LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Iran: Governments
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Political situation: Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has been ruled by a repressive religious regime which adheres to outdated social customs. The nation is currently divided between the conservatives who control the military and most government institutions and the moderates who enjoy broad public support. The tension between the conservatives and the moderates is gradually strengthening.
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There is very little publicly available information to determine whether Iran is pursuing a biological weapon program. Although Iran acceded to the Geneva Protocol in 1929 and ratified the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1973, the U.S. government believes Iran began biological weapon efforts in the early to mid-1980s, and that it continues to pursue an offensive biological weapon program linked to its civilian biotechnology activities. The United States alleges that Iran may have started to develop small quantities of agent, possibly including mycotoxins, ricin, and the smallpox virus. Iran strongly denies acquiring or producing biological weapons.
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![[Coat of arms of Iran]](http://retrieverimages.lycos.com/images/i/r/a/iran/i/035.gif)
A government directive, issued on July 18, 2007, banned executive organs from flying Iran's national flag half-mast as a gesture of respect and sympathy on mourning occasions. Vice-President Parviz Davoodi said in his directive that flying the flag for two-third of the way up the flagpole would be disrespect for the holy word, 'Allah' (God), which appears in central part of the three-colored national flag. The notice, a copy of which was made available to IRNA on Saturday, suggested the organs raise more than one flag -- the second one being black at half-mast point- for the purpose on the occasions.
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"New information from sources in Iran further confirms that the Revolutionary Guards Corps and its notorious Quds Force are the biggest threat inside Iraq," said Mr Jafarzadeh. "Unless Iran's influence is curbed, its agents arrested and brought to justice and its proxies exposed, a genuine national unity government cannot take shape in Iraq."
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U.S. passports are valid for travel to Iran. However, the Iranian government does not recognize dual nationality and will treat U.S.-Iranian dual nationals as Iranian citizens. Thus, U.S. citizens who were born in Iran, who became naturalized citizens of Iran (e.g. through marriage to an Iranian citizen), and children of such persons—even those without Iranian passports who do not consider themselves Iranian-are considered Iranian nationals by Iranian authorities. Therefore, despite the fact that these individuals hold U.S. citizenship, under Iranian law, they must enter and exit Iran on an Iranian passport, unless the Iranian government has recognized a formal renunciation or loss of Iranian citizenship. Dual nationals may be subject to harsher legal treatment than a visitor with only American citizenship.
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Excerpt: Two weeks ago, the Bush administration organized an intelligence briefing for journalists in Iraq to demonstrate that Iran was providing weapons to Iraqi insurgents. a fact that meant direction for the operation was “coming from the highest levels of the Iranian government.”...
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