First with tough criticism of Iran from global powers

Reuters was alone on June 26 in getting hold of the draft of a strongly worded G8 statement deploring post-election violence in Iran. It confounded expectations that the G8 would be unable to agree on tough wording because of Russian reluctance to criticise Iran. Reuters broke the news from a meeting of G8 foreign ministers in Trieste, 10 hours before the release of the final communiqué. At the same meeting, Reuters secured a hard-hitting interview with U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, in which he declared U.S. drugs policy in Afghanistan a failure. A United Nations’ top drugs official later told us Iran remained committed to fighting the Afghan drugs trade despite disagreements with the West in many other policy areas.