These from our friends in Iran. The continuation of rule by execution.

Qazvin, July 29, 2010. The clerical regime hanged a prisoner in the morning of July 29 in Qazvin.

Tehran, July 29, 2010. Passengers using West and South Terminals of Tehran on Thursday July 29 witnessed new slogans on the walls of these two terminals. The valiant youths of the uprising wrote anti-regime slogans in more than 20 points of these terminals reading as: ‘Iranian nation, strike, strike’, ‘workers, students, Bazaaris and teachers; strike, strike’, ‘death to dictator, death to Khamenei’ and ‘Khamenei must know we are rising each and everyday’.

Tehran- July 29, 2010. The death sentence for Jafar Kazemi was upheld by the court of review and his request for appeal was turned down by the 31st branch of the Supreme Court. This sentence was upheld by the 36th branch of the Tehran Appeals Court headed by Hojatol-Islam Zargar. His lawyer, Ms. Ghanavi said in an interview with a human rights website that her client has spent many days in solitary but was not informed of any other pressure that might have been put on him or his family.
Kazemi, 36, is a lithographer of Amir Kabir University student textbooks and was arrested on September 18, 2009 in Haft Tir Square in Tehran. He was transferred to a solitary cell and was then taken to cell block 350 in Evin Prison after 74 days. Kazemi was also jailed from 1981 to 1990. His wife, Roudabeh Akbari had asked for help to stop her husband’s death sentence in a letter to the United Nations. Kazemi was initially tried in the 28th branch of the Revolutionary Court.
“Jafar Kazemi has been charged with enmity with God by supporting the Mojahedin group although he has not accepted the charges in any of the interrogations”, Nasim Ghanavi said.
“The charge of enmity with God is one of the crimes for which lawmakers have to consider the canonical conditions for because it has canonical roots; including armed measures because most Shiite clerics believe that a mohareb is someone who uses arms (in resistance). Which is not the case regarding my client. He only participated in post-election gatherings and he might have chanted slogans but as a lawyer I believe that the issue of moharebeh does not definitely relate to him”, she added.
“Unfortunately neither the initial trial considered our defense nor the court of appeals and the Supreme Court also ruled that he is a Mohareb”, she said regarding the defense in court. According to this lawyer, his sentence has been transferred to the Sentence Implementation Department and from a legal standpoint; no legal measures will be affective to save his life.

Tehran- July 29, 2010. According to reports, political prisoner Arjang Davoudi was banned from seeing his family in the last minute on his 16th day of hunger strike. On Thursday July 29 his family came to Gohardasht Prison in Karaj on promises from prison officials stressing on their visit and they were led to the visiting hall. Political prisoner Arjang Davoudi was also brought to the visiting hall but in the last minute, he was denied the visit which is a method for putting psychological pressure on him and his family. Davoudi is in very poor physical health and is suffering from low blood pressure, headaches, dizzy spells, lack of vision and other side effects of hunger strike and has been taken to the prison infirmary on several occasions.

Analysis. While we sit on our relatively comfortable “assets”, the people of Iran are literally dying to be free. How about some help?!

These from our friends in Iran. A group called the Student’s Committee is demanding increased sanctions on the mullahocracy.

Tehran, July 30, 2010. We the students committee in Iran welcome the new EU sanctions against the clerical dictatorship and demand more sophisticated sanctions in all fields; oil, trade and political. During three decades hundreds of millions of dollars of oil income has been completely at service of the regime used for its military and suppressive forces, export of terrorism and nuclear projects or has been transferred to bank accounts of its top officials. None of it has been used for prosperity of the country and welfare of its people.

Right now millions of Iranians are living under poverty line but the oil income is in the pockets of the mullahs. The main veins of Iran’s investment are at hands of IRGC. We condemn any appeasement policy with this anti-human regime.
Such a policy would mean giving time to the mullahs to obtain nuclear bomb. The appeasement policy will breed terrorism throughout the world and will lead to the massacre of innocent human beings. Any appeasement with this regime is nothing but a weak position and yielding to terrorism and achievement of nuclear bomb.

Mullahs want to preserve their power by obtaining nuclear weapons and this is a part of their strategy. We, the Students Committee in Iran say that the only solution is democratic change in Iran by people and resistance of Iran. So once again we demand all European countries and US to concentrate sophisticated sanctions on the clerical dictatorship to put an end to the years of suffering of Iranians and to help them to restore peace, freedom and democracy to the land of Iran.
Students Committee in Iran

It would appear that the sanctions are getting the attention of the regime.

Tehran, July 30, 2010. The clerical regime complained about Australia’s sanctions against this dictatorship. Mehr state-run news agency wrote: “following the hostile policies of its American and European masters, Australia announced unilateral sanctions against Islamic Republic of Iran”. The media belonging to Khamenei’s band added: “Austrailia’s Foreign Minister, Stephan Smith announced sanctions of active sections of Iran’s oil and gas as well as limitations on trade with this country on Thursday…Australia’s new sanction embed 98 companies and 12 personalities who are active in Iran’s financial and transportation sectors. The country has limited for the first time its trade with Iran in oil and gas fields”.

Tehran, July 29, 2010. Mullah Mojtaba Zolnoor the deputy representative of Khamenei in IRGC hanged to terrorist threats in regard with sanctions. Fars News Agency affiliated with IRGC reported: “Mojaba Zolnoor said that if they want to make the straits, oceans and water-ways insecure for us, the strait of Hormoz and Persian Gulf will be insecure for them…the enemy has weak points and we had worked on them. If they act as they threat we will target their weak points”.

Tehran, July 29, 2010. In its editorial Resalat official daily complained about EU sanctions against the clerical regime and wrote: “EU has officially approved sanctions far harsher than those of 1929 resolution against Iran in fields of energy, insurance, trade and transportation”. The article continued: “a while ago US congress took the first steps for intensification of the sanctions. The fact that US and Europe have decided to take steps beyond the Security Council’s resolution and become more hostile aggressive each day gives Iran the permission to take the 1929 resolution as nothing and the decisions of sanctions of US and EU as nothing”.

The principle of supreme leadership is in trouble as it should be.

Tehran, July 30, 2010. Zarghami the head of regime’s TV & Radio said that the participants in the uprisings targeted Khamenei. His words were quoted by Fars News Agency affiliated with IRGC as: “in the days of sedition the enemy came and brought the principle of Velayat-e-Faghih under question and we broadcasted the scenes”. To bring excuse as why they broadcasted scenes of trampling and burning of pictures of Khamenei and Khomeini he added: “they offended the deceased Imam and the leadership and we broadcasted the scenes so that people would become aware”.

JoongAng Ilbo is reporting on a statement by a professor at the School of International Studies at Peking University.

Zhu Feng, a professor at the School of International Studies at Peking University, told a seminar in Seoul on Wednesday that Pyongyang has gained increased confidence in its nuclear technology after two underground nuclear tests and will proceed to test with a nuclear warhead. “The Chinese leadership believes that the North has sufficient nuclear [weapons manufacturing] capability and is now entering a stage where it is focused on minimizing the size of a warhead,” Zhu said.

The North conducted nuclear tests in October 2006 and May 2009, both underground, that revealed an improvement in its nuclear capability over the course of the tests. Zhu did not say when the North would likely conduct the warhead test, which would mark a significant advancement in creating a nuclear force.

But Zhu added that it was not likely that North Korea would conduct a nuclear test in the near-term.

The North announced in May that it succeeded in creating a nuclear fusion reaction, a key technological step to manufacturing a hydrogen bomb.

Zhu said China was interpreting this claim as not being related to making a hydrogen bomb, but rather for making the nuclear weapons smaller and lighter.

Please read the entire article for more information and comments on the succession in the North.

Analysis. The North has already proved that it can reach Alaska with a missile fired from northwestern North Korea. The development of a warhead small enough to fit on a missile would not be a good sign. We must continually remind ourselves that Kimchee’s WMD programs are part of a joint program with Iran. While the PRC may be able to exercise some restraint on the DPRK, who will exercise restraint on the assahollahs in Tehran? I would also suspect that the test, when it happens, will put the warhead on top of a solid fuel missile built in Iran. Additional emphasis must be placed on shutting down these WMD programs before they reach the level of an actual capability.

These from our friends in Iran. The mullahocracy is having such a good time these days.

Tehran, July 29, 2010. Following the escalation of disputes within the clerical dictatorship ruling Iran, state-run news agencies announced that 250 of IRGC commanders have been retired because they had been affiliated with the defeated fraction. It was for the first time that Jafari the head of IRGC admitted to duality within IRGC. Jafari’s words being quoted by Fars News Agency is: “the leader of Islamic Republic formed an especial committee headed by his son Mojtab and retired 250 of IRGC commanders”.

In this committee Hossein Taeb the head of IRGC’s intelligence and Reza Naghdi the commander of Bassij and others who had role in the suppression of events after the election were present. Some of these retired IRGC commanders are Brigadier Commanders Hossein Alavi, Hossein Dehghan, Mostafa Ajerloo, Morteza Ghorbani and others.

Tehran, July 28, 2010. As people’s wrath and hatred towards this clerical dictatorship increases each day and having in mind the international isolation of Velayat-e-Faghih’s Establishment, Mullah Jananti, the secretary of Council of Guidance claimed that he is in connection with Imam Zaman (the last Imam of Shiite that will come in future) and said: “God has chosen Khamenei for leadership”. He added: “thought the Establishment was almost overthrown several times but under the leadership of Khamenei it has survived”.

Tehran, July 28, 2010. Qolamhossein Elham, an ousted member of regime’s Council of Guidance expressed his concern of the continuation of the uprising and said: “We shouldn’t think that ‘sedition’ (the name regime calls the uprising) is over”.
ILNA news agency on July 26 quoted Elham, who was also the former spokesman of Ahmadinejad’s government, speaking amongst a group of regime’s mercenaries in Babolsar as: “the enemy was able to use people from amongst us to charge against Islamic Republic and to organize forces. These soldiers of the ‘soft-war’s’ war front took steps against the Islamic Republic and this was an experience for the Revolution”. He warned: “we should not forget these currents of sedition and they are not over…we must be wary about their new plans…”

Amnesty International take note.

Tehran, July 28, 2010. Hasan Tarlani 23 and student, his mother and brother are PMOI members residing in Ahsraf City, Iraq. He has been transferred to Kerman and is kept amongst dangerous criminals. He has been beaten with the intention of killing him several times and transferred to prisons treatment section and is in critical condition.

Khaled Hardani was beaten in recent days by baton and transferred to solitary cells. He and other political prisoners have been threatened that they will be annihilated.

Hood Yazarloo 22 and student, is condemned to 3 years’ term because he had visited his relatives in Ahsraf. He was attacked by regime’s gangs at ward 4 of Gohardasht Prison on July 22 and is in critical condition due to the strokes on his head.

Ali Moezi 58, his daughters are in Ashraf City, imprisoned in ward 4 of Gohardash Prison is suffering from severe kidney problems. He has lost one of his kidneys due to tortures and the other kidney is infected because of tortures, contaminated water and lack of medical treatment during last 20 months.

Tehran- July 28, 2010. According to reports, families of political prisoner especially families of death row political prisoners have expressed serious concerns for the sudden cut off of all communications with their loved ones in cell block 350 in Evin Prison. All calls of political prisoners with their families have been cut off on orders of Ministry of Intelligence interrogators. This issue has led to concerns among families of political prisoners. Currently there are a number of death row political prisoners in cell block 350 in Evin Prison. They are Jafar Kazemi, Mohammad-Ali Haj Aqayi, Mohsen Daneshpour Moqadam, and Ahmad Daneshpour Moqadam among others.

These from our friends in Iran. The Iranian economy rocks on.

Tehran, July 27, 2010. Takta Company (research and production company for electronic devices) affiliated with regime’s TV & Radio has started firing a great number of its employees. No official papers are given to these employees in that regard and Harasat has banned it. The officials have said that these workers ‘are lazy’ and that’s the reason they are fired! The company wants to keep only 80 from 300 employees of this company.

Shiraz, July 28, 2010. On Saturday July 17 at least 20 workers of Shiraz Diet Dairy Factory were fired. One of these workers told ISC that this factory is suffering from problems and crises in all production and industrial units and ‘with the policies of current government these problems will increase daily’. As the result all the workers without low class education and without especial expertise were fired. The workers protests had no result.

The sanctions continue to bite.

Tehran, July 28, 2010. The new course of sanctions of EU is much broader than the sanctions imposed on the clerical dictatorship so far. The EU has particularly banned investing in regime’s oil and gas industry by European countries.
The sanctions also contain equipments necessary for oil refinery. This is the toughest blow at regime’s economy.
The clerical regime has very little ability in independently refining its oil and needs to import great amount of refined oil from abroad. The consequences of these sanctions will be felt deeply in economy and society.

Tehran, July 28, 2010. A sales manager of Iran Khodro said that as gasoline is rationed and people are not able to buy free gasoline it is highly possible that they try to buy gas consuming vehicles. 70% of requests for different vehicles is for gas consuming ones. If the requests escalate more then there would be the issue of the fuel necessary and the price of these kinds of vehicles will rise too.

Qazvin, July 28, 2010. On July 23, laborers activist in Qazvin reported to ISC that in Alborz Industrial Township electricity is cut daily based on pre-determined schedule and the municipality sees to it to be done. The activists said that this causes a great problem in production. This township has been facing many problems from before due to wrong policies of the clerical regime but cuts in electricity have intensified the crisis there.

Tehran, July 28, 2010. The report obtained by ISC from Abbas Abad Industrial Township shows that factories and production units are facing a great problem for providing their raw material. Molding factories must pay the price for their raw material in cash even it the cash is provided it’s hard to obtain these raw materials. The quality of the materials is poor and they have to work a few months and in some cases a year on them to make them ready to be used in production lines.

Bushehr, July 28, 2010. On July 27 in Khark Oil Enterprise 4 were torn to pieces because one of the boilers blasted.
The governor has said that the boilers were too old and that was the reason for blast. All the equipments in the company are old and not standard and because of sanction regime of Iran has problem to import these kinds of equipments.

Tehran, July 28, 2010. Reports obtained by ISC from Karaj and Qazvin show that although the price of general livelihood especially gasoline has risen due to sanction but people are in high spirit supporting the sanctions.

The People’s Daily is reporting that the People’s Liberation Army Navy has conducted major exercises in the South China Sea.

A top military officer has warned the Chinese military to keep a close eye on the changing situation amid a large-scale naval exercise in the South China Sea, held at the same time as a joint Washington-Seoul drill, State media reported on Thursday. According to China Central Television, Chief of General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army Chen Bingde, as well as the navy commander and other high-level military leaders, oversaw a naval exercise on Monday, the second day of the US-ROK maritime drill. The CCTV program showed major warships of the North China Sea Fleet and East China Sea Fleet appearing in the drill organized by the South China Sea Fleet, without mentioning a specific location. “Chen Bingde stressed that (the military) should pay close attention to changes in the situation and tasks, and get well prepared for military conflicts,” the program said. The exercise involved six aspects, ranging from precision striking at long range to practice against jet fighters and missiles. It took place under an electromagnetic environment meant to simulate realistic combat conditions, CCTV said.
…
At a meeting on Asian security in Hanoi last Friday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as foreign ministers of other countries, pressured Beijing on issues in the South China Sea, over which China has overlapping territorial claims with some neighbors. However Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi characterized Clinton’s comments as “an attack on China”. Beijing has always opposed any effort to “internationalize” the issue. The South China Sea issue has become more complicated since the involvement of US and Japan, Li Jie added. He also said the drill, taking place under an electromagnetic environment, has likely taken into consideration the advanced communication-jamming technologies of the US.

Please read the entire article for additional information.

Analysis. This appears to be “Invincible Spirit” on the other side. This exercise was held far enough away that it wouldn’t look like a parallel exercise, one that was aimed at defeating an carrier group. It is also somewhat worrying that the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China would call Secretary of State Clinton’s remarks an “attack” on the PRC.

There appears to be several things at work here besides the ASEAN security meeting. Until the PRC can develop a logistic system that goes overland between the coastal plains and Central Asia, the PRC is dependent upon the sea for major imports of raw materials. It will be a long time before they can operate on interior lines of communication for these raw materials, especially oil. Until then, the ability of any power to interrupt shipping to the PRC is a vital interest.

Then there is the matter of North Korea. There is little doubt in my mind that we are working to topple the Kim family. So far this has taken the form of economic sanctions which the PRC has watered down in the UN Security Council or just plain ignored. They realize that Kim went too far when he sunk the Cheonan for whatever reason. Neither can they fail to shield him from serious retribution and even the appearance of international condemnation for fear that he will invade the South and restart the Korean War.

We know from the post this morning referencing the Chosun Ilbo that the North Korean economy was destroyed by the currency revaluation that happened last year. No kimchi for Kimchee. If the North Koreans can’t even grow cabbage, how much rice and wheat can they produce? Probably not nearly enough. Yet the DPRK is cut off from the international markets except on a cash basis. South Korea has pretty much stopped all aid. It is falling on the PRC to prop up the Kim family country. This in the middle of a transition from Kim 2 to Kim 3. The transition from Kim 1 to Kim 2 was not a pretty thing and this appears to be uglier.

It will be interesting to see what the scope of Ulchi Freedom Guardian turns out to be. If it has a non-combatant evacuation (NEO) part then I would be more than worried. If accompanied tours were canceled or severely curtailed I would also be worried. If the George Washington carrier group plays I would be worried, especially if they get anywhere near the Yellow Sea.

Chosun Ilbo is reporting that North Korea’s economy has come to a halt since the currency revaluation.

Radio Free Asia on Wednesday quoted a member of an American NGO who recently visited the North to deliver aid as saying shops in Pyongyang are empty, there are few foreigners in hotels, and construction has come to a standstill.

The American recalled that even no kimchi, the staple spicy delicacy of Korea, was found among dishes of Korean food served in the Koryo Hotel. He wondered if the hotel could not afford to make it due to skyrocketing prices. He had visited the North for more than 10 years, but it was the first time no kimchi was served, he added.

Analysis. No kimchi? That is an absolute disaster. How will Koreans live without their kimchi? You tell mama-san no kimchi she get very mad. When I was stationed in Korea, our rooms were cleaned by Korean ladies. Every day it was kimchi for lunch. Think of sauerkraut with lots of red peppers. Interesting dish.

It is also becoming clear that North Korea is being severely constrained by the economic sanctions imposed on Kimchee since the nuclear and missile tests. The additional sanctions to be imposed shortly on the ruling class will be even more constricting. Too bloody bad.

But the larger question is, “what will Kimchee do to try and get out from under the sanctions?” There aren’t a whole lot of options remaining to him. Almost all of them will cause him to lose a fair amount of “face” at a time when he can ill afford to lose any. This succession appears to be not going real well. If Kimchee admits to the Cheonan sinking, or goes back to the Six Party Talks under the pressure of sanctions, or does something else like take down the long range missile facilities, the army and the party will not be happy. They may decide that Kim 3 is not capable of running the country as Kim 2 apparently loses his mind to his stroke.

The other option is to “burn the house down”. So far there is no evidence of this even with all the exhortations to “sacred war”. We will keep poking him with the sharp stick known as the Seventh Fleet lead by the George Washington carrier group. A bit of this poking will, of necessity, rub off on the People’s Republic of China. That will be the real interesting part.

The Washington Times is reporting that several countries are trying to reestablish the A. Q. Khan nuclear smuggling network.

Two U.S. intelligence officials and other U.S. officials with access to intelligence reports said information compiled over the past seven months showed that agents from several foreign governments — including Brazil, Burma, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Sudan and Syria — pursued members of the network named after Abdul Qadeer Khan, the scientist considered to be the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program.

“They have propositioned them to get them to come out of retirement,” one senior U.S. intelligence officer said.

Please read the entire article for more important information.

Analysis. The article goes on to point out that the people from Brazil and Nigeria may not be government officials. However, the rest of the governments listed would dearly love to have nuclear weapons or better ones. We are already aware of the nuclear ties between the rest of these nations: Burma, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. None of them are our friends.

These from our friends in Iran. Dissension in the ranks of the mullahocracy continues.

Tehran, July 26, 2010. As people took for nothing Khamenei’s saying last week that he is the Vali-e-Faghih of Moslems, his office had to take back the saying and say that this was a political act of Khamenei. On July 25, Khabar On Line wrote that Khamenei’s office answered to the ambiguity raised by Khamenei’s answer to a question about Velayat-e-Faghih. The office said: “we must notice that this questioning and the answer to it was the political path of the leader of Islamic Revolution being put in form of religious laws…”

Tehran, July 26, 2010. As schism gets even deeper within the regime, Isa Saharkhiz the former media deputy of regime’s Ministry of Guidance from the defeated fraction wrote in an open letter that he intends to complain to international organs from Khamenei! In his open letter he has written: “Ayatollah Khamenei has role in the tortures. He who is the highest authority of Islamic Republic permits himself to meddle in all affairs of the three powers of the country and the heads of these three powers count his words as the ultimate words against the contents of the constitution so he must answer for the deeds of his subordinates”. He continued: “Mohsen Eje-ee beat the detainees himself…being in position of the deputy of the Judiciary Power in an official session… he true the sugar pot at me …and then bit my shoulder and injured me”.

Tehran, July 26, 2010. Mullah Mesbah Yazdi, regime’s MP said that branching will occur within Khamenei’s band.
ILNA state-run news agency reported about this, quoting him that the branching is related to ‘the knowledge of the society’ and will occur within the hardliners too. He called this a ‘realistic analysis’. He added: “I believe that different groups can show up within the current of hardliners”. Admitting that people hate all bands of clerical dictatorship Moghadam said: “people are straight in regard with all groups and if they see that a group is going astray they will abandon it”.

Tehran, July 26, 2010. Rahim Safavi the former head of IRGC asked that all the forces of this suppressive organ be on state of alert for confronting any potential attack against the clerical dictatorship. ILNA state-run news agency quoted him on July 24 as: “the possibility of attacking Iran is not much and we enjoy a good defensive state of alert. But they might politically make the decision to attack. We have to wait and see”. He continued: “the future war would be in air and sea and not in land… in the new plan that US government had presented to the congress the strategy of fight in land is ruled out and we must get ready to fight in air and sea”. He claimed: “if US engages in a land with Iran our Bassijis will tear them apart at the border”.

Tehran, July 26, 2010. To confront wave of defection within its disciplinary and military forces the clerical regime announced that ‘Council for Prevention of Crimes in Military and Disciplinary Units’ is going to be established.
Mullah Mohammad Kazem Bahrami the head of regime’s ‘Judiciary Organization for Armed Forces’ admitted: “spying, committing suicide, deserting the service and damaging the belongings are amongst the most important crimes within armed forces”.

Tehran, July 28, 2010. Mullah Jafar Shajooni, a member of the central council of a band called ‘The Society of Clergymen’ showed how much regime fears PMOI’s role in the nationwide uprising. In return from an eight-day long trip to Lebanon about his meeting with Hassan Nasrollah he said: “Hassan Nasrollah pointed to the sedition of last year in Iran and said the participants in the sedition were followers of Monafeghin who reside in Iraq”.

Tehran, July 28, 2010. On July 26 youths of Tehran wrote slogans in metro stations and gas stations throughout the city calling people to go on strike to continue the uprising. At gas station in Kargar St, Hor Square the slogan of “worker, Bazaari, teacher and students strike, strike” attracted the attention of drivers and passengers.
At Imam Hossein Metro, Khazaneh, Toopkhaneh, Nezamabad and Baharestsn metro stations the slogan of “Iranian nation strike, strike- death to Khamenei” was seen in different locations of the stations attracting the attention of passer-byes. At bus stations in Ponak, Tarbiat Moalem and Sadi slogans of “all together, we will strike and we will get rid of Velayat” caught the eyes of the passengers. In another event on July 24 in Tehran bus stations in Enghelab Square, Farahzad Highway, Imam Hossein Square, Toopkhane and Rahahan a great number of slogans called upon people to strike. Some of these slogans were: “nationwide strike is the answer to this dictatorship”, “workers, Bazaaris, teachers and students strike, strike” and “we all together will pull down Velayat by going on strike”.

These from our friends in Iran. More on the economy.

Tehran, July 27, 2010. Due to constant cuts in electricity Margarin Oil Factory’s is suffering from noticeable drop in its production. Because of the sanctions and shortage in fuel they cannot turn on the generator for long and thus the workers cannot work more to get paid more. This has raised their protest.

Karaj, July 27, 2010. Since the beginning of summer and the escalation of consumption of electricity, it is being cut throughout Karaj. In the region of Gohardasht in Karaj during the two first weeks of summer there has been an average of 30 to 60 minutes cut. Southern regions of the city are suffering few hours cut. The cut in the suburbs which are industrial regions like Hashtgerd industrial city the factories are forced to change their hours of work so that they can compensate for the cut.

Tehran, July 28, 2010. Regime Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Mehmanparast expressed regime fear from tightening of the circle of sanctions around the clerical dictatorship and said: “we had said times and again that we are ready to cooperate”. ILNA official news agency quoted Mehmanparast on July 7 after the finalization of sanctions of EU against the clerical dictatorship as: “EU is walking blindfolded in a wrong direction under the pressure of US. It is bringing its identity and independence under question by following US”. The spokesman claimed that “Islamic Republic has been ready to cooperate times and again to establish a positive atmosphere but step taken by EU will make the situation more complicated”.

Tehran, July 28, 2010. Larijani, the head of regime’s Majlis, warned regime’s elements in fear of the tightening of the sanctions not to treat everybody the same at the international scene. Mehr state-run news agency quoted him on July 26 as: “didn’t US nuclear center announce that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapon then how come this country issued the resolution of sanctions against Islamic Republic of Iran in such a rush at Security Council”. Larijani added: “they told Orduqan and Brazil’s president to come to Tehran and negotiate with Iran’s authorities about nuclear file but just in two weeks they acted differently. This shows that they are liars”. He then threatened US and said: “they think that Lebanon is their toy. They are very wrong. They must watch out maybe this toy will amputate their hand”.

Tehran, July 26, 2010. Addressing the European counties in a festival Ahmadinejad said: “Iran will count any country that participates in US scenario against Iran (read clerical dictatorship) as enemy”. ISNA state-run news agency quoted him as: “one of my wishes is that they impose sanction on gasoline. We will substitute 17 million liters in two days”. Ahmadinejad: “whoever decides to act against Iranian nation (read clerical dictatorship) and wants to inspect Iranian ships will immediately witness the reaction of the Iranian nation. Experience shows that they will regret this reaction.
The Iranian nation has buries hundreds like you and there is nothing left (of them)…” (Obviously a divine revelation.)

Soccer et tuum.

Tehran, July 28, 2010. In the last minutes of the soccer match between Perspolis and Teraktorsazi on Tuesday July 27 the protesting youths sat fire under some of the seats and torched them. During the match suppressive forces attacked two youths and beat them but they resisted and other audiences came to their help and clashed with the agents but eventually the two youths were arrested and taken away. Several times during the match especially at the second half the sound of the stadium was cut and not broadcasted because the audience was chanting anti-regime slogans.
It is to be mentioned that in fear of clashes during the match regime wanted to have the minimum audience present at the stadium so it provided no facilities for Traktorsazi fans to be able to get to Tehran from Tabriz. The cell-phones of the team members too were under control.

Tabriz July 28, 2010. On Monday July 26 during the soccer match between Shahrdari and Estaghlal teams in Tabriz the audience clashed with suppressive SSF and chanted slogans against them shouting ‘knavish’ at them.

These from our friends in Iran. The Iranian economy continues to spiral downward.

These are not “electric” moments.

Continuous cut in electricity is not only putting pressure on residents of the country but also is a pain in the neck for the industry in some provinces especially in Tehran. Different fields of industry are daily facing billions of tomans of damages. As the weather heats up and there is more consumption of energy the Ministry of Industry has decided to cut electricity for some hours during the day. But this decision has meant billions of tomans of loss for industry at Tehran Province especially in industrial townships at south, east and west of this province.

The cut in electricity which has gradually started from the last days of June has escalated during last week. Some industrial townships of Tehran Province are suffering an eight-hours daily cut in electricity during morning and early afternoon. Also sudden cut in electricity has caused great many problems including damaging the appliances and machinery, corruption of raw material, air pollution, closure of production lines and making workers jobless, corruption of products at the point of transfer amongst the production lines and thus imposing billions of tomans of loss on the industry.

Another field suffering from this phenomenon is export industry of Iran. The industry that has scheduled its daily production to be able to export goods at the scheduled time is facing problems and is suffering a great loss. In an interview with Mehr state-run news agency an industrial activist said: “we are not having electricity daily from 11 am till six pm and some times more and without former notice”. “The damage imposed on some of industries is few million tomans each hour and in some cases few hundred million tomans for each hour and it is not clear who is responsible for such damage.” He pointed that products in molding industry melt without electricity and added: “in many cases and during the current week as the electricity was cut the products have remained in kilns and melted and sometimes the kilns were harmed and became out of order.”

“Industries producing glasses, taps, petrochemicals, plastics, shoes, dishes and food in Iran’s industrial townships have suffered a great damage because of continuous cut in electricity which is not even in compliance with the table of timing given and because the government has given false promises.

In addition to all these problems the banking operations of industries in banks located in these townships are facing problems. Owners and employees of different industries have not been able to handle the smallest banking affairs and transfer of funds needed. Another problem caused by cut in electricity in industrial townships targets workers and their families especially their kids who live in these townships because of heat and polluted air and cut in water.”
The activist continues: “the managers of industrial townships and the authorities responsible for all these townships have not been able so far to do something for solving this crisis.”

The mentioned cases expressed by activists in industrial townships come at a time when the deputy of Minister of Industry and Mines has announced an agreement with Ministry of Power according to which the industrial townships throughout country will not face any more electricity cut”. (another deception of Ahmadinejad’s government). - (Jomhori Islami daily July 18)

Tehran, July 27, 2010. Following the escalation of sanctions against clerical regime, gasoline import in July has had great decrease in comparison with month of July of the last year. Since the beginning of July only three ships had delivered gasoline to Iran which is a great decrease in the number of ships in comparison with the same time last year.

Tehran, July 27, 2010. The Sandogh Nasooz Factory closes from July 27 till August 6. In the recent month due to constant cut in electricity the production of this factory as dramatically decreased. There is no out of work hour’s jobs. All these have raised the concern and protest of the workers of this factory.

Thank God. Another poll shows that the AKP is behind the opposition CHP. The election is a year away, but when it comes to Turkey, I really need some good news. Erdogan’s party is losing by a little more than 2 percent, so it’s still close. What really caught my eye is this line:

The numbers are virtually unchanged since Sonar Arastirma’s last poll, taken in May, before nine Turkish nationals were killed in a melee with Israeli commandos aboard a flotilla trying to break the Gaza blockade.

Erdogan didn’t gain anything politically by forcing a confrontation with Israel, which is a positive development. Right now the polls are staying the same. Let’s hope that the Turkish people, after eight years of having the AKP in power, want a change and a downward trend begins for the AKP.

Click here for my NRB post on the explosion, analyzing who may be responsible and why. If it is a terrorist attack (by Iran and/or Al-Qaeda), it is puzzling why they’d strike a Japanese tanker.

Click here for my latest Pajamas Media article. The Mujahideen-e-Khalq, an Iranian opposition group labeled a “terrorist group” in the U.S., has won a major victory in court. The State Department is required to review their designation and give them a chance to rebut the allegations against them. Courts in the U.K. and E.U. previously ordered them to be de-listed, so things are looking very hopeful for the MEK. However, advocates of regime change are split on whether the MEK should be embraced.

Debka is also reporting on this incident.

But the most striking feature of the incident, noted by Debkafile’s military and intelligence sources, is the unusual degree of assent between US Navy and Iranian officials that the damage to the supertanker was caused by an explosion by an unknown hand. … According to our sources in Washington and Tehran, while waiting for evidence, both speculate that the perpetrators may be either pirates in the pay of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or even a rogue element in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which is bent on settling scores for the latest UN, US and European sanctions against their country.

Please read the entire article for more important information.

Analysis.While awaiting the forensic inspection of the tanker, I stand by the “three Revolutionary Guards in a Rigid Raider with an RPG.” Somali pirates via Yemen I class as a low possibility. The modus operandi does not match any previous attacks. The Somali pirates use RPGs and other weapons to scare the crew and to cover their attempt to board the tanker. They don’t just take wild shots at ships they don’t intend to board. The ship that was attacked broadcasts a Mayday and every naval ship in the area and most of the aircraft head for the ship. Not conducive to pirate longevity as the Russian Navy has demonstrated.

It is indeed possible that the Revolutionary Guards who probably attacked the M. Star did so, as Debka notes, on their own. After the things we have learned from our friends in Iran about the state of the Revolutionary Guards, it is quite possible that some local commander has lost control of some of his more fervent men. It is also quire evident from the Iranian Navy response that they have no clue at least close to the time of the attack. But the IRGC and the regular military don’t often talks to each other. They are parallel militaries akin to the German Army and the Waffen SS of Nazi Germany.

The tanker will dock in Oman and the forensic experts will do their investigation. Depending on what their conclusions are, we may or may not know what happened. I suspect that if the experts conclude it was someone other than Revolutionary Guards, the report will be made public quickly to take the heat off of Iran. If it was IRGC folks, they will probably quietly disappear in the name of revolutionary discipline.