Gathering the news about Iran's 2009 National election in one place.

Person Relation

Iran Warning: Israel's Nuclear Sites Within Reach (VoA)

Iran Warning: Israel's Nuclear Sites Within Reach: Via Voice of America.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards corps is warning it will respond to any attack by Israel with a strike on nuclear sites in the Jewish state.

Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari told state-run media Saturday that Iran's missiles are now capable of hitting targets in Israel, and that any Israeli attack would be met with a "firm and precise" response.

Israel sees Iran as a threat because of its nuclear program, and has been widely reported to be considering a pre-emptive strike. Like the United States, Britain and other Western countries, Israel does not believe Iran's claims that its program is for peaceful purposes.
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Iranian First VP Resigns After Call for His Dismissal (VoA)

Iranian First VP Resigns After Call for His Dismissal: Via Voice of America.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's pick for first vice president has resigned from the post, following a demand from Iran's supreme leader for his dismissal.

Iran's state news agency, IRNA, quotes a top aide to Mr. Ahmadinejad, Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi, as saying Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie no longer regards himself as first vice president.

Mashaie has been criticized for saying last year that Iran is a friend of all people in the world, including Israelis. Iran does not formally recognize Israel.

Earlier Friday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered President Ahmadinejad to dismiss Mashaie.
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Forbidden Iran: How to Report When You're Banned (TIME)

Forbidden Iran: How to Report When You're Banned: Via TIME Magazine .

Like other journalists who work for foreign media organizations, I was banned early on from reporting on the protests against the official victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. First, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance sent a fax prohibiting me from reporting on the streets. Then I got a call to return my already annulled press card in person. Next, I received an anonymous phone call from a person with a strangely friendly voice, telling me, "There are powerful forces out there that do not want you to continue your work."

By the end of last week, I was cut off from most forms of communication altogether: mobile-phone text-messaging had already been blocked on the day of the election, and as the week went on, the entire mobile network was cut off from about late afternoon until midnight, the time when most demonstrations were being staged, making information-gathering from would-be participants impossible. Later, Internet connections were reduced to snail speed, and satellite television was almost entirely jammed. It was becoming impossible to report on events. The only "news" left unblocked was that propagated by state television.
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Thousands of Iranians ignore leaders' threats, march in unauthorized rally

Thousands of Iranians ignore leaders' threats, march in unauthorized rally - Los Angeles Times: Via Los Angeles Times.

As supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi shout out their support in Tehran, European leaders voice anger at the Saturday arrests of eight British Embassy staffers.

Reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- Thousands of Iranians disputing the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marched at an unauthorized rally today, defying truncheon-wielding security forces and dire threats by Iranian leaders.

Meanwhile, European leaders' hackles were raised by the arrest a day earlier of eight British Embassy staffers in Tehran, a move that has sharpened Iran's confrontation with the West over the disputed election and its violent aftermath. Several of the staffers, all Iranian nationals, were quickly released.

Supporters of Ahmadinejad's opponent, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, gathered at a mosque in northeastern Tehran during an annual commemoration for 72 Iranian politicians killed in a bombing 28 years ago.
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Who's Behind Tehran's Violence? | Newsweek

Who's Behind Tehran's Violence? | : Via Newsweek International | Newsweek.com.

There is no English equivalent for the Farsi words Efraat and Tafrit. They refer to the possibility of extremism on both sides of an issue, and they were much in use during the third day of peaceful marches in Tehran on Wednesday.

Despite official warnings against gathering, at least half a million people marched along a street in central Tehran Wednesday afternoon to protest the reelection of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a vote that many believe was blatantly rigged. After three days of ignoring the demonstrators, who believe opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi was the true victor, state-run Iranian television showed some images of Wednesday's activities. But its reporters chose to talk only to the ordinary citizens on the sidelines, who complained about the Mousavi supporters as a nuisance who were creating traffic in the city and bringing businesses to a halt. The crowd was peaceful and quiet, as they have been in previous days. But a chant against the director of Iranian television, Ezatollah Zarghami, was one of the few slogans heard today. "Shame, Shame, Zarghami!" people intoned.
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Mousavi 'under 24-hour guard'

Mousavi 'under 24-hour guard': Via Middle East, World - The Independent(UK).

The Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi is under 24-hour guard by secret police and no longer able to speak freely to supporters, according to the film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

Mr Makhmalbaf, 52, an informal spokesman abroad for the protest in Iran, said that Mr Mousavi was not under arrest but "he has security agents, secret police with him all the time. He has to be careful what he says."

In a telephone interview, Mr Makhmalbaf, the director of the 2001 film Kandaha, denied suggestions that the protests against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were losing steam.

"The regime, arguably, is losing ground, not the protests," he said. "Ordinary Iranians are openly rejecting the legitimacy and power of Ayatollah Khamanei. That is entirely new, unheard of."
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