Iran has resumed operations at its Isfahan plant to enrich uranium ore for reactor fuel. The plant will convert yellowcake, or uranium ore, into uranium hexafluoride gas to be fed into centrifuges for uranium enrichment in the still-closed neighboring Natanz plant. Iran claims the program is purely for civilian purposes and is in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty and International Atomic Energy Agency regulations. Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organizaiton (IAO), said that "the West must once and for all accept an atomic Iran." (DPA, Aug. 10) The move comes despite an effort by the European Union to offer Iran aid and other incentives not to resume the enrichment program. (FT, Aug. 9) It should be noted that Iran is still a long way from being able to produce a nuclear weapon. Several kilograms of uranium-235 are needed to reach the critical mass for a nuclear explosion, which would have to be processed from several tons of uranium hexafluoride using equipment the country doesn't currently have. (Nature.com, Aug. 8)

TruthOut offers the following tidbit from Newsweek on a National Intelligence Council finding that, contrary to Bush's dearest dreams, Iran "is not in a prerevolutionary state." We wonder if this document was drawn up before several cities in western Iran exploded into rebellion. Yes, we shouldn't underestimate the populist appeal of the newly-elected president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But nor should we underestimate the degree of anger and alienation among Iran's Kurds, Arabs and other minorities—as well as young people tired of the mullahs' repressive rule. If Bush is cultivating illusions that "regime change" in Iran would be an easy affair, his opponents must also avoid the self-deception that everything is hunky-dory in Iran.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the resurgent Kurdish guerilla movement in eastern Turkey and long-standing offical State Department-designated "foreign terrorist organization," is apparently building a visible presence in northern Iraq, and is even said to be establishing a foothold in Iran.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran reports that on Aug. 3 thousands took to the streets of Saqez, capital of Iran's Kurdistan province, against the clerical regime, and in solidarity with uprisings in other cities in the region, including Sanandaj, Mahabad, Sardasht, Piranshahr, Marivan, Oshnavieh, Baneh and Divan Darreh.

Here's an ominous one. We bet this won't be the last we hear of this news item. Where the hell is "Southwestern Asia" and why the secrecy about the location of the crash? Doesn't the secrecy combined with the unsubtle geographic hint pretty much make clear that it is Iran--where the US has admitted to using spy planes?

More explosions are reported in Iran this morning, this time in the southeastern city of Zahedan, near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. The three blasts took no lives, but injured two people and caused property damage. Authorities were unclear on a link to the June 12 blasts in Ahvaz and Tehran, noting the presence of drug-smuggling networks in the Zahedan area. (AP, June 14)

Bomb blasts struck Iranian government buildings June 12 in Ahvaz, capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province bordering Iraq, followed within hours by two other bombs in central Tehran, killing nine and injuring over 85. The attacks come days before presidential elections. Iran's security service blamed the bombings — the deadliest in Iran in more than a decade — on supporters of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Ethnic tensions are rising in southwest Iran's Khuzistan province along the Iraqi border, where violence has left three dead and injured in recent days. Protests by the region's Arab minority were sparked by reports that authorities were planning to colonize the city of Ahvaz with ethnic Farsies. Nationwide operations of Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV were suspended by the government April 18 on charges of inciting the unrest. (AP, April 18)