UANI

The New York Times reported that Russia denied recent reports of surface to air missile sales to Iran. "A Russian government agency on Monday denied an Iranian official's claim that Russia was selling an advanced air-defense system to Iran. The Iranian claim 'did not correspond to reality,' said the agency, the Federal Military and Technical Cooperation Service." Read More

The McClatchy News Service reported that "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be the subject of incessant grumbling and the butt of jokes zinging from cellphone to cellphone, yet with presidential elections six months away, he's still the man to beat. The elections will be of intense interest to President-elect Barack Obama. Iran's alleged nuclear-weapons program, support for terrorist groups and influence in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf, are likely to make the Islamic Republic one of his main foreign policy challenges. Some observers have speculated that Obama may wait until after June before offering direct negotiations with Iran, in hopes that Ahmadinejad will be replaced by a more moderate figure. Ahmadinejad's opponents, mostly reformers and some traditional conservatives, are struggling to capitalize on the president's woes and heal their own internal divisions." Read More

The New York Times reported that under President-Elect Obama and Senator Clinton, the State Department will have "a bigger budget, high-profile special envoys to trouble spots and an expanded role in dealing with global economic issues at a time of crisis" noting UANI Advisory Board Co-Chairs Ambassadors Holbrooke and Ross. Read More

The LA Times reported that Iranian security officials "shut down the office of the country's leading rights defenders Sunday as activists and lawyers gathered there to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A swarm of uniformed and plainclothes security officers raided Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi's Center for the Defense of Human Rights, reportedly taking video footage of offices, making an inventory of equipment and demanding that members leave, telling them authorities had a court order banning any ceremony." Read More

Reuters reported that "Emirates Telecommunications (Etisalat) ETEL.AD said on Tuesday it was part of a consortium that had made the highest bid for Iran's third mobile telephone licence." Read More

Canada's Globe and Mail published an oped by Richard Haas of the Council on Foreign Relations on Iran's nuclear ambitions noting "Iran and its nuclear program may well constitute the Obama administration's first foreign policy crisis. The reason is simple. Iran is well down the path to being able to enrich uranium on a large enough scale to produce a nuclear weapon." Read More

The New York Times reported that "An Iranian resistance group on Monday condemned a renewed push by the Iraqi government to deport its members as a result of undue Iranian influence." Read More