POLITICS-IRAN: Ahmadinejad Held to Election Promises

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who came to power two years ago, winning 62 percent of the popular vote, is rapidly losing popularity for failure to make good on election promises to improve the lives of ordinary people by sharing Iran's vast oil revenues with them and respect their private lives.

POLITICS: Terror Label for Guard Corp Entrenches US-Iran Enmity

The White House's decision to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organisation could deal a double blow to efforts to utilise diplomacy with Iran to stabilise Iraq.

IRAQ: U.S. Tags Iran for Casualties from Its Own Attacks

When a top U.S. commander in Iraq reported last week that attacks by Shiite militias with links to Iran had risen to 73 percent of all July attacks that had killed or wounded U.S. forces in Baghdad, he claimed it was because of an effort by Iran to oust the United States from Iraq, referring to "intelligence reports" of a "surge" in Iranian assistance.

IRAQ: Iran Ties Weaken Government Further

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's increasing ties with Iran have triggered a splintering of his government.

US/MIDDLE EAST: ‘Plan Against Iran May Trigger Arms Race’

The new United States plan to sell arms to Saudi Arabia and other allies in the Middle East to counter growing Iranian influence could trigger an arms race and worsen instability in an already volatile region, say experts.

POLITICS: U.S. Demanding Iran Restrain Shiite Groups

A little-noticed statement by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker after last week's U.S.-Iran meeting revealed that the main demand of the George W. Bush administration to Iran is not to stop supplying weapons to Shiite militias but to use its influence with Shiites in Iraq to reduce their attacks on occupation forces.

DEATH PENALTY: Two Kurdish Journalists on Iran&#39s Death Row

Kurdish human rights and political groups have launched an Internet campaign to save the lives of Adnan Hasanpoor and Abdolvahed (Hiva) Bootimar, two Iranian Kurdish journalists who were sentenced to death on Jul. 16 by a revolutionary tribunal in the Iranian Kurdish city of Marivan.

POLITICS: Arms for Arab Authoritarians, As U.S. Turns Back Clock

Just 25 months after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denounced 60 years of U.S. support for authoritarian governments in Arab world, she and Pentagon chief Robert Gates are on their way to the Middle East bearing arms and an uncannily familiar strategic vision to the same regimes.

POLITICS-US: Bush Line Distorts Iran&#39s Real Interest in Iraq

As U.S. and Iranian diplomats met in Baghdad Tuesday for a second round of talks on Iraq, the domestic U.S. political climate appears decidedly more supportive of an aggressive U.S. posture toward Iran than just a few months ago, reflecting the apparent triumph the George W. Bush administration's narrative on Iran's role in Iraq.

IRAN: ‘Confessions’ on TV to Counter ‘Velvet Revolution’

Iranian state-run TV aired Wednesday and Thursday ‘confessions’ of two Iranian-American academics arrested in May and held incommunicado since then. Both academics have officially been charged with acting against national security and espionage.

POLITICS-US: Congress Pushes Sanctions on Iran

As the United States and its United Nations allies plan to push for stiffer economic sanctions on Iran over its refusal to halt its nuclear programme, an Iran sanctions bill making its way through Congress includes several key measures that may threaten U.S. diplomacy towards Tehran and split key allies on the issue, including Russia.

MIDDLE EAST: Iran&#39s Claim on Bahrain Aimed at US

While an editorial in Iran's influential ‘Kayhan’ daily laying territorial claims on Bahrain has sparked considerable tension in the region, the real target may lie in competition with the United States for influence in the Persian Gulf.

RIGHTS-IRAN: "Blood Was Everywhere, the Smell of Death"

Criticism of Iran's judiciary is mounting following the brutal execution of a man who was convicted of adultery more than a decade ago and stoned to death on Jul. 5. Although the head of the judiciary branch, Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi, issued a written order stopping the execution almost a month ago, the judge in the case insisted on stoning Jafar Kiani to death.

POLITICS: Iranians Prefer Economic Development Over Nukes

An overwhelming majority of Iranians want improvement in their economy to be the top priority of their government, and 68 percent of that nation's citizens said they would give up their country's pursuit of nuclear weapons if it meant normalising political and economic relations with the United States and the West, according to a rare public opinion poll of Iranians released Wednesday.

RIGHTS-IRAN: Students Unfazed by Arrests, Suppression

When six members of Iran’s largest students’ organisation, ‘Office to Foster Unity’, risked arrest and indefinite imprisonment to stage a sit-in demonstration, this week, it was a measure of their determination to take on the suppressive, hard line regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

RIGHTS-IRAN: Dark Days for Women

Judicial authorities in Iran have sentenced two women activists who participated in a peaceful protest against discriminatory laws in June 2006 to more than 30 months in jail and ten lashes.

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Afghan Refugees Forcibly Herded Home – Activists

While heavy seasonal rains that damaged bridges on the road to Afghanistan have forced the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to suspend repatriation operations, Pakistan’s frontier police has announced intensification of efforts to send back 'illegal' Afghans.

MEDIA-IRAN: New TV Channel to Focus on Iraq, Shia Issues

Iran’s newly launched English language satellite television channel ‘Press TV’ will focus its coverage on difficult issues in the Middle East such as the United States’ occupation of neighbouring Iraq and the Shiite question.

IRAN: Temporary Marriages Just a Way to Degrade Women – Critics

A key Iranian minister calls ‘temporary marriages’ a pragmatic way to deal with young people’s sexual needs and to prevent prostitution, but a wide range of critics lambasts them as little more than ways to give religious sanction to practices that degrade women.

EGYPT: Iranian Overtures Turned Down

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad surprised many last month when he announced his country's readiness to re-establish diplomatic relations with Egypt. But last week the Egyptian foreign ministry appeared to dash hopes for rapprochement, describing Iran's regional policies as a "danger to Egypt's national security."

POLITICS: Iran-Britain Tensions Climb with Rushdie’s Knighthood

Tensions are rising between Britain and Iran over the knighthood awarded to British-Indian novelist Salman Rushie, the intimidation of guests invited to the birthday celebration of Queen Elizabeth II by the British embassy, and the row over the ownership of a British embassy-owned compound in the Iranian capital.