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539BCE
Persian king, Cyrus the Great, conquers the Babylonian
Empire and allows Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Holy
Temple. Around 43.000 Jews go back to the Promised Land. Cyrus also
returns to the Jews the Holy Vessels stolen by Babylonian king
Nebuchadnezzar after he destroyed the First Jewish Temple. |
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654CE
Muslim
Arab forces defeated Persian army in a battle of
Nahavand. This defeat brought to the end the reign of Sassanid
dynasty and with it an independence of Persia. It fell under
the control of Abbasid and Umayyad caliphs from Damascus and
Baghdad. With time Islam has replaced
Zoroastrianism. The impact on religious minorities was
profound as the social and political rights were taken away from
them. Jews were forced to wear yellow ribbons to distinguish
them from Muslims. |
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On a
Collision Course with Iran |
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad |
Nuclear
Explosion |
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad |
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Timeline |
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Tehran, Iran -
9/3/10
Thousands of Iranians marched in Tehran to mark the al-Quds or
Jerusalem day. It's an annual event originated by Ayatollah
Khomeini in 1979 and held on the last Friday of Ramadan. The
purpose of the event is to show solidarity with Palestinians and
contempt towards the "Zionist state" of Israel. The parades are
organized by the Iranian government and follow a predetermined
formula. Government officials give the fiery speeches while
marchers chant "Death to Israel" and "Death to America". This
year president
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed worshippers at Tehran University
in a live broadcast using the speech to criticize the of direct
peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders held in
Washington.
"Palestine's
issue can no be resolved through talks with enemies of the
Palestinian nation. Resistance is the only way" he told the
fired up crowd.
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Bushehr, Iran -
8/21/10
Iranian and
Russian engineers began loading fuel
into Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant on Saturday.
State television showed the fuel rods being loaded into
the core of the reactor, which is on the shores of the Persian
Gulf near the city of Bushehr. Russia, which helped finish
building the plant, has pledged to safeguard the site and
prevent spent nuclear fuel from being used to make nuclear
weapons.
During the opening ceremony Iran's
nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi sent a message to the Western
world. "As of now the Bushehr reactor is a power plant since
fuel has been loaded into it and therefore attacking it would be
considered a crime," he said.
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Oslo, Norway -
8/8/10
Mohammad Mostafaei, an Iranian lawyer who was defending a woman
facing a death penalty by stoning, revealed that he has fled to
Norway and asked for political asylum. Mr. Mostafaei disappeared
from Tehran after being questioned by Iranian authorities, who
then issued a warrant for his arrest. His wife was arrested and
released couple of days later. He expressed a hope that his wife
and daughter will eventually join him in Norway.
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Shahr-e-Kord, Iran
- 6/16/10
In
his speech, broadcasted live on state TV, the Iranian president
said that he will soon announce new conditions for talks with
the West. But first, he wants to punish world powers for
imposing sanctions on Tehran. "You showed bad temper, reneged on
your promise and again resorted to devilish manners". "We set
conditions so that, God willing, you'll be punished a bit and
sit at the negotiating table like a polite child" he said
addressing the countries that imposed the new sanctions. He also
attacked the U.S., saying Iran needs to save Americans from
their "undemocratic and bullying government." He charged there
was no freedom in the U.S. and newspapers in America were not
authorized to write against Israel or hold rallies against the
"crimes" committed by their government. Earlier he warned the
Russian government not to site with his enemies "Russian
leaders should not create a situation that makes Iranian people
place Russia in the ranks of their historic enemies,"
Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Kerman.
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New York, U.S. -
6/9/10
The UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran
over a nuclear program that is suspected to be aimed at
developing an atomic bomb. President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the U.N. resolution was "valueless" and
should be thrown "in the waste bin like a used handkerchief".
The resolution calls for
measures against new
Iranian banks abroad if a connection to the nuclear or
missile programs is suspected, as well as vigilance over
transactions with any Iranian bank, including the central bank.
It blacklists three firms controlled by
Islamic Republic of
Iran Shipping Lines and 15 belonging to the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as calling for setting up a
cargo inspections. The
resolution names 40 companies to be
added to a U.N. blacklist of firms whose assets worldwide are to
be frozen for aiding
Iran's nuclear or missile programs. Also named is a
new blacklisted individual, Javad Rahiqi,
head of an
Iranian nuclear center where uranium is processed. His
assets will be blocked and he will face a foreign travel ban.
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Tehran, Iran -
5/12/10
The authorities in Iran have refused to allow the families of
five Kurdish activists hanged few days earlier to bury them.
They also arrested the sister and mother of the only woman among
the executed. Two other Kurdish activists were executed last
year and 16 more are currently on the death row. These
executions were carried out rather quickly without even having
been endorsed by Iran's Supreme Court. The authorities also
refused to release the bodies of the executed activists to their
families. One of the family lawyers expressed his
frustration by saying that "Not allowing families to bury the
bodies of their loved ones is against the law, Islam and
Shariah".
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New York, U.S.-
5/3/10
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Monday that Iran will
face tough sanctions if it does not meet nuclear demands,
accusing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of trying to divert
attention after he used a U.N. speech to berate nuclear-armed
nations and accuse the United States of committing acts of
terror. She spoke a few hours after Ahmadinejad in New York at a
U.N. nonproliferation conference for a worldwide spread of
nuclear weapons, said Iran was using "the same tired, false and
sometimes wild accusations" against the United States and other
U.N. members. "Iran will do whatever it can to divert attention
away from its own record," she said, adding that the country
"will not succeed in its effort to divert and divide".
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Tehran, Iran -
4/6/10
Mohamed Khatami, the former Iranian president, was banned from
traveling abroad to attend a nuclear disarmament conference in
Japan. "He failed to make a trip because he was informed by the
security forces that a travel ban was imposed" the aide said.
But a lawyer representing the former president said that there
was no travel ban in place that Mr. Khatami was only "advised"
not to travel by movement officials.
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Tehran, Iran -
3/1/10
Two major opposition publications were shut down by the Iranian
authorities. Both publications, the daily Etemand and weekly
Iran Dokht were linked to Mehdi Karroubi, one of the
opposition's outspoken leaders who called for a referendum of
government popularity a week earlier.
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Tehran, Iran -
2/11/10
Hundreds of thousands of pro-government Iranians rallied to mark
the 31st anniversary of Iranian revolution. The opposition tried
to stage a counter-demonstration but faced a huge security
crackdown as several of its leaders have reportedly been
attacked. The opposition websites estimated the number of
activists detained by security forces were in thousands. Tear
gas was used to disperse the protesters and paint balls were
shot to mark them for later arrests. Witnesses reported many
arrested opposition supporters were loaded into the waiting
buses as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed his own supporters
boasting that Iran was now a nuclear state.
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Tehran, Iran -
12/27/09
Protests erupted all around Iran on the day of Ashura, a holiday
that commemorates the martyrdom of of Imam Hussein, the grandson
of Prophet Muhammad. Protests began with thousands of opposition
supporters chanting "Death to the dictator," a reference to
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as they marched in defiance of
official warnings of a harsh crackdown. 10 people were
reported killed during the clashes with police and hundreds were
wounded. Amongst the dead was Ali Moussavi, a nephew of the
opposition leader Mir Hussein MoussavI. Massive arrests followed
the day of unrest with many leading opposition figures detained
by authorities.
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P |
Qum, Iran -
12/20/09
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the fierce critic of the
current hard-line Iranian government, died from the apparent
heart failure. Ayatollah Montazeri was widely regarded as the
most knowledgeable religious scholar in Iran. His religious
credentials also prevented the authorities from silencing or
jailing him. Last month, he stunned many in Iran and abroad by
apologizing for his role in the 1979 takeover of the American
Embassy in Tehran, which he called a mistake. Just recently he
provided the following summary of the current Iranian regime:
"“A political system based on force, oppression, changing
people’s votes, killing, closure, arresting and using Stalinist
and medieval torture, creating repression, censorship of
newspapers, interruption of the means of mass communications,
jailing the enlightened and the elite of society for false
reasons, and forcing them to make false confessions in jail, is
condemned and illegitimate".
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Tehran, Iran -
12/14/09
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Monday that
three American hikers who illegally crossed the border with Iran
would face trial. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state,
described accusations against the three as "totally unfounded"
and called for their immediate release. The three had been on a
hiking trip in the mountains on the border between Iran and
Iraqi Kurdistan in July when they were arrested by the Iran.
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Tehran, Iran -
12/7/09
Thousands of Iranian students demonstrated against the
government on a National Student's Day despite the major effort
by the authorities to suppress the protests. In some cases the
protest turned violent as police and Basij militia used tear
gas, clubs and stun guns to disperse the protesters. Many
arrests and injuries were reported. The demonstrators chanted
"death to the oppressor, whether shah or supreme leader.” and
burned the posters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, the Iran's supreme leader. The opposition leaders Mir
Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi were blocked from
attending the protests.
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Tehran, Iran -
11/29/09
Iran defiantly refused to comply with demand by UN atomic agency
to cease work on a once secret nuclear enrichment plant located
near holy city of Qom. The Iranians announced that they would
build 10 new uranium enrichment plants as the United States
warned the Islamic republic that time for it to meet
international demands is running out. Ahmadinejad told the
official Islamic Republic News Agency that construction of at
least five nuclear facilities is to begin within two months.
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Tehran, Iran -
11/23/09
The Iranian government has announced a creation of new programs
aimed at re-Islamizing the educational system, purging the
secular influences and purifying the media of subversive ideas.
Iranian government is also planning to implant 6,000
Basij militia centers in elementary schools across Iran to
promote the ideals of the Islamic Revolution. A new police unit
was created to sweep the Internet for dissident voices. A
company affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards acquired a
majority share in the Iran's telecommunications monopoly
assuring them of fullaa control of Iran’s land lines, Internet
providers and two cell phone companies.
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Sana'a, Yemen -
11/16/09
General Yahya Salih, Yemen's counter-terrorism chief, accused
the Iranians of funding the Houthi rebel fighters in their war
against government forces in the north of the country. The
Yemeni government claims that the Houthis are plotting to
restore the Shia Zaidi Imamate with the help of Iran and Shia
sympathizers in the Gulf.
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Tehran, Iran -
11/9/09
Iranian authorities are pursuing the espionage charges against
three American hikers who strayed from Kurdish region of Iraq
across the Iranian border in July of 2009. President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, in Turkey for a summit, was asked about their fate
during a news conference in Istanbul. He said the three had
violated the law and would have to face the consequences.
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Tehran, Iran -
11/4/09
On the 20th anniversary of the storming of the US embassy in
Tehran, the Iranian opposition staged some of the biggest street
protests since June's disputed elections. Many demonstrators
were wearing green scares and ribbons. They were met by Basij
militia who were seen beating the demonstrators with clubs. At
the same time the government supporters were burning the US
flags to commemorate the 1979 embassy takeover, a turning point
in Iranian history. Iranian police reported the arrests of 109
people, including several foreign journalists.
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Pisheen, Iran -
10/18/09
A suicide bomber on Sunday killed six Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps commanders and 36 others at a gathering of tribal
leaders in a southeastern province near the Pakistani border.
The Sunni Muslim militant group Jundallah, or Soldiers of God,
claimed responsibility for the attack. As usual in Iran, the US
and Britain have been accused of being behind the attack. In
Parliament, members chanted "Death to America" but at the same
time Iranians pointed fingers to Pakistan linking a Sunni group
to Pakistani intelligence organizations.
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Pisheen, Iran -
10/18/09
A suicide bomber on Sunday killed six Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps commanders and 36 others at a gathering of tribal
leaders in a southeastern province near the Pakistani border.
The Sunni Muslim militant group Jundallah, or Soldiers of God,
claimed responsibility for the attack. As usual in Iran, the US
and Britain have been accused of being behind the attack. In
Parliament, members chanted "Death to America" but at the same
time Iranians pointed fingers to Pakistan linking a Sunni group
to Pakistani intelligence organizations.
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Tehran, Iran -
10/10/09
Iranian justice ministry announced that three people were
accused in post election incidents have been sentenced to death.
Prosecutors said the accused admitted to spying but human rights
groups say that torture was used to extract the confessions.
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Tehran, Iran -
10/6/09
The Association for the Supervision of Publications in Iran revoked the
licenses of the Tehran-based dailies Farhang-e Aashti and Arman
on Sunday. On Monday, the same state agency’s offices in
Fars province also revoked the license of the
Shiraz-based daily Tahleel-e Rooz newspaper. All three
newspapers were critical of Iranian president Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad.
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Pittsburgh, U.S. -
9/25/09
President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain
declared Friday that the revelation of a previously secret
Iranian nuclear facility puts heavy new pressure on Tehran to
quickly disclose all of its nuclear efforts including any moves
toward developing nuclear weapons. The senior US official said
that the size of the plant inside a mountain at the holy city of
Qom was inconsistent with it being used for the peaceful
purposes of producing energy.
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Tehran, Iran -
8/29/09
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday urged stiff punishment
for those who "orchestrated and provoked" the "painful" unrest
after the June 12 presidential election. "I call upon security
and judicial officials to decisively and mercilessly act with
those who committed inhumane acts and inflicted damage on people
and tarnished the image of the establishment, security and
police forces," he added.
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Tehran, Iran -
8/2/09
100 Iranians demonstrators arrested in the aftermath of the
disputed June 12 presidential elections went on trial Saturday.
Tehran has charged them with rioting, vandalism, compromising
national security and conspiracy against the government,
according to Iran's state media. The defendants include
prominent opposition figures, including former Vice President
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, as well as former ministers and a former
government spokesman. Many of the accused have confessed to
their crimes but the opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi and
reformist former President Mohammad Khatami severely criticized
the Iranian government claiming that those on trial had been
tortured into confessions.
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Tehran, Iran -
6/13/09
In the biggest unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution,
thousands of Iranians have clashed with police over President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election victory as the suspicions grew
over the claims of voter irregularities.
The figures from the
interior ministry showed Ahmadinejad had taken 62.63% of the
vote to Mousavi's 33.75%.
The scale of
Ahmadinejad's victory was met with a lot of skepticism as the
polls were predicting a much closer race.
The challenger, Hussein Mousavi had said there was a
shortage of ballot papers and alleged that millions of people
had been denied the right to vote.
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Damascus, Syria -
5/23/09
During his visit to Syria,
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki described Israel as a
decaying entity which was moving fast
downward and is presently passing through the worst phase of its
life. He also said that Iran and Syria were two key players in
the region, cooperation between whom would pave the way for
solving many regional problems.
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Tehran, Iran -
5/20/09
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Wednesday the successful
test-firing of an advanced Sajjil missile capable of hitting
Israel and other targets in the Middle East.
The announcement comes less than a month before Iran's
presidential election and just two days after President Obama
declared a readiness to seek deeper international sanctions
against Tehran if it did not respond positively to U.S. attempts
to open negotiations on its nuclear program.
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Tehran, Iran -
3/5/09
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashdavi condemned the
arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court
against Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, calling it unjust and
politically motivated by hegemonic powers. Referring to Darfur
problem, he said the case is regarded as an internal affair of
Sudan.
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Tehran, Iran -
2/10/09
Thousands
of Iranians
chanting anti-US slogans have rallied in the capital Tehran,
celebrating 30 years of the Iranian revolution.
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, spoke at the rally:
"Iranian revolution has brought
great results. Over the past 30 years, Iran has been moving to
the top. It has increased its speed in the fields of scientific
research". He also remarked on the new administration in
Washington: "The Iranian nation is ready to hold talks with US
but talks with in a fair atmosphere with mutual respect".
While he spoke, many in the crowd
carried signs "Death to
America" and and burned US flags.
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Jerusalem, Israel -
5/15/08
During his address to Knesset, on
his visit to Israel,
U.S. president George W. Bush
issued a warning about the danger Iran's nuclear ambitions
present to the world:
"Permitting the
world's leading sponsor of terror to possess the world's
deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future
generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow
Iran to have a nuclear weapon".
He also added "Those
who carry out violent acts are serving only their own
desire for power. And that is why the president of Iran dreams
of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages and calls for
Israel to be wiped off the map".
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Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 5/8/08
Political crises in Lebanon prompted the Saudi Arabia's foreign
minister, Prince Saud al-Feisal, to issue the following
statement: "If
Iran is backing or supporting the coup that took place in
Lebanon, it will have a negative impact on its relations with
all the Arab and Muslim states.
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia renews
its calls to all regional sides to respect the sovereignty and
independence of Lebanon and to desist from interfering in its
internal affairs and provoking sectarian strife".
Iranian president rejected the
accusation adding: "Iran
is the only country not interfering in Lebanon.
It is the war of the innocent people
of Lebanon against [US president] Bush's expansionism."
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Tehran, Iran - 5/8/08
Irna, the official Iranian news agency, quoted president
Ahmadinejad's comments regarding Israel's 60th anniversary:
"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the
usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party
are seriously mistaken. Today the reason for the Zionist
regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way
to annihilation".
He also issued a warning to the neighboring Arab regimes: "If
any regional countries assist the Zionist regime, they will burn
in fire arising from nations' hatred".
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Baghdad, Iraq - 5/5/08
U.S. has supplied Iraqi government with interrogation reports
implicating that militants from Lebanese group Hezbollah have
been training Iraqi militia fighters in Iran. The report was
based on revelations of four Iraqi Shiite fighters who were
captured last year and interrogated separately. The captured
Iraqis were trained in the camps near Tehran under the
supervision of the Quds Force. Iraqi Prime-Minister Maliki
announced that Iraqis would conduct their own investigation into
Iranian meddling in Iraqi affairs. In previous meeting with
Iraqi officials the Iranians promised to play a positive role in
a development of Iraq.
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Natanz, Iran -
4/8/08
During the visit to Natanz
nuclear facility, President M. Ahmadinejad announced that Iran
was installing 6,000 new uranium enriching centrifuges and
testing a much faster version of the device. That would
represent a major step in uranium enrichment process that can
lead to the production of fuel for a nuclear reactor or material
for nuclear warhead. Many U.N. observers felt that this
announcement was exaggerated while others called it a publicity
stunt. Last week Iran rejected the incentives package offered by
the Europeans in exchange for suspension of enrichment program.
Iran claims that it's nuclear program is interned only for
peaceful purposes to produce energy. Iran is one of the largest
producers of oil and gas in the world.
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Tehran, Iran -
3/16/08
Iranian officials declared a victory for
the conservatives in Iran's
parliamentary elections. They claimed
that the results of the elections were a
vote of confidence for the ruling
regime's stance on the nuclear issues
and their continued defiance of the
West. In turn, the United States and
Europe called the vote unfair after most
reformists were barred from running.
Iran's Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei addressed the Iranians with the
following rhetoric: " Your epic and
powerful presence overcame the enemy's
tricks and turned the enemy's
high-profile psychological war aimed at
encouraging a low turnout into a vain
bubble". But some conservatives
also showed a dissatisfaction with
President Ahmadinejad's handling of the
ailing economy and his confrontational
style.
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Washington, U.S. -
1/7/08
Officials at Pentagon informed the press
that five Iranian speedboats approached
US Navy ships in the Straits of Hormuz
threatening to blow them up. The US said
their ships were about to to open fire
when the Iranians boats withdrew. The
speedboats are believed to belong to
Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Iranian
officials described the event as
ordinary occurrence while Condoleezza
Rice called the Iranian action
"provocative and dangerous".
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Moscow, Russia -
12/18/07
Atomstroiexport, Russia's nuclear power
equipment and service export monopoly,
delivered the first shipment of
enriched-uranium fuel rods to Iran's
Bushehr nuclear power plant. Russian
officials also said that Iranian
government has guaranteed that the fuel
would be used for the power plant and
not for nuclear weapons development.
President Bush has commented that "If
the Iranians accept that uranium for a
civilian nuclear power plant, then
there’s no need for them to learn how to
enrich."
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Tehran, Iran -
12/11/07
Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinijad said
that there is no legal basis for more
sanctions against his country after a US
intelligence report concluded that Iran
stopped building the nuclear weapons.
U.S. intelligence assessment on Iran
said Tehran once had a weapons program
but shelved it in the fall of 2003.
Ahmadinijad also stood by Iran's right
to have a civilian nuclear program,
including enriching uranium.
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Tehran, Iran -
11/28/07
Iran has condemned the Annapolis peace
conference, saying it would fail to
bring any peace for the Palestinians and
warning that it will discredit Arab
countries who participated. Iran was
also surprised that Damascus
participated in the gathering, though it
has stopped short of directly
criticizing its ally. President
Ahmadinijad also lashed out against
Israel with the following comments: "It
is impossible that the Zionist regime
will survive. Collapse is in the nature
of this regime because it has been
created on aggression, lying, oppression
and crime".
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Tehran, Iran - 11/8/07
Iran denounced Interpol's
decision to issue wanted notices for
five Iranians for involvement in the
1994 bombing of a Jewish center in
Argentina in which 85 people were killed
and over 200 wounded. Interpol's general
assembly voted to issue the "Red
Notices" seeking the extradition of the
Iranians and one Lebanese national in
connection with the bombing. Iranian
Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the
measure and accused the "Zionist regime
and some dominant power's political
will" with influencing the process.
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Tehran, Iran - 11/4/07
Thousands of Iranians
nationwide demonstrated Sunday to
celebrate the 28th anniversary of the
takeover of the U.S. Embassy by militant
students, state television reported.
Demonstrators in the capital, Tehran,
including elementary school students,
gathered outside the former U.S.
Embassy, chanting anti-American and
anti-Israeli slogans. They burned the
two countries' flags and warned
Washington to learn from the hostile
incident.
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Tehran, Iran - 10/31/07
An Iranian court has
sentenced Mansoor Osanloo, a dissident
labor leader, to five years in jail.
Osanloo was arrested for "distributing
statements against the system". Rights
groups say Iran this year has launched a
fresh crackdown on dissent in the
Islamic Republic, with the authorities
targeting women's rights activists,
students, journalists and labor figures.
The European Union last week said it was
"deeply concerned at the growing
repression against all groups which
exercise their right to freely express
their opinions".
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Washington, U.S. - 10/25/07
Today, the Department of
State designated two key Iranian
entities of proliferation concern: the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and
the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces
Logistics. Part of the sanctions are
designed to make it difficult for
Iranian government agencies to support
ballistic missile research that would
accompany a nuclear device and a nuclear
program itself. The other part of the
sanctions are focused on the Quds Force,
which is an arm of the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard's core command. Quds
Force has been funneling arms to Hamas,
Hezbollah and Shia militants in Iraq.
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Tehran, Iran - 10/5/07
On Al-Quds (Arabic name for
Jerusalem) Day
hundreds of thousands of
people poured into the streets of Tehran
they chanted "Death to America" and
"Death to Israel". Some protesters also
burned American and Israeli flags. State
television reported similar large
rallies in all other provincial capitals
and smaller towns across Iran. President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
addressed his nation with the following:
"The creation, continued existence and
unlimited (Western) support for this
regime is an insult to human dignity.
The occupation of Palestine is not
limited to one land. The Zionist issue
is now a global issue. The Iranian
nation will not rest until Palestine is
free and criminals punished".
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Tehran, Iran - 9/2/07
Iran has reached its
long-sought goal of running 3,000
centrifuges to enrich uranium for its
nuclear program, Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Sunday in
a report on state media. The U.N.
Security Council had threatened a third
round of sanctions against the country
if it did not freeze the uranium
enrichment program.
A senior Iranian envoy has
warned the US and its allies against
pushing for new UN Security Council
sanctions against his country,
suggesting Tehran could retaliate by
ending its co-operation with UN
inspectors probing its nuclear program.
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Manama, Bahrein - 7/12/07
Bahraini press condemned the comments printed in the prominent
Iranian newspaper Kayhan about Iran's claims to this tiny Gulf
archipelago. Earlier in a week a managing director of Kayhan,
Hossein Shariatmadari, who is appointed by Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had written that "public demand in
Bahrain is the reunification of this province with it's
motherland, Islamic Iran". He also added that "such indisputable
right for Iran and the people of this province can not be
overlooked".
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Tehran, Iran - 6/29/07
The rationing announcement from the oil ministry ignited violent
protests. Enraged Iranians revolted by burning gas stations,
looting government-owned businesses and rioting. Senior
government officials, initially tried to play down the riots,
but later had to admit to attacks on dozens of gas stations,
government buildings, government banks, police vehicles, mass
transit buses and chain stores. The chief of gas stations of
Iran told the state-run media that nearly 30 percent of all gas
stations in the country were destroyed or severely damaged.
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Tehran, Iran - 5/26/07
Iran said on Saturday that it has uncovered spy rings organized by
the United States and its Western allies, claiming on state-run
television that the Intelligence Ministry "has succeeded in
identifying and striking blows at several spy networks comprised
of infiltrating elements from the Iraqi occupiers in western,
southwestern and central Iran." No details were provided.
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Tehran, Iran - 5/13/07
Iranian authorities confirmed that that they
detained a prominent Iranian-American academic Haleh
Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the
Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. She has
been held at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since early May and
charged with seeking to topple the government in Tehran. She
traveled to Iran in December to visit her 93-year-old mother.
Several other Iranian-Americans who have also been prohibited
from leaving Iran in recent months are: Parnaz Azima, who works
for the U.S.-funded Radio Farda; Ali Shakeri, a founding board
member at the University of California, Irvine's Center for
Citizen Peace-building; Kian Tajbakhsh, a consultant working for
George Soros' Open Society Institute.
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Tehran, Iran - 4/27/07
Islamic authorities issued warnings that women who refuse to wear
a veil and otherwise adhere to the strict Islamic dress code
will be arrested and banished from the capital. The morality
police is on the lookout for women wearing head scarves deemed
too colorful or small. Already more then 3200 women were
officially warned and 200 arrested. Police are also cracking
down on barbers giving Western-style haircuts and shop owners
wearing T-shirts with English slogans.
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Tehran, Iran - 4/15/07
The Iranian Supreme Court has vacated the murder convictions of a
group of serial killers because their victims were engaging in
un-Islamic activities, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.
The men were convicted for a series of grisly killings in the
southeastern city of Kerman in 2002. The accused, who were all
members of an Islamic paramilitary force, told the court their
understanding of the teachings of one Islamic cleric allowed
them to kill immoral people if they had ignored two warnings to
stop their bad behaviour .
At least 18 people were killed on the murder spree, but the men
were only tried for five of the deaths. Some of the victims were
stoned, others were suffocated and at least one man was buried
alive.
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Tehran, Iran - 4/9/07
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced
that his country was now capable of producing nuclear fuel on an
'industrial scale' in an expansion of the uranium enrichment
program that the United Nations has demanded it halt.
Ahmadinejad did not specify how many centrifuges were now
operational as he spoke at a ceremony at the facility, marking
the one-year anniversary of Iran's first success in enriching
small amounts of uranium.
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Tehran, Iran - 4/4/07
In a surprise
announcement on Iran's state television, president Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad has announced that he pardoned 15 British soldiers
taken captive by the Iranians 11 days earlier. In the lengthy
speech Ahmadinejad
criticised Britain’s attitude to the diplomatic row before pausing
to award the medal of honor to the Iranian guards who captured
the sailors on March 23. He also said "although Iran has the
right to prosecute them by following the model of the prophet
the 15 people were pardoned and their freedom given as a gift to
the British people".
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Tehran, Iran - 3/24/07
The Iranian
military questioned 15 detained British soldiers, who were
transferred to Tehran, and said they confessed to illegally
entering the country's territorial waters as Iran accused
Britain of "blatant aggression." The British sailors
had just searched a merchant ship when they and their two
inflatable boats were intercepted by Iranian vessels Friday at
around 10:30 a.m. near the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway. The
Iranian vessels surrounded them and escorted them away at
gunpoint.
We demand the
immediate release of the British soldiers," Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, foreign minister of Germany which holds the EU
presidency, said on Saturday.
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Busheir, Iran - 3/13/07
Iran's top nuclear negotiator deplored Russia's decision not to
ship nuclear fuel to Iran as agreed, a move that delays the
start of Iran's Bushier nuclear power plant. Russia's federal
nuclear agency, Rosatom, said it was postponing the March
shipment of nuclear fuel to Iran because the country made no
payments since January 17. Iranians rejected the link between
the U.N. demands to suspend the uranium enrichment and Russia's
decision to delay fuel shipments.
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Khartoum, Sudan - 3/1/07
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned the "enemy's
schemes against the Sudanese people and it's government" in a
show of solidarity with Sudan. He also added that "there is no
place in the world that suffers from divisions unless American
or Zionist fingerprints are seen there". In return the Sudanese
president, Omar al-Bashir publicly announced that he fully
supports the Iranian nuclear program.
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Zahedan, Iran - 2/14/07
A car loaded with explosives blew up near the bus carrying members
of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards in southeastern Iran,
killing 18 of them. The passenger car stopped in the middle of
the road at around 6:30 a.m. in Ahmadabad district on the
outskirts of Zahedan. After the bus stopped, the car's occupants
fled and the vehicle exploded. Zahedan, which lies near Iran's
borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, has been the scene of
clashes between police and drug smugglers in the past.
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Tehran, Iran - 2/8/07
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned the United
States that Iran would retaliate against American interests
worldwide if it was attacked. Ayatollah Khamenei also brushed
off the effect of the U.N. sanctions against Iran as
insignificant. He added that "the United States and some other
countries have imposed sanctions on Iran for many years now, but
we achieved great scientific and technological progress under
such circumstances. So they cannot scare this great nation with
sanctions.”
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Davos, Switzerland - World Economic Forum - 1/26/07
The head of IAEA, Mohammed El-Baradei, announced that sometime
next month Iran expects to begin a process of installing 3000
centrifuges in their underground nuclear facility in Natanz.
Iran is believed to have a grand plan of installing a total of
54,000 centrifuges which would pave a way to the large scale
uranium enrichment that will allow a mass production of the
nuclear weapons.
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Tehran, Iran - 12/23/06
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned the U.N.
resolution aimed at restricting the Iranian nuclear program from
enriching uranium. Ahmadinejad promised that those who backed
the sanctions will soon "regret this superficial act". He called
the resolution a "piece of torn paper" and vowed to continue
with the uranium enrichment at the accelerated pace. Ali
Larijani, Iranian chief negotiator, added that they are planning
to install 3,000 centrifuges by March of 2007 in their Natanz
nuclear plant.
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Tehran, Iran - 12/18/06
Iranian Foreign Ministry
declared that Iran will continue its nuclear program
even if United Nations will impose sanctions on them.
Iran can face penalties for its refusal to cease uranium
enrichment, a process that lead to the development of
the nuclear bomb.
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Tehran, Iran - 12/22/06
The United Nations Security
Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions against Iran.
The resolution bans the import and export of materials
and technology used in uranium enrichment and reprocessing and
puts a freeze on the the assets of 22 Iranian officials and
institutions linked to the country's most controversial nuclear
programs.
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Tehran, Iran - 12/18/06
Iranian Foreign Ministry
declared that Iran will continue its nuclear program
even if United Nations will impose sanctions on them.
Iran can face penalties for its refusal to cease uranium
enrichment, a process that lead to the development of
the nuclear bomb.
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Tehran, Iran - 12/18/06
Iranian Foreign Ministry
declared that Iran will continue its nuclear program
even if United Nations will impose sanctions on them.
Iran can face penalties for its refusal to cease uranium
enrichment, a process that lead to the development of
the nuclear bomb.
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Tehran, Iran - 12/12/06
President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad welcomed the participants of the Holocaust
conference in his office. We told them that "the Zionist
regime will disappear soon, the same way Soviet Union
disappeared. Thus humanity will achieve freedom".
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Tehran, Iran - 12/11/06
Iran opened up a 2-day Holocaust
conference. Among the speakers were the former KKK leader David
Duke, who said in his speech that the gas chambers, used to
exterminate the Jews did not exist. French academic Robert
Faurisson said that the Holocaust was a myth created to justify
the creation of State of Israel. Also in attendance were the
members of anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Jewish sects. The Iranian
hosts welcomed the guests with an exhibition aimed at denying
the Holocaust. |
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Tehran, Iran - 12/8/06
While visiting Iran,
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh spoke during the
Friday prayer address
at Tehran
University. He
vowed that his Hamas-led government will never
recognize Israel. He also said "We will not give up on our
jihadist movement until full liberation of Jerusalem. We are
standing by Islamic Republic of Iran, and with this country we
will resist American and Zionist pressures"
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Tehran, Iran - 12/6/06
The Iranian authorities announced plans for an
international conference on the Holocaust. The conference is to
be held on 12/11 and 12/12/06 and would include over sixty
scholars from thirty countries. Iranian authorities repeatedly
accused the Jews of distorting the history and exaggerating the
number of victims. One of the topics of the conference is
whether the gas chambers were actually used by the Nazis.
Iranian Foreign Ministry is sponsoring the event through its
Institute for Political and International studies.
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Buenos Aries, Argentina - 11/10/06
Judge
Rodolfo Corral said he had ordered the "international
capture" of former Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani and
eight others for their role in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish
Center
in
Buenos Aires.
Judge Corral was also seeking the
help of Interpol in his effort.
On
July 18, 1994 a car
bomb destroyed the 7-story building, the cultural center for
Argentinean Jews. At least 85 people died and more then 200 were
injured.
Alberto
Nisman, the lead prosecutor, said last month that the decision
to attack the centre "was undertaken in 1993 by the highest
authorities" of the Iranian government at the time, and that the
actual attack was perpetrated by Lebanese terrorist group
Hezbollah. Along with Rafsanjani he named former intelligence
chief Ali Fallahijan, former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati
and former Hezbollah security chief.
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Tehran, Iran - 10/24/06
Iran's Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Khamenei said the following while addressing
Iranians on public television: "All nations should be
vigilant, Our nation, the Lebanese, Palestinian and the
Iraqi nations should retain the national unity. They
should be cautious not to make a move which is in line
with the fulfillment of the new hostile treacherous
plots of the Americans and Zionists"
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Tehran, Iran - 10/20/06
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued
the following warning to the Europeans during the Jerusalem Day
rally:
"You should
know that the rage of people is boiling and its like an ocean
that is welling up. Once its storm begins blowing, it will go
beyond the borders of Lebanon and Palestine, and it will hurt
European countries.”
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Tehran, Iran - 9/6/06
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the
Iranian president, has urged students to push for a
purge of liberal and secular teachers from universities.
"Today, students should shout at the president and ask
why liberal and secular lecturers are present in the
universities," the official Islamic Republic News Agency
quoted him as saying during a meeting with students.
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Tehran, Iran - 8/31/06
An Iranian student and democracy
activist has died in jail while on hunger strike, Iran's justice
minister has said.
Akbar
Mohammadi, who was arrested for taking part in pro-democracy
demonstrations in 1999. Mohammadi was originally sentenced to
death as a "mohareb", or "one who wages war against God", for
his part in the protests, in which tens of thousands of people
took to the streets after police and vigilantes attacked a
peaceful campus rally in support of press freedoms.
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Tehran, Iran - 8/14/06
An international contest of cartoons
on the Holocaust has opened in Tehran in response to the
cartoons published in a Danish newspaper in September of 2005.
The exhibition shows few hundred entries contributed by the
artists from Iran and other countries.
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-
8/3/06
During the emergency meeting of Muslim
leaders president Ahmadinejad said in his speech: "Although the
main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at
this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented".
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Tehran, Iran -
7/29/06
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
has ordered government and cultural bodies to use modified
Persian words to replace foreign words that have crept into the
language, such as "pizzas" which will now be known as "elastic
loaves."
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