100 posts
Iraq makes sanctions against Iran ineffective | Nima Khorrami Assl
The long border with Iraq undermines US and EU efforts to stop Iran's nuclear programme with trade sanctionsThe US and EU have announced new sanctions in the hope of persuading Iran to abandon its alleged nuclear weapons programme, though how effect...
EU formally adopts Iran oil embargo
By DON MELVIN BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union formally adopted an oil embargo Monday against Iran and a freeze of the assets of the country’s central bank, part of sanctions meant to pressure the country to resume talks on its nuclear prog...
End Game Approaches on Nuclear Iran
From the start of 2012 the spotlight on Iran and for good reason. Today the entire region is now on tenterhooks for the next move, with US, Iranian and Gulf armies on the highest war alert. Earlier the main scenario was that Israel would make an prev...
EU pursuing Iran sanctions
European leaders have agreed to go forward with a new round of unilateral sanctions, in which the EU would ban oil imports from Iran. Instead of actually imposing these sanctions however, the EU should threaten to impose them, using them as a "stick"...
Paddy Ashdown Is Frightened
The London Liberal Democrats’ fundraising dinner at the National Liberal Club this evening of course featured Brian Paddick and Caroline Pidgeon (hot-foot from the Evening Standard’s 1000 most influential Londoners awards), who both spok...
Iran, Long Seen As An Economic Basket Case, Wins Praise From IMF
If you were seeking endorsement of Iran's economic policies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hardly seems like the ideal reference point. READ MORE...
Iran’s nuclear program helped by China, Russia
Cooperation began in 1990s. READ MORE...
Turkish-Iranian Economic Ties Flourish
Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, paid a four-day state visit to Iran starting on February 13, to discuss ways to further bilateral cooperation. The sheer frequency of such high level mutual visits between the two countries in recent years indicate...
Iran: clemency call for Kurdish law student facing execution on Boxing Day
Cross-posted from Amnesty International Urgent life-saving appeal launched Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of a Kurdish law student scheduled for 26 December, and for the authorities to commute his de...
Iranian trade unionist on hunger strike
Where trade unionists start their day on the net. This is extremely urgent; please act immediately. Imprisoned trade union leader, Reza Shahabi, has been on hunger strike since 4 December in protest at his continuing detention. Amnesty International...
Morning multilateralism, Dec. 1
IMF's Lipsky insists that fears of a Euro collapse are "wildly exaggerated." P5+1 set to meet Iranian representatives in Geneva next week. Who should control an international climate fund? Not the World Bank or IMF, say many developing...
Why Russia Is Cutting Off Major Arms Sales To Iran
Russia, a major global arms dealer, decided Wednesday to nix a controversial arms sale that would have given Iran missiles. READ MORE...
Russia Not To Deliver S-300 Missiles To Iran - Russian Top General
Russia will not deliver S-300 air defense missiles to Iran as planned because such transfers are prohibited under UN sanctions, the chief of the Russian general staff said Wednesday. READ MORE...
BBC excludes Maryam, promotes Tehran propaganda
While the BBC continues to spend licence-payers money on promoting religion, the least we have a right to expect is that it will do so in a reasonably balanced manner, giving a fair crack of the whip to civilised values and secular opinions. It is...
Help Save Sakineh Ashianti’s Life!
Help Save Sakineh Ashianti’s Life! Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, Iranian Mother, could be put to death at any moment August 5: Sakineh’s lawyer arrested; fate of Sakineh to be handed down next week – hanging likely; President Lula’s...
Negotiation with Iran
I have blogged before both on negotation and Iran. A fascinating book by John W Limbert (‘Negotiating with Iran’, 2009) brings the two aspects together. The author spent 33 years in the US Foreign Service, is a fluent Farsi speaker and has...
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is at imminent risk of execution
This is a press release from Iran Solidarity and the International Committee Against Stoning The victim in the Iran stoning case, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is at imminent risk of execution in Tabriz prison. Moreover, her well known human rights l...
New Iran Sanctions
The EU also approved a new list of sanctions against Iran. READ MORE...
The EU Sanctions on Iran – the Legal Background
We all know that the EU has imposed stricter sanctions on Iran than provided for in the United Nations Security Council resolution 1929 (2010). It is interesting, though, to consider the legal background of this measure. The new sanctions are …...
Morning Brief (26-7)
EU foreign ministers to give green light for tough Iran sanctions. AFP reports: The European Union will hit Iran with tough sanctions against its vital oil and gas industry on Monday in a bid to lure Tehran back to the negotiating table over its disp...
Iran favours talks with EU after Ramadan -Turkey
Iran has expressed willingness to have talks with the European Union on its nuclear programme after the month of Ramadan ends in early September, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday. READ MORE...
Ashton Seeks to Revive EU Role in Iran Nuclear Talks
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, are currently involved in a diplomatic dance over resuming talks on Tehran's nuclear program. If the talks do indeed come to fruition, As...
Morning Brief (2-7)
Obama signs into law new US sanctions on Iran, the New York Times reports: President Obama on Thursday signed into law new unilateral American sanctions on Iran that go beyond the penalties imposed by the United Nations last month as he tries to esca...
Kazakhstan Gets Jump on Caspian Naval Race
It may not approach the scale of the great battleship race between Britain and Germany that preceded World War I, but a naval build-up is currently and quietly taking place on the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan appears to be setting the pace, with plans to...
Aliyev: Azerbaijan’s defense spending tops Armenia budget
President Ilham Aliyev has said Azerbaijan is committed to increasing its military power that now surpasses the budget of Armenia, a neighboring country that occupies part of Azerbaijani territory, ignoring international law. READ MORE...
EU approves harsh new sanctions against Iran
The European Union and the United States apparently find it easier to take on the Iranian nuclear problem than the global financial crisis. On June 17, EU government chiefs agreed to new sanctions against Iran at a Brussels summit. U.S. President...
Morning Brief (18-6)
EU leaders approve fresh sanctions against Iran. The BBC reports: European Union leaders have approved a new set of sanctions against Iran that go further than the latest United Nations measures. The fresh EU sanctions include a ban on investments, t...
The myth of Iran's 'isolation'
In announcing the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran, President Obama stressed not once but twice Iran's increasing "isolation" from the world. This claim is not surprising considering that after 16...
Morning Brief (15-6)
EU plans new sanctions on Iran. The FT reports from yesterday’s EU Foreign Ministers meeting in Luxembourg: European Union governments are expected to impose new sanctions against Iran that would go further than those approved by the United Nat...
Iran's tortured Green movement is down but not out. We can still help | Timothy Garton Ash
One harrowing year since the stolen election, the people of Iran need the world's attention to go beyond the nuclear issueDo not forget Iran. Remember Neda. If there are green-clad protests in Tehran this weekend, to mark the first anniversary of the...
Morning Brief (8-6)
UN Iran sanctions vote on Wednesday. Politico’s Laura Rozen reports: “The goal is Wednesday,” one European diplomat said of the anticipated vote date. “Vote is likely Wednesday,” another diplomatic source in New York said. The text of t...
Morning Brief (3-6)
UN vote on Iran delayed because of Israeli raid. Politico’s Laura Rozen reports: A vote on a new UN Iran sanctions resolution will likely be pushed back due to diplomatic fallout from the Israeli raid on the Gaza aid flotilla, among other reaso...
Iran’s foreign minister Mottaki flunks the courage test
How time flies when you’re having fun. I spent the best part of Wednesday trailing Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s foreign minister, around Brussels. After about four hours it dawned on me that, no matter how strange and disturbing som...
Turkey, Brazil, and Iran: A Glimpse of the Future
WASHINGTON–It has been quite a week for diplomacy on Iran. On the eve of agreement on a new round of sanctions among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, the leaders of Turkey and Brazil concluded a dramatic visit to Tehran, bringi...
A diplomatic game of chicken with Iran
Let's be generous and call the frantic diplomatic maneuvers that have been taking place this week over Iran's nuclear program a "negotiation," Tehran-style. READ MORE...
Iran signs nuclear fuel-swap deal with Turkey
Iran has signed an agreement to send uranium abroad for enrichment after mediation talks in Tehran with Turkish and Brazilian leaders. READ MORE...
It looks like a victorious day for Turkish foreign policy: Iran agrees to send low enriched uranium to Turkey
From L: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pose for a picture in Tehran. Iran agreed on Monday to ship much of its low enriched uranium abroad in a...
Envoys: Turkey, Brazil brokering Iran nuclear deal
Turkey and Brazil are trying to revive a stalled atomic fuel deal with Iran in an attempt to help the Islamic Republic avoid new UN sanctions over its nuclear program, Western diplomats said . READ MORE...
Ahmadinejad Blasts U.S., Says Iran Not Seeking Nuclear Weapons
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that Iran's nuclear ambitions are endangering the entire world and called on the international community to hold Tehran accountable. READ MORE...
Norouz
I would like to send my best wishes to all those who are celebrating the ancient festival of Norouz. At this time of year millions of people in Iran and around the world will be coming together to welcome the coming of the new year. Many...
Can we start to build some power stations please?
Its just that I don't want a bunch of mad mullahs having this sort of power over us. And No, windmills just don't do it for me.TEHRAN: Iran could make European countries suffer by cutting off energy supplies and can target any adversary with its miss...
International Community Weighs Response To Nuclear Iran
Experts agree that if Iran's claims about its ability to produce higher-grade enriched uranium are true, the country could have weapons-grade uranium within six months. What does this mean for the West? READ MORE...
Ankara's Iran gambit
Iran, it seems, is going to turn into one of the main litmus tests of exactly how influential Turkey has become in the region.Ankara is in an uncomfortable position in this respect. If it does not manage to bring Tehran around to a reasonable positio...
Freedom for Iran!
“Where liberty is, there is my country” Benjamin Franklin The people of Iran are obviously not happy with its current government, and they protest. The Iranian government has in response arrested, tortured, raped and killed protesters in order to...
The 2003 question about Iran
One of Tony Blair’s better lines in his evidence to the Chilcot inquiry on 29 January was that one should not ask the 2003 question about Iraq – how much of a threat was Saddam Hussein then? – but rather the 2010 question: how much of a threat...
Morning Brief (25-1)
Negotiating with the Taliban. The New York Times editorializes about the coalition’s policy change in Afghanistan: Killing Taliban fighters won’t be enough. If there is any hope of defeating the insurgency, Afghanistan’s government will hav...
These protests should shame the west into a change of policy on Iran | Timothy Garton Ash
Political change in Tehran is not just a moral matter. It's our best hope of achieving Obama's nuclear objectivesWhile the west has been on holiday, Iranians have again risked their lives to protest against an increasingly desperate, oppressive regim...
Iran Cancels MEP Visit
The European Parliament delegation for relations with Iran has voiced surprise at the last-minute cancellation by Iranian authorities of the EP delegation’s visit to Tehran, which was to take place later this week. The visit was criticized in a...
‘Here is your revolution!’
Now, a blog is not a rolling news service, and Socialist Unity can write about what it likes. And yet, like Gene, I find it curious that a blog dedicated to revolutionary socialism can’t find the space to offer support to what looks increasingl...
Morning Brief (14-12)
New sanctions on Iran? The Times reports: The United States, Germany, France and Britain will push Russia and China at a meeting expected to be on Friday to agree to new UN sanctions against Iran. (…) Western officials say that talks this week...
We Are All Majid Tavakoli
Throughout the 2000s, various silly people have claimed that forced Islamic religious dress – the veil, headscarf, hijab, chador, burka, jilbab, niqab – is a purely sartorial issue, a statement of resistance to imperialism, even a tool o...
Last hooray for the EU on Iran?
by Tomas ValasekWhen the EU's first 'foreign minister', Cathy Ashton, starts work on December 1st, she will find Iran on top of her 'to do' pile. Earlier this week, Tehran turned down a proposal from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that...
Is Turkey Iran's friend?
by Katinka BaryschIs Turkey really Iran’s “friend”, as Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed in a recent interview with the Guardian newspaper? Erdogan’s visit last week to Tehran suggests so. He met not only President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but also Sup...
Iran Moves To Cut Subsidies On Fossil Energy
Like most oil and gas producing countries Iran has been spoiling its citizens by ridiculously low prices for gasoline, fuel, gas and electricity, at a hefty charge for the national budget. The subsidies, including those for food, telephone and transp...
Iran’s nuclear program at the crossroads
The way ahead with the dispute between Iran’s nuclear programme and the possible response of western powers is foggy. News from last weeks give some base for optimism (peaceful solution) while others are increasing the use of military option. W...
