The Latest from Iran (31 May): Towards a Diplomatic Crash in Moscow?

1539 GMT: Poking the UAE. Last month President Ahmadinejad visited Abu Musa, an island in the Persian Gulf which is claimed by both Iran and the UAE. Leaders of Gulf countries denounced the trip, the first by an Iranian political leader since the Islamic Revolution, as “provocative”, while observers speculated on the motives of the President and the regime.

Now Iranian State media reports that the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, has visited Iranian combat units on Abu Musa and the other disputed islands of Greater and Lesser Tunbs.

Jafari, accompanied by the commander of the IRGC’s navy, Rear-Admiral Ali Fadavi, proclaimed, “Through regional cooperation, we can provide security of these strategic waters, disappoint enemies and add to the glory of Islam.” He urged regional states, “particularly, those located in the southern parts of the Persian Gulf”, to “cut off the hands of the global arrogant powers from the region by unity and brotherhood”.

1253 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. France 24 has posted the full video of its interview with President Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Wednesday. We have not taken much of significance from the discussion, butheadlines include the President’s declaration that Iran stands on the principle that it can enrich uranium to 20% — although he is open to arrangements of guaranteed supply from outside countries — and his condemnation of last weekend’s killings in Houla in Syria, without attributing blame to the Assad regime:

Roundup of Today’s International News 31/05/12

IRAN

Iran urges West to drop ‘illogical’ uranium demand
Tehran says the West should withdraw its “illogical” demand that Iran halt production of uranium enriched to 20 percent.

Ahmadinejad sees no breakthrough at Moscow talks
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday he did not expect talks next month with six world powers in Moscow on Iran’s nuclear programme to yield any major breakthroughs, but hoped to improve confidence between the two sides.

Image shows buildings gone at Iran site: diplomats
U.N. nuclear inspectors displayed new satellite imagery on Wednesday indicating that some small buildings had been dismantled and other possible clean-up work undertaken at an Iranian military site they want to visit.

Defiant Iran Says It Won’t Halt Enrichment or Allow Parchin Access
As Iran and world powers prepare for another round of negotiations next month in Moscow, a senior Iranian official said Tehran would not stop enriching uranium and rejected the UN’s repeated demand to visit a military site suspected of hosting nuclear weapons-related activities.

Iran relaunches domestically overhauled submarine

During a ceremony held on Tuesday, the Iranian Navy relaunched one of its Kilo class submarines, named Tareq, after repairing its systems with domestically manufactured replacement parts.

In a project which took about 1,620,000 man-hours, Navy personnel overhauled the Taregh submarine, replacing 18,000 components including radar-evading cover, engine parts, propellers and radars.

Before undergoing the thorough overhaul, Tareq had taken part in the Velayat-90 naval war games, which were held in December 2011, and successfully fired electrically propelled torpedoes for the first time.

In the ceremony, Rear Admiral Abbas Zamini, who was in charge of the project, said that Iran has attained self-sufficiency in repairing the most complicated submarines.

He also said that dedicated Navy personnel have made great efforts to complete the project to overhaul the Kilo class submarine after going through the stages of dismantling, troubleshooting, repairing, installing systems and equipment, and testing.

In addition, he said that the project was one of the most important achievements of the country’s defense industries after designing and manufacturing the Jamaran destroyer.

The relaunch of Tareq will improve the country’s military deterrence capability and national might, he added.

Spiegel: Iran und Syrien – Anti-Zensur-Software spioniert Web-User aus

Von Matthias Kremp

Simurgh-Website: der offizielle Vertriebskanal für das Anti-Zensur-Tool

Ist es ein Cyberkrieg gegen das eigene Volk? Ausgerechnet in einer Software, die Iraner und Syrer verwenden, um die Zensurmaßnahmen in ihren Ländern zu umgehen, haben Experten jetzt eine Trojanersoftware entdeckt, die staatlichen Ermittlern Zugang zu den PC der Nutzer ermöglichen kann.

Das Windows-Tool Simurgh soll Anwendern in Iran und anderen Ländern einen freien Zugang zum Internet, vorbei an staatlicher Zensur, ermöglichen. Jetzt haben Forscher der University of Toronto entdeckt, dass im Internet eine Version dieser Software kursiert, die genau das Gegenteil tut. Sie installiert einen Trojaner auf dem PC des Nutzers, der Angreifern eine Hintertür öffnet, Passwörter und Benutzernamen ausspäht.

Dabei soll Simurgh, das nach einem persischen Fabelwesen benannt wurde, welches man im Westen als Phönix kennt, eigentlich für mehr Sicherheit und Freiheit sorgen. Seit 2009 wird das Programm vor allem in Iran von Web-Usern verwendet, die anonym im Netz unterwegs sein wollen. In letzter Zeit wird es angeblich auch bevorzugt von Syrern eingesetzt, die der Bevormundung durch ihren Staat entgehen wollen.Simurgh leitet die Web-Anfragen der Anwender über Server im Ausland um, so dass sie beispielsweise wie User aus den USA im Netz surfen können. Von großem Vorteil für die oft mit langsamen Leitungen ans Netz angebundenen Nutzer in diesen Ländern ist, dass die Software nur etwa ein Megabyte groß ist, sich auch auf einem USB-Stick ins Internetcafé mitnehmen lässt.

Nun aber sind die kanadischen Forscher darauf aufmerksam gemacht worden, dass offenbar eine modifizierte Version von Simurgh im Netz kursiert. Statt über die offizielle Website des Anonymisierungstools wird sie über andere Download-Seiten verteilt.

Jeder Tastaturklick wird protokolliert

Morgan Marquis-Boire, der als technischer Berater für das Citizen Lab an der University of Toronto und als Sicherheitsingenieur für Google arbeitet, hat untersucht, was es mit diesem neu entdeckten Schädling auf sich hat. Demnach wird bei der Installation der modifizierten Simurgh-Variante ein Programm namens Isass.exe auf den Rechner eingeschleust. Laut Marquis-Boire wird Dritten über diese Software ein dauerhafter Zugang zu dem Rechner eingerichtet sowie eine Möglichkeit geschaffen, Daten abzuschöpfen.

“Sollte [diese Schadsoftware] auf einem Computer installiert sein, muss man damit rechnen, dass alle Online-Accounts (E-Mail, Online-Banking und so weiter) kompromittiert worden sind”, schreibt Marquis-Boire. Auch der Benutzername und das Passwort für den PC werden abgegriffen und Informationen über jedes geöffnete Fenster und jeden Tastaturanschlag protokolliert. Die so gesammelten Daten werden zu einer HTML-Datei zusammengefasst und an eine Web-Adresse übermittelt, die bei einem Internet-Provider in Saudi-Arabien registriert ist.

Simurgh warnt jetzt selbst

Marquis-Boire rät Betroffenen dazu, schleunigst ihre Passwörter zu ändern – natürlich erst nach Beseitigung des Schädlings. Ein Hinweis darauf, ob die Software auf einem System aktiv ist, könne sein, dass der PC beim Windows-Start keinen Startton mehr von sich gibt und einige Systemtöne nicht abgespielt werden, weil Isass.exe bei seiner Installation die Datei Windows XP Start.wav löscht. Überdies sollen verschiedene Antivirenprogramme, etwa von Sophos und Avira, in der Lage sein, den Schädling zu identifizieren und zu beseitigen.

Die Entwickler der Simurgh-Software haben sich ebenfalls des Problems angenommen, erklärt Sophos. Sie haben ihr System so verändert, dass es jetzt einen Warnhinweis ausgibt, wenn jemand versucht, mit der infizierten Version von Simurgh online zu gehen. Betroffenen wird empfohlen, in einem solchen Fall sofort die Netzverbindung zu kappen und die Schadsoftware zu entfernen.

Vollständiger Artikel

Nomadic life in eastern Iran

BIRJAND, South Khorassan Prov. – The tribal people in Birjand, South Khorassan province in eastern Iran, earn money from farming and animal husbandry. Visiting their traditional life is one of the main attractions of the region during the spring.

Eye on Iran: Houla Massacre: US Accuses Iran of ‘Bragging’ About Its Military Aid to Syria

Top Stories

Guardian: ”The US has accused Iran of ‘aiding and abetting’ the massacre of women and children in Houla by providing support for the Syrian militia accused of carrying out the slaughter. The state department said that Tehran was ‘bragging’ about its role at the weekend after the deputy commander of Iran’s elite Quds force said the force has units inside Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad. Victoria Nuland, the state department spokeswoman, said that Iran’s hand is clearly visible in the killing of more than 100 people, including scores of young children, by a Syrian militia group, the Shabiha, which closely resembles an Iranian militia, the Basij. ‘The Iranians have clearly supplied support and training and advice to the Syrian army, but this Shabiha thug force mirrors the same force that the Iranians use. The Basij and the Shabiha are the same type of thing and clearly reflects the tactics and the techniques that the Iranians use for their own suppression of civil rights,’ she said.” http://t.uani.com/LeAv4L

AP: ”A senior Iranian military official says Iran’s oil industry was briefly affected by a powerful computer virus that has unprecedented data-snatching capabilities and can eavesdrop on computer users. Gholam Reza Jalali, who heads an Iranian military unit in charge of fighting sabotage, said Wednesday that Iranian experts had found and defeated the Flame virus. Jalali told state radio Wednesday that the oil industry was the only governmental body affected and all problems had been resolved.” http://t.uani.com/LFye1R 

Deutschland: Mündliche Verhandlung in Sachen “Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz/Grundleistungen”

Der Erste Senat des Bundesverfassungsgerichts verhandelt am

        20. Juni 2012, 10.00 Uhr, im Sitzungssaal des Bundesverfassungsgerichts, Amtssitz „Waldstadt“, Rintheimer Querallee 11, 76131 Karlsruhe

über die Vorlagen des Landessozialgerichts Nordrhein-Westfalen zu der 
Frage, ob die Grundleistungen nach § 3 Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz 
(AsylbLG), hier bezogen auf einen Erwachsenen und ein Kind, 
verfassungsgemäß sind. 

Rechtlicher Hintergrund: 

Mit dem Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz wurde mit Wirkung ab 1. November 
1993 ein Gesetz zum Mindestunterhalt von bestimmten ausländischen 
Staatsangehörigen geschaffen, das außerhalb des für Deutsche und diesen 
Gleichgestellte geltenden materiellen Rechts deutlich abgesenkte 
Leistungen festsetzte und vorrangig Sachleistungen anstelle von 
Geldleistungen vorsah. Das Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz stand im Kontext 
der Bemühungen der damaligen Bundesregierung in den Jahren 1990 bis 
1993, die damals relativ hohe Zahl der Flüchtlinge nach Deutschland zu 
begrenzen, einem Missbrauch des Asylrechts entgegenzutreten und die 
Kosten für die Aufnahme und allgemeine Versorgung der Flüchtlinge gering 
zu halten sowie vorrangig Sachleistungen auszugeben. 

Der persönliche Anwendungsbereich des Asylbewerberleistungsgesetzes 
wurde im Laufe der Jahre ausgeweitet. Dieses Gesetz findet heute auf 
Menschen in rechtlich und tatsächlich sehr unterschiedlichen Lebenslagen 
Anwendung. Leistungsberechtigte nach dem Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz 
sind Asylsuchende, Kriegsflüchtlinge und andere im Besitz einer 
Aufenthaltserlaubnis befindliche Personen, Geduldete und vollziehbar 
Ausreisepflichtige sowie deren Ehegatten, Lebenspartner und 
minderjährige Kinder.

بازی كامپیوتری با غیرت دینی ( شلیك به مرتد)

پس از اعلان و صدور حكم ارتداد از سوی برخی مراجع اسلامی و اعلام مرتد بودن شاهین نجفی خواننده رپ ایرانی در واكنش به این آهنگ مؤسسه هنر ناب اسلامی تصمیم به تولید یک بازی فلش گرفت.

« محبت نیوز» – به گزارش موسسه هنر ناب اسلامی،  در این بازی فلش اعلام شده است كه  تمام محبین اهل بیت که بر اساس دغدغه و غیرت دینی ، پس از اطلاع از تولید اثر موسیقیایی شاهین نجفی و اهانت وی به امام علی النقی در متن و تصویر تبلیغ آن ،در قلب خود آرزوی اجرای حکم قتل وی را – به واسطه ارتداد – دارند، می توانند با شلیک به این نماینده شیطان ، برای کشتن او تمرین کنند.

در تصمیم به تولید این بازی فلش نیز آورده شده است كه، نمادهای شیطان پرستی كه  به وفور در آثار پیشین شاهین نجفی نیز مشاهده می شود – مؤسسه هنر ناب اسلامی تصمیم به تولید یک بازی فلش در واکنش به این هتک حرمت آشکار گرفت و به لطف الهی و با عنایت  امام هادی این توفیق حاصل شد که در مدت زمانی کمتر از ده روز، این اثر را به شیعیان آن امام پیشکش نماییم.

گفته می شود هدف اصلی این بازی، نمایش انزجار عمومی شیعیان از چنین رفتارهای حرمت شکنانه و اعلام آمادگی همه جانبه برای اجرای حکم قتل برای این مرتد  است.

Khorramshahr, 30 years after iraq/iran war

TEHRAN, May 22 (MNA) — The anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war is an unforgettable day in the history of Iran.

Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society — From House of Cinema to “Forbidden City” (Arseh Sevom)

Photographer Hoda Rostami in her “Forbidden City” (see last item in entry)

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Our colleagues at Arseh Sevom, the NGO promoting civil society in Iran, post their latest summary of developments in the country:

Fewer Clerics in Parliament

The new Parliament officially began operation on the 27^th of May in Tehran.

According to 24 Online News, the number of parliamentarians who are clerics has dropped “to an extent that after 32 years of the Islamic Republic’s victory, a comprehensive research must address all aspects of this change”. The report adds “the first parliament had 153 seats given to clerics, the number plummeted to 44 MPs in the eighth parliament and, now, in the ninth round of Majlis there are 27 legislators who are clerics”. (Historical numbers vary. For more information on Iran’s electoral system read the report Duality by Design (pdf) from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.)

House of Cinema Re-opened, Then Re-closed

This week, many found hope in reports that the Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds (House of Cinema), whose closure was ordered last year, would be allowed to re-open. The chairperson of the House of Cinema’s management board announced that the organization “will resume its operation as of…7th of Khordad (27^th of May)”.

EINSfestival TV Tipp: Offside – Frauen im Abseits – Freitag, 1.Juni 2012 – 20:15 Uhr

Freitag, 1.Juni 2012 – 20:15 Uhr

Teheran im Sommer 2005: Mit einem Sieg gegen Bahrain kann sich die iranische Fußball-Nationalmannschaft für die WM in Deutschland qualifizieren. In einem der vielen Fanbusse, die unterwegs zum Stadion sind, sitzt zwischen lautstarken Schlachtenbummlern eine junge Frau (Sima Mobarak-Shahi), die sich mit Baseballmütze und weiten Hosen als Junge verkleidet hat.

Sie ist begeisterter Fußballfan und will unbedingt ins Stadion. Doch im Iran ist Frauen der Zutritt zu Fußballarenen verboten – angeblich weil die Männer hier für Frauenohren ungeeignete Flüche loslassen. Der illegale Ticketverkäufer nutzt die Situation aus und knöpft ihr das Doppelte für eine Eintrittskarte ab. Doch bevor das Spiel angepfiffen wird, nimmt man die junge Frau an einem Kontrollpunkt fest. Hinter einer Absperrung direkt an der Tribünenmauer, wo sie vorübergehend gefangen genommen wird, trifft sie auf andere Mädchen, die ebenfalls versucht hatten, ins Stadion zu gelangen; unter ihnen eine junge Frau in Soldatenuniform , die es damit sogar bis auf die Ehrentribüne schaffte. Das Spiel beginnt, das Stadion verwandelt sich in einen Hexenkessel. Die Frauen streiten derweil mit den jungen Soldaten aus der Provinz, die ihren Militärdienst ableisten müssen und restlos damit überfordert sind, die wortgewandten Teheranerinnen im Zaum zu halten. Eines der Mädchen will wissen, warum im vorherigen Spiel gegen Japan die japanischen Frauen ins Stadion durften und die iranischen nicht. So genau kann der Soldat ihr das nicht erklären und ist heilfroh, als seine Gefangenen in einen Bus verfrachtet und zur Sittenpolizei gekarrt werden.
Doch nach dem Sieg der iranischen Fußballer herrscht in den Straßen Teherans euphorische Feierstimmung, die irgendwann auf die Soldaten überspringt …

Russia challenges U.S. sanctions on Iran

Alexander Lukashevich

Russia’s Foreign Ministry says U.S. unilateral sanctions against Iran are contrary to international law, the Russian news agency Interfax reports.

U.S. sanctions taking effect next month will impose punitive measures against companies and countries that do business with Iran. These sanctions, according to U.S. authorities, are meant to force Iran to stop enriching uranium, which they claim may lead to the production of nuclear weapons.

Iran rejects allegations that it is trying to build nuclear weapons and insists that its nuclear program is peaceful.

The Iran-Syria-Turkey Triangle

by ALEX VATANKA

From trade to sectarian issues to regional influence, angles within angles.

Alex Vatanka is a fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. Previously, he was a analyst at Jane’s Intelligence.

The Iranian-Turkish conflict over the future of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has the potential to set back relations between Ankara and Tehran by decades. Still, the conflict has not reached a tipping point and it is unlikely to do so as long as the Iranian-Turkish rivalry is limited only to tactical efforts by each side in shaping the power struggle in Syria. What will significantly change the Iran-Turkey-Syria equation is if Tehran concludes that Turkey is leading a U.S.-backed drive to bring about regime changes in the Middle East — a “Libyan model” that can be repeated first in Syria and later in Iran.Absent such a scenario, Iran is neither overly free to shape the outcome in Syria nor so reliant on its regime that it will risk all other regional interests to prop up Assad. Seen from Tehran, the potential loss of the Assad regime is a recoverable strategic setback if it does not have a spillover effect that directly challenges the Islamic Republic’s grip on power in Tehran. Iran’s relations with Syria were from the beginning a marriage of convenience, and plenty of suspicion existed in Damascus-Tehran relations before the Arab Spring. The post-Saddam Shia elite in Baghdad has already turned Iraq into Tehran’s key Arab ally and regional priority.

What will also exacerbate Iranian-Turkish tensions is if Ankara deepens its challenge to Tehran’s political influence in Iraq and elsewhere in the region. This scenario has already begun to unfold, and ties are being further frayed with the dangerous introduction of the sectarian factor.

New Study of Iranians’ Democratic Values Causes Stir

by AMIR BAGHERPOUR

Research finds exceptional gap between people’s values and form of government.

Amir Bagherpour leads a public policy research initiative at the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian American (PAAIA). The first Iranian-born graduate of West Point, he recently completed his Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate University in political science with a focus in international relations.

Last year, a team of Israeli researchers set out to conduct a study on Iran’s democratic potential. Prior to examining Iranian society, they created a cross-societal index comprising more than 60 countries that measures psychological characteristics linked to democratic behavior — a strong correlation between a given country’s degree of democratization, as measured by its Freedom House rating, and its score on the index was shown. When the researchers then turned to Iran, the results were staggering: the Iranian society’s score was higher than those of many successful democratic countries such as South Korea, India, Thailand, and Ukraine. The study indicates that Iran is an outlier, one of very few societies whose democratic values do not match their form of government. 

Eye on Iran: Iran Has Enough Uranium for 5 Bombs

Top Stories

Reuters: ”Iran has significantly stepped up its output of low-enriched uranium and total production in the last five years would be enough for at least five nuclear weapons if refined much further, a U.S. security institute said. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a think-tank which tracks Iran’s nuclear program closely, based the analysis on data in the latest report by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which was issued on Friday… Friday’s report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a Vienna-based U.N. body, showed Iran was pressing ahead with its uranium enrichment work in defiance of U.N. resolutions calling on it to suspend the activity. It said Iran had produced almost 6.2 tons of uranium enriched to a level of 3.5 percent since it began the work in 2007 – some of which has subsequently been further processed into higher-grade material. This is nearly 750 kg more than in the previous IAEA report issued in February, and ISIS said Iran’s monthly production had risen by roughly a third. ‘This total amount of 3.5 percent low enriched uranium hexafluoride, if further enriched to weapon grade, is enough to make over five nuclear weapons,’ ISIS said in its analysis.” http://t.uani.com/JKCeTO

WashPost: ”In November, the tide of daily cable traffic to the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan brought a chilling message for Ambassador Matthew Bryza, then the top U.S. diplomat to the small Central Asian country. A plot to kill Americans had been uncovered, the message read, and embassy officials were on the target list. The details, scant at first, became clearer as intelligence agencies from both countries stepped up their probe. The plot had two strands, U.S. officials learned, one involving snipers with silencer-equipped rifles and the other a car bomb, apparently intended to kill embassy employees or members of their families. Both strands could be traced back to the same place, the officials were told: Azerbaijan’s southern neighbor, Iran. The threat, many details of which were never made public, appeared to recede after Azerbaijani authorities rounded up nearly two dozen people in waves of arrests early this year. Precisely who ordered the hits, and why, was never conclusively determined. But U.S. and Middle Eastern officials now see the attempts as part of a broader campaign by Iran-linked operatives to kill foreign diplomats in at least seven countries over a span of 13 months. The targets have included two Saudi officials, a half-dozen Israelis and – in the Azerbaijan case – several Americans, the officials say.”http://t.uani.com/LBx6ft    

Dealing with improperly veiled women intensified in Tehran + photos

Applying the moral security plan, the Iranian moral police arrested a number of Iranian women in the streets for not have a so called “proper Hijab”.

The police has said, it will deal with those wearing improper clothing or as they call them “street fashion models” as well as those not having a proper hijab.

Police officers were sent to different places where the traffic is heavy and began to impose the plan seriously.

Below is a photo-report showing how improperly veiled women are treated in the streets in Tehran:

Former Revolutionary Guard member describes the crackdown on Christians in Iran

The Iranian government is said to be launching a new wave of persecution against Christians.

 

CBN – According to the Daily Caller, the regime has ordered Iranian intelligence to infiltrate church groups in major Iranian cities.

Agents are identifying pastors and other Christians, targeting them for arrest and torture in prison.

Former member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Reza Kahlili, verified the crackdown. He said Iran’s ayatollahs are frustrated with the large number of Muslims who are now embracing Christianity.

Kahlili is author of A Time to Betray. He wore a disguise to protect his identity as he talked to CBN News. Below you read the transcription of the interview:

Q: Reza Thanks for joining us. What can you tell us about this latest crackdown? How extensive is it?

A: It’s been an order to the Iranian intelligence apparatus  specifically the guard’s intelligence to monitor the activities of Iranians for converting to Christianity, to suppress them, make arrests, terrify them and finally to torture them. And according to a source within the guard’s intelligence, they have tens of thousands of files for Iranians for converting to Christianity. This is a big concern for the government. They don’t know how to handle it. In one city, just the city of Shiraz with over one million population, according to the source, they have thirty thousand files of Iranians who they have confirmed that they have converted to Christianity. But the source says that tens of thousands more are unknown to the intelligence apparatus.

News Agency Removes Report On Iran’s ‘Physical’ Involvement In Syria

By Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE/RL

The semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) has removed an interview with a senior member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force in which he said Iran had been involved in Syria to prevent the killings of civilians.

Brigadier General Ismail Ghaani, deputy commander of Iran’s Quds Force

ISNA has not provided an explanation for the removal of the interview. The short interview is, however, still available on other Iranian websites.

Deputy Quds Force commander Ismail Ghaani was quoted on May 27 by ISNA as saying that “Thanks to Iran’s presence in Syria– physically and nonphysically– big massacres were prevented.”

Brigadier General Ghaani said that the Quds Force had had an “effective” presence in Syria.

“Despite all the problems that the Syrian government has — and we have asked them to address those — Syria is a location of resistance. The reason for all the pressure from the U.S. and Israel is that they have realized the country is impossible to occupy,” he told ISNA.

Ghaani also claimed that “if the Islamic republic had not been present in Syria, the massacre of its people would have been multiplied.”

The interview was removed by ISNA a few hours after it was published on May 27. But bloggers managed to save a cached copy and also a screen grab of the interview.

Iranian officials have expressed support for the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while denying reports that Tehran has been helping Syria’s crackdown against antigovernment protesters.

The Iranian authorities have continued to watch events in Syria — Iran’s main strategic partner in the region – with concern.

 

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Source: RFE/RL

Paris gallery to hang Derambakhsh’s cartoons

Source: Tehran Times

The Nicolas Flamel Gallery in Paris will hang a collection of works by the celebrated Iranian cartoonist Kambiz Derambakhsh in an exhibit from May 31 to June 24.

The exhibition, entitled “A Celebration for the Eyes”, will be held with the help the Paris Municipality.

The collection is composed of 40 cartoons, 6 postal cards and 2 posters, which all have been created with the theme of France or Paris.

The plan to hold the exhibit was made during his previous showcase in Paris last January, Derambakhsh said in a press release on Sunday.

Iranian writer-translator to serve out prison sentence

Source: Radio Zamaneh

Manijeh Najm Araghi, an Iranian writer and translator, was arrested on Sunday to serve out a one-year sentence. Najm Araghi first had been arrested in September of 2010 and was released on bail after three days.

Manijeh Najm Araghi

Her one-year sentence was issued on the charges of membership in the Iranian Writers’ Association, mailing announcements from the writers’ association and participating in gatherings for the assassinated writers Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad Jaffar Pouyandeh.

On May 21, Fariborz Rais Dana, an Iranian economist and another member of the Iranian Writers’ Association was arrested. Rais Dana was also sentenced to one year in jail for membership in the writers’ association and for giving interviews to the foreign media about the impact of government-subsidy restructuring in Iran.

The Iranian Writers’ Association has been working for the rights of writers for over four decades, and its history is one of constant resistance and pressure from the government.

Lake Neor in northwestern Iran

The beautiful Lake Neor is located 48 km southeast of the city of Ardabil at the border of East Azerbaijan and Gilan provinces in Iran. Located at an altitude of 2,700 meters above sea level, and with an area of more than 220 hectares, Lake Neor is composed of a smaller and a larger basin, which get connected in rainy seasons forming a single lake.

The Maximum depth of this lake reaches 5.5 meters, with the average of 3 meters. Lake Neor is the habitat of rainbow trout and birds such as ruddy shelduck and migrant swallows.

Rose water ceremony begins in Kashan

KASHAN, May 20 (MNA) – Rose water annual celebration has just begun in the town of Qamsar in Kashan city, Isfahan province. The ceremony is held for one month usually from early May to early Jun in Kashan which is considered the rose water capital of Iran.

Defiant Iran Says It Won’t Halt Enrichment or Allow Parchin Access

Defiant Iran Says It Won’t Halt Enrichment or Allow Parchin Access

As Iran and world powers prepare for another round of negotiations next month in Moscow, a senior Iranian official said Tehran would not stop enriching uranium and rejected the UN’s repeated demand to visit a military site suspected of hosting nuclear weapons-related activities.

Iran: No reason to stop 20% enrichment

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani said on Sunday that the Islamic Republic would not stop the production of higher-grade uranium. “We have no reason to retreat from producing the 20%, because we need 20% uranium just as much to meet our needs,” the senior official said. [1]

The United Nations Security Council has passed several resolutions since 2006, demanding that Iran suspend “all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities.” [2]

Iran’s 20% enriched uranium is of particular concern because it can be converted into weapons-grade material relatively easily and in just a matter of months, experts say. [3]

Handelsblatt: GAUCK WARNT VOR IRAN – „Gefahr für Israel und Europa“

Mit deutlichen Worten hat Bundespräsident Joachim Gauck bei seinem Israel-Besuch vor Iran und dessen Atomprogramm gewarnt. Gauck zeigte sich zudem besorgt ob des immer schlechter werdenden Israel-Bildes in Deutschland.

Tel Aviv Bei seinem ersten offiziellen Besuch in Israel hat Bundespräsident Joachim Gauck vor den Gefahren des iranischen Atompotenzials gewarnt. Er sei wegen der Nuklearpläne des Iran „sehr besorgt“. Diese seien nicht nur für Israel und den Nahen Osten eine Bedrohung. Auch für Europa stelle dieses eine potenzielle Gefahr dar, sagte Gauck bei seinem Treffen mit dem israelischen Staatspräsidenten Schimon Peres.

Deutschlands Politiker würden für die Sicherheit und das Existenzrecht Israels eintreten, sagte Gauck in Jerusalem, wo er von Peres mit militärischen Ehren empfangen worden war. Deutschland und Israel seien „enger verbunden als jemals zuvor“, so Gauck. Er wolle in Israel „ein Zeichen der Solidarität in schweren Zeiten“ setzen.

Über die immer kritischere Haltung vieler Deutscher zum jüdischen Staat äußerte sich Gauck besorgt. „Ohne Umfragen überzubewerten: Als Freund Israels besorgen mich die Ergebnisse dennoch“, antwortete er der Zeitung „Haaretz“ auf eine Frage nach dem sinkenden Ansehen Israels in Deutschland. Eine Umfrage hatte kürzlich ergeben, dass 70 Prozent der Deutschen Israel vorwerfen, seine Interessen ohne Rücksicht auf andere Völker zu verfolgen, und 59 Prozent die israelische Politik für aggressiv halten.

IRAN - Wie der Konflikt um das Atomprogramm eskalierte

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„Aus den Abgründen seiner Geschichte kommt Deutschland eine einzigartige Verantwortung gegenüber Israel zu“, betonte Gauck. „Wachsende Ressentiments gegenüber Israel sind zwar nicht allein ein deutsches Phänomen, aber wir Deutsche sollten uns besonders kritisch fragen: In welchem Geist urteilen wir über israelische Politik? Doch bitte nur im Geist der Freundschaft. Da ist durchaus auch Platz für Kritik, nicht aber für Vorurteil“, betonte der Bundespräsident.

Zu der Kritik von Nobelpreisträger Günther Grass an der israelischen Iran-Politik sagte Gauck, die Meinung des Schriftstellers entspreche in keiner Weise der offiziellen Haltung Deutschlands. Grass habe seine „persönliche Meinung“ geäußert, sagte Gauck in seinem Interview mit Haaretz.

Vollständiger Artikel

Iran Letter: An Imprisoned Blogger Writes the Supreme Leader

Hossein Ronaghi MalekiHossein Ronaghi Maleki, who blogs as Babak Khorramdin, was arrested in December 2009 for his dissemination of anti-blocking software for Iranian Internet users.

Ronaghi Maleki spent ten months in solitary confinement inside the Revolutionary Guards’ Ward 2A at Evin Prison. He was sentenced in October 2010 to 15 years in prison for “membership in the Iran Proxy internet group”, propaganda against the regime, insulting the Supreme Leader, and insulting the President.

Kaspersky Lab and ITU Research Reveals New Advanced Cyber Threat – update

Kaspersky Lab announces the discovery of a highly sophisticated malicious program that is actively being used as a cyber weapon attacking entities in several countries. The complexity and functionality of the newly discovered malicious program exceed those of all other cyber menaces known to date.

The malware was discovered by Kaspersky Lab’s experts during an investigation prompted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The malicious program, detected as Worm.Win32.Flame by Kaspersky Lab’s security products, is designed to carry out cyber espionage. It can steal valuable information, including but not limited to computer display contents, information about targeted systems, stored files, contact data and even audio conversations.

The independent research was initiated by ITU and Kaspersky Lab after a series of incidents with another, still unknown, destructive malware program – codenamed Wiper – which deleted data on a number of computers in the Western Asia region. This particular malware is yet to be discovered, but during the analysis of these incidents, Kaspersky Lab’s experts, in coordination with ITU, came across a new type of malware, now known as Flame. Preliminary findings indicate that this malware has been “in the wild” for more than two years – since March 2010. Due to its extreme complexity, plus the targeted nature of the attacks, no security software detected it.

Although the features of Flame differ compared with those of previous notable cyber weapons such as Duqu and Stuxnet, the geography of attacks, use of specific software vulnerabilities, and the fact that only selected computers are being targeted all indicate that Flame belongs to the same category of super-cyberweapons.
Commenting on uncovering Flame, Eugene Kaspersky, CEO and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab, said: “The risk of cyber warfare has been one of the most serious topics in the field of information security for several years now. Stuxnet and Duqu belonged to a single chain of attacks, which raised cyberwar-related concerns worldwide. The Flame malware looks to be another phase in this war, and it’s important to understand that such cyber weapons can easily be used against any country. Unlike with conventional warfare, the more developed countries are actually the most vulnerable in this case.”

The primary purpose of Flame appears to be cyber espionage, by stealing information from infected machines. Such information is then sent to a network of command-and-control servers located in many different parts of the world. The diverse nature of the stolen information, which can include documents, screenshots, audio recordings and interception of network traffic, makes it one of the most advanced and complete attack-toolkits ever discovered. The exact infection vector has still to be revealed, but it is already clear that Flame has the ability to replicate over a local network using several methods, including the same printer vulnerability and USB infection method exploited by Stuxnet.

Meet ‘Flame’, The Massive Spy Malware Infiltrating Iranian Computers

Map showing the number and geographical location of Flame infections detected by Kaspersky Lab on customer machines. Courtesy of Kaspersky

 

A massive, highly sophisticated piece of malware has been newly found infecting systems in Iran and elsewhere and is believed to be part of a well-coordinated, ongoing, state-run cyberespionage operation.

The malware, discovered by Russia-based anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab, is an espionage toolkit that has been infecting targeted systems in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, the Israeli Occupied Territories and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa for at least two years.

Dubbed “Flame” by Kaspersky, the malicious code dwarfs Stuxnet in size – the groundbreaking infrastructure-sabotaging malware that is believed to have wreaked havoc on Iran’s nuclear program in 2009 and 2010. Although Flame has both a different purpose and composition than Stuxnet, and appears to have been written by different programmers, its complexity, the geographic scope of its infections and its behavior indicate strongly that a nation-state is behind Flame, rather than common cyber-criminals — marking it as yet another tool in the growing arsenal of cyberweaponry.

The researchers say that Flame may be part of a parallel project created by contractors who were hired by the same nation-state team that was behind Stuxnet and its sister malware, DuQu.

Writer-translator to serve out prison sentence

Manijeh Najm Eraghi

Manijeh Najm Eraghi, an Iranian writer and translator, was arrested on Sunday to serve out a one-year sentence.

Najm Eraghi first had been arrested in September of 2010 and was released on bail after three days.

Her one-year sentence was issued on the charges of membership in the Iranian Writers’ Association, mailing announcements from the writers’ association and participating in gatherings for the assassinated writers Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad Jaffar Pouyandeh.

On May 21, Fariborz Rais Dana, an Iranian economist and another member of the Iranian Writers’ Association was arrested. Rais Dana was also sentenced to one year in jail for membership in the writers’ association and for giving interviews to the foreign media about the impact of government-subsidy restructuring in Iran.

The Iranian Writers’ Association has been working for the rights of writers for over four decades, and its history is one of constant resistance and pressure from the government.

Source: Radio Zamaneh

Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council resolutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran

New IAEA Report on Iran’s Nuclear Program

On May 25, 2012, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency issued a new report about Iran’s non-compliance with U.N. resolutions on its controversial nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency concluded that it is “unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.”

But the IAEA did note that progress was made during talks in Tehran on May 21 between IAEA Secretary General Amano and chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili on ways to clarify outstanding issues. The report urges Tehran now to engage with the substance of those issues and to provide access to Parchin, a military site where recent satellite imagery has indicated “intensive activities.” Iran has blocked IAEA inspectors from Parchin despite repeated requests to inspect it.

The following is a link to the full report. IAEA Safeguards Report on Iran

Guards Set Back in Majles amid Charges They Intervened in Election

by MUHAMMAD SAHIMI

Press Roundup provides a selected summary of news from the Farsi and Arabic press and excerpts where the source is in English. 

7:15 a.m. IRDT, 9 Khordad/May 29 The election Monday of Ali Larijani, speaker of the Eighth Majles, as the interim speaker for the newly installed Ninth Majles has significant implications for the ongoing power struggle within the Islamic Republic’s regime. As described here, the parliamentary elections that were held on March 2 and May 4 largely came down to a contest between two fundamentalist factions, Jebheh Mottahed-e Osoolgarayaan (United Front of Principlists) and Jebheh Paaydaari Enghlelaab-e Eslaami (Stability Front of the Islamic Revolution). The United Front’s spiritual leaders are Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, chairman of the Assembly of Experts, and his deputy, former judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi. The United Front was supported by the traditional conservatives, such as Hezb-e Motalefeh Eslaami (Islamic Coalition Party). The Stability Front, led by the ultra-conservative cleric Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, was backed by groups closely linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as former and current supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Though some candidates appeared on both factions’ lists, the two groups competed fiercely. It was widely reported — see, for example, here and here – that the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia that they control distributed leaflets against many of the United Front candidates and urged everyone to vote for the Stability Front.After the elections, Majles deputy and Ahmadinejad critic Ali Motahari accused the Guards, commonly referred to as Sepah in Farsi, of inappropriate involvement in the elections. In a speech to parliament, Motahari said, “One of the weaknesses of the elections was that the intervention of Sepah in the elections in many districts was clear, and many candidates among those who were elected or not elected confirm this. Sepah was seriously supporting its own candidates. The intervention of Sepah in the elections is a danger to both Sepah itself and the Islamic Revolution.” Another Majles deputy, Mostafa Kavakebian, also declared in the Majles that the Guards had intervened in the elections and that he has documents which prove it; he demanded that parliament form a commission to look into the matter. (Kavakebian, who used to present himself as a reformist, ran this year as a principlist and failed to win reelection.) There was also a claim that Larijani — Motahari’s brother-in-law — had submitted a secret report to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei about the Guards’ intervention in the elections before Motahari went public with his accusations. Larijani, who in the 1980s was deputy Guard chief for ideological matters, is supported by the United Front. In his speech, Motahari said, “The highest officials of the nezaam [the political system] are aware of the intervention, and are not happy about it,” a possible reference to the claimed Larijani report. Both the Majles speaker and his brother, judiciary chief Sadegh Larijani, have implicitly confirmed Motahari’s allegations.

The Guards and Stability Front supporters and members denied the allegations and accused Motahari of a variety of transgressions. Mojtaba Zolnoor, former deputy to Khamenei’s representative to the Guards, called the allegations “absolute lies” and declared, “Motahari is saying the same things that the enemy’s mass media such as the BBC and CNN are saying.” Asking of Motahari, “How can he allow himself to enter issues that are for the highest officials of the nezaam?” Zolnoor demanded that the Guards take him to court. Lieutenant Brigadier General Ramazan Sharif, head of the Guards’ public relations office, issued a statement that denied the accusations and said that the Guards reserve the right to take Motahari to court. Parviz Soroori, a Majles deputy and former Guard commander said, “If Sepah intervened in the elections, then how come Motahari was reelected?” Hardline cleric Hamid Rasaei, a leading member of the Stability Front, accused Motahari of “insulting the president and Sepah.” In response, Motahari explained in another Majles speech that he did not mean that all the top Guard commanders had intervened in the elections, but “if Sepah continues this” he will reveal the documents that prove his claims.

On Sunday, Melli-Mazhabi, a nationalist-religious website, reported on the existence of a tape recording of speeches by two Guard officers that clearly indicate the Guards did indeed intervene in the elections. The tapeincludes speeches, given on May 3 — the day before the second round of voting — by the cleric Hojjatinia, Khamenei’s representative to Khatam ol-Anbiya, the Guards’ engineering arm, and a commander Seraj, a Guard political ideologue, or hadian, at the shrine of Shah Abdolazim in Rey on Tehran’s southern edge, in which they spoke about the elections and the Guards’ positions.In his speech, Seraj claimed that there is a triangle of high officials working against Khamenei: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and a “Mr. X,” widely believed to be Ali Larijani. The goal of the political triangle, according to Seraj, is to force Khamenei to drink the “poison” of negotiating with the United States regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

Following are some of Seraj’s most important claims:

(a) Fearing the reaction of the nezaam, former President Mohammad Khatami and some of the reformists had to vote in the Majles elections.

(b) Both the “sedition” — the Green Movement — and the “perverted current” — the circle around Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Ahmadinejad’s chief of staff and senior confidant — believed that less than 40 percent of the people would vote in the elections and, thus, they did not take part. The perverted current wanted to use the low voter turnout it anticipated to pressure Khamenei to negotiate with the United States.

(c) The perverted current led the November attack on the British Embassy.

(d) The perverted current believes that Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator and secretary-general of the Supreme National Security Council, will run for president next year. Therefore, they are trying to get rid of him.

(e) A group inside Iran that has penetrated the nezaam has told the United States and Europe to impose sanctions against Iran. Seraj did not specify who is in this group.

(f) Both Ahmadinejad and Rafsanjani advocate negotiations with the United States. To establish closer relations with Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad has begun participating in the meetings of the Expediency Discernment Council, which Rafsanjani chairs. (Ahmadinejad had not participated in the council’s meetings for many years.)

(g) If the triangle of Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad, and Mr. X takes shape, the pressure on Khamenei to negotiate with the United States will grow. But if Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, father-in-law of Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, becomes the next Majles speaker, the triangle will not form. (Mojtaba is believed to be close to some of the top Guard commanders.)

(h) When Haddad Adel was speaker of the Seventh Majles (2004-08), parliament had good relations with the Guards, whereas the Eighth Majles (2008-12) did not, something that concerns Khamenei. (In essence, Seraj was declaring the Guards’ support for Haddad Adel’s candidacy for Majles speaker.)

(i) If Larijani is again elected speaker, the tension between the Majles and the government will increase, because “Larijani’s tone and language regarding the government are not appropriate.”

In announcing his candidacy for the speakership, Haddad Adel declared, “Even if only I vote for me, I will run out of duty.” He has been praising Khamenei and his son-in-law Mojtaba profusely, declaring that Khamenei is the deputy to Imam Mahdi and that after him Mojtaba will be the deputy. The Stability Front has thrown its support behind him, with Mesbah Yazdi supporting him publicly. It was reported that Khamenei traveled to Qom unofficially and met with Mesbah Yazdi, presumably to discuss the issue.

Interestingly, there appears to be a rift within the Guards regarding the Majles and Haddad Adel. In a blog post titled “With Reluctance I Prefer Larijani to Haddad Adel,” Hamed Talebi, who leads the political division of Fars, the news agency that is controlled by a Guard foundation,wrote, “God forbid that more power, field [of activity], and leadership positions are given to those around Haddad Adel. If Larijani is elected the speaker [again], we know how we should handle it, but what can we say, given the track record of and our experience with the friends of Haddad Adel and the people that are close to him?”

The Ninth Majles finally began its work on Saturday. A large number of high officials took part in the ceremony for the opening session. One significant absentee was Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Guard chief who almost invariably takes part in such ceremonies. His absence was widely interpreted as indicating the Guards’ displeasure with Larijani. After the ceremony ended, parliament’s first order of business Monday was the election of an interim leadership team. Khabar Online, which is close to Larijani, reported that there was a considerable amount of horse trading.Larjani ultimately received 173 votes to Haddad Adel’s 100 for the post of interim speaker. His election and that of two other major United Front figures, Mohammad Reza Bahonar and Mohammad Hassan Abootorabifard, to leadership positions represent major setbacks for the Guards’ top commanders in Iran’s power struggle. The results may even be interpreted as a setback for Khamenei himself.

Kazem Jalali, secretary of the United Front’s parliamentary group, said that the election of the speaker indicated “the weight of each faction within the Majles.” He was referring to the claims by many Stability Front members that their faction has the upper hand in the legislature. Will the election of Larijani as interim speaker result in the Guards — and possibly Khamenei himself — pressuring the Majles deputies to change their votes when the election of a permanent speaker is held? Time will tell.

Source: Tehran Bureau