Free Republic

An even more devastating terrorism charge could be laid on Iran's doorstep if intelligence reports linking Iran to al-Qaeda are confirmed. Insight has learned of new links between top Iranian intelligence officials and the al-Qaeda leadership that suggest direct Iranian government involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. mainland. Documents and information provided to this magazine by a recent Iranian defector, if confirmed as authentic, could open a new front in the war on terror. The defector, Hamid Reza Zakeri, says he worked in the intelligence office of Supreme Leader Ali Khameini and personally handled security at two...

Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, the intellectual mentor of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, at a seminar titled “Supporters of Islamic Government”, One cannot expect everyone in a country of 70 million people to be deserving and righteous, but 7 million believers can be raised from amongst them.” In the same light, one of the students of the ayatollah Mohsen Garavian has said, “While a think can be a non-criminal activity from a perspective, but from another perspective it cal also be a crime.” In recent weeks, some of the supporters of Yazdi have filed a legal suit against the...

Iran has selected a new figure to head its national Assembly of Experts, a body that governs the tenure of the Supreme leader, state news agency FARS reported on Tuesday. Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a cleric who had served as the head of Iran's Judiciary branch between 1989 and 1999, was among other candidates considered for the position, both of whom are senior clerics in the Islamic Republic's regime and hold the title of Ayatollah. Yazdi's selection to this new position comes in light of reports that the current Supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, who suffers from stage four prostate cancer, was...