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The Spring of Discontent In Iran

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Ali Safavi
iran discontentSpring in Iran was marked by the outbreak of protests nationwide by virtually every sector of Iranian society, beginning with demonstrations and strikes by tens of thousands of workers in March. By April and May, the level of discontent had escalated dramatically as tens of thousands of workers kept their pledge to turn out en masse.

More than one hundred thousand staged a rally in Tehran on May Day, making it one of the largest protests in Iran in the past two decades. Chanting "death to oppressors" and "freedom is our inalienable right," they displayed their burning desire for change.

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US – Iran talks in Sharm El-Sheikh: Whose change of behavior?

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Mohammad Amin

Sharm Al-Sheiq Conference US Iran TAlks

Source: www.coxandforkum.com

In the eve of the Sharm El-Sheikh conference in Egypt, the Iranian mullahs have raised voice about the recognition of their hegemonic role in Iraq.

Keyhan newspaper (a paper in Iran run by the official representative of the Supreme Leader, reflecting regime’s political snrategy) in its editorial of April 22nd states: “Not only Americans have had no impact on limiting our operations in Iraq but the Iranian and Iraqi governments have strengthened their ideological, and political-security pacts.”

Anther article published on April 30th in Keyhan reaffirms: “No guarantees about the future of Iraq will succeed or work unless Iran agrees to its principles.”

In an unprecedented manner the Iranian theocratic official papers published a Washington Post article in its entirety on April 27th. The article titled: “Signs of a Spring Thaw, Interest on both sides on U.S.-Iran Talks” says: “The decisions the Iranian leadership makes over the next several weeks about diplomatic strategy will shape Iran’s future, as well as that of the Middle East…. But a process of bargaining is underway between Iran and the USA. That’s what became clear this week, in two different diplomatic channels…. To reassure the Iranians, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took the unusual step of disavowing any U.S. plans for regime change. "It [regime change] was not the policy of the U.S. government. The policy was to have a change in regime behavior.”

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Iran – Dhul-Qarnayn besieged by Gog and Magog

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Sanabargh Zahedi

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great

“I will release water into Sivand Dam personally,” announced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s hard-line president, on April 17.  Two days later, on April 19, with his orders the process began.

Although it may seem that this is a simple routine to start filling a dam with water, the announcement was actually the end of a quarrel that had lasted many years.  This was a subject that has been one of the main headlines in Iran’s media during the past few months.

The Sivand Dam has been built in an area that if filled, the water will cover some of the greatest and most precious world known, ancient and historical sites that still exist today such as the Pasargadae (Cyrus’ tomb) and the Morghab fields in Iran.  In fact the Pasargadae will be completely submerged in water.

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Iran – Tehran’s domestic and foreign impasse

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Ali Safavi

Ahmadinejad no brakes

Ahmadinejad on Iran nuclear issue: No brakes and no turning back

Since the adoption of Resolution 1747 by the UN Security Council imposing harsher sanctions against the Iranian regime, signs are emerging that the mullahs are feeling the heat. Earlier this week, the former President and head of the powerful State Expediency Council Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani warned of the precarious situation with which Tehran is faced.

He urged rival factions to maintain unity, adding, "The issue of the use of nuclear energy is a serious and real problem between the Islamic Republic and our interlocutors, especially those in the West," according to the state news agency IRNA on April 15.

Rafsanjani’s concerns are not without reason. Aside from the resolution, the past few days have seen several significant political developments pointing to further isolation of the ruling theocracy.

The European Union agreed that it should toughen up sanctions. Reuters reported on April 17 that EU member states were preparing to impose harsher sanctions against the Iranian regime.

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Iran – International menace; tormenter of Iranian people

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Nima Sharif

Iran human rightsAs the row over Iran’s hostage-taking of British sailors is now officially over, once again, it seems, that this countries nuclear ambitions are taking the center stage and the new UN 1747 Resolution on Iran further pressures Ahmadinejad’s government into a self-initiated countdown to a complete international isolation.

Domestically, however the mullahs are stepping up oppression on the Iranian people to ward off the effects of external pressure, materializing at home as a rapidly growing dissent amongst Iranians.

There have been many reports of defecting officials among the government ranks some of whom have received considerable media attention.  One of the most media-covered was the sudden disappearance of a senior intelligent officer by the name of Alireza Asghari last month in Turkey.  Other reports of defect, some in groups, have been popping up periodically.

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Outside View: Act of grace or desperation?

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ALI SAFAVI
UPI Outside View Commentator

Ahmadinejad warPARIS, April 6 (UPI) — While everyone breathed a sigh of relief over the release of 15 British sailors held captive by the Iranian regime for nearly two weeks, the theatrics played out on television screens during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s news conference in Tehran Wednesday were despicable to say the least.
With all the fuss gone now, a simple question lingers: What was Tehran trying to achieve? The abduction-at-gunpoint was obviously an attempt to counteract the dire impact of a second U.N. Security Council sanction resolution at home, but more importantly intended to boost the morale of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ top brass, which had been shell shocked after being singled out in the U.N. document.

After initial threats of putting the sailors on trial, demanding an admission from the British that the sailors had trespassed Iranian waters, insisting on an apology and hurling stones and firecrackers at the British embassy in Tehran, Ahmadinejad and company realized that the whole thing had become a liability. With international pressure building, they realized they had overplayed their hand and had no choice but to resort to an escapade of a medal ceremony and an invocation of the Prophet of Islam’s birthday and Easter during the thug-turned-president 45-minute rambling to hide one essential truth: The mullahs of Iran are weak and fragile, and to keep their grip on power they are gabbing at straws just like a drowning man would.

For anyone watching the news conference, the whole episode, and in particular Ahmadinejad’s ugly showmanship, was quite repulsive. Here you had a henchman dubbed as terminator at home, boasting of mercy and forgiveness and seeking to take the moral high ground.

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An Iranian lesson for the British

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Jubin Afshar

Iran appeasment policy

From: http://www.coxandforkum.com

As the drama in Tehran over the detention of 15 British marines drags on, the Iranian regime continues to escalate the confrontation. Today about 200 Iranian revolutionary guards and intelligence agents dressed up as Iranian “students” threw rocks and firecrackers at the British Embassy and scaled its fences while Iranian security forces held back from intervening just enough to scare some sense into the British personnel at the Embassy.

Just so the message was not lost on the British, the “students” chanted “British Den of Spies,” a clear reference to the hostage-taking episode in 1979 when another band of so-called students took over the US Embassy in Tehran and held US diplomats hostage for 444 days. Since that episode Tehran has learnt how to get its way in the international arena.

Throughout last week the Iranian regime paraded hapless British marines on TV screens and coerced them to call on their government to withdraw from Iraq, and apologize for trespassing on Iranian territorial waters. They also “hospitably” put a headscarf on Leading Seaman Faye Turney’s head to underline their message and intimidate a weak political leadership in Britain.

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Paying the price for appeasement

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Ali Safavi

Iran Nuke reaction

http://www.coxandforkum.com/

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ capture-at-gunpoint of 15 British sailors in the waters off the Iraqi coast last week was a brazen act in every respect. But, it was only the latest in the long chain of the Iranian regime’s outlaw behavior over the past two decades.

This act of belligerence, just before the United Nations Security Council adopted a second sanction resolution against Tehran, was a reminder that no matter how generous the incentives and how willing the gullible Europeans to offer them, Tehran is not about to abandon its nuclear weapons program, which it considers to be indispensable to its strategic survival.

And how have the British government reacted so far? Quite pathetic to say the least, still holding out the hope that it could convince the mullahs to release the captives through negotiations. Meanwhile, the sailors continue to "confess" and "write letters of apology."

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How to make Tehran listen

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Joseph Omidvar
ImageOnce again the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted on a resolution asking Iran to halt its nuclear activities. It gave Iran 60 days to execute the contents of the resolution.

Iran promptly rejected the resolution. Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s Foreign Minister said: "Suspension of uranium enrichment is not an option for Iran."

Just hours before ratification of the resolution, Tehran’s Friday prayer leader, Imami Kashani, who speaks for the ruling clerics stated: "If the UN Security Council ratifies ten more resolutions, we will not suspend uranium enrichment."

Even if we neglect the reliable intelligence and evidence regarding the clandestine activities of the Iranian regime to build nuclear weapons, and if we ignore specific findings by IAEA’s chief Mohammed ElBradei regarding the existence of activities undeclared to the nuclear agency for 20 years, Iran’s disregard for the Security Council resolutions and its defiance to repeated calls by the international community for negotiations is sufficient to conclude that the Iranian regime is determined to acquire nuclear weapons.  Obviously, a county with large gas and petroleum reserves (second in the world) should not insist on uranium enrichment just for nuclear energy in the face of international opposition and censure.

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Iran blackmails, Britain negotiates

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ImageJubin Afshar
Iran has once again seized British sailors just like it did three years ago. In that episode Iran managed to extract as much leverage on the British government as it could to steer itself through rough international waters designed to halt its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The seizure of the British servicemen this time around, was again accompanied with tough talk from Tehran and its military spokesman and accusations that the British “illegal entrance into Iranian waters” is “a suspicious and aggressive action.”

Iranian state media reported that the 15 Britons had been transferred to Tehran, where a senior Iranian military official was quoted as saying they had “confessed to illegal entry into Iran’s waters.”

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