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Tehran—Iran said on Wednesday nothing had changed in its position over the Salman Rushdie row with Britain.
"All countries, one after the other, are trying to bring about changes in their policy towards our country...without having any change in our position," said Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi.
He told a news conference in Tehran that British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook had expressed regret at the offence caused to Moslems by Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses."
Iranian media continue to stress that Iran's position on the fatwa remains in place.
Khatami's Faction Meets Rejection, The
Associated Press, October 7
Tehran—Most Khatami supporters who sought to run for a key assembly that chooses Iran's spiritual leader -- the country's most powerful position -- have been rejected by hard-liners.
The list of candidates, published Wednesday, is evidence of the overriding clout of the hard-liners in Iran's clerical government.
The country's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wields far more power than the president. He is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, determines foreign policy and controls the state media.
The Assembly of Experts' most important job is to choose Iran's spiritual leader. Of the 396 people who applied to run in the Oct. 23 elections for the assembly, 167 were approved.
Among those eliminated by the hard-line Guardian Council were a number of advisers close to Khatami, including Deputy President Abdollah Nouri -- a former interior minister who was impeached in June by hard-line members of Parliament.
The 12-member Guardian Council also approves candidates for Parliament and the presidency.
Another rejected candidate was Hadi Khamenei, Khatami's adviser for press affairs and Ayatollah Khamenei's younger brother.
On Tuesday, he led a demonstration of more than 4,000 students protesting a crackdown on press freedom and the system of preselecting candidates for the Assembly of Experts.
Iran Suspends Magazine, Fines Two Editors, Reuter, October 6
An Iranian court has suspended an Islamist magazine and fined its managing editor for defamation, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday.
It said the Tehran court ordered Asr-e Ma (Our Era) to stop publishing for six months and fined its managing editor, Mohammad Salamati, three million rials ($1,000) "for dissemination of fabrications and insults."
The court also fined Mehdi Nassiri, director of the Sobh (Morning) three million rials and banned him from press work for four months after convicting him of defamation.
The authorities have recently closed down the Tous newspaper, suspended several magazines and detained a number of journalists.
Some 500 Baha'i Homes Raided in Iran, United Press International, October 7
TORONTO—Iranian authorities are reported to have raided more than 500 Bahai homes across the country, seizing television sets, furniture and other items of private property.
Gerald Filson, a spokesman for the Baha'i community in Canada, says (Wednesday) the raids were carried out simultaneously with the arrest of 36 Baha'i academics last week.
Firm Sent Parts To Iran, U.S. Says, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, October 7
Three men and an Oak Creek firm were indicted Tuesday, accused of conspiring to illegally ship parts for military aircraft to Iran.
The grand jury indictment says that the parts were shipped from the firm, Siraj International Inc., to a business in Geneva, Switzerland. That business, Texam Holding Ltd., then shipped them to Iran.
"The parts are critical for Iran to continue to maintain and fly the aircraft," U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Schneider said.…
The components sold and shipped by Siraj were for military aircraft such as the F-14 and F-111, according to the indictment, which says the conspiracy operated from about November 1996 to June 1997.