Unfortunately, the U.S. Government has decided to withhold from the American people even the bottom line judgment of the next estimate on this critical issue for U.S. security policy. This means that we will have to do our best to divine what our government thinks it knows and when it is making an educated guess. This also means that the public and the press will continue to be vulnerable to careless or deliberate misinterpretations of estimates by pundits with an axe to grind. -Greg Thielmann, Arms Control Association
The “Bomb Iran” crowd, fresh off their historic blunder in Iraq, is now at it again with Iran. As if the daily drumbeat of articles and op-eds advocating war with Iran was not enough, Republicans in the House of Representatives have introduced a truly dangerous resolution — explicitly green-lighting the use of force by Israel against Iran. -Shawn Amoei, Huffington Post
The publication of a report in Hamshahri Mah about plans by the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization to organize a sale of the country’s historical artifacts revealed another behind-the-scenes effort by Ahmadinejad’s chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, to engage in activities outside the supervision of the Majlis and the State Audit Organization. -Hamid Ahadi, Rooz
A short notice by the managers of Khane Cinema – which translates into the House of Cinema and is Iran’s official organization for the cinema industry – has cancelled a gathering titled “Pursuit of Job Security and Social Welfare for Cinema Professionals.” -Parastu Sepehri, Rooz
Clerics have raised objections to the Azan to Azan project, a program for screening films in large Iranian cities until late at night during the month of Ramadan. The project was initiated by movie theater owners in Tehran last year after they obtained approval from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. -MNA
Ali Motahari told Soroush weekly magazine that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters are like the Furqan organization. Furqan was a radical Islamist group that was responsible for the assassinations of 12 Islamic Republic figures up to 1980. The father of Ali Motahari, prominent political activist, Ayatollah Morteza Motahari was also assassinated by Furqan organization. -Zamaneh
The wife of the jailed head of the Tehran bus service union says another year has been added to his prison sentence, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reports.
Iran freestyle wrestling team won the 27th World Military Wrestling Championship on late Friday. -MNA
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Saturday that 20 million people have been affected by the worst floods in his country’s history. The figure is much higher than previous United Nations estimates of 14 million.
Brigadier-General Masood Jazaeri, head of the cultural headquarters of Iran’s armed forces has proposed the establishment of a separate ministry to confront the “media and soft wars” against the Islamic Republic. -Zamaneh