... Mr. Allawi, for his part, has promised to restore Iraq's traditional ties with Arab countries in the region, many of them foes of Iran. On Tuesday, Mr. Allawi told Iraqi television that any negotiations under way in Tehran were "shameful." In a separate interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., he said it was "very clear" that Iran was trying to prevent him from becoming prime minister.
Christopher Hill, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, expressed his concern Tuesday about the influence that Iran could have on the formation of a new government.
"I don't think the Iraqi people would stand for a government that is not homemade," Mr. Hill told reporters in a teleconference.
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Recent developments in Iran have prompted fears that the Iranian authorities are once more using executions as a tool to try and quell political unrest, intimidate the population and send a signal that dissent will not be tolerated.

There was a noticeable surge in the rate of executions at the time of mass protests over last year's disputed Presidential elections. Although many of the executions were for criminal offences committed before the unrest, they sent a chilling message to those involved in protests.

One hundred and twelve people were put to death in the eight weeks between the June election and the re-inauguration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in early August- almost a third of the total for the entire year.

In 2009 as a whole at least 388 people were put to death in Iran - the largest number recorded by Amnesty International in recent years. Figures collated by various human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, suggest the annual number of executions has almost quadrupled since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was first elected five years ago. Many of those executed did not receive fair trials.
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NCRI - Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, called on G8 foreign ministers to impose immediate comprehensive sanctions on the Iranian regime. She said: Imposing sanctions on the regime is the first crucial step to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. The Iranian people who seek regime change demand this. She reiterated that political and economic ties with the regime has run counter to the interests of the Iranian people and change in Iran and helped the regime to maintain its suppressive rule, export terrorism and get closer to a nuclear bomb.
Eight years of talks with the regime by Europe's troika, by P5+1 and direct negotiations by the United States constituted a wrongheaded, weak and destructive policy. This policy provided the regime ample time to complete its nuclear projects and at the same time emboldened the mullahs to defy international rules and treaties, she noted.
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OTTAWA - Iran's nuclear program is of "critical concern" and will top the agenda when foreign ministers from the Group of Eight nations meet Monday to discuss global security, Canada's foreign minister said.
Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said he'll press for stiffer sanctions against Iran when G-8 ministers assemble in Gatineau, Quebec for the meeting which begins Monday evening and continues through Tuesday...
"Unfortunately I believe we are left with little choice but to pursue additional sanctions against Iran ideally through the United Nations Security Council," Cannon said.
Cannon said he'll discuss with his G-8 colleagues what they can do to put additional pressure on Iran to persuade it to stop its nuclear enrichment activities and convince them to return to the negotiating table.
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CAIRO - The surprisingly strong election showing by a secular, nationalist coalition in Iraq has provided a sudden opening for the mostly Sunni Arab world to curtail Iranian influence in Iraq, something that has been a source of serious alarm for the United States and its Arab allies since 2003.
The banner headline in Asharq al-Awsat, an influential newspaper in Saudi Arabia, said it all - "The Awakening of Moderation in Iraq" - offering an immediate endorsement of Iraq's top vote-getter by the regional Sunni Arab powerhouse.
The Iraqiya coalition led by Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite who has campaigned for better ties with the Arab world and keeping neighboring Iran at a distance, won 91 of the new legislature's 325 seats, edging Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's mainly Shiite bloc by only two seats. Allawi was prime minister in 2004-05.
The narrow win foreshadowed possibly months of hard-nosed negotiations over the formation of a new government. But Allawi's numerical victory was triumph enough for the mostly Sunni Arab regimes that have been wary of Shiite-dominated Iraqi governments since the 2003 U.S. invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.
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