Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula threatens Shiite Muslims

Mohammed ben Abdel Rahmane al-Rachid, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has warned Muslim Sunni against the Shiite threat, which is “more important than the threat coming from Jews and Christians”.  “The (Shiite) threat against Islam and its people is far more important than the one from Jews and Christian,” he said in his audio message published on an Islamist website. “We urged the nation to stand alongside (Sunnis) with all their resources against the danger posed by Iran and (Shiite Muslims) in the region,” he said also adding that “fighting and killing Shiites was a religious obligation.”

On Sunday, a statement from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula posted on jihadist websites, urged Saudi Arabia to ban the Shiite considered as “infidels”, from accessing Islam’s holy sites during the Hajj.

Iran/Political crisis: Karoubi attacks Ahmadinejad on US policy

Iran's opposition leader Mehdi Karoubi strongly accused President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday of double standards in his US policy. "(The government) has been constantly trying to change its policies recently, by sending congratulation messages, sending letters even if the other side doesn't reply, and expressing readiness for dialogue," Karoubi said in a message on his website.

Karoubi, who was defeated in June's disputed presidential election, said the populist leader's government had shown more openness towards Washington than previous governments. Karoubi criticised Ahmadinejad for meeting many American politicians, academics and writers during a trip this year to the UN General Assembly in New York. "If one-tenth of such a meeting happened at the time of all past governments, Islamists would have come onto the streets ... to protest against the government," he said. "National interests should be observed. The national interest is not a matter that different governments can change.”

Meanwhile, Iran's local media reported on Sunday that Tehran has released a further 40 people detained during an opposition demonstration last week that led to clashes with police. On Saturday the official press agency IRNA said 47 people had been released out of 109 detained for "disturbing public order" during Wednesday's rally to mark the anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in 1979.

United States/Iran/Security: American hikers face spy charges in Tehran

Iran's judiciary announced on Monday that three American hikers taken into custody by Iranian guards near the border with Iraq on July 31 are facing espionage charges. "The three Americans arrested near the border of Iran and Iraq are facing charges of spying and the inquiry is continuing," Tehran chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said in an interview with the official IRNA news agency on Monday. He added that the investigations were continuing against Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Berlin there was "no evidence" for Iran to charge the Americans. "We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever," Clinton told reporters during a visit to Germany for celebrations commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall. "And we would renew our request on the behalf of these three young people and their families that the Iranian government exercise compassion and release them so they can return home," she said. "And we will continue to make that case through our Swiss protecting power, who represents the United States in Tehran," Clinton added.

The three were taken into custody by Iranian guards near the border with Iraq on July 31. The Americans entered northern Iraq from Turkey on July 28 during a planned five-day hike.

Iran/Security: Tehran tested nuclear warhead design, IAEA report says

(Didier Lebrun/Photo News)

The Guardian reported in its Friday edition that the United Nations nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting the Islamic Republic's scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design. The newspaper, citing what it describes as "previously unpublished documentation" from an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) compiled dossier, said Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of a "two-point implosion" device.

In a report titled “Possible Military Dimensions of Iran’s Nuclear Program” the IAEA says it has also presented it to Tehran for its response. According to the report, the technology allows for the production of smaller and simpler warheads than older models, and it also reduces the diameter of a warhead and makes it easier to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.

The agency has in the past treated such reports with skepticism, particularly after the Iraq war. But its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, has said that the evidence of Iranian weaponisation “appears to have been derived from multiple sources over different periods of time. It appears to be generally consistent, and is sufficiently comprehensive and detailed that it needs to be addressed by Iran.”

Iran/France/Security: security forces arrest AFP journalist in Tehran

The Agence France Presse (AFP) announced on Thursday that Iranian security forces arrested one of its reporter in Tehran who was covering Wednesday's rally marking the anniversary of seizure of the US embassy. "Farhad Pouladi was covering the rally when he was stopped and taken away by three security agents, two in uniform and one in plainclothes," acting Tehran bureau chief Jay Deshmukh said. "Since yesterday morning, we have no news about him."

Deshmukh said the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance had given assurances to AFP that Pouladi's case was being followed as a priority. Witnesses said Pouladi was taken away by three security agents, who took his mobile phone at first.

Pouladi has a press card from the foreign press department of the Iranian Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, but since the demonstrations over the disputed June presidential vote, the department has banned all foreign media from directly covering protests or making contact with opposition figures. On Wednesday, journalists, photographers and television crews were only allowed to cover a state-organized, anti-US rally in front of the former American embassy but not opposition protests held a few hundred metres away.

Pakistan/Iran/Terrorism: Islamabad arrests three suspects in Sistan-Baluchestan bombing

Pakistani intelligence officlals announced that security forces arrested three Iranians suspected of planning the suicide attack in Iran's southeastern region last month which killed 42 people. "They are Iranian Baluch and are suspected to be involved in the planning of the suicide bombing in Iran last month," an intelligence official told reporters on condition of anonymity. He gave no further details. Intelligence and paramilitary officials said the ethnic Baluch men were arrested by the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary troops in a raid on Thursday in Turbat, a district in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province on the Iranian border. The arrests came two weeks after Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar visited Islamabad to demand it hand over Abdolmalik Rigi, the militant group's leader. However, Pakistan says Rigi is in Afghanistan.

Tehran says the Sunni rebel group Jundollah (God's Soldiers), which has claimed responsibility for the Oct. 18 attack, operates from across the border in Pakistan. The attack in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province killed 15 Iranian Revolutionary Guards, including six senior commanders, and 27 others.

Israel/Iran/Syria/Security: Tehran-Damascus deny arms claims

Iran and Syria on Thursday denied Israel's claim that a ship intercepted off Cyprus with "hundreds of tonnes" of weapons had originated in Iran and was destined to be delivered to Hezbollah in Lebanon through Syria. Syria's Foreign Minister, Walid Muallem, and Iran's Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, jointly denied Israel's claim. "Unfortunately, some official pirates in the seas, sometimes in the name of the navy, sometimes in the name of inspection, obstruct trade movement between Syria and Iran." "This ship does not carry Iranian weapons to Syria and does not contain military material to manufacture weapons in Syria. This ship carries imported goods from Syria to Iran,” Muallem said.

Israeli naval commandos on Wednesday seized an Iranian vessel carrying arms intended for Hezbollah in a pre-dawn raid near Cyprus. The Antigua-flagged ship was discovered during routine patrols conducted by the Navy. The defense officials said the arms cache included various missiles, including anti-tank missiles.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement on Wednesday saying that the weapons found on board the ship were intended to harm Israel's cities and town. However, Hezbollah denies connection to arms smuggling ship "Hezbollah denies any link to the weapons that the Zionist enemy claims it removed from the vessel Francop," the group said in a statement. "At the same time it condemns Israeli piracy in international waters."

Israel's Foreign Ministry on Thursday invited diplomats from around the world to the port to view the weapons. "The navy's seizure of the ship illustrates the great absurdity," he said. "On the one hand, Iran is sending weapons to hornets' nests of terrorists in order to kill our civilians. On the other hand, the Goldstone report points the finger at Israel."

Iran/Civil unrest: police clash with anti-government marchers in Tehran

Thousands of people took to the streets on Wednesday in Tehran to mark the 30th anniversary of the takeover of the US Embassy. According to witnesses, Iranian police arrested some protesters in central Tehran. “Police clashed and arrested at least five protesters,” said one witness. The witnesses say authorities used batons to try to disperse demonstrators holding anti-government marches in a central square in the capital.

Thousands of Iranian security forces had assembled on the streets of Tehran to prevent any gathering by the opposition. “Police clashed with hundreds of protesters. They were chanting ‘Death to dictators’. Police used batons to disperse them,” a witness said. Another witness said police fired teargas at the crowd. “There are hundreds, chanting ‘God is greatest’. Police and Basij militia are outnumbering the protesters,” a witness said.

Earlier, in a report the US Department of State urges all Americans to avoid the site of the former Embassy on the day of protest and to maintain a low profile, especially throughout this period. The US government does not have diplomatic or consular relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and therefore cannot provide protection or routine consular services to American citizens in the country.

Iran/Insurgency: Tehran hangs a member of Sunni rebel group

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported on Tuesday that Tehran has executed a convicted member of the Jundollah Sunni rebel group. "Abdolhamid Rigi...was hanged inside a prison in the southeastern city of Zahedan on Monday," Fars quoted senior police official Gholamali Nekoui as saying. "But he is not Abdolmalek Rigi's brother," he added, referring to the Jundallah leader, who has a brother of the same name on death row. Rigi had been convicted of various charges, including "moharebe" or staging war against God, punishable by death sentence under Iran's Islamic law. "He was convicted of kidnapping, being a Mohareb (enemy of God) and cooperating with Rigi's terrorist grouplet," Nekouei said without giving further details of the offences.

Last month, Jundollah (God's soldiers) claimed responsibility for the Oct. 18 attack in Iran's impoverished Sistan-Baluchestan province that killed more than 40 Iranians, including 15 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards. The group says it is fighting for the rights of the province's Sunni ethnic-Baluch population. Iran says that it has links with Al-Qaeda.

Iran/Pakistan/Security: Tehran arrests 6 Pakistani nationals for trespassing

Al Alam, a Tehran-based Arabic-language television news channel reported on Monday that Iranian authorities have arrested 6 Pakistani nationals for trespassing its territorial waters. The station quoted an official source – on the condition that it will keep its identity anonymous – who declined to divulge information on when and where the Pakistanis had been arrested.

Relation between the two nations has not been co-operative as Iran accuses Pakistan for supporting the Sunni Jundollah insurgent group that carried out a suicide bombing attack on October 18. It also accuses the United Kingdom and the United States for the same. At least 40 people, including senior commanders of the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guards, were killed in the attacked that occured in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, bordering Pakistan. Tehran has even asked Islamabad to hand over the leader of the Jundollah, or the People's Resistance Movement of Iran (PRMI), saying the group has its bases in Pakistan.

Iran/Security: Tehran responds to nuclear proposal

(Mohammad Kheirkhah/Upi/photo News)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced on Thursday that Iran had sent an “initial response” to a proposal designed to break the deadlock over its nuclear program. Speaking to crowds in the north-eastern city of Mashhad, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the West has gone from “confrontation to cooperation,” and praised the IAEA as “playing a genuine role.” He said his nation was ready to talk with the United States and its allies in developing Iran's nuclear program, and he described a current draft proposal as a “victory” for Iran. “We welcome the exchange of fuel, technical cooperation and construction of power plants and reactors and we are prepared to cooperate (in those areas),” he said.

These new statements came 3 days after Western diplomats and intelligence had estimated that Iran would need 18 months to build an atomic weapon if it decided to make one. According to an unnamed diplomat, the assessment was based on the assumption that Tehran would need at least six months to purify its uranium stocks to weapons-grade level and another 12 months for "weaponization" -- building the actual nuclear weapon.

Yemen/Iran/Security: navy seizes weapons vessel with Iranian crew

A provincial Yemeni official said Yemen's navy on Monday seized an Iranian ship loaded with anti-tank weapons off its north-west coast in the Red Sea. "The five crew members are being questioned. They are Iranians," the official in Haja province, which borders Saada province, said on condition of anonymity.

Reportedly, the ship was heading to Yemen’s northern coast to unload its weapons’ shipment in an area where it could be temporally hidden before being transported to the Houthi rebels in the Saada province. The six-member crew aboard the ship were weapons experts who were sent to Yemen to replace other Iranians fighting alongside the Houthi rebels and who are thought to be wounded in battles with the government forces.

Meanwhile, Tehran denied a Yemeni claim to have seized a ship with arms for the rebels and described the report as a "media fabrication".

Pakistan/Iran/Security: Islamabad detains 11 Iranian Guards on the border

Pakistani forces detained 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Monday for illegally crossing into Pakistan. “It’s a serious matter. We are investigating why they crossed into our territory,” a Pakistani border security official said on the condition of anonymity.

Reportedly, the Guards were arrested in the Mashkhel area on the border with Iran eight days after a suicide bomber killed 42 people, including six Revolutionary Guard commanders, in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province. A Sunni Muslim group Jundollah (God’s soldiers), claimed responsibility for the blast. Iran says the Jundollah group has bases in Pakistan and it has urged Pakistan to hand over its leader, Abdolmalik Rigi. But Islamabad strongly denied that the Jundallah attack was launched from its territory.

Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that the perpetrators of recent attacks in the region aimed to sow discord among Muslims and were linked to foreign countries. "Bloody acts in some Islamic countries, including Iraq, Pakistan and some parts of our country, are aimed at creating divisions among Muslims, Sunnis and Shi'ites," state television quoted Khamenei as saying. "Therefore unity among Muslims is very important," he said "Those who commit these bloody terrorist actions, directly or indirectly, are related to foreign countries," Khamenei said.

Iran/Security: Tehran would need 18 months for atom bomb

Western diplomats and intelligence estimates that Iran would need at least 18 months to build an atomic weapon if it decided to make one. "It's not a formal assessment or formal agreement but a rough agreement that we can all work with more or less," one Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity. He said it was a "worst-case scenario," not the most likely one.

Another Western diplomat said that the assessment was based on the assumption that Tehran would need at least six months to purify its uranium stocks to weapons-grade level and another 12 months for "weaponization" -- building the actual nuclear weapon.

Tehran reiterates that its nuclear program is peaceful and says Western spies are lying when they suggest Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. At a meeting between Iran and top envoys from the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France and Germany in Geneva, Switzerland on Oct. 1, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili promised that Tehran would soon open the facility near Qom to UN inspectors.

Iran/Pakistan/Terrorism: Tehran urges Islamabad to hand over rebel group leader

Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar on Friday urged Pakistan to hand over the leader of the Baluch rebel group Jundallah. "We have documents that show (Abdolmalik) Rigi travels readily to Pakistan ... we are here to ask Pakistan to hand over Rigi to Iran," Najjar who is in Islamabd on Friday for talks on efforts to combat the Sunni group after the Sunday attack in mainly Shi'ite Iran told state television.

The meeting comes five days after a suicide bomber killed at least 42 people, including top members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan Province. Jundallah, or "Soldiers of God", claimed responsibility for the attack -- one of the deadliest ever in the group's six-year insurgency against Tehran.

Najjar said Tehran has proof Jundallah leader Abdolmalek Rigi "travels readily to Pakistan." “Sheltering Rigi is not in the interest of the two countries' good-neighborly relations," he said. However, there was no immediate comment from the Pakistani side. Islamabad has previously said that its intelligence agencies have evidence Rigi is in Afghanistan. Iran accuses the United States and the United Kingdom of backing Jundollah and has suggested it has links with Pakistani intelligence. Washington, London and Islamabad have all denied involvement.

United States/Israel/Iran/Defence: IDF-US forces launch major joint air drills

(Didier Lebrun/Photo News)

Israel and the United States launched a major air defence drill on Wednesday, in the shadow of mounting missile threats from Iran, Hezbollah and Syria, and growing regional tension over Teheran's nuclear program, The Jerusalem Post said.

Israeli public radio quoted an unnamed senior military official saying that the two-week drill is aimed as preparation for any confrontation with arch-foe Iran, which Israel accuses of trying to obtain nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies. “During the two-week manoeuvres, dubbed Juniper Cobra, some 1,000 American personnel will mesh ground- and ship-based missile interceptors like the Aegis, THAAD and Patriot with Israel's Arrow II ballistic shield,” defence officials stated.

On Tuesday, United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said nuclear talks between Iran and world powers are making progress, albeit "slower than expected" but a deal was "possible". "We spent the whole day today in bilateral and trilateral consultations," ElBaradei told reporters after around an hour of talks. "We still hope to be able to reach an agreement. It's a complex process," he said. "There are technical aspects, many technical issues that we have to hammer out. It is of course a question of confidence buiding, of guarantees. I think and I believe that we are making progress. It is maybe slower than I expected but we are moving forward and we are going to meet tomorrow at 10:00 am."

Iran/Security: Tehran sentenced an Iranian-American scholar to 12 years in jail

Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American scholar, has been sentenced late on Tuesday by the Iranian justice to more than 12 years in jail for his purported role in Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad post-election unrest. Kian Tajbakhsh was the only American in the ongoing mass trial of alleged Iranian opposition members who was charged with "espionage, contacting foreign elements and acting against national security of Iran".

Tajbakhsh was arrested July 9 during a crackdown on protesters and Iranian political figures rallying. The government accused them of organizing the protests on behalf of Iran's foreign enemies to foment a "velvet revolution" to overthrow the Islamic leadership. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appealed in August for Tajbakhsh's release but Tehran ignored her. In 2007, the social scientist and urban planner spent already four months in prison because he was suspected to endanger national security. He denied the charges at the time as well as he has also denied the post-election allegations against him.

Last week, Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian journalist for Newsweek, who was detained after the election, was released on bail and allowed to leave the country. The sentence came as more than a third of Iranian parliament asked judicial authorities to prosecute opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi because his statements and actions had damaged "reputation of the Islamic system".

Iran/Terrorism: Tehran makes arrests over bomb blast

Iran's polce chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam announced on Wednesday that police has made some arrests in connection with Sunday's suicide bombing. "Fortunately, some elements linked to the terrorists have been arrested by the security forces," Moghaddam said without giving further details about their identities. He also said negotiations were under way with neighbouring Pakistan about "the arrests of the main elements behind the terrorist attack."

A leading prosecutor on Tuesday said police detained three persons on suspicion of involvement in the blast that struck the heart of the country's security forces in Sistan-Baluchestan. "Due to security reasons, I am not giving the details of their names, but these terrorists are Iranians," Mohammad Marziah, the prosecutor in Zahedan, the provincial capital, told Iran's Fars news agency. Authorities are also seeking a man who accompanied the suicide bomber, Marziah said.

Fifteen members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards were among those killed in the attack, which struck ahead of a meeting between Revolutionary Guards commanders and tribal chiefs. Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which lost high-ranking officers in the blast, says the militants are backed by the United States and Britain and also have links with Pakistan intelligence. However, Washington, London and Islamabad deny involvement.

Iran/Terrorism: two Iranian policemen shot dead in Iranshahr

Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday that gunmen shot dead two policemen in Iran's volatile southeast late on Monday, two days after a suicide bombing in the same province killed 42 people, including senior Revolutionary Guards commanders. “The policemen were killed by two attackers in the city of Iranshahr in Sistan-Baluchestan province,” Mohammad Arab, a local police official, told the news agency.

However, no other details were immediately available and it was not clear whether Monday's incident was linked to the previous day's bombing attack. Iranian state media say at least 15 members of the Revolutionary Guard, including six senior commanders were among 42 people killed in a suicide bombing Sunday in southeastern Iran. A Sunni rebel group called Jundollah (God's soldiers), has claimed responsibility for the Oct. 18 attack in the impoverished province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan. Iranian media quoted Revolutionary Guards chief General Mohammad Ali Jafari as vowing to "retaliate" against U.S. and British intelligence agencies that he says helped the bombers.

Iran/Terrorism: Tehran promises crushing response to attack, 42 killed

Iran's state English-language television station Press TV reported on Monday that the country's elite Revolutionary Guards promised a "crushing" response to the attack that killed several senior commanders. "Not in the distant future we [Iran] will take revenge," said a statement from the Iranian military headquarters. On Sunday, at least 42 people including top commanders, tribal leaders and civilians were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a meeting of the elite Revolutionary Guards in southeastern Iran. The attack took place in the city of Pisheen near the border with Pakistan in restive Sistan-Baluchestan province, which hosts a substantial Sunni population.

The state media said a local rebel Sunni group called Jundollah (God's soldiers) claimed responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Pakistan condemned Sunday's suicide bombing and denied suggestions from Iran that security agents in Pakistan were cooperating with the perpetrators. On Sunday, Iran's armed forces had already accused the United States and the United Kingdom to be involved in the suicide attack. A statement from the military headquarters blamed the bombing on "terrorists" backed by "the Great Satan America and its ally Britain".