Iran

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US Files Formal Protest to Iran Over Ship Incident

Tehran releases own video, rejects American version of events

(Newser) - The US sent a formal diplomatic complaint to Iran today over what it calls the "provocative" harassment of American ships by Iranian speedboats, the AP reports. Iran, meanwhile, released its own video of the encounter in the Persian Gulf, which it says backs up its contention that the US...

Bush: Iran a 'Threat to World Peace'

President reiterates threat at beginning of Mideast visit

(Newser) - President Bush called Iran a "threat to world peace," and reaffirmed America's support for Israel today in the first visit to that country of his presidency. Bush's tough talk came in response to the harassment of US ships by Iranian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz last weekend....

Iran Claims US Navy Video Was 'Fabricated'

No explanation of how or why

(Newser) - A video of a tense encounter between US Navy ships and Iranian speedboats is a fake, Iran claims. "The footage released by the US Navy was compiled using file pictures and the audio has been fabricated," an unnamed official in the Revolutionary Guards tells the state-run Press TV....

Washington Slams Iran Over Ship Threat
Washington Slams Iran Over Ship Threat
UPDATED

Washington Slams Iran Over Ship Threat

Tehran calls incident 'ordinary' after vessels 'harass' US Navy ships

(Newser) - Washington is firing diplomatic volleys at Tehran today after five Iranian ships "harassed" three US Navy ships in international waters yesterday, CNN reports. "Such actions are dangerous and could have quickly escalated into something much worse," the Pentagon press secretary said. "We see it as further...

Tech Sales to China Raise Red Flags

Weapons experts say imports could upgrade military—or be sold

(Newser) - Chinese companies linked to the People’s Liberation Army were cleared to import sensitive high-tech equipment from the US after the Bush administration eased restrictions blocking the sale of technology with military applications, the New York Times reports. One company has ties to arms sales to Iran and Syria, claims...

Iran's Power Structure Baffles
Iran's Power Structure Baffles

Iran's Power Structure Baffles

Clergy, bureaucrats, assorted elites wrestle for control

(Newser) - Since Iran’s autocratic shah fell in 1979, the question “Who runs Iran?” has stumped Western analysts. “Who doesn’t?” may be easier to grasp, reports the Los Angeles Times. Iran’s government has morphed into a free-for-all that includes the Shiite Muslim clergy, an entrenched bureaucracy, and...

Iraqis Mark Saddam's Death
Iraqis Mark Saddam's Death

Iraqis Mark Saddam's Death

Heightened security greets first anniversary of Hussein's execution

(Newser) - "There is no life without the sun and no dignity without Saddam," read graffiti in the former Iraqi leader’s hometown of Tikrit today, the first anniversary of his execution. Small groups of mourners came to his tomb to praise Saddam Hussein’s accomplishments, reports Reuters, amid tightened...

Iran's Prez Under Fire for Rising Inflation

Even Ahmadinejad's own party finds fault with his policies

(Newser) - Skyrocketing inflation in Iran is sparking criticism of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—even from within his own conservative party, the AP reports. Prices for food and homes have surged in recent months. Ahmadinejad, who ran in 2005 on promises to use oil revenue to boost the economy, blames his predecessors for...

Persepolis an Animated Triumph
Persepolis an Animated Triumph
NEW RELEASE

Persepolis an Animated Triumph

Critics enthralled with 'landmark in animation'

(Newser) - Persepolis isn’t just a good animated movie. “It’s a small landmark in feature animation,” writes Nick Pinkerton of the Village Voice. Rendered with handcrafted charm in black and white, it tells the poignant-yet-funny story of a girl growing up amidst the Iranian revolution. But “bare...

Iran Plans 19 Nuke Plants
Iran Plans 19 Nuke Plants

Iran Plans 19 Nuke Plants

Rejects calls to drop uranium enrichment

(Newser) - Iran has dismissed calls to drop uranium enrichment and plans 19 new nuclear power plants, Reuters reports. "US officials have talked of negotiations" on the condition that Iran stop the enrichment, "but we do not accept any preconditions for talks," Iran's Foreign Minister said today. The UN...

Israel, Feeling Isolated, 'More Likely' to Attack Iran

Latest NIE signals to some Israelis a US 'retreat'

(Newser) - Israel feels newly isolated and no less threatened by the US intelligence community's conclusion that Iran ended its weapons program in 2003, Newsweek reports. The atmosphere, says a former CIA official, makes it likely Israel will soon attack Iran. "Israel is not going to allow its nuclear monopoly to...

Gulf Arabs Enjoy Iranian Thaw
Gulf Arabs Enjoy Iranian Thaw

Gulf Arabs Enjoy Iranian Thaw

Tehran gets trade partners; Arabs get peace of mind

(Newser) - Relations between the Sunni states in the Persian Gulf and the Shias in Iran were chilly before Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005, and they became even frostier afterward. But  now the worm is beginning to turn—and former rivals are making nice. Burdened with UN sanctions and needing...

Iran Cracks Down on the 'Un-Islamic'

Fear of regime change drives new policing of women's dress, media

(Newser) - Iran is engaged in its most serious crackdown on "un-Islamic" behavior in years, the Christian Science Monitor reports, with masked police rounding up and humiliating everyone from drug dealers to immodestly dressed women. But the impulse for the crackdown isn't Islamic conservatism, the paper concludes; it's a fear of...

Iran Still Sliding Iraq Arms: US
Iran Still Sliding Iraq Arms: US

Iran Still Sliding Iraq Arms: US

Pentagon report says weapons, training still flowing across border

(Newser) - Stability in Iraq may be increasing, but the flow of arms and insurgents across its border with Iran has slowed little, reports the Wall Street Journal. A Pentagon report, to be presented to Congress tomorrow, will frame Iraq's overall security in a positive light, but again call into question how...

Russia Gives Iran Nuclear Fuel
Russia Gives Iran Nuclear Fuel

Russia Gives Iran Nuclear Fuel

Says Tehran has promised not to develop weaponry

(Newser) - Russia delivered nuclear material to Iran yesterday, the BBC reports, ignoring Washington’s protests. Russia says it has assurances that the plutonium will only be used for the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, which is being built by a Russian company, but the US says that spent uranium could be...

Iran Prez: US Hurts World Peace
Iran Prez: US Hurts World Peace
OPINION

Iran Prez: US Hurts World Peace

'Unilateralism' tarnishes American prestige, Ahmadinejad writes

(Newser) - Writing in Newsweek, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the US has forsaken its “proper role in eliminating tyranny and violence” in the international arena, instead acting unilaterally to disrupt a peaceful world. Ahmadinejad says Iran has every right to develop nuclear fuel “for peaceful purposes,” and the...

Iran Resumed Nuke Program, Says Group

Marxists join neo-cons in chorus against intelligence reversal

(Newser) - An Iranian opposition group claims that the US intelligence agency's recent reversal on the status of Iran’s nuclear program was in error, the Wall Street Journal reports. The group, which first identified Iran's nuclear program in 2002, agrees that Iran closed down its major research facility in 2003, says...

CIA Recruited Iranian Officials to Defect

A 'handful' left in US plot to disrupt nuke program

(Newser) - The CIA plotted to recruit Iranian officials to defect and managed to entice a handful to do so over the last two years, reports the Los Angeles Times. The secret program, begun in 2005, was intended to disrupt Iranian nuclear research. The primary criterion for recruitment, according to a former...

Angry Iran Blasts US for 'Espionage'

Minister attack US intel, denies past weapons program

(Newser) - Iran has blasted the US for spying and demanded “explanations for US espionage" in a letter sent to Washington, the BBC reports.  Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said today that a recent US intelligence report—which claims Iran's nuclear weapons program ended four years ago—was full of “...

Gates: Iran Still a Threat to Security

Nukes aside, defense secretary lists Tehran's destabilizing activities

(Newser) - Iran is still a grave threat to regional security, with or without nuclear weapons, Robert Gates told a Persian Gulf conference today. The defense secretary challenged Tehran, which crowed over a recent US intelligence reassessment of its halted nuclear program, to acknowledge other American intelligence findings of destabilizing activities.

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