Iran

One dramatic development in relation to Iran has been the revelations that, according to the MoD’s own documents, the 15 British sailors and Marines captured by Iran last April were in waters that are not internationally agreed as Iraqi; the US and UK unilaterally drew a dividing line between Iraqi and Iranian waters – without informing Iran where it was; and that Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels were crossing this invisible line three times a week.
All this contradicts defence…

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), visited Iran in January, and was allowed a rare meeting with Iran's supreme leader, ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

ElBaradei, who announced that the IAEA's investigation into Iran's past nuclear activities (following the “work plan”) would be completed by mid-February, was making use of a window of opportunity caused by events in Washington.

The US attempt to escalate confrontation with Iran suffered a…

While UN nuclear inspectors report “good progress” on their “work plan” to clear up suspicions about Iran's past nuclear activities, the United States has been deliberately undermining Russian diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.

Meanwhile, urged on by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian government seems to be edging closer to a climbdown over its nuclear programme.

On 18 November, Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer who won the Nobel…

Persepolis is an autobiography of Marjane Satrapi's childhood. Marjane Satrapi is telling her story in comic strips. Her childhood story is about growing up in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution.

I think this is a very unique comic-strip book. I have never come across a comic strip about a Muslim girl who is so determined and strong-willed.

I think this book would attract young adults.

Once I picked up the book I couldn't put it down. I thought how the story…

Originally produced as a catalogue to accompany an exhibition of prints which took place on artist Emily Johns' return from an Fellowship of Reconciliation peace delegation to Iran in May 2006, Drawing Paradise on the 'Axis of Evil' is ever more pertinent as the United States ratchets up its aggression and imposes more sanctions on Iran with UK backing.

Her pictures, exuding a calm stillness and beauty, are drawn with particular reference to the historical relationship between Britain…

Suspicion of the media is widespread, not only in Britain. But is it really true that the mass media put out “propaganda”? If so, exactly how is this achieved in an open society like Britain?

How can we end up with distorted reporting when there is no government censorship to keep reporters in line? How could there possibly be “brainwashing under freedom” as some have suggested? In this series of columns, we will be exploring questions like these, trying to shine some light on the…

International law does not ban uranium enrichment. In fact, countries which have signed the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) gain the `inalienable right' to develop nuclear power programmes for peaceful purposes.

The bargain made in 1968 was that non-nuclear weapon states would gain access to nuclear technology, so long as they did not use it to develop nuclear weapons (Article IV); and the nuclear weapon states would get rid of all their nuclear weapons (Article VI).…

Iran stands accused by the US of developing nuclear weapons, supporting global terrorism and insurgents and Afghanistan, and occasionally of suppressing democracy and human rights at home. How important are these in US policy do they genuinely drive Dick Cheney's manoeuvrings? What of Iran's new alliances with Russia and China, which have a significance far beyond Central Asia?
Iran's nuclear programme is a genuine source of concern, a potential threat to the aims of non-proliferation…

One of the most deeply educational books we've read is Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran by Roy Mottahedeh (Oneworld, reprinted 2000) which explores the texture of life in Iran as well as theology and history.

The best all-round book on the current crisis remains Andreas Malm and Shora Esmailian's Iran on the Brink (Pluto, 2007), reviewed in PN2485. Roger Howard's Iran in Crisis? Nuclear Ambitions and the American Response (Zed, 2004) and Iran Oil: The New Middle…

A peace museum is a place where peace is given a space to grow, and visitors can learn about alternatives to the culture of war and violence.

Some people may think it would be unlikely that you would find a peace museum in Tehran, Iran, but they would be wrong.

Tehran is home to a thriving new peace museum with special exhibits on the evils of weapons of mass destruction, especially chemical weapons since Iranians know first hand the horror of their use. During the Iran -…

Hopes for a peaceful resolution of the Iran crisis rest on the success of a “work plan” devised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve concerns about Iran's nuclear past.

Iran's new chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, closer to confrontational president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than his predecessor Ari Larijani, stated on 26 October that Tehran's nuclear policy remained “totally unchanged”.

On 28 October, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei…

After four years of mounting tension, Iran has finally agreed to answer by December all questions about its nuclear programme posed by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The United States, however, seems to want to undermine the Iran-IAEA agreement reached on 21 August, arguing that it does not halt Iran's uranium enrichment capability immediately.

    According to IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the purpose of the new “work…

The British legal system has begun finally to re-consider the conviction of the two Libyans jailed for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which came down over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, causing the deaths of 270 civilians in all.

The suspicion at the time of the bombing was that the Lockerbie bombing might have been retaliation for the destruction of an Iranian civilian airliner, a year earlier, on 3 July 1987, by US sea-to-air missiles, causing the deaths of 290 civilians…

On 26 June, riots broke out in Tehran after the government announced petrol rationing. Iran does not have the refineries to produce its own petrol, and is facing a major financial crisis as domestic energy demand starts to overtake growth in oil production. Meanwhile negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme drag on.

Shank: With similar nuclear developments in North Korea and Iran, why has the United States pursued direct diplomacy with North Korea but refuses to do so with Iran?

Chomsky: To say that the United States has pursued diplomacy with North Korea is a little bit misleading. It did under the Clinton administration, though neither side completely lived up to their obligations. The Iranian issue I don't think has much to do with nuclear weapons frankly.

Nobody is saying Iran…