August (Iran Press Service)

Thursday, August 28, 2008
Let’s Talk To Iran
As election time in the US and Israel draws nearer, the public discourse regarding the "Iranian nuclear threat" has intensified. Both candidates for the US presidency, and a few of those who would like to win become the next Prime Minister of Israel, reach higher peaks with every declaration, presenting Iran as a live bomb and an immediate threat to world peace. Indeed, Iran is not a paragon of virtue. Its aspirations exceed by far these that were described in the December 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, which turned around a previous assessment from 2005. By Nachik Navoth.

Travel Ban On Actress Golshifteh Farahani Dismayed Iranians
Sunday, August 24, 2008 Once again the Iranian clerical-led authorities shot themselves on their foot by preventing a popular actress from leaving the country for Hollywood where she was due to negotiate new movie contracts, after she performed in the Ridley Scott’s “Body of Lies”. By Safa Haeri.

Attacking Iran via South Ossetia
Thursday, August 21, 2008 An editor I once worked for told me that when his parents and grandparents discussed the day's news over dinner, they would inevitably finish by asking each other: "Is it good for the Jews?" By Stephen Kinzer.

So Far, Ahmadinejad Resists In The Storm Against Rahim Masha’i
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 As days passes, pressures increases on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to kick out Mr. Esfandiar Rahim Masha’i, his deputy in charge of tourism and cultural heritage for having dared to say “Iran is not enemy of the Israel people”.

Did The New Interior Minister Lied About His “Honorary Doctorate”?
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Is Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about stab Mr. Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Majles, regarded as the main rival at fanatic President in the next presidential elections at the hands of one of the Speaker’s closest ally in Mr. Ali Kordan, the new Interior Minister? By Safa Haeri.

By Attacking Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, The Islamic Republic Revives Stalinian Methods
Saturday, August 9, 2008 In a revival of the worse Stalinian methods of suppressing dissidents, the official news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran IRNA claimed that the daughter of Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, the outspoken Iranian lawyer, human rights campaigner and winner of the prestigious Nobel Peace in 2003 has converted to Baha’ism, a fate outlawed in Iran and considered as a “seditious sect”. By Safa Haeri.

Iran Is Seeking To Gain Time While Waiting For Mahdi To Come
Wednesday, August 6, 2008 Iran’s international situation is so disastrous, the officials so discredited, the moral so low, the despair and discontent so deep, the corruption so generalized and so obvious, the regime so hated that in order to divert the attention of the public to other issues and mobilize them behind a fear factor, the decision-makers are genuinely looking to a show-down with the United States or Israel, or the two, informed sources in Tehran told Iran Press Service. By Safa Haeri.

Drawing A Red Line With Iran
Saturday, August 2, 2008 The Bush administration's decision to open direct contacts with Iran is to be welcomed, but precisely because it marks such a break with previous U.S. policy, it also carries a great danger. This is that hard-liners in the American and Israeli governments will treat this Western proposal as a last chance for the Iranians, to be followed by an attack if Tehran fails to accept it. By Anatol Lieven and Trita Parsi *.