670AM KIRN RADIO IRAN LA!(Persian)

AFP - Iran on Saturday hanged 20 people for drug trafficking at a prison in Karaj, west of the capital, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Reuters - A newspaper editor seen as close to Iran's top authority said on Saturday defeated election candidate Mirhossein Mousavi and a former pro-reform president had committed "terrible crimes" which should be tried in court.

AFP - Iran is considering pressing charges against a British embassy staffer, a Newsweek journalist and several reformist leaders, lawyers said on Saturday, as the regime intensifies its crackdown on protests over last month's presidential election.

AFP - Twenty people convicted of drugs trafficking were hanged on Saturday in a prison near the Iranian capital, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

AP - A top aide to Iran's supreme leader called the country's main opposition figure a U.S. agent and said in an editorial Saturday that he should be tried for committing crimes against the nation.

AFP - A leading Iranian daily called on Saturday for Mir Hossein Mousavi to be tried for treason, as hardliners stepped up their attacks on the opposition leader over the unrest that followed last month's presidential election.

AFP - Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari and a number of reformist leaders in Iran are to face trial accused of "acting against national security," their lawyer Saleh Nikbakht told AFP on Saturday.

AP - Syria's leader sent a July 4 message full of praise to President Barack Obama on Friday and invited him to visit Syria — the latest signs Damascus is hedging its bets in Mideast politics, warming up to its rival the United States at a time when its longtime ally Iran is in turmoil.

AFP - The UN atomic watchdog's incoming chief Yukiya Amano promised Friday to go all out to resolve a long-running nuclear standoff with Iran after governors formally gave their assent to his appointment.

AFP - Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Friday he was "urgently seeking clarification" of Iran's announcement that local staff working at Britain's Tehran embassy will face trial.

AFP - A powerful Iranian cleric said on Friday that British embassy local staff arrested for allegedly stoking unrest after the June election will be put on trial, a move that prompted coordinated protests from European governments.

Reuters - A senior Iranian cleric suggested on Friday that detained local staff from the British embassy in Tehran would be put on trial in the Islamic Republic for their alleged role in post-election unrest.

AFP - A powerful Iranian cleric said on Friday that local British embassy staff arrested for allegedly stoking post-election unrest will be put on trial, a move set to plunge already strained ties to a new low.

Time.com - Having lost the battle for the streets, those who lead the opposition to the reelection of President Ahmadinejad are now forced to fight on within the regime where the hardline security establishment is ascendant

AP - There is no place outside Iran that has closer links to Tehran's ruling establishment than Iraq's holy Shiite city of Najaf, where the silence during Iran's post-election crisis says much about the deep complexities of their cross-border bonds.

AFP - Veteran Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano won the contest on Thursday to head the International Atomic Energy Agency, giving him a pivotal role in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions.