Front-page Iran

30 More Days

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday urged Iran to suspend its nuclear program and said it would take up the issue again in 30 days.
It was the first time the U.N. body has condemned Iran's nuclear ambitions, a move that could ultimately lead to sanctions.
The statement, which took three weeks to craft, is weaker than the United States, Britain and France originally sought. Earlier drafts called for the council to meet again in 14 days and said Iran's activities were a potential "threat to international peace and security." Under the U.N. charter, that language can justify economic sanctions or military strikes.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Russia and China watered down the statement. "The message is clear nonetheless that Iran's nuclear weapons program is unacceptable," Bolton said.
The council acted a day before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to meet in Berlin with foreign ministers from the other four veto-holding members of the council — Russia, China, Britain and France — as well as Germany. The six officials are to discuss longer-range policy toward Iran, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
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Naval War Games

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) will begin large-scale naval exercises in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman on Friday by firing a Shahab-2 missile “to show Iran’s desire for peace and friendship with neighbouring countries”, the IRGC naval chief said on Wednesday.
Rear Admiral Morteza Saffari, who commands the IRGC Navy, told a press conference in the Iranian capital that the naval war games would go on until April 6 with the participation of five IRGC naval garrisons and the assistance of Iran’s regular navy and air force, as well the missiles force, the Bassij, and the State Security Forces.
“Today, Iran is calling for its rightful demands with strength and national unity and these exercises will show an increase of strength and preparedness”, the navy commander added.
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3 Guards Killed

Three members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards were killed in a clash with Kurdish separatists in the country's restive western borderlands, Iran's student news agency ISNA said on Wednesday.
The Revolutionary Guard "agents" were killed in fighting on Tuesday with a Kurdish group called PJAK. Their bodies were transferred from the border to the nearby city of Salmas, the report said.
Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment. Iran's Revolutionary Guards are an ideologically driven branch of the country's armed forces.
Security experts say PJAK is an Iranian wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) whose separatist struggle regained momentum in southeastern Turkey after it called off a unilateral ceasefire in the summer of 2004.
The PKK Web site said seven Iranian soldiers were killed and 11 injured in a clash with PKK guerrillas. It said Iranian forces launched an operation against the rebels on March 25 in an area it identified as Kelares, near the border between Iran and Turkey. It said there were no PKK casualties.