U.S. Moves to Seize Properties Tied to Iran

(Benjamin Weiser | New York Times | 12 November 2009) - Federal prosecutors in Manhattan began legal action on Thursday to seize properties in Queens and across the country where several mosques are located in a broad move against a nonprofit organization that was accused of illegally providing money and other services to Iran. Read the rest of this entry »

The Plight of Iranian Journalists

(Muhammad Sahimi | Tehran Bureau | 8 November 2009) - Except for a brief period in the beginning of President Mohammad Khatami’s first term (1998-2000); and earlier, between 1941, when Allied forces occupied Iran, and 1953, the year the CIA-led a coup against the popular government of Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh, freedom of the press in Iran has been under constant assault over the past century. Hundreds of Iranian journalists have been jailed or driven into exile. Many have been murdered. In short, Iran has become one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist. Read the rest of this entry »

Patience with Iran

(Robert Dreyfuss | The Nation | 5 November 2009) - The Green Movement opposition flexed its muscles again in Iran this week, taking advantage of anti-American protests on the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran (aka “the nest of spies”) to rally thousands of anti-Ahmadinejad protestors into the streets. Read the rest of this entry »

Bunkers or Breakthrough?

(Roger Cohen | New York Times OpEd | 5 November 2009) — In his last month as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei finds himself at the explosive crux of the world’s nuclear politics, ferrying messages between the Obama administration and Tehran. “They are talking through me,” he says. Read the rest of this entry »

13 of Aban Protests

On the 30th Anniversary of the Takeover of the US Embassy Students Take to the Streets in Protests across Iran

(Editor | Peace with Iran | 4 November 2009) – Today is the 13th of Aban:  the official day Iranians commemorate the student takeover of the US Embassy during the 1979 Revolution.  This year, the 30th anniversary of this historic day,  students also mobilized.  This time they took to the streets to protest their government and to demand their voices be heard and the rights of all Iranians be respected. Read the rest of this entry »