Free Republic

The Great Satan awakens Iran must have had trouble believing its good fortune during the Obama Administration. An American president was not only willing to overlook Iran’s misdeeds, but was actually willing to act as Iran’s advocate in talks designed to pave the way for Iran’s nuclear ambitions - however much the parties involved insisted the opposite was true. Given the opportunity, the American people have a habit of making sure policies like that are replaced with better ones, and it’s becoming clearer by the day that Iran’s luck in dealing with Washington has run out:

VIENNA — Iran is suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose can only be the development of nuclear weapons, the U.N. nuclear atomic energy agency said for the first time in a report released Tuesday. While some of the suspected secret nuclear work can have peaceful purposes, "others are specific to nuclear weapons," according to the report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency. A 13-page attachment to the report details intelligence and IAEA research that shows Tehran working on all aspects of research toward making a nuclear weapon, including fitting a warhead onto a missile. "Iran," the report...

Imposing more sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme would not be a quick enough solution, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has said. Prince Saud al-Faisal said the threat posed by Iran demanded a "more immediate solution" than sanctions. He spoke in Riyadh alongside US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who earlier said Iran was "becoming a military dictatorship".

Last September, when Iran’s uranium enrichment plant buried inside a mountain near the holy city of Qum was revealed, the episode cast light on a wider pattern: Over the past decade, Iran has quietly hidden an increasingly large part of its atomic complex in networks of tunnels and bunkers across the country. In doing so, American government and private experts say, Iran has achieved a double purpose. Not only has it shielded its infrastructure from military attack in warrens of dense rock, but it has further obscured the scale and nature of its notoriously opaque nuclear effort. The discovery of...

A floundering regime may have weakened itself with its latest bloody crackdown. Let’s hope so NO ONE knows whether the Iranian regime’s latest bout of violent repression marks an ill-judged step towards its own much-merited demise or if it will cow the dissenters into sullen but long-lasting acquiescence. But the violence marks a change in the nature of the struggle that has been fought out since last June’s tainted presidential election. The regime may catch its breath before it embarks on another round of shooting and clubbing. But the prospect that it is losing its grip, perhaps even terminally, has...

LONDON (Jan. 5) -- Iran's supreme leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, likes to portray himself as a simple man of faith, interested only in spiritual -- not material -- wealth. But an exiled Iranian filmmaker says that behind this frugal front, Khamenei luxuriates in an opulent lifestyle supported by an ill-gained fortune of about $30 billion. Celebrated director and Iranian opposition spokesman Mohsen Makhmalbaf laid out his exhaustive evidence of Khamenei's highlife on his personal Web site (a translated version can be read here), after interviewing ex-Intelligence Ministry officials and former Khamenei household employees who have fled abroad. His sources...

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...

The US administration is heading towards placing "paralyzing" sanctions on Iran, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren said Tuesday. Speaking to Army Radio, Oren added that although it was "too early," the US had also not yet abandoned the military option. "The Americans attribute the highest importance to the Iranian issue," he said during the interview. "The US, along with other countries, is preparing to impose paralyzing sanctions on [Iran], and preparations are happening even now." Oren went on to reject claims that US President Barack Obama was trying to downgrade relations between Washington and Jerusalem, saying, "The man is...

The recently-revealed Qom nuclear plant in Iran is buried so deep under concrete that a "regular" military attack would not affect it, Defense Minister Ehud Barak revealed to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee on Monday. Concerning Iran, the Defense Minister said that the Qom nuclear reactor was under construction for several years and is buried in a bunker that is resistant to regular bombing. He did not mention the prospect of a nuclear strike.

Shocking Video– Iranian Protesters Save Prisoners from Hanging in Sirjan & Attack Police Truck — Regime Thugs Shoot Down Protesters Iranian protesters in Sirjan rescued two prisoners being hanged by the brutal regime. They rushed the Iranian officials smashed up their truck and cut the prisoners down. Doug Ross posted photos of the prisoners being rescued. The regime called in assistance and shot and killed a number of protesters. The Western media reported that the prisoners were rescued by relatives but it looks more like the whole town helped with the rescue. The Western media also said that the regime...

The fire in front of IRIB was coming from a car's tyre. It's said ppl set fire on a police van #Iranelection Clashes in Qom, Esfahan, Najafabad, Kashan, Shiraz, Babol & Mashhad (as well as Tehran), reports & witnesses say #IranElection RT People are outside of the IRIB and it seems that they are getting ready to attack the building to take over the IRIB. Unconfirmed: clashes in front of Voice and Visage of Iran (broadcasting station) #IranElection ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

security forces being stormed the people rise up more and more my life is only for iran they chant

WARNING:m Graphic Violence http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/35447_Video-_Iranian_Protesters_Ransack_a_Police_Station#rss

COORDINATION CENTER FOR NATIONAL IRANIAN ARMED RESISTANCE FORCES DECLARES ITS EXISTENCE. This announcement was received via telephone from a high ranking Army officer of NIRU from Iran Start of announcement Saturday December 26th, 2009 In the name of God the Merciful & Forgiving Praise be to God and peace on the His Messenger (PBUH) and his family I take refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan The coordination center for National Iranian Armed Resistance Forces (NIRU) hereby declares its existence & accuses the current government and the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Mr. Sayyed Ali Khamenei of legal transgressions and...

Iranian Endgame -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- by P. David Hornik On Tuesday, Danielle Pletka wrote in the Washington Post that “Iran is proceeding with an aggressive nuclear weapons program,” and that apart from “a few dogged holdouts,…much of the Obama administration has come to terms with that reality.” By “coming to terms” Pletka means that, while recognizing Iran’s aggressive intentions, “official Washington has resigned itself to pursuing a containment policy”—which, as Pletka effectively argues, would be misplaced and unavailing in the case of Iran. But Pletka adds that “privately, Obama administration officials confess that they believe Israeli action will preempt our policy debate,...

The Kuwaiti newspaper al-Sayissa reported Wednesday that Iran has urgently summoned either Syrian Vice President Farouk Sharaa or Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. They are apparently being called to the Iranian capital to receive orders to be carried out in the event of Iranian nuclear sites being targeted in war, Israel Radio reported. The newspaper quoted a Gulf state diplomat as saying that Nasrallah will travel to Teheran in the coming days in order to receive his marching-orders. Iranian opposition organizations in Paris told the newspaper that the Iranian intelligence apparatus has established a bank...

AP PHOTOGRAPHER SEES PRO-GOVERNMENT MILITIA FIRE AT OPPOSITION PROTESTERS, KILLING AT LEAST 1. I work in a newsroom this just came across the wires.. Waiting for more info..

Diplomacy is doing nothing to stop the Iranian nuclear threat; a show of force is the only answer. WE MUST bomb Iran. It has been four years since that country's secret nuclear program was brought to light, and the path of diplomacy and sanctions has led nowhere. First, we agreed to our allies' requests that we offer Tehran a string of concessions, which it spurned. Then, Britain, France and Germany wanted to impose a batch of extremely weak sanctions. For instance, Iranians known to be involved in nuclear activities would have been barred from foreign travel — except for humanitarian...

Turin, 3 Sept.(AKI) - A young Nigerian Roman Catholic who faces death by stoning in his homeland for having had pre-marital sex with his girlfriend, has appealed to Italy not to deport him. "I am safe here. I know by the grace of God I will find life here, Felix Eugene told Adnkronos International (AKI). The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is due to begin considering on Monday whether Eugene, 27, can remain in Italy, where he has been living since 2004. "I know that as a young man, I can do any kind of work," said Eugene....

From the moment last Wednesday when Hizbollah fighters seized two Israeli soldiers, the Bush administration immediately held Iran and Syria responsible. The White House mounted a systematic campaign on the US airwaves to get that message across while seeking to put pressure on the G8 summit to unite in confronting those two governments. That it has become the received wisdom in the US that Iran was directing Hizbollah to deflect international pressure on Tehran's nuclear programme, is testimony to the Bush administration's ability to dominate the discourse in the mainstream media. The crisis has also demonstrated how it can rely...