AP: President Mohammad Khatami said Tuesday Iran will continue its nuclear program even if that means ending inspections by the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency.
"We've made our choice: yes to peaceful nuclear technology, no to atomic weapons,'' Khatami told a military parade in Tehran.
Reuters: Libya, which last year renounced its nuclear weapons programme, on Monday urged Iran to follow suit and comply with the demands of the U.N. nuclear watchdog to stop enriching uranium which can be used to make atomic bombs.
United Press International: Iranian President Mohammed Khatami Monday insisted his country has a right to possess nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
The official Iranian News Agency, IRNA, quoted him as asking, "Why would the Iranian people be deprived of the right to be capable and strong?"
AFP: UN atomic agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei opened a general conference of his agency by reiterating its call on Iran to fully suspend uranium enrichment, despite Tehran's apparent defiance.
His comments came the day after Iran rejected the International Atomic Energy Agency's resolution calling for a halt to sensitive nuclear work.
Iran Focus: Tehran, Sep. 20 A series of government-released statistics and interviews with a number of Iranian officials indicate that despair and frustration are on the rise within Irans huge under-30 population.
The head of the government-run National Youth Organization told local journalists last week that according to our studies, forty percent of young people across the country suffer from depression.
Reuters: The United States, the EU and Russia urged Iran on Monday to comply with the U.N. nuclear watchdog's demand that it halt all activities linked to uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to build an atom bomb.
AP: Iran may resume uranium enrichment "any moment," Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi said on state television Monday. "We suspended (enrichment) voluntarily and we may continue it voluntarily," Yunesi said. "And we may resume (enrichment) any moment."
The International Atomic Energy Agency demanded on Saturday that Iran halt all uranium enrichment activity ...
Iran Focus: Tehran, Sep. 19 The Assembly of Experts, an exclusive body of Muslim clerics who appoint the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, opened its twelfth session today amid heightened regional and international tensions over Irans nuclear project and its meddling in Iraq.
Sunday Times: British intelligence has identified a group of Iranian warlords as the main source of funding and training for the Shiite insurgency in southern Iraq.
A joint operation in Iraq between army intelligence field agents and MI6 has revealed that a cell within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is intent on bringing bloodshed to Iraq.
New York Times: Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld have raised sharp complaints in recent days that Iran is providing support for the insurgency in Iraq, expressing concerns over what they say are Iran's attempt to shape Iraq's future.
Washington Post: High on the list of issues so far absent from this year's presidential campaign debate is Iran, home to a militant Islamic regime that openly sponsors terrorism, foments anti-American resistance in Iraq and has confessed to a secret campaign to acquire the technology needed to produce nuclear weapons.
United Press International: CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency war-games have predicted unfavorable consequences of a U.S. pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Newsweek quoted an Air Force source as saying, "The war-games were unsuccessful at preventing the conflict from escalating."
The Guardian: Iran rejected UN demands that it freeze all aspects of its uranium enrichment programme yesterday, threatening to cancel access for nuclear inspectors and abandon its international nuclear commitments if the issue is taken to the security council.
New York Times: Iran rejected today an order by the United Nations nuclear watchdog to freeze all its nuclear enrichment programs and warned that it would drop out of the nonproliferation treaty if its case is sent to the Security Council.
The International Atomic Energy Agency adopted a resolution on Saturday calling on Iran to suspend all its activities related to uranium enrichment before its next meeting in November.
Reuters: A bus, a lorry and a car collided in southern Iran on Sunday, killing 18 people, police said.
At least 22 people were injured in the accident between the cities of Shiraz and Fasa in southern central Iran, state television quoted a police officer as saying.
New York Times: The hard-liners who won Iran's parliamentary elections last February have focused on women's rights in their efforts to reverse some of the reforms carried out under the moderate president, Mohammad Khatami.
AFP: Iran's conservative-controlled parliament said it would not ratify a treaty allowing tougher UN nuclear inspections after the International Atomic Energy Agency passed a tough resolution against the Islamic republic.
"The continued defiance of principles by the IAEA's board of governors leaves no room for us to ratify the additional protocol, and will lead us to question what is the point for the nation to leave its doors open for IAEA inspectors," said the statement read out in parliament.
#Iran - April 10 - Bojnurd, North Khorasan Province, Northeast