Things you HAVE TO know about Iran

Opium and Saffron has a very important message for Americans in favor of war with Iran. He would like to tell them

-That Ahmadinejad for all of his rhetoric only represents one of many circles of power in Iran – he does not have the same power as an American president and is not the one who makes the final decisions.

-That the Iranian leadership is not insane. It is made up of fat, rich, comfortable akhunds who don’t have a messianic death wish. They want to retain their power at any cost, not bring bombs down on their heads. They may not want to be America’s friends, but that doesn’t mean they won’t curb their more radical tendencies as long as any reasonable offers take into account their own desire for self-preservation and regional influence. (This might also require the U.S. to curb its own radical tendencies).

-That Iran is not the bleak, repressive society of Saddam’s Iraq, Khadafi’s Libya or Kim Jong-il’s North Korea. There is more political freedom in Iran than there is in Saudia Arabia, Egypt and other American allies in the Middle East. It is far from a perfect society but it is dynamic and changing.

The Persian/Iranian community in diaspora must echo this message all over the world, before Right Wing insanity drags people into misery again.

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Rageh, Iraq, Tehran, Persian Gulf

“Disgusting” Treatment of British Sailors by Iran

Terry Jones describes just how disgusting and humiliating the Iranians have treated their British captives, and teaches Iranians lessons as to how we, the civilized people, treat the prisoners.

I share the outrage expressed in the British press over the treatment of our naval personnel accused by Iran of illegally entering their waters. It is a disgrace. We would never dream of treating captives like this – allowing them to smoke cigarettes, for example, even though it has been proven that smoking kills.

Please read the whole thing, it’s very enlightening.

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Media, Racism, Iraq, Tehran, Persian Gulf, British Sailors, UK, Blair, Britain

Britain has few options in Iran standoff

People are realizing that the current approach is a failure

Tough talk hasn’t worked

…and never will.

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Iraq, Security Council, Persian Gulf, British Sailors, UK, Blair

Kidnapped Iranian Diplomats

It’s been months since 5 Iranians diplomats were kidnapped by U.S. forces in Irbil, Iraq and several weeks since Ali Reza Asgari, a former Revolutionary Guards general, inconspicuously disappeared in Turkey, giving rise to rumors about a possible CIA/Mossad operation.
So far there has been absolutely no news on the whereabouts or the status of these captives. Opium and Saffron has more.

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Israel, Iraq, Tehran, Persian Gulf

Blair doesn’t want the sailors released!

While Iran seems to be willing to release the captives, and has not demanded an apology, Tony Blair continues his furious rhetoric calling the treatment of the sailors (who at least seem to be well-treated and in good health) disgusting. Does he really expect to get the sailors released with this kind of words? What’s he really after?
I assure you with the kind of attitudes the Brits are showing, Iran will never release the sailors and Blair knows it!

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Iran, Middle East, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Media, Iraq, Tehran, Persian Gulf, British Sailors, UK, Blair

Please don’t mess up the sailors’ crisis more!

I am asking both the Iranian and the British officials not to make a mess out of this. But the Brits are more guilty, as they drew up fake boundaries in the Persian Gulf, and have now started a biased media campaign, going as far as calling what happened a “hostage crisis,” even though the conditions here are by far different from the actual Hostage Crisis of 1979. This is just going to get things worse, as Murray had said before.
If the Brits really wanna get their sailors released, may be they should be more careful with the words and not try to provoke anger on the Iranian side of the issue, but do they?

Again, let’s just hope the sailors will be released one way or another, ASAP.

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Iran, Middle East, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Iraq, Tehran, Persian Gulf, British Sailors, UK, Blair

Iran Angry Over Britain’s Boundry Claims

Clearly, what Murray has predicted is happening:

By producing a fake map of the Iran/Iraq boundary, notably unfavourable to Iran, we can only harden the Iranian position.

Iranian officials are now clearly stating their anger about Britain’s claims and demanding some sort of apology. Britain being very unwilling to apologize or even get closed to apologizing, this situation is starting to get extremely complicated. I hope somebody in the high ranks will realize that before we end up in a deadlock.

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Media, Iraq, Tehran, Mottaki, Persian Gulf, British Sailors, UK, Blair

Fake British Boundaries in the Persian Gulf

Craig Murray argues what the british are broadcasting as evidence that their sailors were in Iraqi waters when arrested is most likely false and fake, adding this will only worsen the situation:

A) The Iran/Iraq maritime boundary shown on the British government map does not exist. It has been drawn up by the British Government. Only Iraq and Iran can agree their bilateral boundary, and they never have done this in the Gulf, only inside the Shatt because there it is the land border too. This published boundary is a fake with no legal force.

B) Accepting the British coordinates for the position of both HMS Cornwall and the incident, both were closer to Iranian land than Iraqi land. Go on, print out the map and measure it. Which underlines the point that the British produced border is not a reliable one.

I personally hope Iranians will release these sailors ASAP, but must add that defending one’s territorial integrity is a must, particularly in case of Iran and the Persian Gulf and given the kind of things that have happened before.

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Media, Iraq, Persian Gulf, British Sailors, UK, Blair

British Sailors: “Potential Distress”?!

In response to the video showing British sailors being treated well and eating Kebab and rice, and saying they did indeed trespass into Iranian waters, the British Foreign office has issued a statement saying,

“[It] is completely unacceptable for these pictures to be shown on television, given the potential distress to their [the sailors'] families.”

I don’t know about the British Foreign Office, but as far as I know, letting you sit around and having you eat well while in detention is way more hospitality than one would expect (particularly given the way the British media would wanna describe how the sailors were treated), and the best relief to any family in that situation. I pass no judgement on where the Brits were arrested and the right and wrongs of the matter, but what British officials are saying here about “potential distress” to the families is just ridiculous.

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Media, Iraq, Tehran, Persian Gulf, British Sailors, UK

UAE won’t allow U.S. to attack Iran from its bases

So says the president of the UAE, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The Emirates “refuses to use its territorial lands, air or waters for aggression against any other country, let alone a neighboring Muslim country with which we maintain historic and economic ties,” Sheik Khalifa said in a statement carried on Emirates news agency WAM.
“We have assured the brothers in Iran … that we are not a party in its dispute with the United States, that we will not allow any force to use our territories for military, security and espionage activities against Iran,” Sheik Khalifa said…
Earlier this month, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani issued a similar message, saying Qatar wouldn’t permit an attack on Iran to be launched from its soil.

Seems like Arabs are coming to their senses, either out of ‘brotherhood’ or fear.

Technorati Tags:
Politics, Iran, Nuclear, Middle East, Oil, War on Iran, Bush, Ahmadinejad, Media, Iraq, Tehran, Persian Gulf