Archivo etiqueta «Irán»
By Reza Kahlili, a pseudonym for an ex-CIA spy who is a fellow with EMPact America and the author of A Time to Betray, about his double life in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 14/10/11):
Despite global sanctions, Iran continues to export terrorism worldwide while importing nuclear weapons technology in a quest to impose Islam on the world. The United States and its Western allies must step up the pressure against Tehran.
Part of the export of terrorism turned up Tuesday when U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced federal authorities had foiled an Iranian plot … Seguir leyendo
By Louis J. Freeh, director of the F.B.I. from 1993 to 2001 (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 13/10/11):
As the United States tries to halt Iran’s nuclear program and prepares to withdraw troops from Iraq, American voters should ask why the Obama administration has bent to the will of Tehran’s mullahs and their Iraqi allies on a key issue: the fate of 3,400 unarmed members of the exiled Iranian opposition group, Mujahedeen Khalq, who are living in Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad.
The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, has brazenly murdered members of the Mujahedeen Khalq. … Seguir leyendo
By James M. Acton, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (LOS ANGELES TIMES, 12/10/11):
It’s time to call Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s bluff.
Over the last few weeks, the Iranian president has stated on a number of occasions that his country will cease domestic efforts to manufacture fuel for one of its nuclear reactors if it is able to purchase the fuel from abroad. The United States should accept this proposal — publicly, immediately and unconditionally.
Iran’s enrichment program has been the focus of international concern for almost a decade. Its first efforts were geared toward enriching … Seguir leyendo
By Retired Adm. James A. Lyons, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and senior U.S. military representative to the United Nations (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 06/10/11):
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s deplorable performance before the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 22 was not unexpected. His declaration that Iran would never recognize Israel’s right to exist – even if statehood were granted to the Palestinian people – should put to rest the common liberal thesis that if only the Israeli-Palestinian problem were resolved, peace and stability would reign in the Middle East. Nonsense. Aside from the fact that … Seguir leyendo
By Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council and the author of the forthcoming book A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran (LOS ANGELES TIMES, 02/10/11):
The world has grown accustomed to Iranian bluster. But even by the standards of the Islamic Republic, Adm. Habibollah Sayari’s call last week to deploy the Iranian navy near the U.S. coast is stunning. The Pentagon knows, of course, that Iranian war vessels won’t come near America’s shores any time soon. As White House spokesman Jay Carney said, “We don’t take these statements seriously, given that they do … Seguir leyendo
By Ali Vaez, a fellow for science and technology and the director of the Iran Project at the Federation of American Scientists and Charles D. Ferguson, the president of FAS and the author of Nuclear Energy: What Everyone Needs to Know (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 30/09/11):
A nuclear research reactor in Tehran may hold the key to resolving the prolonged nuclear stalemate between Iran and the West. The Iranian government is running out of the 20 percent-enriched uranium it needs to operate the reactor, and that appears to be making it amenable to compromise.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently … Seguir leyendo
By Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (THE WASHINGTON POST, 19/09/11):
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives at the United Nations this week for what promises, once again, to be a belligerent address. Media speculation is sure to focus on his diminishing political fortunes — underscored by tensions with the judiciary over the fate of the two American hikers held since July 2009 — the shifting balances of power within the theocratic state and, as always, Iranian nuclear ambitions. Missing from this narrative is a key point: The Islamic Republic has entered its post-authoritarian stage.… Seguir leyendo
By Karim Sadjadpour, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (THE WASHINGTON POST, 19/09/11):
The media circus generated by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s annual visit to the U.N. General Assembly in New York is a source of great frustration for many Iranians, who wish Western journalists would ask tougher questions about Ahmadinejad’s domestic practices. The following questions are culled from Iranian democracy and human rights activists who don’t have a chance to query the president directly:
Your boss, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was selected by a few dozen clerics more than 20 years ago. Do you … Seguir leyendo
By Reza Kahlili, a pseudonym for an ex-CIA spy who is a fellow with EMPact America and the author of A Time to Betray, about his double life in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 05/09/11):
American filmmaker Michael Moore has asked for permission to travel to Iran to attend Cinema Verite, an Iranian international festival for documentary films, according to Mehr News, the mouthpiece news agency of Iran’s Islamic regime.
In a big-headlined story in the Iranian media, Mr. Moore is quoted as saying he wants to visit Iran to do research about the … Seguir leyendo
By Sallai Meridor, Israel’s ambassador to the United States from 2006 to 2009 and the chairman of Glilot Venture Capital Fund (THE WASHINGTON POST, 03/09/11):
While everyone is watching events unfold in Libya, Syria and the rest of the Arab world, Iran is watching, too. And the leaders in Tehran may decide that this is the time to rush for the bomb. Moammar Gaddafi gave it up. Bashar al-Assad fell short of getting it. Would they be next?
The mullahs probably ask themselves a fair number of “what if” questions. What if Gaddafi had had the bomb? Would NATO … Seguir leyendo
By Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 27/08/11):
With soaring inflation, chronic unemployment and rampant poverty, Iran is nobody’s picture of economic health. So when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued its latest working paper on Iran last month, the rosy assessment contained therein raised more than a few eyebrows.
That study, “Iran – The Chronicles of the Subsidy Reform,” heaped praise on the regime in Tehran for launching a raft of much-needed rollbacks of costly subsidies on everything from energy to foodstuffs. This effort, the report says approvingly, … Seguir leyendo
By Gen. Henry H. Shelton, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 25/08/11):
With Iran reportedly making progress on its nuclear program, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has an opportunity to recognize an Iranian opposition group that is dedicated to democratic reform; has a secular, pro-Western outlook, and is most feared by the Iranian rulers. There’s only one catch: She must first remove the group from the U.S. list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).
Removing any group from the FTO list is never easy, as doing so inevitably runs the risk of being … Seguir leyendo
By Reza Kahlili, a pseudonym for an ex-CIA spy who is a fellow with EMPact America and the author of A Time to Betray, about his double life in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 24/08/11):
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has ordered the Revolutionary Guards to draw Israel into another Middle East war through their Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hezbollah proxies in an effort to save Bashar Assad’s brutal regime in Syria, sources report.
The ploy appears to be working, as Israeli opposition leaders are demanding the Netanyahu government launch a major … Seguir leyendo
By Elizabeth Rubin, a contributor to The New York Times Magazine, where her article The Cult of Rajavi appeared in July 2003 (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 14/08/11):
A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from an acquaintance with the subject line: Have you seen the video everyone is talking about?
I clicked play, and there was Howard Dean, on March 19 in Berlin, at his most impassioned, extolling the virtues of a woman named Maryam Rajavi and insisting that America should recognize her as the president of Iran.
Ms. Rajavi and her husband, Massoud, are the leaders … Seguir leyendo
By Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (THE WASHINGTON POST, 04/08/11):
For years it was assumed that economic sanctions and diplomacy would produce a pliable negotiating partner in Iran. But Iran’s truculence has effectively undermined the once-popular notion, while a degree of confusion and consternation has gripped the international community. The often-unstated hope is that denial of critical technologies and sabotage can slow the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program until, somehow, an alternative strategy, or an agreement, emerges. The thinking has been that time is on our side and that Iran’s weak scientific foundation can … Seguir leyendo