May 3, 2007: The rift with Russia over building of Irans first nuclear plant, have been worked out. Construction will resume. Meanwhile, Iran has increased illegal imports from China. Goods are smuggled in, and neither country pays much attention to UN sanctions.

May 1, 2007: A U.S. State Department study concludes that Iran is the most active supporter of terrorist activity in the world. Iran denies everything. Meanwhile, several May Day celebrations in Iran turned into riots as angry workers clashed with police. Widespread poverty in Iran is generally blamed on the corrupt and inept clergy that dominate the government. April 30, 2007: The lifestyle police are increasingly going after men, especially those sporting Western clothes or haircuts. Any young many who does not have a beard (or a reasonable attempt to grow one) is considered suspect.

April 27, 2007: The U.S. announced that, late last year, it had captured Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, a senior al Qaeda leader who had long operated out of Pakistan, directing operations across the border in Afghanistan. Al Iraqi was apparently caught, while crossing the border from Iran into Iraq. There, al Iraqi was going to get involved in leading al Qaeda operations in Iraq. Al Iraqi has provided useful information on al Qaeda operations throughout the region. Of particular interest were the meetings al Iraqi had with al Qaeda personnel in Iran. Apparently. al Iraqi was one of many al Qaeda members getting out of Pakistan because of deteriorating relations with the Taliban. Iran denies that it provides sanctuary for al Qaeda or permits safe passage.April 26, 2007: The U.S. has massive evidence of Iranian support for terrorist activity inside Iraq. This includes interrogations and captured equipment and documents. Iran just denies it all. That seems to work.

April 25, 2007: Some members of the government are opposed to the use of terror against the population, and have spoken out against the increased use of lifestyle police to harass young Iranians. The pro-terror crew have control for the moment, but that could change if the more moderate members of the religious dictatorship see their control threatened by the hard line approach. So far, the majority of Iranians have been reluctant to start another revolution to get their freedom. That, however, is always in danger of changing.

April 24, 2007: Afghanistan is complaining that Iran is forcibly repatriating some 5,000 Afghan refugees a day. Afghanistan cannot handle that many, but Iran is determined to get rid of some two million Afghan refugees (from the 1980s Russian invasion and the 1990s civil wars). Iran believes the refugees are a source of crime, and the refugee camps provide bases for drug smuggling gangs.

April 21, 2007: With the arrival of Spring, the government has unleashed thousands of additional lifestyle police, with orders to show no mercy to women who show too much angle or hair. Those who are not sufficiently covered up can be arrested, imprisoned, and even beaten. Female tourists are also subject to these rules.

April 20, 2007: Separatist violence continues to grow in the southeast, where a million Baluchi tribesmen work with three million other Baluchis in Pakistan to battle security forces from Iran and Pakistan. There won't be an independent Baluchistan any time soon, but the Iranians have a real shooting war on their hands with the Baluchis. Blaming the Americans feels good, but doesn't change the fact that the Baluchis hate Iranians, and have done so for centuries before the U.S. even existed.

April 19, 2007: To no ones surprise, the Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction of a member of the Islamic "lifestyle" police, for murdering a young man and woman. The lifestyle cop considered the couple un-Islamic for holding hands in public. The murders occurred five years ago, and the government, in the face of much negative public opinion, allowed prosecution to take place. There are several other similar cases, and in all of them, the senior court, dominated by Islamic conservative judges, ultimately dismisses the death sentences. For lesser infractions, like assault and maiming, the perpetrators often get off with no punishment at all. The lifestyle police are basically young thugs terrorizing the population in the name of the religious dictatorship that runs the country.

April 18, 2007: The Revolutionary Guard is becoming the Islamic conservative dictators own Gestapo. Also called the Pasdaran, this force of about 130,000 cannot be touched by the police or military, and increasingly act as enforcers for the senior clerics who really run the country.

April 17, 2007: The U.S. revealed that it has been capturing Iranian made weapons in Afghanistan. Some of these are going to Shia militias, for self-defense, but other shipments are apparently headed for Taliban factions. Iran openly ships weapons to Hizbollah in Lebanon, and, more covertly, to terrorists in Iraq.