[Al Arabiya Latest] Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday said his party stands ready for military confrontation with Israel but downplayed the probability of war in the near future.
"We do not think there will be a new Israeli war on Lebanon in the near future," he told a crowd of thousands gathered in Beirut's southern suburb, a stronghold of the Shiite group, to mark the third anniversary of the end of the summer war with Israel.
"Today we are in a better situation than we were three years ago," he said, referring to Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas movement.
"We do not want war, but we are not afraid of it and we say to you: if you bomb Beirut or its suburb, we will bomb Tel Aviv," Nasrallah said in the televised speech, adding that Hezbollah now has the capacity to strike any area in Israel.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11143 views]
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#1
We do not want war,
Lying his fat ass off.
but we are not afraid of it
two lies in a row
Hezbollah now has the capacity to strike any area in Israel.
Strike three, and
YOUR'E OUT
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/15/2009 12:47 Comments ||
Top||
A group of former reformist lawmakers appealed to a powerful clerical body in Iran to investigate Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's qualification to rule in an unprecedented challenge to the country's most powerful man over the post-election crackdown.
The call came as controversy heated up Friday over allegations that protesters detained the crackdown were tortured. Hard-line clerics across the country demanded that a senior reform leader be prosecuted for claiming that some detainees were raped by their jailers.
The former lawmakers' appeal was to the Assembly of Experts, a body of clerics that under Iranian law has the power to name the supreme leader and, in theory, to remove him - though such a move has never been attempted. There was no immediate response from the assembly to the group's letter, sent late Thursday.
But even if the call is ignored and is only symbolic, it was the most direct challenge to Khamenei yet in the turmoil that has embroiled Iran since its disputed June 12 presidential election. The letter breaks a major taboo among Iran's political classes against overtly targeting Khamenei, whose position at the top of the political-clerical hierarchy has long been unquestioned.
The letter, reported in opposition Web sites, came from a group of former lawmakers, most of them from the reform camp. The reports did not say how many signed the letter.
In it, they sharply denounce the crackdown, in which hundreds of protesters and opposition politicians were arrested and, the opposition says, 69 people were killed. They also denounce the trial that began this month of 100 politicians and activists accused of seeking to topple the Islamic Republic through the wave of protests that erupted over the election.
The letter calls it a "show trial" and a "Stalinesque court" and said Kahrizak prison - the facility on Teheran's outskirts where much of the abuse allegedly took place - was worse than the US prisons at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.
The former lawmakers said the supreme leader is responsible for the judicial system and the security forces who carried out the crackdown, adding that Iran's constitution underlines that "the supreme leader is on the same level as the rest of the people before the law."
The former lawmakers "demand a legal probe on the basis of Article 111 of the Constitution, which is a responsibility of the Experts Assembly," the letter said. Article 11 says that if the supreme leader "becomes incapable of fulfilling his constitutional duties," he will be dismissed.
The letter was addressed to Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful former president and cleric who heads of the Assembly of Experts. Rafsanjani has sided with the opposition in the election crisis, but accepting to investigate the supreme leader would likely be too dramatic a step for him to take. Around two-thirds of the 86-member assembly are considered strong loyalists of Khamenei and would oppose such a move.
There was no sign that opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to have won the election, backs the former lawmakers' letter.
But the letter suggested how much some in the opposition have been emboldened at a time when the government and clerical leadership have been deeply embarrassed by the claims of torture and abuse against prisoners.
After US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton acknowledged US support for protesters who oppose the outcome of Iran's disputed election, a top official lashes out at the White House.
Tehran's interim Friday Prayers leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts and leading Principlist figure, attacked the US for not understanding Iran's stance regarding foreign interference in its affairs.
His remarks came after Clinton told CNN that the US government did a lot "behind the scenes" for Iranian protesters who staged demonstrations against the June 12 election.
Ayatollah Khatami said the remarks showed that the Obama administration has not learnt its lessons regarding Iran, Fars News Agency reported.
"It is for what you have done [in supporting the protesters] that you are considered a criminal."
Khatami also criticized Paris for its stance regarding Iran's disputed vote and claimed that the "violent crackdown" against the recent unrest in France is a sign of human rights violation in that country.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11150 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
it is kind of like it's the victim's fault that they have earned the abuse by provoking the aggression towards them..says that Persians have come little far in Geopolitics
#4
Of course, Hill's got to learn to keep her lies straight. Not only have the mullahs been waiting for this admission, but it also undercuts the image that Bambi's cultivating.
I.e. We should support them, just never admit it.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/15/2009 11:42 Comments ||
Top||
[Iran Press TV Latest] France's Ambassador to Tehran visits a young French spy suspect in the Evin prison, three days after Iranian judicial authorities granted her conditional release.
Bernard Poletti, on Friday, visited Clotide Reiss, a 24-year-old French academic who was detained in Iran over a month ago on charges of espionage.
"He explained to her that the French authorities are doing all they can to obtain her release as soon as possible," said a French Foreign Ministry spokesman earlier in the day.
This was Poletti's second trip to Evin to see Reiss -- who stands trial for her involvement in anti-government activities following the June 12 election.
Mehdi Miraboutalebi, Iran's envoy to France, said Tuesday that the judiciary has decided to grant Reiss conditional release "if the (French) government and ambassador promise she lives in the French Embassy in Tehran until the judicial process ends".
"This is not done in any country, even France. You won't let an Iranian stay in the embassy until the judicial process ends if I personally guarantee it," Miraboutalebi said in a live interview with Radio France Internationale.
He added that Paris has not yet responded to the offer. France has repeatedly denied the charges brought against Reiss.
In a court session on July 8, Reiss admitted to having gathered 'classified' information on Iran's nuclear program as well as the country's post-election developments. She said the information was conveyed to the French Embassy and about 50 friends or members of her family, the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
"I should not have taken part in illegal protests... I regret (my activities)," the Frenchwoman said in a court address.
Her detention has soured political relations between Tehran and Paris with French officials rejecting her charges and calling for her immediate release.
"Clotilde Reiss is innocent and has been the victim of a parody of a trial," said French government spokesman Luc Chatel on Tuesday. "We have demanded and will continue to demand her liberation."
[Iran Press TV Latest] A senior official with Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) believes the prosecution of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi would put an end to the country's post-election turmoil.
Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, head of the IRGC's political bureau, said Thursday that the opposition is responsible for the "blow that has been dealt to the prestige of the establishment."
Following the presidential election in June, Iran witnessed an outpouring of anger by supporters of defeated presidential candidates Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who took to the streets to protests the official results which saw the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a massive margin.
Mousavi and Karroubi claimed "fraud" in the poll and asked for its annulment. The electoral body, however, disputed all allegations and verified the results.
The opposition demonstrations provoked a government crackdown, in which at least 30 people were killed. Officials blamed foreign agents for the unrest and accused opposition figures of plotting to topple the establishment in a "velvet coup."
"The question is who were the main plotters and agents of this coup. What is the role of (former President Mohammad) Khatami, Mousavi and Karroubi in this coup?" General Javani queried last week.
On Thursday, he expounded on the issue and said the leaders of the reform movement, particularly Khatami, had "easily conveyed a message to the enemy" that they were after "change" in the establishment.
"The enemy realized that Khatami is a secularist even though he is a cleric, speaks of [the founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Rouhollah] Khomeini, and is in contact with his family," the Iranian Labor News Agency quoted Brig. Gen. Javani as saying.
The senior commander went on to say that the reform movement does not abide by the religious system, and not only it offers no help to the establishment, "it always seeks to inflict damage on it."
In an allusion to remarks by senior cleric and official Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani who said the trust of the people had been shattered in the establishment, the IRGC general said the opposition is to blame for it.
Iran has put some 200 opposition icons, protesters as well as journalists and foreigners, who have been alleged to have carried out acts of espionage during the post-vote unrest, on trial as the authorities attempt to quash the turmoil that has spread across the country and opened a divide within the ruling elite.
General Javani, meanwhile, believes that only the trial of opposition's leaders, particularly Mousavi, would put an end to the crisis.
"This flame of sedition cannot be put out unless through clarifying and trying the real elements (of the movement)," said the general. "Mousavi should stand before the court to be enlightened."
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran will propose a ban on military attacks on nuclear facilities at a meeting of the United Nations nuclear watchdog next month, an Iranian official said on Friday as a hard-line cleric called on the government not to give in to Western demands to free those detained in unrest following the June election.
The Islamic Republic's IAEA ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh said a legally binding resolution was needed despite U.N. bans on such attacks because Israel had broken them in the past.
" The issue is prohibition of attacks and threats of attacks against all nuclear installations, during operation and during construction "
Iran IAEA ambassador
"The issue is prohibition of attacks and threats of attacks against all nuclear installations, during operation and during construction," Soltanieh said on the phone from Vienna, adding that Israel is well known for breaching this in the past.
Soltanieh said Iran would propose the ban at the IAEA's 150-nation general conference from Sept. 14 in Vienna.
The IAEA has passed several resolutions, the latest in 1990, banning "any armed attack on and threat against (peaceful) nuclear facilities". Soltanieh said they were toothless.
The IAEA's general conference will also discuss "Israel's nuclear capabilities" at the request of Arab countries, a regular item at the annual meeting.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[11134 views]
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The Commander of Iran's Ground Forces says Iran has managed to become self-sufficient in manufacturing weapons that are not detectable by the enemies.
"The Ground Forces are using all their power to develop innovative 'untraceable' weapons and we have become completely self-sufficient in manufacturing weapons that could not be detected by the enemies' reconnaissance systems," Fars news agency quoted Brig. Gen. Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan as saying.
He noted that the "transformation plan" being implemented in the Ground Forces has led to the self-sufficiency in different fields, including electronic and communication warfare.
Unmanned drones, capable of countering the enemies' up-to-date equipment, have been the center of attention in the "transformation plan".
The Iranian commander said that the Ground Forces have developed state-of-the-art "remote-controlled" equipment that could turn the battlefield into a "vast minefield" for the aggressors.
#5
...Keep in mind, though: One reason Saddam kept 'standing up' to us was because his people were telling him they had weapons and capabilities that they didn't actually have. If the IGRC and the Iranian leadership really thinks they have stealth weapons, this is a bad thing.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/15/2009 9:52 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Isn't that the same weapon used by Marvin the Martian?
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/15/2009 11:47 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Frozen Al is right - could be the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator which they've perfected.
#8
Okay. Thanks for handing us the pretext for over-kill. Put the Smart Bombs on the shelves, and bring out the broad target stuff. Remember to revise projected capital replacement needs, downward.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday said his party stands ready for military confrontation with Israel but downplayed the probability of war in the near future.
[Iran Press TV Latest] A senior official with Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) believes the prosecution of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi would put an end to the country's post-election turmoil. 
The Commander of Iran's Ground Forces says Iran has managed to become self-sufficient in manufacturing weapons that are not detectable by the enemies. 
