Top Stories
AP: "Malaysian police said Friday that they had found equipment they suspect could be used to make nuclear weapons smuggled on board a ship headed to Iran. National police chief Ismail Omar told The Associated Press that the cargo was seized from a Malaysian-registered ship traveling from China to Tehran while it was docked at a central Malaysia harbor. Authorities are investigating whether the equipment could be used to make nuclear weapons. Malaysian International Shipping Corp. confirmed in a statement to the AP that police confiscated two containers from the MV Bunga Raya Satu on March 8. It said a freight forwarder had declared the contents as 'goods used for liquid mixing or storage for pharmaceutical or chemical or food industry.' Police said they had received a tip that the items were being shipped illegally and did not have a special permit required under Malaysia's anti-trafficking law." http://t.uani.com/eQEfqp
NYT: "The brutal crackdown in Bahrain poses the greatest Middle East democracy dilemma yet to the Obama administration, deepening a rift with its most important Arab ally, Saudi Arabia, while potentially strengthening the influence of its biggest nemesis, Iran... The Saudi position is rooted in the royal family's belief that a Shiite uprising next door in Bahrain could spread and embolden Saudi Arabia's own minority Shiite population and increase Iranian influence in the kingdom, a fear that American officials share. But where Mr. Obama and King Abdullah have parted ways, administration officials say, is on how to handle the crisis. American officials want Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to allow political reforms that could lead to more representation for Shiites under Sunni rule. During his telephone conversation with the Saudi king, Mr. Obama called for an end to the violence that has accelerated in Bahrain over the last few days." http://t.uani.com/fc6CeB
AP: "A senior Iranian cleric has urged Bahrain's majority Shiites to keep up their protests - until death or victory - against the Sunni monarchy in the tiny island kingdom. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati called on 'brothers and sisters' in Bahrain to 'resist against the enemy until you die or win.' The cleric spoke to worshippers in Tehran during Friday prayers. He asked all Muslims to support the opposition protesters in Bahrain, which is under emergency rule. After prayers, thousands of Iranians rallied and chanted against the rulers of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Iran has denounced the deployment of a Saudi-led force from Sunni Arab allies this week to prop up Bahrain's Sunni monarchy against widening demonstrations by the Shiite-led opposition." http://t.uani.com/fgZBIt
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
AFP: "An influential US Senator said Wednesday after a closed-door, classified intelligence briefing on Iran that Tehran is working 'seriously' to develop nuclear weapons. 'I can't say much in detail, but it's pretty clear that they're continuing to work seriously on a nuclear weapons program,' Independent Senator Joe Lieberman, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security committee, told AFP. The lawmaker, who also sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke after a briefing from a senior US intelligence official on weapons of mass destruction on the latest US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran." http://t.uani.com/gF7cmT
Reuters: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday the world must make clear that Iran would face 'credible military action' if sanctions do not shut down Tehran's disputed nuclear program. Netanyahu, in an interview on CNN, said it was clear Iran was pursing its nuclear ambitions despite international sanctions and was getting a lot closer to obtaining nuclear arms. 'They have enriched enough material now almost for three nuclear bombs,' he said. 'They still have to re-enrich it again but that is what they are doing. The only thing that will work is if Iran knew that if sanctions fail there will be a credible military option.' Asked what would constitute a credible military action, Netanyahu said: 'It means action that will knock out their nuclear facility.'" http://t.uani.com/fhA3Um
LAT: "U.S. and European politicians are more likely to accept a nuclear Iran to avoid military confrontation than their citizens are, a new survey has found. The 'Transatlantic Trends: Leaders' study was commissioned by the German Marshall Fund to gauge the opinions and priorities of leaders on both sides of the Atlantic and their citizens. The study found that should all nonmilitary means fail in preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, 50% of U.S. leaders and 51% of European leaders were ready to accept a nuclear Iran. But 62% of the American public and 46% of the European public were in favor of military action. The study found, however, that Europeans and Americans differed on how they thought Iran should be dissuaded from pursuing its nuclear program. 'Of the nonmilitary options, there was a clear transatlantic carrot vs. stick divide when it came to methods of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons,' the report read. 'While a plurality of the EU public (35%) and the EU leaders (48%) favored offering economic incentives to Iran, pluralities of the US public (41%) and US leaders (33%) preferred economic sanctions.'" http://t.uani.com/h4GSPc
Foreign Affairs
Bloomberg: "Bahraini security forces arrested opposition leaders and accused them of having ties with foreign countries, a day after Iran withdrew its ambassador to protest the growing crackdown against mostly Shiite demonstrators. Those arrested included Hassan Mushaima, a leader of the Shiite Haq movement, and Ebrahim Sharif, head of the opposition National Democratic Action Society, according to a statement today from al-Wefaq, the largest Shiite opposition party. Al- Wefaq said six people were arrested; the state-run Bahrain news agency gave no number. Bahrain has been struggling to quell more than a month of protests led by Shiites calling for democracy and increased civil rights. About a dozen people have been killed in the protests. Shiites make up about 70 percent of the population and many retain cultural and family ties with Iran, as well as with Shiites in Saudi Arabia, who are a minority of about 10 to 15 percent." http://t.uani.com/h7b1T7
Reuters: "Iran has complained to the United Nations about Bahrain's crackdown on Shi'ite protesters and asked regional countries to join it to urge Saudi Arabia to withdraw troops from the island state, reports said on Thursday. The main Shi'ite power in a region dominated by Sunni Muslim rulers, Iran has said the Bahrain crisis, where at least six people died in clashes on Wednesday, could lead to wider conflict. In a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, also addressed to the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Saudi Arabia had used Bahrain's call for military support from its neighbors as a 'pretext for intervention.'" http://t.uani.com/e4CACv
WSJ: "Two years ago I wrote a report for the Centre for Social Cohesion called 'A Degree of Influence: The Funding of Strategically Important Subjects in U.K. Universities.' It looked at precisely this issue-how Britain's best universities were being funded by the world's worst dictatorships. The findings were alarming: Governments such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and China were essentially buying control over British academia... Meanwhile, London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), a frequent benefactor of Tehran's, held an event in 1999 in conjunction with the London-based Institute for Islamic Studies, an agent of the Iranian government. Durham University has also accepted cash from Iran, and in January 2010 held an event that it later admitted was 'monopolized by pro-regime speakers,' adding that 'Iranian money comes with strings attached, as we have found to our chagrin.'" http://t.uani.com/hNmwFr
Opinion & Analysis
Paul Marshall in NRO: "Further to Lela Gilbert's March 11 NRO report that, following the arrests of hundreds of Christians in recent months, five Iranian Christians had been sentenced to one year's imprisonment for 'Crimes against the Islamic Order,' the Iranian government is widening its crackdown on religious minorities. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that Hohabet News, one of the best news sites for information on Iranian Christians, was yesterday suspended by the government. Earlier, at least one staff member and his family had been threatened by an e-mail from the Revolutionary Guard. The suspension came after the site reported that last month the government had seized and burned 600 New Testaments discovered on a bus during a border inspection in Salmas. The Baha'i News Agency reports that in March the authorities have arrested at least nine more Baha'is. The most recent arrests were of Baha'is providing kindergarten-level education to children in Iran's Kerman Province, an area devastated by an earthquake seven years ago, and where the education system had almost been destroyed. The prosecutor general of the revolutionary court in Bam asserted that they were arrested for 'promoting their programs under the guise of kindergartens' in Bam, Kerman, and Tehran, and 'took advantage' of the needs following the earthquake. The Baha'i News Agency also reports that currently 79 Baha'is are imprisoned in Iran, including most of the leadership. Sufi Muslims are also suffering. Human Rights Without Frontiers reports that Dr. Seyed Mustafa Azmayesh, a representative of the Neymatollahi Gonabadi Order, told the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iran that security forces had broken into the houses of Sufi Masters and jailed them. Sufis are also attacked in state media, where they have been called 'house vermin' and 'satanists.'" http://t.uani.com/huBoF4
John Hughes in CSM: "Is the democracy movement sweeping through the Middle East a purely Arab phenomenon or could it reach dictatorships in non-Arab lands? That possibility clearly worries the two nations most consequential to the United States: China (for its burgeoning economy and military buildup) and Iran (for its potential nuclear threat). Both are reacting defensively, seeking to silence pro-democracy protesters and retain totalitarian control... The Islamic, but non-Arab, nation of Iran has been dealing harshly with Iranian citizens emboldened by events in the Arab world to seek political change in their country. Skirmishes have taken place in cities like Mashhad, Shiraz, Kermanshah, and Isfahan as well as in the capital, Tehran. Al Jazeera reports that security forces in Tehran have used tear gas, pepper spray, and batons against protesters, sending dozens to the hospital. Demonstrators were particularly angered by the disappearance of the two main opposition leaders, Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who, reports suggest, are under house arrest or in prison. The Paris-based People's Mojahedin Organization, an antigovernment force of exiled Iranian dissidents with sources inside Iran, reported that the regime planned to mobilize 15,000 members of the Basij paramilitary forces to suppress demonstrations in Tehran. These are the motorcycle-riding, baton-wielding government agents who have been captured on TV in earlier rallies slashing at protesters. Ironically, the Tehran regime initially praised Egyptian pro-democracy crowds whose efforts toppled the Mubarak regime. But when Iranians started chanting 'Death to the Dictator' and burning pictures of their own 'Supreme Leader' Ali Khamenei, the ruling regime returned to brutal suppression of the Iranian freedom-seekers." http://t.uani.com/fYXXp2
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