SENIOR IRAQI CLERICS AND IRAN TAKING DISTANCES FROM SADR
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 PARIS, 27 Apr. (IPS) The unexpected, and somehow surprising return of hard line Ayatollah Kazem Ha’eri to Najaf might be the result of the fact finding mission an Iranian delegation that visited Baghdad recently, political analysts said Tuesday. By Safa Haeri.

DEMONSTRATORS URGE THE REGIME TO FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS
Monday, April 26, 2004 TEHRAN 26 Apr. (IPS) Hundreds of Iranians, families of jailed journalists, intellectuals, scholars and political activists demonstrated Sunday in front of the office of the United Nations in Tehran, with slogans such as "free all political prisoners" or "referendum, referendum, this is the demand of the people". By Safa Haeri.

KHAMENEH'I IS RESPONSIBLE OF UN-ELECTED EXACTIONS, PRESS ASSOCIATION SAYS
Saturday, April 24, 2004 In an unprecedented move, the Iranian Association for the Defence of the Press (ADP), in a open letter, called on Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic to “start from himself answering the people” about his action during the 15 years he is serving as the country’s highest authority. By Safa Haeri.

IRAN PROTEST TO GERMANY FOR MYKONOS COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE
Thursday, April 22, 2004 Iran protested Wednesday to Germany for the official inauguration, on Monday, in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district of a commemorative plaque in the memory of four Iranian Kurdish leaders assassinated on 21 September 1992 in an Iranian restaurant on order from the Islamic Republic of Iran. By Parviz Mardani.

FRANCE WARNED IRAN TO FULLY COMPLY WITH IAEA
Thursday, April 22, 2004 France on Wednesday, speaking in the name of Europe but also Britain and Germany, told the Islamic Republic to cooperate "fully" with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and present a "crystal clear" report on its controversial atomic activities to the next meeting of the Agency's Board of Director, scheduled for mi-June, or "face loosing international confidence and possible consequences". By Safa Haeri.

THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC CONTINUES CRACKDOWN OF THE PRESS AND JOURNALISTS
Monday, April 19, 2004 The Islamic Republic of Iran added insult to injury last week by awarding the prize of “Merit” and “Best Servant” to Mr. Sa’id Mortazavi, a judge responsible for the closure of more than one hundred newspapers, magazines and publications and the arrest of dozen of leading journalists on the orders of his boss, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i. By Safa Haeri.

MOQTADA SADR, THE CHAMPION OF LOSING OCCASIONS
Sunday, April 18, 2004 While fighting continue in Iraq between the American and Coalition forces in both north and south of Baghdad with Sunni and Shi’a militants and Iranian ended their aborted mediation, a senior Iranian journalist says that Moqtada al-Sadr, the young, turbulent cleric who has reached fame thanks to the free political atmosphere in Iraq prevailing after the fall of Saddam Hussein has lost all opportunities and “soon, no one would hear of him”. By Hasan Hashemian.

IRANIAN ATTACHE SHOT DEAD IN BAGHDAD
Thursday, April 15, 2004 TEHRAN 15 Apr. Khalil Na'imi, the cultural and press attache at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad was shot and killed on Tuesday, the official Iranian news agency IRNA confirmed. By Safa Haeri.

TEHRAN BLAMED ON THE AMERICANS THE KILLING OF ITS DIPLOMAT IN BAGHDAD
Thursday, April 15, 2004 TEHRAN 15 Apr. (IPS) Iran condemned the assassination of one of its diplomat in Baghdad, attributing it indirectly to the Americans that, in the words of the official spokesman of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, "with their silly occupation of Iraq, they have plunged the nation, the region and the world into chaos". By Safa Haeri.

AFTER EXPECTED RESHUFFLING, KHATAMI WOULD BECOME A DOCILE PM
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 TEHRAN, 13 Apr. (IPS) With the life of the present Majles (Iranian Parliament) approaching fast, the most urgent question facing the embattled President Mohammad Khatami is the fate of his government, now that the conservatives have taken back the control of the Majles. By Safa Haeri.

NO OTHER WAY FOR IRAN BUT TO CHANGE THEOCRACY FOR DEMOCRACY
Monday, April 12, 2004 LONDON, 12 Apr. (IPS) "There can be no change in Iran unless the present theocratic-based Constitution of the regime is radically changed into a real democracy", says Mr. Mohammad Mohsen Sazegara, a veteran Iranian political dissident, adding that, "however, no real reform could take place from within the system", referring to the failure of President Mohammad Khatami’s efforts to introduce some reforms, even limited. By Safa Haeri.

"IRAN DOES NOT WANT TO INTERVENE IN IRAQ", HASHEMI RAFSANJANI
Friday, April 9, 2004 TEHRAN, 9 Apr. (IPS) Former Iranian President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday said the United States had claimed to help establish a democratic system in Iraq but what they are doing now is massacring large crowds of people. By Safa Haeri.

IRAN ANNOUNCES SUSPENDING NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES
Tuesday, April 6, 2004 TEHRAN, 6 Apr. (IPS) Iran announced on Monday that it will stop building and assembling centrifuges for uranium enrichment this week, but at the same time expressed dissatisfaction with the attitude adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European countries "big 3".
By Safa Haeri.

CASPIAN SEA STATES TO DISCUSS THE SEA’S STATUS
Monday, April 5, 2004 MOSCOW 5 Apr. (IPS) Kamal Kharrazi, the Foreign Affairs Minister of Iran called Monday for a "friendly and just" solution to the crippling problem of dividing the Caspian Sea waters. By Safa Haeri.

BUSH TO PUNISH COMPANIES SELLING NUCLEAR EQUIPMENT TO IRAN
Saturday, April 3, 2004 The Bush administration is imposing sanctions on 13 foreign companies and individuals in seven countries that it says have sold equipment or expertise that Iran could use in nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, the New York Times quoted Friday officials from the George W. Bush administration. By Safa Haeri.

AFGHANISTAN SATISFIED WITH THE DONORS
Thursday, April 1, 2004 BERLIN First of April (IPS) International donors pledged a total of 8.2 billion US Dollars for the war-shattered Afghanistan against Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s request for $27.5 billions in funding over seven years to help stopping his country becoming "a haven for drugs and terrorism". By Safa Haeri.