Iran Super Thread- Merged

[the 48th regulator]

Most agreed. 

Xiang, why don't you start a dedicated thread to "Iran is a benign nation that is the victim of a global conspiracy" thread?  Then anyone who goes there to engage you can endlessly talk in circles and we don't junk up an existing, unrelated topic?  That seems fair and civilized right? 

Wasn't there a video kind of like that......


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chp2u2ln8_E

dileas

tess

 

[George Wallace]

Thucydides

True.  However, Iran has vast tracts of 'uninhabited', remote, desolate lands.  These would be very conducive to Arms smuggling, a tradecraft that is already in plentiful availability in Iran.  Perhaps some of the arms being smuggled out, will turn around and be smuggled into the metropolitan areas.

 

[zipperhead_cop]

Thucydides

True.  However, Iran has vast tracts of 'uninhabited', remote, desolate lands.  These would be very conducive to Arms smuggling, a tradecraft that is already in plentiful availability in Iran.  Perhaps some of the arms being smuggled out, will turn around and be smuggled into the metropolitan areas.

Hmmm, and that would take some serious cash.  Is it proxy war time yet?

 

[CougarKing]

More fiery rhetoric from Iran's leaders:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090627/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_election

Iran pledges a 'crushing' response to US critiques
          Associated Press Writer Michael Weissenstein, Associated Press Writer – 18 mins ago
EDITOR'S NOTE: Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.

___

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Saturday to make the U.S. regret its criticism of Iran's postelection crackdown and said the "mask has been removed" from the Obama administration's efforts to improve relations.

Ahmadinejad — with his internal opponents virtually silenced — all but dared Obama to keep calling for an end to repression of demonstrators who claim the hardline leader stole re-election through massive fraud.

"You should know that if you continue the response of the Iranian nation will be strong," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to members of Iran's judiciary, which is directly controlled by the ruling clerics. "The response of the Iranian nation will be crushing. The response will cause remorse."

Ahmadinejad has no authority to direct major policy decisions on his own — a power that rests with the non-elected theocracy. But his comments often reflect the thinking of the ruling establishment.

The cleric-led regime now appears to have quashed a protest movement that brought hundreds of thousands to the streets of Tehran and other cities in the greatest challenge to its authority in 30 years. There have been no significant demonstrations in days, and the most significant signs of dissent are the cries of "God is great!" echoing from the rooftops, a technique dating to the days of protest against the U.S.-backed shah before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Days of relatively restrained talk from both Washington and Tehran appear to be returning to a familiar pattern of condemnation and recrimination despite Obama's stated desire to move away from mutual hostility. Iran and the U.S. still appear interested in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, but the rising rhetorical temperature can be expected to slow progress toward a deal, experts said.

"The political feasibility of pursuing it, and the likelihood of success has changed," said Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council. "I have a hard time seeing any real engagement taking place for at least four to six months."

Obama acknowledged Friday that Iran's violent suppression of unrest would hinder progress, saying "There is no doubt that any direct dialogue or diplomacy with Iran is going to be affected by the events of the last several weeks."

Obama struck a conciliatory tone toward Iran after taking office, sending a video greeting for Persian New Year that used the government's formal name — the Islamic Republic of Iran — in a signal that the goal of regime change had been set aside. He even avoided strong language as Iran began suppressing street protests, saying he wanted to avoid becoming a foil for Iranian hard-liners who blame the United States and other Western powers for instigating internal dissent.

But Obama decried Iran's crackdown more vigorously as amateur videos of beating and shootings began flooding the Internet. He said Friday in his strongest condemnation yet that violence perpetrated against protesters was "outrageous," and dismissed a demand from Ahmadinejad to repent for earlier criticism.
"I would suggest that Mr. Ahmadinejad think carefully about the obligations he owes to his own people," Obama added.

Iran also had been stopping short of its normally harsh language about the U.S., mostly blaming Britain and even France and Germany as Mousavi's supporters demanded a new election. Ahmadinejad had made relatively few appearances in an apparent attempt to avoid inflaming the situation.

The protests dwindled to scattered clashes as riot police and Basij militiamen put down the unrest using batons, tear gas, water cannons and, in at least 17 cases, live ammunition. Mousavi said Friday that he would seek official permission for any future rallies, effectively ending his role in street protests.

Ahmadinejad appeared self-assured and even invigorated Saturday in the face of the previous day's personal challenge from Obama.

"We are surprised at Mr. Obama," Ahmadinejad said. "Didn't he say that he was after change?

"They keep saying that they want to hold talks with Iran. All right, we have expressed our readiness as well. But is this the correct way?" Ahmadinejad told judiciary officials. "They showed their hand to the people of Iran, before all people of the world. Their mask has been removed."

He still appeared to leave some opening for dialogue, saying Iranians officials "have expressed our readiness" and still want the U.S. to "join the righteous servants of humanity as well."

Experts said, however, that it was not yet certain that Ahmadinejad and his most powerful backer, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would emerge from the unrest as strong as before. Many speculated that the fight between hard-liners and reformists had moved behind the scenes and would add more uncertainty to U.S. dealings with the already opaque regime.

Authorities briefly arrested relatives of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani in a move seen as a warning to the powerful former president not to work against Ahmadinejad and Khamenei. Other prominent conservatives such as Tehran's mayor and the parliament speaker have criticized the government in recent days in another indication of possible internal divisions.

"This will complicate the decision-making process inside Iran," said Bahman Baktiari, an expert on Iranian factional politics and director of the Middle East Center at the University of Utah. "I think we will see paralysis in the Islamic Republic when it comes to making important decisions."

A 30-year-old resident of the central city of Isfahan told The Associated Press on Saturday that people continue to shout "God is Great!" and other anti-regime slogans from their roofs at night in Tehran and Isfahan.

"People are angry and afraid," he said on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal. "They are afraid of the future and angry because they failed to achieve change with their ballots."

Members of the Basij militia have been raiding homes and beating residents in an attempt to stop the chanting, Human Rights Watch said, accusing authorities of seizing satellite dishes to prevent citizens from seeing news broadcast from overseas. Iranian officials have blamed the British Broadcasting Corp., Voice of America and other news channels for fomenting unrest on behalf of Western governments.

"While most of the world's attention is focused on the beatings in the streets of Iran during the day, the Basijis are carrying out brutal raids on people's apartments during the night," said Sarah Leah Whitson, the rights group's Middle East director.

Italy has granted visas to Iranians seeking to flee the violence and wants the European Union to adopt a common policy on how to assist them, the Italian foreign minister said.

Italy and other members of the Group of Eight industrialized nations called Friday for an end to the violence in Iran and urged the authorities to find a peaceful solution.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi was quoted by the official news agency IRNA as accusing the G-8 of "interventionist and hasty remarks."

In Sweden, Foreign Ministry spokesman Andre Mkandawire said the Swedish ambassador was summoned by Iran's foreign ministry Friday after clashes between demonstrators and Iranian Embassy officials outside Stockholm.

Demonstrators broke into the embassy, climbing through shattered windows and injuring one embassy worker, police said.

___

Associated Press writers Shaya Tayefe Mohajer in Cairo and Barbara Surk in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

 

[CougarKing]

From the article, it seems that Mossad has been busy and will continue to be busy in Iran.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended the tenure of the Mossad chief to an eighth year on Sunday, a testament to the spymaster's perceived success in waging shadow wars against Iran and its allies. Meir Dagan, a former commando and retired general, took over Mossad in 2002 with what security sources described as a mandate to monitor and sabotage the Iranian nuclear program ahead of any decision by Israel to launch full-scale preemptive strikes.

Mossad also has been credited with spotting an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor which Israel bombed in 2007, and with assassinating Islamist guerrillas such as Imad Moughniyah of Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, who was slain in Damascus in 2008.

"This is an excellent man who, at the head of an excellent team, has improved the country's capabilities," an aide to Netanyahu quoted him as telling the Israeli cabinet in its weekly session.

The son of Holocaust refugees, Dagan, 64, has spearheaded assessments that a nuclear-armed Iran would present a mortal threat to Israel. Iran -- which denies seeking the bomb -- could produce its first such warhead by 2014, Dagan said last week.

He also played down prospects of the current civil upheaval over Iran's disputed June 12 election leading to a change in government, but said Tehran could be persuaded to curb sensitive nuclear technologies if U.S.-led sanctions are intensified.

Failing that, Israel, which is widely assumed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, has hinted at a military option, though many analysts think Iranian sites are too dispersed and fortified for its air force to take on alone.

That leaves covert action as a stop-gap countermeasure, something Israeli officials privately confirm is under way.

Western media reports have spoken of Mossad involvement in sabotage at Iranian nuclear facilities and sneak attacks on Iranian scientists and military personnel. Iranian media have reported the disruption of some suspected Israeli spy cells.

Mossad's purview is "human intelligence" -- recruited agents with first-hand information about, and access to, enemy plans. Security sources say this has lent Dagan authority among Israeli decision-makers reluctant to design their Iran strategy around satellite pictures or electronic eavesdropping transcripts.

Mossad's headquarters, north of Tel Aviv, has almost doubled in size since 2002 -- an indication of Dagan's budgetary clout.

"If there is one service that has brought us close to knowing what's really going on in Iran, it's Mossad," said a recently retired government official, who formerly had a top post in a rival Israeli spy agency.

Israel's military top brass and civilian defense chiefs generally serve for four years, with a traditional one-year extension. Dagan's tenure was extended twice before. He is now due to step down in 2010.

(Editing by Michael Roddy)

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE55K1IG20090621

 

[CougarKing]

And Iran detains/arrests local staff of the British Embassy in Tehran.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090628/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_election

By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer Karin Laub, Associated Press Writer – 12 mins ago
EDITOR'S NOTE: Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.

___

Iranian authorities have detained several local employees of the British Embassy in Tehran, a move that Britain's foreign secretary Sunday called "harassment and intimidation" and reflected a hardening of the regime's stance toward the West.

Iranian media said eight local embassy staff were detained for an alleged role in postelection protests, but gave no further details. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said "about nine" employees were detained Saturday and that four had been released.

The detentions signaled a further toughening of Iran's dealings with the West, which has become increasingly vocal in its condemnation of a crackdown on opposition supporters.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has alleged massive fraud in the June 12 presidential election and says he is the rightful winner, not President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iran has accused the West of stoking unrest, singling out Britain and the U.S. for alleged meddling. Last week, Iran expelled two British diplomats, and Britain responded in kind. Iran has also said it's considering downgrading diplomatic ties with Britain.

On Sunday, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported that the embassy staffers were detained for what was described as a "significant role" in postelection unrest.

The British Foreign Office says the embassy has a staff of more than 100, including at least 70 locally hired Iranians. Last week, Britain sent home 12 dependents of embassy staff because the protests had disrupted their lives.

Miliband, who is on the Greek island of Corfu for a foreign ministers' meeting, said Britain has lodged a protest with the Iranian authorities over the detentions. He described the step as "harassment and intimidation of a kind that is quite unacceptable."

"The idea that the British Embassy is somehow behind the demonstrations and protests that have been taking place in Tehran. ... is wholly without foundation," he said. The foreign minister discussed the detentions with his EU colleagues, who said later they drafted an agreement that "reaffirms solidarity among member states" in backing Britain in the dispute.

In London, a Foreign Office spokeswoman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said any further harassment of British Embassy employees would be met with "a strong and united EU response." She declined to comment on whether Britain was considering recalling its ambassador in protest or for consultations.

Iran's government has tried to discredit opposition supporters by alleging they have been directed by the West.

On Friday, a senior Iranian cleric, Ahmed Khatami, lashed out at Britain in a nationally televised sermon. "In this unrest, Britons have behaved very mischievously and it is fair to add the slogan of 'down with England' to the slogan of 'down with USA,'" he said.

Britain, a colonial power in the region with a long history in Iran, has been a prominent target. Britain and the U.S. were behind the 1953 coup that toppled Prime Minster Mohammad Mossadegh, who nationalized Iran's oil industry. Britain had almost complete control over Iran's oil industry for decades.

The British have also drawn fire because of the BBC's prominent role as a trusted broadcaster in Farsi inside Iran.

This is a reversal from the way the state and publicly funded BBC was perceived in the run-up to the Iranian Islamic Revolution. At the time, the BBC was widely listened to because it extensively covered anti-Shah demonstrations and activities of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was in exile in France.

Iran's leaders have countered Western condemnation with increasingly angry rhetoric. The confrontation appears to be dashing hopes for a new dialogue, as initially envisioned by President Barack Obama when he took office.

Obama wants to engage Iranian leaders in talks over the country's suspect nuclear program which the U.S. and other western countries worry is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran defends its nuclear program as civilian in nature. On Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the 27-nation bloc would "like very much" to restart nuclear talks with Tehran despite the rising tensions.

Senior White House adviser David Axelrod played down Ahmadinejad's accusations against the U.S., saying Sunday they aren't credible and are meant for domestic consumption. "This is political theater," he said on ABC's "This Week."

Iran's rulers have unleashed club-wielding militiamen to crush street protests and arrested hundreds of journalists, students and activists.

On Sunday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for national unity, appealing to both sides in the dispute, even though he has come down firmly on the side of Ahmadinejad.

"I admonish both sides not to stoke the emotions of the young or pit the people against each other," he said in comments carried on state TV. "Our people are made of one fabric."

Mousavi signaled he is not dropping his political challenge.

In a new statement, he insisted on a repeat of the election and rejected a partial recount being proposed by the government. However, Mousavi's challenge seemed largely aimed at maintaining some role as an opposition figure.

The latest statement by Mousavi, who has been increasingly isolated, appeared Sunday on Ghalamnews, a Web site run by supporters. Mousavi-related Web sites have frequently been blocked by the government, and one was shut down by hackers last week.

Iran's top electoral body, the 12-member Guardian Council, has proposed recounting 10 percent of the votes. On Friday, the council offered to bring in six more political figures to oversee a partial recount, presumably to give the effort greater legitimacy in the eyes of the challengers.

However, Mousavi reiterated his demand for nullification as "the most suitable solution to restore public confidence." He called for independent arbiters to settle the dispute.

Another defeated candidate, Mahdi Karroubi, also expressed doubt that a fair review is possible.

"How is it possible to answer controversies through counting some ballots?" he wrote in a letter to the Guardian Council, published Sunday in his newspaper, Etemad-e-Melli.

A third candidate, Mohsen Rezaei, said he would only send a representative to the council, for observation of a re-count, if the other two candidates did the same.

__

Laub reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Shaya Tayefe Mohajer and William J. Kole in Cairo, Shawn Pogatchnik in London and Elena Becatoros in Corfu, Greece, contributed to this report.

 

[a_majoor]

Traffic analysis of Iran's Internet is revealing:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/23712/?nlid=2116

Thursday, June 18, 2009
Global Net Traffic Reveals Iran's Censorship Surge

Data gleaned from Internet service providers hints at how the government is controlling Web traffic.
By Erica Naone

Iran's government might not have completely cut off Internet access within its borders, as have other governments suffering from political unrest. However, new evidence shows that the Data Communication Company of Iran (DCI) has been manipulating the overall flow of traffic to the country, according to Craig Labovitz, chief scientist for Arbor Networks, a company based in Chelmsford, MA, that provides network security and analysis for many Internet service providers and large businesses.

Although Labovitz has no information directly from Iran, he has based his conclusions about Iranian traffic on data collected from more than 100 Internet service providers that together allow Arbor Networks to form a picture of global Web traffic.

Labovitz found that on June 13, the day after elections, Iranian traffic fell off almost completely. Traffic came back a few hours later, he writes, though just a little. By June 16, Labovitz says, it was back to about 70 percent of normal.

Labovitz writes,

So what is happening to Iranian traffic?

I can only speculate. But DCI's Internet changes suggest piecemeal migration of traffic flows. Typically off the shelf / inexpensive Internet proxy and filtering appliances can support 1 Gbps or lower. If DCI needed to support higher throughput (say, all Iranian Internet traffic), then redirecting subsets of traffic as the filtering infrastructure comes online would make sense.

Unlike Burma, Iran has significant commercial and technological relationships with the rest of the world. In other words, the government cannot turn off the Internet without impacting business and perhaps generating further social unrest. In all, this represents a delicate balance for the Iranian government and a test case for the Internet to impact democratic change.

 

[George Wallace]

Perhaps the problem was not as mentioned, but by the system becoming overloaded and unable to 'maintain the flow'.  This could overload and close down some nodes, but perhaps not all.

 

[CougarKing]

And the clashes continue.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090628/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_election

By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer William J. Kole, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 43 mins ago
EDITOR'S NOTE: Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.

___

Several thousand protesters — some chanting "Where is my vote?" — clashed with riot police in Tehran on Sunday as Iran detained local employees of the British Embassy, escalating the regime's standoff with the West and earning it a stinging rebuke from the European Union.

Witnesses said riot police used tear gas and clubs to break up a crowd of up to 3,000 protesters who had gathered near north Tehran's Ghoba Mosque in the country's first major post-election unrest in four days.

Some described scenes of brutality, telling The Associated Press that some protesters suffered broken bones and alleging that police beat an elderly woman, prompting a screaming match with young demonstrators who then fought back.

The reports could not be independently verified because of tight restrictions imposed on journalists in Iran.

North Tehran is a base of support for opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has alleged massive fraud in Iran's disputed June 12 presidential election and insists he — not President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — is the rightful winner.

Sunday's clashes erupted at a rally that had been planned to coincide with a memorial held each year for Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, who came to be considered a martyr in the Islamic Republic after he was killed in a major anti-regime bombing in 1981.

Witnesses said the protesters also chanted, "Ya Hussein, Mir Hossein," linking Mousavi's first name with a highly revered Shiite saint, Imam Hussein — the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and a symbol of personal sacrifice for a cause. Later, after the situation calmed, police set up patrols and cordons.

It was Iran's first election-related unrest since Wednesday, when a small group of rock-throwing protesters who had gathered near parliament was quickly overwhelmed by police forces using tear gas and clubs.Iranian authorities say 17 protesters and eight members of the volunteer Basij militia have been killed in two weeks of unrest, and that hundreds of people have been arrested.

The Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights said its information suggests at least 2,000 arrests have been made — "not just (people) arrested and later released, but who are locked up in prison," the group's vice president, Abdol Karim Lahidji, told the AP.

He said his information came from members of human rights groups in Iran and other contacts inside the country.

Iran's diplomatic battles also intensified Sunday after authorities detained several local employees of the British Embassy in Tehran — a move that Britain's foreign secretary called "harassment and intimidation." The EU condemned the arrests.

Iranian media said eight local embassy staff were detained for alleged roles in post-election protests, but gave no further details. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said "about nine" employees were detained Saturday and that four had been released.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Corfu, Greece, issued a statement condemning the arrests and calling for the immediate release of all those still detained. The 27-nation bloc also denounced Iran's continuing restrictions on journalists.

"They make clear to the Iranian authorities that harassment or intimidation of foreign or Iranian staff working in embassies will be met with a strong and collective EU response," the statement said.

Iran has accused the West of stoking unrest, singling out Britain and the U.S. for alleged meddling and for expressing concern about the ferocity of the regime's crackdown on protesters. Last week, Iran expelled two British diplomats, and Britain responded in kind. Iran has also said it's considering downgrading diplomatic ties with Britain.

On Sunday, Iranian Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseini Ejehi accused some British embassy staff of mingling with protest crowds to encourage unrest.

The British Foreign Office says the embassy has a staff of more than 100, including at least 70 locally hired Iranians. Last week, Britain sent home 12 dependents of embassy staff because the protests had disrupted their lives.

Miliband, in Corfu for the EU meeting, said Britain lodged a protest with the Iranian authorities over the detentions, which he called "quite unacceptable."

"The idea that the British Embassy is somehow behind the demonstrations and protests that have been taking place in Tehran. ... is wholly without foundation," he said.

A senior Iranian cleric, Ahmed Khatami, had lashed out at Britain on Friday in a nationally televised sermon. "In this unrest, Britons have behaved very mischievously and it is fair to add the slogan of 'Down with England' to the slogan of 'Down with USA,'" he said.

Iran's sharpening anti-Western rhetoric threatened to dash hopes for the new dialogue President Barack Obama initially envisioned when he took office.

Obama wants to engage Iranian leaders in talks over the country's suspect nuclear program which the U.S. and other western countries worry is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran defends its nuclear program as civilian in nature. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Sunday the bloc would "like very much" to restart nuclear talks with Tehran despite the rising tensions.

Senior White House adviser David Axelrod played down Ahmadinejad's accusations against the U.S., saying they aren't credible and are meant for domestic consumption. "This is political theater," he said on ABC's "This Week."

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called for national unity, appealing to both sides in the dispute, even though he has come down firmly on the side of Ahmadinejad.

"I admonish both sides not to stoke the emotions of the young or pit the people against each other," he said Sunday. "Our people are made of one fabric."

Mousavi, meanwhile, signaled anew he won't drop his political challenge.

In a new statement, he insisted on a repeat of the election and rejected a partial recount being proposed by the government. However, Mousavi's challenge seemed largely aimed at maintaining some role as an opposition figure.

The latest statement by Mousavi, who has been increasingly isolated, appeared Sunday on Ghalamnews, a Web site run by supporters. Mousavi-related Web sites have frequently been blocked by the government, and one was shut down by hackers last week.

For the first time since the election, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani spoke publicly about the unrest, claiming that "suspicious hands" were trying to open rifts between the people and the Islamic system.

He also praised Khamenei for giving the Guardian Council, Iran's top electoral body, more time to evaluate charges of vote-rigging. That was significant because there had been growing speculation that Rafsanjani could be at odds with the supreme leader — setting the stage for a possible high-level power struggle.

___

Kole reported from Cairo. Associated Press Writers Shaya Tayefe Mohajer in Cairo, Jamey Keaten in Paris, Shawn Pogatchnik in London and Elena Becatoros in Corfu, Greece, contributed to this report.

 

[George Wallace]

Traffic analysis of Iran's Internet is revealing:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/23712/?nlid=2116

Thursday, June 18, 2009
Global Net Traffic Reveals Iran's Censorship Surge

At the same time we have this:

Jackson's death slows web to a crawl

In life, Michael Jackson once ruled the pop charts. With his death, he dominated the internet.

CBC News

As reports of Jackson's death on Thursday spread, celebrity gossip websites crashed, news sites slowed to a crawl and traffic on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook spiked.


More on link.

Obviously Thursday was not a good day for the Internet.

 

[Yrys]

Iran 'frees five' from UK embassy

Five of the local staff at the British embassy detained in Tehran have been released,
Iranian officials say. Iran's media earlier said several Iranian staff at the UK mission
were held over their role in protests against a disputed presidential poll.

It is unclear how many embassy staff are still being held. British Foreign Secretary
David Miliband has dismissed the Tehran's allegations as baseless. "Eight people were
arrested. Five were freed and three are still being interrogated," Iranian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said at a news conference on Monday.

Iran's state television Press TV earlier reported that there had been a total of nine
arrests. Despite the reported releases, the fact that some employees are still being
held means the issue remains a serious problem for the UK, the BBC's Middle East
editor Jeremy Bowen in Tehran says. On Sunday, the European Union warned Iran
that "harassment or intimidation" of embassy staff would be met with a "strong and
collective" response.

Separately, Iran's top legislative body began a partial recount of June's poll. Iran's
state TV said the recount had started on Monday in the capital Tehran as well as in
the country's provinces. Iran's Guardian Council has offered to recount a random 10%
of the votes from the 12 June election.

The process was expected to be completed later on Monday and the result would be
announced shortly afterwards, al-Alam television said. But Mr Mousavi insists the poll
was rigged and therefore should be annulled.

Current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the poll's winner - a move that
triggered mass street protests.

 

[Yrys]

Iran confirms Ahmadinejad victory

Iran's top electoral body, the Guardian Council, has confirmed the victory
of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the presidential election after a partial recount.
News of the decision, which comes after a series of protests by the opposition
against what it says was a rigged ballot, was announced by state TV.

The 12-strong council is the most influential body in Iran and is currently
controlled by conservatives.

"The secretary of the Guardian Council in a letter to the interior minister
announced the final decision of the Council... and declares the approval of
the accuracy of the results of... the presidential election," the state
broadcaster said. A partial recount of the election carried out on Monday
showed no irregularities in the vote, Iran's English-language Press TV
television station added, according to Reuters news agency.

Mr Ahmadinejad was officially re-elected with 63% of the vote on 12 June.
His main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has said the whole election
should be annulled and held again.

Some 17 people are thought to have died during opposition street protests.
Reports say there were clashes on Monday in central Tehran between
opposition demonstrators trying to form a human chain and security forces.

Red lines

The Guardian Council ruled earlier that any irregularities in the polling would
not affect the result but its partial recount on Monday was expected to pave
the way for the formal confirmation of President Ahmedinejad's victory, the
BBC's Jeremy Bowen reports from Tehran.

Iran's crisis since the presidential election has taken the Islamic Republic into
new and unknown territory, our correspondent says. All sorts of red lines have
been crossed, with unprecedented public condemnation of the supreme leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, he adds. Iran has been left with a divided ruling elite
that has been having a public quarrel, our correspondent says.

During the mass rallies a broad-based opposition coalition emerged. It did not
have effective leadership so the authorities were able to take the initiative back,
helped by a security crackdown and hundreds, some say several thousand, arrests.

The people who took to the streets are still angry about what happened, our
correspondent adds, and the authorities must fear that anger, because it could
explode again.

 

[Yrys]

Same subject, NY Times

Iran Council Certifies Ahmadinejad Victory

CAIRO — The powerful Guardian Council touched off scattered protests in Tehran
Monday night when it formally certified the re-election of President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad to a second four-year term, saying there was no validity to charges
of voting fraud.

As the certification was announced, security and militia forces flooded the streets,
and protesters who were already out marching down Tehran’s central avenue,
Vali Asr, broke into furious chants. The marchers were quickly dispersed, but other
Iranians, urged by opposition Web sites, went to their rooftops to yell “God is great!”
in a show of defiance.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the Guardian Council’s secretary, sent a letter to the interior
minister saying the panel had approved the election after a partial recount, according
to state television.

“The Guardian Council, by reviewing the issues in many meetings and not considering
the complaints and protest as valid, verifies the 10th presidential election,” Ayatollah
Jannati wrote. The letter made scant mention of the sweeping public anger and
accusations of fraud.

Rest of article on link

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Thucydides

True.  However, Iran has vast tracts of 'uninhabited', remote, desolate lands.  These would be very conducive to Arms smuggling, a tradecraft that is already in plentiful availability in Iran.  Perhaps some of the arms being smuggled out, will turn around and be smuggled into the metropolitan areas.

Well they already have a homegrown insurgency with Baloch nationalists not to mention Persian only represent 51% of the population, their infastructure is crumbling and standard of living is declining. Add in a fairly young population, set on boil with a rigged election and some head bashing of the unwashed rabble. Haven’t heard much their kurdish population lately. I think the Iranian rulers will be paying for this mistake for a long time, sadly so will the average Iranian. I would like to see a moderate Iran and Iraq happily trading with each other in my lifetime.

 

[Yrys]

Britain and Iran's fraught history
Iranian authorities' scare tactics
Fears grow for Iranian detainees



'Iran trial' for UK embassy staff

Some UK embassy staff detained in Tehran and accused of inciting protests
after disputed elections will face trial, a top Iranian cleric says. Guardians
Council chief Ahmad Jannati said: "Naturally they will be put on trial, they
have made confessions."

Nine embassy staff were held in Tehran last weekend. Britain says all but
two have now been freed.

EU governments are to summon Iranian ambassadors to protest against the
detention of the embassy staff. An EU official told the BBC that, in addition,
visas for Iranians holding Iranian diplomatic passports would be suspended.

The official said other measures, including the withdrawal of EU ambassadors
from Iran, would be considered if the two British embassy staff were not
released. Protests gripped Tehran and other Iranian cities after June's
presidential election, amid claims the vote had been rigged in favour of the
incumbent, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Guardians Council - Iran's supreme legislative body, which Ayatollah
Jannati heads - on Monday ratified the disputed result, following a partial
recount.

'Velvet revolution' plan

Ayatollah Jannati did not say how many employees would be tried or on what
charges. "In these incidents, their embassy had a presence, some people were
arrested," he told the thousands of worshippers at Friday prayers, according to
news agencies. Ayatollah Jannati said on Friday: "After the election, the enemy
could not stand people's joy. The enemy made an effort to poison the people.
They had planned a velvet revolution before the election." He said the UK Foreign
Office had warned of possible "street riots" around the 12 June election and had
advised its nationals to avoid public places.

BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says Ayatollah Jannati's speech
marks a significant deterioration in the already bad relationship between London
and Tehran.

'Deeply concerned'

Tehran has repeatedly accused foreign powers - especially Britain and the US - of
stoking unrest after the election. Britain has protested strongly against the arrests
and rejected the Iranian allegations as baseless. In the fallout from the crisis,
Tehran expelled two British diplomats and the UK responded with a similar measure.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Britain was urgently seeking clarification
from Iran about a possible trial and remained "deeply concerned" about the two
staff members in detention. "We are confident that our staff have not engaged
in any improper or illegal behaviour," he said.

Five of the nine employees were reportedly released on Monday and Iranian state
media said on Wednesday it had freed three more, but British and EU officials say
two remain in custody.

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported this week that one of the detainees
had played a "remarkable role during the recent unrest in managing it behind the
scenes". Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last month described
Britain, as the "most evil" of its enemies.

The issue of how to deal with Iran is set to dominate the summit of the Group of Eight
(G8) industrialised nations in Italy next week. Some EU countries have urged caution,
arguing that Europe should engage with Iran, not isolate it. But if the embassy staff
are put on trial, the EU may have few other options than to tighten the diplomatic
screw, correspondents say.

Library ballot boxes

Meanwhile, the governor of one of Iran's biggest cities, Shiraz, has denied reports
that a number of sealed ballot boxes in its main library contained votes from last
month's election. Ebrahim Azizi said the boxes were from previous polls and that
the interior ministry had ordered they be archived there. Earlier this week, an
Iranian journalist posted pictures on the internet of several ballot boxes sitting
on the floor of the library.

Historians say the distrust between the UK and Iran stems from the 1800s, when
Iran - then Persia - was forced to concede territory to Russia in a treaty drafted
by a British diplomat.

In more modern times, British operatives backed a CIA-organised coup in 1953
against an elected Iranian government.

In 2007, Iran seized 15 British navy personnel on patrol in waters between Iraq
and Iran and held them for 12 days, during which time they were paraded on
national television.

Britain is also among the most vocal opponents of Iran's nuclear programme,
saying its aim is to develop atomic weapons, a claim denied by Tehran.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Hmmm, just making sure they are ready for the next wave of protesters??


http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090704/world/iran_execution
Iran hangs 20 drug traffickers in mass execution

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran on Saturday hanged 20 people for drug trafficking at a prison in Karaj, west of the capital, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Fars said more than 700 kilos (1,540 pounds) of drugs, including heroin, cocaine and opium, were seized from the 20, who were aged between 35 and 48 and had been arrested over the past five years.
According to human rights group Amnesty International Iran applied the death penalty to 346 people last year, carrying out more executions than any other country apart from China.

But it is rare for such a large number of people to be executed in a single day in the Islamic republic.
Twenty-nine people who had been convicted for various crimes, including murder, rape and drugs trafficking, took place on July 27, 2008 in the largest mass execution in years.
On January 2 last year, 13 people were hanged, including a mother of two young children found guilty of murdering her husband.

The latest hangings bring to at least 161 the number of people executed in the Islamic republic so far this year, according to an AFP count based on news reports. In 2008, Iran executed 246 people, according to that count.
Earlier on Saturday the Etemad newspaper reported that two Iranian men convicted of murder had been hanged in the southern city of Shiraz.
Tehran says the death penalty is a necessary tool for maintaining public security and is only applied after exhaustive judicial proceedings.

Murder, rape, armed robbery, drugs trafficking and adultery are all punishable by death in Iran.

 

[CougarKing]

Surprised this hasn't been noted here yet.

WASHINGTON — Plunging squarely into one of the most sensitive issues in the Middle East, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. suggested on Sunday that the United States would not stand in the way of Israeli military action aimed at the Iranian nuclear program.

[snip]

What was not immediately clear was whether Mr. Biden, who has a long-standing reputation for speaking volubly — and sometimes going too far in the heat of the moment — was sending an officially sanctioned message.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/us/politics/06biden.html?hp

 

[tomahawk6]

Proof positive that the Obama administration is inept at foreign policy. No doubt the spin meisters will claim he was taken out of context or meant to say something else.

 

[CougarKing]

Quite an update! Seems not all the clerics are as complicit with Ahmadinejad's vote-rigging after all.

CAIRO — An important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.

[SNIP....]


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

 

[CougarKing]

And here is Pres. Obama's response:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090707/world/mideast_israel_us_nuclear_obama

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama strongly denied in an interview on Tuesday that the United States had given Israel a green light to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.

Asked on CNN television whether Washington had given Israel the go-ahead for such an attack, Obama said: "Absolutely not."


In the interview with the US network broadcast from Russia where he is on an official visit, Obama added that Washington could not "dictate" the security interests of other countries and would seek to settle the dispute through diplomacy.


"What is also true is, it is the policy of the United States to try to resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear capabilities," Obama said.


This would be achieved "through diplomatic channels," he said.

The remarks followed comments by Vice President Joe Biden over the weekend that the United States would not stand in the way of Israel in its response to Iran's nuclear ambitions.


"Israel can determine for itself... what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else," Biden told ABC television's "This Week" program in an interview broadcast Sunday.


"We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do when they make a determination -- if they make a determination -- that they're existentially threatened," Biden said.


Obama on Tuesday stressed that he wanted first to see progress on diplomacy, as the United States attempts to end Tehran's controversial nuclear drive.


"I think Vice President Biden stated a categorical fact, which is that we can't dictate to other countries what their security interests are," the US president said.


Obama said that "the United States reserve(s) the right, and I as commander-in-chief reserve the right, to take whatever actions are necessary to protect the United States."


Asked about Iran at an event Tuesday in Washington, the top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, said Tehran could have an atomic bomb within one to three years and that such a development risked unleashing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.


If Iran secured a nuclear arsenal it "would be potentially very destabilizing," Mullen told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.


"My concern is that, you know, the clock has continued to tick," he said.


Saying Israel viewed a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat, Mullen spoke of the "criticality in my view of solving this before Iran gets a nuclear capability or that anyone would, you know, take action to strike them."


Mullen, who is chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the focus was on diplomatic efforts but echoed Obama's comments, refusing to rule out military options.


"There is a great deal that certainly depends on the dialogue and the engagement, and I think we need to do that with all options remaining on the table, including certainly military options," he said.