A little-known Iranian Sunni militant group claimed responsibility June 18 for a mosque bombing that killed 14 and wounded 200 in Shiraz April 12. "This is the very first operation and the signal to the criminal regime of Iran...to stop its oppression, cruelty and injustice towards...Sunnis," the Jihadi Movement of the Sunna People of Iran said in an Internet statement. The group said it carried out the attack to avenge what it said was the execution of two Sunni scholars in Iran's southeastern Baluchistan region. (Reuters, June 18)

We've noted before Barack Obama's alarming bellicose tendencies. They were out in profligate display at his notorious address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual conference in Washington June 4. Here's the most ominous one from the Washington Post's transcript:

An Iranian government spokesman confirmed that a group of Bahai religious leaders have been arrested—but said that the charges against them related to security and not religion. The spokesman, Gholam Hossein Elham, said the group had "acted against the country's interests" and had links with Israelis, according to the state news agency IRNA. Elham did not mention the number of people arrested, but Bahai exile groups abroad say the sect's entire leadership, consisting of seven senior members, was arrested last month and in March. (NYT, June 5)

Saudi Arabia's Shoura Council has discussed a national plan to deal with potential radioactive contamination in the Kingdom following warnings of possible attacks on Iran's nuclear reactors. "The plan to check radiation hazards was discussed by Shoura members, but it will be discussed and reviewed again before being tabled for voting," an unnamed Shoura Council member told Arab News. The King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology (KACST) is said to be preparing a contingency plan. (Arab News, March 24)

Hundreds of angry youth clashed with anti-riot forces in Tehran Feb. 23 after trying to liberate a young girl who had been arrested by the Islamic Guidance police. The confrontation began in a main square of Tehran after the morality police stopped a young girl walking with her boyfriend and attempted to abscond her into their van. When the girl resisted, she was beaten, and people watching the scene intervened. Riot police arrived, firing in the air and hurling tear gas to break up the protesters. At least 15 were arrested. The Islamic Guidance units are part of a new "Social Protection" project launched last year by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (IPS, Feb. 24)

More than 120 international academics and human rights activists have signed a statement protesting the banning of Zanan Magazine—meaning "women's magazine"—by the Iranian government this month, after 16 years in print. Iranian authorities have canceled the licenses of many publications in recent years, but Zanan's closure has sparked strong protests. Among those signing the statement are Noam Chomsky, Jürgen Habermas and Shirin Ebadi. More than 1,000 journalists, intellectuals and cultural personalities within Iran and abroad wrote a similar letter. (Global Voices Onine, Feb. 14)

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon in the Tajik capital Dushanbe Feb. 13, where the leaders of the two Persian-speaking countries issued a joint statement saying they stand for a world without nuclear arms and support creation of nuclear-free zones. They also said they regard peaceful use of nuclear power as the legal right of every country. Tajikistan has been part of a Central Asian Nuclear-Free Zone since 2006.

From Amnesty International, Jan. 15:

Iran: Death by stoning, a grotesque and unacceptable penalty
As nine women and two men in Iran wait to be stoned to death, Amnesty International today called on the Iranian authorities to abolish death by stoning and impose an immediate moratorium on this horrific practice, specifically designed to increase the suffering of the victims.