UANI

Reuters reported that President Ahmadinejad introduced a new economic plan in Iran, "but some in parliament said it was ill-planned and would stoke inflation. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested his reform ideas before oil prices tumbled but he said change was needed more urgently now crude has fallen". Read More

Following yesterday's report in the Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle reported "Mike Turner, a former Commerce Department export control official who is now with the Washington trade consulting firm MK Technology, said enforcement of the trade embargoes was stepped up by the Bush administration, which put a particular focus on Iran.... The link between HP and Iran could force the issue. Turner said published reports suggest that a former HP official knew that the Dubai distributor was selling in Iran. That could prompt U.S. officials to question the company. An HP spokeswoman declined to say whether the company had been contacted by trade officials." Read More

Reuters reported "Iran has set up a court to try Israelis for its air attacks on Gaza and is ready to try in absentia any people who Tehran says have committed 'crimes,' a judiciary official said on Tuesday." Read More

The AP reported that Iranian authorities have "banned newspapers from advertising trips to the United States." Read More

The New York Times reported that "a suicide bomber affiliated with a Sunni militant group killed four people and wounded 12 in an attack early Monday in Saravan, a southeastern city, the official IRNA news agency reported. The group, Jundallah, has attacked Iranian armed forces and Revolutionary Guards in the past. But this was the first time it had used a suicide bombing similar to those in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan." Read More

According to the New York Times, "Swiss authorities have released from jail a man suspected of smuggling atomic technology to Libya and Iran as part of the nuclear black market of Abdul Qadeer Khan, officials and family members said Monday.... The Tinners are suspected of having worked for Dr. Khan, the Pakistani bomb pioneer who sold illegal materials to Libya, Iran and North Korea before Western nations disrupted his operations in 2003." Read More

In an editorial the Washington Post wrote that "Israel's battle with Hamas in Gaza is producing a schism among Muslim states. Iran and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon have joined Hamas's Damascus-based leadership in calling for a new intifada, or uprising, against Israel -- and also against the governments of Egypt and Jordan, which are accused of silently supporting Israel's air attacks." Read More