Front-page Iran

UN Deal this Week?

U.N. Security Council powers accelerated talks on Tuesday in an effort to reach a deal on Iran's nuclear programs before their ministers meet this week.
"Ministers are getting together in Berlin on Thursday and I think for their purposes and for ours we are trying to reach agreement here" by then, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said.
Ambassadors from the five veto-holding permanent council members -- the United States, Britain, France Russia, China -- met several times on Tuesday on Iran's nuclear research, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes but the West believes is a cover for bomb making.
British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said there were "still one or two really difficult issues if we are going to finish by Thursday but most of the rest of the text is coming together."
Bolton said he hoped the full 15-member council could meet on Wednesday but cautioned, "I think we've got a certain momentum and we had it before and didn't necessarily promise that we would reach agreement."
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High Alert for the Revolutionary Guards

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces in western and south-western Iran close to the Iraqi border have been put on a heightened state of alert since the middle of this month, a source in the Iranian military told Iran Focus.
The Supreme Command of Iran’s Armed Forces issued the directive to Najaf and Karbala garrisons of the IRGC, which are respectively based in Kermanshah and Khuzestan provinces and are the headquarters of IRGC forces in western and south-western Iran.
The directive took effect from March 14, according to the source, who requested anonymity.
Najaf and Karbala garrisons are the primary Revolutionary Guards headquarters responsible for Iraqi affairs and house much of the IRGC’s elite Qods Force whose stated objective is to spread Iran’s Islamic Revolution to Iraq and other countries in the Middle East.
Under the rules of Iran’s armed forces, the decision to raise the military alert status along Iraq’s borders must have been approved by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the commander in chief of the armed forces. Khamenei visited areas close to the Iraqi border in Iran’s restive province of Khuzistan last week and delivered a speech in Arabic, slamming the United States and Britain for their occupation of Iraq.
On Sunday, Khamenei told thousands of Islamist militiamen in Tehran that threats of military action against the Islamic republic “could be put into action in some cases, but a nation that retains its greatness, dignity, identity and interests will be able to withstand such attacks without any retreat”.
“The decision [to put the armed forces on alert along the Iraqi border] could be defensive or offensive in nature, but it’s significant because of its timing”, said Ehsan Pourhaydari, a former colonel in Iran’s regular armed forces who now lives in Germany. “It coincides with impending talks between Iran and the U.S. on the situation in Iraq. The ayatollahs must be calculating that the talks will make them more vulnerable, or will provide new opportunities for them in Iraq. Either way, it would make sense for them to put their forces on alert close to the Iraqi border”.
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Iranian Blog Crackdown

On his last visit to Iran, Canadian-based blogger Hossein Derakhshan was detained and interrogated, then forced to sign a letter of apology for his blog writings before being allowed to leave the country. Compared to others, Derakhshan is lucky.
Dozens of Iranian bloggers have faced harassment by the government, been arrested for voicing opposing views, and fled the country in fear of prosecution over the past two years.
In the conservative Islamic Republic, where the government has vast control over newspapers and the airwaves, weblogs are one of the last bastions of free expression, where people can speak openly about everything from sex to the nuclear controversy. But increasingly, they are coming under threat of censorship.
The Iranian blogging community, known as Weblogistan, is relatively new. It sprang to life in 2001 after hard-liners - fighting back against a reformist president - shut down more than 100 newspapers and magazines and detained writers. At the time, Derakhshan posted instructions on the Internet in Farsi on how to set up a weblog.
Since then, the community has grown dramatically. Although exact figures are not known, experts estimate there are between 70,000 and 100,000 active weblogs in Iran. The vast majority are in Farsi but a few are in English.
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Cargo Plane Crashes

An Iranian cargo plane carrying 12 passengers crash-landed close to the city of Karaj, west of Tehran, on Tuesday, state television reported.
None of the 12-man crew on board was killed according to the report, which quoted the head of Payam Airport. The airport is three miles away from the crash site.
The Russian-made Antonov plane crash-landed into farmland at 16:40 Tehran time after one of its engines failed.
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