The Mission of Iran’s New Majlis

The make up of Iran’s new parliament following the March 14 elections, though still a work in progress, has already solidified the rule of the most belligerent, suppressive faction. The new Majlis can best be described as a den of henchmen and torturers.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamene'i described the new parliament as "committed, opposed to Western arrogance, and powerful.” A day later, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described the vote as "safeguarding the right to acquire nuclear energy with exemplary prowess."

In Tehran, which had 30 seats up for grabs, 18 of the 19 candidates who made it through the first round belonged to the Ahmadinejad faction. The nineteenth, an occasional critic of Ahmadinejad, is nevertheless a staunch supporter of Khamene'i.
One of the newly elected deputies, Ruhollah Hosseinian, lauded the former deputy Intelligence Minister, implicated in the murder of dozens of intellectuals in the 1990s, as a "great martyr." Another, a female deputy named Fatima Alia, has been identified by eyewitnesses as collaborating in the torture of many women political prisoners affiliated with the main Iranian opposition, the Mujahedin-e Khalq. Morteza Agha Tehrani, a cleric, is a ringleader of the plain-clothes agents responsible for the beating and arrest of many students. He is also known as a mentor to the henchmen in Ahmadinejad's cabinet.

The post shows Iran adding officials to there (cabinet). Amadineajad thinks having these new officials will also help in the nuclear program.

Grade this post

Full Article Here

Iran Moves to Join Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Iran has lodged a bid to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that comprises Russia, China and the four ex-Soviet Central Asian states, the country's foreign minister said on Monday.
The Islamic Republic, which currently holds an observer status in the regional security group, has long sought to become a full member of the SCO, seen as a counterbalance to U.S. and NATO influence in the region.

"Tajikistan supports us in this issue," Manouchehr Mottaki said after a meeting with the foreign ministers of SCO member Tajikistan and Afghanistan, which is another SCO observer along with India, Pakistan and Mongolia.
The bloc - which primarily addresses security issue but has recently moved to embrace energy projects - has indefinitely postponed accepting new members, but pledged closer cooperation with the observer states.
Both China and Russia have, however, major commercial interests in Iran. The energy-hungry Asian nation wants Iranian oil and gas and to sell weapons and other goods to the Islamic Republic. Moscow also hopes to sell more weapons and nuclear energy technology to Tehran. The Kremlin also needs Iran's endorsement for a multinational arrangement to exploit the Caspian Sea's energy resources.

Iran is still trying to form better ties with many other nations. This could posibaly be because of their growing nuclar program. This move was smart on behalf of the Irannians.

Grade this post

full article here

Iran suspends pilgrim tours to Iraq

Iran has suspended pilgrim tours to Shi'ite Muslim holy sites in Iraq because of rising violence there, state television reported on Thursday.More than 130 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in Iraq since Tuesday, when the U.S.-backed government launched an operation against Shi'ite militias in the southern city of Basra. Fighting has since spread across southern Iraq.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini protested earlier against what he said was the fingerprinting of Iranian pilgrims entering Iraq by U.S. troops, the official IRNA news agency reported.He said pilgrims went to Iraq under an agreement between the two neighbours and with "appropriate coordination between Iranian and Iraqi officials and (hence) there is no need for another party's interference".The United States has accused Iran of stirring up violence in Iraq by funding, training and supplying weapons to Iraqi militias, a charge Iran dismisses. Tehran blames the presence of U.S. troops for the instability and says they should quit Iraq.

This shows how Iran is taking preventive measures and trying to protect its citizens. This does prevent many Iranians from going on religious journeys though.


Grade this post

read full article here

FIFA Ranking: Iran sink to third in Asia

Only a dozen or so international matches have been played, producing no more than a ripple on the latest instalment of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.
The top 14 positions remain the same as last month, with Argentina, Brazil and Italy all maintaining a fairly comfortable advantage over their pursuers.
Honduras (43rd, up 7) are the biggest movers in the top 50, whereas the highest climbers of the month are to be found in the middle of the ranking, namely Equatorial Guinea (64th, up 14), Oman (86th, up 12), Guyana (113th, up 19) and Grenada (157th, up 11), with the two CONCACAF teams enjoying some success in recent weeks. Equatorial Guinea and Oman, meanwhile, have benefited from the devaluation of matches from last year from which they emerged either empty-handed or did not score highly.
Due to the low level of movement up and down the ranking, the composition of the top 50 also remains unchanged compared to last month: UEFA has 27 teams, whereas Africa, South America, Asia and the CONCACAF countries have nine, six, five and three representatives respectively.



This post shows that Irans soccer team is not so good.


grade this post

read full article here

Iran to build $230 million hydroelectric dam in Nicaragua

A state-owned Iranian company will build the $230 million Bodoke project on the Tuma River in the Jinotega province with financing by Iran's export bank, Energy Minister Emilio Rappaccioli told Nicaragua's Channel 2 on Thursday."The construction will take place once both sides reach an agreement on a series of factors that have to studied further," Rappaccioli said.

The visit came just a week after U.S. Ambassador Paul Trivelli warned the Central American nation about its increasingly close ties with Iran. But Trivelli also said that the relationship would not endanger the United States' "good relations" with Nicaragua.

Under the Iran-Nicaragua pact, Iran will fund a farm equipment assembly plant, 4,000 tractors, four hydroelectric plants, five milk-processing plants, a health clinic, 10,000 houses and two piers in the western port of Corinto. In exchange Nicaragua will export coffee, meat and bananas to Iran.
The planned dam is part of Nicaragua's plan to shift toward renewable energy sources. Currently 80 percent of the country's energy needs are met by oil imports.


The Iranians are now trying to help out the South Americans. This seems strange because the Iranians seem to be "buddying up " with county's closer to the U.S.A. This article also explains that this project is one of many projects talked about by the Iranian government.

grade this post


read full article here

Golamreza Ansari, Iran's Ambassador to Russia: "We don't have such missiles"

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipo­ten­tiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Russia Golamreza Ansari told our correspondent about the Iranian nuclear program, missile technologies, Russian-Iranian military cooperation, and the current political situation in Iran. Before his appointment to Moscow, Ansari worked in the Head office of the Foreign Ministry in Tehran and then as Iranian Ambassador in London.

What is your opinion concerning the worries of some countries about the nuclear program of Iran?
Presently the most important global problem in the world is the nuclear program of Iran. Many scientists and politicians in the world worry about this program. There are three aspects of this problem: technical, political, and international law. Only the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can make any conclusions about this problem. Article 4 of The Non-Proliferation Treaty speaks about the balance of security issues and social-economic circumstances in developing countries.
According to this agreement each country that has signed the Treaty has the right to carry out studies, produce, and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. No country has the right to force another country to refrain from using nuclear energy. For more than 50 years, since the founding of the IAEA in 1957, as a result of political pressure this organization has not been able to reflect the interests of developing countries, as outlined in the IAEA Charter.

What is your attitude about the current situation in Iraq?

The Islamic Republic of Iran respects the territorial integrity of Iraq, advocates for unity and solidarity of all Iraqi people, parties, and influential clans. The development and prosperity of Iraq, the strengthening of central authority, clear and exact plans and a date of withdrawal for foreign troops from Iraq - are the main principles of our policy concerning Iraq.

The Iranian ambassador to Russia answered questions that many people were curious about. The Russians were also concerned about the nuclear program . If you look back over the last year though the Russians have been shipping the Iranians uranium.

Grade this post read full article here

Financial sanctions "painful" for Iran-US official

Targeted financial sanctions have been effective in isolating Iran, causing a "painful" situation for Tehran's leaders and raising questions about the Iranian administration, a U.S. Treasury official said on Thursday."Iran has found itself increasingly isolated from the international financial system as banks around the world decide that maintaining their Iranian clientele is not worth the risk of unwittingly facilitating (weapons) proliferation or terrorism," Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey said in remarks prepared for delivery to an American Bar Association conference in Miami.

"That self-imposed isolation combined with the Iranian regime's mismanagement of their country's economy is beginning to generate a debate about the wisdom of the current regime's policies," he added.

Recent U.S. financial measures targeting specific financial institutions have been more effective in applying pressure than sanctions aimed at an entire state, Levey said."Rather than grudgingly complying with, or even trying to evade these measures, we have seen many members of the banking industry in particular voluntarily go above and beyond their legal requirements because they do not want to handle illicit business," he said.

Grade this post

Read this post

This post shows that not is there conflict with Iran and the U.S but also the private banks within.

Gay Iranian fights deportation move

A gay teenager who sought sanctuary in Britain when his boyfriend was executed in Iran is battling authorities who want to return him to his home country.Mehdi Kazemi, 19, came to London to study English in 2005 but later discovered that his boyfriend had been arrested by the Iranian police.

Mr Kazemi was told by his father in Tehran that his boyfriend had been questioned about his sexual relationships before his execution in April 2006 and named him under interrogation.
Mr Kazemi claimed asylum in Britain, fearing for his life if he returned to Iran.His case was refused late last year so he fled Britain for the Netherlands where he is now being detained.He appeared before a Dutch court to fight his return to Britain, where he fears authorities will send him back to Iran.

In a letter to the British Government, Mr Kazemi told Home Secretary Jacqui Smith: "I wish to inform the Secretary of State that I did not come to the UK to claim asylum. I came here to study and return to my country."But in the past few months my situation back home has changed. The Iranian authorities have found out that I am a homosexual and they are looking for me. If I return to Iran I will be arrested and executed like my former boyfriend."

Peter Tatchell, of the gay rights campaign group Outrage, who described the Government stance as "shameful" said a Dutch appeal court was expected to decide soon whether to grant him permission to apply for asylum in Holland or send him back to Britain.
A Home Office spokeswoman said it did not comment on individual cases, but if an application is refused there is a right of appeal to an independent judge.

Grade this post

Read full article here

This post shows that there are no rights for gays in Iran. Also there is curruption in their police force. This shows there is not a very legitimate police force.

Iran may still be seeking nuclear bomb: British diplomat

Iran may not have ended efforts to develop a nuclear weapon, despite a US intelligence report that Tehran shelved its atomic arms plans in 2003, a senior British diplomat was quoted as saying Thursday.The diplomat, cited by British newspapers, questioned the US National Intelligence Estimate, which caused surprise last year by saying that Iran's atomic goals had been exaggerated.

"Many of us were surprised by how emphatic the writers of it were. That all the activities stopped in 2003 and had not resumed," said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"I haven't seen any intelligence that gives me even medium confidence that these programmes haven't resumed. So we just don't know," he added, cited by the Independent and Guardian dailies.

The US intelligence report released in December said Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, although it cautioned that the Islamic republic could be able to make a nuclear weapon sometime between 2010 and 2015.The assessment was seen by some as weakening the justification for military strikes against Iran, although US President George W. Bush refused to rule out an attack and vowed to step up pressure on Tehran despite the report.The British diplomat said the US report "had an impact on the international debate, but I don't think it ever took the military option off the table," adding that the Iranians "continue to pursue a dangerous path.

Iran was searched in 2003 and showed no sign of continuing their missile dovelorment program. Britan still dosn't belive Iran and is not quite done searching Iran. This shows that the U.S. isn't the only country trying to keep Iran from makeing missils.

Read full article

Grade this post

Israeli official calls Iran 'dangerous ticking bomb'

Israel’s ambassador to the United States said today that Iran was becoming a “very, very dangerous ticking bomb” and urged the world to take a more active role in forcing Iran to give up its uranium-enrichment program.A National Intelligence Estimate issued by U.S. agencies in December concluded that Iran suspended its nuclear arms program in 2003, but the Bush administration has stressed that the report confirms that Iran had a program and continued desire to build nuclear weapons.

Sallai Meridor, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., echoed the Bush administration call that Iran remains a serious threat, but he also upped the ante in making a comparison to the international community’s slowness to head off Adolph Hitler in the 1930s.

“The writing is on the wall like in the ‘30s,” Meridor told defense reporters in Washington. “It’s not hidden, it’s stated. Everybody who doesn’t close his eyes can see it. Everybody that is not deaf can hear it. The world should act and act now and not repeat the terrible mistakes that it made in the past.”It’s important to note that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called Israel a rotten state, has declared that the nation needs to be obliterated, and has expressed doubt about the Holocaust.

As you may tell Israel and Iran are going through tough times now but Israel is taking it to the next level. They believe Iran should be wiped off the face of the face of earth. Israel is comparing Iran to Hitler and comparing Iran's actions to the Holocaust.


Grade this post Read full article here

The Iranian body that vets election candidates has reinstated another 251 people who had been banned from running in next month's parliamentary vote.

The authorities have already overturned bans on more than 800 candidates.
Correspondents say it is not clear how much impact the reinstatements will have on the chances of opposition parties in the election.

The newly-approved candidates have very little time now to campaign before the election on 14 March. A spokesman for the Guardian Council, Abbasali Kadkhodaei, said those reinstated were from different political camps, including reformist candidates who had criticised the council for failing to ensure a competitive race.

The council also oversees all legislation in Iran. Candidates are vetted to check loyalty to Iran's Islamic revolutionary system. This process will continue for several weeks and the final list of approved candidates will be announced on 5 March. Reformists were defeated in 2004 after hundreds of such disqualifications.

Read full article here

This shows there is a great desire for the people of Iran to make a chang ein their country. Eventhough alot of people were denied the right to run they still have the drive and want to represent their country.

Grade this post

New Iran sanctions to be presented to Security Council

European powers will formally present to the Security Council Thursday an amended UN draft resolution seeking new sanctions against Iran, said French ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert.
"We will formally introduce this afternoon the draft resolution in the Security Council in the name of its three co-sponsors, France, Britain and Germany," Ripert told reporters.
"The goal is to begin formal negotiations" in order to get the council to adopt the resolution "as soon as possible, ideally next week," he said.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

As we can see the US isn't the only country concerned with keeping Irans power under control. The French seem to be very worried about Irans Nuclear Program.

GRADE THIS POST

First phase of Iran oil bourse inaugurated on Kish island

The first phase of Iran's oil stock market started its work on Kish island in the Persian Gulf, southern Iran, on Sunday presenting oil and petrochemical products. The stock market was inaugurated in a video conference ceremony from the capital Tehran attended by ministers of oil, finance and economic affairs as well as chairman of Iran's Stock Exchange and a number of other officials and financial experts

Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said that Iran's Oil Bourse is to open gate of international oil business to Iran in the near future. The specialized bourse for oil derivatives and petrochemical products is regarded as a turning point in oil transactions, he said. Iran's share in international oil trade is very low and such a bourse will help Iran take a leap in this sector in the near future, underlined the minister. It is predicted the event would prepare grounds for active presence of foreign investors in Iranian oil industry and thus raise the country's share in global oil trade, he said.

Full article here

This post is showig how Iran is trying to enter into the world of trade. Iran is trying to make allies and raise there GDP.

GRADE THIS POST

Ahmadinejad plans visit to Iraq

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due in Baghdad next month for the first visit by an Iranian president to Iraq, government officials in Iraq have said. Mr Ahmadinejad is expected to meet Iraq's President Jalal Talabani and PM Nouri Maliki during his two-day visit, which is scheduled to begin on 2 March.

Iraq and Iran were arch-enemies during the rule of Saddam Hussein, but ties have improved since he was overthrown and a Shia-led government came to power. President Talabani and Prime Minister Maliki both visited Tehran last year. The BBC's John Leyne in Tehran says Mr Ahmadinejad's visit, if it goes ahead, will set the seal on reconciliation between Iran the two countries.

These two countrys that have been feuding for many years are now trying to make friendship. Iran and Iraq both have a common tie of the dislike of americans so this could contribute to the bonding of theses nations.

GRADE THIS POST

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Burning issue: Should US air strikes be used to stop Iran's nuclear programme?

NO

There are compelling reasons against a preventive air attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.First, in the absence of an imminent threat (and the Iranians are at least several years away from having a nuclear arsenal), the attack would be a unilateral act of war. If undertaken without a formal congressional declaration of war, an attack would be unconstitutional and merit the impeachment of the president. Similarly, if undertaken without the sanction of the United Nations Security Council, either alone by the United States or in complicity with Israel, it would stamp the perpetrator(s) as (an) international outlaw(s).

YES
Louis Rene Beres, professor of political science in the USFurther diplomacy has no chance of stopping Iran's nuclear programme. Neither will UN sanctions have any effect. Unless there is a timely defensive first strike at pertinent elements of Iran's expanding nuclear infrastructures, it will acquire nuclear weapons. The consequences would be intolerable and unprecedented.A nuclear Iran would not resemble any other nuclear power. There could be no stable "balance of terror" involving that Islamic republic. Unlike nuclear threats of the Cold War, which were governed by mutual assumptions of rationality and mutual assured destruction, a world with a nuclear-armed Iran could explode at any moment. Although it might still seem
reasonable to suggest a postponement of pre-emption until Iran were more openly nuclear, the collateral costs of any such delay could be unendurable. Ideally, a diplomatic settlement with Iran could be taken seriously. But in the real world, we must compare the price of prompt pre-emptive action against Iran with the costs of both inaction and delayed military action. To be sure, all available options are apt to be injurious.


This article is just a question that was asked by a blogger wanting to know if the US dosomething about Irans nuclear program. It has both sides of the arguement discussing the pros and cons of attacking Iran.
GRADE THIS POST

click here to read full article

Iranian Judge Bans Detentions Without Charges

The chief of Iran’s judiciary has issued a decree ordering judges not to detain suspects unless charges are pressed against them, Iranian newspapers reported Wednesday.Iran’s system of criminal punishment — which includes public executions and stonings for adultery — has been sharply criticized in recent months by human rights organizations as being overly harsh.
It is unclear if the decree by the judicial chief, Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi, will have much impact because the country’s intelligence apparatus generally holds people without charges, and it does not consult judges. Iran’s Constitution states that suspects should not be held for more than 24 hours without being charged.

Ayatollah Shahroudi is a senior cleric who was appointed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme religious leader. He has criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejadd in the past.
Although he is a conservative, Ayatollah Shahroudi has issued several decrees in recent years calling for judicial reforms.

In 2002, he called on judges to stop sentencing people to death by stoning, although Islamic law specifies that punishment for adulterers.
Despite the order, at least one man was executed last year by stoning and at least two imprisoned women have received the sentence, according to women’s activist groups.In one recent case, a 22-year-old man was sentenced to death for drinking alcohol, the ISNA news agency reported. The man, identified only by his first name, Mohsen, received the sentence after he was caught for the third time violating the country’s Islamic ban on drinking alcohol.

This post shows how Iran is concentrating on their appearance when it comes to thier court systems. The Irannians now understand how important their appearance to the rest of the world is now sence the are still tryin to make their nuclear program.

GRADE THIS POST read more here

US sees attacks by Iranian-backed groups up in Iraq

Attacks by Iranian-backed groups in Iraq have increased in recent months, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday, casting doubt on the view Iran might have reduced its support for violence in the war.David Satterfield, the State Department's Iraq coordinator, said he believed Iran's strategy remained to force the United States to withdraw from Iraq at as high a price as possible.

The United States has 158,000 troops in Iraq seeking to quell an insurgency and sectarian violence that erupted after the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled former dictator Saddam Hussein.Satterfield said President George W. Bush hoped to leave his successor a more stable Iraq and the time to weigh options on how to deal with the country, which holds the world's third largest oil reserves.Attacks across Iraq have fallen by 60 percent since June 2007, when Bush's "surge" of of 30,000 additional U.S. troops became fully deployed.

The U.S has felt that Iran is involved in the "War on Terror." Because Iran is helping to suply Iraq with weapons and training to the Iraq government. This only gives the U.S another to see Iran as a threat.

GRADE THIS POST read full article here

Faster centrifuges

Iran's nuclear project has developed its own version of an advanced centrifuge to churn out enriched uranium much faster than its previous machines, diplomats and experts said Thursday.They said that few of the IR-2 centrifuges were operating and that testing appeared to be in an early phase, with the new machines rotating without processing any uranium gas.


More significant, the officials said, is the fact that Iran appears to have used know-how and equipment bought on the nuclear black market in combination with domestic ingenuity to overcome daunting technical difficulties and create highly advanced centrifuges.



Iran's uranium enrichment work has raised concerns in Washington and other Western capitals because it can produce the radioactive material needed for nuclear bombs. Tehran says it is only pursuing lower-level enrichment to make fuel for atomic reactors that will generate electricity.
Iran is under two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, which it started developing during nearly two decades of covert nuclear activity built on illicit purchases and revealed only five years ago.



Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency's chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, was given new information on Iran's "new generation of centrifuges" during talks in Tehran — a priority as the agency tries to establish how far along Iran is in developing the technology.



This story shows how Iran is trying to speed up the atomic reactors that the are trying to build. They are also doing this at the same time as their test launch of a rocket. These new centrifuges have been created with the ability to spin and make a warhead in less than a year.



Grade this post read full article here

Iran's FM questions UN resolution

Manouchehr Mottaki has urged major world powers to exercise restraint over a new UN resolution aimed at tightening sanctions against Iran.
The Iranian foreign minister said the timing of the request that the UN Security Council consider a new draft resolution was "strange".
Mr Mottaki was speaking to the BBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
He said the push for the new resolution looked like an exercise in influencing public opinion.

Mr Mottaki was no more encouraging on the prospects of improved relations with the United states.
"Definitely, if we see correction of their position, the reaction and the answer from the Iranian side also will be positive," he said. "But we do not see yet such positive and constructive approach from American side."
The Davos Economic Forum is often used by global leaders to lobby for international support.

Iran is still tring to get support of other supper powers to get to UN to not tightening sanctions against Iran. The Irannians only have Russia right now and are not expecting to gain suppport from the USA.

Grade this post read full article here

Radioactive Cargo on Train to Iran Investigated

Authorities in the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan are investigating why a train traveling from Kyrgyzstan to Iran was carrying radioactive cargo.
The amount of radioactive material was not enough to make a weapon.
But the Kyrgyz government says it still doesn't know how or when the material was placed on board the train. On Dec. 31, 2007, emergency workers gathered at Belovodskaya station in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, to greet a train that was turned back after it set off radiation detectors in Uzbekistan en route to Iran.

Specialists pinpointed one car, which was emitting radiation at levels 1,000 times higher than normal.Emergency workers say the source lay in a pile of dirt and garbage beneath 50 tons of scrap metal.Kyrgyz newspapers report that this is the third time in three years authorities have intercepted trains leaving Kyrgyzstan with radioactive cargo.

In this case, Kyrgyz officials say the radioactive substance consisted of several grams of cesium-137, which is often used in medical and industrial instruments.
Alexander Melikishvili, of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, says that in powder form, cesium-137 could also be used to make a dirty bomb.
"From the perspective of a terrorist, the ideal device would entail cesium-137, with some sort of conventional explosive," he says.There wasn't enough cesium-137 aboard this train for a weapon, prompting some to conclude it accidentally got mixed in with the scrap metal.

At this time the last thing Iran needs is a threat of a bomb. Eventhough this may be a false alarm this hurts the ligitmacy of the Irannians at a time where they are finilizing work on a nuclear power plant.


Grade this post click here to read full article