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Jim Franklin

Middle East News | Iran to hold military drills to protect nuke sites - 0 views

www.alarabiya.net/...91973.html

Iran Israel USA diplomacy Russia nuclear program Mousavi

shared by Jim Franklin on 21 Nov 09 - Cached
  • Iran will stage large-scale air defense war games next week to help protect its nuclear facilities against any attack, a senior commander said Saturday,
  • suggested Iran could itself produce an advanced missile defense system which Russia has so far failed to deliver to the Islamic Republic and which Washington and Israel do not want Tehran to have.
  • Iran believes Russia's delay in supplying high-grade S-300 missiles was due pressure by Israel, not technical problems as cited by Moscow, Mighani said.
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  • "I believe both Mousavi and all those who propagated this big lie must face trial in a court of law," said Mohammad Nabi Habibi, secretary-general of the conservative Islamic Coalition Party, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Julianne Greco

Khamenei Speech Offers No Compromises - WSJ.com - 0 views

online.wsj.com/...SB125271535963105313.html

Iranian nuclear program khamenei Obama arrest Iranian opposition leaders

shared by Julianne Greco on 12 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his second address to the nation since the turmoil over the June presidential election, set a tough tone for where the country is heading: No compromises with opponents outside or inside Iran
  • The comments set the stage for the possible arrest of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.
  • The document, and a public Russian rebuff of the idea of new sanctions against Iran, left President Barack Obama with few options before a deadline he set this month for diplomatic progress.
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  • In Iran, Mr. Khamenei's speech marked the anniversary of the death of Shiite Islam's founder Imam Ali. Mr. Khamenei drew comparisons between his rule and that of the imam. He recounted how Imam Ali had practiced patience with opponents until it was clear they weren't changing course, and then took out his sword to deliver them a final blow.
  • Julianne Greco on 12 Sep 09
     
    In just a few weeks (or sooner) Iran will be forced to take action. It will be interesting to see how Obama will later react to this increasinly volatile situation...and will Ahmadinejad heed warning? How Iran proceeds from here will very well set the stage for conduct in U.S.-Iran relations during the Obama presidency.
  • Julianne Greco on 12 Sep 09
     
    What better way to win over public opinion then to evoke religious bases and compare his rule to that of the Imam? It's ironic that Khamenei describes a level of historical tolerance, then completely goes the other direction and asserts that violence must be the conclusion if they don't get their way.
Jim Franklin

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Iran clashes on embassy anniversary - 0 views

english.aljazeera.net/...2009114692121423.html

Iran revolution elections

shared by Jim Franklin on 04 Nov 09 - Cached
  • Security forces have clashed with opposition protesters as thousands of Iranians gathered on the streets of the capital, Tehran to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the US embassy.
  • Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was Ahmadinejad's main rival in the election, suggested in a statement on his website that a protest rally would be held.
  • "The 13th of Aban is ... a rendezvous so we can remember anew that among us it is the people who are the leaders," he said, referring to the Iranian date for the capture of the US embassy.
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  • The opposition protesters were expected to head for the Russian embassy later on Wednesday.
  • Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a senior Iranian religious leader, said on Wednesday that the capture of the US embassy was a mistake.
  • "But considering the negative repercussions and the high sensitivity which was created among the American people and which still exists, it was not the right thing to do."
Ed Webb

From Iraq to Lebanon, Iran Is Facing a Backlash - 0 views

foreignpolicy.com/...se-iranian-shiism-iraq-lebanon

Iran Iraq Lebanon protests protestors IRGC hezbollah

shared by Ed Webb on 17 Dec 19 - No Cached
  • Since the outbreak of the protests in early October, various security forces, including Iranian-backed Shiite militias, have killed more than 400 Iraqis and wounded some 20,000 others. Not only is there good reason to believe that much of the brutality has taken place at the behest of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Qassem Suleimani, the notorious commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force, but the available evidence seems to confirm it. Aware of the anti-Iranian mood on the Iraqi streets—exemplified by protesters beating their shoes against portraits of Khamenei, just as they had done with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003—an unnerved Khamenei did not hesitate to intervene.
  • Suleimani called for a heavy-handed approach to deal with people on the streets, reportedly saying, “we in Iran know how to deal with protests,” an implicit reference to prior violent suppressions of peaceful demonstrations in Iran and, more aggressively, in Syria. The death toll in Iraq surpassed 100 the day after his departure, confirming the power of Iran’s word.
  • Tehran has invested heavily in hard and soft power tools to expand its influence in Iraq. This investment has eventually paid dividends. Some of the most prominent individuals in Iraq today—including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Hadi al-Amiri, former government officials and leaders of the most powerful Iranian-backed militias—were initially recruited by the IRGC in the early 1980s to spread the Islamic Revolution into Iraq
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  • Tehran planned to replicate its “Hezbollah model” in Iraq: nurturing militancy to gain control of territory, while encouraging these militants to take advantage of a newly created democracy as a way to penetrate political institutions. These efforts were bolstered by close cross-border clerical and personal relationships.
  • Leaked Iranian intelligence cables shed light on the scale and nature of Iran’s systematic and deep-rooted interference in Iraq, from its network of militant agents to its oversight of political institutions. The cables confirm what protesters already knew: Tehran has been committing enormous resources to imposing a command-and-control structure on Baghdad. Viewed within the broader context of worsening economic conditions and unresponsive, corrupt governance, protesters see Iran as the source of their grievances, fuelling anti-Iranian sentiment on the streets.
  • The protests in Lebanon, which have been uniquely secular despite the fragile sectarian composition of its population, are driven by charges of corruption and a desire to replace a rigid and unresponsive establishment—of which Hezbollah has become an intrinsic part.
  • A recent Asda’a BCW survey suggests that two-thirds of young Arabs consider Iran an enemy of their country.
  • The soaring levels of public discontent in Iran have been consistently overlooked by policymakers and commentators. The most recent protests in Iran, which were brutally repressed by the regime, caught many in the West off guard—but signs of widespread discontent have been in place for many years.
  • In 2009, there was a genuine belief that the Islamic Republic could be reformed, expressed primarily in the demand that Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reformist presidential candidate, be installed as president. Now, the moderate pro-reform slogans that were heard on Iranian streets in 2009 have been replaced with more hostile chants, such as “Death to Khamenei” and “Mullahs have to get lost”—signaling a broader rejection of the entire Islamic revolutionary system.
  • as protesters in Iraq chant, “Iran out, Baghdad free,” in Iran they cry, “no to Gaza, no to Lebanon, I give my life only for Iran”—reflecting a growing desire in both countries for governments that put domestic interests above regional considerations
  • The IRGC and Iran’s Shiite proxies will not stand down without a fight. While the combination of pressure in Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran may help weaken the regime in Tehran, it will probably be a deadly affair.
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