2012-02-10T21:20:00+01:00 TYPO3 - get.content.right http://www.roozonline.com/ Latest News 2012-02-10T21:30:15+01:00 2012-02-10T21:22:02+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article36060 Leila Tayyeri

2012-02-09T01:20:37+01:00 2012-02-09T01:20:33+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article36059 Nikahang Kosar

2012-02-08T20:36:57+01:00 2012-02-08T20:36:52+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article36036 Morteza Kazemian

2012-02-06T11:17:25+01:00 2012-02-06T11:17:17+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35987 Fereshteh Ghazi

2012-02-06T11:09:04+01:00 2012-02-06T11:07:46+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35986 Arash Bahmani

2012-02-06T11:03:44+01:00 2012-02-06T10:41:58+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35985 Kaveh Ghoreishi

2012-02-04T19:52:37+01:00 2012-02-04T19:46:37+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35955 Fereshteh Ghazi

2012-02-04T19:47:11+01:00 2012-02-04T19:43:51+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35954 Ebrahim Nabavi

2012-01-23T09:38:32+01:00 2012-01-23T09:34:43+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35772 Bahram Rafiei

New Defense Strategy US aircraft carrier USS John Stennis had left the Persian Gulf earlier during or prior to the naval war-games of the Iranian navy in the Persian Gulf – code named Velayat 90. At the time, General Ataollah Salehi, the commander of Iran’s armed forces make a threatening remark that the aircraft carrier should not return to the Persian Gulf, adding that “we are not used to repeating our warnings and only warn one time.” Following that, other Iranian commanders, such as General Salehi, made similar remarks and said that if Iranian oil was embargoed by the EU, they would shut the Strait of Hormuz. Prior to this, Yadollah Javani, ayatollah Khamenei’s advisor in the IRGC had said that Khamenei had said Iran should “respond to a threat with a threat,” adding that this was the new defense strategy of the country. Speaking to officers of the army’s Imam Ali War College on November 10, 2011, ayatollah Khamenei said, “We are a nation that will respond to any threat with full force. We are not a nation to sit and watch hollow materialistic powers that are rotten from the inside threaten us: We shall threaten in response to threats.” Even though Iranian leaders have declared their ability to shut the Strait, none have said anything about their ability to keep this strategic strait shut.]]>

2012-01-23T09:32:21+01:00 2012-01-23T09:31:01+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35771 Farzaneh Roostaee

Recent Battles at the Strait According to statistics from Lloyds of London, during the tanker war in the Persian Gulf between Iraq and Iran in the 1980s, some 546 commercial ships were attacked at the Strait which resulted in the death of 430 sailors. In the May of 1987 US guided-missile frigate USS Stark was hit with two Iraqi anti-ship Exocet missiles near the Strait of Hormuz which turned into one of the mysteries of the war in the Persian Gulf. Four months earlier, Lebanese daily Alsharq had revealed that the US and Israel had sold anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to Iran in return of its assistance in freeing the American hostages in Lebanon. The Stark was hit to give the US a warning and drag it into the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. On April 1988, US guided-missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck a mine as it entered the Strait of Hormuz but did not sink. US frogmen found new mines bearing the inscription of “Iran Ajr” on them. In response to this, the US Navy launched Operation Praying Mantis. Through its execution, first the Sassan oil platform and the oil facilities at Siri island, both belonging to Iran, were destroyed. Then Iranian missile boats Sahand and Joshan were hit and sunk, killing 56 sailors.  The Iranian frigate Sabalan too was hit with missiles and disabled. Two months later, US guided-missile cruiser USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian passenger plane killing all 290 on board. Examining the Threats to Shut the Strait of Hormuz In reality, the provocation to close the strait and pitting the international community against Iran was a military trap designed by Iraq against Iran. This is why even though Iraq attacked ships destined for Iran in the Persian Gulf, Iran did not respond for the first four years. Even during the height of the tanker war, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz declined only by 25 percent, but was never completely halted. The main part of the two shipping channels of the Strait of Hormuz, in and out of the Persian Gulf passes through Iranian waters. A look at international maps of the Strait makes it clear that even though the boundaries between Oman and Iran have been delineated, the Strait of Hormuz belongs to Oman. By disrupting the traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, one should expect a response from the international community. One should note that by challenging the Strait, the administration of Iranian Greater and Lesser Tomb islands, which are claimed by the UAE, may also be lost from Iran. It is also possible that the administration of the Strait may be handed over to an international committee in which Iran will have no role to play. Just two hundred years ago, the Iranian kings of the Qajar dynasty, lost significant parts of Iran’s northern territory to Tsarist Russia through the Golestan and Turkmanchai treaties. Iranians continue to be vengeful of the incompetence of Iranian kings. Similarly, future Iranian generations will not forgive those who through ignorance use security issues and the waterways of the country to battle their domestic opponents or who try to oppress the Iranian nation through fake justifications of crises at the Strait of Hormuz.]]>

2012-01-19T14:39:07+01:00 2012-01-19T14:38:51+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35746 Kazem Alamdari

2012-01-17T23:30:39+01:00 2012-01-17T23:28:40+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35686 Mohammad Reza Yazdanpanah

The Confrontation Over the Straits of Hormuz The debate over the embargo of Iranian oil is among the policies that the West is pursuing to halt Iran’s controversial nuclear program. Some senior Iranian political and military authorities had recently threatened that if Iran’s oil was embargoed, the country would shut the Straits of Hormuz and prevent the flow of any country’s oil through the passageway. Iran’s previous foreign minister Manoutchehr Mottaki, who said he did not know of the contents of the letter to ayatollah Khamenei, sounded a different note and said, “By talking about more sanctions, the Americans wanted to and were concerned about stepping into an uncertain area but they were checkmated by the Islamic republic. Then they tried to prevent some issues.” Senior American civilian and military authorities had declared that they would not allow the Islamic republic to shut the Straits of Hormuz. The Prime Minister of the UK also said that Iran would not be allowed to threaten the security of the straits. After the New York Times announced that President Obama had sent a letter to Iran’s leader in which he declared the Straits of Hormuz to be “Red Line” whose crossing the US would not tolerate, the spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry Ramin Mehmanparast confirmed that the US ambassador to the UN had submitted a letter from the US President to Iran’s UN representative, while another copy was handed over to Iranian authorities by the Swiss ambassador in Tehran and that a third copy was received from Iraq’s president Jalal Talebani. He also said that “Iran was studying” whether to respond to the letter or not, and added, “If the decision is to respond, then it will be done appropriately.” Saudi Arabia to Fill Iran’s Oil In the meantime, Saudi oil minister announced that his country was ready to fill the oil gap if Iran’s oil were embargoed. Ali al-Naimi told CNN that all his country had to do was “open the oil taps just a little more” to immediately add 2 million more barrels a day to the world supply. Saudi Arabia currently produced about 9.5 million barrels a day while Iran’s production stands at about 2.5 million barrels. The Saudi announcement comes despite a warning by Iranian authorities a few days earlier to other oil producers not to raise their oil production. Iran had threatened that any country that raised its production to replace Iran’s oil would be responsible for any action that was taken regarding the embargo on Iranian oil. The foreign ministers of the European Union are scheduled to decide on embargoing Iran’s oil next Monday. The French foreign minister has said that all 27 members of the union have agreed in principle on the issue. The EU imports about 20 percent of its oil needs from Iran.]]>

2012-01-17T23:23:43+01:00 2012-01-16T08:43:09+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35662 Arash Bahmani

fedayeen (those willing to sacrifice their life) across the world who will wholeheartedly undertake to punish them,” he asserted. Calls for reprisals against the West also made their way to the Basij militia organization that operates under the command of the Revolutionary Guards. In a statement that was issued after Roshan’s assassination, Basij wrote, “Enemies should know that they are digging their own grave with these actions and they should await a decisive response from the Hezbollah nation.” Some Principlist (this is the group that claims allegiance to the initial goals of the 1979 revolution and today is split among those supporting ayatollah Khamenei and those supporting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) media also towed the same line. One of them quoted a security official to have said, “Iran’s security community is well positioned to engage in reprisal activities as a response to the assassinations carried out by Western security agencies. Iran’s response shall be overseas and beyond the region. The planners of these projects should never be allowed to feel security anywhere in the world.”]]>

2012-01-14T23:50:52+01:00 2012-01-14T23:47:28+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35629 Mohammad Reza Yazdanpanah

Fingers Point to IAEA and Israel Prior to this incident, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) had announced that they would be taking up the responsibility of protecting the members of the country’s nuclear program, which was subsequently approved by the Majlis. In a letter to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, Iran’s representative at the nuclear watchdog Ali Asqar Soltanieh wrote that by “publishing the names of Iranian scientists and experts, the agency had placed these individuals at risk of being assassinated and at the disposal of spy agencies of Israel and the United States.” He further said, “The names of Iranian nuclear scientists and specialists who had engaged in committed cooperation with the IAEA were leaked outside and were placed on the illegal list of EU sanctions and the UN Security Council.” By saying that these lists were the source of foreign intelligence agencies in the latter’s plans to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists, Soltanieh added, “The international community has witnessed the new ugly phenomena of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists and specialists by terrorist groups supported by the US and Israel.” The spokesperson for Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and Foreign Policy at the Majlis Kazem Jalali echoed similar words when he said that the assassinations indicated that the information that the Islamic republic provides to international agencies is provided to “enemies.” “While organizations like the IAEA should be trusted places for nations, why are the secrets of nations and governments put at the disposal of terrorists,” he asked. He said the IAEA should not have released the names of individuals associated with Iran’s nuclear program. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s first deputy, Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, attributed the assassinations to Israel. Speaking after a cabinet session, he said, “This terrorist act took place by agents of the Zionist regime (a reference to Israel) and those who claim to be fighting terrorism, whereas in fact they have taken up a fight against humanity and decent aspects of humans as a way to eliminate scientists from providing their service to humanity.” Ramin Mehmanparast, the foreign ministry spokesperson also condemned the assassination of Roshan. “We shall pursue these inhuman practices and complain to the relevant organizations and authorities,” he said. He further said that the silence by Western countries and supporters of Israel over the physical elimination of Iranian nuclear scientists can mean their indirect alignment or Israel’s sense of confidence that there would be no serious response by other countries over such terrorist actions. Domestic media reported that a bystander who was injured in explosion that killed Roshan died in hospital. According to Iran’s official news agency IRNA, Roshan was a member of Sharif University student Basij (Iran’s official militia organized under the IRGC) who had graduated in chemical engineering in 2001. The agency also reported that during a Majlis session, MPs chanted death to the US, death to Israel and death to hypocrites (a word Iranian officials use for the Mujahedin Khalq Organization). In a speech on the floor, Shahabedin Sadr, the second Majlis Speaker deputy said “World Arrogance” (a term the Iranian regime uses for the United States) was behind the assassination. This is despite US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s express denial of any US involvement in the assassination. In her statement on the subject she also reiterated the concern of the international community over Iran’s nuclear activities. Tommy Vietor, the spokesperson for the US National Security Council also condemned the attack and said the US had “absolutely nothing to do” with it. Britain also issued a statement condemning the assassination on Roshan. The assassination of Roshan brings the number of people involved in Iran’s nuclear program who have been killed in Tehran to three. In January 2010 Masoud Ali Mohammadi, a physics university professor and a researcher in the nuclear program was killed in a similar attack in Tehran. The assassination of Roshan took place exactly on the second anniversary of Mohammadi’s attack. The other attack took place in November of 201 when Majid Shahriyari, also a physics university professor at Beheshti University was assassinated in Tehran near the school. Fereidoon Abbasi Davani, another physics professor from the same university was also attacked on the same day, but has survived the explosion. The Islamic regime has blamed Western countries, particularly the United States and Israel for these attacks. This last attack took place on the corner of a row of buildings belonging to the headquarters of the ministry of intelligence of Iran but the motor bikers who carried out the attack, according to Iran’s official accounts, managed to flee the scene after the explosion.]]>

2012-01-11T21:53:33+01:00 2012-01-11T21:50:17+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35608 Fereshteh Ghazi

Javid Hootan Kian Still on Non-Visit List This defense attorney named another of his clients, Javid Hootan Kian, the imprisoned defense attorney for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani who he said continues to be kept at Tabriz’s central prison and is on the non-visitation list. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is the famed woman who has been sentenced to death by stoning. Mr. Hootan was arrested last year along with Sajad Ghaderzadeh, Sakineh Ashtiani’s son, along with two German reporters in Iran. The German reporters were subsequently released and returned to Germany and Ghaderzadeh was acquitted. Javid Hootan was initially sentenced to 11 years of prison and a 5-year ban on working in the legal field, a ruling that was subsequently reduced to six years. He is serving his sentence in Tabriz’s central prison. Mr. Mahmoudi who represented Hootan told Rooz, “Mr. Hootan was acquitted from charges of ertedad (heresy) and espionage but he was sentenced to one year of prison for engaging in propaganda against the regime plus another five years for misrepresenting himself as being an international attorney, a representative of human rights, etc. He continues to serve his sentence while being denied the right to have a defense attorney in addition to being denied any visitations by his relatives and family members.” He said that he did meet with Hootan last March in the Tabriz prison when he passed his power of attorney documents to me, something that the judge in the case strongly opposed, thus in reality denying Mr. Hootan of legal representation. “His family members are under severe pressure not to talk to the media and he himself is under bad conditions in prison. It is undeserving that human rights activists and media ignore the conditions and fate of this respectable attorney,” Mahmoudi said. He also said that when he saw his client in March, his hands and feet showed cigarette burn signs, adding, “He had been severely tortured and was in no good health at all. His nose and a number of his teeth were broken and his testicles were injured. Unfortunately human rights groups have not paid the attention that this activist is worthy of as he continues to be deprived of his basic and legal rights even as a prisoner.”]]>

2012-01-10T09:03:10+01:00 2012-01-10T08:58:10+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35565 Bahram Rafiei

Election Fears In his speech, ayatollah Khamenei also addressed the candidates for the Majlis and said, “Competition is not the same as animosity and mutual accusations. Competition does not mean proving yourself by negating others. It is also not making unlawful promises to acquire votes.” With the last elections on his mind, the leader also said, “Officials who are responsible for elections, in the government, the ministry of interior and the Guardians Council have to make every effort to protect the public vote and ensure a healthy election. Everyone should know that there is nothing above the law.” “The association of candidates with the centers of wealth and power is very destructive,” he said. Ayatollah Khamenei has made a number of warnings regarding interference in elections. Earlier, in the month of May/June when his differences with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came into full public view and as the leader’s close appointees make public accusations of the president’s efforts to interference in the 2009 presidential election, speaking to a group of Majlis representatives he warned that “nobody should interference in elections in any way so that process would take its lawful course and the Majlis would convene based on the votes of people. The ayatollah’s emphasis on a “lively” public participation in the upcoming elections comes amid the announcement by reformers and protestors of the 2009 elections that they would not vote in March while the only group that would be participating are the Principlists who have remained divided despite frequent efforts to unify them, with some supporting the president while others opposing him as they support the supreme leader. Just last Saturday, Ali Saeedi, the representative of ayatollah Khamenei in the Revolutionary Guards claimed that “polls indicate that 60 to 65 percent of the public would participate in the elections for the ninth Majlis, disregarding those who advocate boycotting it.”]]>

2012-01-09T10:23:25+01:00 2012-01-09T10:18:40+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35547 Kaveh Ghoreishi

Mass Executions in Visitation Halls This is the first time that the International Campaign on Human Rights in Iran is publishing the names of 101 victims of secret executions in the Vakilabad prison of Mashhad. It has requested the judiciary of the Islamic republic to immediately end secret executions and stop executions altogether. The published list contains names of 101 individuals who are said to have been executed in the prison between June 19, 2010 and December 20, 2010. This list, which has been published along with a brief report, is the first document that presents the identities and details of many of those that have been secretly executed. The report categorizes the executions as “secret,” “massive,” and “unannounced,” adding that their trials took place without the presence of attorney’s or relatives of the victims, and that these relatives had not been informed of the executions for days that ranged from one to several after the event. Ms. Amini believes that the actual number of secret executions exceeds the 101 number whose list has been published. She points to statements made by officials of Iran’s judiciary in the province of Khorasan and the remarks of some Friday prayer leaders in the province who she says have implicitly acknowledged in various ways the existence of secret executions. Last October, Mohammad Bagher Bagheri, the deputy chief of the judiciary in South Khorasan province implicitly acknowledged the secret mass executions of drug criminals in a Birjand prison, the center of South Khorasan province and without mentioning similar executions in 2009 and the current year, said that 140 drug related criminals had been executed in 2010 in that prison. The Campaign said that none of the executions mentioned by Bagheri were ever announced in 2010. While the Campaign has recorded 471 secret executions in Mashhad and other cities between January 2-11 until now, other sources point to a larger number of victims. Ms. Amini says, “From evidence gathered by witnesses and others gathered by our friends, we succeeded in collecting details on 101 victims. But we are certain that the total number of executions far exceeds this number.” According to the Campaign, based on evidence gathered by local activists, the prisoners who were executed secretly in Vakilabad prison apparently did not know they were to be executed until the arrival of their hour of time. Officials told the victims to write their wills and take their last bath just before they were executed. According to the report, authorities of Vakilabad hung the prisoners at about sunset in an open air hall that led to the visitation hall. In order to keep the hangings secret, officials turned off the telephone lines of the facility hours before the executions. Ms. Amini also said that even after the prisoners were informed that they would be executed, they were denied the right to inform their relatives of their fate. She said that the report that the Committee has prepared has been sent to various human rights organizations. Shirin Ebadi, Iran’s Nobel Peace Prize winner commented on the report and asked why the Iranian government used this method of execution so eagerly. “Such a measure only creates terror and fear among the populace and has political utility while all evidence indicates that this method of punishment and its increase does not reduce the number of crimes related to drug trafficking. The head of Iran’s judiciary Sadegh Amoli Larijani had said last December, “It is claimed that secret executions take place enmasse in Iran but I categorically announce this to be a complete lie. All death sentences are reported to the head of the judiciary. If they really have information that such secret executions take place somewhere, they should announce them so we can investigate.” Now that the list of 101 executions in Vakilabad has been published, the question is will the judiciary investigate. Ms. Amini says it is not clear. “In the past, they used to say that some judges had unilaterally decided to stone sentenced prisoners. Today, it is not clear whether the authorities are not informed of such executions or that there is a cover up,” she said. In his report, the special UN rapporteur on human rights in Iran wrote that the number of mass secret executions in Iranian prisons was “alarming” and adds that most of these executions take place without prior knowledge of family members or lawyers.]]>

2012-01-05T07:48:43+01:00 2012-01-05T07:46:50+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2012:article35504 Mehrangis Kar

2011-12-30T01:35:45+01:00 2011-12-30T01:33:25+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2011:article35407 Bahram Rafiei

2011-12-29T01:25:33+01:00 2011-12-29T01:23:16+01:00 tag:roozonline.com,2011:article35406 Bahram Rafiei