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Executive Summary Iran News/Articles Update-December 16, 2005
The First and Last Paragraph of Each Articles and Source URL For Complete News/Articles Are Shown



EU Leaders: Patience Running Thin on Iran

December 15, 2005
The Associated Press
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5482110,00.html

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European leaders warned Thursday that patience with Iran is running thin less than a week before envoys from Britain, France and Germany are to resume negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program.


Pressure to Isolate Iran Gathers Steam

President's most recent anti-Semitic remarks came ahead of new talks with EU nations aimed at halting Tehran's nuclear activities.
By John Daniszewski
Times Staff Writer
December 16, 2005
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran16dec16,1,3853123.story?coll=la-headlines-world

LONDON — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks this week calling the massacre of Jews during World War II a myth is increasing pressure to isolate his nation just days ahead of new talks on Iran's nuclear ambitions, governments and commentators said Thursday.


Iran leader at forefront of militant Islam

By Douglas Birch
The Baltimore Sun
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002686678_iran16.html
When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a "myth" this week, he wasn't only embracing one of the key tenets of modern anti-Semitism.
Experts say his harsh rhetoric was also an effort to signal that Iran, not al-Qaida, is the leading force behind militant Islam. And by appealing to Muslims worldwide, he aimed to bolster his regime at home and win support from Arab nations against the West.

Vatican Official Slams Iran Over Holocaust Remark

December 15, 2005
Reuters

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2005-12-15T162827Z_01_MCC558020_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAN-HOLOCAUST-VATICAN.xmltoday.reuters.co.uk
ROME -- A senior Vatican cardinal on Thursday sharply criticised Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for claiming the Holocaust was a myth, condemning the assertion as a shocking injustice to the victims of the Nazi genocide. Cardinal Walter Kasper, who, like Pope Benedict, is German, launched a specific attack on Ahmadinejad in a speech accepting an award from an international Jewish organisation.


EU Summit to Address Ahmadinejad Comments

December 15, 2005
The Associated Press
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1408262&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

BERLIN -- European Union leaders will address the Iranian president's denial of the Holocaust as a "myth," Germany's foreign minister said Thursday, warning that patience is running out with Tehran.

The German government has condemned the remarks by Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and called on the United Nations as well as the EU to follow suit. Berlin says the comments will also weigh on talks over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.


Arab Newspapers Reluctant to Criticize Iranian Leader's Remarks

December 15, 2005
The Associated Press
Tarek Al-Issawi
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001699381

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Arab governments appeared reluctant Thursday to condemn Iran's president for calling the Holocaust a "myth" used by Europeans to create a Jewish state in the heart of the Islamic world. While official Arab reaction in such cases is usually slower than international reaction, any issue involving a defense of Israel is a thorny one for Arab governments, who risk appearing to side with Israel against a Muslim nation.


Hamas Vows Revenge if Iran Attacked

December 15, 2005
Agence France-Presse
From correspondents in Tehran
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17581562-23109,00.html

The radical Palestinian group Hamas will step up attacks against Israel if the Jewish state takes military action against Iran, its political chief has said in Tehran. Khaled Meshaal also praised Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his "courage" in having dismissed the Holocaust as a myth and calling for Israel to be moved out of the Middle East to Europe or North America. "Just as Islamic Iran defends the rights of the Palestinians, we defend the rights of Islamic Iran. We are part of a united front against the enemies of Islam," Mr Meshaal told reporters.


Bush: 'Axis of Evil' Member Iran is 'Real Threat'

December 15, 2005
AFP
Irish Sun
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=26191&name=Mehlis+to+stay+until+successor+named%3A+Annan

WASHINGTON -- US President George W. Bush called Iran "a real threat," repeating his charge from 2002 that it is part of an "axis of evil," and urged Tehran to prove it does not seek nuclear weapons.





Sweden to Cut Iran Ties

December 14, 2005
The Jerusalem Post
Sheera Claire Frenkel
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1134309574913&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The Swedish parliament ceased all bilateral contacts with the Iranian parliament Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The move follows a letter Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin sent asking parliaments worldwide to express their support for Israel. The letter, which was sent to more than 80 parliaments, called for an international response to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call in October to "wipe Israel off the map."


Iran and Iraq: Too Close for Comfort?


December 15, 2005
FrontPageMagazine.com
Erick Stakelbeck and Frederick W. Stakelbeck Jr.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20560

As Iraqi citizens participate in another round of democratic elections today, the current Iraqi government is busy reestablishing contacts with its next-door neighbor and historical enemy: Iran. The accelerated nature of these contacts has Washington extremely concerned – and rightly so.


Condoleezza Rice 'Can't Speculate' on Iran Attack

December 15, 2005
Agencia Internacional de Noticias
noticias.info
http://www.noticias.info/asp/aspComunicados.asp?nid=128556&src=0

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined on Wednesday to rule out the possibility that Israel might launch a preemptive air strike against Iran's nuclear facilities in response to repeated threats from Iranian leaders to use nuclear weapons against the Jewish state.


German Experts Worried by Iran's Nukes


December 15, 2005
United Press International
Stefan Nicola
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/article_1069295.php/German_experts_worried_by_Iran%60s_nukes

KEHL AM RHEIN, Germany -- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad`s recent anti-Semitic remarks may have dealt a fatal blow to the already fragile negotiation process due to restart next week over Iran`s nuclear program, German experts have said.

'His comments throw a shadow over the whole negotiation process,' Erwin Haeckel, Iran expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations, a Berlin-based foreign policy think tank on Thursday told United Press International in a telephone interview. 'There is a certain feeling of helplessness: What to do with Ahmadinejad, what to offer him?'


US court orders Iran to pay 126 million dollars to Beirut bombing victims



http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051215/wl_mideast_afp/usiranjustice_051215213425

A US federal judge has ordered Iran to pay victims of a 1983 suicide bombing of the US embassy in Beirut 126 million dollars, lawyers for the victims said.
Judge John Bates of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Wednesday that Iran supported Hezbollah militants in the April 1983 bombing, the first suicide attack ever against a US embassy.
Citing evidence that Iran provided Hezbollah with arms, money and other support, Bates ruled that Iran must pay 29 victims and their families 126 million dollars.
"We are pleased that the court has again recognized Iran to be at the center of this heinous act of terrorism and that Iran will be called to account for its actions," said Michael Martinez, a lawyer representing the victims.
"We are hopeful that we will be able to enforce the judgment soon," he said.
The embassy bombing killed 63 people, including 17 US nationals. Anne Dammarell, a former US Agency for International Development employee, who was wounded in the bombing was the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
"This lawsuit is our way of fighting back," she said in a statement. "It is the only way we have to make Iran accountable for the incredible pain it inflicted through its support of Hezbollah."

IRAN: 'MINISTERS OF MURDER' FILL CABINET SAYS HUMAN RIGHTS WATCHDOG


http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.240542336&par=0#

New York, 15 Dec. Iran’s new interior minister, Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi, is "implicated in grave human rights violations over the past two decades, possibly including crimes against humanity in connection with the massacre of thousands of political prisoners," the New York Human Rights Watch (HRW) organisation alleged in a briefing paper released Thursday. Human Rights Watch also said that the Islamic Republic's information minister, Gholamhussein Mohseni Ezhei, should be investigated for his possible involvement in a dissident’s killing.


Iraq denies ballots seized from Iran


http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=38770&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
LONDON, December 15 (IranMania) - Iraq's electoral commission denied that hundreds of thousands of blank ballots similar to those set to be used in Thursday's election were found on a tanker truck from Iran, AFP said.
"This information is not correct at all," electoral official Hussein al-Hindawi told a news conference.
A security official had said a truck with Iranian number plates carrying the blank ballots was intercepted late Tuesday in Badra, in Wasset province southeast of Baghdad.

Ahmadinejad Pushes Iran Toward Internal Crisis

by Jim Lobe
http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=8261
Amid growing alarm over extreme views voiced by Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a major U.S.-based international human rights group called Wednesday for the immediate dismissal of two of his top cabinet ministers for their involvement in past repression and atrocities.

The Enemy Among Us


They’re coming, you know. In fact, they’re here.
http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen200512150852.asp
The French just arrested 20 people, apparently pretty close to doing some mean terrorist thing. In late September, nine people were arrested in Paris in "what officials said was a crackdown on suspected Islamic terrorist activities." It was later reported that the DST (internal-security service) had learned that members of this group had been trained in Lebanon, and possessed an exotic poison: seeds of the "nigelle" plant, said to be highly lethal.

ANALYSIS: Is there method behind Iran's anti-Israel remarks?


By Paul Hughes

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's strident anti-Israel rhetoric may be part of a strategy aimed at boosting his own standing at home and Iran's role in the region.
His remarks calling the Holocaust a myth and suggesting Israeli Jews be moved to Germany or Alaska have brought worldwide condemnation and imperilled diplomatic negotiations with Europe over Iran's nuclear program.

Iran's President Suggests Israel move north to Alaska...


Michael Scott Moore, Spiegel Online:

Should Israel move to Alaska? Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once again called for Israel to be moved on Wednesday. And this time, he went ahead and denied the Holocaust as well. But why? SPIEGEL ONLINE went to Iran expert Ali Ansari for answers. ...



Germany mulls travel limits for Ahmadinejad


By Louis Charbonneau

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15534894.htm

BERLIN, Dec 15 (Reuters) - German officials are weighing up imposing some form of travel restriction on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after his denials that the Holocaust happened, a senior foreign ministry official said on Thursday. Some six millions Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War Two. Publicly denying that the Holocaust happened, as Ahmadinejad has done twice, is a crime in Germany.

Iran's fiery leader not apt to be silenced

BY PAUL KORING
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2005 POSTED AT 5:21 AM EST
HTTP://WWW.THEGLOBEANDMAIL.COM/SERVLET/ARTICLENEWS/TPSTORY/LAC/20051216/IRAN16/TPINTERNATIONAL/AFRICA
WASHINGTON -- Incendiary rhetoric spewing from Iran's fiery new President threatens to further isolate the oil-rich Muslim powerhouse.
Despite harsh international condemnation after his initial outbursts about Israel, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems happy to keep stoking the flames, perhaps with the goal of galvanizing support among Iran's miserable underclass. Denouncing the "Zionist regime," like Yankee-bashing, is a sure-fire political pleaser in Iran, leaving opponents only the unpalatable middle ground of moderation, analysts say.