Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
24 Baffling Hours In Turkey
The Gatestone Institute has an interesting little article about a terrorist attack in Turkey. Well worth a look, especially as Turkey is increasingly becoming the most important player in the Middle East and may yet complicate our relationship with Israel.
The New War Against America
The Claremont Institute has a fine post about our changing world and our place in it, outlining strategic imperatives. In a nutshell it deals with a new axis intent upon diminishing our place in the world. Well worth a read.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Iran agents entering US, says Pentagon academic
From: Arabian Business.com
A US Muslim civil liberties organisation has called on the Pentagon to sack a lecturer at one of their academies who claimed Iranian agents were entering the US and were coordinating operations out of American-based mosques.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on the US Department of Defence to drop a lecturer named Reza Kahlili, a former CIA operative in Iran who teaches at the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy in Maryland.
Reza Kahili, who delivers his lectures by audio only, uses a pseudonym to protect his identity.
Described by The Los Angeles Times newspaper as “one of the most influential and outspoken voices in the US advocating the overthrow of the Iranian government,” Kahili has allegedly claimed Iranian agents had entered the US through the Muslim Students Association, a religious organisation dedicated to establishing and maintaining Islamic societies on college campuses in Canada and the United States.
He further claimed that Iranian agents were "coordinating operations out of [American] mosques and Islamic centers."
"This is yet another unfortunate example of our nation's military and counterterrorism personnel being trained by individuals who weaken America's security by promoting their own religious and political agendas," CAIR national Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a letter sent to US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
Last month, the US military announced it would stop using a target depicting a Muslim woman wearing a religious head scarf and verses from the Quran at a training facility for Navy SEALs.
CAIR also recently called on the Department of Defence to dismiss an instructor at the Joint Forces Staff College in Virginia, who taught fellow officers that only a "total war" on Islam would protect America. He also allegedly told officers they should use "Hiroshima" tactics, target civilian populations, and abandon the Geneva Conventions. The instructor of that course was later relieved of his teaching duties.
A US Muslim civil liberties organisation has called on the Pentagon to sack a lecturer at one of their academies who claimed Iranian agents were entering the US and were coordinating operations out of American-based mosques.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on the US Department of Defence to drop a lecturer named Reza Kahlili, a former CIA operative in Iran who teaches at the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy in Maryland.
Reza Kahili, who delivers his lectures by audio only, uses a pseudonym to protect his identity.
Described by The Los Angeles Times newspaper as “one of the most influential and outspoken voices in the US advocating the overthrow of the Iranian government,” Kahili has allegedly claimed Iranian agents had entered the US through the Muslim Students Association, a religious organisation dedicated to establishing and maintaining Islamic societies on college campuses in Canada and the United States.
He further claimed that Iranian agents were "coordinating operations out of [American] mosques and Islamic centers."
"This is yet another unfortunate example of our nation's military and counterterrorism personnel being trained by individuals who weaken America's security by promoting their own religious and political agendas," CAIR national Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a letter sent to US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
Last month, the US military announced it would stop using a target depicting a Muslim woman wearing a religious head scarf and verses from the Quran at a training facility for Navy SEALs.
CAIR also recently called on the Department of Defence to dismiss an instructor at the Joint Forces Staff College in Virginia, who taught fellow officers that only a "total war" on Islam would protect America. He also allegedly told officers they should use "Hiroshima" tactics, target civilian populations, and abandon the Geneva Conventions. The instructor of that course was later relieved of his teaching duties.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Iran steps up crackdown on Christians
From: Jerusalem Post
Iran’s stepped up its crackdown on the country struggling Christian community by closing a church in Tehran, prompting an Iranian human rights group and religious freedom experts to slam the regime.
“The ability to join a church or mosque or temple is one of the most fundamental religious freedoms,” Hadi Ghaemi, a spokesman for the group International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said last week.
“This drive to close churches is an assault on free religious practice, in violation of Iran’s international commitments, and a sign of growing religious intolerance within the Iranian government.”
According to the human rights group, Iranian Christians are in a dire situation because the regime assigned the Revolutionary Guard Corps to handle the “oversight of Christian churches in Iran, which were previously overseen by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.”
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran noted, “At the end of May 2012, Iranian authorities forced the Assembly of God Church in the western Tehran neighborhood of Jannat Abad to close its doors and discontinue services, a local source with knowledge of the Iranian Protestant community told the campaign.”
A source told quoted the Iran’s authorities as saying, “You must close the church, and if you don’t do this and we have to formally close the church, then there is no hope of you even keeping the building afterwards to sell,” .
In an email to The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law & Justice, wrote, “Iran’s latest assault on the religious freedom of Christians is disturbing, yet not surprising. Iran has consistently shown that it has no respect for international human rights and religious freedom. In fact, Iran is one of the world’s worst offenders.
Those who embrace Christianity do so at great risk and are frequently targeted for persecution – including death because of their religious beliefs.”
The American Center for Law & Justice is a US-based organization that defends religious freedom in the United States and abroad.
Dr. Richard Landes, an associate professor of history and director and cofounder of the Center of Millennial Studies at Boston University, told the Post via email, “On one level, the closure reveals the insecurity of the Muslims who carry it out, re-emphasizing (if that were necessary) the profound lack of confidence that Islamists in power have in a free market of ideas. And of course, this affects not only the specific church, but any kind of dissident, infidel or Muslim. This is classic pre-modern political behavior.”
Landes , who has delivered talks about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, added, “In a larger sense, this raises the issue of reciprocity.
At a time when Muslim spokesmen and women make strong demands to be treated by the highest standards of ‘human rights’ in the West, neither these Muslim spokespeople, nor those who trust them in the West, demand any kind of reciprocal restraint from Muslims in Islamic countries: ‘Who are we to judge?’” “This failure might seem to the human rights activists who look the other way as a sign of generosity towards a morally challenged part of the world from whom we cannot expect anything like reciprocity, but it seems to ‘them’ as a sign of our moral cowardice, that we proleptically accept the dhimma [the inferior status of non- Muslims in a Muslim state],” he continued.
Nasrin Amirsedghi, a leading German-Iranian intellectual who has written extensively about human rights violations in the Islamic Republic, told the Post that “the systematic and state-sponsored persecution of Christians in Iran, particularly in the recent period, is a sign of an increasingly weakened regime leadership.
Wherever there is a fear of losing legitimacy, the regime employs violence and repression.”
She noted that Iran’s parliament voted 196 to 7 for the death penalty in 2008 to be imposed on apostates, such as those who convert from Islam to Christianity.
Sekulow, from the Center for Law & Justice, said, “Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is a perfect example of the persecution of Christians by Iran and its leadership. Pastor Youcef is fast approaching 1,000 days in captivity inside Iran – and a death sentence – because of his Christian beliefs. In our work in the United States and abroad to call attention to the plight of Pastor Youcef, we have seen a tremendous outcry from around the globe – support for Pastor Youcef and condemnation of Iran. Our global Tweet for Youcef campaign reaches nearly 2.5 million Twitter accounts daily in more than 200 countries around the world.”
Asked what the West can do regarding human rights violations in Iran, Sekulow said, “There are several areas of involvement where the West can make a difference. We have a duty to report on and work for the release of those persecuted, imprisoned and even facing death by execution because of their religious beliefs.
As a free people, it is our job to take every bit of information we can obtain and utilize it in a way that can best assist those who too often are forgotten.”
He continued, “It is important that these crimes be publicized – that a media spotlight expose these tragic events – to let Iran know that the world is watching.”
Iran’s stepped up its crackdown on the country struggling Christian community by closing a church in Tehran, prompting an Iranian human rights group and religious freedom experts to slam the regime.
“The ability to join a church or mosque or temple is one of the most fundamental religious freedoms,” Hadi Ghaemi, a spokesman for the group International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said last week.
“This drive to close churches is an assault on free religious practice, in violation of Iran’s international commitments, and a sign of growing religious intolerance within the Iranian government.”
According to the human rights group, Iranian Christians are in a dire situation because the regime assigned the Revolutionary Guard Corps to handle the “oversight of Christian churches in Iran, which were previously overseen by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.”
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran noted, “At the end of May 2012, Iranian authorities forced the Assembly of God Church in the western Tehran neighborhood of Jannat Abad to close its doors and discontinue services, a local source with knowledge of the Iranian Protestant community told the campaign.”
A source told quoted the Iran’s authorities as saying, “You must close the church, and if you don’t do this and we have to formally close the church, then there is no hope of you even keeping the building afterwards to sell,” .
In an email to The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law & Justice, wrote, “Iran’s latest assault on the religious freedom of Christians is disturbing, yet not surprising. Iran has consistently shown that it has no respect for international human rights and religious freedom. In fact, Iran is one of the world’s worst offenders.
Those who embrace Christianity do so at great risk and are frequently targeted for persecution – including death because of their religious beliefs.”
The American Center for Law & Justice is a US-based organization that defends religious freedom in the United States and abroad.
Dr. Richard Landes, an associate professor of history and director and cofounder of the Center of Millennial Studies at Boston University, told the Post via email, “On one level, the closure reveals the insecurity of the Muslims who carry it out, re-emphasizing (if that were necessary) the profound lack of confidence that Islamists in power have in a free market of ideas. And of course, this affects not only the specific church, but any kind of dissident, infidel or Muslim. This is classic pre-modern political behavior.”
Landes , who has delivered talks about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, added, “In a larger sense, this raises the issue of reciprocity.
At a time when Muslim spokesmen and women make strong demands to be treated by the highest standards of ‘human rights’ in the West, neither these Muslim spokespeople, nor those who trust them in the West, demand any kind of reciprocal restraint from Muslims in Islamic countries: ‘Who are we to judge?’” “This failure might seem to the human rights activists who look the other way as a sign of generosity towards a morally challenged part of the world from whom we cannot expect anything like reciprocity, but it seems to ‘them’ as a sign of our moral cowardice, that we proleptically accept the dhimma [the inferior status of non- Muslims in a Muslim state],” he continued.
Nasrin Amirsedghi, a leading German-Iranian intellectual who has written extensively about human rights violations in the Islamic Republic, told the Post that “the systematic and state-sponsored persecution of Christians in Iran, particularly in the recent period, is a sign of an increasingly weakened regime leadership.
Wherever there is a fear of losing legitimacy, the regime employs violence and repression.”
She noted that Iran’s parliament voted 196 to 7 for the death penalty in 2008 to be imposed on apostates, such as those who convert from Islam to Christianity.
Sekulow, from the Center for Law & Justice, said, “Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is a perfect example of the persecution of Christians by Iran and its leadership. Pastor Youcef is fast approaching 1,000 days in captivity inside Iran – and a death sentence – because of his Christian beliefs. In our work in the United States and abroad to call attention to the plight of Pastor Youcef, we have seen a tremendous outcry from around the globe – support for Pastor Youcef and condemnation of Iran. Our global Tweet for Youcef campaign reaches nearly 2.5 million Twitter accounts daily in more than 200 countries around the world.”
Asked what the West can do regarding human rights violations in Iran, Sekulow said, “There are several areas of involvement where the West can make a difference. We have a duty to report on and work for the release of those persecuted, imprisoned and even facing death by execution because of their religious beliefs.
As a free people, it is our job to take every bit of information we can obtain and utilize it in a way that can best assist those who too often are forgotten.”
He continued, “It is important that these crimes be publicized – that a media spotlight expose these tragic events – to let Iran know that the world is watching.”
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Ron Paul: Sanctions against Iran are 'acts of war'
From: Los Angeles Times
Defending himself against charges of isolationism, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul told voters in Iowa on Thursday that western sanctions against Iran are "acts of war" that are likely to lead to an actual war in the Middle East.
Paul, one of the leading contenders to win next week's Iowa caucuses, said Iran would be justified in responding to the sanctions by blocking the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. He compared the western sanctions to a hypothetical move by China to block the Gulf of Mexico, which Americans would consider an act of war.
He also said he would not respond militarily to keep the strait open—because he would not consider it an act of war against the U.S. But if he were president, he would report to Congress on the issue, leaving it up to lawmakers to declare war if they wanted.
"I think we're looking for trouble because we put these horrendous sanctions on Iran," Paul told a midday audience at the Hotel Pattee in Perry, Iowa. He said the Iranians are "planning to be bombed" and understandably would like to have a nuclear weapon, even though there is "no evidence whatsoever" that they have "enriched" uranium.
Apparently alluding to Israel and its nuclear-weapons arsenal, Paul said that "if I were an Iranian, I'd like to have a nuclear weapon, too, because you gain respect from them."
To approving applause from a crowd of about 125, the Texas congressman said that "we always seem to have to have a country to bash," linking the current saber-rattling against Iran to previous hawkish rhetoric that led to conflicts in Iraq, Libya and elsewhere.
"If you want to quiet things down," he said, referring to Iran, "don't put sanctions on them" because it's "just going to cause more trouble."
He said an Iranian blockade would be the most likely response to tighter sanctions because Iran has "no weapons of mass destruction" and shutting down the strait is "the most" it could do.
"I think the solution" to current tensions with Iran "is to do a lot less a lot sooner and mind our own business and then we would not have this threat of another war," he said to applause.
Defending himself against charges of isolationism, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul told voters in Iowa on Thursday that western sanctions against Iran are "acts of war" that are likely to lead to an actual war in the Middle East.
Paul, one of the leading contenders to win next week's Iowa caucuses, said Iran would be justified in responding to the sanctions by blocking the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. He compared the western sanctions to a hypothetical move by China to block the Gulf of Mexico, which Americans would consider an act of war.
He also said he would not respond militarily to keep the strait open—because he would not consider it an act of war against the U.S. But if he were president, he would report to Congress on the issue, leaving it up to lawmakers to declare war if they wanted.
"I think we're looking for trouble because we put these horrendous sanctions on Iran," Paul told a midday audience at the Hotel Pattee in Perry, Iowa. He said the Iranians are "planning to be bombed" and understandably would like to have a nuclear weapon, even though there is "no evidence whatsoever" that they have "enriched" uranium.
Apparently alluding to Israel and its nuclear-weapons arsenal, Paul said that "if I were an Iranian, I'd like to have a nuclear weapon, too, because you gain respect from them."
To approving applause from a crowd of about 125, the Texas congressman said that "we always seem to have to have a country to bash," linking the current saber-rattling against Iran to previous hawkish rhetoric that led to conflicts in Iraq, Libya and elsewhere.
"If you want to quiet things down," he said, referring to Iran, "don't put sanctions on them" because it's "just going to cause more trouble."
He said an Iranian blockade would be the most likely response to tighter sanctions because Iran has "no weapons of mass destruction" and shutting down the strait is "the most" it could do.
"I think the solution" to current tensions with Iran "is to do a lot less a lot sooner and mind our own business and then we would not have this threat of another war," he said to applause.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Ron Paul: A ‘blame America first’ Republican
Rich Lowry said it before I could, but then people have heard of him.
From: NYPOST.com
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is in a bid to make history in Iowa. Can he become the first marginal, conspiracy-minded congressman with an embarrassing catalog of racist material published under his name to win the caucuses?
In 2008, the surest way to get applause in the Republican primary debates was to excoriate Ron Paul. This year, the Texas libertarian stands much closer to the emotional center of gravity of the party in his condemnations of government spending, crony capitalism, the Federal Reserve and foreign intervention. He brings 100-proof moonshine to the GOP cocktail party. It can be invigorating and fun, if you ignore the nasty adulterants.
It may be the ultimate commentary on the weakness of this Republican field that it hasn’t even been able to produce a respectable out-there libertarian.
Paul can be a winsome figure in his irritable, absent-minded-professor way. Invariably wearing a suit jacket that looks a size or two too big, he has stood out in the debates for his knowledge and for his entirely consistent worldview applied to any problem, politics be damned.
He gives listeners reason to smile or nod a couple of times every debate, and reason to wonder if he has been reading too much Noam Chomsky.
He tends to bring any conversation back to the malignancy of US foreign policy. In the final debate in Iowa, he rambled on about how worries about the Iranian nuclear program are “war propaganda,” but if the Iranians get the bomb that they’re not developing, that’s entirely understandable, since we’re “promoting their desire to have it.”
Jeane Kirkpatrick famously condemned the “Blame America First” Democrats; would that she had lived long enough to condemn the “Blame America First” libertarians.
In the debate, Paul went on to warn against a push “to declare war on 1.2 billion Muslims,” as if a country that has resorted to force of arms to save Muslims from starvation (Somalia), from ethnic cleansing (Bosnia, Kosovo) and from brutal dictators (Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya) is bristling with an undifferentiated hostility toward all Muslims.
This isn’t an expression of an anti-interventionism so much as a smear. It goes beyond opposition to American foreign policy to a poisonous view of America itself.
Paul never knows when to stop. He lets his suspicion of centralized power slip into paranoia worthy of a second-rate Hollywood thriller about government malevolence. In January 2010, he declared: “There’s been a coup, have you heard? It’s the CIA coup. The CIA runs everything, they run the military.”
On his latest appearance on the radio show of the conspiracy-mongering host Alex Jones, he opined that the alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador on US soil was “another propaganda stunt.” He exclaimed that the latest defense bill authorizing the indefinite detention of enemy combatants will “literally legalize martial law” (yes, “literally”).
Paul’s promiscuousness with his ideological bedfellows — he hails members of the John Birch Society for their fine educations and respect for the Constitution — accounts for the disgrace he brought on himself with his newsletters in the 1980s and 1990s. As journalist James Kirchick exposed, they were full of race-baiting and rancid Israel-bashing.
Paul maintains he didn’t know what was being written in the first person under his name. To this day, he says he doesn’t know who wrote the copy. Has he asked?
During some dozen Republican debates, not one journalist thought to query Paul about the newsletters that would be disqualifying for anyone else.
Iowa caucus-goers are protective of their pre-eminent place in the nominating process. If they deliver victory to a history-making Ron Paul, no one should take them as seriously again.
From: NYPOST.com
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is in a bid to make history in Iowa. Can he become the first marginal, conspiracy-minded congressman with an embarrassing catalog of racist material published under his name to win the caucuses?
In 2008, the surest way to get applause in the Republican primary debates was to excoriate Ron Paul. This year, the Texas libertarian stands much closer to the emotional center of gravity of the party in his condemnations of government spending, crony capitalism, the Federal Reserve and foreign intervention. He brings 100-proof moonshine to the GOP cocktail party. It can be invigorating and fun, if you ignore the nasty adulterants.
The fight over Ron Paul isn’t a battle for the soul of the Republican Party so much as for its standards. Throughout his career, Paul hasn’t been able to distinguish between fringy cranks and aboveboard purists. He has taken a principled anti-government position and associated it with loons and bigots.
It may be the ultimate commentary on the weakness of this Republican field that it hasn’t even been able to produce a respectable out-there libertarian.
Paul can be a winsome figure in his irritable, absent-minded-professor way. Invariably wearing a suit jacket that looks a size or two too big, he has stood out in the debates for his knowledge and for his entirely consistent worldview applied to any problem, politics be damned.
He gives listeners reason to smile or nod a couple of times every debate, and reason to wonder if he has been reading too much Noam Chomsky.
He tends to bring any conversation back to the malignancy of US foreign policy. In the final debate in Iowa, he rambled on about how worries about the Iranian nuclear program are “war propaganda,” but if the Iranians get the bomb that they’re not developing, that’s entirely understandable, since we’re “promoting their desire to have it.”
Jeane Kirkpatrick famously condemned the “Blame America First” Democrats; would that she had lived long enough to condemn the “Blame America First” libertarians.
In the debate, Paul went on to warn against a push “to declare war on 1.2 billion Muslims,” as if a country that has resorted to force of arms to save Muslims from starvation (Somalia), from ethnic cleansing (Bosnia, Kosovo) and from brutal dictators (Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya) is bristling with an undifferentiated hostility toward all Muslims.
This isn’t an expression of an anti-interventionism so much as a smear. It goes beyond opposition to American foreign policy to a poisonous view of America itself.
Paul never knows when to stop. He lets his suspicion of centralized power slip into paranoia worthy of a second-rate Hollywood thriller about government malevolence. In January 2010, he declared: “There’s been a coup, have you heard? It’s the CIA coup. The CIA runs everything, they run the military.”
On his latest appearance on the radio show of the conspiracy-mongering host Alex Jones, he opined that the alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador on US soil was “another propaganda stunt.” He exclaimed that the latest defense bill authorizing the indefinite detention of enemy combatants will “literally legalize martial law” (yes, “literally”).
Paul’s promiscuousness with his ideological bedfellows — he hails members of the John Birch Society for their fine educations and respect for the Constitution — accounts for the disgrace he brought on himself with his newsletters in the 1980s and 1990s. As journalist James Kirchick exposed, they were full of race-baiting and rancid Israel-bashing.
Paul maintains he didn’t know what was being written in the first person under his name. To this day, he says he doesn’t know who wrote the copy. Has he asked?
During some dozen Republican debates, not one journalist thought to query Paul about the newsletters that would be disqualifying for anyone else.
Iowa caucus-goers are protective of their pre-eminent place in the nominating process. If they deliver victory to a history-making Ron Paul, no one should take them as seriously again.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Ron Paul Says Michele Bachmann "Hates" Muslims
FROM: BREITBART.com
Really? She hates them all because she recognizes the threat of a nuclear Iran? Bit of a leap, huh?
Really? She hates them all because she recognizes the threat of a nuclear Iran? Bit of a leap, huh?
Monday, November 28, 2011
Explosion rocks Iran city of Isfahan, home to key nuclear facility
From: Haaretz Daily Newspaper
An explosion rocked the western Iranian city of Isfahan on Monday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, adding that the blast was heard in several parts of the city.
According to reports, frightened residents called the fire department after the blast, forcing the city authorities to admit there had been an explosion.
Speaking with Fars news agency, Isfahan’s deputy mayor confirmed the reports and said the authorities are investigating the matter. However, after the incident was reported in Israel, the report was taken off the Fars website.
It seems that city authorities and the Iranian government were embarrassed by the reports of a blasts, releasing contradictory versions of the alleged events. One example is a statement given by the same deputy mayor to the Mehr news agency, saying he had no reports of an explosion.
Another confirmation came from the head of the city's judiciary, who said an explosion-like sound was heard.
Meanwhile, the Mehr news agency reported there has been a blast at a petrol station near the city. Another report pointed to a training accident.
The reported incident occurred about two weeks after Gen. Hasan Tehrani Moghaddam was killed together with 20 other Guard members Nov. 12 at a military site outside Bidganeh village, 40 kilometers southwest of Tehran.
The Revolutionary Guard said the accidental explosion occurred while military personnel were transporting munitions.
It should be noted that Iran operates a uranium conversion plant near Isfahan, one with an important function in the chain of Iran's nuclear program.
It first went into operation in 2004, taking uranium from mines and producing uranium fluoride gas, which then feeds the centrifuges that enrich the uranium.
Since 2004, thousands of kilograms of uranium flouride gas were stockpiled at Isfahan and subsequently sent to the enrichment plant in Natanz.
Earlier Monday, a top Israeli security official said that the recent explosion that rocked an Iranian missile base near Tehran could delay or stop further Iranian surface-to-surface missile development.
The official added, however that the Iranian nuclear program was continuing to gain ground, despite considerable international pressure and attempts to destabilize the Iranian regime.
An explosion rocked the western Iranian city of Isfahan on Monday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, adding that the blast was heard in several parts of the city.
According to reports, frightened residents called the fire department after the blast, forcing the city authorities to admit there had been an explosion.
 | Original report of blast in Iranian city of Isfahan as appeared on Fars website, Nov. 28, 2011. |
It seems that city authorities and the Iranian government were embarrassed by the reports of a blasts, releasing contradictory versions of the alleged events. One example is a statement given by the same deputy mayor to the Mehr news agency, saying he had no reports of an explosion.
Another confirmation came from the head of the city's judiciary, who said an explosion-like sound was heard.
Meanwhile, the Mehr news agency reported there has been a blast at a petrol station near the city. Another report pointed to a training accident.
The reported incident occurred about two weeks after Gen. Hasan Tehrani Moghaddam was killed together with 20 other Guard members Nov. 12 at a military site outside Bidganeh village, 40 kilometers southwest of Tehran.
The Revolutionary Guard said the accidental explosion occurred while military personnel were transporting munitions.
It should be noted that Iran operates a uranium conversion plant near Isfahan, one with an important function in the chain of Iran's nuclear program.
It first went into operation in 2004, taking uranium from mines and producing uranium fluoride gas, which then feeds the centrifuges that enrich the uranium.
Since 2004, thousands of kilograms of uranium flouride gas were stockpiled at Isfahan and subsequently sent to the enrichment plant in Natanz.
Earlier Monday, a top Israeli security official said that the recent explosion that rocked an Iranian missile base near Tehran could delay or stop further Iranian surface-to-surface missile development.
The official added, however that the Iranian nuclear program was continuing to gain ground, despite considerable international pressure and attempts to destabilize the Iranian regime.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Iran Arrests Christians As More Muslims Leave Islam
From: CBN
Hundreds of Christians in Iran have been arrested and imprisoned since the beginning of this year.
The crackdown has led to 285 believers in 35 cities being arrested in Iran in the past six months, according to Elam Ministries, an organization that serves Christians in that country.
Many of those Christians have spent weeks and even months in prison, often serving long stretches in solitary confinement. They also have endured interrogations and psychological abuse.
Iranian Pastor Hormoz Shariat is with International Antioch Ministries. He hosts a satellite television show that is broadcast into Iran.
"Most often the Revolutionary Guards arrest and don't even tell their family. They can't have a lawyer, not even a formal charge. Sometimes they get killed without even a formal charge," he explained.
When he became president in 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledged to halt the spread of Christianity in Iran and launched a crackdown at that time.
But David Yeghnazar, the U.S. director of Elam Ministries, says the government's efforts are now intensifying.
"In particular in this last year, this persecution has gained momentum and I really think that is because the church is growing with increasing momentum," he explained.
Yeghnazar and Shariat say the government, for the first time, has admitted that Iranians are leaving the Islamic faith and becoming Christians.
"They are writing about it in the newspapers. They are warning people. They have stated publicly that they will arrest people who are becoming Christians, that they will close down networks of house churches," Yeghnazar said.
"The government is intentionally going after the house churches. The supreme leader last October came and said the house churches in Iran are a threat to our national security," Shariat told CBN News.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Iran Placing Medium-Range Missiles in Venezuela
From: Hudson,New York
Iran is planning to place medium-range missiles on Venezuelan soil, based on western information sources[1], according to an article in the German daily, Die Welt, of November 25, 2010. According to the article, an agreement between the two countries was signed during the last visit o Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Tehran on October19, 2010. The previously undisclosed contract provides for the establishment of a jointly operated military base in Venezuela, and the joint development of ground-to-ground missiles.
At a moment when NATO members found an agreement, in the recent Lisbon summit (19-20 November 2010), to develop a Missile Defence capability to protect NATO's populations and territories in Europe against ballistic missile attacks from the East (namely, Iran), Iran's counter-move consists in establishing a strategic base in the South American continent - in the United States's soft underbelly.
According to Die Welt, Venezuela has agreed to allow Iran to establish a military base manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile officers. In addition, Iran has given permission for the missiles to be used in case of an "emergency". In return, the agreement states that Venezuela can use these facilities for "national needs" – radically increasing the threat to neighbors like Colombia. The German daily claims that according to the agreement, Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km), Scud-B (285-330 km) and Scud-C (300, 500 and 700 km) will be deployed in the proposed base. It says that Iran also pledged to help Venezuela in rocket technology expertise, including intensive training of officers
Iran is planning to place medium-range missiles on Venezuelan soil, based on western information sources[1], according to an article in the German daily, Die Welt, of November 25, 2010. According to the article, an agreement between the two countries was signed during the last visit o Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Tehran on October19, 2010. The previously undisclosed contract provides for the establishment of a jointly operated military base in Venezuela, and the joint development of ground-to-ground missiles.
At a moment when NATO members found an agreement, in the recent Lisbon summit (19-20 November 2010), to develop a Missile Defence capability to protect NATO's populations and territories in Europe against ballistic missile attacks from the East (namely, Iran), Iran's counter-move consists in establishing a strategic base in the South American continent - in the United States's soft underbelly.
According to Die Welt, Venezuela has agreed to allow Iran to establish a military base manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile officers. In addition, Iran has given permission for the missiles to be used in case of an "emergency". In return, the agreement states that Venezuela can use these facilities for "national needs" – radically increasing the threat to neighbors like Colombia. The German daily claims that according to the agreement, Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km), Scud-B (285-330 km) and Scud-C (300, 500 and 700 km) will be deployed in the proposed base. It says that Iran also pledged to help Venezuela in rocket technology expertise, including intensive training of officers
Friday, May 06, 2011
Breaking: Ahmadinejad to resign (?)
The question mark (?) in the title is mine. This clearly has not been confirmed, but worth posting.
From: National Foreign Policy
A few minutes ago on May 5, 2011, Arab TV announced that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini requested Iran's President Ahmadinejad to step down from his post. This has not been confirmed nor verified by Western media as yet, however, it has been reported that several of his close aides are already under arrest.
The UK Guardian reported today that many of Ahmadinejad's aides were accused of using 'supernatural powers', including invoking jinns (spirits) in an attempt to further the president's agenda against Khameini. This includes Irani Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei,
'Without the leader, the president has no legitimacy'
This statement came about midway through the article,
Another article which was linked to this news, when translated from Farsi, gives this revelation about metaphysical powers:
From: National Foreign Policy
A few minutes ago on May 5, 2011, Arab TV announced that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini requested Iran's President Ahmadinejad to step down from his post. This has not been confirmed nor verified by Western media as yet, however, it has been reported that several of his close aides are already under arrest.
The UK Guardian reported today that many of Ahmadinejad's aides were accused of using 'supernatural powers', including invoking jinns (spirits) in an attempt to further the president's agenda against Khameini. This includes Irani Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei,
The arrests come amid a growing rift between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei which has prompted several MPs to call for the president to be impeached. The Guardian 5/5/2011Checking for the latest on Iranian website Ayandeh-Negar, an article posted therein declared that relations between Ayatollah Khameini and his 'son' Mahmoud Ahamadinejad had become deviant.
'Without the leader, the president has no legitimacy'
This statement came about midway through the article,
Another article which was linked to this news, when translated from Farsi, gives this revelation about metaphysical powers:
Monday, April 18, 2011
Khamenei Rep: ‘Bahrain Primed To Spur Return of Twelfth Imam’
From: Pajamas Media
During a speech at Tehran University on April 13, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative to Iran’s universities, Hojatolislam Ali-Reza Panahian, stressed that the Muslims of Bahrain and elsewhere who are involved in the uprisings have been living under oppression and deserve to be recognized.
He added:
During a speech at Tehran University on April 13, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative to Iran’s universities, Hojatolislam Ali-Reza Panahian, stressed that the Muslims of Bahrain and elsewhere who are involved in the uprisings have been living under oppression and deserve to be recognized.
He added:
We are one and all duty-bound to incite and encourage the people of Bahrain and other countries of the region; they should resist and know that no drop of blood is fruitless.He continued with a quote from the Quran [47:4]:
And those who are killed in the cause of Allah — never will he waste their deeds.Further, he said:
One can say that this is the best opportunity to establish and prove Islam’s legitimacy to the world. And side by side with those oppressed people, it is also the best opportunity to begin setting the stage for the emergence of the Twelfth Imam, our Mahdi. The situation in Bahrain alone could be a catalyst for the United States to strike out on their own and cause the downfall of that straw empire.
Also, those European governments, and that of the Saudis, are much weaker than you imagine. Their houses are nothing more than spider houses. Who do you think stood up to Israel’s oppression? Only a few thousand young and pious Lebanese youths. You are all witness to those events. Until a few years ago, who would have imagined that the government of Israel could be defeated?
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
New Washington Group to Push for Iranian Human Rights
From: Commentary Magazine
With the recent events across the Muslim world, a serious task force on the Iranian threat couldn’t be more needed. The Iran Strategy Task Force, a new collaboration between Freedom House and the Progressive Policy Institute, says it will push the Obama administration to “rethink its Middle East strategy” and look “beyond sanctions.”
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