Iran News Archives

A newly published report from the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence describes Iran's naval order of battle, as well as the Iranian Navy's history, strategic options, and favored tactics.

Saturday, November 28, 2009 MOSCOW: Russia has assured Iran it will honour a deal to supply the Islamic Republic with advanced S-300 air-defence missiles, Tehran's ambassador to Moscow said on Friday.

Bahram Beizaii's "Bashu, the Little Stranger" was announced as the best film at the International Parvin Etesami Film Festival.

By giving Israel veto rights and threatening more sanctions, the U.S. is squandering the best chance we have for a negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear issue... Barack Obama's myopic Iran policy Siddharth Varadarajan Ordinarily, it would have been easy to dismiss the latest resolution of the International Atomic Energy Agency [PDF] censuring ...

Iranian parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani said yesterday that Washington was trying to "trick" Tehran through a high-profile nuclear fuel deal brokered by the UN atomic watchdog.

MR. KELLY: Okay. What can I do you for? QUESTION: No questions. MR. KELLY: Okay.

The UK is now in the grip of festive fever as the nation prepares for the customary annual binge called Christmas.

Family of Kianoosh Asa, one of the victims of post-election events in Iran, has written to Iranian authorities to call for a probe into the details of the young man's death and prosecution of its perpetrators.

In this Thursday Sept. 24, 2009 file photo, Iranian film director Hana Makhmalbaf protests as she arrives at a movie theater holding a banner against Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, and a portrait of Neda Agha Soltan, a woman who was killed in a Tehran protest, at the 57th Film Festival in San Sebastian, northern Spain.

An Iranian vehicle fires its weapon in war games which are being conducted by Iran this week.

Hitchens on the thesis put forward by Robert Wright in a piece called " Who created Major Hasan? " that the Fort Hood shootings were caused by the War on Terror, and the supposed outrage caused by the killing of Muslims by Western forces: For a start, did Hasan or Muhammad ever say what "killing" of which "Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan" they had ...

In a letter to Iranian authorities, human rights organizations expressed serious concerns about the recent suspicious death of Dr.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran expressed serious concerns about new charges introduced by Revolutionary Guards commanders in the prosecution of Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American sociologist.

Iraqi President Jalal Talebani flew to Tehran on Sunday, and today - "Monday - "he spent nearly three hours with Justice Minister Larijani.

Iran's security forces have warned citizens that political protesters are in danger of being kidnapped - by Israel.

A flurry of executions and death sentences in Iran has raised concern that the government is using judicially sanctioned killing to intimidate the political opposition and quell pockets of ethnic unrest around the nation, human rights groups and Iran experts said.

ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia: Iranian hajj pilgrims staged a peaceful protest without incident Thursday as millions of Muslims amassed for the peak of the world's largest pilgrimage.

In this Thursday July 9, 2009 file photo, Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, center, gestures with youths wearing T-shirts with "Peace" written on the front, as she visits the Scampia district, in Secondigliano on the outskirts of Naples, southern Italy.

Mohamed ElBaradei says there has been no movement by Iran for some time on issues of concern about its nuclear program.

Both leaders roundly denounced U.S. "imperialism," and Chavez also called Israel "a murderous arm of the Yankee empire." Chavez rebuked Israeli President Shimon Peres for his recent prediction that the people of Venezuela and Iran will soon make their leaders disappear.

An Al Arabiya screen grab of an Iranian boat is seized by Yemeni coast gaurds in the Red Sea for allegedly carrying arms to Shi'ite rebels locked in fierce fighting with the army since August in the rugged mountains of northern Yemen.

The world's largest annual religious pilgrimagebegan, overshadowed by the swine flu pandemic as 2.5 million Muslims ammassed at the holy city of Mecca for the hajj.

Islamic religious authorities have begun tightening their grip on Iranian public schools, a report said Wednesday, as hard-liners expand an ideological "soft war" against Western influence.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's army and Revolutionary Guard staged large-scale air defense war games yesterday in an effort to show off the country's deterrence capabilities amid rising pressure from the West over its nuclear program, state television reported.

Iran could consider sending its low-enriched uranium abroad, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, signaling a possible softening of its opposition to a plan aimed at easing Western concern over its nuclear ambitions.

NASR Border conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen rebels inflaming Saudi-Iranian rivalry RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - RIYADH, Saudi Arabia a ' For years just an obscure fight raging in remote desert mountains, Yemen's war with Shiite rebels has been dragged up to a new level, inflaming the rivalry between the Middle East 's two powerhouses Saudi Arabia ...

Iranian authorities have finally closed the file of Ramin Pourandarjani, the physician who examined some of the victims of the alleged torture and violence in Kahrizak detention centre.

At least three others caught up in the turmoil have received death sentences previously.

TEHRAN Iran's envoy to the UN atomic watchdog said on Sunday that Tehran wants a guaranteed supply of fuel for a research reactor as a military chief warned that any attack on its nuclear sites would be crushed.

Iran has sent warships to the Gulf of Aden, ostensibly to combat Somali pirates preying on major shipping lanes.

WOOD: Good afternoon, and happy Friday to all. Lach, it's good to see you. QUESTION: Yeah, good to see you at the podium.

According to the newspaper, until recently, the leadership of the Islamic Republic put their claims to Russia aside but because of recent manifestations of "disloyalty" from Russia, the Iranian regime has not only "stopped shying of public criticism addressed to Kremlin, but engaged to search of new partners to substituted the Russian.

The recent behavior by the US government is in contradiction with its President's change motto, said Chief of Iran's Expediency Council.

Ramin Pourandarjani was a brilliant medical student with a promising future, until he was found dead in a dormitory at Tehran police headquarters last week.

The head of a hardline Iranian political party called on Saturday for opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi to face trial for spreading the "big lie" of fraud in June's disputed election.

Iranian First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi and Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Sabah discussed ways to expand relations.

People say life imitates art, but it's not necessarily Shakespeare. Sometimes it's a spy thriller, at other times a canard .

Iran has increased its pressure on student activists ahead of the national Student Day on December 7. Throughout Iran a dozen students are reported to have been jailed this week, including eight student activists arrested in Tehran on November 19.

Just a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai pledged that respect for women's rights is among his top agenda items, Afghan diplomats at the United Nations will oppose a Canadian-led bid to highlight serious human rights abuse in Iran.

Iran claimed effective victory over Canada at the United Nations on Friday as a majority of world countries refused to support a Canadian-led bid to censure the Islamic republic over its human rights record.

"It will be just like Syria," said the strategic scholar just back from Israel and speculating about the much-debated question of whether Israel will eventually bomb Iran's nuclear installations.

Obama administration is shifting the focus of its Iran policy from talk to sanctions, but the prospect of winning early international support for toughened new penalties appears dim.

Friday, November 20, 2009 at 6:40 a.m. TEHRAN, Iran - Iran plans to launch a communications satellite by late 2011 with no outside help, a top Iranian official said Friday, after Italy and Russia declined to put it into orbit.

A Gaza charity headed by the interior minister of the militant Hamas group on Wednesday offered $1.4 million to any Arab citizen of Israel who abducts a soldier.

MANILA a ' More than a hundred people supported a charity bazaar held in Iran to help Pinoy victims recover from the devastation wrought by several typhoons in the Philippines.

In the last few weeks, there has been a flurry of unsubstantiated accusations against Iran.

Irana s Basij militia, who clashed with protesters after Junea s presidential poll, will confront any further a oestreet riotsa , its commander said on Wednesday, ahead of a ceremony to mark the killing of a dissident couple.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard tests a Zelzal missile near the city of Qom in September.

In this Sunday, June 14, 2009 file photo, Iranian supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi are followed by Iranian riot-police in front of Tehran university during riots in Tehran, Iran.

Siddharth Varadarajan In an exclusive interview to The Hindu during a two-day visit to Delhi, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki talks about the latest western proposal on the nuclear issue, the reasons behind the recent disclosure of a new enrichment facility at Fardoo and the current state of Indo-Iranian relations.

The Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee chairman has said that Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko's remarks about the Bushehr nuclear power plant are strange.

Several Kurdish lawmakers on Tuesday asked Iran's judiciary to revise the death sentences against Iranian Kurdish rebels, the news agency ILNA reported.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday China had agreed Iran must show its nuclear programme is peaceful and transparent.

FormerA President Jimmy Carter, center, braves the heat near Chiang Mai, Thailand, Monday, as he and others construct a home for Habitat for Humanity.

In this Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008 file photo, Iranian Revolutionary Guards members march during a parade ceremony, marking the 28th anniversary of the onset of the Iran-Iraq war , in front of the mausoleum of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran, Iran.

Iran's greatest master of traditional music, Mohammad Reza Shajarian, always avoided open clashes with his country's ruling hard-line clerics.

Monday, 16 November 2009, 2:32 pm Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission A Joint Open Letter to the members of the UN General Assembly from 109 NGOs To all members of the UN General Assembly November 11, 2009 Your Excellency, We, the undersigned independent human rights and civil society organizations from diverse regions and societies around ...

When Iran and India sit across the table for a high-level series of talks next week, the common link of two troubled neighbours - Pakistan and Afghanistan - will dominate discussions.

Iran will soon be able to produce an advanced missile defence system itself if Russia does not deliver it to the Islamic Republic, a senior lawmaker said in comments published on Sunday.

A car is parked near the Islamic Education Center November 13, 2009 in Potomac, Maryland.

This photo, taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows Iranian anti-riot police officers directing people during an anti-government protest, on the sidelines of state-sanctioned rallies to mark the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Nov.

Iran's greatest master of traditional music, Mohammad Reza Shajarian, always avoided open clashes with his country's ruling hard-line clerics.

Neda Agha Soltan, the young Iranian woman whose face became the international symbol of protest against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , told her fiancA© she was prepared to "take a bullet in the heart" in the fight against the president's regime.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards today announced the final line-up for its 2009 International Jury with the appointment of two new members, Andrew Pike and Aden Young.

The Iranian authorities have reportedly executed a Kurdish militant whom they charged with being an "enemy of God". Ehsan Fattahian, 27, was hanged yesterday in the western city of Sanandaj, according to Ali Akbar Gharoussi, head of the judiciary in Kurdistan province.

Swine flu has claimed the lives of 58 people in Iran so far, said Dr. Mohamad-Mehdi Guya, the Health Ministry director for the Infectious Diseases, on Wednesday.

With predictable cynicism, Iran has charged three young American backpackers with espionage.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cannot be removed from his post because his legitimacy comes from God, an official close to Iran's most powerful figure was reported Friday as saying.

NASSER KARIMI Brother-in-law of Iran opposition leader, arrested in postelection turmoil, to be tried TEHRAN, Iran - TEHRAN, Iran a ' The brother-in-law of Iran's top opposition leader will be put on trial before the Revolutionary Court, months after his arrest in the country's postelection crackdown, Tehran 's top prosecutor said Friday.

When Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki holds talks with Indian officials here Monday, the stalled tri-nation gas pipeline project will be discussed, but the focus will be on the flow of terror from Pakistan-based militants of which Tehran was a recent victim.

The federal government moved Thursday to seize assets belonging to the Alavi Foundation and the Assa Corp., including a Manhattan skyscraper and four mosques, citing alleged links to the Iranian government.

Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert is upset that Iran's "Death to America" day, which celebrates the 1979 kidnapping of US embassy hostages, has become "too commercialized." "It's Day 10,965," Colbert joked, "am I the only one who remembers?" Colbert was referencing how ABC News covered the hostage crisis, by running a show called "The Iran Crisisa ...

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Wednesday called for the U.S. change of policy on Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - PESHAWAR, Pakistan a ' Gunmen killed a Pakistani working at the Iranian Consulate in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday, adding to security fears in the country as it presses an offensive against the Taliban along the nearby Afghan border.

Iran has written to an Oxford University college to complain about a scholarship in memory of a slain Iranian student who became a symbol of anti-government protests in her country, the college said Wednesday.

Iran hanged a Kurdish activist on Wednesday morning in a prison in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj, his lawyer said.

Saudi Prince Khaled bin Sultan, deputy minister for defence and aviation, is greeted by soldiers in Jizan near the border with Yemen yesterday Saudi Arabia said yesterday it will keep up air strikes against Yemeni rebels until they pull back from its borders, as Iran warned against regional intervention in the conflict.

Israeli soldiers unload hundreds of tons of arms, seized at dawn on a ship bound for Syria and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, around 100 nautical miles from the Israeli coast, at the port of Ashdod on November 4, 2009 in Israel.

There are several possible responses to the appalling news that Iran seems to have brought espionage charges against three American hikers who wandered across the Kurdish border.

Iran announced Tuesday it will use Italy to launch a communications satellite after waiting years for Russia to do the job, the semiofficial Mehr news agency reported.

TEHRAN, IRAN Associated PressIran accused three detained Americans of spying Monday, signaling Tehran intends to put them on trial.

The visit aimed to determine prospects of relations between the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan and Iran in fields of economy, culture and tourism.

This photo taken Oct. 1, 2009 shows Iranian musician Shahram Nazeri, center, and his son Hafez, right, rehearsing for an upcoming Los Angeles concert in Beverly Hills, Calif.

By Iran GlobalPost Correspondent TEHRAN, Iran a ' Every year, thousands of Iranians flock to the seaside to enjoy the sand and water.

Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday slammed President Barack Obama's reconciliation efforts as insincere, as security forces and antigovernment protesters braced for a showdown Nov. 4 - the 30th anniversary of the US Embassy seizure by militant students.

"The new president of the US ...[sent] messages repeatedly - verbal, written - [saying] come, let us turn the page, come let us create a new situation," Ayatollah Khamenei told a group of students. "Now eight months have passed [and] what we saw was opposite to what they have expressed in words.... The American government is a really arrogant power and the Iranian nation will not be deceived with its apparent reconciliatory behavior."

A senior Iranian lawmaker has warned Russia that continuing to delay the delivery of a missile-defense system to Iran will harm relations between the two countries.

Iran's Mehdi P., from Tabriz; Moshen G., from Shiraz; and Nemat Safavi, from Ardebil, are all awaiting execution for allegedly having gay sex - when they were under 18.

Senior Iranian lawmakers rejected on Saturday any possibility of Tehran shipping uranium abroad for further enrichment, intensifying pressures on the government to reject the U.N.-backed plan altogether.

The recent elections in Iran, and subsequent challenges to their legitimacy, have been a matter of enormous internal conflict in Iran, and of seemingly endless debate in the rest of the world.

Philippines News.Net Friday 6th November, 2009 The International Atomic Energy Agency has said that it has found evidence about Iran testing its advanced nuclear warhead design.

Smoke billows from a burning car after it was set on fire by supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi to protest against the killing of a demonstrator in Tehran on Monday.

Tehran - Iranian police arrested 109 people during opposition protests on the sidelines of an official rally marking three decades since the seizure of the US embassy, Tehran's police chief said on Saturday.

A Danish journalism student has been arrested in Iran, the Danish Foreign Ministry told CNN on Saturday.

"Killing people for what they did as children is wrong and repellent, and killing them for alleged homosexual conduct is just as wrong and repellent.

The violent images of the 1979 Iranian revolution - women clad in chadors chanting passionately, protesters burning American flags and students being beaten on the street - are hauntingly similar to those that continue to trickle out of the country today.

The United States and Germany said Thursday that their patience to Iran "is not endless," urging Tehran to accept a UN-backed draft deal over its nuclear program.

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards accused Pakistan Friday of releasing the leader of a Sunni rebel group ahead of a deadly attack it carried out in southeast Iran, state television IRIB reported.

Opposition protesters gathered in the streets of Tehran and other cities November 4, 2009.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki discussed regional issues and weapons allegations with his Syrian counterpart Wednesday in Tehran.

Iranian security forces arrested an Agence France Presse reporter covering Wednesday's rally marking the anniversary of seizure of the U.S. embassy, the agency said on Thursday.

We interrupt reveries about the Yankees with a dose of reality: Iran is racing headlong toward a nuclear weapon, fueling ever more terrorism and brutalizing its citizens.

An unassuming college math student has become an unlikely hero to many in Iran for daring to criticize the country's most powerful man to his face.

U.N. inspectors found "nothing to be worried about" in a first look at a previously secret uranium enrichment site in Iran last month, the International Atomic Energy chief said in remarks published Thursday.

Israel's prime minister charged Thursday that Iran's goal was to kill as many civilians as possible by giving Hezbollah what the military said were enough weapons to extend any war against Israel for one month.

New Delhi, Nov.3 : Cross Border terrorism emanating from Pakistan is expected to top the agenda of talks between foreign ministers of India and Iran due to be held in mid-November in the national capital.

Iran has executed a convicted member of the Jundallah Sunni rebel group, the semi-official Fars news agency has reported.

A yellow ribbon -- ceramic to withstand the passage of time -- still hangs from the old oak tree in L. Bruce Laingen's front yard, a 30-year-old reminder of the Minnesota farm boy's ordeal as the highest-ranking diplomat among 52 U.S. Embassy workers held hostage in Iran for 444 days.

A 4.9-SCALE earthquake struck the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas early today, injuring at least 209 people, according to the official news agency Irna.

Students in the southwest Iranian city of Ahvaz in recent days launched an impromptu protest in a campus auditorium.

Iran's supreme leader on Tuesday warned against the U.S. imposing its will on negotiations with Tehran.

An exiled Iranian opposition group called on the U.N. nuclear agency Tuesday to waste no time in examining a hidden site near Tehran that it claims is used to help build nuclear detonators.

It has witnessed some of Iran s most tumultuous events: the fall of the shah, the return of Ayatollah Khomeini and the transformation from pro-Western monarchy to revolutionary Islamic republic.

The comment from Ahmadinejad came as Iran is negotiating with the West over a UN-backed proposal to ship its uranium abroad for further enrichment.

Iran says it has evidence the U.S. was involved in an attack last week that killed 42 people including top Revolutionary Guard commanders.

Yemen's government has confirmed reports its coast guard has seized an Iranian ship with arms it says were destined for Yemeni rebels.

GESTURES OF REBELLION: Students are showing their opposition to the Iranian president by wearing green wristbands and doing their homework in green ink THE OBSERVER , TEHRAN Monday, Nov 02, 2009, Page 6 Students across Iran are planning to lead a huge day of protest this week against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad s regime, in a defiant ...

RIYADH: A top Saudi official warned against mixing politics with the upcoming annual pilgrimage to Mecca in a veiled reference to Iran, according to an interview with a local paper on Wednesday.