The Iranian opposition is planning to take to the streets again tonight as part of a traditional fire festival in defiance of the authorities. Follow live updates4.18pm: There are numerous reports of firecrackers going off and even of clashes on the streets of Tehran from usually reliable sources on Twitter. Video footage has been released but there are doubts about its veracity, some claim it shows last year's fire festival.4.14pm: Police are banning petrol stations from filling up containers, according to CNN's Reza Sayah.4.08pm: Tehran police chief General Hossein Sajedinia told the ISNA news agency his forces were deployed to prevent "any event in the city".The police have also announced that riding motorbikes will be banned tonight.Opposition website, Norooznews, reported that...

Original Home Page Current Latest Page All Contents of Site – Index All Links to ‘The Trial of Tony Blair’ posts Sign the Ban Blair-Baiting petition here. “He’s not a war criminal. He’s not evil. He didn’t lie. He didn’t sell out Britain or commit treason. He wasn’t Bush’s poodle. He hasn’t got blood on his hands. The anti-war nutters must not be allowed to damage Blair’s reputation further. He was a great PM, a great statesman and a great leader.” Comment at end Ban Blair-Baiting 14th March 2010 BIGGAR AND THE BIGGER PICTURE (I know. Apologies.) NIGEL BIGGAR: ‘The Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war has run about half its course. Judging by the dominant reaction of the British press, its sole function is to prove what we all know to be true: that the...

Hadi Ghaemi and Aaron Rhodes of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran urge the United Nations Human Rights Council to take a stand against the blatant repression undertaken by the Iranian government. But they acknowledge that so far the UN has done more to support the Iranian government than its victims: The new session of the U.N. Human Rights Council began on March 1. A failure of the world’s most influential human rights body to deal with the abuse of human rights in Iran will be interpreted by Tehran as a green light for the government’s brutal policies that could result in more executions of political prisoners.... While atrocities since June have horrified people around the world, leading to demonstrations by more than 50,000 people in 110 cities last summer, Iran...

First they came for the Yugoslavs. Then the Afghans. Then the Iraqis-up to 1m killed since the illegal invasion of 2003. Now it’s the Islamic Republic of Iran that is menaced by the advocates of perpetual war.But before the military attacks, come the lies.  Lots and lots of them.As the neocon-inspired propaganda campaign against Iran goes into overdrive, I thought it was time we had a new regular feature: Iran Lie Watch. For starters: compare and contrast.The Guardian, 1st January 2010.David Petraeus says hostage Peter Moore was 'certainly' held in IranGeneral David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command, today confirmed a US intelligence assessment which said the freed British hostage Peter Moore was "certainly" held in Iran for at least some of his 31 months in captivity. As...

British IT expert held captive for more than two years after Baghdad kidnap laments not trying to escapeWatch the GuardianFilms investigation into how the hostages were taken to IranPeter Moore, the British IT expert who spent 31 months in captivity after being kidnapped in Iraq, has revealed how he thought he was about to be killed on the day of his release, spent his ordeal unable to see clearly without his glasses, and played table-tennis with a guard.Moore said he regretted not trying to escape during the early days of his detention when the captives had the opportunity to kill a guard. The computer consultant from Lincoln said he had had a chance to flee when one of the two men watching over him fell ill.The 36-year-old told Channel 4 News and the Times how he was seized, with four...

Prenuptial training for young people aims to tackle country's rising divorce ratesThere was a time when Iranian women seeking husbands prioritised job status and financial security – not to mention love – at the top of their list of needs.Now potential suitors face the prospect of having to fulfil a daunting new requirement before asking for a bride's hand – having the right government certificate.Acquiring the appropriate official qualifications before popping the question is part of a plan for prenuptial training courses approved by the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with the aim of reversing declining Iranian marriage rates and rising divorce statistics.From next week, online courses will be offered to young people to prepare them for the pitfalls of married life. The...

Never let it be said that PressTV is not afraid of incisive reporting. This story is truly investigate reporting at its best.Apparently the people of Iran have spent roughly 74 million dollars in the past nine months on chewing gum and the habit appears to be growing - 100 times more than the amount spent four years ago.The habit appears to be contagious. Iranians chewed 25 tons of gum in 2005 as compared to 2463 tons in the past nine months.Needless to say, Iran's domestic industry also has seen the financial opportunity and made an effort to boost the domestic industry by establishing its second largest chewing gum factory on March 8, 2010. The factory, which was built with a 30-million-dollar, five-year investment, will produce sugar-free gum.A huge increase over the last nine months?...

Original Home Page Current Latest Page All Contents of Site – Index All Links to ‘The Trial of Tony Blair’ posts Sign the Ban Blair-Baiting petition here. “He’s not a war criminal. He’s not evil. He didn’t lie. He didn’t sell out Britain or commit treason. He wasn’t Bush’s poodle. He hasn’t got blood on his hands. The anti-war nutters must not be allowed to damage Blair’s reputation further. He was a great PM, a great statesman and a great leader.” Comment at end Ban Blair-Baiting 9th March 2010 From Heather Robinson at Political Mavens ~ (“for thinkers”)  ~ comes this (my bolding) - Iaqi parliamentarian Mithal al-Alusi thanked "those two great leaders" - Bush and Blair, after the wekend's election where 62% turned out despite...

FT.com:- The world’s largest oil traders have quietly stopped supplying petrol to Iran in a clear sign that the threat of sanctions and Washington’s behind-the-scenes efforts to convince companies not to sell to Tehran are paying off. However, the decision by Vitol, Glencore and Trafigura is unlikely to cut Tehran off completely from the global petrol market as traders said Iran’s long-standing suppliers were being replaced by small Dubai-based and Chinese companies. Although Iran is one of the world’s biggest oil producers, its refineries are dilapidated and it suffers from runaway petrol demand because of generous subsidies. Energy executives said Vitol, Glencore and Trafigura, which have hitherto sold Iran half of its petrol imports of 130,000 barrels a day, stopped supplying...

The west's moral didacticism now grates more than the realpolitik of China and the eastThere were chuckles and sniggers in Qatar last month when Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, warned that a military dictatorship was imminent in Iran. Threatening America's most intransigent adversary, Clinton seems to have been oblivious to her audience: educated Arabs in the Middle East where America's military presence has long propped up several dictators, including such stalwart allies in rendition and torture as Hosni Mubarak.Of course, by her own standards, Clinton was being remarkably nuanced and sober: during the presidential campaign in 2008 she promised to "obliterate" Iran. An over-eager cheerleader of the Bush administration's serial bellicosity, Clinton exemplifies Barack Obama's...

"The Islamic Republic of Iran in the previous year acted more harshly and severely than ever before to limit, through arrests and detentions, the existence and growth of Evangelical Christians" Farsi Christian News Network ( FCNN) and the Committee of Human Rights Advocates ReportLast years, with the start of the year 2009, we reported that Mr. Carl Muller of the Open Door Ministries had stated that, "based on existing reports we predict that in 2009 the Christians around the world will, in the name of false gods and philosophies, be persecuted more than ever before". He added that, "we are not seers and can not see into the future, but we feel that brutality and persecution of Christians, especially in parts of the world like the Middle East, is on the rise." Moreover, in this report by...

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tells Hillary Clinton he will not be pushed into western-led bid to punish Iran over nuclear issueBrazil last night rebuffed a US plea to back sanctions against Iran, setting the stage for a bruising diplomatic battle in the UN security council.President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, that he would not be bounced into a western-led effort to punish Tehran over its nuclear programme.Clinton, stopping in Brasilia during a Latin America tour, had hoped to build support for a UN resolution on sanctions against Iran. As a non-permanent member of the security council, Brazil does not have a veto, but its support is needed for a united front. Russia has signalled its support, but not China.Lula signalled the rebuff...

Two more Iranians on the run as police hold seven people on suspicion of illegally exporting weaponsItalian detectives have arrested seven people, including two alleged Iranian intelligence officers, on suspicion of plotting to procure arms for Iran.Arrest warrants have also been issued for two more Iranians who were said to be on the run after a round-up of suspects ordered by prosecutors in Milan. Five Italians were also arrested.According to Reuters' Italian newswire, which quoted sources close to the investigation, one of those taken into custody was a lawyer in Turin who also ran an arms trading business. All those arrested were accused of conspiring to illegally export weapons.Iran is the subject of an international arms embargo. Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has...

I just learned of this from Naj, Jafar Panahi an acclaimed filmmaker and his family have been detained- Iranian security forces have detained Jafar Panahi, one of the country’s most internationally celebrated film-makers, as part of a continuing crackdown on supporters of the opposition Green movement. Panahi was held with his wife, daughter and 15 guests on Monday evening, according to Kalame, the website of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims he won last June’s disputed presidential election. In the first official comment on the high-profile arrest, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi was quoted as saying that Panahi’s detention was “not political” and was linked to another case that was already under investigation. The manner of arrest and all the...

Ahmadinejad and Assad accuse the Americans of trying to dominate Middle EastIran and Syria put on a show of defiant unity today, scorning US efforts to break up their alliance and warning Israel not to risk attacking either of them.Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, flew to Damascus for talks with Bashar al-Assad days after the US appointed an ambassador to Syria after a five-year gap – a move seen by some as the start of a diplomatic thaw."The Americans want to dominate the region but they feel Iran and Syria are preventing that," Ahmadinejad said during a press conference with Assad."We tell them that instead of interfering in the region's affairs to pack their things and leave. If the Zionist entity wants to repeats its past errors, its death will be inevitable."Assad made...

Yesterday's Guardian has an interesting take on supporting the Green Revolution in Iran. Reza Zia-Ebrahimi recommends providing internet access to protestors via satellites:The internet is a key element in the events currently unfolding in Iran. What has been dubbed the "Twitter revolution" makes extensive use of social networking platforms to disseminate the movement's messages and organise protests. In a country where fair journalistic reporting has become impossible because of government restrictions, Iran's citizen-journalists have used internet resources to provide the world with images of government violence...A number of satellites currently covering Iran's territory can be used to provide internet access. Indeed, the US army, through private subcontractors, successfully provides...

….but don’t expect Nick Cohen, Melanie Phillips or Mike Blogger to write about it. Tehran has said that it had captured the leader of a sectarian terror group with alleged links to Western intelligence services - that says it has killed dozens of Iranian civilians and officials over the past few years. Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar told a news conference that Abdolmalek Rigi, chief of the Jundallah Sunni islamist group, had been arrested outside the country as he was "preparing for a new act of sabotage." After his capture, Mr Rigi was brought to Iran. Iran's intelligence minister Heidar Moslehi claimed that US officials had provided Mr Rigi with an Afghan passport and that he had had contacts with the CIA and Mossad - and had met a Nato military official in...

Iranian leaders have claimed in recent weeks that they are willing to engage with the West on nuclear issues. But the reality is very different to the rhetoric.Yesterday I met Yukiya Amano, the new Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).  His latest report, released this week, is very clear – Iran’s programme is of grave concern. They have also defied the UN and the IAEA by enriching uranium to 20%.But the biggest concern is Iran’s continuing refusal to answer questions about the military aspects of its nuclear programme. The result – DG Amano cannot confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is for peaceful purposes.What we in the international community need to do now is keep up the pressure: to show Iran that these actions will come at a cost; and...

The Tehran Times may provide the reason why Hamid Behbahani has chosen now to rattle sabres over the name of the stretch of water that separates it from Saudi, the Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Omman..... It looks like he's in line for impeachment for incompetenceIt looks like Iranian MPs are none too pleased that the Iranian transport system has encountered an unprecedented number of major failures including back-to-back plane crashes and train derailments, leaving serious causalities during his watch. Certain people do not seem to be happy at this turn events let alon the fact that he has not bothered to apologize to the bereaved families.Hiho Behbahani won't be the first politician to divert attention from his or her incompetence by trying to rally the sheep in some stupid...

Tehran official claims head of Jundallah had visited a US military base hours before his arrestIran trumpeted a significant security success today with the capture of Abdolmalek Rigi, the leader of Jundullah, a Sunni insurgent group accused by Tehran of mounting terrorist attacks with the support of the US, Britain and Pakistan.Jundullah (Soldiers of God) has claimed responsibility for bombings that have killed scores of Iranians, including five senior commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, in recent years.Iranian state TV showed a handcuffed Rigi being escorted by four masked commandos off a small aircraft, but there were conflicting accounts of how and where he was seized.According to one official, Rigi's plane was forced to land by Iranian aircraft while on a flight from Dubai to...

Israeli prime minister prepared to bypass UN security council to impose 'effective, biting' sanctions on Tehran...

Original Home Page Current Latest Page All Contents of Site – Index All Links to ‘The Trial of Tony Blair’ posts Sign the Ban Blair-Baiting petition here. “He’s not a war criminal. He’s not evil. He didn’t lie. He didn’t sell out Britain or commit treason. He wasn’t Bush’s poodle. He hasn’t got blood on his hands. The anti-war nutters must not be allowed to damage Blair’s reputation further. He was a great PM, a great statesman and a great leader.” Comment at end Ban Blair-Baiting 20th February, 2010 Melanie to Tony:  just defeat the Islamic threat to the world – that’s all (to paraphrase) Phillips: ‘But Blair also said this: he totally disagreed ‘that the existence of Israel has provoked this conflict’ (with the Palestinians), but that...

International Atomic Energy Agency warns Iran could be developing a 'nuclear payload for a missile'The UN's nuclear watchdog raised concerns for the first time today that Iran might be developing a nuclear warhead for a missile.In his first report on Iran, the new director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, broke with the more cautious style of his predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei, and suggested Iran could have looked into the construction of a weapon, and that ­weaponisation work could be under way.Amano's report to the IAEA board also confirmed that Iran had succeeded in producing 20% enriched uranium, a level of enrichment much closer to weapons grade than it had attempted before. It criticised the Iranian authorities for taking the step without...

Original Home Page Current Latest Page All Contents of Site – Index All Links to ‘The Trial of Tony Blair’ posts Sign the Ban Blair-Baiting petition here. “He’s not a war criminal. He’s not evil. He didn’t lie. He didn’t sell out Britain or commit treason. He wasn’t Bush’s poodle. He hasn’t got blood on his hands. The anti-war nutters must not be allowed to damage Blair’s reputation further. He was a great PM, a great statesman and a great leader.” See this recent signature comment Comment at end Ban Blair-Baiting 17th February, 2010 Hat tip to Atlas Shrugs Last Friday the Liberal Democrats dumped their House of Lords health spokesperson Baroness Jenny Tonge for her “wholly unacceptable” accusations against Israel. Tonge had called for an inquiry...

The US policy of engagement with Iran never got off the ground – and now Hillary Clinton has resorted to Bush-era sabre-rattlingHillary Clinton's sudden volley of shots at Iran marks the end of an engagement policy that never really began. She wants to convince the world that the regime in Tehran is opposed to serious talks with the west. That may be true, but we'll probably never know because in fact, no one has offered such talks.In laying out the American approach to Iran, Clinton showed how little US foreign policy has changed since the last years of the Bush administration. President Bush famously explained that he would not negotiate with unfriendly regimes because he didn't want to "reward bad behaviour". He wanted states like Iran to change of their own accord, not as a result...

Original Home Page All Contents of Site – Index All Links to ‘The Trial of Tony Blair’ posts Sign the Ban Blair-Baiting petition here.  “He’s not a war criminal. He’s not evil. He didn’t lie. He didn’t sell out Britain or commit treason. He wasn’t Bush’s poodle. He hasn’t got blood on his hands. The anti-war nutters must not be allowed to damage Blair’s reputation further. He was a great PM, a great statesman and a great leader.” See this recent signature comment Comment at end Ban Blair-Baiting 16th February, 2010 Blair: “And what I’m trying to do is to say let’s build a state from the bottom up.” “The thing that most worries a lot of the Arab countries in this neighbourhood is precisely a nuclear armed Iran and one of the...

Secretary of state steps up war of words against Tehran, calling on regime to rethink 'dangerous' nuclear policyHillary Clinton today said Iran was becoming a military dictatorship as the Obama administration's diplomatic campaign against the Tehran regime continued to escalate.Speaking to university students in Qatar, the US secretary of state warned that Iran's Revolutionary Guard wielded so much power it was effectively supplanting the government."Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship," she said. "That is our view."Yesterday, Clinton called on Iran to rethink its "dangerous" nuclear policy as she embarked on a US campaign to win Middle East backing for a new set of sanctions after Tehran's decision to make more highly enriched uranium.Last week, the US treasury department...

Well this week it’s wounding children, kidnapping women and carrying out assassinations. What’s just as bad is that some Arabs countries want to make friends with Israel which is in turn further making an enemy of Iran. Instead they should be working as a Pan-Arab alliance in conjunction with the international community, with use of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday the United States expects to gain China’s support for imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has told an international conference that Iran has left the world little choice but to take harsher action to contain its nuclear program. Clinton told the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar that Iran has not lived up to its nuclear obligations. See Simon Jenkins Imposing idiot sanctions on Iran is a direct route to war and below Alistair Crooke (former spook so be advised) in Asia Times Online assessing the terrain wrote in December- But if sanctions on Iran are widely acknowledged – at least in private within the US administration – as destined to...

Fatemeh Karroubi writes open letter to Ayatollah Ali claiming militia beat up her son at demonstrationThe wife of one of Iran's opposition leaders today accused the nation's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of allowing violence and abuses to crush opposition supporters, including the alleged beating of her son during last week's protests.Fatemeh Karroubi claimed her son Ali was savagely attacked inside a mosque by hardline militiamen amid a large-scale security crackdown on Thursday during events marking the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution."They beat him up and insulted him along with other people arrested. This happened in a house of God," she wrote in an open letter to Khamenei appearing on prominent pro-reform websites Rahesabz and Sahamnews.The sites also posted...

A petition has been launched to oppose the deportation of Iranian refugee Bita Ghaedi from the United Kingdom after her appeal for asylum was refused.She has been placed on a fast track scheme by the UK Border Agency, meaning she may be deported at any time, according to Brighton activist group SchNEWS.Ghaedi, who has been on hunger strike for four weeks, came to Britain to escape a forced marriage. After arrival, she was held for forty-five days in Holloway prison before being transferred to Yarl's Wood detention centre while her claim was assessed.She currently lives with Moshen Zadshir, a prominent member of the Iranian opposition, and fears being convicted of adultery, which carries a sentence of death by stoning, as well as retribution from the Iranian regime because of her...

Ahmadinejad, master of fear and paranoia, may have won the day. But it was a pyrrhic victoryRumours of the death of Iran's green movement have been largely ­exaggerated. Admittedly, the events of this week were badly mishandled by the ­protesters – as many have been quick to acknowledge. But the rigorously ­choreographed theatrics of the government can hardly be ­regarded as a ­triumph for the regime.Following the disturbances around the death of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri and the violence that continued through to Ashura in December 2009, the green movement determined that the next great show of force was to be yesterday's 31st anniversary of the Islamic ­Revolution. Yet while people might debate the size of the opposing crowds, one thing seems certain: this time the government...

With an internet blackout in Iran, footage of protests has been trickling through websites including YouTube. Here are some of the highlights, with commentary by Mehdi Saharkhiz, who has been helping to get video on to the web...

In my First Post piece earlier this week I highlighted western double standards when it comes to post-election protests: In the 2006 presidential elections in Mexico, official results showed that the neo-liberal, anti-leftist and pro-American Felipe Calderon had won by 0.58 per cent. The left-wing 'Coalition for the Good of All' alleged voting irregularities in more than 30 per cent of polling stations and organised massive street protests. But the protesters' cause was not championed by Washington and the election controversy was barely mentioned in the mainstream western media. Why? Because the "right" side had won. Unlike in Iran of course, when in last year’s election, the "wrong" side, i.e. President Ahmadinejad, won. And that’s why the BBC’s Newsnight are, we are told,...

Huge rallies hear country now 'a nuclear state' while Green movement is dealt a blow as protests are mutedMahmoud Ahmadinejad struck a defiant note today as Iran's Islamic regime celebrated the anniversary of the 1979 revolution with a major security clampdown and huge official rallies that dealt a grave blow to supporters of the opposition Green movement.The Iranian president told a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) square that Iran was now a nuclear state, having produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level than before. The announcement will fuel fears that the country is getting closer to building a nuclear weapon in defiance of international demands, although Ahmadinejad flatly denied this."When we say we do not manufacture the bomb, we mean...

On Monday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed to deliver a "punch in the mouth" to those who might exercise their right to peaceful dissent today during Iran’s national holiday. But a "punch" is a far cry from the two executions recently carried out for the same reasons. Don’t let Iran execute any more people for expressing their dissenting views!Today during Iran's Victory of the Revolution Day, when words like "revolution", "independence" and "freedom" are on everyone's lips, fears of torture, repression and death still remain.Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei The shock is still very much palpable over the two horrific hangings that took place in Iran just weeks ago. The two hanged men became the "fall guys" for the post-Presidential election violence that consumed the streets of Iran...

Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to allow peaceful demonstrations, including by those opposed to the current government, on 11 February, the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Various officials from the police and the judiciary have warned in recent days that anti-government demonstrations will be not be tolerated. Amnesty International fears that the comments made by officials, and the wave of arrests, unfair trials and executions illustrated below presage renewed violence on the part of the state, should people heed the calls made by unsuccessful presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi to take to the streets to peacefully voice their opinions. Amnesty International fully recognizes the Iranian authorities’ duty and...

Calls for calm as streets will be filled for the anniversary of 1979 Islamic RevolutionIranian security forces were deploying in strength in Tehran tonight to head off what opposition supporters hope will be massive street protests to challenge the regime as its celebrates tomorrow's anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.Mir Hossein Mousavi, leader of the green movement, has called on supporters to behave peacefully during state-sponsored events including a speech by the hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which is likely to be attended by tens of thousands of government loyalists. Green supporters are being asked to chant: "Death to no one, long live everyone" – a reference to the slogans of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" that are traditional staples of Iran's...

Poor state of US-Chinese relations hinders Barack Obama's push for sanctions over Tehran's uranium productionThe US was today spearheading a diplomatic campaign to overcome ­Chinese opposition to further sanctions aimed at Iran and its Revolutionary Guards in a renewed push following Tehran's decision to ­produce uranium almost six times more ­enriched than its existing stockpile.Barack Obama said yesterday that his administration was "developing a significant regime of sanctions that will indicate to them [Iran] how isolated they are from the international community as a whole".Those sanctions will target a wide range of business interests belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which is accused of running a covert weapons programme behind the front of a ­civilian nuclear industry,...

A woman tweeting from an English village is helping to moblise opposition protests across IranAs the resident of a quiet village in Oxfordshire with a plummy accent to match, she makes an unlikely revolutionary. But she has become a key player in the unrest that is shaking Iran and is such an irritant to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that she has been subjected to a propaganda campaign by the regime's henchmen.Known only by her Twitter name, Oxfordgirl has emerged as a crucial link between the protesters and the outside world. "Before they started blocking mobile phones I was almost co-ordinating people's individual movements – 'Go to such and such street,' or 'Don't go there, the Basij [militia] are waiting,' " she said. "It was very strange to be sitting in Oxford and co-ordinating...