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Rooz Online, Iran's reformist English-Language newspaper reported that Ayatollah Khamenei is rumored to have "authorized the arrest" of Ranking Reformist Mehdi Karroubi. In response, Hashemi Rafsanjani reacted to the issurance of the directive by declaring "I will resign from everything." Meanwhile, subsequent to Iran's NSC ordering the Iranian media not to publish reports about the election supporters of Ahmadinejad published numerous attack pieces against Karroubi who has accused the government of raping and torturing demonstrators in prison.

According to Majid Ansari, member of the Association of Combatant Clerics, cases of sexual abuse of prisoners are certain and the evidence regarding them has been already handed to officials of the Islamic Republic. Mehdi Karoubi, a disputing candidate of the recent presidential elections in Iran, was the first to officially publicize reports of the alleged sexual assault. In a letter to Hashemi Rafsanjani, Chairman of Council of Experts, he had urged an immediate investigation of the reports. After ten days, having received no response from Ayatollah Rafsanjani, he released the letter to the media. While Karoubi and Ansari and...

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's supreme leader told politicians Monday not to disturb the country's security in a strong warning to the opposition to back down after one of its top figures called for a referendum on the government. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed "Iran's elite" and warned them to be cautious in the positions they take on the turmoil that has shaken the country since the disputed presidential election on June 12.

"Friday Prayers, another occasion to come out into the streets As with other such days, I felt a dual sense of fear and fervor, heightened by the uncertainty of whether people would turn out or not. I arranged to go with friends, because the past month’s experiences have taught me that going alone is unsafe. I remembered to put my name and number on a piece of paper in my pocket so if anything happens to me, my family can be notified. Two kilometers left to the venue: Tehran University, Prayer Hall" -- "Generosity has become commonplace in Tehran these...

The Iranian army has arrested 36 officers who planned to attend last week's Friday prayer sermon by former president Hashemi Rafsanjani in their military uniforms as an act of political defiance, according to Farsi-language websites. The officers intended the gesture to show solidarity with the demonstrations against last month's presidential election result, which was won by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but which has been clouded by allegations of mass fraud. Rafsanjani used the sermon at Tehran university to challenge the authority of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, by questioning the result in the presence of the defeated reformist candidate, Mir Hossein...

Under the headline of a call for unity, former Iranian President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani has actually ensured that the divisions in Iran will continue and possibly increase. Mr Rafsanjani's first public comments since the election were eagerly awaited. It was clear the government was extremely nervous: media coverage of Friday prayers was restricted. Some journalists and opposition supporters reported problems over being allowed access to the ceremony at Tehran University. No doubt there was a fierce battle behind the scenes for him to be allowed to speak. Open challengeSince the election more moderate voices appear to have been sidelined...

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Several prominent Iranian conservative figures and hard-line newspapers offered sharp criticism on Saturday of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who delivered a speech on Friday that assailed the government’s handling of last month’s presidential election.

The past month in Iran has been harrowing for anyone who believes that human beings deserve freedom from tyranny. We have witnessed an election stolen by an old guard of conservative elements headed by the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei (I call this group KhamCo for short), followed by a popular uprising unparalleled since the 1979 revolution. This old guard trampled roughshod over the will and aspirations of the people of Iran with impunity, thinking that they could use the fact that there was an 85% turnout of the electorate in the June 12th presidential to legitimize the regime without...

Tens of thousands of Iranians flooded the streets of Tehran yesterday to hear the country’s most influential powerbroker pronounce the Islamic Republic in crisis and as he called for the release of those arrested in recent pro-democracy demonstrations. Militiamen confront protestors outside Tehran University today In a devastating attack on the regime, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a leading cleric and former President, told a crowd at Tehran University that the Government had lost the people’s trust. Referring to the handling of last month’s disputed election, which President Ahmadinejad claims to have won, he said that the custodians of the Islamic...

There will be no regime change in Iran unless (a) protests continue in the face of the recent repression and (b) the regime fractures. Today, brought evidence that both of these conditions (which are necessary but perhaps not sufficient) may be fulfilled. First, protests broke out in Tehran. Second, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran's former president and a key figure in the regime, criticized the government and called for the release of hundreds of protesters and democracy advocates arrested in recent weeks. As to the first development, thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets chanting against the regime. It was...

TEHRAN, Iran – Tens of thousands of government opponents packed Iran's main Islamic prayer service Friday, chanting "freedom, freedom" and other slogans as their top clerical backer Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivered a sermon bluntly criticizing the country's leadership over the crackdown on election protests.

Video at the BBC Website: Amateur video appearing to show protests after Friday's prayers Former Iranian President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani has called for the release of people jailed after protesting at the result of the recent election.In his first Friday sermon since the vote, he also said large numbers of Iranians still doubted its result. Outside, police fired tear gas at thousands of opposition supporters who were chanting slogans in support of defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Chanting also broke out among some of the tens of thousands of people inside. Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in streets near the...

Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's harsh rebuke of Ahmadinejad supporters is followed by renewed violence, suggesting the discontent over recent election results is as strong as ever.Reporting from Tehran and Beirut -- Security forces fired tear gas and plainclothes militiamen armed with batons charged at crowds of protesters gathered near Tehran University after a Friday prayer sermon delivered by the cleric and opposition supporter Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, his first appearance at the nation's weekly keynote sermon since before the election. Rafsanjani, in a closely watched speech, lashed out at the hard-line camp supporting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, criticized the...

Tehran University's prayer hall has been the stage for high drama since the early days of the Islamic revolution, and Hashemi Rafsanjani'sappearance today was another of many electrifying moments in Iran's recent history. Rafsanjani's calls to restore trust by releasing prisoners, freeing the media, using only legal means, and by dialogue between opposition and the regime, were couched in the language of legitimacy and justice. "Don't let our enemies laugh at us by putting people in prison," the cleric urged. "We must search for unity to find a way out of our quandary."

Rafsanjani says many Iranians have election doubts 1 hr 48 mins ago TEHRAN (Reuters) – Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Friday a "large group of Iranians" had doubts about last month's disputed presidential election and that something should be done about the situation. Rafsanjani also called for the release of protesters and others detained after the June poll. "In the current situation it is not necessary for us to have a number of people in prisons ... we should allow them to return to their families," he said during a Friday prayer sermon.

TEHRAN, Iran — Senior Iranian cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is calling for the release of opposition supporters arrested in the government's crackdown on postelection protests. Rafsanjani has made the call during his sermon at Iran's main Friday prayers, where tens of thousands of opposition supporters have gathered in a show of strength for their movement. Rafsanjani is considered their top supporters in Iran's clerical leadership. Rafsanjani says keeping the detainees in prison "is not necessary," saying "we should not let enemies criticize or laugh at us ... for keeping our people in jail."

Former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is also head of the powerful Expediency Council, has met with the families of some of the political prisoners and promised to pursue their cases. Rafsanjani's much-anticipated Friday prayer sermon this week will likely generate another boost for the reformists and their call for the release of all prisoners. The test for Rafsanjani, who has yet to congratulate Ahmadinejad for his electoral victory, is how to press the demands of the reformists while at the same time playing an effective mediating role and a vital bridge over the great chasm that has...

Reporting from Beirut -- Iran's leading opposition figure and his wife emerged Tuesday night to pay their respects to the family of a 19-year-old man slain during recent weeks of violence, according to witnesses and reports on news websites. Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his popular wife, Zahra Rahnavard, visited the family of Sohrab Aarabi in Tehran, paying tribute to the teenager whose death and whose mother's desperate weeks-long quest to find her son have emerged as a symbol of the protest movement against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The power struggle inside Iran appears to be moving from the streets into the heart of the regime itself this weekend amid reports that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani is plotting to undermine the power of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Rafsanjani's manoeuvres against Khamenei come as tensions between the speaker of the parliament, Ali Larijani, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also appeared to be coming to a head.

TEHRAN: The daughter of Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and four relatives were arrested over their involvement in protests against alleged election fraud in Iran, the Fars news agency reported on Sunday. Faezeh Hashemi, a renowned women's rights activist, former parliament deputy and head of women sports in Iran, has in the recent years emerged, like her father, as one of the main opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad had before the June 12 election accused Rafsanjani and his children of corruption. Fars said that Faezeh, her daughter and three other relatives were arrested during Saturday's

By HAMZA HENDAWI – 51 minutes ago CAIRO (AP) — One of Iran's most powerful men may be playing a key role behind closed doors in the country's escalating postelection crisis. Former president and influential cleric Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani has made no public comment since Iran erupted into confrontation between backers of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and reformists who claim he stole re-election through fraud. But Iranian TV has shown pictures of Rafsanjani's daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, speaking to hundreds of opposition supporters. And Rafsanjani, who has made no secret of his distaste for Ahmadinejad, was conspicuously absent from an address...

I've been puzzling over a seemingly incongruous report. That Ayatollah Yazdi, whom I have always heard was a hardcore attack dog/enforcer for the Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, had been arrested! Thios does not seem to correlate. I take all these uncorroborated reports with several grains of salt..( at one point I heard that Rafsanjani had been arrested, and taken to the residence of the Supreme leader...But now we hear he has been hiding out in Qom...) But he (Yazdi) like Rafsanjani, has been conspiuous in their absence from the scenes. Anyone know anything more than I do?

The uprising in Iran can only succeed if there are fundamental shifts within the clerical power structure that runs the country. There are now signs that an opposition group is crystallizing within the religious leadership.

TEHRAN, June 9 -- Three days before Iranians go to the polls to elect a president, one of the country's most powerful clerics, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, issued an open letter on Tuesday complaining that the country's supreme leader has remained silent in the face of "insults, lies and false allegations" by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The unusual letter reflects the intensity of the Iranian election campaign, laying bare the deep political rifts and sore feelings within the country's leadership. It is rare for senior Iranian clerics to publicly criticize the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Rafsanjani's letter came a...

TEHRAN -- Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has urged U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to refrain from using the antagonistic language that was the trademark of the George W. Bush administration. “Clinton should refrain from repeating such words so that the atmosphere that has been created in Iran is not destroyed,” he told worshipers in a sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran. During an address to the U.S. Congress earlier this week, Clinton said, “We are more than willing to reach out to the Iranians to discuss a range of issues.” However, if diplomacy fails, “We are also...

A proposal by the United States to begin dialogue with Iran has been cautiously welcomed by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iranian president. Iran is also prepared to help Washington in its military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rafsanjani told Al Jazeera on Monday... Rafsanjani's comments came after Joe Biden, the US vice-president, said that Washington is open to negotiations with Tehran if it abandons its nuclear programme... The US and other Western powers say that Tehran's uranium enrichment programme is focused towards the manufacture of a nuclear weapon. Iran, for its part, says that it is not trying to...

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...