News
Oct 26-30, 1998 / Aban 4-8, 1377
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Today
* Khamanei blasts Arafat over Mideast deal
* Palestinians slam Iran over attack on Arafat
* U.S. begins broadcasts to Iran
* Ukraine holds to decision against Iran turbine sale
* Iranian exiles in UK court battle over charity
Previous
* U.S. condemns arrests
in Iran
* Tehran to celebrate 1,000th Friday prayers since
revolution
* Rumor: Postponing local council elections
* Tehran, Bonn in contact over prisoners: MP
* Kyrgyz to return intercepted arms cargo to Iran
* Rial freefalls on open market
* Rial stabilization policy will continue
* Egypt Upgrades Diplomacy
in Iran
* Wooing foreign investors
* Central Bank wants end to fixed rial rate
* Khatami tries to push Iran reforms
* U.S. rights group backs jailed Iran cleric
* Iran plans Afghan border war games
* Local council elections in February
* Clerics ride political machine to victory
* Conservatives 49, Moderates/independents 37
* Iran calls U.S.-funded Farsi radio ``interference''
* Khatami says Iran will oppose Mideast peace deal
* Iran complains to Dutch over opposition protest
* Hijacker sentenced to 10 years in Jail
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Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday
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Friday
Oct 30, 1998
* Khamanei blasts Arafat over Mideast deal
TEHRAN, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
condemned the latest Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, using the 1,000th
gathering of Friday prayers in Tehran to single out Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat for a stinging personal rebuke. Khamenei, appearing before
an overflow crowd of Moslem worshippers and dignitaries at Tehran University,
branded Arafat a ``lackey'' of Israel and challenged his legitimacy as
leader of the Palestinian people... FULL
TEXT
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* Palestinians slam Iran over attack on Arafat
JERUSALEM, Oct 30 (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority sharply condemned
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Friday for attacking Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat's authority to sign his latest peace deal with
Israel. ``The statements of Khamenei are baseless, irresponsible and lack
credibility,'' the Palestinian official news agency WAFA quoted Tayyeb
Abdel-Rahim, General Secretary of the Palestinian Presidency, as saying...
FULL
TEXT
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* U.S. begins broadcasts to Iran
WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - The United States Friday began radio
broadcasts to Iran and Iraq, programming that is extremely controversial
in both Tehran and Baghdad. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty announced that
Radio Free Iraq, which broadcasts in Arabic, and the Farsi Service to Iran
went on air as scheduled at 11 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) for half an hour in
each language... FULL
TEXT
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* Ukraine holds to decision against Iran turbine sale
KIEV, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said on Friday
Ukraine will not go back on its decision to opt out of a Russian-Iranian
deal to build a nuclear power plant in the Gulf port of Bushehr. ``We have
already approved a final decision (to decline participation) and we are
not going to change it,'' Kuchma told journalists at the official opening
of a new research institute outside Kiev... FULL
TEXT
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* Iranian exiles in UK court battle over charity
LONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - A group of Iranian exiles won the first round
of a legal battle on Friday to stop the receiver of a charity from removing
from its headquarters documents they feared could help Tehran identify
its supporters. But despite the victory in London's High Court, they vowed
to continue a three-day sit-in at the offices of British-based Iran Aid
in Finchley, north London... FULL
TEXT
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Thursday
Oct 29, 1998
* U.S. condemns arrests in Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department accused
Iran of persecuting members of the Baha'i faith and urged that death sentences
against six Baha'i prisoners be set aside. More than 500 homes and office
buildings owned or rented by Iranian Baha'is have been raided and at least
36 faculty members from a Baha'i institute arrested, deputy spokesman James
Foley said Thursday... FULL
TEXT
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* Tehran to celebrate 1,000th Friday prayers since revolution
TEHRAN, Oct 29 (AFP) -Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will
personally lead weekly mass prayers in Tehran on Friday to mark the thousandth
such ceremonies here since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the news media
announced Thursday. Communal prayers have been held every Friday throughout
Iran since the revolution, led by clerics representing Khamenei, who is
the top political and religious authority in Iran... FULL
TEXT
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* Rumor: Postponing local council elections
Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - There is talk among right-wing members of the
Majlis to postpone local council elections for a year in order to find
a way to prevent moderates from gaining control. The election has been
planned for next February ... FULL
TEXT IN PERSIAN
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* Tehran, Bonn in contact over prisoners: MP
TEHRAN, Oct 29 (AFP) -Tehran and Bonn are in contact over the fates
of a German condemned to death here and an Iranian jailed in Germany, an
Iranian MP said Thursday. "The two countries are having contacts over
the these issues. It is natural for each country to be interested in the
problems of its citizens, although we must not forget that Hofer's case
is not political," said Mohammad Alavi, a member of the parliament's
foreign policy commission ... FULL
TEXT
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* Kyrgyz to return intercepted arms cargo to Iran
BISHKEK, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan, which intercepted an Iranian
train with ammunition bound for Afghanistan's anti-Taleban opposition earlier
this month, will send the lethal cargo back to Iran soon, Kyrgyz officials
said on Thursday. ``A political decision to send the train back has been
taken,'' Askar Aitmatov, a foreign policy department chief in the presidential
administration, told Reuters. ``Relevant ministries are now preparing the
train for the departure.'' ... FULL
TEXT
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Wednesday
Oct 21, 1998
* Rial freefalls on open market
TEHRAN, Oct 28 (AFP) - The Iranian currency dropped sharply in value
this week on the open market after months of steady decline, but the central
bank pledged Wednesday to maintain a freeze on the rate of the rial against
major foreign currencies. The rial fell from 6,200 to the dollar at the
start of the week to nearly 6,700 on Wednesday after hints from the central
bank early in the week that it may allow the currency to freely float against
major currencies... FULL
TEXT
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* Rial stabilization policy will continue
Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - The Central Bank has issued a statement saying
its rial stabilization policy will continue through 1378 (March 2000) as
planned ... FULL
TEXT IN PERSIAN
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* Egypt Upgrades Diplomacy in Iran
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Egypt has upgraded its diplomatic
mission in Iran in a sign of thawing ties, Egyptian and Iranian diplomats
said Wednesday. Egypt and Iran severed ties after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Egypt maintains an interests section in Tehran, which works from the Italian
Embassy... FULL
TEXT
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* Wooing foreign investors
Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - Government plans for attracting $7.5 billion in
foreign investment ... FULL
TEXT IN PERSIAN
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Tuesday
Oct 20, 1998
* Central Bank wants end to fixed rial rate
TEHRAN, Oct 27 (Reuters) - A senior Iranian Central Bank official called
in remarks published on Tuesday for dropping fixed rial exchange rates,
saying this would make the economy more resilient to shocks such as a slump
in oil prices. ``The fixed currency system has outlived its use...and cannot
be effective anymore,'' the daily Hamshahri quoted Central Bank Deputy
Governor Mohammad Jafar Mojarrad as saying... FULL
TEXT
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* Khatami tries to push Iran reforms
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Outfoxed in a national vote for a powerful clerical
assembly, allies of Iran's moderate president are now turning to upcoming
city and town elections to try to push forward his reforms. Supporters
of President Mohammad Khatami said Tuesday that because a hard-line council
will not have to approve candidates -- as it did in last week's balloting
-- moderates will stand a better chance in the elections in Iran's 10,000
municipalities... FULL
TEXT
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* U.S. rights group backs jailed Iran cleric
DUBAI, Oct 27 (Reuters) - A U.S. human rights group expressed support
for a Shi'ite Moslem cleric jailed in Iran after he published articles
supporting women's rights. The New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human
Rights, in a statement received by Reuters on Tuesday, urged lawyers to
write on behalf of Mohsen Saeidzadeh to Iranian head of judiciary Ayatollah
Mohammad Yazdi and Iran's envoy to the United Nations ... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran plans Afghan border war games
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran will stage major military exercises on its
border with Afghanistan next week. About 200,000 troops from the Iranian
army, air force and navy will take part in the war games, the commander
of ground forces, Brig. Gen. Abdolali Pourshasd, was quoted as saying Tuesday
by state-run Tehran radio... FULL
TEXT
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Monday
Oct 26, 1998
* Local council elections in February
TEHRAN, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Iran will in February hold its first municipal
elections since the 1979 Islamic revolution, setting the stage for the
next face-off between conservatives and backers of reformist President
Mohammad Khatami. Pro-Khatami Islamic leftists, who control the Interior
Ministry, have been strong advocates of the councils which they see as
a manifestation of Islamic democracy... FULL
TEXT
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* Clerics ride political machine to victory
TEHRAN, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Iran's conservative clerics swept to an election
victory worthy of any big-city political machine, but such organisational
muscle may prove of little value in the battle with reformist President
Mohammad Khatami. Say analysts, the results will provide little real comfort
to the establishment, which had hoped to dent the ``people power'' movement
that saw the moderate Khatami elected in a suprise landslide on May 23,
1997.... FULL
TEXT
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* Conservatives 49, Moderates/independents 37
Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - Break down of which factions won seats in Friday's
elections... FULL
TEXT IN PERSIAN
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* Iran calls U.S.-funded Farsi radio ``interference''
TEHRAN, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Iran has branded U.S.-funded Farsi-language
broadcasts being beamed into the country as ``interference'' and warned
the Czech Republic about hosting the new station, the official news agency
IRNA said on Sunday. ``This radio has been set up in the framework of America's
$20 million fund against Iran,'' it quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Mahmoud
Mohammadi as saying. ``This is considered interference in the Islamic Republic
of Iran's internal affairs and is contrary to international rules.''...
FULL
TEXT
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* Khatami says Iran will oppose Mideast peace deal
TEHRAN, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Iran will oppose the latest Israeli-Palestinian
peace deal, President Mohammad Khatami said on Sunday, branding the accord
a violation of Arab rights. ``We believe...this accord will not bring the
region nearer to peace, and that it is detrimental to the Palestinian people
and independent Arab states, whose interests are threatened by the Zionist
enemy (Israel),'' Tehran radio quoted Khatami as saying... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran complains to Dutch over opposition protest
TEHRAN, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Tehran on Sunday lodged a formal protest
with the Netherlands over the disruption by Iranian opposition demonstrators
of a speech by a prominent Iranian parliamentarian in a Dutch city last
week The daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani,
Faezeh Hashemi, had to cancel a scheduled speech at the opening of an Islamic
institute on Tuesday after protesters invaded the auditorium. A handful
of Iranian demonstrators entered the hall, police said. Another 250 shouted
slogans outside the auditorium, part of Leiden University, as Hashemi arrived...
FULL
TEXT
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* Hijacker sentenced to 10 years in Jail
TEHRAN, Oct 26 (Reuters) - An Iranian court sentenced to 10 years in
jail an Iranian man who had tried to hijack a domestic flight to Iraq or
Israel, a newspaper reported on Monday. ``Based on outright confessions
by the defendant, the court sentenced him to 10 years on charges of acting
against national security,'' the daily Iran quoted a judiciary official
as saying. Gholam Haqiqat, 31, had tried last October to hijack an Iran
Air plane flying from Tehran to the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas and take
it to Iraq or Israel... FULL
TEXT
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