Iran Requests Direct Talks on Nuclear Program
Iran has followed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent letter to President Bush with explicit requests for direct talks on its nuclear program, according to U.S. officials, Iranian analysts and foreign diplomats.
Draft Iran nuclear offer debated
New incentives for Iran to give up its controversial nuclear programme are being discussed by the five UN Security Council permanent members and Germany. Britain, France and Germany are proposing a number of technology, trade and security benefits for Iran.
Iran students protest over increased restrictions
Stone-throwing Iranian students fought police and Islamic vigilantes on Wednesday in protest against restrictions imposed by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, witnesses said.
The Bush administration, shunning pressure from allies for direct dialogue with Iran, is shifting toward a more confrontational stance and intensifying efforts to undercut the country’s ruling clerics.
Split emerges in West’s front against Iran: diplomats
The European Union and Washington are split over an EU proposal to offer Iran a generous package of incentives including nuclear reactors and security pledges if it stops enriching uranium, diplomats said on Saturday.
Democrats Seek Iran Intelligence Estimate
Senate Democrats, saying they want to “avoid repeating mistakes made in the run-up to the conflict in Iraq,” sent President Bush a letter Friday urging him to direct agencies to prepare an updated National Intelligence Estimate on Iran
Iran Considering Law Against Western Attire
Iran’s parliament is debating a draft law that would discourage women from wearing Western clothing, increase taxes on imported clothes and fund an advertising campaign to encourage citizens to wear Islamic-style garments.
U.S. Seeks to Curb Iran With Neighbors’ Help
Opening a new front in its effort against Iran, the Bush administration has begun developing a containment strategy with the Islamic state’s Persian Gulf neighbors that aims to spread sophisticated missile defense systems across the region and to interdict ships carrying nuclear technology to the country.
US spells out plan to bomb Iran
THE US is updating contingency plans for a non-nuclear strike to cripple Iran’s atomic weapon programme if international diplomacy fails, Pentagon sources have confirmed. Strategists are understood to have presented two options for pinpoint strikes using B2 bombers flying directly from bases in Missouri, Guam in the Pacific and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean
