UANI

AP reported that "A new state law requires the Minnesota State Board of Investment to divest its holdings in companies that do business in Iran. Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed the law on Saturday. It requires the investment board to scrutinize its holdings for companies actively doing business in Iran and notify the businesses they are subject to divestment. After a 90-day period, the law requires the board to start getting rid of its stock in those companies." (http://www.startribune.com/local/45227242.html?elr=KArksac8P3iUec7PaP3iU...)

AFP reported that "Iran should engage with the United States and negotiate over its nuclear programme, Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a magazine interview released on Saturday. U.S. President Barack Obama is actively seeking to engage Iran on a series of issues, from its nuclear programme to Afghanistan. 'I advise my Iranian negotiating partners: grasp the hand that Obama is extending to you,' ElBaradei told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine. Asked what he meant exactly, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog added: 'I think Freeze for Freeze is the next realistic step. The Iranians would install no more centrifuges, the West would forego further sanction measures. During this time, there would be intensive negotiations.'" (http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLG538421)

AFP reported that "Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the Iranian people on Monday not to elect a candidate in the June presidential election who could adopt a pro-West stance. 'Be careful in your choice. Do not let those come into office with people's votes who would want to surrender to our enemies and make the nation lose its dignity,' he said in a televised speech in the western province of Kordestan. Khamenei said that it would be a 'catastrophe' for Iran if a candidate who 'thinks about endearing himself to some Western power or an international arrogant' is elected next month." (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jmzV_NZPF2B_JgkSUZNpK...)

The LA Times reported that "Although Iran wouldn't admit to being too concerned, it is carefully watching today's developments in Washington, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with President Obama in an effort to persuade him that confronting Iran, not resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, should be the first item on his Middle East agenda." (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/05/iran-watching-care...)

AFP reported that "Iran's foreign ministry said on Monday that a planned summit to be hosted by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with his Afghanistan and Pakistan counterparts has been postponed." (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hx_Vo9xI4INTuZ0hYjbNG...)

The NY Times reported that "As Iran finds itself locked in an escalating cold war-style conflict with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations, the quietly influential Sultanate of Oman has accelerated its cooperation with Tehran, nurturing an alliance that helps empower Iran while highlighting the deep divisions among Arab capitals. Oman, a strategically vital, insistently pragmatic country, has refused overtures of its larger neighbors to pull away from Iran. Instead, it defied Egypt and Saudi Arabia by declining to join them in boycotting a summit meeting in Qatar in January that was held to support Hamas, the Iranian-backed militant group." (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/world/middleeast/16oman.html)

Reporting on the Iranian presidential election, ABC News said that "Presidential candidates looking to make headway in a key youth demographic try to win votes with high-tech outreach through YouTube, Facebook and cellphone alerts. But this isn't Washington in November 2008. It's Iran, in the Persian calendar year 1388. And it's a sign of a critical election heating up in an increasingly tech-connected society. In roughly one month, Iranian voters will decide whether President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad leaves office or sits for another four-year term. More than 400 candidates registered to run against him, but three are in the spotlight: reformist cleric and former parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karrubi; pro-reform centrist and former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi; and conservative former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaie. Of the three, Mousavi is seen as the strongest challenger and the most high tech. His campaign maintains a Facebook page and a Twitter account. A two-minute YouTube video plays up some of his credentials: revolutionary devotion, his experience in the Iran-Iraq War and his roughly 20-year absence from politics." (http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=7605453)

AP reported that "A reformist challenger to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized the hard-liner's denial of the Holocaust, saying it has served Israel's interests and pushed the country deeper into international isolation, a newspaper reported Saturday." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8510752)

AFP reported that "Iran's former prime minister and presidential hopeful Mir Hossein Mousavi launched a new daily newspaper, just days before the start of campaigning for the June 12 election. The first issue of Kalameh Sabz (Green Word) carried pictures of both Mousavi and the former reformist president Mohammad Khatami who is backing the ex-premier in his presidential bid." (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jOTfNXtXWX2oQK1ZocTl_...)

Reuters reported that "Iran has plans in place to deal quickly with the consequences of a proposed U.S. law that would penalise companies supplying the country with gasoline, its oil minister was quoted as saying on Monday." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8512988)

Voice of America reported that "American journalist Roxana Saberi has arrived in Austria to recuperate after spending four months in an Iranian prison.... Saberi told reporters at the airport that she plans to spend several days in Austria and then go to the United States. She said she is not yet ready to talk about her experience, but will do so in the near future, recounting her time in jail, and the events leading up to her detention." (http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-15-voa8.cfm)

Former CIA officer and current Defense of Democracies fellow, Reuel Gerech wrote in the Wall Street Journal that "Never before have the Israelis had to confront a rabidly anti-Semitic enemy with nuclear weapons and a long track record of supporting deadly killers such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Americans and Europeans can seem to Israelis all-too-nonchalant about the challenge they face -- and Western counsel to calm down and get used to the idea of mullahs with nukes doesn't sit well with a people who have already lived through the unthinkable." (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124260085181828313.html)