71 posts
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...
NPR’s On Point hosts Constanze Stelzenmuller to discusses diplomacy, threats, and tackling the challenge of Iran
President Obama, before the United Nations General Assembly and the world today, talking about the world’s challenges and how the United States cannot solve them alone. In the middle of those challenges — and very soon at the center of six-party...
We can't decide Iran's struggle. But we can avoid backing the wrong side | Timothy Garton Ash
Iranians will choose their own fate, but the west must not abandon the reformers for the sake of an elusive nuclear dealLet's get this straight: the people who will change Iran for the better are the Iranians. The words of an American president at th...
No more dollars, Tehran set to use Euros as main foreign exchange currency
Announced in the past, the decision to switch is now official, following a decree signed by President Ahmadinejad. It will be particularly important for oil sales. With four million barrels a day, Iran is the world’s fourth largest “black gold”...
Only a coincidence? US gives up missile defense while Moscow performs U-turn on Iran
Now it is official. As the Guardian reports: Barack Obama has abandoned the controversial Pentagon plan to build a missile defence system in Europe. And the story continues with first reactions: The move has prompted angry accusations of betrayal fro...
Just bad timing
The big news of the day is that that United States abandoned its plans for establishing a missile defense shield in Europe. The change was expected but the timing was not. Obama is facing a lot of criticism at home for moving to the left, especially...
Iran (or Europe?) Downgraded
U.S. to Shelve Nuclear-Missile Shield The White House will shelve Bush administration plans to build...
Iran looms over Gymnich meeting
What line should the EU take on economic sanctions towards Iran? This is one of the crucial questions at the informal meeting with EU Foreign Ministers, starting tomorrow. Angela Merkel´s statement last week on Iran has been interpreted as a shif...
Why Attend Ahmadinejad’s Inauguration?
The protests after the presidential elections in Iran have somewhat subsided. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in as the elected President of Iran. But why did EU ambassadors attend the ceremony? The Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, says that ther...
Solidarity with Iranian political prisoners: protest outside Press TV tomorrow
The muderous clamp-down on opposition groups and protesters against the rigged Iranian elections, continues. Amnesty International suggests that at least four protesters have died in custody. Opposition groups claim that protesters have been kept in...
Is war with Iran inevitable?
The G8 has finally ended and I’m sitting on an ATR 42- 500 Italian customs police plane, which is usually used to spot illegal immigrants crossing the Med to Italy from Africa, with President Barroso and his advisers flying back to Rome. It’s...
Iran, elections, and nuclear weapons
by Tomas ValasekWhat the future holds for Iran's theocratic regime is hard to read. True, the government has ensured its own survival by suppressing last month's protests there with brutal force. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will remain in p...
G-8 Leaders Set Deadline For Resolution Of Iran Nuclear Stand-Off
G-8 leaders have laid down the gauntlet to Iran by setting a September deadline for the Islamic Republic to accept negotiations over its nuclear ambitions or else face tougher sanctions. READ MORE...
IRAN – revolution postponed
Revolution in Iran seems to happen only in western dreams and media. Protests took place only in Tehran and a few large cities and are now nearly disappeared. Smaller towns and rural areas have been very quiet whole the time after elections. The oppo...
Iran Contemplates on Negotiation Eligibility
Iran’s military chief of staff Major-General Hassan Firouzabadi has said that the alleged “interference” of European Union Member States in the riots following the June presidential election means the bloc has “lost its qualif...
The facts of the election are disputed. Iranians can make the next one better | Timothy Garton Ash
For all those who wish to commemorate Neda, democracy can be delivered – with the help of legitimate monitorsSo it's official. Iran's Guardian Council has, after ordering a random recount of some 10% of the votes, endorsed the supreme leader's judg...
Iran - no Revolution but potential for Change anyway
In my previous article “Iran-Twitter-Revolution” I had some doubts that revolution is coming soon concluding however that something historic is afoot in Iran today. I order to understand events in today’s Iran I think they should be put i...
EU warns Tehran over detained British embassy staff
The European Union agreed on Sunday that intimidation and harassment of European diplomatic staff by Iran in Tehran would be met with a "strong and collective response." READ MORE...
Should EU Member States’ Embassies Help Iranian Protestors?
EUobserver reports that Italy had instructed its embassy in Tehran to provide humanitarian aid to wounded protesters, pending a coordinated response from all EU countries. Austria has also instructed its embassy to provide first aid to protestors. Bu...
Iranian elections, with SCIENCE
Georg Hoffmann of PrimaKlima has turned away from climatology for a moment to carry out an interesting statistical analysis of the Iranian election results. Bizarrely, the percentage split between the incumbent and the closest rival remained entirely...
Why Ahmadinejad will win
We’ve seen a number of regimes fall because of popular protests: Serbia, Ukraine, Georgia, yadda yadda. We’ve also seen several that have not fallen: Burma, Armenia, Greece. Which one does Iran more resemble? Or, to put it another way,...
Iran: the power struggle
The Guardian Council today announced that there will be a partial recount of the disputed presidential election results: this is not expected to change the outcome. It is surprising that the western media before today failed to report much beyond the...
A Very Iranian Democracy
"The elections are a matter for the Iranian people, but if there are serious questions that are now being asked about the conduct of the elections, they have got to be answered" Gordon Brown - Unelected Prime Minister of BritainGordon Brown can have...
Soccer Diplomacy with Iran?
"We had ping pong diplomacy with China, and now we may soon engage in soccer diplomacy with Iran. Reports out of Tehran indicate that the US Soccer Federation has inquired about the possibility of holding a friendly with Iran sometime in October...
Russia Is Not Able to Play a Significant Part in Iranian Gas Transit to Europe
The attempts of Russia to participate in Iranian gas supplies to Europe will hardly be successful. This point of view was sounded by the Senior Researcher of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations Ivan Danilin. READ MORE...
Europe Could Draw Gas Through Iran-Armenia Pipeline
If Teheran manages to agree with Brussels, gas for the “Nabucco” pipeline could flow from Iran to the EU, comments Armenian analyst Armen Hanbabian for Deutsche Welle. Today the Iran-Armenia pipeline has a regional importance and is in a...
Iran: Obama gets his message wrong
President Barack Obama is to be congratulated on his video message to Tehran, but he spoiled it by unnecessarily saying: “You, too, have a choice. The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community o...
Iran Awakening
Iran is one big enigma. Having lived three years in Iran, one lesson I learned was not to try to analyse Iranian behaviour in order to determine policy or motivation. You have to try to feel what is in mind because Iranian thinking differs fundam...
Iran: what can be done now?
In May 2003, the Iranian Foreign Ministry, with the approval of the leadership, sent to the United States through the Swiss embassy in Tehran, a proposal for the settlement of all outstanding problems. The Ministry asked in return for “full a...
European Action 2: Iran
Ministers in Brussels also agreed to follow up Saturday’s inconclusive meeting with the Iranian nuclear representative with further sanctions on the Iranian regime to implement the articles of UN Resolution 1803, for example putting extra sanctions...
Iran's Next Move
I strongly welcome the decision by the US Administration to send their senior diplomat, Bill Burns, to tomorrow's meeting of the E3+3 (UK, France, Germany, Russia, China and US), led by EU High Representative Javier Solana, with Iranian nuclear ne...
Iran: War cannot be ruled out
November-December 2008 Israel launches huge air offensive on Iranian nuclear sites. Iran attacks US shipping in the Gulf. Strait of Hormuz blocked. Widespread attacks on US civil installations in the Middle East and Europe. Oil price passes $200. Ge...
The Iran Predicament
Partly because of the outcome in Iraq, Iran has been able to recover the dominant geopolitical position it seemed to have lost after the events of September 11, 2001. Yet the country remains as obscure to Western observers and politicians as it did a...
In Tehran, Solana presents new nuclear proposal to Iran
This video report was based on the footage we pulled together for the EU’s Europe by Satellite service while travelling with Solana in Tehran. Production: WatchTV. Camera: Jorge Lubbert. more about "In Tehran, Solana presents new nu...
Irish against Treaty but what are they for?
Here we go again. There are no new lessons to be learned. We already knew that the referendum is not an appropriate mechanism for approving a complex treaty. We already knew that the European Union has not successfully been ‘sold’ to its citizens...
Serious concern
The latest report of the IAEA on Iran's nuclear programme is sharp and clear. The contrast with last August's tone and content is striking. Then there was confidence that three months of the "workplan" would resolve outstanding issues...
