Engagement With Iran: Any Results?
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this week that the Obama administration's nearly yearlong effort to engage Iran has fallen short, and new sanctions are needed to impel Iran to be honest about its nuclear activities. In an interview with Radio Farda, Mohammad Reza Jalili of the Graduate School of International Studies in Geneva says it is highly unlikely that Iran would show flexibility regarding its nuclear policies. Because of the country's internal crisis, Jalili says, it seems that Iranian authorities prefer to create a new international crisis to put pressure on the opposition.
Rights Lawyer Forced From Job
Lawyer and human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has been expelled from work at an engineering company due to her civil activities. She tells Radio Farda that Iran's Intelligence Ministry has continually threatened her.
"After my passport was confiscated in May 2009, the Intelligence Ministry warned me to withdraw from the Defenders of Human Rights Center and stop my contact with Shirin Ebadi," she says. "Otherwise in addition to being barred from leaving Iran and being expelled from work, I would also get arrested."