Free Republic

'Arab Spring' Part of Iranian Plot to Dominate By Reza Kahlili For the first time, an official entity of Iran's Islamic government has detailed the horrific goal of the regime: destroy America and Israel as part of the Muslim "awakening" sweeping Africa and the Middle East. That "awakening," which the West has labeled the "Arab Spring," is all part of Iran's messianic complex in which it sees itself as the spearhead of a worldwide revolution in which the Shiite version of Islam will dominate humanity.

For a second time in a week, Iran's opposition drew tens of thousands of supporters to the streets across the nation on Sunday calling for the end to the Islamic Republic's rule. In response, the government unleashed what witnesses said was an extraordinary number of security forces to violently battle the crowds. Witnesses said mobs of anti-riot police and plainclothes Basij militia lined the streets and on several occasions fired directly into the crowd and beat protesters with steel batons. In one neighborhood, the Basij took over a commercial building and dropped tear gas canisters from the roof onto the...

BBC Persian is reporting that opposition figure Mehdi Karroubi has made a pointed intervention with a letter to former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, in Rafsanjani's capacity as the head of the Assembly of Experts. Karroubi's letter, sent to Rafsanjani just before this week's bi-annual Assembly meeting, called on the Assembly to exercise its powers to "monitor the functions and institutions under the auspices of Iran's Supreme Leader". Karroubi cited problems such as "a lack of independence of the judiciary and courts", the interference of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and Basij militia in political issues, and the IRGC's expanded involvement in...

According to HRANA, Elnaz Babazadeh, a 26 year old woman was raped and murdered by Basij forces in the city of Tabriz (northwestern Iran) last week. According to HRANA, Basij forces stopped Babazadeh in her car for not following the Iranian regime’s dress code. Elnaz resisted the forces and ignored the orders of the Basij forces. Then the Basij forces who who initially stopped her jumped into her car and threatened her with a gun. Two other Basij members joined in and beat and raped her. They murdered Babazadeh and dumped her body close to Emamiyeh cemetery.

Italy said dozens of members of Iran's hardline religious Basij militia had tried to attack its embassy in Tehran on Tuesday, but Iranian media described the incident as a student protest and did not mention any violence. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a Senate hearing: "About a hundred Basij dressed as civilians tried to assault the embassy shouting 'Death to Italy' and 'Death to (Prime Minister) Berlusconi'."

Dozens of members of Iran's religious Basij militia tried to attack Italy's embassy in Tehran on Tuesday, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said. “About a hundred Basij dressed as civilians tried to assault the embassy shouting “Death to Italy” and “Death to Berlusconi,” Mr. Frattini said referring to Italy's prime minister.

Opposition Jaras website claims security forces attacked a building housing Isna, Iranian news agency, as demonstrators sought shelter IRAN was braced for more violent clashes today as opposition demonstrators planned further mass rallies, which are expected to lead to fresh confrontations between protesters and security forces. Tension was running high at rallies yesterday in which soldiers of the elite Revolutionary Guard and the paramilitary Basiji used tear gas and pepper spray and fired warning shots into the air to disperse demonstrators chanting anti-government slogans in three areas of central Tehran. They also smashed the windows of cars that were hooting...

Iranian security forces violently suppressed opposition supporters in the city of Isfahan yesterday as tensions increased before nationwide demonstrations planned for this weekend. Two days after massive demonstrations in the holy city of Qom, clashes erupted in Isfahan, Iran’s third city, as thousands of mourners gathered for a memorial service for Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the opposition’s spiritual leader, who died at the weekend. Opposition websites said riot police and Basij militiamen surrounded the Seyed mosque from early in the morning, and then attacked the mourners with batons, teargas and pepper gas. Many were injured and dozens were arrested,...

Day 2: Clashes at Tehran universities 2 Tehran universities attacked AUT News | Dec. 8, 2009 Revolutionary Guard and Basij militia forces attacked campuses at Tehran University and Shahid Beheshti University in the Iranian capital on Tuesday morning. Amir Kabir University of Technology (AUT) news service reported that the gates of Tehran University were opened by campus guards to allow the militia forces to pour onto campus. Today's events after pro-opposition students announced Monday that they would gather Tuesday morning to protest the violent treatment they had received at the hands of plainclothes forces during Student's Day protests at Tehran...

An underground Iranian activist has told Israel National News that the country's highest official -- Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei -- was spirited to a "secret place" for his own safety and that the nation's religious leaders are "scared." The source - an activist in the global Iranian pro-democracy movement who is involved in assisting a group of some 30,000 students located in Tehran and several other major cities - said Khamenei has disappeared. It is the Supreme Leader who controls Iran's foreign policy, and specifically its decisions regarding its nuclear development activities.

While several official news agencies announced two weeks ago that the Basij force will be merged into the ground force of the Islamic Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), yesterday the Armed Forces Joint Chief of Staff confirmed the plan and announced the creation of the “IRGC Ground Resistance” force. Hassan Firouzabadi said, “after two years of study we concluded to change the IRGC’s structure, for the Basij to work in areas such as software work and the propagation of the Basiji culture in society, and to delegate the tasks, duties and mobilization of Basij units to a new called the...

By FARNAZ FASSIHI TEHRAN -- When the protests broke out here last month, Mehdi Moradani answered the call to crush them. When the Unrest Flared, the Ayatollah's Enforcers Took to the Streets of Tehran With Batons and Zeal On the first day of the unrest, the 24-year-old volunteer member of Iran's paramilitary Basij force mounted his motorcycle and chased reformist protesters through the streets, shouting out the names of Shiite saints as he revved his engine. On the fourth day, he picked up a thick wooden stick issued by his Basij neighborhood task force and beat demonstrators who refused to...

TEHERAN - IRAN appears to be intensifying its crackdown on opposition protesters ahead of today's official verdict on the disputed election result, with militiamen reportedly seizing injured demonstrators from hospitals.Ms Banafsheh Akhlaghi, western regional director of the human rights group, said it had collected accounts from people who have left Iran and expatriates with relatives there who say the government's paramilitary wing has been stopping hospital staff from taking identification information from wounded demonstrators who check in. And she said that once the patients have been treated, the Basij remove them to an undisclosed location. One woman, who has since...

This is an outstanding video interview of the man who tried to save Neda. It's about 19 minutes long but take the time to watch it.....one of the more shocking things to come out of it was that the crowd caught the gunman, and after taking his ID and picture let him go: [video at site] Meanwhile Threatswatch posted on the massacre in Baharestan Square yesterday by the Basij thugs, as told by a Iranian blogger: Bus loads of protesters were stopped and unloaded from their buses by "black-clad police" and literally herded. When the massing was sufficient, as the...

Neda Agha-Soltan was a bystander in the dramatic conflict gripping her country. Today, following her slow death from a bullet in the chest, she is the icon of Iranian reaction to the violent suppression by an entrenched theocracy. Her name means “voice” or “message,” and she has become a dynamic symbol for Iranians seeking openness in government. She has also altered international reaction, even moving the White House off its mark. The video of her last frightful two minutes was seen around the world within moments of her passing. The ubiquity of the Internet disseminating the powerful images of Neda’s...

The demonstrations continue on in Iran but the crowds are getting smaller as the Basij thugs are becoming more and more brutal: Security forces wielding clubs and firing weapons beat back demonstrators who flocked to a Tehran square Wednesday to continue protests, two witnesses said. One witness said security forces beat people like "animals." ~~~ At least two sources described wild and violent conditions at a part of Tehran where protesters had planned to demonstrate. "They were waiting for us," the source said. "They all have guns and riot uniforms. It was like a mouse trap. "I see many people...

embassys provided protection b4 but now they are all surrounded by militia - also if u are injured then they arrest uyesterday we saw a 10 years old child die from teargas in his face - could not film becos militia everywhereMousavi - We will not expend any more energy talking to the Gov in the streets - we must change course #Iranelection breaking news RT RT RT Mousavi - From Today every morning at 9am WE ALL travel to Tehran Bazaar - whatever reaction from Gov - Bazaar will close Mousavi - stop all work and travel with friends...

The government of Iran is turning up the heat on the British government, with a 'protest' led by Basij militia being planned for Tuesday afternoon at the British embassy in Tehran.A 'student leader' has been quoted by name threatening a repeat of the 1979 takeover and hostage-taking at the American embassy that lasted 444 days.The British government has started to evacuate family members of its diplomatic staff and the Iranian foreign minister has hinted at expelling the British ambassador.From WashingtonTV (translated from Persian):the news network of the Islamic Republic’s Voice and Vision Organization [state-owned radio and television] reports that some...

You gotta love it. A liberal is a bit upset that us conservatives would have the gonads to cheer on protesters who attack the men of Basij. You know, the men who shot a innocent young girl in the heart for kicks. Right wing blogs cheer violence by Iran protestersWeasel Zippers calls it the "feel good video of the day." Gateway Pundit raves that it's the "best Iran protest video ever." Which video is he talking about? The one Fox ran where the protesters beat the living crap out of some Basij: The libs response? Personally speaking, I'm appalled that...

Iran's Basij force: the shock troops terrorising protesters Protesters marching the streets of Tehran feared one thing more than any other: a sudden attack by the plain-clothed toughs of the Islamic Basij militia. By Angus McDowall 21 Jun 2009 Armed with sticks, motorbike chains, knives and axes, the more extreme members have long been used as shock troops by the regime to cow demonstrators with brutal displays of violence. Mounted on motorbikes, the militia's standard strategy is to charge the crowd, one man driving and another riding pillion using a truncheon to lash out at stragglers. They have also been...