When U.S. officials appeal to the Iranian people over the heads of its regime, they like to assume that Tehran's defiance on the nuclear issue reflects only the extremist position of an unrepresentative revolutionary leadership. Plainly, they haven't met Dr. Akbar Etemad, who ran the nuclear program of the Shah's regime, which was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The scientist who first launched Iran's nuclear technology program under a U.S.-backed regime in 1974 today urges the regime that stripped him of his job to reject any international demand that it halt uranium enrichment. ››read more

Analysts and diplomats from Security Council member states said the Western powers would most likely get a fourth sanctions resolution on Iran through the sharply divided U.N. Security Council. But it will not be an easy process. With a U.S. election in November, if a new resolution goes through, there may be a new U.S. president in office when the council votes on it. Analysts also expect that it will most likely be a moderate toughening of previous penalties. ››read more

HeinonenThe deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Olli Heinonen from Finland, has arrived in Teheran for talks on the controversial Iranian nuclear programme: sources in the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency said this, specifying that the UN envoy will stay tomorrow as well. The visit follows yesterday's conference call between representatives of the 5+1, that is, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. ››read more

John PilgerIn defiance of UN resolutions, Israel is today clearly itching to attack Iran, fearful that a new American administration might, just might, conduct genuine negotiations with a nation the west has defiled since Britain and America overthrew Iranian democracy in 1953. ››read more

WASHINGTON --Germany's allies are dismayed that the German government has granted a German firm permission to supply three natural gas plants to Iran at the same time they're trying to pressure Iran into suspending its nuclear program, U.S. and European officials said Tuesday. ››read more

Israel is building up its strike capabilities amid growing anxiety over Iran's nuclear ambitions and appears confident that a military attack would cripple Tehran's atomic program, even if it can't destroy it.
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UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia Wednesday contradicted the United States and Britain, saying there was no agreement among six major powers on whether to pursue new U.N. sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program. ››read more

New York - Iran on Wednesday rejected charges made by the United States that it supported the insurgent war against US forces in Iraq. ››read more

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Russia has set no deadline for Iran to respond to an offer from six world powers aimed at resolving Tehran's nuclear standoff with the West, Russia's U.N. ambassador said on Wednesday. ››read more

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States and its allies want "punitive" measures against Iran over its weak reponse to the international offer to persuade it to freeze its nuclear program, the White House said Wednesday.......Iran's latest letter, made available to AFP on Wednesday, said it was ready to give a "clear response" to the international offer but demanded a "'clear response' to our questions and ambiguities".
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Ad Hoc Group Against Israeli Attack on Iran

More than 100 hundred Israeli academicians and peace activists have signed the following declaration: There is no military, political or moral justification to initiate war with Iran ››read more

Irrespective of whether or not the US-India agreement is finally adopted by the US government, in terms of its multiple, multifaceted and even contradictory implications on the issues of global (non) proliferation, it is already clear that Iran has benefited from this agreement's content, by providing Tehran's negotiators with yet another case of US hypocrisy and double standards. ››read more

A blockbuster new book from investigative journalist Ron Suskind adds another revelation to the growing canon demonstrating the lengths to which President Bush and members of his administration lied, misled and deceived the American people to pursue its invasion of Iraq. ››read more

Iranian Ambassador to Brussels Ali-Asghar Khaji on Tuesday handed in Tehran's written response to the 5+1 package of incentives to EU officials, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported. ››read more

Scott RitterIn this talk, Scott Ritter explains that there is no nuclear weapons programme in Iran, that Iran is 100 percent in compliance with its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the International Atomic Energy Agency's Safeguards, that because of heavy metal contamination of Iranian uranium, Iran does not have the technological capacity to build nuclear weapons even if it had a covert weaponization programme for which there is no evidence at all. ››read more

Chris HedgesA war with Iran would ruin our economy and finally kill off our weakened, anemic democracy. ››read more

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran and the representative of six world powers talked by telephone on Monday without resolving a row over Tehran's sensitive nuclear work, which the Islamic Republic said would not be stopped. ››read more

Asked if the Iranians were trying to develop a nuclear bomb, Mr Assad told the French President he had asked the Iranians this very question, they had replied in the negative and this was good enough for him.
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More than 100 political activists took to downtown streets Saturday to protest any war that would involve the United States and Iran, as the political discourse surrounding that country's nuclear program intensifies. ››read more

Oil price riseNEW YORK (Reuters) - The chances of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities is remote because the risks to the global economy far outweigh potential benefits, according to the founder and head of global intelligence company Stratfor, Barron's reported on Sunday. ››read more