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.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, on a visit to Iran as the G20 summit opens in London, denounced capitalism and announced the founding of a Iranian-Venezuelan binational bank. Chávez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially opened the Tehran-based commercial bank April 3, aimed at spurring trade and industrial projects between the two countries. The two leaders facetiously referred to their nations as the "G2."

Israel may attack Iran to prevent it from developing a nuclear bomb, the top US commander in the Middle East told Congress April 1. Gen. David Petraeus said "the Israeli government may ultimately see itself so threatened by the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon that it would take preemptive military action to derail or delay it."

President Barack Obama broadcast a speech to the people and leaders of Iran early March 20, offering greetings for a Persian new year holiday of Nowruz, stressing the potential for peaceful cooperation. A video of the speech was distributed to news outlets in the region, subtitled in Farsi: