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More than half a dozen people have been hanged in Iran’s south-eastern province of Sistan-va-Baluchestan, were anti-government sentiment is high, since the start of the week.The semi-official daily Jomhouri Islami reported on Thursday that two “troublemakers” accused of being Mofsed-o-fel-Arz (meaning corruptors of society, whose blood can be spilled) were hanged in the provincial capital Zahedan.The two men, identified as Hadi Daryakesh Naroui and Azizollah Najjarian, were hanged in public on Wednesday. On Wednesday, the hard-line daily reported that six men were hanged in public in Zahedan for “instigating trouble”.The report stated that three “trouble-makers” were hanged in front of a crowd of several thousand people Monday morning. The men, identified as Mohsen Sargolzaee, Nader Kaharzehi, and Maijd Kaharzehi, were charged with kidnapping, shooting, and spreading fear in society and declared to be Mofsed-o-fel-Arz.The same report said that another three men, identified as Behzad Naroui, Mohammad Amin Hormozi, and Abdollah Sheikh Hassani, were hanged in public in Zahedan Monday afternoon.They were accused of being “mohareb”, a religious term that describes someone who wages war on God. An Islamic court found them guilty of killing three agents of Iran’s State Security Forces (SSF), the paramilitary police, attacking security outposts, and carrying out a bombing in Zahedan.The three men were also accused of membership in an armed Baluchi group calling itself Jondollah.In March, the group claimed responsibility for an armed attack on a convoy of government officials in Sistan-va-Baluchestan, which left twenty-two government and provincial officials dead and at least seven, including the governor of Zahedan, critically wounded. Since last year, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the restive province in what many Baluchis believe is a response to a spate of attacks by dissidents on government and security officials.

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Iranian regime test-fired a long-range Shahab 3 missile on Thursday at the start of 10-day-long military exercises by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, state television reported.The IRGC war-games, code-named the “Great Prophet 2”, are taking place in 14 of the country's 30 provinces.Several dozen long-range and short-range missiles, including the Shahab 2, Shahab 3, Fateh-110, and Zolfaqar-103 missiles, were test-fired during the first stage of the drills, the report said, adding that a Shahab 3 missile armed with a cluster warhead, ranging 2,000 kilometres (1,242 miles), was test-fired.“The warheads of the Shahab missiles launched in the exercises were transformed into cluster warheads that held thousands of small bombs inside them. The projectile slant of the Shahab missiles was also upgraded”, the report added. Iran’s Shahab 3 missile is capable of reaching Israel and United States forces in the Middle East. Iranian regime has a dual military system with a regular Armed Forces as well as the IRGC. Both have their own Army, Navy, and Air Force and report directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.in another news, United States-led forces have been carrying out naval war-games in the Persian Gulf this week in what analysts have said are meant to serve as a warning to Tehran.Twenty five nations, including Britain, France, Italy, and Bahrain, have taken part in the naval exercises as part of the U.S. Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). The goal of the exercises is to practice blocking transports of weapons of mass destruction.

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The United States-led coalition in Iraq said in a statement on Thursday that an Iraqi security patrol had intercepted six “heavily loaded donkeys” carrying dozens of land-mines near the Iran-Iraq border.“Upon investigation, the patrol discovered six donkeys carrying 53 anti-tank landmines and one anti-tank projectile”, the statement said, adding that two men in the area fled the scene and evaded capture.The mines were found in “good condition” and determined to be Soviet (TM 62) and Italian (IT VS 2.2) made models. One of the mines was pre-rigged to be used as an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), it said.“This action by an alert Iraqi border patrol prevented dozens of very lethal munitions from being employed by terrorists,” said Col. Gary Patton, Task Force Lightning chief of staff. The donkeys were later released unharmed into the local area.

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United Press International reported: Argentina formally charged Thursday the Iranian government and Lebanon's Hezbollah were involved in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center. Prosecutors also called for the arrest of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, La Nacion reported online. Since the July 18, 1994, attack on the Argentine Mutual Association, no one person or group has been convicted of the blast that killed 85 people. Both Hezbollah and the Iranian government deny their involvement in the attack.

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United Press International said on Oct.30 that Sponsors circulated a draft U.N. Security Council resolution on Iran Friday evening, calling on Tehran to immediately suspend uranium enrichment activities. The six-page measure distributed by Britain, France and Germany called for compliance with the council resolution from earlier this year calling for compliance by Aug. 31. The draft says Iran must "suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development" and to "without delay implement in full" provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty's Additional Protocol, with transparency measures. It calls for supply, travel and technology transfer bans and freezing of assets on individuals and entities related to nuclear and ballistic missile research. But there are some exceptions, including one involving a nuclear plant at Bushehr the Russians are helping Iran build. Unique to the current draft is a paragraph calling for the prohibition of "specialized or training of Iranian nationals, within their territories or by their nationals, of disciplines which would contribute to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs." The purpose of such a resolution is spelled out in paragraphs 17-18, which say that should Iran comply with U.N. nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency, it would "contribute to a diplomatic, negotiated solution that guarantees Iran's nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes." Discussions on the draft, currently being held at the level of the veto-bearing permanent five members of the council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- are expected to begin with the full panel of 15 Monday.

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According to Associated Press, More than 90,000 surveyors began the largest census of the Iranian population in decades, state-run radio reported Saturday.The final results are due in May 2007, Mohammad Madad, head of Iran's Statistics Center told the radio. "It will help decision-makers to apply more convenient policies".The census came as the Islamic Republic's hardline government faced a population boom along with double digit unemployment and inflation rates.Iran's population grew by an estimated 10 million people since 1996, when the last census counted 60 million people in this vast, central Asian country. More than half of the population is under 30 years old, and the youth, along with women's groups and Iran's many ethnic minorities have grown increasingly restive in recent years, asking for more social and political freedom.The census would cost more than US$ 40 million (31.5 million euro), the radio said. The first official census was held in Iran in 1956 under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Since then Iran has held nationwide censuses every ten years.

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Iranian regime is offering money to travel agents who can lure certain types of tourists to Iran, and the rate is double for bringing European and American travelers.“Iran’s Tourism Department will pay $20 for every American or European tourist that travel agents can bring,” Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh, deputy director of the Tourism and Cultural Heritage Organization, said Tuesday in a statement reported by the news agency IRNA. The statement also specified a $10 payment for luring Asian tourists.