United Press International BAGHDAD, March 30 (UPI) — The U.S. government is reportedly blocking Iranian moves to siphon oil from disputed oil fields on the border with Iraq to get around tightening international sanctions that threaten its energy industry, Iran’s economic backbone. Tehran’s strategy appears to have been to extract oil from the border fields […]

The Iranian government has intensified its campaign of torture, arbitrary arrests, and detentions against political critics, Human Rights Watch said in a report released June 7, 2004. Iran’s outgoing reformist parliament in May passed legislation to prohibit torture, but without effective implementation, the law remains an empty gesture. The 73-page report, “Like the Dead in […]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor 2003 February 25, 2004 The Islamic Republic of Iran [note 1] is a constitutional, theocratic republic in which Shi’a Muslim clergy dominate the key power structures. The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i, dominates a tri-cameral division of power […]

If there had been no press, no investigations by the Parliament, no Article 90 Commission, I think that I would still be in prison or I would be dead. They made sure that I was not forgotten�If I had spoken out and no one knew my name from the newspapers, I would be dead. I […]

On May 25, 2006, Iranain-American held their second convention for a democractic, secular republic in Iran and in support of democractic change there. Below are some media reports on this event. The Washington Times, May 25, 2006 As a teenager, she spent 2½ years in an Iranian prison, fearing for her life and watching other […]

ANKARA (AFP) — Turkey has intercepted a vessel in the Mediterranean suspected of carrying weapons and ammunition to Syria, a diplomatic source told AFP on Wednesday. “We received information that the vessel has a cargo of arms and ammunition headed for Syria,” the source said on condition of anonymity, adding that Turkish authorities would search […]

By CNN’s Political Unit Americans see Iran as a bigger threat to the United States than North Korea, according to a new poll. The CNN/ORC International Poll released Wednesday showed 81% view Iran as a very serious or moderate threat to the U.S. Three quarters of Americans said North Korea represents a similar threat. The […]

United Press International DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 20 (UPI) — Iran has been building up its submarine fleet for the last decade, adding mainly indigenously built small boats armed with torpedoes and mines that make them ideal platforms to carry out Tehran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian […]

Washington Post (blog) By Joby Warrick In a speech three months ago, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei repeated his religious edict against nuclear weapons, insisting that his country would never build them. But a newly published document suggests that Khamenei hasn’t always viewed the bomb as a “great sin.” According to an internal U.N. […]