Nobel prizewinner Shirin Ebadi on Tuesday accused German engineering giant Siemens and Finnish telecoms firm Nokia of supplying Iran with technology to help it suppress democratic dissent. Speaking on France Culture radio, the exiled Iranian feminist and 2003 Nobel peace laureate, said Western firms are undermining opposition to Tehran's authoritarian regime and called for international economic sanctions. "Unfortunately, a ...

Iranians jumped over bonfires and set off firecrackers on Tuesday in the annual Persian fire festival but were forced to keep celebrations at a low key as riot police and militiamen on motorbikes fanned out to quell possible opposition protests. Witnesses told AFP that families ventured outside in small groups to celebrate the ritual in their neighbourhoods, despite all-powerful supreme ...

Jordan wants political and diplomatic solutions to the nuclear standoff with Iran, a Jordanian minister said Tuesday, adding all countries had the right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. "The security and the stability of the Arab countries is directly linked to regional security," Jordan's Interior Minister Nayef Qadai said in Tunis at a meeting of the Council of ...

Iranians jumped over bonfires and set off firecrackers on Tuesday in the annual Persian fire festival as security forces fanned across Tehran to quell possible opposition protests, witnesses told AFP. Families ventured outside in small groups to celebrate the ritual, despite all-powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging them on Sunday to shun the festival, calling it an un-Islamic event ...