Back to Brief on Iran
TEHRAN - Iran blasted on Thursday a UN Human Rights Commission resolution accusing the Islamic republic of violating basic human rights, saying it was politically motivated and resulted from Western pressure.
"This resolution has nothing to do with the realities in the Islamic republic and is solely imposed on members of the commission through political pressure from Western countries," said foreign ministry spokesman Mahmud Mohammadi.
The commission's resolution, backed by 23 states, voiced concern over "continuing cases of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including amputation, stoning and public executions."
Iran was also criticized for continued harassment and intimidation of journalists, writers, and political and religious dissidents and for failing to grant equal rights to women.
The resolution called on Iran to refrain from violence against members of the Iranian opposition living abroad and to cooperate with authorities of other countries investigating and prosecuting offenses.
Tehran was specifically censured for
the 1989 death sentence against British writer Salman Rushdie as well as
individuals associated with his work.
Iranian President Calls for Tolerance, Warns of Explosion, Associated Press, April 22
TEHRAN - A week after a political crisis erupted into violence, Iran's president warned that the country could explode unless it learned tolerance, Tehran radio reported Wednesday.
The hard-line faction recently began targeting Mohammad Khatami's supporters, sparking street protests and violence.
In a veiled warning, Khatami said: 'It may be possible to silence all voices for a while; however, these silent voices will eventually emerge in the form of an explosion.'
Iran Marks Down Oil Revenue Forecast, Agence France Presse, April 23
TEHRAN - Iran has dramatically marked down expected earnings from oil sales to 12 dollars a barrel, against 16 dollars forecast in this year's budget adopted in January, newspapers reported Thursday.
The decision, made this week at a cabinet meeting chaired by President Mohammad Khatami, comes as the country faces a 30 percent budget deficit for the new fiscal year, which began on March 21.
"We have reduced the oil price in the budget to 12 dollars because of the current situation in the oil market," Khatami was quoted as saying. "We faced a four billion dollar drop in oil revenues this year because of falling prices."
But while the forecast earnings have been revised, expenses remain at the same level as worked out in January when the budget was adopted by parliament.
The government usually borrows from banks to cover its budget deficits, but (daily) Farda warned that any such move will provoke higher inflation.
Iran has already sharply cut back on
development projects because of financial problems.
Iran Warns Turkmenistan Over US Accord On Caspian Pipeline, Agence France Presse, April 23
TEHRAN - Iran has warned Turkmenistan over a tentative agreement with the United States to bypass Iranian territory and ship oil and gas through the Caspian Sea, saying it violated the rights of other Caspian littoral states.
"So far there has been no consensus among the littoral states for a new legal regime for the sea. So no party can take a measure, especially involving foreign companies, to exploit the sea's resources," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said, newspapers reported on Thursday.
"We will not allow the others to make a one-sided decision," he said. "The Caspian Sea belongs to all the littoral states and its legal regime should be decided by all the states bordering the sea."
U.S. Officials Keep Up Pressure on Russia Over Iran,
Reuter, April 21
MOSCOW - Three top U.S. officials have beaten a path to Moscow this week, bringing concerns that Russian assistance could help Iran develop nuclear missiles.
While the U.S. embassy on Tuesday denied any concerted pressure campaign, two of the American visitors are specifically assigned to deal with the problem.
Washington said last week it was still worried Russia may be supplying technology which could help develop nuclear weapons in Iran, accused by the United States of sponsoring terrorism.