Free Republic

Top News Story Iranian opposition leaders furious: Former Iranian president Khatami invited to speak in Washington DC. The Washington Post reported that the Bush administration has agreed to issue a visa to former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to give a public address at the Washington National Cathedral next month. Iranian opposition leaders were shocked by the announcement and are asking people to write the White House and the organizers of the event asking them to cancel the invitation.Reuters reported that former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami applied on Tuesday for a U.S. visa to give a speech in Washington next...

Top News Story What is Iran planning for Tuesday, August 22nd? ABC News reported that many are concerned with Iran's promise to respond August 22nd to the UN's nuclear offer. August 22nd marks a holy day on the Islamic calendar that is the day of reckoning for Shiites. Islamic expert Robert Spencer said: "The only thing we can know is that the date was not chosen by accident." Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Counterterrorismblog saw a possible connection between North Korea's possible nuclear test and Iran's self imposed nuclear deadline of August 22nd.Yahoo News reported that Iran has turned away U.N. inspectors...

Top News Story Iran to offer a "multifaceted response" to the West, but will not stop enrichment. Fox News reported that Iran will offer a "multifaceted response" to a Western package of incentives aimed at persuading it to suspend uranium enrichment activities, but insisted it would not cease enriching uranium.   Iran's five week military exercise The Jerusalem Post reported that Iran on Sunday test-fired a surface-to-surface short-range missile a day after its army launched large-scale military exercises throughout the country. The "Saegheh… missile, has a range of between 80 to 250 kilometers."The Washington Post reported that Iran test-fired...

Top News Story Iran's military exercises: Trouble brewing in the next few days? World Tribune reported that Iran launched a new round of military exercises in an effort to test its new combat doctrine using weapons systems which were apparently tested in the recent war in Lebanon.Threats Watch reviewed the latest developments in Iran as it relates to Ahmadinejad's promise of a response on the nuclear crisis August 22nd.Ardeshir Dolat reported that according to a secret report to Khamenei, American and Israeli planes flew over Tehran in the past few nights. Disinformation?   Iran and Turkey attack Kurdish rebels...

Top News Story Xinhua WASHINGTON, Aug 18 (Xinhua) -- The United States blocked an Iranian cargo plane's flight to Syria last month as it was carrying missiles and launchers to resupply Hezbollah, the USA Today daily newspaper reported on Friday. The U.S. blocked the plane after intelligence analysts concluded it was carrying sophisticated missiles and launchers to resupply Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Eight days after Hezbollah's war with Israel began, U.S. diplomats persuaded Turkey and Iraq to deny the plane permission to cross their territory to Damascus, a transfer point for arms to Hezbollah, the officials were quoted as...

Top News Story The war in Lebanon is just the beginning. Toronto Star reported that an already fragile ceasefire in the Middle East now appears in greater danger of unraveling, threatened by Hezbollah's refusal to disarm and Israeli charges that Iran and Syria are already rearming its enemy. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said: "This war is not over yet."TurkishPress reported that Turkey has grounded two Syria-bound Iranian planes over the past month to search for weapons following Israeli intelligence that Iran is supplying rockets to Hezbollah.Iran Press News reported that the regime-run Fars news agency reported: “The minister...

Top News Story Iran caught shipping weapons into Iraq, again. Iran Focus reported that an array of weapons made in Iran was discovered in Iraq’s southern port city of Um Qasr. In the weapons cache were hundreds of Katyusha rockets and mortar shells as well as several thousand light arms, all been manufactured in neighboring Iran.   Iran to launch new war games, Saturday. Iran Focus reported that Iran will launch a new round of war-games later this week, putting on display new Iranian-make armaments.   Iran wants to talk, again. BBC News reported that Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign...

Top News Story Ahmadinejad wants radical Bassij forces supervise the elections & screen candidates. Rooz Online reported the Iranian administration is seeking changes to its election law which would put the relegation of the supervising and even procedural tasks of screening candidates to the Baseej para-military forces that are part of the Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps. Amazing.   "Corruption free" Ahmadinejad's administration hands mega-contract to family members. Iran Press News reported that one of the biggest contracts in the history of the oil and gas industry has become a tug of war between certain families Iranian administration. The contract...

Top News Story An Iranian aircraft full of IRGC forces was forced to land in Turkey. Ardeshird.blogspot.com reported that an Iranian plane was forced to land in Turkey. The plane's destination was Lebanon loaded with revolutionary guards. Israeli and American fighters forced one of these planes loaded with mid-range missiles heading to Lebanon to land back in Iran.Aviation Week & Space Technology reported that the Iranian government has a cadre of "hundreds" of technical advisers in Lebanon that trained, and continue to support, Hezbollah forces in the use of sophisticated anti-ship and anti-tank missiles and unmanned aircraft.   Iranians...

Top News Story Ahmadinejad now has a blog. Yahoo News reported that Iran's president has launched a Web log, using his first entry to ask visitors to the site if they think the United States and Israel want to start a new world war.   Iran calls the Lebanese ceasefire "illogical." Reuters reported that Iran welcomed a planned ceasefire to halt the month-long war between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel but described the U.N. Security Council's call for disarming Iranian-backed Hezbollah as "illogical".   Iran: Israel defeated by Hezbollah. Trend.az reported that Iranian leaders claim the war in Lebanon has...

Top News Story Is Iran about to launch a war in the Middle East in the next 10 days? A sobering analysis. Caroline B. Glick, Jewish World Review explained why jihad is picking up steam now and fanatical Muslims are on the march.Joel C. Rosenberg, National Review Online asked: Is Iran planning an apocalyptic strike against Israel and/or the United States for August 22? Such questions are worrying a growing number of officials in the White House, at the CIA, and at the Pentagon, and for good reason.Michael Ledeen, The Corner republished an important article: Five Minutes to Midnight...

Top News Story Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) - Iran is pressing Shi'ite militias to step up attacks against the U.S.-led forces in Iraq in retaliation for the Israeli assault on Lebanon, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq told The New York Times in an interview. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad also told the Times in Baghdad on Friday Iran may foment even more violence as it faces off with the United States and United Nations over its nuclear program in coming weeks. The newspaper reported on the interview in Saturday editions. The remarks were the first public statements by a senior Bush...

Top News Story Iran caught dead-handed. New York Post reported that despite Iranian denials that Iranian are involved in the fighting in Lebanon, the bodies of members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard were found among Hezbollah fighters killed by Israeli forces.   More news from Lebanon. Chicago Tribune reported that Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has emerged as a lone voice of dissent amid the clamor of pro-Hezbollah cheerleading. "If I were opportunistic, I would tell you now, `Long live Nasrallah.' I am not going to tell you that."Rooz Online reported on a speech in Iran by Mohammad Mohsen, a...

Top News Story Mike Wallace interviews Ahmadinejad. CBS News reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sat down with Mike Wallace in Tehran in a rare, exclusive interview. Ahmadinejad said that in response to President Bush's failure to answer his 18-page letter: "Those who refuse to accept an invitation will not have a good ending or fate."The entire report will be broadcast on 60 Minutes this Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT.   Tehran Bus Union leader released on bail. Radio Free Europe reported that imprisoned Mansoor Osanloo, the president of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran Bus Company, a...

Top News Story Pakistan warns Iran of India's support for Iranian rebels. Hindustan Times reported that Pakistan has asked Iran to monitor the Indian consulate in the Iranian border city of Zahidan, alleging it was aiding nationalist rebels in the southwest Balochistan province.   Has Hezbollah's war become a propaganda bonanza for Iran? The Guardian argued that the war in Lebanon has become a propaganda tool for Iran.   Iran opposes UN resolution on Lebanon. Radio Free Europe reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki described a U.S.-French draft UN resolution on the Mideast conflict as "an operation against...

Top News Story M.A.D. won’t stop the Iranian from using the bomb. Bernard Lewis, The Wall Street Journal argued that Iran's apocalyptic leaders do not fear killing Palestinians in a nuclear attack on Israel nor do they fear an Israeli nuclear counter attack on Iran because in both cases the Muslim dead will be accepted by Allah into heaven. A must read.   Iranian dissident Batebi on hunger strike in Evin Prison. Iran Press News reported that Iranian student leader, Ahmad Batebi is now being detained and if new charges are not leveled against him, he will only have...

Top News Story Are we witnessing the signs of a coming war with Iran? Omar Fadhil, Philly.com reported that he sees the signs that Iran may be starting to launch the mullahs' version of an Armageddon, exploiting the religious beliefs of devout Shiites in the region.Henry Porter, The Guardian argued that the present crisis with Iran reminds him of his grandfathers' stories when learned they would probably be going to war.   Iran makes it clear to the UNSC: NO! Islamic Republic News Agency reported that the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, said Iran will...

Top News Story Secret Iranian uranium shipment stopped. The Times Online reported that Iran is seeking to import large consignments of bomb-making uranium from the African mining area that produced the Hiroshima bomb. A huge shipment of smuggled uranium 238, uncovered by customs officials in Tanzania destined for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.   Iranian dissident Mohammadi's funeral. SOSIran published a translation of a report on the condition of the body of the Iranian dissident. Graphic language.Iran Press News published photos of the funeral of Iranian dissident Akbar Mohammadi.   Regime newspaper: Open a corridor for the drug...

Top News Story Stratfor An Iranian parliament member Aug. 5 called on Muslim states to impose political and economic sanctions on Saudi Arabia for Riyadh's policies on the Lebanese crisis, Iran's Fars News Agency reported. Rafat Bayat described the Israeli-Hezbollah war as a clash of opposing schools of thought. She called on Muslims not to go to on the pilgrimage this year, and to use the money to reconstruct Lebanon instead. A Daily Briefing of Major News Stories on Iran: Ebadi protests Interior Ministry ban Hezbollah equipped like the Syrian, Iranian army Russia warns Iran over deadeline Airbrushing Iran’s...

Top News Story Iranian leaders threaten to kill its political prisoners if UNSC acts against Iran. Iran Press News reported that the Islamic Republic has now specifically announced that should their nuclear dossier be voted for referral by the United Nations Security all political prisoners, whether on furlough or in prison, will be summarily executed.   Hezbollah executes Christians and Druze as spies. Iran Press News reported that Hezbollah executes 18 Lebanese Christians & Druze for exposing Hezbollah hideouts.   Iran sends bin Laden's son to Syria to create al Qaeda cells to fight with Hezbollah. Reuters reported that...