Free Republic

Seven months after Interpol placed a former head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards on its most-wanted list, the fugitive suspected of state-sponsored terrorism last week traveled freely to Saudi Arabia, where he attended a religious conference hosted by King Abdullah. Mohsen Rezai, wanted by Argentina, is the subject of an Interpol "red notice" -- a request for a provisional arrest with a view to extradition, based on an arrest warrant or court decision. Saudi Arabia is a member state of the international policing organization. It was unclear Monday whether he was still in Saudi Arabia, but his presence was brought to...

Sean Penn had long ago wondered about the source of his irrational disdain for America and its values. At home or on the movie set, the progressive actor would often find himself muttering, "The Great Satan must be destroyed!" but couldn't quite put his finger on the reasons why. His mysterious predisposition towards wife-beating, accentuated by wearing a mustache, made him wonder on many occasions, who he could blame for it. "I knew it couldn't be my fault," the Oscar-winning actor told us. "Individual responsibility is a sham invented by the Republicans to put minorities in jail. So I couldn't...

Warns of 'Enemy Plots' Ahead of Iran Vote December 29, 2007 AFP/ Yahoo News! TEHRAN -- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday urged Iranians to be alert against enemy plots ahead of legislative elections next March, in statements broadcast on state television. "The Iranian nation has to be alert" ahead of the polls, Khamenei told visitors in remarks made on the occasion of the Eid al-Qadir feast which commemorates the Prophet Mohammed's last sermon. Khamenei described the March elections as a major test of wills for the Iranian people. "The enemy may benefit from any negligence and hurt...

Chairman of the Experts Assembly Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Wednesday that the "important" report issued by 16 US intelligence agencies is neither against Tehran nor benefits Washington. The report released on December 3 by the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), said, they did not "assume that Iran intends to acquire nuclear weapons." Addressing the 4th congress of Moderation and Development, he commented on reasons for issuing the report, stressing: "My primary speculation is that the report has been issued either by the Democrats or independent groups. The report might have been issued by experts since their investigation has...

Iran: Hope is No Substitute for Policy 23/11/2007 Amir Taheri With all attention focused on the conflict between the Islamic Republic and the United Nations over the nuclear issue, little notice is taken of the power struggle within the Khomeinist ruling elite in Tehran. What impact will that struggle have on the broader conflict between Tehran and the UN? Would the outcome of that struggle determine whether Iran would provoke a new war in the region? These questions are currently debated within policymaking circles in both Europe and the United States. While the predominant American view is that any effect...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, is coming under increasing pressure to rein in Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the president, over the radical stance he has taken on the country’s nuclear programme, analysts said on Tuesday. The pressure is coming from Iran’s reformists and conservative pragmatists who have intensified their warnings about the threat they believe Mr Ahmadi-Nejad’s intransigence over the nuclear programme poses to national security. The escalation of tensions at the top of the regime was exposed on Monday in public speeches given by both Mr Ahmadi-Nejad and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, an influential former president. The president called critics of...

Khatami to Lead Iranian Opposition in Elections, Says Brother October 06, 2007 Deutsche Presse-Agentur monstersandcritics.com Tehran -- Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami will lead the opposition coalition in next the country's March parliamentary elections, the cleric's brother told the Fars news agency on Saturday. 'As far as I know, he will not directly nominate himself but lead the (opposition) coalition,' Mohammad-Reza Khatami of the reformist Islamic Participation Front said. After the two defeats of the 2004 parliamentary and 2005 presidential elections, the reformist and moderate factions formed a coalition and hope to regain power in 2008. The Iranian parliament is...

Rafsanjani to Lead Key Iran Body September 04, 2007 BBC News BBCi Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been elected speaker of a powerful clerical body responsible for supervising Iran's Supreme Leader. The Assembly of Experts has the power to dismiss the Islamic state's highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mr Rafsanjani will succeed Ayatollah Ali Meshkini, who died in July. Correspondents say the appointment further consolidates the authority of Mr Rafsanjani, who is already a powerful figure in Iranian politics. Considered a "pragmatic conservative", Mr Rafsanjani's victory will also be seen as a blow to Iran's hardline president, Mahmoud...

One of Iran's most powerful politicians has provoked controversy by suggesting that the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the country's Islamic revolution, wanted to drop its signature chant, Death to America. The claim is made by Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatic conservative and former president, in the newly-published latest volume of his memoirs, entitled Towards Destiny. Mr Rafsanjani discloses that a decision was made during Iran's 1980-88 war with Iraq, when he was speaker of the Iranian parliament and one of Khomeini's closest confidants. Recollecting a parliamentary session on July 4 1984, he writes: "Mr Imam-Mousavi [an MP] came and...

Chairman of the Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Saturday that if the US dares to launch any military attack on Iran it would be regarded as a suicide for that country. In an exclusive interview with Al-Arabiya TV channels on Friday night, he said the issue is regarded as a psychological warfare and there is no doubt that the role of UNSC would be highlighted but there are lots of concerns as to what extent such measures would bear fruits. "We are now facing various threats and challenges but we believe that the past experiences should be used...

How Supreme Is Iran's Supreme Leader? July 23, 2007 The Washington Institute for Near East Policy Patrick Clawson and Mehdi Khalaji Reports that Ayatollah Ali Meshkini has either died or is on the brink of death shed light on the nature of power in Iran. Meshkini is speaker of the Assembly of Experts -- a body that, despite its traditionally minor role in Iranian politics, is constitutionally empowered to not only elect a new Supreme Leader if the post becomes vacant, but also to dismiss a sitting leader. Current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei cannot be pleased that this body may...

The Myth of Moderate Mullahs It's still Khomeini's Iran http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/401lsgzo.asp If the Reagan administration had learned in 1987 that the clerical regime in Tehran was doing what it is doing today, would Washington have approved of preventive strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities? If Reagan and company had seen Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini rapidly constructing uranium-enrichment centrifuges in underground facilities, pushing doggedly ahead on heavy-water research and a plutonium-making nuclear reactor, and spending profusely on the development of long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles that are effective weapons only if topped with WMD warheads, would more of the U.S. foreign-policy establishment have urged our...

TEHRAN, Iran - A powerful leading rival of Iran's hard-line president said Wednesday that Tehran will "remove obstacles" blocking negotiations with the United States if Washington shows good will. President Bush dismissed the possibility of talks. Former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, a high-ranking cleric, has no formal foreign policy portfolio but holds seats on two of Iran's most important government bodies. Seen as one of the country's most influential figures, Rafsanjani in recent weeks has become an increasingly high-profile public advocate of a more conciliatory stance towards the U.S. and its allies in the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program. "Any...

MUST READ - James Baker Works to Establish Direct Diplomatic USA - Iran Ties Former US Secretary of State Baker Attempts to Bypass Bush White House on Iran Defense & Foreign Affairs Analysis. By Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS. Former US Secretary of State James Baker, who co-chaired the recent US Iraq Study Group — the main recommendations of which were rejected by the George W. Bush Administration — is working indirectly and behind the scenes to bring about direct diplomatic ties between the US and Iran. This is in defiance of Bush White House policy which essentially has said...

Alienation of revolutionary forces is a deadly poison for country Rafsanjani Tells Iranians to Brace for Massive Global Conspiracy TEHRAN, Jan. 26 (MNA) -- Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has advised Iranian officials to pay more attention to the people and to brace for a “massive global conspiracy”. “We should come back to ourselves, act on the basis of paying attention to the people and Islam, and brace for a massive global conspiracy,” he said in a sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran. The Westerners have launched an enormous evil media propaganda campaign claiming that the United States will...

TEHRAN, Iran - Elder statesman Hashemi Rafsanjani, a mercurial cleric who has played both sides of Iran's reformist-conservative divide, is rising again as a key challenger to Iran's president after local elections show deep discontent with the president's hard line. Last week's elections for local councils in towns and cities across Iran were seen as a referendum on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's 18 months in office, and results so far were showing widespread victories for his opponents. Since taking power, Ahmadinejad has escalated Iran's confrontation with the United States and the West on multiple fronts, in particular drawing the threat of...

Iran reformist regains influence Mr Rafsanjani has got a new lease of political life Iran's moderate former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has won election to Iran's powerful clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, results show. With more than half the votes counted, Mr Rafsanjani, who was defeated in the 2005 presidential election, had a clear lead at the top of the list. The election - and simultaneous local polls - was seen as a test of support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Early results suggest liberals and moderates have regained some influence. Official results have not yet been announced in either...

Excerpt - TEHRAN (AFP) - Centrist cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was running well ahead of his ultra-conservative rival Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi in elections for Iran's Assembly of Experts, with half the votes counted, state television said. Both clerics were standing to be one of the 16 men who will represent Tehran province in the Assembly of Experts, the body which chooses and supervises the supreme leader. ~ snip ~

The Shark and the Crocodile go head to head today in elections for a clerical assembly empowered to appoint the next supreme leader of Iran. The animals are the nicknames of two powerful figures vying for control of the panel. The Assembly of Experts has the power to appoint and dismiss Iran’s religious leader and during its next ten-year tenure will likely need to usher in a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is 67. The wider country will be putting the popularity of President Ahmadinejad to the test in today’s municipal elections. The poll is the first since he...

Vast majority of Iranian lawmakers vote to move up presidential elections by 18 months, final say on matter up to Ahmadinejad's arch-rival. Will Ahmadinejad's term be cut short? The Iranian parliament voted on Sunday to unite the presidential elections with the upcoming parliamentary ones, this according to the official Iranian news agency. The proposal, which passed with a surprising 80 percent majority, may cut the term of sitting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by 18 months. The bill must still be ratified by the Iranian constitutional committee, which is headed by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad's arch-rival, a fact which many...

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13215137.htm Argentina says Iran meddling in its bombing probe 14 Nov 2006 01:33:20 GMT Source: Reuters Printable view | Email this article | RSS [-] Text [+] BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Argentina on Monday accused Iran of meddling in its internal affairs in the latest diplomatic back-and-forth over Argentina's accusations that Iranian officials were behind the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires. An Argentine Foreign Ministry official asked Iran's Charge d'Affaires Mohsen Baharvand to explain reports that a top Iranian prosecutor demanded arrest warrants for Argentine officials days after Argentina had asked for the...

HOLLYWOOD starlets who regret topless appearances in B-list films made before they hit the big time should spare a pitying thought for their Iranian counterparts - who risk far more than mere embarrassment.In a scandal now gripping the conservative Islamic country, police are investigating a private film circulating on the black market that purports to show a rising young soap star making love to her boyfriend. The woman is being investigated for a suspected breach of the country's morality laws that prohibit sex outside marriage. Lashing is the penalty. Her alleged partner in the footage, which has spread across the...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentine prosecutors asked a federal judge on Wednesday to order the arrest of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and seven others for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center that killed scores of people. The decision to attack the center "was undertaken in 1993 by the highest authorities of the then-government of Iran," prosecutor Alberto Nisman said at a news conference. He said the actual attack was entrusted to the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah. The worst terrorist attack ever on Argentine soil, the bombing of the Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires killed 85 people and...

2 minutes ago BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentine prosecutors asked a judge on Wednesday to issue an arrest warrant against former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and other Iranian officials in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center that killed scores of people. The decision to attack the center "was undertaken in 1993 by the highest authorities of the then-government of Iran," prosecutor Alberto Nisman said at a news conference. Nisman said the actual attack was entrusted to the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah. The worst terrorist attack ever on Argentine soil, the bombing of the Jewish cultural center killed 85 people...

It should be obvious to any thinking person that we in the west are engaged in a life-or-death struggle with the dark side of Islam. From the turmoil we are seeing in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the obvious support that so-called, peaceful Muslims in the Middle East give to the terrorists, and from the clear indications that in large portions of Europe, they have already won, it’s also clear that we are in for a long and difficult struggle for the survival of our way of life and of our civilization.

HOW IRAN'S NUKE QUEST BEGAN Amir Taheri October 5, 2006 -- IRAN'S President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to vehemently deny the Islamic Republic's desire to develop nuclear weapons. But last week, his rival for power came out with sensational revelations that paint a completely different picture - pointing to the military reasons why Iran revived its nuclear program in 1988. The rival is businessman/mullah Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who served as president from 1989-'97 but lost to Ahmadinejad last year. His revelations relate to 1988, when he was speaker of the Majlis (parliament) and also commander-in-chief of the armed forces (acting on...

his year, the nuclear proliferation spotlight has swung away from Iraq and North Korea, only to focus on Iran. Western intelligence agencies have not discovered clandestine Iranian nuclear weapon facilities, nor have they, in fact, developed irrefutable evidence that Iran has a bomb program. But they have assembled a substantial body of evidence suggesting that, although Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it is secretly pursuing a broad, organized effort to develop nuclear weapons ... But it was Secretary of State Warren Christopher who, on May 1 [1995], gave the clearest statement of the U.S. position on Iran's nuclear...

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)...

A power struggle between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his leading political antagonist Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is complicating the conflict between Iran and the international community over the country’s nuclear program. Both Ahmadinejad and Rafsanjani are trying to use the nuclear issue for their maximum domestic political benefit, helping to stoke international alarm over Tehran’s intentions. Debate on the international response to Iran’s nuclear program has intensified since the April 11 announcement by Iran that it had successfully enriched a small amount of uranium. A day later, Iran’s deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, announced that the country would seek...

Israel will “never dare” attack Iran because Tehran’s hand can reach the Jewish state, the former president of the Islamic republic warned today. “Israel will never dare to attack Iran … because it knows what the result would be,” Hashemi Rafsanjani said during a visit to Kuwait, across the Gulf from Iran. Rafsanjani was responding to a question about possible attacks on Iran if it failed to cooperate with the West and the Security Council on stopping its controversial programme for enriching uranium.

Iranian: U.S. Waging 'Psychological War' By SAMAR KASSABLI, Associated Press Writer Iran's former president accused the United States Sunday of waging "a psychological war" against Tehran and said an American strike against the Islamic republic would not be in Washington's interests. Former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who heads the Expediency Council, a powerful body that mediates between Iran's parliament and clerical hierarchy, said Western nations' attempts to block Iran's nuclear program were "unjust." "Iran's success in uranium enrichment is for the interest of the region's countries and all Islamic countries," Rafsanjani said. He reiterated the government position that Iran's nuclear...

TEHRAN, Iran - Former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani said Tuesday that Iran has enriched uranium using 164 centrifuges, a major development in nuclear fuel cycle technology, news agencies reported. Rafsanjani made the comment to the Kuwait News Agency during an interview in Tehran. "Iran has put into operation the first unit of 164 centrifuges, has injected (uranium gas) and reached industrial production," the Kuwait News Agency quoted Rafsanjani as saying. Iranian authorities had promised to announce "good nuclear news" on Tuesday.

In 1995, former Iranian president Ali Hashemi Rafsanjani made a little-noticed trip to the neighboring country of Georgia. He spent several hours in Tbilisi, the capital, and then instead of returning to Iran, he made a secret side trip to the breakaway region of Adjara to visit President Aslan Abashidze. The purpose of the detour was not to visit the balmy, palm-treed tourist sea port resort of Batumi on the Black Sea. His purpose was more sinister. The Iranian president was looking for black market sources of chemicals to enrich uranium for building a nuclear bomb. He found a willing...

Iran’s former President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Wednesday that the United States was faced with defeat in the Middle East. Addressing an open session of the Assembly of Experts, an exclusively clerical body that designates the country’s all-powerful Supreme Leader, Rafsanjani called for unity among the ruling theocracy’s various factions. “We must pursue our [nuclear] plans on the basis of our desired goals to strengthen internal unity”, Rafsanjani said, pointing out that this should be done regardless of whether Iran is referred to the United Nations Security Council or not. Rafsanjani said that Washington was pursuing a...

TEHRAN 14 Dec. (IPS) One of Iran’s most influential ruling cleric called Friday on the Muslim states to use nuclear weapon against Israel, assuring them that while such an attack would annihilate Israel, it would cost them "damages only". "If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world", Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani told the crowd at the...

By stating his wish to see Ariel Sharon, “the criminal of Sabra and Shatilla dead and joining his ancestors”, the news Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad demonstrated that not only he is genuinely anti-Semite, but he has not the slightest human compassion and feeling. "Hopefully, the news that the criminal of Sabra and Chatilla has joined his ancestors is final", the extravagant, islamo-populist Ahmadinejad told hard line religious students in the holy city of Qom, known as the “cradle” of militant Shi’ism, where he took his cabinet for meeting on Thursday. His remark were so shocking that most of Iranian press,...

TEHRAN 14 Dec. (IPS) One of Iran’s most influential ruling cleric called Friday on the Muslim states to use nuclear weapon against Israel, assuring them that while such an attack would annihilate Israel, it would cost them "damages only". "If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world", Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani told the crowd at the...

Former Iran leader: Zionists’ days numbered Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani says in meeting with senior Hamas member Khaled Mashal in Tehran, ‘high spirit, resistance of Palestinians people for the restoration of their violated rights are among the factors leading to current situation encountered by the Zionists. Mashal: Politics can only compliment resistance Roee Nahmias The Zionist entity's days are numbered, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said in a meeting with senior Hamas member Khaled Mashal, according to an Islamic Republic News Agency report. Iran's Plan for Israel Iran: Israel should be moved to Europe / Yitzhak Benhorin...

Tehran, Iran, Dec. 07 – Iran’s former president and strongman Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told an international trade management show that Iran had come out as the “winner” in the United States-led war on Iraq and Washington had ended up as the loser, the official state-run news agency reported on Wednesday. Rafsanjani said that Washington had set its sights on Tehran, but it never “thought that the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan would be to Iran’s advantage and to its own loss”. “All the recent events in the region, including the meddling by the West and America in Afghanistan...

Wisdom prevailed at UN atomic meeting-Iran cleric Nov 25, 2005 Influential Iranian cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Friday the U.N. nuclear watchdog's latest statement on Iran's disputed atomic program was a step in the right direction but still had elements of "harassment." The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) decided on Thursday not to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions in order to give Russia time to broker a compromise deal under which Moscow would enrich Iran's processed uranium. "This time a kind of wisdom, precaution, and an avoidance of adventurism prevailed over the IAEA meeting,"...

"Iran’s stance has always been clear on this ugly phenomenon [i.e., Israel]. We have repeatedly said that this cancerous tumor of a state should be removed from the region.” No, those are not the words of Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking last week. Rather, that was Ali Khamene’i, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s supreme leader, in December 2000. In other words, Ahmadinejad’s call for the destruction of Israel was nothing new but conforms to a well-established pattern of regime rhetoric and ambition. “Death to Israel!” has been a rallying cry for the past quarter-century. Ahmadinejad quoted Ayatollah Khomeini, its founder,...

Top News Story Protests, Protests, and more Unrest in Iran over the past few days.Protests: Iran Press News reported on the protest and conflict at Najafabad University. A first hand account.Iran Press News reported that students from the Abbasspour University for Water and Power Industry protested against the regime's guards in their university.Iran Press News reported that an angry mob, protesting the violent and oppressive actions of the disciplinary forces of the regime, attacked governmental bureaus in the Province of Qeshm.SMCCDI reported that drivers of many Iranian Collective Buses refused to validate passenger's tickets, today, in order to protest...

Two recent reports from inside of Iran, if accurate, are very troubling. Iran's Government Seeks Agreement with 12th Imam - in hiding since 13th century?Kamal Tehrani, Rooz Online: a "reformist" website In a formal cabinet meeting chaired by Iran's new president’s first deputy, the ministers printed and ratified an agreement with the Shiites' 12th Imam. In his opening remarks, Parviz Davoudi, Ahmadinejad' first deputy suggested that the cabinet ministers should sign an agreement with 12th Imam, the same way they signed a pact with the new president. The ministers collectively agreed and so there is now an agreement between...

Top News Story Iranmania LONDON, October 16 (IranMania) -Iranian officials said on Sunday they suspected British involvement in a double bomb attack in the ethnic-Arab dominated city of Ahvaz, despite furious denials and condemnation of the attacks from London. Two bombs exploded outside a crowded market late Saturday in Ahvaz, capital of the oil-rich Khuzestan province adjacent to British-occupied southern Iraq. Five people were killed and more than 100 injured, according to the latest official toll. "Since there are British troops present alongside our border, there is a concern over their involvement in the explosions in Ahvaz," Alaeddin Borujerdi,...

Iran's hard-lines admit defeat in IraqIran Press News: Translation by Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi The regime-run web site, BAZTAB, in a report admitted to the regime's political defeat in soliciting the support of the people of Iraq and the region where dozens of Arab-language media, backed by the regime, including Al Alam TV are being broadcast. BAZTAB wrote: "The Al Alam news channel was supposed to be the mouthpiece for the views of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Arab-speaking countries and was meant to compete with some of these immoral western TV networks, in order to restore the popularity of...

Top News Story UK 'sells' bomb material to Iran DTI is accused of approving controversial exports British officials have approved the export of key components needed to make nuclear weapons to Iran and other countries known to be developing such weapons. An investigation by BBC Radio 4 programme File on Four will disclose that the Department of Trade and Industry allowed a quantity of the metal, Beryllium, to be sold to Iran last year. That metal is needed to make nuclear bombs. Britain has had an arms embargo to Iran since 1993 and has signed up to an international...

Top News Story The al-Zawahiri Letter A window into the mind of the enemy.by Dan Darling 10/12/2005 7:20:00 PM THE FULL TEXT of the just-released letter from al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri to Iraqi insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, dated July 9, 2005, makes it clear that not only are al-Zawahiri and bin Laden symbolic leaders to the global jihad, but they are still active in running their terror network, too. The letter includes references to the fighting in Afghanistan, a peripheral acknowledgement of ongoing al Qaeda-backed insurgencies in Chechnya and Kashmir, and a discussion of the steps the...

Top News Story Iran accused of training Iraqi bombers Wed Oct 12, 2005 6:50 AM BST LONDON (Reuters) - London has accused Iran of running training camps to teach militants how to carry out roadside bomb attacks on British troops in southern Iraq, according to newspaper reports on Wednesday.The government believes Iran's Revolutionary Guard has taught Shi'ite militia members from Iraq how to make armour-piercing devices, the Daily Mirror reported, citing an unnamed defence source."There is evidence that there are teaching camps in Iran, Lebanon and maybe Syria," the source was quoted as saying. "It means up to 10...

Two Under-reported Developments in Iran's Nuclear Programs. Iran Designs Nuke Warhead For Shihab-3 Middle East Newsline: Iran was said to have designed a nuclear warhead for the Shihab-3 intermediate-range ballistic missile. The United States has briefed several nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency of an Iranian program to develop a nuclear warhead for the Shihab-3. Diplomatic sources said the U.S. briefers asserted that from 2001 to 2003 Iran designed and developed a circular warhead that could detonate at an altitude meant to ensure optimal damage. An empty nuclear warhead was said to have been installed on the Shihab-3...

Top News Story Now we know the truth about Iran, we must actBy Con Coughlin(Filed: 09/10/2005)It was not the outcome the Foreign Office had been planning. When it was announced early last week that a senior British diplomat in Baghdad was flying back to London to give a briefing on Iraq's constitutional referendum, the general expectation in Whitehall was that the following day's headlines would focus exclusively on whether sufficient numbers of Iraqis would turn out to validate the exercise.Imagine the surprise, then, of Jack Straw and his officials the following morning when they opened their newspapers to discover...