Eye on Iran: Quarter of US Iraq Deaths Due to Iran Groups: Envoy
Fri, 08/27/2010 - 09:02 | by uaniadminTop
Stories
AP:
"The new U.S. ambassador to Iraq said on Thursday he
believed groups backed by Iran were responsible for a quarter of U.S.
casualties in the Iraq war but that Tehran was not as influential in
Iraq as
thought. More than 4,400 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the 2003
U.S.-led
invasion, battling Shi'ite militia the U.S. military has long said were
armed,
funded and trained by Iran, and Sunni Islamist insurgents." http://bit.ly/bPKwgZ
Reuters: "Iran has withdrawn assets from European
banks in an
attempt to evade international sanctions over the Islamic state's
disputed
nuclear programme, a senior Iranian official said on Friday... 'Assets
of
Iranian banks have been withdrawn from European banks ... Iran's
Central Bank
... was prepared for any such scenarios since six months ago,' Mahmoud
Bahmani,
head of the Central Bank of Iran, told the semi-official Fars news
agency." http://bit.ly/aoxThg
AFP: "France has urged the European Union to
threaten new sanctions
against the Iranian regime in the case of a woman sentenced to be
stoned to
death, in a foreign ministry letter seen by AFP on Friday. Foreign
Minister
Bernard Kouchner wrote to European Union foreign policy chief Catherine
Ashton
to call for all 27 member states to warn Tehran not to execute
43-year-old
Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani." http://bit.ly/cpKYUq
Nuclear
Program
AP: "A Taiwanese businessman is facing U.S. prison time for
illegal
exports of banned missile, drone and other military parts to Iran.
Yi-Lan Chen
is to be sentenced Friday in Miami. Chen pleaded guilty in May to
conspiring to
violate the U.S. embargo against Iran and attempted export of dual-use
parts to
Iran." http://bit.ly/9A5i7f
Commerce
Reuters: "Turkey's Industry and Trade Minister Nihat
Ergun told NTV
broadcaster that joint projects with Iran were continuing and that
these would
not be affected by United Nations and United States' sanctions on
Iran." http://bit.ly/crTq36
Human Rights
Radio Farda: "The Iranian government says it will
restrict the
number of students admitted to humanities programs at universities,
RFE/RL's
Radio Farda reports... It follows criticism of humanities studies last
year by
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He called the humanities
a field
of study that 'promotes skepticism and doubt in religious principles
and
beliefs,' and that it was worrying that almost two-thirds of university
students in Iran were seeking degrees in the humanities." http://bit.ly/apMZTM
AFP: "The UN anti-racism panel Friday called on Iran
to counter
racism and ethnic discrimination, including incitement to hatred by
officials
and 'double discrimination' suffered by women from minorities. The
Committee on
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern at the
exclusion of
Arab, Azeri, Balochi, Kurdish and Bahai communities in areas such as
housing,
education, health, jobs and 'from public life.'" http://bit.ly/aUU0ZB
Domestic Politics
LAT: "Women's-rights activists and reformist
politicians are
alarmed over the push by some hardliners to reintroduce a family-law
bill that
not only moderates but also some staunch conservatives find
discriminatory
against women. Zahra Rahnavard, the Iranian opposition politician and
wife of
Iranian reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi slammed the legislation in
a
recent commentary and has called for it to be evaluated by a 'group of
expert
and progressive' people." http://bit.ly/avDFOr
AFP: "Five rebels and two members of the
Revolutionary Guards have
been killed in clashes in Iran's Kordestan province near the Iraqi
border,
government newspaper Iran reported on Thursday... Rebels of the Party
of Free
Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) have been fighting security forces in
northwestern
Iran which has a significant Kurdish population." http://bit.ly/aVcnqV
Foreign Affairs
Christian Science Monitor: "Iran seems to have found
a new friend
in the unlikeliest of places: Cambodia. Tehran hosted a high-level
delegation
from the Southeast Asian nation earlier this month to discuss bilateral
trade
and mutual dislike of American 'interference.' It's the latest sign
that the
Islamic republic is seeking out new partners - no matter how small - in
the
face of increased sanctions."
Opinion
Michael Weiss in The Weekly Standard: "Iranian authorities first arrested Shiva Nazar Ahari in 2001, when she was seventeen. Her 'crime' was attending a candlelight vigil in Tehran that commemorated the victims of 9/11. Since then, she's taught Iranian homeless children and Afghan refugees' children. In 2006, after she became the spokeswoman for the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), Ahari was kicked out of university, whereupon her troubles really began." http://bit.ly/9lkml0
Jonathan Eyal in The China Post: "Iran has responded to international concerns over its nuclear ambitions by unveiling a new indigenously produced weapon: a bomber drone, grandly described by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a 'messenger of death' to anyone who dares attack his country. Then on Wednesday, Iran test-fired a new version of its surface-to-surface Fateh 110 missile, just days after announcing its mass production of two types of high-speed missile-launching assault boats. Despite all this bluster, Iran is still many years behind the cutting-edge military technology available to key Western militaries. Nevertheless, the Iranian announcement is just another move in an intricate Middle Eastern arms race which is now unfolding on an unprecedented scale." http://bit.ly/cjhugZ
Abraham Rabinovich in The Australian: "A chilling article on the opinion page of the prestigious daily Ha'aretz caught Israel's attention this week. 'There is an 80 per cent probability that within nine months to two years from now the Israeli home front will absorb 1000 to 20,000 losses,' it began. The fatalities would be inflicted, according to the writer, by Iranian missile strikes in retaliation for an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. The Israeli attack itself was described as inevitable." http://bit.ly/a3SHqQ
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