NCRI Statement - More than 150 laid off workers of the Khavar textile factory staged a sit-in in front of the main Industries Building in Gilan Province, according to reports. The striking workers demanded seven months of their overdue salaries.

AFP - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will consult with regional ministers over the Middle East crisis on the sidelines of Asian security talks here, his delegation said Thursday.
Mottaki made a surprise arrival here as foreign ministers gathered for the 26-nation ASEAN Regional Forum which is to be hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Friday.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also in town for the talks but US officials ruled out a meeting with Mottaki, who is not an official participant in Friday's forum.

AFP - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Syria and Iran on Wednesday that it was time for those countries to "make a choice" about their role in Middle East peace, following international crisis talks on Lebanon.
The international community would work to "try to gain an understanding from other states that they have responsibilities too" in ending the violence in Lebanon, Rice told a news conference following the five-hour talks.
"Syria has a responsibility," Rice said. "And we are deeply concerned, as we have said, about the role of Iran. It is high time that people make a choice."

AFP - Iran's leadership has decided to reject demands that it suspend uranium enrichment as part of an international proposal aimed at resolving a nuclear crisis, a senior official was quoted as saying Saturday.

"In the West's proposal, two preconditions are raised: suspending nuclear activities and responding to the questions of the board of governors" of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli, the deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

AFP - US President George W. Bush and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met here Saturday in a high-stakes bid for consensus on averting conflagration in the Middle East and a landmark trade deal for Moscow.

The bilateral encounter was also likely to see an exchange of views on the status of democracy in Russia as well as responses to Iran's nuclear program and North Korea's missile tests.
The talks were preceding the start of a full Group of Eight summit later in the day with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

The gathering's initial focus, energy security, has been shoved dramatically into the background by the Israeli air offensive against Lebanon and growing fears it could spark a wider regional conflict.

Putin has put the Middle East on the G8 agenda and has said he and Bush will discuss the crisis in their face-to-face talks.

NCRI - Among delegations from across the world, a strong Canadian delegation was also present in the huge gathering of 30,000 Iranians on July 1st in Le Bourget, near Paris, to express support to Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, and her third option for democratic change in Iran. The delegation included David Kilgour, MP, Meilly Faille, MP, Paul Forseth, former MP, and Morris Flewwelling, mayor of Red Dear. Here is the speech by honorable David Kilgour:

BOI - Reuters - Iran's chief nuclear negotiator rebuffed Western pressure for an immediate answer to an offer of incentives to suspend uranium enrichment ahead of crucial talks with the European Union on Tuesday.

The United States, which accuses Tehran of secretly working to build nuclear weapons, has demanded a clear Iranian response before next weekend's summit of Group of Eight industrialized nations in Russia or face possible U.N. Security Council action.

But Ali Larijani told reporters before he met EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana for a second round of talks in five days: "We have expressed our view regarding the deadline. We are not used to acting before thinking."

Iran has said it will reply in late August to a package of technology, economic and political sweeteners, and an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman suggested its full answer would only emerge later during detailed negotiations on the offer.

By Robin Wright

NCRI - Washington Post  - The Bush administration is poised to press the U.N. Security Council to begin the process of imposing punitive action against Iran, after signals over the weekend that Tehran will not provide the straightforward acceptance or rejection today of a U.S.-backed proposal designed to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon, U.S. and European officials said yesterday.

BOI - AFP - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is to press Iran this week to respond as quickly as possible to an international offer to defuse its atomic standoff with the West, a spokeswoman said Monday.
Solana is to meet Tehran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the offer designed to persuade the Islamic state to suspend uranium enrichment.
"It's clear that we need the response (of the Iranians) as soon as possible, and that the time element is very important," said the European Union official's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach on the eve of the talks.
"We have to exert pressure so that this happens as soon as possible," she insisted.

By Parisa Hafezi and Mark John

BOI - Reuters - Iran defied international calls for an early reply to an offer of incentives aimed at ending a nuclear stand-off, insisting on Thursday it would use a key July 11 meeting merely to raise questions on the package.

The European Union is due to hold preliminary talks with Iran on Thursday and more detailed discussions next Tuesday in which it expects a formal response to a package of technology, trade and other incentives to halt uranium enrichment.

"The Tuesday meeting is just for removing ambiguities. Iran will not give its definitive answer at this meeting," an Iranian official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.

BOI - NCRI - The Foreign Affairs Committee of the British House of Commons issued a security report on July 2 expressing concern over the Iranian regime's terrorist activities in Iraq. "Iran's interference in Iraq has caused tremendous concern. Iran is involved in organizing and supplying arms to terrorists in Iraq."