Iran Says Its Nuclear Policy Has Not Changed - Elaine Sciolino, New York Times

Iran Says Its Nuclear Policy Has Not Changed - Elaine Sciolino, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/world/middleeast/06iran.html?ref=world

Iran’s nuclear policy has not changed, an Iranian government spokesman said Saturday in Tehran, confirming that Iran would not comply with Security Council resolutions requiring it to stop enriching uranium. “Iran’s stand regarding its peaceful nuclear program has not changed,” the spokesman, Gholam Hossein Elham, said in his weekly meeting with reporters. His remarks came a day after Iran formally responded to a proposal of incentives aimed at resolving the impasse over the country’s nuclear program. Iran’s response failed to address the crucial issue of its uranium enrichment activities, according to officials involved in the diplomacy.

Syria Prepared to Break Links With Iran - Carolynne Wheeler, Daily Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/2253080/Syria-%27would-break-links-with-Iran%27-if-America-steps-in-to-help-it.html

Syria is ready to break off its close links with Iran if America gives it financial and military backing, a former Israeli diplomat involved in unofficial peace talks has revealed to The Sunday Telegraph. According to the official, who has been engaged in low-key "second track" discussions with Syrian representatives for many months, Syria's President Bashar Assad is increasingly open to a deal which would greatly weaken Iranian influence in the region. Alon Liel, a former director of Israel's foreign ministry, said the prospect of a peace agreement with Syria was growing, though it might require a new American president before a deal could be agreed. Syria's support for radical groups including Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hizbollah, both also backed by Iran, has played a large part in fomenting trouble in the Middle East.

Iran's Leaders Divided on US - Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/05/AR2008070501402.html

A senior adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected a proposed expansion of the US diplomatic presence in Iran, saying in an interview that the idea is a "propaganda pose." Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, in an interview last Sunday, said that to improve relations with Iran, the United States would have to withdraw its military forces from Iraq and accept Iran's nuclear program. During a visit to the United Nations last week, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki signaled willingness to allow the first US diplomats to work in Tehran, at an interests section now staffed by non-Americans. He also called for direct flights between Tehran and New York, repeating an Iranian proposal made in 2007.

Presidential Adviser Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi - Washington Post interview
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/05/AR2008070501558.html

A transcript of correspondent Thomas Erdbrink's interview with Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, special adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on June 28 at the presidential building in Tehran.

‘Germ Warfare’ Fear Over Traded Monkeys - Daniel Foggo, The Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article4276460.ece

Hundreds of endangered monkeys are being taken from the African bush and sent to a “secretive” laboratory in Iran for scientific experiments. An undercover inquiry by The Sunday Times has revealed that wild monkeys, which are banned from experiments in Britain, are being freely supplied in large numbers to laboratories in other parts of the world. All will undergo invasive and maybe painful experiments leading ultimately to their death.

Avoiding Military Option in Iran - San Francisco Chronicle editorial
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/06/EDT411I3TB.DTL

When it comes to confronting Iran, which President Bush will it be - the new international hand-holder who blessed a first step in curbing North Korea's nuclear stockpile, or the old unilateralist who went it alone in Iraq? It's anything but a diplomatic parlor game. Bush has six months left in office, and despite low poll ratings and draining wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the question is a serious one. Might he really launch an attack on Iran, which has refused to halt nuclear research that could lead to weapons?

Iranians Shift Tone and Tactics - Trudy Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer opinion
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080706_Worldview__On_talks__Iranians_shift_tone_and_tactics.html

There has been a flurry of speculation in Washington about whether President Bush will authorize an attack on Iran's nuclear sites before his term ends. Sy Hersh has a new piece in the New Yorker detailing Bush's authorization of escalated covert ops against Iran. Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz has warned that military action looks "unavoidable" given Iran's nuclear program. Israel recently carried out expanded air exercises over the Mediterranean. But the really interesting Iran story is not whether there will be an American or Israeli attack. I believe either is highly unlikely. The big story is whether Iran will preempt such a risk by re-engaging in talks on the nuclear issue.

Time for Iran to Face More Sanctions - Peter Zimmerman, Boston Globe opinion
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/07/06/time_for_iran_to_face_more_sanctions/

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency said last month that there was no danger that we would wake up one morning to find Iran the next nuclear power. He said that Iran would first have to leave the Nonproliferation Treaty, evict the IAEA's inspectors, "and then it would need at least... six months to one year." That puts an Iranian nuclear capability well into the future, next year. Mohammed ElBaradei's comments came after Israel conducted a military exercise in which its warplanes flew the equivalent of a one-way mission to Iran, an effort possibly intended to remind Iranian hardliners that Israel has the capability to strike at their "peaceful" uranium enrichment facilities.