Category Archives: Iran

Police initiate major action against groups (Dervish?) in Iran

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Google translate of two of the video titles offers variations of:

“Gonabadi Dervishes protest rally in Tehran Pasdaran Street / Sanctions against Kalantari”

Wikipedia has a description of Dervishes as a religious sect dedicated to austerity and poverty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dervish

Below, from Google Translate:

“The united presence of Dervishes against the 102-guard militia; Dervishes call for the release of Nematullah Riahi”

Again, Google translate:

“Dervishes erupt in Golestan eighth to prevent the arrest of Dr. Nourali Tabandeh by the savage criminal”

H/T M.

There are more videos in the Reader’s Links post for Feb. 20 18 of this event.

fact-sheet sent to journalists by Omri Ceren, a Managing Director at The Israel Project

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Last night Iran attacked Israel with a drone dispatched from Syria, the first time Iranian soldiers have used Iranian weapons to attack Israel.

Updated timeline:

1st the Iranians launched an attack drone into Israel, which the Israelis tracked and shot down [a]. 2nd the Israelis sent jets into Syria to hit the Iranian command center that had sent the drone, at the Tiyas Airbase in Syria [b]. 3rd forces backing Bashar al-Assad fired off “dozens” of anti-aircraft missiles, including into Israeli territory, which forced Israeli communities to go into lockdown and the pilots of one F-16 to abandon the jet [c][d][e]. 4th the Israelis sent eight jets into Syria to target a dozen Syrian and Iranian military facilities (lists and descriptions of the targets: [f][g]). 5th Assad forces fired off another 15-20 anti-aircraft missiles, again forcing Israeli communities to go into lockdown [h][i].

Resources about the Iranian drone used in the attack (specific drone, suicide drone program, media coverage):

(1) The drone was similar to the advanced American UAV seized by Iran – The drone emulated Western technology [j]. The structure and sophistication were similar to the American UAV Iran seized in 2011 [k][l], including a “low signature” aimed at avoiding detection [m]. There are rumors but no confirmation it was armed [n].

(2) Iran has an advanced drone program, including suicide drones it distributes to proxies, according to the US military and EU – In 2012 Hezbollah threatened to use suicide drones to target Israeli civilian nuclear infrastructure [o]. Iran subsequently developed and distributed suicide drones to Hezbollah, according to the US Army, and to the Houthis, according to the EU [p][q]. By 2015 Hezbollah had a full-blown advanced drone base operating in Lebanon [r]. In 2017 Iranian allies and proxies fired drones toward U.S.-backed forces in Syria and into Israel [s][t]. The Iranians released footage of one of their drones shadowing American forces the day before that attack [u]. Last week Iran opened a line to mass-produce offensive drones meant to be loaded with precision bombs [v].

(3) The Israelis released footage of the drone attack after Iranian state media and some Western outlets said it never happened – Iranian state television is saying that Israel fabricated the attack, a claim that has been conveyed by several Western media outlets [w][x][y]. The Israelis have published video of the incursion and interception [z]. The link is at the bottom or you can click on this screengrab:

—

 

[b]https://twitter.com/Elizrael/status/962189203852414976
[c] https://twitter.com/Elizrael/status/962335413464715265
[d] https://twitter.com/LTCPeterLerner/status/962347823390973953
[e] https://twitter.com/IsraelBreaking/status/962171659712126976
[f] https://twitter.com/Hammurabi_News/status/962378968782528512/photo/1
[g] https://twitter.com/IsraelBreaking/status/962377942289481729
[h] http://hosted2.ap.org/ARLID/a5050f4ad4f44dafab85bb41a15281cf/Article_2018-02-10-ML-Israel-Syria/id-29147ec7d9de460d852d9c5319764bf4
[i] https://twitter.com/LTCPeterLerner/status/962222472140599296
[j] https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-caused-serious-harm-to-syrias-air-defenses-says-iaf-second-in-command/
[k] https://twitter.com/lenababou/status/962401448532369409
[l] https://twitter.com/TimesofIsrael/status/962400933471600640
[m] https://twitter.com/yossi_melman/status/96232527108812800
[n] https://twitter.com/JSchanzer/status/962394466739945472
[o] http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-real-purpose-of-the-hezbollah-drone.premium-1.472441
[p] https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/8/iran-creating-suicide-drones-us-army-report-warns/
[q] http://www.conflictarm.com/download-file/?report_id=2465&file_id=2467
[r] http://www.businessinsider.com/hezbollahs-secret-drone-base-2015-4
[s] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-usa-syria/u-s-downs-pro-syrian-drone-that-fired-at-coalition-forces-spokesman-idUSKBN18Z2CP
[t] http://nationalinterest.org/feature/israel-almost-shot-down-russian-drone-17390
[u] http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iranian-drone-shadows-u-s-forces-syria-day-attack/
[v] https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-announces-mass-production-of-bomb-carrying-drones/
[w] http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/02/10/551904/Bahram-Qassemi-Iran-drone-Syria-Israel
[x] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iran-syria/iran-sneers-at-reports-of-israel-downing-iranian-drone-state-tv-idUSKBN1FU0FF
[y] https://twitter.com/omriceren/status/962363239014322177
[z] https://twitter.com/LTCJonathan/status/962305194615853057

UPDATE:

From the United States administration:

Defense Dept:

The Department of Defense did not participate in this military operation… Israel is our closest security partner in the region and we fully support Israel’s inherent right to defend itself against threats to its territory and its people… We share the concerns of many throughout the region that Iran’s destabilizing activities that threaten international peace and security, and we seek greater international resolve in countering Iran’s malign activities.

State Dept:

The United States is deeply concerned about today’s escalation of violence over Israel’s border and strongly supports Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself. Iran’s calculated escalation of threat and its ambition to project its power and dominance, places all the people of the? region — from Yemen to Lebanon — at risk.? The U.S. continues to push back on the totality of Iran’s malign activities in the region and calls for an end to Iranian behavior that threatens peace and stability.

 

For anyone who forgot what in fact a feminist really is

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Meanwhile, useful idiots in the West:

As Iran becomes Persia

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There will be content in this post, but things are moving slowly today here at Castle Tepes thanks to the first real flu in a long long time. For the moment this is essentially a stump post for people to put in news, videos and other info in the comments on the current counter-revolution taking place in Iran.

Some food for thought though.

The media is making great hay with a false comparison of Obama’s tepid support of the anti-regime protestors in 2009 with President Trump’s clear support of them now.

This is not meaningful if one wants to understand Obama’s position.

The way to know what Obama really thought about the things he said at the time:

If we really want to know what Obama really thinks about national sovereignty and the people’s rights to choose, look at his numerous statements demanding that the Egyptians reinstate Morsi after the world’s largest demonstrations to remove him because of his implementation of Muslim Brotherhood style sharia law in that nation.

For many months after Morsi was deposed, Obama continued to attempt to intervene on his behalf and get him back to power.

And so that is how we know what Obama really thinks.

 

Iran < Persia

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UPDATE:

Our Persian source informs us that police have refused orders to shoot the crowd in Hamadan. This may well mean regime fall is imminent. 

In numerous conversations with friends and allies on our subjects, I have asserted that history turns on a dime. Things which are obvious a day after they happen, could never have been predicted the day before, and indeed people who said it might would be ridiculed.

This is grounds for hope in fact, as we see in Iran today.

Events are happening too quickly to properly say what is taking place. But after conversations with friends who are highly aware, and plugged into the expat community, I can report a few things which at this point we believe are the case:

1. This does not appear to be an MEK production.

We can all be grateful for this. But my source says that the crowd is chanting for a return to traditional Persian leadership, even for a King or Queen or Shaw. This would not be an MEK thing by any stretch.

2. Women have been holding what they have been calling, “White Wednesdays” for some time now, where they go out into the streets without the mandatory head coverings and flaunt their contempt for the misogynistic laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

From source:

While the brave Iranian women are removing their mandatory head covering protesting against the Islamic regime in Iran, the Canadian officials promote the Hijab in many of govt official pages. Even their female MPs and MPP s wear the hijab in support of oppression against women.

3. People have been pulling down and burning billboards of the supreme leader of Iran and chanting, “We do not want an Islamic Republic”.

This includes burning down a number of mosques connected to the regime, and, in the “holy city of Qom”, which is where the bearded weirdoes have their center of power. Now the protests are in Tehran but both religious centres, (Qom, and the other one) have seen mosque fires and major protests.

4. President Trump’s unbridled support for the protestors seems to be catalyzing these events in a wonderful way. These are great days to be alive.

M and Xanthippa and many others have been slamming down links to videos, twitter feeds and whole Youtube channels where videos of the Iranian counter-revolution are taking place. Find them and save them if you feel they are historical. Many will be.

Also Canadian PM. Justin Trudeau, who has very close ties with the current Iranian regime, both familial and political, was very close to reopening the Iranian embassy in Ottawa.

We can all look forward to a confused look on his face to go along with his conspicuous silence on the current protests.

Rumours from Iran: Government officials may be fleeing the country with its wealth

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Sent from Shabnam, an expat Iranian and who spent serious time in Evan prison in Iran:

Iran: Imam Khomeini International Airport: 7 airplanes, 3 cargo planes, 4 passenger planes filled with gold bars, gold coins, and foreign currency parked at the corner of Imam khomeini Airport awaiting to take off at the last possible minute when is needed.
Since yesterday the regime officials have stalled the Airport activities for preparing these airplanes and we have not been able to go home for two nights. They even took Persian rugs, and paining. If anythings happens, please do not neglect the airports in Iran (meaning watch the planes trying to taking off and leaving Iran) . From a month ago, “secretly” the Iranian officials even issued permits for each airplane to take off any time any minute.