POLITICS-IRAN: Islamist, Socialist Revolutions Don't Mix

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:15:12 UT
An attempt to rope in the son and daughter of the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara to forge a parallel between Iran’s Islamist revolution and the socialist revolution in Latin America through a four-day conference has ended in fiasco.

Americans Made Ahmadinejad A Victim, Strengthen Him At Home

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 15:16:09 UT
The “performances” of the fanatic Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York during past days was the topics of the press around the world, mostly thanks to the surprising treatment of the Iranian President at the Columbia University in the one hand and the kicks he got from the American pro-Israeli-Jewish press and community on the other.

Iran's Plan for Iraq

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 11:00:00 UT
In March 2003, the United States made a strategic decision to send troops into Iraq and defeat the Saddam Hussein regime militarily. This decision is still being debated nationwide and internationally as to its legitimacy and rationality.

Khamenei is Right to Worry

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:00:00 UT
Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, Supreme Leader of the Iranian Revolution, has announced that the commentary on (Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi) Rafsanjani's narrow victory and appointment as head of the Assembly of Experts is "misguided." He also claims it to be exploiting "natural differences" among Iran's leadership.

The Clock Is Set For Iranian Nuclear Activities

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:00:00 UT
Iran reacted on Monday with certain reserve to the latest statements of the French Foreign Affairs minister Bernard Kouchner, warning that the world must be prepared for a possible war with Tehran.

Islamic Brainwashing Will Not Work

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 11:00:00 UT
What are the duties of a true believer on the first night of his burial? How did Ayatollah Dast-Ghayb achieve martyrdom? What was the name of the lion who cried over Imam Hussein's martyred corpse in the desert of Karbala?

The Day Will Come That Bush Is Tried: Ayatollah Khameneh’i

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:00:00 UT
Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i said on Friday that the American President George W. Bush must be tried in an independent international court for the “miseries” he brought to Iraq and the Iraqi people.

Did Israel Destroyed Iranian-Syrian Missile Production Facilities?

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:00:00 UT

On Wednesday 5 September, Syria announced that its airspace had been violated by Israel.

Since then, strange things have happened: First and the strangest of all is the Syrian “mild” approach to the provocation. Ever since the raid on last Tuesday, Damascus had adopted a soft profile. It even did not ask for resolution or bold action by the United Nations against Israel when it presented the Security Council on Tuesday 11 September an official protest against the Jewish State. Except some angry rhetoric in the press and by some officials, including military generals warning Israel of “dire retaliation”, Syria remained cool.

Iran's Hell

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:00:00 UT
The media in the Gulf and in the rest of the Arab world have not covered the recent Iranian threats that were voiced by the naval commander of the Revolutionary Guard in which he warned that in the event of an American invasion, Iran would respond by turning the Gulf countries into "hell." They merely posted the news story without subjecting its content to any political, military, security or strategic analysis.

Ahmadi Nezhad’s Power Slipping in Iran

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:00:00 UT
Two intriguing developments have unfolded in Iran over the past week: the election of a new Assembly of Experts Speaker on September 4 and the appointment of a new Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander in chief on September 1. Both suggest the growing power of former president [Ayatollah Ali] Akbar Rafsanjani, a powerful politician who is openly critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nezhad and his policies.

Jihad is a Justification of Aggression

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:00:00 UT
The main difference between Islam and other conventional religions is that Islam is not only a religion, but a social order, a strict, disciplinary, and inflexible set of moral, ethics, rules, and even the most private aspects of privacy; therefore, Islam is a political entity: “al-Islam wal dawla” (Islam is the state).

Mr. Rafsanjani's Victory Is A Crushing Defeat For Ahmadi Nezhad

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:00:00 UT
The election of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as the new Speaker of the Assembly of Experts on Tuesday 4 September2007 might be the signal of important changes in the highest echelons of the political theocratic system of Iran and possibly a change – gradual though – in the regime’s so-called “revolutionary” approach to both domestic and international issues.

General Mohammad Ali Ja’fari Is Revolutionary Guards New C-in-C (Correction)

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 11:00:00 UT
Important correction: In our dispatch of first of September about the nomination of general Ja'fari as the new Commander of the Revolutionary Guards, we mistakingly reported that General Mohammad Ali Ja'fari "was also deputy to the Secretary of the Supreme Council on National Security and as such, he took part in Iran-IAEA talks on nuclear activities and with the Americans on Iraq".
IPS apologise for the mistake, that was also made by other major news services and commentators, a mistake quickly observed and announced by the official Iranian news agency IRNA, correcting that the SCNS,s deputy Secretary is Mr. Mohammad Ja'fari, not Mohammad Ali (Aziz) Ja'afari.

Massacre of 1988 in Iran

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 11:00:00 UT
By 1988, there was nothing left of the relatively free atmosphere people acquired for a short period after the Iranian revolution of 1979. The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI)’s brutal machine of repression had already uprooted a great number of other thinkers.

Ahmadi Nezhad is Not The Leader, He Is Iran's Scarecrow

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:00:00 UT
You can call him a puppet, you can call him a scarecrow. Just don't call Iranian President Ahmadi Nezhad a leader. A leader, by definition, is a policy maker. Mahmoud Ahmadi Nezhad, by definition, is a policy implementer. He is the front man for the true rulers of Iran, The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i and the ruling Religious Council. They decree, he makes sure it happens.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard: Monolith or Jigsaw?

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 11:00:00 UT
For a quarter of a century, the regime established by Khomeini has been labelled a “mullahrchy”, a theocracy dominated by the Shi’ite clergy. Now, however, those familiar with the Iranian situation know that a majority of Shi’ite clerics never converted to Khomeinism and did not endorse the Islamic Republic. In the past few years, especially since the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President in 2005, those mullahs who had converted to Khomeinism have lost some of their power privileges.

A Grim Intelligence Report on Iran Coming... And Doubts About Blacklisting Rev.Guards

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:00:00 UT
A draft intelligence report portrays a bleak political situation in Iran, anticipating little progress in getting Tehran to halt its nuclear program or stop supporting militant groups in the region, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Ruling Iranian Mollahs Silent to Insults by Iraqi Sunnis to Iranians And Shi’as

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:00:00 UT
For almost a week after an influential Iraqi Sunni official openly insulted both Iranians and the Shi’ites, and called on Arab leaders to save Iraqi Sunni Arabs from “total destruction by the “Persians” and Sh’ia “hegemony”, the Shi’a-based Islamic Republic of Iran has remained silent.

The Iraqi Prime Minister Tries to Save his Coalition, Threatened of Implosion

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:00:00 UT
En ridges with an unprecedented political crisis, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki, announced on Monday 13 August, the holding of a summit, as soon as possible, of various factions of the country.

Weapons Instead of Democracy for the Middle East

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:00:00 UT
The Bush administration seems to have stopped its offer of “democracy” in the Middle East in the favour of a lucrative business of weapons sales.

Iran's Restive Populace

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:00:00 UT
We now have a much better picture of the Iranian people's political attitudes, thanks to a poll sponsored by the Center For the Promotion of Democracy and Human Rights. Popular discontent with the mullahs' rule has created an opportunity for regime change, if we have the wit and the will to exploit it.

Iran Offering Olive Branch To The US.

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 11:00:00 UT
As the American President George W. Bush again threatened action against the Islamic Republic of Iran if it continues its support of terrorist groups in Iraq and in Afghanistan and to continue arming and train insurgents who are killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq, one of the most high-ranking and influential Iranian cleric offered Washington unconditional and unlimited talks.

Iran Government Celebrated "Reporters Day" As Journalists Are Branded "Enemies"

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 11:00:00 UT
On Wednesday 8 August, the Islamic Republic of Iran celebrated what it is naming cynically, if not ironically, “The Reporters Day”, as the regime, because of its repression and crackdown of the press, is under growing pressure and criticism by international press and human rights organizations.

American Weapons Sold To Arab Nations Will Reach Fundamentalists

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:00:00 UT
Not only Iran must not be afraid of the big sale of American weapons to the Arab regimes of the Middle East, but it must rejoice, as they would end up in the hands of Muslim fundamentalists whom Iran is the main supporter.

New Death Sentence on Journalists in Iran

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 11:00:00 UT
The wave of executions in the Islamic Republic of Iranian has now reached the Iranian media, as on 16 July 2007, two Kurdish journalists, Mr. Adnan Hassanpour and Mr. Abdolvahed (Hiva) Boutimar were sentenced to death by an Islamic tribunal in Marivan, a Kurdish city in the north-west Iran.

A Shi'a-Sunni War of International Dimension Looms Ahead

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 11:00:00 UT
A very dangerous fratricide war that can enflame the whole of the Muslim world may take place if the Saudi Arabia’s authorities do not oblige the country’s religious instances to immediately withdraw fatwas by Wahabbi muftis ordering the destruction of all Shi’a mosques and holly places in Iraq.

Iran: West Torn Over Carrot And Stick Approach

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:00:00 UT
In New York, the 5+1 contact group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) have been involved in deep discussions for days on the third draft resolution against Iran regarding its nuclear programme. Yet the Western countries which ought to be working cohesively together find themselves torn between punishment and business opportunities.

Will "In the Name Of Democracy" Bring Democracy To Iran?

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:00:00 UT
As international and national indignation about the abject farce shown on Iranian television last week continue unabated, it was revealed that the so-called documentary entitled “On the name of democracy” was suggested by a well-known interrogator and approved by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic.

More Collective Executions To Be Carried Out In Iran

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 11:00:00 UT
According to the latest news, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) hanged on the week ending on 21 July 2007 16 people, 12 of them in the notorious Evin, prison. They had been arrested through a series of crackdowns on Tehran’s “thugs”, starting two weeks ago, accused of homosexuality, sodomy, rape, theft and ignoring Islamic norms of the society.

Iran is Trying to Exploit Syria

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 11:00:00 UT
When he arrives in Damascus for what he has described as "an historic visit", Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be bearing a variety of gifts. And this is precisely when his Syrian counterpart Bashar Al Assad must be wary.