Iran Focus: Tehran, Feb. 15 The governor of Mahabad (northwest Iranian Kurdistan province) tried to restrain public anger, admitting to serious interruptions in gas, power, and water services, amidst clashes between people and State Security Forces. Seyed Marouf Samadi, speaking to a state-run news agency, ILNA, said “Under normal circumstances gas …
Governor tries to quell unrest after blackout in Iran city
Iran: the next Nicaragua?
Washington Times: Isn’t it revealing that autocrats and dictators around the globe bother to stage phony elections to claim legitimacy? Remember Saddam Hussein telling Dan Rather in 2002 he had won 99 percent of the vote? Fidel Castro routinely claims to receive overwhelming majorities in his rigged elections. And throughout Africa, various sorts of potentates adopt the title “president” with no true democratic backing. Iran, too, has staged phony elections to bolster the tyrannical regime of the mullahs. But while Iranians have voted overwhelmingly for reform, they have only got more repression.
59 killed, more than 200 wounded in Iran mosque fire
AFP: Nearly 60 people perished and more than 200 others suffered burns on Monday when a fire swept through a Tehran mosque crammed with worshippers, police said. The blaze broke out as the faithful packed into the Ark mosque near the main bazaar in the capital for prayers just a few days before the major Shiite Muslim religious festival of Ashura, local media reported.
Nobel prize winner accuses Iranian justice of obstruction
AFP: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi accused Iran’s hardline judiciary on Monday of doing all it could to prevent human rights lawyers from defending political prisoners.
At a news conference in Tehran, Ebadi said: “Judge and lawyer are each one wing of the angel of justice, but one of them has been amputed.”
Iran intelligence agent arrested in Iraq with fake passports
Iran Focus: Baghdad, Feb. 14 An agent from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security was caught carrying dozens of fake passports in the central Iraqi city of Al-Amara.
The Iranian agent was arrest along with a Saudi national who was also in possession of counterfeit passports.
Iran intelligence agent arrested in Iraq with fake passports
Iran Focus: Baghdad, Feb. 14 An agent from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security was caught carrying dozens of fake passports in the central Iraqi city of Al-Amara.
The Iranian agent was arrest along with a Saudi national who was also in possession of counterfeit passports.
Fatal fire in Iran mosque claims 35 lives
Iran Focus: Tehran, Feb. 14 At least 35 people were killed and 200 more left injured after a fire blaze broke out in a mosque in central Tehran, state-run television reported.
Fatal fire in Iran mosque claims 35 lives
Iran Focus: Tehran, Feb. 14 At least 35 people were killed and 200 more left injured after a fire blaze broke out in a mosque in central Tehran, state-run television reported.
Iraq Winners Allied With Iran Are the Opposite of U.S. Vision
Washington Post: When the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq two years ago, it envisioned a quick handover to handpicked allies in a secular government that would be the antithesis of Iran’s theocracy — potentially even a foil to Tehran’s regional ambitions. But, in one of the greatest ironies of the U.S. intervention, Iraqis instead went to the polls and elected a government with a strong religious base — and very close ties to the Islamic republic next door.
Shia victory is blow to US line on Iran’s N-arms
Financial Times: The victory by Shia clerics in Iraq’s elections
is likely to complicate US efforts to press Iran to dismantle its nuclear programme.
The United Iraqi Alliance is dominated by two political parties formerly based in Iran, and many members of the bloc still have close ties with their Shia neighbour.
