UANI

The Guardian wrote that Iran is "feeling the pain of declining prices more severely than any other oil-producing country in the Middle East." Read More

Reuters reported that President-elect Obama is being "pelted with advice on Iran.... But unpicking three decades of confrontation and mutual hostility will be no easy task." Read More

The Miami Herald reported on Sen. Nelson's efforts "to press Iran to divulge more information about Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who went missing in 2007 from a Persian Gulf island. The congressional resolution calls for Iranian investigators to meet with the FBI to discuss Levinson's case, as well as calling on the U.S. government and its allies ''to press Iran on this case, at every opportunity and at every level,'' Nelson said." Read More

Christian Science Monitor analzyed whether the U.S. and Iran will engage in talks under President-elect Obama's administration and how they would unfold. "Still, what seems more likely than a quick invitation to direct talks with Tehran is a period of reestablishing relations with partners also influential with Iran. The new administration could also explore means of multiplying contacts with lower-tier Iranian officials." Read More

The Independent reported on the Shah's exiled son who is using the internet "to link Iranians inside and outside the country and - with the help of international pressure - secure regime change.... He hopes to unite under his umbrella the disparate movements that have been riven by ideological divisions. Like other opposition leaders, he believes that, although it will take time, the country is ripe for a campaign of civil disobedience." Read More

The Boston Globe reported that Iranians see President-elect Obama's "victory as an opening for possible renewed relations between the two countries, which have been cut off for nearly 30 years." Read More

AFP covered a National Intelligence Council report warning that Irans's nuclear activities could start an arms race in the Middle East. "'Over the next 15-20 years, reactions to the decisions Iran makes about its nuclear program could cause a number of regional states to intensify these efforts and consider actively pursuing nuclear weapons,' the report said. 'This will add a new and more dangerous dimension to what is likely to be increasing competition for influence within the region,' it said." Read More

AFP reported that President Bush and Prime Minister Olmert are likely to discuss Iran's nuclear program during their meeting in Washington. "The talks, billed in Washington as a stock-taking with no major announcement expected, are also due to focus on Iran's suspect nuclear program, as well as relations with Syria, and the global economic crisis, US officials said." Read More

Iranian press reported that "Iran says Japanese investors now have a unique opportunity and should jump at their chance to establish a foothold in the country." "'Japanese firms can either invest in Iranian projects directly or purchase Iranian state-run companies in the framework of the country's privatization process,' Iranian privatization official Gholamreza Kord Zangeneh said on the sidelines of a seminar on investment opportunities held in Tokyo." Read More