Sunday 1 July 2007
Wednesday 4 April 2007
Can Christ’s Body Be Discovered?
“Jesus’ Tomb” – Part 2
Can Christ’s Body Be Discovered?
When first announced, the Discovery Channel documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus stirred controversy worldwide, especially among theologians and professing believers.
Yet the Church was in the midst of an even greater controversy 2,000 years ago: Will Christians be resurrected from the dead?
The apostle Paul had to address this terribly confused thinking: “Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (I Cor. 15:12-14).
Yet the Church was in the midst of an even greater controversy 2,000 years ago: Will Christians be resurrected from the dead?
The apostle Paul had to address this terribly confused thinking: “Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (I Cor. 15:12-14).
The hope of Christianity hinges on whether Christ was resurrected from the dead, and whether Christians will also be resurrected. “For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (vs. 16-19).
Throughout the rest of the chapter, Paul confirms that Christians will be resurrected—instantly changed from mortal flesh to immortal spirit (vs. 51-53). Old Testament figures such as Job wrote about this hope: “If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come” (Job 14:14)—a hope that will be fulfilled upon Jesus Christ’s Return (I Thes. 4:13-17).
Throughout the rest of the chapter, Paul confirms that Christians will be resurrected—instantly changed from mortal flesh to immortal spirit (vs. 51-53). Old Testament figures such as Job wrote about this hope: “If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come” (Job 14:14)—a hope that will be fulfilled upon Jesus Christ’s Return (I Thes. 4:13-17).
Tricks of the intelligence trade
Tricks of the intelligence trade
But what if it is revealed later, when they are finally released, that the Iranians have actually treated them very well and have not used violence or torture to force them to say these things?
A likely scenario, I think, is that the Iranian interrogators have been feeding disinformation to the British sailors and have managed to make them believe not only that they were in Iranian waters when caught but that the British government has also admitted this and apologised for it, and that now they have realised their mistake, a genuine apology would best serve their own and their country's interest.
The Iranian intelligence service has used this technique before on some Iranian dissidents and the results were satisfactory. In one case they had even produced a bogus version of a well-known newspaper to persuade them.
In this way, without even touching the detainees or doing anything that could legally be considered as torture, either physical or psychological, they may have managed to get the words they want from the detainees.
That's why the interrogators don't allow the detainees to have any contact with the outside world, so that the detainees can only be fed with disinformation that could naturally and logically lead them into willingly doing or saying exactly what the interrogators want.
I'm not a lawyer to have an opinion on the legality of this behaviour, but there is no doubt this is morally wrong.
Isn't this exactly what the American and British governments have been doing to their own people through their supposedly free media? Isn't this similar to the way Bush and Blair paved their way to invade Iraq by manipulating information about WMDs in Iraq, Saddam's link to al-Qaida, and Iraqi people's demand to be freed by the Americans?
There the UK and US governments fed the media with disinformation and the media in turn manipulated the people into doing what the government wanted: approving and supporting the invasion of Iraq.
Here, the Iranian Intelligence service has fed the detained sailors with a different type of disinformation to have them do or say what Iran wants: admitting the border violation and apologising for it, and then it has used the media to spread these statements.
What Iran is doing now by using the combination of disinformation and global media has long been used by the UK and US governments. Iran has just learned its lesson very well.
The Iranians may have used disinformation rather than torture to make the British sailors apologise
Let's say Iran has indeed tricked the British sailors into appearing on camera and apologising for entering Iranian waters.
But what if it is revealed later, when they are finally released, that the Iranians have actually treated them very well and have not used violence or torture to force them to say these things?
A likely scenario, I think, is that the Iranian interrogators have been feeding disinformation to the British sailors and have managed to make them believe not only that they were in Iranian waters when caught but that the British government has also admitted this and apologised for it, and that now they have realised their mistake, a genuine apology would best serve their own and their country's interest.
The Iranian intelligence service has used this technique before on some Iranian dissidents and the results were satisfactory. In one case they had even produced a bogus version of a well-known newspaper to persuade them.
In this way, without even touching the detainees or doing anything that could legally be considered as torture, either physical or psychological, they may have managed to get the words they want from the detainees.
That's why the interrogators don't allow the detainees to have any contact with the outside world, so that the detainees can only be fed with disinformation that could naturally and logically lead them into willingly doing or saying exactly what the interrogators want.
I'm not a lawyer to have an opinion on the legality of this behaviour, but there is no doubt this is morally wrong.
Isn't this exactly what the American and British governments have been doing to their own people through their supposedly free media? Isn't this similar to the way Bush and Blair paved their way to invade Iraq by manipulating information about WMDs in Iraq, Saddam's link to al-Qaida, and Iraqi people's demand to be freed by the Americans?
There the UK and US governments fed the media with disinformation and the media in turn manipulated the people into doing what the government wanted: approving and supporting the invasion of Iraq.
Here, the Iranian Intelligence service has fed the detained sailors with a different type of disinformation to have them do or say what Iran wants: admitting the border violation and apologising for it, and then it has used the media to spread these statements.
What Iran is doing now by using the combination of disinformation and global media has long been used by the UK and US governments. Iran has just learned its lesson very well.
Hopes rise that Britons will be freed
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The sudden release of an Iranian diplomat missing for two months in Iraq raised new hope Tuesday that 15 British sailors and marines seized by Iran may soon be freed.
It also suggests the standoff over the captive Britons may end with a de facto prisoner swap — something both Tehran and London have publicly discounted.
Diplomat Jalal Sharafi arrived in Tehran on Tuesday, hours after he was freed by his captors in Iraq, officials said. He was seized Feb. 4 by uniformed gunmen in Karradah, a Shiite-controlled district of Baghdad.
Iran alleged the diplomat had been abducted by an Iraqi military unit commanded by U.S. forces — a charge repeated by several Iraqi Shiite lawmakers. But U.S. authorities denied any role in his disappearance.
CONTINUE.........
ABC News Exclusive: The Secret War Against Iran
Brian Ross and Christopher Isham Report:
Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News.
The group, called Jundullah, is made up of members of the Baluchi tribe and operates out of the Baluchistan province in Pakistan, just across the border from Iran.
It has taken responsibility for the deaths and kidnappings of more than a dozen Iranian soldiers and officials.
U.S. officials say the U.S. relationship with Jundullah is arranged so that the U.S. provides no funding to the group, which would require an official presidential order or "finding" as well as congressional oversight.
Tribal sources tell ABC News that money for Jundullah is funneled to its youthful leader, Abd el Malik Regi, through Iranian exiles who have connections with European and Gulf states.
Jundullah has produced its own videos showing Iranian soldiers and border guards it says it has captured and brought back to Pakistan.
The leader, Regi, claims to have personally executed some of the Iranians.
"He used to fight with the Taliban. He's part drug smuggler, part Taliban, part Sunni activist," said Alexis Debat, a senior fellow on counterterrorism at the Nixon Center and an ABC News consultant who recently met with Pakistani officials and tribal members.
"Regi is essentially commanding a force of several hundred guerrilla fighters that stage attacks across the border into Iran on Iranian military officers, Iranian intelligence officers, kidnapping them, executing them on camera," Debat said.
Most recently, Jundullah took credit for an attack in February that killed at least 11 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard riding on a bus in the Iranian city of Zahedan.
Last month, Iranian state television broadcast what it said were confessions by those responsible for the bus attack.
They reportedly admitted to being members of Jundullah and said they had been trained for the mission at a secret location in Pakistan.
The Iranian TV broadcast is interspersed with the logo of the CIA, which the broadcast blamed for the plot.
A CIA spokesperson said "the account of alleged CIA action is false" and reiterated that the U.S. provides no funding of the Jundullah group.
Pakistani government sources say the secret campaign against Iran by Jundullah was on the agenda when Vice President Dick Cheney met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in February.
A senior U.S. government official said groups such as Jundullah have been helpful in tracking al Qaeda figures and that it was appropriate for the U.S. to deal with such groups in that context.
Some former CIA officers say the arrangement is reminiscent of how the U.S. government used proxy armies, funded by other countries including Saudi Arabia, to destabilize the government of Nicaragua in the 1980s.
Tuesday 3 April 2007
By Webster G. TarpleyOnline Journal Contributing Writer
WASHINGTON DC, -- The long awaited US military attack on Iran is now on track for the first week of April, specifically for 4 am on April 6, the Good Friday opening of Easter weekend, writes the well-known Russian journalist Andrei Uglanov in the Moscow weekly “Argumenty Nedeli.” Uglanov cites Russian military experts close to the Russian General Staff for his account.
The attack is slated to last for 12 hours, according to Uglanov, from 4 am until 4 pm local time. Friday is the sabbath in Iran. In the course of the attack, code named Operation Bite, about 20 targets are marked for bombing; the list includes uranium enrichment facilities, research centers, and laboratories.
The first reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, where Russian engineers are working, is supposed to be spared from destruction. The US attack plan reportedly calls for the Iranian air defense system to be degraded, for numerous Iranian warships to be sunk in the Persian Gulf, and for the most important headquarters of the Iranian armed forces to be wiped out.
The attacks will be mounted from a number of bases, including the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia is currently home to B-52 bombers equipped with standoff missiles. Also participating in the air strikes will be US naval aviation from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, as well as from those of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Additional cruise missiles will be fired from submarines in the Indian Ocean and off the coast of the Arabian peninsula. The goal is allegedly to set back Iran’s nuclear program by several years, writes Uglanov, whose article was reissued by RIA-Novosti in various languages, but apparently not English, several days ago. The story is the top item on numerous Italian and German blogs, but so far appears to have been ignored by US websites.
Observers comment that this dispatch represents a high-level orchestrated leak from the Kremlin, in effect a war warning, which draws on the formidable resources of the Russian intelligence services, and which deserves to be taken with the utmost seriousness by pro-peace forces around the world.
Asked by RIA-Novosti to comment on the Uglanov report, retired Colonel General Leonid Ivashov confirmed its essential features in a March 21 interview: “I have no doubt that there will be an operation, or more precisely a violent action against Iran.” Ivashov, who has reportedly served at various times as an informal advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is currently the vice president of the Moscow Academy for Geopolitical Sciences.
Ivashov attributed decisive importance to the decision of the Democratic leadership of the US House of Representatives to remove language from the just-passed Iraq supplemental military appropriations bill that would have demanded that Bush come to Congress before launching an attack on Iran. Ivashov pointed out that the language was eliminated under pressure from AIPAC, the lobbing group representing the Israeli extreme right, and from Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni.
“We have drawn the unmistakable conclusion that this operation will take place,” said Ivashov. In his opinion, the US planning does not include a land operation: “ Most probably there will be no ground attack, but rather massive air attacks with the goal of annihilating Iran’s capacity for military resistance, the centers of administration, the key economic assets, and quite possibly the Iranian political leadership, or at least part of it,” he continued.
Ivashov noted that it was not to be excluded that the Pentagon would use smaller tactical nuclear weapons against targets of the Iranian nuclear industry. These attacks could paralyze everyday life, create panic in the population, and generally produce an atmosphere of chaos and uncertainty all over Iran, Ivashov told RIA-Novosti. “This will unleash a struggle for power inside Iran, and then there will be a peace delegation sent in to install a pro-American government in Teheran,” Ivashov continued. One of the US goals was, in his estimation, to burnish the image of the current Republican administration, which would now be able to boast that they had wiped out the Iranian nuclear program.
Among the other outcomes, General Ivashov pointed to a partition of Iran along the same lines as Iraq, and a subsequent carving up of the Near and Middle East into smaller regions. “This concept worked well for them in the Balkans and will now be applied to the greater Middle East,” he commented.
“Moscow must exert Russia’s influence by demanding an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to deal with the current preparations for an illegal use of force against Iran and the destruction of the basis of the United Nations Charter,” said General Ivashov. “In this context Russia could cooperate with China, France and the non-permanent members of the Security Council. We need this kind of preventive action to ward off the use of force,” he concluded.
The attack is slated to last for 12 hours, according to Uglanov, from 4 am until 4 pm local time. Friday is the sabbath in Iran. In the course of the attack, code named Operation Bite, about 20 targets are marked for bombing; the list includes uranium enrichment facilities, research centers, and laboratories.
The first reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, where Russian engineers are working, is supposed to be spared from destruction. The US attack plan reportedly calls for the Iranian air defense system to be degraded, for numerous Iranian warships to be sunk in the Persian Gulf, and for the most important headquarters of the Iranian armed forces to be wiped out.
The attacks will be mounted from a number of bases, including the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia is currently home to B-52 bombers equipped with standoff missiles. Also participating in the air strikes will be US naval aviation from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, as well as from those of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Additional cruise missiles will be fired from submarines in the Indian Ocean and off the coast of the Arabian peninsula. The goal is allegedly to set back Iran’s nuclear program by several years, writes Uglanov, whose article was reissued by RIA-Novosti in various languages, but apparently not English, several days ago. The story is the top item on numerous Italian and German blogs, but so far appears to have been ignored by US websites.
Observers comment that this dispatch represents a high-level orchestrated leak from the Kremlin, in effect a war warning, which draws on the formidable resources of the Russian intelligence services, and which deserves to be taken with the utmost seriousness by pro-peace forces around the world.
Asked by RIA-Novosti to comment on the Uglanov report, retired Colonel General Leonid Ivashov confirmed its essential features in a March 21 interview: “I have no doubt that there will be an operation, or more precisely a violent action against Iran.” Ivashov, who has reportedly served at various times as an informal advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is currently the vice president of the Moscow Academy for Geopolitical Sciences.
Ivashov attributed decisive importance to the decision of the Democratic leadership of the US House of Representatives to remove language from the just-passed Iraq supplemental military appropriations bill that would have demanded that Bush come to Congress before launching an attack on Iran. Ivashov pointed out that the language was eliminated under pressure from AIPAC, the lobbing group representing the Israeli extreme right, and from Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni.
“We have drawn the unmistakable conclusion that this operation will take place,” said Ivashov. In his opinion, the US planning does not include a land operation: “ Most probably there will be no ground attack, but rather massive air attacks with the goal of annihilating Iran’s capacity for military resistance, the centers of administration, the key economic assets, and quite possibly the Iranian political leadership, or at least part of it,” he continued.
Ivashov noted that it was not to be excluded that the Pentagon would use smaller tactical nuclear weapons against targets of the Iranian nuclear industry. These attacks could paralyze everyday life, create panic in the population, and generally produce an atmosphere of chaos and uncertainty all over Iran, Ivashov told RIA-Novosti. “This will unleash a struggle for power inside Iran, and then there will be a peace delegation sent in to install a pro-American government in Teheran,” Ivashov continued. One of the US goals was, in his estimation, to burnish the image of the current Republican administration, which would now be able to boast that they had wiped out the Iranian nuclear program.
Among the other outcomes, General Ivashov pointed to a partition of Iran along the same lines as Iraq, and a subsequent carving up of the Near and Middle East into smaller regions. “This concept worked well for them in the Balkans and will now be applied to the greater Middle East,” he commented.
“Moscow must exert Russia’s influence by demanding an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to deal with the current preparations for an illegal use of force against Iran and the destruction of the basis of the United Nations Charter,” said General Ivashov. “In this context Russia could cooperate with China, France and the non-permanent members of the Security Council. We need this kind of preventive action to ward off the use of force,” he concluded.
Russia anxious about military action against Iran near its border
Russia anxious about military action against Iran near its border
Novosti
Novosti
MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is concerned about a possible attack on Iran and insists that military action near its border is totally unacceptable, the first deputy foreign minister said Tuesday.
Russia, which is separated from Iran in the south by three tiny South Caucasus nations and shares a sea border with the Islamic Republic, has been actively promoting a diplomatic solution to the Iranian issue.
"Any military action near our border is totally unacceptable," Andrei Denisov said. "We are strongly against it and we are doing our best to prevent it from happening."
Media reports in late March said Washington was preparing to strike at Iran in early April but Denisov denied the information.
"Our partners say movement of military structures in the Persian Gulf is part of a planned rotation," the diplomat said.
Yury Baluyevsky, the head of the Russian General Staff, warned Washington earlier Tuesday that it should think twice before launching a military campaign against Tehran as it would have global implications.
"Our strategic partners have already got bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said.
The U.S. Administration sees Iran as a "rogue state" and is determined to stop the Islamic Republic, diplomatically or otherwise, from obtaining nuclear weapons. Washington now plans to deploy a missile defense shield in Central Europe allegedly to protect itself from potential missile strikes from Iran or North Korea.
The UN Security Council passed a new resolution on Iran March 24 toughening economic sanctions against the country suspected of a covert nuclear program. Russia, which is building a $1-billion nuclear power plant in Iran, has resisted any strict sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Russia, which is separated from Iran in the south by three tiny South Caucasus nations and shares a sea border with the Islamic Republic, has been actively promoting a diplomatic solution to the Iranian issue.
"Any military action near our border is totally unacceptable," Andrei Denisov said. "We are strongly against it and we are doing our best to prevent it from happening."
Media reports in late March said Washington was preparing to strike at Iran in early April but Denisov denied the information.
"Our partners say movement of military structures in the Persian Gulf is part of a planned rotation," the diplomat said.
Yury Baluyevsky, the head of the Russian General Staff, warned Washington earlier Tuesday that it should think twice before launching a military campaign against Tehran as it would have global implications.
"Our strategic partners have already got bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said.
The U.S. Administration sees Iran as a "rogue state" and is determined to stop the Islamic Republic, diplomatically or otherwise, from obtaining nuclear weapons. Washington now plans to deploy a missile defense shield in Central Europe allegedly to protect itself from potential missile strikes from Iran or North Korea.
The UN Security Council passed a new resolution on Iran March 24 toughening economic sanctions against the country suspected of a covert nuclear program. Russia, which is building a $1-billion nuclear power plant in Iran, has resisted any strict sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
U.S. asks Iran for info on missing agent
U.S. asks Iran for info on missing agent
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The State Department said Tuesday that a letter it sent this week to the Iranian government seeking information about a missing American in
Iran is its second inquiry into the man's welfare and whereabouts in a month.
Iran is its second inquiry into the man's welfare and whereabouts in a month.
Spokesman Sean McCormack said the department first asked about the case March 12, shortly after the former
FBI' agent was reported missing, but it had not received any credible information in response
FBI' agent was reported missing, but it had not received any credible information in response
As a result, the department on Monday sent a letter to authorities in Iran asking for help in locating the man, he said.
A U.S. official familiar with the case identified the missing former FBI agent as Robert Levinson. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said Levinson was on or near the Island of Kish when last heard from.
Both State Department inquiries to Iran were placed through the government of Switzerland, which represents U.S. interests in Iran. However, the initial outreach, which involved asking the Swiss Embassy in Tehran to look into the matter, was not public knowledge until Tuesday, McCormack said.
"I don't know specifically with whom they (the Swiss) interacted in the Iranian government," he told reporters. "I do know that they have gotten back to us and said they don't know his welfare and whereabouts."
The FBI said Monday that Levinson retired from the bureau nearly a decade ago and was in Iran on private business. He was last seen in Iran in early March and was not working for the FBI as a contractor, the agency said.
He was last heard from in a coastal area of southern Iran on or near Kish Island, where he was apparently working on a project for an independent filmmaker, officials said.
McCormack refused to say if the decision to make a written appeal directly to the Iranians reflected increased concern about the missing man, whom he declined to identify for a second day due to privacy concerns.
He confirmed the letter had been given to the Swiss but could not say whether the Swiss had delivered it to the Iranians.
U.S. citizens are not barred from traveling to Iran but they must obtain a visa even though Kish Island is a Persian Gulf resort area and free-trade zone for which no Iranian visa is required.
A U.S. official familiar with the case identified the missing former FBI agent as Robert Levinson. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said Levinson was on or near the Island of Kish when last heard from.
Both State Department inquiries to Iran were placed through the government of Switzerland, which represents U.S. interests in Iran. However, the initial outreach, which involved asking the Swiss Embassy in Tehran to look into the matter, was not public knowledge until Tuesday, McCormack said.
"I don't know specifically with whom they (the Swiss) interacted in the Iranian government," he told reporters. "I do know that they have gotten back to us and said they don't know his welfare and whereabouts."
The FBI said Monday that Levinson retired from the bureau nearly a decade ago and was in Iran on private business. He was last seen in Iran in early March and was not working for the FBI as a contractor, the agency said.
He was last heard from in a coastal area of southern Iran on or near Kish Island, where he was apparently working on a project for an independent filmmaker, officials said.
McCormack refused to say if the decision to make a written appeal directly to the Iranians reflected increased concern about the missing man, whom he declined to identify for a second day due to privacy concerns.
He confirmed the letter had been given to the Swiss but could not say whether the Swiss had delivered it to the Iranians.
U.S. citizens are not barred from traveling to Iran but they must obtain a visa even though Kish Island is a Persian Gulf resort area and free-trade zone for which no Iranian visa is required.
Blair: Next 48 hours 'critical' in sailors' row
Blair: Next 48 hours 'critical' in sailors' row
presstv
presstv
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said that the next two days would be "critical" in efforts to resolve the stand-off with Iran amid signs of progress toward ending the deadlock over the British captives. Britain seems to be taking a softer approach toward Tehran 12 days into the crisis, after a week of pushing for Iran's international isolation. "The next 48 hours will be fairly critical," he told Glasgow-based Real Radio, while welcoming comments by top Iranian official Ali Larijani, who envisaged a diplomatic solution. Larijani's comments seem to offer "some prospect," Blair said. The British Prime Minister's comments came after Iran and Britain reportedly started talks Tuesday, described as a first step toward resolving the row. Larijani said Tuesday the new contacts could create the conditions for ending the stand-off. "The British government has started diplomatic discussions with Iran's foreign ministry to resolve the issue of the British military personnel," Larijani told Iran's state television. Iran arrested the 15 British servicemen as they were trespassing into the country's territorial waters on March 23. All 15 sailors and marines admitted to their illegal entry and apologized to Iranian people. This comes as Iranian dailies agreed on Tuesday that Britain was scheming and had sent its sailors into Iranian waters to escalate the pressure on Iran.
Monday 2 April 2007
Iran Arrests Four Women Activists
Iran Arrests Four Women Activists
Reuters
Reuters
TEHRAN -- Four women's rights activists were arrested for collecting signatures for a campaign demanding equal legal rights for women in Iran, an Iranian news agency reported. The ILNA news agency said the women were collecting names for a so-called "one million signature campaign" demanding changes in what activists say are discriminatory laws against women in the Islamic Republic. "Four women activists were arrested in Tehran's Laleh Park this afternoon (Monday)," ILNA reported.
The report could not be independently confirmed. Iran denies discriminating against sexes and says its laws are based on Islamic sharia. A Web site www.nobelwomeninitiative.org reported the Iranian women activists launched the campaign in August 2006. Iran arrested more than 30 women activists last month when they protested outside a Tehran court in support of five other women detained last year. The authorities said it was an "unauthorised rally". The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, rebuked Iran for those arrests
Former FBI Agent Missing in Iran
The Associated Press
The New York Times
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. is seeking information from Iran about a former FBI agent who was reported missing while on a business trip there several weeks ago. FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said Monday the agent had retired nearly a decade ago and appeared to be in Iran on private business. He said the missing man was last seen there in early March and was not working for the FBI as a contractor. ''At this time, there are no indications that this matter should be viewed other than as a missing person case,'' Kolko said. Kolko also said the former agent had worked on traditional criminal issues such as organized crime cases -- drawing a distinction between those and international terrorism or intelligence work that could have taken him to Iran. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States saw no connection between the missing man and the current crisis between Iran and Britain over 15 British sailors and marines seized last month by Iranian forces. The department has sent a letter to the Iranians through diplomatic intermediaries, asking if authorities there have any information about the man, McCormack said. He said the State Department had been in constant contact with the man's family and his employers since he was reported missing, but the spokesman did not say why it had taken three weeks to get in touch with Iran about the case. ''It's an American private citizen who is in Iran on private business about whom we are pursuing welfare and whereabouts (information),'' McCormack told reporters. ''We have been monitoring this situation for a couple of weeks now.'' The Bush administration has increased diplomatic and other pressure on Iran in recent months, including added naval power in the Persian Gulf, while also making new overtures. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to sit down soon for international talks with Iran's foreign minister over the violence in neighboring Iraq. Washington and Tehran do not have diplomatic relations and U.S. interests in the country are represented by Switzerland. Citing privacy concerns, McCormack declined to give details about the name, age or occupation of the missing man. The man was last heard from around March 11 while in a coastal area of southern Iran on or near Kish Island, where he was apparently working on a project for an independent filmmaker. U.S. citizens are not barred from traveling to Iran but must obtain a visa, although Kish Island is a Persian Gulf resort area and free-trade zone for which no Iranian visa is required. A State Department official said the man is not of Iranian descent and that ''welfare and whereabouts'' requests for U.S. citizens reported missing in Iran average about two to three per year.
Iran Accuses US Jets Of Violating Airspace
Iran Accuses US Jets Of Violating Airspace
Nasdaq
RTTNews
Two US airplanes violated Iran's airspace in the southwestern oil-rich province of Khuzestan, Iran's state television Sunday quoted a local military commander as saying on its website. "Two aircraft on Saturday trespassed into Iranian airspace northwest of Abadan before flying southwest into Iraq," said Colonel Aqili, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Abadan. Colonel Aqili said the planes cast out white smoke trails, attracting the local people's attention but did not identify the types of the two US airplanes or their duration of the alleged violation. He also said that US airplanes had violated Iranian airspace several times in the past, but he did not provide details on the incident. Iranian troops had on January 16 shot down a US pilotless spy drone when it was trying to cross the borders "during the last few days," Seyed Nezam Mola Hoveizeh, a member of the Iranian parliament, was quoted as saying. However, the Hoveizeh gave no exact date of the downing or any other details about the incident, but said "the United States sent such spy drones to the region every now and then."
Two US airplanes violated Iran's airspace in the southwestern oil-rich province of Khuzestan, Iran's state television Sunday quoted a local military commander as saying on its website. "Two aircraft on Saturday trespassed into Iranian airspace northwest of Abadan before flying southwest into Iraq," said Colonel Aqili, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Abadan. Colonel Aqili said the planes cast out white smoke trails, attracting the local people's attention but did not identify the types of the two US airplanes or their duration of the alleged violation. He also said that US airplanes had violated Iranian airspace several times in the past, but he did not provide details on the incident. Iranian troops had on January 16 shot down a US pilotless spy drone when it was trying to cross the borders "during the last few days," Seyed Nezam Mola Hoveizeh, a member of the Iranian parliament, was quoted as saying. However, the Hoveizeh gave no exact date of the downing or any other details about the incident, but said "the United States sent such spy drones to the region every now and then."
Bush : 'Give back the hostages'
Associated Press
President Bush on Saturday said Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines was "inexcusable" and called for Iran to "give back the hostages" immediately and unconditionally.
Bush said Iran plucked the sailors out of Iraqi waters. Iran's president said Saturday they were in Iranian waters and called Britain and its allies "arrogant and selfish" for not apologizing for trespassing.
"It's inexcusable behavior," Bush said at the Camp David presidential retreat, where he was meeting with the president of Brazil. "Iran must give back the hostages. They're innocent. They did nothing wrong."
It was the first time that Bush had commented publicly on the captured Britons. Washington has taken a low-key approach to avoid aggravating tensions over the incident and shaking international resolve to get Iran to give up its uranium enrichment program.
Bush did not answer a question about whether the United States would have reacted militarily if those captured had been Americans. The president said he supports British Prime Minister Tony Blair's efforts to find a diplomatic resolution to the crisis, now in its second week.
Bush would not comment about Britain's options if Iran does not release the hostages, but he seemed to reject any swapping of the British captives for Iranians detained in Iraq.
"I support the prime minister when he made it clear there were no quid pro quos," Bush said.
Like Bush's words, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments were his most extensive on the crisis. They tracked tough talk from other Iranian officials, an indication that Tehran's position could be hardening.
"The British occupier forces did trespass our waters. Our border guards detained them with skill and bravery," Iran's official news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "But arrogant powers, because of their arrogant and selfish spirit, are claiming otherwise."
Britain, however, appeared to be easing its stance, emphasizing its desire to talk with Iran about what it termed a regrettable situation.
"I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen," British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said at a European Union summit in Bremen, Germany. "What we want is a way out of it."
Iran appeared unreceptive to possible talks with Britain.
"Instead of apologizing over trespassing by British forces, the world arrogant powers issue statements and deliver speeches," Ahmadinejad told a crowd in southeastern Iran.
The British sailors were detained by Iranian naval units March 23 while patrolling for smugglers near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway that has long been a disputed dividing line between Iraq and Iran. Britain also insists the sailors were in Iraqi waters.
In London on Saturday, the political wing of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen Khalq said the capture was planned in advance and carried out in retaliation for U.N. sanctions over Iran's nuclear program. The group is listed as a terrorist group by Britain, the U.S. and the European Union.
Blair has expressed disgust that the captured service members had been "paraded and manipulated" in video footage released by Iran. He warned Tehran that it faced increasing isolation if it did not free them.
Britain has frozen most contacts with Iran. The U.N. Security Council has expressed "grave concern" about the incident. The EU has demanded the sailors' unconditional release and warned of unspecified "appropriate measures" if Tehran does not comply — a position the Iranian Foreign Ministry called "bias and meddlesome."
Ahmad Bakhshayesh, a professor of politics in Tehran's Allameh University, said he's convinced that Iran is prepared to stand its ground and insist that the British violated Iranian territory.
"Iran will seriously continue the case and will put them on trial," Bakhshayesh said. "Only an apology by Britain can stop it. Iran thinks that Britons trespassed to test Iran's reaction, and now London is trying to isolate Tehran instead of apologizing."
But British officials are hopeful that diplomacy can resolve the crisis. The Foreign Office confirmed Saturday that Britain had replied to a letter received earlier in this week from the Iranian embassy. It declined to reveal the nature of either letter.
"We have been exchanging letters with the Iranian government, and we will continue to conduct or diplomatic discussions in private," a spokesman said on the government's customary condition of anonymity.
President Bush on Saturday said Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines was "inexcusable" and called for Iran to "give back the hostages" immediately and unconditionally.
Bush said Iran plucked the sailors out of Iraqi waters. Iran's president said Saturday they were in Iranian waters and called Britain and its allies "arrogant and selfish" for not apologizing for trespassing.
"It's inexcusable behavior," Bush said at the Camp David presidential retreat, where he was meeting with the president of Brazil. "Iran must give back the hostages. They're innocent. They did nothing wrong."
It was the first time that Bush had commented publicly on the captured Britons. Washington has taken a low-key approach to avoid aggravating tensions over the incident and shaking international resolve to get Iran to give up its uranium enrichment program.
Bush did not answer a question about whether the United States would have reacted militarily if those captured had been Americans. The president said he supports British Prime Minister Tony Blair's efforts to find a diplomatic resolution to the crisis, now in its second week.
Bush would not comment about Britain's options if Iran does not release the hostages, but he seemed to reject any swapping of the British captives for Iranians detained in Iraq.
"I support the prime minister when he made it clear there were no quid pro quos," Bush said.
Like Bush's words, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments were his most extensive on the crisis. They tracked tough talk from other Iranian officials, an indication that Tehran's position could be hardening.
"The British occupier forces did trespass our waters. Our border guards detained them with skill and bravery," Iran's official news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "But arrogant powers, because of their arrogant and selfish spirit, are claiming otherwise."
Britain, however, appeared to be easing its stance, emphasizing its desire to talk with Iran about what it termed a regrettable situation.
"I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen," British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said at a European Union summit in Bremen, Germany. "What we want is a way out of it."
Iran appeared unreceptive to possible talks with Britain.
"Instead of apologizing over trespassing by British forces, the world arrogant powers issue statements and deliver speeches," Ahmadinejad told a crowd in southeastern Iran.
The British sailors were detained by Iranian naval units March 23 while patrolling for smugglers near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway that has long been a disputed dividing line between Iraq and Iran. Britain also insists the sailors were in Iraqi waters.
In London on Saturday, the political wing of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen Khalq said the capture was planned in advance and carried out in retaliation for U.N. sanctions over Iran's nuclear program. The group is listed as a terrorist group by Britain, the U.S. and the European Union.
Blair has expressed disgust that the captured service members had been "paraded and manipulated" in video footage released by Iran. He warned Tehran that it faced increasing isolation if it did not free them.
Britain has frozen most contacts with Iran. The U.N. Security Council has expressed "grave concern" about the incident. The EU has demanded the sailors' unconditional release and warned of unspecified "appropriate measures" if Tehran does not comply — a position the Iranian Foreign Ministry called "bias and meddlesome."
Ahmad Bakhshayesh, a professor of politics in Tehran's Allameh University, said he's convinced that Iran is prepared to stand its ground and insist that the British violated Iranian territory.
"Iran will seriously continue the case and will put them on trial," Bakhshayesh said. "Only an apology by Britain can stop it. Iran thinks that Britons trespassed to test Iran's reaction, and now London is trying to isolate Tehran instead of apologizing."
But British officials are hopeful that diplomacy can resolve the crisis. The Foreign Office confirmed Saturday that Britain had replied to a letter received earlier in this week from the Iranian embassy. It declined to reveal the nature of either letter.
"We have been exchanging letters with the Iranian government, and we will continue to conduct or diplomatic discussions in private," a spokesman said on the government's customary condition of anonymity.
Iran fears U.S. attack in summer: Israeli general
Iran fears U.S. attack in summer: Israeli general
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -
Iran is making defensive preparations for what it fears will be a U.S. military attack this summer, Israel's military intelligence chief said on Sunday.
Iran is making defensive preparations for what it fears will be a U.S. military attack this summer, Israel's military intelligence chief said on Sunday.
Major-General Amos Yadlin also told the Israeli cabinet that Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas and
Syria' believed they could be targeted in any U.S.-initiated war against Iran, an Israeli government official said, briefing reporters on his remarks.
"What we are seeing is their preparation for the possibility of war in the summer. My assessment is that they are defensive preparations for war," Yadlin was quoted as saying, referring to Iran, Syria and Hezbollah.
The government official said Yadlin spoke about Iranian fears of a U.S., not an Israeli, offensive.
The official gave no details about the type of military preparations Yadlin said Iran was making to meet any U.S. attack.
"We are closely monitoring these preparations because (Iran, Syria and Hezbollah) could misinterpret various moves in the region," Yadlin said, according to the official.
In Washington on Thursday, UnderSecretary of State Nicholas Burns said the United States was "convinced diplomacy is the way to proceed" to curb Iran's nuclear program.
Burns told the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee that Washington did not believe conflict with Tehran was inevitable.
The U.N. Security Council' widened sanctions against Iran on March 24 after it defied a second deadline to stop enriching uranium, a process Tehran says will yield solely electricity but world powers fear could be used to build atomic weapons.
Washington and London also accuse Iran of supporting insurgents fighting their forces in iraq.
Washington and London also accuse Iran of supporting insurgents fighting their forces in iraq.
Sizdah-bedar: Iranians celebrate 'day of nature'
Sizdah-bedar: Iranians celebrate 'day of nature'
Millions of Iranians are spending Monday outdoors on the final day of celebrations for the New Year holidays. The term sizdah-bedar literally means 'out with the thirteenth'. To Iranians, the number '13' symbolizes evil and bad luck.
The annual sizdah-bedar picnic is based on an ancient Iranian tradition that encourages people to avoid any ill omens at home by going outdoors on the 13th day of the new year. Since ancient times, Iranians have enjoyed their yearly trek to the outdoors, when families set off for green and open spaces. In Iranian tradition, the first 12 days of the new year symbolize order in the world and in people's lives. The 13th day marks the return to ordinary daily life.
Historians believe that the traditions observed during sizdah-bedar date back to the lives of ancient Iranians. In one of the traditions, young ladies tie together blades of grass in hope of finding their ideal husbands. The gesture represents the bond between a man and a woman. According to the Avesta, the holy scriptures of the Zoroastrians, celebrating sizdah-bedar helps Spenta Mainyu (the holy spirit) prevail over Angra Mainyu (the evil spirit).
Saturday 31 March 2007
Operation Bite: April 6 sneak attack by US forces against Iran planned, Russian military sources warn
By Webster G. Tarpley
Online Journal Contributing Writer
WASHINGTON DC, -- The long awaited US military attack on Iran is now on track for the first week of April, specifically for 4 am on April 6, the Good Friday opening of Easter weekend, writes the well-known Russian journalist Andrei Uglanov in the Moscow weekly “Argumenty Nedeli.” Uglanov cites Russian military experts close to the Russian General Staff for his account.
The attack is slated to last for 12 hours, according to Uglanov, from 4 am until 4 pm local time. Friday is the sabbath in Iran. In the course of the attack, code named Operation Bite, about 20 targets are marked for bombing; the list includes uranium enrichment facilities, research centers, and laboratories.
The first reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, where Russian engineers are working, is supposed to be spared from destruction. The US attack plan reportedly calls for the Iranian air defense system to be degraded, for numerous Iranian warships to be sunk in the Persian Gulf, and for the most important headquarters of the Iranian armed forces to be wiped out.
The attacks will be mounted from a number of bases, including the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia is currently home to B-52 bombers equipped with standoff missiles. Also participating in the air strikes will be US naval aviation from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, as well as from those of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Additional cruise missiles will be fired from submarines in the Indian Ocean and off the coast of the Arabian peninsula. The goal is allegedly to set back Iran’s nuclear program by several years, writes Uglanov, whose article was reissued by RIA-Novosti in various languages, but apparently not English, several days ago. The story is the top item on numerous Italian and German blogs, but so far appears to have been ignored by US websites.
Observers comment that this dispatch represents a high-level orchestrated leak from the Kremlin, in effect a war warning, which draws on the formidable resources of the Russian intelligence services, and which deserves to be taken with the utmost seriousness by pro-peace forces around the world.
Asked by RIA-Novosti to comment on the Uglanov report, retired Colonel General Leonid Ivashov confirmed its essential features in a March 21 interview: “I have no doubt that there will be an operation, or more precisely a violent action against Iran.” Ivashov, who has reportedly served at various times as an informal advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is currently the vice president of the Moscow Academy for Geopolitical Sciences.
Ivashov attributed decisive importance to the decision of the Democratic leadership of the US House of Representatives to remove language from the just-passed Iraq supplemental military appropriations bill that would have demanded that Bush come to Congress before launching an attack on Iran. Ivashov pointed out that the language was eliminated under pressure from AIPAC, the lobbing group representing the Israeli extreme right, and from Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni.
“We have drawn the unmistakable conclusion that this operation will take place,” said Ivashov. In his opinion, the US planning does not include a land operation: “ Most probably there will be no ground attack, but rather massive air attacks with the goal of annihilating Iran’s capacity for military resistance, the centers of administration, the key economic assets, and quite possibly the Iranian political leadership, or at least part of it,” he continued.
Ivashov noted that it was not to be excluded that the Pentagon would use smaller tactical nuclear weapons against targets of the Iranian nuclear industry. These attacks could paralyze everyday life, create panic in the population, and generally produce an atmosphere of chaos and uncertainty all over Iran, Ivashov told RIA-Novosti. “This will unleash a struggle for power inside Iran, and then there will be a peace delegation sent in to install a pro-American government in Teheran,” Ivashov continued. One of the US goals was, in his estimation, to burnish the image of the current Republican administration, which would now be able to boast that they had wiped out the Iranian nuclear program.
Among the other outcomes, General Ivashov pointed to a partition of Iran along the same lines as Iraq, and a subsequent carving up of the Near and Middle East into smaller regions. “This concept worked well for them in the Balkans and will now be applied to the greater Middle East,” he commented.
“Moscow must exert Russia’s influence by demanding an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to deal with the current preparations for an illegal use of force against Iran and the destruction of the basis of the United Nations Charter,” said General Ivashov. “In this context Russia could cooperate with China, France and the non-permanent members of the Security Council. We need this kind of preventive action to ward off the use of force,” he concluded.
The attack is slated to last for 12 hours, according to Uglanov, from 4 am until 4 pm local time. Friday is the sabbath in Iran. In the course of the attack, code named Operation Bite, about 20 targets are marked for bombing; the list includes uranium enrichment facilities, research centers, and laboratories.
The first reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, where Russian engineers are working, is supposed to be spared from destruction. The US attack plan reportedly calls for the Iranian air defense system to be degraded, for numerous Iranian warships to be sunk in the Persian Gulf, and for the most important headquarters of the Iranian armed forces to be wiped out.
The attacks will be mounted from a number of bases, including the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia is currently home to B-52 bombers equipped with standoff missiles. Also participating in the air strikes will be US naval aviation from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, as well as from those of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Additional cruise missiles will be fired from submarines in the Indian Ocean and off the coast of the Arabian peninsula. The goal is allegedly to set back Iran’s nuclear program by several years, writes Uglanov, whose article was reissued by RIA-Novosti in various languages, but apparently not English, several days ago. The story is the top item on numerous Italian and German blogs, but so far appears to have been ignored by US websites.
Observers comment that this dispatch represents a high-level orchestrated leak from the Kremlin, in effect a war warning, which draws on the formidable resources of the Russian intelligence services, and which deserves to be taken with the utmost seriousness by pro-peace forces around the world.
Asked by RIA-Novosti to comment on the Uglanov report, retired Colonel General Leonid Ivashov confirmed its essential features in a March 21 interview: “I have no doubt that there will be an operation, or more precisely a violent action against Iran.” Ivashov, who has reportedly served at various times as an informal advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is currently the vice president of the Moscow Academy for Geopolitical Sciences.
Ivashov attributed decisive importance to the decision of the Democratic leadership of the US House of Representatives to remove language from the just-passed Iraq supplemental military appropriations bill that would have demanded that Bush come to Congress before launching an attack on Iran. Ivashov pointed out that the language was eliminated under pressure from AIPAC, the lobbing group representing the Israeli extreme right, and from Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni.
“We have drawn the unmistakable conclusion that this operation will take place,” said Ivashov. In his opinion, the US planning does not include a land operation: “ Most probably there will be no ground attack, but rather massive air attacks with the goal of annihilating Iran’s capacity for military resistance, the centers of administration, the key economic assets, and quite possibly the Iranian political leadership, or at least part of it,” he continued.
Ivashov noted that it was not to be excluded that the Pentagon would use smaller tactical nuclear weapons against targets of the Iranian nuclear industry. These attacks could paralyze everyday life, create panic in the population, and generally produce an atmosphere of chaos and uncertainty all over Iran, Ivashov told RIA-Novosti. “This will unleash a struggle for power inside Iran, and then there will be a peace delegation sent in to install a pro-American government in Teheran,” Ivashov continued. One of the US goals was, in his estimation, to burnish the image of the current Republican administration, which would now be able to boast that they had wiped out the Iranian nuclear program.
Among the other outcomes, General Ivashov pointed to a partition of Iran along the same lines as Iraq, and a subsequent carving up of the Near and Middle East into smaller regions. “This concept worked well for them in the Balkans and will now be applied to the greater Middle East,” he commented.
“Moscow must exert Russia’s influence by demanding an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to deal with the current preparations for an illegal use of force against Iran and the destruction of the basis of the United Nations Charter,” said General Ivashov. “In this context Russia could cooperate with China, France and the non-permanent members of the Security Council. We need this kind of preventive action to ward off the use of force,” he concluded.
Saudis warn Iran not to underestimate US threat
Saudis warn Iran not to underestimate US threat
(IranMania) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah reportedly warned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he should not underestimate the US military threat onh Iran, AFP reported.
Ahmadinejad met with King Abdullah on March 4 in Riyadh, and publicly the two leaders agreed to fight growing Sunni-Shiite strife in the region.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told Newsweek in an interview that the king meanwhile warned Ahmadinejad to take seriously threats of US military strikes over Iran's refusal to halts its uranium enrichment program.
"On the nuclear issue, we warned him: 'Dont play with fire. Don't think the threat (of an American attack on Iran) is a nonexistent threat; think that it's a real threat, maybe even a palpable threat," Faisal said in the interview posted on the Newsweek website Friday.
"Why do you want to take a chance on that and harm your country?" the king continued, according to Faisal. "What is the rush? Why do you have to do it (enrich uranium) this year and not next year or the year after? Or five years from now? What is the real rush in it?"
The king "speaks to everybody frankly," Faisal said, adding that his ruler bluntly told Ahmadinejad: "Youre interfering in Arab affairs," a reference to Iran's alleged interference in other Middle East countries.
Ahmadinejad listened, then denied any interference. "But we said, 'Whether you deny it or not, this is creating bad feelings for Iran and we think you should stop,'" Faisal told Newsweek.
"Certainly what Iran is doing is interfering in Iraq," Faisal said. "We told them this will not benefit them but will do more damage to them than (good). But we have never put ourselves in a position of conflict with Iran."
The Saudis also told the Iranians "that their interference in Arab affairs is creating a backlash in the Arab world and in the Muslim world. Other Muslim countries are complaining of (Iranian) interference in internal affairs," Faisal said.
"And we talked to them frankly and honestly on this issue and they see the danger that what is happening is going to lead to strife between Shiites and Sunnis."
The Saudi foreign minister also said it was "a catastrophe" for Iran to be holding 15 British sailors and marines it had captured on March 23. Iran insists the personnel were detained for being in Iranian waters but Britain maintains they were inside Iraqi waters.
"This is just not the time for them to have a problem like that looming. We tell them that," Faisal said.
On Wednesday, the Saudi king criticized the US occupation of Iraq in an opening address to the annual Arab summit in Riyadh, a move some observers say is an effort to distance himself from the embattled Bush administration.
Ahmadinejad met with King Abdullah on March 4 in Riyadh, and publicly the two leaders agreed to fight growing Sunni-Shiite strife in the region.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told Newsweek in an interview that the king meanwhile warned Ahmadinejad to take seriously threats of US military strikes over Iran's refusal to halts its uranium enrichment program.
"On the nuclear issue, we warned him: 'Dont play with fire. Don't think the threat (of an American attack on Iran) is a nonexistent threat; think that it's a real threat, maybe even a palpable threat," Faisal said in the interview posted on the Newsweek website Friday.
"Why do you want to take a chance on that and harm your country?" the king continued, according to Faisal. "What is the rush? Why do you have to do it (enrich uranium) this year and not next year or the year after? Or five years from now? What is the real rush in it?"
The king "speaks to everybody frankly," Faisal said, adding that his ruler bluntly told Ahmadinejad: "Youre interfering in Arab affairs," a reference to Iran's alleged interference in other Middle East countries.
Ahmadinejad listened, then denied any interference. "But we said, 'Whether you deny it or not, this is creating bad feelings for Iran and we think you should stop,'" Faisal told Newsweek.
"Certainly what Iran is doing is interfering in Iraq," Faisal said. "We told them this will not benefit them but will do more damage to them than (good). But we have never put ourselves in a position of conflict with Iran."
The Saudis also told the Iranians "that their interference in Arab affairs is creating a backlash in the Arab world and in the Muslim world. Other Muslim countries are complaining of (Iranian) interference in internal affairs," Faisal said.
"And we talked to them frankly and honestly on this issue and they see the danger that what is happening is going to lead to strife between Shiites and Sunnis."
The Saudi foreign minister also said it was "a catastrophe" for Iran to be holding 15 British sailors and marines it had captured on March 23. Iran insists the personnel were detained for being in Iranian waters but Britain maintains they were inside Iraqi waters.
"This is just not the time for them to have a problem like that looming. We tell them that," Faisal said.
On Wednesday, the Saudi king criticized the US occupation of Iraq in an opening address to the annual Arab summit in Riyadh, a move some observers say is an effort to distance himself from the embattled Bush administration.
Business journalist gets three years in prison on spying charge
Business journalist gets three years in prison on spying charge
Reporters Without Borders called today for the immediate release of freelance business journalist Ali Farahbakhsh, who was convicted of spying in a parody of a trial on 26 March and was sentenced to three years in prison and an exorbitant fine.
“The same day that the UN Human Rights Council decided not to examine the situation in Iran, a journalist was the victim of the Islamic Republic’s repression,” the press freedom organisation said. “A total of six journalists are now in prison in Iran and are being held in very harsh conditions.”
A Tehran revolutionary court sentenced Farahbakhsh to three years in prison and a fine of 52,000 euros on a charge of spying. He was arrested on 27 November on his return to Tehran from a trip to Bangkok, where he took part in a conference on the news media that was organised by Thai NGOs.
The authorities held Farahbakhsh incommunicado and in solitary confinement for 40 days, until the Union of Journalists revealed what had happened to him. His family had been ordered not to talk about his arrest, which was only confirmed on 7 January by Tehran prison system director Sohrabe Soleymani. According to several sources, he has a stomach ulcer that it is not being properly treated.
Farahbakhsh has been a contributor to several pro-reform newspapers, including Yas-e no and Shargh (which are now closed) and the daily newspaper Sarmayeh.
A recommendation “not to pursue the examination of the situation” in Iran and Uzbekistan was accepted by the UN Human Rights Council during a closed-door meeting in Geneva on 26 March. The recommendation came from a group of five member states charged with monitoring human rights situations around the world.
Reporters Without Borders has meanwhile learned of the arrests of two journalists, of whom there has been no word since 10 March. Mansur Teyfuri of the weekly Ashiti was arrested in the Marivan region near the border with Iraq. Mohamad Bagher Abassi Samali, the editor of the weekly Salam Jonob (Hello South), was arrested in Bushehr after saying “even the Prophet of Islam could make mistakes.” Several demonstrations have been staged outside his newspaper, which has been closed down since his arrest.
Friday 30 March 2007
Iran TV Shows Captured Briton Saying Sorry
Iran TV Shows Captured Briton Saying Sorry
By REUTERS
By REUTERS
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran broadcast video on Friday of a captured British sailor who said he and 14 colleagues had entered Iranian waters illegally, ramping up tension over the week-long crisis.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed disgust at the broadcasting of footage of three of the captives and said Iran risked further isolation unless it released them -- but London said Tehran showed no sign of seeking a way out of the crisis.
``We trespassed without permission,'' said the sailor, who gave his name as Nathan Thomas Summers and said they were being treated well. ``I would like to apologize for entering your waters without any permission ... I deeply apologize.''
Iran seized 15 British sailors and marines in the northern Gulf last Friday when they were on a U.N. mission. Tehran says they had strayed into Iranian waters but Britain insists they were well within Iraqi territory.
The crisis, at a time of heightened Middle East tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions, has helped pushed oil prices to six-month highs over concerns an escalation might curb crucial oil exports from the region.
The video showed two men in khaki uniforms and a woman in blue fatigues and a headscarf talking calmly and smiling in a room with a floral wallpaper background.
Blair criticized the video broadcast but urged patience in dealing with Iran, and said London would consult its key allies over the weekend.
``I really don't know why the Iranian regime keeps doing this. All it does is enhance peoples' disgust at captured personnel being paraded and manipulated in this way,'' he said.
``What the Iranians have to realize is that if they continue in this way they will face increasing isolation.''
The video release came as Britain said it was considering a note from Tehran that appeared to resemble a statement used to resolve a similar standoff in 2004 when Iran seized eight British servicemen and held them for three days.
COMPLICATED STANDOFF
However Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said after the video was shown that there was nothing in the note from Iran to suggest Tehran was looking for a way out.
The letter said Iran respected the rules and principles of international law concerning the territorial integrity of states and that Britain must accept its responsibility for the consequences of any border violation.
The letter did not appear to demand an apology from Britain as several Iranian officials had previously called for.
Analysts said efforts to resolve the standoff were complicated by Iran's political structure.
``The Iranian Foreign Ministry is not in charge here,'' said Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow for non-proliferation at the Institute for Strategic Studies.
``They're having to work out a face-saving diplomatic solution, but I don't think the Revolutionary Guards want a diplomatic solution. So it's going to be hard to choreograph something when you have internal friction.''
The hardline Guards are the ideological wing of Iran's armed forces with a separate command structure.
London has been pushing for international condemnation of the sailors' seizure but failed to get the U.N. Security Council to pass a strongly worded draft statement. Instead, it expressed ``grave concern'' about the issue.
Britain froze all diplomatic business with Iran on Wednesday, except for dealings over the sailors, and hoped its European Union partners would adopt similar measures.
EU foreign ministers voiced solidarity at a summit in Germany but were reluctant as a bloc to freeze business with Tehran over the row.
Friday's video was the second Iran has shown. It has also released two letters purported to have been written by the only woman captured, Faye Turney. In one letter, she called for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed disgust at the broadcasting of footage of three of the captives and said Iran risked further isolation unless it released them -- but London said Tehran showed no sign of seeking a way out of the crisis.
``We trespassed without permission,'' said the sailor, who gave his name as Nathan Thomas Summers and said they were being treated well. ``I would like to apologize for entering your waters without any permission ... I deeply apologize.''
Iran seized 15 British sailors and marines in the northern Gulf last Friday when they were on a U.N. mission. Tehran says they had strayed into Iranian waters but Britain insists they were well within Iraqi territory.
The crisis, at a time of heightened Middle East tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions, has helped pushed oil prices to six-month highs over concerns an escalation might curb crucial oil exports from the region.
The video showed two men in khaki uniforms and a woman in blue fatigues and a headscarf talking calmly and smiling in a room with a floral wallpaper background.
Blair criticized the video broadcast but urged patience in dealing with Iran, and said London would consult its key allies over the weekend.
``I really don't know why the Iranian regime keeps doing this. All it does is enhance peoples' disgust at captured personnel being paraded and manipulated in this way,'' he said.
``What the Iranians have to realize is that if they continue in this way they will face increasing isolation.''
The video release came as Britain said it was considering a note from Tehran that appeared to resemble a statement used to resolve a similar standoff in 2004 when Iran seized eight British servicemen and held them for three days.
COMPLICATED STANDOFF
However Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said after the video was shown that there was nothing in the note from Iran to suggest Tehran was looking for a way out.
The letter said Iran respected the rules and principles of international law concerning the territorial integrity of states and that Britain must accept its responsibility for the consequences of any border violation.
The letter did not appear to demand an apology from Britain as several Iranian officials had previously called for.
Analysts said efforts to resolve the standoff were complicated by Iran's political structure.
``The Iranian Foreign Ministry is not in charge here,'' said Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow for non-proliferation at the Institute for Strategic Studies.
``They're having to work out a face-saving diplomatic solution, but I don't think the Revolutionary Guards want a diplomatic solution. So it's going to be hard to choreograph something when you have internal friction.''
The hardline Guards are the ideological wing of Iran's armed forces with a separate command structure.
London has been pushing for international condemnation of the sailors' seizure but failed to get the U.N. Security Council to pass a strongly worded draft statement. Instead, it expressed ``grave concern'' about the issue.
Britain froze all diplomatic business with Iran on Wednesday, except for dealings over the sailors, and hoped its European Union partners would adopt similar measures.
EU foreign ministers voiced solidarity at a summit in Germany but were reluctant as a bloc to freeze business with Tehran over the row.
Friday's video was the second Iran has shown. It has also released two letters purported to have been written by the only woman captured, Faye Turney. In one letter, she called for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.
Thursday 29 March 2007
Britain takes case against Iran to U.N.
TEHRAN, Iran -
Iran on Thursday rolled back on a pledge to release a female British sailor, and a top official said the 15 captives may be put on trial. Iran's foreign minister had said Tehran would soon free Faye Turney, the only woman among the sailors and marines seized last week while searching a merchant vessel in what Iran says were its territorial waters near Iraq.
Iran on Thursday rolled back on a pledge to release a female British sailor, and a top official said the 15 captives may be put on trial. Iran's foreign minister had said Tehran would soon free Faye Turney, the only woman among the sailors and marines seized last week while searching a merchant vessel in what Iran says were its territorial waters near Iraq.
But Gen. Ali Reza Afshar, Iran's military chief, said that because of the "wrong behavior" by the British government, "the release of a female British soldier has been suspended," the semiofficial Iranian news agency Mehr reported.
Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani also told state television that British leaders "have miscalculated this issue" and if they follow through with threats, the case "may face a legal path" — presumably putting the Britons on trial.
Iranian state television broadcast a few seconds of video it said was of the operation that seized the British sailors and marines.
In the five-second video, a helicopter is seen hovering above inflatable boats in choppy seas. Then, the Royal Navy sailors and marines appear seated in an Iranian vessel, presumably after their capture.
Britain has circulated a draft press statement to the Security Council, asking it to "deplore" Tehran's action and demand the immediate release of the captives.
But Security Council diplomats said the statement is likely to face problems from Russia and others because it says the Britons were "operating in Iraqi waters" — a point that Iran contests.
Prime Minister
Tony Blair' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Tony Blair's government also said it was freezing most contacts with Iran. But Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted a government official as playing down the consequences.
"Tehran-London relations were already cold," the unidentified official said. Iran's Foreign Ministry is to deliver a letter to the U.N. to protest the violation of its territorial waters, IRNA said.
Britain enlisted international help to free the captives.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon discussed their fate with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on the sidelines of an Arab summit in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, that both were attending.
European Union' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged Iran to free the captives, saying the standoff is blocking efforts to improve relations. In Paris, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to express concern and urge their release.
The crisis had appeared to be easing Wednesday, with Mottaki saying that if the alleged entry into Iranian waters proved to have been a mistake "this can be solved," and that Britain's "admitting the mistake will facilitate a solution to the problem." Mottaki also said Iran had GPS devices from the seized British boats that showed they were in Iranian territory.
But tensions soared anew after Iranian television later showed the detainees, with Turney saying her group had "trespassed" in Iranian waters.
The video also displayed what appeared to be a handwritten letter from Turney, 26, to her family. "I have written a letter to the Iranian people to apologize for us entering their waters," it said. The letter also asks Turney's parents in Britain to look after her 3-year-old daughter, Molly, and her husband, Adam.
The video showed Turney in a head scarf and her uniform eating with other sailors and marines. Later, wearing a white tunic and black head scarf, she sat in a room before floral curtains and smoked a cigarette.
Turney was the only detainee shown speaking, saying she had been in the navy for nine years.
"Obviously we trespassed into their waters," Turney said at one point. "They were very friendly and very hospitable, very thoughtful, nice people. They explained to us why we've been arrested. There was no harm, no aggression."
Britain angrily denounced the video as unacceptable and froze most dealings with Iran.
"Nobody should be put in that position. It is an impossible position to be put in," said Blair's spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with government policy. "It is wrong. It is wrong in terms of the usual conventions that cover this. It is wrong in terms of basic humanity."
The third Geneva Convention bans subjecting prisoners of war to intimidation, insults or "public curiosity." Because there is no armed conflict between Iran and Britain, the captives would not technically be classified as prisoners of war.
Britain's ambassador to Tehran lodged an official complaint, the Foreign Office said.
In Iraq, the Iranian consul in Basra charged that British soldiers on Thursday had surrounded his office and fired shots into the air. The Ministry of Defense in London said the shooting was an exchange of gunfire after British troops on a foot patrol near the Iranian consulate were ambushed.
But Iranian Consul-General Mohammed Ridha Nasir Baghban said British forces had engaged in a "provocative act" that "could worsen the situation of the British sailors."
"British forces should rely on wisdom and not react because of the British forces' detention. This reflects negatively on bilateral relations," Baghban told AP.
In London, Vice Adm. Charles Style said the British boats were seized at 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north latitude and 48 degrees 43.08 minutes east longitude. He said that position had been confirmed by an Indian-flagged merchant ship boarded by the sailors and marines.
But the position, outside the Shatt el-Arab waterway in the Gulf, is an area where no legal boundary exists, leaving it unclear whose territory it lies in, said Kaiyan Kaikobad, author of "The Shatt al-Arab Boundary Question."
"What we do have is a de facto state practiced boundary — a line both countries have been observing on the spot," he said. "The problem is that though the British have drawn a line where they claim the de facto line is, we haven't seen an Iranian version."
Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani also told state television that British leaders "have miscalculated this issue" and if they follow through with threats, the case "may face a legal path" — presumably putting the Britons on trial.
Iranian state television broadcast a few seconds of video it said was of the operation that seized the British sailors and marines.
In the five-second video, a helicopter is seen hovering above inflatable boats in choppy seas. Then, the Royal Navy sailors and marines appear seated in an Iranian vessel, presumably after their capture.
Britain has circulated a draft press statement to the Security Council, asking it to "deplore" Tehran's action and demand the immediate release of the captives.
But Security Council diplomats said the statement is likely to face problems from Russia and others because it says the Britons were "operating in Iraqi waters" — a point that Iran contests.
Prime Minister
Tony Blair' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Tony Blair's government also said it was freezing most contacts with Iran. But Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted a government official as playing down the consequences.
"Tehran-London relations were already cold," the unidentified official said. Iran's Foreign Ministry is to deliver a letter to the U.N. to protest the violation of its territorial waters, IRNA said.
Britain enlisted international help to free the captives.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon discussed their fate with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on the sidelines of an Arab summit in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, that both were attending.
European Union' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged Iran to free the captives, saying the standoff is blocking efforts to improve relations. In Paris, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to express concern and urge their release.
The crisis had appeared to be easing Wednesday, with Mottaki saying that if the alleged entry into Iranian waters proved to have been a mistake "this can be solved," and that Britain's "admitting the mistake will facilitate a solution to the problem." Mottaki also said Iran had GPS devices from the seized British boats that showed they were in Iranian territory.
But tensions soared anew after Iranian television later showed the detainees, with Turney saying her group had "trespassed" in Iranian waters.
The video also displayed what appeared to be a handwritten letter from Turney, 26, to her family. "I have written a letter to the Iranian people to apologize for us entering their waters," it said. The letter also asks Turney's parents in Britain to look after her 3-year-old daughter, Molly, and her husband, Adam.
The video showed Turney in a head scarf and her uniform eating with other sailors and marines. Later, wearing a white tunic and black head scarf, she sat in a room before floral curtains and smoked a cigarette.
Turney was the only detainee shown speaking, saying she had been in the navy for nine years.
"Obviously we trespassed into their waters," Turney said at one point. "They were very friendly and very hospitable, very thoughtful, nice people. They explained to us why we've been arrested. There was no harm, no aggression."
Britain angrily denounced the video as unacceptable and froze most dealings with Iran.
"Nobody should be put in that position. It is an impossible position to be put in," said Blair's spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with government policy. "It is wrong. It is wrong in terms of the usual conventions that cover this. It is wrong in terms of basic humanity."
The third Geneva Convention bans subjecting prisoners of war to intimidation, insults or "public curiosity." Because there is no armed conflict between Iran and Britain, the captives would not technically be classified as prisoners of war.
Britain's ambassador to Tehran lodged an official complaint, the Foreign Office said.
In Iraq, the Iranian consul in Basra charged that British soldiers on Thursday had surrounded his office and fired shots into the air. The Ministry of Defense in London said the shooting was an exchange of gunfire after British troops on a foot patrol near the Iranian consulate were ambushed.
But Iranian Consul-General Mohammed Ridha Nasir Baghban said British forces had engaged in a "provocative act" that "could worsen the situation of the British sailors."
"British forces should rely on wisdom and not react because of the British forces' detention. This reflects negatively on bilateral relations," Baghban told AP.
In London, Vice Adm. Charles Style said the British boats were seized at 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north latitude and 48 degrees 43.08 minutes east longitude. He said that position had been confirmed by an Indian-flagged merchant ship boarded by the sailors and marines.
But the position, outside the Shatt el-Arab waterway in the Gulf, is an area where no legal boundary exists, leaving it unclear whose territory it lies in, said Kaiyan Kaikobad, author of "The Shatt al-Arab Boundary Question."
"What we do have is a de facto state practiced boundary — a line both countries have been observing on the spot," he said. "The problem is that though the British have drawn a line where they claim the de facto line is, we haven't seen an Iranian version."
Wednesday 28 March 2007
U.S. military buildup on Iran border
U.S. military buildup on Iran border
presstv
Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by American troops near Iran's borders, apparently in preparation for an attack. The Russian news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday quoted a high-ranking security source as saying, "The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran". The official added that the Pentagon has probably not yet made a final decision as to when an attack will be launched. He noted the U.S. naval presence in the Persian Gulf has for the first time in the past four years, reached the level that existed shortly before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Russian Vice President of the Academy of Geopolitical Sciences, General Leonid Ivashov, said last week that the Pentagon is planning to launch a massive air strike on Iran's military infrastructure in the near future. A new U.S. aircraft carrier battle group, the USS John C. Stennis, with a crew of 3,200 and around 80 fixed-wing aircraft, including F/A-18 Hornet and Superhornet fighter-bombers, eight support ships and four nuclear submarines are heading for the Persian Gulf, where another aircraft carrier group led by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has been deployed since December 2006. The U.S. has also sent Patriot anti-missile systems to the region.
Tuesday 27 March 2007
UN ends human rights inquiry on Iran and Uzbekistan
UN ends human rights inquiry on Iran and Uzbekistan
The United Nations top human rights council in Geneva has voted to end routine inquiries on Iran and Uzbekistan. The move comes after a five-member working party recommended the countries be moved from the so-called 1503 procedures under which accusations of human rights abuse are discussed in confidential sessions. The president of the 47-member Human Rights Council, Luis Alfonso de Alba, has not commented on the decision but according to diplomats, the suggestion was put forward by Azerbaijan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Argentina and France voted in favor of maintaining monitoring on Iran. The New York-based Human Rights Watch had asked the council earlier to continue its monitor of Uzbekistan
IRAN FEELS PINCH AS MAJOR BANKS CURTRAIL BUSINESS
More than 40 major international banks and financial institutions have either cut off or cut back business with the Iranian government or private sector as a result of a quiet campaign launched by the Treasury and State departments last September, according to Treasury and State officials.
The financial squeeze has seriously crimped Tehran's ability to finance petroleum industry projects and to pay for imports. It has also limited Iran's use of the international financial system to help fund allies and extremist militias in the Middle East, say U.S. officials and economists who track Iran.
The U.S. campaign, developed by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, emerged in part over U.S. frustration with the small incremental steps the U.N. Security Council was willing to take to contain the Islamic republic's nuclear program and support for extremism, U.S. officials say. The council voted Saturday to impose new sanctions on Tehran, including a ban on Iranian arms sales and a freeze on assets of 28 Iranian individuals and institutions.
"All the banks we've talked to are reducing significantly their exposure to Iranian business," said Stuart Levey, Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. "It's been a universal response. They all recognize the risks -- some because of what we've told them and some on their own. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to see the dangers."
The new campaign particularly targets financial transactions involving the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is now a major economic force beyond its long-standing role in procuring arms and military materiel. Companies tied to the elite unit and its commanders have been awarded government contracts such as airport management and construction of the Tehran subway. The practice has increased since the 2005 election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, U.S. officials say. The Revolutionary Guard -- of which Ahmadinejad is a former member -- is part of the hard-line leader's constituency.
"The Revolutionary Guard's control and influence in the Iranian economy is growing exponentially under the regime of Ahmadinejad," Levey said in a speech in Dubai this month.
The campaign differs from formal international sanctions -- and has proved able to win wider backing -- because it targets Iran's behavior rather than seeking to change its government. "This is not an exercise of power," Levey said in the interview. "People go along with you if it's conduct-based rather than a political gesture."
Iranian importers are particularly feeling the pinch, with many having to pay for commodities in advance when a year ago they could rely on a revolving line of credit, said Patrick Clawson, a former World Bank official now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The scope of Iran's vulnerability has been a surprise to U.S. officials, he added.
The financial institutions cutting back business ties are mainly in Europe and Asia, U.S. officials say. UBS last year said it was cutting off all dealings with Iran. London-based HSBC (which has 5,000 offices in 79 countries) and Standard Chartered (with 1,400 branches in 50 countries) as well as Commerzbank of Germany have indicated they are limiting their exposure to Iranian business, Levey said. The rest have asked the United States not to publicize their names.
Ahmadinejad's rhetoric -- from denying the Holocaust to comparing Iran's stock exchange to gambling -- has helped, experts say. "There is very little foreign investment in Iran not because of sanctions, but because of the atmosphere created by Ahmadinejad's crazy statements," said Jahangir Amuzegar, former Iranian finance minister and executive director of the International Monetary Fund.
Paulson kicked off the effort to warn major financial institutions and government officials about the long-term costs of doing business with Iran during the annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Singapore in September. Paulson, Levey and Treasury Deputy Secretary Robert M. Kimmitt have all held dozens of meetings with banks to explain how Iran is using dummy companies and deceptive practices through banks to finance its non-traditional or illicit business activities, U.S. officials say.
Both the Iranian government and the private sector have increasingly tried to persuade financial institutions to keep the name of "Iran" or the originating bank in Iran off transactions so they are not traced to the Islamic republic, U.S. officials say.
In a related effort, the Bush administration has warned "relevant companies and countries" about the risks of investing in Iran's oil and gas sector, R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, said in congressional testimony Wednesday. Washington is generally trying to drive home to Tehran that its policies will lead to serious "financial hardship," he said.
In December, Iranian oil minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh acknowledged that Tehran was having trouble financing petroleum development projects. "Currently, overseas banks and financiers have decreased their cooperation," he told the oil ministry news agency Shana.
The Bush administration has taken several other actions in recent months to contain Iran, including deploying two Navy carrier strike groups near the Persian Gulf, arresting operatives of the Revolutionary Guards' al-Quds Force in Iraq and pressing for two U.N. resolutions to punish Iran for not suspending its uranium enrichment program
The financial squeeze has seriously crimped Tehran's ability to finance petroleum industry projects and to pay for imports. It has also limited Iran's use of the international financial system to help fund allies and extremist militias in the Middle East, say U.S. officials and economists who track Iran.
The U.S. campaign, developed by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, emerged in part over U.S. frustration with the small incremental steps the U.N. Security Council was willing to take to contain the Islamic republic's nuclear program and support for extremism, U.S. officials say. The council voted Saturday to impose new sanctions on Tehran, including a ban on Iranian arms sales and a freeze on assets of 28 Iranian individuals and institutions.
"All the banks we've talked to are reducing significantly their exposure to Iranian business," said Stuart Levey, Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. "It's been a universal response. They all recognize the risks -- some because of what we've told them and some on their own. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to see the dangers."
The new campaign particularly targets financial transactions involving the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is now a major economic force beyond its long-standing role in procuring arms and military materiel. Companies tied to the elite unit and its commanders have been awarded government contracts such as airport management and construction of the Tehran subway. The practice has increased since the 2005 election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, U.S. officials say. The Revolutionary Guard -- of which Ahmadinejad is a former member -- is part of the hard-line leader's constituency.
"The Revolutionary Guard's control and influence in the Iranian economy is growing exponentially under the regime of Ahmadinejad," Levey said in a speech in Dubai this month.
The campaign differs from formal international sanctions -- and has proved able to win wider backing -- because it targets Iran's behavior rather than seeking to change its government. "This is not an exercise of power," Levey said in the interview. "People go along with you if it's conduct-based rather than a political gesture."
Iranian importers are particularly feeling the pinch, with many having to pay for commodities in advance when a year ago they could rely on a revolving line of credit, said Patrick Clawson, a former World Bank official now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The scope of Iran's vulnerability has been a surprise to U.S. officials, he added.
The financial institutions cutting back business ties are mainly in Europe and Asia, U.S. officials say. UBS last year said it was cutting off all dealings with Iran. London-based HSBC (which has 5,000 offices in 79 countries) and Standard Chartered (with 1,400 branches in 50 countries) as well as Commerzbank of Germany have indicated they are limiting their exposure to Iranian business, Levey said. The rest have asked the United States not to publicize their names.
Ahmadinejad's rhetoric -- from denying the Holocaust to comparing Iran's stock exchange to gambling -- has helped, experts say. "There is very little foreign investment in Iran not because of sanctions, but because of the atmosphere created by Ahmadinejad's crazy statements," said Jahangir Amuzegar, former Iranian finance minister and executive director of the International Monetary Fund.
Paulson kicked off the effort to warn major financial institutions and government officials about the long-term costs of doing business with Iran during the annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Singapore in September. Paulson, Levey and Treasury Deputy Secretary Robert M. Kimmitt have all held dozens of meetings with banks to explain how Iran is using dummy companies and deceptive practices through banks to finance its non-traditional or illicit business activities, U.S. officials say.
Both the Iranian government and the private sector have increasingly tried to persuade financial institutions to keep the name of "Iran" or the originating bank in Iran off transactions so they are not traced to the Islamic republic, U.S. officials say.
In a related effort, the Bush administration has warned "relevant companies and countries" about the risks of investing in Iran's oil and gas sector, R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, said in congressional testimony Wednesday. Washington is generally trying to drive home to Tehran that its policies will lead to serious "financial hardship," he said.
In December, Iranian oil minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh acknowledged that Tehran was having trouble financing petroleum development projects. "Currently, overseas banks and financiers have decreased their cooperation," he told the oil ministry news agency Shana.
The Bush administration has taken several other actions in recent months to contain Iran, including deploying two Navy carrier strike groups near the Persian Gulf, arresting operatives of the Revolutionary Guards' al-Quds Force in Iraq and pressing for two U.N. resolutions to punish Iran for not suspending its uranium enrichment program
Armenian university establishes House of Rumi
Armenian university establishes House of Rumi
Armenia's Acharian University has established a new research center called the House of Rumi to highlight the Persian poet's life philosophy and literary career. The center is founded in association with Iran's cultural attaché to Yerevan. Reza Otufi said that his office plans future cultural programs in Armenia including a Rumi conference, a poetry night and publication of several books about the Persian transcendental poet. Otufi also said that several Iranian feature films will screen at Armenian film festivals later this year, including a retrospective to highlight Iran's female filmmakers
Sunday 25 March 2007
THE JERUSALEM POST
Several foreign embassies in Teheran are updating their emergency evacuation plans should a Western or Israeli attack on Iran occur.
According to foreign sources, foreign diplomats believe a possible attack would take place before the end of 2007. By that time, Iran might have enough enriched uranium to cause a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe from radioactive fallout should its nuclear facilities be damaged or destroyed in an attack.
Embassies in all countries generally have evacuation plans for their staff, but foreign sources describe the general atmosphere in Iran as one of heightened preparedness. Recently, several diplomatic missions based in Teheran have begun to reassess their plans, and embassies without permanent security officers have requested them.
Embassy experts reportedly are testing various evacuation options and logistics, such as timing routes to different destinations by different types of vehicles. The plans include evacuation for all staff.
Foreign sources say both the United States and Israel, who accuse Iran of wanting to develop nuclear weapons, want to give diplomatic efforts aimed at stopping Iran's nuclear drive the best possible chance to succeed.
But according to these sources, should the West or Israel feel that the time needed for diplomatic efforts is longer than the time it would take for Iran to obtain nuclear independence, they are likely to strike at Iran's main nuclear facilities before the damage done by such an attack would cause serious radiation fallout. Such fallout would likely kill many civilians and render some parts of Iran uninhabitable for an undetermined period of time.
According to this logic, the timing of such an attack would take place just before Iran has enriched an amount of weapons-grade material that, if damaged, would cause such a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe, it could be construed as a nuclear attack.
The assessments posit that Israel and the US will try to delay an attack until the last moment due to the expected Iranian counterattack and regional deterioration.
Similar dilemmas over timing were faced by Israel before the 1981 raid that destroyed Saddam Hussein's reactor at Osirak. According to "The Raid on the Osirak Nuclear Reactor," an article by researcher Avi Hein, the Israeli cabinet in 1981 received word that "a shipment of 90 kilograms of enriched uranium fuel rods is expected from France to Iraq, ready for radiation." The moment the rods would be placed in the reactor, there would be a danger of radiation fallout if the reactor was attacked. This was the decisive factor for deputy prime minister Yigael Yadin, who had initially opposed the plan to attack Osirak, but changed his mind after receiving the news about the fuel rods, Hein wrote.
According to other published sources on the Osirak strike, Israel felt any raid had to take place well before nuclear fuel was loaded to prevent radioactive contamination.
It is now known that during the strike preparations, one question affecting the timing was the estimated date the reactor would become "live," after which a strike could cause radiation fallout on civilians.
In the current standoff with Iran, US pressure on many countries and multinational corporations to divest from Teheran is bearing fruit. But in the final analysis, Iran is not seen likely to stop its nuclear program, and UN sanctions are regarded as likely to take too long to have an effect.
Should it be attacked, Iran is expected to launch missiles against Israel and an offensive against US forces in the Middle East. Teheran is also expected to activate Hizbullah in a full assault against Israel. Israeli security services also expect attacks on Jewish interests and institutions worldwide.
Syria is still deciding if it will go "all the way" with Iran, or abandon its one friend in the world and return to the international fold. Syria's potential role in such a regional conflagration is undetermined. Saudi Arabia has been exerting consistent and mounting pressure on both Syria and Iran to change course.
Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is making political moves within Iran's Supreme Council to limit the power of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - who many in Iran feel is out of the control of the ruling elite.
At first, the ayatollahs acquiesced to Ahmadinejad's foreign policy line - which has at its core the drive for nuclear power, the ambition to replace Saudi Arabia as Islam's "core state," and the stated aim to destroy Israel - because of the former mayor of Teheran's wide popular support. For approximately the past year, there has been a noticeable growing concern among the ruling elite that Ahmadinejad is slipping out of their control, even though there is little chance he could take over supreme power and authority.
Several foreign embassies in Teheran are updating their emergency evacuation plans should a Western or Israeli attack on Iran occur.
According to foreign sources, foreign diplomats believe a possible attack would take place before the end of 2007. By that time, Iran might have enough enriched uranium to cause a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe from radioactive fallout should its nuclear facilities be damaged or destroyed in an attack.
Embassies in all countries generally have evacuation plans for their staff, but foreign sources describe the general atmosphere in Iran as one of heightened preparedness. Recently, several diplomatic missions based in Teheran have begun to reassess their plans, and embassies without permanent security officers have requested them.
Embassy experts reportedly are testing various evacuation options and logistics, such as timing routes to different destinations by different types of vehicles. The plans include evacuation for all staff.
Foreign sources say both the United States and Israel, who accuse Iran of wanting to develop nuclear weapons, want to give diplomatic efforts aimed at stopping Iran's nuclear drive the best possible chance to succeed.
But according to these sources, should the West or Israel feel that the time needed for diplomatic efforts is longer than the time it would take for Iran to obtain nuclear independence, they are likely to strike at Iran's main nuclear facilities before the damage done by such an attack would cause serious radiation fallout. Such fallout would likely kill many civilians and render some parts of Iran uninhabitable for an undetermined period of time.
According to this logic, the timing of such an attack would take place just before Iran has enriched an amount of weapons-grade material that, if damaged, would cause such a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe, it could be construed as a nuclear attack.
The assessments posit that Israel and the US will try to delay an attack until the last moment due to the expected Iranian counterattack and regional deterioration.
Similar dilemmas over timing were faced by Israel before the 1981 raid that destroyed Saddam Hussein's reactor at Osirak. According to "The Raid on the Osirak Nuclear Reactor," an article by researcher Avi Hein, the Israeli cabinet in 1981 received word that "a shipment of 90 kilograms of enriched uranium fuel rods is expected from France to Iraq, ready for radiation." The moment the rods would be placed in the reactor, there would be a danger of radiation fallout if the reactor was attacked. This was the decisive factor for deputy prime minister Yigael Yadin, who had initially opposed the plan to attack Osirak, but changed his mind after receiving the news about the fuel rods, Hein wrote.
According to other published sources on the Osirak strike, Israel felt any raid had to take place well before nuclear fuel was loaded to prevent radioactive contamination.
It is now known that during the strike preparations, one question affecting the timing was the estimated date the reactor would become "live," after which a strike could cause radiation fallout on civilians.
In the current standoff with Iran, US pressure on many countries and multinational corporations to divest from Teheran is bearing fruit. But in the final analysis, Iran is not seen likely to stop its nuclear program, and UN sanctions are regarded as likely to take too long to have an effect.
Should it be attacked, Iran is expected to launch missiles against Israel and an offensive against US forces in the Middle East. Teheran is also expected to activate Hizbullah in a full assault against Israel. Israeli security services also expect attacks on Jewish interests and institutions worldwide.
Syria is still deciding if it will go "all the way" with Iran, or abandon its one friend in the world and return to the international fold. Syria's potential role in such a regional conflagration is undetermined. Saudi Arabia has been exerting consistent and mounting pressure on both Syria and Iran to change course.
Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is making political moves within Iran's Supreme Council to limit the power of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - who many in Iran feel is out of the control of the ruling elite.
At first, the ayatollahs acquiesced to Ahmadinejad's foreign policy line - which has at its core the drive for nuclear power, the ambition to replace Saudi Arabia as Islam's "core state," and the stated aim to destroy Israel - because of the former mayor of Teheran's wide popular support. For approximately the past year, there has been a noticeable growing concern among the ruling elite that Ahmadinejad is slipping out of their control, even though there is little chance he could take over supreme power and authority.
SECURITY COUNCIL TIGHTENS SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN OVER URANIUM ENRICHMENT
New York,
The United Nations Security Council acted unanimously today to tighten sanctions on Iran, imposing a ban on arms sales and expanding the freeze on assets, in response to the country's uranium-enrichment activities, which Tehran says are for peaceful purposes but which other countries contend are driven by military ambitions.Resolution 1747 reaffirms that Iran must take the steps required by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, which has called for a full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities; and ratification and implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty's (NPT) Additional Protocol granting the IAEA expanded rights of access to information and sites, as well as additional authority to use the most advanced technologies during the verification process.States are called on "to exercise vigilance and restraint regarding the entry into or transit through their territories of individuals who are engaged in, directly associated with or providing support for Iran's proliferation sensitive nuclear activities or for the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems."Any such persons should be reported to the Council's Iran sanctions committee. A designated list of individuals banned from travel is annexed to the resolution, but its provisions apply to others not listed who are involved in Iran's nuclear weapons programme.The resolution imposes a strict import/export ban on Iranian weapons, deciding that "Iran shall not supply, sell or transfer directly or indirectly from its territory or by its nationals or using its flag vessels or aircraft any arms or related materiel, and that all States shall prohibit the procurement of such items from Iran by their nationals, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, and whether or not originating in the territory of Iran."States must also "exercise vigilance and restraint" with regard to anbattle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large calibre artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles or missile systems destined for Iran.Except for humanitarian or development aid, States and international financial institutions should not provide funds to Iran, according to the resolution. All countries have 60 days to report to the Iran sanctions committee on steps they have taken to give effect to the resolution.The resolution also aims for a diplomatic breakthrough, expressing the Council's conviction that if the IAEA can verify that Iran has suspended its uranium enrichment and reprocessing, this would lead to a negotiated solution that guarantees Iran's nuclear programme is for exclusively peaceful purposes.Underlining a willingness to work positively for a diplomatic solution, the Council encourages Iran, "to re-engage with the international community and with the IAEA."Under other provisions of the resolution, the Director-General of the IAEA is to report back to the Council within 60 days on Iran's nuclear programme.The Council will review Iran's actions in light of that report and will suspend the sanctions "if and for so long as Iran suspends all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, as verified by the IAEA, to allow for negotiations in good faith in order to reach an early and mutually acceptable outcome."The measures will be terminated once Iran has complied with all Council demands.However, if Iran does not comply, the Council will "adopt further appropriate measures" aimed at persuading Teheran to comply with its resolutions and the requirements of the IAEA, the resolution warns.Today's text also recalls an IAEA Board of Governors resolution adopted last year which states that "a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue would contribute to global non-proliferation efforts and to realizing the objective of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, including their means of delivery."Annexed to the resocountries -- China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States -- aimed at achieving an end to the standoff by providing elements of a long-term agreement. Three months ago, the Council imposed a more limited set of sanctions on Iran over the nuclear issue. That resolution, also adopted unanimously following weeks of intensive diplomacy, contains a list of persons and entities involved with Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes that are subject to a freeze on their financial assets. Today's resolution expands that list with an Annex containing additional persons and entities also subject to the measures.Iran's nuclear programme has been a matter of international concern ever since the discovery in 2003 that it had concealed its nuclear activities for 18 years in breach of its obligations under the NPT.
Saturday 24 March 2007
The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to vote later Saturday on a resolution that will impose new sanctions on Iran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium.
Major powers expect that the measure will be unanimously approved.
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will attend the Council meeting. He is set to defend what Iran says is its right to pursue a peaceful nuclear power program.
A U.S. State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, says he expects Tehran to try to divert attention from the fact that Iran is ignoring the international community by continuing with its enrichment program.
The new resolution builds on penalties already in place since December. It calls on Iran to halt uranium enrichment, bans all Iranian arms exports, and also freezes the assets of 28 more Iranian individuals and institutions believed to have ties to nuclear weapons.
U.S. officials say the resolution includes core elements agreed upon by the five permanent Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. - plus Germany.
The United States and its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charge.
Iranian President President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was to have come to New York, but he called off his trip.
Iran accuses the United States of issuing visas too late. But a State Department spokesman says all visas were approved and handed over to Iranian representatives in Switzerland Friday.
The U.S. spokesman says Mr. Ahmadinejad is not willing to stand before the Security Council and face criticism for defying the international community.
Major powers expect that the measure will be unanimously approved.
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will attend the Council meeting. He is set to defend what Iran says is its right to pursue a peaceful nuclear power program.
A U.S. State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, says he expects Tehran to try to divert attention from the fact that Iran is ignoring the international community by continuing with its enrichment program.
The new resolution builds on penalties already in place since December. It calls on Iran to halt uranium enrichment, bans all Iranian arms exports, and also freezes the assets of 28 more Iranian individuals and institutions believed to have ties to nuclear weapons.
U.S. officials say the resolution includes core elements agreed upon by the five permanent Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. - plus Germany.
The United States and its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charge.
Iranian President President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was to have come to New York, but he called off his trip.
Iran accuses the United States of issuing visas too late. But a State Department spokesman says all visas were approved and handed over to Iranian representatives in Switzerland Friday.
The U.S. spokesman says Mr. Ahmadinejad is not willing to stand before the Security Council and face criticism for defying the international community.
Friday 23 March 2007
Young Iranians Dream of Better Life in the West
The New York Times
Reuters
The New York Times
Reuters
TEHRAN -- The West may be leading efforts to isolate Iran over its nuclear program, but for some young Iranians those same Western countries represent hope of a brighter future rather than a threat. Hundreds of thousands of hard-working and educated people have emigrated since the 1979 Islamic revolution, weighing on Iran's economy. Many end up with Iran's arch-foe the United States, denounced by Tehran's leaders as ``the Great Satan.'' But those dreaming of a better life abroad often struggle to win entry to Western countries, making work and residence visas a coveted prize. Restaurant waiter Hassan, one Iranian aspiring to leave, works from before dawn to after dusk seven days a week for $200 a month. All he wants is to move to Australia. ``The salary here is very low, but in Australia it is better,'' said the 27-year-old, clutching a small pile of visa forms and other documents printed from the Web site of the immigration authorities in Canberra. ``Many Iranians are preparing to get visas to Australia,'' said Hassan, who like others was wary of giving his full name. He is indeed not alone in looking for a future abroad as Iran struggles with double-digit inflation and high unemployment. Moreover, there is the likely prospect of new U.N. sanctions over the country's atomic ambitions. Even oil and gas resources fuelling up to six percent growth somehow do not translate into career prospects for many of the two-thirds of 70 million Iranians estimated below the age of 30. Precise statistics are hard to find but an Iranian official was quoted last year as saying as many as 180,000 graduates want to join the 3 million Iranians who now live abroad. ``It would mean that economic potential is being siphoned off,'' said senior director Richard Fox at the sovereigns department of credit ratings institute Fitch in London. In his book The Soul of Iran, American-Iranian journalist Afshin Molavi said it had one of the highest rates of brain drain in the Middle East, with well-educated people leaving in several waves since 1979. ``It would be even higher if Iranians didn't have trouble getting work visas,'' he wrote. ``A distorted, anemic economy that favors the trader and speculator has sent many of Iran's elite professionals outside the country.'' BRAIN DRAIN Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has brushed off concerns about the brain drain. ``Yes, the young people go abroad, but they come back,'' he said in a 2006 speech. Man had traveled only to study. Some young people are tired of the Islamic Republic's social strictures, like its ban on alcohol and strict Muslim dress code for women. Born after the heady days of 1979, they are unmoved by media railing against a demonic West and drawn by tales of relatives already there, by internet images and pirated movies. ``I think 20-25 percent of young people want to go abroad for studying (or) living,'' said Komeil, a 23-year-old computer specialist, sipping coffee in an affluent northern part of the capital Tehran. ``Because in Iran ... everything is forbidden.'' Alongside an outward-looking youth, there exists, uneasily, a more conservative, more religious Iran, embodied perhaps by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and imbued with suspicion of the West born of past domination and occupation. For them Iran, is a country unjustly vilified as a renegade, a 'sponsor of terror'. As the world's fourth largest oil exporter, Iran has reaped windfall gains from a higher crude price, and Ahmadinejad's government has increased its budget, promising to spread wealth more fairly and root out corruption. But critics and analysts say that, while the state may be spending more, businesses are not; so inflation has soared to 17 percent and unemployment remains stubbornly above 10 percent. Tehran's northern skyline is dotted with new apartment and office blocks rising against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. ``There is a lot of spending going on but it is fairly inefficient spending,'' said Fox of Fitch Ratings. ``The oil price is masking a lot of problems.'' The International Monetary Fund has said the government must do more to create jobs and cut inflation. ``Every year approximately 750,000 Iranians enter the labor market for the first time, putting enormous pressure on the ability of the economy to create jobs,'' it said in a report. It also warned the outlook could be hurt by escalating tension over Iran's nuclear work, which Western powers suspect is a cover for making atom bombs despite Tehran's denials. Hassan, the waiter, said his worries were simple. He wanted enough cash to raise his children and treat his spouse. ``I'd like to go out with my wife, but here I can't. I need money.''
Thursday 15 March 2007
Wednesday 14 March 2007
Why Is the US BackingSunni Jihadists?
An interview with Seymour Hersh
by Charles Goyette
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS INTERVIEW
An interview with Seymour Hersh
by Charles Goyette
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS INTERVIEW
New Yorker, "The Redirection," a couple of times, Mr. Hersh, would you give us a thumbnail sketch of your story?
Hersh: Yeah, basically, it's a story saying that we've changed our policy in a very dramatic way in the last few months.
It's awfully hard to know when and where. We are involved in a war now in Iraq, and it is not going well. So the president has decided we are going to expand this. What we want to do is – our target now is Iran. We want to isolate Iran. We want to run operations against Iran. We've been doing that for a year, and we also want to escalate against Iran's buddies in Syria and Lebanon.
So we are now… The United States has joined forces with the Brits, Israelis, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan – the moderate Sunni Arab countries – in a coalition designed to beat back the Shia. They are a minority, but a very powerful minority. As you know, Iran is Shia. Right now in Lebanon, the Sunni government, controlled by a man named Prime Minister Siniora, is under much pressure from a coalition headed by Hezbollah – which is Shia. It's got Christians on it too, but the coalition wants a bigger share of the pie in Lebanon – more power.
So, there is a standoff there.
The U.S. is throwing in – all the way – with those who want to stop the Shia anywhere in the Middle East. That is a huge escalation because, among other things, the growing contradiction of the policy is that we have made the Shia in Iraq our allies. It is not quite clear how strong that relationship is anymore, but that's… So you've got… It's sort of like the yellow submarine, you know? They disappear.
The policy is so complicated, so contradictory and so ad hoc, you just wonder what these guys are thinking of. .......................................
Hersh: Yeah, basically, it's a story saying that we've changed our policy in a very dramatic way in the last few months.
It's awfully hard to know when and where. We are involved in a war now in Iraq, and it is not going well. So the president has decided we are going to expand this. What we want to do is – our target now is Iran. We want to isolate Iran. We want to run operations against Iran. We've been doing that for a year, and we also want to escalate against Iran's buddies in Syria and Lebanon.
So we are now… The United States has joined forces with the Brits, Israelis, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan – the moderate Sunni Arab countries – in a coalition designed to beat back the Shia. They are a minority, but a very powerful minority. As you know, Iran is Shia. Right now in Lebanon, the Sunni government, controlled by a man named Prime Minister Siniora, is under much pressure from a coalition headed by Hezbollah – which is Shia. It's got Christians on it too, but the coalition wants a bigger share of the pie in Lebanon – more power.
So, there is a standoff there.
The U.S. is throwing in – all the way – with those who want to stop the Shia anywhere in the Middle East. That is a huge escalation because, among other things, the growing contradiction of the policy is that we have made the Shia in Iraq our allies. It is not quite clear how strong that relationship is anymore, but that's… So you've got… It's sort of like the yellow submarine, you know? They disappear.
The policy is so complicated, so contradictory and so ad hoc, you just wonder what these guys are thinking of. .......................................
Iranians Celebrate Chahar-Shanbeh Soori, Festival of Fire
CHNSorkhie to az man, Zardieh man az to, literally means your redness (health) is mine, my paleness (pain) is yours. This phrase is whispered in Chaharshanbeh Soori, ancient purification ritual, while people jump over the fire.
Last night Iranian people celebrated the ancient festival of fire or Chahar Shanbeh Soori in all Iranian cities.
Chahar Shanbeh Soori, literally means Red Wednesday, is an ancient festival, dating back to 4000 years ago since the early Zoroastrian era, which is still celebrated the night before the last Wednesday of the year. The word Chahar Shanbeh means Wednesday and Suri is red.
On this occasion people make bon-fires on the streets and jump over them. The streets coming alive with children and people as families spill out of their homes and greet each other. The young use much firework before and during the Chaharshanbe Suri.
In Chaharshanbeh Soori, bonfires are made in the streets and some times in the yards. Based on Zoroastrain tradition the number of bonfires at any one place should be three representing the three holy values including: Good thoughts, Good words, and Good deeds. A bonfire can also be made in a single spot and this would symbolize unity and solidarity of Ahura.
Then someone is the first to go, taking a running start and jumping over the fire they say 'Sorkhie to az man, Zardieh man az to. This rhyme complements this ancient purification ritual where the healthy glow of the fire is beseeched to bless the person and to take away all their sickness.
Another tradition practice in Chahar-Shanbeh Soori is that people, most often children and young adults, wear strange dresses and sometimes wrap themselves up in sheets to symbolize the shrouds of the dead and head go to the street with pots and pans to create a cacophony you will never forget. As the saying goes, they could wake the dead! And that's pretty much the intention; this ancient ritual is said to ward off evil spirits. Then the kids go door to door to receive Chaharshanbeh Soori nuts, chocolates, etc.
It is said that wishes come true on the eve of Chahar-shanbeh Soori. So, the ones making wishes, should cook Pottage Ribbon called Ashe Reshteh in Farsi by themselves or assistance of friends and family members and serve it for guests and neighbors. It is cooked mainly by boiled beans and legumes, Spinach and some other vegetables, fried garlic and spearmint and noodles.
The ancient Iranians celebrated the last 10 days of the year in their annual obligation feast of all souls, Hamaspathmaedaya (Farvardigan or popularly Forodigan). They believed Farahvahar the messenger of Ahuramazda (in Zoroastrian belief), the guardian angles for humans and also the spirits of dead would come back for reunion. These spirits were entertained as honored guests in their old homes, and were bidden a formal ritual farewell at the dawn of the New Year. The ten-day festival also coincided with festivals celebrating the creation of fire and humans.
During ancient times, Iranian used to light fire on the roof by burning left belongings of the dead family members attracting and persuading their soul to come back and stay with them for a night. The reason for making fire was to invite soul of dead people in order to keep satanic soul or Ahriman far from the family gathering which is considered as a private community. Due to existence of this belief, houses were cleaned and dust was removed from houses of Iranians just in case make the invited soul happy and prove that the departed members are still enjoying their life in the other world and making people sure that there is no need to be worried about because all the sadness have been put aside by cleaning the house.
The tradition has still maintained among Iranian people, however after domination of Islam, the form of this tradition has somehow changed and people go to cemeteries and wash the graves of the dead family members and relatives instead of lighting fire on the roofs.
Today after more than four millennia, joy of Wednesday or Chaharshanbeh Soori is one of the most popular events amongst Iranian people. Although Chaharshanbeh Soori has its roots in ancient Zoroastrian fire festival, it is still maintained in Persian societies all over the world. However, nowadays young people in Iran have a different opinion about this festival and the way it is celebrated is quite different from what was practiced during ancient times. Sometimes people light very huge fires which sometimes make you feel that the whole city is burning. In addition to huge flames, some times young adults make small bombs and fire crackers which make loud noise and unfortunately sometimes cause lots of horrific accidents
Today after more than four millennia, joy of Wednesday or Chaharshanbeh Soori is one of the most popular events amongst Iranian people. Although Chaharshanbeh Soori has its roots in ancient Zoroastrian fire festival, it is still maintained in Persian societies all over the world. However, nowadays young people in Iran have a different opinion about this festival and the way it is celebrated is quite different from what was practiced during ancient times. Sometimes people light very huge fires which sometimes make you feel that the whole city is burning. In addition to huge flames, some times young adults make small bombs and fire crackers which make loud noise and unfortunately sometimes cause lots of horrific accidents
I am Worried about my Mother
Daughter of Imprisoned Women’s Activist
ROOZONLINE
Ten days into the arrest of women’s rights activists Mahboubeh Abassgolizadeh and Shadi Sadr, disturbing news are heard about the their fate: New charges and possible use of psychological pressures to extract fake confessions from them . On the other hand there are also reports that senior judiciary officials have been approached for the release of these two women. Rooz Online spoke with Abassgolizadeh’s daughter, Maryam on the latest developments. Read the excerpts below.
Rooz Online (R): Do you have any direct news from your mother?
Maryam Abassgolizadeh (MA): 8 days have passed and I have not heard from her directly, which makes us very worried. Shadi Sadr has been in contact with her family twice during this period, which raises alarms regarding my mother. In view of my mother’s earlier arrest and what happened in that incident, we are concerned that she may be under torture as a way to extract fake confessions from her, or that she is in such bad health that cannot even talk. The last time she was in prison, she spent some 20 days in solitary confinement and a few more days in the general ward. While officials said she was in the general ward, we learned later on her release that she was actually in solitary confinement under very degrading conditions. But even in that incident, she got in touch with us (over the phone) soon after her detention. But this long silence is very suspicious and disturbing.
R: Do you have any news on the charges that have been brought against her and her interrogation procedures?
MA: Initially there were three charges made against her, the same ones that were made against all thirty one arrested women. But in his meeting with the defense lawyers, Judge Haddad added two new charges, which according to the defense attorneys are illegal. One of them is that interrogations begin on the assumption of guilt. During interrogations, they try to fish for other charges to be made against my mother. So they arrested my mother on the pretext of the sit-in of these women activists, but then used their detention to find other things to charge them with. Because they threatened my mother during her previous arrest, we are now afraid they are doing the same thing again. We are afraid that some authorities may succeed in cutting of the support that my mother is currently receiving for her release and that they may trump up new charges against her. Haddad expressly made two new accusations, in the hope of retaining the initial ones.
R: Has any official contacted you? Any contacts regarding bringing a guarantee for the release of your mother?
MA: Nothing. They summoned us to the judiciary to explain some questions. We refused arguing that we would not go unless there was a formal request. They then threatened to arrest us if we did not go there.
R: Do you know whether they asked detainees questions about other people, including your mother?
MA: Yes. The interrogators have tried to divide and rule. They did ask what relationship they had with others. Or whether they or we engaged in any activity for them. They asked why did we even go to their offices.
R: Why do you think the interrogation phase is taking so long?
MA: Two years ago, after repeated acts of torture and cruelty were committed, ayatollah Shahrudi (head of Iran’s Judiciary Branch) dismissed my mother’s case, as he did the case belonging to the web-bloggers. But some authorities keep returning to the same methods in order to accomplish what they could not attain in the previous incident. When the head of the judiciary of a country rules people to be innocent, then officials should not be pursing revenge over the case. They should accept their mistakes. In the previous incident, it was decided that the wrong-acting interrogators would be punished. But in reality, the same people are now again in charge of interrogations. They will not succeed because the women’s calls and their movement are not politically motivated, and they are not part of the opposition movement. In fact its activists all love their country, who will work with any government for justice and equal rights. I am certain that Mr. Shahrudi knows what is going on.
R: How are the other members of the family doing?
MA: My sister’s morale is very low and she is depressed. She has to study for her national university entrance exam, but she can’t concentrate because of my mother’s situation. I am a student in the town of Zanjan but have had to return to Tehran because of all of this. My sister is sitting next to the phone, but hopes that my mother will walk in through the door. Nights are difficult and we cannot sleep. My father does not live with us, so this makes us alone and we are constantly afraid that the police will storm into our house like the Gestapo.
R: How did the meeting between your family and Mrs. Sadr go when you met Mr. Karubi?
MA: I did not go. Other family members did and they said that he welcomed them with full arms. He promised to write a letter to senior judiciary officials. But ward 209 of Evin prison is not under the jurisdiction of Mr. Shahrudi, so a telephone call is not going to change anything. But he is following up the case, as are others such as Mr. Baghi from the Association for the Defense of Prisoners, the Bar Association, etc. The Bar Association is also pursuing Shadi Sadr’s case because she was arrested after performing her duties as a lawyer. We love our country. I think that under the current political circumstances that have come up because of the nuclear issue, and when various opposition groups are actively at work, instead of attacking those who are trying to improve the image of the country, officials should be thinking about the country. I cannot remain silent. The press has been silenced. The only places where my message is relayed are the foreign based radio stations. This is not something that I want, but I have no choice because they are not allowing me to make myself heard.
R: Do you think the current media silence and the absence of media coverage of the recent arrests is directed events?
MA: I am sure of this. I spoke with a few journalists who had reported the event, and they said that after their reports, they were told to completely censor the event and not cover it. It is not true that newspapers do not wish to publish. The fact is that they are not allowed to do so. News agencies too publish scattered news under fear. This is going on despite the fact this is an important event. Today, Marzie Mortezai from the Jebhe Mosharekat (Participation Front) said that while a tree is a national resource and there is so much talk about trees, they do not want to talk about these two individuals who remain behind bars. She said that when they were in prison, they learned that they were making preparations for these two activists to ensure that when they are released, they will not be able to continue their work. And this despite the fact that what they have been doing has been for the good of the Iranian woman.
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