would be targeted in an attack on Iran.
• The Telegraph reported that Iran's leaders have built a secret underground emergency command centre in Teheran as they prepare for a confrontation with the West.
  

Iranians and the possible US intervention in Iran.

• Rooz Online reported that not all Iranians are opposed to US intervention in Iran, largely out of desperation and lack of hope.
• The Washington Post reported that Iranians are expressing unease about the international showdown over their country's nuclear program, as broad public support for atomic power is tempered by growing misgivings about the cost.
• Countdown reported on a confidential poll in Iran that claimed, 69% of the Iranians do not recognize the nuclear issue a matter of national aspiration and 86% do not believe that nuclear technology is worth a military conflict.
• Amir Taheri, Arab News reported that an Iranian report, almost certainly leaked by the entourage of former President Khatami, that shows Iran’s uranium reserves will cover the needs of the Bushehr power station for fuel for no more than seven years, but could produce some 200 atomic bombs. He added: the domestic popular support for the nuclear issue is fast evaporating since the Iranian people feel that they have not been told the truth.
  

Support for Internal Regime Change in Iran. US gets specific.

• Sunday Times reported that Vice President Cheney's daughter, Elizabeth, in charge of spending the $85m allocated to promote democracy in Iran. She is the deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs.
• The Wall Street Journal said that now that Iran's pro-democracy forces have a checking account, the critical next question is how to spend it.
• Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian calls for a European approach to supporting democracy in Iran.
• U.S. Department of State published the congressional testimony of R. Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, where he outlined the long overdue US policy toward Iran.
• Reuters reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran is probably the No. 1 challenge to the United States.
• U.S. Department of State reported that Secretary Condoleezza Rice said: "We do not have a problem with the Iranian people. We want the Iranian people to be free. Our problem is with the Iranian regime and these programs are intended to help us reach out to them."
• The International Herald Tribune reported that the State Department is preparing for a "long struggle" against Iran.
• The New York Sun reported that the State Department stressed the importance of plans to station at least 10 diplomats in Dubai to monitor the Tehran regime and support Iran's pro-democracy movement.
• Middle East Newsline reported that the US plans to open a representative office in Iran.
  

Iran's Dissidents.

• Rooz Online reported that a senior Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps commander revealed plans to detain and extract fake confessions from reformers.
• Iran Press News provided an update on Iranian blogger and political prisoner, Mojtaba Samii-nejad who is being detained at Ghezel-hesor prison.
• Iran Press News reported that a 14 year old boy arrested, flogged and imprisoned for "demonstrating."
• Rooz Online reported that Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji's Attorney was finally released from prison on a $1 million bail.
• Eli Lake, The New York Sun reported that one of the lawyers representing Iranian opposition leader and journalist Akbar Ganji was released from prison last weekend.
• Iran Watch Canada is counting down the release of Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji from prison, with just 8 days to go (March 17th).
  

Iranian regime leaders are worried about the threat from within.

• Iran Press News reported that the regime has banned the March 15th celebration of the hugely popular "Festival of Fire." The edict saying: "The use of fireworks, sparklers and fire crackers which will lead to fun, conviviality and frolic is haraam and any further references to all Persian traditions and culture before Islam is directly anti-Islamic and immoral."
• Rooz Online reported that Ahmadinejad has announced a state of emergency in eight government ministries.
• SOSIran in a press statement on the Festival of Light Celebrations in Iran - March 14th, said they expect the regime to attempt to suppress the celebration and asked us in the west to let the world know what happens that night. Photo.
• SMCCDI reported that hundreds of Iranians used the occasion offered by a soccer match to protest against the Islamic republic regime.
• Iran Focus reported that Iran’s State Security Forces have arrested ten people in Tehran for distribution of fireworks days before Iranians celebrate a traditional “fire” festival.
  

The Unrest inside of Iran.

• SMCCDI reported that an Intelligence Officer named Rahman Ghaderi (AKA Rahman Griss) was gunned down, this morning, by the residents of the western City of Bookan.
• Radio Free Europe reported that Iran arrested more than 50 people involved in recent bombings in the Southwestern province of Khuzestan.
• Iran Focus reported that hundreds of disenchanted youth damaged more than a dozen buses in the Iranian capital Friday after a football match.
  

The March 8th "Women's Day" Demonstrations in Iran.

• Early reports indicated there were three demonstrations in Tehran and more were reported around the nation and they were met with violence and force.
• Iran Focus reported that hundreds of women gathered Wednesday afternoon in Tehran’s Laleh Park and took part in a demonstration against the Iranian government.
• SMCCDI reported that tens of female demonstrators and a well known poet, Simin Behbahani, were injured due to the brutality used against the demonstrators.
• Samii Shahla reported that a group of about 130 women’s rights activists who gathered in Deneshjoo Park in central Tehran to celebrate International Women’s Day were brutally beaten by the police. Photos.
• Reuters reported that Iranian police and plainclothes agents yesterday beat hundreds of women and men who had gathered to commemorate International Women's Day. Plus 4 videos.
• Women’s Rights Association of Iran published a detailed report on International Women’s Day Protest in Laleh Park in Tehran. Videos.
• Azarmehr Weblog reported that the elderly Simin Behbehani, one of Iran's greatest contemporary poets and writers was amongst those women who were beaten up in yesterday's rally in Tehran.
• Rooz Online reported on the gathering of Iranian women on International Women’s Day turned violence when Iran’s prominent poetess, Simin Behbahani who has been losing her eye sight, was beaten up.
  

Human Rights/Religious and Press Freedom inside of Iran.

• Iran Press News reported that the Organization of The Defense of Women's Rights released a report on the condition of Iranian women.
• Iran Press News reported that the automobile racing federation of the Islamic Republic invalidated the scores for the speed competition in which Leila Sadigh was the frontrunner and completely banned all sports that included mixed competition.
• ABCNet reported that the US Government has singled out Iran as among the world's worst human rights abusers.
  

Iran's Military.

• Mehran Riazaty reported that Iranian General Safavi, recently boasted: "Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps is strongest military power in the Middle East."
• Iran Focus reported that a senior Revolutionary Guards commander dismissed threats by the United States over Iran’s nuclear program as a “political bluff.”
• Defence Talk reported that Iran's armed forces have deployed a new locally-built submarine in Persian Gulf waters.
• Iran Focus reported that Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said: "Iran’s enemies will not dare launch a military strike on the country’s nuclear installations because of the organized radical Islamists ready to defend the ruling theocracy."
  

Iran's Troublemaking in Iraq.

• Pittsburg Online reported that US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad in Iraq said: "The struggle for Iraq is the struggle for the future of the world."
• ABC News reported that U.S. military and intelligence officials reported that they have caught shipments of deadly new bombs at the Iran-Iraq border and Richard Clarke added: "the Iranian government is knowingly killing U.S. troops."
• SGate.com reported that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld accused Tehran of dispatching elements of its Revolutionary Guard to stir trouble inside Iraq.
• World Tribune.com reported that in a major escalation Iran has deployed elite forces to confront the U.S. military in Iraq.
• The Washington Times, in an editorial, said it sees Iranian ties to the recent bloodshed in Iraq.
• The Times reported that a senior Iranian intelligence official claimed to have a letter in Persian purportedly signed by Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador in Baghdad, inviting Iranian representatives to Iraq for talks. Khalilzad denied the report.
• FOX News reported that President Bush denounced any moves by Iran or Syria to interfere in Iraq's effort to build a democracy.
  

Iran and the International community.

• Iran Press News reported on the signing of an accord between Lebanese Hezbollah and the Syrian Baath party.
• Iran Press News reported that Dutch immigration officials plan to send Iranian homosexual asylum-seekers back to Iran.
• Mehran Riazaty produced a report on recent statements by Hamas and Hezbollah regarding their support for the ideology of Ayatollah Khomeini.
• Ynet News reported that Iran has opened an "ideological embassy" in the Palestinian territories to espouse Shia Muslim beliefs.
• Reuters reported tht the White House said on Tuesday it still opposes a proposed natural gas pipeline linking energy-rich Iran with India.
• Asian Tribune reported that India has made it abundantly clear that it is opposed to any moves for regime change in Tehran.
• The New York Times reported that train services linking Pakistan with neighboring Iran were suspended indefinitely following bombings and rocket attacks on the rail.
• Knight Ridder reported why the US shouldn't expect any bold initiatives from Arab rulers in the escalating nuclear standoff with Iran: They're paralyzed by fear of the United States, fear of Iran and fear of their own citizens.
• Deutsche Welle reported that German newspapers are divided on the issue of Iran's nuclear activities now that it has been passed on to the United Nations Security Council.
  

Insight into the Iranian people.

• The Wall Street Journal reported how many Iranians look to the great Persian poem, the Shahnameh because it embodies something that goes unspoken: the struggle of Iranians to maintain their identity, against the best efforts of the regime to replace it with Islamic culture.
  

Interviews.

• FrontPageMagazine.com published an interview with Houchang Nahavandi, former Minister of the last Shah of Iran.
  

Must Read reports.

• Natan Sharansky, Los Angeles Times responded to his critics, who point to recent elections of hard-liners in the Middle East as evidence of the failure of efforts to bring democracy there. A must read.
• Simon Wiesenthal Center reported that the Iranian government has published a book that gives an academic’s justification for its anti-Jewish stance.
• The Weekly Standard reported that Iran secretly agreed to assist the Taliban in its war against U.S. forces in October 2001.
• ABC News examined the U.S. military options against Iran.
• Iran Democracy Monitor debunked Iran's need for nuclear energy and more.
• Ian Bremmer, The Daily Star asked: Is Myanmar the next Iran?
• Stephen F. Hayes, The Weekly Standard reported how Bush wants to release the Saddam files but his intelligence chief stalls.
  

The Experts.

• Amir Taheri, Arab News explained why Iraq is not on the verge of a civil war.
• The New York Sun published the full text of Michael Ledeen's testimony on Iran before House Committee on International Relations. A must read.
• Michael Rubin, Amercian Enterprise Institute reviewed Bill Beeman's book, In The "Great Satan" vs. the "Mad Mullahs."
• Amir Taheri, The New York Post warned of the danger of a Jihad war in Thailand.
• Kenneth R. Timmerman, FrontPageMagazine.com reported that the U.S. envoy to the IAEA said a closed-door meeting: Iran now has the materials to make up to ten nuclear weapons.
• Amir Taheri, Arab News reported that an Iranian report, almost certainly leaked by the entourage of former President Khatami, that shows Iran’s uranium reserves will cover the needs of the Bushehr power station for fuel for no more than seven years, but could produce some 200 atomic bombs. He added: the domestic popular support for the nuclear issue is fast evaporating since the Iranian people feel that they have not been told the truth.
  

Photos, cartoons and videos.

• Samii Shahla reported that a group of about 130 women’s rights activists who gathered in Deneshjoo Park in central Tehran to celebrate International Women’s Day were brutally beaten by the police. Photos.
• Cox & Forkum published a cartoon: Made in Iran.
• Reuters reported that Iranian police and plainclothes agents yesterday beat hundreds of women and men who had gathered to commemorate International Women's Day. Plus 4 videos.
  

And finally, The Quote of the Week.

Reuters reported that Iran's UN representatives said if the U.N. Security Council took up the issue of Tehran's nuclear research:

"The United States may have the power to cause harm and pain but it is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if the United States wishes to choose that path, let the ball roll."

Sunday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 3.12.2006:

Tehran's secret underground bunkers.

• The Telegraph reported that Iran's leaders have built a secret underground emergency command centre in Teheran as they prepare for a confrontation with the West.

Iranians claim US wants peace talks. US denies.

• The Times reported that a senior Iranian intelligence official claimed to have a letter in Persian purportedly signed by Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador in Baghdad, inviting Iranian representatives to Iraq for talks. Khalilzad denied the report.

Iran threatens to use the oil weapon, again.

• Canada.com reported that Iran threatened to use oil as a weapon if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions over its nuclear program.

Iranian regime nervous over unrest.

• SMCCDI reported that hundreds of Iranians used the occasion offered by a soccer match to protest against the Islamic republic regime.
• Iran Focus reported that Iran’s State Security Forces have arrested ten people in Tehran for distribution of fireworks days before Iranians celebrate a traditional “fire” festival.
• Rooz Online reported on the gathering of Iranian women on International Women’s Day turned violence when Iran’s prominent poetess, Simin Behbahani who has been losing her eye sight, was beaten up.

Iranian regime sought a ceasefire among its leaders.

• Rooz Online reported on a recent meeting of the leaders of the Iranian regime where they met to try to forge greater unity as international pressure builds on the regime.

Bush warns Iran to leave Iraq alone.

• FOX News reported that President Bush denounced any moves by Iran or Syria to interfere in Iraq's effort to build a democracy.

The Permanent Five meet on Iran, again.

• The Washington Post reported that the United States, backed by France and Britain, pressed Moscow and Beijing at a meeting of the council's five veto-wielding members to support the swift adoption of a Security Council statement.

Russian nuclear deal now impossible.

• MosNews reported that Russia considers a joint uranium enrichment venture with Iran impossible if the Iranian side fails to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) demands.

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

• Arutz Sheva reported that England's Foreign Minister Jack Straw says that the world should worry about disabling Israel's nuclear capabilities as much as it is concerned with preventing Iran from going nuclear.
• New York Times reported that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
• Stephen F. Hayes, The Weekly Standard reported how Bush wants to release the Saddam files but his intelligence chief stalls.
• And finally, Rooz Online reported that the head of Iran’s Islamic Propagation Organization announced that the US had launched its plan for the larger Middle East because of its threat from the re-appearance and return of the 12th Shiite Imam.

Iran builds a secret underground complex as nuclear tensions rise

Philip Sherwell, The Telegraph:

Iran's leaders have built a secret underground emergency command centre in Teheran as they prepare for a confrontation with the West over their illicit nuclear programme, the Sunday Telegraph has been told.

The complex of rooms and offices beneath the Abbas Abad district in the north of the capital is designed to serve as a bolthole and headquarters for the country's rulers as military tensions mount.

The recently completed command centre is connected by tunnels to other government compounds near the Mossala prayer ground, one of the city's most important religious sites. READ MORE

Offices of the state security forces, the energy department and the Organisation of Islamic Culture and Communications are all located in the same area.

The construction of the complex is part of the regime's plan to move more of its operations beneath ground. The Revolutionary Guard has overseen the development of subterranean chambers and tunnels - some more than half a mile long and an estimated 35ft high and wide - at sites across the country for research and development work on nuclear and rocket programmes.

The opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) learnt about the complex from its contacts within the regime. The same network revealed in 2002 that Iran had been operating a secret nuclear programme for 18 years.

The underground strategy is partly designed to hide activities from satellite view and international inspections but also reflects a growing belief in Teheran that its showdown with the international community could end in air strikes by America or Israel. "Iran's leaders are clearly preparing for a confrontation by going underground," said Alireza Jafarzadeh, the NCRI official who made the 2002 announcement.

America and Europe believe that Iran is secretly trying to acquire an atomic bomb, although the regime insists that its nuclear programme is for civilian energy purposes.

As the United Nations Security Council prepares to discuss Iran's nuclear operations this week, Teheran has been stepping up plans for confrontation. Its chief delegate on nuclear talks last week threatened that Iran would inflict "harm and pain" on America if censured by the Security Council.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hardline president who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map", also said that the West would "suffer" if it tried to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. As the war of words intensified, President George W Bush said that Teheran represents a "grave national security concern" for America.

In Iraq, which Mr Ahmadinejad hopes will develop into a fellow Shia Islamic state, Iran is already using its proxy militia to attack British and American forces, often with Iranian-made bombs and weapons. As tensions grow, Teheran could order Hizbollah - the Lebanese-based terror faction that it created and arms - to attack targets in Israel.

The regime is also reviewing its contingency plans to attack tankers and American naval forces in the Persian Gulf and to mine the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 15 million barrels of oil (about 20 per cent of world production) passes each day. Any action in the Gulf would send oil prices soaring - a weapon that Iran has often threatened to wield.

The Pentagon's strategic planning is focused on the danger that Iran might try to mine the strait and deploy explosive-packed suicide boats against its warships. In May, American vessels in the Gulf will take part in the Arabian Gauntlet training exercise that deals with clearing mines from the strait, which has a navigable channel just two miles wide.

The naval wing of the Revolutionary Guard has in recent years practised "swarming" raids, using its flotilla of small rapid-attack boats to simulate assaults on commercial vessels and United States warships, according to Ken Timmerman, an American expert on Iran.

The Pentagon is particularly sensitive to the dangers of such attacks after al-Qaeda hit the USS Cole off the Yemen with a suicide boat in 2000, killing 17 American sailors. Last month the White House listed two foiled al-Qaeda plots to attack ships in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

US intelligence believes that if Iranian nuclear facilities were attacked by either America or Israel, then Teheran would respond by trying to close the Strait of Hormuz with naval forces, mines and anti-ship cruise missiles.

"When these systems become fully operational, they will significantly enhance Iran's defensive capabilities and ability to deny access to the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz," Michael Maples, the director of the Defence Intelligence Agency testified before the Senate armed services committee last month.

A senior American intelligence officer said that the US navy would be able to reopen the strait but that it would be militarily costly. Hamid Reza Zakeri, a former Iranian intelligence officer, recently told Mr Timmerman that the Iranian navy's Strategic Studies Centre has produced an updated battle plan for the strait.

Its most devastating options would be to use its long-range Shahab-3 missiles to attack Israeli or American bases in the region or to deploy suicide bombers in Western cities under its strategy of "asymmetric" response.

"The price to the West for standing up to Iran is clear," Gen Moshe Ya'alon, the former Israeli defence chief said last month in Washington. "It includes terror attacks, economic hardship… and consequences resulting from fluctuations in Iranian oil production. Indeed, the regime believes that the West - including Israel - is afraid to deal with it."

Iran claims US has offered peace talks

Lindsey Hilsum, The Times:

EVEN as politicians in Tehran and Washington stoked the fires of confrontation last week, America was said to have been asking Iran for help in calming the violence in Iraq.

A senior Iranian intelligence official showed Channel 4 News a letter in Persian purportedly signed by Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador in Baghdad, inviting Iranian representatives to Iraq for talks.

Last November Khalilzad — who speaks Persian and dealt with the Iranians during negotiations over Afghanistan — said he had been authorised by President George W Bush to try to engage Iran and that its co-operation was needed to secure long-term peace in Iraq.

Most of Iraq’s senior Shi’ite politicians lived in exile in Iran during the latter years of Saddam Hussein’s rule, and the British and the Americans have both accused Iranian elements of arming and training Shi’ite militant groups.

The Iranian official claimed the invitation was renewed two weeks ago, just as America ratcheted up the rhetoric over Iran’s nuclear programme.

A source close to the Iranian government said Tehran was open to a meeting but it would have to be in a neutral country. While the Americans would like to limit discussions to Iraq, the Iranians hoped this might eventually enable them to have a dialogue about the nuclear programme.

Last night, however, the US embassy in Baghdad said in a statement: “Ambassador Khalilzad has the authority to meet with Iranian officials to discuss issues of mutual concern. But he has not sent a letter in any language to the Iranians.” READ MORE

The talk all week in Tehran has been of war. The Iranian people are being prepared. On the eve of the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed a huge crowd in the town of Khorramabad, in the mountainous southwest of the country. He invoked the spectre of the 1980-88 war with Iraq, and Iran’s continuing isolation.

“Today humanity is caught in a web of powerful nations who bully us to follow their ways,” he said. “They hit you on the head and you’re not supposed to moan. When they see a brave nation like Iran standing strong it makes them angry. The world must know that if anyone tries to violate the rights of the Iranian nation, we will place the blot of shame and regret on their forehead.”

The crowd roared and waved posters of the diminutive, bearded president who has come to symbolise Iran’s determination to enrich uranium whatever the political or diplomatic cost.

Yet while the political elite has reached a consensus that Iran should proceed with the enrichment programme, many among its number are alarmed that Ahmadinejad’s bombast is tipping the country into crisis.

“Any policy which causes the isolation of Iran, increases threats and as a result spends financial resources, which belong to people, for slogans, is an unsuccessful foreign policy,” writes Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former vice-president under the reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami.

With the reformists now shut out of power, Abtahi has resorted to an internet blog to get his message across. “There is little time left. I wish others . . . would replace the present negotiating team . . . so that the people would not be forced to pay for their slogans. May God help this country.”

With belligerent talk from senior administration officials in Washington all week, the possibility of Iran lowering the rhetorical tone is small.

“The government thinks it can manage public opinion but that’s a mistake,” said Nasser Hadian, a political scientist at Tehran University. “Once they make a deal, the people will feel betrayed.”

Hadian is a childhood friend of Ahmadinejad. Driving around Narmak, the working-class suburb of east Tehran where they grew up, he pointed out the street corner cafe where they used to drink chocolate. They studied and played football together, but while Hadian went on to university in America, Ahmadinejad became embroiled in radical Islamic politics at home. His comment last October that Israel should be “wiped off the map” harked back to those days.

“He used to say these things when he was head of his party, Hezbollah al-Ansar, and no one took any notice,” explained Hadian. “He hasn’t fully grasped that he’s the president of the country. He’s beginning to get it now, but it’s a bit late.”

While western politicians have long forgotten the Iran-Iraq war, the Iranian government keeps the memory alive with honours for veterans who are wheeled out for every nationalist rally. European and American backing for Saddam in that conflict has left a scar.

Many Iranians believe western countries oppose the nuclear programme not because they see it as a military threat but because they want to suppress a weaker, Islamic nation.

Those who argue against nuclear power, let alone nuclear weapons, can scarcely make their voices heard.

Lindsey Hilsum is international editor of Channel 4 News

Iran threatens to use oil as weapon

Canada.com:

Iran threatened Saturday to use oil as a weapon if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions over its nuclear program.

The country's interior minister raised the possibility of using Iran's own oil and gas supplies and its position on a vital Persian Gulf oil route as weapons in the international standoff.

"If (they) politicize our nuclear case, we will use any means. We are rich in energy resources. We have control over the biggest and the most sensitive energy route of the world," Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. READ MORE

Iran is the No. 2 producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and has partial control over the narrow Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The strait is an essential passage for crude oil from key producers such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.

Pourmohammadi's statements were the most specific yet -- and the first explicitly targeting oil -- in a series of threats levied by Iranian officials as the Security Council discusses what action to take over Iran's nuclear program. Washington says Iran wants to produce atomic weapons. Iran denies that claim, saying it intends only to generate electricity.

Iran's hardline president warned Thursday that the West will suffer more than his country if it tries to block Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The top Iranian delegate to the UN atomic watchdog agency said a day earlier that the United States will face "harm and pain" if the Security Council becomes involved.

Nuke Joint Venture With Iran Impossible — Russian Negotiator

MosNews:

Russia considers a joint uranium enrichment venture with Iran impossible if the Iranian side fails to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) demands, a Russian negotiator told RIA Novosti.

“The IAEA demands to include Iran’s resumption of moratorium on uranium enrichment and ratification of an additional protocol to the Nonproliferation Treaty,” the official said.

“Since Iran has failed to reach agreement with the IAEA, Russia considers the creation of a joint venture impossible,” he said. READ MORE

Commenting on Turkey’s proposal that a joint enrichment venture be created in Turkey, the Russian representative said that “the absurdity of this proposal is obvious to experts in the field.”

“Turkey does not have the necessary nuclear-fuel cycle technology, while hypothetical transfer of uranium enrichment technology to the country (Turkey) from its NATO partners would be a direct violation of the nonproliferation regime. So there is no point in taking this proposal seriously,” the official said.

On Friday Russia proposed more talks on Iran’s nuclear program as the five U.N. Security Council powers Friday considered a statement to pressure Tehran to clear up questions about whether it is trying to build atomic weapons.

But the U.S. was skeptical about the idea, saying it was time for tough action after three years of failed negotiations.

The U.S. Ambassador John Bolton and other senior American officials have suggested that if the Security Council does not take tough action, Washington might look elsewhere to punish Iran — possibly by rallying its allies to impose targeted sanctions.

The United States and its allies believe Iran is seeking to develop atomic weapons, but Tehran denies the allegations, saying its nuclear program is solely for generating electricity.

Who'll Let the Docs Out?

Stephen F. Hayes, The Weekly Standard: Bush wants to release the Saddam files but his intelligence chief stalls.

On February 16, President George W. Bush assembled a small group of congressional Republicans for a briefing on Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley were there, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad participated via teleconference from Baghdad. As the meeting was beginning, Mike Pence spoke up. The Indiana Republican, a leader of conservatives in the House, was seated next to Bush.

"Yesterday, Mr. President, the war had its best night on the network news since the war ended," Pence said.

"Is this the tapes thing?" Bush asked, referring to two ABC News reports that included excerpts of recordings Saddam Hussein made of meetings with his war cabinet in the years before the U.S. invasion. Bush had not seen the newscasts but had been briefed on them.

Pence framed his response as a question, quoting Abraham Lincoln: "One of your Republican predecessors said, 'Give the people the facts and the Republic will be saved.' There are 3,000 hours of Saddam tapes and millions of pages of other documents that we captured after the war. When will the American public get to see this information?"

Bush replied that he wanted the documents released. He turned to Hadley and asked for an update. Hadley explained that John Negroponte, Bush's Director of National Intelligence, "owns the documents" and that DNI lawyers were deciding how they might be handled.

Bush extended his arms in exasperation and worried aloud that people who see the documents in 10 years will wonder why they weren't released sooner. "If I knew then what I know now," Bush said in the voice of a war skeptic, "I would have been more supportive of the war."

Bush told Hadley to expedite the release of the Iraq documents. "This stuff ought to be out. Put this stuff out." The president would reiterate this point before the meeting adjourned. And as the briefing ended, he approached Pence, poked a finger in the congressman's chest, and thanked him for raising the issue. When Pence began to restate his view that the documents should be released, Bush put his hand up, as if to say, "I hear you. It will be taken care of."

It was not the first time Bush has made clear his desire to see the Iraq documents released. On November 30, 2005, he gave a speech at the U.S. Naval Academy. Four members of Congress attended: Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the Michigan Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee; Sen. John Warner, the Virginia Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee; Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona; and Pence. After his speech, Bush visited with the lawmakers for 10 minutes in a holding room to the side of the stage. Hoekstra asked Bush about the documents and the president said he was pressing to have them released.

Says Pence: "I left both meetings with the unambiguous impression that the president of the United States wants these documents to reach the American people."

Negroponte never got the message. Or he is choosing to ignore it. He has done nothing to expedite the exploitation of the documents. And he continues to block the growing congressional effort, led by Hoekstra, to have the documents released. READ MORE

For months, Negroponte has argued privately that while the documents may be of historical interest, they are not particularly valuable as intelligence product. A statement by his office in response to the recordings aired by ABC said, "Analysts from the CIA and the DIA reviewed the translations and found that, while fascinating from a historical perspective, the tapes do not reveal anything that changes their postwar analysis of Iraq's weapons programs."

Left unanswered was what the analysts made of the Iraqi official who reported to Saddam that components of the regime's nuclear program had been "transported out of Iraq." Who gave this report to Saddam and when did he give it? How were the materials "transported out of Iraq"? Where did they go? Where are they now? And what, if anything, does this tell us about Saddam's nuclear program? It may be that the intelligence community has answers to these questions. If so, they have not shared them. If not, the tapes are far more than "fascinating from a historical perspective."

Officials involved with DOCEX--as the U.S. government's document exploitation project is known to insiders--tell The Weekly Standard that only some 3 percent of the 2 million captured documents have been fully translated and analyzed. No one familiar with the project argues that exploiting these documents has been a priority of the U.S. intelligence community.

Negroponte's argument rests on the assumption that the history captured in these documents would not be important to those officials--elected and unelected, executive branch and legislative--whose job it is to craft U.S. foreign and national security policy. He's mistaken.

An example: On April 13, 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle published an exhaustive article based on documents reporter Robert Collier unearthed in an Iraqi Intelligence safehouse in Baghdad. The claims were stunning.

The documents found Thursday and Friday in a Baghdad office of the Mukhabarat, the Iraqi secret police, indicate that at least five agents graduated Sept. 15 from a two--week course in surveillance and eavesdropping techniques, according to certificates issued to the Iraqi agents by the "Special Training Center" in Moscow . . .

Details about the Mukhabarat's Russian spy training emerged from some Iraqi agents' personnel folders, hidden in a back closet in a center for electronic surveillance located in a four-story mansion in the Mesbah district, Baghdad's wealthiest neighborhood. . . .

Three of the five Iraqi agents graduated late last year from a two-week course in "Phototechnical and Optical Means," given by the Special Training Center in Moscow, while two graduated from the center's two-week course in "Acoustic Surveillance Means."

One of the graduating officers, identified in his personnel file as Sami Rakhi Mohammad Jasim al-Mansouri, 46, is described as being connected to "the general management of counterintelligence" in the south of the country. . . .

His certificate, which bears the double-eagle symbol of the Russian Federation and a stylized star symbol that resembles the seal of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, uses a shortened version of al-Mansouri's name.

It says he entered the Moscow-based Special Training Center's "advanced" course in "acoustic surveillance means" on Sept. 2, 2002, and graduated on Sept. 15.

Four days later, the Chronicle reported that the "Moscow-based Special Training Center," was the Russian foreign intelligence service, known as SVR, and the SVR confirmed the training:

A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Boris Labusov, acknowledged that Iraqi secret police agents had been trained by his agency but said the training was for nonmilitary purposes, such as fighting crime and terrorism.

Yet documents discovered in Baghdad by The Chronicle last week suggest that the spying techniques the Iraqi agents learned in Russia may have been used against foreign diplomats and civilians, raising doubt about the accuracy of Labusov's characterization.

Labusov, the press officer for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, confirmed that the certificates discovered by The Chronicle were genuine and that the Iraqis had received the training the documents described.

The Russians declared early in the U.N. process that they preferred inspections to war. Perhaps we now know why. Still, it is notable that at precisely the same time Russian intelligence was training Iraqi operatives, senior Russian government officials were touting their alliance with the United States. Russian foreign minister Boris Malakhov proclaimed that the two countries were "partners in the anti-terror coalition" and Putin spokesman Sergei Prikhodko declared, "Russia and the United States have a common goal regarding the Iraqi issue." (Of course, these men may have been in the dark on what their intelligence service was up to.) On November 8, 2002, six weeks after the Iraqis completed their Russian training, Russia voted in favor of U.N. Resolution 1441, which threatened "serious consequences" for continued Iraqi defiance on its weapons programs.

Maybe this is mere history to Negroponte. But it has practical implications for policymakers assessing Russia's role as go-between in the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Perhaps anticipating the weakness of his "mere history" argument, Negroponte abruptly shifted his position last week. He still opposes releasing the documents, only now he claims that the information in these documents is so valuable that it cannot be made public. Negroponte gave a statement to Fox News responding to Hoekstra's call to release the captured documents. "These documents have provided, and continue to provide, actionable intelligence to ongoing operations. . . . It would be ill-advised to release these materials without careful screening because the material includes sensitive and potentially harmful information."

This new position raises two obvious questions: If the documents have provided actionable intelligence, why has the intelligence community exploited so few of them? And why hasn't Negroponte demanded more money and manpower for the DOCEX program?

Sadly, these obvious questions have an obvious answer. The intelligence community is not interested in releasing documents captured in postwar Afghanistan and Iraq. Why this is we can't be sure. But Pete Hoekstra offers one distinct possibility.

"They are State Department people who want to make no waves and don't want to do anything that would upset anyone," he says.

This is not idle speculation. In meetings with Hoekstra, Negroponte and his staff have repeatedly expressed concern that releasing this information might embarrass our allies. Who does Negroponte have in mind?

Allies like Russia?

Hoekstra says Negroponte's intransigence is forcing him to get the documents out "the hard way." The House Intelligence chairman has introduced a bill (H.R. 4869) that would require the DNI to begin releasing the captured documents. Although Negroponte continues to argue against releasing the documents in internal discussions, on March 9, he approached Hoekstra with a counterproposal. Negroponte offered to release some documents labeled "No Intelligence Value," and indicated his willingness to review other documents for potential release, subject to a scrub for sensitive material.

And there, of course, is the potential problem. Negroponte could have been releasing this information all along, but chose not to. So, in a way, nothing really changes. Still, for Hoekstra, this is the first sign of any willingness to release the documents.

"I'm encouraged that John is taking another look at it," Hoekstra said last Thursday. "But I want a system that is biased in favor of declassification. I want some assurance that they aren't just picking the stuff that's garbage and releasing that. If we're only declassifying maps of Baghdad, I'm not going to be happy."

He continued: "There may be many documents that relate to Iraqi WMD programs. Those should be released. Same thing with documents that show links to terrorism. They have to release documents on topics of interest to the American people and they have to give me some kind of schedule. What's the time frame? I don't have any idea."

Hoekstra is not going away. "We're going to ride herd on this. This is a step in the right direction, but I am in no way claiming victory. I want these documents out."

So does President Bush. You'd think that would settle it.

Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

Soccer game leads to protest in Iranian Capital

SMCCDI (Information Service):

Hundreds of Iranians used the occasion offered by the match played between Persepolis and Esteghlal (former Taj) soccer teams in order to protest against the Islamic republic regime. The local game took place yesterday at the "Azadi" ('Freedom') stadium of Tehran.

Slogans were shouted and a street clash took place in the Azadi and Enghelab areas as security forces attacked the protesters. Tens of security patrol cars and buses were damaged in retaliation to the brutality of Islamist Militiamen.

Tens were seen injured or arrested at the issue of the unrest. READ MORE

Exasperated Iranians are usually seizing opportunities offered by soccer games or big events to protest and express their rejection of the Islamic regime. Iran was the scene of consecutive and massive protests, during the 2002 World Cup soccer qualification games but the trend was stopped by bloody repressive measures, and the believed forced loss of Iran to Bahrain. In Esafahan alone several protesters were killed by the security apparatus and the regime had to transfer the notorious Esfahan Governor. Known for having ordered the bloody repression, he, the governor, was transferred to his present post as the Islamic regime's Ambassador to Kuwait.

Since then, important soccer games are often turned into popular protests, especially when they're played in Tehran. The "Iran-Japan" game of March 25th resulted in several deaths and hundreds of injured or arrested.

SMCCDI is known for its role in the promotion of Football (Soccer) Protests and especially in the coordination of last World Cup Soccer qualification games' riots. It constantly mobilized the masses via the intense use of digital technology, such as the Internet and satellite TV, as well as, help from some friendly Persian speaking radio stations abroad who were offering airtime for consecutive interviews and transmitting the Movement's calls:

http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/article_486.shtml

http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/article_485.shtml

http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/article_482.shtml

http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/article_479.shtml

Ten arrested in Iran capital ahead of fire festival

Iran Focus: a pro-MEK website

Iran’s State Security Forces have arrested ten people in Tehran for distribution of fireworks days before Iranians celebrate a traditional “fire” festival which dates back to 500 B.C. Persia. The festival is barely tolerated by the authorities in the Islamic Republic, who object to it on the grounds that it is “un-Islamic”.

Greater Tehran’s police chief, confirming the arrests, announced that people caught distributing fireworks and sonic-booms would be identified and dealt with severely, the hard-line daily Kayhan reported on Saturday. READ MORE

Brigadier General Morteza Talai said that quantities of fireworks were discovered and confiscated.

During the festival, known as ‘chaharshanbeh souri’ – literally, Feast of Wednesday – people jump over bonfires to “drive away evil”. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, however, Iran’s theocratic leaders have made strenuous efforts to stamp out the festivities, but to no avail. In recent years, there have been extensive clashes between festive crowds and the security forces deployed to prevent street celebrations. This year the event falls on March 14.

Meanwhile, Iran’s main opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), has issued an appeal to people across the country to take part in the celebrations on the night and turn it into an anti-government protest.

Last year, despite the general ban Iranians across the country came out into the streets using the celebration as a pretext to express their anger towards the ruling theocracy. In several districts of Tehran effigies of Iran’s leaders such as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were burnt.

While the article says the MEK are asking people to turn the "Festival of Fire" into an anti-government protest, the truth is that the festival has long been an opportunity to protest against the regime and most expatriate groups have already been calling for protests on that date.

British FM: Israel and Iran Both Potential Threats

Ezra HaLevi, Arutz Sheva:

England's Foreign Minister Jack Straw says that the world should worry about disabling Israel's nuclear capabilities as much as it is concerned with preventing Iran from going nuclear. READ MORE

Straw said Thursday that Britain is seeking a "nuclear-free Middle East." He said that Iran and Israel were the only two countries left that posed "potential threats" now that Iraq and Libya's nuclear aspirations have been neutralized.

The foreign minister, who has made headlines in the past criticizing the Jewish state, conceded that removing the Iranian threat was indeed more urgent than the Israeli one. "If you want to see a nuclear-free Middle East, you've got to remove that threat from Iran, including the rhetorical threat to wipe Israel off the face of the map," Straw told British Channel 4 television. "Once you've done that, then we can get on to work in respect of Israel."

Former Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon faced criticism from defense officials in Israel over the weekend after he spoke at the Washington D.C. Hudson Institute, saying the military option against Iran's nuclear project was viable. He responded to the criticism on Israeli television Friday. "I spoke about the West's military option," he said. "Whether it is U.S. forces, NATO or the Israeli army that deal with the Iranian capability - there is a military capability that would set back the program for many years.”

Meanwhile, Iran threatened Saturday to use its oil as a weapon if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions over its nuclear program. "If they politicize our nuclear case, we will use any means. We are rich in energy resources. We have control over the biggest and the most sensitive energy route of the world," Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi said, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Iran is the second largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and has partial control over the narrow Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which crude oil is transported from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq to the world market.