Headlines

* Iran-U.S.: American-Iranian Council
* Nuclear: Iran seeks Indo-Pakistani talks
* MKO: Human Rights Watch condemnation
* Iran/Taliban: "Road to Afghanistan"
* Letter: Iranian Jews are IRANIANS
* Input: Outstanding Iranian-Americans?
* Satire: Hot Persian!

THE WEB

* American-Iranian Council - "The mission of American-Iranian Council (AIC ) is to promote mutual understanding, tolerance and cooperation through the free exchange of ideas. By choosing sustained dialogue, a comprehensive understanding between the peoples and governments of the United States and Iran can be achieved." Executive Officers: CHAIRMAN Ambassador Robert H. Pelletreau, PRESIDENT Hooshang Amirahmadi, TREASURER Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, SECRETARY Donald A. Weadon, Jr. Board of Directors: James A. Bill, Richard W. Bulliet, Ali Ettefagh, Fereidoun Fesharaki, Shireen Hunter, Judith Kipper, Bruce Laingen, Sandra Mackey, Amir Mahalati, Richard W. Murphy, D. J. O'Brien, Giandomenico Picco, R. K. Ramazani, Edward R. Stettinius, Gary Sick, Hamid Shirvani, Roscoe S. Suddarth...

* Khomeini - ... his poems.

* Rushdie - Salman. Links.

* Alizadeh - Persian classical musician Hossein Alizadeh's web page. (Need Persian fonts)

* PersComp - A technical discussion group focused in Persian software.

* Museum of Contemporary Iranian Artists (MoCIA) - More impressive than ever. Great job by Yari Ostovany. If you are an artist with a web site and you haven't yet seen MoCIA, go there and asked to be linked up.

* United Islamic Students Association in Europe - They're Iranian, too.

* Computerized setar - Created by Vahid Rahbari, this program allows you to play the setar online. Need Shockwave plugin (free).

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IRAN-U.S.

* U.S. "strongly condemns" MKO attacks, (AFP) - In a further attempt to improve ties with Iran, the United States on Wednesday strongly condemned a series of attacks in Tehran claimed by the opposition People's Mujahedeen.The violence over the past 24 hours erupted as Iran prepared to mark the ninth anniversary later this week of the death of the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini... full text

* American-Iranian Council - "The mission of American-Iranian Council (AIC ) is to promote mutual understanding, tolerance and cooperation through the free exchange of ideas. By choosing sustained dialogue, a comprehensive understanding between the peoples and governments of the United States and Iran can be achieved." Executive Officers: CHAIRMAN Ambassador Robert H. Pelletreau, PRESIDENT Hooshang Amirahmadi, TREASURER Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, SECRETARY Donald A. Weadon, Jr. Board of Directors: James A. Bill, Richard W. Bulliet, Ali Ettefagh, Fereidoun Fesharaki, Shireen Hunter, Judith Kipper, Bruce Laingen, Sandra Mackey, Amir Mahalati, Richard W. Murphy, D. J. O'Brien, Giandomenico Picco, R. K. Ramazani, Edward R. Stettinius, Gary Sick, Hamid Shirvani, Roscoe S. Suddarth...

* Iranian wrestling team will be at Good Will games in New York in July... full text... thanks to AZITA_MOGHADDAM@HP-USA-om12.om.hp.com

THE IRANIAN Newsroom

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FEATURES

* Iran seeks Indo-Pakistani talks on nuclear tests, (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, fresh from talks in New Delhi and Islamabad, called on Thursday for India and Pakistan to open a sweeping dialogue on key issues including Kashmir and nuclear testing. In a speech to the Conference on Disarmament, he criticised Israel's failure to join global arms control treaties and repeated Iran's call for a nuclear free zone in the Middle East... full text

* Iran to link Israel to alarm over nuclear tests, (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi left for disarmament talks in Geneva on Thursday where he will link Israel to alarm over nuclear tests by India and Pakistan. Kharrazi was to address a session of the 61-nation U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament... full text

* Iran unveils India-Pakistan proposals, (UPI) - Iran's foreign minister has unveiled measures to bring India and Pakistan back from an escalating nuclear arms race. Speaking just hours before U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and her counterparts from the five permanent nuclear powers were scheduled to discuss the nuclear testing by India and Pakistan, Iranian Foreign Minister Kaman Kharrazi said the proposals include ``dialogue at the highest levels'' between the South Asian neighbors. Following talks in Islamabad and New Delhi Wednesday Kharrazi outlined for a set of possible steps that could be followed... full text

THE IRANIAN Newsroom

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NEWS

* Khomeini's grandson calls for unity, (AP) - With the rift widening between supporters and foes of Iran's moderate president, the grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini urged Iranians toward unity on Thursday's anniversary of the Islamic revolutionary's death. Speaking to a crowd at the religious leader's gold-domed shrine outside the capital, Hassan Khomeini called President Mohammad Khatami the best proponent of his grandfather's teachings... full text

* Ailing Iranian leader cuts short speech at Khomeini mausoleum, (AFP) - An ailing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cut short for health reasons on Thursday a speech marking the ninth anniversary of the death of his predecessor as Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. "The doctors have not allowed me to speak any longer today," the 58-year-old Iranian leader told a gathering of tens of thousands of people at the southern Tehran mausoleum of the leader of the Islamic Revolution. During his brief speech, Khamenei appeared tired and visibly ill... full text

* Rafsanjani: Tehran bomb blast shows frustration of MKO, (IRNA) - Chairman of national expediency council hojatoleslam akbar hashemi rafsanjani said here today that the bomb blast at the islamic revolution court in tehran tuesday is a clear evidence of the frustration of the monafeqin (mko) terrorist grouplet ... full text

* Iranian President to visit New York, (AP) - President Mohammad Khatami, who has sought a more moderate course for Iran since his election a year ago, plans to visit the United States this fall to address the U.N. General Assembly, a government official said Wednesday. Referring to the planned address in September as a ``very important speech,'' the official said Khatami would discuss the position of Muslims in the world and in the United Nations... full text

THE IRANIAN Newsroom

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HUMAN RIGHTS

* Human Rights Watch condemns killing of civilians - Human Rights Watch unequivocally condemns the bombing on June 3 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, which killed three persons and wounded dozen of others... According to press reports, the People's Mojahedine Organization of Iran (PMOI), has claimed responsibility for the blast. Human Rights Watch calls on PMOI to immediately and unconditionally cease all such attacks on civilians. PMOI is an armed Iraq-based organization that has openly dedicated itself to overthrowing the Iranian government... full text

* Two will get new trials in Iran (AP) - Iranian judges have ordered new trials for a German businessman and an Iranian journalist who were sentenced to death, state-run media reported Wednesday... full text

* Deportations of Iranian refugees to Iran is unacceptable , (Hambastegi) - In the post-Cold War era, Western governments have lost the ideological incentive to promote asylum. The further globalization of capital has decreased their need for cheap labor at home. Furthermore, the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which was created as a result of the Cold War, has been increasingly relegated to migration control assistance for governments. As a result, Iranian refugees fleeing the tyrannical Islamic Republic of Iran are facing restrictive measures that blatantly violate refugee rights... full text

* Deputy Guidance Minister for press affairs ordered to show up in court, (Hamshahri) ...full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

THE IRANIAN Newsroom

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BUSINESS

* Iran says AIOC in oil swaps talks despite US ire, (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's flagship foreign oil consortium has started talks on possible oil export swaps through Iran in the teeth of U.S. opposition, a senior Iranian oil official said on Thursday. Ali Majedi, Iran's deputy oil and gas minister for the Caspian Sea, said that British and Japanese members of the Azerbaijan International Operating Consortium (AIOC) have already sent Azeri crude samples to Iran for tests... full text

THE IRANIAN Newsroom

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DOLLAR RATE

Unchanged

* To send money to Iran, today's rate is 550-562 tomans per dollar, depending on how much you wish to send.

* To send money out of Iran, the rate is 568 tomans per dollar.

Source: Sehaty Foreign Exchange. Preferntial rates for readers of The Iranian Times. Call in U.S.: 602-595-0777 or 500-288-8881. Address: PO Box 3230, Carefree, AZ 85377, USA. Mention this code: BAJ 07

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SPORTS

* The final make-up of the national soccer team... full text...full text in Persian

* Croatia beat Iran, (AFP) - Croatia won their World Cup warm-up match 2-0 against Iran here on Wednesday night thanks to goals from Robert Prosinecki and Davor Suker... full text

* Ali Daei: We'll play our best game against Yugoslavia, (Hamshahri) ...full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

* Iranian wrestling team will be at Good Will games in New York in July ... full text... thanks to AZITA_MOGHADDAM@HP-USA-om12.om.hp.com

* Exclusive soccer pix

Put together, with tears, by Bruce Bahmani

I can honestly say this is the most excellent collection of soccer photos of the Iranian national team I have ever seen... see themfull text

THE IRANIAN Newsroom

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SATIRE

* Looking for a good man? We have him right here... full image

Got something to make us smile?
Send it to Times@iranian.com

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ARTS & LITERATURE

* Iranian pianist takes second place in an international music competition in Paris , (Hamshahri) ...full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

* Theater: "Rostam & Sohrab" the play, slowly coming along, (Hamshahri) ...full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

* On the lack of growth of the art of painting in Iran, (Hamshahri) ...full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

* "Cherry" a bewtching character study, (The Chicago tribune) - Watching "Taste of Cherry" and following its path of fear and redemption, living through this strange day with these foreign but utterly recognizable and deeply sympathetic characters, we believe in them. We feel with them. We care what happens to them. And, knowing them, we know a bit more, as well, about oursselves... full text

* "Taste of Cherry" U.S. screen schedules from the official Zeitgeist Film site... click here...Thanks to Payman Arabshahi <payman@fermi.jpl.nasa.gov>

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THE IRANIAN

"The road to Afghanistan"

The following is the editorial in the April/May 1998 issue of Zanan magazine in Iran. It sharply criticizes curbs on the press coverage of women's issues and condemns the conservatives for "taking revenge" on moderate forces supporting President Khatami... (in Persian) go to feature

Cover Story

* Paintings: P a r v e e n

Since moving to the U.S. in 1990, I've discovered, and thoroughly enjoyed, the work of another family artist: Parveen Bakhtiar McNair, my aunt. They are not just sweet, innocent and happy. They are sweet, innocent and happy with a twist, or an edge, if you like... go to feature

THE IRANIAN Cover Stories

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PERFORMANCES / FESTIVALS / SHOWS

Iranian festival in New York

The city of New York for the first time, has allocated the 37th street between 5th and 6th Avenues to an Iranian festival on Sunday July 26, 1998. This festival presents the Iranian culture by the way of displaying the work of:

Artists, Musicians, Folk dancers, Gourmet food, Carpet & Rug merchants, Fabric merchants, Gold merchants, Handcrafts, Books, Newspapers, Builders, Films, Antique dealers, etc.

For the first time the successful Iranian professionals will have the opportunity to present their work and profession to the American public.

The occasion will be televised by CNN, NBC and other networks nationwide. Radio Sedayeh Iran, a 24-hour Iranian radio channel based in U.S., will broadcast the event throughout the day.

The objective is to present the true Iranian culture to the American public in contrast to the unpleasant portrait the media has portrayed in the past 20 years. Your participation and assistanceare much needed for the success of this event.

Those interested in space allocations should contact:

IRANIAN T.V, NEW YORK INC.
279 Main Street
Port Washington, New York
11050 Tel: (516) 944 - 8580
Fax: (516) 747-4941

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

* Bookworms: Students chosen for international science oplympiads (no women this year)... full image

Got any interesting photos?
Send them to Times@iranian.com

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COMMUNITY

* Know of any outstanding Iranian-Americans?

I am in the process of writing a book in English with the following tentative title: "Iran-America: Can The Marital Discord Between The Two Superpowers Be Resolved?" The book will have a short history of Iran, a chronicle of the Iran-U.S. relations-1880-1980, contribution of Iran and Iranians to the world in general and to the U.S. in particular, followed by an epilogue containing my thoughts reagrding the resumption of the relations. The book will probably be co-authored by Professor Peter Avery, a world renown scholar and one of the editors of the "Cambridge History of Iran".

I am requsting assistance and input from everybody for the "contribution of Iraninans" to the U.S. I am seeking the names and a short vitae of contemporary outstanding Iranians in the U.S. from all walks of life, e.g. Bijan in fashion, prominent NASA scientists, Sia Armajani who designed the Olymic cauldron in Atlanta, Mat Ghaffari who won a silver medal for the U.S....

I would appreciate if you kindly disseminate my request to your readership.

Best regards,

Badi Badiozamani
badi@isat.com

* Persian Center has new executive director

San Francisco Bay Area's Persian Center takes a leap! The Board of Directors of Persian Center is proud to announce the hiring of their first Executive Director, Maryam Ovissi. Persian Center is pleased to have her join them from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where she was working in the the field of Development.

Ms. Ovissi is also the founder of a nonprofit organization, Evolving Perceptions, committed to artists who explore issues of cultural and personal identity through the arts. Ms. Ovissi has worked with the Sackler/Freer Galleries of Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, Very Special Arts and the International ChildrenÕs Festival in Virginia. The Board of Directors welcomes Maryam and her experiences to Persian Center and are confident that she will impact the arts and cultural community of Silicon Valley... full text

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LETTERS

* Iranian Jews are IRANIANS

I'm not sure I understand why, according to the article ["Jews: The invisible Iranians"], some Jewish Iranians complain of "not being accepted by Muslim Iranians." I've never heard of such a thing. Maybe in some circles this is the case, but on the whole from other Iranians I've known in my lifetime this issue of "acceptance" for Iranian Jews has never surfaced.

Acceptance of what!? Iranian Jews are IRANIANS, just like Muslim and Armenian Christian Iranians are Iranians. One's nationality always comes first before one's religion - number one, because religion is fluid and can be changed by simple conversion (I reject the notion of Judaism as an "ethnicity"), and number two because one's culture is much more influenced by one's nationality than religion. Just to prove this, an Iranian Jew has very little in common with a French Jew, despite the fact that both are Jews. French and Iranian cultures are completely different. Therefore, Iranian Jews are just as Iranian as Iranian Muslims.

We all have basically a common culture, with minor differences. There are people on both sides who would reject this - for example, Muslims who don't consider Jews "real Iranians" out of simple prejudice; but there also exist Iranian Jews who try to disassociate themselves from Iran and their nationality - for example, those who go exclusively by their Jewish names or those who, for whatever reason, moved to Israel. For them, their Jewish identity is more important than their Iranian identity, which I think is unfortunate.

I would like to add that many American Jewish leaders like to look upon Iran's Jews as this small oppressed minority, who don't have anything in common with the Muslim population - almost as if they were foreigners living in a foreign country. To them, Iranian Jews really aren't Iranian but rather just Jewish; they try to somehow disassociate their Iranianness from their Jewishness, in the process just ignoring the fact that they're Iranian as much as they're Jewish. I believe this reflects these Jewish Americans' own prejudices and ignorance about Iran, and that's just too bad.

Nariman N.
narim7@hotmail.com

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BOOKSTORE

Feminism, Democracy and Islamism in Iran
By Nayereh Tohidi
Professor of sociology and women's studies at the University of California, Los Angeles
Softcover, 139 pages, in Persian

Table of contents include: Beyond victimization; Modernism, secularism and democracy; Islam and "Islamic feminism"; Women and intellectuals; Women and nationalist forces; Women and leftist forces. Available from Ketabsara in Los Angeles: Tel: (310) 475-7574. For more information contact Dr. Tohidi at: nayereh.tohidi@csun.edu

THE IRANIAN Bookstore

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ACADEMIC

* Contemporary poet Dr. Ali Zarrin has been invited to Foothill Writers' Conference held at Foothill College June 25-30, Los Altos Hills, California. He will perform his poetry on Thursday June 25th at 7:30 p.m. in Forum 12 at Foothill College. On June 25th and 26th Dr. Zarrin will be offering workshops on "Poetry", "Ghazal Writing", and "International Poetry". For more information call (650) 917-0509 or (408) 777-9394. The following week June 29 through July 5, Dr. Zarrin will be a guest poet at Naropa Institute's Summer Writing Program in Boulder, Colorado, reading his poetry and offering a five-day workshop in Ghazal Writing. For more information call (303) 546-5296 or (303) 444-0202.

* One day seminar at the Middle East Centre-St.Antony's college, Oxford, on : "THE COMING OF MODERNITY IN QAJAR IRAN". Date Saturday, 20 June 1998, (10.30am - 5.30pm) 6pm - 7.30pm Reception. Venue: New Lecture Theatre, St Antony's College, Oxford. For further details please contact: Prof. R. Sheikholeslami: orin0005@ermine.ox.ac.uk OR Prof.M.Tavakoli-Targhi: mohammad.tavakoli-targhi@sant.ox.ac.uk

* The Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University invites applications for the Ehsan Yarshater Visiting Fellowship in Iranian Studies with stipend for the 1998-99 academic year. The Fellowship was established to promote research in Iranian languages, literatures, religions, history, sociology, anthropology, art history and archaeology. The deadline for the receipt of applications is August 31, 1998. Please fax applications and all further inquires to (617) 496-8584 to the attention of the Committee on Yarshater Fellowship at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Coolidge Hall, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.

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NOSTALGIA

* West End Watch: The sorry predecessor to the Swatch

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MUSIC

* Ziba Shirazi, "Aasheqaaneh"

(Get RealAudio)

Greatest pop CDs ON SALE!

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QUOTE UNQUOTE

Less than fish

Why is it that ways are found to remove religious prohibitions against sturgeon fish, proft-taking by banks and chess playing but our respected religious conservatives and seminary scholars do nothing to end the legal bottlenecks facing women?

Editorial
Zanan women's magazine, Iran
"The road to Afghanistan"
The Iranian
June 4, 1998

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STAFF

A lot of people have provided links and other content for the Times. And we encourage everyone's input. But here are some of the people who help us a great deal, especially in forwarding the news items and web sites. Thank them once in a while on my behalf :-) -- Jahanshah Javid

* Reza Farahani -- davood@ix.netcom.com
* Payman Arabshahi -- payman@neda.com
* Pedram Missaghi, webmaster "Iran Media" -- pmissagh@ucsd.edu

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