UANI

Top Stories

NYT: "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here Thursday to consult with the United Arab Emirates about military defenses and the growing unease in the Persian Gulf over possible missile attacks by Iran." http://nyti.ms/bsRRV2
 
Radio Farda: "A third of the world's jailed journalists are imprisoned in Iran, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which says the number of reporters held in the Islamic republic rose to at least 52 in February." http://bit.ly/arvILg
 
NYT: "The Iranian president visited Kabul on Wednesday and shot back at American allegations that Iran was providing support to Afghan insurgents, accusing the United States of playing its own 'double game.'" http://nyti.ms/dhxgZM

UANI in the News

NYT: "Ingersoll-Rand P.L.C., a multinational company that makes air compressors and cooling systems, said Monday that it would no longer allow its foreign subsidiaries to sell parts or products to Iran. The company announced its decision in a letter to United Against Nuclear Iran, a group based in New York that lobbies against companies that do business with Iran. The group was also instrumental in trying to get Shell to withdraw." http://nyti.ms/cxcC5j
 
WSJ: "Ingersoll disclosed its new policy on sales to Iran in a letter to the lobbying group United Against Nuclear Iran. The group has also targeted Shell and other U.S. and European companies with business in Iran. It has written to Shell calling on it to disclose the full extent of its business in Iran and complained about the company to the Securities and Exchange Commission.  UANI said that it applauded Shell's decision to stop gasoline sales to Iran but that Shell should sever all business ties with the Islamic Republic. 'This is an encouraging first step but they must do more,' said the group's head, Mark Wallace, who was an ambassador-level diplomat to the United Nations during the Bush administration. He said Shell's ties to Iran's hydrocarbon industry remained 'problematic' and made the company 'toxic for investors.'" http://bit.ly/bOcpiP

Nuclear Program

NYT: "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told the royal family of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that the United States wanted to help build up the kingdom's military defenses against the growing threat of Iran, but also needed its help in pressing for new United Nations sanctions on Tehran." http://nyti.ms/dCwmlR
 
AFP: "Brazil and Germany differed sharply Wednesday on whether to threaten Iran with fresh United Nations sanctions in a bid to rein in its disputed nuclear program." http://bit.ly/cWTwfe

Human Rights

Radio Farda: "A group of Iranian women protested against what they described as gender and ethnic discrimination in the Islamic Republic by dancing in front of Tehran's embassy in Ottawa on International Women's Day. Iranian women have been banned from dancing in public since the 1979 revolution because dancing is considered un-Islamic." http://bit.ly/bPdedu
 
AFP: "Iran has hanged two convicted drug traffickers in the Shiite shrine city of Qom, Iranian media reported on Thursday." http://bit.ly/9XKoQV
 
AP: "An Iranian appeals court sentenced a university professor to six years in prison for suspected involvement in the country's postelection turmoil, local media reported Thursday." http://bit.ly/aS2pXe

Domestic Politics

LAT: "There's a new move afoot to get Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani back to the pulpit during Tehran's Friday prayers.  According to a report Wednesday in the reformist daily newspaper Bahar (in Persian), the dean of Tehran's elite Imam Sadegh University (where many of the leaders of Iran's intelligence and security apparatus get trained) got the ball rolling in a speech last week." http://bit.ly/dn4OYp
 
Bloomberg: "Iran, holder of the world's second- biggest oil and gas reserves, will add to its oil stabilization fund if crude prices remain over $65 in the coming 12 months, the deputy central bank governor said." http://bit.ly/94iTnj

Foreign Affairs
 
Reuters: "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Gulf countries on Thursday against the U.S. presence in the region, saying Washington aimed to dominate their energy resources in the name of fighting terrorism." http://nyti.ms/9Q6522

Opinion