The Iranian "Elections"--The Real Winner.

As the moderate Rouhani was being allowed to become president, he proudly posted that his site is no longer blocked (by the cyber security police).

The Iranian "Elections"--The Real Winner.HT and read the full story here @ UskowiOnIran.

Disqualified ex-president Rafsanjani slams Iranian authorities, calls them "narrow minded".

Disqualified ex-president Rafsanjani slams Iranian authorities, calls them "narrow minded".(TI).

Iran's former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has recently slammed the Iranian authorities, after he was not permitted to participate in the upcoming presidential elections in the country, opposition website Kalemeh reported.

"The Iranian authorities are narrow minded. Those who voted for my disqualification lack knowledge of the current situation in the country, and I don't know where they're going with this kind of approach," the former president said during the meeting with his supporters.

He went on to say that there are plans under discussion in the U.S. aimed at separating Azarbaijan and Sistan & Baluchestan provinces from Iran, and mentioned that the U.S. wants to support Israel in case of strikes on Iran, because of the nuclear dispute.

The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. The Islamic Republic has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical researches instead.

"The authorities of Iran don't know about these processes, they are unaware of the situation that is going to get worse," Rafsanjani said, adding that the UK and the U.S. are waiting for the results on the elections in Iran.

Rafsanjani noted that Iran is experiencing economic crisis under the paralysing sanctions, which damage industries and agriculture. He noted that Iran currently has a 30 percent inflation level and the 50 percent-drop in national currency value.

Rafsanjani was a speaker of the Iranian parliament for 10 years, then served 8 years as country's president, and is currently the head of the Expediency Council of Iran.

He was not qualified by the Guardian Council of Iran to participate at the upcoming presidential elections in the country.

After the news became public, the immediate negative reaction followed, mostly by the family members of the family of Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with whom Rafsanjani was close.

"I didn't have any desire to participate in the elections, and I told that to Supreme Leader Khamenei clearly, before the registration," Rafsanjani underscored. "However the demands from both clerics and ordinary people made me submit my candidacy."

Iran will hold the 11th presidential election on June 14, 2013.

The voters will select the successor of the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is not able to participate in the elections for the third term according to the country's constitutional laws.

The president of Iran is elected for a four-year term in a national election and the Guardian Council vets the candidates for qualifications.Read the full story here.

"Halal Internet" - Internet Enters ‘Coma’ in Iran – Ahead of Presidential Election.

"Halal Internet" - Internet Enters ‘Coma’ in Iran – Ahead of Presidential Election.HT: UskowiOnIran.

“The Internet is in a coma,” wrote Tehran’s Qanoon daily earlier this month. The Middle East Online in a piece published today explains the symptoms. The authorities, mindful of massive street demonstrations post-2009 election, have tightened control of the Internet, deliberately slowing it down for average users.

“It only happens in Iran: the election comes, the Internet goes,” Qanoon quoted a recent tweet in Farsi.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and numerous other sites, including thousands of blogs, have been censored in Iran in the aftermath of the 2009 protests. Now the Internet has become so slow that the average person cannot download almost anything. But the drop in bandwidth and widespread disruption of the Internet is now severely affecting businesses, banks and even government organizations.
A network administrator at a major Internet service provider in Tehran is quoted on the report that his company had been unable to address complaints about slower speeds, particularly accessing pages using the HTTPS secure communications protocol.

“Browsing (the net) is difficult due to the low speed. Even checking emails is a pain,” he said.

The problem is not limited to slower speeds, but also affects what people can actually access online. The censors have taken great care to ensure that people do not see or read things deemed to be inappropriate from their viewpoints. The last remaining software that enabled users to bypass filters imposed on net traffic, like the virtual private networks (VPN), “have become practically inaccessible,” said an Iranian IT website. (The Middle East Online, 19 May)

VPN uses certain protocols to connect to servers outside Iran. In that way, the computer appears to be based in another country and bypasses the filters. Use of VPN, or its sale, is illegal in Iran.

Ramezanali Sobhani-Fard, a member of Majlis and chairman of its communications committee, said VPN was blocked in early March, which has contributed to slowing the Internet.

Last year, the authorities established the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, tasked with guarding Iranians from “dangers” on the Internet. The council is now the lead agency for implementation of official Internet policies and behind the recent disruptions in the use of the Internet in the country.Read the full story here.

Mehr News : ‘Saudi Arabia would support Israel in possible Iran strike’

Mehr News : ‘Saudi Arabia would support Israel in possible Iran strike’.(M).The remarks by the President of Saudi Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies on Saudi backing Israel in case of strike against Iran has taken Israeli circles by surprise.

Al-Alam reported that Oded Granot Israeli Channel 1 Arab world analyst had said an extensive drill has been launched in Persian Gulf with 22 countries participating, among them the US, UK, and all Persian Gulf countries, and Lebanon, with the objective of confronting ‘the axis of evil.’

“The aim is to prepare for a confrontation with Iran,” he added. Demining practices and vessel mobility in Persian Gulf were examined.

The Israeli analyst also pointed to the remarks by the Director of the Center of the Strategic Studies in Jeddah, and quoted him as having said that the drills had a message to Iran and supported Israel’s actions. “The director also said if Israel attacked Syria, Saudi Arabia would take sides with Israel,” the Israeli analyst said.

Israeli Channel 1 also aired the remarks by Anwar Majid Eshki, the President of Saudi Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies on Aljazeera Network. Eshki was quoted to having claimed that the hypothetical enemy was Iran in the drills. Iran is on the eve of elections, and it may intervene in Syria against Israel. “The drills were a sort of ensuring Israel. If Israel attacked Iran, the countries participating in drills would carry out their roles,” Anwar Eshki was quoted to having said.

Oded Granot said that the remarks by Eshki were incredible and no such comments would have been heard before. “In the view of Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf Sheikhdoms, only Israel and the US would protect them against a nuclear Iran,” he added.Read the full story here.

Video - Supporters of Rafsanjani and Khatami in a rally minutes after Rafsanjani declared his candidacy to run for president.

Reformists Line Up Behind Rafsanjani.HT: (UOI).The move is expected to have a ripple effect on a large field of candidates who have registered to run:

• The moderate and reformists candidates will be expected to withdraw in favor of Rafsanjani. They include Hassan Rouhani, Mostafa Kavakebian, Mohammad Reza Aref, Mohammad Shariatmadari and Masoud Pezeshkan.
• The fragmented field of the ‘principlists’ (conservatives) is also expected to shrink significantly in search of a unity candidate able to challenge Rafsanjani. The Coalitions of Three and Five, representing traditional conservatives, are expected to untie behind a single candidate. Most likely Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf or Ali Akbar Velayati. The more fundamentalist groups, considered close to ultraconservative Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, are likely to unite behind Saeed Jalili. It is, however, not likely nor expected that the two principlist camps could field one single candidate, raising the prospect of a split in conservative votes in the first round of the election. 


• The pro-Ahmadinejad forces will support Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie if he is candidacy is cleared by the Guardian Council. The principlists, who control the Guardian Council, will have a difficult choice to make in the five-day vetting period: If they disqualify Mashaie, his supporters, especially the young, will likely rally behind Rafsanjani, weakening the prospects of the principlist candidate(s). If they don’t disqualify Mashaie, against all their ideological and political instincts, they would assure the split of anti-principlist votes between Rafsanjani and Mashaie, strengthening their own prospects. The unspoken factor in the election will be the role of the imprisoned leaders of the Green Movement: Rafsanjani would need the votes of the youths to seal his victory over principlists, and Mousavi and Karroubi’s support will be key here. However it’s not clear how openly he would seek their endorsements, considering the complications it could create for him with Khamenei and the establishment.

Read the full story here.

Kerry: I Will Implement 'President Obama's Vision For The World'. 

Rafsanjani to Run for President

Rafsanjani to Run for President.HT: UskowiOnIran.By Nader Uskowi.

Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani today registered to run for another term as president in the 14 June election. The long-anticipated decision came only minutes before the deadline.

Rafsanjani will now be the frontrunner in the race and his entry would change the composition of the race significantly. The ‘principlist’ (conservative) groups who have fielded a number of candidates are now expected to attempt uniting behind a single candidate capable to challenge Rafsanjani. The name most discussed is Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 78 years old, has served as president of Iran for eight years (1989-1997); as speaker of Majlis for nine years (1980-1989) and was the de facto commander-in-chief of the Iranian armed forces during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). He is currently the chairman of the Expediency Council. A new Rafsanjani presidency would be seen as the complete repudiation of eight years of hardline policies championed by Ahmadinejad and a new beginning to bring normalcy to the country’s economy and its foreign relations.