Free Republic

The Kuwaiti newspaper al-Sayissa reported Wednesday that Iran has urgently summoned either Syrian Vice President Farouk Sharaa or Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. They are apparently being called to the Iranian capital to receive orders to be carried out in the event of Iranian nuclear sites being targeted in war, Israel Radio reported. The newspaper quoted a Gulf state diplomat as saying that Nasrallah will travel to Teheran in the coming days in order to receive his marching-orders. Iranian opposition organizations in Paris told the newspaper that the Iranian intelligence apparatus has established a bank...

The first words out of his mouth were about the Madhi. http://www.un.org/webcast/#

TEHRAN,Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, already at the center of a post-election crisis, came under criticism from his own hard-line supporters Sunday for appointing a first vice president who once caused an outcry by saying Iranians were friends of Israelis.

While Iran's opposition announced another day of street demonstrations, an Iranian provincial prosecutor, Mohammadreza Habibi, warned that the "few elements" behind the pro-Mousavi protests could face the death penalty under Islamic law, Reuters cited an Iranian news agency on Wednesday. Habibi, prosecutor-general in the central province of Isfahan, said the elements behind the post-election unrest were controlled from outside Iran and urged them to stop "criminal activities," the Fars News Agency reported.

...Mr. Ahmadinejad was credited with more votes than anyone in Iran's history. If the results are to be believed, he won in all 30 provinces, and among all social and age categories. His three rivals, all dignitaries of the regime, were humiliated by losing even in their own hometowns. This was an unprecedented result even for the Islamic Republic, where elections have always been carefully scripted charades. Many in Tehran, including leading clerics, see the exercise as a putsch by the military-security organs that back Mr. Ahmadinejad. Several events make these allegations appear credible. The state-owned Fars News Agency declared...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Asked about President-elect Barack Obama, who has promised to engage more with Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a news conference: "Any administration in America that takes office should at least make two changes in its behavior, the first change is in the field of America's interference ... The circle of interference should be limited to within American borders." "The second change is the approach of the American government toward Iran," he said. "If there are real and fundamental changes I think it would be welcomed by nations."

Here is why the invitation for Sarah Palin to attend an anti-Amadinejad/Iran rally, to have been held today, and sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organization, was withdrawn. The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC), a rancorous, leftist and "partisan" bunch of Jewish Dems, felt that since Hillary Clinton was no longer speaking - that is, no longer speaking ALONE - the event was now a partisan event, and should not go forward. (Mind you, if Hill spoke alone, it would NOT have been partisan.) - - - - - - - - - - WASHINGTON, DC –...

BERLIN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made no mention of his country's nuclear program in a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but he did make statements about Israel and the Holocaust that are "not acceptable," the German government said Friday. "The letter contains ... no statements on the Iranian nuclear program" and also does not address the current fighting in Lebanon, Merkel's spokesman, Ulrich Wilhelm, told reporters. He said it was devoted largely to criticism of Israel and its right to exist. "It contains many statements that are not acceptable to us, in particular about Israel, the state of Israel's...