Iran arrests four Jundallah militants planning attacks

TEHRAN (BNO NEWS) — Iranian security officials have arrested four members of the People’s Resistance Movement of Iran (PRMI), better known as Jundallah, the the semi-official Mehr News Agency reported on Saturday.

A local police said the suspects were planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Balouchestan Province on the International Qods Day, which is commemorated on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan to express solidarity with Palestine. The four suspects were arrested in two separate incidents.

Colonel Masoud Heidari, the chief of the security police in Sistan-Balouchestan Province, said security forces first arrested three members of the group on August 21 when they were heading to Kerman Province while carrying explosives, weapons, and ammunition. On August 25, police arrested another member of the group and seized six pistols, some TNT, and other explosive materials.

Jundallah militants are accused of carrying out numerous bombings and other forms of attacks in Iran. In December 2010, Iran executed eleven people accused of belonging to the PRMI.

In May 2009, Jundallah attacked the crowded Shiite Amir al-Mo’menin mosque in Zahedan, destroying the mosque and killing and wounding numerous worshipers. An October 2009 bomb attack which killed more than 40 people was reportedly the deadliest terrorist attack in Iran since the 1980s.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the designation of Jundallah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in November 2010. The State Department said that the group uses a variety of terrorist tactics, including suicide bombings, ambushes, kidnappings and targeted assassinations.

Iran accuses the United States of providing money to Jundallah in order for the group to carry out attacks in the country. This claim is based on alleged confessions from former Jundallah leader Abdolmalek Rigi made before he was executed in 2010.

Saturday, August 27th, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/wires/19726/iran-arrests-four-jundallah-militants-planning-attacks/.

Saudi Arabia threatens anti-regime protesters with iron fist

Tue Feb 21, 2012

Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry has defended the regime forces’ ruthless repression of anti-government protests and threatened to use an “iron fist” against protesters.

“It is the state’s right to confront those that confront it first… and the Saudi Arabian security forces will confront such situations … with determination and force and with an iron first,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday.

An interior ministry spokesman said the statement was released in reaction to a last week sermon delivered in the Qatif region in the Eastern Province, which took a swipe at the Saudi government’s handling of the protests.

Saudi authorities claim that the regime does not practice discrimination against the Shia minority, pointing a finger of blame at protesters.

Earlier on Thursday, several anti-regime protesters in the kingdom’s eastern province of Safwa were abducted.

Since February 2011, Saudi protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in the oil-rich Eastern Province, mainly in Qatif and the town of Awamiyah, calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

Saudi protesters also want an end to economic and religious discrimination against the oil-rich region. Several demonstrators have been killed and scores of activists have been arrested since the beginning of protests in the region.

Riyadh has intensified its crackdown on protesters since the beginning of 2012.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/227806.html.

Iran boosts nuclear site defenses, warns EU on oil

Tehran (AFP)
Feb 20, 2012

Iran deployed warplanes and missiles Monday in an “exercise” to protect nuclear sites threatened by possible Israeli attacks and warned it could cut oil exports to more EU nations unless sanctions were lifted.

The European Union said it could cope with any halt in Iranian supplies.

Tehran’s stance marked a hardening of its defiance in an international standoff over its nuclear program — and suggested it was readying for any eventual confrontation.

The moves came the same day as officials from the UN nuclear watchdog agency arrived in Tehran for a second round of talks they said were focused on “the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program.”

Iran, while holding out hope of reviving collapsed negotiations with world powers, has underlined it will not give up its nuclear ambitions, which it insists are purely peaceful.

Much of the West and Israel, though, fear Iran’s activities include research for atomic weapons.

The United States and Europe have ramped up economic sanctions against Iran’s vital oil sector, while Israel has fueled speculation it could be on the brink of carrying out air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Iran’s military said on Monday that it has launched four days of maneuvers in the south aimed at boosting anti-air defenses to protect nuclear sites.

Missiles, anti-aircraft artillery, radars and warplanes were deployed in the exercise dubbed “Sarollah,” a word borrowed from the Arabic meaning “God’s vengeance.”

At the same time, the deputy oil minister, who also runs the National Iranian Oil Company, warned that a cut in Iranian oil exports announced on Sunday against France and Britain could be expanded to other EU nations.

“Certainly if the hostile actions of some European countries continue, the export of oil to these countries will be cut,” said Ahmad Qalebani, pointing the finger at Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands, Mehr news agency reported.

Iran exports about 20 percent of its crude — some 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) — to the European Union, mostly to Italy, Spain and Greece.

The EU reacted by saying it could cope.

“In terms of immediate security of stocks, the EU is well stocked with oil and petroleum products to face a potential disruption of supplies,” said a spokesman for EU policy chief Catherine Ashton.

In Rome, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe dismissed Tehran’s move.

“Undoubtedly, Iran is very imaginative with regards to provocation. It is not Iran that decided to cut off its deliveries, we are the ones who decided to terminate our orders,” he told reporters.

“It makes one smile,” Juppe added.

Although the export halt for France and Britain was largely symbolic — neither country imports much Iranian oil — prices on world markets hit nine-month highs.

The Brent and New York contracts reached $121.15 and $105.44 a barrel in early trading — the highest levels since May 5, 2011.

In late London deals, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April stood at $120.14 a barrel, up 56 cents from Friday’s close.

Iran’s defiance included another pointed military deployment: two warships state television said had docked in Syria to help train its ally’s sailors.

Israel said it “will closely follow the movement of the two ships to confirm that they do not approach the Israeli coast.”

Iran has also flaunted “major” nuclear progress, declaring it was adding thousands more centrifuges to its uranium enrichment activities and producing what it said was 20-percent enriched nuclear fuel.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, in November issued a report voicing strong suspicions that Iran was researching an atomic weapon and missile warheads.

Last month it confirmed that a new, fortified uranium enrichment plant outside Iran’s holy city of Qom had been activated.

The West has ratcheted up its sanctions to try to force Iran to stop enrichment, so far without success.

Meanwhile, the assassinations of three Iranian nuclear scientists and attempted bomb attacks against Israeli diplomats in several countries have pointed to a possible covert war between the two Middle East arch-foes.

But for all its flexing and posturing, Iran has also formally agreed to an EU overture to revive talks with world powers that collapsed a year ago.

However, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Fereydoon Abbasi Davani, told Al-Alam television that the powers — the so-called P5+1 group consisting of the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany — should ease the pressure.

“They would do better to change their method, because what they’ve used in the past hasn’t met with success,” he said.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iran_boosts_nuclear_site_defences_warns_EU_on_oil_999.html.

Iran shows of military prowess go on: Warships enter Mediterranean

2012-02-18

By Mohammad Davari – TEHRAN

Iranian warships entered the Mediterranean after crossing the Suez Canal on Saturday to show Tehran’s “might” to regional states, the navy commander said, at a time of simmering tensions with Israel.

In Jerusalem, the foreign ministry said Israel will be watching the ship’s movements closely to ensure they do not approach its coast.

“The strategic navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has passed through the Suez Canal for the second time since the (1979) Islamic Revolution,” Admiral Habibollah Sayari said in remarks quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

He did not say how many vessels had crossed the canal, or what missions they were planning to carry out in the Mediterranean, but said the flotilla had previously docked in the Saudi port city of Jeddah.

Two Iranian ships, the destroyer Shahid Qandi and supply vessel Kharg, had docked in the Red Sea port on February 4, according to Iranian media.

Sayari said the naval deployment to the Mediterranean would show “the might” of the Islamic republic to regional countries, and also convey Tehran’s “message of peace and friendship.”

The first Iranian presence in the Mediterranean in February 2011 provoked strong reactions from Israel and the United States, with Israel putting its navy on alert.

During the 2011 deployment, two Iranian vessels, a destroyer and a supply ship, sailed past the coast of Israel and docked at the port of Latakia in allied Syria before returning to Iran via the Red Sea.

The latest announcement comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, fueled by a longstanding dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program and rising speculation that Israel might launch pre-emptive strikes against Iranian facilities.

Israeli officials are also accusing Tehran of orchestrating anti-Israeli bombings in India and Georgia as well as blasts in Thailand. Iran denies the allegations.

Israeli leaders has denounced the naval deployment as a “provocation” and a “powerplay.”

And on Saturday, an official of the Israeli foreign ministry said without elaborating that “we will closely follow the movement of the two ships to confirm that they do not approach the Israeli coast.”

Iran’s navy has been boosting its presence in international waters in the past two years, deploying vessels to the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden on missions to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates.

And Iran sent submarines to the Red Sea last June to “collect data,” its first such mission in distant waters, while its naval commanders say they plan on deploying ships close to US territorial waters in the future.

Iranian naval forces are composed of small units, including speedboats equipped with missiles, which operate in the Gulf and are under the command of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

The navy, using small frigates, destroyers, and three Russian-made Kilo class submarines, oversees high seas missions in the Gulf of Oman and Gulf of Aden.

It now permanently has at least two vessels in those areas to escort merchant ships, and has been involved in more than 100 confrontations with armed pirates, according to the navy commander in December.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=50710.

Bahraini forces kill 85-year-old man

Sat Feb 18, 2012

Bahrain’s opposition has announced that an 85-year-old man has been killed by regime forces in the kingdom’s northeastern city of Sitra.

The victim died of inhaling poisonous tear gas fired by troops during attacks on Sitra.

The people of Sitra held a funeral ceremony for the 85-year old Mansour Salman on Saturday.

The death is the latest among scores caused by regime forces since rallies began last February.

In the village of Dair, clashes have erupted between anti-regime protesters and Bahraini forces which used tear gas and sound bullets to disperse protesters.

Despite the ongoing crackdown, demonstrations have escalated in the kingdom, demanding freedom and the ouster of the Al Khalifa regime.

Several hundred of people have been detained and many more have lost their jobs for taking part in anti-regime protests.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/227327.html.

Police clamp down on satellite TV users ahead of election

Feb 18, 2012

Tehran – Police in Iran on Saturday forcefully removed satellite television dishes in northern Tehran, as part of what is seen as an ongoing clampdown on illegal broadcasters ahead of elections.

‘Police came, broke the door to the roof and removed all satellite dishes and all other relevant equipments,’ said a housekeeper in the district of Shemiran said.

The main target of the clampdown appears to be Persian news programs from abroad which authorities accuse of broadcasting ‘anti-revolutionary programs.’

Iran is to hold parliamentary elections on March 2.

Parliament banned the use of satellite equipment some 16 years ago. However, many Iranians still subscribe and camouflage satellite dishes as air conditioners on rooftops.

Police in Tehran have repeatedly warned that reception of satellite programs was a ‘clear legal offense’ and advised the capital’s residents to dismantle equipment.

Critics of the ban say the forceful effort to block access to information and entertainment is futile.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1691762.php/Police-clamp-down-on-satellite-TV-users-ahead-of-election.

Iran has opened an educational center in Mogadishu

Sat Feb 11, 2012

Iran’s Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation has opened a new educational institution in the capital city of Mogadishu in Somalia, Press TV reports.

The institute, located in Mogadishu’s Hamar Wayne district, has been equipped with computers and is designed to accommodate more than seventy students.

“As you see today, the educational workshops consist of tailoring, hand skills and computers. These projects are for the orphans and the poor people,” Abdulzahar Alsaidi of the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation told Press TV.

The students are also provided with sewing machines and will receive certificates and diplomas at the end of the training course.

“The course will last four months and the participants will get certificates when they have completed it,” Alsaidi added.

The Foundation also sponsors Quran learning centers in Mogadishu in a bid to foster the knowledge of Islam to the Somali youth who have been forced to endure civil war for more than two decades now.

Several Somali lawmakers attended the opening ceremony of the institute on Thursday and expressed their gratitude to Iran for its generous aid to the Somali people.

“It is not only the fact that they are opening a project like this in here. Already they have implemented various projects in different places in Mogadishu,” Mohamed Omar Dalha a Somali MP told Press TV.

“They have also distributed much food and health care to Somali people in different camps in the city,” the Somali lawmaker added.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia is one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced people in the world.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/226176.html.

Turkish energy minister visits Saudi Arabia

Feb 10, 2012

Istanbul – Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz plans to fly to Saudi Arabia on Saturday for meetings with Saudi Petroleum Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi, Turkey’s Energy Ministry announced Friday.

Turkish officials were unavailable to confirm the reason for the visit, but it comes as Turkey is under serious pressure from the United States and the European Union to end oil imports from Iran.

Recent unconfirmed reports have identified Saudi Arabia as a possible alternative source of supply.

Turkey’s only oil refiner, Tupras, imported 8.35 million tonnes of crude from Iran over the first 11 months of last year, or 49 per cent of its total imports.

Turkish officials have repeatedly pointed out that Turkey is not bound by US and EU decisions to impose heavy sanctions on Iran in response to its continuing nuclear program.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1690414.php/Turkish-energy-minister-visits-Saudi-Arabia.

Saudis to observe day of mourning in Eastern Province on Saturday

Fri Feb 10, 2012

Anti-regime Saudi activists have declared Saturday a day of public mourning for a protester who was killed by the security forces of the House of Saud in Eastern Province on Friday, Press TV reports.

Schools and shops will be closed as protesters plan to stage demonstrations in the region.

On Friday, one demonstrator was killed and two others were injured when Saudi security forces opened fire on protesters in the village of Awamiyah, in the oil-rich Eastern Province, after the Friday Prayers leader demanded that the Saudi monarchy be abolished. Anti-regime demonstrations were also held in the Eastern Province towns of Qatif, Tarut, and Rabi’iyah.

The incidents occurred one day after another anti-regime protester was killed and 14 people were seriously injured in Qatif.

Several of those injured in the deadly crackdown of the past two days are in a critical condition.

There have been demonstrations in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province on an almost daily basis over the past few months, with protesters calling for political reform.

Anti-government protests have intensified since November 2011, when security forces opened fire on protesters in Qatif, killing five people and leaving scores more injured.

Activists say there are over 30,000 political prisoners in Saudi Arabia.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/226039.html.

Saudi troops attack Awamiyah protest kill 1, injure 2

Fri Feb 10, 2012

Saudi security forces have opened fire on anti-government protesters in the eastern part of the country, injuring at least two demonstrators and killing one in Awamiyah.

Witnesses say hundreds of Saudis took to the streets in the oil-rich east on Friday, one day after regime forces opened fire on protesters in Qatif, killing a demonstrator and injuring more than 14 others.

Some of the injured are reported to be in critical condition.

Protesters also chanted slogans against the ruling Al Saud family.

Protest rallies were reported in the cities of Qatif, Tarut, Rabi’iyah and Awamiyah.

At least one protester was killed and two others were injured after Saudi security forces opened fire on demonstrators in Awamiyah, where the Friday Prayers leader demanded an end to Al Saud rule.

Saudis have held peaceful demonstrations since February last year on an almost regular basis in the eastern region, demanding reforms, freedom of expression and the release of political prisoners.

Protesters also want an end to economic and religious discrimination against the oil-rich region. Several demonstrators have been killed and dozens of activists have been arrested since the beginning of protests in the region.

Riyadh has intensified its crackdown on protesters since the beginning of 2012.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/225972.html.