[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

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Executive Summary Iran News/Articles Update-December 2, 2005
The First and Last Paragraph of Each Articles and Source URL For Complete News/Articles Are Shown



PM: Israel part of world efforts to stop nuclear Iran


http://www.iranmania.com
By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/652595.html
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stressed on Thursday that Israel is watching with growing concern Iran's efforts to achieve nuclear capabilities, and that this situation is unacceptable by Israel.


AIPAC raps US handling of Iran nukes

Nathan Guttman, THE JERUSALEM POST
Dec. 2, 2005
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132475666363&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
As the US administration is calling on the world to increase pressure on Iran, the pro-Israeli lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is voicing rare criticism against the administration's dealing with Iran's nuclear problem.
In a statement published in Washington Wednesday, AIPAC slammed the US administration for agreeing not to refer the Iranian nuclear issue to the UN Security Council during last week's meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors.
"We disagree with these decisions and are concerned that these efforts will facilitate Iran's quest for nuclear weapons, hampering the diplomatic effort to stop Iran before it is too late. This poses a severe danger to the United States and our allies, and puts America and our interests at risk," AIPAC's statement said.
It is extremely unusual for the pro-Israel lobby to openly confront the administration's policy, though it is not uncommon for the organization to lobby behind the scenes in an attempt to change US policy on issues concerning Israel.

USA threatens Iran

Press Trust of India
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=8&theme=&usrsess=1&id=97921

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1. — Noting that the USA is “working closely” with European allies, Russia, India and China, to deter “Iran’s nuclear ambitions”, a senior Bush administration official has slammed Teheran for “defiantly pursuing” an atomic weapons programme and warned that some nations might apply curbs on trade if negotiations over the issue fail.
“In coordination with our allies and our friends around the world, the USA seeks to isolate Iran. It seeks to promote a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions... to expose and oppose Iran’s support of terrorism. And... to advance the cause of democracy and human rights within Iran,” said under-secretary for political affairs Mr Nicholas Burns.
If diplomacy does not succeed, he said, “there is a growing diplomatic coalition to apply curbs, and other countries have trade and other weapons.” He, however, said the USA would not try to organise trade and investment sanctions. “It’s up to the Europeans to decide. It’s not up to the United States of America.”
During the course of remarks at the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, Mr Burns said few in the international community have doubts on what the real objective of the Iranain nuclear programme was — developing nuclear weapons capabilities.

For the EU, the ball is in Iran's court

By Ramiro Cibrian-Uzal
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/652742.html
The comments made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on October 26, calling for Israel to be wiped off the map, were encountered in the European Union (EU) by a wave of shock, protest and condemnation. The EUs heads of state and government, meeting the following day in the U.K., responded by stating, among other things, that such comments will cause concern about Iran's role in the region, and its future intentions. They added that the fact that these comments were made on the same day as a horrific attack on Israeli civilians in Hadera should reinforce the lesson that incitement to violence, and the terrorism it breeds, are totally unacceptable.

Speaking to the European Parliament on November 16, EU Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that when such comments, "are made in the current delicate climate, by the president of the country himself, in connection with a conference entitled, 'The World Without Zionism' it is time to draw a line and to remind the Iranian president of the responsibilities that come with being a member of the family of nations."


Israeli intelligence sets deadline for strikes on Iran

By Bill Weinberg on Thu, 12/01/2005
http://www.ww4report.com/node/1336
The best-case scenario for the Bush administration in Iraq now is a modicum of stability under a Shi'ite-dominated regime more loyal to Tehran than Washington. In the January 2005 elections, voters trounced the US proxies, the secular Shi'ites of Iyad Allawi's CIA-groomed Iraqi National Accord, in favor of the Tehran-backed radical Shi'ites of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. So "regime change" in Iran is now necessary for the US to maintain effective control over Iraq as well. But how, given that Bush has already got his hands more than full with an increasingly unpopular quagmire? The answer is obvious: US imperialism's regional pit-bull, Israel. From the Jerusalem Post, Nov. 30:
Military Intelligence Chief Aharon Ze'evi Farkash said [Nov. 30] that after March, Israel must be prepared to use means other than diplomacy to halt Iran's nuclear weapons program...

Preparing Iran for judgment day


Lindsey Hilsum
Monday 5th December 2005
http://www.newstatesman.com/200512050014

President Ahmadinejad is mocked by Tehran's elite for his ugliness, stupidity and smelly socks. Yet it's his religiosity, which gives him the common touch, that worries them. Lindsey Hilsum reports from Iran

Black chadors gathered round their wrinkled faces, desperation in their rheumy eyes, the old women pressed up against the railings. One held out a note for the shrine attendant to drop into a postbox made of green wooden slats. At first she would not say what she had written. Then she began to cry, tears trickling under her thick pebble glasses.
"My eldest son is an opium addict," she sobbed. "He's married with a child but he's unemployed. My other sons are also opium addicts - they mixed with bad friends and have been addicted for five years now. I don't know what to do, so I am throwing this prayer into the well and hoping the Mahdi will help."

Shia Muslims believe that the 12th Imam or Mahdi, the last in a line of saints descended from Ali, the founder of their sect, vanished in 941 and will one day return. According to their tradition, he is "in occultation", like a sun hidden by clouds - after a stormy period of wars and other ravages, the clouds will clear and the sun will be revealed. After a local man had a vision of the Mahdi, a shrine was erected at Jamkaran, outside the holy city of Qom. Some Shias believe that the Mahdi will reappear through a well at the shrine, so the postbox has been erected on the spot for the faithful to send him their prayers.

US Calls on Iran to Return to Nuclear talks

December 01, 2005
AFP
EU Business
http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/051201174106.wbop70d7

The United States called Thursday on Iran to return to talks on its disputed nuclear program while Israel warned it will never allow the Islamic Republic and its arch enemy to get atomic weapons. The United States hopes "that Iran will be prepared to come back to negotiations and negotiate seriously," said Gregory Schulte, the US ambassador to the UN's nuclear watchdog agency.

Backed by the United States, the European Union is trying to resume talks with Iran on guaranteeing the Islamic Republic is not secretly developing nuclear weapons, as Washington claims.

EU-Iran talks collapsed in August when Iran ended its suspension of uranium conversion, the first step towards making enriched uranium, which can be used to fuel nuclear reactors or as the explosive core of atom bombs.

Launch Regional Initiatives

November 30, 2005
American Enterprise Institute
Michael Rubin, Alex Alexiev, Christopher Brown, Caroline B. Glick, Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney, USAF (Ret.), Kenneth R. Timmerman, Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely, USAF (Ret.)
http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.23499/pub_detail.asp

As an essential component of America’s War Footing, political warfare must be waged in specific regional initiatives aimed at defeating the Islamofascists, neutralizing their supporters and strengthening our true allies in defense of the Free World.

The initiatives discussed in Step 9 are political and ideological rather than military, but they reflect a core strategic understanding that we are confronting a sustained and many-tentacled attack. The United States must adhere to an offensive rather than a defensive strategy if it hopes to survive and prevail in this war.

Akbar Ganji: Recipient of the "Dialogue of Cultures" Award

November 29, 2005
The Foreign Press Association
FPA Media Awards
http://www.foreign-press.org.uk/awards.cfm

‘A Dialogue of Cultures’

The Foreign Press Association Media Awards 2005 Winners:

The winners of the Foreign Press Association Media Awards were announced at a ceremony attended by the Rt Hon Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

Mr Straw gave the keynote address on “A Dialogue of Cultures”, which was the theme for this year’s event and marked the presentation of a new award dedicated to a journalist who has excelled in promoting discussion between conflicting sides or has made the journey between different ideologies and cultures.

Sharon: Iranian Nukes Unacceptable

December 01, 2005
The Jerusalem Post
Sheera Claire Frenkel and AP
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132475657419&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, speaking at the editors' convention at Sokolov House in Tel Aviv, said Thursday that Israel, as well as other nations, cannot accept a scenario in which Iran acquires nuclear capabilities and that Israel was making preparations for the possibility Iran will acquire nuclear weapons.

He added, however, that Israel would not lead the fight against the Islamic state's nuclear ambitions.

"The danger does not only affect Israel, but also Middle Eastern countries and many other countries around the world. Therefore the recent efforts led by the US must include free countries that understand this grave danger," the prime minister said.

Europa: Mao's 'Fight Talk' Strategy is a Winning One for Iran

December 01, 2005
The New York Times
Richard Bernstein
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/12/01/news/europa.php

BERLIN -- Judging from the statements at last week's meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, an international consensus is growing over the necessity to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Or at least the three European Union countries handling the matter, with the support of the United States, say they need "the widest possible international agreement on how to deal with this file," as Britain's representative, Peter Jenkins put it. And to get that, attention is now focusing on giving the heretofore uncooperative Russians a major role.

The next phase in this saga is expected to center on talks based on what are called "the Russian ideas," and, if those talks don't succeed, the chances seem far stronger than before that, with critical Russian support, Iran's activities would at last be reported to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

Iran in the Spotlight

December 01, 2005
United Press International
Claudia Salhani
WASHINGTON -- The United States and the international community remain highly concerned by Iran's intentions to attain nuclear capability, come what may. As Tehran pursues its aim to join the nuclear club, it is slowly but surely isolating itself from the rest of the world.

U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns explained the U.S. policy toward Iran Wednesday in a speech at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

Burns pointed out the fact the United States "has no relationship as, unique, complex and difficult as it has with Iran." The United States, said Burns, has had no significant connection with the government of Iran since 1979. That was shortly after the Islamic revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini ousted the shah and Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held 52 American diplomats captive for 444 days.

"Iran leadership," said Burns, "has chosen, repeatedly, to turn its back on democracy, human rights, and responsible action on nuclear issues and terrorism. A new era of complex and troubled relations began between Washington and Tehran, characterized by direct Iranian support for Lebanese Hezbollah terrorism against the United States, beginning in the early 1980s."

Yet paradoxically, despite mounting animosity between Washington and Tehran, a growing number of Iranian student continue to make their way to the United States every year just to enroll in American learning institutions.

By the mid-1970s, over 200,000 Iranians -- a phenomenal number -- were studying in the United States.