UANI

According to Reuters, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the Iranian people "to stop squabbling that was undermining the government, in a fresh sign of support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cabinet before the 2009 election....But this was the second time in less than a month he had made a speech backing Ahmadinejad and his government, under threat of more U.N. sanctions as the United States and its Western allies seek to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear plans." Read More

Iranian press also reported on comments by the Ayatollah Khamenei. "The Leader of the Islamic Revolution says Iranians are ever alert to foil enemies' plot aimed at undermining the country's strengths. Addressing hundreds of thousands of worshippers at the Friday congregational prayer, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the Iranian people are always on the scene to push back the enemies." Read More 

Reuters reported on diplomatic discussions in Washington today regarding Iran's nuclear program and the potential for increasing sanctions. "Major powers meet in Washington on Friday to haggle over a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran, but tensions with Russia and the U.S. political calendar hang over the timing of any new measures. The United States and its European allies France, Germany and Britain are pushing for more sanctions to punish Iran for refusing to give up sensitive nuclear work, but Russia and China are balking, say diplomats and U.S. officials involved." Read More

AP reported on a upcoming report by the Bipartisan Policy Center urging restraint over a potential military strike on Iran and its nuclear facilities. "Intensified diplomacy and tougher economic sanctions aimed at Iran's oil and gas industries are more likely to be productive, said the forthcoming report by the Bipartisan Policy Center, prepared under the guidance of former Sens. Daniel Coats, R-Ind., and Charles Robb, D-Va. 'A military strike is a feasible option and must remain a last resort to retard Iran's nuclear development,' the report said." Read More

Democracy Journal reviewed Karsa Naji's biography of Iranian President Ahmadinejad saying that "there is enough supportable evidence to develop a solid picture of Ahmadinejad's political life. As Naji rightly argues, during the early years of Iran's war with Iraq (1980-88) Ahmadinejad made "contacts with the early founders" of the Revolutionary Guards, links he kept up through his political rise. Naji shows that all of Ahmadinejad's electoral victories–from his election as the mayor of Tehran to the presidency–were in no small measure the result of the support he received from these Guards." Read More