IRAN GROK Daily News – Excerpts from International Media Reports
[Links to full articles were active on the date posted here]
U.N. Report Says Iran Has Fuel for 2 Nuclear Weapons [May 31]
” In their last report before the United Nations Security Council takes up sanctions against Iran, international nuclear inspectors declared on Monday that Iran has now produced a stockpile of nuclear fuel that experts say would be sufficient to make two nuclear weapons. The report, by the International Atomic Energy Agency, a branch of the United Nations, appears likely to bolster the Obama’s administration’s case for a fourth round of economic sanctions against Iran, and further diminish its interest in a deal, recently revived by Turkey and Brazil, in which Iran would send a portion of its nuclear stockpile out of the country. When Iran tentatively agreed eight months ago to ship some of its nuclear material out of the country, the White House said the deal would temporarily deprive Iran of enough fuel to make even a single weapon..” [Complete Report]
Iran Opposition Asks for Anniversary Rally Permit [May 31]
“An Iranian reformist website says the country’s opposition has formally asked authorities for permission to hold a rally on the anniversary of the disputed June 12 presidential election. The request indicates the opposition plans to go ahead with the gathering despite earlier warnings by police they will confront any illegal demonstration on that date. Website Sahamanews on Monday said opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi sent a joint letter to the Tehran provincial governor asking for the permit. The two ran in the 2009 balloting, which the opposition says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won through fraud and that Mousavi was the rightful winner. It says 80 demonstrators have died so far in the government crackdown on opposition protests..” [Complete Report]
Iranian Ambassador: No Deal on US Hikers [May 31]
“The Iranian ambassador in Baghdad said the recent release of two Iranians from Iraqi custody is not an indication of any impeding deal to free three Americans held by Tehran on spying charges. Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi told The Associated Press the fate of the Americans, who have been held since July, is in the hands of the Iranian judiciary and has no connection to the release of two Iranians earlier this month. “There were no deals,” Qomi said. “They (Americans) are in the custody of the judiciary system.” The detained Americans — Sarah Shourd, 31; her boyfriend, Shane Bauer, 27; and their friend Josh Fattal, 27 — were arrested along the Iraqi border. Iran has accused them of espionage, but their families say the three were hiking in northern Iraq’s mountainous Kurdish region and if they strayed into Iran, it was unintentional. In a goodwill gesture by Iran, their mothers were allowed to visit them earlier in May — for the first time since they were taken into Iranian custody..” [Complete Report]
Iran Seizes on Gaza Ship Raid for New Israel Tirade [May 31]
“Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship on Monday was an “inhuman” act that brought Tehran’s archfoe “closer than ever to its end.” The Iranian foreign ministry called on Arab and Muslim nations to stand united in protesting against the raid. “The inhuman action of the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people and preventing the humanitarian aid from reaching Gazans does not show this regime’s strength, but is a sign of its weakness, and all this brings this sinister and fake regime closer than ever to its end,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. The hardliner, who has previously sparked anger around the world for saying that Israel was “doomed to be wiped off the map,” said Monday’s attack was an “insult to human dignity.” “Today, it is clearly evident that the Palestinian issue is not an Arab or Islamic one, but a world issue. Today, the reason for creating and imposing of the Zionist regime has become evident to all,” he said..” [Complete Report]
