Iran Update
Volume: 1 - Issue:  15 22 March 2010
Iran Update
Dear Friend,

We are delighted to present you with the current issue of Iran Update, a publication of International Solidarity for Democratic Change in Iran (ISDCI).  
 
We wish all our friends a Happy Nowrooz (Nowrooz Mobarak), start of the Iranian new year, coinciding with the Vernal Equinox. The revival of nature, inspires a personal and social revival. Nowrooz is a symbol of preparing for new times and better days. It is also a symbol of the changes we need to bring about in our hearts, minds, and in our society. We need to revisit our hearts and our society and prepare for an inner Spring and new and better life for all.
 
 
Stick must remain an option to stop Iran 
San Francisco Chronicle
Michael Makovsky
21 March 2010
The Obama administration is sending conflicting signals about how far it is willing to go to prevent Iran from developing nuclear capability. Recently, Vice President Joseph Biden declared, "The United States is determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, period." Yet, shortly before that, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted, "we are not planning anything other than going for sanctions."
 
This confusion, in rhetoric and policy, imperils U.S. credibility and any peaceful resolution to Iran's nuclear threat. The president needs to clarify U.S. policy by reaffirming his 2009 pledge "to use all elements of American power to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon."
The independent Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington has published two studies advocating a comprehensive three-track strategy: vigorous diplomacy, aggressive sanctions and active preparation for possible military action.
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Nowrooz gathering outside Evin prison 
Persian2English
21 March 2010

Families of political prisoners in Iran gathered on one of the streets near Evin prison. Recently the regime has increased pressure on the family members which has made it difficult for them to gather on Evin prison property.
According to RAHANA, plainclothes agents and police guards were stationed a few hundred metres from Evin prison. They did not allow cars to stop. If a car stopped even for a moment, the police guards attempted to remove their car's license plate.
80 family members of political prisoners gathered on a street near Evin prison and set up a sofre haftsin (decorative set up for the Persian New Year).
After the New Year countdown, the family members sang the revolutionary song Yare Dabestani and the national song Ey Iran. Like previous times, the security forces were forced to leave the premise of the gathering.
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Iran's nuclear clock 
The New York Times
Howard L. Berman
19 March 2010

Iran is rapidly acquiring the capability to produce nuclear weapons, and the prospects for preventing this nightmare scenario are shrinking by the day. The United States must act urgently to intensify pressure on the Iranian regime - with the cooperation of the international community if at all possible, but on our own if necessary.
It is foolhardy to believe that the West could contain or deter Tehran were it to acquire the bomb. A nuclear-armed Iran would usher in a dangerous new era of instability in the Gulf and Middle East.
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Europeans call for action against Iran for jamming of international satellites 
The Los Angeles Times
18 March 2010
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and his French and German counterparts think it's high time for Europe to step up measures against Iran for its alleged jamming of foreign channels such as BBC Persian and Deutsche Welle, which are broadcast by satellite into the Islamic Republic.
"Iran has been regularly jamming the broadcasting by satellite of a number of foreign televisions and radio stations . . . since December 2009, a repetition of its practice in the run-up to the disputed elections earlier that year," Miliband, along with counterparts Bernard Kouchner of France and Guido Westerwelle of Germany wrote in a recent letter to the EU's foreign policy chief, Baroness Catherine Ashton.
"The objective was clearly to prevent the people of Iran from freely exercising their right to information," read the letter. "We cannot remain silent. It seems to us to be essential that the European Union should make known in the strongest possible terms its condemnation of such unacceptable actions."
...The jamming violates the principles of the International Union of Telecommunications, to which Iran is a party.
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Thank you for your reading Iran Update. We welcome your comments. 
 
 
Sincerely,
 
ISDCI News Group
In This Issue
Stick must remain an option to stop Iran
Nowrooz gathering outside Evin prison
Iran's nuclear clock
Europeans call for action against Iran for jamming of international satellites
Quick Links
 
 
 
Putting Human Rights
First
We invite you to write to your national government officials to ask them to freeze all commercial and diplomatic ties with the Iranian regime until there is a full stop to repression of protests in Iran, release of political prisoners and respect for human rights as demanded in the recent UN Human Rights Council session.