US President Barack Obama has secretly written a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging progress on nuclear talks and stressing common interest in fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Wall Street Journal says. Obama sent the letter to Khamenei in mid-October, according to the report published on Thursday citing unnamed White House officials. “Mr Obama ... Read More »
Washington Post in it’s OPED section yesterday published and article analyzing the chances the Iran and 5+1 can come to a final agreement by the deadline toward the end of this month. In this article your read: Although many in the West may privately hope that the interim accord will simply roll on in absence of a comprehensive agreement, Iranian ... Read More »
Radio Farda – Two Iranian border guards and a Pakistani paramilitary officer have been reported killed in a shooting incident. Iranian media quoted Revolutionary Guards Corps Brigadier General Roham-Bakhsh Habibi as saying that “a number of the bandits” were killed in the fighting in the restive province of Sistan-Baluchistan late on October 16. He added that a vehicle and “a noticeable ... Read More »
Images of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appearing frail and in bed have raised questions about the seriousness of his condition, and who might eventually succeed him. Reuters reports that rumors about Khamenei have circulated for years. But there has never been such a media blitz on the health of the Supreme Leader, who holds substantial influence or constitutional ... Read More »
You have to salute the rulers of Iran. They stand on the verge of scoring a stunning diplomatic triumph over the United States. Even more impressive: They did it all on bluff. Their adversaries possessed material advantages in terms of money, technology, military power, and more. But Iran’s rulers had clarity of purpose and the will to win. Without these ... Read More »
The march toward modernity coincided with Ayatollah Khomeini’s exile to Najaf in 1964, and the assassination of the secular prime minister Hassan Ali Mansour just a few months later. Meanwhile foreign firms, especially American ones, poured into the country. And for a period until the beginning of the revolution in 1978, the old and new coexisted in seeming harmon. [See ... Read More »
By Ahmed Vahdat, Daily Telegraph – A 25-year-old British-Iranian woman is being held in solitary confinement after being arrested during a women’s rights protest in Tehran, according to campaigners. Ghonche Ghavami was detained outside the city’s Azadi Stadium after she and fellow campaigners tried to enter the men-only arena to watch an Iran-Italy volleyball match. The protesters – who all ... Read More »
By Tony Capaccio – While Iran’s military has toned down its rhetoric about military capabilities and exercises, it continues a low-profile buildup of weapons in and near the Strait of Hormuz, according to a classified Pentagon assessment. “Iran’s military strategy is defensive” and designed to “deter an attack, survive an initial strike, retaliate against an aggressor and force a diplomatic ... Read More »
By Golnaz Esfandiari – Radio Farda “No hair, no ears, no neck.” That’s how one journalist described a front-page portrait of Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani that an Iranian newspaper digitally doctored to obscure her hair and skin to placate censors in the Islamic republic. The altered picture of Mirzakhani, who this week became the first woman awarded the Fields Medal, ... Read More »
Iran’s President Hassan Rohani has harshly criticized hard-liners opposed to making a deal over Iran’s contested nuclear program with world powers, calling them “political cowards.” Rohani made the comments in a televised speech during an annual meeting of Iranian ambassadors on August 11. Rohani said: “Anytime we negotiate, they start shaking. Well, to hell. Go and find a warm place ... Read More »