JERUSALEM (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the “greatest gift” Israel could hope for because he galvanises world opinion against Iran, the former head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency said… (read more)

Our Take: Ahmadinejad’s bellicose rhetoric may bolster his domestic standing in the face of his administration’s mismanagement of the economy but it certainly isn’t helping the mobilization effort by the Israelis.

(BBC) - Amnesty International has condemned the hanging in Iran of Reza Hejazi, who was executed for a crime he committed when he was under 18 years old… (read more)

Our Take: This execution was illegal even by Iran’s legal standards (not to mention UN conventions). The international community must follow suit with Amnesty and take action against the regime’s brutal human rights violations.

(IRNA) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here on Wednesday advised the leaders of European countries and the US not to yield to the Zionists’ demands and never count on their support because “We will witness dismantling of the corrupt regime in a very near future.” (read more)

Our Take: Ahmadinejad’s bellicose remarks are an attempt to draw the Iranian people’s attention away from the regime’s failed domestic policies. Why doesn’t Ahamadinejad speak out against the Chechnyan conflict? That’s right, he supports the Russians.

(WSJ) - Russia’s rape of Georgia requires more than just a rethinking of how the West can protect other former Soviet states from a resurgent Kremlin… (read more)

Our Take: “Given Iran’s ambitions to be the vanguard of the Middle East and the fact that Shi’a constitute less than ten percent of the region’s Muslims, sectarian unrest is clearly inimical to Iran’s interests to be a pan-Islamic, not just Shi’i, power, as well as to Khamenei’s ambitions to be the Leader of all Muslims” Karim Sadjadpour

TEHRAN (IANS) - Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday appointed US educated Hamid Molana as his advisor, state-run IRNA news agency reported… (read more)

Our Take: Fascinating development, unfortunately this big news has received little media. Does this evidence a coming thaw in U.S. Iran relations?

(Foreign Policy in Focus) - Though the national sentiment favors wrapping up the Iraq War, there exists a small but powerful movement for starting a new military conflict with Iran… (read more)

Our Take: Attacking Iran will not serve Israel’s strategic interests. A military conflict that fosters enmity among Iranians and Israelis, strengthens Iran’s hardliners, and validates the regime’s security needs will prove disastrous to Israel and the U.S.

(Antiwar) - In covering the story of Iran’s role in Iraq, far too many reporters have passed on blatant propaganda without the slightest effort to point out its inconsistency with documented facts, much less to try to uncover the truth… (read more)

Our Take: “By choosing to make that argument, the officer is admitting that this new narrative about Shi’ites being trained for assassination in Iran is based on a combination of rumor and inference.”

TEHRAN (AKI) - Four young people, who were minors at the time their alleged crimes were committed, are expected to be hanged in the next few days… (read more)

Our Take: Iran must remove those arrested before the age of 18 from death row in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The international community cannot allow another example of the regime’s domestic failures to go unnoticed and unchecked.

TEHRAN (AFP) - A top UN atomic watchdog official was holding fresh talks on Iran’s nuclear drive on Monday, just a day after Tehran announced it sent a rocket into space in a move Washington branded “troubling.” (read more)

Our Take: Apparently, Iran with chemical or biological warheads strapped to an ICBM isn’t a threat to Israel, only irrational and uncharacteristic Iranian suicidal nuclear ambitions are. Yet Mr. Ben’s position is contradictory as the nuclear program would mainly pose a threat to Israel through a nuclear attack with an ICBM, or a weapon with long range strike capability.

TEHRAN (AFP) - An Iranian appeals court has cleared a women’s rights activist who was facing a suspended jail term and lashes of the whip on charges of disturbing public order, a newspaper reported on Monday… (read more)

Our Take: Together, we can save lives, improve human rights, and undermine the regime’s authority by highlighting the regime’s abuse of powers.

(Mathaba) - Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad added in his press conference, ‘Zionists are neither Jews, nor Christians, nor Muslims, they are followers of no monotheist faith, they are merely members of a criminal party.’ (read more)

Our Take: At what prices will demonizing Israel cost the belligerent regime? While Israel bashing may deflect focus of the regime’s failed domestic and foreign policies, the indemnity created by the regime may engender international isolation and years of distrust.

(Financial Times) - When President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad launched Iran’s first domestically built telecommunications satellite into space on Sunday, he did so in the name of the last true Shia imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi… (read more)

Our Take: “Many clerics and politicians believe the government encourages superstition among the masses to win votes and deflect attention away from day-to-day problems such as inflation, currently at 26.1 per cent.”

(FOX News) - The latest political flap in Tehran involves a forged doctoral decree and bogus academic credentials for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s newly appointed Interior Minister, Ali Kordan… (read more)

Our Take: Quite an interesting take on the fissures within the conservative ruling regime. The U.S. must highlight the regime’s corruption and internal difficulties as this will provide Iran’s dissidents with the support they need to promote change from within.

(Global Politician) - Yaqoub Mehrnehad, the Baloch peaceful political activist, journalist and writer was executed today, the fourth of August 2008 along with another young Baluch human rights activist, Abdolreza Taheri Sadr… (read more)

Our Take: The Balochi crisis requires the attention of the international community. Their plight must not go unnoticed in the face of the Islamic republic’s oppression.

(NCRI) – The mullahs’ inhuman regime hanged a prisoner indentified as Hassan Sadeqpour in the southeastern city of Zahedan… (read more)

Our Take: “In past two weeks 40 prisoners were executed by the ruling clerical regime and 114 youths face gallows for the crimes allegedly committed when they were minors.:” Incredulously appalling! The world must stand behind the Iranian people and focus attention to the regime’s abuses.

(NCRI) - The State Security Forces – mullahs’ suppressive police – announced on Wednesday that its agents will inspect cell phones in the streets of the northeastern province of Azerbaijan, reported the state-run news agency Shahab News… (read more)

Our Take: More oppression from the regime that infringes upon the privacy of Iranian people…

(Amnesty International) - An Iranian woman been sentenced to 100 lashes, after being found guilty of adultery at a retrial… (read more)

Our Take: Bravo to the efforts of the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign. Now the international community must turn its focus over to ending the brutal practice of lashing as a punishment for crime.

(JTA) - Iranian lawmakers condemned an official who said he was willing to be “friends” with Israelis… (read more)

Our Take: Utterly appalling response from the Majlis. The Islamic Republic has publicly differentiated between the governments of the U.S. and Israel. Iran’s parliament must apologize to Mashai and Israel for this belligerent action.

TEHRAN (AP) - Iranian state radio says three Kurdish separatists and one Iranian soldier were killed in a shootout in the northwest of the country… (read more)

Our Take: Yet another example of disafected dissidents struggling against the brutal regime. At what cost does this message come?

(Jerusalem Post) - Russia’s war with Georgia and the infuriated reaction in the West to what US President George W. Bush calls Moscow’s “disproportionate response” could make it harder to enlist Russian help on the Iranian issue, according to Israeli diplomatic officials and academics… (read more)

Our Take: Saber rattling affected the price of oil and filled the coffers of Russia’s oil giants. Regardless of U.S. posturing, Russia benefits from the West’s tensions with Iran and sanctions become watered down. Sanctions alone will not solve this conflict but empowered Iranians with the world’s support behind human rights improvement can.

(Press TV) - A senior official with the US Defense Department has dismissed reports that Washington is planning a naval blockade of Iran… (read more)

Our Take: If a naval build up occurs in the Persian Gulf, this will coincide with Iran’s failure to respond “positively” to the U.S. EU’s incentives package for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment… This would more likely be a show of military might rather than a push towards a military conflict that would undermine U.S. interests.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An influential Iranian cleric harshly criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for failing to pursue a policy of privatization to overhaul the lumbering economy, a newspaper reported on Wednesday… (read more)

Our Take: Dissatisfaction with Ahmadinejad mismanagement of the economy is not limited to the regime. Washington should take advantage of the factionalized nature of Iranian politics and support Iran’s dissidents.

(New Statesman) - Mahboubeh Karami has been languishing in Evin prison since 13 June. Amnesty’s Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui explains how the journalist and activist ended up in Tehran’s notorious jail… (read more)

Our Take: All freedom loving individuals must take action and support Ms. Karami’s struggle. To undermine the regime’s authority, the international community must stand behind Iran’s dissidents.

(Religious Intelligence) - An Iranian Christian couple in their 60s have died from injuries sustained when secret police raided a house church service at their house and severely beat them, a source told human rights group Compass… (read more)

Our Take: “We call upon the British Government and the European Union to urge the Iranian Government to conduct an independent enquiry into the deaths of Abbas Amiri and Sakineh Rahnama and to cease arbitrary arrests, detentions and mistreatment of religious minorities in the country”.

(Asia Times) - Iran is gripped by heated controversy over a public statement by a close aide to President Mahmud Ahmadinejad expressing affection toward the Israeli people… (read more)

Our Take: “Iran cannot attack Israel because of the weight of history that puts Iran on the side of defenders of Jewish rights to a homeland and by the same token Israel cannot attack Iran because, first, it would be acting against its own conscience and, second, it would be making a strategic error by weakening the non-Arab bloc in the Middle East”.

(Al Bawaba) - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said on Tuesday that Iranian officials unanimously believe that Israel is an illegitimate regime… (read more)

Our Take: Antagonizing Israel may draw attention away from the regime’s failed domestic policies but it will not allow Iran to gain the regional prestige it so badly desires.

(IHT) - While the international media is focused on Iran’s nuclear program, it is ignoring another important development in that country. Despite worsening economic sanctions, the Iranian government is moving ahead with a large-scale privatization program… (read more)

Our Take: The regime is far from suicidal, plans like these demonstrate the painstaking detail given to promoting Iranian economic interests.

(Haaretz) - Iranian Vice President Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei has been summoned by parliament for having made pro-Israeli comments, ISNA news agency reported Tuesday… (read more)

Our Take: The VP’s progressive comments and the parliament’s bellicose response evidence differences in the regime’s thinking towards Israel and the U.S. Washington ought to pay close attention to these proceedings…

(NCRI) - Some 1,500 part time teachers gathered outside mullahs’ Majlis (parliament) from the western province of Lorestan protesting to contract conditions with the local branch of Ministry of Education… (read more)

Our Take: Another example of the Iranian people’s mass discontent with the regime’s economic mismanagement. The international media must highlight the struggles of Iran’s dissidents that will create the conditions to hold the regime accountable for its abuses.

TEHRAN (AKI) - A prominent Iranian journalist of Arab ethnicity has been sentenced to five years in jail… (read more)

Our Take: Yet another Iranian minority persecuted for expressing a viewpoint that counters the regime’s dominance. The international media must highlight the regime’s human rights abuses so that the world may hold them accountable.

(Jerusalem Post) - Is it possible to discuss Iran and Israel without invoking the specter of another Holocaust? It seems that it isn’t. Israeli officials, US presidential candidates and journalists all invoke the possibility of a second Holocaust with reckless abandon… (read more)

Our Take: “In The New York Times, Morris called for a conventional military strike to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb and inflicting a holocaust on Israel… In other words, he called for a holocaust to prevent a holocaust.”

BEIJING (CNN) - An Iranian swimmer at the Beijing Olympics who withdrew from a race that included an Israeli did so because he was ill, authorities said Monday… (read more)

Our Take: If the Iranian swimmer pulled out because an Israeli opponent participate, the Iran regime’s spirit of sportsmanship, irrespective of borders, would be appalling.

(Deutsche Welle) - Iran and the European Union reiterated their willingness to resume talks on the dispute over Iran’s controversial nuclear programs, according to the ISNA news agency… (read more)

Our Take: Carrots alone will not solve conflict with the regime. Diplomacy must highlight the regime’s failed domestic policy.

(Tehran Times) - Kuwait says it has the ‘courage’ to advise the White House not to escalate its war of words with Iran over the country’s nuclear program… (read more)

Our Take: Indeed, saber rattling will not constructively solve conflict with Iran. To avoid a military conflict and to secure prosperity in the region, Washington must focus diplomacy on all levels of Iranian government and society.

(Press TV) - Over 100 Israeli academics and peace activists have petitioned against a potential military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities… (read more)

Our Take: Hopefully, the Israeli government will do everything in its power to prevent an attack against Iran that would hurt Israel in the long run.

(Washington Post) - The Bush administration seems less and less likely to launch a parting strike on Iran’s nuclear installations — but Israel isn’t sounding nearly so tranquil… (read more)

Our Take: “In times of economic frustration, they rely on anti-Israeli and anti-American gambits to distract attention from domestic hardship; we should view their nuclear program in this context.”

KUWAIT CITY (AHN) - Two additional U.S. Navy aircraft carriers are on their way to the Gulf and the Red Sea, according to Kuwait Times. Kuwait began finalizing its “emergency war plan” on being told the vessels were bound for the region… (read more)

Our Take: America must rely on diplomatic tools to resolve conflict with nations. Constantly resorting to military threats may undermine America’s ability to push the threat of a military response at a crucial moment.

(Washington Post) - A military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities would probably only delay the country’s progress toward nuclear-weapons capability, according to a study that concludes that such an attack could backfire by strengthening Tehran’s resolve to acquire the bomb… (read more)

Our Take: More evidence indicating an attack against Iran would be counterproductive since “Current knowledge of the complex is lacking… Without that knowledge, an attack is unlikely to significantly delay Iran’s mastery of enrichment with gas centrifuges.”

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel is building up its strike capabilities amid growing anxiety over Iran’s nuclear ambitions and appears confident that a military attack would cripple Tehran’s atomic program, even if it can’t destroy it… (read more)

Our Take: Effectively eliminating Iran’s nuclear program requires bunker buster bombs or mini nukes that would result in millions of deaths. No one would benefit from the fallout involved in such an action.

WASHINGTON (VOA) -An unprecedented and highly sensitive investigative report prepared for Iran’s Parliament has detailed instances of corruption throughout the country’s judiciary. But in an apparent political tug-of-war between rival Iranian leaders, the nearly 200-page document has been suppressed and never released to the public… (read more)

Our Take: The Iranian people deserve accountability from their leaders suppression of its corrupt nature. This evidences how the world must stand behind Iran’s dissidents to develop leverage against the regime.