The current nuclear crisis
Interview with Journal d'Iran
Ali Ansari is Professor of Iranian History, and Director of the Institute of Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews.

Journal d’Iran : From 2003, Europe and the Troika have played a leading role in negotiating the Iranian nuclear issue. Indeed, Europe has chosen the path of diplomacy and dialogue as regards the Iranian nuclear issue. The effectiveness and credibility of such an initiative is now being questioned, as Iran continues its enrichment activities and negotiation gives no result. We are in a deadlock situation. If everyone keeps its red line, how can we hope that this eternal negotiation will one day lead to a diplomatic solution?
Ali Ansari : If the redlines do stick then there can be no diplomatic solution and this becomes a battle of wills. There are two routes, military and economic, and at the moment it would seem that the US/EU are focusing on the economic pressure points. On any fundamental assessment, the US/EU present a stronger and more durable economic bloc.
Journal d’Iran : Regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, Europe has used stick-and-carrot tactics. Do you think the hardening of the European position and initiatives such as additional sanction outside the UN will change the current singularity of this long-term relationship?
Ali Ansari : I think the relationship between Europe and Iran changed in 2005 with the accession of Ahmadinejad to the presidency. I don’t think the EU handled its relationship well, but Ahmadinejad’s administration has been far too dismissive of the Europeans and effectively over time pushed them into a more flexible American camp. In terms of diplomacy, this has to my mind been a singular failure of Iranian foreign policy. Prior to this they had always, relatively successfully managed to keep the EU separate from the US. With the possibility of an Obama victory in November this EU/US union of minds becomes even tighter. Read the interview

Israel and Iran: A bridge too far?

"A nation has no permanent enemies and no permanent friends, only permanent interests." - British statesman Winston Churchill Iran is gripped by heated controversy over a public statement by a close aide to President Mahmud Ahmadinejad expressing affection toward the Israeli people. The comments by Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, vice president in charge of tourism, have been widely criticized by, among others, Ali Laijani, the speaker of parliament (Majlis), who stated that "we are not friends with the Israeli people". The chief prosecutor, Hojatol Eslam Dari Najaf Abadi, stepped in by questioning the term "nation" for "an occupying population" and Mashaie has now been summoned to parliament. This controversy coincides with the Hamas-Israel truce in Palestine, the breakthrough in Lebanon's political crisis and the latest Tehran visit by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is in the midst of his own quiet diplomacy with the Israelis with the help of "trusted third party" Turkey and who is about to play host to Ahmadinejad. Read the analysis

If you want to help Iran, don't attack

The Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi talks to David Batty about the regime's abuse of its population - and how the west needs to abandon the threat of war if it wants to win over Iran's people and bring change The Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi is not a woman easily stopped in her tracks - she has been held in jail and faced repeated death threats, but continues to speak out against the abuses of the theocratic regime. On the doorstep of the BBC's Bush House in central London, though, an American tourist waves the Nobel peace laureate and her entourage aside, complaining loudly: "Do you mind? We're trying to take a picture!" It serves, perhaps, as a reminder for Ebadi - who has spent the day being treated like a VIP by the BBC World Service - of the challenge she faces in attracting western interest to her cause. With the international community fixated on Iran's nuclear ambitions, Ebadi says there is dwindling scrutiny of human rights in her homeland, and the hardline president... Read the article

Abyaneh : village of great antiquity

Being a village of great antiquity, Abyaneh is like a living architectural and anthropological museum. It affords an impressive exponent of the adaptation of man with his environment. It is located on the north-western slope of Mt Karkas, 2 kms away from Natanz (a town in Isfahan province). It is 2500 meters above sea level. At a place called Hanjan is 55 kms away from Kashan and 25 kms away from Abyaneh. Abyaneh is mainly watered by the river of Barzrud. Set on the slope of the lofty mountain of Karkas, this village has a cold climate and enjoys numerous springs creating a favorite condition for agriculture. Read the article

Olympics-Wrestling-Iran's gold favourite Soryan loses

BEIJING -Iran's Olympic gold medal favourite Hamid Soryan lost in the Greco-Roman 55kg quarter-final to Russia's Nazyr Mankiev on Tuesday. Soryan has dominated the category over the past three years winning three consecutive world titles and two Asian championship gold medals, but lost 3-1 on classification points after he tied 4-4 on technical points with Mankiev. In the 60kg category, two-times Olympic champion Armen Nazarian of Bulgaria narrowly fought past Japan's Makoto Sasamoto to make the quarter-finals where he will face Vitaliy Rahimov of Azerbaijan. Read the article

Iran to release first film on Khomeini's life

For the past four years, veteran director Behrouz Afkhami has been working on one of the most imposing projects that could be imagined in modern Iran. He has been directing the first feature film about the life of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the charismatic cleric who led the Islamic revolution of 1979 that toppled the pro-US shah and then ruled the country for a decade. The film -- Farzand-e Sobh (The Morning's Child) -- is set to be released in Iran in February during the official celebrations for the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution. Carefully avoiding the approach of an all-out biographical epic, the film focuses on Khomeini's childhood in his parents' home in the central city of Khomein, with a few glimpses of him returning from seminary studies in Arak. But it also includes flash-forwards to Khomeini's sermons railing against the rule of shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the 1960s which led to his arrest by the notorious SAVAK secret police and exile from Iran. "I still consider myself the imam's disciple," Afkhami told AFP in an interview. Almost two decades after his death in 1989, Khomeini is still universally referred to as the "Imam". Read the article

Buying frenzy lights up the Iranian art market

The prices have soared by a factor of 20 within two years, the galleries are packed with prospective buyers and the works are both modern and daring., but this is not s description of the art scene in New York, Paris or London, but Tehran. Far removed from the increasingly tense standoff over the country's nuclear programme and domestic frustration because of rising inflation, Iran's best known artists are enjoying a huge rise in demand for their work. "For 30 years no one was interested in us. Today everyone wants to buy," Parviz Tanavoli, 72, Iran's best known sculptor, told AFP. "People have money. They used to invest it in property. Today they see there are other places to put it."
A 1975 sculpture by Tanavoli, "The Wall (Oh Persepolis)," sold in late April for 2.84 million dollars at a Christie's auction in Dubai -- the highest figure ever reached for a contemporary Iranian work. The 1.8-metre-high (6-feet) bronze block was typical of Tanavoli's intricate style, partly inspired by the ancient art of the Achaemenian empire, and praised by experts as being more than worth its stratospheric price. Read the article

The last issue of Journal d'Iran : Europe is concerned !

Iran and Europe, towards the end of negotiations? Mahmoud Delfani, chief editor of Journal d’Iran
Europe and Iran; conditions for a true dialogue! Exclusive Interview with Angelika Beer, MEP and President of the Delegation for relations with Iran within the European Parliament, collected by Sima Taheri
Iran in the European strategy, the challenges and opportunities, Interview with Pirouz Mojtahed Zadeh, professor of geopolitics at the University Tarbiat Modarres in Tehran and Chairman of the London based Foundation Urosevic
Iran and Europe; challenge or dialogue? Ahmad Naghibzadeh, Professor of Political Science at the University of Tehran
What security policy for Iran, as part of the nuclear crisis?Emmanuel Dupuy, President of the Institute of Prospective and Security in Europe (IPSE) and Consultant in Cabinet d’Ingénierie Stratégique pour la Sécurité (CI2S)
Iran and the Shiite Islamist movements in the Middle East, Laurence Louër, resercher in Sciences Po et CERI
The paintings in popular cafes or “Ghahveh-Khaneh”, Interview with Ali Gharemani, and Ostad Darvish Farahani, collected by Camélia Esmaili
The Iran melting pot of religions by Richard Foltz, presented by Marc Pajou
Distribution places in Paris

Sharif University of Technology to host Culture of Nations Festival

Sharif University of Technology will play host to the third edition of the Culture of Nations Festival, which is to be held from July 8 to 10.
The festival will coincide with the sixth graduation ceremony of foreign students in Iran.
Students from China, Japan, Vietnam, France, Bosnia, Poland, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Lithuania, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Tajikistan, Cameron, Ghana, Mali, Somali, the Comoros, Sudan, Ethiopia and Nigeria will take part in the gala, the secretary of the gala Soheila Sarraf told IRNA on Tuesday. They will display their handicrafts, costumes and regional dress from their stands and will introduce visitors to their countries’ tourist sites, culture and luminaries, she added.
Sarraf went on to say that Iran would have two stands at the festival, one for the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization and the other for the Sharif University of Technology.
Short films and promotional video clips on the theme of Iran’s numerous tourist attractions will be shown and live Iranian music will be performed on the sidelines at the festival.
Several Iranian universities including the University of Tehran, Amirkabir University of Technology, Buali Sina University, Ferdowsi university of Mashhad, the University of Guilan, Isfahan University of Technology and some of the Islamic Azad University branches will participate in the event. Read the article