Appearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on January 31, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James R. Clapper warned that the “2011 plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. shows that some Iranian officials—probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei—have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the U.S. in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime.” In October, U.S. officials accused Iran of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington with hired assassins from a Mexican …
Iranian protesters illegally broke into two British Embassy compounds in Tehran today as police stood by idly, and the attack was broadcast live on Iranian television. It is unclear as yet whether British diplomatic personnel were harmed or taken hostage. Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported that six British officials had been taken hostage but withdrew the story from its website minutes later without explanation. Iran’s rogue regime once again has exhibited a flagrant defiance of international law by failing to protect the embassy compounds, and it undoubtedly orchestrated the …
As international pressure on Iran has mounted due to its accelerating uranium enrichment, its foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., and its systematic human rights abuses, the embattled regime in Tehran has lashed out verbally against Turkey, Britain, Israel, and the United States. On Saturday, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the aerospace unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), warned that if the United States or Israel attacks Iran, then the IRGC would target NATO missile defense installations in Turkey. The Iranians claim …
Iran’s foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington underscores the thuggish nature of Iran’s predatory regime, its willingness to accept high risks to punish its enemies, and its contempt for the United States as well as for international law. The plot was apparently hatched by the top officers within the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Named after Jerusalem (al-Quds), this elite unit made up of approximately 2,000 personnel plays a leading role in covert operations to advance Iran’s Islamic revolution. The Quds Force combines the …
On February 11, Iran’s unpopular regime celebrated the 32nd anniversary of its 1979 revolution as well as the ouster of Egypt’s President Mubarak. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, claimed that Iran’s Islamist revolution had inspired Egyptians and charged that the United States was trying to “derail” Egypt’s revolution. Although the regime did its cynical best to conflate the two events and trumpet the Egyptian revolt as an echo of Iran’s Islamist revolution, few Iranians bought the propaganda line spread by the regime. Iran’s opposition Green Movement is both a forerunner …
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday announced the imposition of sanctions against eight Iranian officials who were responsible for severe violations of Iranian human rights during the June 2009 government crackdown. The officials included the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s Prosecutor General, the Minister of Intelligence, and other key members of Iran’s police and internal security forces. The sanctions were imposed by an executive order signed yesterday by President Obama that freezes any assets owned by the Iranian officials in the United States, bans their travel to …
The power struggle inside Iran is intensifying, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s ultra-radical camp continues to clash with the traditional hardline camp that has dominated most of the previous Iranian presidencies. Ahmadinejad, backed by cronies from the increasingly influential Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has sought to marginalize members of the older generation with links to Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s 1979 revolution. One of the latest disputes involves Ahmadinejad’s effort to seize control of one of the largest Iranian academic institutions as part of the regime’s cultural purge of the …
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today used the annual celebration of the anniversary of Iran’s Islamic revolution to announce that Iran has become a “nuclear state.” Although the bombastic dictator has made this claim before, his exultant announcement came shortly after Iran had announced that it would enrich uranium to the 20 percent level that it claims it needs to fuel a research reactor that is scheduled to run out of fuel later this year. Ahmadinejad proclaimed: “I want to announce with a loud voice here that the first package of …
Considering the atrocious abuses of human rights committed by the Iranian government against those who speak out against its tyranny, it comes as no surprise that Iran, according to a Wall Street Journal investigative report, “has been conducting a campaign of harassing and intimidating members of its diaspora world-wide.” Farnaz Fassihi reports that Iranians living abroad, have received ominous emails from Iranian security forces, warning that their families will be in danger, if their actions against the regime persist. Many Iranian citizens have been detained at airports and interrogated as …
I wrote back in June about the shameful silence of the Obama administration during the mass street protests that greeted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s fraudulent re-election victory as President of Iran. As White House spokesman Robert Gibbs ludicrously put it, the administration was “impressed by the vigorous debate and enthusiasm this election generated.” Or in Vice President Joe Biden’s words on NBC’s Meet the Press, describing Ahmadinejad’s victory – “we’re going to withhold comment… I mean we’re just waiting to see.” Embarrassingly for Washington, even many European leaders showed more backbone in …
