Thursday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 12.29.2005:

Media Ignores Iran's Other Senior Leaders Threats: A Sampling

Hossein Bastani, Rooz Online:

I would like to present some of the views of the conservatists in Iran about the Palestine and Israel issues. They all have one thing in common, and that is their naivety which borders satire. ...

I will begin with Ahmadinejad’s “solution”. His proposal was that the Jewish population of Israel be moved to Germany or Austria, and promised that Iranian government would “support this solution.” While his “solution” was bizarre, it was less so than the other solutions that conservatists have proposed in the past.

For example Ansare Hezbollah, which is the harshest of the hardliners and conservative groups in Iran had proposed the following: “If the current situation in Palestine continues, there would be no solution left but for the Jews to revolt against Zionists to liberate themselves ... these very Jews would be protected by the Islamic leaders.” ...

Kayhan newspaper which is the principal bastion of the conservative hardliners, advocated “attacking Zionists and their supporters all over the world”... even proposes the “chemical and biological bombardment of American and Israeli cities” ... “the mass killing of all Zionists, wherever they may be” ...

Hassani, the Friday prayer leader of Orumie, ... has said that “At my age of 90 years old, I would tie bombs around my waist and kill 5,000 Jews.”

[A]yatollah Jannati, the chairman of the Guardians Council has said that, “non Muslims are mere animals who roam the world and corrupt it”...

[A]yatollah Khazali, a former Guardian Council member said, “Just as fasting for one month is an absolute requirement for a Muslim, so is Jihad once a year. If the enemy does not attack, you must attack them! Sweden, Holland, Germany, London and Austria must not be safe. If they do not come, then you must go there an express your position. If they do not accept, then fight them” ...

Hassan Abbasi, ... the director of the Center for Security Doctrines ... “Mr. Khatami! It is your Dialogue Between Civilizations that is thwarting Lebanon’s Hizbullah struggle. I am proud that foreign terrorists are trained by us. Who cares that Mr. Khatami calls this violence. Mr. Khatami, we will dry out the roots of the Anglo-Saxon race. One ninth of the US budget last year was our work” he clarified. Ruydad website published more of Abbasi’s words as follows: “Hassan Abbasi further said ’29 weak spots have been identified in the US and the West to be attacked… Anything that can be done to terrorize and create fright in the atheist camp is our privilege and honor… We have identified 6,000 nuclear warheads in the US to be detonated. We have informed guerrilla groups of their weak spots and shall act through them… We have also created a department for Britain and its destruction is on our agenda. We even work with the Mexicans, Argentineans and anybody else who has a problem with the US.’” READ MORE

When will the mainstream media report that it is not only Ahmadinejad who is a threat and Israel is not the only target?

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

• SMCCDI reported that workers of the Greater Tehran's Subway Company were able to cut off the electrical power of Tehran's subway lines, on Tuesday afternoon, in support of arrested union brothers.
• Safa Haeri, Iran Press Service reported that the leaders of Tehran Bus Company have been arrested and the Union dissolved.
• Christopher Hitchens, Slate argued that Iran is meddling in Iraqi affairs, but maybe the influence works both ways.
• The Economic Times reported that Iran thinks the OPEC oil cartel should cut its production ceiling by 1 million barrels per day when it meets on January 31.
• The New York Times reported that Iran hints at a warmer reception to Russia's nuclear proposal.
• Iran Focus reported that thousands of Iraqis turned out to demonstrate in Baghdad against Iranian meddling in December 15 parliamentary elections.
• Iran Focus reported the Commandant of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) warned of the “threats” by foreign and domestic enemies.
• The New York Times reported that new U.S. sanctions against state-owned Chinese companies accused of aiding Iran's missile and chemical programs could signal a harder line toward Tehran.
• Los Angeles Daily News reported that U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman is making Iran his mission.
• Shahram Rafizadeh, Rooz Online reported that a member Iran’s Parliament says a committee in the Ministry of Culture plans to control Iranian fashion and clothes people wear.
• Dow Jones Newswires reported that an India-Iran joint working group Wednesday resumed talks in New Delhi on a proposed natural gas pipeline project.
• Hamed Irani, Rooz Online reported that the Iranian government banned news reports about Saba TV.
• Meysam Tavvab, Rooz Online reported that the Iranian government had expressed concern that the reformist satellite broadcaster Saba might upset pious Muslim women, before banning the station.
• And finally, Nibras Kazimi, The New York Sun reported on what he calls the retro-revolutionaries in Iran.