Back to Brief on Iran
A group of Iranians sympathizing with the Iranian Resistance staged a rally this afternoon in front of the session of the Non-Aligned summit in Durban, South Africa. They protested the presence of Mohammad Khatami, the president of the theocratic regime ruling Iran, in the session.
The demonstrators called for the expulsion of the mullahs' illegitimate regime from the Non-Aligned Movement. Many delegations attending the session visited the Resistance supporters' protest rally and offered their solidarity.
Iran Police Seize 550 Banned Satellite TV Receivers, Reuter, September 3
TEHRAN - Iranian police have seized nearly 550 satellite television receivers, blamed by Iran's Islamic authorities for promoting a Western "cultural onslaught," a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The daily Kayhan said 200 of the receivers were confiscated from smugglers in the waters of the Gulf, while the rest were seized in two anti-contraband operations in southern Shiraz and central Yazd provinces.
Iran banned satellite television equipment in April 1995. Dish owners face heavy fines and confiscation of their equipment.
Still, Tehran residents brave the risks, creatively camouflaging their satellite dishes as air-conditioners or hiding them behind massive clothes lines.
Enforcement of the satellite ban varies from lax to vigorous. Many senior government officials have unfettered access to satellite television.
Threats of Mullahs' Missiles "The Most Concerning" - General, Reuter, September 2
WASHINGTON—The United States faces staggering costs in developing its lagging defense against missiles such as those tested recently by North Korea and Iran, Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles, head of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, said on Wednesday.
Lyles said the Shahab 3 missile tested by Iran on July 22 and the Taepo Dong 1 tested by North Korea this week were examples of medium-range weapons whose "threats are the most concerning."
Some of those missiles, either already developed or being improved, have ranges of up to 1,200 miles (2,000 kms) or more and could carry nuclear, chemical or biological warheads.
Iran's Missile Test Shows Nuclear Ambitions, Agence France Press, September 3
GENEVA - Israel's representative to a UN disarmament body here warned Thursday that another member -- unnamed but taken to mean Iran -- was "clearly embarked on a program of military nuclearization."
Israeli ambassador Yosef Lamdan told the UN Conference on Disarmament that one conference member "in the Middle East is clearly embarked on a program of military nuclearization, despite its posturing and protestations to the contrary -- and in witness thereof, it recently tested a new and powerful delivery system."
Israel has charged that the missile, called Shihab-3, was reportedly developed with Russian technology.
According to US and Israeli experts, the weapon has a range of 1,300 kilometers (780 miles) and is capable of reaching Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia with conventional or non-conventional warheads.
Iran to Sue German Firms in Response to Conviction of Mullahs by German Court, Reuter, September 3
TEHRAN - Iran on Thursday named nine German companies it has said would face legal action for allegedly supplying chemical weapons to Iraq during its 1980-88 war with Iran.
State-run Tehran radio quoted judiciary spokesman Fotovat Nassiri-Savadkuhi as saying that a court in Tehran would hear charges filed by Iranian victims of chemical attacks against the German firms.
Tehran last year raised the possibility of taking German companies to court over the alleged supplies during a row with Bonn over a ruling by a Berlin court which accused Iranian leaders of ordering the 1992 killings of Kurdish dissidents in Germany.