Free Republic

Top News Story Life and Liberty in Iran Masoud Kazemzadeh and Shahla Azizi, Iranian.com: One of the most vexing questions animating observers and analysts of Iranian politics is: why despite being extremely unpopular and incompetent, are the fundamentalists still in power? One factor that may provide a partial explanation is the huge change of the dominant ethos among large sectors of the population. In the 1970s and 1980s, the dominant ethos among large sectors of the Iranian people was idealistic, altruistic, and celebrated sacrifice for the greater good. Today, on the contrary, the predominant ethos have become excessive selfishness,...

Top News Story Iran Says It Will Resume Activities Related to Uranium Enrichment The Associated Press, USA Today: EXCERPT: Iran will likely resume some nuclear activities related to uranium enrichment next week, Iran's top nuclear negotiator was quoted by the state-run news agency as saying Saturday. Hasan Rowhani said it was unlikely the Islamic Republic will resume actual uranium enrichment — injecting uranium gas into centrifuges — but that it expects to restart activities at its uranium conversion facility in Isfahan, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. "It's unlikely that uranium enrichment ... which takes place in Natanz...

Top News Story EU-Iran Nuclear Dispute Talks Fail, More Planned Fri Apr 29, 2005 08:22 PM ET By Madeline Chambers LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union's so-called "Big Three" and Iran failed to reach agreement over Tehran's nuclear program on Friday but decided to hold more talks in the future. Iran had threatened before the five-hour meeting to resume sensitive atomic activities unless France, Britain and Germany agreed to allow it to carry out small-scale uranium enrichment. "The informal talks have concluded. No conclusions were reached and both sides, the EU Three and Iran, have agreed to go away...

Top News Story Today, the final day of the EU3/Iran negotiations – what will happen next? DoctorZin Later today the EU3 will have to decide what to do with the Iranian proposal to maintain a small uranium enrichment program. What the EU3 decides will show with whom they have cast their lot. So what will they choose to do? There are four likely scenarios. One scenario is that Iran decides to give up its uranium enrichment program. They would only agree to this if they believe they can hide their program and thus buy time to produce the bomb...

Top News Story US Department of State: Country Reports on Terrorism 2004 - Iran Iran Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism in 2004.    Its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Intelligence and Security were involved in the planning and support of terrorist acts and continued to exhort a variety of groups to use terrorism in pursuit of their goals.Iran continued to be unwilling to bring to justice senior al-Qa'ida members it detained in 2003.  Iran has refused to identify publicly these senior members in its custody on "security grounds."  Iran has also resisted numerous calls...

Top News Story A watershed event WorldNetDaily.com:April 24 and 25 marked the 25th anniversary of Operation Eagle Claw, Jimmy Carter's ill-fated attempt to salvage his presidency by rescuing 53 Americans held hostage in Tehran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. It's also the date of one of the U.S. military's worst self-inflicted public humiliations. By the time the joint mission was canceled, eight American warriors – five from the Air Force, three from the Marines – had been killed, and dozens were wounded. The after-action reports were unsparing in their criticism of everything from poor training and planning, to leadership...

Top News Story 'Atomic Iran' TV ad rejected WorldNetDaily.com:A TV commercial warning Americans that Iran intends to launch a nuclear terror attack in the U.S. has been rejected by several stations due to fears it might inflame Muslims. Titled "An Atomic 9-11: When Evil is Appeased," the spot, sponsored by the Iran Freedom Foundation, is based on a scenario described in the new WND Books release "Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians," by Jerome R. Corsi, co-author of the best-selling "Unfit for Command." The ad, which can be viewed on the IFF website,...

Top News Story Rafsanjani confirms he’s running for Iran’s presidency AlJazeera.com: Powerful Iranian cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani announced on Monday that he was standing again for president in the country's June 17 election, official media said. “The issue of the presidency is my current preoccupation and although I would like somebody else to take this responsibility, I think I should take this bitter medicine,” Rafsanjani, who heads the Expediency Council was, a powerful policy-making body, was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency. He has for months been openly mulling a bid to take back Iran’s number two...

Top News Story FOX NEWS SPECIAL Sunday Night - Iran The Nuclear Threat Tonight, watch the FoxNews Special: Iran The Nuclear Threat, hosted by Chris Wallace at 9PM PST. Here is a transcription of their promo, airing now: Stealing technology... Creating facilities ... Building an arsenal... We expose Iran's nuclear threat. * Our shocking investigative report uncovers how close they really are. * What their deadly ties to terrorism mean for us. * And how American could be on the brink of a nuclear disaster. "The world has to act decisively..." Sunday, Chris Wallace hosts a Breaking Point Special,...

Top News Story Fight the Jews and Vanquish Them so as to Hasten the Coming of the Hidden Imam The Middle East Media Research Institute:The official Iranian news agency Fars, which is close to the conservative circles in Iran, recently published a statement by Ayatollah Hossein Nouri-Hamedani, one of the Iranian regime's leading religious authorities, in which he advocates fighting the Jews in order to prepare the ground and to hasten the advent of the Hidden Imam, the Messiah according to Shiite belief. It should be noted that the Fars news agency took the report off its web site...

Top News Story Iran Hid Nuclear Plans for Nearly 2 Decades Chris Wallace, Jonathan Hunt and Greg Palkot, FOX News:It was in the summer of 2001 when a top secret message was delivered to Farid Solemani. “We received news from a very valuable source within the Iranian regime,” said Solemani, who worked for more than a decade to expose Iran's nuclear program. That message, if true, was explosive in more ways than one. It was either "the biggest breakthrough that we have had in terms of opening up the secret of the Iranian nuclear program … or it's a...

Top News Story Militants: Iranians Volunteer for Attacks Thursday April 21, 2005 1:01 AMAP Photo XHS106 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - More than 400 young men and women have volunteered to carry out suicide bombing attacks against Americans in Iraq and targets in Israel, a militant group said Wednesday. The recruiting effort was detailed during a ceremony organized by the Headquarters for Commemorating Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement, a shadowy group that has been seeking attackers for nearly a year. The Iranian government has distanced itself from the organization. But the event was attended by Mahdi Rahimian, the head...

Top News Story Iran's parliament Considers Paying People To Vote Gooya.com published the following, (Hat tip to an Iranian Student, he produced the following summary in English for us, we have confirmed his translation): You might be interested to know that Iranian parliament members are trying hard to approve the bill to pay 50,000 Toumans (roughly US $ 50) to every Iranian participating in the upcoming election as an incentive. One of the Mullahs' candidate announced that if he wins the election, he will pay more to Iranian people as a result of his triumph. This candidate is the...

Top News Story Dr. Corsi's TV Ads Are Now on the Air. For immediate release Contact: Behrouz BayatApril 18, 2005 (202) 872-7776freedom@iranfree.org Iran Freedom Foundation Launches Commercial with Tim Watkins Washington, D.C. – The Iran Freedom Foundation (IFF), a non-profit educational organization, has announced the launch of a television commercial from filmmaker Tim Watkins. The commercial, which will appear on 20 television stations nationwide beginning April 18th, 2005, calls attention to the threat that a nuclear-armed Iran poses to democratic societies. “The mullahs of Iran are more connected and dangerous than you know,” said Watkins,producer of the box-office breaking...

Top News Story Cyrus News Agency If Iran succeeds in building nuclear weapons, it could touch off an arms race that leads to the end of civilization, Henry Kissinger warned yesterday. The former secretary of state told a panel discussion in midtown that the world needs to be ready if diplomacy fails to dissuade Iran from halting its nuclear program. "I do not believe that living in a world with 20 or 30 nuclear states is a situation that civilized life can support," said Kissinger, who served under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Sir Harold Evans, editor-in-chief of...

Top News Story 2.8 million Iraqis’ petition warns of Iran domination Iran Focus:Leaders and representatives of 11 Iraqi political parties and groups unveiled a petition signed by 2.8 million Iraqis, sharply criticising neighbouring Iran’s rising meddling in Iraq and warning of the spectre of “Islamic fundamentalism’s stealthy domination” of their country. The announcement came in a conference yesterday in Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel in the presence of about 500 Iraqis representing political, social and cultural groups. The signatures were put on display in long rows of folders. Iraqi signatories included ethnic Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen, from different religious backgrounds, including...

Top News Story Iran’s second front April 15th, 2005 The US is executing a well-planned regional and global strategy in our war against Islamo-fascism, as indicated in recent reports.  The geo-political thrusts and counter-thrusts in this conflict are being deftly managed by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and the other members of GW’s national security team.  The SecState’s visit to Asia and the announcement that the US will sell F-16s to Pakistan and other military gear to India reveal a maneuver to counter Iran’s latest gambit to maintain its status as the region’s terror-master.Looking at a map of the...

Top News Story Europe "Rock-Solid" That Iran Cease Enrichment AFP, Yahoo! News:European diplomats say the EU is "rock-solid" in its insistence that Iran cease uranium enrichment, ahead of crucial talks next week designed to win guarantees from Tehran that it will not make nuclear weapons. European Union negotiators Britain, France and Germany are studying an Iranian proposal that would allow some enrichment, and there have been hints of a crack in their unity over this issue. But the European trio is "rock-solid on cessation" by Iran of uranium enrichment, which makes fuel for nuclear reactors but what can also...

Top News Story ADNKRONOS International Kurds Prepare for Guerilla War in Iran May 14, 2004 Gulf News Phil Sands Near Sulaimaniya, Iraq -- Kurdish fighters dedicated to overthrowing the Iranian Government are hiding out in the mountains of northern Iraq, waiting for a chance to strike at Tehran. Gulf News gained exclusive access to the militiamen as they trained for a full-scale guerrilla war that could send shockwaves through the region. Rebel leader Ebrahim Alizada said: "Our armed struggle began in Iranian Kurdistan and will continue until we have freedom." The fighters are members of Komala, a group of...

Top News Story Chirac pushes EU to drop hard line on Iran-diplomats Excerpt: 13 Apr 2005 12:36:47 GMT Source: Reuters By Louis Charbonneau VIENNA, April 13 (Reuters) - French President Jacques Chirac has been pushing the EU to drop its refusal to consider letting Iran enrich uranium, despite U.S. and European fears Iran could use enrichment technology for weapons, EU diplomats say. Sharing U.S. suspicions that Iran may have atom bomb ambitions, the European Union's three biggest powers -- France, Britain and Germany -- have demanded Iran give up its nuclear fuel programme in exchange for economic and political...