Ahmadinejad’s Office Reacts to Accusations over US Seizure of Iranian Assets.

Ahmadinejad’s Office Reacts to Accusations over US Seizure of Iranian Assets. (IranFrontpage).

The office of Iran’s ex-president has reacted to the recent criticisms against Ahmadinejad’s government over the mistakes that have allegedly led to a recent US court ruling to seize Iran’s assets.

Since the recent move by the US to confiscate nearly $2bn of Iranian assets in order to give it to the families of the victims and survivors of 1983 Beirut bombing, Iranian media has been covering the issue from two perspectives. The conservatives have been blaming the incumbent administration of President Hassan Rouhani and have criticized the government’s excessive optimism towards the West (the US in particular).

On the other hand, the pro-government and reformist media, while strongly condemning the move by the US Supreme Court, have been pinning the blame on the former government for their purchases of US bonds in spite of the hostile relations at the time between Tehran and Washington.

Among the critics who have blamed the former administration are the current Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Valiollah Seif, as well as the former CBI Chief Tahmasb Mazaheri, two of the most important figures in finance.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Public Relations Department of the office of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the ex-president, rejected these criticisms and claimed that Rouhani’s government has made the country seem weak enough for the US to dare to make such a move.

Here is IFP’s translation of excerpts from the statement published by the website of Ahmadinejad’s office.

The recent move by the authoritarian US government … has become a new pretext for [Iranian] statesmen and political and media figures close to them to attack the former government. 

The US administration has looted the Iranian nation’s assets in the current year and under the incumbent government, while the pretext for which the court ruling was issued dates back to 1983. It is not clear why, and for what hidden motivation, this cruel move by the US is being attributed to Ahmadinejad’s government. 

They have claimed the managers of Iran’s Central Bank during the previous government were not careful enough, and should not have trusted in the international rules and regulations governing the global banking ties. They claim such trust has resulted in the assets seizure this year. 

The US government did not dare to encroach upon the Iranian nation’s resources at that time, because the government of Ahmadinejad always behaved in a wise way and maintained the country’s honour and dignity. 

The Iranian nation, however, has been portrayed as a weak nation in the international arena in recent years, and this has emboldened US statesmen. So the question is: isn’t this the reason behind the recent “plunder”? 

The money was stolen right at the time when the Iranian foreign minister was in the US, holding private, long, secret, and repeated meetings with his US counterpart. Isn’t the seizure of assets related to the meetings and the topics discussed by the two? Isn’t this the continuation of a long-running drama to humiliate the Iranian nation and government? 

The incumbent government says that Ahmadinejad’s cabinet members should not have trusted the Americans, or even in international rules and regulations. If that is true, why did they curb, dismantle, and shut down the country’s nuclear program, including facilities that were worth almost $30bn, based on the US Secretary of State John Kerry’s ambiguous promises without any guarantees? 

The government’s trust in US statesmen and their promises, and the subsequent weakening of Iran’s international position in the past three years have led to a sharp drop in the Iranian nation’s most valuable asset, crude oil, from $105 to $35. 

If this remains unchanged, almost $150m a day and almost $55bn a year will be picked from Iran’s pocket and given to the negotiating sides [from the nuclear talks] or their allies. 

People expect the government to avoid illogically pinning the blame on others, accept their own responsibilities, try to pursue the issue, and reclaim the nation’s rights.

Quoting materials from Iran Front Page is permitted only if the source is mentioned by name.

US Seizure of Iran’s Assets is “Blatant Theft”: President Rouhani

US Seizure of Iran’s Assets is “Blatant Theft”: President Rouhani. (IranFrontpage).

Here are Rouhani’s remarks, as reported by the President’s website and translated by IFP.

“That a court or legislature in another part of the world would make decisions about the Iranian nation’s rights and property is totally illegal and in contradiction of international laws, based on which central banks are legally immune in all parts of the world,” Rouhani said in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

“No thief can be proud of his or her theft and think that the stolen properties are his or hers,” the Iranian president stressed, telling Americans to understand that Iran’s property cannot be looted.

Such pressures and illegal rulings by the US judiciary and congress are “International theft and a legal scandal” for the US, he noted, expressing surprise over an “unprecedented” move by the US Congress to put the judiciary under pressure over the issue.

Rouhani stressed that, in politics, the US move means the continuation of hostilities against the Iranian nation, and vowed to resist the incorrect verdict and reclaim the country’s rights.

“These assets belong to the Iranian nation, and any encroachment upon them is considered hostile and illegal,” he added, emphasizing that the Americans will not be able to use the assets without facing repercussions.

Quoting materials from Iran Front Page is permitted only if the source is mentioned by name.

Repression in Iran increased under 'moderate' Hassan Rouhani: Washington columnist.

Repression in Iran increased under 'moderate' Hassan Rouhani: Washington columnist. (NCRI).

“Hassan Rouhani is not Mikhail Gorbachev, and this is not a perestroika moment. Iran is not opening up or becoming more Western or somehow more liberal.” And “the nature of the Iranian regime has not altered at all,” writes U.S. columnist Anne Applebaum.

In a column published this week in the Washington Post, the writer said:

“the level of repression inside the country has grown since the ‘moderate’ Rouhani was elected in 2013. The number of death sentences has risen. In 2014, Iran carried out the largest number of executions anywhere in the world except for China. Last year, the number may have exceeded 1,000 … many of whom are juveniles or convicted on dubious evidence."

“Political pressure and religious discrimination have increased, too. Women who don’t wear veils are still vulnerable to arrest and sentencing. The penalties for apostasy, adultery and homosexuality are still high, up to and including capital punishment. Cultural dissidents are under pressure, too, even more so since the sanctions-lifting deal was announced.”

After presenting a brief record of violations of human rights in Iran since Hassan Rouhani’s has taken office, the writer argues the regime in Tehran is not a reliable diplomatic partner because it is among the ‘regimes that need violence to repress their citizens.’

The writer also believes: “In the current circumstances, foreign investment is far more likely to enrich the existing elite. If so, the result will be greater repression, more effective disinformation and, of course, more money for the export of the ideology of the Iranian revolution to Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.”


“Change has come to Middle Eastern diplomacy. But change has not come to Iran. And until it does, Iran will remain a source of instability and violence all across the region.”, the writer concludes. More here.

Murdered Argentinian prosecutor tied Rouhani to Buenos Aires 1994 Iran regime bombing

Murdered Argentinian prosecutor tied Rouhani to Buenos Aires 1994 Iran regime bombing. (NCRI).

Hassan Rouhani, the president of the clerical regime in Iran, has been at the center of the deceased Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman probe into the Iranian regime’s role in the 1994 bombing in Bunes Aires that left 85 dead and hundreds wounded, according to columnist Andres Oppenheimer who had been in contact with the prosecutor as early a day before his death.

“In several telephone conversations and e-mail exchanges I had with Nisman over the past three years, the prosecutor told me that Rouhani was among the top Iranian officials who had “participated in the decision” to bomb the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.“

Alberto Nisman has told Oppenheimer: “Rouhani was a top member of a special committee within Iran’s VEVAK intelligence agency, known as Vijeh, which in 1994 was overseeing secret operations abroad, including the AMIA bombing.”

“Shortly after Rouhani was proclaimed the winner of Iran’s elections on June 15, 2013, and the world media described the Iranian president-elect as a ‘moderate,’ I had asked Nisman whether Iran’s then-president-elect was a suspect in his investigation into the AMIA bombing.

“Nisman told me that Rouhani was not among the eight Iranian officials whose international arrest he had requested to Interpol in 2006, but that he was a member of the committee that had planned the attack.”

According to the article that appeared in Miami Herald and many other newspapers, in an email to Oppenheimer on 1 July 2013, Mr Nisman criticized the fact that Hassan Rouhani was being described by the media as a “moderate” that “nobody is pointing out that Rouhani participated in the decision of the AMIA attack.”

Describing his opinion on mysterious death of the prosecutor, Oppenheimer writes: “There are serious doubts that Nisman committed suicide. In TV interviews and an email he sent me Jan. 17, a day before he was found dead, in which he said he was ‘obviously interested’ in doing an interview after his scheduled Jan. 19 congressional testimony, Nisman seemed very self-confident. He had even left his maid a list of groceries she was supposed to buy at the supermarket the day after he was found dead.”

Mr. Oppenheimer concludes his view on Mr. Nisman killing with adding: “At a time when the United States and other countries are negotiating a nuclear deal with the allegedly moderate Rouhani, it’s a good time to remember this.”

The Iranian regime's officials whose international arrest warrant has been issued by Interpol in 2006 include: Ali Akbar Velayati. the current advisor to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei; Mohsen Rezai, the current secretary of the Expediency Council and former IRGC commander; Ahmad Vahidi, former Defense Minister; Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former president of the clerical regime; Ali Fallahian, former Intelligence Minister; Mohsen Rabbani, former cultural attaché in the regime’s embassy in Argentina; and Ahmad Reza Asghari, the former third secretary in the regime’s embassy in Argentina.

Woman dies of acid attack in Esfahan, former top Iranian tourist attraction

'Moderate Rouhani hanged in his first two months as president as many as Ahmadinejad in 6 months in 2012'

Woman dies of acid attack in Esfahan, former top Iranian tourist attraction. (NCRI).

An Iranian women died on Sunday as she and two other women were target of the latest series of acid attacks in city of Isfahan, a local news website reported.

The website quoted an eyewitness saying that “one of victim died due to acid burns on her chest” and “two others with injuries in their faces and hands were taken to hospital for treatment.”

According to the report, the victims of the new wave of acid attacks which have been carried out in past few days reaches to 14 in the city of Esfahan that once was a main tourist attraction in Iran.

Meanwhile, according to the information received from Iran, the families of victims of acid attack have been warned against publishing the photos of the victims or giving interviews with news agencies. One of the victims said: “The attackers belonged to Ansar-e Hezbollah group.”

Organized gangs affiliated with the clerical regime have been splashing acid on the faces of over a dozen young women in Esfahan under the pretext of being ‘bad hejab’ or not being properly veiled.

Women had been warned in anonymous text messages that they would have acid thrown at them if they appeared in public improperly veiled.

A 27-year-old woman victim in Esfahan was target of acid attack as she had pulled over in her car so that she could take a call from her mother on her mobile phone. Two people on a motorcycle threw acid at her and then fled.

The young woman lost the sight in one eye.

Another victim was attacked while driving. “A rider threw nearly two liters of acid through the driver’s window towards me, which affected my face, hands and my body,” the victim told ISNA.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, expressed deep resentment for these appalling crimes by clerical regime’s elements and called on all human rights bodies and women's rights defenders to condemn these atrocities.

She said: International community’s silence in the face of these brutalities under the pretext of nuclear talks is tantamount to encouraging the mullahs’ regime to continue these atrocities in Iran.

She added that the clerical regime fearful of mounting popular discontent, especially that of women and the youth, is attempting to prevent the explosion of their wrath through these brutalities and intimidations. She called on the brave youth to expand their protests against this savagery under the pretext of tackling “mal-veiling”.

Iran - 135 Journalists to Rouhani: Stop Lying!

Iran - 135 Journalists to Rouhani: Stop Lying! (DB).

One hundred thirty-five Iranian reporters, editors and media workers have published a letter addressed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, urging him to stop lying about the persecution of journalists in Iran.

The letter criticizes Rouhani for responding to CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour’s questions about the imprisonment of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian with “I really don’t believe the fact at all. I do not believe that an individual would be detained or put in prison for being a journalist.”

IranWire estimates that there are some 65 professional and citizen journalists currently jailed in Iran. Hmmm....Perhaps an idea for Turkish journalists? Read the full story here.

Turkey, US to hold Monday and Tuesday talks on regional, bilateral issues.

Turkey, US to hold Monday and Tuesday talks on regional, bilateral issues.(Taz).

High-level Turkish and American diplomats will hold meetings in Washington Monday and Tuesday to exchange views about bilateral, regional and global issues, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on June 7, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

It informed that undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Feridun Sinirlioglu will pay a working visit to the United States where he will meet officials from the State Department, the National Security Council and other relevant institutions. It did not detail issues Sinirlioglu would raise during his talks and his potential interlocutors in Washington.

Among issues that could be on the table are Syria crisis and recent signs of cooperation between Ankara and Washington over the foreign jihadists especially after Turkey declared al-Nusra a terrorist organization; the developments in Iraq and Turkey's decision to release the Iraqi oil in Ceyhan without Baghdad's consent; the Cyprus talks after vice President Joe Biden's historic trip to the island and the ongoing tension between the West and Russia over Ukraine.

U.S. Ambassador to Ankara, Francis Ricciardone, said the areas the two countries are cooperating on "Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Iran in the context of nuclear program, Cyprus question and the normalization in Turkish-Israeli relations".

He said the work in those fields was being carried out with the means of "diplomacy, law enforcement [for example Turkey's borders], intelligence and security." The ambassador underlined that they "would not give details on intelligence" matters, but "important national security cooperation" was "going on."

Sinirlioglu's visit to the U.S. is seen as important opportunity for the two countries to deepen this understanding of cooperation and to make it more efficient.
 Hmmmm.......'Moderate' Pres Rouhani to visit 'Islamist' Turkey on Monday and Tuesday to strengthen ties.

'Moderate' Pres Rouhani to visit 'Islamist' Turkey to strengthen ties.

'Moderate' Pres Rouhani to visit 'Islamist' Turkey to strengthen ties.HT: UskowiOnIran.

Rouhani is due to visit Turkey on Monday to improve the bilateral ties between the two countries.

His first visit to Turkey as president will also mark the first visit an Iranian president has made to Turkey since President Rafsanjani did back in 1996. (Zee News, June 7)

Rouhani is expected to sign at least six new agreements aimed at improving cultural, economic and political ties.(Turkey ...Iran's lifeline)

The visit will last two-days. According to a government press release both Rouhani and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold the first meeting of the Iran-Turkey Cooperation Council. (Fars News, June 7)

In the first two months of this year trade has increased. (Sanctions that Benefit)

When he visited Iran last January Erdogan has said that the two countries are now seeking to work together and try and increase their annual trade to about $30 billion.

According to the Turkish statistics agency trade between Iran and Turkey declined 35% between 2012 and 2013. This is partially due to the fact that relations between the two countries were damaged by their differing policies on Syria.Hmmmm..........Turkey, US to hold Monday and Tuesday talks on regional, bilateral issues

Iranian MPs criticize president Rouhani over not supporting military, missile drills.

Iranian MPs criticize president Rouhani over not supporting military, missile drills.(Taz).

Iranian MPs issued a notification on President Hassan Rouhani's lack of support for holding military and missile drills, Iran's Fars News Agency reported on Feb. 9.

According to Fars, 23 MPs signed the letter.

The lawmakers have accused President Rouhani of halting a scheduled missile exercise. They say the Supreme National Security Council, headed by the president, stopped the annual exercise by not approving its budget.

In a separate letter, the lawmakers accused Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of preventing foreign experts to assist Iran with its missile technology, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. It did not elaborate, AP reported.

Hard-liners are at odds with Rouhani and Zarif over their policy of outreach with the West.

The Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force Brigadier General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan said on Jan. 28 that the country's army is preparing to launch eight huge military drills, including a cyber drill, Iran's State TV IRIB reported.

He didn't mention to exact location for the drills, but said that the headquarters of ground forces are spread in eastern, western and coastal parts of the country.

He also said that ground forces are agile and ready for asymmetric warfare.

Pourdastan also said that the military activities, movements, the arrival and exit of navies and activation of their headquarters are under full supervision of Iran's Army.Hmmm.....EA worldview had yesterday an interesting post on this subject, i agree with their point of view, but unlike them i don't believe that Iran is NOT working to obtain Nuclear weapons.

IRGC Commander Salami: Obama’s Remarks Show Washington’s Inablity to Counter Iran.

IRGC Commander Salami: Obama’s Remarks Show Washington’s Inablity to Counter Iran.(Fars).

Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami said the recent comments by US President Barack Obama indicated that Washington is not able to confront Iran or prevent its progress and clout.

“The US president’s remarks that ‘Iran cannot be stopped in its strategy’ show the enemy’s inability on one hand and the Islamic Republic’s power on the other hand,” Salami said in Tehran on Tuesday.

He described the IRGC as one of the pivots of the Islamic Republic’s power, and said, “The IRGC has learned ways to confront the enemy in any situation and fought against it.”

His remarks came after US President Barack Obama in early January defended his nuclear diplomacy with Iran before an audience of Israeli diplomats and senior members of the US Jewish community and officials.
At a White House reception, Obama said that it was important for the United States to test Iran’s intentions, and pledged to keep working for a comprehensive deal over its peaceful nuclear activities.

Obama also vowed to keep striving for a final deal with Iran over the coming months.

Obama made the comments to his high-ranking Israeli audience after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harshly criticized the interim nuclear deal reached by Iran and world powers in Geneva on November 24.

Obama’s critics on Capitol Hill have also questioned the president’s tactics and are threatening to enact new sanctions against Iran, which the White House fears would scupper the talks.

The interim nuclear deal has recognized Iran nuclear enrichment for peaceful purposes and freezes the enrichment level to 5 percent in return for easing of the illogic sanctions imposed by the US and its allies against Iran.

“We cannot close the door on diplomacy, and we cannot rule out peaceful solutions to the world’s problems,” Obama said earlier, referred to the nuclear deal concluded over Iran nuclear case.


“We cannot commit ourselves to an endless cycle of conflict, and tough talk and bluster may be the easy thing to do politically, but it’s not the right thing for our security,” he added.

Iranian Majlis Representative: Iran Needs A Nuclear Bomb 'To Put Israel In Its Place'; White House was 'begging' for phone call.

Iranian Majlis Representative: Iran Needs A Nuclear Bomb 'To Put Israel In Its Place'.HT: Memri.

Iranian Majlis Representative: Iran Needs A Nuclear Bomb 'To Put Israel In Its Place'; White House Pleaded For Meeting With Rohani

In a speech that he delivered at a January 3, 2014 political activists' conference in Mashhad (northeastern Iran), Majlis representative Mohammad Nabavian, a member of Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi's radical faction, said that despite its disinterest in a bomb Iran in fact does need one, in order to create a balance of terror vis-a-vis Israel.

In his address, Nabavian cited statements made by members of Iran's negotiating team – President Hassan Rohani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and his deputy Abbas Araqchi – to the Majlis on the course of the three rounds of the Geneva talks in October-November 2013.

According to him, they said that during Rohani's September 2013 visit to New York, the White House had pleaded with him to meet with President Obama or at least talk with him by telephone.

They also stated that Secretary of State John Kerry told the Iranian team about the vigorous protests that he had heard from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu before arriving in Geneva for the talks.

It should be noted that the Tasnim website, which was the first to quote Nabavian's statements, removed the part about the nuclear bomb, but it was published on other sites as well.

Below are the main points of Nabavian's speech, as quoted by the moderate conservative website Asr-e Iran:[1]
"We had a few sessions on the nuclear issue at the Majlis with [Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad] Zarif, [Deputy Foreign Minister, Abbas] Araqchi, [Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht] Ravanchi and [Foreign Ministry spokeswoman] Marzieh Afkham, and one session in which President [Hassan Rohani] personally participated…
"...The [nuclear] agreement [with the P5+1] contains five clauses: a preamble, first step, interim step, final step and final conclusion. The first part determined from the outset that the objective of the negotiations was to reach a plan that would guarantee to both sides that Iran's nuclear program is purely civilian… The U.S. says: 'Never before did we succeed in ensuring Israel's security like we did today [by means of the agreement]. If a certain country has 270 kg [of enriched uranium at a level of] 20% and 10 tons [of enriched uranium at a level of] 5%, and 20,000 centrifuges, it will be in a breakout position and could manufacture a nuclear bomb on the uranium [track] within two weeks.' We don't aspire to obtain a nuclear bomb, but it is necessary so we can put Israel in its place…"

The Americans Courted Rohani And Sought A Meeting

"At the meeting we had with the president, Rohani said: 'After I won the elections, Obama relayed a message to me, [even] before [my September 2013] visit to New York. The White House contacted me five times seeking a meeting.' Now the question must be asked: Why does this superpower insist on meeting Iran's president… while calling us a third-world [country]?

"Rohani said: During my journey to New York, I arrived at the hotel on Monday night and again they contacted me from the White House. I assembled the delegation accompanying me and we decided not to meet [with Obama].

On Tuesday afternoon after the press conference, they said to me, 'why did you humiliate Obama and America?', and I said there was no humiliation. Here I recalled the words of the Imam [Khomeini] who said that one must humiliate the infidel leaders.

"The next part comes from [Foreign Minister] Zarif, who said: 'Wednesday and Thursday passed, and on Friday they contacted me five times from the White House and said that there should at least be a courtesy telephone conversation.' I asked why a superpower needs to meet or ask us how we are.

"If Obama asked for a meeting five times before the visit to New York and several times during the visit, it's because over these eight years measures were taken [by Iran] and, as a result, the United States [now] needs Iran.

In Syria, the U.S. did not manage to attack and was humiliated. In practice, Obama was humiliated because he did not stand up to Iran, and hence it is necessary to meet with Iran's president to show that he is a strong man and tell the world: I brought Iran to the negotiating table after 30 years. That's why following the telephone call, this message ­– 'we negotiated with Iran' – was reported to the world..."

Iran: Kurdish MP criticizes Hassan Rouhani

Ariane Osmani , 18

Iran: Kurdish MP criticizes Hassan Rouhani.(NCRI).

For Iranian Kurds, Hassan Rouhani has brought the "killings of Kurdish citizens" by the State Security Forces, a member of the Iranian regime's parliament has said.

Omid Karimian criticized the government of Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday (December 24) in a speech in the Parliament.
Quoted by the Khaneh Mellat website which publishes information on the Parliament, Karimian addressed Rouhani and said: "So far, our share from your social justice has been the killing of Kurdish citizens.""For what crime they were killed? " he angrily asked.

Before the June election, in a statement addressing Kurds and other ethnic minorities, Hassan Rouhani promised that provincial officials would be selected among local citizens and people can study in their own language at schools. But the Kurdish MP stated that none of these commitments have been met.

In recent months many Kurdish citizens were killed by the Iranian regime's State Security Forces. The latest victim , Ariane Osmani , 18, was killed in December in the city of Baneh. Hmmmm....How long before this brave Kurdish MP will spend time in Evin prison?

Iran: Hassan Rohani advisor says 'we are in a minefield' .

Iran: Hassan Rohani advisor says 'we are in a minefield'.(NCRI).

In an interview with an official weekly, an adviser to Hassan Rouhani has described the current situation of the Iranian regime as being in a "minefield" waiting for next mine to explode.

Hessamoddine Ashna , Hassan Rouhani's advisor and director of the Center for Strategic Studies of the Presidency, said in an interview published by the weekly Andicheh Pouya : "Because of the events during Mohmoud Ahmadinejad's tenure , those who manage the country are now in a minefield. Some mines have been discovered, while others may explode at any time. "

Hessamoddine Achna said: " The practice of Ahmadinejad's government over the past eight years were similar in many respects to the practices Qajar dynasty [ruling dynasty in Iran from 1785 to 1925 ]. Under the previous government , the country's affairs were managed centrally and most important decisions were taken in small circles."

"As an example , giving away a large number of state subsidies was a mistake. Now we are stuck, we cannot continue to pay subsidies or remove abruptly," he added.

Hassan Rohani's advisor said that hand over of the management of large commercial and industrial companies in the country to state institutions [ linked to the regime's Supreme Leader , Ali Khamenei ] has been a significant error of Ahmadinejad's presidency .

He added that the denial of the Holocaust was another mistake by Ahmadinejad that has created enormous difficulty for the Iranian regime on the international scene.Hmmm........Trying out how far they can go before Khamenei reels them in.

"Moderate" Iran Rejects Reuters Report on Rouhani’s Willingness to Mend Ties with West

"Moderate" Iran Rejects Reuters Report on Rouhani’s Willingness to Mend Ties with West.(Fars).

Senior Iranian officials on Monday dismissed as “completely untrue” a Reuters report alleging that President Hassan Rouhani has underlined his willingness to improve ties with the West in an article in the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, stressing that such an article basically never existed.

Reuters claimed in a Monday morning news report that the Iranian president has written “a contribution for the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper” and said that “we want to rebuild and improve our relations to European and North American countries on a basis of mutual respect”.

“We are striving to avoid new burdens on relations between Iran and the United States and also to remove the tensions that we have inherited,” Reuters quoted the Iranian president as saying in Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

In response, Iran’s Presidential Advisor Mohammad Reza Sadeq strongly rejected the Reuters report, saying President Rouhani has not at all sent any note or article to Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

“Irrespective of the content, Dr. Rouhani has not sent any note or piece of writing to this German publication and attributing this contribution to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s President is a lie,” Sadeq told FNA Monday evening.


The Iranian media wired or released similar reports on the basis of the Reuters news item today, and Sadeq urged the Iranian media to contact the presidential office in such cases and avoid giving out news on the basis of foreign media reports on Iranian officials. 

Iran's first VP to attend Mandela’s funeral procession tomorrow.

Iran's first VP to attend Mandela’s funeral procession tomorrow.(Taz).

Iranian Vice-President for Executive Affairs Mohammad Shariatmadari is slated to take part in the funeral ceremony of former South African President and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela on Tuesday, Farsnews reported.

Shariatmadari will head a high-ranking delegation in Mandela's funeral ceremony scheduled to be held in Soto city near Johannesburg tomorrow.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was initially planned to attend Mandela's funeral on behalf of the Islamic Republic, but he had to cancel the trip to host his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov who is due to arrive in Tehran tomorrow.

In a statement on South African national TV, President Jacob Zuma said that Mandela died "peacefully" and surrounded by his family at his Johannesburg home on Thursday evening.

"This is our moment of deepest sorrow, our nation has lost its greatest son," said Zuma, describing the anti-apartheid icon as a "father" to the nation. South Africans would "mourn the one person who, more than any other, came to embody their sense of common nationhood".

The South African government announced that 59 world leaders will attend Mandela's funeral procession in Johannesburg. His body will be laid to rest in his birthplace next Sunday.

Mandela led South Africa's transition from white-minority rule in the 1990s, after 27 years in prison.
Over the course of his life, anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela provided many memorable speeches and soundbites.

In the dock at the 1964 Rivonia Trial facing the gallows for acts of sabotage against the apartheid government, he told the court, "I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

Hmmmm.....Rouhani got no ticket from Khamenei.....'i'll keep my enemies close'.

Iran- Rouhani's speech interrupted by Students chanting for the release of Political Prisoners.

Iran- Rouhani's speech interrupted by Students chanting for the release of Political Prisoners.(NCRI).

During Hassan Rouhani - regimes president’s speech at Meli University in Tehran, students interrupted the speech by chanting, “political prisoners must be released”. This was despite restrictions and strong security control over the students.

The state run main TV channel which was broadcasting the speech live from Meli University, muted the sound gradually but eventually had to stop the live session in order to prevent broadcasting the student's protests.

Students also chanted, “students prefer to die than to accept disgrace”. 

Reports from Sharif Industrial University indicated students posting a huge sign on top of the university entrance, writing, “No entry!” and protested against the presence of Hossein Shariatmadari – Khamenei’s mouthpiece director. Shariatmadari, was due to speak on the occasion of the Students Day. Prior to this, the students had announced, “we don’t allow someone to lie to us with impudence at our own university…”

At Zahedan University, the officials changed lunchtime to 1130 a.m. as a measure to prevent students’ protest on this national day of protest.

Four more political prisoners have been executed in Iran, bringing the total of those put to death under new 'moderate' Hassan Rouhani to almost 400.

Iran said to ready ‘three-stage’ nuclear compromise.

Hmmm.......Khamenei: “A technical wrestler also shows flexibility for technical reasons sometimes, but he would never forget who his rival is and what his main goal is.“  In my view this can only mean WINNING!

Iran said to ready ‘three-stage’ nuclear compromise.

TEHRAN, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Iran will put forward a three-stage proposal in the upcoming Geneva nuclear talks with the world powers, semi-official ISNA news agency reported on Saturday.

The proposal package, if agreed upon at the first stage, will automatically commit the other party to "the recognition of the uranium enrichment right on Iran's soil" as the objective of the negotiations, said ISNA without referring to its information source.

The package also encompasses mutual steps in the course of negotiations so that the finality can be reached, said the report.

"The Iranian officials believe that, without any agreement on the first stage, the continuation of the negotiations will be very difficult and probably impossible," according to ISNA.

The P5+1 group, which includes the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, will resume talks with Iran on its controversial nuclear program in Geneva on Oct. 15-16.
On Friday, Press TV reported that Iran would attend the upcoming nuclear talks in Geneva with new proposals.

Media outlets reported on Wednesday that Iran is preparing a package of proposals to halt production of 20 percent enriched uranium, a key demand of the U.S. and other global powers.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the package includes " limits on the numbers of centrifuges operating, enrichment amounts and the need for verification."
Tehran in return will request that the United States and European Union begin scaling back sanctions, said the report.
On the day, sources close to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team said Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif will be present in the negotiations only if other parties are represented by their foreign ministers, according to Press TV.
In case the meeting is not held at the foreign ministers level, the deputy of Iran's foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Abbas Araqchi, will lead Iran's negotiating team, semi- official Mehr news agency reported on Friday.
On Saturday, senior Iranian lawmaker Esmail Kowsari reiterated Iran's official stance that the right to uranium enrichment inside Iran is non-negotiable in the upcoming nuclear discussions with world powers.
Iran's Majlis (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani said that the forthcoming negotiations between Iran and six major world powers on the country's nuclear program should aim to build trust in order to yield results, Press TV reported on Saturday.
"The negotiations will lead to positive results if they are aimed at building confidence based on international regulations," Larijani was quoted as saying in Tehran on Friday upon his arrival from a tour to three European countries.
The Iranian speaker expressed hope that the P5+1 group, which includes the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, would show "seriousness and wisdom" in the upcoming nuclear talks with Iran.
He asked them to abide by international regulations and pursue the negotiations within a "specific framework."
Besides, the Iranian political analyst, Sadeq Zibakalam, said the upcoming nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 in Geneva will likely yield "promising results" as the time is ripe for finding a way to resolve Iran's nuclear issue, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Zibakalam, also a professor at the University of Tehran, told IRNA that if the Geneva talks lead to breaking the nuclear stalemate, it would be regarded as a big success for Iran. The US delegation to next week's talks about Iran's nuclear program includes one of the US government's leading sanctions experts, a hint that Washington may be giving greater thought to how it might ease sanctions on Tehran.

Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, effectively the State Department's third-ranking diplomat, will lead the US delegation to negotiations between Iran and six major powers in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday, the State Department said.

The central issue at the talks, which will involve Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United States and Iran, will be to explore what, if any, steps Iran might take to curb its nuclear program and what, if any, sanctions relief the major powers may offer in return.

Western powers are concerned that Iran is seeking to develop atomic bombs. Iran denies that, saying its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.

The US delegation will include Adam Szubin, the director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, and among the US government's foremost experts on sanctions.

Szubin has led OFAC since 2006 and is responsible for administering and enforcing the US government's economic sanctions programs to advance foreign policy and national security objectives.

The US team also includes James Timbie, senior adviser to the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security; Puneet Talwar, senior director for Iran, Iraq and the Gulf States on the White House National Security Staff; and Richard Nephew, principal deputy coordinator for sanctions policy at the State Department, a US official said.

Hmmm.......Obama forewarns Netanyahu that sanctions against Iran will soon be partially lifted

President Barack Obama has notified Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that his administration will soon start the partial and gradual easing of economic sanctions against Iran, debkafile reports exclusively from its Washington and Jerusalem sources. The reduction would apply to “non-significant” yet “substantial” sanctions, the message said.

Video - Maryam Rajavi: Expecting Iran's religious dictatorship to become moderate is a mirage.

Video - Maryam Rajavi: Expecting Iran's religious dictatorship to become moderate is a mirage. (NCR).

"Talking about a moderate president in the religious fascism ruling Iran, where the power and all key institutions are controlled by the Supreme Leader, is nothing but deception," Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian Resistance said on Friday.

Statement of Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the President -elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran on the occasion of inauguration of Hassan Rouhani, the new President of the mullahs' regime:

"Talking about a moderate president in the religious fascism ruling Iran, where the power and all key institutions are controlled by the Supreme Leader, is nothing but deception.
This regime is the most serious threat to peace and security for all countries of the region.
This regime has brought nothing but suppression and killing for the Iranian people and terrorism, crisis and warmongering for the region."

 The mullahs' regime is now embarked on obtaining nuclear bomb at any price.

For the past three decades, Rouhani has been an insider and key figure in the regime's military, security and Intelligence system.

He was Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council for sixteen years. He was also a member of the Supreme Defense Council for many years.

He has acknowledged to have actively participated in the crackdown of the student uprising in the summer of 1999.

As the regime's lead negotiator on nuclear issue in the past decade, he explicitly pride himself to have duped world community on the regime's efforts to obtain nuclear bomb.

The Iranian regime will try once again to deceive the international community under the pretext of a new president and buy more time for its dangerous projects such as obtaining nuclear bomb, saving the Syrian dictator and imposing its absolute hegemony in Iraq.

While the regime through Hassan Rouhani pretends to be interested in negotiation with the international community, at the same time it has accelerated its drive to produce nuclear bomb, and dispatching forces and shipping Arms to Syria through Iraq.

Expecting religious dictatorship to become moderate is a mirage that the mullahs' regime has misled the world community with it for the past 30 years.

As I said on the day that Rouhani was declared the new president of the regime, any move toward moderation will be by judged by the following benchmarks:

Respect for human rights including the freedom of expression; release of all political prisoners, freedom of activity for all political parties, stopping war mongering meddling in Syria and Iraq and abandoning nuclear bomb project.

Without such measures talking of moderation is either illusion or deception.
40 days after the sham election, the situation in Iran has become worse with wave of executions across the country, resorting to hanging youth in public and continuing the policy of killing and shedding blood in Iraq and Syria. Mullahs fear any serious reform, because it would rapidly lead to the regime's downfall.
The people of Iran want regime change in its entirety and establishment of democracy, peace and justice.
They will not miss any opportunity to rise up against the regime.
The people of Iran deserve to enjoy internationally recognized rights of every citizen like all other civilized nations.
This could only be achieved for our pride nations through genuine democracy.
The only solution for the Iranian crisis is to overthrow the entire regime by the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance.
This is, indeed, the requirement for peace, tranquility and end of war and bloodshed in the region."More statements here.

Iranian Foreign Min Zarif 'Mea Culpa': "Rouhani Telephone Conversation with Obama and My Long Meeting with Kerry Were Missteps."

Iranian Foreign Min Zarif 'Mea Culpa': "Rouhani Telephone Conversation with Obama and My Long Meeting with Kerry Were Missteps." HT: UskowiOnIran.

Iran’s influential hard-right daily Kayhan reported today that Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has accepted responsibility for missteps during the visit of the Iranian delegation to the UN General Assembly. The first-page article carries huge banner declaring, “Zarif: Rouhani Telephone Conversation with Obama and My Long Meeting with Kerry Were Missteps.”

Following is the English translation of key paragraphs of Kayhan’s article, which appeared on the front and the third pages of today’s edition of the paper.

“In Sunday’s meeting of the national security and foreign policy committee of the Majlis, which had been called to examine the talks (with Obama and Kerry) and other actions by the Iranian delegation during the New York visit, the committee chairman asked Dr. Zarif about actions that the Supreme Leader had characterized as missteps.

“(Dr. Zarif) had responded in quite an honest manner that: ‘We (Zarifaf and Rouhani) thought that the talks (with Kerry) and the phone call (with Obama) were within the authority given to us, but it is our understanding that Hazrat Agha (Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei) has criticized us for Dr. Rouhani’s phone conversation with Obama, he regards that as the first misstep, and my long meeting with John Kerry, and he regards it as the other misstep during out trip.’” (Kayhan, 8 October)

Ayatollah Khamenei: Iran doesn't trust US, but has faith in its own diplomats.

Ayatollah Khamenei: Iran doesn't trust US, but has faith in its own diplomats.(Taz).

Iran doesn't trust the United States, which doesn't keep its promises, yet we have faith in our own diplomats, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, Fars news agency reported.

Khamenei made the remarks during his speech at the graduation ceremony of Iran's military students.

"We support president Hassan Rouhani's diplomatic moves, as diplomacy is important," Khamenei said. "We support the developments of the New York visit, despite that some issues were not very suitable."

Khamenei went on to add that Iran trusts the diplomats of Rouhani's administration, underscoring that the U.S. administration is "under influence of international zionism".
Some forces in Iran were negative towards Hassan Rouhani's approach to talks with the U.S. president and its stance on country's nuclear program.

For example, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari called Rouhani`s phone conversation with his US counterpart, a tactical mistake.

Later, extremist groups in Iran, held protests against Rouhani, upon his arrival in Tehran from New York. The protesters threw shoes at Rouhani.