http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/iran/ en-us Tue, 5 Jan 2010 04:43:32 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2421128/posts Amid mounting concern that Israel may unleash pre-emptive strikes against Iran to attack its nuclear facilities, some Israeli commentators are preaching restraint. They warn that Israel does not have the firepower to deliver a knockout blow to Iran's perceived drive for nuclear weapons and faces a potentially withering Iranian retaliation the likes of which they have never endured before. "It must be stated plainly: Israel does not have independent strike capability against Iran -- not in the broad sense of the term," Amos Harel wrote in the liberal daily Haaretz Wednesday. "The air force is capable of delivering a certain... Space War http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2421128/posts#comment Tue, 5 Jan 2010 04:43:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420720/posts A former high-ranking intelligence official in Iran has called for his country to form better relations with the United States and Israel and says the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is on the verge of collapse. In an exclusive interview with the Bangkok Post Sunday, Mohammad Reza Madhi, a former officer in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards' intelligence service, described Mr Ahmadinejad as ''crazy'' and unfit to lead his country. ''He has already destroyed international relationships with many countries and made them enemies of Iran,'' said Mr Madhi, who was forced to flee Iran in 2008 after being jailed for 73... bangkokpost.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420720/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 18:30:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420810/posts It seems that the Iranian Football Federation "accidentally" sent their Israeli counterparts a Happy New Year greeting. The director of foreign relations for the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic is taking it back, calling it a "mistake." http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420810/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 20:42:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420694/posts SHIRAZ, Iran -- Iranian authorities have locked the doors of a prominent mosque in the southern city of Shiraz that is the base of an opposition ayatollah, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. It is reportedly the first time a Shi'ite mosque has been closed by the government in Iran. With the Ghoba Mosque shuttered, worshipers have been praying outside the mosque, which is one of the most important in the city. One eyewitness told RFE/RL that "two nights ago security forces closed the Ghoba Mosque and are not letting people in to pray." The closing of the mosque is apparently aimed... RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420694/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 18:06:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420624/posts Faced with escalating turmoil, Iran's newly militarized regime now appears to be turning to the Tiananmen model to ensure its survival. The theocracy has signaled over the past week that it will exercise extraordinary military and judicial powers against opposition leaders, dissidents, street protesters and even sympathizers to end the growing turmoil. The regime's most urgent goal is to prevent opposition activists from turning next month's 11-day celebration marking the Shah's ouster in 1979 into a counterrevolution against his successors. But the Chinese model of using all-out force against a budding opposition movement, as used in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in... Time http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420624/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 16:41:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420614/posts Six months ago, Iranians went to the streets, chanting "Where is my vote?" This is how the Green Revolution started. The protesters now no longer merely seek democratic elections but want regime change. Their new slogans are: "Khamenei is a murderer and his rule is unjust," "Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, I only give my life for Iran," and "Independence, Freedom and an Iranian Republic." In other words, they demand a stop to Iran's support for terrorists in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq; the separation of state and religion; and consider Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as public enemy No. 1. By answering this... WSJ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420614/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 16:24:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2420562/posts MEDINA, Saudi Arabia – At the cemetery where the Prophet Muhammad's family is buried, an Iranian Shiite Muslim pilgrim overcome with emotion was jerked by a Saudi soldier, who barked a sharp order: "Stop crying!" The soldier, a gun at his hip, then hovered over the pilgrim as he wrapped up his prayers to make sure he didn't start weeping again. The Baqee cemetery is where the bitter rivalry between Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran gets personal. Iranians and other Shiites flock to the graves to pay respects to several revered descendants of Islam's prophet, while Saudi soldiers... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2420562/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 15:09:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420385/posts Israel's ambassadors and consuls general from all over the world have been summoned to attend a conference to be held over global challenges facing Israel. The meeting to be attended in Jerusalem Al-Quds on December 27-31 is hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the ministry reported on its website. Press TV http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420385/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 05:28:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420501/posts TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Monday several foreign citizens were arrested during clashes between opposition supporters and security forces last month, state television reported. Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420501/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 13:12:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420334/posts Iranian media on Sunday reported Tehran will conduct a large-scale defensive military exercise next month, coinciding with what government officials now say is a deadline for the West to respond to its counteroffer to a nuclear-fuel deal. WSJ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420334/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 02:55:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2420321/posts Maybe the Iranian regime is not as crazy as the experts think. Today they announced a very rational thought. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast last week confirmed reports that John Kerry has filed a request for visiting Tehran. Since Kerry is part of our legislature the matter was transferred to Iran's Parliament. Iran's parliament announced today that they wanted no part of Senator Kerry. FARS News Service/The Lid http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2420321/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 02:29:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2420267/posts Despite the lingering demonstrations and disorder in Tehran, Iran’s ruling mullahs are confident anew in their country’s ability to surge to a hegemonic position in the Middle East without a major war. The main reason for the mullahs’ confidence is their interpretation of the appeasement policies of the US Barack Obama Administration. Most significant is the undeclared – yet widely projected – profound change in US policy regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran and all other regional governments are convinced that the US now strives to “contain” a nuclear Iran rather than continue the declared objective to prevent the nuclearization of... OilPrice.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2420267/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 00:25:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420266/posts At least seven Iranian police officers have died in a clash with drugs smugglers in the east of the country, officials said. The shoot-out happened in Khorasan province near the Afghan border, a police chief told Iranian state radio. The report said four drugs traffickers had also been killed and another seriously wounded BBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420266/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 00:17:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420168/posts Iran denies entry to Sen. Kerry By Bridget Johnson - 01/03/10 01:48 PM ET Iranian legislators on Sunday decided to not allow a visit from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.), according to Iranian media. "Members of the Iranian parliament's Foreign Relations Committee (a subcommittee of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission) voiced opposition to the request after studying the issue," Hassan Ebrahimi, head of the committee, told the semi-official Fars News Agency. Several Iranian news outlets reported last week that Kerry had submitted an official request to visit Tehran in an emissary role. Kerry spokesman... The Hill http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420168/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 20:47:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420105/posts French President Nicolas Sarkozy has gone cold on his US counterpart Barack Obama, the Financial Times (FT) reported Monday. Sarkozy, whose pro-Washington stance has seen him nicknamed "Sarko the American," stressed that France and the US were "the same family" during his first face-to-face meeting with Obama in April since the US elections last year. But the French president has clashed since then with his US counterpart on a series of issues, raising the question of whether Sarkozy is reverting to the anti-US posture of his predecessor, Jacques Chirac. "He has now shifted from a pro-Bush position to an anti-Obama... The Global Times of China http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420105/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 19:10:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420056/posts Iran will hold a "large-scale military exercise" next month in order to prepare its forces to repel an offensive by the nation's enemies, government-funded Press TV reported, citing a top military official. cnn http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420056/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 17:46:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420036/posts Reports say Washington distancing itself from earlier intelligence assessment suggesting Tehran had suspended work on weapons designs. The key sources of new intelligence are likely to include two recent Iranian defectors – Ali Reza Asgari, a Revolutionary Guards general who vanished in Istanbul in 2007, and Shahram Amiri, a leading Iranian nuclear scientist, who disappeared while on a pilgrimage to Mecca last summer. The Iranian government has blamed the US for their disappearance. However, the Obama administration believes there is still time to try sanctions as a means of stemming Iran's nuclear ambitions. Guardian UK http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420036/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 17:11:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419963/posts Take President Obama’s poor timing in response to a failed terrorist attack on a U.S. jetliner, add the politicization of that event by his surrogates and a ridiculous message by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and what do you get? A complete failure when it comes to a commander-in-chief’s most important job: Protecting Americans from harm. “It was arrogant and stupid,” one Democrat strategist, who supported Obama the candidate, admits privately. “The president needed to set the initial tone on a matter of such importance,” said Mark Rozell, professor of public policy at George Mason University. “Press secretaries don't calm... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419963/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 14:44:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419941/posts RIYADH – Saudi Arabia is holding talks with Iran to repatriate Osama Bin Laden’s daughter to the Kingdom after she took refuge in the Saudi embassy in Tehran, said Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs. “We consider this to be a humanitarian issue,” he told a news conference. “We are negotiating with the Iranian government on this basis,” he said.He was speaking at a joint conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu here Saturday. Iman Bin Laden, 17, recently fled from a family compound near Tehran to the embassy in hopes of leaving Iran, where she, several siblings and... Saudi Gazette http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419941/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 14:04:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2419929/posts Iran has the unmitigated gall to not only reject the United Nations enrichment offer, but to threaten the world that they will move to further enrich their own uranium if the West does not capitulate and accept the Iran Plan within one month without delay or amendments. Iran puts up this façade of strength all the while the streets of most of its cities are filled with demonstrators calling for an end to their governance by the Mullahs and their puppet, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, pushing for massive reforms. Even more offensive is the brutality with which these demonstrators are being... Beyond the Cusp http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2419929/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 13:44:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2419923/posts -excerpt- Mir Hossein Mousavi today released a new statement denouncing the regime’s brutal tactics against the Green Movement ... -excerpt- While the statement is quite similar to other statements he has released in the past, several points on closer inspection stand out. -excerpt- ... Mousavi for the first time actually discounts his own influence and that of Mehdi Karroubi. He admits that even though people asked him to call for protests or at least lend his support, he did not do so in the case of Ashura. He also acknowledges the fact that people came out without him calling them... Daily Nite Owl http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2419923/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 13:22:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419880/posts The Obama administration says the internal unrest in Iran and signs of unexpected delays in their nuclear program make the Iranian government especially vulnerable to swift and serious sanctions, the New York Times reported on Sunday. An administration official said current circumstances "give us a window to impose the first sanctions that may make the Iranians think the nuclear program isn't worth the price tag." Despite the political unrest, Iran's political and military leaders are remaining steadfast in their determination to develop nuclear weapons, advisers to U.S. President Barack Obama said. But the unrest coupled with the Iranian government's internal... Haaretz http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419880/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 08:53:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419828/posts U.S. Diplomacy Stumbles in Latin America The Obama presidency was expected to herald closer ties after years of perceived neglect under Bush. But relations have soured amid the Honduran coup and Iran's increasing ties in the region. Paul Richter January 3, 2010 Reporting from Washington - Just eight months ago, President Obama was calling Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva "my man" and suggesting that the South American country could become a leading U.S. partner in the region. Since then, Brazil has criticized the U.S. approach to the coup in Honduras and warned the United States over plans to... LATimes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419828/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 04:27:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419804/posts Despite working for many years in the secrecy-shrouded intelligence section of the Iranian government, Mohammad Reza Madhi, 46, a former high-ranking officer in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards' intelligence service and once the right-hand man of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has decided it is time to go public. His exclusive interview with Spectrum was conducted as Iran's opposition leaders faced new threats with the state prosecutor warning they could be put on trial if they do not denounce last week's anti-government protests - the worst unrest since the immediate aftermath of the disputed June election. The confrontation between Iran's... Bangkok Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419804/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 03:08:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2419722/posts Here is amateur video in Iran that shows a gunman (who is said to be a plainclothes security official) opening fire on demostrators during recent protests against the thug regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The video is reportedly from a December 27, 2009 protest, and it shows the protesters fighting back as they charge after the gunman who shot at them! Security forces have claimed they did not open fire on protesters. . . . (VIDEO) Freedom's Lighthouse http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2419722/posts#comment Sat, 2 Jan 2010 23:37:15 GMT