Free Republic

Top News Story The fissures in the Iranian regime increase. Abbas Milani, The Washington Post reported that despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei insistence that there are no fissures in the Iranian regime, something is clearly rotten in the state of Iran. They discuss the four main factions struggling for control in the Islamic republic.The Guardian reported that Rafsanjani is preparing a quixotic final bid for political power - with backing from some surprising quarters. If he succeeds he will be in prime position to become Iran's next Supreme Leader. But some factions consider Rafsanjani a traitor to the...

Top News Story Canada demands the arrest of Iran's UN Human Rights Council representative. CTVNews reported that Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper demanded Saeed Mortazavi be arrested before he leaves Germany, after Iran sent the infamous Mortazavi to the new UN Human rights Council.Dow Jones Newswires reported that the State Department said Iran showed a lack of concern for basic human rights by appointing a known rights violator to its delegation at a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council.OpenDemocracy reported that Iran also sent another infamous human rights abuser to the UN Human Rights Council: justice minister Jamal...

Top News Story Iranian dissident: There is "no consensus on the nuclear issue in Iran." Rooz Online reported that the famed Iranian imprisoned journalist Akbar Ganji declared in Paris said, “There is absolutely no consensus on the nuclear issue in Iran and everything that is attributed to be ‘national’ in this regard is merely ideological propaganda.”   Bush: The Iranian people deserve to "determine their own future." Voice of America reported that in a recent speech, President George W. Bush called on the Iranian government to accept the proposal and said: "The people of Iran, like people everywhere, also...

Top News Story The world condemns Iran for sending a human rights abuser to the "new and improved" UN Human Rights Commission. Canada.com reported that the Iranian prosecutor implicated in the death of Montreal photojournalist Zahra Kazemi is part of a delegation at a new UN human rights body. Human rights organizations immediately condemned his presence. A must read.Mehr.org produced a petition to protest the legitimization of Islamic Regime by the United Nations new human rights commission.   The Iranian regime plans harsher treatment of dissidents in Iran. Rooz Online reported that after the arrest of two student activists...

Top News Story Iranian Dissident Akbar Ganji: "We need the spiritual support of the world." Rooz Online reported that Akbar Ganji, the imprisoned Iranian journalist who was released last month and who is currently on a European trip said that there is absolutely no possibility to reform the Iranian system under its legal structure. "I agree with civil disobedience. This is a method that is used all over the world. But in Iran civil disobedience bears a very high price. We need the spiritual support of Europe and the world."   Sharansky agrees. Eli Lake, The New York Sun...

Top News Story Ahmadinejad seeks to become Islam's next "Nasser." Jonathan Paris, Prospectives explains how Iranian President Ahmadinejad is seeking to galvanize Muslims throughout the world behind a radical vision of puritanical Islam that rejects the liberal democratic model to become the next "Nasser" of the Islamic world.   Iran seeks to control gas prices with Russia. Mos News reported that Ahmadinejad offered Russia greater cooperation in the exploration and extraction of liquefied gas, promising to “cooperate closely” in determining the price of gas.   Bush warns Iran again ahead of meeting in Europe. The Washington Post reported on...

Top News Story Iranians frustrated with the Western Media lack of focus on its protests. Rooz Online reported on the frustration of Iranian dissidents that the Western media has not done more to report on the recent pro-democracy and women’s rights demonstrations in Tehran, saying it has received less coverage and importance than president Ahmadinejad’s decision last month allowing women to participate in public sporting events at stadiums.   Iran tries to blame the US. Yahoo News reported that Iran accused the United States on Sunday of steering Europe away from a possible compromise on Tehran's disputed nuclear program....

Top News Story Bad news for US on Iran at the G8 Summit. Amir Taheri, Arab News explains why the US is unlikely to getting help on Iran at next month's G8 Summit in Russia.   Khomeini's Grandson requests US military action in Iran. The Telegraph reported that the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, the inspiration of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, has broken a three-year silence to back the United States military to overthrow the country's clerical regime.   Iran prepares to respond to thePerm-5 proposal. The Washington Post reported that Iran's foreign minister said the government likely would suggest...

Top News Story Ahmadinejad again calls for an independent investigation of the Holocaust. Yahoo News reported that Iran's president said that the six-nation incentive package aimed at getting his country to halt uranium enrichment was a "step forward" but also repeated assertions that the Nazi Holocaust was unproven, saying it should be independently investigated.Khaleej Times Online reported British Prime Minister Tony Blair sees no need for an inquiry into the Holocaust.   US and Russia expect an answer from Iran on the Perm-5 proposal. Yahoo News reported that while US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran had made...

Top News Story US Senate votes down Iran Freedom and Support Act and passes weaker version. DoctorZin reported that the Iran Freedom Support Act was to be voted on in the Senate Thursday.Eli Lake, The NY Sun reported that faced with legislation that would force America to take a harder line on Iran, Secretary of State Rice worked closely yesterday with a key Senate Democrat to kill the Iran Freedom and Support Act.   Iran threatens to develop a "nuclear defense." The Jerusalem Post reported that Iran's defense minister vowed his country would "use nuclear defense as a potential"...

Top News Story Shiite Iraq's attacked Iranian Consulate in Basra. Yahoo News reported that about 500 followers of a Shiite cleric attacked the Iranian consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Wednesday, throwing stones and setting fire to a building in the diplomatic complex. Photos.   Iran no longer wants talks on Iraq with US. IranMania reported that Iran is no longer interested in direct talks with the United States over the situation in Iraq.   Iran claims no deadline was given to reply to the Perm-5. IranMania reported that Iran insisted it has not been given...

Top News Story Secret nuclear enrichment plants exposed. Kenneth R. Timmerman, News Max reported that new evidence is emerging that Iran has built a secret plant, located some 20 kilometers to the northeast of Tehran near the Lashgarak dam, which houses a clandestine centrifuge uranium enrichment plant, where Iran is making nuclear weapons material.   What are Russia and China up to? Yahoo News reported that China and Russia have again refused to join with other big powers in threatening sanctions over Iran's nuclear program.The Financial Times reported that a central Asian summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization which...

Top News Story A roundup of reports on the women’s demonstration in Tehran today. Photos. Iran Press News provided a detailed report on the Islamic Regime's attack and assault attendants of the peaceful Women's March. Among those present at the march were academics, well-known human and women's rights activists, student leaders, and members of the greater Tehran bus drivers union. Photos.Radio Free Europe reported on the Women’s March and eyewitnesses claimed there were maybe as many security forces as protesters.SMCCDI reported that Islamist female agents named by most Iranians as "Black Crows" (due to their black veils), used of...

Top News Story RFE Iran's top nuclear negotiator has urged Muslim countries to "choose the path" of nuclear development. Ali Larijani was speaking to reporters after arriving in Egypt for talks to discuss the controversy over Iran's nuclear program. In Tehran, Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said Iran will make its own offer in response to a Western incentives package aimed at persuading Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment. Mottaki added that Tehran's offer could be a variation of the proposal made by Europe, the United States, China, and Russia, or an entirely new package. Western powers have given Iran several...

Top News Story Major demonstrations on Iran expected in the next few days. Protests expected Sunday in Germany against Ahmadinejad during World Cup Games. The Observer reported that Iran's Football team will be met with a series of protests across Germany during their World Cup campaign as anger mounts against the country's viciously anti-Semitic President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Spiegel Online reported that in Bavaria, where Iran is set to play its first match in Nuremberg on Sunday, the state's interior minister has expressed concerns that Iranian intelligence agents may seek to stage what he described as a "provocative action" aimed at...

Top News Story SMCCDI Tens have been arrested, in the last days, in several Iranian cities with the approach of Iran-Mexico World Cup soccer game on Sunday June 11th (18:00 Germany's Local time). Plainclothes agents and militiamen have arrested several of those qualified as potential "hooligans or trouble makers", in an effort to avoid any massive popular unrest to take place following the game. Arrests have been made in cities, such as, Tehran, Mashad, Esfahan, Hamedan, Bookan, Rasht, Kermanshah, Shiraz, Marivan and Oroomiah (former Rezai-e). More repressive measures are to take place with the start of the Sunday's game,...

Top News Story Ahmadinejad: the West has been "defeated!" Breitbart.com reported that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, discussing the West's nuclear proposal, said that the "international monopolists have been defeated."   Iran tries to provoke the West: it begins new nuclear enrichment. The New York Post reported that Iranian researchers began a new round of nuclear enrichment on the same day that a European proposal for ending the crisis over Iran's nuclear program was presented in Tehran.   Diplomats convinced Iran will reject Perm-5 proposal. The Guardian reported that diplomats believe that Iran will reject the Int'l. offer in the...

Top News Story The Perm-5 +1 offers Iran "the world," but fails to give Iran what it really wants. Michael Ledeen, National Review Online pointed out that while some have suggested that we send Bill Clinton to negotiate with the mullahs on our behalf, it isn’t necessary; we’ve just adopted his methods.Khaleej Times Online reported that the United States and other world powers have offered possible guarantees for Iran’s ”terroritorial integrity” as part of its nuclear proposal.Times Online thinks that the world’s latest offer to Iran — a "clever one" — has prompted the most civil response from Tehran...

Top News Story Iran receives the Perm-5 +1 Proposal. Yahoo News reported that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana handed Iran an international proposal on the nuclear crisis and the two sides held "good" talks.Bloomberg reported that President George W. Bush said Iran's response to a U.S.-backed initiative aimed a resolving a standoff over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program is a "positive" first step.New York Post reported that while the Bush administration offered to join the negotiations with Iran, Ahmadinejad quickly rejected any cessation of enrichment. But the U.S. government is refusing to take no for an answer.Reuters reported...

Top News Story What the Iranian regime really wants. The Washington Post reported that a senior Iranian official said: "What we need is an American president who will follow the example of Richard Nixon going to China."   US makes more offers to Iran. Reuters reported that the incentives to be offered on to Iran include a proposal to allow Tehran to purchase aircraft parts from Boeing Co. and Airbus.   US counting on China as a mediator with Iran? SFGate reported that the U.S. is counting on China as mediator with Iran.   US and Iran in secret...