IRAN GROK Daily News – Excerpts from International Media Reports
[Links to full articles were active on the date posted here]
Iran Arrests Two Reporters Ahead of Poll Anniversary [Jun 1]
“Iran has arrested two female journalists working for reformist newspapers ahead of the first anniversary of a disputed presidential election, an opposition website reported on Tuesday. “Azam Veisameh and Mahbubeh Khansari were arrested by intelligence agents around midnight,” the Rahesabz website said, adding that agents had also searched the pair’s homes and seized computers. Veisameh has been a parliament reporter for several top-selling reformist newspapers and magazines. Khansari was a city reporter for now-banned reformist dailies. Iran has cracked down heavily on the pro-reform opposition, jailing scores of prominent reformist leaders, journalists and rights campaigners following last June’s re-election of the hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad..” [Complete Report]
France Urges Rapid Adoption of Iran Sanctions [Jun 1]
“A report by a U.N. watchdog saying Iran is stepping up uranium enrichment measures leaves world powers no alternative but to push for new sanctions, France’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. “In light of the report, the Six (five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany) have no choice but to seek the rapid adoption of a new sanctions resolution,” ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters at a regular news briefing. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report on Monday that Iran was preparing extra equipment to enrich uranium to higher levels and continues to stockpile nuclear material. The findings follow a deal brokered by Brazil and Turkey earlier this month under which Iran agreed to ship 1.2 tonnes of its low-enriched uranium stockpile abroad in return for fuel for a medical research reactor..” [Complete Report]
Iran Forces Not in Iraq, Kurdish Region Official Says [Jun 1]
“The Kurdistan Regional Government of oil-rich northern Iraq denied a report by al-Arabiya television that Iranian forces had penetrated 5 kilometers (3 miles) inside Iraqi territory. “These reports about an Iranian incursion into Kurdistan are totally false,” Kawa Mahmoud, a spokesman for the regional government, said today in a telephone interview. “There may be Iranian activity near the border, but there is no incursion.” Iranian forces have carried out operations in the border region to eliminate suspected militants from the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, or PJAK. Turkey has targeted Kurdish opponents of its government the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, along its border with Iraq. PJAK and the PKK both advocate the formation of an independent Kurdistan in the region. The KRG last month called for an immediate end to military operations in the border area, saying they violate Iraqi sovereignty..” [Complete Report]
Iran Wants Netanyahu to Face Trial for Gaza Raid [Jun 1]
“Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday called for Israel’s prime minister and defence minister to face trial for the deadly raid on a Gaza aid flotilla in the eastern Mediterranean. The United States, Britain and France must also be held accountable for Monday’s Israeli raid on the aid ships, said Khamenei, who is all-powerful in the Islamic republic. “The Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference must not be satisfied with anything less than a full lifting of the Gaza blockade,” he said in a statement. Khamenei also called for “an end to the grabbing of Palestinian land in the West Bank and a trial of criminals such as (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and (Defence Minister Ehud) Barak.” He said the “criminal attack … should have convinced everyone that Zionism is the new and more violent face of fascism which is backed by those states which advocate freedom and human rights, above all the US government.” Washington, London and Paris should also be held accountable, he said..” [Complete Report]
