Khamenei speaks in codes

a compromise didn't work out in 661 AD... and that is the framework for Obama's nuke deal?

when Khamenei was a 30-year-old junior cleric, he had translated a book, Imam Hassan’s Peace, from Arabic into Farsi. It told the story of Shi’ite Islam’s second imam, Hassan, who in 661 reached a compromise with a rival Muslim leader that prevented a new war between the emerging Sunni and Shi’ite sects.

Iranian suspicion grows over Turkey’s regional role.

(mfs other) Iranian suspicion grows over Turkey’s regional role. (AlArabiya) A senior Iranian political figure has spoken out against Turkey hosting Iran’s next talks with world powers on its disputed nuclear program, in the latest anti-Turkish broadside from politicians in Tehran, Fars news agency reported late on Monday. Last month Turkey offered Istanbul as the venue for talks expected to take place on April 13, a proposal which appeared to gather momentum last week when Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Istanbul would be “the best option.” Turkey has repeatedly backed Iran’s right to develop peaceful nuclear technology. The United States and its allies suspect Tehran of covertly working on nuclear weapons and have imposed tough new sanctions on its financial and energy sectors. Tehran, which says its nuclear activities are purely peaceful, has agreed to renewed talks with the five permanent members of the Security Council -- the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain -- and Germany this month. Once-warm Iranian-Turkish ties have cooled over the past year due to the popular revolt in Syria, Iran’s closest Arab ally and a steadfast backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.“Given the fact that our friends in Turkey have failed to fulfill some of our agreements, the talks... had better be held in another friendly country,” said former presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaie, Fars News reported. Speaking to staff of the Economic Cooperation Organization, a regional trade body with offices in Tehran, Rezaie did not specify what Turkey's failures were, but said that Baghdad, Damascus or Beirut would be a more suitable venue. “Offering Istanbul as the venue for the upcoming talks ... might give this wrong impression to the opposite side that Iran has grown weak and is in weak conditions,” he added. Rezaie has been an influential figure in Iranian politics for more than three decades since he was appointed commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, the elite force created to protect Iran’s system of theocratic rule. A critic and electoral rival of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, Rezaie is now secretary of the Expediency Council, an influential body that advises Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who directs nuclear policy. His comments are a rare public criticism of neighboring Turkey whose prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, stressed the value of relations with Iran during a visit to Tehran last week.Iranian MP Esmail Kowsari has accused Turkey of being a messenger of the United States and Israel, saying that “it would surely be hated by its own people and other nations in the region because it is hand in hand with the arrogant (Western) powers,” the Iranian Labor News Agency reported on Monday. Kowsari ridiculed Turkey’s hosting on Sunday of a “Friends of the Syrian People” meeting of mostly Western and Arab countries, which he described as only enemies of Syria. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani called the Istanbul event a “conference to bribe Israel” and said regional nations that described Syria as a dictatorship were no better themselves, Fars reported.Read the full story here.

politics, politics, politics... this Syrian situation sure has soured the relationship

This man was a guest at the Obama White House last week

Yes, the man holding (and subsequently kissing, I am told) the hand of Ayatollah Ali Khameni of Iran was at the White House last week.

What could go wrong?

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei says that the only reason Barack Hussein Obama is supporting Israel is to get re-elected

Iran Delivers Threatening Letter to President Obama

Jalal Talabani, who recently participated in the “International Conference for the Global Fight against Terrorism” in Tehran, promised Khamenei that he would deliver the letter and the message to American officials. Ayatollah Khamenei, in a meeting with Iranian officials on June 30, warned that the U.S. — in a complicated plot — tries to create problems for Syria, and that the nature of the regional awakening was anti-U.S. and anti-Zionist. Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is a media branch of Hezbollah , quoted several of its Tehran-based sources as saying that the Iranian leadership also warned Turkey against taking any military action against Syria. The report adds that any militaristic meddling in Syria by the Turks would be considered “crossing a red line” and will not be tolerated by the Iranian regime.

The Arab-language newspaper Al-Ahram reports that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recently sent a letter filled with threats to American officials. The letter, which is said to have been delivered by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, accuses the U.S. of meddling in Syrian affairs. According to Al-Ahram, Khamenei has ordered the U.S. to cease and desist pressuring the Syrian regime leadership, cautioning that Iran will retaliate against American troops stationed in Iraq should Obama refuse to take the warning seriously

Iran faces the prospect of an early presidential election after opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s controversial leadership united behind calls for a vote to coincide with next year’s parliamentary polls.

“We believe the next presidential election will be held sooner than its legal time and that a clergy will be elected to have more humbleness towards the Supreme Leader,” said Ghodrat Alikhani, a prominent religious MP.

Mr Ahmadinejad counted on the support of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to survive a popular revolt against the election that granted him a second term in 2009 but he has since fallen out of favour with the Supreme Leader.

Rift between Ahmadinejad and Khameni is growing

Ahmadinejad-Ayatollah conflict
turns into street-fighting

IRANIAN Surprise!
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY

There are signs that the rift between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni is widening.

Allies of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were arrested this week for being "magicians" and invoking spirits, Iranian website reported on Wednesday.
Ahmadinejad's chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei as well as other people close to the Iranian president were accused of invoking djinns.
One of the arrested men, Abbas Ghaffari, was called "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds," Iranian news site Ayandeh reported.

Heh.

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

and the Magicians in the West thought kids parties and Bar Mitzvahs were a tough audience....

Ahmadinejad-Ayatollah conflict turns into street-fighting

According to reports from Iran, serious clashes between the rank and file supporters of Khamenei and the supporters of Ahmadinejad erupted on Saturday. Many were severely injured with clubs and machetes. The clashes are said to have been so fierce that the security guards did not intervene and stood aside, watching the brawl.

From Pajamas Media via judeopundit.blogspot.com and image via ps2.gamespy.com

Khamenei: Obama Doesn't Know What He's Talking About

In response to U.S. President Barack Obama's speech of support for the Iranian people to mark the Persian New Year yesterday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei mocked Obama. Khamenei said: "We don't know whether the current American president understands what he's saying, or is ignorant and confused. He said that the [Iranian] people in Azadi ('Freedom') Square in Tehran was like the Egyptian people in Al-Tahrir ('Liberation') Square in Cairo, while the [Iranian] people gathers every 22nd of the month of Behman [February 11, Iran's Islamic Revolution Day] in Azadi Square in Tehran and repeats its call (of 'Death to America')." via thememriblog.org

WikiLeak: Petraeus: If we wanted Middle Eastern oil, we could've just bought it

[Nazarbayev] said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameni told him that even if Iran compromises on the nuclear issue, the United States would always find another reason to criticize "because they hate us -- all the United States wants is to conquer the entire region and steal the oil." General Petraeus interjected, "We could have bought all the oil in the region for 100 years for what we've spent in Iraq!" Nazarbayev, looking a bit amused, said, "I know. I'm just telling you what he said."

via oilandglory.foreignpolicy.com

Ahmadinejad: Koran burning will accelerate Israel's fall, annihilation

Ahmadinejad says plan is a "Zionist plot," Israel, its "supporters are on the path to collapse and decline and such desperate actions will not save them."

One can also call it Persian insanity hour.

(JPost) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that the planned Koran burning by Florida Reverend Terry Jones will bring the destruction of Israel, according to a PressTV report.

According to the report, Ahmadinejad said that the plan to burn Korans was a, "Zionist plot, and against the teachings of all divine prophets." The burning is scheduled for the September 11th terror attacks anniversary on Saturday.

"The Zionists and their supporters are on the path to collapse and decline and such desperate actions will not save them, but will accelerate their fall and annihilation," Ahmadinejad said at a Teheran meeting with Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and other leading Iranian officials.

On Thursday Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Israel is behind the planned Koran burning, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.

“The software for this plan was made by the Zionists following their defeats against Muslims and the Islamic world,” Manouchehr said in a meeting with foreign diplomats in Iran.

According to the report, the foreign minister also blamed former US President George W. Bush and said Bush's rhetoric after the September 11 terrorist attacks led to the increase of Islamophobia in the country.

“The current US administration should fulfill its duties in guaranteeing the basic rights of American Muslims for avoiding the spread of such inappropriate and devilish moves,” added Mottaki.

Senior Iranian clergyman Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani also commented on the planned event, according to the DPA news agency.

"On behalf of a half billion Muslims, I condemn this savage plan and warn of its consequences," Golpaygani said in a statement on Iran's state television website, IRIB. "This pastor should be immediately arrested and his church closed down."

The ayatollah said US President Barak Obama would be held responsible if the "gruesome and inhuman act" takes place.

I mean... crazy doesn't even begin to cover it.

via eye-on-the-world.blogspot.com

Hitler loved parades. Do you go to parades? if you go to parades then you are doing what Hitler did.

guilty as charged!

noahdavidsimon's posterous

Is an Iranian intifada imminent?

An Iranian-style intifada seems to be in the making. At the beginning of the current period of opposition, which started soon after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial reelection, quiet periods of seeming normalcy occurred between what were less frequent demonstrations.
This photo obtained by AP shows Iranian protesters beating police officers during an anti-government demo in Teheran on Sunday.
I have no doubt that the insurgency is real, but I'm not sure why anyone cares. These people are no more supportive of freedom then the present government. I have not heard any explanation about what type of government these people would support. Internationally the Green Revolution does not seem to have any different interest then the present administration. It is nothing but a power struggle that is common in Islamic culture.
Judging from the events of Ashura, however, the protests now seem to carry the potential to turn into a full-scale civil disobedience campaign, not unlike the first intifada the Palestinians initiated against Israel in 1987.
oh well happy joy joy... let them get a little taste of their own medicine
Such an uprising will mean continuous periods of strikes and civil disobedience, as well as more confrontations between members of the public and security forces.
wow... really? I'm upset
The main factor contributing to the new status quo is the unrelenting policies of the supreme leader, which have pitted his philosophy of the Islamic Republic against longstanding Islamic institutions.

THIS IS a battle that Khamenei will find extremely difficult to win. In fact, if developments continue in their current form, they can result in significant changes to the structure of his regime, or more drastically, lead to its total demise.
His decision to allow the Basij to mount an attack on mourners at Ayatollah Montazeri's funeral was one factor leading to the spread of opposition in rural areas, faster and more efficiently than any campaign the reformist camp could have orchestrated. Yes, members of the opposition tried to take advantage of the mayhem, but also many genuine mourners had come to pay homage to a grand ayatollah. To Khamenei's forces, they were all the same. To allow attacks against the residents of a holy city where the seeds of the 1979 revolution were planted was not just dead wrong from a religious perspective, it was politically counterproductive as well.
To make matters worse, the very next day, the supreme leader's forces attacked mourners attending a ceremony for Montazeri at Isfahan's Seyyed mosque, where inside members of the public were beaten. The Basijis also tried to assault Isfahan's former Friday prayers leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Jalaleddin Taheri, who had arranged the ceremony. However, his supporters protected him.
IF THE Shah had committed such an affront, one could have attributed it to his brute dictatorial secularism. But for the supreme leader of an Islamic republic to order violence against Islamic institutions means turning against the very establishment that formed the foundation - or the very DNA - of the current regime.
In 1987, to Palestinians, Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the deteriorating political and economic situations there formed the nucleus of the political ideology that legitimized the first intifada.
those were different peoples. these are the same people cannibalizing... but I understand the media likes to glorify the Intifada whenever it can
Khamenei's increasing attacks against the Iranian public, followed by full-scale assaults against mosques and religious members of the community, are creating the nucleus of an ideology that is legitimizing opposition, not just in cities, but throughout Iran.
However, ideology is not enough. To succeed, what is needed is to increase the frequency of opposition to the point where the morale of the regime and its forces are sufficiently eroded and they can no longer afford to carry on with their current policies, or their ability to function.
Here again, Khamenei seems to be aiding the opposition. The brutal attack against the mourners at Montazeri's funeral meant that more people were motivated to turn up in the streets on Tasua (the day before Ashura), as well as on Ashura, which happened to fall on the seventh day of Montazeri's passing. In fact, small demonstrations have continued in different places since Montazeri was buried.
way to go Khamenei! keep up the great work. we are counting on you
Further, on Ashura, his forces killed Seyed Ali Habibi Mousavi Khameneh, the nephew of Mir Hossein Mousavi. It's very possible that he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. However, the Mousavi family might understandably assume that he was targeted for assassination. After all, how is it possible that among thousands upon thousands of demonstrators, he was one of the few shot dead? Was he followed from the beginning by an assassination team? Was he marked for death before he left the house? These are questions that cannot be overlooked.
And now his funeral, as well as the seventh day of his death, will provide other occasions for the opposition to demonstrate. Add to this 15 religious holidays, plus at least five major political ones. Meanwhile, more are expected to be killed or arrested, meaning further mourning congregations and demonstrations. Put all of these dates together and the regime could start facing an unprecedented number of demonstrations.
Things could get much worse if the opposition turns to public strikes. With violence against the public expected to continue unabated and Ahmadinejad's plan to cut subsidies, translating to more economic misery, the regime could add to the attraction of this backbreaking scenario.
More than ever, the future of this regime hinges on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He can save his regime and keep it in its current form if he learns from his recent mistakes and modifies the way his forces and government reach out to the public. Failure to readjust could turn out to be a very costly mistake.
let's hope he doesn't learn a thing
This article was originally written for The Tehran Bureau, a partnership with PBS Frontline, at www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau.>
via jpost.com

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