Monday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 4.25.2005:

Rafsanjani confirms he’s running for Iran’s presidency

AlJazeera.com:

Powerful Iranian cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani announced on Monday that he was standing again for president in the country's June 17 election, official media said. READ MORE

The western media is going to love this. They want to believe he is a moderate. But his past statements make it clear that he is anything but a moderate:

"If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world."

This is the man the western media wants to run Iran. The people of Iran despise Rafsanjani. Rafsanjani ran for parliament and lost. He is considered by many as the real power behind the regime and perhaps it most corrupt. Now is not the time for self-deception.

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• Hoder reports Iranian Presidential candidate Larijani has been officially announced as the preferred candidate of conservatives.
• AlJazeera.com reports that Iran’s presidential candidate Ali Larijani said that Iran will consider policy changes only if the United States respects the Islamic republic and abandons its unilateral policies.
• Payvand's Iran News has just published a report on Iran’s Foreign Policy & its Key Decision Makers.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reports that an overwhelming majority of British voters are opposed to the US launching any military strikes against Iran.
• Lebanon's Daily Star reports that Iranian Ambassador Massoud Idrissi described the issue of Hizbullah's weapons and the Palestinian camps as Lebanon's internal affairs.
• The Jerusalem Post reports on a worldwide day of protest last week hoping to "break the silence" of the violation of human rights in Iran.
• Zeenews.com reports that Iraq's new leaders are saying that an Islamic regime will not be allowed in Iraq.
• ICFTU OnLine reports that independent labour activists in Iran are planning once again to hold May Day celebrations, despite fears of a repetition of last year's arrests.
• BBC News reports that Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi's human rights group has criticisms the fact that women will not be allowed to run in Iran's June presidential elections.
• Turkish Press reports that an Iranian hardline political watchdog has ordered that a contract with Turkish telecoms company Turkcell for Iran's second mobile telephone network must undergo more changes.
• Reuters is reporting that Iranian authorities are rounding up ringleaders of ethnic unrest in the oil-rich southwest.
• Khaleej Times Online reports that the mayor of Iran’s second largest city has been beaten up after he challenged workers on an illegal construction site. It was reported to have been set upon for five hours.
• The American Thinker reports that the London Arab daily Al-Hayat published a report on Iran's current preparedness for an American or Israeli attack.
• WorldNetDaily.com reports that Iran is already testing ballistic missiles specifically designed to destroy America's technical infrastructure, effectively neutralizing the world's lone superpower.
• FOX News spoke with two retired generals and a military expert, who outlined some of the options on the table for the Pentagon.
• And finally, Adventures of Chester watched with interest the FoxNews Special on Iran and posted his thoughts.