Free Republic

TEHRAN, Iran – Senior Iranian lawmakers rejected on Saturday any possibility of Tehran shipping uranium abroad for further enrichment, intensifying pressures on the government to reject the U.N.-backed plan altogether. Prominent conservative lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Iran won't ship its low enriched uranium abroad in a single batch or in several shipments, a compromise suggested by some government officials, under any circumstances.

SNIPPET: "Iraqi officials in Al Kut are seeking four suspected Iranian Qods Force operatives behind attacks on security forces. Members of the Iraqi security forces put up wanted posters with photos of the Iranian operates on the streets in an effort to detain the men. The Qods Force agents are wanted for "armed operations against Iraqi security personnel and civilians," an Iraqi security official told Voices of Iraq. "The security authorities in Kut appealed to local residents to report these dangerous persons who are wanted on charges of involvement in terrorist operations in Iraq." The campaign was announced the same...

Israel's warnings that it will not tolerate an existential threat in the form of a nuclear Iran should be taken seriously, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon warned in an interview with the Britain-based Sky News on Friday. "The one who's bluffing is Iran, which is trying to play with cards they don't have," Ayalon told the news network. "All the bravado that we see and the testing and the very dangerous and harsh rhetoric are hiding a lot of weaknesses." ...

Iran Refuses To Send Enriched Uranium Abroad by Jay Deshmukh TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran is refusing to send its low-enriched uranium abroad for further processing, the influential head of parliament's national security and foreign policy committee was quoted as saying on Saturday. "We do not want to give part of our 1,200 kilos of enriched uranium in order to receive fuel of 20 percent enrichment," Alaeddin Borujerdi told the ISNA news agency. "This option of giving our enriched uranium gradually or in one go is over now. We are studying how to procure fuel and (Ali Asghar) Soltanieh is negotiating...

TEHRAN - A Japanese and two Canadian journalists have been arrested along with an Iranian working for "satellite channels," because they were reporting without permission on rallies in Tehran earlier this week, the Fars news agency said on Friday. The cases are under investigation, Fars said, without giving further details of the allegations against the journalists. The Tehran prosecutor said on Friday that his office was investigating the arrest of AFP reporter Farhad Pouladi while he was covering an anti-American rally in the Iranian capital on Wednesday. The annual commemoration of the November 4, 1979 storming of the US embassy...

Mideast: Iran tests an advanced warhead design as it gets caught shipping weapons to Hezbollah. Syria is reported to give the group operational control over Scud missiles. It's five minutes to midnight. Tyranny abhors a vacuum. While the U.S. and the West dither in Hamlet-like fashion over whatever we shall do in places such as Afghanistan and Iran, the Axis of Evil is in full swing in its plans to destroy Israel and threaten Europe and America. Israel last week seized what it said was the largest arms cache ever intercepted in the region. Israeli navy commandos boarded the Francop,...

Thursday, Nov. 5, A substantial Saudi armored infantry force and tank column crossed the border into Yemen to do battle with Iran-backed Houthi rebels the day after they killed a Saudi border guard. Saudi air force F-15 and Tornado jets have been bombing Yemeni rebel positions near the border with the southern Saudi Jizan province since Wednesday. The Yemeni Houthi rebels are the second Iranian ally to be attacked after Israel's Cast Lead operation against the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza earlier this year, DEBKAfile's military sources report. "This is not a hit-and-run, this is a sustained action" to clean out...

Some troubling news has come out from the British Guardian. According to sources in the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iranian scientists have been working on a nuclear warhead design which makes it easier to miniaturize the bomb. This allows the warhead to be placed on a missile for deployment. Western weapons experts say there are no such civilian applications, but the use of co-ordinated detonations in nuclear warheads is well known. They compress the fissile core, or pit, of the warhead until it reaches critical mass.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog has asked Tehran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced secret nuclear warhead design, according to a report published Friday. Citing what it calls "previously unpublished documentation" from an International Atomic Energy Agency compiled report, Britain's The Guardian newspaper said Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of a "two-point implosion" device. The report said that even the existence of two-point implosion nuclear warhead technology is officially secret in both the U.S. and Britain. The technology allows for the production of smaller and simpler warheads, making it easier to put a...

Tuesday night, when my financially-flogged, nerve-wracked husband announced the election returns, he breathed a deep sigh of relief and beamed, "It may not be much, but I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel." To which I replied, "Yep, but it's still a locomotive." He threw a pillow at my head and switched to the ultimate fight on SPIKE. So, down to brass tacks on saving the Republic. Did the two GOP victories this week -- in purple Virginia and bluer-than-blue New Jersey -- signal a beam of sunshine in a tunnel gone dark with fear and...

As USS New York pre pares to join the fleet, she will enter a world of crises. As we obsess over worthless Afghan real estate, truly vital problems loom abroad. Violent challenges to our security and strategic position are slighted or ignored, while a combination of politics, pride and inertia bind us to a distant land of marginal relevance. The crises highlighted below are not in order of priority. Any of them could take a painful bite out of Washington's complacency: Iraq: Given its strategic location, iconic importance in the Arab world and vast oil reserves, Iraq matters to us....

The UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned. The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion" device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added urgency ...

Exclusive: Watchdog fears Tehran has key component to put bombs in missiles The UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned. The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion" device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added urgency...

Reuters President Obama's idea of waging "aggressive personal diplomacy"? Attacking President Bush for blustering belligerence: But he asserted that Iran’s support for militant groups in Iraq reflected its anxiety over the Bush administration’s policies in the region, including talk of a possible American military strike on Iranian nuclear installations. Yup. That explains Iranian aggression for the last 30 years against the United States. Meanwhile, Israel seizes 500 tons of Iranian weapons on Wednesday: Israel displayed on Wednesday the contents of the ship it seized off Cyprus - crates filled with rockets, missiles, mortars, anti-tank weapons and munitions - the...

The U.N. nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting the Islamic Republic's scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian reported in its Friday edition.

November 4 Iran: mass pro-Democracy protests in all cities. Pro-Democracy protestors tear down Ayatollah Khamenei's poster. Video here

Keeping you updated. As mass pro-Democracy protests swept Iran today the protesters chanted "Obama, Obama you are either with the Iranian government or with us". Videos here

Freedom: Young Iranians had a surprise Wednesday for mullah rulers celebrating the anniversary of the 1979 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tehran: angry protests. Why aren't we giving them more support? The big hate-America bacchanal was to commemorate the glorious crime against the U.S. 30 years ago, when "student" hoods stormed our sovereign embassy, preened before TV cameras, danced around with rifles and paraded dozens of blindfolded U.S. diplomats, military men and CIA officers as hostages. Then-President Jimmy Carter, whose sanctimonious refusal to get tough helped lengthen the ordeal to 444 days, enabled these terrorists to consolidate their "revolution,"...

Anti-government protesters run from riot police in Tehran, Iran, on WednesdayTehran, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian protesters are vowing to continue their anti-government demonstrations into Wednesday night, despite violent crackdowns and arrests.Witnesses in Tehran tell CNN the demonstrators number in the tens of thousands.The protests are timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy. Iran celebrates the embassy takeover as an official holiday, and tens of thousands showed up to hear anti-American speeches in front of the building that once housed the U.S. diplomatic corps. Many chanted "Death to America."

Obama: “wants to move beyond this past, and seeks a relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran” Obama Administration on Anniversary of Embassy and Hostage Seizure in Iran: We're trying to be Friends! By Barry Rubin thelastcrusade.com Will Rogers, the great American comedian of the 1920s and 1930s, famously said, “I never met a man I didn’t like.” The problem with the Obama Administration, at least so far, is that it has never met an enemy that it could identify as such.Of course, the story isn’t over yet. Indeed, one does see signs of change. But we are still...

It was supposed to be a public show of Iranian unity during day marking the 30-year anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by Islamic revolutionaries. But not only did anti-government demonstrators, many of them dressed in green scarves and headbands, hijack the state-sponsored event. They also managed to steal the media's attention media, much to the displeasure of the authorities, who blamed the Western media for distorting the facts. On the other hand, Iran's official media, also appeared to play fast and loose with reality. (snip) Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA, lashed out...

November 05, 2009 At the J Street meeting By Lori Lowenthal Marcus The Washington conference of the new organization "J Street" took place on October 25-28. It was a fascinating but scary cultural experience. For three days I watched hundreds of intensely pious people sitting under an awning that reads "pro-Israel, pro-peace." But by far the dearest hopes of the folks on J Street were for the well-being, and especially the sovereignty, of a people whose leadership has stated repeatedly that its goal is to destroy Israel and murder Jews. I saw two overarching themes defining this conference: one, Iran...

Hundreds of tons of weaponry, ten times the size of the Karine A shipment of 2002, were seized in an overnight raid Tuesday by the Israeli navy, some 100 nautical miles west of Israel, officials said. Defense officials said the 140-meter long Francop, intercepted near Cyprus, was carrying arms sent by Iran and destined for Syria and possibly also Hizbullah. The weapons seized on the ship, which was sailing under an Antiguan flag, included some 3,000 rockets of various types, as well as bullets and ammunition. The transfer of such large amounts of weapons out of Iran could "create a...

Hezbollah will underscore its case against Tehran in the international community, observers said Thursday. "Officials in Jerusalem had not dared even to dream of better timing for the capture of the vessel carrying so much arms and ammunition bound for Hezbollah," an editorial in Israel's Maariv newspaper said. "The capture of the ship was, for Israel, like a gift from heaven." The Israeli navy on Wednesday seized a ship carrying what it described as "hundreds of tonnes" of weapons, including rockets, grenades and ammunition, that it said was sent from Iran to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. A UN Security Council...

The Muslim, dhimmi president with the satellite dish ears cannot seem to hear them cry out for freedom. It might have to do with the fact that he is trying stifle freedom in America, or it could be that he just doesn’t care. You see, the state run media in America does not cover the poor patriots in Iran who are crying out to be free, on this, the anniversary of their takeover of the US embassy under the other liberal wimp, Jimmy Carter.

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-barack-obama-iran Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release November 03, 2009 Statement by President Barack Obama on Iran Thirty years ago today, the American Embassy in Tehran was seized. The 444 days that began on November 4, 1979 deeply affected the lives of courageous Americans who were unjustly held hostage, and we owe these Americans and their families our gratitude for their extraordinary service and sacrifice. This event helped set the United States and Iran on a path of sustained suspicion,...

After President George W. Bush employed the words, “You’re either with us, or you’re with the terrorists,” addressing a joint session of Congress in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks - as the President prepared for the impending war in Afghanistan - liberals eventually treated those words with consternation as if the blunt declaration reflected poorly on America. But pro-democracy activists in Iran seem to like a similar message, as a group of protesters in Iran called on President Barack Obama to support their cause, chanting, “Obama, Obama, either you’re with them or you’re with us!” Uniquely among the broadcast...

Iran reports having thousands of centrifuges spinning away to make fuel for their upcoming power reactors. Others think that Iran has it in mind to make weapons material using those same centrifuges. In fact, Iran could divert just 1% of its centrifuge production and have enough weapons-grade material to make a few bombs per year. The arithmetic is provided here below. Note: I was with Westinghouse civilian nuclear power for 30 years as a registered professional engineer with nuclear specialization. I hold a doctorate in engineering. All information here is unclassified." Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2009/11/uranium_centrifuges_and_uraniu.php

November 5, 2009 Protesters attacked by militiamen as Iranian regime faces revolt on anti-US day Martin Fletcher Violence erupted in Tehran yesterday as tens of thousands took to the streets to attack the regime on a day that was supposed to be dedicated to condemning America. The regime marked the 30th anniversary of the storming of the US Embassy with an official rally outside the former diplomatic compound — but elsewhere, security forces fought running battles with protesters who packed the streets of the capital in defiance of regime warnings. Opposition videos showed riot police and Basij militiamen clubbing men...

Special Navy forces discovered weapons and ammunition on a cargo ship overnight Tuesday, after boarding the Francop some 100 nautical miles west of Israel flying an Antiguan flag. Defense officials said the 140-meter long Francop, captured near Cyprus, was carrying arms sent by Iran and destined for Syria and Hizbullah. More than 60 tons of weaponry were on board, in dozens of containers. The Francop carried hundreds of containers. A significant amount of 122 mm. Katyusha rockets, likely made in Iran, assault rifles, mortar shells and grenades were found on board. Israel Radio reported that advanced anti-aircraft platforms not before...

TEHRAN, Iran — The contrasts were vivid: Pro-government supporters chanted "Death to America" and stomped on U.S. flags Wednesday while not far away, hundreds of opposition protesters denounced Iran's leaders and appealed to America's president to choose sides. "Obama, Obama, you are either with them, or with us," the anti-government protesters chanted in Farsi, in an amateur video clip widely circulated on the Internet. The new and startling appeal to President Barack Obama came as Iran's opposition protesters returned to the streets in large numbers for the first time in nearly two months. Authorities were ready with the same sweeping...

JERUSALEM - Israeli commandos seized a ship Wednesday that defense officials said was carrying hundreds of tons of weapons from Iran bound for Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas — the largest arms shipment Israel has ever commandeered. The Israeli military said an Iranian document was found on board, showing that the arms shipment originated from Iran, although the paper was not shown to reporters. Rear Admiral Roni Ben-Yehuda, the deputy Israeli navy commander, said that despite its size, the shipment of weapons was "a drop in the ocean" of arms being shipped to Hezbollah. "It's a cargo certificate that shows that it...

Police have clashed with protesters in the Iranian capital, Tehran. Hundreds of people took to the streets shouting, “Death to Dictators”. They are supporters of two opposition leaders – Mir-hussain Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, who also took part in the protest.

In the three decades since the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, the rhetoric of revolutionary Islam is little changed. Only now they are building nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them.

Pseudo-Zionists such as Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun Magazine feel that the United States should not put any pressure on Iran for its weapons program. "What exactly gives us the moral right to be lecturing North Korea or even Iran on who should or should not have nuclear weapons?" New presidential appointment, former Senator Chuck Hagel, feels that the United States should be unconditionally reaching out to both Iran and Hezbollah. Today, Israel's Navy has proven them both wrong.The navy has intercepted a ship carrying weapons from Iran to Hezbollah 100 miles off the Israeli coast. Marines boarded the Antiguan-flagged...

Troops fire tear gas and beat demonstrators on the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy's seizure. Reporting from Tehran and Beirut - Iran's capital erupted in chaos and violence today as anti-government protestors and security forces clashed on the 30th anniversary of the seizing of the U.S. Embassy by radical students. Today's demonstration did not appear to be as large as the huge marches that erupted following the disputed June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But the protest, the largest in six weeks, struck at one of the ideological pillars of the Islamic Republic by showing that a sizable...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama noted Wednesday's 30th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, while insisting he wants the U.S. and Iran to move beyond "suspicion, mistrust and confrontation."

Israel's military intelligence chief has warned that Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have successfully tested an Iranian rocket that can reach Tel Aviv, the Jewish state's largest urban conurbation. That adds a new urgency to Israel's efforts to develop an effective defensive system capable of shooting down short-range rockets that, if the warning by Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin is correct, are becoming a strategic threat. Yadlin says the rocket has a range of 37 miles, 8 miles longer He did not identify the Iranian system, but there have been reports that Iran has been seeking to smuggle Fajr-5 (Dawn)...

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI, the political arm of the Mujahedeen Khalq, said the site is built under a hillside east of Tehran and comprises a series of interconnecting tunnels. "All activities related to the manufacture of detonators are done in this web of tunnels," Mehdi Abrichamtchi told a news conference.

The source of anti-American Islamic Terrorism started today, Nov 4, 1979, in Tehran, Iran. Thank You Jimmy Carter, for abandoning the Shah

Last week, I had the opportunity to address over forty members of the United States Congress with the goal to encourage their recognition of the importance of engaging the Iranian people and their ongoing struggle for human rights and democracy. I began my remarks by asking, "If the U.S. is to continue to assert engagement as the path forward in the case of Iran, whom precisely should the engagement be with?" The answer: the "Green Movement" of the Iranian people. If the U.S. supports the Iranian people in their struggle for democracy -- for human rights and liberties -- it...

Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Blog Details IRGC: Iran Views U.S. As No. 1 Enemy In a statement issued today, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) lashed out at the U.S. for the numerous plots it has hatched against Iran's Islamic establishment since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution in the country. "The honorable nation of the Islamic Iran considers the U.S. – the Great Satan – to be the main contributor to problems in the Muslim world and the source of plots and conspiracies against the Islamic Republic and the Islamic Revolution," the IRGC statement said....

SNIPPET: "Yemeni Shi'ite Cleric and Houthi Disciple 'Issam Al-'Imad: Our Leader Houthi is Close to Khamenei; We Are Influenced Religiously and Ideologically By Iran" SNIPPET: "On September 28, 2009, the Iranian website ayandenews.com, which is affiliated with former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezai, published an interview with cleric 'Issam Al-'Imad, who is a disciple of Hussein Al-Houthi, leader of the Houthi rebels in Yemen. [1] Al-'Imad, who was born 1968 in Yemen, received his religious education in Saudi Arabia, but after studying Shi'ite Islam left Wahhabism to become a Twelver Shi'ite. Since1989 he has been pursuing advanced Islamic studies in the...

When Islamists made their roots south of the border... Venezuela's dictator: H. Chavez that "sees" only money, oil and Anti-Americanism-Power, does "serve" the Islamic Iranian Republic well, giving out passports to anyone. From that "port" it is quite easy for an Islamic Iranian AGENT to arrive into any other Latin American country as a... "Venezuelan". A "random" different case (of a Muslim trying to "blend" into Latin America), a year ago, a Jordanian Arab that "met" a Costa Rican (Tica) girl in Spain (she vouched for him in CR, asw this man came from the area in Jordan where a...

The Air Force Times' Sean Naylor scored an interview with Major General Mike Flynn, director of intelligence for General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan. There isn't a lot new here to longtime readers of The Long War Journal and Threat Matrix. Flynn gives an overview of the Taliban groups, notes that al Qaeda operatives serve as combat enablers for the Taliban, estimates Taliban forces in Afghanistan at between 19,000 to 27,000 fighters, and said Pakistan remains a major haven for the Taliban and al Qaeda. Of particular interest are Flynn's comments on Iran and the role...

Opposition to the clerical dictatorship continues to grow, both from inside the leadership, and at the grassroots. An increasing number of senior clerics are openly criticizing the "Islamic Police State" that has become increasingly harsh in the way it suppresses real, or imagined, opposition. Many senior clerics are aghast at the growing corruption among the clerics who run the government, and the pretense of democracy, with elections rigged so that only pro-dictatorship candidates can even run. At the grassroots, most young Iranians are fed up with the dictatorship. It offers no jobs for the poor, and few opportunities for the...

SNIPPET: "Lula and Chavez have established a "strategic relationship," and recently agreed upon a joint Brazilian-Venezuelan oil venture worth billions of dollars. Lula and Chavez have joined with Daniel Ortega, the returned Nicaraguan Marxist dictator, to form an anti-U.S. Latin American military alliance - all with Russian assistance - funded by the region's abundant oil reserves. Brazil is engaged in its own arms build-up and Lula is determined that Brazil will become at least a first-rate regional power. Unfortunately, Lula is establishing Brazil as an anti-American military power by aligning with nations hostile or potentially hostile to the U.S. Lula...

Mohammad Ali Ramin, who is said to have shaped the views of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on the Holocaust, has been appointed deputy culture minister for media affairs. Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust a "myth." Ramin's appointment was announced on November 1 by Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hoseini. Ramin is currently the secretary-general of the Tehran-based World Holocaust Foundation, which was established at an international conference reviewing the Holocaust in Tehran in 2006. A number of controversial figures, including former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, attended the conference, which was strongly condemned by Western countries. Ramin,...

Leaders of Iran's opposition movement are to make an unprecedented apology to the US on the 30th anniversary of the storming of the American embassy in Tehran. In a gesture likely to provoke fury among hardliners in the Tehran regime, they will apologise on Wednesday for the hostage crisis that gripped the world for 444 days and led to a decisive break between Iran and the US, which is now routinely denounced as "the Great Satan". Organisers of the Green Movement, the umbrella group that seeks to overturn the official result of the June presidential election, plan to use the...

VIENNA — Iranian officials sent mixed signals on a plan that would have Tehran ship out most of the material it would need to make a nuclear weapon, with the foreign minister saying Monday that option still exists and a senior diplomat suggesting the opposite. The contrasting messages appear designed to keep the international community off balance on how far Iran is ready to go in accepting the original proposal — having Tehran export 70 percent of its enriched uranium and having it returned as fuel for its research reactor. They also appeared geared toward pushing the plan's main backers...