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IR655
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By: Kian
Mokhtari
Ever since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the country has
been the victim of many terrorist atrocities carried out by
murderous third parties, hired exclusively by the US and its
Western hemisphere satellite states.
Throughout the early years of the establishment of the
Islamic Republic, the assassinations carried out by the
hated Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) deprived Iran of
some of the brightest luminaries of the Revolution.
Iranians suffered the indignities inflicted on their land
after a military invasion by a US-backed Ba’athist glove
puppet called Saddam Hussein. Saddam was brought to power by
a US staged coup only a few months after the victory of Iran
’s Revolution, with the express aim of breaking the will of
the people of Iran .
The former dictator of Baghdad attacked and invaded the
Islamic Republic. He was aided in his eight-year war against
Iran by no less than 37 countries. But having tasted bitter
defeat in his satanic mission he turned rabid and bit his
own, and like all other US lap dogs in the region was
eventually put down by his former masters in Washington.
On July 3rd 1988, faced with total loss of prestige in the
Middle East, the US military was ordered to take matters
into its own hands.
A civilian Iran Air Airbus A300B2 was flying from Bandar
Abbas , Iran , to Dubai , UAE, with 290 passengers and crew
aboard. There were also 66 children aboard flight IR655.
The flight was making its way –within Iranian airspace- over
the Strait of Hormuz toward its final destination unaware of
the criminal minds at work onboard the U.S. Navy's guided
missile cruiser USS Vincennes. The US warship was illegally
traversing the Iranian territorial waters.
The Iran Air airliner was suddenly blown out of the sky by
missiles fired from the US warship.
The disaster was the seventh among the deadliest airliner
fatalities. It had the highest death toll of any aviation
incident in the Indian Ocean and the highest death toll of
any incident involving an Airbus A300 anywhere in the world.
The US government claimed that the crew had mistakenly
identified the Iranian Airbus A300 as an attacking F-14
Tomcat fighter. The crew onboard Vincennes was operating the
most sophisticated sensors known to the world. There is no
way on earth they could have mistaken an Airbus airliner’s
massive radar signature for an attacking F-14.
The cowards onboard Vincennes were awarded Combat Action
Ribbons for having actively participated in ground or
surface combat, and the captain received the Legion of
Merit.
The Iranian government maintains to this day that the
Vincennes knowingly shot down the civilian aircraft.
The tragedy of flight IR655 continues to serve for the
people of Iran as yet another reminder of the criminal
nature of the government of the United States.
When all other terrorist hired by the US to do the world
communities harm have failed, the Washington regime has
demonstrated that it would not shrink even from fooling
America’s own military into carrying out mind numbing acts
of terrorism, torture, rape and mass murder of the
innocents. |
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Local UK Embassy Staff Face Justice
TEHRAN (Dispatches) – The head of Iran's Guardians Council
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said Friday that local British
embassy staff arrested for stoking post-election unrest will
be put on trial.
"In these incidents, their embassy had a presence, some
people were arrested. Naturally they will be put on trial,
they have made confessions," Ayatollah Jannati told
worshipers at Tehran Friday prayers which he led.
A total of eight local staff were initially arrested late
last month but the British government said seven have now
been released, while Iranian state television has said only
one remains in custody.
Iran arrested the embassy employees for instigating riots in
the unrest that erupted over the re-election of President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is known for his uncompromising
anti-imperial stance.
Ayatollah Jannati said the country's "enemies" had been
plotting a "velvet revolution" in the Islamic Republic.
He said the Foreign Office had predicted "street riots"
around the June 12 election and that it had warned its
nationals to stay away from public places.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali
Khamenei has described Britain, which has long had turbulent
relations with Iran and a long history of mistrust, as the
"most evil" of its enemies.
EU governments called in Iranian envoys in protest at the
action against the British embassy staff, a European
diplomat said.
"They've summoned the Iranian diplomats. It's happening
during the day, some have already summoned the envoy," the
diplomat said.
Iran lashed out at the West for "meddling" after security
forces moved to restore calm and prevent more deadly riots
and rampaging.
At least 20 people were killed in street violence, some of
them under "suspicious" circumstances and several hundred
rioters were arrested, many of them temporarily.
Ayatollah Jannati urged Iran's political parties to end row
over the outcome of the elections in the interest of the
country.
“The world has its eyes fixed on Iran's post-election
developments,” said Ayatollah Jannati. “So we need to end
the ongoing dispute.”
Last month, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran
may downgrade ties with Britain, after the two governments
expelled each other's diplomats. Tehran has also expelled
the BBC correspondent and arrested a British-Greek reporter.
Iranian officials have been particularly angered by the
launch of the BBC's Persian satellite channel this year,
which has been trying to fan the flames in the election
course.
The roots of mutual distrust date back to the 1800s when
Iran, then Persia, was trapped in the colonial rivalry
between Russia and Britain.
In 1953, nationalist prime minister Muhammad Mossadegh was
overthrown in a CIA-organized coup with support from British
operatives after he nationalized the Anglo-Iranian oil
company, the forerunner to British Petroleum.
Diplomatic relations were severed when the British mission
in Tehran was closed in 1980 after British special forces
stormed the Iranian embassy in London to end a hostage
siege.
A 1989 fatwa by the founder of the Islamic Revolution, the
late Imam Khomeini, against apostate British writer Salman
Rushdie sparked a new rupture in ties that were only
restored in 1999.
In 2007, Iran seized 15 British navy personnel inside
Iranian waters near the Iraq border and held them for 12
days.
Britain is also among the strongest opponents of Iran's
nuclear drive to generate electricity.
The Guardians Council, made up of 12 unelected jurists and
clerics, is one of the most powerful bodies in Iran. It has
the authority to interpret the constitution, holds veto
power over legislation passed in parliament and ratifies
election results.
Ayatollah Jannati said the 10th presidential elections in
Iran was conducted in an ultimately healthy conditions.
He said the legal time span as well as the week-long period
permitted by Ayatollah Khamenei was used to carefully
investigate the complaints received to ensure the health of
the elections.
He stressed that there were no faults detected in the
procedure and result of the presidential election.
The scholar said the GC experts scrutinized the results and
the procedure of the election but found nothing faulty about
it.
He said even after recounting of 10% of ballot boxes only a
minor discrepancy rate was discerned which is quite natural
for any elections.
Stressing that national unity was of the major values of
Islam and the Islamic system in Iran, he urged all to
safeguard it in all circumstances.
Saying that enemies were closely monitoring developments in
Iran, he asked all to end their differences and abide by
laws to demonstrate a unified and massive turnout in coming
elections.
President's Order: Reviewing Ties
With Terror Sponsors
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
has ordered the implementation of a new law, which requires
that relations with any state sponsoring terrorism be
reviewed.
The law was passed by Majlis (Iran's parliament) last month
and Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani communicated the decision to
the president on June 17, IRNA reported Friday.
Composed of a single article, the law states, "The
government is obliged to review with the aim of the
reduction of, commercial and economic relations with
countries which, in the government's view, support
terrorism."
This bill received Guardian Council approval on June 9.
President Ahmadinejad has sent the new law to the foreign
ministry for implementation.
MKO maintains an underground system in most European and
North American cities, with lobby networks and a few
chameleon fronts and disguised names that mask the
organization, despite being blacklisted as a terrorist
organization by many international entities and countries,
including the U.S.
The group was exiled from Iran after the Islamic Revolution
and settled in Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of
former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The MKO is responsible for numerous acts of violence against
Iranian civilians and government officials as well as Iraqis
during the rein of Saddam.
MKO’s Camp Ashraf base was under protection of American
forces and, despite the terrorist designation, they
reportedly did “business” with former U.S. Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s secret Task Force 20 for a few
terror jabs at Iran in a hostile, ill-conceived regime
change dream concocted by former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Ahmadinejad Aide: Defeated Candidates Know Election Fair
TEHRAN (Press TV) -- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election campaign
manager, Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi, says Iran's electoral
process was fair and healthy.
Iran became the scene of opposition rallies after the
announcement of Ahmadinejad as the winner of the 10th
presidential election with nearly two-thirds of the vote.
At least 20 people were killed and many others were injured
when some protests turned violent.
In an interview with Press TV on Thursday, Samareh-Hashemi
said that the supporters of the defeated candidates knew
fully well that "the result of the election was true".
He went on to claim that this knowledge was the reason
behind the refusal of Mir-Hussein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi
and Mohsen Rezaei to send representatives to the committee
tasked with probing the vote result.
Iran's election body, the Guardian Council, formed a
"special commission" to look into the issues surrounding the
election and to conduct a partial vote recount.
Samareh-Hashemi explained that the Ahmadinejad
administration had temporarily suspended text-messaging
services, made cell phone services intermittent and blocked
certain websites to "ensure security in the country"
following the post-election unrest.
He went on to accuse certain American internet service
providers of implementing the policies of the U.S.
government by "launching attacks on 200 Iranian websites and
helping fuel the unrest."
"Even, the election website came under cyber attack," he
said.
Samareh-Hashemi insisted that Mousavi must publicly declare
his adherence to the law, saying all Iranians are required
to abide by the Constitution.
He went on to describe the defeated candidate's recent
statement as a "step forward".
Mousavi, who has rejected the result of Iran's presidential
election as fraudulent, announced on Wednesday that a number
of Iranian scholars would be forming a committee to pursue
the objections to the vote result via the Judiciary.
Samareh-Hashemi concluded by saying that Mousavi was not
deemed as an opposition leader. "In Iran we have both views
expressed in support of the government and views against the
government and this does not mean opposition (to the
government)."
Gov't: Election Revived Imam's Path
TEHRAN (IRNA) -- Government spokesman Gholamhussein Elham
said that in the tenth presidential elections people voted
for the revival of the path of late Imam Khomeini, ideals of
the Islamic Revolution and religious-democracy.
Addressing a group of clerics of the Qom theological school,
he said massive turnout of over 40 million people in the
country’s presidential election set a record in the history
of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
The enemies did their best to disrupt the elections fearing
the thoughts and teachings of the late Imam Khomeini would
be followed in the next government, he said.
The ninth government spared no effort to implement
invaluable ideals of the Islamic Revolution in the society,
he said.
The ninth government proved to what extent it is committed
to the Velayat-e Faqih), (governance of supreme
jurisprudent), he underlined.
The enemies tried to get rid of the ninth government and
they resorted to various plots and scenarios to attain their
sinister goals, Elham said.
The enemies through media propaganda campaigns tried to
distort realities in Iran but when faced with the timely
response of Iranian officials they had no choice to regret
their illogical meddling in the country’s internal affairs,
he said.
Calls Mount for Prosecution of Riot
Leaders
TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Basij's student branch and
a number of MPs have urged Iran's attorney general to take
Mir-Hussein Mousavi and other riot leaders to court over his
role in the recent unrest in the country.
The student Basij, in a letter to the attorney general
referred to Iran's 10th presidential election as a "national
epic that has disappointed the Islamic Republic's enemies".
"Unfortunately, Mr. Mousavi's remarks and his behavior after
the election, especially his illegal importunity to complain
about the election results through channels that are not
legal are against the country's regulations," the letter
read.
Basij forces also lashed out at Mousavi for "inciting his
supporters to take to the streets to stage protests", a move
that has inflicted "irreparable damage" to the country, Fars
news agency reported.
Basij also accused Mousavi of "undermining national
security" and "mounting a propaganda campaign against the
Islamic Republic of Iran."
"Those who hold illegal rallies and gatherings should be
legally pursued," parliament member Muhammad Taghi Rahbar
was quoted as saying by the hardline Javan newspaper.
It said he was among several lawmakers preparing to write to
the judiciary complaining about Mousavi's activities after
the June 12 election.
His rash reactions have emboldened a number of Western
leaders to meddle in the election in a bid to undermine the
epic created by the Iranian nation with their unprecedented
voter turnout in the country's living history.
As part of the interfering stance, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel said in Berlin that she wanted next week's Group of
Eight summit to send a strong signal to Iran, without
forfeiting possible talks on the nuclear issue.
G8 leaders will meet in Italy on July 8-10, a month after
Ahmadinejad was re-elected.
"I hope the meeting sends a strong message of unity, a
united message that the right to demonstrate and human
rights cannot be separated and that they apply to Iran,"
Merkel said.
"I strongly support President (Barack) Obama's offer to Iran
of direct talks. We will accompany this in a united way. We
cannot drop the issue of a nuclear-armed Iran just because
of the current situation. That would be completely wrong."
Iranian officials have announced from the beginning before
moving to recount a number of ballot boxes at random to
prove that the election was the nation's "healthiest" since
the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran's top military commander on Wednesday said the European
Union must apologize for its "interference" after the
presidential election before any nuclear talks can resume.
Iran's police chief said on Wednesday 1,032 people had been
detained during the protests in Tehran, but most had been
freed.
Muslims Condemn U.S. Plots Against
Iran
ISLAMABAD (IRNA) -- Pakistani political analysts believe
unrest in Iran was created to destabilize the Islamic state
and slammed the western countries' alleged concerns over
Iran's election.
In articles published in media, they said the U.S. has been
conspiring against Iran and the present situation in Iran is
created to damage the country’s image.
Irfan Asghar in his article said that the post-election
situation in Iran was a melodrama if a dispassionate
analysis is carried out.
“There are U.S.-led anti-Iran lobbies which are at work and
funneling millions of dollars to prop up the dissident
groups in Iran to destabilize the country and disrupt the
nation in the course of its nuclear ambitions," he said in
an article published in the media.
He added that all this flies in the face of Obama's
statement that the U.S. is not interfering in Iran's
affairs. “Actually, his heart may be in the right place but
he lacks control over the policies followed by the most
important institutions of the U.S.," he opined.
Irfan Asghar said that comically enough, the White House
spokesperson says: "Let's be clear: the U.S. does not fund
any movement, faction or political party in Iran. We support
universal principles of human rights, freedom of speech and
rule of law."
“These claims are highly farcical as the U.S. is the country
which is trampling on the human rights unabashedly the world
over," he said.
Mazhar Qayyum Khan in his article said that the U.S. has
been playing the game of destabilizing Iran.
He viewed that the U.S., which has failed to bend Iran to
its will in the past 30 years and is now accusing it of
nuclear ambitions, at work applying its interventionist
technique of 'regime change', a somewhat subtle way of
putting in place a ruling elite with a favorable
perspective.
“One feels intrigued that the West, which only casually
comments on the purely cooked-up election results, for
instance, in Egypt where a friendly leader has been in
charge for so long, has risen with one voice in support of
the protesting crowds and is constantly propagating the view
that Mousavi has been cheated out of his legitimate right,
without regard to the other version of the story," said
Mazhar Qayyum Khan.
He viewed that the suspicion of Washington's machinations
that this zealousness to see Mousavi declared the winner is
reinforced by more solid evidence of its involvement in the
current Iranian turmoil.
“When well-informed and highly respected persons cite facts
and figures that tend to justify the conclusion of U.S.
involvement, it becomes hard to dismiss the charge,” he
said.
Mazhar Qayyum Khan said that the U.S. Congress sanctioned
$120 million for 'anti-regime media broadcasts into Iran'
and another $75 million to strengthen opposition forces.
“There could, therefore, be little doubt about the view that
the current propaganda and disinformation campaign about
Iran is being carried out in pursuit of that policy,” said
the analyst.
To New IAEA Chief: Be Independent
TEHRAN (FNA) -- Iran expects the newly elected Director
General of the IAEA to be independent and impartial and work
within the framework of IAEA's constitution, Iran's
ambassador to the agency Ali Asqar Soltanieh said on Friday.
Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano won the IAEA secret ballot as
chief of the UN nuclear watchdog on Thursday with 23
supporters out of 35 members of the Board of Governors.
He also received 11 no votes and one abstained. His rival
from South Africa Abdul Samad Minty received 12 votes.
"We expect the new Director General to try independently and
impartially in line with promotion of cooperation among
countries and peaceful usage of nuclear energy," Soltanieh
told the Iranian students news agency.
Iran as always will continue cooperation with the agency
within the framework of its commitments, he noted. |
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