Recent Appearances...

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Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran hangs 'high-ranking spy' for Israel

2025-05-01

[GEO.TV] Iran on Wednesday executed a man convicted of espionage for Israel's Mossad spy agency and involvement in the 2022 assassination of a Revolutionary Guards colonel, the judiciary said.

Mohsen Langarneshin, described as "a high-ranking spy" who supported Mossad operations inside Iran, was hanged in the morning, the judiciary's Mizan Online news website reported.

The Times of Israel adds:

Mohsen Langarneshin convicted of link to death of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officer in 2022, providing support for attack on defense ministry site in Isfahan

An Iranian man convicted of espionage and intelligence cooperation with Israel was executed on Wednesday, Iranian state media reported, at a time of high-stakes nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

Entangled in a decades-long shadow war with Israel, Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
has put to death many individuals it accuses of having links with Israel’s Mosssd
Mosssd

...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end...
intelligence service and facilitating the latter’s operations in the country, notably liquidations or acts of sabotage meant to undermine its nuclear program.

According to Iran’s judiciary media outlet Mizan, the defendant identified as Mohsen Langarneshin was accused of involvement in several cases, including the death of a Revolutionary Guards colonel in 2022.

"During his two years as a spy... he was responsible for important actions, including supporting terrorist operations and being present at the scene of the liquidation of Sayad Khodai," state media said. It said the defendant also provided operational support for an attack on an industrial center in Isfahan, affiliated with the Iranian Defense Ministry.

The state media reports said Langarneshin had confessed to the charges. Rooters was not able to reach a representative for comment.

Earlier this week, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel of seeking to derail Iran-US nuclear talks, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting the idea of a deal merely limiting Tehran’s uranium enrichment and pushing for the full dismantlement of its nuclear infrastructure.

Iran does not recognize Israel and is sworn to its destruction. Tehran supports anti-Israeli terror groups across the region, such as Hezbollah and Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
. It denies seeking a nuclear weapon, saying that its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

After blows to proxies, Iran advances space program with Russian assistance

2025-04-21

[IsraelTimes] Islamic Republic said to build 54-square-mile complex with spaceport at Chabahar; experts say space technology could enhance Tehran’s long-range missile capabilities

Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
is reportedly building a major spaceport as part of an effort to maintain its regional prowess following major blows to its proxies across the Middle East.

Bloomberg detailed the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s plans to build the facility, likened to Florida’s Cape Canaveral, in Chabahar, a launch site close to the equator, making it more efficient for launches.

The site, which was supposed to open last year, will contain a 54-square-mile complex, allowing Iran to launch powerful spacecraft into orbit, the Friday report said.

The program has reportedly raised concerns among Western nations — particularly the US and Israel — that Iranian space technology could be used to advance the country’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capabilities.

"Iran’s work on space-launch vehicles — including its two-stage, liquid-fueled Simorgh satellite carrier rocket — likely shortens the timeline to produce an ICBM due to the similarities in technology," General Anthony Cotton, commander of US Strategic Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month.

One of the program’s reported aims is to send to space 20 internet satellites named after Qassem Soleimani

, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force commander killed by a US drone in 2020.

With more satellites, Iran could better guide its long-range weapons, according to the report. John Sheldon, an Abu Dhabi-based founding partner at AstroAnalytica, a space consulting firm, was quoted as saying the Iranians "could become much more precise in their targeting and have quicker reaction times to launch their own ballistic missile forces to hit targets much more precisely."

The report did not provide precise figures regarding the costs of the program, though a senior Iranian official reportedly said last November that approximately $11 million would be provided to Iran’s space agency, despite the sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.

According to the report, the program is also being supported by Iran’s strategic relationship with Russia, as both countries face sanctions from the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a 20-year strategic pact in January.

"What Russia definitely has is the expertise," Juliana Suess, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, was quoted as saying. "That’s something that Iran is after."

In October, two Iranian-made satellites were sent into orbit from Russia. Iranian drones have also been used throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The advancement of the program has led the UK and the EU to sanction Brigadier General Ali Jafarabadi, who leads the IRGC’s space division. The UK has also sanctioned the Iranian Space Agency.

"Our enemies constantly try to prevent us from standing on our own feet, but this has driven us to achieve scientific and technological advancements," Pezeshkian said of the program in February.

Matthew Schmidt, an associate professor of national security and political science at the University of New Haven, told Bloomberg that the Iranian space program’s advancements are motivated by the blows the country’s proxies were recently dealt in Leb
Leb

...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel...
and Syria.

"Iran has a need now, especially after the losses of its proxy power to Israel, to reestablish some kind of pathway to do power projection," he said. "They see space technology and aeronautical technology as a place to do it."

Iran has not explicitly said whether the program is intended for military purposes, claiming that its goal is to achieve the same technological capabilities as Western countries.

However,
those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things...
Iran has called for the destruction of Israel for decades and launched barrages of long-range missiles at its adversary twice in the past year.

The Islamic Theocratic Republic recently began negotiations with the US on its nuclear program, aiming to reach a deal that will ease sanctions. It is unclear whether the Omani-mediated talks are making headway.

Iran claims that its nuclear program is intended only for civilian purposes, but it nevertheless has enriched uranium to levels that are only necessary for developing an atomic bomb.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Top Iranian officials told Khamenei to allow US nuke talks or risk fall of regime – NYT

2025-04-12

[IsraelTimes] In rare coordinated effort, officials said to have warned Iran’s supreme leader that military threats from US and Israel are real, and country faces massive unrest if it goes to war

In a rare intervention, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...>
was urged by his brass hats to allow negotiations with the United States on the regime’s nuclear program or risk the fall of the Islamic Theocratic Republic, The New York Times

...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
reported Friday.

The US and Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
are set to meet in Oman on Saturday for talks over Tehran’s rogue nuclear program.

According to The New York Times report, which cited two senior Iranian officials who are familiar with the details, Khamenei held a meeting last month attended by heads of the judiciary and parliament. Those officials, in what the sources described as an unusual, coordinated effort, pressured Khamenei into accepting talks with Washington, even direct ones.

They told Khamenei that the threat of military action by the US and Israel against its nuclear sites was serious.

"If Iran refused talks or if the negotiations failed, the officials told Mr. Khamenei, military strikes on Iran’s two main nuclear sites, Natanz and Fordow, would be inevitable," the sources said, as reported by the Times.

The country, already in economic shambles, would be forced to respond, but then would also likely be plunged into domestic unrest if it were to go to war, they said.

The combination of such events would amount to an existential threat to the Islamic Theocratic Republic, the officials reportedly told Khamenei.

The sources said that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, an ex-Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps chief and current conservative head of Parliament, told Khamenei that a war combined with a domestic economic implosion could quickly get out of control.

They also quoted President Masoud Pezeshkian as telling Khamenei that managing the country through its current crises was not tenable. The report points to power cuts that threaten to shutter factories and water shortages in the central city of Yazd, which saw schools and government offices closed this week.

Iran previously rejected talks but has since relented amid US President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
’s threats.

Hossein Mousavian, a former diplomat who served on Iran’s nuclear negotiating team on a 2015 deal and is now a visiting fellow at Princeton University, told The New York Times that the change illustrated that preserving the regime was Khamenei’s main priority.
Hossein Mousavian, a former diplomat who served on Iran’s nuclear negotiating team on a 2015 deal and is now a visiting fellow at Princeton University?

Signing him on was a real triumph, donchaknow. Their NearEast history and international relations students will be getting the story straight from the horse’s mouth. Wasn’t it Yale who had a former Talib minister matriculate with a full scholarship, despite being illiterate in both Pashto and English? Such an opportunity for his fellow students, wherever he was!

"Mr. Khamenei’s turnaround demonstrates his long-held core principle that ’preserving the regime is the most necessary of the necessities,’" Mousavian said.

While Khamenei relented and agreed to talks, he also imposed his own conditions, the report said.

Citing three Iranian officials, the NYT said that Khamenei agreed to discuss strict monitoring for the nuclear program and a significant reduction of the enrichment of uranium. However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
he has said that Iran’s missile program is off limits, regarding it as being part of Iran’s defenses. The sources said that was a "deal breaker."

However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
the report also said that Iran was "open to discussing its regional policies" and support for its terror proxies like Hamas
Hamas

..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
, Hezbollah and the Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...

More from the Times of Israel:

Then, there are the expectations of the two sides. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi maintains the negotiations will begin as indirect talks, likely with Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi passing messages between Tehran and US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. Trump has maintained the talks will be direct. While not a major roadblock, it signals the challenge the negotiations face — particularly after years of indirect talks during the Biden administration went nowhere.

And while the US side can offer sanctions relief for Iran’s beleaguered economy, it remains unclear just how much Iran will be willing to concede. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran could only maintain a small stockpile of uranium enriched to 3.67%. Today, Tehran’s stockpile could allow it to build multiple nuclear weapons if it so chooses, and it has some material enriched up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Judging from negotiations since Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the deal in 2018, Iran will likely ask to keep enriching uranium up to at least 20%.

One thing it won’t do is give up its program entirely. That makes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal of a so-called Libyan solution — “you go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision, American execution” — unworkable. Iran routinely threatens Israel with destruction and is the main backer of several proxy terror groups attacking Israel, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Iranians, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have held up what ultimately happened to the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was killed with his own gun by rebels in the country’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising, as a warning about what can happen when you trust the United States.

Already, a top adviser for Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, has warned what could happen if the US continues to threaten Tehran, including Iran expelling inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency and ending cooperation with the UN watchdog.

“The transfer of enriched material to a secure location could also be considered,” he added, opening the door again to Iran having secret, undeclared nuclear sites as it did when the crisis over its program began over 20 years ago.

But Majid Takht-e Ravanch, a deputy Iranian foreign minister, offered a more positive note on Friday.

“If the American side refrains from raising unrelated issues and demands — and abandons threats and intimidation — there is a good opportunity to reach an agreement,” Takht-e Ravanch said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

Link

Iraq

Iranian proxies in Iraq willing to disarm to avoid conflict with US, commanders and Iraqi officials say

2025-04-07

”To His Grandiosity, the honourable, esteemed, and very blond President Trump:

Please, please, please don’t hurt us! We can be good — we promise!!!

Please ignore how we picked on your sweet little army bases all these years…”

[IsraelTimes] Several powerful Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq are prepared to disarm for the first time to avert the threat of an escalating conflict with the US Trump administration, 10 senior commanders and Iraqi officials tell Rooters.

The move to defuse tensions follows repeated warnings issued privately by US officials to the Iraqi government since Trump took power in January, according to the sources, which include six local commanders of four major militias.

The officials told Baghdad that unless it acted to disband the militias operating on its soil, America could target the groups with ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s, the people add.

Izzat al-Shahbndar, a senior Shi’ite Moslem politician close to Iraq’s governing alliance, tells Rooters that discussions between Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudan
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
i and several militia leaders are "very advanced," and the groups are inclined to comply with US calls for disarmament.

"The factions are not acting stubbornly or insisting on continuing in their current form," he says, adding that the groups are "fully aware" they could be targeted by the US.

The six militia commanders interviewed in Baghdad and a southern province, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation, are from the Kataib Hezbollah, Nujabaa, Kataib Sayyed
Sayyed

...Arabic term meaning your/his lordship. Groveling in His Exalted Presence is encouraged...
al-Shuhada, and Ansarullah al-Awfiyaa groups.

"Trump is ready to take the war with us to worse levels, we know that, and we want to avoid such a bad scenario," a commander of Kataib Hezbollah, the most powerful Shi’ite militia, says, who speaks from behind a black face mask and sunglasses.

The commanders say their main ally and patron, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) military force, had given them its blessing to take whatever decisions they deemed necessary to avoid being drawn into a potentially ruinous conflict with the United States and Israel.

The militias are part of the Islamic Resistance® in Iraq, an umbrella group of about 10 hardline Shi’ite armed factions that collectively command about 50,000 fighters and arsenals that include long-range missiles and anti-aircraft weapons, according to two security officials who monitor militias’ activities.

The Resistance® group, a key pillar of Iran’s network of regional proxy forces, has grabbed credit for dozens of missile and drone attacks on Israel and US forces in Iraq and Syria since the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
war erupted about 18 months ago.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Mujahedin-e Khalq Tactics Undermine Iranian Regime Change

2025-03-30

[Townhall] After more than 45 years of holy manal dictatorship, the Iranian people deserve freedom. The Islamic Theocratic Republic is a terrorist regime responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths in Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and across the region.

A diplomatic belief in reform was always a fool’s game for two simple reasons: First, Iranian elections cannot change a regime policy set by unelected figures like Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...>
. Second, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps exists solely to protect the theocratic regime from the Iranian people. Diplomats are naïve to believe that regime reformism is real; in reality, the reformers entrap Western officials in a game of good cop-bad cop. As former Iranian President Muhammad Khatami’s front man explained in 2008, "We had an overt policy, which was one of negotiation and confidence building, and a covert policy, which was continuation of the activities."

As former Iranian President Muhammad Khatami’s front man explained in 2008, "We had an overt policy, which was one of negotiation and confidence building, and a covert policy, which was continuation of the activities."

The irony of the Iranian regime is that it has greater legitimacy among the West’s useful idiots than it does among the Iranian people. For more than a quarter century, Iranians have poured out into the streets with increasing frequency. The murder of Jina "Mahsa" Amini "Woman, Life, Freedom" Movement was the last straw for many Iranians, who openly called for death to Khamenei. Such an event may not be far off: Iran’s dictator is 85-years-old, has had cancer, and is partially paralyzed from a 1981 liquidation attempt.

Iranians have myriad views about what comes next, though they also have remarkable consensus on three things:

First, they do not want external regime change. Iran is not Iraq. They want support, but will win freedom themselves, not at the barrel of a foreign gun. Second, they do not want Iran divided. When Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980, he spoke about cleaving away "Arabistan," his name for the traditionally Arab-populated, oil-producing province of Khuzestan. Iranians rightly rallied to defend their country from Iraq, but the distraction of war allowed Revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to wrap himself in a nationalist flag to avoid accountability for his revolution’s failures and betrayal. The third point of consensus is disdain for the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).

This third point remains interwoven with the first two in the minds of most Iranians. The MKO—and Maryam Rajavi, for 40-years, its president-elect—were once fierce proponents of Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution. Rajavi has a right to be personally furious with Khomeini: Like he did with so many other supporters, he betrayed Rajavi and the MKO. Many MKO members fled to Iraq, Iran’s archrival that was at the time killing Iranian conscripts after having invaded the country. Most Iranians despise Khomeini—how else to explain why they would put dog excrement into his tomb—but they could not understand a group allying itself with an Arab dictator bent upon dismantling Iran itself.

Ultimately, Iranians will determine their own future, hopefully through a democratic process once the theocracy collapses. Some Iranians may support the son of the late shah as a unifying figure who can preside over a constitutional convention. Others may prefer a president, and still others may advocate for a parliamentary system presided over by a prime minister. Ethnic or religious groups dominant in one province or another may also seek greater local decision-making. Most Iranian groups debate such structures and cooperate with those with whom they disagree.

The MKO, however, stands apart in vision, in opacity, and in tactics. While Iranian women risk their lives for freedom from forced veiling, not only does Rajavi strictly cover herself, but she also requires that all the women of her group cover their hair. What Iranians want is not a different flavor of Islamic Theocratic Republic, but rather no Islamic Theocratic Republic.

Iranians also want democracy. Too many once believed Khomeini’s promises of democracy; they realize the danger of insincere promises. This translates into deep suspicion about the MKO. After all, how can a group that embraced first Khomeini and then Saddam stand for democracy? To suggest the MKO is pro-American is risible. Prior to the Islamic Revolution, the MKO killed American businessmen and military officers. While that was hardly unique among leftist groups during the Cold War, what makes the MKO different today is it denies its history rather than apologizes for it. Indeed, when Americans are not in the room its anti-Americanism flourishes.

The biggest problem with the MKO, however, is that it actively undermines grassroots opposition by disrupting events that do not pay homage to Rajavi or libeling or slandering those who raise questions about the MKO’s record.

I have been a victim of MKO tactics. Ali Safavi, a member of the foreign affairs committee of the National Council of Resistance® of Iran, the political umbrella for the MKO, has six columns here libeling me in response to my criticism of the MKO. None of his columns address criticisms I made about the MKO. Rather, Safavi’s responses range from the bizarre to the conspiratorial: He accuses me of being an Iranian regime agent because, in his imagination, American Jews who worked in President George W. Bush’s administration and have advocated for regime change in Commentary and the Wall Street Journal over a quarter century must be closet Islamists. Sure, I went to Iran. Yale University funded me. I wrote my dissertation on telegraphy in 19th century Iran and penned several spinoff articles about Persian cryptology, Armenian and Baha’i telegraph workers, and the like. That no more makes me an Iranian agent than the many American students that the regime subsequently took hostage. By Safavi’s logic, am I also al Qaeda because I went to the Taliban
Taliban

...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan...
’s Afghanistan? Am I a communist because I went to Cuba? In reality, my job is to study how rogue regimes think, and I consider the Islamic Theocratic Republic the marquee rogue.

Washington policy debate is rough-and-tumble. During the Iraq war, partisans cast aspersions easily. Those that Safavi repeats—about my supposed role shepherding Ahmad Chalabi—originated in convicted fraudster Lyndon LaRouche’s magazine (Actually, I worked mostly with Iraqi Kurds). Ditto, a New York Times

...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
news hound once accused me of being part of the Lincoln Group, which planted news stories in the Iraqi press. Sorry, Ali. Congress investigated the Lincoln Group; I was not part of it. Don’t be the only Townhall columnist that takes the New York Times at face value. And don’t be the only Iranian who, with the Chalabi calumny, appears to lament Saddam’s fall.

I’ve got thick skin, but such tactics matter. First, how can Washington policymakers take the MKO seriously when it cites LaRouche as a reliable source? Or deflects policy debate with ad hominem attacks? Or argues that security-cleared, American Jewish neoconservative Iran hawks are really just closet Revolutionary Guards agents?

More seriously, the aspersions Safavi casts toward me are mild compared to how the MKO treats the Iranian opposition. Rather than work jointly toward the goal of ending an odious regime in Tehran, the MKO would rather attack any Iranians who do not blindly submit to Rajavi, live in her group homes, and fork over their income and, in some cases, children.

During the Cold War, there were Communists, anti-Communists, and anti-anti-Communists who cared more about knocking down critics of the Soviet Union than about defeating the Evil Empire itself. This is the dynamic now at play with the MKO as it obsessively attacks critics of the Islamic Theocratic Republic. There could be no bigger gift to Khamenei than the MKO’s efforts to delegitimize its critics.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

4 Iranian missile ships leave the strait of Hormuz

2025-03-18

[X]

Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران
@ariel_oseran
Four Iranian missile ships reportedly crossed the Strait of Hormuz under the protection of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's naval forces, Al-Jazeera cites Iranian media.

Link

International-UN-NGOs

Iran, Russia and China to hold joint naval exercises this week

2025-03-10

Something to watch closely, taking copious notes.

[IsraelTimes] Drills in northern Indian Ocean meant to boost cooperation between the three countries; South Africa, UAE, Qatar and Pakistan among countries to send observers

The navies of Iran, Russia and China will hold military drills off the coast of Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
this week in a bid to boost cooperation, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

The three countries, which share a common desire to counter what they characterize as US hegemony, have held similar exercises in the region in recent years.

The drills "will begin on Tuesday in the port of Chabahar," located in southeast Iran on the Gulf of Oman, the Tasnim news agency said, without specifying their duration.

"Warships and combat and support vessels of the Chinese and Russian naval forces, as well as the warships of Iran’s naval forces of the army and the Revolutionary Guards" are expected to participate, according to Tasnim.

The exercises will take place "in the northern Indian Ocean" and aim to "strengthen security in the region and expand multilateral cooperation between participating countries," Tasnim said.

Azerbaijan, South Africa, Oman, Kazakhstan, Pakistain, Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka will attend as observers.

China will deploy "a destroyer and a supply ship," the Chinese Defense Ministry said on the WeChat social media network.

The Iranian army conducted drills in the same area in February to "strengthen defense capabilities against any threat."

China played a key role in rekindling diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia

...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
in 2023.

Last week, Rooters reported that Russian missile specialists flew to Tehran around the time that Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel.

Since its establishment, the Islamic Theocratic Republic has repeatedly stated that it is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...>
said on Saturday that Tehran will not be "bullied" into negotiations, a day after US President Donald Trump
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
said he had sent a letter to the country’s top authority to negotiate a nuclear deal.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iranians film luxurious lifestyle of those connected to regime for Israeli news outlet

2025-03-10

Slowly first, then all at once.

[IsraelTimes] Experts say Iranians risked execution by sending footage to Channel 12; ‘We love Israel… Iranian women fell in love with Israeli soldiers,’ Baha’i woman says in report

Iranians in Tehran illicitly filmed scenes of their capital for Israeli Channel 12 news, an act that constitutes espionage in Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and can warrant a death penalty

The clips, broadcast on Saturday, included footage showing locals at high-end shopping malls that the videographers said are only financially accessible to those connected to the regime.

"I filmed this video with great difficulty and fear, and I said I would send it to the Israeli Channel 12," said a 44-year-old Iranian who sent footage for the report and went by the alias Ali, speaking in Persian. "I committed a dangerous act. If you just talk to Israelis, you become a spy and they will execute you."

The report showed Ali’s face from the nose down while he was speaking with a Channel 12 journalist.

"I have a master’s degree in electronics, and I’m unemployed," said Ali, who emphasized his economic grievances throughout the report.

Ali filmed himself traveling by subway to Tehran’s District 1, where senior regime and Revolutionary Guards officials reside.

"People are tired. The Iranian citizens, who are tired of the Islamic Theocratic Republic, are uncomfortable, bored, servile," he said.

Beni Sabti, an Iran expert, told Channel 12 that the Iranian regime considers the release of such footage from within Iran to be an embarrassment and harmful to the country.

Rani Amrani, also an Iran expert, told the outlet that had Ali been caught, he would have certainly received the death penalty.

Ali’s footage of Tehran’s Fereshteh Street showed lavish malls and homes, and women without their hair covered, even though hijabs are mandatory in Iran.

"Out of all the products, there isn’t one that is less than 200 or 300 dollars," Ali said as he walked past store windows inside a mall. "Only one percent of Iran’s residents can shop at a store like this. Me and those like me, can’t. Ninety-nine percent of Iranians can’t."

The images of luxury shown by Ali stand in contrast to Iran’s economic situation, which Sabti said is the worst since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Ali also showed footage of a market in Tehran at 6 p.m. running without any electricity. "Unfortunately, we have electricity only one hour a day. God knows where the electricity goes."

A clip shown on the report showed people suspended in midair on a fairground ride that stopped because of a power outage. At the same time of day, the report charged, the power was on in the malls of District 1.

"[The regime] gives money to Hamas
Hamas

..always the voice of sweet reason...
, Hezbollah, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the whole world gets its share from Iran," Ali told the Channel 12 news hound. "Why should we live in such poverty? Why should I be unemployed now?"

The report also showed another Iranian’s footage of a high-end restaurant in Tehran.

"This restaurant we’re seeing, if I come in to eat one meal, it will cost half my monthly salary," he said. "Only the men, children of the country’s leaders, children of politicians, the Revolutionary Guards, their children, them themselves, only they can come shop in [stores] like this."

The report also showed footage of young Iranians with connections to the regime at luxurious parties in bathing suits and without their hair covered.

"They’re always saying ’Death to America, Death to England,’ all over while their children have American, British and Canadian passports," Ali told Channel 12. "People are angry at them and disturbed by them."

HIJAB PROTESTS
Channel 12 also interviewed a Baha’i woman, using the alias Miriam, about Iranian women’s discontent with mandatory hijab laws.

Miriam told Channel 12 that while the enforcement of hijab laws has generally become more "gentle," women fear receiving fines for driving without a head covering. "You receive [a fine] if you are caught without a hijab behind the wheel three times. You receive three text messages telling you to adhere to the hijab mandate, and if you don’t adhere, they will impound your car."

Miriam said that after the death of Mahsa Amini — who died while in the custody of Iranian morality police for not wearing a hijab, sparking widespread protests — she found the courage to walk in the streets with her head uncovered.

"I think this regime will not last. Considering the pressures placed on it and the mistakes it made toward its people, it won’t last. It will destroy itself with its own hands."

When asked what she thinks of Israel, Miriam said, "We all want to have good relations with Israel, and we all love Israel... It’s funny, many Iranian women fell in love with the Israeli soldiers that were so handsome. They hoped Israel would attack Iran."

Ali, who said that until a decade ago he supported the regime, ended his interview with a message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...>
"Know this, Khamenei, this is your end, you’re old, you’re dying. Nobody will replace you. We, the regular people, won’t allow it. If the working class wants to revolt, bullets and tanks won’t be able to stand in its way. The people will take down this regime... Later, they’ll write in the pages of history that there used to be a country like that. It was the richest country in the world, but its people were the poorest in the world."

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hundreds of Iraqis, Iranians, including top leaders, head to Beirut for Nasrallah funeral

2025-02-22

[IsraelTimes] Lebanese terror group hoping to put on a show of strength to show it is still relevant in wake of devastating losses it suffered in conflict with Israel

Hundreds of Iraqis and Iranians, including big shots, are heading to Beirut where Leb
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
’s Hezbollah will bury its former leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...>
on Sunday nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
, in a mass funeral aimed at showing political strength after the group emerged badly weakened from last year’s war.

Nasrallah was killed on September 27 in an Israeli airstrike as he met commanders in a bunker in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a stunning blow in the early phase of an Israeli offensive that has left the Iran-backed group a shadow of its former self.

Revered by Hezbollah supporters, Nasrallah led the Shi’ite Moslem group through decades of conflict with Israel, overseeing its transformation into a military force with regional sway and becoming one of the most prominent Arab figures in generations.

The funeral in Beirut’s southern suburbs will also honor Hashem Safieddine, who led Hezbollah for one week after Nasrallah’s death before he was also killed by Israel, underlining how deeply Israeli intelligence had penetrated the terror group. He will be buried in the south on Monday.

"The funeral is a launchpad for the next phase. A great funeral that draws hundreds of thousands is a way of telling everyone that Hezbollah still exists, that it is still the main Shi’ite actor in Lebanon," said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Israel killed thousands of Hezbollah fighters and inflicted huge destruction in Beirut’s southern suburbs and other areas of Lebanon where Hezbollah embedded its forces. The impact on Hezbollah was compounded by the ousting of its ally Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Terror of Aleppo ...
in Syria, severing the supply route to Iran.

Its weakened stature has been reflected in Lebanon’s post-war politics, with the group unable to impose its will in the formation of a new government and language legitimizing its arsenal omitted from the new cabinet’s policy statement.

Sheikh Sadeq al-Nabulsi, a holy man close to Hezbollah, said adversaries in Lebanon and abroad believed the group had been defeated, but the funeral would be a message that this was not the case. It would be a "battle to prove Hezbollah’s existence."

The ceremony will be held at Lebanon’s biggest sports arena, the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, on the outskirts of the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs.

Nasrallah will then be buried at a dedicated site nearby.

Nasrallah’s death was a huge blow to Iran, whose Revolutionary Guards established Hezbollah in 1982. It was also a blow to allied Shi’ite militias across the region, which also held him in high regard.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will attend, an Iranian official said. An Iraqi delegation, including senior Shi’ite politicians and militia commanders, will fly to Beirut for the funeral on a presidential plane, two Iraqi politicians said. Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s will send a senior delegation led by the Grand Mufti, Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported.

Iraqi Airways has added flights to Beirut to cope with extra demand from Iraqis who want to travel to Beirut for the funeral, a spokesperson for the Iraqi transportation ministry said.

Supporters venerate him for opposing Israel and defying the United States. To his foes, he was head of a terrorist organization and a proxy for Iran’s Shi’ite Islamist theocracy in its tussle for influence in the Middle East.

After he was killed, Nasrallah was buried temporarily next to his son, Hadi, who died fighting for Hezbollah in 1997.

His official funeral was scheduled to allow time for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon under the terms of a US-backed ceasefire, which ended last year’s war.

Though Israel has largely withdrawn from the south, its troops continue to hold five hilltop positions in the area.

The conflict spiraled after Hezbollah started firing rockets into Israel in support of its Paleostinian ally Hamas
Hamas

..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
at the start of the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
war, on October 8, 2023, a day after the Hamas onslaught that killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon tells Iranian flight it can’t land, after IDF’s Hezbollah smuggling claim

2025-02-14

[IsraelTimes] Israel accused Iran of sending cash to Lebanese terror group via passenger flights; shortly thereafter, Mahar Air flight reportedly denied permission to land in Beirut

Lebanese aviation authorities refused to permit an Iranian passenger flight to land at Beirut’s international airport on Thursday, local news reported, following a statement by the Israeli military that Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
has been using such flights to smuggle cash to the Hezbollah terror group.

Dozens of Lebanese nationals were stranded at the international airport in Tehran after Lebanese aviation authorities informed the Iranian Mahar Air airline that its flight to Beirut would not be permitted to land, Lebanese news channel LBCI reported.

Footage circulating on social media purported to show a small band of pro-Hezbollah protesters blocking roads near the Beirut airport in protest of the authorities’ move.
"Show us the money!"
In a post to X on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces’ Arabic-language spokesperson, Col. Avichay Adraee, said cash has been smuggled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to Hezbollah using civilian flights.

The money is being used by the Iran-backed terror group to rebuild itself, according to the IDF.

Hezbollah was devastated by a brief all-out war with Israel last fall, which came following almost a year of near-daily rocket and drone attacks that Hezbollah began launching, unprovoked, on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with fellow terror group Hamas
Hamas

..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
, which had just attacked Israel from the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip.

Adraee said that the IDF has been in contact with a US-led committee supervising the November 27 ceasefire, which ended the war, and was regularly updating the committee with "relevant information in order to foil these transfers."

Despite the efforts, the IDF spokesperson said, some of the money transfers were likely carried out successfully.

"The IDF will not allow the organization to get stronger, and will use all the tools at its disposal to enforce the understandings in the ceasefire agreement, for the security of the citizens of Israel," Adraee added.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards transform ship into country’s first drone carrier

2025-02-06

[IsraelTimes] Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have taken delivery of the country’s first ship capable of launching drones and helicopters at sea, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reports.

Amid military exercises lasting from early January to early March, Iran’s armed forces have unveiled new weaponry as Tehran braces for more friction with Israel and the United States under US President Donald Trump.

“The Revolutionary Guards took action to transform a commercial ship… into a mobile naval platform capable of carrying out drone and helicopter missions in the oceans,” says Navy Commander of the Revolutionary Guards Alireza Tangsiri.
"Or as a reef"
The Shahid Beheshti, a former container ship, is equipped with a 180-meter (590-ft) runway and can operate without refueling for up to one year, Tasnim said.

The ship is different from previous Revolutionary Guards warships because it can launch and retrieve larger drones such as the Qaher and Mohajer-6.

“The addition of this ship into our fleet is an important step in increasing the defense and deterrence capability of Iran in distant waters and in maintaining our national security interests,” Tangsiri adds.

Last month, Iran’s navy received its first signals intelligence ship.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran purchases number of Russian-made Sukhoi-35 fighter jets

2025-01-28

[IsraelTimes] Iran has purchased Russian-made Sukhoi-35 fighter jets, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander says, amid Western concerns about Tehran and Moscow’s growing military cooperation.

This is the first time an Iranian official has confirmed the purchase of Su-35 jets. However, Ali Shadmani, who was quoted by Iran’s official Student News Network, does not clarify how many jets were purchased and whether they had already been delivered to Iran.

“Whenever necessary, we make military purchases to strengthen our air, land, and naval forces… The production of military equipment has also accelerated,” the deputy Coordinator of the Khatam-ol-Anbia Central Headquarters says.

Earlier this month, Iran and Russia signed a comprehensive strategic partnership which did not mention arms transfers but said the two will develop their “military-technical cooperation.”

Iran’s air force has only a few dozen strike aircraft, including Russian jets as well as aging US models acquired before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Link

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