Obama in favour of more pressure on Iran; Iran strongly supports Russia over Georgia; Ali Larijani condemns Ahmadinejad’s policies; NCP nominates its Presidential candidate
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    • US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama urged for an increase in the pressure on Iran over its nuclear program to prevent any Israeli action over the issue. Obama stressed that as president, he would make sure that the world community was mobilised to go after Iran's program in a serious way. The US and its Western allies have been pushing for a fourth round of UN sanctions, but Russia and China have sought to tone those measures. Obama also stated that the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq had strengthened Iran1.

    Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad meanwhile met his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe. Ahmadinejad, accusing the West of trying to prevent Iran and Russia from becoming powerful, called for closer cooperation between the two countries in their campaign against terrorism and drug trafficking in the region. He also urged the swift implementation of former agreements signed between Moscow and Tehran. The Iranian President accused foreign troops in Iraq and Afghanistan of provoking extremism in the region. Referring to the recent conflicts between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia, Ahmadinejad blamed foreign interference as well as Tbilisi’s leadership for the crisis, noting that the root cause of many regional problems was due to interference from outside the region. President
    Medvedev on his part urged him to continue dialogue on the nuclear issue2.

    In domestic developments, Iran’s Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani stated that a constant change of administrators was not the key to solving the problems. He also urged the Majlis to take steps to reform the higher education system3.

    In other developments, Iran’s reformist National Confidence Party (NCP) nominated its leader Mehdi Karroubi as the party’s candidate in the next presidential election scheduled to be held in mid-2009. Karroubi, who had served two times as Iran’s Parliament Speaker, had also stood as a candidate in the 9th presidential elections in 2005. However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei asked President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to prepare for a second term in office, despite mounting criticism from the public and pro-reform opponents over the state of country’s economy and rising inflation4.

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