Good to see that there are some attentions to the recent uprising in Iran
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Uprising in Iran, Hardliner Candidate Resigns
MND NEWSWIRE
14 March 2004
According to sketchy reports, an uprising has occurred in the northern Iranian city of Fereydunkenar.
Demonstrations are reported to have begun on March 13, in the small town in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran.
The demonstrators attacked and were able to liberate a building used by the Islamic Republic's security forces.
By midday, the uprising had begun to spread to the city of Babolsar, where demonstrators were confronted by Mazandaran's provincial security forces. At this hour, the town of Fereydunkenar appears divided between the rebels and the security forces.
Eyewitnesses have reported that approximately 5000 people were demonstrating when regime forces opened fire on the crowd. At least 5 people have been killed and scores injured with bullet wounds.
In the wake of the attack, the crowd briefly gained control of a police station and released previously arrested demonstrators. Reports also indicate that the home and office of a local Mullah had been torched.
The erruption occurred as a result of three suspicious confiscated ballot boxes that led to the hardline victory in the recent elections. Ironically the hardliner candidate had announced that he did not need the people's vote to get elected. The candidate, Moghdad Najaf Nejhad, has reportedly resigned in the wake of the uprising.
http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/newswire/news2004/0304/newswire031404-iran.htmIran May Harden Position Against IAEA
Associated Press
Sunday, 14th of March
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran indicated Sunday it could harden its position against the U.N. nuclear agency, a day after freezing international inspections to protest a critical resolution by the watchdog agency.
On Saturday, Tehran said it was indefinitely barring inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, hours after its 35-nation governing board adopted a resolution that said it "deplores" recent discoveries of uranium enrichment equipment and other suspicious activities that Iran had failed to reveal.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Sunday the resolution's tone "was unfair and insulting. We don't allow anybody to talk to us in such language."
He said no date has been set for when inspectors would be allowed back into the country, but first "realities must be taken into consideration."
"If realities are not seen, it's possible that the method of our cooperation with IAEA may change," Asefi told a press conference. "Barring the inspectors from visiting Iran should be interpreted in this context."
Asefi did not specify what actions Iran might take.
However, the spokesman later insisted Iran's "cooperation with IAEA is not being questioned. We are willing to cooperate because we are transparent in our intentions and goals."
The agency's Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and senior U.S. officials planned to discuss the weekend's developments at a meeting Monday in Washington. ElBaradei also was expected to meet with President Bush.
Iran insists its nuclear activities are for the generation of electricity. The United States suspects Iran is undertaking a secret program to build nuclear weapons and had called for even harsher language in the resolution.
Diplomats familiar with the work of IAEA said that a lengthy ban on inspections would be a huge obstacle to the agency's efforts to deliver a judgment by June on the nature of Tehran's nuclear past and present.
But in Vienna, ElBaradei said he was sure Iran would overturn it soon.
"I'm pretty confident that Iran will understand that we need to go within the time scheduled, and the decision to delay the inspection will be reviewed and reversed within the next couple of days," ElBaradei said.
The U.S. envoy to the IAEA, Kenneth Brill, condemned the freeze.
"This is a measure of their 'full cooperation' — their postponing the very thing that they are called on to do by their obligations," Brill told reporters.
The United States has been lobbying for the IAEA to declare Iran in breach of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and to refer Iran's activities to the U.N. Security Council, where economic sanctions could be imposed.
The IAEA resolution holds off on taking such action until the board of governors meets again in June.
Asefi said he was certain that Iran's nuclear dossier will not be referred to the council because of "Iran's cooperation with IAEA, and the other reason is that we didn't conceal anything."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=8&u=/ap/20040314/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear