Markazi, Iran News

The US is planning to focus fresh sanctions on the business interests of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the force that oversees its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The nephew of Iran's opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was threatened days before he was killed in Sunday's protests, a prominent supporter says.

The Iranian authorities made a desperate attempt to cut off the resurgent opposition movement at its roots on Monday, making a string of arrests close to its leadership.

Two Iranian women wearing green headbands, the symbolic color of Iranian opposition, attend the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in the holy city of Qom, Iran, on Monday.

The administration of US President Barack Obama believes domestic unrest and signs of unexpected trouble in Iran's nuclear program make the country's leaders particularly vulnerable to strong and immediate new sanctions, The New York Times reported.

Iran's rulers must compromise with opposition figures to avoid a worsening of the political turmoil, the son of the late dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said in comments released today.

Jerusalem - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that Iran's recently disclosed second uranium enrichment plant was "immune" to conventional bombing.

Deepening global economic difficulties combined with a familiar mix of political failure, military conflict and societal dysfunction to induce a pervasive sense of gloom about the course of world events.

We like to believe and newspapers and television like us to believe that the battle for Iran is being fought on the streets of Tehran, of Isfahan, of Najafabad.

Iran plunged into crisis yesterday as shouts of "death to the dictator" filled the streets of Qom, the centre of Shiite theology and Iran's most devout city.

The United States' former commander in Iraq said he was "90% certain" that former hostage Peter Moore was held in Iran for some of his two-and-a-half years in captivity, according to reports.

The Obama administration seemed more firmly set on pushing for fresh UN sanctions against Iran as Iranian leaders balk at a year-end deadline to engage world powers on their nuclear plans.

Tens of thousands of hard-line government supporters turned out for state-sponsored rallies Wednesday, some of them calling for the execution of opposition leaders as Iran's police chief threatened to show "no mercy" in crushing any new protests by the pro-reform movement.

A reformist website said Iranian riot police fired tear gas to disperse opposition supporters who used a religious mourning ceremony today to try to revive antigovernment protests in the Islamic republic.

AKMAL Shaikh got a raw deal from his co-religionists. Not from the West, mark you.

The recent deaths of two revolutionaries, one in Iran and one in Russia, are reminders of the impact individuals can have on history, even if they are rejected during their lifetimes.

An Iranian opposition supporter gestures during clashes with security forces in Tehran on December 27, 2009.

An Iranian opposition supporter covers his face with his bloodstained hand during clashes with security forces in Tehran.

Iranian security forces fired on anti-government protesters in the capital Sunday, killing at least four people in the fiercest clashes in months, opposition Web sites and witnesses said.

The recently-revealed Qom nuclear plant in Iran is buried so deep under concrete that a "regular" military attack would not affect it, Defense Minister Ehud Barak revealed to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee on Monday.