The Mehr News Agency reports that AliMohammad Gholiha said: “From now on, female commuters can address their religious concerns to female seminarians stationed in subway stations.”

He said this new program follows the success of an earlier one that saw male seminarians take to the Tehran subway stations to deal with travellers’ religious needs.

Gholiha reports that 80 male seminarians were assigned to 30 subway stations during the month of Ramadan in a plan referred to as a “spiritual breeze.”

Hojattoleslam Mehdi Mousavi, an aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader, announced that he had organized the plan to address Ayatollah Khamenei’s long-neglected recommendation that clergy be given a greater presence in Iranian life to protect a vulnerable society.

He added that the Spiritual Breeze was aimed at the “soft war being waged by foreign media through satellite programming, the internet and other channels.”

source: Radio Zamaneh

Minister Salehi told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA): “Unfortunately, a number of countries that are trying to pressure the Syrian government are not satisfied with these reforms and keep pressing them with new demands.”

He added that Syria is one of the “main links in the chain of resistance in the region, and its vital place should be guarded.”

In July, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei accused the U.S. of trying to link the situation in Syria with the popular uprisings in other Arab and North African countries as a way to encumber the Syrian government. He said: “Syria is part of the line of resistance, and what’s happening in Syria is essentially different from what is happening in the other regional countries.”

More recently, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem accused Western countries of creating a crisis in Syria. In a speech to the UN General Assembly on September 26, Mouallem said foreign intervention is at the root of months of unrest in his country.

He added that the unrest has forced a delay in instituting the reforms promised by Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Syrian foreign minister went on to add that the sanctions imposed on his country by the U.S. and the European Union have made it difficult for ordinary citizens to meet their daily needs.

Syrian protesters have been active since March, demanding reforms and an end to government corruption.

source: Radio Zamaneh

“Iran and Sudan will stand together as defenders of the Islamic world and the independence of the region,” he said after meeting Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir during a brief visit to Khartoum. “Both countries are facing pressure from the colonialists, who want to impose things that affect our people negatively. They are trying to apply pressure on independent states, because they don’t want them to be strong,” he added.

Ahmadinejad headed a delegation of government officials, including the ministers of energy and higher education, and a number of economic advisers, who held talks with senior Sudanese officials. Sudan’s delegation included the deputy foreign minister, and the ministers of oil, labour, information and presidential affairs.

Speaking alongside Ahmadinejad after the meeting, Bashir underlined Sudan’s support for Iran’s nuclear programme.

“We will work together to build a relationship based on cooperation and respect and mutual benefits, and we are looking forward to closer cooperation with Iran,” he said. “We confirm that we support the right of Iran to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.”

Iran is under mounting international pressure over its controversial nuclear programme, which the West fears masks a drive to acquire atomic weapons capability – a charge Tehran persistently denies.

Although there was no indication that any agreements were signed on Monday, the visit does appear to have strengthened economic and political ties between the two Islamic governments.

In a joint statement released shortly before Ahmadinejad’s departure, Iran said it was “ready to transfer its experience in the science and manufacturing sectors, especially technical and engineering services, to improve Sudan’s infrastructure.”

Khartoum is urgently seeking foreign support in the face of mounting economic woes, which include soaring inflation, crippling foreign debts and the loss of much of its oil revenues, after South Sudan’s formal secession in July.

Iran is a key ally, pledging $200 million to fund various projects in Sudan’s impoverished eastern region at a donor conference late last year. The two countries are heavily sanctioned by the United States, which kept them both on its list of alleged state sponsors of terrorism, in an annual report published by the State Department last month.

source: AFP

Fars News Agency reports that Moslehi told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting: “The British intelligence under the guise of the BBC has begun a new phase of destructive and anti-Iranian activities. The Intelligence Ministry has stepped in to block these destructive activities by the British and to stop more people from becoming ensnared by their intelligence service.”

Last Sunday, Iranian authorities arrested five Iranian documentary makers accused of collaborating with the Persian BBC. Iran’s House of Cinema and Association of Documentary Makers have spoken out against the arrests and urged authorities to respect the detainees’ rights.

Minister Moslehi said: “We are considering all reactions both beyond our borders and within. We do not care which group is the main instigator in this incident because we will take all reactions into consideration in our future moves.”

He added: “The BBC is actually not a media outlet but rather an organization that is only disguised as a media outlet, and its actual nature is Baha’i- Zionist, and its missions are related to political intelligence.”

The arrests took place after the BBC broadcast a documentary about Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The BBC has announced that it has no employees or collaborators in Iran.

source: Radio Zamaneh

Speaking at a press conference in New York hours after landing back safely on American soil following their release to Oman on Wednesday, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal laid bare the extent of their harrowing two-year ordeal in Iran.

“We had to go on hunger strike repeatedly just to receive letters from our loved ones,” said Fattal. “Many times, too many times, we heard the screams of other prisoners being beaten and there was nothing we could do to help them. It was clear to us from the very beginning that we were hostages. This is the most accurate term because, despite certain knowledge of our innocence, Iran has always tied our case to its political disputes with the US.”

The pair, both 29, were arrested with Sarah Shourd near the mountainous border with Iraq on July 31, 2009. All three have always maintained they are innocent of spying and simply strayed across the border into Iran.

“Sarah, Josh and I have experienced a taste of the Iranian regime’s brutality,” said Bauer. “We have been held in almost total isolation from the world and everything we love, stripped of our rights and freedom. “The only explanation for our prolonged detention is the 32 years of mutual hostility between America and Iran. We were convicted of espionage because we are American. It’s that simple,” he continued.

“The two court sessions we attended were a total sham. They were made up of ridiculous lies that depicted us as being involved in an elaborate American-Israeli conspiracy to undermine Iran.”

Shourd, a teacher, writer and women’s rights activist, met Bauer, a fluent Arabic-speaking freelance journalist, while helping to organize demonstrations in the US against the war in Iraq. The two moved to Damascus together in 2008.

Fattal is an environmentalist and teacher. He traveled in 2009 to Damascus. Bauer proposed to Shourd during a rare moment shared in captivity, presenting her with an engagement ring painstakingly weaved from the threads of his shirt.

Thrust into the media spotlight after three days with their families in Oman, Bauer made more political points than Fattal, who applauded the Iranian authorities for finally making the right decision about the case.

“The irony is that Sarah, Josh and I oppose US policies towards Iran which perpetuate this hostility,” said Bauer.

After using the platform to urge Iran to free all “prisoners of conscience,” he also criticized the US government, saying the pair’s Iranian guards often defended their conditions by referencing Guantanamo Bay and CIA prisons.

“We do not believe that such human rights violations on the part of our government justify what has been done to us. Not for a moment,” he said. “However, we do believe that these actions on the part of the US provide an excuse for other governments, including the government of Iran, to act in kind.”

The hikers repeated thanks to the Gulf sultanate of Oman, which posted their bail, $400,000 each, and a host of notables, from boxer Muhammad Ali to actor Sean Penn, who fought for their freedom during 781 long days in prison. President Barack Obama described the release as “wonderful news” and called Oman’s Sultan Qaboos on Friday to thank him for his role in pushing Iran to free the hikers.

Their arrests angered Washington, which already has deep differences with Tehran over its controversial nuclear program, its refusal to recognize Israel and its support for militant groups in the Middle East.

The United States on Thursday led a mass walkout of the UN General Assembly as Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched an outspoken attack on Western nations.

The Iranian leader again cast doubt on the origins of the Holocaust and the September 11, 2001 attacks and criticized the United States for killing Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden rather than bringing him to trial.
Iran, accused by Western nations of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, is under four sets of UN sanctions for refusing for years to bow to international demands to rein in uranium enrichment.

source: AFP

In a statement released Saturday, the two media bodies point to the recent arrest of “several documentary makers on vague and unfounded accusations of collaborating with BBC Persian,” noting that the arrests coincide with the airing of a documentary on BBC Persian television about Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.

Islamic Republic authorities have confirmed the arrest of a number of filmmakers charged with collaborating with the Persian BBC. The BBC has in turn announced that it has no employees or collaborators in Iran.

The announcement goes on to accuse Iranian authorities of “arbitrary practices that have included satellite jamming; continuous Internet disruption; the intimidation of journalists, government critics and online activists; and aggressive hacking practices.”

They maintain that the Iranian government’s practices “thwart independent media” and are a blatant violation of international standards.

The Islamic Republic consistently jams Persian-language radio and television broadcasts from outside Iran.

source: Radio Zamaneh

In retaliation, Iranian security forces put Mehdi Karroubi and Fatemeh Karroubi under house arrest in their apartment complex. They were cut off from the outside world and denied any visitors, and security forces were deployed in their apartment. Mousavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, were also put under house arrest in their home.

The Saham News website has published the critical letter which is addressed to the head of Iran’s judiciary and written by Fatemeh Karroubi, the wife of opposition leader

A few weeks ago, Mehdi Karroubi was transferred to a small apartment, where there was no room to accommodate his wife. Fatemeh Karroubi writes that the former regime treated political prisoners more humanely than the Islamic Republic does. She writes that the former regime never raided people’s private homes without a warrant and, when people were put under house arrest, security forces were not deployed inside the home.

Fatemeh Karroubi goes on to write that her husband is being held under conditions that are even worse than those faced by a prisoner in solitary confinement. She adds that Karroubi is denied basic prisoner rights, with no access to books, newspapers, regular visits or even fresh air.

Fatemeh Karroubi writes that because their house arrest had forced the other residents of the apartment complex out of their homes, the Karroubis had asked the authorities to move them to another location. Fatemeh Karroubi writes that her husband had challenged the takeover of the complex and told authorities that he was ready to be moved to any other location, even the notorious Evin Prison.

She adds that her family prepared a house in the northern part of Tehran, but the authorities claimed that the location did not meet with their approval. The authorities have said that the family must rent another location if it wishes to move Mehdi Karroubi to a larger place.

Fatemeh Karroubi notes that the authorities are burdening the family with all the costs of the prison and the guards, just so they can “tell the world that Karroubi is under arrest in his own home.”

She however emphasizes that despite all pressures, her husband stands firm in his political stance with the “very fervour that he began his political activities with in 1961.”

source: Radio Zamaneh

Hague would condemn Tehran for “suppressing protest at home while claiming to support revolutions elsewhere in the region — except Syria” in a speech to a seminar organised by the newspaper.

Hague’s speech would turn the focus on Iran, which has been overshadowed in news coverage by the uprisings in Arab states, the paper reported.

“The lessons of the Arab revolutions hold true for Iran just as they apply to repressive governments across the world,” he will say, the paper reported.

“Demands for respect for rights, open government, action against corruption and genuine political participation have and will spread by themselves over time… because they are the natural aspirations of all people everywhere. Simply refusing to address legitimate grievances about human rights or attempting to stamp them out will fail.”

In 2009, Britain and other Western countries condemned Tehran for violently crushing protests that followed the controversial re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran denounced the Western condemnations as meddling in its internal affairs.

Dozens of people were killed in the opposition demonstrations protesting what they said was massive election fraud. Thousands more were arrested, several hundred of whom were handed long prison terms.

Hague will argue, that the protests were a “precursor” of the Arab revolutions, the newspaper said.

source: AFP

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were arrested in July 2009 near Iran’s border with Iraq, where they say they were hiking in the mountains. A third American, Sarah Shourd, was freed in September 2010 and has returned home.

The US network NBC, which interviewed Ahmadinejad in Iran, said that the Iranian president had told it Bauer and Fattal would be released in two days. The interview was due to air later on Tuesday on NBC’s Today show.

Bauer, Fattal and Shourd say they were hiking in the mountains of northern Iraq and, if they crossed the unmarked border into Iran, it was by mistake. Shourd was freed on $500,000 (£315,000) bail. Bauer and Fattal were convicted at a trial held behind closed doors and share a cell in Tehran’s Evin prison.

Their supporters say evidence against them has never been made public, and that the sentence came as a shock after hopes for their release had been boosted by positive comments from Iran’s foreign minister.

The US president, Barack Obama, has denied that the Americans, who were working in the Middle East when they decided to hike in the scenic mountains of Iraq, are linked to US intelligence.

The affair has heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington, which severed diplomatic ties after the storming of the US embassy in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

source: Reuters

On Wednesday September 7, the Kaleme opposition website reported on Mousavi’s meeting with his daughters and quoted him saying: “In view of the rigidity of the current situation, one cannot rest any hopes on the election and participating in it.”

Mousavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, have been under house arrest since February. They were put under house arrest after Mousavi, along with the other Iranian opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi, rallied Iranians on February 14 to demonstrate in support of the Arab uprisings in the region.

Kaleme writes that the family meeting was unprecedented because it took place in the home of one of the daughters, away from the house where Mousavi and Rahnavard have been confined for the past seven months. A senior member of the judiciary was also present at the meeting.

Mousavi and Rahanavard have reportedly told their children that they are denied access to newspapers, radio and even pen and paper in an attempt to “erase the truth from our minds.” They have said that government forces have confiscated many of their belongings, including a number of paintings and artifacts.

The Islamic Republic will hold parliamentary elections in March, and for months reformists have been debating whether they should take part as candidates.

Mohammad Khatami, a former Iranian president and top reformist figure, has said reformists cannot participate until: all political prisoners are released; the strict political atmosphere is opened up; the media is allowed to report freely; and political parties commit to a transparent election process.

source: Radio Zamaneh

The Sharvand-e Emrooz weekly was shut down for “issues around Article 6″ of the law regulating the press. Article 6 deals with libel and insulting government officials and institutions.

The Roozegar daily, on the other hand, was shut down for two months for propaganda against the regime and publishing classified information.

The moves come despite a recent statement to Fars News Agency by the press deputy of the Minister of Guidance, who indicated that the Press Supervisory Board and the Ministry of Guidance do not want any journalists to become unemployed.

Reporters Without Borders criticized the closure of the two publications and once more condemned the Islamic Republic for its oppression of the media and Iranian journalists.

source: Radio Zamaneh

“This is not simply a game with water. This is a campaign which is being orchestrated from abroad,” Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie told a press conference, ISNA news agency reported. “Some of those arrested have admitted that they were deceived, with some saying they had responded to calls by anti-revolutionary” groups, he added.

The remarks came a day after deputy police chief Ahmad Reza Radan said “a handful of people” who tried to take part in water fights at a park in central Tehran were arrested last Friday.

Water fights by young Iranians — using balloons, plastic guns and water bottles — have angered the Islamic regime, which is wary of unofficial gatherings, particularly in large cities, over fears they could ignite demonstrations.

In late July, 10 arrests were made after pictures surfaced of boys and girls in drenched clothing — some of the women with their mandatory hijab head coverings askew — at a huge water fight in sweltering Tehran.

On Monday, Mohseni Ejeie said water fighting was not a crime in itself but only when “people use it to commit acts against religion and disrupt public security … particularly when there is a foreign orchestrator.”

Water fights are believed to be organised by text message or calls on Facebook, widely used by the reformist opposition to organise mass protests following the controversial 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Morality police chief General Ahmad Rouzbahani warned in early August that the police would act forcefully against such events “in public places, or anywhere throughout the country.”

In early August, 17 boys and girls were arrested over a water fight at a seaside park in the southern city of Bandar Abbas, after taking part in what the provincial justice chief said was an act that was “haram,” banned by Islam.

source: AFP

News outlets linked to ethnic and human rights activists as well as eyewitness reports indicate that security forces were on alert in various Azerbaijan cities in Iran and confronted the crowds with tear gas and batons. According to HRANA (the Human Rights Activists News Agency), dozens of people were arrested. Some reports indicate that police used plastic bullets, which led to several injuries among protesters.

The Fars semi-official news agency confirmed the unrest but wrote that the demonstrators were rallied by “ethnic” groups, adding that the demonstrators numbered only about 50 people.

The Islamic Republic does not let independent and international media cover social and political protests; therefore, it is not possible to confirm details of the published reports.

Protesters maintain that government policies and mismanagement at the local level are the main causes of the rapid decline in the water levels of Lake Oroumiyeh.

Parliament recently voted down a plan to redirect water from the Aras River to Lake Oroumiyeh, which has led to a new wave of protests by environmental and Azerbaijani activists.

source: Radio Zamaneh

According to Saham news, the official website of Karroubi’s National Trust Party, the Green Movement leader was able meet with his family on Wednesday which coincided with the Eid Al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

The website reported that Karroubi’s son (Hossein), wife (Fatemeh), daughter-in-law and grandchildren were also present at the family reunion.

“I hadn’t seen my father for close to seven months; which means since the first day the house arrest began,” Hossein Karroubi told Saham news. “… I was suddenly informed about the security forces’ agreement to let my family, my mother and I meet with my father. Therefore today around noon we went to the building where he’s been held since for the past month.”

Hossein Karroubi also pointed out that his father’s mental and physical condition was “desirable.” “Throughout the visit, he spoke about [different] matters with great morale, just like before, and he stood on his previous positions more firmly than before.”

In recent days, websites close to the Iranian regime had been claiming that Karroubi was preparing to release a statement announcing his “repentance” for his uncompromising stance following the aftermath of the rigged 2009 presidential election.

During his meeting with his father, Hossein Karroubi reportedly briefed the cleric about the alleged “repentance letter.” “In response, he said, ‘I’m reaffirm my position and beliefs, and I won’t back down an iota’.”

“The regime and intelligence forces have in the past seven months become very familiar with my character and know my positions, they’ve come to understand how I think, this is why they won’t allow themselves to ‘guide’ and ‘instruct’ me, let alone trying to get me to write a repentance letter,” Karroubi is reported to have said.

Security forces also promised to transfer Karroubi to a more appropriate location with access to a yard and open air. They also spoke about the possibility of Karroubi’s wife, Fatemeh Karroubi, joining her husband in captivity. Currently, the Intelligence Ministry is responsible for providing Mr Karroubi with food and basic necessities, Saham news added.

In an interview with the website news, Karroubi’s wife recently said her husband had been separated and moved to a new, tiny apartment on 1 August 2011 and that there had been no communication from him since 16 July 2011.

Mehdi Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi, two presidential candidates who challenged the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009, were placed under house arrested after calling for protests in support of the Arab Spring on 14 February. Nearly 200 days later and despite international condemnation of their house arrest, there has been no judicial process whatsoever initiated by their captors.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran recently stated that it held Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “directly responsible for the safety and health of Karroubi and Mousavi and calls on him to immediately release them.”

source: The Green Voice of Freedom

Iran has tried to walk two paths since the pro-democracy rebellions began in February — lauding the popular revolts as modern-day heirs to Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, while maintaining relentless pressure on opposition groups at home. But Iran is at risk of serious political setbacks. Iran’s main Mideast ally, Syria’s Bashar Assad, is under growing international pressure for his fierce crackdown on anti-government protests.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a speech broadcast on Iran’s state TV to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, reflected the added worries that the West and its allies could gain ground in the Arab Spring.

“Muslim nations in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen or other countries need vigilance today. They should not allow enemies to confiscate the victories they’ve achieved,” Khamenei said. “They should not forget that those who have come to the scene in Libya (U.S. and NATO) today and consider themselves owners of the uprising are the same people who used to sit and drink with those who once suppressed the Libyan nation.”

Iran’s supreme leader, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran, urged Libyans not to allow the U.S. and its allies to dominate their country.

On Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said his country secretly provided humanitarian supplies to Libya’s rebel National Transitional Council. Salehi said Iran had sent four medicine and food shipments to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

“Today they (U.S. and its allies) seek to take advantage of the situation. Nations must be vigilant and wakeful,” said Khamenei.

But he made no mention of Syria, where Assad’s regime is struggling to contain opposition forces.

In Iran’s view, collapse of pro-U.S. governments in Egypt and Tunisia were strong blows to U.S. influence in the region and a new “Islamic awakening.”

Iran has supported Arab uprisings, saying change of governments in North Africa shows a new Middle East is emerging that will doom Israel and break free of American interference. Iran has sought to portray the popular uprisings as a replay of its 1979 Islamic Revolution which toppled the pro-U.S. shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and brought hardline clerics to power.

source: AP

“This flotilla which is comprised of a submarine and a warship will patrol the high seas and display the capabilities of the Islamic republic of Iran,” said Sayyari, quoted by the state television website.

In July, Iran announced intentions to boost its military presence in international waters, with plans to deploy warships in the Atlantic.

Sayyari said the flotilla, in its 15th mission of its kind to be dispatched to the Red Sea, would also focus on “fighting piracy”. In recent years, local media have reported that Iranian warships accompanied Iranian ships and those of other nations as they made their way across the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden.

In June, Iranian “Kilo” class submarines escorted warships to the Red Sea “to collect data,” in their first mission in distant waters.

Iran’s maritime forces are composed mainly of small units equipped with missiles and operating under the control of the elite Revolutionary Guards in the Gulf. The ocean-going fleet is also small and under the command of the navy which comprises a half-dozen frigates and destroyers from 1,500 to 2,000 tonnes, and three 3,000-tonne submarines bought from Russia in the 1990s.

In February, Iran moved two warships into the Mediterranean, crossing the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, triggering anger in Israel and prompting the Jewish state to put its navy on alert.

source: AFP

Protesters in Oroumiyeh condemned “the government’s policy of drying out Lake Oroumiyeh.” The Association for the Defence of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners reports that the gatherings were attended by thousands of protesters. According to eyewitnesses, the government forces used tear gas bombs and batons to disperse the crowd, injuring and arresting dozens of protesters.

Families of the detainees have told Radio Zamaneh that authorities aren’t saying where they’re being held.

Earlier, 22 Iranian MPs called for immediate action regarding the critical situation at Lake Oroumiyeh, which is quickly becoming a salt field, a process that has been accelerated by the numerous dams built on the rivers that feed it.

The government has so far confronted public outcry in the region by arresting activists.

source: Radio Zamaneh

In an interview with Lebanon’s Hezbollah-affiliated Almenar TV station, Ahmadinejad said the West has a plan in mind for Arab countries and is hoping that what occurred in Libya will also come to pass in Syria.

He went on to urge the government and the people of Syria to resolve their differences, adding that: “All the miseries of the people in the region are perpetuated by the West; the West is working hard to take over the administration of the popular movements that have arisen in the region.”

He went on to explain: “The fact that people in the region are dissatisfied with the present situation is indubitable. Opinion polls reveal that they are dissatisfied with current circumstances, the lack of freedom, justice and the right to determine their fate. Although protests are in effect popular in nature, their management is the determining factor.”

Ahmadinejad added that the U.S. is working hard in the region to preserve and consolidate Israeli government influence in the region.

He emphasized that the Islamic Republic will not abandon its support of anti-Israeli resistance and added: “Whoever believes in humanity must work for the elimination of the Zionist regime as the symbol of world oppression and discrimination.”

He also condemned the UN resolution that gave the green light for foreign military intervention in Libya, adding that diplomatic means should have been used to resolve the situation.

“Even if people are in pursuit of their legal right, they should not allow their protests to be turned toward U.S. and Israeli interests.”

source: Radio Zamaneh

Abdolreza Soudbakhsh, a physician and professor at Tehran university, was shot dead by men on a motorcycle as he left his office last September. At the time of his assassination, Iranian officials denied his murder had anything to do with the cases of alleged rape in Kahrizak, a detention centre that Iran used to imprison many of the opposition activists caught up in the protests following the country’s disputed presidential elections.

Many protesters are believed to have been tortured to death in Kahrizak and several have claimed they were raped. But the doctor’s son Behrang Soudbakhsh said in an interview with Fereshteh Ghazi of Roozonline, an opposition website, that his father had indeed examined the rape victims of Kahrizak and was under pressure to remain silent about those who died under torture.

Kahrizak became a scandal for the regime when Mohsen Rouholamini, the son of a former senior advisor to the Revolutionary Guards, was named among prisoners who died in the centre. After Rouholamini’s death, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered the closure of Kahrizak but the opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi later spoke out about the extent of rape inside the centre after meeting some of its victims.

“[My father] was told to say that the victims of Kahrizak had Meningitis. He asked to see the dead bodies and when he examined them, he concluded that they had died under torture and not Meningitis,” Behrang Soudbakhsh said. “Once he said that how could they rape an 18-year-old kid so severely that he died after that? How could they rape the children,” he asked.

The doctor was planning to leave Iran on the night of his assassination, which his son said suggested he was killed to prevent him from revealing more information. Soudbakhsh Sr had given an interview to Deutsche Welle’s Persian network a few weeks before his death, in which he had mentioned rape inside prison.

“They were thinking that my father was going to the US to reveal his information in details in an open society. My father was one of the few experts in Iran who had precise information [on the issue],” Soudbakhsh Jr said. “They killed my father because he didn’t want to lie and he didn’t lie.”

According to the doctor’s son, Soudbakhsh was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time of his assassination. He was shot where the vest did not protect his body by a gun with a silencer. His son said this showed the killers were aware he was wearing the vest.

Soudbakhsh Jr said the police refused to co-operate with an inquiry into his father’s death. According to witnesses who spoke to the son, but who have spoken in public, the killers appear to have been so unworried about being caught that they did not cover their faces. But the dead man’s family has been unable to watch CCTV footage of the incident.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards and its intelligence unit are believed to be the main groups responsible for the suppression of protesters in the country’s post-election unrest. Families of the dead protesters have appealed to the UN human rights special rapporteur, Ahmed Shaheed, to investigate the events related to the 2009 unrest but Iran has signalled it will not allow the monitor to enter the country.

The scandal has also taken the life of another Iranian doctor, Ramin Pourandarjani, known as the “Kahrizak doctor”, who examined the inmates in the detention centre. He died in November 2009 under mysterious circumstances.

source: The Guardian

“A lot is at stake,” the Middle East Economic Digest, published in Dubai, reported this week. “Iran risks becoming a net oil importer if output rates continue to fall.”

In 2010, Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi warned that the hydrocarbons sector needed investment of $150 billion-$200 billion over the 5-6 years to stem the decline in production. But Tehran doesn’t have that kind of money and the sanctions prohibit Western oilmen investing. MEED observed that Mirkazemi was “not alone in warning that Iran is on course for a meltdown in the energy sector.”

Iran is the second largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia.

The Oil Ministry declared in October 2010 that the country’s reserves had risen to 150.31 billion barrels from 138 billion. The decline of Iran’s aging oil fields, which began producing in the 1940s and 50s, is rapidly becoming a serious problem that could have dramatic long-term implications for the Islamic Republic.

Under the threat of U.N. sanctions imposed in June 2010, reinforced by U.S. and EU measures, European majors such as Royal Dutch Shell, Total of France, Statoil of Norway and Eni of Italy have cut all investment in Iran. Japanese oil developer Inpex Corp. announced Oct. 2, 2010, it was withdrawing from a key oil project, development of the giant Azadegan field in southwestern Iran. Inpex, in which the Japanese government effectively holds a 30 percent stake, had invested $148.8 million for drilling rights at Azadegan. The field is believed to hold 26 billion barrels, one of the largest reserves in the world. Japan imports around 11 percent of its oil from Iran and the loss of Azadegan, Iran’s largest onshore oil field project, was a serious blow.

Not so long ago, Shell and Total were falling over themselves to help develop South Pars, the world’s biggest natural gas field off southern Iran with estimated reserves of 436 trillion cubic feet. But these days, the only taker is the China National Petroleum Corp. The Financial Times observed that South Pars “has turned into a symbol of how Iran’s oil and gas fields have been damaged by sanctions and unattractive energy deals.”

Shell, along with Spain’s Repsol, had been scheduled to develop phases 13 and 14 of South Pars but pulled out. Total withdrew from phase 11.

The situation is becoming a problem for domestic companies as well. Khatam al-Anbiya, the engineering and construction arm of the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, was reported to have withdrawn from South Pars as well. The reason remains unexplained beyond a statement that the enterprise wanted to avoid endangering unspecified “national interests.”

Industry analysts suspect the withdrawal is related to the sanctions, which allow international assets held by Khatam al-Anbiya to be frozen.

“Iran’s hydrocarbon production is now locked in a downward trajectory, as high-quality Western technology is off-limits,” the Financial Times reported.

Prior to sanctions, oil exports accounted for roughly half of Iran’s budget revenue, so the “production decline will sting,” the newspaper said.

Importing enhanced oil recovery systems to arrest the damaging production decline has been blocked by the sanctions. This has led Iran to fall back on older methods to boost production. This mainly involves injecting massive quantities of gas into oil reservoirs to force the crude to the surface.

“Conservative estimates suggest Iran needs to replace at least 300,000 bpd of oil production a year as its fields mature,” MEED reported.

“By 2015, crude oil production is expected to fall to 3.8 million bpd from 4 .2 million bpd in 2010. Production capacity could fall faster if sanctions continue.”

source: UPI