When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad walks up to the podium today in New York to deliver another blast of venom, the only proper response is for the US to hit Iran's economy with much tougher sanctions than anyone has yet tried. That means targeting its oil industry, not just its leaders and its banks.
Otherwise, Iran's President will deliver real injury, not just insult, to this crucial conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). He has taken Iran to the brink of having nuclear weapons, and if it does soon get them (despite protestations that it only wants nuclear power), that will trigger a Middle East arms race.
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Hollywood film-makers including Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese have called on the Iranian government to release director Jafar Panahi. A petition also signed by Robert De Niro, Robert Redford and Francis Ford Coppola, denounced the arrest of Panahi on 1 March.
"We... stand in solidarity with a fellow film-maker", the petition read.
Panahi, known for his social realism, has made several films critical of Iran's regime.
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KUWAIT CITY - Several Kuwaiti MPs on Sunday blasted neighbouring Iran over an espionage cell allegedly busted by the emirate's security forces, calling on the government to expel Tehran's ambassador.
"We call for freezing all agreements with Iran... The government should recall our ambassador from Tehran and expel the Iranian ambassador from Kuwait," hardline Salafi MP Mohammad Hayef told reporters.
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WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says it's clear that Iran is in violation of a treaty designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
The U.N. is holding a conference this coming week on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE'-neh-zhahd), is expected to address delegates ahead of Clinton on Monday.
Clinton tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that his trip is an effort to divert attention and confuse people about Iran's violation of the treaty.
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Agence France Presse reported from Tehran: Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi said on Saturday that he and fellow opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi were not "topplers" of the country's Islamic regime, an opposition website reported.
"We are neither topplers (of the regime) or lackeys of foreigners," said Karroubi who has continued to launch his tirades against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government.
"I and Mr. Mousavi have held positions within the regime, but do not consider ourselves as the owners (of the regime), but soldiers of the revolution and the Islamic republic," he was quoted as saying on Rahesabz website.

Under pressure from Khamenei, Messers. Mussavi and Karroubi have distanced themselves from the people's demand for regime change, leading to the conclusion by many Iran analysts that the people increasingly see them as a conduit for continued protest rather than leaders of the opposition movement.
Iranian opposition leader, Massoud Rajavi, has in a recent speech broadcast to the Iranian peopel criticised Messrs. Karroubi and Moussavi for an increasingly tepid stand vis-a-vis the Khamenei regime but offered support to the two in any effort to stand against the regime's dictatorial policies and despotism.
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