• Syrian vice president in Tehran: “We always find friends for ourselves prior to any confrontation with the Zionist regime.”
  • Iran supports ElBaradei proposal to stop holding Iran accountable for violations.
  • Italy, Germany, and Netherlands are Iran’s major EU trade partners.
  • Mansour Osanlou, struggling to establish Iran’s first independent trade union, grants interview.
  • Background on Osanlou and the transportation workers.
  • As U.S. signals desire to withdrawal from Iraq, Iran reaches out to other U.S. allies in the region.
  • Iran allocates $1 billion annual reconstruction to Iraq.
  • Iran condemns former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Marie Aznar for questioning Iranian democracy.
  • Speaker of Iranian parliament on diatribe against U.S.
  • What the Islamic Republic’s “reformists” think:
  • “This American Peace Dove is but a scavenger that is waiting to thrust its claws into our flesh and blood”—Ataollah Mohajerani, minister of culture under Khatami.
  • Picture of the Day (1): Salman Rushdie with target over his head.
  • (Because of some computer problems, this was only available to those who have requested direct e-mail of the Iran News Round Up)

· Picture of the Day (2): Backdrop to Ahmadinejad speech illustrates who holds power in Iran.