Top Stories
Reuters: "The United States tries
to support democratic forces in Iran but in a way that does not undermine or
endanger them, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday. Speaking to foreign policy experts, Clinton also
said she believed the Iranian people eventually will respond to what called a 'sad
confluence of events' in the oil-exporting nation, including its slide towards
what she called a military dictatorship." http://bit.ly/bFVJXI
AP: "The European Parliament has
condemned in a resolution Iran's stoning sentence for a woman convicted of adultery
and says the punishment 'can never be justified or accepted.' Wednesday's
condemnation at the parliament in Strasbourg, France, comes on the heels of
European Union Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso calling the practice 'barbaric.'
The resolution condemning Tehran won by a huge 658-to-1 margin with 22
abstentions. It was not immediately clear who voted against it." http://bit.ly/cobFnw
AFP: "Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad will visit Lebanon next month for the first time since taking
office five years ago, a government source told AFP on Thursday. 'Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be visiting Lebanon from October 13 to
October 14 and is expected to meet President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister
Saad Hariri, parliament speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah officials,' the
source said, asking not to be identified. He said Ahmadinejad may also go to
southern Lebanon, where tensions remain high after a deadly border clash last
month between Lebanese and Israeli forces." http://bit.ly/9bjqIx
Nuclear Program
Bloomberg: "The U.S. remains open to negotiations with Iran even as sanctions
intended to constrain the country's nuclear program begin, Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said today in a speech. 'Sanctions and pressure are not ends in
themselves,' Clinton said in remarks prepared for the Council on Foreign
Relations in Washington. 'They are the building blocks of leverage for a
negotiated solution, to which we and our partners remain committed.'" http://bit.ly/cdq8zS
Human Rights
AP: "The European Union
presidency said Thursday that Iran's suspension of a stoning sentence against a
woman convicted of adultery is not enough and demands it be completely
overturned. Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere of Belgium, which holds the EU's rotating
presidency, said that Iran's concession that the punishment against Sakineh
Mohammadi Ashtiani could be eased did not meet the human rights conditions the
EU is insisting on." http://bit.ly/cJopIf
CNN: "The son of an Iranian woman
sentenced to death by stoning said he wants proof that his mother's adultery
and murder case has been put 'on hold.' 'We have so far not received an
official and legal document on stopping the stoning sentence and execution, we
therefore do not accept these claims,' Sajjad Ghaderzadeh said in a statement
Wednesday. 'They must issue us legal documents in this regard.'" http://bit.ly/9g9Guf
Domestic Politics
AFP: "Thousands of Iranian narcotics agents have been killed and billions of
dollars spent in Iran's fight against the opium trade, the country's ambassador
to the United Nations said Wednesday. The ambassador, Mohammad Khazaee, told
the UN General Assembly his country needs more international help to combat the
narcotics trade which he said was the 'main financial source' for militant
groups in the region." http://yhoo.it/cYJJmM
Foreign Affairs
Radio Farda: "The cultural deputy
of Iran's Armed Forces, Masud Jazayeri, said that the U.S. government is
behind the Koran burning, which he called an attempt by the U.S. to cover up
its role in the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Jazayeri said that 'undeniable
evidence' proves that the September 11 attacks were the work of 'U.S. politicians
and Zionist elements' and that as time goes by, the role of 'U.S. state
terrorism' becomes clearer, forcing the U.S. government to try to create
marginal issues and distract public opinion to cover up 'its crimes.'" http://bit.ly/d7VFCD
Haaretz: "Despite a near-breakdown
in relations with Israel and cordial ties with Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, Turkey is not realigning itself with Tehran, according to a report
released Thursday. Turkey's moderately Islamist government has been at odds
with Israel, once its staunchest regional ally, since the Israeli invasion of
the Gaza Strip nearly two years ago." http://bit.ly/c4qKot
Opinion
Golnaz Esfandiari in Radio Farda: "Iranian
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's appointments of special envoys for foreign
affairs is seen as a direct challenge to the country's supreme leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Decisions on foreign policy issues -- including the
contentious issue of Iran's nuclear program -- are traditionally subject to the
supreme leader's approval. However, four appointments made by the president in
recent weeks suggest that he intends to exert greater influence on Iranian
diplomacy, and could be trying to wrest outright control from Khamenei in the
sphere of foreign policy." http://bit.ly/dpcmb8
Kaveh Afrasiabi in Asia Times: "Iranian
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad this week was sent a letter by 122 members of
Iran's parliament (Majlis) who, warning him of the perils of 'parallelism in
foreign policy', asked him to reverse recent appointments of four 'special
envoys'. Unmoved, the president is on the verge of adding two more. Ahmadinejad's
initiative has stirred heated debate in Iran, with some Tehran pundits and
lawmakers accusing him of trying to bypass the Foreign Ministry and conduct foreign
policy through members of his inner circle. In their correspondence, the Majlis
deputies advised Ahmadinejad to 'follow the advice of the leader', that is,
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's recent statement that the government
should avoid 'parallel work in foreign policy.'" http://bit.ly/d6P5b9
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