Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Here's today's Iran Reports, just part of our overall Winds of War briefing today.

IRAN REPORTS: Aug. 18/03

• A grim warning from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to President Bush that Iran is much closer to producing nuclear weapons than U.S. intelligence believes has triggered concern here that Israel is seriously considering a preemptive strike against Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor.

• Abdolkarim Soroush, one of Iran's best-known intellectuals, argues that science cannot progress under totalitarian regimes. His greatest "crime" is to suggest that this is a legitimate Islamic view (Hat Tip: reader M. Simon). Interesting - Rev. Donald Sensing came to a similar conclusion", whose ultimate depth & poetry of expression is J. Bronowski's unbelievably excellent "Science & Human Values."

• Several dead in violent protests in Central Iran.

• How to fight censorship of blogs etc.? Hoder suggests Peer-to-Peer Newsreaders. Hell of an idea, actually.

• Over at Free Thoughts, Babak suggests some traps to avoid in improving democracy.

• Khatami says reforms have stalled. what's Farsi for "Duhhhh!!!"?

• Meanwhile, women's rights is becoming a divisive political issue in Iran. Better late than never. Iraniangirl isn't happy with the lack of results, though.

• Saturday's Asharq Al-Awsat contained a story detailing how Ayman Al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, and Imad Mughniyah, a top Hizbullah leader, secretly left Iran only a few days ago, due to increased pressure from the Iranian government. Could be disinformation from the Iranians, but interesting nonetheless.

• Meanwhile, an Argentine judge on Wednesday ordered the arrest of eight Iranian officials implicated in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center that killed 85 people.