As the administration still holds out hope for its engagement strategy with Iran, Congress is working furiously to set up a whole host of sanctions bills that could be used by the administration if and when Obama’s outstretched hand fails to convince Tehran to unclench its fist. Several different Iran sanctions bill are at various stages of the legislative process, but the Senate Banking Committee decided today to approve a bill that collects all of them into one package.

“Right now, I think most of our energies are focused on the engagement side of it to follow up on the P-5-plus-1 meeting in Geneva and waiting for a response from Iran,” Kelly said. “But all along, there’s also the other track, the track of pressure, and we believe that that track has to be at least planned for while we pursue the engagement track.”

23 October 2009 The Iranian authorities must immediately release dozens of people arrested on Thursday during a prayer service in support of activists detained following protests after June’s presidential election, Amnesty International has said. The prayer service was organized by the family of Shahaboddin Tabatabaei, a prominent supporter of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who […]

The task of the IAEA director general is to implement safeguards as effectively as possible. He should push hard for access and, if an impasse is reached, speak out rather than settling silently for a poor deal.

http://www.petitiononline.com/safar17/petition.html To: Secretary-General of United Nations Ban Ki Moon, U.N. High Commissioner Navanethem Pillay, Iran’s Permanant Representative of United Nations Mohammad Khazaee, U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Head of Judiciary Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, Head of Tehran Judiciary Ali Reza Avaei. We are requesting for an urgent call to action […]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,654596,00.html ‘Embarrassing’ Incident in Gulf of Suez German Ship Transporting Arms for Iran ddp The US military discovered eight containers, similar to these ones, containing ammunition apparently being shipped from Iran to Syria aboard a German-owned freighter. US troops boarded a German-owned freighter in early October and found eight containers full of ammunition, allegedly headed […]

Sun Oct 11, 2009 8:46pm IST [–] Text [+] TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran hanged a man on Sunday who was under 18 when he stabbed a boy to death, Iranian media said, with one report saying the victim’s parents helped to carry out the execution. Behnoud Shojaie was put to death in Tehran’s Evin prison […]

The meeting this week was held at the Treasury Department’s Washington headquarters and initiated by Stuart Levey, the Obama administration’s point man on Iran sanctions. Daniel Glaser, a deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury, headed up the majority of the deliberations, according to participants. A Treasury Department official declined to comment.

http://www.learningpartnership.org/en/advocacy/alerts/iranwomenarrests0307 One Million Signatures campaign activist Jelveh Javaheri has been issued a six month prison sentence by Iran’s Revolutionary Courts for her participation in a peaceful protest on June 12, 2008. Ms. Javaheri has been targeted for arrest and harassment on numerous occasions as a result of her work as a women’s rights activist and […]

“It is believed that Iran has developed exploding bridgewire detonators and associated electronic high voltage firing systems. The Agency assesses that Iran has managed to develop a high explosives industry capable of synthesizing and formulating the raw materials into explosive compositions and that could be used in a nuclear weapon.