Tag Archives: tehran

Jul 22 2010

The tit for tat begins … IRAN at a crossroad

Iran Pars Gas Field

European Union foreign ministers are poised to adopt tighter sanctions against Iran, including measures to ban investment in the oil and gas industry.

Excerpts of a draft declaration made public Tuesday show that EU foreign ministers are expected to approve the decision to adopt further sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program and call on Tehran to resume talks.  

The new EU steps are also expected to target trade, banking and insurance, as well as transportation including shipping and air cargo.

News organizations say a draft text of the declaration urges Iran to “seize” the “opportunity to allay the concerns of the international community about its nuclear program.”  

The draft also calls on Tehran to agree on a date for talks with EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and the six countries involved in nuclear negotiations. The six countries are the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.

The EU declaration must still be endorsed by EU ambassadors meeting in Brussels this Thursday, but major changes are unlikely.

In Tehran Tuesday, Iran’s parliament passed a bill authorizing retaliatory measures against countries that inspect cargo on Iranian ships and aircraft.  

New U.N. sanctions aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program calls on countries to inspect all cargo to and from Iran if there are reasonable grounds to believe items on board could contribute to Iran’s atomic program.  

The bill passed in Tehran allows Iran’s government to carry out its own cargo inspections against countries cooperating with the U.N. on this matter as part of their two-track strategy to contain Iran or force the country to the negotiation table.

May 9 2010

5 more EXECUTED in Evin Prision, Iran’s notorious Alcatraz

More lives cut short

Early this morning Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heydarian, Farhad Vakilie, Shirin Alamhouli and Mehdi Eslamian were executed in the notorious Evin Prison, Iran’s Alcatraz, in Tehran.

They were convicted of crimes against national security and affiliations with separatist groups such as the PKK (a Kurdish Separatist Party) charges that the defendants had adamantly denied.

Neither their lawyers nor the families of the defendants were aware of the executions and as such upon hearing the news a sit-in was organized in protest to the state executions.

In a show of solidarity Iranians in Europe (Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris and London) organized protests with Toronto and Washington DC soon to join.

Apr 18 2010

Ahmadinejad responds to Obama at the Tehran Disarmament & Non Proliferation Conference

Tehran Non Proliferation Conference

At the Tehran international conference on disarmament and non-proliferation today, president Ahmadinejad stated that “foreign forces must leave the Middle East region now in order to avoid conflict.” He was referring to the United States. 

This statement comes as a direct response to President Obama’s announcement at a similar venue late last week in Washington, DC where he made the statement that Iran and North Korea are on a nuclear hit list in the event that war ever broke out between his country and its allies against Iran and or North Korea.

Tehran has reacted to this announcement with great indignation.

Foreign Minister Mottaki lashed out at the United States during last week’s Friday prayer at Tehran University calling this statement an insult and a double standard.  “Why is it that those who shout the loudest about nuclear non proliferation are the same countries with thousands of nuclear war heads” he stated.  “Why is it that when other countries want to develop the same knowhow independently, the so called developed countries try everything in their power to stop them”.

Many people of the Arab world admire Iran and Ahmadinejad for standing up to the West given their own leaders incapacitated role to stand their ground given the oil ties and cheer him on behind closed doors.   This makes Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric’s even more potent across the region which is another reason why the Middle East can potentially become a volatile epicenter of instability and conflict, one that can spread around the world like a brushfire. 

Recognizing that the US administration is facing a serious challenge in the region neither being able to pull its troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan nor having much success in establishing peace in the region, Ahmadinejad went on to add that “if the president of the United States wants to resolve the present Middle East crisis and if he wants to see a second term in office, his only hope is to start talking to Iran”.

Something tells me the Obama administration is clueless in how to deal with IRAN and my great concern is that this inaction on the part of the United States will in fact further embolden the radicals in Iran and subsequently the region.

Mar 16 2010

Iran celebrates and fights dictatorship at the same time

Iranians are out on the streets across the country celebrating Chahar Shanbe Soori, an ancient Zoroastrian night of festivities with over 7000 years of history behind it.

However, under the current climate of protest against the Islamic regime that has now become a military dictatorship, this festive occasion is being used to further voice the peoples opposition to the political climate in Iran. 

On the streets right now chants of death to Khamenei and death to the Velayat Fagheeh (gods representatives) are being heard in many parts of  Tehran.  Also news of the supreme leaders pictures being burned are reported as well. 

In some parts of the capital where clashes are taking place between the people and plane clothed basij militia, the regime has cut off electricity to create fear.

The people are out in numbers near Baharestan Park (central Tehran), Amir Abad, Gisha, Vali Asr, Fatemi and Mohseni square.  To protect themselves against attacks the people , mostly youth, are using their fireworks to break free from the basij and special unit police force that have surrounded them. 

Already news of  beatings and captures have come out of Iran.  Also clashes in other cities such as Mashad, Tabriz and Shiraz have been reported.

The Islamic regime is extremely nervous as the sounds of fireworks, firebombs and alah o akbar (God is great) continues to pierce the darkness of night.