Reform leaders in Iran abruptly called off a protest set for the one-year anniversary of what they consider stolen elections that brought Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a second term, indicative of the struggles of a reform movement which has been successfully repressed by the ruling Islamic leadership. Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi told their followers [...]

Barack Obama, in an appearance with French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday, said he expected sanctions on Iran passed by the UN within weeks. But Obama admitted that key world powers had “not yet” closed wide gaps on the specifics of the biting new measures, as he and Sarkozy made an apparently coordinated effort to up [...]

Yesterday the United States released a draft proposal for sanctions against the Iranian government. This would be the fourth round of sanctions since 2006, none of which have resolved any dispute between Iran and the West over their nuclear program, which they say is solely for the purposes of energy generation. The diplomats said the [...]

Today, hundreds of thousands of Iranians appeared at rallies and counter-protests marking the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. The Basiji militia intimidated and oppressed reformist protesters today in a brutal crackdown. In a speech to ralliers, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that Iran had successfully upped their uranium enrichment, while insisting that the country was not building [...]

After a brief hope that Iran was nudging back toward a deal on uranium enrichment with the West, the US and Germany acknowledged after a meeting that the Islamic Republic won’t reach agreement, leading to probable sanctions. But US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Iran had failed to address Western concerns and suggested it was [...]

The Iranian regime’s propaganda machine created their own street theater yesterday, with a massive rally featuring tens of thousands of supporters bused into Tehran from across the country. Juan Cole reports: Some of the demonstrators wore white burial shrouds to announce their willingness to die for supreme leader Khamenei. Others chanted slogans denouncing the dissidents [...]

On Friday, the IAEA voted overwhelmingly to censure Iran for its uranium enrichment activities, including what they consider a the illegal construction of a secret enrichment plant near Qom. The 25-3 vote for censure included not only Western powers but China and Russia, which have been reluctant to impose sanctions or penalties on Iran. The response inside Iran has not been positive. One official intimated that Iran could pull out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to which it is a co-signer, and Sunday the regime announced a plan to build ten new uranium enrichment sites. Unfortunately, an increasing hardline stance both in Tehran and Western capitals could spark an unnecessary action.

A potential victory for diplomacy is brewing in Vienna. After initial reports about Iranian nuclear talks were termed “slow,” today negotiators have reached a draft deal on shipping Iran’s nuclear enrichment to Russia for processing. Under the draft deal, most of Iran’s stockpile of low enriched uranium would be shipped out of the country for [...]