Top Stories
LAT: "An Islamic militant group whose leader was recently
executed by Iranian authorities claimed responsibility for a pair of late Thursday
bomb blasts that killed at least 27 people, including members of the
Revolutionary Guard, at a mosque in southeastern Iran. Jundollah, a militant group that draws
support from Iran's ethnic Baluch minority, said it dispatched two suicide
bombers to the mosque during an evening prayer ceremony in the city of Zahedan
in order to kill members of the Revolutionary Guard and avenge the arrest and
hanging last month of their leader, Abdolmalek Rigi." http://bit.ly/cAXbxD
WSJ: "The official said Mr. Amiri was allowed to spend
time with his wife and child at home under supervision. On Thursday afternoon,
intelligence agents of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps took him away for
debriefing for an undetermined amount of time, to answer questions about his
contacts with the U.S. government and CIA, the official said. U.S. officials said Mr. Amiri gave the Americans
worthwhile intelligence. 'This guy's given significant, original information
that's checked out,' an official said." http://bit.ly/dDsjhe
Bloomberg: "Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki
on Thursday said that talks between his country and the world powers on a plan
to supply fuel for a Teheran nuclear reactor should start around late
September." http://bit.ly/9SkWIp
Nuclear Program
AP: "Russia's president urged Iran on Thursday to find
the courage to cooperate with the international community over its disputed
nuclear program. Iran's opaque nuclear
program has been a tricky issue for Russia, which is uneasy about threatening
decades of political and trade ties. But lately Russia has shown increasing
frustration with Iran, and last month backed the newest round of UN sanctions
imposed on Tehran." http://bit.ly/avpJiG
WSJ: "Iran will send its foreign minister to an
international conference in Kabul next week, a senior British official said,
after snubbing an earlier round of multilateral talks aimed at revitalizing
Afghanistan's stability efforts." http://bit.ly/95tRMg
Korea Times: "Korean banks on Thursday decided to allow
trading firms to conclude their financial transactions with Iran for
outstanding deals that predate July 8. The
decision will give breathing space to exporting and importing firms in Iran and
Korea." http://bit.ly/ar3663
Human Rights
AFP: "The mothers of three young US citizens detained in Iran
called Thursday for their 'inhumane' imprisonment to end before the first
anniversary of their arrest later this month." http://bit.ly/9fTjLf
Domestic Politics
NYT: "A strike at the traditional bazaar in Tehran
continued into a second week on Thursday, spreading beyond the original gold
and garments sectors and to at least two other major cities, news Web sites
reported. The strike, only the second at
the bazaar to protest government policies since the 1979 revolution, began last
week after the government proposed a 70 percent income tax increase and has
continued even after the government lowered the planned increase to 15 percent."
http://nyti.ms/9TJX0B
Opinion
Joe Klein in TIME: "The assumption - shared even by some
of Iran's former friends, like the Russians - is that any Iranian offer to talk
is really an offer to stall. A specific, plausible Iranian concession may be
needed to get the process back on track. But it is also possible that the
saber-rattling is not a bluff, that the U.S. really won't tolerate a nuclear
Iran and is prepared to do something awful to stop it." http://bit.ly/b9d3sE
Alexander Smoltczyk and Bernhard Zand in Der Spiegel: "Israel
and the Arab states near the Persian Gulf recognize a common threat: the regime
in Tehran. A regional diplomat has not even ruled out support by the Arab
states for a military strike to end Iran's nuclear ambitions." http://bit.ly/aJoLYu
Ilan Berman in WSJ: "For years now, Sakineh Ashtiani has
been incarcerated in an Iranian prison, sentenced to death by stoning for the 'crime'
of adultery. Until earlier this month, the case of the 43-year-old mother of
two was known only to the select few who have been following her sad fate at
the hands of the Islamic Republic. Today, however, her name has become a
rallying cry to end the mullahs' suppression of human-and particularly
women's-rights." http://bit.ly/dCwEi9
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