Free Republic

By Ahmad For 10 years, July 9 has been a symbol of student resistance and defiance, the anniversary of a student uprising that shook Iran. Following the events of the last couple of weeks, everyone knew that there would be demonstrations and the most likely a ruthless crackdown. I had been contacted by several friends and each person recommended gathering in a different part of Tehran. Overall nearly 10 different squares had been designated as places to protest and from 4 p.m. people started gathering in groups. The aim was to disperse the guards, police, plainclothes militias, and Basijis so...

Sorry for the delay in this but I have been preoccupied with a few matters that have been developing. You have all heard by now that at 4 a.m. on Sunday, the Islamic Regime sent in various law and security enforcement agencies backed by armored vehicles, water cannon trucks spouting boiling water and even firing live rounds on the demonstrators to finally arrest Ayatollah Boroujerdi. Publicly treating him in a shameful and degrading manner after they had their hands on him. Several aspects and questions came to light: 1. To what extent were outside forces involved in this quite significant...

PUSHING FOR ARMAGEDDON - Inside Iran's New Power Struggle N.Y. Post Amir Taheri June 16, 2006 -excerpt- The theological division among Shi'ites concerns a simple question: What should believers do while the Imam is absent? One doctrine, known as Intizar (waiting) maintains that the best that believers can do is to be patient and wait until the Imam decides to return. Followers of that doctrine are known as Muntazeris (Those Who Wait). That doctrine is opposed by another known as Ta'ajil (To hasten). Its adepts believe that believers should act to hasten the coming of the Mahdi. The Ta'ajilis (Hasteners)...

The Role of Hidden Imam in the history and the politics of the Islamic republic of Iran. The notion of the Hidden Imam (Islamic Messiah) has a central role in the Islamic Shiite thoughts. There are countless references to the Hidden Imam in the Shiite books. However, following the victory of the so-called Islamic Revolution in Iran (or as some people say: the hijacking of the Iranian revolution by the Mullahs), in 1979, the references to the Hidden Imam has gained a new importance. The main reason is that the power and wealth of an important oil-exporting contrary, with a...

General consideration needed when you think about Iran = Hojatieh! "Hojatieh" headed by looney Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, wants the quick return of the 12th Imam, a boy who disappeared down a well in the 1300s and is a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammad. Ahamdi-Nejad is a desciple of Mesbah Yazdi and a true believer of the Hojatieh. The Hojatieh creed, which was too crazy even for Khomeini, who created the Islamic regime in Iran, says the 12th Imam will return to bring salvation to mankind (similar to the second coming of Christ concept) BUT .... In order for him...

Who rules Iran? Tue Mar 30th, 2004 at 07:13:41 PM CST Westerners often meet with assorted officials who, they are led to believe, run Islamist Iran. They don't. Chris Patten, the British politician who handles part of the European Union's foreign policy, complains that when talking to Iranian officials, he has the feeling that they are "messenger boys." Long before him, Roland Dumas, France's foreign minister in the 1980s, had reached a similar conclusion. "The Iranian officials we talked to turned out to be actors playing the roles of officials," he commented years later. In the next few weeks as...

Walker's World: Iran's alarming regime By MARTIN WALKER UPI Editor WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- New evidence of Iran's secret nuclear weapons program emerged Friday as senior American and European diplomats tried to keep alive their strategy to block Iran by peaceful means. But the diplomatic path is looking less hopeful as the new Iranian government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being seen each week as more hard-line and less rational, after his threat to "wipe Israel off the map." Even the Old Guard of Iran's Islamic revolution is openly appalled by the new regime's ultra-conservative policies, with former President...