* IMMIGRATION: U.S. encourages exchange visits with Iran
* FEATURES: Iran, Europe rapprochement challenges U.S. policy
* NEWS: Italy's Dini to visit Iran
* ECONOMY: Paper slams government economic planners
* FOREIGN EXCHANGE: Unchanged
* THE IRANIAN: Understanding Iranians / Eshrat Qahreman (Nakisa)
* THE WEB: Radio, magazine, journal
* SPORTS: Piroozi in Asia Cup semi-finals
* FILM: Interview with film maker Behrouz Afkhami
* LAST CALL: Iranian diaspora anthology
* SMILE: Human Rights
* QUESTION: Persian instructional CD-ROMs?
* LETTERS: Sa'di, "the pedophile" / Funny and accurate
* LOST & FOUND: Amir Reza Akbarian
* BOOKSTORE: Constitutional Movement
* EVENTS: State of Political Culture / Farhad's last concert
* PHOTO OF THE DAY: Living legends
* MUSIC: Dariush: "Soqoot"
* QUOTE UNQUOTE: History of using xenophobia

IMMIGRATION

* U.S. encourages exchange visits with Iran, (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday encouraged Americans to visit Iran and said it would facilitate visas for Iranians who want to come to America. The comments, by State Department spokesman James Rubin, are the latest effort by the United States to respond positively to the election last year of a moderate, Mohammad Khatami, as president of the Islamic republic. ... full text

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FEATURES

* Iran, Europe rapprochement challenges U.S. policy, (Reuters) - Almost unnoticed in the shadow of the Iraq crisis, the European Union moved this week to normalise relations with Iran in an indirect challenge to a U.S. policy of containment of the Islamic Republic. The 15-nation EU dropped the adjective ``critical'' from the official designation of its dialogue with Tehran, although ministers were keen to stress the new high-level contacts would not be uncritical. ... full text

* Khatami: Basis for government action is the constitution, (Hamshahri)... full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

* Call on the Revolutionary Guards to get "involved" in Experts Assembly elections, (Hamshahri)... full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

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NEWS

* Italy's Dini to visit Iran, (Reuters) - Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini has accepted an invitation from his Iranian counterpart, Kamal Kharrazi, and will visit Tehran next week, senior foreign ministry sources said on Wednesday. Dini will be the first European Union foreign minister to go to Iran since the EU lifted its ban on high-level contacts with the Islamic republic... full text

* Germany shouldn't link ties to death row man, (Reuters) - Iran said on Wednesday Germany should not link diplomatic ties between them to the case of a German businessman sentenced to death for having sexual relations out of wedlock with a Moslem woman. The official news agency IRNA quoted foreign ministry spokesman Mahmoud Mohammadi as rejecting a statement by German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel which linked ties to the fate of Hamburg businessman Helmut Hofer... full text

* Iran may buy Russian weapons , (AP) - Iran's foreign minister met his Russian counterpart today, opening two days of talks that may include discussions on weapons purchases, a news report said. Iran's Kamal Kharrazi may inquire about buying high-tech attack helicopters and ship-to-ship missiles, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing unidentified Russian sources... full text

* Russia, Iran vow to beef up ties, (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Russia and Iran pledged on Wednesday to strengthen bilateral economic links, especially in the energy-rich Caspian Sea region. In comments likely to be scrutinised in Washington, Russia's Yevgeny Primakov and Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi also praised U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's success in brokering a deal to end the Iraq crisis and reiterated their opposition to the use of military force... full text

* Expert criticizes Tehran traffic, (Hamshahri)... full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

* 4,000 "nuisance callers" tracked down in Tehran EVERY MONMTH!, (Hamshahri)... full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

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ECONOMY

* Paper slams government economic planners, (Reuters) - An Iranian newspaper on Wednesday sharply attacked the country's economic planners for failing to forecast a slump in world oil prices which has forced parliament to review Iran's budget. The criticism in the English-language Iran News came after Central Bank Governor Mohsen Nourbakhsh on Monday said the government had been forced by weak oil prices to set up a body to again review the budget for the next Iranian year, which starts on March 21... full text

* Iran to start exporting gas to Turkey next winter, (Hamshahri)... full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

* Seminar to encourage Iran-Canada trade, (Hamshahri)... full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

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FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Unchanged (Wednesday)

* To send money to Iran, the rate is 495-500 tomans per dollar, depending on how much you wish to send.

* To send money out of Iran, the rate is 504 tomans per dollar.

Source: Sehaty Foreign Exchange, call in U.S.: 602-595-0777 or 500-288-8881. Preferntial rates for readers of The Iranian Times. Mention this code: BAJ 07

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THE IRANIAN

* Understanding Iranians? Not a bad idea

By Michael C. Walker

For a variety of reasons that are probably all too familiar to those reading this piece, the United States government has long portrayed Iran as a bastion of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, at least up until Iraq emerged as a more eminent threat to American interests in the Middle East. The image of Iran as some vast land of terrorists plotting to inflict harm upon America and her allies has trickled down from politicians to the general public, causing Iran to become synonymous with terrorism and all the aspects of the Middle East that many Americans fear and do not understand... go to feature

* Zanan saraayandeh-ye mo'aaser

TODAY'S ADDITION: Eshrat Qahreman (Nakisa)

From a new collection of poems by women poets, compiled by Parvin Shakiba. More poems will be added during all this week. (in Persian) ... go to feature

THE IRANIAN Cover Stories

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THE WEB

Radio, magazine, journal

* Ayandeh-Negar Radio -- "Futurists", based in Sweden (thanks to Pedram Missaghi <pmissagh@sdcc13.ucsd.edu>)

* Raah-e Azaadi -- From the Democratic People's Party of Iran, in France

* Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies -- Scholarly, non-partisan publication

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SPORTS

* Piroozi in Asia Cup semi-finals, (Hamshahri)...full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

* Hamshahri Sports section, Wednesday... index in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

"Dream Team" IRAN -- World Cup tickets now available!

Sportestan Publishing (USA)
ish@sportestan.com
Tel: 650-473-9792

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FILM

* Interview with film maker Behrouz Afkhami, (Hamshahri)... full text in Persian... Get Persian fonts from Hamshahri or Payvand.

* "Taste of Cherry" in L.A. & Victoria

- In LA: Relief International and Zeitgeist Films Present "Taste of Cherry,"a film by Abbas Kiarostami, Winner of the Palme d'Or 1997 Cannes Film Festival. A benefit screening and reception in honor of Mr. Kiarostami and to support Relief International's humanitarian relief efforts worldwide. Date: Thursday, February 26, 1998, at 7:30 pm. Place: Laemmle's Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. A champagne and dessert reception will follow the screening. For ticket information please call Relief International (310) 441-0097 $100 donation for film and reception to support RI's relief efforts worldwide. All donations are tax deductible. Relief International <102375.706@compuserve.com>

- In Victoria, Canada: WED & THURS, MARCH 4 & 5 (7:15 & 9:10) Cinecenta, UVic. With discounts for the club & community members. UVic Persian Club : <wr855@victoria.tc.ca> : 250-472-8699

* Iranian film festival organized by Stanford University's Persian Students Association will run through mid-March... click here for details

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LAST CALL

Iranian diaspora anthology

This is the last call for submitting works of literature and art to be considered for "Echoes of the Iranian Diaspora Anthology." Deadline: March 1, 1998.

"Echoes of the Iranian Diaspora: Writing by First and Second Generation Iranian-Americans," is seeking submissions of fiction, poetry, essays and graphic or photographic art publication (forthcoming Jan. 1999).

This collection reflects the diverse experiences of first and second generation Iranians in the U.S. and Canada and reflects the complex identities, affinities, and experiences of this community in light of the twenty year anniversary of the Iranian revolution and the more than three million Iranians now living outside of Iran.

Please see the call for submissions on the Art and Literature section of The Iranian magazine. No email submissions please!

For more information or contact: Ms. Persis Karim at the University of Texas at Austin (persis@mail.utexas.edu) or Dr. Mehdi Khorrmami at New York University (mmk4@is4.nyu.edu).

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SMILE :-)

* Human Rights

To see the cartoon... Click here

From Hasan Javadi's "Satire in Persian Literature"
(Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1988)
Available from Jahan Books

Got something to make us smile?
Send it to Times@iranian.com

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QUESTION

Persian instructional CD-ROMs?

I have been looking for a systematic list and evaluations of Persian instructional CD-ROMs and laser disks available on the market. The National Foreign Language Resouce Center (Hawaii and Ohio) has only _one!- entry for Persian and that is the old interactive laser disk "Arus". But I know for a fact that there are more Persian CD-ROMs available. Some of them were actually developed by the US government and shown at Expolingua (Frankfurt).

There is for example a 2 1/2 hour long interactive video on CD-ROM developed by the Federal Language Training Lab (FLTL) in Arlington which includes the complete dialogue script in Persian and English with an interactive glossary. Another instructional CD-ROM for proficiency levels of 2/2 and higher was developed by the "Defence Language Institute" (DLI) in Monterey, California and the "Center for the Advancement of Language Learning" (CALL) in Arlington. Both the FLTL and the DLI CD-ROMs are not for the broad public. But there should be other commercial products available to people involved in teaching Persian at universities. I was wondering if any list members were interested in collecting information on existing products and writing evaluations on them for specialized journals.

Best

Nima Mina
Universite de Montreal
Litteratures et Langues Modernes
<minan@ERE.UMONTREAL.CA>

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LETTERS

* Sa'di, "the pedophile"

From Sa'di's "do-baytee" in your February 24, 1998, edition of The Iranian Times, I must conclude that Sa'di was a pedophile -- a "pesarbaaz." Much to his credit, he knew he was wrong and was willing to accept the indignation. Nobody asked my opinion, but just a nokteh: is it not interesting that out of egalitarianism or indifference perhaps in English one has "pedophile" but in Farsi the designation are refined to the point of identifying one's preference by gender -- pesarbaaz and dokhtarbaaz, eitherway a bachehbaaz. Shameful, every which way. Guive Mirfendereski, <Guive@aol.com>.

* Funny and accurate

I am a teacher in a public school and I loved this article ["The Sub Man"]. Very funny and accurate! < TEHERAN@aol.com> Azadeh Amirsadri

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LOST & FOUND

Amir Reza Akbarian

I am looking for a lost friend whom I met in Amsterdam in 1995. His name is Amir Reza Akbarian and he was attending a university at the time. He is approximately 29 and has a birthday in October. I am not sure if he returned to Iran or not, but I am in need of resources to locate him. He also has a friend by the name of Reza Farahanchi who moved to southern California to live with his brother. The last time I spoke with either of them was November of 1996. Thank you for your help. Darilyn Edwards <dedwards@SCES.NWSC.K12.AR.US>

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BOOKSTORE

Constitutional Movement / Mashrutiyat-E Iran
Abbas Eskandari / Paperback / Published 1990

Books available through Amazon.com, the world's largest online bookstore. THE IRANIAN is an associate of Amazon.com. Click on the links for more information.

THE IRANIAN Bookstore

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EVENTS

* State of Political Culture in Iran Today: A lecture by Dr. Afshin Matin (lecturer at UCLA's History Dept.) Title: "The State of Political Culture in Iran Today". Place and time: Friday. Feb 27th, 7:30 pm, Valley Life Science Build, UC Berkeley.

* Iranian American Scholarship Fundraising Gala: The Iranian Federated Women's Club invites you to attend the 1998 Iranian American Scholarship Fundraising Gala, on Saturday February 28th, 1998 at the Quinlan Community Center (10185 North Stelling Road, Cupertino, CA), for a reception at 6:30 and Dinner, Music, and a Fashion Show at 7:00 p.m. with Master of Ceremonies: Dr. Anthony Shay.

Society of Iranian Professionals is proud to be one of the Host Committee Members, along with various State Assembly men and women, a few Supervisors of Santa Clara County, Payvand Cultural School, Persian Center, a few U.S. Senators, President of De Anza College, Cyrus Travel, and Pine Press.

Proceeds of this program will benefit an Iranian-American Scholarship Educational Fund to be utilized at De Anza or Stanford University. We invite you to join us in sponsoring this great event. SIP would like to sponsor a table and invites you to contact us at officers@sip-ca.org if you would like to participate in this worthwhile cause. Donation: $100 per person. For more information: please call (408) 381-4268 or (408) 781-5675.

* Farhad's last concert: Farhad, the legendary singer, is currently in the U.S. and will perform his last U.S. concert on Sunday, March 8, 1998 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. Farhad will return to Iran after this concert. This is the last chance his fans will have tio see him in their lifetime. For information and reservation those interested can contact: 310-704-5700.

* Iranian film festival organized by Stanford University's Persian Students Association will run through mid-March... click here for details

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

Living legends

* Delkash and Marziyeh on the cover of a magazine ...full image

Got any interesting photos?
Send it to Times@iranian.com

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MUSIC

Dariush: "Soqoot" (RealAudio)

Greatest pop CDs ON SALE!

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QUOTE UNQUOTE

History of using xenophobia

The United States -- as much as I hate to admit it as a citizen of this nation -- has a long and pronounced history of using xenophobia and ungrounded fears to motivate its populace towards following the views of political, religious, and cultural leaders. Sure, other nations can be just as readily charged with such misdeeds, but few other nations claim to embrace all peoples of the world as the United States does; few others stake such pride in their socio-cultural diversity while simultaneously denouncing those cultures they cannot understand.

Michael C. Walker
"Understanding Iranians? Not a bad idea"
February 26, 1998
The Iranian

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