Free Republic

Iran’s Supreme Leader will officially endorse President Ahmadinejad’s re-election on Monday as the regime faces a fresh barrage of protests — this time over the “show trial” of more than 100 opposition figures detained in the crackdown that followed the hotly disputed ballot. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will approve Mr Ahmadinejad’s second term during a televised ceremony in Tehran attended by other regime leaders, and on Wednesday the President will take the oath of office before Iran’s parliament. Seven weeks after the election, however, the regime is still battling to crush the resistance of millions of Iranians who believe that the...

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the senior dissident cleric in Iran's religious establishment, has issued his harshest condemnation of the Islamic Republic's leadership since the disputed June 12 election. Mondtazeri (at left) never names Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei directly in his remarks, but he has long been an outspoken opponent of both Khamenei and the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Montazeri says "those who have lost, religiously and reasonably, the credibility for serving the public, are automatically dismissed, and the continuation of their work has no legitimacy." The Grand Ayatollah also says Iranians have a religious right and duty to...

As we watch the horrors in Iran, it makes us wonder if anything like that could happen in America. In Iran, the mullahs control everything and feel justified in any injustice they commit because of a belief in the rightness of their own actions. Is there anyone like that here? In an answer to that question, Frank Schaeffer wrote a column for the Huffington Post entitled “The Real Lesson of Iran — Beware America’s Republican Mullahs.” Reading it and the comments to it, I came to a realization: people who think the religious right are just like Iranian mullahs are...

Dearest Ali: I hope you don't mind me taking the liberty to address you by your first name. I just thought it would be a good idea for us to get off on the right foot - as good friends instead of just Supreme Leaders of our respective countries. First, I want to apologize for the shabby treatment you and your people have received from my predecessors, our intelligence agencies, our military, and our media. I respect the fact that you have an ancient and proud culture and strong faith in God who guides you in your moral judgment and...

Many Arab governments, including the Palestinian Authority, are quietly hoping that the latest crisis in Iran will mark the beginning of the end of the radical regime of the ayatollahs and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Frustrated with Teheran's long-standing policy of meddling in their internal affairs, representatives of the relatively moderate, pro-Western governments in Ramallah, Cairo, Beirut, Riyadh and other Arab capitals are hoping that regime change in Iran would undermine radical Islamic groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizbullah. These proxy groups, together with Syria - Iran's strategic ally and facilitator in the Arab world - have long been...

When I was speaker, they called me the Ayatollah of the Assembly. Well, I have some pointers for my counterpart in Iran.One, never call an election until at least 90 percent of the vote is counted. At the very least, you should wait until people stop voting before declaring someone the winner.Two, when you do issue the final count, try your best not to report more ballots cast than voters. The first results I saw out of Iran had over 100 percent of the folks voting.And three, if you're going to try something funny, at least make it close so...

Anger after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected led to the biggest street demonstrations in the Islamic Republic's history. "Today the Iranian nation needs calm," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in his first address to the nation since the upheaval began. But the Ayatollah offered no concession to opposition supporters who are demanding the elections be cancelled and held again, sternly warning against further protests. He blamed Great Britain and Iran's external enemies for the unrest, vigorously defending the ruling system. "The enemies (of Iran) are targeting the Islamic establishment's legitimacy by questioning the election and its authenticity before and after (the...

Its D-Day in Tehran. Friday the Muslim day of prayer is the day that everything will come to a head. According to reports the Grand Ayatollah has threatened Mousavi either stand beside him in a show of unity as he leads Friday's Prayers or be "cast out." To emphasize his point an the Ayatollah is busing an army of Basiji — Islamic volunteer militiamen. The demand was made at a meeting this week with representatives of all three candidates who claim that the poll was rigged, and it puts Mr Mousavi on the spot. He has become the figurehead of...

Khamenei tells Mousavi to toe the line over election or be cast out Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi (centre right) addresses supporters in Tehran Ella Flaye in Tehran, Catherine Philp and Martin Fletcher The moderate Iranian leader who says that he was robbed of victory in last week’s presidential election faces a fateful choice today: support the regime or be cast out. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, has told Mir Hossein Mousavi to stand beside him as he uses Friday prayers at Tehran University to call for national unity. An army of Basiji — Islamic volunteer militiamen —...

For many years, Iran has defined itself in part by its opposition to my country, and there is in fact a tumultuous history between us. In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government. “ Of all the opprobrious anti- American twaddle spewed by Barack Obama in his much exalted Cairo speech, this statement may be one of the most malignant. Obama essentially apologized for what was a colossal CIA success: the removal of Mohammad Mossadegh from power in Iran.

Baghdad, 5 May (AKI) - Radical Iraqi Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, is reported to have assumed the title of Grand Ayatollah after concluding his studies in the holy city of Qom in Iran. Sources close to the cleric's faction released the news to the Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat. Around 70 supporters of al-Sadr on Sunday concluded a conference in the Turkish city of Istanbul where they elected new leaders and mapped out their future. Al-Sadr, who leads the Mahdi Army militia, also met both Recep Tayyip Erodgan, the Turkish prime minister, and president Abdullah Gul in Ankara on Friday during...

Iran has shown world powers they cannot block its nuclear progress, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday, but he made no mention of a new message by U.S. President Barack Obama to his country. In a separate recorded speech to mark the Iranian New Year, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said global powers had reached a "dead end". But he too made no mention of Obama's videotaped offer of a "new beginning" of diplomatic engagement.

The country's media has reportedly condemned the film in part because of a fight sequence in which Rourke's character, Randy 'the Ram' Robinson, battles an opponent dubbed the Ayatollah. During the fight, the Ayatollah, played by actor and former professional wrestler Ernest "the Cat" Miller, waves an Iranian flag before ramming the pole under his opponent's neck. Rourke's character then grabs the flag and snaps the pole over his knee before tossing it into the crowd. Newspapers and websites in Iran say the Darren Aronofsky-directed film is just the latest manifestation of Western prejudice towards Iran in Hollywood films. Last...

Iran's jailed Ayatollah Sayyid Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi has written a letter to Pope Benedict XVI and other religious leaders asking them to help secure his release. The ayatollah asked the pontiff to "...defend the divine credibility and spiritual sacredness" by asking the Iranian authorities to respect human rights. The letter was reportedly smuggled out of jail and distributed by the ayatollah's representative in Europe. It was also addressed to Israel's chief rabbi, the grand mufti of al-Azhar and the Saudi ulema of Dar al-Fatwa. Addressing the Muslim leaders, Kazemeini says that "Political Islam is erasing the word of God and...

OBAMA'S MONEY CZAR OWNS HOTEL HOSTING AHMADINEJAD Penny Pritzker, national finance chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, is the owner of the Hyatt, the hotel hosting the genocidal Hitler wannabee, Ahmadinejad. This is the latest in an assault on Israel and Jewish Americans. Obama and co. strong armed and bullied the craven organizers of the Anti-Ahmadinejad rally to disinvite Pro-Israel supporter Sarah Palin. Clearly Obama's chief fundraiser could refuse to host the Ahmadinejad at her hotel. Instead, she has rolled out the red carpet. It was bad enough that Obama would not send someone to represent him at the anti-Ahmadinejad...

Iran's top leader said his country would not bend to international pressure and give up its nuclear program, according to state television. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all state matters, said Iran would continue its nuclear program despite Western efforts to thwart it with sanctions. "No threat can hinder the Iranian nation from its path," he said. The UN Security Council has already imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, an activity that has fueled suspicions Teheran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran claims its nuclear...

TEHRAN, Feb 17, 2008 (AFP) — An Iranian ayatollah died suddenly of a heart attack during an impassioned speech lashing out at insults against the family of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the run-up to elections, the press reported on Sunday. Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Tavassoli, a former head of Khomeini's office, died while delivering the speech to Iran's main arbitration body, the Expediency Council, of which he was a member, the Kargozaran daily reported. He had been responding to unprecedented ultra-conservative attacks against Hassan Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini's respected grandson, who had criticised mass disqualifications in the March election and...

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that God would punish Iranians if they did not support the country's disputed nuclear program, state radio reported. "The Iranian people openly announce that they will defend their rights... God will reprimand them if they do not do so," state radio quoted Khamenei as saying. The 68-year-old ayatollah, who has the final say on all state matters, said Washington's claim that Iran was trying to build a nuclear weapon was false. The Iranian government has long insisted its nuclear activities are only for peaceful generation of fuel. "They know that Iran is...

Tehran, 11 Jan. (AKI) - In the past year, the incidence of AIDS has doubled in the holy Shia city of Qom, second only to the Iraqi city of Najaf in religious significance. "The great share of the newly infected have contracted the HIV virus, not through using infected syringes, but through unprotected sexual relations," said Amir, Akbari, director of the city's health centre. In the past year the number of those affected by AIDS in Qom has risen from 177 to 324. Forty per cent of those infected are students from the theological colleges in Qom. In Iran, according...

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) was set up shortly after the 1979 Iranian revolution to defend the country's Islamic system, and to provide a counterweight to the regular armed forces. It has since become a major military, political and economic force in Iran, with close ties to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a former member.