Free Republic

Because of the Obama administration's weakness, the Revolutionary Guards think they can win.The Obama administration has criticized the Iranian regime and its policies while the United States and other countries have put tough sanctions on Iran. The question remains, however, how the Iranian rulers perceive the situation. In their speeches and writings, they argue that America is weak and crumbling. This is, in part, propaganda, but to a considerable degree it is also clear that they believe this to be true. An example of this is an article that has just appeared on Gerdab, a website run by the Iranian...

Iran's IRGC to test supersonic missiles at sea: commander The Aerospace Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said Iran plans to test-fire new "supersonic surface-to- sea missiles" as part of its war games in the Persian Gulf in the coming days, the English language satellite Press TV reported on Monday. Hajizadeh said that the new missiles have been designed to target ships and forces at sea, said the report. "Last year, we achieved (the technology of) new anti-ship missiles that can hit targets with multiple speed of sound," he was quoted as saying....

Also: "At this point in time, the United States and the evil British, who are always looking to bluff us, will be outwitted until the point where they no longer have any cards to play."According to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Fars News Agency, on Tuesday night — during a gathering of high-ranking members of the IRGC command and the Basij militia — Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Naghdi announced: Today we are in a full-scale war with our enemies. During the last 32 years, the enemy has gone from pillar to post and from one angle to another in order to find...

SAN FRANCISCO—Hackers from Iran are suspected of swiping authentication data from a US computer security firm in an attempt to impersonate popular Google or Yahoo! sites. "The incident got close to, but was not quite, an Internet-wide security meltdown," Electronic Frontier Foundation senior staff technologist Peter Eckersley said in a message posted at the group's website. Hackers using computers with addresses in Iran posed as a European affiliate of New Jersey-based Comodo on March 15 to get digital certificates allowing the creation of imitation Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft or Skype log-in pages. "The attacker was well prepared and knew in advance...

LONDON — Iran's elite military units have been deployed to attack protesters of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Opposition sources said Iran has sent units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to attack thousands of anti-Assad protesters in the city of Dera. They said IRGC transported hundreds of commandos via helicopter in what could mark the prelude to massive bloodshed. "The IRGC landed before the killings, which means this is an intentional operation to massacre wholesale the people of Dera," the Reform Party of Syria said. "If true, the Syrian security in Dera has been penetrated."

A senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned the establishment that if the ninth parliament is not “healthy”, the coming year may be a year of “bloodshed.” FARS news agency reported that General Aubnoosh told a gathering of Guardian Council watchmen in Qazvin: “If the results of the parliamentary elections are not in line with our values, the coming year will be so dangerous it may even lead to bloodshed.” He recommended great care in choosing people who can run for election and thorough investigation before announcing candidate eligibility. The ninth parliamentary elections of Iran will take place next year,...

... We turn to you, the IRGC commander, requesting that you use your authority over the Basij to order them to leave their truncheons at home next time. It goes without saying that we, who swore to defend the Islamic Revolution, are well acquainted with the highest Islamic values of tolerance and liberalism (in Persian – “Tasamukh va Tasahul”), and are familiar with the Islamic principles that “oppose the use of the whip or the club as a means of quelling dispute or dissension”. We promise our people that we will not shoot nor beat our brothers who are seeking...

Iran Seeking to Increase Speed of IRGC Vessels to 80-85 Knots TEHRAN (FNA)- The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy plans to boost the high mobility of its vessels in the next few months, the IRGC Navy commander announced on Sunday, adding that IRGC experts are working on projects to increase the speed of missile-launching and fully armed vessels to 80-85 knots. "Increasing the speed of the vessels which carry arms and equipment to 80-85 knots sets the objective of the IRGC naval force for the next Iranian year (starts on March 21)," Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said, and stressed,...

The capture of the officer confirms that Iran is directly supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan. The officer, from the elite al-Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, was captured by US special forces on December 18, a Nato spokesman said. Described as "a key Taliban weapons facilitator", he was arrested in Kandahar province. "The joint security team specifically targeted the individual for facilitating the movement of weapons between Iran and Kandahar through Nimroz province," a Nato statement said.

Russia plans to pay back a $166.8 million advance payment from Iran for S-300 air defense missiles after canceling the sale to comply with UN sanctions, a top Russian official said Thursday. President Dmitry Medvedev banned the delivery of the high-precision air defense system last month, saying it would violate sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council in June. The United States and Israel had urged Moscow to scrap the deal, fearing Iran could use the system to protect nuclear facilities that they suspect are part of a weapons program. "We received an advance on this contract of $166.8 million,"...

Thirty years after the end of the war between Iran and Iraq a fierce battle is being fought amongst statesmen, military commanders and scholars about the war. Three questions remain contested: Why did the war began in the first place? Why did the war continue after Iran's liberation of territories occupied by Iraq? And why did the war with Iraq end? -excerpt- Thanks to the Iraqi invasion of Iran, Grand Ayatollah Khomeini and the revolutionary regime managed to rally a fragmented nation around the revolutionary leadership. The revolutionary leadership also managed to keep the remains of the Imperial Army busy...

Bank Mellat, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), have facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions to help aid Iran's nuclear, missile, and defense entities.

The growth of Lebanon's Hezbollah (Party of God) has gained considerable impetus through its patron Iran's own desire to dominate strategically the entire Middle East region. Hezbollah fits in neatly with Tehran's effort to reinstate the Persian preeminence in the ancient world reaching back centuries.Ironically this is the same vision held by the late Shah Reza Pahlevi. His imperial objective was clear and for that reason feared by the kingdoms of the Gulf. With more than a little American encouragement, the deeply egocentric Shah more than once indicated he viewed himself as directly descended from the ancient kings of Persia.Today's...

SNIPPET: "Police are working to figure out the origin of the rocket that was fired from the Gaza Strip Saturday evening and exploded near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, without causing damage or injures. A total of four rockets and two mortar shells were fired at Israel on Saturday, causing no injuries. An initial examination revealed that the rocket fired at Nahal Oz was manufactured using professional means, most likely outside of the borders of the Gaza Strip. The rocket had a diameter of 115 millimeters, and police sappers were working to locate fragments of it to be tested."

SNIPPET: "The US Treasury department has added four Iranian Qods Force commanders to its list of specially designated global terrorists, two of whom are charged with directly providing support for the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan." SNIPPET: "General Hossein Musavi is the commander Qods Force's Ansar Corps, "whose responsibilities include IRGC-QF activities in Afghanistan," the Treasury stated. "As Ansar Corps Commander, Musavi has provided financial and material support to the Taliban." Colonel Hasan Mortezavi is described as a senior Qods Force officer who "provides financial and material support to the Taliban." Qods Forces' Ansar Corps is the command that is assigned...

Last week the president spoke out on behalf of the three American hikers who have been held in Iran for nearly a year. During that time, they have been able to make only one telephone call — to their families back in the U.S. — and write no letter at all. Sarah, Shane, and Josh are in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison, and Sarah is locked in solitary confinement save for once a day when she goes to the prison yard and sees the others. “I want to be perfectly clear,” the president said.  And then he lapsed into incoherence.  “Sarah,...

An Iranian trading firm with close links to the country’s revolutionary guards is under investigation in Austria after a director of the company was killed in a dispute over its future. Baghaollah Vossough, a former Tehran University lecturer, was killed last week at the offices of Cerag International, a company that has supplied Iran’s oil industry with equipment for years. A convicted fraudster and drug dealer, named only as Samad A, has been arrested for carrying out the gangland-style killing, which has brought Vienna’s shadowy world of Iranian middlemen into the spotlight. Viennese police are treating the investigation as a...

The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has officially acknowledged that some members have been supportive of the country's opposition movement. General Mohammad Ali Jafari said that it is better "to convince" guards who support the opposition than to get rid of them. "Many of the ambiguities have been resolved and they have been convinced that the move was wrong," Jafari was quoted by Fars as saying, according to Radio Farda. "This is better than to physically deal with them and eliminate them." Jafari's comments mark the first time an Iranian official has acknowledged publicly that some members of...

Late last week, two suicide bombings in southeastern Iran reduced a mosque to rubble, leaving 27 dead and nearly 300 injured. The explosions were the work of Jundollah—”Soldiers of Allah”—a rebel Sunni group opposed to the Shiite-controlled regime in Tehran. The Islamic Republic has always accused the United States of being Jundollah’s paymaster. The leader of Tehran’s government-controlled Friday Prayer even charged the U.S. with masterminding the attacks: “Since the U.S. has lost face in the case of Shahram Amiri [the Iranian nuclear scientist who allegedly spied for the U.S. against Iran] and the reputation of its intelligence has also...

SNIPPET: "The top US general in Iraq has identified the three main Shia terror groups in Iraq that are backed by Iran. General Ray Odierno said Iran continues to back the League of the Righteous (or Asaib al Haq), the Mahdi Army spin-off Promised Day Brigade, and the Hezbollah Brigades (or Kataib Hezbollah). "The Iranians... continue to fund, train and provide weapons and ammunition to Shiite extremist groups," Odierno told reporters in Baghdad according to AFP. Qods Force, the special operations branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, has "gone to a more sophisticated program with a smaller set of...