Top Stories
WSJ: "European Union leaders on Thursday authorized a
significant widening of the 27-nation bloc's sanctions against Iran because of
concerns over Tehran's nuclear-weapons program, in a move that will likely
reinforce a slow but steady trend toward weakening economic relations between
Europe and Iran." http://bit.ly/9uqfP0
CS Monitor: "But the EU and US measures, which go beyond
the new sanctions approved by the United Nations Security Council last week,
drew a blast of condemnation from Russia, which said the separate measures
undermine the major powers' joint effort to influence Tehran over its nuclear
program. In a statement calling the US
and EU actions 'unacceptable,' the Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the US
and EU for putting themselves above the Security Council and weakening "the
foundations for our dialogue and interaction." http://bit.ly/aRhtt9
AP: "Iran's top security body on Friday railed against
the latest U.N. sanctions imposed over Tehran's controversial nuclear program,
saying they show world powers are applying a double standard." http://bit.ly/an8xTz
Nuclear Program
AFP: "US intelligence has shown Iran could launch an
attack against Europe with 'scores or hundreds' of missiles, prompting major
changes to US missile defenses, Pentagon chief Robert Gates said on Thursday." http://bit.ly/bvpEuu
Human Rights
Radio Farda: "A lawyer and activist close to the case of
an Iranian woman convicted of adultery say she may soon be stoned to death,
RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. Women's
rights activist Soheila Vahdati spoke to Radio Farda on June 17 about the case
of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Ashtiani, who has two children, has been
imprisoned in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz since 2005." http://bit.ly/9hLBqt
AFP: "A leading hardline cleric on Friday defended Iran's
crackdown on improperly veiled women, after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said
he opposed the clampdown.
'Nobody has the right to prevent the police from acting
against bad hijab (veil),' Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said in a sermon at the
Muslim weekly prayers in Tehran." http://bit.ly/9MxQC5
Opinion
The Economist: "Why has the government of Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva stuck its neck out so far for Iran? The short answer is that Lula, a former
trade-union leader, fancies himself as the man who can talk Iran into obeying
the world's nuclear rules, and thinks sanctions will bring that effort to
nought." http://bit.ly/b2r6Pb
Erich Follath and Holger Stark in Der Speigel: "In the
dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, the UN Security Council has imposed new
sanctions. Is Iran truly building a nuclear bomb as Western countries claim? Or
are countries playing up the dangers to bring Iran to its knees? SPIEGEL traces
the history of Tehran's nuclear program -- with stops in Washington, Vienna and
Isfahan." http://bit.ly/9mblVQ
Wahied Wahdat-Hagh in WSJ: "For more than two years,
seven Bahai leaders have been imprisoned in Iran's notorious Evin Prison in
northwestern Tehran. After a series of show trials which concluded on June 14,
the so-called Iranian 'court' is expected to rule shortly against Fariba
Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet,
Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm who stand accused of, amongst other
things, 'espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda
against the Islamic Republic.'" http://bit.ly/deDqla
News Analysis
Glenn Kessler in WP: "On Thursday, European Union
governments agreed to ban companies from investing in or otherwise assisting Iran's
oil and gas industry -- measures that went well beyond a U.N. Security Council
resolution last week that reiterated international demands that Iran forswear
nuclear weapons. Along with the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea
and other countries are set to adopt or strengthen their own sanctions against
trading with Iran." http://bit.ly/cw6Jk3
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