Obama Sanctions Iran; The Real Deal Or More Politics?

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White House Announces New Iran Asset Freeze


The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it was freezing the assets of four subsidiary companies of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a senior commander.

The move, which comes ahead of official rallies in Iran to celebrate Revolution Day on February 11, extends existing sanctions to ban any American firms or citizens from dealing with the four companies and the commander, IRGC General Rostam Qasemi, who is also in charge of the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters.

"As the IRGC consolidates control over broad swaths of the Iranian economy, displacing ordinary Iranian businessmen in favor of a select group of insiders, it is hiding behind companies like Khatam al-Anbiya and its affiliates to maintain vital ties to the outside world," said Stuart Levey, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department.

"Today's action exposing Khatam al-Anbiya subsidiaries will help firms worldwide avoid business that ultimately benefits the IRGC and its dangerous activities."

The sanctions were issued under an Executive Order, which freezes the assets of those considered to be involved in spreading weapons of mass destruction and their supporters.

Billions of Dollars

The four companies, which are owned or controlled by Khatam al-Anbiya and mostly involved in mining and engineering projects, are: Fater Engineering Institute, Imensazen Consultant Engineers Institute, the Makin Institute and the Rahab Institute.

The statement added that the IRGC had a "growing presence" in Iran's business community and "extensive economic interests" in defense production, construction and the oil industry, "controlling billions of dollars of business."

The announcement comes amid on-going political unrest within Iran, where police said Wednesday they had arrested several people who were allegedly preparing to disrupt rallies Thursday marking the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Opposition leaders have called on supporters to take to the streets, raising the risk of renewed violence eight months after a disputed election plunged Iran into crisis.

The authorities say the pro-reform opposition will face a firm response if it tries to hijack state-sponsored celebrations of the anniversary, when they say the Iranian nation in a display of unity will "punch the faces" of its Western enemies.

The hardline leadership is also facing increased international pressure after the Islamic state announced this week an expansion of nuclear work which the West suspects is aimed at making bombs, a charge Tehran denies.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday the international community was moving "fairly quickly" toward imposing broader sanctions on Iran, a major oil producer.

A senior U.S. official said Wednesday that the U.S. hopes a United Nations debate on Iran next week will shine new light on Tehran's mistreatment of prisoners, its repression of protesters and its imprisonment of journalists and intellectuals.

John Limbert, who was among dozens of Americans held captive in Iran in 1979-1980, said he wanted to hear honest credible discussions about Iran's human rights situation even if the U.N. Human Rights Council holding the debate has a spotty record in that regard.

The four-year-old U.N. body has been criticized for failing to address some of the world's most serious rights violations, but Limbert, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Iran, said Monday's hearing offers the world a valuable forum.

People in Iran have been "gassed, arrested, beaten up and shot" since its disputed presidential election in June, Limbert told reporters.

"The U.S. and the international community can bear witness to what is going on there, and can speak a simple truth."

Sources: MSNBC

Ahmadinejad Uses Captured American Hikers As Bargaining Tool

Iran Floats Prisoner Swap For U.S. Hikers


Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday proposed a swap of Iranians in U.S. prisons for three American hikers being held in Tehran.

Ahmadinejad said in interview with state TV that there were ongoing negotiations about exchanging the hikers for several Iranians jailed for years in the United States.

"There are some talks under way to have an exchange, if it is possible," he said. "Recently they (the U.S.) have sent messages, we answered to bring them (the Iranians), to bring these people (the hikers). We are hopeful that all prisoners will be released."

Ahmadinejad did not mention any specifics but in December Iran released a list of 11 Iranians it says are being held in the U.S. — including a nuclear scientist who disappeared in Saudi Arabia and a former Defense Ministry official who vanished in Turkey. The list also includes an Iranian arrested in Canada on charges of trying to obtain nuclear technology.

"I had said I would help in releasing them, but the attitude of some of U.S. officials damages the job," said Ahmadinejad. "There are a large number of Iranians in prison in the U.S. They have abducted some of our citizens in other countries."

Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were hiking in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region in July when they accidentally crossed the border into Iran, their families have said.

Samantha Topping, a New York City-based spokeswoman for the three families, said they had no comment on Ahmadinejad's remarks.

Cautious U.S. Response

The U.S. State Department responded cautiously.

"We have made clear that what we want is consular access to our citizens in Iranian custody. If President Ahmadinejad's comments suggest that they are prepared to grant us access through the Swiss and resolve the cases of the three hikers and other Americans in custody, we would welcome that step," State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said.

Iran's foreign minister said in late December that the three would be tried in court, but he did not say when a trial would begin or what the three would be charged with other than to say they had "suspicious aims." Earlier, the country's chief prosecutor said they were accused of spying.

Their families have said that's ludicrous and last month hired an Iranian attorney to press the case.

Ahmadinejad said there were "indications they knew they were crossing into Iran."

The last time anyone sympathetic saw the three was at the end of October, when Swiss diplomats were granted a short visit. The U.S. has no diplomatic relationship with Iran and is represented in such matters by the Swiss. At the time, the diplomats said the three were in good health.

Their jailing comes amid continued tension between the U.S. and Iran over that nation's nuclear program.

When the list of 11 Iranians came out State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said it appeared the Iranian government was trying to suggest some kind of equivalence between the hikers and Iranians that had left Iran.

"There really is no equivalence at all," he said at the time.

Three of the Iranians on the list have been convicted or charged in public court proceedings in the United States. The circumstances surrounding some of the others are more mysterious.

Ali Reza Asgari, a retired general in the elite Revolutionary Guard and a former deputy defense minister, disappeared while on a private trip to Turkey in December 2006.

Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear scientist, went missing while on a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia in June. Iran's foreign minister has accused the U.S. of helping to kidnap him and has asked for his return.

The list also includes three Iranians who Tehran claims were abducted in Europe and sent to the U.S.: merchant Mohsen Afrasiabi, who it says disappeared in Germany, as well as electrical engineering student Majid Kakavand and a former ambassador to Jordan, Nasrollah Tajik, who it says vanished in France.

French media have reported that Kakavand was arrested in March at the request of the U.S. on suspicion he obtained electronic equipment. He was jailed, then moved to house arrest on Aug. 27. The French press has reported that Tajik went missing in Britain.

Three of the Iranians Tehran is asking about have faced public legal proceedings in the U.S.

One of them, Baktash Fattahi, is a legal U.S. resident. He was arrested in April in California and charged with conspiracy to export American-made military aircraft parts to Iran.

Another, Amir Amirnazmi, is a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen who was convicted by a court in Pennsylvania in February of business dealings with Iranian companies banned under U.S. sanctions.

Amir Hossein Ardebili was sentenced to five years in prison on Dec. 14 by a court in Wilmington, Delaware, after pleading guilty to plotting to ship U.S. military technology to Iran. Iran has called it a show trial and said Ardebili was abducted in the former Soviet republic of Georgia in 2007 before being handed over to U.S. authorities in 2008.

One of the other Iranians, Mahmoud Yadegari, was arrested in April in Canada after a joint investigation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and charged with trying to send nuclear technology to his native Iran.

Authorities allege Yadegari tried to procure and export pressure transducers, which can be used in the production of enriched uranium but also have many legitimate commercial uses.

The other two Iranians on the list are Amir-Shahrzad Amir-Qolikhani and Hassan Saeid Kashari. Iran gave no information about them other than to say they are being held in the U.S. without charge.


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Sources: MSNBC, CNN, Youtube, Google Maps

Iranian Police vs Protesters, Again...Internet Blocked, Again

Witnesses: Iranian police clash with protesters


Security forces and pro-government militiamen with batons and tear gas were clashing with thousands of opposition protesters outside Tehran University on a day of planned student demonstrations, witnesses said Monday.

The witnesses said Basiji militiamen waded into the crowds of protesters, beating men and women on the heads and shoulders with batons, while security forces fired tear gas.

At least two women supporters of opposition leader Mr. Hossein Mousavi were arrested and authorities shut down the mobile phone network in central Tehran to stop opposition protesters from contacting each other, the reformist website Rah-e Sabz said.

Thousands of security forces surrounded universities ahead of protests that pro-reform students called for Monday. It was not immediately known if demonstrations broke out inside campuses because authorities have taken dramatic steps to seal them off, shutting down cell phones in the area and covering fences with banners and signs to hide anything going on inside.

"There are hundreds of riot police, (they are) everywhere around Tehran University and nearby streets," said another witness, who asked not to be named.

The large security operation suggested that authorities planned to make good on their promise to deal harshly with protesters marking the day in 1953 when three students were killed in an anti-U.S. protest. The occasion has in recent years been used by students to stage pro-reform demonstrations.

Journalists working for foreign media organizations were banned from covering Monday's planned protests. They were told late Saturday by the Culture Ministry that their press cards would be suspended for three days starting Monday.

Mousavi support

Government opponents were hoping for a large turnout for Monday's demonstrations to show their movement still has momentum despite a series of government crackdowns since the country's disputed presidential election in June.

Mousavi threw his support behind the planned student demonstrations and declared that his movement was is still alive. A statement posted on his Web site said the clerical establishment cannot silence students and was losing legitimacy in the Iranian people's minds.

"A great nation would not stay silent when some confiscate its vote," said Mousavi, who claims President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the June 12 election victory from him by fraud.

Iran's universities have been strongholds of the opposition movement that grew out of the disputed June election, and authorities have besieged campuses nationwide with a wave of arrests and student expulsions.

The pro-government Basij militia has also recruited informers on campuses to blow the whistle on any opposition troublemakers, according to students.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, accused the opposition Sunday of exposing divisions in the country and creating opportunities for Iran's enemies.

Rooftop chants

Despite heavy rain Sunday night, rooftop cries of "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Great" and "Death to the Dictator" were heard from many parts of Tehran on Sunday night. The protest reprised one of the main tactics of the anti-shah movement in the 1979 Islamic Revolution and was revived in the days and weeks after the disputed elections.

The rooftop chants had not been heard since the opposition's last attempt to mobilize, a Nov. 4 rally coinciding with state-sanctioned events to mark the anniversary of the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover. That demonstration drew far fewer protesters than at the height of the summer's unrest. But it still provoked a violent response from security forces.

For weeks after the disputed June presidential election, demonstrations triggered by claims of massive fraud in the vote brought hundreds of thousands to the streets, but the relentless crackdown that followed has taken a heavy toll.

Seeking to deny the protesters a chance to reassert their voice, authorities slowed Internet connections to a crawl in the capital. For some periods on Sunday, Web access was completely shut down — a tactic that was also used before last month's demonstration.

The government has not publicly acknowledged it is behind the outages, but Iran's Internet service providers say the problem is not on their end and is not a technical glitch.

Confining Journalists

Seeking to confine journalists working for international media to their offices during the protests, Iran's Culture Ministry suspended accreditation allowing them to report from the streets from Monday to Wednesday.

The ministry also warned the few remaining pro-reform newspapers not to publish "divisive" material, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Largely swept off the streets, the opposition relies on the Web and cell phone service to organize rallies and get its message out.

The call for Monday's demonstrations was put out on dozens of Web sites run by supporters of opposition leaders Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, who both ran against Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election. Most of those sites have been repeatedly blocked by the government, forcing activists to set up new ones.


Sources: MSNBC

Ahmadinejad Taunts Pres. Obama...Compares Him To George W. Bush??

Huffington Post, Reuters----

TEHRAN - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Pres. Barack Obama on Thursday of behaving like his predecessor toward Iran and said there was not much point in talking to Washington unless the U.S. president apologized.

(EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.)

Obama said on Tuesday he was "appalled and outraged" by a post-election crackdown and Washington withdrew invitations to Iranian diplomats to attend Independence Day celebrations on July 4 -- stalling efforts to improve ties with Tehran.

"Mr Obama made a mistake to say those things ... our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously (former president George W.) Bush used to say," the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

"Do you want to speak with this tone? If that is your stance then what is left to talk about ... I hope you avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and express your regret in a way that the Iranian nation is informed of it," he said.

Iran has crushed anti-government protests, flooding the streets of Tehran with police and militia to quell the most widespread unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

About 20 people have been killed in protests after Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a disputed June 12 poll which opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi says was rigged.

In what appeared to be further evidence of the government's determination to crush resistance, 70 professors were detained after meeting Mousavi, his website said on Thursday.

Mousavi said he was under pressure to stop challenging the election result and also complained about the closure of his Kalameh-ye Sabz daily newspaper and arrest of its staff.

The row over the election has exposed an unprecedented public rift in within Iran's ruling elite.

With street protests fading, analysts say the battle has moved off the street into a behind-the-scenes struggle which has divided the clerical establishment into two camps.

Mousavi has the backing of such influential figures as former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, along with senior cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who normally stays above the political fray, has sided strongly with Ahmadinejad.

CORROSIVE PATH:

"Neither side can claim victory now," said an analyst in Tehran, who declined to be named. "This path is very corrosive. Both sides are tired."

"What the system needs is to have some mediators, who can convince both sides to agree over a middle way," he said.

Khamenei has upheld the result and Iran's top legislative body, the Guardian Council, has refused to annul the elections. State Press TV quoted a spokesman for the council as saying they were "among the healthiest elections ever held in the country."

Mousavi said he was determined to keep challenging the election results despite pressure to stop.

"A major rigging has happened," his website reported him as saying. "I am prepared to prove that those behind the rigging are responsible for the bloodshed."

He called on his supporters to continue "legal" protests and said restrictions on the opposition could lead to more violence.

Mousavi supporters said they would release thousands of balloons on Friday imprinted with the message "Neda you will always remain in our hearts" -- a reference to the young woman killed last week who has become an icon of the protests.

Obama had previously been muted in his criticism.

But on Tuesday he said that, "the United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days."

Before the election, Obama had tried to improve ties with Iran -- branded by Bush as part of an "axis of evil."

Washington had been hoping to convince Tehran to drop what it suspects are plans to develop nuclear bombs, while also seeking its cooperation in stabilizing Afghanistan and Iraq.

It had invited Iranian diplomats to attend Independence Day celebrations for the first time since Washington cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in 1980. The move to withdraw the invites was largely symbolic as no Iranians had even responded.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it was wrong to blame the outside world for the troubles in Iran.

"I think the truth is that there is a crisis of credibility between the Iranian government and their own people. It's not a crisis between Iran and America or Iran and Britain, however much the Iranian government wants to suggest that," he said.


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Sources: Huffington Post, Reuters, Google Maps

Iranian Gov't Making Examples Of Opponents, Arrestees

Washington Post----

TEHRAN -- The Iranian government stepped up pressure Tuesday on opponents challenging the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, setting up a special court to try detained protesters, carrying out new arrests and launching a campaign to publicly vilify those calling for a new vote.

Authorities also formally rejected the opposition's demands to annul the disputed June 12 presidential election on grounds of massive fraud and set a deadline of mid-August for Ahmadinejad's inauguration and the confirmation of his new cabinet.

But in an apparent effort to assuage the opposition, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, agreed to give a powerful supervisory body an additional five days to review the complaints of fraud.

President Obama's remarks Tuesday on the tumult seemed to strike a chord with at least some opposition supporters in Iran.

In an affluent North Tehran neighborhood, where people watched Obama's White House news conference on a big-screen satellite television, one woman commented: "He is following the right line. He should not give the regime an excuse to blame the U.S. for the protests."

Reporters "should grill him on human rights," a man said of Obama, while trying to work around censored Web sites on his computer.

On a day of relative calm after security forces broke up protests Monday, the government vowed to make an example of detained "rioters" and teach them a lesson. Hundreds of Iranians have been arrested in the past 10 days since the Interior Ministry declared that Ahmadinejad outpolled his nearest rival, former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, by nearly 2 to 1. Mousavi has vowed to continue protesting despite a government ban on demonstrations and a public warning from Khamenei.

Truckloads of police in riot gear deployed at Tehran's main squares Tuesday to prevent a recurrence of the protests, and there were no signs of significant opposition gatherings.

A senior official of Iran's judiciary, which is controlled by the ruling Shiite Muslim clerics, said Tuesday that a special court would try detained protesters, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.

"Those arrested in recent events will be dealt with in a way that will teach them a lesson," the official, Ibrahim Raisi, was quoted as saying. "The rioters should be dealt with in an exemplary way, and the judiciary will do that." Raisi did not elaborate.

State-run Iranian radio has reported that more than 450 people were detained in clashes with security forces around Tehran's Azadi Square on Saturday, when 10 people were killed and at least 100 wounded. In addition, according to international advocacy groups, dozens of Iranian journalists have been arrested.

Despite acknowledged irregularities, Iran's Guardian Council, which is responsible for confirming election results, ruled out a new vote, saying the problems were not serious enough to change the outcome.

"If a major breach occurs in an election, the Guardian Council may annul the votes that come out of a particular affected ballot box, polling station, district or city," council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai said, according to state-run news media. "Fortunately, in the recent presidential election we found no evidence of major fraud or breach in the election. Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place."

The council has agreed to a random recount of 10 percent of the ballots, but Mousavi and another opposition candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, have rejected the overture.

The council also asked Khamenei, who holds ultimate political and religious authority in Iran, to give it five more days to examine opposition complaints, extending a deadline that was to expire Wednesday. The council chairman, Ahmad Jannati, requested the extension "in order to remove any ambiguity" over the election results, state media said.

Khamenei approved the extension Tuesday.

There was no indication, however, that authorities were backing off their support for Ahmadinejad's reelection, which Khamenei effectively endorsed in a televised sermon during Friday prayers last week.

Moreover, a parliamentary board announced Tuesday that Ahmadinejad would be sworn in for his second term between July 26 and Aug. 19. Lawmakers will also review credentials of cabinet ministers during that period, IRNA reported.

And in an apparent effort to discredit the opposition, state television broadcast interviews with "rioters" who confessed to being influenced by Western news media.

A semiofficial news agency allied with Ahmadinejad also harshly denounced a group of Shiite religious figures close to former president Mohammad Khatami. The semiofficial Fars News Agency said members of the group, the Association of Combatant Clerics, were acting like "Zionists" and monarchists and "have now officially joined the anti-revolutionaries," a term used for enemies of Iran's political system.

In a letter, the group wrote that "the people of Iran, who with thousands of hopes, wishes and excitement came to voting boxes, are now gathering the bodies of their youth out of blood and soil, and are in mourning. Should these justice-seeking objections be answered with bullets that rip through the hearts of their children?"

In an indication of splits within the Majlis, or parliament, a group of 24 lawmakers summoned Interior Minister Sadegh Mahsouli to answer questions about what they described as the government's crackdown on reformists, including a nighttime raid early last week on student dormitories at Tehran University. The raid, in which student protesters were beaten and dorm rooms ransacked and burned, was carried out by pro-government militiamen, officials have acknowledged.

The lawmakers chastised Mahsouli for failing to identify and arrest the attackers and for "a lack of crisis management," the state-run Press TV reported.

Sources: Washington Post, MSNBC

Iranian Gov't Retaliates Against Journalists Who Helped Expose Its Cruel Dictatorship To The World

Washington Post----

In the first days after Iran's disputed election, journalists covered it openly.

Then, as government militias cracked down, they were told to stay in their offices. Now, many are being arrested -- so far, a Canadian Iranian reporter for Newsweek, a Greek reporter for the Washington Times and several dozen Iranian reporters, including a group arrested en masse at their office.

It is unclear why the journalists were arrested or what, if anything, they will be charged with. The detentions could, some experts say, be a scare tactic. Or, as with so much of what is happening in Iran now, they could be the beginning of a new phase in which old rules don't necessarily apply.

Maziar Bahari, 41, a documentary filmmaker who has covered Iran for Newsweek for nearly a decade, was arrested Sunday morning at his mother's house. The magazine has retained a lawyer for him, but no one has been able to ascertain where he is.

The Washington Times yesterday confirmed the arrest of Iason Athanasiadis, a journalist with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting who was covering the election. Friends said he disappeared last week as he prepared to leave Iran. The Iranian government announced his arrest yesterday, and the Greek government is pushing for his release.

Twenty-five employees of Kalemeye Sabz, the official newspaper of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, were arrested Monday for "illegal activities," and an additional dozen or two Iranian journalists have been detained, according to watchdog groups.

"Journalists have been getting rounded up, a few each day," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, a spokesman for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, adding that they are hard to count because many people have gone into hiding

According to the CPJ, more than 40 journalists and media staff members have been arrested since the election. Dayem said he believes they are in Tehran's Evin Prison. Others have been detained and released.

About 15 reporters for U.S. news media are still in Iran, including some dual citizens. Most U.S. journalists who were covering the election have left, as their visas expired. The BBC's bureau chief, who lives in Iran, left in recent days at the request of the government. Because it is difficult for Western, and especially American, journalists to get visas to Iran, many who work there for foreign media organizations are dual citizens. Iran, however, treats them as Iranian citizens.

"Dual-citizen journalists often report on subjects the Iranian government considers the most sensitive and endure inconceivable degrees of scrutiny," said Azadeh Moaveni, an Iranian American who has reported from Iran for Time magazine in recent years. "Bahari's journalism these past years has always struck me as textbook objective, which suggests that during this crisis the rules may be changing."

The arrest of Bahari, who holds Iranian and Canadian citizenship, carries unpleasant echoes of the case of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian Iranian journalist who was arrested in 2003 and died in custody. Since then, other dual nationals have been detained, most often on accusations of espionage, and usually released after several months. The most recent, Iranian American reporter Roxana Saberi, was released last month.

Such arrests tend to garner more publicity than do the arrests of Iranians who have no other citizenship, some of whom are detained for significantly longer.

In the past week, as news media restrictions tightened, ordinary citizens filled the void, posting videos, pictures and written accounts online. In recent days, Iranians say, government forces have targeted people with cameras.

The detention of a journalist presents a delicate situation for editors, who must decide whether to publicize it or try to resolve it quietly. Editors at Newsweek and the Washington Times yesterday stressed the balanced reporting their reporters have done in Iran.

"We don't know about anything he was doing that would have raised Iran's concerns," John Solomon, executive editor of the Washington Times, said of Athanasiadis.

A Tehran resident who said he is a good friend of Athanasiadis said the reporter used to live in Iran and had returned recently to report on the elections.

"We're worried about him, and I don't think he thought he would get arrested," said the friend, who gave only his first name, Farhad, adding that Athanasiadis was preparing to leave the country. "We talked on the phone and said goodbye. But I guess he stayed on."

Bahari's editor, Christopher Dickey, said Bahari, whose partner in England is five months pregnant, had been "treated with respect" during earlier questioning and during his arrest.

"The big risk for Maziar is that his case will be judged not on the basis of Maziar's reporting but on the basis of an idea about him, on the idea of the foreign press" as conspiring against the regime, Dickey said of Bahari, adding that if government authorities read his reporting on the recent protests, "they'd see very quickly how balanced it was."

"We hope this is a kind of 'roundup and release' scenario," he said, "a way of saying to those pushing the edge of the envelope, 'Step back, we're watching you.' "


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Sources: Washington Post, CTA.ca, Newsweek, MSNBC, Blue Star Chronicles, Google Maps

Facebook Provides Iranians With Link To American Relatives & Friends

MSNBC----

I’ve been using Facebook for years to connect with co-workers, friends and family. However, I never anticipated its wingspan until I received “friend requests” from my Iranian relatives in Tehran, whom I have seen only a handful of times throughout my life.

I’m a full-blown Hoosier, but my dad migrated to the U.S. from Iran after medical school. We took occasional family trips to Iran: My dad wants his kids to stay connected to Persian culture. There, I got to meet my Iranian extended family. After visits, my relationships with them tended to stagnate ... that is, until we found each other online as young adults.

I always assumed that I'd have little in common with my Iranian relatives, but on Facebook, I saw them as people interested in the same TV shows and the same political news. Their photos and videos on the social networking site gave me insight into their lives. It was almost like meeting completely new people.

With the recent election in Iran, the site became a source of information on the protests and the safety of my family in Iran.

Personal touch to news:

I learned that for their own protection, many Iranian students and Facebook users have changed their account names. Rather than taking their profiles down altogether, they say students still feel the need to spread information and stay connected. Family and friends in the U.S. have also helped spread information from Iran through their active Facebook and Twitter accounts.

I decided to message Mojdeh (not her real name), a teenage relative I recently “friended” who is now a student at a university in Tehran. Instead of receiving a Facebook reply, I got an e-mail from her. Mojdeh said she can't really access Facebook, instant message services, mobile phones or Twitter — although e-mail seems to be working.

She told me everyone was safe but frustrated with the election results. Although I could log on to almost any Web site to see the crowds, guards and violence, it felt different coming from someone I was slowly getting to know all over again.

Mojdeh said it’s hard to know exactly what's happening with regard to protests or reports of violence because “they (the Iranian government) don’t tell the truth … but many shots have been fired." She said most people in Tehran don’t accept the election results and believe that the government “cheated.”

So far, she claimed, the Iranian police, known as the Sepah, hit one of her friends who was protesting, and a bullet grazed another friend in the arm. She’s growing concerned about the possibility of spreading violence.

Don’t know what’s going to happen:

Mojdeh’s sister, Asal (not her real name), who is following the events in Iran from her home in the U.S., said it seems the family is OK at the moment.

"But this is just for now,” Asal said via Facebook. “We don’t know what’s going to happen if no one supports this protest from outside Iran.”


Asal said people are discussing a rumor that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked the army to attack protesters in the street. Mojdeh claimed that the buzz circulating among her friends is that the Sepah has raided homes and universities. The reports are that satellite dishes have been damaged to limit news activity, and young protesters have been beaten in the streets, including women and children. She said she wakes in the middle of the night to hear people screaming, “Allah o Akbar” — “God is great” — from rooftops in protest against the government.

Asal expressed her concerns about the outcome of the protests and what might happen if people ignore what’s going on. She said some Iranians hesitate to call an ambulance even when they're hurt, because people are saying that injured protesters are being arrested rather than treated.

A few relatives have been keeping close contact with me, sending messages and links to reports about the crisis. But my limited connection with them via the Internet has taught me that people, while fearful of Iranian police reaction, have been empowered by the peaceful protests. They are now, more than ever, determined to stay connected to the rest of the world — at least electronically.


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Sources: MSNBC, Facebook, Flickr, Google Maps

Iranian Revolution Created Cyberwars...Government Imposed Media Blackout Didn't Work!

MSNBC----


There are currently two revolutions taking place in Iran right now. The uprising on the ground and in Cyberspace.

In many ways we're seeing the first real, kind of Cyber War of the 21st century.

Its not Silicon Valley or Langley, instead these are individuals somewhere in a basement or some parent's garage, using the internet in the way they see fit.

Its changing the way that government can react to these kinds of protests.

Its had a huge effect in the way that Iran can respond to these demonstrations.

Imagine if in 1989 we had Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

I don't think there would have been a Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Author Reza Aslan.....June 19, 2009

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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Sources: MSNBC, Cincinnati Mercantile, Now Public, Boing Boing, Google Maps

President Obama Releases Statements On Iran's Violence...Urges Iranian Leaders To "Stop Unjust Actions"

Huffington Post----

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Saturday challenged Iran's government to halt a "violent and unjust" crackdown on dissenters, using his bluntest language yet to condemn Tehran's postelection response.

Obama has sought a measured reaction to avoid being drawn in as a meddler in Iranian affairs. Yet his comments have grown more pointed as the clashes intensified, and his latest remarks took direct aim at Iranian leaders.

"We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people," Obama said in a written statement. "The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights."

Obama has searched for the right tone in light of political pressures on all sides. On Capitol Hill, Congress pressed him to condemn the Iranian government's response. In Iran, the leadership was poised to blame the U.S. for interference and draw Obama in more directly.

Obama met with advisers at the White House as developments in Iran grew more ominous, with police seen beating protesters.

"Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away," the president said, recalling a theme from the speech he gave in Cairo, Egypt, this month.

"The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government," Obama said. "If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion."

Protesters in Iran have demanded that government cancel and rerun the June 12 elections that ended with a declaration of overwhelming victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi says he won and claimed widespread fraud.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said there was no ballot rigging. He warned of a crackdown if protesters continued their massive street rallies.

Then on Saturday, police beat protesters and fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands who rallied in open defiance of Iran's clerical government. Witnesses described fierce clashes after some 3,000 protesters chanted "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to dictatorship!" in downtown Tehran.

Obama's criticism came one day after both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to condemn the actions by the Iranian government against demonstrators and moves to interfere with Internet and cell phone communications. That was seen in part as a veiled criticism of Obama's response, too.

The president already was on record as saying the United States stood behind those who were seeking justice in a peaceful way. He responded to critics that he hadn't been forceful enough in support of protesters, telling CBS News: "The last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil for those forces inside Iran who would love nothing better than to make this an argument about the United States. That's what they do."

That was Friday, before the conflict in Iran appeared to deepen.

Obama has refrained from passing final judgment on the underlying question of the legitimacy of the election itself, although he has expressed "deep concerns" about it.

The president returned Saturday to his theme that the world is watching the way the Iranian government's response.

Obama cited Martin Luther King's statement that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

"I believe that," the president said. "The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian people's belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness."

Police clashed with protesters around Tehran immediately after the presidential election and gunfire from a militia compound left at least seven dead, but further force remained in check until Saturday's developments.


Whitehouse.gov

Today, President Obama made the following statement concerning Iran:

The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

Martin Luther King once said - "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples’ belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.


CBS News Interview with Harry Smith: President Obama's Message to Iran


Watch CBS Videos Online

CBS News Harry Smith sat down with President Barack Obama in an exclusive interview. This is a partial transcript of the President's remarks on Iran. More of the interview will air Monday morning on the CBS Early Show.

Q: Let's move on to news of the day. The Ayatollah Khamenei gave his - speech today and gave his sermon. He said that the election in Iran was, in fact, legitimate. He said, quote/unquote, "the street - street demonstrations are unacceptable." Do you have a message for those people in the street?

A: I absolutely do. Well, first of all, let's understand that this notion that somehow these hundreds of thousands of people who are pouring into the streets in Iran are somehow responding to the West or the United States. that's an old distraction that I think has been trotted out periodically. And that's just not gonna fly.

What you're seeing in Iran are hundreds of thousands of people who believe their voices were not heard and who are peacefully protesting and - and seeking justice. And the world is watching. And we stand behind those who are seeking justice in a peaceful way. And, you know, already we've seen violence out there. I think I've said this throughout the week. I want to repeat it that we stand with those who would look to peaceful resolution of conflict, and we believe that the voices of people have to be heard, that that's a universal value that the American people stand for and this administration stands for.

And I'm very concerned based on some of the tenor and tone of the statements that have been made that the government of Iran recognize that the world is watching. And how they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard will, I think, send a pretty clear signal to the international community about what Iran is - and is not.

But the last point I want to make on this - this is not an issue of the United States or the West versus Iran. This is an issue of the Iranian people. The fact that they are on the streets under pretty severe duress, at great risk to themselves, is a sign that there's something in that society that wants to open up.

And, you know, we respect Iran's sovereignty. And we respect the fact that ultimately the Iranian people have to make these decisions. But I hope that the world understands that this is not something that has to do with the outside world. This has to do with what's happening in Iran. And, I think ultimately the Iranian people, will obtain justice.

Q: People in this country say you haven't said enough, that you haven't been forceful enough in your support for those people in the street, and which you say?

A: To which I say the last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil for those forces inside Iran who would love nothing better than to make this an argument about the United States. That's what they do. That's what we've already seen. We shouldn't be playing into that. There should be no distractions from the fact that the Iranian people are seeking to let their voices be heard.

Now, what we can do is bear witness and say to the world that the, you know, incredible demonstrations that we've seen is a testimony to, I think what Dr. King called the the arc of the moral universe. It's long but it bends towards justice.

Sources: Whitehouse.gov, Huffington Post, CBS News, MSNBC

Mayhem, Violence Intensifies Between Iranian Police & Protesters...Suicide Bombing Reported

MSNBC----

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

TEHRAN, Iran - As police beat and fired tear gas at protesters in Tehran who defied a ban and the country's supreme leader, the nation's police chief said Saturday that his response would only get tougher if anti-government protests continue.

In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama urged Iran to halt the "violent and unjust" crackdown, his bluntest language yet on the crisis. "Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away," Obama said in a written statement.

Opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi did not appear at the main clashes near Revolution Square on Saturday, but a supporter said he did make a public address in southwest Tehran, urging backers to stage a national strike if he is arrested.

"Mousavi said he was ready for martyrdom and that he would continue his path," the ally, who asked not to be named, told Reuters by telephone.

And the semi-official Fars news agency later reported that Mousavi had issued a statement to supporters that he was not challenging the Islamic state. But, he reportedly added, by not allowing legal rallies, the Islamic state could face "dangerous consequences."

In central Tehran earlier Saturday, eyewitnesses described fierce clashes near Revolution Square after some 3,000 protesters chanted "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to dictatorship!"

Police responded with tear gas, water cannons and guns but it was not immediately clear if they were firing live ammunition.

No fatalities were reported and the head of Iran's police said his men had been ordered to act with restraint — this time.

"We acted with leniency but I think from today on, we should resume law and confront more seriously," Gen. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam said on state television. "The events have become exhausting, bothersome and intolerable. I want them to take the police cautions seriously because we will definitely show a serious confrontation against those who violate rules."

Blockade around Freedom Street:

Police and militia did try to bar people from entering Freedom Street, which runs from Freedom Square to Revolution Square, to prevent a mass gathering, witnesses said.

NBC News Iran bureau chief Ali Arouzi said he had never ever seen so many police on the streets at once.

Witnesses said between 50 and 60 protesters were seriously beaten by police and pro-government militia and taken to a hospital. People could be seen dragging away comrades bloodied by baton strikes.

Some protesters fought back, setting fire to militia members' motorcycles, witnesses said.

Helicopters hovered overhead, as ambulance sirens echoed through the streets and black smoke rose over the city.

Tehran University was cordoned off by police and militia while students inside the university chanted "Death to the dictator," witnesses said.

In the south of the city, supporters of Mousavi set on fire a building used by backers of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a witness said, and police there then fired into the air to disperse them and Ahmadinejad supporters.

Mousavi late Saturday repeated his demand for the election to be annulled.

In a letter to Iran's Guardian Council, which investigates voting fraud allegations, Mousavi listed violations that he says are proof that the June 12 vote should be annulled. He said some ballot boxes had been sealed before voting began, thousands of his representatives had been expelled from polling stations and some mobile polling stations had ballot boxes filled with fake ballots.

"The Iranian nation will not believe this unjust and illegal" act, Mousavi said in the letter published on one of his official Web sites.

Suicide bombing reported:

Also Saturday, a suicide bomber died and three people were wounded at the entrance to the shrine of Iran's revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, state television said.

It was not clear if the bombing was related to the election protests.

On Friday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned opposition leaders to end street protests or be held responsible for any "bloodshed and chaos" to come.

The statement effectively closed the door to Mousavi's demand for a new election, ratcheting up the possibility of a bloody confrontation.

Continued protests could spark a bloody crackdown on Mousavi's supporters, or greatly weaken the government by forcing it back away from its threat of violence.

A report on Press TV listed the fallout from the unrest, including 700 buildings and 300 banks damaged and 400 police hurt. It gave no similar list for the protesters. At least seven people have died, according to the official Iranian count, but the total could be more.

It was not clear if Mousavi has the power to halt street demonstrations even if he orders his supporters to stay inside.

Iran's Interior Ministry raised the possibility of directly punishing the 67-year-old former prime minister, saying he would "be held responsible for the consequences of any illegal gatherings." The ministry accused him of supporting protests that "have lead to the disruption of security and public order," State Security Council secretary, Abbas Mohtaj, said in a statement on the ministry's Web site.

Guardian Council:

Mousavi and another presidential candidate, Mahdi Karroubi, did not attend a meeting with Iran's Guardian Council on Saturday, state TV said. The council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to Khamenei, investigates voter fraud claims.

A conservative candidate, former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaei, did attend, state TV said.

The state's English-language channel said the Guardian Council had agreed to a recount of 10 percent of the votes, without providing details.

State TV also said the Association of Combatant Clerics, a group linked to former President Mohammad Khatami, a Mousavi ally, had told supporters to stay off the streets. The report could not immediately be confirmed.

Since the June 12 election, Mousavi has become the figurehead for a broad collection of demonstrators — from the most liberal-leaning reformists to religious conservatives. Some could be prepared to take their protests to the limit, but many others have no interest in an all-out mutiny against the country's Islamic system.

Mousavi's speaking curbed:

A spokesman for Mousavi said Friday the opposition leader was not under arrest but was not allowed to speak to journalists or stand at a microphone at rallies. Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf told the AP from Paris it's even becoming difficult to reach people close to Mousavi. He said he has not heard from Mousavi's camp since Khamenei's address Friday morning.

Iranian authorities have interfered with the Internet and mobile phone networks and placed strict limits on the ability of foreign media to cover recent events, banning reporting from the street and allowing only phone interviews and information from officials sources such as state TV.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other European Union leaders have expressed dismay over the threat of a crackdown and both houses of the U.S. Congress approved a resolution Friday condemning "the ongoing violence" by the Iranian government and its suppression of the Internet and cell phones.

In an interview taped Friday with CBS, President Barack Obama said he is very concerned by the "tenor and tone" of Khamenei's comments. He also said that how Iran's leaders "approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard" will signal "what Iran is and is not."


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Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps

Iran Tells Foreign Media No Cameras Allowed, Iranian Authorities Restrict Bloggers

MSNBC World Blog----

TEHRAN -- As the post-election crisis in Iran continues, authorities have barred all journalists working for foreign media from reporting on activities in the streets. And foreign reporters who went to Iran to cover last week's elections are beginning to leave, as officials say their visas will not be extended.

Ali Arouzi, an NBC News Producer based in Tehran, discusses how difficult it is to report the story in the middle of a media blackout.

How are you covering the story?

The Ministry of Islamic Guidance, which looks after the foreign press here, issued these new rules, saying that these demands have come from above.

But we were out today, walking in the streets, without a camera. We were out and we were just observing what was going on.

How are Iranian officials restricting reporting?

They have essentially cut off all communication. All mobile phones have been cut off. Text messaging is gone. Internet has become very sporadic – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. None of these things work.

When we went out in the streets on Tuesday, we couldn’t call in to do a phone interview because the mobile phones have been cut off.

In terms of doing live reports, the Ministry of Islamic Guidance has given us permission to report from inside our office and appear on television from there. But we are not allowed to do any filming outside. No photographs, no video cameras, no mobile phone footage.

There are still tons of students outside using their mobile phone cameras. Several days ago they were able to send images via the Internet, but I don’t know if they can right now. That’s why we are seeing so few images coming out of here, and I think we’ll see even fewer in the days ahead.

How is the government enforcing the rules restricting reporting?

If security forces see someone with a camera outside, they will be arrested within a second. The government has made it very clear that it is illegal right now to film outside. And there are huge numbers of plainclothes security forces on the streets to enforce the rules.

Why were the cell phones one of the first things cut off by the government?

The cell phones have been cut off because they were a tool that the demonstrators were using to communicate with each other and organize rallies and protests – especially by text messaging. Text messaging was the most powerful tool used by the protesters to organize rallies and keep people in the loop about what’s going on where.

But text messaging has been completely cut off for about five or six days now. Mobile phone reception keeps coming in and out. Whenever the mobiles get cut off totally like this, it’s an indication that the government here is worried about a lot of unrest.

One of the important things to note though is that these rallies that are going on now are being organized via word of mouth. Everybody at every corner will tell you – up there is this rally, down there is this rally, make sure you walk towards that place.

Word of mouth is spreading through Tehran like wildfire.


MSN News, CBC News----

Iranian websites ordered to tone down coverage of election

Iranian reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi posted a message online Wednesday calling for a mass rally as authorities ordered websites and blogs to remove any material that could increase tensions.

The message on Mousavi's official website is seen as a direct challenge to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said Tuesday night that the opposition leader should pursue his demands through the country's electoral system. Khamenei also called on Iranians to unite behind their Islamic government as demonstrations continued over Friday's presidential election results.

Following Khamenei's appeal, the Revolutionary Guard, an elite military force answering Khamenei, issued a statement on the state news service on Wednesday ordering any material that "creates tension" and encourages public disturbance and street riots be removed from Iranian websites and blogs.

Sites and bloggers who do not heed the warning will face legal action, the Revolutionary Guard said.

Deviant news sites:

The statement also alleged the "deviant news sites" were backed by Canadian, American and British interests.

Iranian websites as well as blogs, Facebook and Twitter have been vital conduits for Iranians to inform the world about protests over the landslide victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

All three of Ahmadinejad's challengers in Friday's election have alleged fraud after results showed the president winning by a winning by a 2-to-1 margin.

Iranian authorities have also restricted all journalists working for foreign media from first-hand reporting on the streets in an attempt to block images and eyewitness accounts from the rallies.

Mousavi posted the message condemning the government trying to block the websites - saying the government did not tolerate the voice of the opposition - and calling for a mass demonstration on Thursday.

Protesters to gather at mosques:

"We are after a peaceful rally to protest the unhealthy trend of the elections and realize our goal of annulling the election results," Mousavi said.

Demonstrators should gather in mosques to express solidarity with the families of the people killed in post-election unrest, the online statement said.

Mousavi said he would also take part, but did not give details on when and where. The statement did not say if any demonstrations would be held on Wednesday.

Mousavi urged calm among his supporters and said demonstrations must remain peaceful.

Supporters on both sides have taken to the streets in demonstrations and escalating violence that has seen at least seven people killed since the election.

Thousands of supporters of Ahmadinejad's regime, as well as protesters, flooded Tehran's streets for a second day on Tuesday.

Mousavi 's backers again called on supporters to gather in Tehran's central Haft-e Tir Square on Wednesday afternoon. It is not clear if that rally will still be held.

Partial recount

The Guardian Council announced on Tuesday that it will conduct a partial recount for the ballots at voting sites where candidates claim irregularities occurred.

According to government officials, Ahmadinejad won 62.6 per cent of the vote, while Mousavi garnered 33.75 per cent in a contest that appeared to divide urban and rural voters.

Mousavi has called the election an "astonishing charade" and demanded again on Tuesday its results be annulled and the vote be held again.

His representative, reformist cleric Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, reiterated that demand after a meeting of the Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to the supreme leader and seen as supportive of Ahmadinejad.

"If the whole people become aware, avoid violent measures and continue their civil confrontation with that, they will win. No power can stand up to people's will," Mohtashamipour said. "I do not think that the Guardian Council will have the courage to stand against people."


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Sources: World Blog, MSNBC, CBC News, Google Maps