Pictures of the day

Stunned farmer Zheng Dexun dug up a crop of fleeceflower, or Chinese knotweed, and found one shaped like a person, in Langzhong, China. The eerie-looking plant, measuring 62 centimetres tall, has clearly defined arms, legs, and head. Zheng said: "I don't know whether it is good or bad to dig out a Chinese knotweed that looks like a human. I'd better put it back in the earth!"

a prisoner in "Rajayee Shahr's prison was raped by the command of proson keeper with a bunch of prisoners

A prisoner in jail yesterday Rajayee Shahr prison in Karaj command by a number of prisoners were raped. According to Human Rights Activists The prisoners in Iran yesterday, November the second prisoner named Abdullah Hemmati "command" Ali Mohammadi, "Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj Deputy Executive by a number of prisoners SrkrdhgySomeone called "lovely" as a lawyer, section 4 - Hall 11 prisoners were raped. According to witnesses not show this prisoner following Deputy prison, addressed to the Supervisor of attorney hall implicitly called murder or rape the prisoners after he is out of this ton or responsibleW prisoners as a lawyer Srkrdhgy Hall of action and then beating a prisoner to rape. After this event the only responsible reaction to this transfer of prisoners to the prison has been reported 5. Rape in prison, especially the young and young prisoners of the "reform and education center" Antql given to adult prison, the issues and problems raised is in prison. This act is considered criminal in prison practical experience Rajayee Shahr prison authorities had no measure intended to address this type of crimes Ndadhand. Source: Agence Hrana

Iranian filmmaker criticizes Ahmadinejad’s policy

Munich — The Iranian filmmaker Narges Kalhor who applied for asylum in Germany has described the policy of Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as “highly dangerous”. The 25 year old filmmaker, whose father is a close adviser to Ahmadinejad, told the news magazine “Focus”:
“Even we Iranians don’t know what is happening in our country. We have no idea whether our government is working on the construction of the atomic bomb or not.”

Kalhor, who says that after the controversial reelection of Ahmadinejad she took to the streets together with thousands of people, had participated in the Nuremberg “Film Festival of Human Rights” in mid October, where she presented a movie about torture in Iran. After the festival, she did not return to her home country, but applied for asylum. She says she is absolutely sure that the leadership in Tehran will never forgive her and her father would have “turned her in” to the authorities.

Mehdi Kalhor is a close adviser to Ahmadinejad and has been planning the president’s media appearances for 4 years. “Our parents, the entire elder generation that supports this system, is sinning against us young people,” said 25 year old Narges Kalhor to “Focus. “There are so many cases when parents who support the regime dissociate themselves from their children if they cause trouble. In such a case they will simply say: This is no longer my child.”

UN nuclear inspectors head to Iran to visit site

AP Photo/Hans Punz Advertisement Buy AP Photo Reprints Interactives Iran's power structure Iran's recent political history Depth of Field: Covering the Iran elections Protesters in Iran challenge police Iran elections Iran's protests: Then and now Latest Iran News Iran may ship 'part' of its uranium abroad UN nuclear inspectors head to Iran to visit site Iran, Israel eyeball at Mideast nuke conference Iran arrests suspects in attack on military chiefs Iranian-American academic gets 12 years in unrest PHOTO GALLERY Latest Iran Photos Your Questions Answered Ask AP: Depleted ozone, military VIPs in Congress VIENNA (AP) -- A team of U.N. inspectors went to Iran on Saturday to visit a recently revealed nuclear site, amid new efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency experts are slated to examine an unfinished uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom to verify it is for peaceful purposes. Disclosure of its existence last month raised international suspicion over the extent and aim of the country's nuclear program. Iran insists its nuclear program serves to generate power and denies allegations it is trying to make nuclear weapons. Tehran asked for more time Friday to consider a U.N.-backed plan to ship much of its uranium to Russia for enrichment. The U.S., Russia and France endorsed the deal Friday, but Iran's representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran wants until next week to respond President Barack Obama called French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday to discuss Iran. "The two chiefs of state stated their perfect convergence of views on the Iranian nuclear issue," according to a statement from Sarkozy's office. It would not comment further on what they discussed or the timing for an eventual new international meeting on Iran. The White House said Obama thanked Sarkozy for France's close cooperation on the issue and that they agreed to continue consultations in the weeks ahead. Obama also spoke with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, stressing the need for unity between Washington and Moscow on Iran, according to the White House.

Maine girl with 'mermaid syndrome' dies at 10

AP – In this Dec. 20, 2007 photo, Shiloh Pepin laughs with her parents while sitting on a counter in the family's …

Sat Oct 24, 4:09 pm ET

PORTLAND, Maine – Shiloh Pepin, a girl who was born with fused legs, a rare condition often called "mermaid syndrome," and gained a wide following on the Internet and national television, has died. She was 10.
Doctors had predicted she would only survive only for days after her birth at the most, but the girl, described by her mother as "a tough little thing," died at Maine Medical Center on Friday afternoon, hospital spokesman John Lamb said. She had been hospitalized in critical condition for nearly a week.
Being born with "mermaid syndrome," also known as sirenomelia, meant that the Kennebunkport girl had only one partially working kidney, no lower colon or genital organs and legs fused from the waist down.
Some children who have survived sirenomelia have had surgery to separate their legs, but Shiloh did not because blood vessels crossing from side to side in her circulatory system would have been severed. She had received two kidney transplants, the last one in 2007.
Her story was featured recently on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and other national television programs.
Earlier this month, her mother, Leslie Pepin, said her daughter came down with a cold that quickly turned to pneumonia. Shiloh rushed to Maine Medical Center on Oct. 10 and was placed on antibiotics and a ventilator.
For a while, Leslie Pepin said, things were looking up. "She's a tough little thing," she said of her daughter earlier this week.
Shiloh was a fifth-grader at Kennebunkport Consolidated School. "She was such a shining personality in that building," said Maureen King, chairwoman of the board of the regional school district. Counselors will be available next week to talk to students.
Through the television shows, news articles, Facebook and other Web sites, Shiloh inspired many.
"I live in Iowa. I have cerebral palsy. I love your video," 12-year-old Lydia Dawley wrote to Shiloh on Facebook. "You have a great personality I wish you lived close so we could be friends and hang out. You opened my eyes because you are so brave."

Iranian-American sentenced to 15 years in prison

Iranian-American Kian Tajbakhsh has been sentenced to more than 12 years in an Iranian jail.

The United States is “deeply concerned” that Kian Tajbakhsh has been sentenced to prison, spokesman Ian Kelly said.
“Mr. Tajbakhsh poses no threat to the Iranian government or its national security,” Kelly said. “Given the groundless nature of charges against him we call on Iran to grant his immediate release. As an independent, internationally respected academic, Mr. Tajbakhsh has always sought to foster better understanding between Iran and the United States and Iran and the international community.”
Kelly said the prison sentence is for 15 years. Iran’s state-run news agency, IRNA, reported that Tajbakhsh had been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
Tajbakhsh’s attorney said he plans to appeal the verdict from Iran’s Revolutionary Court, IRNA reported.
Tajbakhsh was arrested in July and was one of more than 1,000 people detained following a massive government crackdown. He was tried along with nearly 100 others, including journalists, reformist leaders and former government ministers.
Exactly what Tajbakhsh was convicted of was unclear. He had been accused of numerous charges, including plotting a “soft revolution” against the Iranian regime through his work with George Soros’ Open Society Institute, according to IRNA.
Tajbakhsh resigned from his position with the institute after he was arrested and detained for four months in 2007 on unspecified charges. He holds dual citizenship in Iran and the United States.

Tajbakhsh was the only American among the nearly 100 people on trial for their role in the post-election unrest. The State Department has expressed its deep concern over Tajbakhsh’s detention and trial and has called on Iran to release him. The protests were primarily against a decision by Iran’s election authority, which declared incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the overwhelming winner of the June 12 race. Opposition supporters accused the government of fraud.
The mass trial included Tehran-based Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari, who was released from prison on Saturday.
Bahari, who is an Iranian and Canadian national, arrived in London, England, on Tuesday to witness the upcoming birth of his first child, the magazine reported.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the mass trial a “sign of weakness” that shows that the Islamic republic “is afraid of its own people.”
“It is a show trial, there’s no doubt about it,” Clinton told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on his “GPS” program. “It demonstrates I think better than any of us could ever say that this Iranian leadership is afraid of their own people, and afraid of the truth and the facts coming out.”

Defending Freedom in Iran's Universities

Defending Freedom in Iran's Universities

On 15 June 2009, riot police and militia attacked the University of Tehran student dormitory, causing extensive damage, injuring 150 students, and killing at least one. This was just the latest example of brutal repression by the governments in power as a response to civil rights activism at Iranian universities.

In the first prominent example of this repression, three students were shot dead in December 1953 after protests against the visit by then–vice president Nixon to Iran (this event occurred after the CIA-backed coup in August of that year, which overthrew a democratically elected government and reinstated the Shah). Similar repression occurred at Iranian universities in 1978. In 1999, after a peaceful demonstration protesting the banning of a pro-reform newspaper, several students were sentenced to death for provoking civil unrest (the sentence was commuted to 15 years imprisonment following domestic and international outcry). The latest attack on Tehran University dormitory was followed by attacks on other universities such as Esfehan and Shiraz; arrested students remain in custody and information about those who were wounded or detained is unavailable. After about 4 months, Iranian authorities failed to identify and arrest the perpetrators of the attacks, leaving the issues in a haze of ambiguity. Recently, they expelled many students from Tehran Dormitory.

Over the past 4 years, Iran's universities have grown increasing...

Over the past 4 years, Iran's universities have grown increasingly unhappy with the rigid academic as well as social restrictions established by the fundamentalists who run the government. Iran's university movement remains largely frustrated due to lack of leadership, and lack of support from the universities themselves (most senior officials of which are appointed by the government).

Iranian student and academic movements have been pessimistic as to the support they might hope for from Western colleagues. Western universities and international scholarly societies should grasp the opportunity to rebuild trust with their Iranian colleagues by expressing their solidarity and support for Iran's universities and condemning the government's violence against them. However, nothing is more important in the days and weeks ahead than for Western governments to refuse to recognize conservative and fundamentalist Ahmadinejad as the next president of Iran. If Western governments recognize him, as they did with the Shah, it will be a major setback to the current civil rights movement and lead to the further isolation of Iran's scientists and academics. If the West shakes Ahmadinejad's hand now, it will be decades before Iran's scientists and students will be able to freely shake the hands of their counterparts in the West. After overwhelming pressure on universities in the last few months, hundreds of students recently staged an anti-government demonstration at several universities in...

Animals Will Always Be Animals—Video Shows Iraqi Humvees Running Down Iranians at Camp Ashraf

Karzai accepts runoff in Afghan election

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AP – Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks as Kai Eide, head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, …

• Slideshow:Afghanistan
• Play Video Video:Runoff for Karzai in Afghan election Reuters
• Play Video Video:Karzai agrees to Afghan run-off election CBC.ca

By TODD PITMAN and HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writers Todd Pitman And Heidi Vogt, Associated Press Writers – 4 mins ago

KABUL – A grim President Hamid Karzai bowed to intense U.S. pressure and agreed Tuesday to a runoff election Nov. 7, acknowledging he fell short of a majority after U.N.-backed auditors stripped him of nearly a third of his votes. With the fraud investigation completed, election officials must now scramble to organize a new ballot as the fierce Afghan winter approaches and the country faces a growing threat from Taliban insurgents. President Barack Obama said he called Karzai to welcome his willingness to run in a new election against his main rival Abdullah Abdullah. "President Karzai's constructive actions established an important precedent for Afghanistan's new democracy," Obama said." U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also complimented Karzai's decision but stressed that a new election will be a "huge challenge." "We have learned very valuable but painful lessons from the first election," Ban told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. "We must not repeat what they have done last time." Karzai spoke at a news conference after meeting at least four times with U.S. Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Amnesty International on Iran

* Share this on: Mixx Facebook Twitter Digg delicious reddit MySpace StumbleUpon Share * E-mail * Save * Print 32 planets discovered outside solar system

(CNN) -- Thirty-two planets have been discovered outside Earth's solar system through the use of a high-precision instrument installed at a Chilean telescope, an international team announced Monday.

This artist's rendering shows one of the so-called exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system.

The existence of the so-called exoplanets -- planets outside our solar system -- was announced at the European Southern Observatory/Center for Astrophysics, University of Porto conference in Porto, Portugal, according to a statement issued by the observatory.
The announcement was made by a consortium of international researchers, headed by the Geneva Observatory, who built the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, or HARPS. The device can detect slight wobbles of stars as they respond to tugs from exoplanets' gravity. That tactic, known as the radial velocity method, "has been the most prolific method in the search for exoplanets," according to the European Southern Observatory statement.

Should the West provide Iran with reactor fuel in exchange for its uranium stockpile?

FOR NOW, at least, nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West have narrowed to an issue that was not even on the agenda a month ago: Iran's possible export of most of its existing stockpile of enriched uranium to Russia and France, which would turn it into fuel for an Iranian research reactor. This is both a bad and a good development. It is bad because it diverts attention from Iran's continuing refusal to comply with U.N. resolutions ordering it to cease uranium enrichment and from its failure to accept Western proposals even for a temporary freeze. But if Iran goes through with the agreement in principle announced by the Obama administration on Oct. 1, the tangible good would be the removal from Iran of most of the known raw material it could use to make a bomb -- and a probable delay of one to two years in the West's estimates of how quickly it could produce one.

old photos of Tehran 1959

there used to be complaints of air pollution in Tehran by then, while there is no comparison with its present condition. there used to be blue sky up there.

Australia brokers Israel-Iran talks

Iran map (AAP)

Australia has achieved a diplomatic coup, encouraging Iran and Israel to the negotiating table on nuclear weapons.

• No obstacle to more nuclear talks: Iran
• Iran nuclear talks a positive step: US
• UN to inspect Iran's new nuclear plant

1

Comment | Add yours

Fairfax newspapers report that a meeting between Israeli and Iranian officials was brokered by Australia and took place in Cairo at a meeting of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, an expert panel assembled by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
The talks led to a "very robust exchange", a source said, occurring days after Iran, a nation suspected of having nuclear weapons ambitions, revealed it had built a uranium enrichment plant.

Sources told Fairfax there were "serious discussions" between Iran and Israel, and while they did not claim a substantial breakthrough from the talks, the prospect of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East was discussed.

A bedroom outside? But where is toilet?!

Ten Years Later, Boy's 'Hand of Hope' Continues to Spark Debate

 The Armas Family

Samuel Armas, 9, proudly displays ribbons he's won for swimming. Backstroke is his best stroke, he said.

Samuel Armas, 9, proudly displays ribbons he's won for swimming. Backstroke is his best stroke, he said.

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Nearly 10 years after a stunning photograph of his tiny hand traveled the world, Samuel Armas has a firm grip on what "The Hand of Hope" means to him.
"When I see that picture, the first thing I think of is how special and lucky I am to have God use me that way," Samuel told FOXNews.com. "I feel very thankful that I was in that picture."
On Aug. 19, 1999, photographer Michael Clancy shot the "Fetal Hand Grasp" — his picture of a 21-week-old fetus grasping a doctor's finger during innovative surgery to correct spina bifida. Nearly four months later, on Dec. 2, Samuel Armas was "born famous."

* Share this on: Mixx Facebook Twitter Digg delicious reddit MySpace StumbleUpon Share * E-mail * Save * Print Their children in Iran, 3 U.S. moms swing into action

(CNN) -- Laura Fattal rolls a piece of Scotch tape, attaching a picture of her son and his two friends to a cardboard box. Her calm demeanor doesn't give away the gravity of the situation and the reason why she's in a New York hotel room with two other mothers.
Cindy Hickey, from left, Nora Shourd and Laura Fattal go to New York City to visit the Iranian mission.

Cindy Hickey, from left, Nora Shourd and Laura Fattal go to New York City to visit the Iranian mission.

Laura, Nora Shourd and Cindy Hickey have been brought together because their children have been held in Iran since July 31. They have had no contact with their families.

The mothers have put their lives on hold to get them freed.

"We are missing our kids very much," says Fattal.

Hickey adds, "We're moms, these are our kids ... We have to be strong, we have to be grounded, and we have to do what needs to be done."

The women decided what needed to be done was make a direct appeal through the Iranian mission in New York. To do that, they printed out petitions containing 2,500 signatures.

Ellen Sirot - World's Most Famous Foot Model on The Big Idea

Some See Iran as Ready for Nuclear Deal

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Iran says it has no plans to build nuclear weapons. Western nations say they do not believe Iran and periodically release intelligence reports that they say prove Iran has been working on building a bomb.

What would you do Muslim

police tape released

New Type Of Flying Reptile: Darwin's Pterodactyl Preyed On Flying Dinosaurs

This is a drawing of Darwinopterus hunting a small feathered dinosaur (Anchiornis). (Credit: Mark Witton, University of Portsmouth)

Iran: Verbatim Copying Not “Scientific Theft”

ran has now taken a stand on the plagiarism scandal that has engulfed two government ministers after substantial portions of their research articles were discovered to be verbatim copies of other scientists’ published work. According to a member of the Iranian parliament who was part of the government investigation, copying in this case isn’t plagiarism because the results are "a genuine scientific work." (He said it here, in Persian.) Meanwhile, a junior Iranian scientist who wrote two of the papers says he was responsible but also denies it counts as plagiarism.

Airport scanner sees through your clothes

A computer monitor shows the results of a 'T-ray' airport scanner, which 'sees' through passengers' clothes.

Dave Thompson/Press Association

A controversial virtual strip search may be peeking under airline passengers' clothes at Pearson airport soon.
Up until now, Kelowna International Airport in B.C. was the only Canadian airport to try the technology that can see right through passengers' clothes to their bodies, showing everything from concealed weapons to piercings to non-metal explosives — to the outline of breasts and

Iranian Female Converts Charged With Apostasy, Spreading Christianity

An Iranian judge charged two jailed female converts with "crimes" of apostasy and propagation of the Christian faith, a human rights group reported.

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  (Photo Elam Ministries)
  File photo of Maryam Rustampoor, 27 (left) and Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, (right)

Related
• Iranian Women Converts Tell Court 'We Will Not Deny Our Faith'
• UK Christians Call on Policitians for Female Converts in Iran Jail
• Women to Hold Prayer Vigil Outside Iran Embassy for Release of Converts

Washington D.C.-based International Christian Concern said it has learned from Elam ministries in Iran Wednesday that Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Amirizadeh were unexpectedly taken to appear before the court Tuesday morning and were formally charged by the judge.
Elam is a ministry that specializes in serving the growing church in Iran.
However, in a positive development, the report said, the judge had dropped the earlier charge of anti-state activities. Their case has now been transferred from the revolutionary court to the regular courts. The women and their lawyer are pleased with this development, it stated.
The two converts were arrested on March 5 for leaving Islam and embracing Christianity. They were placed in a solitary confinement in the infamous Evin prison, deprived of medical attention and often blindfolded during interrogations for several hours over the course of five months without being charged.
Iranian officials accused them of "anti-state activities" following their conversion from Islam to Christianity. After five months, they were tried on August 9 by the revolutionary court and ordered to recant their faith in Christ which they said they will never do. The women remained in prison until they appeared again in court on Tuesday when they were finally charged.
Elam ministries said both of them are in poor health. On October 4, Rustampoor suffered severe food poisoning and was given medical attention after much insistence.
In an interview with the Voice of America Persian News Network, Rustampoor and Amirizadeh’s lawyer said, “My clients are not prepared to lie about their faith under any condition.”
ICC has meanwhile welcomed the latest decision of the court to not charge the duo with anti-state activities that will merit them capital punishment.
“We welcome the move by the Iranian court to drop the charges of anti-state activities against Maryam and Marzieh. We urge Iranian officials to drop charges of apostasy and propagation of Christianity, as well,” said Jonathan Racho, ICC’s regional manager for Africa and the Middle East.
“As party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Iran has an obligation to respect the right of Maryam and Marzieh to follow the religion of their choice,” he added.
ICC has requested Christians worldwide to “continue to pray for the release of the two converts and also for the “improvement of their health.”

Put a stop to child execution in Iran

An interview with the head of Iranian children's rights council

Amnesty International Urges Iran to Rescind First Death Sentence Imposed as a Result of Presidential Protests

Amnesty International today urged Iran to rescind a death sentence imposed on Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani, the first person to be sentenced to death for protesting the disputed June presidential election. The human rights organization said it fears Zamani's death sentence will pave the way for more death sentences against others involved in the protests.

Live coverage of LCROSS Centaur separation has ended.

Mohsen Namjoo

Mon plan secret pour envahir l'Iran

L es Américains attaquent par l'ouest, du côté de l'Irak, où le plus gros de leurs forces est déjà regroupé. Je conseille à leur commandant en chef la prise de Bakhtaran. La ville se situe au nord-ouest des monts Zagros. Cette partie de l'Iran est principalement peuplée d'Azéris. L'US Air Force enverra ses avions pour des

Rank of 88 for human development of Iran, foreign investment in 2007, only 115 / 1 billion dollars

UNDP Human Development report of the status of direct foreign investment in Iran below countries such as: Armenia, Cuba, Venezuela, Chile, Oman, Panama, Republic Dmynykn, Montenegro, Ecuador and Azerbaijan is announced. ILNA: According to published reports of human development in terms of United Nations human development ranking of 192 among the 88 member states of the United Nations announced. --------------------------------- To ILNA report, annual reports of UN

Report Says Iran Has Data to Make a Nuclear Bomb

Senior staff members of the United Nations nuclear agency have concluded in a confidential analysis that Iran has acquired “sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable” atom bomb.
The report by experts in the International Atomic Energy Agency stresses in its introduction that its conclusions are tentative and subject to further confirmation of the evidence, which it says came from intelligence agencies and its own investigations.
But the report’s conclusions, described by senior European officials, go well beyond the public positions taken by several governments, including the United States.
Two years ago, American intelligence agencies published a detailed report concluding that Tehran halted its efforts to design a nuclear weapon in 2003. But in recent months, Britain has joined France, Germany and Israel in disputing that conclusion, saying the work has been resumed.
A senior American official said last week that the United States was now re-evaluating its 2007 conclusions.
The atomic agency’s report also presents evidence that beyond improving upon bomb-making information gathered from rogue nuclear experts around the world, Iran has done extensive research and testing on how to fashion the components of a weapon. It does not say how far that work has progressed.
The report, titled “Possible Military Dimensions of Iran’s Nuclear Program,” was produced in consultation with a range of nuclear weapons experts inside and outside the agency. It draws a picture of a complex program, run by Iran’s Ministry of Defense, “aimed at the development of a nuclear payload to be delivered using the Shahab 3 missile system,” Iran’s medium-range missile, which can strike the Middle East and parts of Europe. The program, according to the report, apparently began in early 2002.
If Iran is designing a warhead, that would represent only part of the complex process of making nuclear arms. Engineering studies would have to turn ideas into hardware. Finally, the hardest part would be enriching the uranium that could be used as nuclear fuel — though experts say Iran has already mastered that task.
While the analysis represents the judgment of the nuclear agency’s senior staff, a struggle has erupted in recent months over whether to make it public. The dispute pits the agency’s departing director, Mohamed ElBaradei, against his own staff and against foreign governments eager to intensify pressure on Iran.
Dr. ElBaradei has long been reluctant to adopt a confrontational strategy on Iran, an approach he sees as counterproductive. Responding to calls for the report’s release, he has raised doubts about its completeness and reliability.
Last month, the agency issued an unusual statement cautioning it “has no concrete proof” that Iran ever sought to make nuclear arms, much less to perfect a warhead. On Saturday in India, Dr. ElBaradei was quoted as saying that “a major question” about the authenticity of the evidence kept his agency from “making any judgment at all” on whether Iran had ever sought to design a nuclear warhead.
Even so, the emerging sense in the intelligence world that Iran has solved the major nuclear design problems poses a new diplomatic challenge for President Obama and his allies.
American officials say that in the direct negotiations with Iran that began last week, it will be vital to get the country to open all of its suspected sites to international inspectors. That is a long list, topped by the underground nuclear enrichment center under construction near Qum that was revealed 10 days ago.
Iran has acknowledged that the underground facility is intended as a nuclear enrichment center, but says the fuel it makes will be used solely to produce nuclear power and medical isotopes. It was kept heavily protected, Iranian officials said, to ward off potential attacks.
Iran said last week that it would allow inspectors to visit the site this month. In the past three years, amid mounting evidence of a possible military dimension to its nuclear program, Iran has denied the agency wide access to installations, documents and personnel.
In recent weeks, there have been leaks about the internal report, perhaps intended to press Dr. ElBaradei into releasing it.
The report’s existence has been rumored for months, and The Associated Press, saying it had seen a copy, reported fragments of it in September. On Friday, more detailed excerpts appeared on the Web site of the Institute for Science and International Security, run by David Albright, a nuclear expert.
In recent interviews, a senior European official familiar with the contents of the full report described it to The New York Times. He confirmed that Mr. Albright’s excerpts were authentic. The excerpts were drawn from a 67-page version of the report written earlier this year and since revised and lengthened, the official said; its main conclusions remain unchanged.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish past

By Damien McElroy and Ahmad Vahdat
Published: 7:30AM BST 03 Oct 2009

Ahmadinejad showing papers during election. It shows that his family's previous name was Jewish

A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots.
A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver.

 

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The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth.
The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad's birthplace, and the name derives from "weaver of the Sabour", the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior.
Experts last night suggested Mr Ahmadinejad's track record for hate-filled attacks on Jews could be an overcompensation to hide his past.
Ali Nourizadeh, of the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies, said: "This aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's background explains a lot about him.
"Every family that converts into a different religion takes a new identity by condemning their old faith.
"By making anti-Israeli statements he is trying to shed any suspicions about his Jewish connections. He feels vulnerable in a radical Shia society."
A London-based expert on Iranian Jewry said that "jian" ending to the name specifically showed the family had been practising Jews.
"He has changed his name for religious reasons, or at least his parents had," said the Iranian-born Jew living in London. "Sabourjian is well known Jewish name in Iran."
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in London said it would not be drawn on Mr Ahmadinejad's background. "It's not something we'd talk about," said Ron Gidor, a spokesman.
The Iranian leader has not denied his name was changed when his family moved to Tehran in the 1950s. But he has never revealed what it was change from or directly addressed the reason for the switch.
Relatives have previously said a mixture of religious reasons and economic pressures forced his blacksmith father Ahmad to change when Mr Ahmadinejad was aged four.
The Iranian president grew up to be a qualified engineer with a doctorate in traffic management. He served in the Revolutionary Guards militia before going on to make his name in hardline politics in the capital.
During this year's presidential debate on television he was goaded to admit that his name had changed but he ignored the jibe.
However Mehdi Khazali, an internet blogger, who called for an investigation of Mr Ahmadinejad's roots was arrested this summer.
Mr Ahmadinejad has regularly levelled bitter criticism at Israel, questioned its right to exist and denied the Holocaust. British diplomats walked out of a UN meeting last month after the Iranian president denounced Israel's 'genocide, barbarism and racism.'
Benjamin Netanyahu made an impassioned denunciation of the Iranian leader at the same UN summit. "Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium," he said. "A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies the murder of six million Jews while promising to wipe out the State of Israel, the State of the Jews. What a disgrace. What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations."
Mr Ahmadinejad has been consistently outspoken about the Nazi attempt to wipe out the Jewish race. "They have created a myth today that they call the massacre of Jews and they consider it a principle above God, religions and the prophets," he declared at a conference on the holocaust staged in Tehran in 2006.

Iran Talks Held In Geneva On Nuclear Program Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/01/iran-talks-held-in-geneva_n_305968.html

GENTHOD, Switzerland — Iran and six world powers put nuclear talks back on track Thursday at a landmark session that included the highest-level bilateral contact with the U.S. in years and a pledge to meet again this month. President Barack Obama then challenged Tehran to make good on its promises quickly.
Iran also agreed to allow U.N. inspectors into its covertly built enrichment plant during the talks, held at a villa outside Geneva. The discussions appeared to defuse tensions that had been building for weeks.
Speaking in Washington, Obama called the talks "a constructive beginning" and said Iran must match its words with action.
Tehran "must grant unfettered access" to international inspectors within two weeks, he said, warning that if Iran fails to follow through, "then the United States will not continue to negotiate indefinitely and we are prepared to move towards increased pressure."
"Our patience is not unlimited," Obama said. "Going forward, we expect to see swift action."
The tone of Thursday's meeting was considerably more positive than just a week ago, when the U.S. and its allies were threatening Iran with tough new sanctions if it refused to freeze its nuclear activities, which they suspect are aimed at creating an atomic weapon.
Perhaps the most significant development of the day was a 45-minute one-on-one meeting between U.S. Under Secretary of State William Burns and Iran's senior nuclear negotiator, Saaed Jalili. It was the first direct U.S. negotiations with Iran since Washington severed relations in 1980.
The encounter appeared to add to the positive atmosphere that led to agreement by all the parties – Iran, the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany – for a follow-up meeting this month.

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It also appeared to be concrete proof of Obama's commitment to engage Iran directly on nuclear and other issues – a sharp break from policy under the Bush administration.
However, statements made by the two sides reflected the continuing divide between them.
U.S. Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Burns used the meeting with Jalili "to reiterate the international community's concerns about Iran's nuclear program."
"He addressed the need for Iran to take concrete and practical steps that ... will build international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its program," he said.
Wood said both sides also "had a frank exchange on other issues, including human rights." Officials in Washington said Burns urged Tehran to resolve the cases of three Americans detained in Iran since July.
Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, told reporters Iran agreed to "cooperate fully" with the International Atomic Energy Agency and to open its newly disclosed nuclear facility to inspectors, probably within "a couple of weeks."
In a statement, the IAEA said agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei had been invited to Iran to discuss nuclear issues. A senior U.S. official said elBaradei would travel to Tehran this weekend. He spoke on condition of anonymity because his information was confidential.
ElBaradei recently said Tehran was "on the wrong side of the law" over its new enrichment plant near the Shiite holy city of Qom. He said Iran should have revealed its plans as soon as it decided to build the facility.
Western officials said Iran also agreed to send some of its enriched uranium to Russia to further process the material for use in a research reactor in Tehran. It was a long-sought compromise because Iran has repeatedly refused to involve an outside country, insisting it has the right to a full domestic enrichment program.
Obama said such a step would help build international confidence.
"We support Iran's right to peaceful nuclear power," Obama said. "Taking the step of transferring its low-enriched uranium to a third country would be a step toward building confidence that Iran's program is in fact peaceful."
Still, questions remained over the way forward.
The six powers remain committed to seeking a full freeze of Tehran's nuclear activities, but Iran could argue that the agreement amounted to an acknowledgment of its right to enrich uranium.
Curbing Iran's ability to enrich uranium is a key international goal, because the process can produce both fuel for nuclear reactors and weapons-grade uranium for warheads.
The differences reflected the likelihood of huge bumps ahead in any future talks.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking in Washington, sounded a pragmatic note. "Today's meeting opened the door, but let's see what happens," she said.
Iran's refusal to freeze its enrichment activities has already prompted three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions.
Iran came to the talks with a proposal that ignored the key demand that it freeze enrichment. Instead it offered to hold "comprehensive, all-encompassing and constructive" discussions on a range of security issues, including global nuclear disarmament.
Reiterating calls by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian offer linked any talks with a discussion of Middle East tensions "to help the people of Palestine achieve all-embracing peace."
It called for "reform" of the U.N. Security Council – shorthand for curbing the authority of the U.S. and the four other permanent council members. The only link to the arms issue was a call for discussion of disarmament by the world's nuclear powers.
Jalili told reporters that while those issues were key, Thursday's discussions were "good talks" compared to the last seven-nation meeting 15 months ago that broke up in failure.
At the United Nations, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki suggested the talks could be expanded to the "summit" level. He said Iran was willing to discuss a variety of security, economic and political issues, although he did not specifically refer to nuclear issues.
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Associated Press writers Alexander G. Higgins, Bradley S. Klapper and Scheherezade Faramarzi in Geneva, John Heilprin at the United Nations, and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/01/iran-talks-held-in-geneva_n_305968.html

Obama's French Lesson

outstretched hand. But what did the international community gain from these offers of dialogue? Nothing."

This Story

• Obama's French Lesson
• A Big Card To Play in Iran
• Obama the Gambler

-- French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Sept. 24


When France chides you for appeasement, you know you're scraping bottom. Just how low we've sunk was demonstrated by the Obama administration's satisfaction when Russia's president said of Iran, after meeting President Obama at the United Nations, that "sanctions are seldom productive, but they are sometimes inevitable."
You see? The Obama magic. Engagement works. Russia is on board. Except that, as The Post inconveniently pointed out, President Dmitry Medvedev said the same thing a week earlier, and the real power in Russia, Vladimir Putin, had changed not at all in his opposition to additional sanctions. And just to make things clear, when Iran then brazenly test-fired offensive missiles, Russia reacted by declaring that this newest provocation did not warrant the imposition of tougher sanctions.
Do the tally. In return for selling out Poland and the Czech Republic by unilaterally abrogating a missile-defense security arrangement that Russia had demanded be abrogated, we get from Russia . . . what? An oblique hint, of possible support, for unspecified sanctions, grudgingly offered and of dubious authority -- and, in any case, leading nowhere because the Chinese have remained resolute against any Security Council sanctions.

Confusing ends and means, the Obama administration strives mightily for shows of allied unity, good feeling and pious concern about Iran's nuclear program -- whereas the real objective is stopping that program. This feel-good posturing is worse than useless, because all the time spent achieving gestures is precious time granted Iran to finish its race to acquire the bomb.
Don't take it from me. Take it from Sarkozy, who could not conceal his astonishment at Obama's naivete. On Sept. 24, Obama ostentatiously presided over the Security Council. With 14 heads of state (or government) at the table, with an American president at the chair for the first time ever, with every news camera in the world trained on the meeting, it would garner unprecedented worldwide attention.
Unknown to the world, Obama had in his pocket explosive revelations about an illegal uranium enrichment facility that the Iranians had been hiding near Qom. The French and the British were urging him to use this most dramatic of settings to stun the world with the revelation and to call for immediate action.
Obama refused. Not only did he say nothing about it, but, reports Le Monde, Sarkozy was forced to scrap the Qom section of his speech. Obama held the news until a day later -- in Pittsburgh. I've got nothing against Pittsburgh (site of the G-20 summit), but a stacked-with-world-leaders Security Council chamber it is not.

Why forgo the opportunity? Because Obama wanted the Security Council meeting to be about his own dream of a nuclear-free world. The president, reports the New York Times citing "White House officials," did not want to "dilute" his disarmament resolution "by diverting to Iran."

Iran-US Negotiation The English Version of the Statement

Over the past century, the U.S relationship with Iran has been volatile, and the coming months may prove to be a decisive era in the history of the relationship between the two countries. A misreading of the situation in Iran might lead to decisions which will damage the national interests of both countries.

The harsh repression of peaceful protests in the wake of the disputed Iranian election this past June removed any doubt about the cruelty of the Iranian totalitarian regime. Direct shots fired at unarmed civilians in Iran captured global attention, but this was only an example of the atrocities that were committed. Intensifying pressure on protesters, the use of Stalinist methods against detainees, and threatening university students and faculty are only few more examples of the continuing campaign against peaceful opposition in the weeks since the election.

Recent news indicates the US administration’s intention to negotiate with the Iranian government.  While maintaining an active venue of negotiation is necessary for resolving the conflict between the two countries, a constructive dialogue with Iran must address the Iranian regime’s recent brutalities.  Neglecting such atrocities by any country, particularly in this crucial period, would have a severe negative effect on the Iranian public.  As people with deep connections to their Iranian homeland, and who have studied and worked at universities across the world, the signers of this letter are concerned about the neglect of human rights violations in Iran by the rest of the world.  As the current regime faces an internal crisis of legitimacy, it is obvious that the goal of the Iranian government is not the resolution of its international conflicts.  Rather, they seek a false victory for their confrontational policies, which could be used as justification for escalating the violent crackdown against domestic political opposition.

From our point of view, the confrontational policies of the previous US administration, coupled with the use of double standard in dealing with issues of human rights, have had a negative impact on the public perception of the United States' intentions in the Middle East.  While we oppose any military threat against Iran, we remind American policy makers that turning a blind eye to human rights abuses, which began in 1953 with the coup against Mohammed Mosaddeq, has created suspicion within Iran about American intentions.  In our opinion, neglecting the recent atrocities in future negotiations with Iran would confirm this suspicion in the eyes of the Iranian people and would have a negative effect on long-term relations between the two countries.  We believe the issues of human rights violations and the Iranian government's atrocities against its own citizens are critical issues that should not be sacrificed for short term gains.  It is important to remember that the Iranian public is carefully following the interactions of foreign governments with those who violated their civil rights.

   1. Amir Aavani, PhD student, Simon Fraser University, Canada, Computer Science

   2. Arash Abazari, PhD student, Johns Hopkins University, Philosophy

   3. Ali Afshari, PhD student, George Washington University, System Engineering

   4. Mazda Ahmadi, PhD student, University of Texas at Austin, Computer Science, Championship of RoboCup Rescue Championship 2002 and 2003, Runner up position 2001

   5. Hamid Akbari, PhD student and Part time Faculty, York University, Canada, Strategic Management

   6. Kazem Alamdari, Adjunct Professor, California State University, Northridge, PhD Sociology

   7. Parviz Alivand, PhD student, University of Texas at Austin, Economics

   8. Khosrow Allaf-Akbari, PhD student, University of Maryland and Princeton University, Energy Policy Studies - Astronomy, Gold Medal of Iran's Collegiate Physics Olympics 2002

   9. Hamed Amini, PhD student, Ecole Normale Superieure, France, Applied Mathematics

  10. Kiarash Amiri, PhD student at Rice University, Electrical Engineering

  11. Amin Arbabian, PhD student, UC Berkeley, Electrical Engineering

  12. Soroush Aslani, PhD student, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Organizational Behavior

  13. Mitra Azizian, PhD student, Colorado School of Mines, Petroleum Engineering

  14. Roja Bandari, PhD student at UCLA, Electrical Engineering, National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow

  15. Anahita Basirat, PhD student, Gipsa-lab, Grenoble INP, France, Cognitive Science

  16. Arash Behboodi, PHD student, SUPELEC, France, Telecommunication

  17. Ahmad Beirami, PhD candidate, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

  18. Mostafa Beshkar, Research Associate at Yale University and Assistant Professor at University of New Hampshire, PhD Economics

  19. Goodarz Danaei, Graduate student, Population and International Health

  20. Ehsan Ebrahimy, PhD student, University of Chicago, Economics, Gold Medal National Math Olympiad 1996

  21. Vahid Entezari, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Center for Advanced Orthopedic Studies, Harvard Medical School, MD

  22. Behdad Esfahbod, MBA student, University of Toronto, Software Engineer, Red Hat, Computer Science and MBA, Silver Medal International Informatics Olympiad 1999, Gold Medal International Informatics Olympiad 2000

  23. Mehran Eslaminia, PhD student, North Carolina State University, Civil Engineering

  24. Sanli Faez, PhD student at University of Twente, Netherlands, Physics, Gold Medal National Physics Olympiad 1996

  25. Hassan Faghani, PhD Student, Washington University in St. Louis, Economics

  26. Azadeh Farahzadi, Postdoctoral Scientist, PhD Physics

  27. Babak Farzad, Assistant Professor, Brock University Canada, PhD Computer Science, Bronze Medal International Informatics Olympiad 1995

  28. Maryam Farboodi, PhD student, University of Chicago, Economics

  29. Roozbeh Foroozan, PhD student at Pennsylvania State University, Energy and Environmental Engineering

  30. Reza Ganjdanesh, PhD student, University of Texas at Austin, Petroleum Engineering

  31. Ali Ghodsi, Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo, PhD Computer Science

  32. Mohammadreza Ghodsi, PhD student, University of Maryland, Computer Science, RoboCup World Campion 2005

  33. Reza Golestani, PhD student, University Medical Center Groningen, Netherland, Nuclear Medicine

  34. Ali Gordjinejad, PhD student, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Physics

  35. Ahmad Reza Hadaegh, Associate Professor, California State University San Marcos, PhD Computer Science

  36. Amir Haji-Akbari, PhD Student, University of Michigan, Chemical Engineering

  37. Babak Heydari, Post Doctoral Fellow at UCLA, PhD Electrical Engineering, Gold medal National Chemistry Olympiad 1996

  38. Fereydoun Hormozdiari, PhD student, Simon Fraser University, Canada, Computer Science

  39. Sara Jabbari-Farouji, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Paris Sud (Orsay), France, PhD Physics

  40. Arsalan Kahnemuyipour, Assistant PRofessor, Syracuse University, PhD Linguistics

  41. Kianoosh Kalantar, Graduate Student, University of Rochester, Accountancy

  42. Ali Karbasi, PhD student, Florida International University, Material Science and Engineering

  43. Shabnam Kavousian, Instructor, Langara College, PhD Mathematics Education

  44. Moslem Kazemi, PhD student, Simon Fraser University, Canada, Engineering Science, Member of Sharif's Robocup Team, World Champion of Robocup 1999, 2000, 2001

  45. Yaser Kerachian, Technology Transfer Officer, Wilfrid Laurier University, PhD Physics, Gold medal International Physics Olympiad 1995

  46. Banafsheh Madaninejad, PhD student, University of Texas at Austin, Islamic Studies/Comparative Literature

  47. Mohammad Mahdian, Senior Research Scientist at Yahoo Research, PhD Mathematics, Gold medal in the International Math Olympiad 1993 and two Silver medals in the International Informatics Olympiads 1992 and 1993

  48. Mahdi Majbouri, PhD student at USC, Economics

  49. Mostafa Majidpour, PhD student, UCLA, Electrical Engineering

  50. Mehrdad Majzoobi, PhD Student. Rice University, , Electrical and Computer Engineering

  51. Peyman Malaz, Graduate student at UCLA, International Relation

  52. Mehrdad Mashayekhi, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University, PhD Sociology

  53. Hamidreza Mehdizadeh, PhD student at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chemical Engineering

  54. Bahar Mehmani, PhD student, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, Theoretical Physics

  55. Nargess Memarsadeghi, Computer Scientist, PhD Computer Science

  56. Mohammad Mesgarpour, PhD student, University of Southampton, UK, Operational Research

  57. Mazyar Mirrahimi, Researcher, INRIA The French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control, PhD Applied Mathematics, Silver Medal International Math Olympiad 1999 - Gold Medal National Collegiate Math Competition 2000

  58. Babak Mohit, Dr.PhD student, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Health Policy and Management

  59. Anahita Mirtabatabaei, PhD student, University of California Santa Barbara, Mechanical Engineering Science

  60. Kamran Moinzadeh, Professor, University of Washington, PhD Industrial Engineering

  61. Nazgol Moshtaghi, PhD student of Marketing and Instructor, University of South Florida, Marketing

  62. Leila Mouri, PhD student, Columbia University, Middle East and Asian Language and Culture

  63. Farzaneh Najafi, PhD student, University of Pennsylvania, Neuroscience

  64. Hossein Namazi, Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Austin, PhD Mathematics, Gold Medal National Math Olympiad 1994

  65. Hamid Naseri, Adjunct Faculty, University of Houston, PhD Electrical Engineering

  66. Amir Nayyeri, PhD student, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Computer Science

  67. Borghan Nezami Narajabad, Assistant Professor at Rice University, PhD in Economics, Gold Medal National Math Olympiad 1996

  68. Arash Parsa, PhD student, UC Berkeley, Electrical Engineering

  69. Siavash Pourkamali, Assistant Professor, University of Denver, PhD Electrical and Computer Engineering, Silver Medal International Chemistry Olympiad 1997

  70. Amin Pourmohammadi, PhD student at Washington University St. Louis, Economics

  71. Amir Pourmousa, Senior R&D Specialist at Simulent Inc. Canada, PhD Mechanical Engineering, Silver Medal International Physics Olympiad 1995

  72. Faezeh Raei, PhD student and Economist in the International Monetary Fund, Economics, Ranked Third in the Nationwide University Entrance Exam 1998

  73. Hazhir Rahmandad, Assistant Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, Virginia Tech

  74. Ahmad Rahmati, PhD student, Rice University, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  75. Alireza Raisi, PhD student, Pennsylvania State University, Civil and Environmental Engineering

  76. Seid Alireza Razavi Majomard, PhD student, University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities, Electrical Engineering

  77. Nassim Razi, JD, PE, Senior Electrical Engineer, Buro Happold Consulting Engineers

  78. Behnam Robatmili, PhD student, University of Texas at Austin, Computer Science

  79. Amir Saberi, PhD Student, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Silver Medal International Chemistry Olypmiad 2004

  80. Ali Sadighian, Assistant Professor of Business, The City University of New York (CUNY), York College, PhD Operations Research

  81. Bashir Sadjad, PhD student at University of Waterloo, Canada, Computer Science, Bronze Medal International Informatics Olympiad 1997 - RoboCup Champion with Sharif CE team 1999

  82. Maryam Saeedi,  Phd student, University of Minnesota, Economics, Gold medal in the National Math Olympiad 1999

  83. Behzad Sajadi, PhD student, UC Irvine, Computer Science

  84. Babak Salamat, Senior researcher at Yahoo!, PhD Computer Science

  85. Mahyar Salek, PhD student, University of Southern California, Computer Science

  86. Pegah Sattari, PhD student, UC Berkeley, Electrical Engineering

  87. Seyed-Amin Sayedi, PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University, Business, Silver Medal International Informatics Olympiad

  88. Reza Sebti, Graduate student at University of Alberta, Canada, Philosephy

  89. Babak Seradjeh, ICMT and NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, PhD Physics

  90. Hamed Sheibany, Postdoctoral Researcher, TIMA Grenoble, France, PhD Microelectronics

  91. Ali Shojaie, PhD student, department of Statistics, University of Michigan

  92. Hassan Shojania, PhD student at University of Toronto, Electrical & Computer Engineering

  93. Ali Shourideh, Phd student, University of Minnesota, Economics, Silver Medal in International Math Olympiad 1999 and 2000

  94. Ali Taalebinezhaad, Senior Research & Development Scientist at Robotics & Computer Vision, PhD Mechanical Engineering

  95. Pouya Tahsili-Fahadan, Postdoctoral scholar at Medical University of South Carolina, MD Addiction Neuroscience, Young Investigator awardee in the 12th Razi National Research Festival

  96. Ali Tahzibi, Researcher and Associated Professor, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, PhD Mathematics

  97. Azadeh Tajpour, Graduate student, Claremont Graduate University, Studio Art and Art History

  98. Hoda Talebi, Graduate Student, University of Rochester, Finance

  99. Ali Tehrani, Professor, Conestoga College Canada, PhD System Design Engineering

  100. Amir Togha, Assistant Professor, BCC of CUNY, PhD Mathematics, Winner of the National Collegiate Math Competition 1992

 101. Nayereh Tohidi, Professor, California State University at Northridge, PhD Gender and Women’s Studies

 103. Seyed-Fakhreddin Torabi, PhD student, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Biochemistry, Gold medal National Chemistry Olympiad 2000

 104. Alireza Vaezzadeh, Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School, PhD Pharmacology

 105. Majid Yahyaei, PhD Student of Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California

 106. Farshid Zabihian, PhD student at Ryerson University, Mechanical Engineering

 107. Sahar Zangeneh, PhD student, Department of Statistics, University of Michigan

 108. Hossein Ziai, Professor and Director of Iranian Studies, UCLA, PhD Islamic and Iranian Studies