News

Other interesting developments in Iran today

FINANCES FOR BASILJ  APPROVED: Bolstering the Basij. Parliament has voted
to give 0.5% of additional yearly oil income, 10% of youth budget, and
10% of the relief organistions budget to the Basij militia.

INFIGHTING:  Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri, the former Speaker of Parliament and 1997 Presidential candidate, has refused to participate
in any meeting of the Combatant Clergy, apparently because of
disagreement with the "hard-line" approach to policy and the
Parliamentary elections in March.

WHAT ARE THEY PLANNING?: MP Fazel Mousavi has called for a closed-door Parliamentary meeting on sanctions
with senior officials and the Ministers of Economy, Interior, and
Defense. Mousavi claims dozens of legislators have already signed the
demand.

POTENTIAL DEFECTORS GET A WARNING: Iran Police Chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, while claiming there are no civil rights in the "West", has said that insubordination to a commander is insubordination to the Prophet.

MORE SIGNS EMBASSY TAKEOVER WAS PLANNED:  Two days before a mass gathering of Basij students, Fars has declared
that there is no difference between the British Embassy and the "Nest
of Spies", the US Embassy that was taken over by young activists in
1979.

BAZAAR MERCHANTS JOIN STRIKERS: Peyke Iran reports that the Bandar Genaveh Bazaar, one of the biggest in southern Iran, has joined sailors on strike in protest at the restriction on imports by boats.

Authorities said the restriction was needed to reduce smuggling.  (By whom?  The IRCG?  Isn't it funny how the regime steals people's phones and satellite dishes with one hand and then sells them new ones with another?  Also, are they worried someone may be shipping hard currency abroad?).

0755 GMT: Sanctions Watch. A US-European Union statement on Monday pointed to further co-ordinated pressure on Iran (and that's before Khamenei, Taeb and others authorized today's embassy seizure)

In the wake of the latest International Atomic Energy Agency report,
Washington failed to get United Nations action but has succeeded in move
with North American and European partners. In the last week, Britain,
France, and Canada have announced additional measures, and Italy and
Germany have announced ready for actions, unilaterally and through the
European Union, including limits on Iranian oil imports.

On Monday, a senior industry official in Italy said the government would give diplomatic help to oil companies to find alternative sources of crude if sanctions are imposed on imports from Iran.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT EXPLOSION IN ISFAHAN?: 
the regime is scrambling this morning to say Nothing Happened. The line
of defence finally constructed last night still holds --- State outlets
like IRNA and Press TV offer no more about the blast other than the
declaration of the Deputy Governor of Isfahan of a "completely baseless and fabricated" story. There is not even a whisper on the homepage of Fars,
which initially broke the story then withdrew it, and the news has also
evaporated in other Iranian publications that repeated the Fars announcement. 

The silence is filled with loud self-assertion.

WHAT DREAM WORLD DOES THIS MAN LIFE IN?: The Supreme Leader's Twitter account was working overtime last night to publicise an English account of his Sunday address
to Basij militia: "Western Efforts to Suppress MidEast Movements Are
Futile...Our permanence, resistance and sincerity are enough to inspire
& guide other nations....The slogans of the people of Egypt &
Tunisia are being repeated in New York and California." 

(Is Khamenei so surrounded by "yes men" that his picture of the world is so deeply distorted?  Is it possible?)

NOTE: All of the above is from Enduring America, excluding bold face intros and comments in parentheses.

From Al-Jazeerah:

Turkey is warning it will help establish a buffer zone inside Syria if atrocities continue and others assist.   (I'd say Iran's blunder in seizing the Brit Embassy should give a boost to this move, a nice way of slapping Assad's Iranian ally in the face).

//www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/11/2...

Meanwhile in Egypt: 70 percent of the populace has turned out in new elections.  Egypt's stock market, unlike Iran's rigged one, is jumping.  

WORLD'S SAFEST PREDICTION: You'll never see a turnout like that again in Iran so long as mullah rule exists.  Iranians made a huge mistake when they did so in 2009, assuming these crooks would allow their votes to count and reform would be allowed afterward.  It was never in the cards.

Not only would the arrogant, mendacious Khamenei cheat them, but he'd claim their turnout proved the popularity of the regime.   Never again! That's two rigged presidential elections in a row.  Fool me once, fool me twice...Iranians have gotten his message.

PERHAPS THE WEST CAN GET ALONG WITHOUT IRANIAN OIL FOR NOW

As Gunnily writes in a subpost at EA: "Looks like there might be enough capacity very soon to cut off Iran oil exports completely with no effect on world prices." He is referring to oil output from Iraq which is going up more rapidly than expected.  

I'd add that the recession in the west is also cutting demand for oil.  Combining great timing with his usual arrogant stupidity, Iran's greedy Supreme Leder may have made the case for a western embargo on Iran Oil and its central bank today when he approved the pre-planned British Embassy takeover by a Basilj totally under his control.

Hague to talk to Parliament on "consequences"

Foreign Minister William Hague: "Clearly there will be other, further, and serious consequences. I will make a statement updating parliament on this tomorrow [Wednesday]."

 //www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/29/iranian-students-storm-british-embassy

AMUSING AND PREDICTIVE QUOTE FROM A KHAMENEI MP ON SUNDAY:

During the vote on Sunday, Mehdi Kuchakzadeh, a Tehran MP, suggested Iranians could raid the British embassy, implying a possible recurrence of the 1979 US hostage crisis in Iran. "The British government should know that, if they insist on their evil stances, the Iranian people will punch them in the mouth, exactly as happened against America's den of spies, before it was approved by officials," Kuchakzadeh said.