Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said March 26 that India intends to go ahead with a multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline from Iran via Pakistan despite objections from the US. "Talks on this pipeline are going on," Mukherjee said in an interview with the NDTV news network. "When I was in Iran, I had categorically mentioned that we are interested in having this pipeline." He added: "Now negotiations are going on about the prices." (AFP, March 26)

From the UK Press Association, March 23:

Fifteen Royal Navy sailors have been seized by Iranian warships in Iraqi territorial waters, the Ministry of Defence said.

A petition from the Organization of Women's Liberation in Iran (OWLI):

To: all progressive organizations and all freedom-loving people
Your help is urgently needed to release 36 women activists in Tehran!

4th March 2007, a gathering of women activists in front of the Engelab Court, Tehran, was brutally attacked and 36 women were arrested. The gathering was called to protest against the arrest and trial of 5 women activists who were jailed in connection with protests on 22 Xordad [last June] in Haft Tir Square. Their “crime” was to stage a gathering “against the country’s security.” The 5 arrested women activists are Parvin Ardalan, Susan Tahmasbi, Shahla Entesari, and Fariba Davoodi Mohajer.

A statement from the Organization of Women's Liberation in Iran (OWLI):

Azar Majedi in a round table discussion with BBC Radio Scotland:
Military attack on Iran is a human and environmental tragedy in the region!

On 25 February 2007, Azar Majedi, the Chairperson of Organisation for Women’s Liberation, took part in a round table discussion with BBC Radio Scotland Sunday Live programme, about the possible military attack on Iran by USA. The other participant was Mr. Douglas Mary, supporter of New Conservatism and Mr. Bush.

From the British Ahwazi Friendship Society, Feb. 14:

An Ahwazi Arab teacher, Reisan Sawari, died while on hunger strike on Tuesday. Sawari had been held in solitary confinement for a year and was protesting against his conditions. He was a member of the reformist Lejnat al-Wefagh (Reconciliation Committee), which campaigned for Arab rights by constitutional means, including contesting elections. The party was banned by the regime last year, with government spokesmen claiming it was a threat to national security.

Eighteen people were killed when a bomb exploded next to a bus owned by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the southeast city of Zahedan, the official IRNA news agency reports. "In this act 18 Zahedan citizens have been martyred," said Qassim Rezai, a local military commander. "Rebels and those who create insecurity martyred these people in a terrorist act by laying a trap close to a bus." It is not clear if those killed were members of the Guards. (Bloomberg, Feb. 14)

Michael R. Gordon's Feb. 10 New York Times story, "Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is Made by Iran, US Says," backs up some administration claims: "The most lethal weapon directed against American troops in Iraq is an explosive-packed cylinder that United States intelligence asserts is being supplied by Iran... In interviews, civilian and military officials from a broad range of government agencies provided specific details to support what until now has been a more generally worded claim, in a new National Intelligence Estimate, that Iran is providing 'lethal support' to Shiite militants in Iraq. The focus of American concern is known as an 'explosively formed penetrator,' a particularly deadly type of roadside bomb being used by Shiite groups in attacks on American troops in Iraq. Attacks using the device have doubled in the past year... Because the weapon can be fired from roadsides and is favored by Shiite militias, it has become a serious threat in Baghdad. Only a small fraction of the roadside bombs used in Iraq are explosively formed penetrators. But the device produces more casualties per attack than other types of roadside bombs." Note the usual suspects: "The link that American intelligence has drawn to Iran is based on a number of factors, including an analysis of captured devices, examination of debris after attacks, and intelligence on training of Shiite militants in Iran and in Iraq by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and by Hezbollah militants believed to be working at the behest of Tehran."

We have already noted rampant conspiracy theories in the fluctuating oil prices. We'll here's more grist for the mill. From NBC News, Jan. 26:

Oil traders and others believe that the Saudi decision to let the price of oil tumble has more to do with Iran than economics.