Larijani Calls Pres-Elect Obama's Comments On Iran "Cowboy" Talk
Thu, 12/11/2008 - 19:00 | by uaniadmin<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->AFP reported that "Iran's conservative parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani on Thursday branded US president-elect Barack Obama's comments on Tehran's nuclear activities as 'cowboy' talk, the ISNA news agency reported." "'These comments resemble those of old American cowboys. If you have something to say about (Iran's) nuclear issue, just say so. Why wave a stick?' ... 'We are proud of supporting Hezbollah since they are defending their homeland and you are wrong in calling them terrorists.'" Read More
AP reported that "A Russian man working for a nuclear company in Iran has been found dead after disappearing 18 days earlier, Iranian media and a Russian spokeswoman said Thursday." Read More
Iranian press wrote that "The UN Security Council remains gridlocked over Iran's nuclear work, as member states have failed to reach a convergent stance on the issue." "The Security Council, on Wednesday, heard a report by Belgium's ambassador to the UN, who chairs the committee overseeing the implementation of three rounds of UN sanctions against Iran. After the Chairman of the committee briefed the current sanctions on Iran, council members reiterated their stance on the issue with little change on either side, a Press TV correspondent reported." Read More
McClatchy wrote that "with oil in retreat, Iran's good times are almost over." "Crashing prices for crude oil - Iran's main export - will ravage the country's economy in 2009, according to Iranian economists and businessmen, and European diplomats. With oil now hovering around $40 a barrel (and Iran's lower-quality crude selling even cheaper), bad news is just over the horizon, they say. Foreign imports will be throttled, incomes will drop, Iran's currency will weaken and inflation will grow even worse. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's populist spending programs, which have bloated the government budget but bolstered his popularity with poor Iranians, could sputter to a halt." Read More
CQ quoted Reps. Sherman and Hoekstra encouraging President-elect Obama to expand financial and intelligence pressures against Iran. "'We have a lot of tools in our toolbox to put economic and diplomatic pressure on them, but those tools have remained in our toolbox,' said Rep. Brad Sherman , D-Calif., chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade. ... Hoekstra said part of the problem in confronting Iran is the lack of information on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, a shortfall he blamed on poor U.S. intelligence." Read More
Reuters reported that "Iran has made a conscious effort to restrain Iraqi Shi'ite militias from attacking U.S. and Iraqi forces in recent months, U.S. and Iraqi officials said on Thursday." "'I think you can draw that inference from the data ... that's the conclusion I would draw,' [U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz] said. 'We must assume that someone has made the decision on the Shia side with connections with Iran ... to bring them down.' ... Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh agreed Iran has restrained its actions inside Iraq and said that was because Tehran concluded that a recently signed security agreement between Baghdad and Washington posed no threat to Iranian security." Read More
In comments to the Wall Street Journal Sec. Rice said Iran is "paying a heavy cost" for refusing to cooperate with the international community. "She also remembers that 'when we came in, people wouldn't accept that Iran might be seeking a nuclear weapon. Now it is international policy that Iran has to stop enriching and processing.' ... Ms. Rice runs through the many sanctions, and suggests some of it is a matter of time. 'They are paying a heavy cost. When that cost will finally result in a change of policy, I don't know. But the cost shouldn't be underestimated. And with oil prices coming down, the cost will be even more acute.'" Read More
Reuters reported that "Iran's state shipping company will take delivery of three new oil supertankers in the first-quarter of 2009, boosting its fleet by about 12 percent, a senior company official told Reuters." "The new tankers are part of the National Iranian Tanker Company's (NITC) nearly $2 billion plan to boost its very large crude carrier fleet to 38 supertankers to meet growing demand for oil shipping, its commercial director Shseyedan Seyedhabibollah said." Read More
AP reported that "A well-known Iranian-Canadian blogger who made trips to Israel in the past has been detained in Iran only weeks after he returned to his Persian homeland, according to a family friend." Read More
Iranian press reported that "Belarus and Iran are going ahead with a 'successful cooperation' in the international arena, the Belarusian parliament speaker says." Read More
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