A very important story by Kimia Sanati from InterPress Service, Oct. 3:

Islamist, Socialist Revolutions Don't Mix
An attempt to rope in the son and daughter of the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara to forge a parallel between Iran's Islamist revolution and the socialist revolution in Latin America through a four-day conference has ended in fiasco.

A Sept. 29 AP story given prominent placement in the New York Times, "Nervous Gulf Hears Calmer Tones on Iran," notes that CentCom chief Adm. William Fallon, on a tour of the Persian Gulf states, is reassuring regional leaders that a war with Iran is not in the offing. "This constant drum beat of conflict is what strikes me which is not helpful and not useful," Fallon said in Sept. 23 interview with Al-Jazeera TV. "I expect that there will be no war and that is what we ought to be working for. We ought to try and to do our utmost to create different conditions." The Times quoted some talking heads from the "pragmatist" wing of the power elite who were encouraged by Fallon's statement. "It's all about trying to contain Iran without turning this into a war," said Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington.

A commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards died after an ambush on Sept. 20 by Ahwazi militants. Mehdi Bayat was killed near the Revolutionary Guards base in Hamidiyah, near Ahwaz City in western Khuzestan province, where Iran's Ahwazi Arab minority have launched a struggle for autonomy or independence. Bayat was a commanding officer responsible for training members of the Bassij militia in Khaffajiyah. The town of Khaffajiyah has witnessed a number of disturbances by Ahwazi Arab groups which have been brutally put down by the Revolutionary Guards' elite Ashura Brigades.

Not for the first time. From AFP, Sept. 24:

UNITED NATIONS — Iranian pro-democracy activists strongly oppose any military attack on their country but want the world to condemn Tehran's human rights violations, Iranian dissident journalist Akbar Ganji said in a petition seen Monday.

From Amnesty International, Aug. 23:

Iran: Authorities thwart campaign for gender equality
Women's rights activists in Iran face imprisonment. Activists campaigning for gender equality in Iran are unable to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and association, as shown by a number of recent arrests. Many of those arrested are supporters of the Campaign for Equality, a network which works to end legal discrimination against women.

Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Gulerhas announced his government will invest $3.5 billion in Iran's South Pars gas field starting from 2008, a week after signing a deal to use Iran as a transit route for gas from Turkmenistan to European markets. Ankara also made clear that it sees Iran as a potential partner for the Nabucco gas pipeline project, conceived as a means of diversifying gas supplies to Europe. Washington has voiced its opposition to the memorandum of understanding between Turkey and Iran. In an interview with NTV news this week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended the deal, adding that "Turkey thinks of its own interests and the US will eventually understand this." (Press TV, July 19)

The Iranian government confirmed July 11 that a man was executed by stoning last week for adultery, and that 20 more men would be executed in the coming days on morality violations. The stoning of Jaffar Kiani, 47, was carried out near the city of Takestan, despite a stay of execution order by the chief of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi. "The verdict was final, and so it was carried out for the man but not for the woman," the ISNA news agency quoted a judiciary spokesman as saying. He said the 20 more executions were for "rape, insulting religious sanctities and laws, and homosexuality." Local newspaper Etemad Melli said: "Villagers said the sentence was carried out by the local judge and authorities." Most executions in Iran are hangings, often in public at the alleged crime scenes. Police arrested some 1,000 in May during a morality crackdown. Fifteen more men are being tried and could receive death sentences. (NYT, July 11)

From the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA), July 5:

Alieh Eghdam Doost, who was arrested on June 12, 2006 for attending a women's rights rally in Tehran, is sentenced to three years and five months prison term and 20 lashes, her attorney, Nasim Ghanavi, said to ISNA today.