Heard in Iran: Can Iran Learn from Libya?

September 5 -- Radio Farda asked US senior diplomat Dan Sreebny if he could envision the US Secretary of State visiting Iran, much like she recently did to Libya: "We would love to see the day when what has happened between the US and Libya can happen with Iran as well," he said. "The US wants a relationship with the Iranian people, but it is the current leadership that is preventing this from happening."   Sreebny calls Secretary Rice's trip to Libya "historic" and sees it as "an example of patient, persistent diplomacy by the US and the international community in dealing with a country that supported terrorism and was developing weapons of mass destruction. It is an example of what can be done, the positive path that can be taken when a country like that changes its course." [text in Persian]

 

September 8 -- Economist Fereidoun Khavand tells Radio Farda that Iran's inflation rate may be higher than the 27% figure that was recently announced by Iran's Central Bank. To battle inflation, he says, Iran should develop a consistent economic policy and earn the trust of the international community. [text in Persian]

 

September 4 -- A Sunni leader says security forces surrounded a school at night and leveled the entire structure in Iran's southeastern Sistan va Baluchestan province. [text in Persian]

 

September 5 -- Two Iranian Christians, Mahmoud Matin-Azad and Arash Basirat, who were arrested in May in Shiraz have been formally charged with apostasy. A prominent Christian tells Radio Farda that the pair may face the death penalty. [audio in Persian]

 

September 4 -- Dissident Akbar Ganji, author of "The Road to Democracy in Iran," tells Radio Farda that his book focuses on the theoretical foundation of the reform movement in Iran, nonviolent struggles and discrimination against Iranian women. He says dissidents of the Iranian regime are highly dispersed and not very active. [text in Persian]