Free Republic

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hit back on Wednesday after an ex-nuclear negotiator he accused of spying was cleared of espionage, calling for the publication of documents exposing the official. The Iranian judiciary the day before had cleared Hossein Moussavian on two counts of espionage and holding classified information, in direct contradiction of the government's accusations against the former atomic negotiator. "The full content of the negotiation of this ex-member of the nuclear negotiating team should be published," Ahmadinejad said after a cabinet meeting, according to the Mehr news agency. "It is very appropriate that the intelligence content...

And this is precisely why change to the Iranian regime will never come from within it. It cannot. Absolute dictatorial regimes – be they religious or otherwise – are structured for the purpose of perpetuating themselves. They are not democratic in nature, subject to the will of the people they rule or even of the people within them. Any true moderate or reformist influences will not enjoy a fair and equal opportunity to advance based on the merits of their ideas in the eyes of their peers. They will be silenced and stamped out as “heretical”. Iran desperately needs a...

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died in hospital in Tehran where he was taken after suffering a heart attack on Sunday, state media reported. State-run Press TV said Rafsanjani, 82, died despite efforts by doctors to save him. Residents said a crowd gathered outside the hospital where Rafsanjani was taken in the Tajrish neighbourhood in northern Tehran. …

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday hailed Iran's "glorious" elections for parliament and the Assembly of Experts, a powerful body that will pick his successor, declaring that the turnout showed "the brilliant face of religious democracy to the world." The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), meanwhile, called the election participation -- the regime reported a turnout of more than 60 percent -- "devastating for [Iran's] enemies," led by the United States. [...] Many international media outlets are highlighting the strong showing, in Tehran in particular, of so-called "reformists" allied to President Hasan Rouhani, characterizing it as a show of...

Iran considered pursuing a nuclear deterrent when it began its nuclear program in the 1980s, during an eight-year war with Iraq, a former president has been quoted as saying. Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s comments comes at a sensitive moment, as Iran implements an agreement reached with world powers in July aimed at curbing its nuclear program, to allay Western fears it was trying to build an atomic bomb. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, is investigating whether Iran’s nuclear program ever had a military application. It is due to issue a report by Dec. 15....

The Word of God says... “I will destroy the archers of Elam [Persia]— the best of their forces. I will bring enemies from all directions, and I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds.. I will destroy its king and officials," Jeremiah 49:35,36,38. For more than two decades, this ministry has joined others in warning of a U.S. led coalition against the Islamic nations of Iraq, followed by Iran--the Goat vs. the two-horned Ram in Daniel 8:1-8. Iraq’s defeat by the American-led coalition commenced on March 19, 2003, at Shushan Purim—the day Purim is celebrated in Jerusalem....

Now the Iranian constitution requires a new president to be elected, and Rafsanjani’s entry into the contest radically alters what was previously seen as a contest between rival conservative groups. Not that Rafsanjani currently is more than a relative moderate – currently, because in his time he has veered sharply from side to side across Iran’s political spectrum; and relatively moderate because, although he now favours a domestic free market, privatization of state-owned industries, and a moderate position internationally, he is still sought by the Argentinian government for ordering the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in...

Iran’s former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who registered on Saturday for next month’s presidential election, is disliked among regime hardliners for criticizing the crackdown that followed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009. This pragmatic moderate, who in 2011 lost the post of head of the Assembly of Experts that supervises the activities of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has never hidden his intense opposition to Ahmadinejad who beat him in the 2005 presidential election. … Rafsanjani—president from 1989 to 1997—is considered to favor rapprochement with the West. He played an important role in the election of the reformist Mohammad Khatami,...

TEHRAN – Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi announced on Wednesday that a 125-page indictment has been issued for Mehdi Hashemi, the son of Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejeii had previously said, “As soon as the indictment is issued, efforts will be made to hold the court hearing.” Mehdi Hashemi was released from prison on December 17 on a bail of 100 billion rials ($8,156,606). He faces charges of inciting unrest after the 2009 presidential election.

Human Rights Travesty By Kenneth R. Timmerman FrontPageMagazine.com | July 23, 2007 If human rights abuses were ranked like baseball careers, Iran’s ruling clerics and the mighty midget they’ve installed as president would deserve honored places in the 21st Century’s Hall of Shame. On July 10, Iran’s Interior ministry confirmed the sentence, handed down ten days earlier by a court in the north of the country, condemning a man to death by stoning. If you’ve never witnessed a stoning (and most of us haven’t, I trust), you can get a flavor for the barbarity of this Koranic punishment from a...

Hitler's Muslim Nephew Comes to New York September 24, 2007 FrontPageMagazine.com Kenneth R. Timmerman What was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinking? Apparently the former Democrat believed that escorting Iran’s Hitler-wannabe president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to the site of the September 11 memorial at Ground Zero would generate a terrific photo op. “Here I am with world leaders,” that type of thing. After all, Bloomberg has already made his appearance at the “World Leaders Forum” at Columbia University, so he was in the zone. And last year, U.S. News & World Report crowned him as one of America’s “best leaders.” But...

The daughter of influential former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was taken to prison late on Saturday to serve a six-month sentence for "spreading anti-state propaganda," Iranian media reported. Faezeh Rafsanjani, a former member of parliament, was convicted in January and sentenced to jail.

Iran ex-president's website 'shut down' (AFP) – 20 hours ago TEHRAN — A website belonging to Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has criticised the current regime, has been shut down, his brother told the ISNA news agency on Friday. "Yesterday (Thursday) evening, the company that provides the services made contact to tell us that they had been ordered to stop providing us the service," Mohammed Hashemi was quoted as saying. "Fifteen minutes later, the site was no longer accessible," he added. "We are going to see on Saturday who gave that order." He explained that Iran's internet surveillance...

TEHRAN, Iran — The daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been brought to trial on charges of making propaganda against the ruling system.

Americans can't ignore recent developments. The publication of an alleged Iranian document in Perfil, the Argentinian daily newspaper, has touched off an issue no American can ignore. The document claims that the governments of Argentina and Iran had reached an agreement to freeze the investigation into the 1994 AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) bombing that killed 85 people — and that the two countries were discussing and considering trade agreements with an estimated value of $1.2 billion.Argentina’s Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, who traveled to Israel on Wednesday, April 7, for a two-day visit, sidestepped the issue, raised by both the...

A rapid succession of challenges directed at Iran in recent days has reignited a debate in Tehran over how to deal with the rest of the world. Iran's rulers, led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, continue to refuse any negotiations in which they would have to compromise. But an influential faction is now pushing for back-channel talks with the United States as a step toward lowering the tensions raised by U.S. allegations about an Iranian assassination plot. In urging that Iran do more to address foreign criticism, members of the group have also pointed to the rising international pressure...

Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani lost his position as head of an important state clerical body on Tuesday, a move which tightens the hardliners' grip on power. -excerpt- An ambush challenge by arch hard-liner Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi-Kani forced Rafsanjani to withdraw from running for re-election as chairman of the Assembly of Experts. The 86-member clerical body has the authority to dismiss Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 71, but it has never exercised that power since it was established in 1983. It also appoints the new leader if the old one is removed or dies.

The Argentinean prosecutor who ferreted out Iranian links to Argentina's largest terror attack warned Wednesday of Teheran's growing terror network in Latin America. "The Iranians are moving fast," assessed Alberto Nisman, who has secured Interpol backing for the arrest of several Iranians, including former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, for ordering the July 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community offices in Buenos Aires. "We see a much greater penetration than we did in 1994." He said that Iran, particularly through Lebanese proxy Hizbullah, has a growing presence in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, using techniques it honed in Argentina before the...

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iranian state radio says an arrest warrant has been issued for the son of influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on charges of fomenting the 2009 postelection unrest. The Tuesday report quotes deputy judiciary chief Ebrhim Raisi as saying the arrest warrant for Mahdi Hashemi has been issued and "he will be detained upon arrival in the country."

Iran's embattled president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is savouring a victory over his moderate opponents, foremost among them one of Iran's most influential powerbrokers. The country's supreme leader issued a "final and definite" decree giving Mr Ahmadinejad's government control of Iran's largest private university, which has previously been overseen by allies of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, himself a former president. The Islamic Azad University, which has more than 1.3 million students in 357 campuses across Iran, was a major site of protests against Mr Ahmadinejad's fiercely disputed re-election last year. Mr Rafsanjani sits on the board of the university, which has significant...