Daughter of Iranian ex-president jailed for fomenting political dissent: Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, will spend six months in jail ahead of Iranian parliament elections for “propaganda against the Islamic system.” She will also be barred from political activities for five years. source
Closing the Strait of Hormuz is very easy for Iranian naval forces. Iran has comprehensive control over the strategic waterway.Iranian Adm. Habibollah Sayyari • Claiming that Iran has the ability to close the Strait of Hormuz, a major waterway that’s extremely important for the distribution of one-sixth of the world’s oil. Sayyari’s threats come as Iran worries that the U.S. and its allies will start to sanction Iran’s all-important oil supply out of frustration with the country’s controversial nuclear program. Congress recently passed a bill to sanction the country’s central bank, which Obama plans to sign despite having misgivings about the effects it might have. As tensions continue to rise over Iran’s nuclear program, could military action become an option for the U.S.? source (via • follow)
Middle East on the brink of war: analysis
As Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad clings to power with the quiet backing of regional powers Iran and Russia, the Middle East may be sliding slowly into war.
Squeezed between the rebellions of a bloody Arab Spring and growing fears of a possible military response to Iran’s growing nuclear threat, the region is becoming increasingly unstable.
“I would be very surprised if it turned into a Russian-American war, but this could be a Mid-East war: Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, Syria, Israel all having at each other,” said Jack Granatstein, military historian and senior research fellow at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute.
Let’s hope that the region doesn’t get any more volatile than it already is. Do you think this analysis is spot-on?
Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann squared off on Iran, with Bachmann claiming Ron Paul’s unwillingness to act against Iran’s nuclear program would be one of the most disastrous decisions in American history. Paul responded with a great deal more vigor and aggression than normal, insisting war should only be waged with a congressional declaration, and insisted there was no evidence that Iran had been enriching uranium for such weapons. In the end, both parties drew some big applause, though boos were audible when Paul dismissed Bachmann’s reference to the IAEA.
Absolutely. Does timidity and weakness invite acts of aggression by other people? Absolutely! …this President, when the spy drone goes down, asks ‘pretty please?’Mitt Romney, on President Obama’s comment that the U.S. had asked Iran to return the downed high-tech spy drone now in their possession.
Ron Paul refused to budge on his opposition to fearing Iran’s nuclear weapons program, at least insofar as such a fear would cause military action. He also stated that economic sanctions against Iran constitute an act of war, as they prohibit the flow of goods and services.
Above is the video of the former agent talking, along with his family talking before the clip. Bob Levinson went missing in Iran in March 2007, with little known about his situation — until today. In this clip, his son and mother show up beforehand. ”Please tell us your demands so we can work together to bring my father home safely,” his son David says in the clip above. In the clip, the elder Levinson says that while he’s been treated well, he’s in poor health and low on diabetes medication. However, details on the group that has him are sparse and limited. The U.S. government believes he’s being held in southwestern Asia, and have asked the Iranian government for help in figuring out where he’s being held. source
Congresswoman Bachmann is a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence and is fully aware that we do not have an embassy in Iran and have not had one since 1980. She was agreeing with the actions taken by the British to secure their embassy personnel and was speaking in the hypothetical, that if she was President of the United States and if we had an embassy in Iran, she would have taken the same actions as the British.To clarify, all, Michele Bachmann’s staff denied the gaffe from Wednesday night. On Thursday. After the internet went into an uproar.
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The Iranian Chargé in London is being informed now that we require the immediate closure of the Iranian Embassy in London and that all Iranian diplomatic staff must leave the United Kingdom within the next 48 hours. If any country makes it impossible for us to operate on their soil they cannot expect to have a functioning Embassy here.British Foreign Secretary William Hague • Warning Iran to close its embassy, in a ratcheting-up of tensions between the two countries a day after activists raided the British Embassy in Tehran, upset over new sanctions against Iran. Hague was careful to emphasize diplomatic ties still exist between the two countries: “This does not amount to the severing of diplomatic relations in their entirety,” he said. “It is action that reduces our relations with Iran to the lowest level consistent with the maintenance of diplomatic relations.” In other words, they may get a phone call, but don’t expect it to be friendly. source (via • follow)
And British officials aren’t happy: On Tuesday, Iranian protesters angry with the British government stormed the country’s embassy in Tehran, forcing diplomats to flee out the back door for their safety. The move came after the British government placed sanctions on Iran, preventing British banks from doing business with Iranian banks out of concern they were helping to facilitate the country’s nuclear program. The British government condemned the actions. “We are outraged by this. It is utterly unacceptable,” the UK Foreign Office said in a statement. source
Jon Huntsman isn’t buying his opponents’ calls for sanctions against Iran: “Everybody’s talking about sanctions. I hate to break it to ya, but sanctions won’t work, because China and Russia aren’t gonna play ball.”
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