The Iranian news agency ISNA has reported that Iranian Parliamentary Committee for National Security and Foreign Policy member Hashmatollah Falahatpisheh said, "There is a possibility of the outbreak of a war that will spread in the region, because Iran has red lines that will be crossed by the entrance of a single missile, and by [preparations for] war... Iran's red lines are different than those of other countries. [The Americans] know very well that in the event of an attack on Iran, American interests in the [Middle East] region will become a target, which will endanger 26% of the world's energy."

Source: ISNA, Iran, January 31, 2007

An article in the Iranian online reformist daily Rooz on the repression of Iran's Kurds stated that Kurdish political prisoner Samkou Ghader Pour, 27, who has served three years of an 11-year sentence for "activity against national security," had started a hunger strike to protest against the conditions of his detention.

The article also said that following a rise in executions, minorities rights organizations had released an announcement asking that capital punishment be abolished in Iran.

Source: Rooz, Iran, January 31, 2007

On February 5, 2007, 5,200 students will form a human chain in Tehran, as a show of support for Iran's right to develop nuclear energy.

Source: Fars, Iran, January 31, 2007

Deputy chairman of Iran's Parliamentary Committee for National Security and Foreign Policy Mohammad Nabi Roudaki said, "A number of Arab countries in the region and the Saudi government are inclined to help the U.S. and want to pressure Iran... We recommend to Saudi Arabia that it trust [only] itself, and that it bring about regional stability with the accompaniment of the forces in the region. It is best that Saudi Arabia do nothing [against Iran], since [otherwise] they will quickly face protest by their people. Saudi Arabia must reduce its oil exports so that the price of oil will balance out. Otherwise, tomorrow America will attack Saudi Arabia, on the pretext that it has no democracy and freedom."

Source: Aftabnews, Iran, January 31, 2007

In an interview with the French daily Le Monde, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said that the discussions regarding the Iranian nuclear program had failed and that the only solution was changing the Iranian regime.

"Let us admit," he said, "the negotiations have failed, and time is not on our side."

Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, January 30, 2007

At a meeting with representatives of the NGO for prisoner's rights, Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri called for the release of political prisoners and for expanding the political scene in Iran.

Source: Al-Khaleej, UAE, January 28, 2007

The Iranian news agency ISNA reported that Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, who is serving as the attorney for the three Iranian journalists and women's rights activists arrested on January 28, has said that their trial would begin sometime in the next two months. The three, who have been released on bail, are accused of harming state security.

Source: ISNA, Iran, January 30, 2007

The Iranian news agency ILNA reported that in the near future a Chinese company would launch an oil drilling project in Azadegan.

Source: ILNA, Iran, January 30, 2007

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei met with Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov. During the meeting, Ivanov delivered a letter to the Iranian leadership from Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which Putin stressed Russia's adherence to continued cooperation with Iran in completing the nuclear facility at Bushehr.

Source: Mehr, Iran, January 29, 2007; IRNA, Iran, January 29, 2007

The online daily Rooz reported that Iranian authorities have arrested three leading Iranian women's rights activists, Mansoure Shaja'i, Tala'at Taqi Niya, and Farnaz Seifi, as they were preparing to fly to a cultural conference in India. So far, no reason has been given for their arrest.

Source: Rooz, Iran, January 28, 2007