Posted on 03/19/2006 1:42:41 PM PST by freedom44
Top News Story
Middle East Newsline
Tehran - Iran's largest reformist party called on Sunday for dialogue with the United States and a freeze on sensitive nuclear work to head off an escalating crisis with the international community.
The party is the Participation Front, headed by Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of Iran's former reformist president Mohammad Khatami
They said: "In order to break the international consensus, we are proposing a return to previous policies and the voluntary suspension of all nuclear fuel-cycle work to resolve this crisis and re-establish confidence."
The United Nations security council is considering what action to take against Iran concerning its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process that creates fuel for nuclear power stations, but also that can be the core of an atomic weapon.
Top foreign ministry officials from the five veto-wielding members of the council plus Germany were due to meet in New York on Monday to plot a long-term strategy on the crisis.
"The nation's leaders apparently want dialogue with the United States not only on Iraq but on other issues," said the Participation Front, calling for "complete transparency" in any talks.
In recent weeks, former presidents Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani have criticised Ahmadinejad's foreign policies and warned against the increasing isolation of the Islamic republic.
Last week, leading Iranian reformist cleric and former parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karrubi criticised Ahmadinejad's stance, warning that sanctions would lead to "great difficulties".
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Look out, the "Iranian Moderates" are back! Next they'll be demanding Stinger Missiles and Abrams tanks in exchange for scrapping their Nuke program and ending their support for the "insurgents" in Iraq.
Unrelenting Iranian dissident does full jail term, freed
Hiedeh Farmani
AFP
March 18, 2006
FREE, AT LONG LAST: Massoumeh Shafi'i (L), wife of the Iranian dissident journalist Akbar Ganji (C), speaks with journalists as his attorney Youssef Mowlaie listens at Ganji's home in Tehran on March 18. Ganji, has been released from prison after six years behind bars for criticizing some of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic.
(REUTERS)
Thank you for the update on Ganji.
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