What Iranians are Thinking

[Guest George H.]

Currently there is a poll on one of Iran's news web sites.

 

Why has the US stepped up its propaganda against Iran particularly about Iran's role in Iraq?

 

To wage a psywar against Iran (12%)

To prepare the ground for an Iran war (48%)

To cover up US failures in Iraq (39%)

 

What about

 

To reveal Iran's role in terrorism?

 

I think it is interesting to see that Iran likes to slant the media in just one direction. I wonder if Iranians notice other choices?

 

I am not saying we are perfect in the United States and Europe, but we are leap years ahead of the Persian people.

[Guest LAW_*]

There is plenty media suppression in Iran. But that does not stop the truth from getting out.

 

US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Kazemi Qomi held face-to-face talks in May and July 2007, in the highest level public contact between the two sides for 27 years. But, the talks stalled and tensions have increased.

 

Iranians are divided into ‎classes and grades and the prosperity and welfare of each class of the society ‎individually and collectively are so interdependent upon the well-being of the ‎other classes that the whole set-up represents a closely woven and reciprocal ‎net. One class cannot exist peacefully, cannot live happily and cannot work ‎without the support and good wishes of the other. ‎

 

The first are the faithful soldiers who defend the clerics, the next class is ‎that of the secretaries of the State to whom duties of writing out and issuing ‎special or general orders are assigned, the third group is that of the judges and ‎magistrates to administer justice, the fourth is of officers who maintain law and ‎order and guard the peace and prosperity of the country. Then there are common ‎men, the Muslims who pay the taxes levied by the government, and non-Muslims ‎who pay the taxes levied by the government, and non-Muslims who pay tribute to ‎the State (in lieu of taxes). Then comes the class of men who carry on various ‎professions and trades and the last but not the least are the poor and the have-‎nots who are considered as the lowest class of the society.

 

On April 10th there was a bomb explosion in a mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers in southern Iran killed at least nine people and injured more than 100.

 

The semi-official Fars news agency said the explosion in the Iranian city of Shiraz went off as a cleric was delivering his weekly speech against extremist Wahabi beliefs and the outlawed Bahai faith.

 

Wahhabism (Arabic: Al-Wahhābīyya الوهابية) or Wahabism is a name sometimes applied to the conservative 18th century reformist call of Sunni Islam attributed to Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, an Islamic scholar from what is today known as Saudi Arabia, who became known for advocating a return to the practices of the first three generations of Islamic history. Wahhabism formed the creed upon which the kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded and is the dominant form of Islam found in Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

 

The Bahá'í Faith is a religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are about six million Bahá'ís in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.

 

According to Bahá'í teachings, religious history has unfolded through a series of God's messengers who brought teachings suited for the capacity of the people at their time, and whose fundamental purpose is the same. Bahá'u'lláh is regarded as the most recent, but not final, in a line of messengers that includes Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad and others.

 

Bombings are unusual in Shiraz, a major draw for foreign tourists who come to see the ruins of nearby Persepolis, an ancient Persian kingdom that was a center for ceremonies and worship. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

 

Iran has faced several ethnic and religious insurgencies that have been behind rare but deadly attacks in recent years. The Iranian government believes that the United States is funding terrorist groups such as the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) and the Jundullah (army of god).

 

The People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI, also MEK, MKO) (Persian: سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران sāzmān-e mojāhedin-e khalq-e irān) is an antifundamentalist Islamic organization that advocates the overthrow of Iran's current government.

 

Jundullah (Army of Allah) (Persian: جندالله) is a militant organization that is based in Balochistan. It is a part of the Baloch insurgency in Pakistan and in Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan Province.

 

Mohammad Jafari is currently the Deputy Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran and his full name is Mohammad Jafari Sahraroudi. Mohammad Jafari is also a member of the Quds force in Iraq and responsible for sectarian violence.

 

The Quds Force (Persian: نیروی قدس, translit. Niru e Qods, Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem), is a special unit of Iran's Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. The Federation of American Scientists, in a document from 1998, says the primary mission of the Quds Force is to organize, train, equip, and finance foreign Islamic revolutionary movements.

 

In a Sunday press conference, Mohammad Jafari said foreign presence has taken a heavy toll in Iraq and has claimed the lives of countless innocent civilians.

 

He reiterated that the Islamic Republic fully supports the Iraqi nation and government and is willing to help stabilize the war-weary country.

 

"Western countries have long sought to drive a wedge between Iran and Iraq in order to secure their own political interests," he added.

 

Jafari's remarks came after a high-ranking Iraqi delegation traveled to Tehran last week to discuss Iraq's latest developments.

 

On April 29, a second American aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, arrived in the Persian Gulf in what Iranians see as a tacit declaration of war on the Islamic Republic of Iran.

 

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday flatly denied that the US was preparing to start military attacks against Iran.

 

"I don't think we'll have two carriers for a protracted period of time. So I don't see it as an escalation. I think it could be seen, though, as a reminder," he told reporters during a visit to Mexico City to brief officials there.

 

The Iranian government has posted an alleged attack plan approved by the US Defense Department, Central Command would be allowed to retaliate for an Iranian attack with US air strikes. The US government is in fact contemplating on an attack against Iran. Yet they are waiting for a ripe time. Any excuse they find can be used for their attack. According to reports, the attack would range from a limited to full-scale one.

 

- They would target all Iranian military assets in the Persian Gulf in order to prevent Iran from blocking the Straits of Hormuz, which is the passage of 40 percent of global oil.

 

- They would target missile centers and command and control facilities deep in Iran to be conducted by the two navy carriers deployed in the Persian Gulf.

 

- They would eventually target Iran's nuclear facilities in Arak, Bushehr and Isfahan

 

Last week the CIA published three aerial photographs showing a Syrian nuclear reactor which Israel bombed last September with the full-throated support of the US government.

 

Iran recently displayed its 1800 km-range missile "QADR 1" for first time during a military forces' parade on the country's National Army Day.

 

Iran said on Sunday a "disastrous situation" facing the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan coupled with Washington's domestic issues made any US attack on the Islamic Republic unlikely.

 

The Iranian government is alluding the tale of the Sword of Damocles with the United States.

 

Damocles was a flattering courtier in the court of Dionysius II of Syracuse, a fourth century BC king of Syracuse. He exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority, Dionysius was truly fortunate. Dionysius offered to switch places with him for a day, so he could taste first hand that fortune. In the evening a banquet was held, where Damocles very much enjoyed being waited upon like a king. Only at the end of the meal did he look up and notice a sharpened sword hanging by a single piece of horsehair directly above his head. Immediately, he lost all taste for the fine foods and beautiful boys and asked leave of the tyrant, saying he no longer wanted to be so fortunate.

 

Bush's attempt to rally international pressure against Iran has lost steam due to the growing international vigilance, specially following the latest IAEA and US intelligence reports.

[Guest Dissident Voice]

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the countdown to the termination of the hegemonic powers' ruling over the world has started.

 

"The era of domination of bullying powers has come to its end," Ahmadinejad said, while speaking to foreign guests attending the 19th demise anniversary of the founder of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini on Monday.

 

Urging solidarity among Islamic nations, Ahmadinejad said the hegemonic powers are bound to fail provided that Muslims remain united.

 

The president added that sooner or later the Israeli regime would disappear, stressing that its ally, the United States, was already on its way to losing power.

 

"Undoubtedly, the enemies were trying to destabilize Lebanon to pave the way for another war against the country, but the Lebanese resistance repelled them," the Iranian president said, commenting on Lebanon's recent developments.

 

He also called on all Muslims to follow the ideologies of the late founder of the Islamic Revolution, urging them to remain steadfast in fighting superpowers.