Three men convicted of involvement in a May 28 bomb attack that killed 25 and injured over 100 at the Amir al-Momenin mosque in Iran's eastern city of Zahedan, Sistan-Baluchistan province, were hanged May 30. The Jundallah militant group claimed responsibility for the blast, with a spokesman confirming the attack to Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV. Iranian officials say the attack aimed at provoking disorder before the presidential elections. US State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly denounced the attack and rejected the notion that the White House had a hand in it. (Press TV, Iran, May 30)

Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, according to a secret Israeli government report obtained May 25 by the AP. "There are reports that Venezuela supplies Iran with uranium for its nuclear program," the Foreign Ministry document states, referring to previous Israeli intelligence conclusions. It added, "Bolivia also supplies uranium to Iran."

US journalist Roxana Saberi was released from prison May 11 after an Iranian appeals court reduced her eight-year term for espionage to two years and then suspended the sentence. According to statements from Saberi's lawyer, the court determined that the espionage charge was not valid since the US is not an enemy government, but could not ignore that the nature of Saberi's actions had posed a threat to Iranian national security. Saberi had appealed her conviction for espionage in late April, and she had been on a hunger strike in protest of her imprisonment. (Jurist, May 11)

A May Day rally in Tehran, organized by independent Iranian labor organizations, was attacked by security and intelligence forces, with many beaten and arrested. Security forces did not allow some 2,000 people who had come to the city's Laleh Park for the rally to gather, dispersing them with tear gas and baton charges. Violence and arrests are also reported from the city of Sanandaj, where a May Day rally was similarly attacked by police.

Pope Benedict's decision to send a Vatican delegation to Geneva for the UN conference on racism has opened a new rift with Jewish groups. "By participating, the Vatican has given its endorsement to what is being prepared there," Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, told the Italian newspaper La Stampa, referring to fears that the conference would become an anti-Israel platform. Di Segni said the pope's decision was "the latest imprudent step" in his relations with Jews, which were severely strained earlier this year over the pope's decision to lift the excommunication of a bishop who denied the Holocaust.

Iran's judiciary April 20 ordered fair appellate proceedings for a US journalist convicted this week of espionage and sentenced to eight years in prison. Iran's top judge Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi said the appeal by journalist Roxana Saberi, a dual US-Iran citizen who was originally arrested for illegally purchasing alcohol, should be fair and accurate. Shahrudi's declaration came after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad implicitly criticized the judiciary's handling of Saberi's case. On April 19, Ahmadinejad told Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi to manage the appeal in a way that allows Saberi to defend herself freely. Saberi's lawyer said he would file an appeal by week's end. (Jurist, April 20)

The Revolutionary Court of Iran convicted US journalist Roxana Saberi of espionage, sentencing her to eight years in prison, according to her lawyer April 18. The trial, in which Saberi was accused of passing classified information to US intelligence agencies, was conducted earlier this week in proceedings closed to the public, and news of her conviction came from press contact with Saberi's father and her lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi.

A spokesperson for the Iranian Judiciary announced April 14 that an imprisoned US journalist has been tried on espionage charges. The Revolutionary Court of Iran conducted the trial of Roxana Saberi, accused of passing classified information to US intelligence agencies, in proceedings closed to the public.