Doha Debates

Arabs believe Tehran planning nuclear bomb
Tuesday, November 10 2009
A narrow majority of Arabs reject Iran’s assurances that its nuclear programme is peaceful and believe the country is planning to build an atomic bomb, according to the region’s only politically independent debating forum.
A motion that “This House trusts Iran not to build a nuclear bomb” was defeated by 52% to 48% during an animated discussion in the latest of Qatar’s monthly Doha Debates.

Washington Examining Ways of Forcing Iran to Drop Nuclear Program

By Ali Nourizadeh

London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Officials close to President George W. Bush have warned Iran that the current US administration is examining ways to force Tehran to comply with “the will of the international community regarding its nuclear program” and giving up its secret nuclear program, uranium enrichment and the production of heavy water in Isfahan and Arak.

what could happen next?

according to Dr Alireza Nourizadeh, a prominent London-based Iranian analyst who follows the latest developments in Iran's nuclear program closely. Yesterday, in his weekly Persian TV program, Dr Nourizadeh predicted Russians and Chinese would eventually choose not to block the US and EU-3 efforts to refer Iran to the UN Security Council:

suicide attacks against ‘enemies of Islam

Iran’s president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad’s spiritual guide, Ayatollah Muhammad Taqi Messbaah-Yazdi, is also the brains behind recruiting suicide bombers. He does so via ads placed in some of the Iranian daily papers.

Alireza Nourizadeh, Iranian scholar and Middle East and Islam pundit, reports in the London-based Arab-language newspaper, A-Sharq Al-Awsat....

Tehran Backing Chalabi as Iraq's Next PM

By Ali Nourizadeh

London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi deputy prime minister and leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) party, has won the conditional support of the Iranian leadership for his decision to contest the elections independently of the "Unified Iraqi Coalition." Senior officials in Tehran have also expressed their support for Chalabi as the prime minister after the Iraqi elections to be held in mid-December if he wins enough seats in parliament that qualifies him to compete with the other likely leading candidates former Prime Minister Dr. Iyad Allawi, incumbent Prime Minister Dr. Ibrahim al-Jafari, and Adel Abdul Mahdi, the prominent leader in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) and vice president.

Iranian President’s Comments on Israel Provoke International Outcry

By Judith Latham
Washington
04 November 2005
Judith Latham's report 1.2 MB (Real)
Judith Latham's Report 3.4 MB(MP3)

Several analysts say Ahmadinejad's threats to wipe Israel literally off the map have raised serious concern about Iran's nuclear aspirations
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad provoked an international outcry last week when he called for Israel to be “wiped off the map." He made the inflammatory remarks to a group of about 4,000 students at a Tehran program called The World without Zionism, in preparation for an annual anti-Israel demonstration.
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Are Egypt's Pro-Democracy Demonstrations Sign Of Broader Change

by Breffni O'Rourke
Thousands of Egyptian students have turned out in Cairo to stage fresh demonstrations in support of political reform. The demonstrations are just the latest protest against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. They exemplify a rising desire for change in the Middle East, and their action comes amid U.S. calls for increased democracy in the region. But is change really on the political horizon?

Election Of Talabani Marks Victory For Middle East's Kurds

By Valentinas Mite
The appointment of Jalal Talabani, a prominent Kurdish politician, as Iraqi president last week was widely celebrated by millions of Kurds scattered across the Middle East. The move could have two divergent effects: it might encourage Kurds to integrate better in the countries they live in, but it might also raise their aspirations for a Kurdish state.

The Tragedy of Being Kurd in Iran

Dr. Ali-Reza Nourizadeh

THE Kurds in Iran, despite being the pioneers of the first Iranian kingdom, and the Medes era considered being the start of civilization, and unlike Turkey where Kurds are called “the mountainous Turks”, no one in Iran has dared to make such insulting remarks concerning the Kurds in Iran, Kurds have been suppressed by far more than any other Iranian nationalities.

Despite this, never in the pages of Iranian history, even during the most oppressive periods on the regional authorities in the Reza Shah era in the early decades of the twentieth century where extraordinary injustice was inflicted upon Kurds, they have never faced so much oppression as the last two decades of mass killings and cultural alienation.

Iranian dissident is war’s first casualty

اين مقا له را من در ۱۸ فوريه گذشته در ديلي استار لبنان نوشتم...آن روز مسعود رجوي و بوقهاي

امنيتي و تبليغاتيش مرا به انواع القاب و صفات مفتخر كردند...امروز اما ميبينيد همه آ نچه گفته بودم

به حقيقت پيوسته است...مقاله را مي آورم شايد بعضي عبرت گيرند... علير ضا نوريزاده

Although it has been more than 24 centuries since Alexander the Great invaded Persepolis, Iranians still remember two of their heroes of that era: Aryo-Barzan, the brave Persian commander who fought to the death at the head of his Khaledoon Brigade but failed to check Alexander’s advance after 48 days of fighting; and a local village headman who betrayed his homeland by guiding the invading Macedonians through the mountains to the rear of Aryo-Barzan’s lines. That was how Alexander managed to defeat the Iranians and subjugate the Pars Empire.

Iran confirms arrests in Kazemi beating

By ESTANISLAO OZIEWICZ
With a report from Kamyar Razavi
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - Page A2

Tehran has officially confirmed that five Iranians have been arrested in connection with the beating death of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi.

Foreign Minister Bill Graham said that his Iranian counterpart told him by telephone yesterday that those detained include prison officials and security-intelligence agents.

"We will get [more] information as time develops as the legal procedures develop."

Arrests still leave questions about senior Iranian official

Monday, July 28, 2003
TU THANH HA AND KAMYAR RAZAVI

MONTREAL -- News over the weekend that authorities in Iran have detained
five security agents in connection with the death in custody of the Montreal
photojournalist Zahra Kazemi leaves a crucial question unanswered: What will
happen to the high-ranking Iranian official who was alleged to have
personally beaten her?

Ottawa recalls ambassador after Iran buries Kazemi

OTTAWA — Angry Canadian officials say they are considering an array of political and economic measures to protest against the burial of Montreal photojournalist Zahra Kazemi in Iran.These could include trade sanctions and travel restrictions on Iranian business people and students wanting to come to Canada, government sources said yesterday.

Khatami, Nasrallah Make Common Cause

LONDON: Last year, only weeks before Mohammad Khatami consented to run for re-election, many associates of the reformist Iranian president were convinced he would not seek a second four-year term in office, having, in his own words, had a crisis thrust on him on each and every day of the first.

Can relations between Iran and Jordan be repaired?

Hizbullah claims Jordanian authorities blocked missiles heading for West Bank, but states concerned refuse to elaborate

Micheline Hazou
Special to The Daily Star