Free Republic

Top News Story Reuters The former American president, Jimmy Carter, has said that the United States should begin talks with Iran without preconditions. Mr Carter believes prerequisites could present the Iranian Government with too great an impediment to overcome. His comments are significant, given that he was the president when US relations with Iran hit an all-time low. He witnessed the Iranian revolution and the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979. He struggled for 444 days to release the US Embassy staff held hostage. A failed rescue attempt led by the US military brought about the...

Top News Story Russia and China reportedly will not to oppose sanctions. ABC News reported that a European Union diplomat said: "There is something like a catalog of sanctions and we can pick and choose from them. The agreement reached ... is also that Russia and China can abstain from any sanctions, but not say no."   But military force against Iran "is not on the agenda." The Guardian reported that Britain said that military force against Iran is not on the agenda in the international impasse over Iran's uranium enrichment program.Reuters reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov...

Top News Story Perm-5 + Germany agree on Iran. Yahoo News reported that the six world powers agreed on a "significant" package of incentives to convince Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Becket said. "I am pleased to say we have agreed (on) a set of far-reaching proposals."   Iran now on the defense? The Financial Times reported that pressure has mounted on Iran to consider carefully the US offer of conditional talks as world powers met in Vienna.Times Online considered the question: How should we read the Iranian Foreign Minister's declaration, is he...

Top News Story US offers Iran talks, if... Secretary Condoleezza Rice, U.S. State Department published a major statement on Iran: "Thus, to underscore our commitment to a diplomatic solution and to enhance the prospects for success, as soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the United States will come to the table with our EU-3 colleagues and meet with Iran’s representatives." Full Text.US State Department released a transcript of the Rice interview with Wolf Blitzer, CNN about her statement on Iran.Michael Ledeen, The Corner responded to Rice's offer to Iran.Wall Street Journal examined Condi's...

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has pardoned a member of a left-wing guerrilla group that carried out one of Italy's most notorious murders. Ovidio Bompressi, of the Lotta Continua group, was serving a 22-year jail term for the murder of Milan police chief Luigi Calabresi in 1972. Justice Minister Clemente Mastella says he will also seek a pardon for Lotta Continua leader Adriano Sofri... The murder of Chief Calabresi was commemorated on a set of stamps last year, but left-wingers still blame him for the death of a young anarchist who either jumped or was thrown from the fourth-floor window of...

Top News Story Ahmadinejad: Europeans should side with Iran or suffer only damage. Spiegel published its aggressive interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussing the Holocaust, the future of the state of Israel, mistakes made by the United States in Iraq and Tehran's nuclear conflict with the West.   Iran: "there is no such country" as Israel! Ha'aretz reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said: "there is no such country" as Israel.   Iran denies it is slowing it nuclear program. Bloomberg reported that Iran said it is pressing ahead with its nuclear program, rejecting reports that it...

Top News Story Iran raises the stakes again: resumes its nuclear fusion research. Reuters reported that Iran is pressing ahead with research tests on nuclear fusion, a type of atomic reaction which has yet to be developed for commercial power generation, but is used to produce thermonuclear bombs.   World leaders agree on incentives and penalties for Iran. Yahoo News reported that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying that the world's major powers are ready to guarantee Iran's right to develop nuclear energy provided Tehran cooperates fully with the UN nuclear safety agency.CTV reported that U.S., Russian,...

Top News Story Ahmadinejad's strategy. Amir Taheri, The Jerusalem Post reported that while some in Washington still talk of "preemptive war" against "rogue states," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is practicing what could be labeled "preemptive diplomacy." An examination of the Iranian strategy.   Ahmadinejad speeds to consolidate power. The New York Times reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is trying to consolidate power in the office of the presidency in a way never before seen in the 27-year history of the Islamic Republic.   The student protests in Tehran. A must read. Rooz Online provided a detailed report on the...

Top News Story Payvand Tehran, Iran, May 26 – More than 100 radical Islamists affiliated to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) gathered on Thursday in Tehran’s most famous cemetery vowing to blow themselves up in suicide attacks to kill Americans, Britons, and Israelis. The “martyrdom-seeking volunteers”, most of whom had covered their faces with a chafieh, issued a warning to Washington that they would blow up United States interests around the world if Iran’s nuclear installations came under attack. Mohammad-Ali Samadi, spokesman for the Headquarters to Commemorate the Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement, a government-orchestrated campaign to...

Top News Story Reuters BERLIN (Reuters) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Germans they should no longer allow themselves to be held prisoner by a sense of guilt over the Holocaust and reiterated doubts that the Holocaust even happened. In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, Ahmadinejad said he doubted Germans were allowed to write "the truth" about the Holocaust and said he was still considering traveling to Germany for the World Cup soccer tournament. "I believe the German people are prisoners of the Holocaust. More than 60 million were killed in World War Two … The question...

Top News Story The Growing Unrest inside of Iran. Eli Lake, The New York Sun reported that while foreign ministers met in London to finalize measures to persuade the Iranian regime to suspend uranium enrichment, the country's ruling clerics will be facing the most determined opposition they have seen in three years. A must read.Iran Press News reported on the anti-regime slogans in the protest gathering of students in Tehran University campus. A must read.Rooz Online reported on the growing unrest in Azerbaijan.Rooz Online reported that during the week that just ended, Iranian society expressed its concealed and suppressed...

Top News Story Student Protests across Iran. Turkish Press reported that two of the Iranian capital's main universities have been rocked by overnight protests and clashes between students and police.Iranian Student News Agency published photos of the protests at Tehran Universities with translations of several signs.SMCCDI reported that sporadic clashes have continued, on Wednesday, in several Iranian universities, such as, Tehran, Hamedan and Zanjan.Yahoo News reported that stone-throwing Iranian students fought police and Islamic vigilante in protest against restrictions imposed by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.SMCCDI reported tbat several students were critically injured during clashes that happened, today,...

Top News Story Iran test launched its Shihab-3 just prior to Bush and Olmert meeting. The Jerusalem Post reported that Iran conducted a test launch Tuesday night of the Shihab-3 intermediate-range ballistic missile, which is capable of reaching Israel and US targets in the region. The test came hours before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with US President George W Bush in Washington.   Russia expects unity among Perm-5 on Iran. RIA Novosti reported that Russia's foreign minister said the talks between the EU3 negotiators, the United States, Russia and China would produce a consensus.   Taheri responds to...

Top News Story Iran conducts military exercises, the US & Turkey's start next week. Middle East Newsline reported that Iran has launched another major military exercise. The exercise, entitled "851," began on Sunday and would last three days.The New York Times reported that the United States will hold a joint military exercise using naval, army and air forces with Turkey next week aimed at demonstrating a determination to stop missile and nuclear technology from reaching Iran.   Update on Taheri's report on Iran's plan for its "minorities." Eli Lake, The NY Sun reported that Amir Taheri is sticking to...

Top News Story US seeks to build missile shield to stop Iranian missiles. The New York Times reported that the Bush administration is moving to establish a new antimissile site in Europe that would be designed to stop attacks by Iran against the United States and its European allies.   Iranian dissident in Washington DC seeking regime change. Times Online on the escape from Iran of Iranian student activist Amir Abbas Fakhravar who was held for 8 months in solitary confinement in Iran. He said he was in Washington to spread one message only: “Regime change.” Photo.   Imprisoned...

Top News Story A roundup of reports on Iran's new Islamic Dress Code. Chris Wattie, National Post claimed a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear colored badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.. This report was later withdrawn. Amir Taheri, The New York Post provided much more detail on the new law. This is original source for the original National Post story. My thoughts on this report.Chris Wattie, National Post published this report after the National Post pulled her earlier story.Agence France-Presse reported that Iran's...

Top News Story Gulf States agree to help the US destabilize Iran. Middle East Newsline reported that the Gulf Cooperation Council has quietly agreed to help the United States in efforts to destabilize Iran.Reuters reported that Iran's neighbors -- including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates -- are talking to the United States about ways to bolster their defenses.   EU3 want to offer security guarantees as their final offer. Khaleej Times Online reported that European nations want to offer Iran security guarantees as a key incentive to freeze its nuclear enrichment program but added “When Iran...

Top News Story Ahmadinejad: Promises the "end of history in 2-3 years?" Haaretz reported that former Military Intelligence chief Aharon Ze'evi claimed that Ahmadinejad has been overheard promising the "end of history in two or three years."   Iran turns down "potential" EU3 carrots. Telegraph reported that Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has poured scorn on a European package of incentives designed to persuade the Islamic state to break off its nuclear program, saying that to accept them would be like trading chocolate for gold.   Iran wants to offer the EU3 Carrots instead. Xinhua reported that Iranian Foreign Ministry...

Top News Story Payvand Tehran, May 17, IRNA-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad intends to write another letter but it will not be for a political figure, "informed sources" were quoted on Wednesday. The Persian-language daily, Tosse'e, quoted the sources as saying Ahmadinejad's second letter is expected to be sent next week. According to the daily, the president, in an April 24 interview, said that he "will again send messages to leaders of certain world powers calling their attention to the state of the world and inviting them to imbibe the message of the Divine Prophets which happens to be also the...

Top News Story EU considers giving Iran a nuclear reactor. Yahoo News reported that European nations are considering adding a light-water reactor to a package of incentives meant to persuade Tehran to give up uranium enrichment.   China approves of the idea. The New York Times reported that China said it supported European efforts to create a new package of incentives for Iran as a way of resolving the standoff over its nuclear program. The report added that Europe would not offer Iran security guarantees against potential threats by its neighbors.   The CIA's history of over estimating the...