Free Republic

Top News Story Iran Threatens to block UN Inspectors. CNN News reported that Tehran is threatening to block inspections of its nuclear sites if a dispute over its atomic activity is sent to the U.N. Security Council.Telegraph reported that Jack Straw, the UK Foreign Secretary, said that Iran may face UN sanctions over its resumption of nuclear activities, but insisted that military action was not being considered.Zaman Online reported that France has reported it is too early to demand sanctions over Iran’s resuming its nuclear energy program.The Financial Times reported that Iran still wants more talks and Condi does...

Top News Story Next Stop: an Emergency Meeting of the IAEA Board. Times Online reported that Britain, France and Germany agreed to request an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board.The Financial Times reported that European officials warned that Tehran would have to reinstate the seals at its Natanz research facility and refrain from all the activities it announced this week if it wanted to avoid a UN referral. “A half-step back will not stop us.”Times Online then reported that Iran will be referred to the United Nations Security Council within weeks.The New York Times reported...

Top News Story The EU3 Finally Ends Negotiations with Iran. The Financial Times reported that Iran’s defiant decision to resume what it calls “research” into nuclear enrichment spells the end of the negotiation strategy.Reuters reported that China has offered to help rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions.Tony Blankley, The Washington Times reported that when European diplomats use words like "serious," "grave," "disastrous," "red line for international community," "urge Iran to immediately and unconditionally reverse its decision," the rest of us should take these phrases as unambiguous evidence that an international crisis of the first water is fast building.The Wall Street...

Top News Story MarketWatch WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The United Nations must act to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, the United States and three European powers said Thursday. The United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom called for an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency to report on Iran's defiance to the U.N. Security Council, a step that could lead to sanctions against Tehran, possibly including an embargo on Iran's oil exports. "Our talks with Iran have reached a dead end," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Berlin. "The council should call for the Iranian...

Top News Story As the world awakens, signs the regime may be fracturing as it prepares for a confrontation. Iran Breaks The Seals and the World Wakes Up. Reuters reported that the U.N. nuclear watchdog confirmed that Iran had broken U.N. seals at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant.The Financial Times reported that European diplomats said an emergency meeting could be held this week.The New York Times reported that the White House said if Iran continues on its current nuclear course, it will leave the international community no choice but to refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for possible...

Top News Story Three Major News Reports on Iran. Osama dead in Iran? Michael Ledeen, National Review Online reported that Osama Bin Laden died three weeks ago in Iran. The Air Crash in Iran. A roundup. Nasser Karimi, The Associated Press reported that a small military jet crashed in northwestern Iran on Monday, killing the commander of the ground forces of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.Dan Darling, WindsOfChange.net argued that as a result of the crash there is going to be a lot more short-term power consolidated into the hands of IRGC's commander-in-chief Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi and his...

Top News StoryThe Age Unified stand on atomic Iran THE five major nuclear powers are working on a joint statement that aims to show unusual unified resolve and put fresh pressure on Iran not to resume nuclear fuel research, United States officials and diplomats said on Friday. Iran, making a confrontation increasingly likely, has defied the international community with its threat to resume atomic fuel research and development on tomorrow, after shelving it more than a year ago at the West's insistence.In an effort to put new pressure on Iran, the US, Britain, France, Russia and China were working...

Top News Story IRAN: HOLOCAUST CONFERENCE SOON IN TEHRAN Tehran, 5 Jan. (AKI) - Iran has decided to rewrite and revise the history of the Holocaust. Following the repeated declarations by the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and other senior government officials on the need to re-examine the history of the genocide of the Jews during the Second World War, the association of Islamic Journalists of Iran has been tasked with quickly putting together an international conference on the Holocaust. "President Ahmadinejad has placed at the centre of international attention, a very important question on the truthfulness of the version...

Top News Story Iran's "Let's Roll" Beginning? Alan Peters: Special Report Analysts watching Iran on a daily basis were not taken by surprise by the Islamic Regime not showing up at the International Atomic Energy Agency on January 05, 2006, since reports out of Tehran have for the past weeks been mentioning President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad's office privately leaking to the Tehran newspapers that Iran already has four nuclear weapons obtained from the Ukraine. Back in 1991/1992 three nuclear weapon devices the Mullahs had obtained from Kazakhstan were verified on ground in Iran and intelligence further estimates that Iran has...

Top News Story Ynetnews Security forces arrested a 58-year-old Israeli-Arab on suspicion of being recruited by Iran in order to infiltrate Israel's political system. The suspect, Jaris Jaris, resides in the northern Israel village of Fasuta, which is mostly populated by Christians; he even served as the village council’s head. It is suspected that Iranians plotted to have Jaris transfer intelligence information obtained through his political connections in exchange for a hefty sum of money. They hoped he would be able to become an MK and continue to transfer vital information to Iran. Jaris was detained by security forces...

Top News Story IRAN: TEHRAN ISSUES NEW THREAT TO EUROPE Tehran, 4 Jan. (AKI) - The head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, who is also the man behind Iran's foreign policy, has warned Europeans "not to force the Islamic Republic to cut short the dialogue process and to opt for another scenario". Speaking on Tuesday night on state television he said: "We are for a strategy based on dialogue, but if the counterparty Europe plays dirty, then we will pass onto another plan that we have worked out and then there will be problems for the...

Top News Story Secret services say Iran is trying to assemble a nuclear missile Document seen by Guardian details web of front companies and middlemen Ian Cobain and Ian TraynorWednesday January 4, 2006The Guardian The Iranian government has been successfully scouring Europe for the sophisticated equipment needed to develop a nuclear bomb, according to the latest western intelligence assessment of the country's weapons programmes. Scientists in Tehran are also shopping for parts for a ballistic missile capable of reaching Europe, with "import requests and acquisitions ... registered almost daily", the report seen by the Guardian concludes.The warning came as...

Top News Story Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Iran to Activate Natanz Nuclear Project in Coming Days Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting:Head of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said the suspended research works on Iran's nuclear activity will be activated again in the next few days. Attending a meeting here on Monday, Boroujerdi said, "Completion of nuclear fuel process upon international regulations is a part of our policies and we are determined to make Natanz project active after the Isfahan one". He stressed the west has accepted that the job be done in Russia, while...

Top News Story Monsters & Critics Ahmadinejad says Zionist Crimes Same as Nazi Crimes Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Monsters and Critics:Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the crimes committed by Zionists against the Palestinians were the same as the crimes committed by the Nazis in the Second World War, the news agency ISNA reported Sunday. 'One question to be clarified by the West is what crimes did they commit in those days (Second World War) what the Zionists are not doing today,' Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by ISNA. 'Zionism is de facto neo-fascism,' Ahmadinejad added in question and answer session carried...

Top News Story Rebel group captures 9 Iranian soldiers-Arabiya TV Reuters:A little-known Sunni rebel organisation says it has abducted nine Iranian soldiers to pressure Tehran to free imprisoned members of the group, Al Arabiya television said on Sunday. A caller speaking for the Jundollah (God's Soldiers) said the soldiers were seized near Iran's border with Pakistan, and demanded the release of 16 group members, the satellite television channel said. Iranian officials were not immediately available to comment. In July, the group said it beheaded an Iranian security agent it had abducted the previous month. Iran's remote southeastern areas on...

Top News Story Turkish Press: Goss Reportedly told Ankara that Iran has nuclear weapons TurkishPress:During his recent visit to Ankara, CIA Director Porter Goss reportedly brought three dossiers on Iran to Ankara. Goss is said to have asked for Turkey’s support for Washington’s policy against Iran’s nuclear activities, charging that Tehran had supported terrorism and taken part in activities against Turkey. Goss also asked Ankara to be ready for a possible US air operation against Iran and Syria. Goss, who came to Ankara just after FBI Director Robert Mueller’s visit, brought up Iran’s alleged attempts to develop nuclear weapons....

Top News Story Russian/Iran Talks? Yes or No? Reuters reported that top Iranian and Russian officials agreed on Thursday to hold talks on a Russian proposal aimed a resolving Tehran's nuclear standoff.Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Monsters and Critics reported that the Russian Defence Ministry denied having agreed to nuclear talks with Iran.International Herald Tribune reported that Iran said that it needed talks with Moscow to clarify what it described as "ambiguities" in a Russian proposal.The Jerusalem Post reported that a high-ranking Russian diplomat said that Russia has no interest in Iran obtaining nuclear weapons and does not want a radical, Islamic...

Top News Story Rooz Online Media Ignores Iran's Other Senior Leaders Threats: A Sampling Hossein Bastani, Rooz Online: The take of Iran’s conservative media on an article published last week in the German magazine Spiegel once again highlighted their disconnection with the real world, especially on issues relating to Palestine. Spiegel published a satirical article on Iranian president Ahmadinejad’s suggestion of moving Israel and the Jews to Europe, which in itself was received with chuckles and cynicism in Europe. But the conservative press in Iran and even the influential newspaper Resalat devoted its main headline (issue no 23) to...

Top News Story Iran Focus: Iran’s Ahmadinejad wants committee to investigate Holocaust Monday, 26th December 2005 Iran Focus Tehran, Iran, Dec. 26 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who recently called for the destruction of Israel and termed the Holocaust a “myth” has asked for a committee to be set up to prove that the massacre of some six million Jews in Nazi Germany never took place. The Fars news agency, which is close to the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that Ahmadinejad had proposed the idea after his comments calling for Israel to be...

Top News Story Iran says does not need permission for nuclear work Reuters:Iran is ready to discuss its nuclear programme with any country, but that does not mean it is asking for permission for access to nuclear technology, Iran's foreign minister said on Monday. Iran's right to peaceful nuclear technology was supported by "many countries of the world", Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference during a one-day visit to the Afghan capital, Kabul. "We do not accept global nuclear 'apartheid' and scientific 'apartheid'," Mottaki said. Iran was ready to discuss its programme. "But that does not mean that we...