Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The State Department's decision to grant a visa to Iran's former president is sparking a rebellion among Republican members of Congress who seek a tougher line on the rogue country as it flaunts the latest U.N. deadline on its nuclear program. Yesterday afternoon, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican from Florida, began collecting signatures in Congress for a letter that she plans to send next week to Secretary of State Rice expressing "grave concerns" about the visa for Muhammad Khatemi that will allow him to speak before...

Former U.S. President James Carter (1977-1981) is hosting a meeting with former Iranian President Mohammed Khatemi (1997-2005) during a planned visit to the U.S. in early September. Khatemi, invited by a number of private groups, is traveling with a group of twelve including family members and staff. One of the groups inviting Khatemi is the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, to give a speech on “Ethics of Tolerance in the Age of Violence.” Khatemi will also be participating at a U.N. conference on the dialogue of civilizations, as well as other activities in the U.S. Sounds normal...

Two articles from the Times of London discuss the morally bankrupt decision to issue a visa to the former president of Iran, a nation now advocating genocide against the Israeli people, denying the Holocaust, and supplying arms to Iraq terrorists trying to and sometimes succeeding in killing and wounding our soldiers. Khatemi wants to meet with (Jimmy Carter). What a surprise. The Times of London columnist Oliver Kamm overstates the situation when he decalres "Khatami's host in the US is Jimmy Carter," but right on target when he charts (Carter's terrible interventions) in American foreign policy post presidency. (Who can...

Top News Story TEHRAN, 4 Feb. (IPS) A visibly worried Islamic Republic reacted angrily on Thursday at the US President's open support for the Iranian people's struggle for democracy and freedom. "To the Iranian people, I say tonight: As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you", President George W. Bush said in his State of the Union Address Wednesday night, naming also the Islamic Republic as the world’s major sponsor of international terrorism. Mr. Bush's proposed referendum on the future of the Iranian regime has received strong support from the Iranians. Mr. Bush’s backing for the...

Top News Story The Iranian Regime's planned celebration at the Marriott Hotel CANCELED!Iran just took a hit from the Free Republic and the blogosphere. The Marriott corporation has just announce that it had canceled an event to celebrate the “Islamic victory against America.” The event, billing itself as: “"Twenty Sixth Anniversary of the glorious victory of the Islamic Revolution and bDeath to America Dayb",” was scheduled for tomorrow. I reported last Tuesday, the Iranian government had booked the use of the Bethesda Marritott. The opposition to the event was lead by Dr. Iman Foroutan, executive director of SOSiran.com and...

Top News Story Iran goal: Nuke in first 6 months of 2005 Iranian opposition group NCRI claims in Paris that Iran hopes to develop a nuclear bomb “in first half of 2005.” Spokesman says Tehran has obtained polonium-210 and beryllium to start chain reaction for nuclear fission, hiding these processes from UN watchdog. Iran is already far advanced on two additional elements for bomb – nuclear fuel and delivery system. A Daily Briefing of Major News Stories on Iran: Iran gives `Israeli spy' 10 years in jail - Reuters Tehran Friday Sermon: Iranians Will Punch Americans in the Mouth...

Top News Story Capitol Hill Mulls 'Regime Change' in Iran Thursday, February 03, 2005 By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos WASHINGTON — Though the Bush administration denies it has any designs on changing Iran's theocracy, members of Congress are planning ways to assist in a possible "regime change." Movements are afoot in both the House and Senate to pass legislation that would enable the U.S. government to support foreign and domestic pro-democracy groups opposed to the current Islamic republic of Iran. Aides for Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said the senator is drafting legislation that would resemble a bill he introduced in the last...

Top News Story President Bush Stands with the Iranian PeopleExcerpts of the Presidents State of the Union speech discussing Iran (Courtesy of RealPolitics.com): Today, Iran remains the world's primary state sponsor of terror - pursuing nuclear weapons while depriving its people of the freedom they seek and deserve. We are working with European allies to make clear to the Iranian regime that it must give up its uranium enrichment program and any plutonium re-processing, and end its support for terror. And to the Iranian people, I say tonight: As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you....

Top News Story Ukraine 'Sold Nuclear-Capable Missiles to Iran' 2.2.2005 A senior lawmaker alleges that Ukraine sold nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and China in violation of international non-proliferation treaties and is demanding the new government launch a full investigation. The allegations were made in a letter by lawmaker Hrihory Omelchenko and addressed to President Viktor Yushchenko, a reformist who took office last week. Yushchenko, who takes over from Leonid Kuchma, has promised a thorough investigation of corruption and misdeeds that allegedly flourished during his predecessor’s 10 years as president. Kuchma allegedly sanctioned the sale of sophisticated radar systems...

Top News Story Stop Iranian "Death to America" Celebration Scheduled for February 6th at the Marriott of Bethesda, MDM From: The Office of Iran of Tomorrow Movement To : John. W. Marriott Jr., CEO Marriott International, Inc. 10400 Fernwood Dr. Bethesda, MD 20817 January 28, 2005 It has recently come to our attention that the Director of the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Washington D.C., Mr. Ali Jazini, has reserved a large section of the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center for a celebration of the “Twenty Sixth Anniversary of the glorious victory of...

Top Story Iran would make any aggressor pay dearly: armed forces commander TEHRAN, Jan. 30 (MNA) -- The commander of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Salimi, said here on Sunday that Iran will sound the defense as soon as the enemy starts to beat the drums of war. The Iranian Armed Forces regard all foreign threats against the country as serious and are ready to respond to them, he told the Mehr News Agency. “We regard any threat as serious, although it might not be new or likely to be materialized. They have been threatening the Islamic...

Top News Story Iran’s Khamenei warns EU may reconsider nuclear cooperation(AFP)29 January 2005 TEHERAN - Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned European powers Saturday that they must take their nuclear negotiations with Iran seriously, otherwise Tehran will reconsider its cooperation.“The Europeans negotiating with Iran should know that they are dealing with a great, cultured nation... if Iranian officials feel that there is no seriousness in the European negotiations, the process will change,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by the Iranian media.His comments followed the emergence of reports that the EU was hardening its stance towards Iran and calling...

Top News Story United States and Europe Differ Over Strategy on Iran By ELAINE SCIOLINO Published: January 29, 2005 ARIS, Jan. 28 - President Bush's second term has barely begun, and Iran is already shaping up as its most serious diplomatic challenge. But conflicting pronouncements by Mr. Bush and his national security team have left Iran frustrated and angry about the direction of American policy, and the Europeans more determined than ever to push Washington to embrace their engagement strategy. To the outside world, the administration seems divided over whether to promote the overthrow of Iran's Islamic Republic -...

Top News Story Iran Will Never Dismantle Nuke Program PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters) - Iran has vowed never to dismantle its uranium enrichment programme, a day after a confidential EU document showed that France, Britain and Germany had told Tehran they would not settle for anything less. Iran has temporarily frozen its enrichment programme, [DZ note: not really] a process of purifying uranium for use as fuel in nuclear power plants or weapons, but insists that atomic fuel production is a sovereign right it will never abandon. Asked whether Iran would dismantle the programme, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Gholamali Khoshroo,...

Top News Story USAF playing cat and mouse game over Iran Richard Sale, UPI Intelligence Correspondent:The U.S. Air Force is playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Iran's ayatollahs, flying American combat aircraft into Iranian airspace in an attempt to lure Tehran into turning on air defense radars, thus allowing U.S. pilots to grid the system for use in future targeting data, administration officials said. "We have to know which targets to attack and how to attack them," said one, speaking on condition of anonymity. ... "These Iranian air defense positions are not just being observed, they're...

Top News Story Iran Sees Nuclear Enrichment As a Goal By GEORGE JAHNAssociated Press Writer Confidential talks between key European powers and Iran are deadlocked on the key issue of uranium enrichment, with Tehran refusing to scrap such programs and banish fears it wants to make atomic arms, according to a summary of the last meeting made available Tuesday to The Associated Press. The summary of the last meeting on the issue involving representatives of France, Britain, Germany and Iran states that Tehran's position remains "the goal of maintaining" its enrichment program, while the European powers continue to insist...

Top News Story U.S. INTELLIGENCE OBTAINS IRANIAN NUKE PLANS WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The U.S. intelligence community has obtained plans for what was described as an Iranian project to develop a nuclear warhead.Officials said the plans were obtained by the CIA in November from an unidentified source. They said the source relayed more than 1,000 pages of technical drawings and documents of an Iranian nuclear missile warhead design.In November, 2004, officials said, the CIA had sought to confirm the authenticity of the Iranian documents. The Iranian documents -- first reported by the Washington Post on Nov. 19 -- were said...

Top News Story AMERICAN ACTIONS FOR REGIME CHANGE IN IRAN "INEVITABLE" By Safa HaeriPosted Saturday, January 22, 2005  E-mail this page    Printer-friendly page "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world" PARIS, 23 Jan. (IPS) Slowly but surely, the United States is preparing local and international public opinion for concrete action against the Islamic Republic of Iran, now tagged as the main "outpost of tyranny", Iranian and western analysts and diplomats say.In...

Top News StoryIran student to be flogged 74 times, serve 2 years in prison Sat. 22 Jan 2005 Iran Focus Tehran, Jan. 22 – An Iranian medical student was sentenced to two years prison time and 74 lashes by Iran's Revolutionary Court on political charges, according to a state-run news agency. Reza Ashrafpour, a young man studying dentistry in Iran's University of Medical Sciences had been charged with "acting against national security", "propaganda against the regime", "spreading panic in society", and "insulting the Supreme Leader". It is believed that authorities were looking to convict Ashrafpour for the past two...

Top News Story World press electrified by Bush vision "Hold on to your hats, this may be the most ambitious presidency ever." That's the message from one Israeli paper after President George W Bush's inauguration - a message echoed across the world's press. For China's press his speech raises the question whether Washington will head further down a "unilateral" path in foreign relations. One Polish paper heralds the speech as the dawn of a conservative revolution, while in Germany and Turkey there's a bleak forecast for the new Bush era. At precisely the moment when critics claim he is...