Iraq asks Iran to withdraw troops from oil field

Report from BBC News online at 00:19 GMT, Saturday, 19 December 2009:
Iraq asks Iran to withdraw troops from oil field

Iraq has demanded the immediate withdrawal of Iranian troops who it says have crossed into Iraqi territory and taken control of an oil well.

An Iraqi government spokesman condemned the alleged incursion but said Baghdad was committed to resolving the issue by diplomatic means.

The Iraqis say 11 Iranian soldiers were involved and that they had raised the Iranian flag over the Fakkah oil field.

The National Iranian Oil Company denied that there had been an incursion.

But Iraq's Deputy Interior Minister, Ahmed Ali al-Khafaji, said the Iranians were in control of the well.

"[At 1530] 11 Iranian soldiers infiltrated the Iran-Iraq border and took control of the oil well," he told Reuters news agency.

"They raised the Iranian flag and they are still there until this moment."

He said there had been no military response from Iraqi forces.

"We are awaiting orders from our leader," he added.

Similar incidents have happened before along the border, which has never been properly defined since the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s - although relations between the two neighbours are now cordial.

Iran's nuclear deceptions (The Times)

From The Times' Oliver Kamm

December 13, 2009

Iran's nuclear deceptions:

Let me direct you to an alarming story that's appearing on the wires as I write. The Times has acquired documents directly from Iran's nuclear programme. This is how our leading article describes their implications:

'Winston Churchill described the actions of Russia as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The nuclear diplomacy of Iran is constructed more simply: it is one lie after another. Western diplomacy has proved susceptible to the tactic. A US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) in December 2007 concluded that Iran was “less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005”. Documents obtained by The Times reveal that this assessment was worthless.

'The information comes from Iran’s most sensitive nuclear project. It concerns a four-year plan to test a neutron initiator. This is the component of a nuclear weapon that triggers the explosion. The plan was initiated in the very year that the NIE delivered its reassuring message.... In the view of experts contacted by The Times, Iran’s work in this field has no possible civilian application. It makes sense only for a programme to develop a nuclear weapon.'

Our correspondents set out what's in the documents, along with the view from Tehran and from Israel.

UPDATE: Our main story, now online, contains this sobering judgement:

'Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow for non-proliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said: “The most shattering conclusion is that, if this was an effort that began in 2007, it could be a casus belli. If Iran is working on weapons, it means there is no diplomatic solution.”'

- - -
Note:  casus belli = 

an event used to justify starting a war

An act or event that provokes or is used to justify war. ...

New Iran atom site sparks mistrust: ElBaradei

Wed Nov 25, 2009 12:10pm EST
New Iran atom site sparks mistrust: ElBaradei

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. inspectors have no proof of more covert nuclear sites in Iran but a newly revealed plant makes no sense for civilian or military ends by itself and mistrust has arisen, the U.N. atomic watchdog chief said on Wednesday.

In an interview with Reuters, Mohamed ElBaradei also said Iran's insistence on a key change to a nuclear fuel deal could not be accepted by Western powers because it would not reduce its enriched uranium stockpile seen as an atomic bomb risk.

(Reporting by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Charles Dick)

Turkey to host Sudan, Iran leaders at OIC meeting in Istanbul next week

* Bashir, Ahmadinejad to attend OIC meeting

* ICC arrest warrant, nuclear row could overshadow gathering

* Host Turkey's foreign policy fuels Western worries

From Reuters Friday 6 November 2009:
PREVIEW-Turkey to host Sudan, Iran leaders at summit
By Thomas Grove

(ISTANBUL) - A summit of Islamic countries in Istanbul next week will boost Turkey's quest to deepen ties with the Muslim world, but some of its new friends are not to the taste of its traditional ally, Washington.

Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who has an international arrest warrant against him for war crimes, and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, engaged in a standoff with the West over Tehran's nuclear programme, are among leaders who will attend an Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting.

The one-day summit on Monday will add to growing concerns in some Western circles that Turkey, an OIC member which is seeking European Union membership, is shifting away from its pro-Western foreign policy and embracing countries such as Iran and Syria, while distancing itself from regional friend Israel.

"I think this summit will put Turkey again on the frontline, both in regards with Iran and Bashir," said Hugh Pope, a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group.

"Engagement and cooperation can be a way to bring autocratic states into the international system, but the challenge for Turkey is that it needs to show results and that the behaviour of these states is changing," Pope said.

Although the 57-nation body's meeting has been billed as an economic summit to discuss trade and anti-poverty measures among members, the presence of Bashir and Ahmadinejad will likely overshadow its economic goals.

Western powers are seeking to exert pressure on Tehran for concessions on its nuclear programme, and Ahmadinejad could use the summit to undermine efforts to isolate the Islamic republic and to give one of his trademark anti-Western speeches.

The West fears Tehran's nuclear programme is a covert plan to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran has denied this and says it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity.

The visit by Sudan's Bashir, who has travelled to African countries since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued the arrest warrant against him in March for war crimes in Darfur, puts NATO member Turkey in an awkward position, but a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said there were no plans to arrest him.

"We have invited Bashir as one of the heads of state to the meeting and he will be treated as one," the official said.

Turkey, which has deepened commercial ties with Sudan, has not ratified the 2002 Rome Statute that established the ICC, but is under pressure to do so to meet European Union standards.

WESTERN WORRIES

The attendance of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad might also add weight to the summit of the OIC, which has little political power.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he did not wish to run for re-election in January, voicing disappointment at Washington's "favouring" of Israel in arguments over re-launching peace talks.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in what would be his first trip abroad since his re-election was announced this week following a fraud-marred ballot, is also expected to attend.

Ahmadinejad's visit to Istanbul will follow a state visit last month by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to Tehran, in which the two countries signed trade and energy deals.

Ankara's growing attachment to Iran has fuelled worries that Turkey, a moderate Muslim democracy and a U.S. ally, is turning its back on Washington and the EU, something it denies.

"Policymakers in the West are getting worried that Turkey's growing ties with Iran -- by lessening that country's sense of isolation -- may frustrate diplomatic efforts to prevent Tehran from building a nuclear bomb," Katinka Barysch, of the Centre for European Reform thinktank, wrote this week.

Erdogan's AK Party government, which has roots in political Islam, has sought to expand Turkey's influence in the Middle East -- a process analysts say has run in parallel with Ankara's frustration at perceived EU misgivings over its membership bid.

During his warmly received trip to Tehran, Erdogan blasted Western powers for treating Iran "unfairly" and said the Islamic republic's nuclear programme was for humanitarian purposes.

Ian Lesser, from the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said that by inviting Ahmadinejad and Bashir, Turkey might deepen perceptions its foreign policy is ambiguous.

"It is an example of the risks that Turkey is running by trying to be too many things in too many places at the same time and without too much discrimination," Lesser said.

(Additional reporting by Zerin Elci and Ibon Villelabeitia in Ankara, Opheera McDoom in Khartoum and Peter Graff in Kabul) (Writing by Ibon Villelabeitia; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Cross-posted to Sudan Watch and Syria Watch

It is not just democracy that is illegal in Iran (Cherie Blair)

We must not allow our focus on the current protests to blind us to the state persecution of Iran’s religious minorities

From FaithFreedom.org
It is not just democracy that is illegal in Iran
By Cherie Blair, Saturday, 11 July 2009

There have been many heroes and heroines in Iran in recent weeks. We have seen thousands take to the streets, risking arrest or even worse, in support of democracy.

Women have been in the forefront of these peaceful protests, which have, shamefully, been met with violence. It is their rights and hopes that are most under threat.

It is a fight for freedom and justice that Shirin Ebadi, the remarkable Iranian lawyer and Nobel Peace laureate, has been leading for decades. Dr Ebadi, a heroine of mine and thousands more around the world, has been tireless in her efforts to represent those facing persecution.

It was typical of her bravery, and her belief in the importance of justice, that she announced she would defend the leaders of Iran’s Baha’i community who were arrested last year before the latest protests. The reaction of the authorities was also typical. Her offices were raided and shut down, angry mobs appeared outside her home and she, and her family, received renewed and serious threats to their safety.

This will have come as little surprise to Dr Ebadi. Not only is she regarded as a thorn in the side of the Iranian authorities, but the Baha’i community, the country’s largest religious minority, has also been the target for severe persecution for much of its history.

For more than 100 years, the followers of the Baha’i faith, a world religion that has its roots in Iran, have faced discrimination and persecution for having progressive ideals that place great emphasis on the unity of religion, the equality of the sexes and the right to education. Bahai’is have been prevented from following their faith, on penalty of imprisonment and even execution.

Their fundamental rights continue to be violated. Arrests remain widespread and arbitrary. Baha’i children are bullied by school officials. Followers of the Baha’i faith can be denied access to higher education and banned from civil service posts. Pensions have been revoked and inheritances refused on grounds of Baha’i belief. Holy sites and graves have been destroyed.

The campaign against the Baha’i community reached a new intensity last spring when its seven-strong national leadership was arrested in dawn raids. More than a year after detention without charge or access to a lawyer, the prisoners’ families have finally been told a court date has been set for this Saturday.

We don’t yet know the charges. But Iranian news reports have suggested that the national committee stands accused of everything from “espionage for Israel” to “propaganda against the Islamic Republic”. Such charges carry very serious penalties in Iran, including the death penalty.

What is also very worrying are reports that the case will be heard by the same Revolutionary Court that recently tried, in secret, the US journalist Roxana Saberi. After proceedings lasting only one day, she was sentenced to eight years in jail.

It was only after the international outcry at this parody of justice and the severity of the sentence that she received another trial. This reduced her sentence to a two-year term that was suspended on appeal.

We need the same international pressure now, before the court case, to ensure the seven men and women receive a fair trial and a chance of justice. They must be given full access to their lawyers, who must have time to prepare their defence. The court proceedings must be open to independent observation.

Indeed, we must step up the pressure to ensure that Iran lives up to its international obligations not just on fair trials but on religious freedom. The Iranian constitution supposedly protects the rights of the country’s religious minorities. The reality, as many following other faiths in Iran can attest, is very different. And the 300,000 strong Baha’i community is deliberately excluded from even this nominal protection. Not only do they have no right to practice their faith, they are regarded as heretics who have abandoned Islam.

This gives the Iranian state an open invitation to mistreat and persecute followers of a religion which has a shared belief in the fundamental tenets of all the world’s leading religions and prophets. Far from posing a threat to the Government, its followers are expected to avoid political partisanship as an article of faith.

There is nothing secret about Iran’s systematic ill treatment of the Baha’i — a campaign that has worsened under President Ahmadinejad. The UK, European Union, US Congress, Canadian Senate, Australian Parliament and a range of leading non-governmental organisations have all monitored and condemned their mistreatment. The European Parliament condemned earlier this year the harassment of Dr Ebadi and the closure of her offices, and urged the release of the seven Baha’i leaders, who, it is believed, were imprisoned “solely on the basis of their belief’.

From within Iran, too, students and academics, artists and poets, political and social progressives have also bravely spoken up for the beleaguered Baha’i community. They, in turn, are now feeling the brunt of the state’s anger.

However, we must make sure that our understandable focus on the pro-democracy protests and their bloody suppression does not cause us to overlook the threat to the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority. It is at times such as these that the Iranian authorities historically have heaped blame on the Baha’i population.

A fortnight ago, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, accused the British Government of supporting the “wayward Baha’i sect”. Banners have been paraded through Tehran’s streets displaying the words “BBC = Baha’i Broadcasting Company”. Today Iran’s Baha’is face a very uncertain, dangerous future.

We must urge the Iranian Government to give the leaders of the Baha’i community a fair trial and allow independent observers access to ensure this happens. We must also call on Iran to live up to its international obligations to protect all its citizens and allow them to hold and practise their religious beliefs without discrimination or fear.

Shirin Ebadi is a courageous woman and a brilliant advocate. But we cannot let her carry this burden on her own.

Cherie Blair is a barrister at Matrix Chambers. She is the wife of the former prime minister of UK.

Cherie Blair: Iran’s Baha’is face “uncertain, dangerous future.”

From Iran Press Watch by BNUK - July 09, 2009:
Cherie Blair: Iran’s Baha’is face “uncertain, dangerous future.”

Cherie Blair QC – one of the United Kingdom’s leading human rights lawyers and wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair – is calling for Iran to ensure that seven leaders of the Bahá’í faith – held in prison for more than a year without charge or access to their legal counsel – be given a fair trial and a chance of justice.

In an article published in Thursday’s edition of The Times, Mrs Blair writes that, in the aftermath of Iran’s disputed Presidential election result, there is a risk that the ongoing threat to the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority may be overlooked. “They face a very uncertain, dangerous future,” writes Ms Blair.

Read Cherie Blair’s article here (Times Online)

The five men and two women, detained in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since the spring of 2008, helped see to the minimum needs of Iran’s Bahá’í community after all Bahá’í institutions were banned by the Iranian government. Their informal committee was disbanded along with all local-level Bahá’í administrative groups in Iran in March this year. Family members of the seven have recently been told that they will face trial on Saturday 11 July. Spurious allegations made against them include “espionage for Israel”, “insulting religious sanctities”, “propaganda against the Islamic republic” and “spreading corruption on earth.”

“We must urge that the Iranian Government give the leaders of the Bahá’í community a fair trial,” writes Mrs Blair, “and allow independent observers access to ensure this happens. We must also call on Iran to live up to their international obligations to protect all their citizens and allow them to hold and practise their religious beliefs, without discrimination or fear.”

Mrs Blair’s article also pays tribute to Iranian lawyer and Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, who announced that she would defend the Bahá’í prisoners. As a result, Dr Ebadi’s “offices were raided and shut down, angry mobs appeared outside her home and she, and her family, received renewed and serious threats to their safety,” writes Mrs Blair.

“Shirin Ebadi is a courageous woman and a brilliant advocate. But we can not let her carry this burden on her own,” Mrs Blair says.

Source

Cherie Blair Article in the Times

From Peter Hulme's blog-post Cherie Blair Article in the Times, Thursday, 09 July 2009:

Cherie Blair has written a strong piece today drawing attention to the situation of the Bahá’ís in Iran. She states:

The campaign against the Baha’i community reached a new intensity last spring when its seven-strong national leadership was arrested in dawn raids. More than a year after detention without charge or access to a lawyer, the prisoners’ families have finally been told a court date has been set for this Saturday.

We don’t yet know the charges. But Iranian news reports have suggested that the national committee stands accused of everything from “espionage for Israel” to “propaganda against the Islamic Republic”. Such charges carry very serious penalties in Iran, including the death penalty.What is also very worrying are reports that the case will be heard by the same Revolutionary Court that recently tried, in secret, the US journalist Roxana Saberi. After proceedings lasting only one day, she was sentenced to eight years in jail.

The campaign against the Baha’i community reached a new intensity last spring when its seven-strong national leadership was arrested in dawn raids. More than a year after detention without charge or access to a lawyer, the prisoners’ families have finally been told a court date has been set for this Saturday.

We don’t yet know the charges. But Iranian news reports have suggested that the national committee stands accused of everything from “espionage for Israel” to “propaganda against the Islamic Republic”. Such charges carry very serious penalties in Iran, including the death penalty.

What is also very worrying are reports that the case will be heard by the same Revolutionary Court that recently tried, in secret, the US journalist Roxana Saberi. After proceedings lasting only one day, she was sentenced to eight years in jail.

It was only after the international outcry at this parody of justice and the severity of the sentence that she received another trial. This reduced her sentence to a two-year term that was suspended on appeal.

We need the same international pressure now, before the court case, to ensure the seven men and women receive a fair trial and a chance of justice. They must be given full access to their lawyers, who must have time to prepare their defence. The court proceedings must be open to independent observation.

In UK row, EU warns Iran of 'further action'

From Press TV, Wed 08 July 2009:
In UK row, EU warns Iran of 'further action'

The European Union has threatened to take "further action" against Tehran if Iranian authorities refuse to release the last detained British Embassy staffer.

Ambassadors from three EU member states on Tuesday called for the "immediate release" of a British Embassy employee, who was arrested in Tehran following the disputed June 12 presidential election, a Swedish EU presidency statement said.

Sweden took over the rotating six-month presidency of the 27-member European Union from the Czech Republic on July 1.

Iran has released eight British embassy employees who were detained on charges of instigating the post-vote unrest in Iran.

This leaves Hossein Rassam -- who works as a political analyst at the UK mission in Tehran -- as the only staffer currently held in Iranian custody.

Iran became the scene of opposition rallies after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was announced as the official winner of the 10th presidential election with nearly two-thirds of the vote.

Iran blames foreign powers, namely Britain, for interfering in its internal affairs and for playing a significant role in fueling the post-vote unrest, which claimed the lives of at least 20 people.

A lawyer for Rassam said on Sunday that his client was charged with breaching national security.

Several members of the European Union have sharply criticized the Iranian government's response to the rallies and have expressed strong opposition to the arrests of the nine local members of the British Embassy staff.

The EU troika also "condemned" the recent arrest of a French academic detained in Iran on charges of espionage.

"All EU member states stood behind the French request for an immediate release" of the teacher, the statement said.

On Tuesday, President Nicholas Sarkozy also demanded the immediate release of the French woman.

According to the French Foreign Ministry, Clotilde Reiss, 23, was arrested last week as she was about to leave Iran after spending five months studying at Isfahan University.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Monday claimed that Reiss' charges were related to pictures of Iran's post-election protests she had taken with her camera and sent by private email to her friend in Tehran. SF/MD/AA

EU presidency condemns Iran for executions

From Reuters Sunday July 05, 2009:
EU presidency condemns Iran for executions

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union on Sunday denounced Iran for a recent spate of executions, highlighting Saturday's hanging of 20 drug traffickers.

The rebuke, issued by Sweden days after assuming the EU's rotating six-month presidency, comes as the 27-nation bloc searches for a unified response to Tehran following its post-election crackdown and detention of British embassy staff.

"The Presidency strongly condemns the executions in Iran during the past few days, in particular the execution of 20 persons in Iran on 4 July," Sweden said in the statement, adding Iran should abolish the death penalty entirely.

Prior to Saturday's hangings, Iranian media reported last week that six drug traffickers were executed in a prison in Qom and six people were hanged for murder in Tehran.

On Friday, EU countries summoned Iranian ambassadors to protest the detention of British embassy employees, and are mulling tougher measures in future such as visa bans and the withdrawal of EU ambassadors from Iran.

Of the nine British embassy staff detained and accused of inciting the street protests in Iran, one remains in custody and one was set to be released on Sunday.

While the EU has led the international outcry over Tehran's crackdown on demonstrators protesting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in the June 12 presidential elections, some of the bloc's members fear going too far and derailing talks on Iran's nuclear program.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for harsher sanctions against Iran, but analysts say Germany and Italy are among those skeptical.

(Reporting by Anne Jolis; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Europe vows ‘strong and collective' response to arrests of nine staffers in Iran

From The Globe and Mail, Monday, 29 June 2009:
Iran's battle with Britain escalates

The diplomatic battle raging between Iran and Britain has escalated after the European Union's promise to launch a “strong and collective” response to Iranian arrests of British embassy staff members over the weekend.

Nine locals employed by the British embassy in Tehran were arrested, with Iran alleging they played some role in encouraging the postelection unrest that has bloodied the streets of Iran's capital city for more than two weeks.

The arrests, which are part of a broader campaign by the country's hard-line leadership to blame the unrest on foreign meddling, were called “harassment and intimidation” by David Miliband, Britain's foreign secretary. They come on the heels of a tit-for-tat set of diplomatic expulsions last week: Iran expelled two British diplomats – the embassy's second and third secretaries – and Britain responded in kind, ejecting two Iranians and pulling families of British embassy staff out of Iran.

“We have protested in strong terms, directly to the Iranian authorities, about the arrests,” said Mr. Miliband, who deemed the detentions “quite unacceptable.”

“The idea that the British embassy is somehow behind the demonstrations and protests that have been taking place in Tehran … is wholly without foundation,” he said.

Both Britain and the U.S. have been the subject of accusations by Tehran of interference related to the June 12 presidential vote, which official results showed was won by hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His main challenger, moderate former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, says the vote was rigged and that the election should be annulled.

The debate unleashed the biggest street protests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution: At least 25 have died and more than 2,000 have been arrested. Several journalists and prominent news organizations have been muzzled or expelled.

Mr. Mousavi's unwillingness to give up his campaign – and the resulting outpouring of supporters who have endured brutal violence and death while resisting police attempts to crush street-level uprisings – has plunged the country into instability and divided its political and clerical elite.

The Guardian Council, Iran's top legislative body, is due to give its final verdict on the election and could rule as early as Monday. On Sunday, Iranian Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejehi pre-empted the council by announcing “no organized” vote-rigging took place. He went on to accuse some British embassy staff of mingling with protest crowds to encourage unrest.

The British embassy, which sits in a compound behind three-metre-high walls in central Tehran, has at least 70 local employees, including a highly regarded political adviser whose job is to keep colleagues abreast of the Islamic republic's internal politics. Unlike British nationals, none of the local staffers are protected by diplomatic immunity. Harassment by Iranian security forces is common, but arrests are not.

The employees who were arrested have not been named. While some were released over the weekend, others remain in detention.

At a meeting in Corfu, Greece, the European Union nations, which maintain a rotating presence in Iran, condemned the arrests and demanded that all detainees be freed.

“Harassment and intimidation would meet a strong and collective EU response,” the union's foreign ministers said.

While the diplomatic wrangling continued, in Tehran, thousands of protesters took to the street for the first time in four days to demonstrate more support for Mr. Moussavi.

Witnesses said riot police used tear gas and clubs to break up a crowd of up to 3,000 protesters who had gathered near north Tehran's Ghoba Mosque. Some described scenes of brutality, telling The Associated Press that some protesters suffered broken bones and alleging that police beat an elderly woman, prompting a screaming match with young demonstrators who then fought back.

The reports could not be independently verified because of tight restrictions imposed on journalists in Iran.

The leadership seems to recognize that ending the street demonstrations is far easier than turning the clock back to the days before the election, when there was still some degree of trust in a system that sought to marry religious authority with popularly elected institutions, political analysts said.

“I think no one can predict Iran's political future,” said an Iranian intellectual who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal. “I do believe some things have changed after this recent upheaval and that events will play out in months and years to come.”

The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled out any compromise with the opposition, said Sunday that the only solution to the crisis was to follow legal procedures. And he urged political leaders not to be what he called tools of foreign influence, returning to a theme of foreign intervention that historically has resonated across Iran but that so far has failed to silence the opposition.

“If the nation and political elite are united in heart and mind, the incitement of international traitors and oppressive politicians will be ineffective,” he said.

With reports from Globe and Mail wire services

Click into the report to view comments.

Leading demonstrators must be executed, Ayatollah Khatami demands

A hardline cleric close to the Iranian regime demanded the execution of leading demonstrators yesterday as the opposition ended the week in disarray.

In a televised sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami called on the judiciary to “punish leading rioters firmly and without showing any mercy to teach everyone a lesson”. He said that those leaders were backed by the United States and Israel. They should be treated as mohareb — people who wage war against God — and deserved execution.

In a clear warning to all other dissenters, he declared: “Anybody who fights against the Islamic system or the leader of Islamic society, fight him until complete destruction.”

The Ayatollah claimed that Neda Soltan, the woman shot during a demonstration last Saturday, had been killed by fellow protesters because “government forces do not shoot at a lady standing in a side street”. [...]

The most outspoken criticism of the regime is now coming from outside Iran. On Thursday President Obama called the regime’s suppression of dissent “outrageous”. He admitted that his hopes of opening a dialogue with Iran had been damaged but rejected Mr Ahmadinejad’s demand that he apologise for criticising the crackdown.

Speaking after talks with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, he said that their two countries spoke with “one voice” in condemning the regime’s behaviour.

The foreign ministers of the G8 powers, meeting in Italy, issued a statement deploring the crackdown and urging Iran to resolve the crisis over the disputed election through democratic dialogue. “We deplore post-electoral violence which led to the loss of lives of Iranian civilians and urge Iran to respect fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression,” the G8 ministers said in a joint statement.

Full story: The Times by Martin Fletcher, Saturday, 27 June 2009:
Leading demonstrators must be executed, Ayatollah Khatami demands

Note, one of 101 comments at the article says:

Do not be fooled by the uneasy calm. There is something in the offing in Iran. They have a saying 'there is fire underneath the ashes'. Ayatollah Khatami (not to be confused with the former president of the same name) might find himself being strung upside down, sooner than he thinks.

Computer mouse cartoon (Iran Cyberwar News Update 4)

Cartoon by Peter Brookes - Times Online UK, 18 June 2009.
- - -

Update on 19 June 2009: From Channel 4 News' Snowmail by Jon Snow, UK, Thursday evening, 18 June 2009 - excerpt:

IRAN ON THE BRINK

Iran is incredibly finely balanced tonight. Despite being asked by the opposition leader, Mr Mousavi, not to come onto the streets for a planned demonstration, there are huge numbers of people out tonight supporting him.

There is also an Ahmadinejad rally elsewhere in town. This as the guardian council say they will do some kind of limited recount in contested areas (clearly leaving the door open to the possibility that they might simply put Mousavi into power – after all, many of the mullahs are well disposed to him).

Mr Ahmadinejad himself has, perhaps predictably, left Iran altogether for a conference in Russia. For him either it is business as usual or in some way he’s been advised to remove himself from the scene for a bit.

For our people on the ground it is exceptionally difficult. All foreign media who do not have bureaux in Tehran have been ordered out by tomorrow. And mobile phone networks upon which we heavily depend, are down.

We hope Lindsey Hilsum will be able to file tonight. Alex Thomson is also covering events. And I shall be doing a take on the remarkable cyber-war that is going on inside Iran.

Iran in turmoil: http://bit.ly/2hGI8

Briton caught up in Iran internet wars: http://bit.ly/KrL76

- - -

From BBC News:

Iran's powerful Guardian Council says it is ready to recount disputed presidential election votes in some areas, after huge protest marches.

For more details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
- - -

From BBC News - 19 June 2009:

Iran's top leader Ayatollah Khamenei says the results of the country's contested elections were not rigged, and warns about more protests.

For more details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
- - -

Update : Excerpt from Channel 4 News' Snowmail by Jon Snow 19 June 2009 c. 6pm GMT -

TOP OF THE HATE LIST

Iran's Supreme Leader has put the frighteners on. In a gripping speech at Friday prayers in front of Iran's top brass he said the protests must end, people must accept the result. It was impossible to fix 11m ballots he claimed, and threw his all behind President Ahmadinejad.

Any further protest, he added, would amount to an attack on Iran. http://tinyurl.com/mvhafb

So will that be enough to stop things? A 'friend' of Moussavi is being quoted as saying he does not want his supporters to protest tomorrow. We'll just have to wait and see what happens on the streets.

The Ayatollah also took aim at Britain and put us top of the hate list cueing chants of 'Death to Britain'. The regime is partly angered by Gordon Brown and David Miliband's comments this week (although they have been pretty muted) but is most irritated at the BBC World and BBC Persian TV channels. We'll be assessing what it all means.

- - -

Update: Excerpt from UK Channel 4 News' Snowmail by Alex T dated Saturday, 20 June 2009 c. 19:30 GMT

Alex T here - our lead item tonight can only be the distressing news given in a bald statement from the Foreign Office by the foreign secretary, David Miliband.

The Iraqi authorities in Baghdad have informed the British there that two bodies have been found.

Their identities are not confirmed. But Mr Miliband indicated that they were likely to be the bodies of two of the five British nationals who have been held for more than two years in Baghdad.

TEHRAN CLASHES

The authorities in Tehran and beyond promised they would get tough(er) with any opposition protesters on the streets today.

Word is, they've made good on that promise. Basiji militias, riot police, ordinary police, undercover police, you-name-it police - they're all out there in force and beating up protesters.

As I write I'm getting word of shots being fired. Our team has been slung out of the country along with most other foreign reporting teams, so getting a clear picture of life on the streets of Tehran - never exactly easy - has become extremely fraught, which is just the way the regime wants it of course.

We shall endeavour to peek through the censors via the web and other means.

Iran's supreme leader appeals for calm: http://tinyurl.com/mjfjsj

- - -

From Drima The Sudanese Thinker 17 June 2009:

Iran and Twitter on Fire

The drama continues unabated in Iran, and Twitter has now become an active battleground apparently getting infiltrated even by the Iranian security apparatus.

To get a sense of what’s happening, watch this video.

To understand how Twitter and new media are such a central part of the psychological warfare getting waged by both sides, read this and watch this video.

More on leveraging Twitter to help Iranian activists here.

Yay to cyberwar.

Channel 4 News's Lindsey Hilsum is blogging direct from Tehran, Iran

UK's Channel 4 News's International Editor Lindsey Hilsum is reporting and blogging direct from the ground in Tehran, Iran 3-4 times a day.

Click here to see her important reports and updates.

Microsoft blocks MSN access for selected countries

Microsoft blocks MSN access for selected countries. List of those affected includes Syria, Cuba, Iran and North Korea.

Source: AJ-IT by Ben, Friday, 22 May, 2009:
Microsoft blocks MSN access for selected countries

Reports are surfacing online confirming that Microsoft has removed access to its Windows Live MSN services for residents in several embargoed countries, the full list of those effected includes Syria, Cuba, Iran and North Korea.

If, say, you’ve woken up in Cuba this morning and gone to log into your MSN account you would have seen this little error message pop-up, “Error 810003c1”, which, buried in Microsoft’s terms means “Microsoft has shut off the Windows Live Messenger IM for users in the countries embargoed by the US hence Microsoft no longer offers Windows Live Service in your country”.

The reasoning or logic behind which countries get denied access and which get allowed is undisclosed but could be considered more than a little confusing as other countries with sanctions against them remain unhindered in accessing the services.

The reason behind the timing of the decision is also unclear, but one thing is for sure, a simple IP-based blocking system won’t keep MSN users in those countries off of the service for very long.