Door: Marc E. Putto
Januari 2012
Door: Ingezonden
Dit is de voortzetting van de nieuwsdraad, welke ooit op www.joostniemöller.com begon, over het verzet van de groene beweging in Iran. Tevens worden hier links, video's en nieuwsberichten gepost over ontwikkelingen rond de nucleaire ambities van dit land. De draad wordt per 2 weken vernieuwd. Een chronologisch overzicht kunt u vinden in de categorie "Ondertussen in Iran".
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Geplaatst door: Ingezonden
op 1 jan 2012. Gearchiveerd onder Ondertussen in Iran.
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Reacties en pingen zijn gesloten.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2080968/Iran-test-fires-long-range-missile-hit-Israel-U-S-bases-military-power.html?ITO=1490
Iran said today it had successfully test-fired a long-range missile during its naval exercise in the Gulf -- flexing its military muscle to show it could hit Israel and U.S. bases in the region if attacked.
The announcement came amid rising tension over Iran’s disputed nuclear programme which Western powers believe is working on developing atomic bombs.
Tehran denies the accusation and last week said it would stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz if the West carried out threats to impose sanctions on its oil exports.
geen idee waar het precies over gaat en ik kon ook geen bevestiging vinden:
op twitter een bericht:
Gonabadi Dervishes member Reza Pishkar was arrested in a raid of his home Sunday & taken to Shiraz prison
http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2012/01/02/iran-vandaag-uitgestelde-proef-met-lange-afstandsraketten-hormuz/?utm_campaign=nieuwsbrief&utm_source=email
In een reeks van veelbesproken militaire oefeningen heeft Iran vanochtend twee langeafstandsraketten afgevuurd volgens persbureau IRNA. De proef maakt deel uit van een exercitie in de Straat van Hormuz, een voor olietankers belangrijke zeepassage tussen Iran en het Arabisch Schiereiland.
Het ziet er naar uit dat het Iraanse regime de zaak op de spits wil drijven door te doen alsof de Persiese Golf het eigendom is van Iran.
Iran dreigt over Amerikaans vliegdekschip
Iran wil niet dat een Amerikaans vliegdekschip terugkeert naar zijn basis in de Perzische Golf. Dat zei bevelhebber Ataollah Salehi van het Iraanse leger vandaag.
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/960/Buitenland/article/detail/1372009/2012/01/03/Iran-dreigt-over-Amerikaans-vliegdekschip.dhtml
Election Fears and Economic Woes Pose New Challenges for Iran’s Leaders
Iran’s conservative Islamic hierarchy has been seeking to portray the coming parliamentary elections as an enviable model of Middle East democracy and an inspiration for the Arab Spring revolts.
But a likely boycott by Iran’s harshly silenced reformists and fears of election-related violence, combined with dire economic problems arising from Iran’s isolation over its suspect nuclear program, are creating new challenges for Iranian leaders as they face their first domestic legitimacy test since the disputed presidential election of 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/world/middleeast/boycott-by-reformers-could-undermine-elections-in-iran.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Daughter of former Iranian president sentenced to jail
Ex-MP Faezeh Hashemi, whose views are close to the Green movement’s, faces six months for ‘spreading propaganda’
The daughter of former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been sentenced to six months in jail after being found guilty of “spreading propaganda” against the country’s regime.
Faezeh Hashemi, a political activist and former member of the Iranian parliament whose views are close to those of the reformists, was informed of the court’s verdict on Tuesday, Iran’s semi-official Ilna news agency reported.
“She has been convicted on charges of making propaganda against the ruling system and has been sentenced to six months in prison,” Hashemi’s lawyer, Gholam Ali Riahi, told Ilna.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/03/iran-former-president-daughter-jailed-hashimi
Establishment factions to face off in Iranian elections
Iran has begun gearing up for elections that will represent a showdown between two factions that just three years ago formed a united establishment against the opposition Green Movement.
In parliamentary elections March 2, supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will face off against an alliance of hard-line clerics, Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders and bazaar merchants who had been instrumental in keeping Ahmadinejad in power before they turned against him.
Wat me opvalt hier is dat deze verkiezingen op 2 Maart gepland zijn en niet net als vorige keer midden in de zomer.
Ik neem aan dat men er daar rekening mee gaat houden dat de bevolking weer de straat op gaat en dat politie en veiligheidstroepen gespaard moeten worden wat betrefd de temperaturen, omdat in 2009 deze thugs veelal in compleet uniform slag moesten leveren met de bevolking waardoor veel Basji’i moeite hadden met uitdrogingsverschijnselen.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/establishment-factions-to-face-off-in-iranian-elections/2012/01/02/gIQAJ4EsXP_story.html?wprss=rss_world
Social Media Carries Prison Message From Iranian Activist
A well-known Iranian political activist, Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, has managed to send out an unprecedented video message from the Rajayishahr prison in which he dismisses Iran’s repressive measures aimed at silencing dissent and predicts they will fail.
“Freedom is the essence of human being I believe, in fact without freedom no choice has a meaning,” he says in the 15-minute-plus video.
The video was recorded recently on a mobile phone and posted on YouTube. It was then quickly shared on Facebook, blogs, and other social media sites.
Tabarzadi the head of the banned Democratic Front of Iran who has been in and out of prison for the past several years, is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence after being convicted of security charges that are often being brought against Iranian political activists.
http://www.rferl.org/content/jailed_iran_activist_social_media_carries_message/24440611.html
Iran Tests Cruise Missile During Navy Drill
Iran–Iran test-fired a surface-to-surface cruise missile on Monday during a drill that the country’s navy chief said proved Tehran was in complete control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the passageway for one-sixth of the world’s oil supply.
The missile, called Ghader, or Capable in Farsi, was described as an upgraded version of a missile that has been in service before. The official IRNA news agency said the missile “successfully hit its intended target” during the exercise.
No other details were released about Ghader. An earlier version of the same cruise missile had a range of 124 miles (200 kilometers) and could travel at low altitudes. There were suggestions it could counter the U.S. naval presence in the Persian Gulf.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550304577136620250642352.html?mod=fox_australian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/jan/03/iran-test-long-range-missile-video
‘Regime unable to try green leaders,’ says Khamenei aide
A close aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader says that authorities are unable to put the leaders of the Green Movement on trial because of their followers.
Speaking to the Fars news agency, Ali Saeedi, the Supreme Leader’s representative to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said that it was not possible to take 2009 presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi to court “because they have supporters and followers” as well as “a few turban-heads [clerics] who continue to back elements within the sedition.”
“Sedition” is a term frequently used by officials to refer to the massive protests that erupted following the June 2009 presidential race which resulted in the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president.
In mid-February, Karroubi and Mousavi, who spearheaded the opposition Green Movement since the rigged election, were placed under an illegal and arbitrary house arrest after calling for protests in solidarity with the Arab Spring. Thus far, no formal charges have been put forth against the two men. Human rights groups say their continued captivity and maltreatment is inconsistent not only with human rights provisions, but also with Iran’s own constitution.
http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2012/jan/03/3436?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+irangreenvoice%2FEn+%28Iran+Green+Voice+-+English%29
Pentagon Dismisses Iran Threat On Persian Gulf Transit
The Pentagon has said it will continue sending U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups into the Persian Gulf, despite a threat by Iran’s military to take action.
Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement on January 3 that “the deployment of U.S. military assets in the Persian Gulf region will continue as it has for decades.”
The statement said that “these carrier strike group deployments are necessary to maintain the continuity and operational support to ongoing missions.”
Earlier on the same day, the Reuters news agency quoted a U.S. defense official as saying that the United States will continue to deploy its warships in the Persian Gulf, after Iran threatened to take action if the U.S. Navy moves an aircraft carrier into the region.
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran_commander_warns_us_aircraft_carrier/24440697.html
Iranian internet users to be cut off from World Wide Web
In Maart zou Iran afgesloten worden van het Wereld wijd web en op 2 maart zijn de verkiezingen.
Dan kan Ik me wel voorstellen dat men alles zal proberen om enig nieuws over de verkiezingen en de gevolgen daarvan niet wereldkundig wil hebben.
Dus welbeschouwd zal waarschijnlijk de fraude van 2009 overtroffen gaan worden.
A member of Iran’s Corporate Computer Systems reports that Iran will be cut off from the World Wide Web once the country launches its own national internet network.
Iranian media report that Payam Karbasi, the spokesman for Corporate Computer Systems of Iran, said: “With the launch of the national internet, the internet providers can increase the speed of access to their desired websites by two megabytes… however, it will be just like a corporate network, which cannot be accessed by outsiders, and some material cannot be accessed through that network.”
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1029.html
Revolutionary Guards chief warns against elections protests
General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, has warned that the “enemy” is planning “street disturbances and social protests” around the upcoming parliamentary elections.
On Sunday Jafari said the IRGC has information showing that these disturbances have been planned for a long time.
“They want to create disturbances and resuscitate the sedition,” Jafari said. “And by showing and focusing on the confrontation of protesters with the regime, they want to distort the popular image of the regime in the Islamic world.”
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/revolutionary-guards-chief-warns-against-elections-protests
Iran prepares bill to bar foreign warships from Persian Gulf
Iran’s parliament said Wednesday it was preparing a bill that would prohibit all foreign warships from entering the Persian Gulf unless they received permission from the Iranian navy.
The bill, disclosed by the the semiofficial Fars News Agency, surfaced a day after Iran’s armed forces commander warned a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier not to return to the gulf, remarks that rattled commodities markets and helped drive up oil prices.
The proposed legislation suggested that at least some Iranian officials are serious about trying to stop the U.S. Navy from entering the oil-rich gulf waters. Iranian analysts said the bill probably would not have been introduced if it were not supported by higher authorities.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iran-prepares-bill-to-bar-foreign-warships-from-persian-gulf/2012/01/04/gIQAhlWYaP_story.html?wprss=rss_world
Exclusive: EU agrees to embargo on Iranian crude
European governments have agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian oil, EU diplomats said on Wednesday, dealing a blow to Tehran that crowns new Western sanctions months before an Iranian election.
The prospective embargo by the European Union, along with tough U.S. financial measures signed into law by President Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve, form a concerted Western campaign to hold back Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran says the program is strictly non-military, but Western countries say a November U.N. report shows it has sought to build an atomic bomb. Talks between Tehran and major powers broke down a year ago.
Diplomats said EU envoys held talks on Iran in the last days of December, and that any objections to an oil embargo had been dropped -- notably from crisis-hit Greece which gets a third of its oil from Iran, relying on Tehran’s lenient financing. Spain and Italy are also big buyers.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/04/us-iran-idUSTRE8031DI20120104?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29
Iran’s currency crash a blow to Ahmadinejad
The Iranian currency – the rial – has been essential in shoring up a view of Iran as strong and independent in recent years. Now it’s collapsing on President Ahmadinejad’s watch.
As Iran experiences new, harsh US and international economic sanctions over its nuclear program – a program considered by much of the country as a matter of national pride – a stable currency has become a national security priority.
“Even though it’s not necessarily good for the economy, amidst sanctions a stable currency creates an illusion of strength,” says a veteran analyst in Tehran. “It reflects how nonvulnerable the Iranian economy is to sanctions.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/0104/Iran-s-currency-crash-a-blow-to-Ahmadinejad
Internet cafes to demand customer ID
In de aanloop naar verkiezingen op 2 maart.
Tehran Police have ordered all internet cafes to start recording the identity of their customers.
ISNA reports that Tehran Police announced on Tuesday that internet cafes must check their customers’ identity cards before offering them any services.
The cafes are also reportedly required to install closed-circuit cameras to record the faces of their customers.
The businesses were given 15 days to comply with the new regulations or they risk being reported to the judiciary.
The police announcement says the new regulations aim to “provide security for the users of internet café services and organizing them in order to reduce any possible harm and to protect the business owners of internet cafes.”
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/internet-cafes-demand-customer-id
How Serious Are Iran’s Threats?
Tensions have heightened between Tehran and Washington in the strategic Strait of Hormuz following increased sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program. Iran test-fired missiles and has threatened to close the strait. This is to signal to the United States and its neighbors in the region that Iran has a deterrent capacity, says Michael Elleman, a leading expert on Iran’s missile development. The threats are also aimed at bolstering leadership domestically, he adds. Elleman says while there has been no evidence since 2003 of Iran developing a nuclear weapons program, “Iran certainly is making tremendous headway in developing a range of ballistic missiles that could threaten the cities throughout the Gulf and in Israel.”
Is this connected to talk in the West of blocking Iranian oil exports?
I don’t think that has been expressly threatened by anyone in particular but Iran fears that that might come to pass and as a result the Iranians are trying to make the argument that “well if you are not going to allow people to buy our oil then we are not going to let any oil go through the Strait of Hormuz.”
http://www.cfr.org/iran/serious-irans-threats/p26972?cid=rss-iran-how_serious_are_iran_s_threats-010512&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+region%2Firan+%28CFR.org+-+Regions+-+Iran%29
Iran’s internet cafe clampdown is an effective way to dissuade dissidents
By demanding cyber cafes take people’s details, government is free to focus on other methods of internet censorship
The dream of dictatorships – to control communications within their borders – has got harder and harder as the internet has become more and more pervasive. Fifteen years ago, cutting off the internet was easy: internet providers used modems and you could simply seize them. Now it’s more complex: smartphones may even be able to connect to telephone data services across borders. A determined person can get a message out in all sorts of ways: one of the smartest is to hide coded data inside the pixels of what looks like a perfectly innocent photograph, a method called steganography.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/05/iran-internet-cafe-clampdown-effective
Analysis: Iran could close Hormuz — but not for long
Should Iran’s rulers ever make good their threats to block the Straits of Hormuz, they could almost certainly achieve their aim within a matter of hours.
But they could also find themselves sparking a punishing — if perhaps short-lived — regional conflict from which they could emerge the primary losers.
In recent weeks, a growing number of senior Iranian military and civilian officials have warned that Tehran could use force to close the 54 km (25 mile) entrance to the Gulf if Western states impose sanctions that paralyze their oil exports.
In 10 days of highly publicized military exercises, state television showed truck-mounted missiles blasting towards international waters, fast gunboats practicing attacks and helicopters deploying divers and naval commandos.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/05/us-iran-hormuz-idUSTRE8040PB20120105?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29
Iran’s growing state of desperation
The discussion everywhere these days is about Iran’s strength. Mitt Romney, the Republican front-runner, describes Iran as “the greatest threat that the world faces over the next decade.” He and others are impressed by Iran’s recent declarations about its nuclear capacities and its missile tests. Newt Gingrich has compared the Iranian challenge to the rise of Hitler’s Germany. More measured commentators also see Iran’s rising influence and power across the Middle East.
In fact, the real story is that Iran is weak and getting weaker. Sanctions have pushed its economy into a nose-dive. The political system is fractured and fragmenting. Abroad, its closest ally and the regime of which it is almost the sole supporter — Syria — is itself crumbling. The Persian Gulf monarchies have banded together against Iran and shored up their relations with Washington. Last week, Saudi Arabia closed its largest-ever purchase of U.S. weaponry. Meanwhile, Europe is close to approving even more intense sanctions against Tehran.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/irans-growing-state-of-desperation/2012/01/04/gIQA6usPbP_story.html
Iran says U.S. warships in Persian Gulf spawn ‘mayhem’ (chaos)
Another top Iranian official weighed in Wednesday about the tensions brewing between his country and the United States, the latest salvo in the war of words over the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf.
“We have always stated that there is no need for the forces belonging to the countries beyond this region to have a presence in the Persian Gulf,” Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi said Wednesday, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reported. “Their presence does nothing but create mayhem, and we never wanted them to be present in the Persian Gulf.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/04/world/meast/iran-strait/index.html?section=cnn_latest
This Report That Iran Is Building Rocket Bases In Venezuela Just Got Far More Interesting
This one goes back a few months but has taken on a new relevance given the mounting tensions with Iran.
An article from the May 2011 Jerusalem Times reports Tehran is building intermediate-range missile launch pads at a base on the Paraguaná Peninsula in Venezuela (via Die Welt).
The Revolutionary Guard controlled engineering group Khatam al-Anbia is helping build the site said to include missile defenses, special forces units, and control stations.
Iran’s oil revenue is reportedly going to the construction of bunkers, watch towers, barracks, and 65 foot deep rocket silos.
The article points out that the base will allow Tehran to conduct missile strikes at “Iran’s enemies” if Iran is attacked.
From Caracas to Miami is about 1,300 miles, maybe a couple hundred more than from the Peninsula — well within the range of Iran’s Ghadr-110 medium-range ballistic missile that can cover a distance of over 1,800 miles.
http://www.businessinsider.com/iran-is-building-rocket-bases-in-venezuala-2012-1
Gaat Iran zich net als NoordKorea van de wereld afsluiten?
Is Iran Going To Dump the Web and Launch Its Own National Internet?
Iran isn’t a nation known for its liberal outlook on life. So maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the country may soon pull out of the Internet and launch its own national network instead.
http://gizmodo.com/5873278/is-iran-going-to-dump-the-web-and-launch-its-own-national-internet
@ D.G.
Zoals Ik al aangegeven heb in andere posts hier is het waarschijnlijk een zaak om de toekomstige fraude van de verkiezingen op 2 maart aanstaande onder de mat te vegen.
http://www.dagelijksestandaard.nl/2012/01/een-perfect-weerwoord-van-amerika-en-isra%C3%ABl-richting-iran
Het is al duidelijk DG dat de Yanks zich niet laten afschrikken door Iran, maar wat bij de dagelijkse standaard vergeten word is wel een heel cruciaal gegeven.
Dat zijn namelijk IRGC en de Basiji
Daarvan zijn de meesten namelijk fanatieke “gelovigen” die er geen moeite mee hebben om het leven te geven voor hun Ajatollah en ervan overtuigt zijn dat ze vechten voor hun Sjieitische zaak en dus na het sneuvelen een stuk of 72 maagden in de schoot geworpen krijgenDaarbij komt dan ook nog dat er een regulier leger is dat bestaat uit 550000 goed opgeleide soldatenHet IRGC bestaat uit ongeveer 465000 soldaten die opgeleid zijn zoals special forces en de Basiji claimen 12600000 strijders te hebben.
Daar komt nog bij dat er door de Iraanse staat geclaimt word dat er ook nog ongeveer 11000000 mensen direkt onder de wapenen geroepen kunnen worden.
Alles bij elkaar gezien toch een zeer grote strijdmacht waar men het toch zeer moeilijk mee gaat krijgen zonder het atoomwapen in te zetten.
Wat ook niet onderschat mag worden is Irak, het land dat momenteel een zowat totale sieitische regering heeft met als sterke man Maliki die bijna zeker Iran zal komen helpen, omdat die genoeg een hekel heeft aan de Amerikanen en met liefde en plezier tegen het Amerikaanse leger zijn troepen in zal zetten.
Zoals je ziet zit het toch een beetje moeilijker in elkaar als men het op DDS voor steld.
Iraqi militia’s plan to lay down arms and join politics could boost Iran’s role
A decision by a Shiite militia to transform itself from an armed, anti-American movement into a viable political force could complicate Iraq’s political crisis and strengthen Iran’s clout in this country as U.S. influence wanes.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government has welcomed the recent decision by Asaib Ahl al-Haq to lay down its arms and join the political process. But bringing the former militants into the fold may alienate the Sunni minority and increase tensions between competing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/iraqi-officials-say-bombs-in-baghdad-kill-2-shiite-pilgrims/2012/01/06/gIQAwtwOeP_story.html?wprss=rss_world
Iranian ‘Mothers’ Ask, ‘Who Really Endangers National Security?’
The Mothers of Laleh Park (previously known as the Mourning Mothers of Iran) — a group of women whose children were killed or detained during Iran’s 2009 postelection crackdown — have issued the names of seven members or supporters who have in recent months been sentenced to prison over their activism.
Two of them are currently serving jail terms.
The group has come under pressure by the authorities over its silent public protests in Tehran’s Laleh Park and other locations and for bringing attention to the plight of political prisoners.
In a statement, the group says that while those behind the torture and the killing of activists are free to continue their crimes, women and mothers who have refused to be silent while fighting for their basic rights and defending the rights of their children are being repeatedly harassed and threatened.
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran_persian_letters_mothers_of_laleh_park/24443427.html
British Navy to Send Destroyer to Strait of Hormuz in Response to Iranian Threats
The British Navy has dispatched one of its warships to the Strait of Hormuz in response to threats by Iran that its military will block the narrow passage through which 35 percent of global seaborne crude oil moves.
The HMS Darling, a Type-45 destroyer, should be quite an intimidating and formidable presence in the waterway, the British newspaper Daily Telegraph reported.
According to the paper, the £1 billion ($1.5 billion) vessel, which has been fitted with sophisticated new technology that will grant it the power to shoot down any Iranian missile or rocket, will depart from Portsmouth on Wednesday.
Lord West, the former First Sea Lord, said about Darling: “This warship has an unbelievably capable ability to track targets, spot the most dangerous and identify them for its missiles to take out. It’s highly, highly capable. I would like to see the Type-45s show their potential in the region.”
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/277898/20120106/uk-navy-destroyer-iran-strait-hormuz.htm
As US and Iran Confront Each other, where is the Diplomacy?
The war of words between Iran and the West has reached dangerous proportions, and it may easily get out of hand. It is clear that the majority of people in the West and in Iran do not wish the hostilities to develop into an open conflict, but events -- and rhetoric -- have a life of their own and have a tendency of getting out of control and leading to unintended consequences that would harm both sides. So, instead of ratcheting up the rhetoric, it would be wiser and more productive to make some serious efforts for finding a solution to the crisis, rather than intensifying it.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1058.html
Iran’s Secret Executions: Findings Challenge Judiciary’s False Narrative
(5 January 2012) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran published the first public list of 101 victims of secret group executions in Vakilabad Prison today. The Campaign called on the Iranian Parliament and judiciary to immediately institute a moratorium on executions and to move swiftly to abolish the death penalty.
“Unfortunately, many of these executions happen behind closed doors, without the involvement of lawyers or awareness of the victim’s family, and without access to a fair trial,” said Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi.
Ebadi added that Iran’s abuse of the death penalty has not been successful in fighting crime, saying:
“The Iranian judiciary and government know that the death penalty is not a suitable solution for fighting crime, particularly drug-related crimes. The basic question is this: why does the Iranian government use this type of punishment with such enthusiasm? The issue is that these executions only create fear and intimidation and serve only a political purpose. All of the statistics show that while the number of executions have increased the number of drug-related crimes have not decreased at all.”
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1057.html
Iranian activist gets 20-year jail term
Sohrab Razzaghi, an Iranian activist and a former professor at Allmaeh Tabatabai University, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and a fine of 550 thousand euros.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports that the sentence was issued by Judge Salavati in Tehran, even though Razzaghi currently lives in the Netherlands.
Razzaghi denounced the sentence, saying he had denied all of the charges against him throughout the interrogations, and the prosecution did not present a single shred of evidence to prove him wrong.
Razzaghi was charged with “establishing a group aimed at toppling the regime and acting against national security, providing confidential information to outsiders and receiving money from international organizations.”
Razzaghi, currently residing in the Netherlands, said that since he has not reported to Evin Prison to serve out his sentence, the government will confiscate the $200,000 bail he put up for his release. He added that the 550,000-euro fine stipulated in the sentence amounts to all of the the money that the Koneshgaran Davtalab (volunteer activists) Organization had received in the five years of its existence from various organizations, such as United Nations agencies in Iran and international organizations such as Hivos and Internews.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1055.html
U.S. rescues Iranian hostages, with good timing
For the U.S. Navy, it was like hitting the public-relations jackpot: An aircraft carrier cruising the seas in the Middle East this week stumbled across an Iranian fishing vessel in distress, hijacked by pirates.
Forces from the aircraft carrier’s strike group swiftly made the most of the moment. They seized 15 Somali pirates without firing a shot and rescued 13 hungry Iranian fishermen who had been held hostage for several weeks.
There was no official response, much less a thank you, from the Iranian government Friday after the Navy released details of the rescue mission.
On Saturday, however, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast described the rescue as “humanitarian” act, correspondent Thomas Erdbrink reported from Tehran.
“We consider the actions of the U.S. forces in saving the lives of the Iranian seamen to be a humanitarian and positive act and we welcome such behaviour,” Mehmanparast told Iran’s Arabic-language broadcaster al-Alam.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/us-picks-up-iranian-hostages-with-good-timing/2012/01/06/gIQAI56YfP_blog.html?wprss=checkpoint-washington
Iranians React to U.S. Rescue of Fishermen
One day after the United States Navy rescued 13 Iranian fishermen from Somali pirates in the North Arabian Sea, the response from Iran ranged across a wide spectrum, from gratitude to suspicion.
Agence France-Presse reported that a foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, was the most effusive. In an interview with Iran’s official Arabic-language broadcaster on Saturday, he said, “We consider the actions of the U.S. forces in saving the lives of the Iranian seamen to be a humanitarian and positive act, and we welcome such behavior.”
Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, told another state-financed satellite channel, Press TV, that the American military’s rescue operation was fairly routine and would not lessen the tensions between the two nations.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/iranians-welcome-dismiss-and-complain-about-u-s-rescue-of-fishermen/?partner=rss&emc=rss
Iran Rights Official Calls Homosexuality ‘Disease’
The secretary-general of the Iranian High Council for Human Rights has been quoted as telling a visiting German lawmaker that homosexuality is a disease.
“The West says that the marriage of homosexuals should be allowed under the human rights charter, however, we think it is sexual immorality and a disease,” Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Mohammad Javad Larijani as saying, according to dpa.
Fars reported that Larijani made his remarks during a meeting in Tehran with German lawmaker Tom Koenigs, who chairs the human rights committee in Germany’s parliament.
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran_rights_official_calls_homosexuality_disease/24444986.html
Trita Parsi: Reckless talk of war with Iran makes confrontation a probability
The temperature between the West and Iran has increased dramatically. Escalation by both sides coupled with a reckless discourse that has normalised the idea of war have created an environment where military confrontation is a rising probability. The next escalatory step pondered by Europe -- in the midst of its own economic crisis -- is a total embargo on Iranian oil. An idea that a few months ago was considered a non-starter now has an air of inevitability.
Sanctions are rarely effective. But right before their imposition -- at the moment where they remain a withdrawable threat -- their effectiveness is at their height. The challenge with multilateral sanctions, however, is that the diplomatic resources required to create concensus around sanctions are so great that once the sanctions threat gains momentum, the commitment of the sanctioning countries to this path tends to become irreversible. Rather than utilising the threat of sanctions to compel a change in policy, they tend to confuse the means with the goal. Backing down from the threat becomes too costly so sanctions become unstoppable -- and ineffective.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/trita-parsi-reckless-talk-of-war-with-iran-makes-confrontation-a-probability-6286410.html#
Iran to carry out more naval drills in the Gulf
Only days after Iran completed a 10-day naval drill in the Persian Gulf, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps announced that another naval manoeuvre is set for February.
Admiral Ali Fadavi, of the IRGC naval force, announced that the drill will be carried out next month in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Vice President Mohammadreza Rahimi previously had said that if Iranian oil is put under an embargo, Iran will not allow a drop of oil to get through the Strait of Hormuz.
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/iran-carry-out-more-naval-drills-gulf
Pressed by U.S., Asian Countries Look for Ways to Reduce Purchases of Iranian Oil
Under growing pressure from the United States, some of Asia’s largest economies are reluctantly looking for options to reduce the amount of oil they buy from Iran, a move that would further tighten the economic vise on an increasingly defiant nation that announced plans for a new round of naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz.
The decision by South Korea and Japan to try to accommodate Washington’s demands follows reports that China has already reduced its purchase of Iranian crude in the past month in a pricing dispute with Tehran. Whatever the motives, the combined loss of sales threatens an economy already reeling, where the currency has plummeted in value, inflation has surged and the general public has expressed growing anxiety about the prospect of war.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/world/middleeast/amid-pressure-on-oil-iran-plans-new-round-of-military-exercises.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Google is ‘a spying tool,’ Iran police chief says
A week after Iran issued regulations to crack down on Internet expression, the country’s police chief made his opinions about Web search very clear, telling the Iranian Labour News Agency that Google is not a search engine, but a “spying tool.”
People’s information should be better protected against enemies and cyber attacks, Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam told ILNA. His solution: Build a national Internet.
Iran’s information minister, Reza Taqipour Anvari, told the the Islamic Republic News Agency that he supported the notion, citing added benefits to a soon-to-be-launched national Internet — including cost, security and bandwidth.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/google-is-a-spying-tool-iran-police-chief-says/2012/01/10/gIQAl3b2nP_blog.html?wprss=blogpost
Iran and the West Rediscover Oil as Weapon
Four decades after the 1973 oil shock, Iran and the West are once again embracing oil as a weapon. Tehran is threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, while the industrialized countries are considering a boycott of Iranian oil. But both sides will suffer if such tactics are used.
Surprisingly enough, supertankers don’t burn very well. Although the crude oil they transport is highly flammable, there is not enough oxygen in their tanks to create an explosive mixture.
On average, 14 of these giant tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, located between Iran and Oman, every day. If Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually ordered his forces to fire missiles at one of these tankers, quite a bit of firepower would be needed to set off a Hollywood-style inferno.
But the verbal attacks from Tehran are more than sufficient to set the global markets ablaze.
Last week, prices climbed significantly above the $100-a-barrel mark once again, despite all gloomy economic forecasts. Gasoline prices already reached an all-time high in Germany in 2011. And now the dispute over who controls the Persian Gulf, which has been triggered by Iran’s nuclear policies, is a sign that further escalation is on the horizon.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,808033,00.html#ref=rss
US Presses Iran to Release American Sentenced for Spying
The United States is pressing Iran to release an American man who has been sentenced to death by an Iranian court on charges of spying for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. This comes at a time of rising tensions between the United States and Iran.
The White House and State Department say allegations that Amir Mirza Hekmati -- an Iranian American dual citizen -- worked for or was sent to Iran by the CIA are false, adding that if reports of the death sentence are true, the United States strongly condemns it.
A U.S. statement says Iran’s government “has a history of falsely accusing people of being spies, of eliciting forced confessions, and of holding innocent Americans for political reasons.”
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/US-Presses-Iran-to-Release-American-Sentenced-for-Spying-136969168.html
Amid Currency Slide, Iranians Say ‘Dollar’ Texts Blocked
Mobile-phone users in Iran are complaining that text messages with the word “dollar” are being blocked, amid a dramatic drop in the value of the Iranian currency, the rial.
Last week, the rial fell to its lowest value against the U.S. dollar in the past two decades, with one dollar trading at 18,000 rials on the open market. (The official rate fluctuates around 11,000-12,000.)
The slide came after U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank on December 31.
Iranian media, including the “Shargh” daily, reported this week that all text messages containing the word “dollar” in Persian were being blocked.
AFP reported on January 10 that foreign journalists in Tehran, its own correspondent included, verified the block — but added that the word “euro” was being transmitted without problems.
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran_blocks_dollar_text_messages/24447302.html
Iranian, Venezuelan leaders rebuff U.S., joke about bomb
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez lavished praise on each other on Monday, mocked U.S. disapproval and joked about having an atomic bomb at their disposal.
Despite their geographical distance, the fiery anti-U.S. ideologues have forged increasingly close ties between their fellow OPEC nations in recent years, although concrete projects have often lagged behind the rhetoric.
“One of the targets that Yankee imperialism has in its sights is Iran, which is why we are showing our solidarity,” Chavez said during a joint press conference. “When we meet, the devils go crazy,” he said, mocking U.S. warnings that Latin American nations should not help the Islamic Republic.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-venezuela-irantre80826j-20120109,0,3812529.story
Pentagon pushes back on Iranian warnings on U.S. aircraft carrier
“The deployment of U.S. military assets in the Persian Gulf region will continue as it has for decades,” Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a statement sent to Yahoo News Tuesday. “These are regularly scheduled movements in accordance with our longstanding commitments to the security and stability of the region and in support of ongoing operations.”
“The U.S. Navy operates under international maritime conventions to maintain a constant state of high vigilance in order to ensure the continued, safe flow of maritime traffic in waterways critical to global commerce,” Little’s statement continued. “We are committed to protecting maritime freedoms that are the basis for global prosperity; this is one of the main reasons our military forces operate in the region.”
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/pentagon-pushes-back-iranian-warnings-u-aircraft-carrier-165850384.html
Carrier Carl Vinson joins Stennis in 5th Fleet
The carrier Carl Vinson has arrived in 5th Fleet, putting naval forces closer to Iran as tensions between that country and the United States continue to escalate.
Vinson, as well as embarked Carrier Air Wing 17, cruiser Bunker Hill and destroyer Halsey, entered 5th Fleet on Jan. 9, where it is expected to support Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Navy and Defense Department officials said last week that threats and military exercises from Iran would not deter U.S. forces from continuing to work in the region and that operations were running as usual with no special response to Iran’s provocations.
The carrier John C. Stennis also is in 5th Fleet supporting OEF. The Navy didn’t disclose the Vinson’s exact location, but carriers supporting the war in Afghanistan typically do not operate from the Persian Gulf.
On Jan. 3, Iranian Army chief Ataollah Salehi warned Stennis not to operate in the Gulf.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2012/01/navy-carrier-carl-vinson-joins-stennis-5th-fleet-011012w/
Obama ready to strike to stop nuclear Iran, ex-adviser says
No one should doubt that President Barack Obama is prepared to use military force to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon if sanctions and diplomacy fail, the president’s former special assistant on Iran said.
Obama has “made it very clear” that he regards a nuclear-armed Iran as so great a threat to international security that “the Iranians should never think that there’s a reluctance to use the force” to stop them, Dennis Ross, who served two years on Obama’s National Security Council and a year as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s special adviser on Iran, said in an interview yesterday.
“There are consequences if you act militarily, and there’s big consequences if you don’t act,” said Ross, who in a two-hour interview at the Bloomberg Washington office laid out a detailed argument against those who say Obama would sooner “contain” a nuclear-armed Iran than strike militarily.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120110/POLITICS03/201100411/1022/rss10
Let’s Hope Iran Tries To Close The World’s Oil Spigot
What keeps the U.S. Navy’s top officer awake at night? “The Strait of Hormuz,” Adm. Jonathan Greenert confessed during a speech on Tuesday morning. Greenert meant that he’s worried Iran will close one of the planet’s most strategically important waterways, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil flows. The Iranians have spent weeks threatening to do just that.
Greenert is certainly right to worry, especially as the U.S.S. John C. Stennis‘ battle group just passed through the strait. But in a sense, he should hope Iran tries to close the Strait of Hormuz. There are few mistakes Iran could make that would be worse for it in the long run.
Why? Because Iran would suddenly be responsible for sending world energy prices skyrocketing — perhaps to $200 a barrel — after a disruption of Gulf oil shipping. Washington usually has a hard sell when convincing other countries that Iran’s regional bellicosity and lack of transparency on its nuclear program merits a tough response. But when Iran hits the entire world in the wallet, the argument gets substantially easier.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/01/strait-of-hormuz/
Traders expect Iran’s currency to fall further
According to khabar online, reporting from Tehran, Iran’s currency rial continued its fall trading at 17,200 to a U.S. Dollar on Tuesday. While the government officials have stated they will bring the currency situation under control, the open market traders are predicting further fall of the currency in the coming days due to the high demand for foreign currencies.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1107.html
Turkey Resists US Sanctions Against Iran Despite US Envoy Visit
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns is visiting close ally Turkey to further press international sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear energy program. However, Ankara remains opposed to the new U.S.-led measures.
Although Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has ruled out enforcing new U.S.-led sanctions against Iran, American envoy William Burns is in Ankara trying to change Turkey’s mind. Turkey enforces United Nations measures against Iran, but refuses to join other sanctions pushed by the U.S. and the European Union.
Semih Idiz, who writes for the Turkish newspaper Milliyet, said Burns is the latest in a string of high-level American officials to visit Turkey.
“Turkey has made it clear it’s against sanctions on Iran. So now we see Washington actively lobbying Turkey at the highest level. This adds pressure on Turkey, of course. But it doesn’t resolve Turkey’s dilemma of having to tread a cautious line between these two sides,” said Idiz.
Turkey claims Iranians will face undue economic hardship if it complies with additional U.S. sanctions that target Iran’s energy sector.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1095.html
Iran’s Defense Minister downplays UK decision to send powerful warship to Persian Gulf
Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi has downplayed Britain’s decision to dispatch its most advanced warship to the Persian Gulf, calling the move “unimportant.” He made the remarks after a cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Britain said on Saturday it plans to send its most powerful destroyer, named HMS Daring, to the Persian Gulf amid threats by Iran to block the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil shipping lane, the Economic Times reported.
According to the Telegraph, HMS Daring has been fitted with new technology that will give it the ability to shoot down missiles.
The one-billion-pound destroyer, which will leave Portsmouth next on Wednesday, also carries the world’s most sophisticated naval radar, capable of tracking multiple incoming threats from missiles to fighter jets.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1090.html
Government critics disqualified from running for re-election
Iran’s Ministry of the Interior has disqualified a number of current MPs from running in the upcoming Parliamentary elections.
Ali Motahari, Hamidreza Katouzian, Alireza Mahjoub, Ali Abbaspour Tehrani, Fatemeh Ajorloo, Abbasali Noura, Peymon Forouzesh, Ghodratollah Alikhani and Daryoosh Ghanbari, who have all been involved in strong criticism of the administration over the past year, have been disqualified by the ministry, according to Iranian media.
While the actual reason for the disqualification has not been announced, Ali Motahari says it’s because of the election article demanding belief and commitment to Islam, the constitution and the supreme leadership.
Although Motahari belongs to a conservative group, the Principalists, he has severely criticized the administration and, in the past month, he went so far as to hand in his resignation to the parliamentary speaker over Parliament’s refusal to summon President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for questioning on a series of administrative irregularities.
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/government-critics-disqualified-running-re-election
Wie zou dit op zijn geweten hebben?
http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16146742
An Iranian nuclear scientist who worked at one of the country’s uranium enrichment facilities has been killed by a bomb that had been attached to his car.
Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32, died after two unidentified men on a motorbike fastened a magnetic bomb to his vehicle outside a university in east Tehran.
Two passengers in the car were wounded and taken to hospital, reports added.
The dead scientist worked at Iran’s uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, and officials were quick to blame Israel for the assassination.
“The responsibility of this explosion falls on the Zionist regime,” said provincial governor Safar Bratloo.
Ik had het vanmorgen ook al gelezen maar daar werd niet naar de zionisten verwezen of naar Amerika dus Ik denk laat Ik hem nog maar niet posten en afwachten wanneer ze weer beginnen met die quatch.
En ja hoor het is er dus al van.
Iranium
SP steunt Iraans regime
http://www.dagelijksestandaard.nl/2012/01/sp-steunt-iraans-regime
en Mossad steunt Iraans verzet.
http://isra-ned.blogspot.com/2012/01/mossad-steunt-iraans-verzet.html?spref=tw
Zo zie je Neree dat men de domme burger van alles wijs kan maken.
En dat gaat zeer ver als je de peilingen moet geloven van de Hondt.
Wat niet verteld word is dat Iran momenteel het grootste gevaar is voor de wereldvrede met die religieuse fanaten daar.
Er word wel eens gedacht dat het regime er daar zijn hand niet voor om draait om het eigen volk te offeren in een wereldwijd conflikt maar dat is nou net het verneukeratieve.
De werkelijke machthebbers in Iran zijn in het geheel geen Persen maar Arabieren uit Irak Saoudi Arabie en nog wat van die heerlijke landen.
Wat veel mensen ook niet doorhebben is dat Maliki van Irak ook een Sjiiet is en als het gaat spannen zal het niet onmogelijk zijn dat ook hij de kant van Iran gaat kiezen.
Doe er nog een Syrie en Hezbollah bij dan gaat het al snel over in een conflikt dat het hele Midden oosten in de fik kan zetten.
Buiten dat westerse landen dan weer met de nodige aanslagen te doen krijgen.
Het gevolg is dat de machthebbers van de strijdende parteien al dan niet garen spinnen bij zo’n cinflikt maar er in ieder geval niet veel bij verliezen maar de bevolking van de getroffen landen zwaar op hun sodemieter gaan krijgen.
En dat word dus gesteunt door de SP.
Iran embargo gathers support in Asia, Europe
U.S. allies in Asia and Europe voiced support on Thursday for Washington’s drive to cut Iran’s oil exports, though fear of self-inflicted economic pain is curbing enthusiasm for an embargo that a defiant Iran says will not halt its nuclear program.
As a newspaper close to the clerical establishment called for retaliatory assassinations of Israeli officials after the latest mystery killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist, a former U.N. inspector said a new, almost bomb-proof plant could provide Iran enough enriched uranium for an atom bomb in just a year.
Such timetables, while Iran denies all Western charges that it even wants nuclear weapons, have added to speculation that Israel and the United States could resort to a military adventure against the Islamic Republic -- something an aide to Russian leader Vladimir Putin said was growing more likely.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/12/us-iran-idUSTRE8090ZL20120112?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29
Adversaries of Iran Said to Be Stepping Up Covert Actions
As arguments flare in Israel and the United States about a possible military strike to set back Iran’s nuclear program, an accelerating covert campaign of assassinations, bombings, cyberattacks and defections appears intended to make that debate irrelevant, according to current and former American officials and specialists on Iran.
The campaign, which experts believe is being carried out mainly by Israel, apparently claimed its latest victim on Wednesday when a bomb killed a 32-year-old nuclear scientist in Tehran’s morning rush hour.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/world/middleeast/iran-adversaries-said-to-step-up-covert-actions.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Iran Outrage Over Scientist Killing Deepens as It Signals Revenge
Iran expressed deepening fury at Israel and the United States on Thursday over the drive-by bombing that killed a nuclear scientist in Tehran the day before and signaled that its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may carry out revenge assassinations.
News of the scientist’s killing dominated Iran’s state-run media, which were filled with vitriolic denunciations both of Israel, seen in Iran as the main suspect in the killing, and the United States, where top officials have gone out of their way to issue strongly worded denials of responsibility.
Israeli officials, who regard Iran as Israel’s main enemy, have not categorically denied any Israeli role in the killing of the scientist, which came against a backdrop of growing pressure on Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Western nations suspect that Iran is working toward building a nuclear weapon, despite Iran’s repeated claims that its program is peaceful.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/world/middleeast/iran-outrage-over-scientist-killing-deepens-as-it-signals-revenge.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Japan Says It Will Reduce Iran Oil Imports
Japan’s finance minister told visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that his country will take steps to reduce its dependency on oil imports from Iran, taking a much more conciliatory approach to the matter than China did a few days ago.
“We want to take actions to further reduce our 10% dependency as soon as possible in a planned manner,” Japan Finance Minister Jun Azumi said.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204257504577155614235298468.html?mod=fox_australian
‘What Could Possibly Motivate Israel to Kill Iranian Nuclear Scientists?’
You have to explain to me why the Zionists are so committed to picking a fight with Iran? What could possibly motivate Israel to kill Iranian nuclear scientists? It makes no sense, unless Israel is looking to start a war to extend its military domination of the Middle East (everyone knows Israel has the strongest military in the Middle East). So you’ll have to explain this to me, please.
There seems to be an epidemic of thickness on this question. Let me be clear: Just because I think an attack on Iran’s nuclear complex is a bad idea doesn’t mean I think Iran poses no threat to Israel. Do you want to know why Israel is taking the actions it may be taking against Iran? Because Iran has been engaged in full-blown but subterranean war against Israel for almost three decades. The Iranian regime is committed to the physical elimination of Israel. That’s right — a member-state of the U.N. is advocating the complete destruction of another member-state. The Iranian leadership regularly uses Nazi-style rhetoric against Israel and Jews, frequently resorting to epidemiological metaphors — Israel is a cancer, Israel is a tumor, language that smacks of Mein Kampf.
But more important than Iran’s eliminationist rhetoric is Iran’s actions: Iran is the prime sponsor of Hezbollah, an avowedly-antisemitic terrorist organization that seeks to kill Israeli civilians. Iran is also a prime supporter of Hamas, which also seeks out Israeli civilians to kill (and it even brags about the number of Israeli civilians it has murdered). Hezbollah and Hamas, just like Iran, seek the physical elimination of Israel. Their agenda isn’t to create a Palestinian state in Gaza and on the West Bank; their agenda is to replace a Jewish state with an Arab-Muslim state. If you were an Israeli leader, and you understood that Iran works assiduously to murder your civilians, and to bring about an end to your people’s collective existence, and then you learned that Iran may be trying to build a nuclear weapon, well, is it so unreasonable to think that Israel might choose to fight back?
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/01/what-could-possibly-motivate-israel-to-kill-iranian-nuclear-scientists/251280/
Well, This Is Very Hitlerish
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-oUAiUv9t7U
Yousuf Al-Badri
http://www.google.be/#hl=nl&cp=15&gs_id=1s&xhr=t&q=yousuf+al+badri&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=yousuf+al+badri&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=42d0d193227bc02c&biw=1024&bih=574
Iran Calls On UN To Condemn Slaying Of Nuclear Scientist
Iran has called on the United Nations to condemn the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist, calling it a “terrorist attack” orchestrated by foreign powers who want to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program.
In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Iran’s Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee called on the UN to condemn the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan on January 11, as well as two previous attacks that left two nuclear scientists dead and another wounded.
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran_calls_on__un_to_condemn_slaying_of_scientist/24450183.html
The Rial Drops, And Iran Blocks The News
The value of Iran’s currency, the rial, has dropped again against the U.S. dollar. One U.S. dollar was being traded on the open market at up to 17,000 rials, according to reports by official Iranian news agencies.
Last week, the rial fell to its lowest value against the dollar in the past two decades, with a dollar being sold by money traders for 18,000 rials. (The official rate fluctuates around 11,000-12,000.)
The value of the Iranian currency began its rollercoaster ride after U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank on December 31.
Iranian officials say they are working on measures to stabilize the rial. The head of Iran’s Central Bank, Mahmud Bahmani, said last week Iran had some plans to bring the foreign-currency market under control, while adding that it was not in the country’s interest to announce them publicly.
Meanwhile, Tehran has done what it knows best: censoring and disrupting the free flow of information.
http://www.rferl.org/content/rial_drops_iran_censors/24446672.html
Challenging Iran’s Supreme Leader: Letters To Khamenei
Journalist and filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad has repeatedly defied one of Iran’s most sacred taboos.
Nourizad, who used to be a columnist for the ultra-hardline “Kayhan” daily which is said to reflect the views of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has now challenged Khamenei in open letters in which he has accused him of mistreating Iranians and isolating the country. Nourizad has recently called on religious and political figures to join his efforts and challenge the Iranian leader in “polite,” but frank and open letters.
The call has been answered by a number of Iranians inside and outside the country, including influential Iranian religious scholar Abdolkarim Soroush, who in a December 22 letter warned Khamenei that his rule would be over soon. Some observers believe the unprecedented campaign could deal a blow to Khamenei’s stature as the ultimate authority in the country.
http://www.rferl.org/content/challenging_iran_supreme_leader_in_letters/24431733.html
Turkey will uphold UN sanctions, not EU sanctions, against Iran
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Thursday that his country was not seeking exemption from the planned new sanctions against Iran, which are expected to include an embargo on importing oil from Iran.
“We haven‘t received notification of any sanctions and haven‘t asked for an exemption,” he told dpa, pointing out that Turkey is not a member of the European Union and so is not obliged to impose EU-backed sanctions.
“We‘re only obliged to follow decisions taken by the UN,” he said.
EU foreign ministers are expected to meet on January 23 to decide on whether to impose a ban on imports of crude oil from Iran, in response to Tehran‘s refusal to curtail its nuclear programme.
Earlier this month, US President Barack Obama signed into law a 662-billion-dollar defence spending bill that provides for a new round of economic sanctions aimed also against Iran‘s central bank.
The US law would put sanctions on all foreign firms and banks that do business with Iran‘s central bank, presenting the first threat to the country‘s oil industry.
Tildiz‘s comments came as the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, extended his visit to Turkey by a day.
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/turkey-will-uphold-un-sanctions-not-eu-sanctions-against-iran_181128.html
Delay may be only option
Once again, a bomb in Tehran has lifted the veil on a secret effort to derail Iran’s nuclear program.
This campaign appears to be having a real impact: Iran’s drive towards nuclear weapons capability is not progressing as quickly as Pakistan’s, for example. Sabotage has already imposed significant delays.
Buying time is a respectable goal of policy, particularly as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will step down as president next year, and while Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, is 72 and in poor health.
Yet covert action can achieve nothing more than delay. If Iran’s leaders or their successors are determined to acquire the means to build nuclear weapons, then they will succeed eventually, even if the West were to launch a war to destroy their key installations.
Eventually, the world may have to live with a nuclear-armed Iran -- or at least a nuclear-capable one permanently on the threshold of building the ultimate weapon.
While no Western government, let alone Israel or the Arab monarchies of the Gulf, is prepared to say that it could live with a nuclear-armed Iran, their actions suggest they are preparing for it.
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/delay-may-be-only-option-20120112-1pxg2.html
Russia warns of possible U.S. military attack on Iran
The head of Russia’s National Security Council says the threat of a U.S. military attack is “very real” and maintains that the U.S. will do everything in its power to change the Iranian regime.
In a interview with the Russian newspaper Kommersant on January 12, Nikolai Patrushev said: “Israel is provoking the United States in order to intensify conflicts with Iran.”
He said the U.S. views Iran as its “major problem” and “there is real danger of a U.S. military attack on Iran.”
Patrushev said that the United States will make every effort to turn Iran from an “enemy state” into a “partner.”
Patrushev dismissed statements about growing evidence that Iran’s nuclear program has military dimensions, saying: “For years we have been hearing that Iran has military ambitions in its nuclear program, but no one has been able to prove such a thing.”
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1130.html
De vidoe op 64 schijnt niet te werken onder de link maar deze werkt wel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-oUAiUv9t7U
Afshin Elian zegt op Twitter:
The EU wants to meet the Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karoubi and Mir Hussein Mousvai. They are now under house arrest.
Iran accuses US and Britain of role in killing of nuclear scientist
Deze keer geen Zionisten maar gelukkig staat er wel een Joodse ster in het plaatje, Ik werd al ongerust.
Iran has accused the US and Britain of being behind the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist this week in Tehran.
Iran’s foreign ministry has sent a diplomatic letter to the US saying that it has “evidence and reliable information” that the CIA provided “guidance, support and planning” to assassins “directly involved” in Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan’s killing, the IRNA state news agency reported on Saturday.
Ahmadi-Roshan, a 32-year-old chemist, was killed in Wednesday morning traffic by motorcycle-borne assassins. It was the fifth time in two years that a scientist from the state nuclear programme had been targeted. Each time, the hit squad used a motorcycle.
His death has prompted calls in Iran for retaliation against those deemed responsible
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/14/iran-accuses-us-britain-scientist
Iran lashes out at West over slain scientist, but hints at diplomatic opening
Iran on Friday hurled new threats of retaliation against the West for the assassination of one of its nuclear scientists but also signaled a readiness to negotiate on at least one of the nuclear disputes behind the country’s worsening feud with the United States.
Even as angry throngs swarmed the memorial services for slain scientist Mostafa
Ahmadi-Roshan, state-run news media confirmed a visit to the country later this month by a special U.N. delegation to discuss alleged secret research by Iran on designing a nuclear warhead. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which will dispatch its delegation to Tehran on Jan. 28, has been pressing Iranian leaders for years to come clean about experiments.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/angry-iran-buries-slain-scientist-vows-revenge-against-us-israel/2012/01/13/gIQAT65CwP_story.html?wprss=rss_world
Israel Says Sanctions Hurt Iran
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in an interview published Saturday that new economic sanctions aimed at stopping Iran’s contentious nuclear program appeared to be having an effect and, if combined with a threat of military action led by the United States, could succeed.
“For the first time, I see Iran wobble,” he told the newspaper The Australian in Jerusalem, particularly citing sanctions on the central bank. He said if “coupled with a clear statement from the international community led by the U.S. to act militarily to stop Iran if the sanctions fail, Iran may consider not going through the pain. There’s no point in gritting your teeth if you’re going to be stopped anyway.
“In any case, the Iranian economy is showing signs of strain.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/world/middleeast/israeli-leader-benjamin-netanyahu-says-sanctions-on-iran-could-succeed-if-paired-with-military-threat.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
US intensifies pressure on Iran over Strait of Hormuz threat
The US has opened secret diplomatic communications with Tehran to warn the Iranian leadership that Washington will use force to prevent it carrying through a threat to close the Strait of Hormuz.
The New York Times reported that the White House has made indirect contact with the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to warn him against blockading the sea lanes in retaliation for increased sanctions against Tehran’s suspected attempts to develop nuclear weapons.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/13/us-intensifies-pressure-iran-strait-hormuz
Official: U.S. vessels harassed by high-speed Iranian boats
At a time of heightened tensions with Iran, U.S. military officials told CNN Friday that U.S. military and Coast Guard ships had two close encounters earlier this month with high-speed Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf that exhibited provocative behavior.
The incidents occurred January 6, according to a senior U.S. military official.
The USS New Orleans, an amphibious transport ship was sailing through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf last Friday when three Iranian Navy speed boats rapidly approached within 500 yards of the ship, the official said. The Iranians did not respond to whistle signals or voice queries from the New Orleans. The lack of response disregards standard maritime protocols, the official said. The boats eventually broke away.
On the same day, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Adak was also harassed by high-speed Iranian Navy boats while operating 75 miles east of Kuwait City. Iranian personnel in the small boats appeared to be holding AK-47 rifles and at least one video camera, the official said. U.S. personnel on the cutter also reported seeing a forward gun that was manned on one of the Iranian boats, according to the official. Eventually, communications with a larger Iranian vessel in the area were established and the speed boats stopped their harassment.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/13/us/iran-boats-tensions/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Central Bank tries to control currency market
Iran’s Central Bank has announced that anyone in possession of foreign currency without a bank receipt will be put under arrest beginning Sunday January 15.
Ebrahim Darvishi, the supervising deputy of the Central Bank, told Fars news agency that according to a new directive, foreign currencies without a bank receipt will be considered as contraband, and violators will be subjected to imprisonment and a fine of double the amount in their possession.
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/central-bank-tries-control-currency-market
Iran ready to resume nuclear talks
Ali Larijani, the Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, announced today that Iran is prepared to resume talks with the G5+1 over its nuclear activities.
ISNA reports that on Friday, January 13, Larijani said: “Iran has always been prepared for talks with the G5+1 because Iran’s nuclear activities are very open and clear.”
He added: “Our issues can be resolved through negotiation, as long as talks are serious and not mischievous.”
He said Turkey is ready to host the talks, adding that “since Turkey is our friend and brother, we agree.”
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/iran-ready-resume-nuclear-talks
Ahmadinejad Has Little to Show After Latin American Trip
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ended a tour of Latin America this week with little to show, but support for his resistance to Western efforts to end his country’s nuclear program.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s last stop was Ecuador.
At a news conference with President Rafael Correa, the Iranian leader denied widespread international suspicions that his country is developing nuclear weapons.
“The nuclear question is a political excuse,” said Ahmedinejad. “They all know that Iran is not trying to make an atomic bomb. Iran isn’t so imprudent as they are to spend its money and not be able to use these bombs.”
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Ahmadinejad-Has-Little-to-Show-After-Latin-American-Trip-137294623.html
http://www.mo.be/artikel/iran-snoert-oppositie-de-mond-voor-de-verkiezingen?utm_source=newsletter
Iran snoert oppositie de mond voor de verkiezingen
NEW YORK
11 januari 2012
Met minder dan twee maanden te gaan voor de Iraanse parlementsverkiezingen zijn verschillende activisten en journalisten in Iran gearresteerd of veroordeeld tot lange gevangenisstraffen.
De repressie komt op het moment dat de spanningen met de Verenigde Staten oplopen over het Iraanse nucleaire programma en Iran dreigt met het afsluiten van de Straat van Hormuz, die belangrijk is voor de export van olie.
Afgelopen maandag werd Mehdi Khazali, de dissidente zoon van een invloedrijke conservatieve ayatollah, gearresteerd. Een paar uur later werd zijn populaire website gehackt.
http://www.mo.be/artikel/iran-snoert-oppositie-de-mond-voor-de-verkiezingen?utm_source=newsletter
IRAN
Iran snoert oppositie de mond voor de verkiezingen
NEW YORK
,
11 januari 2012
Met minder dan twee maanden te gaan voor de Iraanse parlementsverkiezingen zijn verschillende activisten en journalisten in Iran gearresteerd of veroordeeld tot lange gevangenisstraffen.
De repressie komt op het moment dat de spanningen met de Verenigde Staten oplopen over het Iraanse nucleaire programma en Iran dreigt met het afsluiten van de Straat van Hormuz, die belangrijk is voor de export van olie.
Afgelopen maandag werd Mehdi Khazali, de dissidente zoon van een invloedrijke conservatieve ayatollah, gearresteerd. Een paar uur later werd zijn populaire website gehackt.
Ludo den Brabander ( vredesactivist, dus ongetwijfeld links) wil een kernvrije zone in het Midden-Oosten.
http://www.mo.be/opinie/stop-de-oorlogstrom-met-kernwapenvrije-zone-het-midden-oosten?utm_source=newsletter
Stop de oorlogstrom met kernwapenvrije zone in het Midden-Oosten.
Uit: MO: Mondiaal Nieuws.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087198/Iran-increases-war-words-West-accuses-Britain-triggering-nuclear-scientists-assassinations.html?ITO=1490
Iran increases war of words with the West as it accuses Britain of triggering nuclear scientists’ assassinations
Magnetic bomb killed scientist in Tehran last week -- the FIFTH attack in two years
‘Letter of condemnation’ sent to London accusing Britain of having an ‘obvious role’ in the incident
By David Gardner
Last updated at 2:08 AM on 16th January 2012
Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was killed in a brazen daylight assassination on Wednesday. He was killed in a magnetic bomb attack.
Iran has blamed Britain for triggering a wave of assassinations of its nuclear scientists.
Dit zul je wel kennen Henk, maar ik zet de link er volledigheidshalve maar bij:
http://paper.li/iranangel/dailyfeed
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087364/Iran-Lockerbie-type-terrorist-attacks-launched-retaliation-oil-ban.html?ITO=1490
Iran Lockerbie-type terrorist attacks ‘would be launched in retaliation at oil ban’
Iran probably won’t blockade Straits of Hormuz, though, says expert
By Gavin Allen
Last updated at 2:09 AM on 17th January 2012
Iran could launch a Lockerbie-style terrorist strike if it is hit with an international oil embargo, an academic warned last night.
Professor Paul Stevens, a senior research fellow at think-tank Chatham House, said it was ‘extremely unlikely’ Tehran would not retaliate against crippling sanctions.
However, he said he doubted it would carry out its threat to blockade the Straits of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, for fear of creating a ‘shooting war’ with the U.S.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087206/Iran-warns-dire-consequences-Saudi-Arabia-increase-oil-production-help-West.html?ITO=1490
Former UN ambassador says nuclear threat is now a ‘clear and present danger’ as Iran warns Saudi Arabia not to help the West
Magnetic bomb killed scientist in Tehran last week -- the FIFTH attack in two years
Iran blames US, Israel, and Britain for attacks
US military official heads to Israel Monday for talks
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:43 PM on 16th January 2012
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton has warned a report that Iran is a year away from being able to build a nuclear bomb may be too optimistic.
In a radio interview today, he said: ‘I worry the publicly available information is giving only a very small picture and that Iran is actually even much further along.’
Mr Bolton was speaking on Aaron Klein Investigative Radio on New York’s WABC Radio.
http://www.mo.be/artikel/iraanse-munt-vrije-val
Iraanse munt in vrije val
,15 januari 2012
De combinatie van onzekerheid en sancties is nefast voor de koers van de Iraanse rial. Die wordt niet alleen erg volatiel, maar daalt ook zienderogen.
http://www.mo.be/artikel/saoedi-arabie-en-iran-de-clinch-over-olie-embargo
Saoedi-Arabië en Iran in de clinch over olie-embargo
17 januari 2012
Saoedi-Arabië heeft beloofd om de globale oliebevoorrading veilig te stellen als die in het gedrang komt door de sancties tegen Iran. Als de Saoedi’s het Iraanse dreigement van vergelding negeren en hun productie opdrijven tot het maximum, zal volgens analisten de olieprijs uiteindelijk toch stijgen, omdat er enkel in Iran nog reservecapaciteit is.
@ D.G.Neree
Die site kende Ik nog niet maar Iranangel is zeer actief op Twitter dat weet Ik wel.
Goede artikelen staan er in.
@ Wachteres
http://www.mo.be is ook een interesante uitgave, iets om in het oog te houden.
http://www.mo.be/artikel/vs-distantieren-zich-van-israelisch-iranbeleid-analyse
VS distantiëren zich van Israëlisch Iranbeleid (analyse)
WASHINGTON
,
17 januari 2012
De regering-Obama heeft een grootscheepse militaire oefening met Israël uitgesteld. Een duidelijk signaal dat de VS afstand willen nemen van het Israëlische Iranbeleid waarmee ze vaak worden geassocieerd. Ze willen van premier Netanyahu de garantie dat hij Iran niet aanvalt zonder hun toestemming.
De oefening “Austere Challenge ’12″ was gepland voor april en simuleert een gezamenlijke Amerikaans-Israëlische operatie om naderende raketten te identificeren en onderscheppen, waarbij gesofisticeerde Amerikaanse radarsystemen worden gekoppeld aan Israëlisch afweergeschut. Zo anticiperen beide landen indirect op de Iraanse vergelding van een Israëlische aanval op zijn nucleaire installaties.
@ 89 Ik krijg het blad regelmatig via mijn e-mail, Henk. Ik zal er wel op letten.
Behoorlijk links trouwens, maar wat wil je!
Iranian women’s civil rights activist killed in Houston
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?rid=202717651&cat=1b76a2b4cf7810bd
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/151667#.TxYH4IHv6QJ
Iran: We’ll Bring the War to Israel, and ‘Beyond’
Iran said Thursday that it would respond to Israel’s ‘cold war’ against it -- with attacks against Israelis, and possibly Jews worldwide.
Reporters Without Borders -- Reporters Without Borders is shocked to learn that the supreme court has confirmed website designer Saeed Malekpour’s death sentence. His family said the court took the decision under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards. A Canadian resident who was arrested on 4 October 2008 while visiting his family, Malekpour, 35, was sentenced to death in January 2011 on charges of anti-government agitation and insulting Islam.
http://iranbriefing.net/?p=10970
Een puur politiek proces D.G.
De website van Saeed Malekpour bevatte niet zo veel kritiek op de Islam.
Het zal erom gaan om Canada op een of andere manier onder druk proberen te zetten.
As Powers Maneuver, Israel Says No Decision Yet to Attack Iran
Defense Minister Ehud Barak of Israel said on Wednesday that any decision on attacking Iran because of its nuclear program was “very far off,” apparently seeking to lower the tone of increasingly nervous discourse as powers maneuver in advance of European moves to intensify sanctions against Tehran.
At the same time, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia renewed his country’s aversion to sanctions and military threats against Tehran, while Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi of Iran said his country was ready to resume negotiations with the outside powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — trying to broker a settlement.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-program-sanctions-russia-israel-attack.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Iran Tightens Its Security for Scientists After Killing
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has ordered extra security for scientists because of the drive-by assassination last week of the deputy director of the country’s primary uranium enrichment facility, which he attributed to “the evil hands of arrogance and Zionist agents,” the state-run news media reported Tuesday.
The nature of the extra security was not disclosed, but it was reported a day after Iran’s Parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, another outspoken promoter of Iran’s nuclear independence, said that investigators had identified and detained an unspecified number of suspects in the assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, the deputy director at the Natanz enrichment site. Mr. Roshan was killed in broad daylight last Wednesday by a motorcyclist who slapped a magnetized bomb on the scientist’s car during Tehran’s morning rush and escaped, according to Iran’s official accounts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/world/middleeast/after-iran-scientists-death-arrests-and-heightened-security.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Iran says in touch with powers on new talks, EU denies it
Iran said on Wednesday it was in touch with big powers to reopen talks soon but the European Union denied this, and Britain said Tehran would have to show it was serious if it wanted to avoid more EU sanctions over suspicions it is seeking nuclear weapons.
A year after the last talks fell apart, confrontation is brewing as the EU prepares to intensify sanctions against Iran with an embargo on its economically vital oil exports.
EU diplomats said on Wednesday that member governments had also agreed in principle to freeze the assets of Iran’s central bank alongside the planned oil embargo, but had yet to agree how to protect non-oil trade from sanctions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/18/us-iran-idUSTRE80H15Z20120118?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29
EU Looks to Begin Iran Oil Ban on July 1
The European Union is coalescing around a July 1 start for its proposed crude-oil embargo on Iran, diplomats said Wednesday, as international efforts to ratchet up pressure on Iran progressed.
EU members have agreed in principle to a ban on oil imports from Iran, but concerns remain about the need for a transition to alternative supply sources.
“We are heading toward July 1,” an diplomat said, naming This was the compromise date suggested by the EU’s foreign-service unit on Friday.
Member states have also agreed that the need for an embargo should be re-evaluated half way through the transition period, diplomats said. The review would take into account the impact of the sanctions on individual countries and international oil markets, diplomats said.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204555904577169021628065872.html?mod=fox_australian
Three Iranian journalists arrested in fresh crackdown
Marzieh Rasouli, Parastoo Dokouhaki and Sahamoddin Bourghani had worked for reformist media outlets
At least three prominent journalists have been arrested in Iran in a fresh crackdown on press freedom ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections in March.
Two journalists, Marzieh Rasouli and Parastoo Dokouhaki, and photojournalist Sahamoddin Bourghani were arrested separately by officials believed to be from the Iranian security services.
Rasouli, who has been working for the arts and culture sections of some of the country’s leading reformist newspapers, is reported to have been arrested at home in the early hours of Tuesday and taken to Tehran’s Evin prison.
According to reports published on Iranian opposition websites, security officers showed a warrant for her arrest, which accused her of “acting against national security”, a vague charge the Islamic regime has often used to convict many of the country’s activists and journalists, especially since Iran’s 2009 disputed presidential elections.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/18/three-iranian-journalists-arrested
Iran nuclear: Russia’s Lavrov warns against attack
The Russian foreign minister has warned that a Western military strike against Iran would be “a catastrophe”.
Sergei Lavrov said an attack would lead to “large flows” of refugees from Iran and would “fan the flames” of sectarian tension in the Middle East.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak earlier said any decision on an Israeli attack on Iran was “very far off”.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister said talks on its nuclear programme would “most probably” take place in Istanbul.
Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters during a visit to Turkey that negotiations were going on about venue and date, and the timings would be settled soon.
But the UK Foreign Office said that there were “no dates or concrete plans” for talks, as Tehran was “yet to demonstrate clearly that it is willing to respond to [EU foreign policy chief] Baroness Ashton’s letter and negotiate without preconditions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16613485
More on That Postponed Anti-Missile Exercise
The Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren (who has made occasional appearances on this blog), issued this statement in response to questions about why the joint U.S.-Israeli anti-missile exercise, “Austere Challenge 12,” has been postponed (I wrote about this in the previous post):
The exercise between the U.S. Army and the Israel Defense Forces, scheduled to be held this spring, has been postponed to the latter half of the year. The decision, taken jointly by the European Command (EUCOM) and by the IDF, stemmed solely from technical issues. Such postponements are routine and do not reflect political or strategic concerns. The United States and Israel remain committed to holding the exercise — code-named Austere Challenge 12 — the largest and most robust in their historic alliance.
The important question, one we can’t answer yet, is this: How is Tehran interpreting this postponement? I can’t imagine that Iranian leaders see this as a sign of American and Israeli fortitude.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/01/more-on-that-postponed-anti-missile-exercise/251550/
Are We Sliding Toward War With Iran?
With so much alarming going on in the Middle East, it’s hard to keep track of everything that seems to be going wrong. No sooner had the Libyan civil war ended than another erupted in Syria. Iraq appears determined to follow, and perhaps overtake their Syrian neighbors. Egypt remains locked in a multi-sided struggle among the military, the Islamists and the secular liberals. And disturbing reports of low-level, but growing unrest in Saudi Arabia have begun to emerge.
Amid all of this, the one place that the United States has resolutely marched forward—or perhaps been dragged by the Congress and our European allies—has been in applying ever greater pressure on Iran. But if the Obama administration’s forward progress is clear enough when it comes to its Iran policy, its ultimate destination is not. The sanctions against Iran may well succeed on their own terms while producing regrettable, if unintended, consequences.
http://www.tnr.com/article/world/99741/war-iran-america
Arab Spring Challenges Western, Regional Powers
Middle Eastern countries that had uprisings last year are moving to establish democracy, at varying paces and with varying success. Meanwhile, major powers in the region and elsewhere are working to cope with the changes.
The uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya created considerable euphoria in those countries. And the changes were welcomed by Western powers, too, even as they raised concerns that the region’s new leaders might not be as friendly as the autocrats who were ousted.
Philip Luther is the interim director of Middle Eastern affairs at Amnesty International.
“There is a certain irony there, a certain nervousness from outside about what the new governments might be and who they might be and what political parties they might be formed of,” said Luther.
Luther says the West should not get too wrapped up in its concerns about what the new Middle Eastern governments might do on foreign policy and human rights issues, and should judge them on their actions instead.
At the same time, he says regional powers in the Middle East, especially Iran’s clerical leaders and the Saudi royal family, have been inconsistent at best in their responses to the uprisings, focusing more on their own interests than universal rights and democracy.
“What is glaring is the inconsistency of those messages and the hypocrisy, in fact, of what lies behind it because at the same time while criticizing what is going on in some parts of the region they are missing out what is happening in others and what is happening on their own doorstep,” said Luther.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Arab-Spring-Challenges-Western-Regional-Powers-137494188.html
Want A ‘U.S. Drone’? You Can Order One From Iran
Iranian state radio has said that an Iranian company is sending the United States a model of the American surveillance drone captured by Tehran, AP reports:
Tuesday’s report said the company will send the miniature of the RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone to the Obama administration in response to a formal request from Washington last month asking Tehran to return the aircraft that went down over Iran in December.
State radio said the model will be one eightieth the size of the original aircraft. The report says the company also plans to sell the models on the Iranian market for about 70,000 rials, or around $4.
http://www.rferl.org/content/us_drone_order_from_iran/24454852.html
David Cameron accuses Iran of supplying Syria weapons
David Cameron accused the Iranian regime of supplying weapons for the Syrian onslaught on democracy protests yesterday as Russia’s foreign minister warned that the West was set on a path to war with Tehran.
The Prime Minister revealed that British officials had been told that weapons shipments from Iran to Syria had been intercepted by Turkey and that intelligence reports confirmed that Hizbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement, was actively involved in the slaughter of Syria.
“There is now growing evidence that Iran is providing a huge amount of support,” he told the House of Commons. “There have been interceptions of some shipments by Turkey which are particularly interesting.
“People should also know that Hizbollah is an organisation standing up and supporting this wretched tyrant who is killing so many of his own people.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9023322/David-Cameron-accuses-Iran-of-supplying-Syria-weapons.html
Series of incriminations rips through Iran’s conservative camp
The conflict between different factions of the conservative camp in Iran has recently escalated with a series of incriminations exchanged between the president and supporters of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of embezzling from the state treasury, the reformist website Jras reported.
Ahmadinejad’s statements, attributed to insider sources, coincided with a report by the French newspaper Libération that tackled the issue of Mojtaba’s bank accounts abroad. According to the report, documents at the Iranian Ministry of Security prove that Khamenei junior has recently withdrawn all his money from foreign banks.
The Iranian president’s accusations, observers argue, indicate his refusal to become the scapegoat in the conflict currently going on between different parties in the conservative clique.
The accusations, in fact, came in response to attempts by the president’s opponents to lash out at him through tarnishing the image of his closest aides like his advisor and chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei and whose daughter is married to Ahmadinejad’s son.
According to Jras, a delegation comprised of Deputy Judiciary Chief Ibrahim Raeisi, Minister of Intelligence and National Security Heydar Moslehi, and head of the General Inspection Organization Mostafa Pur-Mohammadi, all known to be pro-Khamenei, met with Ahmadinejad and demanded that he dismisses Mashaei.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/01/15/188461.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088431/U-S-threatens-Iran-crucial-global-oil-route-blocked.html?ITO=1490
Did Obama seek secret talks with Iran? White House on the defensive after claims President sent confidential letter to the Ayatollah.
Obama ‘demands talks’ with Iran as it threatens to shut strategic Strait of Hormuz over West sanctions, says Iranian lawmaker.
U.S. military officials say country prepared for naval clash over waterway.
Russians warn West over sanctions against Iran that would ‘hurt the people’.
Iran warns region against “dangerous” stance on Hormuz
Iran’s foreign minister warned Arab neighbors on Thursday not to put themselves in a “dangerous position” by aligning themselves too closely with the United States in the escalating dispute over Tehran’s nuclear activity.
Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, used for a third of the world’s seaborne oil trade, if pending Western moves to ban Iranian crude exports cripple its lifeblood energy sector, fanning fears of a slide into wider Middle East war.
European Union foreign ministers are expected at a meeting on Monday to agree an oil embargo against Iran and a freeze on the assets of its central bank, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said, confirming diplomatic leaks.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s No. 1 oil exporter, riled Iran earlier this week when it said it could swiftly raise oil output for key customers if needed, a scenario that could transpire if Iranian exports were embargoed.
“We want peace and tranquility in the region. But some of the countries in our region, they want to direct other countries 12,000 miles away from this region,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in English during a visit to Turkey.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/19/us-iran-idUSTRE80H15Z20120119?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29
Earthquake hits northeast Iran, 100 injured
About 100 people were injured when an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit northeastern Iran on Thursday, state television reported.
The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 4:05 p.m., was 10 km (6 miles) outside the city of Neyshabur, some 70 km from the holy city of Mashhad, the official IRNA news agency said.
There had so far been 36 aftershocks since the main quake, IRNA said, adding that some buildings had been damaged and windows shattered in villages near Neyshabur.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/19/us-iran-quake-idUSTRE80I1J720120119?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29
New Bid to Stifle Iran Aid to Syria
U.S. officials have uncovered an effort by Iran to help Syria mask its oil exports and evade an American and European embargo, in a potent new sign of Tehran’s campaign to bolster Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as his regime cracks down on public opposition.
American officials investigating the Iranian operation said it is designed to quietly ship Syrian crude oil to Iran, where it can be sold on the international market, with revenue going back to Damascus.
Transit records document one such shipment, involving more than 91,000 metric tons of crude, which took place last month.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203735304577169191656832540.html?mod=fox_australian
Iran’s police confiscates dollars without receipt Video
A new law allows Iran’s police to stop and search anyone carrying foreign currencies and ask them to provide sufficient documents.
The legislation -- which was proposed and implemented by Iran’s central bank -- aims to help stop the ever-growing value of the dollar vs the rial.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16623747
Exclusive -- Turkey works to cut dependence on Iranian oil
Turkish refiner Tupras plans to cut its dependence on imports of Iranian oil and will meet Saudi Arabian authorities this month, industry sources familiar with the company’s strategy said on Thursday, as Western powers crack down on Iran’s oil sales.
Turkey imports more than 30 percent of its daily consumption from Iran and has so far given no indication that it will comply with a planned European Union import embargo on Iranian crude.
But one of the sources said that Iranian threats to shut down the world’s most important oil export route, the Strait of Hormuz, had helped push Turkish oil officials to try to reduce the country’s heavy dependence on Iran’s oil.
Iran has made no move to shut the world’s most important oil export route, which had a daily flow of almost 17 million barrels last year, but has threatened action if Europe implements new sanctions.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/1/20/worldupdates/2012-01-19T185412Z_2_TRE80I1MN_RTROPTT_0_UK-TURKEY-IRAN-OIL&sec=Worldupdates
Former Iranian MP calls for “active criticism”
A former Iranian MP has provoked a variety of reactions from the Iranian establishment by appearing on television to slam the political system’s lack of “active criticism” and to call for ways of questioning the Supreme Leader.
When Emad Afrough appeared on the National Iranian TV channel on Sunday, he criticized the lack of ways to challenge government policies and officials and to engage officials in critical dialogue.
Conservative MP Hamid Resai told Parliament on Tuesday that the National broadcaster had no business airing such statements.
While Resai’s indignation was echoed by several other MPs, Mostafa Kavakebian, a member of Parliament’s minority faction, spoke in support of the program, saying: “Mr. Afrough’s critics want to hear no other voice except their own.”
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1196.html
BTW @Wachteres en D.G. Neree
Ik ben zo vrij geweest om Jullie posts ook bij de Duitse site neer te zetten.
En ben van plan om dat structureel te gaan doen.
http://tangsir2569.wordpress.com/english-news/
Iran calls for Israel to be “punished”
An ally of Iran’s supreme leader called on Friday for Israel to be “punished” for killing a nuclear scientist and the top U.S. general urged his Israeli ally to coordinate with Washington as crisis builds in the Middle East.
Alarmed Arab neighbors in the Gulf made a plea to scale back confrontation over Iran’s nuclear program. France, calling on China and Russia to back Western sanctions, said time was running out for diplomacy to deflect Tehran from a course that Washington and Israel have threatened to stop by war.
One diplomat told Reuters that the major powers seeking to negotiate an end to Iran’s suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons would probably issue a statement later on Friday laying out what Tehran would need to do to resume talks. The group was expected to provide details of an offer it made to Iran in October in an effort to bring Iranians back to the negotiating table.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/us-iran-idUSTRE80H15Z20120120?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29
U.S. military chief in Israel for talks on Iran
The United States’ top military official held talks Friday with Israeli leaders in an effort to coordinate responses to Iran’s nuclear program and urged closer cooperation between the two allies.
Remarks by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey before the talks appeared to reflect concern in Washington about possible Israeli plans to move independently to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“We have many interests in common in the region in this very dynamic time, and the more we can continue to engage each other, the better off we’ll all be,” Dempsey said at the start of a meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak at his Tel Aviv office.
Barak replied, “There is never a dull moment, that I can promise you.”
Dempsey also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and the Israeli army’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-military-chief-in-israel-for-talks-on-iran/2012/01/20/gIQAzywCDQ_story.html?wprss=rss_world
Iran Quake Injuries Reach 230
Iran’s state TV says the number of people injured by a Thursday earthquake of moderate strength affecting the northeastern city of Neyshabur has increased to around 230.
The Friday report says 30 of the injured people were hospitalized, with the others treated for minor injuries and released. No deaths have yet been reported.
State TV reports that many residents of the city camped out overnight in subzero weather in streets and parks, fearing further tremors.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204616504577172142389923420.html?mod=fox_australian
Sarkozy Warns Attack On Iran Could Unleash ‘Chaos’
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned that a military strike on Iran would “trigger war and chaos in the Middle East.”
His comments come days ahead of a European Union debate on possible oil sanctions against Tehran over its disputed nuclear program and with tensions seemingly escalating between Iran and the West.
“Let me share two of my convictions with you,” Sarkozy said. “The first is that a military intervention would not solve the problem but it would unleash war and chaos in the Middle East and maybe, alas, even more than that. All must be done to avoid a military intervention.”
http://www.rferl.org/content/sarkozy_warns_attack_iran_chaos/24458139.html
Iran Claims UN Used In Scientist Killing
Iran claims information allegedly leaked from the UN nuclear monitoring agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, was used in the killing of one of its nuclear scientists last week.
Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was killed in Tehran on January 11 after a magnetic bomb clinging to the door of his car exploded.
Iran’s Deputy UN ambassador, Eshagh Al Habib, said there was a “high suspicion” that information “obtained from United Nations bodies” had been used to plan the assassination.
“There is a high suspicions, that these terrorists circles used the intelligence obtained from United Nations bodies, including the sanctions list of the Security Council and interviews carried out by IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) with our nuclear scientists to identify and carry out their malicious acts,” Al Habib said at UN headquarters in New York.
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran_claims_un_used_in_scientist_killing_/24457384.html
West Unlikely to Freeze Iranian Oil Export – Ambassador
The European countries that will negotiate on Monday on a planned embargo of Iranian oil exports are unlikely to impose it, Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Seyed Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi said on Friday.
Tensions between Iran and the West have escalated in the past few weeks after Tehran threatened to stop oil supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz if economic sanctions imposed by Western nations limit or prevent Iranian oil exports that make up some 80 percent of Iran’s foreign revenues.
EU foreign ministers are set to meet on Monday to discuss a possible oil embargo against Iran and freezing Iran’s central bank assets.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20120120/170863786.html
Lack of trust overshadows Obama’s outreach to Tehran
Iran has responded coolly to a letter sent by President Barack Obama in the heat of the crisis over the Strait of Hormuz, revealing that the two countries continue to remain hostage to the high level of mistrust that they have accumulated over decades.
While the White House has so far not commented on the letter, the New York Times had earlier reported that the Obama administration had contacted Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the wake of Iran’s threat to block the Strait of Hormuz, a gateway through which nearly 20 per cent of the world oil supplies pass.
In response to President Obama’s outreach, Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s Foreign Minister, during a visit to Turkey said on Thursday that Tehran would not accept any U.S. preconditions to begin talks. “Mr. Obama sent a letter to Iranian officials, but America has to make clear that it has good intentions and should express that it’s ready for talks without conditions,” he observed.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2817618.ece
The Next Massive Spike in Oil Prices
Seven months ago, I warned Fools to carefully watch relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia as both vie for power as the U.S. leaves Iraq. Three months ago, the situation heated up after the foiled Iranian government plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. This month, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been publicly sparring over the West’s plan to embargo Iranian oil. This continuing situation has me, my fellow writers, and Goldman Sachs convinced that a portion of your portfolio should be in oil stocks, as sky-high oil prices are not as far off as you may think.
Goldman Sachs’ top commodity picks
Last week, Goldman Sachs’ Head of Commodities Research, Jeff Curie, revealed to investors the company’s top commodity picks for the year. Goldman expects Brent crude to average $120 in 2012 but end the year high at $127 per barrel, a 14% increase over Brent Crude’s current price of $111 per barrel (WTI Crude Oil (CLG12.NYM) is just below $100 a barrel). While its expectation is only 13% higher, Goldman believes oil has “massive upside price risk relative to our target.” In other words, Goldman believes oil prices could spike.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/01/20/the-next-massive-spike-in-oil-prices.aspx
EU readies unprecedented Iran oil, bank sanctions
The European Union is readying its toughest action to date against Iran, moving to dry up funding of its contested nuclear drive by targeting both its oil and financial sector, diplomats said Friday.
Foreign ministers from the 27-nation bloc meeting in Brussels on Monday are expected to agree to sanction Tehran’s central bank — and possibly other banks — and announce an embargo on purchasing Iranian oil, EU officials and diplomats said.
In the build-up, French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged “much tougher, more decisive sanctions” as a means of avoiding military action while German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle warned Iran was endangering world peace.
“Those who do not want to reinforce sanctions against a regime which is leading its country into disaster by seeking a nuclear weapon will bear responsibility for the risk of a military breakdown,” Sarkozy said.
Westerwelle said Monday’s new “very substantive sanctions” aimed to make the point that Iran’s nuclear behaviour “is unacceptable and a danger to world peace.”
Also expected Monday are bans on the sale of gold, diamonds and other precious metals to Iran and any delivery of newly minted coins and notes. Existing bans on petrochemical imports and investment are to be enlarged.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/world-business/eu-readies-unprecedented-iran-oil-bank-sanctions-20120121-1qawf.html
Human Rights Lawyer Seifzadeh Refused to Participate in Own Trial Due To Revolutionary Court’s Incompetence
Mohammad Seifzadeh, prominent lawyer and one of the founding members of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, did not participate in his court trial on 11 January 2012, his wife and lawyer Fatemeh Golzar told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
“Today (11 January), Mr. Seifzadeh’s trial was held in Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court for the third case raised against him, related to statements and letters that he signed in prison. He did not want to participate in the trial, and he asked me as his lawyer to take only his defense bill to the court,” Golzar told the Campaign.
“Mr. Seifzadeh believes the Revolutionary Court is unqualified to handle his case. He forwent participation in the trial because of the court’s lack of competence and lack of a jury at his trial-which is one of the deficiencies that make this not a fair trial-and for other, similar reasons,” Golzar, who is currently the only lawyer representing Seifzadeh, told the Campaign about her client’s reason for not participating in the trial.
In November 2010, Mohammad Seifzadeh was sentenced to nine years in prison and a 10-year ban on practicing law on charges of acting against national security by participating in the establishment of the Defenders of Human Rights Center. In the latter part of April 2011, security officials of Orumiyeh detained him and charged him with “illegal exit” out of the country. After two months of interrogations, they transferred him to Evin Prison. In July 2011 an appeals court reduced his original sentence to two years’ imprisonment.
Seifzadeh has been held in Evin Prison since May 2011 and charged with “collusion and acting against national security” for his writings. These include a letter to Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, former President of Iran; two articles critical of the way amnesty is applied in the law and of the definition of political crimes; and signing onto collective statements in prison. He was summoned to Evin Prison Court a few days after his first letter to Khatami was published in news websites.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1212.html
Exclusive: New U.S. Commando Team Operating Near Iran
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are at a high point, as the Islamic Republic threatens to close off a vital waterway and two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups sit in the seas off the Iranian coast. But across the Persian Gulf, the U.S. has a previously unacknowledged weapon in reserve: a new special operations team.
Danger Room has confirmed with the U.S. Special Operations Command that a new elite commando team is operating in the region. The primary, day-to-day mission of the team, known as Joint Special Operations Task Force-Gulf Cooperation Council, is to mentor military units belonging to the U.S.’ oil-rich Arab allies, who collectively are known as the Gulf Cooperation Council. Those Arab states consider Iran to be their primary foreign threat.
The task force provides “highly trained personnel that excel in uncertain environments,” Maj. Rob Bockholt, a spokesman for special-operations forces in the Mideast, tells Danger Room, and “seeks to confront irregular threats.” The U.S. military has not previously acknowledged the existence of the team, known as JSOTF-GCC for short.
The unit began its existence in mid-2009 — around the time that the Iranian leadership rejected President Obama’s offer of a new diplomatic dialogue and underwent a serious internal challenge to its legitimacy from Green Movement protesters. But whatever the task force does about Iran — or might do in the future — is a sensitive subject with the military.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/01/jsotf-gcc/
Iran says blocking Strait of Hormuz still on the table
Iran’s representative at the United Nations has announced that Iran is not bent on blocking the Strait of Hormiz, but serious threats against the Islamic Republic would mean that all options are on the table. Mohammad Khazai also rejected recent reports that Iran is extending arms assistance to Syria.
Khazai, the permanent Iranian envoy at the UN, said in an interview with Charlie Rose that
He added, however, that at the moment there are no concrete plans to block the strategic waterway, which carries one-fifth of the world’s oil trade.
He said that if foreign powers try to create problems in the Persian Gulf, Iran and the other countries in the region have the right to defend themselves.
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/iran-says-blocking-strait-hormuz-still-table
Iran hands prison terms to Baha’i university staff
Six members of the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) have received severe prison terms from the Islamic Republic judiciary.
The Human Rights Reporters Committee reports that the sentences given to the Baha’i online university administrators have been approved by the appellate court.
Kamran Mortezai is sentenced to five years in jail, and Riaz Sobhani, Ramin Zibai, Fardah Sedghi, Mahmoud Badavam and Noshin Khadem are each sentenced to four years in prison.
The six were arrested eight months ago and charged with “membership in illegal groups with the intention of committing crimes against national security.”
The report adds that Vahid Mahmoodi, who was arrested along with this group, was given a suspended sentence of five years in jail and released.
Last June, Iranian authorities raided the homes of the professors and administrators of the BIHE in Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz and Mazandaran. Since then, 20 people have been arrested for their connection with the BIHE, and another 50 professors and students have been summoned for questioning.
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/iran-hands-prison-terms-bahai-university-staff
Rafsanjani calls for open elections
The moderate Iranian cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is calling for the inclusion and participation of all groups and all political stripes in the coming parliamentary elections.
Iranian media report that Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of Iran’s Expediency Council, told a meeting of professors and researchers from Qom Seminary: “An energetic election can only be held with the participation and approval of all groups and tastes in the Revolutionary family, whereas monologues and monopoly have never been adequate to run the country.”
He noted that even throughout the “imposed war” (the Iran-Iraq War), elections continued, and the participation of the people and groups was never curtailed. Hashemi Rafsanjani added: “The perpetual presence of people in the arena and the participation of parties and groups and different social strata have always been approved by Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s Revolution, and by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current leader of the Islamic Republic, and no one can deny it.”
He criticized the current situation, saying: “They must clearly answer the questions and doubts presented by the people.”
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/rafsanjani-calls-open-elections
Tensions Rise as Iran is Hurt by Western Sanctions
Tensions between Western countries and Iran over its nuclear program continue to rise as sanctions threaten the country’s economy. Analysts are expressing concern a military confrontation could occur in the Middle East.
Iranian war games in the Persian Gulf amid threats to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The United States and Europe tighten sanctions to choke off Iranian oil revenues. Iran begins enriching uranium at an underground plant, as one of its nuclear scientists is killed in a bomb attack.
All signs, analysts say, that a military confrontation could be looming.
International Institute of Strategic Studies expert Mark Fitzpatrick. “I think Iran is feeling under increasing pressure. It is feeling, probably for the first time, sanctions that do have a real bite,” he said.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Tensions-Rise-as-Iran-is-Hurt-by-Western-Sanctions-137704798.html
http://www.mo.be/artikel/iran-afschrikken-met-meer-kernwapens?utm_source=newsletter
Belangrijke Amerikaanse adviseurs maken zich zorgen over een mogelijke oorlog tussen Israël en Iran. Om die te vermijden, denken ze onder meer aan Amerikaanse kernwapens in het Midden-Oosten, om het afschrikkingseffect groter te maken.
Bruce Riedel, topadviseur van de laatste vier Amerikaanse presidenten, is duidelijk: de negatieve gevolgen van een oorlog met Iran zijn veel groter dan de positieve. Om een oorlog te vermijden, moeten de machtsbalans in het voordeel van Israël blijven houden.
http://www.mo.be/artikel/vs-distantieren-zich-van-israelisch-iranbeleid-analyse?utm_source=newsletter
WASHINGTON 17 januari 2012
De regering-Obama heeft een grootscheepse militaire oefening met Israël uitgesteld. Een duidelijk signaal dat de VS afstand willen nemen van het Israëlische Iranbeleid waarmee ze vaak worden geassocieerd. Ze willen van premier Netanyahu de garantie dat hij Iran niet aanvalt zonder hun toestemming.
De oefening “Austere Challenge ’12″ was gepland voor april en simuleert een gezamenlijke Amerikaans-Israëlische operatie om naderende raketten te identificeren en onderscheppen, waarbij gesofisticeerde Amerikaanse radarsystemen worden gekoppeld aan Israëlisch afweergeschut. Zo anticiperen beide landen indirect op de Iraanse vergelding van een Israëlische aanval op zijn nucleaire installaties.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9027424/Iran-cracks-down-on-Barbie.html
Iran cracks down on Barbie.
Iranian police have targetted dozens of shops selling Barbie dolls in the latest campaign against the spread of Western decadence in the Islamic republic.
The embattled Iranian regime wages an unceasing war against the encroachments of Western influence. Islamic laws require women to protect their modesty will all enveloping clothing.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2090472/Iran-oil-embargo-William-Hague-urges-Iran-come-senses-nuclear-programme.html
Defiant Iran threatens to close Strait of Hormuz in retaliation to EU oil embargo… while Britain joins U.S. warships steaming through the waterway.
William Hague urges Iran to ‘come to its senses’ over nuclear programme.
Immediate ban on crude oil and petroleum products
Existing contracts allowed to run until July.
Hague calls sanctions ‘peaceful and legitimate’.
Iran oil importers Greece, Italy and Spain will be hit hard by ban as they had preferential payment deals.
Another Iranian Journalist Jailed
Reformist Iranian journalist and former student activist Saeed Razavi Faqih has been reportedly arrested upon returning to Tehran from Paris where he was residing.
Friends of Razavi Faqih have said that he has been missing for about a week when he traveled back to Iran.
http://www.rferl.org/content/another_iranian_journalist_jailed/24462037.html
Iran says sanctions to fail, repeats Hormuz threat
Iranian politicians said on Tuesday they expected the European Union to backtrack on its oil embargo and repeated a threat to close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if the West succeeds in preventing Tehran from exporting crude.
A day after the EU slapped a ban on Iranian oil, Iran’s tone appeared defiant, even skeptical, with Tehran insisting that, with the EU faced with its own economic crisis, it needs Iran’s oil more than Iran needs its business.
The ban is expected to take full effect within six months.
“The West’s ineffective sanctions against the Islamic state are not a threat to us. They are opportunities and have already brought lots of benefits to the country,” Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi told the official IRNA news agency.
Speaking in London, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain Prince Mohammad Bin Nawaf said the region was witnessing “a very difficult and a very tense situation”.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/us-iran-idUSTRE80N0YB20120124?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29
Iranian Adviser Accuses Brazil of Ruining Relations
Iran’s efforts to cultivate political support in Latin America at a time of rising international tension over its nuclear program appear to have encountered a significant obstacle: Brazil, the region’s economic powerhouse.
After President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran took a four-country tour of Latin America this month, during which he met with several outspoken critics of the United States but was notably not invited to stop in Brazil, one of his top advisers took a public swipe at Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, saying she had “destroyed years of good relations” between the two nations.
“The Brazilian president has been striking against everything that Lula accomplished,” Ali Akbar Javanfekr, who has worked as Mr. Ahmadinejad’s top media adviser, said in an interview published Monday by Folha de São Paulo, a leading Brazilian newspaper, in which he compared Ms. Rousseff to her predecessor and political mentor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/world/americas/ahmadinejad-adviser-accuses-brazil-of-ruining-relations.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Election Watch #2: Iran Starts Slashing Candidates
How do the numbers of registered candidates compare to previous elections?
The number of candidates who registered for the 2012 parliamentary elections is at its lowest since the 1996 elections. Only 5,395 individuals registered to run for parliament, a 33 percent drop from four years ago. Women comprise less than 10 percent of those who have registered to run. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, the Minister of Interior has attributed this decline to amendments made to the electoral law, such as the prerequisite that a candidate hold at least a master’s degree. Other factors include the prevailing climate of political apathy, the marginalization of reformists, and prospects of harsher disqualifications.
In sharp contrast, the number of incumbents seeking re-election is at a record high for the 2012 poll. Of the parliament’s 290 sitting MPs, 260 are seeking re-election. With incumbency rates averaging 35 percent in the last 30 years, it will be interesting to see how many deputies will be re-elected and how many will lose ground to freshmen challengers.
http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2012/jan/24/election-watch-2-iran-starts-slashing-candidates
Iran escalation ‘could see UK forces sent to Gulf’
An escalation of a dispute with Iran could see Britain sending military reinforcements to the Gulf, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has said, according to the BBC. Sending HMS Argyll as part of an international warship flotilla through the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday was a “clear signal” to Tehran, he said.
Iran has threatened to close the strait in retaliation for sanctions against its oil exports. In total, 35% of the world’s tanker-borne oil passes through the strait.
Asked if more resources could be sent to the region, Hammond said: “The UK has a contingent capability to reinforce that presence should at any time it be considered necessary to do so.”
http://www.nineoclock.ro/iran-escalation-%e2%80%98could-see-uk-forces-sent-to-gulf%e2%80%99/
Iranian Intelligence Minister warns against election turmoil
Iran’s Intelligence Minister has warned the public that the country’s “enemies” are trying to disrupt the coming elections. With parliamentary elections slated for March, the Fars News Agency quoted Heydar Moslehi saying: “The enemy’s psychological warfare against Islamic Iran takes shape through various dimensions and roots.”
The Intelligence Minister previously had reported the arrest of several “election disruptors.” Moslehi accused the detainees of having links to foreign forces bent on disrupting the elections.
He listed the “enemy’s” methods for derailing the elections: stoking political differences, questioning the transparency of the elections process, trying to bring political debate into the streets, spreading mistrust of the system, creating instability and intensifying economic sanctions.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1256.html
Strange Bedfellows in the Conflict with Iran
As the European Union prepared to consider tough new sanctions against Iran on Monday, a group of eminent Americans was cozying up here to an exiled Iranian opposition group that the United States classifies as terrorists.
Even undeclared war makes strange bedfellows, and none more so than the former politicians, generals and spooks on the panel at a conference in Paris on Friday evening and their hosts, the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran.
In its checkered history, the P.M.O.I. has been accused of murdering American servicemen, was involved in not one but two invasions of the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the Iranian revolution, and allied itself with the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.
More recently it claims to have provided information exposing details of Tehran’s attempts to produce a nuclear weapon, while vigorously denying widespread speculation that it might have assisted in recent unexplained assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists.
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/strange-bedfellows-in-the-conflict-with-iran/
Iran Summons Danish Envoy to Protest EU Ban
Iran has summoned the Danish ambassador in Tehran to protest what it calls the European Union’s “illogical” decision to ban Iranian oil imports.
Iranian state news agency IRNA says foreign ministry official Ali Asghar Khaji summoned the Danish envoy on Tuesday, a day after the 27-nation EU agreed to stop all Iranian oil imports by July 1. Denmark currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
IRNA says Khaji accused the EU of acting in a reckless manner and doing the bidding of the United States, which also tightened sanctions on Iran in recent weeks and welcomed the EU oil embargo.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Iran-Denounces-EU-Oil-Ban--137948963.html
Het enige wat me van begin af aan niet bevalt is de kleur groen. Dat is nl. de kleur van de islam! Daarom blijf ik sceptisch over de doelstellingen van die beweging. Ik acht veel Iraniërs tot alles instaat. De kans dat ze hun eigen kerngeleerden op zeep helpen acht ik zeer wel aanwezig, maw: wie zal ons de garantie geven dat het geen kerngeleerde was maar dat het een gewone burger was die ze het STEMPEL kerngeleerde hebben gegeven om zijn dood bij anderen, lees: de Mossad in de schoenen te kunnen schuiven?
De kleur groen heeft in dit geval niks te maken met de Islam @ G.Deckzeijl
Er waren 4 kandidaten en elke kandidaad kreeg een kleur toegewezen voor de campagne die hij voerde en toevallig was dat bij Mousavi groen en die werd door de bevolking als winnaar betiteld maar afgewezen door de corupte Mullahs.
Het gevolg was dat de bevolking zich met van alles groen tooide toen ze de straat op gingen wat toen uiteraard de groene beweging genoemd werd.
Iran hits back at EU with own oil embargo threat
Fighting sanctions with sanctions in a trial of strength with the West over its nuclear ambitions, Iran warned on Friday it may halt oil exports to Europe next week in a move calculated to hurt ailing European economies.
At the same time, the government in Tehran, grappling with its own economic crisis under Western trade and banking embargoes, will host a rare visit on Sunday by U.N. nuclear inspectors for talks that the ruling clergy may hope can relieve diplomatic pressure as they struggle to bolster public support.
Since the U.N. watchdog lent independent weight in November to the suspicions of Western powers that Iran is using a nuclear energy program to give itself the ability to build atomic bombs, U.S. and EU sanctions and Iranian threats of reprisal against Gulf shipping lanes have disrupted world oil markets and pushed up prices.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/27/us-iran-idUSTRE80Q1UY20120127?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29
Israel Senses Bluffing in Iran’s Threats of Retaliation
Israeli intelligence estimates, backed by academic studies, have cast doubt on the widespread assumption that a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities would set off a catastrophic set of events like a regional conflagration, widespread acts of terrorism and sky-high oil prices.
The estimates, which have been largely adopted by the country’s most senior officials, conclude that the threat of Iranian retaliation is partly bluff. They are playing an important role in Israel’s calculation of whether ultimately to strike Iran, or to try to persuade the United States to do so, even as Tehran faces tough new economic sanctions from the West.
“A war is no picnic,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio in November. But if Israel feels itself forced into action, the retaliation would be bearable, he said. “There will not be 100,000 dead or 10,000 dead or 1,000 dead. The state of Israel will not be destroyed.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/world/middleeast/israelis-see-irans-threats-of-retaliation-as-bluff.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Arab Gulf States Urged to Increase Pipelines After Iran’s Oil Threats
As Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz intensify, some energy experts are calling on Arab Gulf states to find alternative ways to export their petroleum. Experts differ, however, on whether proposed pipelines are economically feasible or whether Iran will follow through with its threats.
Nearly 40 percent of seaborne traded oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and is bordered by Iran and Oman. Iran is threatening to block the route. Any closure of the strategic waterway would likely send oil prices soaring and have a significant impact on the global economy.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Arab-Gulf-States-Urged-to-Increase-Pipelines-After-Iran-Oil-Threats-138200949.html
Pattern of Intimidation Is Seen in Arrests of Iranian Journalists and Bloggers
The judicial authorities in Iran have arrested at least half a dozen journalists and bloggers over the past few weeks, according to their acquaintances, opposition Web sites and rights groups. The moves appear to be part of a pre-emptive campaign of intimidation to thwart protests surrounding the parliamentary elections that are scheduled to be held in early March.
The arrests of the journalists and bloggers, including two prominent women whose blog posts are widely read in Iran, have not been reported by the official news media. Rights groups and people who know the detained journalists said the government apparently wanted word of the arrests to spread informally, to heighten the atmosphere of fear and paranoia.
It also was unclear what specific charges, if any, had been lodged against those who were arrested. None seem to have been politically active or to have published anything that might be considered seditious since the last major Iranian government crackdown on free expression in February 2011. At that time, the authorities arrested a large number of journalists as part of what turned out to be a successful effort to subvert any ambition by Iran’s largely silenced political opposition to celebrate the revolutions that were then sweeping Tunisia and Egypt.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/world/middleeast/iran-steps-up-arrests-of-journalists-and-bloggers.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Iran is gearing up for elections and it isn’t pretty
The arrest of at least 10 reporters since the turn of the year and new Internet restrictions point to a battening down of social control ahead of Iran’s March elections.
The international focus may be on Iran’s nuclear program and all the war talk that’s surrounded it. But less noticed is that Iran is gearing up for parliamentary elections in March. Every early sign is that it will be as closely controlled an affair as the 2009 presidential contest that kept Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power for a second term.
Iran’s supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may have called Mr. Ahmadinejad’s landslide victory a “divine assessment.” But forces other than God probably had a hand in Ahmadinejad’s victory; there was strong evidence of widespread fraud, which sparked protests on a scale not seen since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
While those protests have since been quashed, the grievances behind them remain. If anything, they have gathered in strength, with an economy suffering blows from US-led international sanctions and ongoing crackdowns against citizens. The smart money is on a parliamentary election whose results are massaged, much as the presidential elections were. But even fixed results will still show shifts in Iran’s complex political landscape.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2012/0127/Iran-is-gearing-up-for-elections-and-it-isn-t-pretty
APNewsBreak: Weapons experts part of UN team trying to probe Iran for alleged nuke arms work
Diplomats say the U.N. nuclear agency is including two senior weapons experts on a mission to Iran on Saturday.
The move is an unusually clear statement on the team’s prime focus — wresting information from Iranian officials on suspicions the country has secretly worked on atomic arms.
Iran has flatly refused to discuss such allegations for more than three years.
But diplomats on Friday told The Associated Press that the weapons experts were part of the U.N. team and that Iran had accepted their inclusion after some initial resistance.
They asked for anonymity because their information is confidential.
http://www.brandonsun.com/world/breaking-news/apnewsbreak-weapons-experts-part-of-un-team-trying-to-probe-iran-for-alleged-nuke-arms-work-138220954.html?viewAllComments=y
Concern For Iranian Opposition Leader Under House Arrest
The wife of detained Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi reports that she has been completely cut off from her husband, adding that the authorities are now holding him in solitary confinement.
Fatemeh Karroubi told Saham News: “After my husband announced his opinion on the elections, recommending a boycott of them, he is being denied further visits with me, and the authorities are now stopping me from entering my own home.”
She expressed grave concern about the treatment of her husband by his jailers.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1279.html
Ebadi calls for boycott of Iran elections, release of opposition leaders
Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate, is throwing her support behind the 39 Iranian political prisoners calling for an election boycott and the release of Iran’s opposition leaders from house arrest.
In a statement, Ebadi commends the daring of the 39 prisoners and, in response to their call for support, writes: “I urge all freedom seekers all over the world to make all efforts to secure the release of all political prisoners in Iran, specifically Zahra Rahnavard, MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.”
She has also called upon all Iranians to boycott the elections. “I call on dear compatriots to boycott the sham elections for the 12th Islamic Parliament in March in order to once more announce to all the world that the Islamic Republic regime lacks legitimacy.”
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1272.html
Don’t Turn the Strait of Hormuz into a Turkmanchai-Type Disaster
Those in Iran who are turning the Strait of Hormuz into an issue are perhaps not aware that if the waterway turns into a conflict, its final chapter will be very different from the way the eight year Iran-Iraq war ended by drinking a chalice of poison.
Iranian right-wingers who dream of supremacy and grab any megaphone to scream about the Strait are probably doing it because the waterway has most likely become an election issue. They may be trying to send this message to the world: “We control this country, and not our domestic rivals,” and, “If a deal needs to be made, you need to make it with us.”
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1261.html
Message of defiance at Friday prayers
Tehran’s Friday Mass Prayer leader Ahmad Khatami told worshippers today that the EU oil embargo will result in serious difficulties for participating countries.
Iranian media report that Khatami said: “A nation that wants no one to dictate its actions must pay the price for it.”
He added that, at most, 17 percent of Iran’s oil exports are purchased by European countries, adding that the decision to boycott Iranian oil will only compound Europe’s economic problems.
He said: “We have customers that are begging for our oil, but Europe is dropping itself into a well with the rotten rope of the United States, which is suicide.”
He maintained that 30 years of sanctions have led to “significant progress in the nuclear field” in Iran and he expressed hope that the new sanctions would only serve to wean the Iranian economy from its dependence on oil exports.
On Monday, EU member states announced they are boycotting Iranian oil. Effective immediately, EU countries will sign no new agreements to purchase Iranian petroleum products, and all existing agreements have to be ended by July 1.
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/message-defiance-friday-prayers
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092679/Iranian-bloggers-executed-spreading-corruption-Tehran-cracks-run-elections.html?ITO=1490
Iranian bloggers to be executed for ‘spreading corruption’ as Tehran cracks down in run up to elections.
Four journalists also arrested in moves to curb freedom of expression.
U.S. State Department urges Iran to ‘protect rights of all citizens’.
Israel says ‘world must act quickly’ as UN urges West to resume talks.
Iran’s parliament will decide on Sunday whether to stop oil exports to EU.
http://www.mo.be/artikel/tegenstand-vs-tegen-aanval-op-iran-groeit
Tegenstand in VS tegen aanval op Iran groeit
WASHINGTON
,
27 januari 2012
Nu in de Verenigde Staten de oorlogstrom steeds luider klinkt tegen Iran, komt er steeds meer reactie. Ook prominente haviken, die tien jaar geleden nog ijverden voor de invasie in Irak, proberen nu de oorlogszucht te temperen.
De spanningen met Iran escaleren snel: hooggeplaatste Israëli’s dreigen steeds nadrukkelijker met een aanval op Iran, opnieuw is een Iraanse atoomgeleerde omgekomen bij een aanslag, en het Westen stelt harde sancties in om de Iraanse economie op de knieën te dwingen. Het dreigement van Iran om de Straat van Hormuz te blokkeren, brengt de mogelijkheid van een oorlog dichterbij dan ooit.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093325/UN-inspectors-examine-Irans-nuclear-programme-country-votes-oil-export-ban.html
UN nuclear inspectors arrived in Iran on today, hoping to shed light on suspected military aspects of Tehran’s atomic work -- on the day its lawmakers look set to ban oil exports to Europe in revenge for new EU sanctions.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency delegation said he aimed to ‘resolve all the outstanding issues with Iran’ over the nuclear programme which the West believes is aimed at making weapons but which Iran insists is peaceful.
‘In particular we hope that Iran will engage with us on our concerns regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear programme,’ IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts told reporters before departing from Vienna airport.
http://nos.nl/artikel/335447-iran-snel-olieboycot-enkele-landen.html
Iran zal de export van ruwe olie naar enkele landen stopzetten. Dat heeft de minister van Olie gezegd, meldt het Iraanse staatspersbureau. Hij zou niet hebben gezegd om welke landen het gaat.
http://nos.nl/artikel/335262-inspecteurs-iaea-in-iran-aangekomen.html
Inspecteurs van het Internationaal Atoom Energie Agentschap zijn in Iran aangekomen. Het IAEA hoopt dat het land openheid van zaken wil geven over zijn nucleaire programma. Iran ontwikkelt volgens het Westen een kernwapen.
Om de druk op het land te verhogen, kondigde de EU begin deze week aan per 1 juli Iraanse olie te boycotten. Iran op zijn beurt overweegt nu per direct geen ruwe olie meer uit te voeren naar Europa. Het Iraanse parlement debatteert daar later vandaag over.
Wordt de export stopgezet, dan hoeven Europese bedrijven die nog olie tegoed hebben, daar niet meer op te rekenen.
@158: we zijn toch niet alleen afhankelijk van de Iraniërs voor olie? We krijgen dat spul toch ook van de Saudi’s…??? Uit de Noordzee komt toch ook een deel van onze olie..?????
Ik begin trouwens weer allerlei visioenen te krijgen…
http://tinyurl.com/3p32945
Saoedi-Arabië is MINSTENS zo’n beroerd land als Iran, hoor!
Het feit dat de Amerikanen uit eigenbelang voortdurend met de Saoedi’s aan het slijmen en verbroederen zijn ( denk aan de buiging die Obama voor de koning van dat land maakte) verandert daar helemaal niets aan.
De wetenschap zou zich nog fanatieker moeten werpen op vervangende brandstof…. temeer daar de olie in het Midden-Oosten op termijn toch ook opraakt!
Wie wil er -- tot het zover is -- van door de koran gehersenspoelden afhankelijk zijn?