UANI

The Wall Street Journal reported that "The Obama administration is pushing for a formal censure of Iran and Syria at the United Nations over an arms-smuggling case that U.S. officials see as highlighting the risks that Iranian weapons shipments pose to regional stability. The move at the U.N. could impede the ability of Iranian shipping firms to deliver arms to militant groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories, U.S. and other Western officials said." (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123992372145727175.html)

Katie Couric of CBS News wrote that "Iran is not a monolith and not all Iranians share their government's views. But at this moment the world is watching Tehran, waiting for a verdict that could help open the road to diplomacy or put up a massive and chilling stop sign." (http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/04/16/couricandco/entry4950874.shtml)

The LA Times published a Q & A with Iranian scholar and Afghanistan expert, Changiz Pahlavan, where he said that "For America, Afghanistan is a battlefield to combat the terrorists. But Americans do not understand the variety of cultures and the variety of ethnic elements in this country and the very important point of how all these differences could come together to be united in the form of one unified country. Iran has the ability to understand the humanity, religion and psychology of Afghan people. The U.S. is not able to do the same thing and does not have the time to learn a lot about this very delicate and complicated culture." (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/asia/la-fg-iran-qa17-2009a...)

The Christian Science Monitor wrote in an editorial that "Obama officials are playing cat-and-mouse these days with Iran's envoys. The new administration is eager to catch a meeting in any international forum that might lead to one-on-one talks. Issues range from Iran's nuclear program to an American journalist charged by Iran with spying. If US diplomats do snag a secret negotiation, they'd be smart to start with the one issue in which Iran and America share a strong common interest: Afghanistan." (http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0416/p08s04-comv.html)

Michael Rubin wrote in that National Review that "Speaking to an assembly of clergy and theological students yesterday, Ahmadinejad said: 'The time of discussing the nuclear issue has come to an end and the clock can't be moved the reverse direction.'" (http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTE0ZGQyYWQyNGIwOWRlMTllNTE5ZWU...)

Amir Taheri, author of the book "The Persian Night: Iran Under the Khomeinist Revolution," wrote in the NY Daily News that "Iran is facing an 'international conspiracy' to over throw the Khomeinist regime with a 'velvet revolution,' the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) claimed yesterday.... By claiming that the revolution is in danger, Ahmadinejad hopes to mobilize his radical base, which has grown disenchanted with his disastrous economic policies and failure to curb corruption. The former Miss North Dakota finds herself in the middle of a dangerous power struggle in one of the deadliest political systems in the world today." (http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/...)

James Phillips of the Heritage Foundation wrote that "In its rush to diplomatically engage Iran, the Obama Administration has found itself in the embarrassing position of appearing to be softer than France... France is right. By dropping its demand that Tehran must freeze its uranium enrichment work, the Obama Administration runs the intolerable risk that Iran will engage in endless talks about its ominous nuclear program while pushing ahead to acquire growing stocks of enriched uranium, which subsequently could be enriched further to arm a nuclear weapon." (http://blog.heritage.org/2009/04/17/obama-outflanked-by-france-on-iran/)

Iranian press reported that "The large number of foreign companies planning to participate in Iran’s 14th International Oil, Gas, and Petrochemicals Exhibition proves the ineffectiveness of economic sanctions against the country, said the Iranian oil ministry’s public relations department director in Tehran on Wednesday.... The number of participants shows a significant 25 percent growth over that of the previous year, the official said, adding the number of applicants is still rising." (http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=192386)