Members of the U.N. Security Council are reportedly considering a U.S.-backed statement on Iran.

MUHAMMAD SAHIMI
Sahimi is professor of chemical engineering at the University of Southern California and co-author, with Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, of the recent op-ed “Defusing Iran with Democracy.” He said today: “There are struggles within Iran right now; the main decisions are made by consensus. Issuing threats is not a constructive way to approach the situation.”
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ROSTAM POURZAL
An Iranian-American political analyst based in Washington, D.C., Pourzal said today: “The demonizing of Iran now has similarities to the demonization of Iraq before the invasion of that country three years ago by the United States. And like the Iraqi [Ahmed] Chalabi, various Iranian exiles are climbing into bed with the neo-cons and the Christian Right to push for ‘regime change’ in Iran. They are positioning themselves for some of the $85 million that may soon be available from the U.S. government for supposed ‘democracy promotion.’ In fact, this will hurt actual democratic dissidents because it will also taint them as agents of the CIA.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167