Free Republic

In a statement, press secretary Jay Carney says the U.S. respects the Iranian election and congratulates the Iranian people. "We have seen the announcement by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran that Hojjatoleslam Doctor Hassan Rouhani has been declared the winner of Iran’s presidential election. We respect the vote of the Iranian people and congratulate them for their participation in the political process, and their courage in making their voices heard. Yesterday’s election took place against the backdrop of a lack of transparency, censorship of the media, Internet, and text messages, and an intimidating security environment that limited...

Check out the photo of Kim Jong Un found in a CBS News article. The legend reads: "March 31, 2013 photo released by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and distributed in Tokyo April 1, 2013 by Korea News Service shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un giving speech during plenary meeting of central committee of ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang, North Korea / AP." Note that the Korea News Service is the official North Korean news agency. Yo, North Korean media dudes: your photo makes the Supreme Nork look like a dork, as if he's wearing a dunce cap! View...

Iranians wrapped up a parliamentary election likely to reinforce Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's power over rival hardliners led by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iranian leaders were looking for a high turnout at Friday's poll to ease a crisis of legitimacy caused by Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009, when widespread accusations of fraud plunged the Islamic Republic into the worst unrest of its 33-year history. Iran also faces economic turmoil compounded by Western sanctions over a nuclear program that has prompted threats of military action by Israel, whose leader meets U.S. President Barack Obama in the White House on Monday. The vote...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cannot be removed from his post because his legitimacy comes from God, an official close to Iran's most powerful figure was reported Friday as saying. Khamenei, whose public persona is usually above politics, stoked controversy in Iran when he endorsed the disputed victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June's presidential elections, which plunged Iran into its deepest internal crisis since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Supporters of defeated candidates staged protests that were crushed by police, saying the vote was rigged. Mojtaba Zolnour, a Khamenei representative in the elite Revolutionary Guards,...

Survey: Vast Majority of Iranians Want to Elect Supreme Leader By VOA News 09 March 2008 A new opinion poll suggests the vast majority of Iranians want to directly elect their supreme leader and be able to replace him. The survey, released Sunday, was carried out last month by a U.S. non-profit group, Terror Free Tomorrow and an international polling company, D3 Systems, Incorporated. The poll found that almost nine out of 10 Iranian respondents want the country's top political position to be accountable to voters. Iran's current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has held the post since 1989. A...

Iran's Supreme Mullah Leader Will Be Dead Soon Jan 2, 2007 Iran's Supreme Mullah Leader, Ali Khamenei is seriously ill and will have to be replaced in the coming months as he is no longer capable of holding office, according to Assembly of Experts member mullah Nasseri. The powerful mullah body appoints and oversees the country's supreme leader. "Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei is gravely ill - he can no longer see very well, has difficulty hearing, and is no longer able to properly perform his duties," Nasseri told a women's group. Iranians have speculated for sometime about Khamenei's health. But...

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has renewed calls on Muslims to rally to the defence of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah in its war against Israel, state television reported. "Today it is the entire Muslim community's duty to defend Hezbollah," Khamenei told a meeting Tuesday to mark the anniversary of the birth of the Shiites' first Imam, Ali. Iran helped to create and arm Hezbollah in 1982 in response to Israel's invasion of Lebanon, and Tehran stands accused by the United States and Israel of fomenting chaos in the region by channelling weapons to the guerrillas....

"Iran’s stance has always been clear on this ugly phenomenon [i.e., Israel]. We have repeatedly said that this cancerous tumor of a state should be removed from the region.” No, those are not the words of Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking last week. Rather, that was Ali Khamene’i, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s supreme leader, in December 2000. In other words, Ahmadinejad’s call for the destruction of Israel was nothing new but conforms to a well-established pattern of regime rhetoric and ambition. “Death to Israel!” has been a rallying cry for the past quarter-century. Ahmadinejad quoted Ayatollah Khomeini, its founder,...

White seculars in Tehran insist that 90% of the Iranian political power is found in Qum, some might also add that at least 70% of the Iraqi political power is also found in Qum. Asia Times Newspaper correspondent has visited 'The International Association for Ahl Al Bait (The Prophets Family), which is supervised by his eminence Al Sayyid Ali Al Sestani and asked a question that stated: Which is the voice with the greatest credibility in the Shiite sect? Is it the sedate and solitary voice in Najaf, which forced the Americans to submit for its desires? Or is it...