According to Al Sumaria TV  ISIS announced the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a very brief statement on Tuesday. The statement explains the new successor of Baghdadi would be declared “very soon” and urged its militants to continue “stability in the strongholds”.

Last month Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the “Islamic State” (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) terrorist group, has been killed.

“The death of this terrorist [Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi] is certain,” said Ali Shirazi, a representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the IRGC’s elite Quds Force.

The Russian military also said in June that it may have killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an airstrike in Syria in late May.

The Quds Force, which is an elite overseas operations arm of the IRGC, has reportedly been involved in the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq since the terrorist group began war against Baghdad and Damascus. Recently Iraq could defeat ISIS in Mosul in close cooperation with Iranian IRGC. 

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Tehran– ‘The enemy cannot slap us, we’ll slap them!’ only a few hours after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued the warning to Iran’s enemies during a meeting with families of Iranians martyred in Syria, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) launched 6 missile strikes at ISIL command centers in Syria’s Deir Ezzor in retaliation for the June 7 twin terrorist attacks in Tehran on Sunday. 

Early reports indicate full-fledged success as all Iranian missiles hit the predetermined targets; A large number of terrorists have been killed and their equipment and weapons destroyed.

Missiles fired by Iran to the ISIS reportedly were of Zulfiqar type with a range of 750 km (466-mile). While Israel remains outside this range, Iran’s Shahhab ballistic missiles can reach the regime occupying Palestine. (The missile is named for the sword which the Prophet Muhammad gave to the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib ahead of the 625 AD Battle of Uhud).
This became Iran’s first operational use of its missile arsenal since Iran- Iraq war while the US has increased its pressure on Iran to limit the country’s missile program.

Hours before the missile strike, Iran Army’s Rapid Reaction Force were deployed to the western border areas of the country. Simultaneously, Iraqi People Mobilization Army, Hashd al-Shaabi, who fight ISIS are entering Deir Ezzor in Syria so they can help Syrian Army in liberating the important border area.

Deir Ezzor province is located in Syria’s border with Iraq on the shores of the Euphrates River. Subsequent to the defeat of the terrorists in Aleppo, leading to losing a key base in north-west of Syria, a huge number of terrorists relocated to Deir Ezzor in the west and the surrounding areas. Moreover, a great number of the terrorists having fled to Syria in the wake of the defeat in Mosul are operating in this region for the time being. 

Regarding the large number of terrorists in Deir Ezzor, their command centers as well as operations and logistical centers are located in this province in Syria.

The post Why Iran Targets ISIS Positions in Syria’s Deir Ezzor? first appeared on .

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By: Sonia Mansour Robaey *

If I were a faithful and pious Muslim and if I were to take a look at the state of the religion of Islam and Muslims today, I would be extremely worried. And even though I am not a Muslim faithful but an Arab secular Christian woman, I can still worry for my Muslim sisters and brothers and the religion of Islam. This is not a selfless concern. The future of minorities in the Middle East depends largely on the state of the Muslim religion, which is the religion of the majority. Also, the Muslim religion and its people are part and parcel of my cultural background, of who I am as an Arab Christian, as much as Muslims of the Middle East are culturally shaped by their presence as pieces in a mosaic of religions and sects, which the region never ceased to be, until al Qaeda and its most notorious branch, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS, came to be.

Again, as an Arab Christian, I was educated not on the holy Qur’an, but on the religion of Islam and its History. I grew up seeing Islam as a religion of conquest and enlightenment in the Arts and Sciences. I grew up seeing Islam as a forward progressive religion. Of course, as in every religion, I could perceive some extremism here and there, some backwardness, but these seemed marginal, or so was my perception during the late seventies, early eighties, until al Qaeda and its most notorious branch, ISIS, came to be.

Since 911, I have been asking myself: what happened to Islam? More so since the emergence and mainstreaming of sectarian killings inside Iraq after the 2003 US invasion and the recent mass displacements of religious minorities by ISIS in the Middle East, the largest since the Ottoman Empire disintegrated.

To answer this question one must understand what happened between the late seventies and the early eighties and how the struggles born out of these years came to their conclusion as the iron curtain fell on the Soviet bloc ushering in a short era of revigorated and unchallenged American and western imperialism.

During these decisive years, we witnessed an Islamic revolution in Iran that rose against western imperialism while another Islamic movement in Afghanistan came to be subsumed, and consumed, by the goals of western imperialism. We also witnessed a war on Iran from the West, with Iraq as a proxy, meant to challenge to the nascent Islamic revolution of Iran. These events, which will lead to a profound misunderstanding inside Islam, took place after the strong anti-imperialist sentiment in the Middle East, in which Palestine was the main conduit, was sidelined through a partial peace between Israel and Egypt. The Palestine struggle was buried by partial peace and the Palestinian resistance lost the support of most Arab states. This was going to lead to the still-born Oslo peace process and the slow asphyxiation of the Palestinian struggle, while Israeli settlements flourished as they continue to do until today.

The eighties end with the triumph of western imperialism. But in the Middle East, the Islamic revolution of Iran stood in the way of this triumph, albeit weakened and its society profoundly wounded by the Iraq war. After the end of the Iraq-Iran war and Ayatollah’s Khomeini’s death, the Islamic revolution of Iran had survived but the country was going to spend the next decade rebuilding itself amid a climate of increasing hostility, unilateral and multilateral sanctions.

Iran’s Islamic revolution inspired many and in many ways in the region. Islamist groups and Islamist movements rose in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. Only few survived and those who did, like Hezbollah, did so because they understood the spirit of the Islamic revolution of Iran, as it stood, as an Islamist insurgency, first and foremost, against western imperialism. Hezbollah resonated with the populations of the Arab world because it revived the Palestinian struggle and the struggle against western imperialism. At the same time, Hamas was born to challenge the occupation of Palestine, based on a non-compromising attitude toward the occupation, but with a different spirit marked by the context of inter Palestinian rivalry heavily weighed by outside and competing regional influences.

This is why Hamas and Hezbollah, two groups moved by the same goal for many years, find themselves today at odds because the forces that have been pulling Muslims apart since the event of the Islamic revolution of Iran, not only are still at work today, but they are now aided by scores of terrorist Takfiri groups claiming to be working for Muslims and Islam.

The Islamic revolution of Iran had clearly designated the anti-imperialist struggle as the defining project of modern Islam. But the Islamic revolution of Iran was not the only Islamic movement renewing the search to redefine Islam in modern times. However, the Islamist groups who came before it and most of those who were inspired by it sought a return to an era of Islam before western imperialism to find the tools to challenge western imperialism. Thus, the nostalgic return to Islam resulted in ambiguity toward the West. I am thinking here specifically of the Muslim Brotherhood. The ambiguity is in confronting modern western imperialism with conceptual tools that existed before this imperialism. This is at best a flight strategy, at worst, a legitimization of Wahhabism, the gangrene that’s been eating at the heart of Islam. Ambiguity exists also in the fact that running away from modernity prevents these movements from ever understanding imperialism, replacing understanding with mystification, leaving modernity to exert a fascination on their entire ideological conceptual apparatus without ever being able to understand it.

This is a tragic misunderstanding, by the insurgent Sunni branch of Islam, of how to conduct the struggle for relevance against western imperialism and renew the search to redefine Islam in modern times. Western imperialism, in its essence, is about the superiority of science and technology. By choosing nostalgia and pre-imperialist conceptual tools, insurgent Sunni Islam could then only fight western technical superiority and the way of life it implies with increased barbarism. Hence, al-Qaeda and ISIS.

The Islamic revolution of Iran, on the other side, has sought to fight western imperialism with the elements of its alleged superiority; technology. But contrary to other Muslim countries that had sought nuclear technology as a way to achieve military superiority, like the West, Iran sought nuclear technology only for civilian purposes and as a right to achieve equal status, to oppose to western imperialism the right to dignity. Because western imperialism sees itself as superior in status, it refuses dignity to others, to subdued countries, and it does so mainly through technology.

The post Iran N.Deal, Future of Islam and A.Khamenei’s Letter to Western Youth first appeared on .

“True approaches of the revolution set by Imam Khomeini are clear and there’s no need to re-evaluate,” he said on Sunday.

Ayatollah Khamenei once again criticized the post 2009 election street riots and said: “Power transition in Iran was always calm and smooth, except for 2009 in which some people made blunders and pushed the country on the verge of collapse.”

“The Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation proposed a new model to the world; a healthy power transition without the common tricks in the west,” He added.

The Leader Defends Ahmadinejad’s Records

At the beginning of the session, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad read the report on what has been done in his 8 years of presidency.

Ayatollah Khamenei implicitly criticized some remarks by reformists against Ahmadinejad.

Newly elected president Hassan Rowhani was also present in the session. Ayatollah Khamenei’s remark to the next administration revealed that the Leader is not content with reformists cruel criticizing Ahmadinejad’s administration and believes that Ahmadinejad made more good in his administration than his failures.

“Every administration should take a positive look at his predecessor. It is worthy that the next administration shows as much enthusiasm and energy as the previous one.”

Stressing on the Diplomacy of Resistance

He also noted actions of some of the foreign countries against Iran, saying “Arrogant powers, some western leaders and some weak regional leaders formed a huge front against Iran that has not been done against any other country,”

“We have to be patient and resist the enemy front. We have to strengthen our national and domestic power to continue our advancement and reaching Idealistic goals,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

He insisted on officials not to recoil on foreign pressures and said: “Our officials shouldn’t hesitate when facing political, economic and propaganda pressures by the enemies,”

“Senior officials, law makers and all officials in the country should focus on two main priorities which are economic issues and scientific advancement.”

“Our pace in scientific advancement in the past 10 years was very significant but we shouldn’t slow down. Because we have to keep pace to reach the front lines of science in the world.”

Interactions With the World is OK but US Proved We Shouldn’t Be Optimistic

“We have always believed in the interaction with the world but any interaction must be based on a proper recognition of the other side,” he said.

He reiterated the importance of noting other countries’ history with Iran and said: “When interacting with the world, we should not forget our enemy’s history; even if we don’t speak of it for some reasons.”

“I have previoulsy said that I’m not optimistic about direct talks, even though I didn’t bar direct talks in special circumstances like in Iraq.” said the Supreme Leader regarding recent remarks by US officials for direct talks.

“US officials are untrustworthy and not logical and not honest,” he said.

“US officials’ remarks in the past several months show that we shouldn’t be optimistic,” He added.

Hassan Rowhani said several times that he’s after improving relations with the world.

We can take the Leader’s remarks about interaction with the world as a rule of law for the next administration

“One should continue his path in global interaction without being stopped by enemies and it is harmful to make a U turn when interacting with the world.”

The post Iran’s Leader Sets The Tone For The Rowhani’s Administration first appeared on .

“If we annually express our outrage over the US killing 290 of our dear countrymen including 60 children, we should not think America’s crime is only limited to this. America is not just responsible for the killing of 290 passengers of Airbus [flight 655]. The ruthless regime is responsible for killing over 220 thousands of our martyrs.”

Naghdi said the killings of tens of thousands of Iranians by Shah’s regime were ordered by the US. He blamed the US for ordering the crimes and terrors carried by anti-Iran terrorist groups like MEK who killed 17 thousands of the oppressed and defenseless people of Iran; including men, women, children, the youth, and the elderly.

He also referred to the assassination of top Iranian officials like Ayatollah Beheshti .America trained, prepared and organized these groups, putting them against their own nation.

“Everybody knows Saddam Hossein attacked Iran with the support order of the US,” the Commander added.

Even worse than the killing of 290 innocent passengers of Airbus is the atrocity of the American government than president who instead of apologizing and being ashamed gave medals of honor to the criminal who did it [Captain William Rogers], which shows it was an intentional, organized planned and ruthless crime and contrary to what the American officials say it was not a mistake so the US must expect a big and hard vengeance from the Muslim Nation.

The post US Policies Of Violence Are Feeding Muslim Vengeance: Iranian Top Commander first appeared on .

Later that day, Iran Air Flight 655 departed Bandar Abbas Airport for Dubai at 5:10 pm with 290 people on board: 156 men, 53 women, 57 children aged 2 to 12, and 8 babies aged 2 or less. In addition to Iranians, there were also passengers from India, Pakistan, Yugoslavia, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates.

The American warship USS Vincennes had departed San Diego on April 25, 1988, and was in Iranian waters. As the Iranian airliner was climbing to 14,000 feet, the USS Vincennes, under the command of Captain William Rogers, fired two surface-to-air missiles at the airliner. The airliner disappeared from radar, and smoke and fire appeared in the sky. The control tower at Bandar Abbas Airport asked Dubai Airport about the flight, but they said they had no information.

Immediately after the event, American officials claimed they had shot down an Iranian F-14 fighter jet. Later, they claimed the airliner had been flying out of its assigned civilian air corridor and that they had sent seven warning radio messages to the plane but received no answer.

Four years later, the New York Times published an article that revealed that the American warship had been in Iranian waters, not international waters, at the time of the incident. This revelation led to accusations that the Pentagon had covered up the incident.

“For no clear reason, the Vincennes approached Iranian waters, equipped with advanced artillery and long-range missiles,” said Admiral William Crowe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Reagan. “This shows that the warship was prepared for a bad action.”

The Iranian airliner, an Airbus A300B2-203, was very different from an F-14 fighter jet in terms of dimensions, shape, size, and flying capabilities. Moreover, the American warship could easily have listened to the pilot’s conversations and understood that it was a passenger flight.

Despite the claims, the Vincennes’ warnings did not reach the airliner, nor were they received by any other civilian source.

Iran expressed its complaint over the shooting down to the international community.

Iran’s View arranged an interview with Vahid Ahmadi, who was then an MP, to get more information about the issue. He was also an advisor to the Foreign Minister and is now a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in the parliament.

Mr. Ahmadi believes that the shooting down of the Iranian passenger plane was related to the conditions of the Iran–Iraq War. “Iran had the upper hand at that time, and Saddam was under a lot of pressure,” he said. “Therefore, the US wanted to open another front against Iran and help Saddam.”

“The United States intended to distract Iran from the Iraqi war front and warn Iran that America might militarily enter the war,” Mr. Ahmadi added. He called the reasons given by the Americans a “lie” and a “justification” and insisted that there is evidence that shows it was a planned and intentional action. He called the event a “black page” in the history of the United States, and said that it alone invalidates all of their claims to human rights.

He also referred to the ineffective statement issued by the United Nations Security Council and the verdict by the International Court of Justice, which only sentenced the United States to pay $95 million in compensation.

“Iran is still pursuing the case, and we expect the new president to put it on his agenda until the military leaders on the warship are sentenced and the United States officially apologizes to the Iranian people,” Mr. Ahmadi said.

See Related Photo Gallery.

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Referring to the high turnout in Iran’s presidential election he said: “I’ve done my best to empower the Islamic Republic and now I need your help.”

Rowhani also met with Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and reformist figures Mohammad Khatami and Mohammad Reza Aref on Saturday.

Khatami Thanked The Supreme Leader Aytollah Khamenei

Former President and a leader of Reformist movement in Iran Khtami said in his meeting with Rowhani that “We should thank the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Khamenei] for his effort to create the grounds of the political epic.”

Rowhani Will Go to Majlis

Rowhani will go to Iran’ Majlis on Wednesday to Meet MPs and consult them about his cabinet.

Iran’s President-Elect To Visit Iraq and Senior Shia Clerics

The Iraqi Al-Dostour newspaper reported that Iran’s President-elect will travel to Iraq in early July to meet Shia senior clerics in Najaf.

According to the report, Rowhani will visit holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. Possibility of his meeting with Iraqi officials is unknown.

The post Iran Updates: Khatami Thanked The Supreme Leader, Rowhani Vowed To Empower The Islamic Republic first appeared on .

Since the 2009 Post-election protests turned into riots, many of the reformists’ leaders were severely sidelined and all predictions suggested a sharp decline in the people’s participation in subsequent presidential elections.

But Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei in all of his elections related public speeches has stressed the need for the wide participation of people. And maybe he was the only one to say there will be a mass presence of people in the next elections with high confidence.

As we got closer to the 2013 presidential election time, speculation over which groups and individuals will take part in the election increased. Debates got hotter as the supreme leader gave a green light to reformists.

The last minute registrations of controversial candidates with different ways of thinking such as Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Saeed Jalili completely changed the atmosphere of the Iranian elections.

Gatherings and street rallies by candidates’ supporters recalled the 2009 electoral enthusiasm which resulted in an 85% turnout the highest turnout ever in the Islamic Republic’s presidential elections.

Now approaching the 2013 presidential election, while nobody expects a repetition of the 2009’s unprecedented enthusiasm, a management of the country’s political atmosphere and allowing different tastes to take part in the election led to the early formation of an electoral atmosphere and changed people’s routine discussions’ into topics related to the candidates.

Contrary to some people’s expectations Iran’s leadership do not look at the current political and social conditions as negative. Actually disagreements and controversies around the reformists’ and administration backed candidate’s policies seem to be a factor in increasing people’s engagement.

And disputes arising from possible disqualification of some candidates like Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei who is fully backed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will also help to make the elections more significant.

The leadership wants a wide presence of people at the next election. Because it will be a reaffirmation of the regime by the people.

Iran’s leader has also always stressed on the “people’s participation” much more than any other factor.

The post Iran’s Elections: Vote Yes or No, Just Be Sure To Vote first appeared on .

With fears the war, now in its third year, could turn even deadlier, diplomatic efforts have been ramped up, with Russia and the US last week renewing joint efforts to find a solution to the crisis.

Salehi told Spiegel his country was willing to take part in an international conference on Syria proposed by the US and Russia, which could take place later this month.

Salehi said he was “confident” that progress was being made in the conflict, which is estimated to have killed 70,000 and displaced millions more internally and in neighboring countries.

Iran’s foreign minister also condemned the use of chemical weapons and appeared to offer to mediate in the Syria crisis.

“We condemn chemical weapons,” Ali Akbar Salehi told 

Iran, a strong Damascus ally, was itself a victim of chemical warfare during its conflict with Iraq in the 1980s, Salehi recalled.

Tehran is “categorically against all weapons of mass destruction”, he said.

Damascus government accused militant opposition groups of using chemical weapons against Syrian people and called for a UN probe to investigate the file.

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday said there was “strong evidence” the Assad’s forces had used chemical weapons against militiamen, but the UN said there was no incontrovertible evidence yet.

The post Iran to Launch Talks Between Syria’s Government and Opposition: Salehi first appeared on .

“The US and other so-called human rights advocates remain silent on the massacre of innocents in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but they cause a ruckus after a few blasts in the United States,” Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday in a meeting with the country’s Army commanders and personnel.

“Based on Islamic teaching The Islamic Republic condemns and rejects any kind of attack on innocent human beings, whether they occur in Boston or Peshawar or Baghdad or Syria,” he said.

“Despite America’s claims of opposing the WMDs, the United States’ drones, massacre innocent people, children and women in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the terrorists who are overtly or covertly supported by the US are killing people in Iraq and Syria,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Only in Pakistan, US’ Drone attacks have claimed the lives of more than 2500 people since 2004, a report by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimated on March 2013.

The report also shows that 314 out of the 366 drone strikes in Pakistan were under President Barack Obama’s administration.

The drones have been used by the US in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen.

Iran’s Supreme leader criticized the “The US military’s spirit of dominance”, saying “When such military complexes are deployed somewhere, they will cause immorality, troubles and killing for the people.”

“The attitude of the US and other so-called supporters of human rights towards the killing of innocent people is contradictory. So we believe that the United States and the front standing against the Islamic Republic of Iran are irrational,” the Commander of the Iran’s armed forces said.

“Because of these paradoxical and illogical behaviors and the denying of human principals, the Western civilization is on the verge of decline and collapse.”

The post US Hypocrisy, Boston Highlights the Contradictory Policies: Iran’s Leader Explains first appeared on .