Worries about Severe Economic Difficulties, Reuter, July 22

TEHRAN - Iran will face severe economic difficulties if the government does not decide quickly on joining the World Trade Organization, an Iranian business official said in remarks published on Tuesday.

Fereidoon Entezari, Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines deputy managing director for international affairs, said technology and telecommunications were moving towards globalization and countries that stayed aloof from the trend would sustain heavy damage….

Iran applied last September to begin formal negotiations on joining the WTO. The United States, which enforces a policy of isolating the Islamic republic through unilateral trade and investment sanctions because of alleged involvement in "terrorism," opposes Iranian membership.

Iran was turned down when it applied for observer status at the WTO's first ministerial meeting in Singapore in December.

Call for Cutting off U.S. Oil, Radio France, July 21 

Once again Rafsanjani called on the Muslim countries to deny the United States their oil. He said that if the U.S. could be denied the Persian Gulf oil for just six months, then it would face great disappointment for ensuring its security.

Rafsanjani added that the 52 Muslim countries are located in the most sensitive region of the globe and they deserve to influence the rest of the world.

In Iran Women are Free, But…, State-Run Radio, July 21

In his meeting with the female deputies of majlis [parliament]… Khamenei [the leader of clerics' regime] emphasized on the necessity of avoiding usage of rhetoric and western culture in order to gain the women's rights.

Recommending realism in recognizing women's issues and paying attention to Islamic laws, including Hejab [women's head-to-toe covering], Khamenei said: "When these regulations are observed, then there will be no obstacle for women's presence in any political, revolutionary, and military arenas…"

"A Woman must be provided with the means of empowerment through wisdom, literacy, and laws so that she feel secure in her husband's home… Nonetheless, the notion that women must be present in social arenas in the same quantity and quality as men, is a negative idea, a primitive thought, close minded, and childish."

Reporters, Media Barred from Mullahs' Parliament, BBC Radio, July 21 

According to [state-controlled] daily Resalat, media and parliamentarian reporters will have restricted access to parliament and are banned from conducting interviews with the deputies in the parliament's corridors.

Resalat indicated that reporters can only be in the corridors for just half an hour after each public hearing to talk to representatives.

This decision was made by the new board in the parliament.

Housing Crisis Escalates, Radio Israel, July 21

In a comprehensive article on increase in rents, the daily Salam wrote that the current state of housing has caused embarrassment for the tenants and the landlords. The owner of a real estate agency in Tehran said that there has been a 50% increase in rents only in the last three months alone.

When a landlord was asked about the 50% increase in the rent, he said that "when the college tuition of my kids has gone up, why should not I increase the rent which is the only source of financing for their tuition?"

Call on Kohl to Help Jailed Iranian Writer, Reuter, July 22

BONN - The German-based Iranian Association of Authors (in Exile) sent an open letter to Kohl asking him to protest against the jailing of Faraj Sarkuhi, editor of the monthly Adineh (Friday)…

The writers said Tehran's decision to put Sarkuhi on trial was a direct reaction to a verdict by a German court in April that Iran's leadership ordered the killing of a group of Iranian Kurdish dissidents in Berlin in 1992…

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