Now an American Jewish leaders says that ElBaradei is an “Iranian stooge.”

Technocrat meets Ayatollah: Who Wins? (Photo: IAEA)

That’s because later that year ElBaradei threatened to resign as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in the event of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

With the Wall Street Journal and others reporting this week that the Stuxnet computer virus temporarily shut down Iran’s uranium enrichment, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization saracstically dismissed the story to  IRNA as “rumor.” A former top U.N. nuclear inspections officials says Stuxnet might well be responsible but cautions  there is “no evidence” to  support the claim.

But the change in Iranian comments seems revealing. The Fars News Agency in Iran today offered what it described as “new details about the West’s cyberattack.” While describing the media reports as a “propaganda stratagem,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman also said “Stuxnet is in a league of its own” as a virus.

Not coincidentally, the single biggest Iranian news agency, IRIB, today played up the boast of nuclear chief,  Alik Akbar Salehi, that the West had been caught “off guard” by Iran’s recent nuclear gains.  That sounds like counter-messaging.

The Iranian statements this week differ notably from those issued  in September which claimed the virus has affected only staff computers at the Bushehr nuclear power plant but not the computers that run the reactor.

The conservative Telegraph in the U.K. has credited an “Israeli cyber unit” with developing the virus. So has the liberal Haaretz in Israel.

In the tech world, P.C. World polled a group of security consultants familiar with the code who “all agree that Stuxnet was built by a very sophisticated and capable attacker — possibly a nation state — and it was designed to destroy something big.”

SPIEGEL: Has the protest movement distanced itself from its leaders?

Karroubi: Mousavi and I have served the people in a number of positions of responsibility. As a result we have a certain amount of influence. But Mousavi does not have an organization behind him. I have a political party, but its work is restricted. The protest is a popular movement that is comprised of people from a wide variety of social classes and which acts independently …

SPIEGEL: … and which is now calling the entire system into question.

Karroubi: The Iranian people have a well-developed political consciousness. I place my trust in reason and people’s experience.

Full Text from Enduring America.

Plus: what they’re saying in Europe about the trial of the Bahai leaders.

The continued imprisonment of the leadership has already drawn international protest. But this pressure must be stepped up. The revolutionary court system is secretive; the only chance of justice being served is for the case to be held in open court so proceedings can be independently monitored. The Iranian government will be desperate to keep this abuse of justice quiet. They must be shamed into changing their mind.

–Cherie Blair in The Guardian

Petraeus’s Statement on Iran Confirms U.S. Readiness for All Possibilities–Asharq Alawsat (London)

Ebadi says it’s nonsense to think this was ever merely about a small group of educated elites in northern Tehran. The democracy movement in other cities is active and growing, she says. By all accounts, fissures are beginning to emerge in the ruling class. There are signs that the secular and religious opposition have begun to cooperate. If this continues, it would be a dramatic development.

“Qom has been under serious security over the past six months, but today they have effectively lost control of it.” — Times Online.

What they’re saying about the death of reformist ayatollah Montazeri in the Middle Eastern media.

The state-run media in Iran has been making all kinds of accusations against us for years because we are feminists, while from our point of view feminist means “being a woman” and being proud of it, nothing more. Those who regard themselves as higher than their mothers simply because they are men must be ashamed and embarrassed.

Shirin Ebadi in roozonline.com.