In the wake of the bloody attack in southeastern Iran carried out by the the Pakistan-based Jundallah terrorist group, Tehran and Islamabad have agreed to adopt joint measures to fight terrorism.
"A golden era will open in strategic cooperation between the two countries through the eradication of terrorism," Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said in a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday.
At least 41 people, including seven senior commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, were killed in a bombing on October 18 during a gathering of Shia and Sunni tribal leaders in the town of Pishin on the Iran-Pakistan border. Jundallah claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.
Najjar called his talks with Pakistani authorities on efforts to arrest Jundallah members constructive, adding, "The two countries reached promising agreements."
Gilani stated that Pakistan would not allow terrorists to use its territory as a base.
Tehran and Islamabad should boost security on their border as soon as possible, the Pakistani prime minister added.
The Jundallah ring, led by Abdolmalik Rigi, has staged a torrent of terrorist attacks in Iran.
In a recent interview with Press TV, Rigi's brother, Abdulhamid, confirmed that the Jundallah leader had established links with US agents.
Abdulhamid Rigi said that at just one of his meetings with the US operatives, Rigi had received $100,000 to foment sectarian strife in Iran.
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jundullah
[Iran Press TV Latest] A former Central Intelligence Agency officer has confirmed US' relations with the terrorist group Jundullah, despite the CIA knowing that the group has close links with the al-Qaeda.
"American intelligence has also had contact with Jundullah. But that contact, as Iran almost certainly knows, was confined to intelligence-gathering on the country," Robert Baer, a former Middle East CIA field officer wrote on the Time.com, IRNA reported early on Saturday.
However, he noted that the US-Jundullah relationship "was never formalized, and contact was sporadic."
The news comes amid US denial of any involvement in a recent terrorist attack in Sistan-Baluchestan province in southeastern Iran, which Jundullah claimed responsibility for.
"I've been told that the Bush Administration at one point considered Jundullah as a piece in a covert-action campaign against Iran, but the idea was quickly dropped because Jundullah was judged uncontrollable and too close to al-Qaeda. There was no way to be certain that Jundullah would not throw the bombs we paid for back at us," said the former CIA agent who is a columnist in the weekly, and very probably an advisor in the Middle East.
Baer also noted that Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has had relations with the Jundullah leader, Abdolmalek Rigi.
"Pakistani intelligence has indeed had contact with Jundullah over the years, but there's no good evidence that Pakistan created Jundullah from scratch. And there's certainly no evidence that Pakistan ordered the attack," Baer said in reference to the terrorist attack that took place in Iran on Sunday, October 18, which killed 42 people including the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps commanders.
"In fact, Pakistani intelligence over the past few years has been arresting Jundullah members and turning them over to Iran," he claimed.
This is while earlier on Friday, Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi vowed to do everything in his power to hunt down the Jundullah terrorists and bring them to justice.
"This very incident unveiled the true nature of those who call themselves the pioneer in 'war on terrorism'," he said in reference to the United States.
A number of leading newspapers in the West, such as The Sunday Telegraph, have also declared Jundullah to be a CIA brainchild engineered to achieve the longstanding US goal of "regime change in Iran."
Iran's Interior Minister, Mustafa Mohammad Najjar, is currently in Islamabad to ask Pakistani officials to hand over Abdolmalek Rigi and assist Iran on cracking down on his terrorist group.
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
It's a hardcore Sunni group that is offensive to the moderate people in Iran.
In the face of growing threats from Israel, Lebanon's Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun says that Hezbollah should remain armed and the Lebanese army should be well-equipped.
"We should bolster our defense forces at all costs; but I believe no matter how many weapons we obtain and how much money we spend, we will never have the potential to deter an Israeli attack. That is why, I believe, the resistance movement should remain armed" said Aoun in an exclusive interview with Press TV on Saturday.
"The best way to succeed against Israel is resistance-style asymmetrical warfare, therefore these artillery should be given to Hezbollah and should remain at its disposal until a peace deal is reached with Israel," the Christian leader explained.
The former general said he has decided to hold another meeting with prime minister-designate Saad Hariri, but refrained from elaborating on the exact time and venue.
"I am still waiting for Hariri's reply to the proposals I submitted in my latest press conference," he said.
Aoun was referring to demands that his party be granted six portfolios and be allowed to maintain the five ministries, including the Telecommunications Ministry -- which is of great security and financial importance.
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Aoun is a Christian - and a self-hating one at that by being a whore to Hezbullah.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian authorities have detained 35 relatives and supporters of jailed reformists, including wives and children, the reformist Sarmayeh newspaper reported on Saturday.
In a separate report reformist website norooznews said "armed, masked guards" on Thursday raided a prayer ceremony in Tehran attended by families and supporters of jailed reformists who opposed the June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Sarmayeh reported that initially 60 people were arrested, among them the wives and children of jailed reformists including from the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) party, and that 35 remain in detention.
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
in my darker moods I imagine Obama looking with envy on the way Iran can quash dissent
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/25/2009 0:02 Comments ||
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Lord G, we're heading that way, and Obama is just a symptom, not the cause.
A Lebanese court convicted 11 men of having links to Al Qaeda and carrying out terrorist acts, and sentenced them to life in prison, a court official said Saturday.
The men -- six Palestinians, three Lebanese and two Syrians -- were tried in absentia since they are still on the run, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The men were convicted Friday of transporting fighters from Lebanon into Iraq and from Syria into Lebanon to carry out attacks, said the official. They were also found guilty of forming an armed gang with the intent to carry out terror attacks, forging government documents and giving shelter to wanted people.
The same court also convicted a Palestinian man and four Lebanese of belonging to an armed group and attempting to carry out terror acts. The five, all in custody, were given prison terms ranging from two to five years.
On Tuesday, a Lebanese investigating judge indicted 21 members of an Al Qaeda-inspired militant group, Fatah al-Islam, for a bombing in northern Lebanon last year that killed 18 people, mostly soldiers.
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
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
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.
