DEATH PENALTY-IRAN: U.N. Slams Scheduled Public Stoning

The United Nations Wednesday lashed out at the scheduled public stoning of a man and woman charged with adultery in Iran.

U.S.-IRAN: New Arms Claim Reveals Cheney-Military Rift

In a development that underlines the tensions between the anti-Iran agenda of the George W. Bush administration and the preoccupation of its military command in Afghanistan with militant Sunni activism, a State Department official publicly accused Iran for the first time of arming the Taliban forces last week, but the U.S. commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan rejected that charge for the second time in less than two weeks.

POLITICS-US: Iranian "Terror" Expert Has Hardcore Resume

Alireza Jafarzadeh first burst onto the Washington political scene in 2003 when he exposed Iran's clandestine uranium enrichment facility in the small township of Natanz.

ECONOMY-IRAN: Fear of Sanctions Drives Petrol Rationing Plans

As Iran reluctantly begins implementing Thursday a plan to reduce consumption of mostly imported petrol by cutting massive consumer subsidies, it is with an eye to possible tightening of international sanctions for the country's controversial nuclear programme.

US-IRAN: New War Rhetoric Undercuts Iraq Talks

U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman's call for cross-border raids into Iran appears to be the culmination of a two-week long campaign by proponents of war to put the military option centre-stage in the U.S. debate over Iran once more.

POLITICS-US: Cheney&#39s Iran-Arms-to-Taliban Gambit Rebuffed

A media campaign portraying Iran as supplying arms to the Taliban guerrillas fighting U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, orchestrated by advocates of a more confrontational stance toward Iran in the George W. Bush administration, appears to have backfired last week when Defence Secretary Robert Gates and the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Dan McNeil, issued unusually strong denials.

POLITICS-US: Could al Qaeda Attack Trigger War With Iran?

Following revelations of a George W. Bush administration policy to hold Iran responsible for any al Qaeda attack on the U.S. that could be portrayed as planned on Iranian soil, former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinksi warned last week that Washington might use such an incident as a pretext to bomb Iran.

IRAN/US: Iraq Talks – Rare Chance for Regional Security

While limited to the issue of security in Iraq, the direct talks between Iran and the United States in Baghdad is being seen as a breakthrough and an opportunity for both countries to deal with pressing issues of national interest as well as security in a region extending from Afghanistan in the east to Iraq and to Palestine and Lebanon in the west.

RIGHTS-IRAN: Groups Denounce Crackdown on Dual Nationals

Human rights groups are calling on the Iranian government to halt its harassment of dual nationals, release two U.S.-Iranian citizens charged with espionage on Tuesday, return the passports to two other dual-national journalists, and provide information about the location of a peace activist who "disappeared" on May 8.

U.S./IRAN: Scholars Bear Brunt of Anti-Diplomacy Backlash

With only a few days left until the United States and Iran are expected to hold much anticipated talks, several factors point to the potential for a real diplomatic breakthrough.

IRAN: Charges Against Visiting Scholar Widely Condemned

The Islamic Republic of Iran on Monday formally charged Iranian-American scholar Haleh Esfandiari with conspiring to undermine the regime in Iran.

IRAN: Nuclear Parleys Run Parallel to Iraq Talks

While the Iranian regime has been categorical that negotiations with the European Union over its controversial nuclear programme are isolated from planned talks with the United States over security in Iraq, the timing of the parleys are such that overlap may be hard to avoid.

DEATH PENALTY-IRAN: Execution Surge Bucks Worldwide Trend

The near-doubling of the number of executions in Iran to 177 prisoners in 2006 has only steeled the resolve of human rights activists here to raise public awareness of the idea that capital punishment is not an effective deterrent to crime and should be abolished as inhuman.

IRAN: Charges Against Renowned Scholar Called "Absurd"

The arrest of Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, Middle East programme director at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Centre, by Iranian security forces in Tehran on May 8 has sparked grave concerns among Iranian-Americans with dual citizenship who travel to Iran.

IRAN: Afghan Refugees – Pawns in Standoff with West

As the Iranian regime firmly implements a plan to repatriate the bulk of an estimated one million Afghan refugees living illegally on its soil, it is apparent that the move is aimed at embarrassing the West over its failures in the region.

POLITICS-US/IRAN: Another Step Toward Realism

Realists in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush appear to have won another victory over the dwindling ranks of neo-conservatives and others hawks with this weekend's announcement that Washington will soon engage in bilateral talks with Iran.

POLITICS-IRAN: Campus Cartoons Trigger Wave of Suppression

A new wave of suppression, following the publication of a cartoon of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in several campus newspapers run by students of the prestigious Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT) ten days ago, has landed several student editors in jail.

POLITICS-US: Neo-Cons Driving Iran Divestment Campaign

Neo-conservative hawks who championed the invasion of Iraq are leading a new campaign to persuade state and local governments, as well as other institutional investors, to "divest" their holdings in foreign companies and U.S. overseas subsidiaries doing business in Iran.

POLITICS: Can Europe End the Lose-Lose Game with Iran?

As the world powers gather in Berlin this week to discuss new punitive measures against Iran's nuclear programme, Europe is faced with a daunting task.

IRAN: Sanctions Aggravate Rights Situation

As economic sanctions are applied to this country for its nuclear activities, hardliners in the government are getting strengthened and successfully demanding even harsher curbs on individual liberties.

POLITICS: A Softer, Gentler Era of U.S., Iran Relations?

Tehran's high-level presence at the meeting this week in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt to discuss Iraq's security boosts the chances for eventual negotiations between Tehran and Washington over their long-running disputes, say analysts here and in Iran.