Free Republic

SNIPPET: "Reckless doesn't mean not dangerous. Quite the opposite. They may fail spectacularly, or be wildly successful. One thing I believe we can count on is that they will take risks, act swiftly, and burn as many assets as they have to along the way in order to do what Khamenei wants."

The Iranian State media just announced that another high ranking Revolutionary Guard commander, Ahmad Sodagar, has died of a heart attack. Sodagar, a major general, had served as the head of security and intelligence of the Guards’ Khatam-al-Anbia Base and was the chief commander of the Guards’ Prophet Mohammad Division. He had served in the Iran-Iraq war and, at the time of his death, was the head of the program “Defaeh Moghadas” or Holy Defense. This is the fifth Guard commander to die because of a heart attack or stroke in the past month. Those reported to have died before...

Iran and Syria have maintained close ties since the early years of the Islamic Republic and Syria now serves as Iran’s key Arab ally and partner in the region. The advent of the Iran-Iraq War provided Syria with an opportunity to gain another regional ally against Saddam Hussein. In contrast with nearly all other Arab countries, Syria supported Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. In 1982 the two states brokered a deal allowing Syria to receive shipments of subsidized Iranian oil, and in return, Syria shut down Iraq’s oil pipeline through its territory. Syrian support for Iran wavered in 1986 when...

SNIPPET: "While these various elements of the jihadist network are distinct, the Internet brings them together, especially at the grassroots level. Videos, websites and online magazines indoctrinate aspiring militants in the jihadist ideology and provide a forum for like-minded individuals and groups."

Israel Terrorism Information Center: Iran Participates In PR For IHH, Turkey Sponsored Gaza Flotilla By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem, Israel ---- June 12, 2011 .... As the International Red Cross declares that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the true motives for a "Freedom Flotilla" to Gaza now emerge. Iran, which has declared war on Israel and Western democracy, is taking Islamic Jihad to new depths of propaganda that has not been seen since the days of the Nazis. According to the The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel a delegation from Iran participated...

"A Lebanese suspect from the Hezbollah group has been taken into custody by Thai officials and police are investigating further," Chalerm Yoobamrung told Reuters. "Following concern raised by the Israeli embassy about a possible attack by a group of Lebanese terrorists in Bangkok, Thai police officials had been coordinating with Israeli officials since before the New Year."

Drug Enforcement Administration agents have raided an Oklahoma car dealership that the government suspects may be one of about 30 such businesses in the U.S. involved in funding the terrorist group Hezbollah. DEA agents say the car lot of Ace Auto Leasing in Tulsa is part of a huge network that is selling cars and drugs -- and then using the money to support terrorism against the U.S., myfoxphoenix.com reports. During Friday's raid, agents could be seen carryout out filing cabinets and other items. They also questioned employees and took inventory. "They're making big time money and it's going right...

Quote: homeland.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-jihadist-use-social-media-how-prevent-terrorism-and-preserve-innovation Subcommittee Hearing: Jihadist Use of Social Media - How to Prevent Terrorism and Preserve Innovation Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence | 311 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 | Dec 6, 2011 2:00pm On Tuesday, December 6, 2011 the Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence will hold a hearing entitled "Jihadist Use of Social Media - How to Prevent Terrorism and Preserve Innovation." The Committee will meet at 2:00 p.m. in 311 Cannon House Office Building. Witnesses Mr. Evan F. Kohlmann Flashpoint Global Partners Mr. William McCants Analyst Analyst for the Center for Naval...

12/13/2011 20:04 Detained officials had invited Iran's supreme leader to visit weapons depot same day as explosion, Al Arabiya reports. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hoseyni Khamenei has ordered the arrest of a number of senior members of the Revolutionary Guards he suspects of planning to assassinate him, pan-Arab news Channel Al Arabiya reported Tuesday. Khamenei demanded an investigation of the detainees, "and others," about the alleged assassination plot, an "informed source in Iran" told the Emirati news station.

A former commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the FBI says played a role in a 1996 terrorist attack that killed 19 U.S. servicemen, accompanied Iraq’s prime minister to the White House on Monday, attending an event at which President Obama trumpeted the end of the Iraq War. Hadi Farhan al-Amiri, transportation minister in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, was part of the delegation that visited the White House to discuss Iraq’s future and Iran’s influence there, among other topics. -excerpt - Louis J. Freeh, who served as FBI director in the Clinton administration and the early months...

Commander of Iranian revolutionary guards' aerospace division says it is one of Iran's 'biggest wishes' that Israel do attack, so that the 'enemy of Islam and Muslims' can be discarded. In case of an attack on the Iranian nuclear sites, "Iran would bung Israel into the trash bin of history," a general of the Iranian revolutionary guards (IRGC) said Monday. "It is actually one of our biggest wishes that the Zionists regime [Israel] would make such a move," Amir Ali-Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC aerospace department, told Fars news agency.

Iran flies Palestinian terrorists to Syria for raids into Israel DEBKAfile Exclusive Report November 20, 2011, 8:01 AM (GMT+02:00) Under cover of its four-day military exercise starting Friday, Nov. 18, Iran is reported exclusively by debkafile to be transferring Palestinian terrorist units into Syria after training them at IRGC Al Qods facilities for cross-border raids into the West Bank and Israel. Iran and Syria are hitting back for the rebel Free Syrian Army-FSA's armed offensive on military installations and commands centers. Bashar Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf warned last May: "Without stability in Syria, there will be no stability in Israel."

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — An alleged Iranian-linked terror cell had contact with the Tehran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and planned attacks against high profile sites, including Saudi Embassy and a Gulf causeway linking Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, authorities in Bahrain claimed Sunday

A fatal explosion has hit an Iranian military base near capital Tehran, according to local media reports. There has not been any immediate confirmation of casualties in the blast, which apparently happened in an arms depot belonging to the elite Revolutionary Guards in Bidganeh. The AFP news agency reports that the force of the blast shattered the windows of homes in the western suburbs of Tehran. Alireza Jane, an Iranian official responsible for security issues in Tehran's governor's office, told the ISNA student news agency that the blast hit "a military base." She said the explosion, which was originally reported...

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "An IRGC guy recently gifted me with a picture he took inside the CRCIS offices in Qom. Consider this post a place holder until I can get back to them"

SNIPPET: "In July, the British government warned that Al Qaeda’s exploitation of social networking websites is on the rise." SNIPPET: "The massive and multifarious network of websites and social media has presented a challenge to authorities in trying to combat it. Additionally, civil liberty concerns have conflicted with government efforts to spy on communications. Reducing terrorist activity on social media sites has been particularly difficult because users have adopted new forms of communication to conform with the new formats. Many Arabic speakers on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other sites use Arabizi, a form of colloquial Arabic written in the Latin...

forum.internet-haganah.com/showthread.php?272 "Sign that the goods are meant for the IRGC?" (October 27, 2011) SNIPPET: "The modules in question are radio transmitters used in IED's that killed and wounded American service members in Iraq. They were purchased from a US firm through intermediaries in Singapore. Final destination? Tehran." SNIPPET: "Mahan Air is no ordinary airline. Rather it appears to be the official air transport arm of the IRGC's Qods Force."

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards soon could have nuclear weapons. In 1979, journalists and diplomats reported from Iran on a revolution against the shah. They were mistaken. The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his followers were thinking bigger. Their goal was a global revolution — a revolution against the United States and other “oppressor” powers. The ayatollah famously called America the Great Satan. This, too, was misunderstood. His intention was less to insult than to describe: He knew that freedom, the rule of (man-made) law, peace, and equal rights for both the servants and enemies of Allah are seductive ideas that could...

Following are excerpts from Al-Alam TV coverage of an Iranian military parade, which aired on September 22, 2011: Reporter (translating from the Farsi announcer): This is a special unit of the Basij forces. Its members wear shrouds as a declaration of their willingness to defend the religion, the revolution, and the country. This unit, the members of which are wearing shrouds, belongs to the Basij forces of Khuzestan Province, south-west Iran. […] This truck carries a Zilzal missile, which operates on solid fuel. This is one of the missiles that has been recently developed, and it represents the height of...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry says an Iranian-backed terror plot coordinated in Mexico proves the U.S. must secure its southern border. The Republican presidential hopeful used Tuesday's announcement that Iranian forces had sought to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. to call for more border troops, improved fencing along the Mexican border and increased border patrols including the use of predator drone surveillance. Perry opened his speech to Republican activists in Indianapolis on Wednesday with a call for increased border security. He called allegations that Iranian forces sought to kill the Saudi diplomat "business as usual" for Iran.

http://internet-haganah.com/harchives/007413.html "Whither the jihadi forums?" SNIPPET: "There are currently only three jihadi forums that are sufficiently active and well-connected to be of any interest whatsoever. Why we claim to be on the verge of defeating al-Qaida while simultaneously watching passively as they use these forums to regroup and regenerate is beyond me. These are the forums three: • al-Fidaa, a forum created by al-Qaida core. That it is directly linked to al-Qaida by definition moves it to the top of the list. Current membership: 2,462, all of whom can be considered "active" if only because they just joined the forum....

WASHINGTON—U.S. authorities said Tuesday they had charged two men in an Iranian-directed plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. The alleged assassination plot would represent an escalation in the confrontation between mostly Shiite Iran and mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia, two longtime Middle East rivals. The charges are also a rare instance of Washington accusing Iranian groups of fomenting terrorism on U.S. soil. Elements of the Iranian government were ready to spend $1.5 million to hire what they believed was a drug-cartel hit squad from Mexico, said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Prosecutors filed several criminal charges against...

Iran shows off new cruise missile By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press – 7 hours ago TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's president claimed on Tuesday the country's military can cripple enemies on their own ground as Tehran put a new Iranian-made cruise missile on display, the latest addition to the nation's growing arsenal. The state TV reported that the new missile, showcased at a ceremony in Tehran, is designed for sea-based targets, with a range of 124 miles (200 kilometers) and is capable of destroying a warship. The TV said it can travel at low altitudes and has a lighter weight...

Because of the Obama administration's weakness, the Revolutionary Guards think they can win.The Obama administration has criticized the Iranian regime and its policies while the United States and other countries have put tough sanctions on Iran. The question remains, however, how the Iranian rulers perceive the situation. In their speeches and writings, they argue that America is weak and crumbling. This is, in part, propaganda, but to a considerable degree it is also clear that they believe this to be true. An example of this is an article that has just appeared on Gerdab, a website run by the Iranian...

Iran's IRGC to test supersonic missiles at sea: commander The Aerospace Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said Iran plans to test-fire new "supersonic surface-to- sea missiles" as part of its war games in the Persian Gulf in the coming days, the English language satellite Press TV reported on Monday. Hajizadeh said that the new missiles have been designed to target ships and forces at sea, said the report. "Last year, we achieved (the technology of) new anti-ship missiles that can hit targets with multiple speed of sound," he was quoted as saying....

Also: "At this point in time, the United States and the evil British, who are always looking to bluff us, will be outwitted until the point where they no longer have any cards to play."According to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Fars News Agency, on Tuesday night — during a gathering of high-ranking members of the IRGC command and the Basij militia — Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Naghdi announced: Today we are in a full-scale war with our enemies. During the last 32 years, the enemy has gone from pillar to post and from one angle to another in order to find...

SAN FRANCISCO—Hackers from Iran are suspected of swiping authentication data from a US computer security firm in an attempt to impersonate popular Google or Yahoo! sites. "The incident got close to, but was not quite, an Internet-wide security meltdown," Electronic Frontier Foundation senior staff technologist Peter Eckersley said in a message posted at the group's website. Hackers using computers with addresses in Iran posed as a European affiliate of New Jersey-based Comodo on March 15 to get digital certificates allowing the creation of imitation Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft or Skype log-in pages. "The attacker was well prepared and knew in advance...

LONDON — Iran's elite military units have been deployed to attack protesters of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Opposition sources said Iran has sent units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to attack thousands of anti-Assad protesters in the city of Dera. They said IRGC transported hundreds of commandos via helicopter in what could mark the prelude to massive bloodshed. "The IRGC landed before the killings, which means this is an intentional operation to massacre wholesale the people of Dera," the Reform Party of Syria said. "If true, the Syrian security in Dera has been penetrated."

A senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned the establishment that if the ninth parliament is not “healthy”, the coming year may be a year of “bloodshed.” FARS news agency reported that General Aubnoosh told a gathering of Guardian Council watchmen in Qazvin: “If the results of the parliamentary elections are not in line with our values, the coming year will be so dangerous it may even lead to bloodshed.” He recommended great care in choosing people who can run for election and thorough investigation before announcing candidate eligibility. The ninth parliamentary elections of Iran will take place next year,...

... We turn to you, the IRGC commander, requesting that you use your authority over the Basij to order them to leave their truncheons at home next time. It goes without saying that we, who swore to defend the Islamic Revolution, are well acquainted with the highest Islamic values of tolerance and liberalism (in Persian – “Tasamukh va Tasahul”), and are familiar with the Islamic principles that “oppose the use of the whip or the club as a means of quelling dispute or dissension”. We promise our people that we will not shoot nor beat our brothers who are seeking...

Iran Seeking to Increase Speed of IRGC Vessels to 80-85 Knots TEHRAN (FNA)- The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy plans to boost the high mobility of its vessels in the next few months, the IRGC Navy commander announced on Sunday, adding that IRGC experts are working on projects to increase the speed of missile-launching and fully armed vessels to 80-85 knots. "Increasing the speed of the vessels which carry arms and equipment to 80-85 knots sets the objective of the IRGC naval force for the next Iranian year (starts on March 21)," Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said, and stressed,...

The capture of the officer confirms that Iran is directly supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan. The officer, from the elite al-Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, was captured by US special forces on December 18, a Nato spokesman said. Described as "a key Taliban weapons facilitator", he was arrested in Kandahar province. "The joint security team specifically targeted the individual for facilitating the movement of weapons between Iran and Kandahar through Nimroz province," a Nato statement said.

Russia plans to pay back a $166.8 million advance payment from Iran for S-300 air defense missiles after canceling the sale to comply with UN sanctions, a top Russian official said Thursday. President Dmitry Medvedev banned the delivery of the high-precision air defense system last month, saying it would violate sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council in June. The United States and Israel had urged Moscow to scrap the deal, fearing Iran could use the system to protect nuclear facilities that they suspect are part of a weapons program. "We received an advance on this contract of $166.8 million,"...

Thirty years after the end of the war between Iran and Iraq a fierce battle is being fought amongst statesmen, military commanders and scholars about the war. Three questions remain contested: Why did the war began in the first place? Why did the war continue after Iran's liberation of territories occupied by Iraq? And why did the war with Iraq end? -excerpt- Thanks to the Iraqi invasion of Iran, Grand Ayatollah Khomeini and the revolutionary regime managed to rally a fragmented nation around the revolutionary leadership. The revolutionary leadership also managed to keep the remains of the Imperial Army busy...

Bank Mellat, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), have facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions to help aid Iran's nuclear, missile, and defense entities.

The growth of Lebanon's Hezbollah (Party of God) has gained considerable impetus through its patron Iran's own desire to dominate strategically the entire Middle East region. Hezbollah fits in neatly with Tehran's effort to reinstate the Persian preeminence in the ancient world reaching back centuries.Ironically this is the same vision held by the late Shah Reza Pahlevi. His imperial objective was clear and for that reason feared by the kingdoms of the Gulf. With more than a little American encouragement, the deeply egocentric Shah more than once indicated he viewed himself as directly descended from the ancient kings of Persia.Today's...

SNIPPET: "Police are working to figure out the origin of the rocket that was fired from the Gaza Strip Saturday evening and exploded near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, without causing damage or injures. A total of four rockets and two mortar shells were fired at Israel on Saturday, causing no injuries. An initial examination revealed that the rocket fired at Nahal Oz was manufactured using professional means, most likely outside of the borders of the Gaza Strip. The rocket had a diameter of 115 millimeters, and police sappers were working to locate fragments of it to be tested."

SNIPPET: "The US Treasury department has added four Iranian Qods Force commanders to its list of specially designated global terrorists, two of whom are charged with directly providing support for the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan." SNIPPET: "General Hossein Musavi is the commander Qods Force's Ansar Corps, "whose responsibilities include IRGC-QF activities in Afghanistan," the Treasury stated. "As Ansar Corps Commander, Musavi has provided financial and material support to the Taliban." Colonel Hasan Mortezavi is described as a senior Qods Force officer who "provides financial and material support to the Taliban." Qods Forces' Ansar Corps is the command that is assigned...

Last week the president spoke out on behalf of the three American hikers who have been held in Iran for nearly a year. During that time, they have been able to make only one telephone call — to their families back in the U.S. — and write no letter at all. Sarah, Shane, and Josh are in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison, and Sarah is locked in solitary confinement save for once a day when she goes to the prison yard and sees the others. “I want to be perfectly clear,” the president said.  And then he lapsed into incoherence.  “Sarah,...

An Iranian trading firm with close links to the country’s revolutionary guards is under investigation in Austria after a director of the company was killed in a dispute over its future. Baghaollah Vossough, a former Tehran University lecturer, was killed last week at the offices of Cerag International, a company that has supplied Iran’s oil industry with equipment for years. A convicted fraudster and drug dealer, named only as Samad A, has been arrested for carrying out the gangland-style killing, which has brought Vienna’s shadowy world of Iranian middlemen into the spotlight. Viennese police are treating the investigation as a...

The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has officially acknowledged that some members have been supportive of the country's opposition movement. General Mohammad Ali Jafari said that it is better "to convince" guards who support the opposition than to get rid of them. "Many of the ambiguities have been resolved and they have been convinced that the move was wrong," Jafari was quoted by Fars as saying, according to Radio Farda. "This is better than to physically deal with them and eliminate them." Jafari's comments mark the first time an Iranian official has acknowledged publicly that some members of...

Late last week, two suicide bombings in southeastern Iran reduced a mosque to rubble, leaving 27 dead and nearly 300 injured. The explosions were the work of Jundollah—”Soldiers of Allah”—a rebel Sunni group opposed to the Shiite-controlled regime in Tehran. The Islamic Republic has always accused the United States of being Jundollah’s paymaster. The leader of Tehran’s government-controlled Friday Prayer even charged the U.S. with masterminding the attacks: “Since the U.S. has lost face in the case of Shahram Amiri [the Iranian nuclear scientist who allegedly spied for the U.S. against Iran] and the reputation of its intelligence has also...

SNIPPET: "The top US general in Iraq has identified the three main Shia terror groups in Iraq that are backed by Iran. General Ray Odierno said Iran continues to back the League of the Righteous (or Asaib al Haq), the Mahdi Army spin-off Promised Day Brigade, and the Hezbollah Brigades (or Kataib Hezbollah). "The Iranians... continue to fund, train and provide weapons and ammunition to Shiite extremist groups," Odierno told reporters in Baghdad according to AFP. Qods Force, the special operations branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, has "gone to a more sophisticated program with a smaller set of...

IDF strikes in Gaza in response to rocket Air Force planes target weapons warehouse, two smuggling tunnels in Strip; no injuries reported Hanan Greenberg Published: 06.25.10, 07:57 / Israel News Israel Air Force aircraft bombed a weapons warehouse in northern Gaza and two smuggling tunnels in the southern Strip on Thursday night. The Israel Defense Forces said the targets were hit and that all planes returned safely to their base. There were no reports of injuries. The attack was a response to the firing of a rocket and mortar shells at western Negev communities on Thursday. The IDF stressed that...

Tehran is angry at Moscow's decision to freeze the sale of the S-300 missile-defense system.Iran's Intelligence Ministry has called for a "decrease" in ties with Russia, according to Hossein Ebrahimi, a parliament deputy and a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee. Ebrahimi told the semiofficial ILNA news agency that the demand was discussed during a meeting between committee members and officials of the Intelligence Ministry. He said lawmakers favor reducing ties with Russia as well as China because of their support for the June 9 UN resolution that imposed new sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its...

The Sudanese newspaper Rai al-Shaab (Opinion of the People), owned and controlled by Sudanese opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, recently published an article that potentially provides new and important insight into Sudan's terrorist ties to Iran. The article alleges that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, is operating a secret weapons factory in Sudan to funnel weapons to Iran-sponsored terrorist organizations in Africa and the Middle East. Several Arab bloggers circulated the article last week. Today, these blogs are the only evidence that the article ever existed. Soon after it was published, Sudanese authorities shut down the...

Iran has provided Syria with an advanced radar system which could provide it with early warning of an Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, quoting Israeli and US officials. According to the report, information gathered by the radar could also be used by Hizbullah to increase its defenses and improve missile accuracy. Iran and Syria denied the occurrence of any radar transfer. "Iran is engaged in developing Syrian intelligence and aerial detection capabilities, and Iranian representatives are present in Syria for that express purpose," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit told the paper. "Radar assistance is...

Iran is advancing a program for enhanced security cooperation with Turkey. "Our relations are excellent," Iranian Interior Minister Mustafa Najar said. On June 19, Najar said Iran and Turkey were preparing for their annual security cooperation session. The interior minister said the two countries would discuss counter-insurgency as well as efforts against drug traffickers and organized crime. In a meeting with Turkey's ambassador to Iran, Umit Yardim, Najar said the groundwork has been prepared for a significant expansion of cooperation between Ankara and Teheran. He cited the need for additional CI and anti-crime measures in an effort to improve border...

A recent report in the Sudanese opposition media suggests that Iran may be operating a weapons factory near Khartoum. Have the two countries taken their military alliance to the next level? The Sudanese newspaper Rai al-Shaab (Opinion of the People), owned and controlled by Sudanese opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, recently published an article that potentially provides new and important insight into Sudan's terrorist ties to Iran. The article alleges that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, is operating a secret weapons factory in Sudan to funnel weapons to Iran-sponsored terrorist organizations in Africa and the Middle...

Iran has enough low-enriched uranium to make two weapons, which it could have prepared and ready for delivery as early as 2012, CIA director Leon Panetta warned Sunday. "We think they have enough low-enriched uranium for two weapons," Panetta told the ABC network's "This Week" program. Tehran would need a year to enrich it fully to produce a bomb and it would take "another year to develop the kind of weapon delivery system in order to make that viable," he said. Iran is under mounting international pressure over its suspect nuclear program, which the West fears masks a covert weapons...