POLITICS-MIDEAST: Why Annapolis Is About Iran

It was initially billed as a "peace conference" to decisively address the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But as President George W. Bush's ambitious Annapolis gathering approached - his most intensive effort to restart peace talks in seven years - any prospect of a comprehensive breakthrough appeared as distant as ever, as Israeli and Palestinian leaders struggled to agree on a joint statement until the last minute.

IRAQ: Detentions Escalate in Diwaniyah

Detentions have become commonplace in Iraq, but now more than ever before people are being detained after being accused of membership in "militias supported by Iran."

POLITICS-US: Petraeus Sought to Prevent Release of Iranians

Recent statements by the U.S. military that Iran had pledged to stop supplying weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq and that this alleged flow of arms may have stopped in August were part of a behind-the-scenes struggle over whether the George W. Bush administration should make a gesture to Iran by releasing five Iranian prisoners held since January.

Q&A: ‘U.S. Politics Turning Communities Against Each Other’

"As long as the U.S. troops stay in Iraq there will be violence," warns Gilbert Achcar, professor of development studies and international relations at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.

RELIGION-IRAN: Attack on Sufis Reveals Intolerance of Muslim Sects

The destruction of a monastery belonging to the Gonabadi Sufi order in Boroujerd town of Luristan province, this month, has once again highlighted the hostile environment in which Iran’s many religious minorities and non-conformist sects exist.

POLITICS-US: The Nuclear Cowboys

What do the current Pakistani political crisis, Israel's September air strike against Syria, and Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear enrichment all have in common? All three events reflect the aggressive policies adopted by the George W. Bush administration to deal with the growing threat of nuclear proliferation.

POLITICS: Israel’s Syrian Airstrike Was Aimed at Iran

Until late October, the accepted explanation about the Sep. 6 Israeli airstrike in Syria, constructed in a series of press leaks from U.S. officials, was that it was prompted by dramatic satellite intelligence that Syria was building a nuclear facility with help from North Korea.

POLITICS-US: Seizure of Iranians Failed to Validate Bush Line

The George W. Bush administration's campaign to seize and detain Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officials in Iraq, presented by Bush himself last January as a move to break up an alleged Iranian arms smuggling operation in Iraq, appears to have run its course without having been able to link a single Iranian to any such operation.

IRAN: Nuke Watchdog Report No Brake on Sanctions

The United Nations atomic watchdog issued a report Thursday saying that Iran had been generally truthful about key aspects of its past nuclear activities, but warned that knowledge of Tehran's programme was "diminishing".

LABOUR-IRAN: Sugar Industry Strikes Bespeak Bitter Conditions

Labour protests and strikes, though firmly suppressed in Iran, are gaining momentum as failure to manage the frail economic structure pushes more and more state-owned factories and private enterprises into bankruptcy.

POLITICS-US: West Coast City Formally Rejects Iran Attack

The eight-member city council of Oakland, home to nearly half a million people, unanimously passed a symbolic resolution opposing any U.S. attack against Iran Tuesday, in a bid to pressure lawmakers in Congress to reestablish their constitutional authority over U.S foreign policy and war policy and funding.

TURKEY: Iran Becomes the Trade-Off for Northern Iraq

Triumphalism, which generally prevails in official communiqués and the Turkish media following Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visits abroad, was dimmed Monday night at the end of the meeting between him and U.S. President George W. Bush.

US-IRAN: Republican Maverick Calls for Unconditional Talks

Amid growing contention among Democratic presidential contenders about U.S. policy toward Iran, a senior Republican lawmaker has appealed to President George W. Bush to pursue "direct, unconditional, and comprehensive talks" with Tehran.

US-IRAN: Tamping the Flames of War

L. Bruce Laingen was working as a senior U.S. Foreign Service officer in Tehran in 1979 when student protestors - caught up in the fervour of Iran's Islamic Revolution - seized the U.S. embassy and irrevocably changed the course of relations between the two nations.

POLITICS-US: For Neocons, Iran War Aim Is Still Regime Change

Vice President Dick Cheney and his neoconservative allies in the George W. Bush administration only began agitating for the use of military force against Iran once they had finally given up the illusion that regime change in Iran would happen without it.

POLITICS-IRAN: Row Over Nuclear Negotiator’s Firing Worsens

Criticism has been steadily building up against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s apparent move to harden Iran’s position on its nuclear standoff with the West by removing moderate chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, and replacing him with his handpicked loyalist Saeed Jalili.

POLITICS-US: Protests Target War Funding

Tens of thousands of people across the United States staged demonstrations over the weekend to protest the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq and the White House's reported plans to attack Iran.

POLITICS-US: White House Wields Another Stick on Iran

The heads of the U.S. State and Treasury Departments jointly announced new sanctions aimed at the further economic isolation of Iran Thursday, citing the Islamic Republic's defiance on its continued nuclear programme and its alleged involvement with terrorist organisations.

POLITICS: U.S. Military Ignored Evidence of Iraqi-Made EFPs

When the U.S. military command accused the Iranian Quds Force last January of providing the armour-piercing EFPs (explosively formed penetrators) that were killing U.S. troops, it knew that Iraqi machine shops had been producing their own EFPs for years, a review of the historical record of evidence on EFPs in Iraq shows.

IRAN: Benetton Gets Lessons in Shock Advertising

When the pro-government ‘Iran’ newpaper ran a full-page advertisement for the United Colours of Benetton, it indicated official approval for the famed Italian clothing manufacturer.

POLITICS-US: Cheney Raises the Rhetoric Against Iran

In the harshest speech against Iran given by a top George W. Bush administration official to date, Vice President Dick Cheney Sunday warned the Islamic Republic of "serious consequences" if it did not freeze its nuclear programme and accused it of "direct involvement in the killings of Americans".