Free Republic

To fully grasp Iran’s current situation, we need to be reminded of the Islamic revolution of 1979. Many Iranians have compared the 1979 Islamic revolution to the Arab-Muslim conquest of Persia in 651 AD when Arab conquerors forced the Persians to convert to Islam and started to demolish Zoroastrian temples. Those who refused to convert, a special tax was imposed known as jizya (poll tax), and acquired the status of dhimmis. Ibn Kathir (Commenting on Quran 2:256 in the unabridged version of his tafsir) -- "Therefore all people of the world should be called to Islam. If anyone of them...

In 2008, the Bush administration, along with the “six powers,” was negotiating with Iran concerning that country’s nuclear arms program. The Bush administration’s objective was to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. On July 20, 2008, the New York Times headlined: “Nuclear Talks With Iran End in a Deadlock.” What caused the talks to founder? The Times explained: Iran responded with a written document that failed to address the main issue: international demands that it stop enriching uranium. And Iranian diplomats reiterated before the talks that they considered the issue nonnegotiable. The Iranians held firm to their position, perhaps because...

The Obama administration is declining to inform Congress about the number of American citizens and troops killed by Iran and its terror proxies, according to a document provided to Congress and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The administration was repeatedly asked by Congress to release figures describing how many Americans and Israelis have been killed by Iran’s military and terror activities since the country’s 1979 revolution. In a series of on-the-record responses obtained exclusively by the Free Beacon, and provided in written form to Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), Kerry sidestepped the questions on all of the three separate...

FOLLOWING a harrowing three-day hearing at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the Iran Tribunal delivered its interim judgment on October 27th. According to the tribunal, which has no legal standing, the Islamic Republic of Iran committed crimes against humanity and gross violations of human rights against its citizens during “the bloody decade” of 1980s. The tribunal was set up in 2007 by survivors and families of victims living in exile and comprises leading jurists from around the world. It heard statements from experts and witnesses on how the Islamic Republic systematically crushed political and religious dissent in the decade...

The Islamic Republic Is Not Iran By Amil Iman We just don't get it. The Left in America is screaming to high heaven that the mess we are in, in Iraq and the war on terrorism has been caused by the right-wing and that George W. Bush, the so-called "dim-witted cowboy," has created the entire mess. The truth is the entire nightmare can be traced back to the liberal democratic policies of the leftist Jimmy Carter, who created a firestorm that destabilized our greatest ally in the Muslim world, the shah of Iran, in favor of a religious fanatic, the...

Americans were stunned on October 11 when the Justice Department unsealed its complaint against Mansour Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old used-car dealer from Corpus Christi now in federal custody, and Ali Gholam Shakuri, a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force. Shakuri remains inside Iran. The pair have been charged with conspiring to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington, Adel Al-Jubeir. As disclosed by the Treasury Department, the plot was coordinated by Arbabsiar’s cousin, Abdul Reza Shahlai, a top Quds Force functionary whom the Treasury designated in 2008 as one of several “individuals and entities fueling violence in Iraq.” Shahlai was...

Despite repeated, self-serving claims by Obama officials that the Administration did everything it could to head off and then respond appropriately to the violence against American facilities in Libya and Egypt last week, their blunders in policy, intelligence and security illustrates an incompetence every bit as profound as exhibited by the administration of Jimmy Carter in Iran 33 years ago. It appears nothing has been learned in more than three decades; despite significant gains in technology available to the U.S. government during those intervening years. In 1979, the Carter Administration precipitously abandoned the Shah of Iran, Washington’s long-time and loyal...

The seizure of more than 60 Americans in our Embassy in Tehran has provoked strong feelings here at home. There is outrage. There is frustration. And there is deep anger. There is also pride in the courage of those who are in danger and sympathy for them and for their families. But the most important concern for all Americans at this moment is safety of our fellow citizens held in Tehran. The President shares these feelings. He is pursuing every possible avenue in a situation that is extremely volatile and difficult. His efforts involve many countries and individuals. Many of...

Journalist and author Fareed Zakaria has made some grave accusations against those who oppose the building of the Islamic center near Ground Zero, and has predicated his own approval of the project on the moderateness of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Zakaria wrote that Abdul Rauf “has said one or two things about American foreign policy that strike me as overly critical — but it’s stuff you could read on The Huffington Post any day.” Yes, indeed — you are likely to read similar “stuff” on the Huffington Post, since Rauf has written there. But how can that possibly constitute a...

Iranian forces beat the son of an opposition leader for five hours after events marking the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Republic. The bearded men in plainclothes who grabbed Ali from a crowd of anti-regime protesters and hauled him to a nearby mosque had no idea who they had arrested. It wasn't until the regime thugs had finished beating him and the 50 or so other young men they had rounded up that they checked his identity papers.

Today in Iran protesters for democracy are filling the streets on the 31st Anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. The tyrannical Iranian regime is continuing with their policy of using intimidation and brutality to quash the protests. Helping the totalitarian government with their violence and abuse is Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens. Despite an embargo of selling such products to Iran, the company has sold a "big brother-like" spy system to Ahmadinejad's nut house. A spokesman for NSN said the servers were sold for "lawful intercept functionality," a technical...

Thirty-one years ago this week, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran after 15 years in exile. The anniversary is usually marked by triumphant rallies. Not this time: protesters are planning mass demonstrations against a regime they say has betrayed Islamic ideals.

Photographic evidence shows Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad collecting ingredients for a so-called "dirty bomb" he will likely use to attack the West.

Mideast: As the death of a dissident cleric spawns renewed protests, Sen. John Kerry seeks to make nice with the oppressors of those who truly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. How about regime change, Senator? The death toll from the brutal suppression of the latest round of Iranian protests against their government has reached double digits. We wonder if the senator still wants to be the highest U.S. official to visit Tehran since U.S. hostages were held for 444 days by the very same regime. To Kerry and this administration, the problem is one of mistrust and misunderstanding. Come, let...

Note: Photo and video included. SNIPPET: "It appeared to be a typical Al-Quds Day rally, replete with hateful speeches about the destruction of the State of Israel and the waving of Hizballah flags. The rally resembled other international versions of this year's Al-Quds Day celebration, an annual Islamist holiday initiated by Iranian revolutionary and terrorism exporter, Imam Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini. However, this event wasn't held in downtown Karachi or Damascus, but in downtown Washington, D.C's Sheridan Circle. The rally was organized by an employee of the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning, Faheem Darab. It even featured speakers as...

Millions of Iranians take to the streets to defy a theocratic dictatorship that, among its other finer qualities, is a self-declared enemy of America and the tolerance and liberties it represents. The demonstrators are fighting on their own, but they await just a word that America is on their side. And what do they hear from the president of the United States? Silence. Then, worse. Three days in, the president makes clear his policy: continued "dialogue" with their clerical masters...Dialogue with a regime that is breaking heads, shooting demonstrators, expelling journalists, arresting activists. Engagement with -- which inevitably confers legitimacy...

I just got the following tweet: RT @pennjillette Changed settings so I'm from Iran. don't know if it'll confuse any bad guys, but maybe if we all do it . . . .#Iranelection Hey, it can't hurt.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The exiled leader of the biggest Iraqi opposition group called Thursday on Iraqis to converge in the Shiite holy city of Karbala to oppose a U.S.-led interim administration and defend Iraq's independence. Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, chose the southern Iraqi city and the date - next Tuesday - because of their connections to Hussein, the grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad and one of Shiite Islam's most revered heroes. "I call on Iraqis to converge in Karbala to oppose any sort of foreign domination and support...

A group of exiled Iranians demonstrated in Oslo on Tuesday against both Nobel Prize winner Jimmy Carter and the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The group of around 40 people shouted "Shame on the Nobel Committee" and "Shame on Carter" as they demonstrated outside Norway's National Theater. The theater is located near the Oslo City Hall, where Carter was awarded the Peace Prize in a traditional annual ceremony. The demonstrators claimed that both the US and Jimmy Carter, as a former US president, share responsibility for the revolution in Iran in 1979 that unseated the shah and allowed the Ayatollah Khomeini to...