Iranian Authorities

In a no-holds-barred statement, two Americans who spent 781 days in an Iranian prison on spying charges called themselves hostages of sour U.S.-Iranian relations and described the screams of prisoners being beaten, the mental manipulation of their jailers, and how they lived in "a world of lies and false hope" until their sudden release last week. Gone was the diplomacy and the words of gratitude to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that marked the statements from their fellow prisoner Sarah Shourd one year ago, when she was freed after 410 days in prison ahead of companions Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal.

Obama to 'Speak Up' President Obama will deliver an opening message before the debut of "Speak Up," a Cartoon Network documentary about bullied youth across America and those who have helped them. The half-hour film, part of the network's "Stop Bullying: Speak Up" initiative, will be aired at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, with an encore at 8 p.m. The documentary features appearances by star athletes Venus Williams, Chris Webber, Lisa Leslie and Hope Solo, BMX bike rider Matt Wilhelm and NASCAR drivers Trevor Bayne, Jeff Burton and Joey Logano.

Iran's beleaguered opposition movement, under enormous government pressure but encouraged by popular uprisings throughout the Middle East, is calling for another round of protests Sunday, raising the stakes in its confrontation with Tehran's hard-line Islamist government. A statement posted Thursday to the website of former prime minister and 2009 presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi called on Iranians to take part in memorial services to mark the religiously significant seventh day after the deaths of two Iranians during raucous Feb. 14 opposition protests in Tehran and other cities.

Iran's armed forces brought down a U.S. drone that officials said had violated the country's airspace along the eastern border, Iranian media reported Sunday. The aircraft suffered minor damage and was in the possession of the armed forces, according to an Iranian military official quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's U.S.-led force in neighboring Afghanistan said Iranian authorities might be referring to an unarmed U.S. reconnaissance plane that went missing during a mission in western Afghanistan late last week.

Why not Iran? Egypt and Tunisia have overthrown repressive regimes. Citizens in Syria, Yemen and other Middle East countries are demanding change. Yet in Iran, where a wave of 2009 demonstrations helped spark the movements we are now witnessing elsewhere in the Middle East, the populace is strangely silent. What accounts for the relative quiet in Iran? The answer, at least in part, is that one of the great human rights tragedies of the modern era is underway in Iran. From the moment the first protesters hit Tahrir Square in Cairo, Iran's leadership has cracked down hard, instituting a brutal campaign of terror against its own people.

Iran has detained an Iranian American consultant working for George Soros' Open Society Institute, the group said. The detention of Kian Tajbakhsh comes amid recent accusations by Iranian authorities that the U.S. is using critics and dissidents to try to overthrow the hard-line government. The group is a private foundation that encourages democracy-building in countries around the world.

A second group of Lebanese Muslims wounded in the artillery battles that pounded Beirut for two months have left the Lebanese capital to go to Iran for medical treatment, Iranian authorities said Monday. The departure of 108 wounded by road to Syria, where they will board a flight to Tehran, brings to 178 the number of injured Muslims sent to Iran since May 26.

Iranian authorities announced that they have broken up two "terrorist networks" blamed for bombings that have killed 38 people and wounded more than 250 this year. Mohammed Reyshahri, Iranian information minister, said those arrested include monarchists seeking to restore the dynasty of the late Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and members of the Moujahedeen, which hopes to overthrow the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Iranian authorities have closed 150 boutiques here in the capital and ordered the owners to report to revolutionary committees in an apparent crackdown on Western fashions. An official statement said the stores were closed for offending Islamic values by filling their windows with "vulgar" clothing. The move drew approval from local newspapers and members of Parliament, with the Tehran daily Islamic Republic saying the campaign should include manufacturers of "decadent" clothes.

Iran on Friday released six Italians who had been held at Tehran airport in apparent reprisal for the six-day detention of an Iranian freighter in the Italian port of Genoa, the Foreign Ministry announced. A spokesman said Iranian authorities permitted the Italians to leave the airport for the Italian Embassy in Tehran pending arrangement of a flight to Rome for Christmas vacations.

In a no-holds-barred statement, two Americans who spent 781 days in an Iranian prison on spying charges called themselves hostages of sour U.S.-Iranian relations and described the screams of prisoners being beaten, the mental manipulation of their jailers, and how they lived in "a world of lies and false hope" until their sudden release last week. Gone was the diplomacy and the words of gratitude to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that marked the statements from their fellow prisoner Sarah Shourd one year ago, when she was freed after 410 days in prison ahead of companions Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal.

Iranian authorities sentenced two Americans arrested and detained along the Iran-Iraq border to eight years in prison, state television cited an unnamed judicial source as saying on Saturday. The men, who have already been held in prison for more than two years in Iran, have 20 days to appeal their convictions on charges of illegal entry onto Iranian territory and espionage. Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, both 28 years old, were arrested along the Iran-Iraq border during what they insist was an ill-fated hiking trip in the scenic mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Iranian authorities will announce a verdict and sentence within days in the case of two U.S. hikers arrested two years ago near an unmarked section of the Iran-Iraq border, their lawyer and court officials said Sunday after what appeared to be the final court hearing in the case. On the anniversary of their July 31, 2009, arrest, Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal spent four hours at a hearing at the Tehran Revolutionary Court, where they face charges of espionage and trespassing. "The last session was held," Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei was quoted as saying by the state-owned Al Alam television channel.

Why not Iran? Egypt and Tunisia have overthrown repressive regimes. Citizens in Syria, Yemen and other Middle East countries are demanding change. Yet in Iran, where a wave of 2009 demonstrations helped spark the movements we are now witnessing elsewhere in the Middle East, the populace is strangely silent. What accounts for the relative quiet in Iran? The answer, at least in part, is that one of the great human rights tragedies of the modern era is underway in Iran. From the moment the first protesters hit Tahrir Square in Cairo, Iran's leadership has cracked down hard, instituting a brutal campaign of terror against its own people.

The story of Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal and Sarah Shourd, the American hikers who in July 2009 crossed the border — inadvertently, all evidence suggests — from Iraqi Kurdistan into Iran and were imprisoned for espionage, is back in the headlines. Shourd, who was released in September on humanitarian grounds and after paying $500,000 in bail, has been promoting a "rolling hunger strike" to remind us that Bauer and Fattal remain in Tehran's Evin Prison without a trial date or access to their lawyer.

Iran's beleaguered opposition movement, under enormous government pressure but encouraged by popular uprisings throughout the Middle East, is calling for another round of protests Sunday, raising the stakes in its confrontation with Tehran's hard-line Islamist government. A statement posted Thursday to the website of former prime minister and 2009 presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi called on Iranians to take part in memorial services to mark the religiously significant seventh day after the deaths of two Iranians during raucous Feb. 14 opposition protests in Tehran and other cities.

Chanting anti-U.S. slogans, thousands of Iranians marched in Tehran to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the shah ? and to celebrate the Egyptian uprising that resulted in President Hosni Mubarak's ouster Friday. Braving low temperatures and biting winds, people of all ages gathered in Azadi, or Freedom, Square, some sipping fruit juice and waving balloons provided by organizers. Others took advantage of free subway rides offered by authorities.