Iran Condemns 'Savage Crackdown' in Britain

Two years after the Iranians brutally murdered their own citizens, these freaks have the nerve to protest the authorities in the UK.

Scores of hardline Iranian university students gathered outside the British embassy in Tehran today to condemn Britain’s 'savage' suppression of a 'popular uprising' against the 'dictatorial royal regime of England'.

Many chose to wear masks of Mark Duggan, the man shot dead by police that sparked the riots, during their state-sponsored protest while others displayed placards.

One poster brought by a protester said 'Death to the corrupt British monarchy' while another proclaimed 'Royal wedding equals economic austerity.'

Police were on hand to ensure that events did not turn violent.

Since last week's protests, Tehran has seized on the turmoil created by the riots to make propaganda against London, who have angered the Islamic republic by being a leading critic of its human rights record.

Despite their supposed horror at the mayhem in British cities, Iranian officials have also made it clear they have no desire to see it end.

The head of Iran’s Basij street militia, Brigadier Mohammad Reza Naghdi, predicted on Saturday that the 'popular awakening' in Britain was 'just the beginning' and it 'would spread to the heart of Europe'.

And a senior parliamentarian, Parviz Sorouri, said: 'The world is now coming to the conclusion that Western civilisation has no foundation and is unreal.'

In the past week, Iran’s authoritarian regime has teased London with offers to send human rights observers to Britain.

It's almost as if they're parroting leading Democrats when they whine about everything.

Parliamentarians and conservative newspapers in Tehran have variously blamed the turmoil in Britain on human rights violations, 'chronic injustice', racism, social deprivation and the rise of student tuition fees.

Good thing there's no Tea Party over there or they'd be lumped in.

Iran Plans to Send Monkey Into Space

Can't wait to see the doctored footage of this alleged space launch.

Iran says it plans to send a monkey into space next month as the next step in a space program that Western leaders worry could also bring major advances in Iran's missile arsenal.

The state-run news agency IRNA quotes the head of Iran's space agency as saying Monday that five monkeys are undergoing tests and one will be selected for the flight on a Kavoshgar-5 — or Explorer-5 — rocket.

Last year, Iran announced it had launched a rocket carrying a mouse, turtle and worms into space.

The U.S. and allies are concerned that the technology in the space program could also be used to develop long-range missiles with possible nuclear warheads. Iran denies it seeks nuclear arms and says it wants only energy-producing reactors.

May we suggest they launch this primate?

Meanwhile, they've allegedly successfully fired some missiles today.

Media Not Too Excited Over Iran Protests

After gushing over the Egyptian uprising the past few weeks, it seems the media hasn't quite found the same level of excitement over protests in Iran. Gee, I wonder why? Fear probably has something to do with it.

Iranian lawmakers denounced Monday's protests in Tehran and called for the execution of two opposition leaders for inciting the demonstrations, Iran's state-run Press TV reported Tuesday.

Members of the Iranian parliament issued fiery chants against opposition leaders and former presidential candidates Mehdi Karrubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi

Press TV aired video Tuesday of lawmakers chanting "Moussavi, Karroubi ... execute them."

Lawmakers also named former President Mohammad Khatami in some of the death chants.

Iranian leaders have praised Egypt's revolution, but Monday when protesters in Iran took to the streets the government cracked down hard.

Last week, the Iranian government rounded up activists after Karrubi and Moussavi called for supporters to gather at Azadi Square -- the site of mass protests by Iran's opposition movement after the disputed 2009 presidential elections.

The same media who pretended Obama had something to do with events in Egypt need to begin working on their script for when the opposition in Iran is once again crushed, as it was two years ago.

Reporting from Iran proved extremely difficult Monday -- foreign journalists were denied visas, accredited journalists living in the country were restricted from covering the demonstrations and internet speeds slowed to a crawl in an apparent attempt to both limit protest organizing and restrict information from being transmitted out of the country.

Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign policy chief, released a statement Tuesday urging Iranian officials to "fully respect and protect the rights of their citizens, including freedom of expression and the right to assemble peacefully."

What planet has Ashton been living on? Has she got the slightest clue what goes on in Iran?

Thousands of Iranians Rally for Freedom

Somehow I get the feeling a fresh Iranian uprising won't be getting the same amount of attention from the media as the events in Egypt did the past several weeks. Probably because the extremist Islamic state will crush dissent and murder the opposition. Since our media is so eager to award Obama credit for events in Egypt, will he get the blame when dissent in Iran is stifled? Of course not.

IRANIAN protesters took to the streets of capital Tehran for a major rally overnight in support of Arab revolts, while fresh anti-government protests were reported in Yemen and Bahrain.

By midday local time, more than 4000 people gathered in central Tehran's Azadi Square, with many more streaming in, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Anti-riot police on motorbikes armed with riot shotguns, tear gas, batons, paintball guns and fire extinguishers were deployed in parts of the capital as authorities feared the rally could turn into an anti-government demonstration, AFP reported.

The Iranian regime also barred opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi from attending the rally by blocking his house with police vans and vehicles, his website reported.

Iran previously backed the Arab uprisings, but the interior ministry refused to permit the opposition rally because officials believed it was a ploy to stage fresh anti-government demonstrations as seen in 2009 after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Some video of the lead-up to protests can be found here.

Update: Police are using tear gas on the protesters. What a surprise.

Eyewitnesses report that sporadic clashes have erupted in central Tehran's Enghelab or Revolution square between security forces and opposition protesters.

The demonstrators were chanting "death to the dictator," referring to the country's hardline president that the opposition beleives was reelected through fraud in 2009.

The scene is described as total chaos.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

Great News: Iranians Building Fleet of Suicide Speedboats

Let's face it. These Islamist nutcases pretty much got away with the Cole bombing, and that was a lone incident. Imagine having hundreds if not thousands of vessels packed with bombs? I wouldn't put it past these madmen.

A FLEET of suicide ships is being built by crackpot naval commanders in Iran.

More than 9,000 speedboats have been made with deadly explosives engineered into their hulls.

The vessels - to patrol the Persian Gulf where UK forces operate - will be piloted by extremist "martyrs".

They can be rammed into the side of "enemy" ships and each carries enough explosives to rip a seven-metre hole in a boat's keel.

Around 30,000 kamikaze captains are being trained to steer the ships, a source claimed.

There are plans to build 15,000 of the six-metre vessels. Their C4 explosives go off when rammed into larger ships.

An Iranian defector asked to design the crafts revealed the secret plot after fleeing the country - led by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The ex-military engineer, said: "They wanted me to help build a vast fleet of suicide boats. It's shocking. That amount of explosives is deadly. I love Iran and that's why I'm revealing this. No one in Iran wants a war."

Curiously, this incident the other day didn't receive much notice.

The White House issued a stern warning to Tehran today after Iranian speedboats buzzed three US navy ships passing through the strategic Strait of Hormuz and reportedly threatened to blow them up.

A Pentagon official said that US forces were "literally" on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats and had moved to man their guns when the Iranians turned and sped away. No shots were fired in the incident yesterday morning in one of the world's key shipping routes for crude oil.

"We urge the Iranians to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future," said Gordon Johnson, spokesman for the White House's National Security Council, in a terse statement.

Details of the incident remain unclear, but the skipper of one of the five Iranians speedboats reportedly said in a radio transmission: "I’m coming at you and you will blow up in a couple of minutes."

"It is the most serious provocation of this sort that we’ve seen yet," a Pentagon official said.

Our media is more focused on raising our taxes, which probably accounts for the lack of coverage.

Heh: Dumbass Iranians Finally Realize Star of David Sits Atop Tehran Airport

It's a Zionist plot!

The six-pointed star was discovered by an eagle-eyed Google Earth user recently, over three decades after the building that houses the national airline of the Islamic Republic was constructed by Israeli engineers.

Israel and the Shah’s Iran maintained good ties until the Islamic Revolution of 1979 ended the relationship. Before 1979, Israel brokered arms deals with Iran, and there were regular flights between Teheran and Tel Aviv.

Once the existence of the Star of David was reported in Iranian media, government officials called for the immediate removal of the apparently offensive Jewish symbol.

The discovery of the symbol came three months after the Iranian public learned of the existence of a Star of David on the roof of a building in Teheran’s Revolution Square.

Iran Unveils First Islamic Tie and Doll

Actually, unveils is probably the wrong word to use, but the folks behind this probably don't do irony.

Iran has unveiled a number of "Islamic" products including an Islamic tie.

The tie, which is shaped like the sword of Imam Ali (cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad who is considered by Shi'a as his rightful successor) and decorated with an Islamic hadith (a saying attributed to Muhammad), has been registered in the Islamic republic by inventor Hemat Komeili.

Komeili has been quoted as saying that his tie has been approved by some of the sources of emulation. He says it appears beautiful like a tie in addition to being based on Islamic values.

Ties came under attack in Iran following the 1979 revolution as one of the symbols of "decadent" Western cultures. It was reported that men with ties were detained in the early days of the revolution and according to unconfirmed reports in some cases their ties were cut off.

Some Iranian men still wear ties in public even though it is generally condemned and disapproved by the country's leaders and clerics.

Meanwhile an Iranian company says it has created the first Islamic doll.

Iran had in the past created two dolls, "Sara" and "Dara," which were to counter Barbie and Ken but reportedly were not very popular. The new doll, which is branded Islamic and not Iranian, has the Arabic name "Fatima."

Hossein Homay Seresht, of the company Fam that created Fatima, says the doll is meant to fight the "enemies' cultural invasion" of the Islamic republic.

Seresht says that Iran's enemies are increasingly targeting 3-year-old kids.

"The Westerners, by creating Barbie and marketing it, are encouraging bad veiling and not wearing the hijab; all of these factors led us to take it as our duty to present Islamic dolls to the market," he said.

The company has also produced the "Hijab Forbidden" software, which despite its name is designed to promote the Islamic hijab, or veiling.

As to the "Islamic Tie," it's absolutely hideous.

Compassion: Iranians to Hang Woman Instead of Stoning Her

Rushing headlong into the eighth century.

The Iranian woman who became the center of an international outcry after being sentenced to death by stoning for adultery is to be hanged for murdering her husband, local media reported Tuesday.

The new fate planned for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was announced by Iran’s national prosecutor general, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, at a news conference in Tehran Monday.

“According to the court’s ruling, she is convicted of murder and her death sentence has priority over her punishment [for committing adultery]”, the Tehran Times reported, citing Mohseni-Ejei.

The newspaper said that the prosecutor’s remarks mean Ashtiani -- an illiterate 43-year-old Azeri mother of two whose husband was killed by her cousin -- will not be stoned to death for committing adultery because she should first be executed for murder.

“The issue should not be politicized and the judiciary will not be influenced by the propaganda campaign launched by the Western media,” added Mohseni-Ejei, who also serves as the judiciary spokesman.

'We Can’t Say for Sure What is Going On, But it is Clandestine and Secretive'

Something secretive going on between Iran,. Syria and Venezuela? You don't say. Don't worry though. The crack team of Obama, Napolitano and Clinton are on the job.

A Venezuelan airline's “mystery” flight that shuttled among the capitals of three of the world’s most terror-friendly nations — Venezuela, Syria and Iran — has abruptly canceled its regularly scheduled departures amid accusations that it was used primarily to transport spies, terrorists and lethal cargo among the pariah counties.

“I am sorry, but we are no longer flying to Tehran and I do not know when the flights will resume. It was a flight that left Caracas on Tuesdays, but it no longer does,” Jenny Gil Romero, who handles international departures for Conviasa, the national airline that operates the flight, said in a message to FOX News.

Messages to the airline seeking further information went unanswered.

Romero's comments came in response to FOXNews.com's efforts to buy tickets on the regularly scheduled, 48-hour round trip from Caracas to Damascus to Tehran, then back again.

Intelligence analysts with both the CIA and Israel said that, despite the listing of the flight as a regular commercial route and a code share with Iran air -- Flight IR744 is also Flight VO3744 -- there was no way that anyone could buy a ticket and travel without being vetted by the Venezuelan or Iranian government. And without passport controls, flight manifests and other documents, it meant some of the world's most dangerous men could travel without fear of being uncovered.

Curiously, unlike most other bookings on the national airline, calls for reservations on this particular flight were routed to a cell phone in Argentina, rather than to Conviasa's regular service in Caracas.

The Venezuelan ambassador to the United States had defended the flights as recently as two weeks ago in response to criticism in a State Department report that cited the flight’s questionable route and procedures. Messages left at the Venezuelan embassy's press office and the ambassador's office were not returned, and a list of questions submitted to the embassy's press office was not answered.

For the past three years, every other Tuesday, Flight VO3744 would roll out to a secluded loading platform at Simon Bolivar Airport in Caracas. Shrouded from public view and unencumbered by the normal exit procedures, a select passenger list would board the flight.

Over the next 48 hours, according to Western intelligence agencies, Venezuelan opposition figures and a former Iran-based spy for the CIA, the flight would carry illicit, lethal cargoes -- such as explosives and possibly radioactive materials -- and provide safe passage to terrorists, spies, weapons experts, senior Iranian intelligence operatives and members of both Hezbollah and Hamas.

Reza Kahlili, the pseudonym for an Iranian who the CIA has confirmed once spied for the United States as a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, told FoxNews.com these "special flights" have been "instrumental in creating an Iranian dominated worldwide terror network that now reaches the United States." He said the flights were used to expand Iran’s efforts to create a base of operations in the Western Hemisphere.

Peter Brookes, a former Defense Department analyst and CIA employee now with the Heritage Foundation, said there was a steady stream of elite Al Quds officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard who were transported to Venezuela aboard the flight and took up positions in the Latin American country’s intelligence service.

“We can’t say for sure what is going on, but it is clandestine and secretive,” he said.

By the end of the day Hugo Chavez will be parroting Media Matters in denunciations of Fox News.

Link to the report here.

Classy: Iranian Newspaper Calls for Death of Carla Bruni

The nerve of Nicolas Sarkozy's wife to speak out against the stoning of women.

The hard-line, regime-backed daily Kayhan, which already had called the wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy a "prostitute," said her lifestyle meant she deserved a fate similar to that of the doomed Iranian woman Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.

"Studying Carla Bruni's record clearly shows the reason why this immoral woman is backing an Iranian woman who has been condemned to death for committing adultery and being [an] accomplice in her husband's murder and, in fact, she herself deserves to die," Kayhan wrote.

French Foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero called the comments "unacceptable," and said Paris had told that to the mullahs' regime.

A Huffposter condemns this outrageous behavior, yet some commenters are so blinded by their hatred for American conservatives they see little problem with it.

The US government killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in Iraq with no accountability in sight (Obama makes sure he calls war-criminal Bush before his speech to get his permission to talk about Iraq!) and yet when a country like Iran which has been openly threatened by various violent US officials is dealing with one case of injustice, there is a huge outcry.

How many pregnant Iraqi women died during the invasion or had their new-born babies die? How many elderly or sick died because the US government bombed the country's basic infrastructure?

So many innocent people died in Iraq just like that and yet the war-mongers tells us that Iran is a horrible country.

The horrible country is the violent imperialist US. It has killed and tortured more people than all middle eastern countries combined in the last 40 years.

BDS, there is no cure.

Funny thing, Marina. For the longest part of your article, I thought you were talking about the conservatives in America. Wasn't until the end, when I realized you were talking about other male conservatives.

Where are the conservatives in this country calling for women to be stoned?

Meanwhile, the Iranian psychos carried out a mock execution of Ashtiani.

How Considerate: Iran Digging Mass Graves for U.S. Soldiers

I almost expect the idiots at the State Department to send them a note of thanks for being so kind and considerate.

Iran has dug mass graves in which to bury U.S. troops in case of any American attack on the country, a commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday, warning that a military strike would spark an "extensive war" in the region.

The announcement appears to be a show of bravado after the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said last week that the U.S. military has a contingency plan to attack Iran, although he thinks a military strike is probably a bad idea.

The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to build nuclear weapons. Iran has denied the charges, saying its nuclear program is geared merely toward generating electricity, not bomb.

The deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Kan'ani Moghadam, said graves for any attacking U.S. troops have been dug in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province, where Iran buried Iraqi soldiers killed during the ruinous 1980-88 war between the Islamic republic and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime.

"The mass graves that used to be for burying Saddam's soldiers have now been prepared again for U.S. soldiers, and this is the reason for digging this big number of graves," Moghadam said, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency.

Great News: U.S. May Help bin Laden Family Relocate Here

Let's put it this way: This trial balloon may be shot down in record time. If Obama and our state Department are this thick then there really is no hope for them. If our current "leaders" think their stance on Arizona's SB 1070 is unpopular, allowing relatives of Osama bin Laden into the country could wind up a disaster beyond their worst nightmare. I don't believe anything out of the mouth of Omar bin Laden, so let's see what the reaction is to this.

A son of Osama bin Laden said about 20 members of his family stranded in Iran are seeking sanctuary in a third country and that the U.S. may agree to accept them.

Omar bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader’s fourth son, said in an interview with Al Arabiya television that Iran is refusing to allow his relatives to go to Saudi Arabia. Shiite Muslim- dominated Iran is a regional rival of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaeda, a Sunni group, is hostile to Iran.

“The Americans offered to help them out of Iran and even hinted at the possibility of receiving them in the U.S.,” he said in the interview, which was aired late yesterday and posted on the Dubai-based channel’s website. Omar bin Laden said none of his brothers has been accused of terrorism by the U.S. or any other country.

Nobody cares in the least they haven't been accused of terrorism. Just the thought of us helping them out and the notion of providing sanctuary here has to be one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard of.

Hmm: Missing Iranian Scientist Surfaces in Washington?

Take this for waht it's worth considering a primary source is Iranian media.

Iran state media reported Tuesday that a missing Iranian academic, whom Tehran has said was kidnapped last year by the U.S., is seeking refuge at the Pakistan embassy in Washington and has asked to return home.

State media, including the English-language Press TV, said U.S. forces escorted former nuclear researcher Shahram Amiri to the Pakistan mission, citing Iran's state-run broadcaster. It didn't detail sources for the report.

A spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry said Tuesday the government had been informed by the head of Iran's interest section in Washington that Mr. Amiri had sought refuge at the section's building on Monday evening.

Pakistan's embassy is a channel for Washington to communicate with Tehran, which doesn't have formal diplomatic relation with the U.S. But Pakistan has no role overseeing the Iranian interest section.

The report deepens the mystery surrounding Mr. Amiri's disappearance last year in Saudi Arabia. Iran blamed the U.S. for abducting him. U.S. officials have denied kidnapping the man. Earlier this year, ABC News reported Mr. Amiri had defected to the U.S.

Iranian state media aired a video last month claiming to show Mr. Amiri alleging he was being held against his will in the U.S. after being captured by U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia. In a second video that surfaced on the Internet, someone claiming to be Mr. Amiri appeared to contradict that, saying he was in the U.S. on his own free will but denied he had defected to the U.S.

Previous reports indicated Amiri had defected and was working with the CIA.

Iranians Give Blessing to Approved Islamic Haircuts

We figure the punishment for an improper haircut likely is the complete loss of your head.

IRAN'S culture ministry has given its blessing to a number of "Islamic" haircuts for men, with ponytails failing to make the list.

Iran's ILNA news agency and other agencies carried pictures of mostly clean-shaven male models sporting short hair, some styled with gel, in a "journal of Iranian hairstyles approved by the ministry of [culture and Islamic] guidance."

"The proposed styles are inspired by Iranians' complexion, culture and religion and Islamic law," said Jaleh Khodayar, who is in charge of a "Modesty and Veil Festival" later this month where they are to be promoted.

"We are happy that the Islamic republic of Iran's government has backed us in designing these hairstyles," she said.

Iranian police carry out regular morality crackdowns, arresting and warning women in figure-hugging short coats and flimsy headscarves as well as men sporting spiky hair and tight, low-slung jeans.

The Islamic veil is mandatory in Iran, which sought to keep defiant urban youths properly covered since the establishment of the Islamic republic over 30 years ago.

Several barber shops were reportedly shut down and penalized in recent years for offering "decadent Western cuts."

Saudis Onboard; BarryO Ain't

Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites

Hugh Tomlinson
Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal.

In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran. To ensure the Israeli bombers pass unmolested, Riyadh has carried out tests to make certain its own jets are not scrambled and missile defence systems not activated. Once the Israelis are through, the kingdom’s air defences will return to full alert.

“The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over and they will look the other way,” said a US defence source in the area. “They have already done tests to make sure their own jets aren’t scrambled and no one gets shot down. This has all been done with the agreement of the [US] State Department.”

Sources in Saudi Arabia say it is common knowledge within defence circles in the kingdom that an arrangement is in place if Israel decides to launch the raid. Despite the tension between the two governments, they share a mutual loathing of the regime in Tehran and a common fear of Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “We all know this. We will let them [the Israelis] through and see nothing,” said one.

The four main targets for any raid on Iran would be the uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz and Qom, the gas storage development at Isfahan and the heavy-water reactor at Arak. Secondary targets include the lightwater reactor at Bushehr, which could produce weapons-grade plutonium when complete.

The targets lie as far as 1,400 miles (2,250km) from Israel; the outer limits of their bombers’ range, even with aerial refuelling. An open corridor across northern Saudi Arabia would significantly shorten the distance. An airstrike would involve multiple waves of bombers, possibly crossing Jordan, northern Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Aircraft attacking Bushehr, on the Gulf coast, could swing beneath Kuwait to strike from the southwest.

Passing over Iraq would require at least tacit agreement to the raid from Washington. So far, the Obama Administration has refused to give its approval as it pursues a diplomatic solution to curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Military analysts say Israel has held back only because of this failure to secure consensus from America and Arab states. Military analysts doubt that an airstrike alone would be sufficient to knock out the key nuclear facilities, which are heavily fortified and deep underground or within mountains. However, if the latest sanctions prove ineffective the pressure from the Israelis on Washington to approve military action will intensify. Iran vowed to continue enriching uranium after the UN Security Council imposed its toughest sanctions yet in an effort to halt the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme, which Tehran claims is intended for civil energy purposes only. President Ahmadinejad has described the UN resolution as “a used handkerchief, which should be thrown in the dustbin”.

Israeli officials refused to comment yesterday on details for a raid on Iran, which the Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has refused to rule out. Questioned on the option of a Saudi flight path for Israeli bombers, Aharaon Zeevi Farkash, who headed military intelligence until 2006 and has been involved in war games simulating a strike on Iran, said: “I know that Saudi Arabia is even more afraid than Israel of an Iranian nuclear capacity.”

In 2007 Israel was reported to have used Turkish air space to attack a suspected nuclear reactor being built by Iran’s main regional ally, Syria. Although Turkey publicly protested against the “violation” of its air space, it is thought to have turned a blind eye in what many saw as a dry run for a strike on Iran’s far more substantial — and better-defended — nuclear sites.

Israeli intelligence experts say that Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are at least as worried as themselves and the West about an Iranian nuclear arsenal.Israel has sent missile-class warships and at least one submarine capable of launching a nuclear warhead through the Suez Canal for deployment in the Red Sea within the past year, as both a warning to Iran and in anticipation of a possible strike. Israeli newspapers reported last year that high-ranking officials, including the former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, have met their Saudi Arabian counterparts to discuss the Iranian issue. It was also reported that Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, met Saudi intelligence officials last year to gain assurances that Riyadh would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets violating Saudi airspace during the bombing run. Both governments have denied the reports.

Helen Thomas was unavailable for comment.

Progress! Iran to Open Women Only Bank

Slouching toward the 8th Century.

Now introducing the latest all-girl's club … in Iran.

State-owned Bank Melli opened Iran's first bank branch to employ and serve women exclusively on Mhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifonday.

Located about 600 miles from Tehran, the branch in Mashad may be the first of its kind, but there are promises of others like it to follow.

The institution’s goal is "to protect women's virtue in the social sphere," Mahmoud-Reza Khavari, the bank's managing director, told IRNA. "Facilitating banking and financial services to the economy's influential women is one of the reasons for opening this branch."

A few more great leaps forward like this and next thing you know Iranian women might be treated as human beings.

Where 'Smart Diplomacy' Has Brought Us

This pathetic scene is a direct result of our impotent State Department that hasn't the slightest clue what do do when the Iranians hold our citizens hostage. I feel sorry that these women have to go through such humiliation but the fault lies directly at the feet of Barack Obama and his puppet Hillary Clinton. These people are busy trying to humiliate Governor Jan Brewer while the world of the world is laughing at us.

Dressed in black Islamic headscarves and long traditional robes, these three Americans pass for any Muslim woman going about everyday life in Iran.

But unlike their local counterparts, Laura Fattal, Nora Shourd, and Cindy Hickey are desperate to secure the release of their three children, who were arrested by Iranian authorities ten months ago for alleged spying.

In a gesture of goodwill to the Iranian government and a sign of respect to the country's culture, the mothers arrived at Tehran airport dressed in full Muslim garb and each carrying a pink rose for their hosts.

Iran had granted the women visas to visit their children Sarah Shourd, 31, her boyfriend, Shane Bauer, 27, and their friend Josh Fattal, 27, who had been hiking in Iraq's scenic and largely peaceful northern Kurdish region when they were detained on the border.

Through tears of joy and relief, the mothers threw their arms up in the air and rushed to hug and kiss their children in an emotional reunion at the Esteqlal Hotel in the capital.

It was the first time the families had met since the young trio were arrested.

Iran detained the three Americans along the Iraqi border in July and have accused them of spying.

Their relatives reject the accusation and say the three were simply hiking in Iraq's scenic northern Kurdish region.

The mothers, who were still wearing Islamic dress and holding bouquets of flowers, arrived in Tehran in a bid to secure the release of their children.

I wish them luck. A shame their government isn't lifting a finger to help.

Neda Agha Soltan Was Unavailable for Comment

Yesterday we learned women in Iran who dare to get a little sun face imprisonment. As a reward, the UN named them to the Commission on Women's Rights. How sick are these people?

Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged "immodest."

Just days after Iran abandoned a high-profile bid for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, it began a covert campaign to claim a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women, which is "dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women," according to its website.

Buried 2,000 words deep in a U.N. press release distributed Wednesday on the filling of "vacancies in subsidiary bodies," was the stark announcement: Iran, along with representatives from 10 other nations, was "elected by acclamation," meaning that no open vote was requested or required by any member states — including the United States.

This is how they treat women in Iran.

Suntans of Blasphemy

Those idiotic Iranian cavemen are at it again.

Women with suntans are violating Islamic law and will be arrested in Iran, the capital city's police chief was reported by The London Daily Telegraph as saying Wednesday.

"The public expects us to act firmly and swiftly if we see any social misbehavior by women, and men, who defy our Islamic values," Brigadier Hossien Sajedinia said.

"In some areas of north Tehran we can see many suntanned women and young girls who look like walking mannequins," he continued. "We are not going to tolerate this situation and will first warn those found in this manner and then arrest and imprison them."

The warning follows recent comments made by a hard-line Iranian cleric, who claimed women dressed in revealing clothing were disturbed young men and causing earthquakes.

First the earthquakes, now the suntans. What might happen if they show some leg?

Great News: Iran Increases Shock Troops in Venezuela

Good thing Obama is so much more respected around the world and everyone loves us again.

Oh, wait...

Iran is increasing its paramilitary Qods force operatives in Venezuela while covertly continuing supplies of weapons and explosives to Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Pentagon's first report to Congress on Tehran's military.

The report on Iranian military power provides new details on the group known formally as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the Islamist shock troops deployed around the world to advance Iranian interests. The unit is aligned with terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, North Africa and Latin America, and the report warns that U.S. forces are likely to battle the Iranian paramilitaries in the future.

The Qods force "maintains operational capabilities around the world," the report says, adding that "it is well established in the Middle East and North Africa and recent years have witnessed an increased presence in Latin America, particularly Venezuela."

"If U.S. involvement in conflict in these regions deepens, contact with the IRGC-QF, directly or through extremist groups it supports, will be more frequent and consequential," the report says.

The report provides the first warning in an official U.S. government report about Iranian paramilitary activities in the Western Hemisphere. It also highlights links between Iran and the anti-U.S. government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been accused of backing Marxist terrorists in Colombia.

Oddly enough, there's another familiar anti-U.S. government agent who's also friends with Hugo Chavez.

Of course since according to Bill Clinton and the media the greatest threat to America is those angry Tea Partiers, you can just ignore this and go back to sleep.

H/T Doug Ross.