Free Republic

Top News Story UN Tallies Uranium in Iran Amid Suspicions Louis Charbonneau, Reuters:The U.N. nuclear watchdog is making an inventory of processed uranium in Iran amid concerns that inconsistencies in the tally could mean Tehran secretly shifted some uranium out of a nuclear facility, diplomats said. One intelligence agency has accused Iran of spiriting an unspecified quantity of processed uranium, which could be processed further and enriched for weapons purposes, out of the Isfahan uranium conversion facility to an unknown location. The U.N. nuclear watchdog declined to comment and no diplomats in Vienna confirmed the allegation. However, two European...

Top News Story Tehran: Iran, which long castigated the United States as the "Great Satan", is to promote its tourist potential on America's CNN television station and Britain's BBC, the country's vice-president for tourism Hossein Marachi has revealed to AFP. Tense relations between Tehran and Washington will not stop Iran from exploiting its attractions on the US cable network, said Marachi, who insists US sanctions preventing American companies from trading with Iran "will not apply in this instance". Both BBC and CNN campaigns should start within two months under a one-year contract, the value of which Marachi did not...

Top News Story The Islamic Republic Has No Legitimacy Safa Haeri, Iran Press Service:“The events in Georgia, Ukraine and recently in Kyrgyzstan have spirited the people on Iran, mostly the young generation and dispirited the authorities, mostly the leadership that is thrown in full crisis, as it sees similar dictatorships relying on the bayonet have crumbled in one night and evaporated”, confirmed a dissident students leader. Speaking with the Iran Press Service from Tehran during a short leave from prison, Mr. Amir Abbas Fakhravar of the Confederation of Independent Iranian Students (CIIS) that fights for a secular, democratic system...

Top News Story 1,500 political protests in Iran last year Iran Focus:At least 1,500 anti-government protests, strikes, and clashes took place in Iran during the year that ended on March 20. More than 450 strikes, demonstrations, and gatherings by white- and blue-collar workers, were reported in state-run and opposition media. Some strikes, such as the one by coal miners in Sangroud, lasted for more than 50 days. Non-payment of salaries, insufficient pay, and the privatisation of many sectors of work were the main reasons reported for the majority of the strikes. It was widely reported that a great number...

Top News Story "Nemazee Vs. SMCCDI/Pirouznia" trial opens on April 12th SMCCDI (Information Service):The "Nemazee Vs. SMCCDI/Pirouznia" trial is to open, in Dallas,Texas, on Tuesday April 12, 2005, at 09:00 AM. The trial follows a long legal procedure raised over the influence exerted by some of the Islamic regime's apologists on the US Electoral process and their desperate try to promote relations between the US and the unpopular Mullahcracy in Iran. A mandatory mediation which took place on March 15th in Dallas, didn't end to any type of agreement. Aryo B. Pirouznia, the Movement's Coordinator, refused to give up...

Top News Story "The U.S. and the EU Should Get Used to the Idea of a Nuclear Iran" A. Savyon, The Middle East Media Research Institue: Head of Iranian Nuclear Negotiating Team Sirus Nasseri: The U.S. and the EU should "get used to the idea of a nuclear Iran." Introduction At the end of the first three-month period of negotiations stipulated in the November 2004 Paris Agreement signed by Iran and the EU Three (Britain, France, and Germany), a steering committee of representatives of all the parties met for a joint assessment of the situation. It was decided that...

Top News Story Iranian Group warns western governments: contracts with Iran after June 16 will be null and void - A Blogosphere Exclusive An open letter submitted by the opposition inside Iran to the government of Iran and to the world leaders and media. They have passed this letter to the US based Iranian oppostion group: Iran of Tomorrow Movement (IOTM) for distribution.March 30, 2005 To the Government of the Islamic Republic in Iran, Seyyed Ali KhameneiOffice of the Supreme LeaderKeshvar Doost Ave.Jomhouri Eslami St.Tehran, Iran Akbar Hashemi RafsanjaniArbitrative Expediency CouncilPasteur Ave.Vali Asr St.Tehran, Iran Mohammad KhatamiPresidential OfficePasteur Ave.Tehran,...

Top News Story France has no doubt about Iran's right to use nuclear technology TEHRAN (IRNA) -- French Ambassador to Tehran Francois Nicoullaud here on Monday said his country has no doubt about Iran's right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Talking to IRNA in an exclusive interview, the envoy assessed new round of negotiations between Iran and the EU trio, France, Germany, and Britain, as very complicated and sensitive, however saying talks are going well. He pointed to scientific, technical, economic, and strategic aspects of negotiations, adding the sides will do their best to find solutions, which...

Top News Story Tehran Times TEHRAN (MNA) – Iranian ambassador to Paris, Sadegh Kharrazi, said on Sunday that Iran-France political and economic ties would develop with a more rapid pace over the next six months. Speaking with the Mehr News Agency on the threshold of President Mohammad Khatami’s trip to France, Kharrazi said that France’s position in Europe and among the G8 countries as well as Iran’s position in the Middle East and among the Shia community has helped the two countries develop closer ties. President Khatami is due to start a tour of Austria and France on Monday....

Top News Story Deportations to Iran rising despite torture concerns By ROD MICKLEBURGH Saturday, April 2, 2005 VANCOUVER -- A record 43 failed refugee claimants were deported last year from British Columbia to Iran despite ongoing concerns over torture and other human-rights violations there.The number of deportations was a big jump from 27 the year before, and more than four times the total as recently as five years ago.The dramatic increase in sending people back to Iran has taken place as public outrage has continued to grow over the brutal torture and death of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi in...

Top News Story Shame on ABC: An Iranian Student Responds to ABC’s Nightline report by Bob Woodruff The other night ABC’s Nightline broadcast an interview from inside of Iran. I received a number of emails about the broadcast. I did not see it, but my readers follow the events in Iran closely they told me they were amazed at the questionsin the interview and the naiveté or deceit of the interviewer, Bob Woodruff. They were concerned that the American public was given a false understanding of what is happening in Iran. Many said the broadcast appeared to be shameful...

Top News Story Freeper Preview: Iran Nukes NYC - the ad New York City is destroyed in major new television ad being launched by Dr. Jerome Corsi (of the swift boat vets fame) on his new Iran Freedom Foundation website. The chilling commercial depicts an improvised nuclear device being detonated by Iranian-backed terrorists. The ad is the brainchild of Dr. Jerome Corsi, co-author of the best seller Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. The ad is designed to educate the American public of the threat to the United States of a nuclear Iran. Just...

Top News Story Exiles: Iran Seeks to Obtain Nuclear Warheads March 31, 2005 Reuters Iran allocated $2.5 billion to obtain three nuclear warheads last year, an exiled opposition group said Thursday, without saying whether Iran had secured any of the warheads. The group, which has given accurate information in the past on some of Iran's nuclear facilities, also said Iran was speeding up work on a reactor south of Tehran which could produce enough plutonium for an atomic bomb by 2007. Iran says its nuclear program will be used only to generate electricity. But Washington and European countries fear...

Top News Story Today's Iran-N. Korea Soccer Game makes regime nervous Security forces across the Islamic Republic are on alert today. They have been authorized to exert " more control" across the country in order to shut down pro-democracy demonstrations they fear may follow today's soccer match with North Korea. The game which is being played in North Korea will be viewed by millions of Iranians watching on television. The game has already started ( it is scheduled to run from 11am to 1pm Tehran time). It appears the regime is hoping that since the game is being played...

Top News Story Deterrence Instability: Hizbullah's Fuse to Iran's Bomb Gerald M. Steinberg, The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs analyzes Europe's vain hope that a nuclear Iran will be a responsible nuclear power: In private conversations, many Europeans are increasingly ready to admit the obvious - that without credible threats, Iran will not end its pursuit of nuclear weapons. They then argue that this is not disastrous, and that Iran will, of necessity, act as a responsible nuclear power in order to avoid catastrophic destruction. They point to the history of the U.S. and the Soviet Union as an...

Top News Story Iran Press News While hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured into the streets of cities all across Iran last night to both celebrate the victory of Iran over Japan in Friday 's Soccer match as well as to demonstrate their hatred of the Mullacracy, the regime's television broadcast admitted to the widespread protests calling the celebrants "fools and champions of exhibitionist foreign invaders." The regime's television, in a political analysis fraught with intense distress and exhaustion requisitioned the U.S., saying: "if the U.S. has good intentions and does intend to make a deal with us, then...

Top News Story THE FRIDAY AFTER-SOCCER DEADS IS BAD NEWS FOR THE MULLAHRCHYBy Safa HaeriPosted Saturday, March 26, 2005 TEHERAN, 26 Mar. (IPS) At least six people were killed Friday 25 March 2005 and more than 40 others wounded, some of them critically at the end of a decisive soccer match between Iran and Japan, making it the worst after-soccer incidents in Iran.Though the Iranian clerical ruled authorities said they were killed in “stampede” at one of the smaller gates of the huge Tehran Azadi (freedom) stadium, but eye witnesses said police had fired on happy young boys and...

Top News Story Why Iran wants Cruise Missiles? On 28 January 2005, Ukranian parliamentarian Hryhoriy Omelchenko issued an open letter to President Viktor Yushchenko that Ukraine had illegally sold cruise missiles to Iran. It's was a credible report, which names dates, names, the bank accounts, fictitious shell companies that were set up to extradite the transfer of money from Iran. Plus there was collaborating evidence to this whole affair. He refered to a paper company set up in Cyprus to channel money for the missiles. Anti-corruption lawmaker Omelchenko was a ranking State Secret Services (SBU) officer and a deputy...

Top News Story Several killed and hundreds injured or arrested in Soccer riotsSMCCDI (Information Service) Mar 25, 2005 Several demonstrators have been killed and hundreds have been injured or arrested in most Iranian cities, especially in the Capital, following the clashes which happened after the Soccer game played between Iran and Japan. The biggest number of deaths has been reported from Tehran where officials are admitting three deaths "trampled under the feet of demonstrators".Other reports from Esfahan and Mashad are stating about an unknown number of deaths.Hundreds have been admitted to hospitals and many are missing. Tens of female...

Top News Story EU Studying Iranian Plan For Small-Scale Uranium Enrichment March 24, 2005 AFP Khaleej Times Online PARIS -- The EU is considering an Iranian proposal to allow the Islamic republic to produce enriched uranium on a small scale, despite the bloc’s demand Tehran must abandon the process to guarantee it will not make atom bombs, officials and diplomats said on Thursday. Iran made the proposal to be allowed to run a pilot centrifuge project for uranium enrichment at a meeting in Paris on Wednesday with EU negotiators Britain, France and Germany, according to a European official who...