London (The Sun)- The Government was today told that it should remove the main Iranian opposition movement from a list of banned terrorist organisations.

The Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC), in central London, ruled the decision not to remove the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) from the proscribed terrorist blacklist under the 2000 Terrorist Act was "perverse".

The appeal against the Home Secretary's decision to proscribe the PMOI as a terrorist organisation was brought by 35 cross-party senior MPs and peers including former Home Secretary Lord Waddington, former Solicitor General Lord Archer of Sandwell and former Law Lord, Lord Slynn of Hadley.
 
About 200 campaigners cheered and threw colourful confetti, blew horns and handed out sweets when Lord Corbett, chairman of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom, broke the news on the steps of the POAC.

He told the jubilant crowd: "This is an historic day on the road to freedom and democracy for the Iranian people."

Siena, 30 Nov. (AKI) - Two Kurdish journalists, Adnan Hassanpour and Hiwa Boutimar, condemned to death in Iran, have been awarded a prestigious Italian prize for freedom of the press.

The City of Siena - ISF award was announced in the historical Tuscan city in a ceremony at the Town Hall on Friday.

The prize is organised jointly by Information, Safety & Freedom (ISF) and the municipality of Siena.

Leyli Hassanpour, sister of Adnan and Hadi Boutimar, brother of Hiwa, attended the ceremony to represent their jailed siblings.

Stefano Marcelli, president of ISF, said "this decision is above all a determined attempt to save both their lives," he said.

But Khalil Bahramian, one of the lawyers defending the jailed Iranian journalists, was absent from the award ceremony.

He was due to attend but was arrested in Tehran just before boarding a flight for Italy via Istanbul on Tuesday.

Bahramian was stopped by plainclothes police just after immigration officials told him he could not leave the country.

The families of the two Kurdish journalists, condemned to death by the Iranian Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj, were later welcomed by the Regional Council of Tuscany on Friday

President of Tuscany's Regional Council, Riccardo Nencini, expressed his opposition to the decision by the Iranian government to block Bahramian's departure.

"Stopping Bahramian is an outrageous act," he said in a statement.

Boutimar and Hassanpour, who are cousins, were in July sentenced to death by an Iranian Revolutionary court. They wrote for the Kurdish-Farsi news magazine Asu (Waves) which was closed by the Iranian authorities in August 2005 following widespread unrest in Kurdish areas.

Hassanpour is as an advocate of cultural rights for Iranian Kurds and Boutimar is an environmental activist.

Two Italian rights groups, Article 21 and Information, Safety & Freedom have petitioned the Italian government and the European Union to intervene on their behalf.

Proceedings before Revolutionary Courts in Iran do not meet international standards for fair trial, according to campaign group Amnesty International.

ANKARA, Turkey(AP)  - Turkey's prime minister said Friday the government had granted authorization to the military to launch a cross-border operation against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq at any time.

There was no sign following the announcement by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the military was gearing up for an immediate attack on guerrilla positions in Iraq. Turkish officials have often said they have the right to attack those hideouts, raising fears a cross-border operation was imminent.

Erdogan's announcement followed communication in recent weeks between the military and the government concerning the scope of a possible operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. A top general had said the military was awaiting a government directive on how to proceed against the group, which has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984.

However, Erdogan's announcement appeared to indicate that Turkish civilian and military leaders were working out details of a possible offensive in Iraq until this week.

"As of November 28, the Turkish Armed Forces have been given an authorization concerning a cross-border operation," Erdogan said. The authorization followed a Nov. 26 Cabinet meeting, as well as approval by President Abdullah Gul, Erdogan said.

Parliament voted Oct. 17 in favor of authorizing the government to order a cross-border operation against the PKK, which seeks autonomy for the Kurdish minority in southeastern Turkey.

Turkey massed tens of thousands of Turkish troops along the border with Iraq amid a series of attacks by Kurdish insurgents. But some military officials have said Turkey is more likely to stage airstrikes and raids by special forces instead of a large-scale occupation of Iraqi territory that could carry greater military and political risks.

The United States and Iraq urged Turkey to avoid a major operation against PKK bases in northern Iraq, fearing such an operation would destabilize what has been the calmest region in the country. In a Nov. 5 meeting with Erdogan, President Bush promised to share intelligence on the PKK with the Turkish government.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has taken command of Iranian naval operations in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. military has revealed.

That means U.S. naval forces are operating in the same waters as an organization the United States considers a major supporter of terrorist activity.

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the disclosure Wednesday at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was answering questions from military students.

Afterward, in a written statement, the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet in Bahrain said, "Based on activities observed in the Arabian Gulf over the past several months, it appears the Iranian navy has shifted its patrol areas to the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman -- leaving the IRGC navy to provide the primary Iranian naval presence in the Arabian Gulf."

The move is of concern to the U.S. Navy, which has long viewed the IRGC's forces as more antagonistic than Iran's regular navy.

Mullen said Iran made a "strategic decision" in recent months to "essentially give the entire Gulf to the IRGC over the next four or five years."

"That's a big deal, because I think part of the leading-edge challenge with Iran is the IRGC specifically," Mullen said.

For the past several months, IRGC forces have occupied a sunken barge and crane near Iraqi oil terminals at the northern end of the Persian Gulf. The IRGC is using the site as an observation post for the area, which is patrolled regularly by U.S. and coalition naval forces.

Mullen's comments reflect the chairman's concern about not just Iran's nuclear program, but also its arms shipments to Iraq and Afghanistan and statements against Israel, a senior U.S. Navy official said.

The United States has long said it believes the IRGC is behind those arms shipments, but it has stopped short of saying the central government of Iran is responsible for those actions.

IRGC forces earlier this year seized a group of British sailors at the northern end of the Gulf and held them for several days. The British had been conducting a boarding of a merchant vessel, as part of an approved coalition operation in the Gulf.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's government has given the country's armed forces the authority to conduct a cross-border operation against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Despite U.S. opposition to a major operation, Turkey has repeatedly vowed to hunt down the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas who use northern Iraq as a base to launch attacks on Turkish territory.

(Reporting by Daren Butler)

Maryam Rajavi: POAC judgment is a magnificent victory for justice and the Resistance as well as a message of firmness to religious fascism.

NCRI - Nearly seven years after the proscription of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) in the United Kingdom, today, after extensive scrutiny, the Proscribed Organisations Appeals Commission (POAC) issued a judgment which unequivocally declared the terrorist label against the PMOI unlawful, null and void.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, described today's ruling as a magnificent victory for justice, an acknowledgement of the righteousness of the Iranian Resistance and the PMOI, indicative of the awakened conscience of the international community and a message of firmness by the world community to the religious fascism ruling Iran.

Mrs. Rajavi congratulated the PMOI, the combatants of freedom in Ashraf City, Iraq, the Iranian people and all advocates of justice and freedom on this historic victory. She described it as a triumph of human values and achievements, including the recognition of the right to resist for freedom.

The Iranian Resistance's President-elect said the 35 British Peers and MPs, who challenged the proscription of the PMOI, were the aware conscience of the people of Britain, adding that they had rebelled against a great injustice to the Iranian people and Resistance.

Mrs. Rajavi paid homage to the memory of the late Lord Renton, one of the appellants, lauded and thanked all lawmakers, jurists, lawyers and those who had striven for many years to revoke this proscription.

She commended the honorable judges who voted with their judicial and human conscience and who were not persuaded by the policy of appeasement, pressures and obstructions. Mrs. Rajavi said that the judgment confirms the fact that from its inception, the proscription had been politically motivated only to mollify the tyrants ruling Iran.

She called on the British government to accept and implement the judgment without delay and remove all restrictions emanating from the proscription.

Mrs. Rajavi recalled that nothing in the past decade had prolonged the mullahs' rule and undermined democratic change in Iran more than the inclusion of the clerical regime's legitimate opposition in various terrorist lists.

She said, as became evident during the course of the hearing and in the documents the British government provided to the court, the bombing of the PMOI bases during the invasion of Iraq, which caused the martyrdom of dozens of the PMOI members, was carried out at the behest of the Iranian regime and justified by the terrorist label.

After today's ruling, Mrs. Rajavi, added, the European Union must immediately annul the unlawful terrorist label against the PMOI because the basis for that designation was the proscription of the PMOI by the British Home Office and because the European Court of Justice had annulled it.

The Iranian Resistance's President-elect recalled that the terror tag against the main Iranian opposition movement and the resultant restrictive measures were the most striking aspect of appeasing the religious dictatorship ruling Iran and the greatest obstacle to democratic change in Iran.

She said, by way of experience, the policy which sought moderates, promoted constructive or critical dialogue, and offered incentives to the religious dictatorship ruling Iran will have no result other than providing it with greater opportunity and motivation to act more aggressively.

The Iranian Resistance's President-elect added that the time had come to abandon any form of appeasement of, compromise with, and kowtowing to, the mullahs' regime, which is today justified under the veneer of "seeking peace." She added: Decisiveness is the only way to deal with a regime which is pursuing a nuclear bomb, seeking hegemony over, and filling the power vacuum in, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Somalia, through the export of fundamentalism and terrorism. This warmongering regime has increased the range of its missiles which now reach European countries and has undoubtedly pushed the Middle East region and the rest of the world to the brink of a catastrophe.

Mrs. Rajavi emphasized: We have always said and repeat again that the fundamental solution to the Iranian crisis is neither foreign military intervention nor appeasement. The solution is democratic change by the Iranian people and Resistance, making it imperative to remove the barriers placed in the path of this Resistance.

LONDON: (AP)-A British court on Friday ordered one of Iran's most powerful opposition groups removed from the government's list of terrorist organizations.

The People's Mujahedeen of Iran and its affiliates had appealed to authorities to be taken off the list, which includes the likes of al-Qaida and the Kurdish PKK. The move was opposed by Britain's Home Office.

The decision by the Proscribed Organizations Appeal Commission was an important victory for the group, which is still considered a terrorist organization in the United States and the European Union, and has been engaged in long-running legal battles in both places to clear its name of the terrorist tag.

The Home Office said it would appeal.

Outside the court, about 100 PMOI supporters danced, waved flags and chanted slogans amid a cloud of confetti after the decision was announced.

A statement released on behalf of Maryam Rajavi, the president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, identified by the U.S. State Department as the PMOI's political wing, praised the decision and called on the European Union follow Britain's example.

Originally a Marxist-Islamist group, the PMOI was set up in the mid-1960s to oppose the U.S.-backed dictatorship of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. During the 1970s, the PMOI killed U.S. citizens working in Tehran and supported the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy there, according the State Department.

Although the group participated in Iran's Islamic Revolution, it soon fell out with the clerical government and launched a campaign of assassinations and bombings in an attempt to topple it.

The group moved to Iraq in the early 1980s and it fought Iran's Islamic rulers from there until the United States invaded in 2003. The Americans have since disarmed thousands of PMOI members and confined them to a camp near Baghdad.

The State Department accuses the PMOI of participating in attacks on the Iranian military and law enforcement personnel and of displaying "cult-like characteristics."

But the PMOI's backers reject the cult label and argue it no longer engages in armed struggle — either against the United States, Iran, or anyone else — a position the court accepted Friday.

"The PMOI has conducted no military activity of any kind since about August 2001, whether in Iran or elsewhere in the world," the court said.

The legal victory follows a string of reversals for the Iranian dissident group. French authorities cracked down on the PMOI in 2003, arresting Rajavi, a move which prompted some members to burn themselves to death in protest. Although the council successfully challenged an European Union decision to freeze its assets in 2006, that ruling did not result in the removal of the group from the EU list of banned terrorist groups.

While still officially outlawed in most Western countries, the PMOI's standing is complicated by the looming confrontation between the United States, Germany, France and Britain and Iran over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

The group's ambition of overthrowing Iran's theocratic regime has won the praise of U.S. lawmakers worried by allegations that the country is attempting to build a nuclear weapon.

The group's devoted following among Iranian exiles and its aggressive media operation has also helped it garner considerable sympathy in Europe. The group is backed by some European parliamentarians, and, in Britain, the effort to appeal its terrorist status was supported by 35 peers and lawmakers, including former Home Secretary David Waddington.

Despite occasional run-ins with the law, supporters of the group have operated openly in Europe, where they regularly organize protests, rallies and news conferences denouncing the government in Tehran.

(RFE/RL) -- Iranian authorities have detained a blogger after he published details about the reported use of bomb-sniffing dogs in President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's security detail.

The Persian-language website gooya.com says Reza Valizadeh was the object of a complaint from the president's office. He was detained on November 26, but his whereabouts are unknown. Iran's judiciary has neither confirmed nor denied Valizadeh's arrest.

Valizadeh wrote on his blog that Ahmadinejad's security staff purchased four dogs in Germany for 150 million toumans each (about $150,000).

He reported that the canines were deployed to sniff out possible explosives on November 14, before Ahmadinejad's appearance at an annual press exhibition. The sweep left exhibition visitors standing outside the venue for several hours.

He also said the price of the dogs and their appearance in public evoked surprise and criticism. Some strict Shi'ite interpretations of the Koran regard dogs as unclean, and dog ownership is controversial in Shi'a-dominated Iran.

The populist Ahmadinejad came to power on promises of returning wealth to the average Iranian, and he carefully cultivates an image of modesty by dressing simply and repeating publicly that he carries a packed lunch to work.

The British daily "The Guardian" reported on November 20 that the use of dogs in the protection of an Iranian head of state could be unprecedented in the 28-year history of Iran's Islamic republic.

Valizadeh quoted an unnamed official as saying the decision to deploy the bomb-sniffing dogs was made by the security team, and was outside the authority of the president.

Crackdown On Critics

Valizadeh's arrest comes two days after dozens of Iranian journalists and intellectuals issued a statement to protest the jailing of journalists who are critical of the Iranian government.

One of the signatories, journalist Issa Saharkhiz, told Radio Farda on November 26 that a government crackdown on journalists has intensified in recent months. "There are some who are sitting and thinking of ways to fill up Iran's prisons. Unfortunately, we now see this not only in Tehran but also in the provinces," Saharkhiz said.

Saharkhiz added that journalists and media workers have lost their jobs as a result, and society has been limited to a "single voice."

In recent weeks, several journalists have been detained or charged in cities like Ahvaz, Rasht, and Sanandaj.

Iran was ranked 166th of 169 countries in Paris-based Reporters Without Borders' index of world press freedoms, published last month.

Iranian officials, including Ahmadinejad, insist there is freedom of speech in Iran. But journalists are frequently charged with security-related crimes.

Rights groups say the atmosphere for free speech has deteriorated since Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005.

(Radio Farda's Ruzbeh Bolhari contributed to this report.)

Turkish authorities have received from the German government the first group of foreign Kurdish rebels whose names have been listed on the International Police (Interpol) as wanted persons.

Anatolia news agency announced today that Turkey received 176 separatists that have been brought by the German security authorities to Istanbul according to a memorandum filed by Ankara. It added that Ashraf Kazlai was among the group of the 176 separatists who were received by Turkey.

Turkey had issued a death sentence on Kazlai for his involvement in the killing of six members of the police but since the death penalty has been waived, he was given life imprisonment.

OSLO (AFP)--Mullah Krekar, the founder of radical Islamist group Ansar al- Islam, has warned there will be "reactions" against Norway if it goes ahead with a court ruling to expel him, NRK television reported Thursday.

Three groups would "react" if he was deported, according to an NRK translation of comments the Iraqi Kurd made earlier this month to a Web site called Awane, which means "mirror" in Kurdish.

The three groups were: his relatives, an unidentified armed organization and people, possibly from Somalia or Morocco, who follow his religious teachings, according to the translated comments, which gave no details of what the reactions would entail.

Norway's Supreme Court on Nov. 8 upheld previous court rulings and a 2003 decision by the Norwegian authorities to expel Krekar from the Scandinavian country, claiming he was a national security concern.

Norwegian law however prevents Krekar, whose real name is Fateh Najmeddin Faraj, from being deported to his homeland until the situation in Iraq improves.

The Muslim leader has lived in Norway as a refugee since 1991, and has been under threat of deportation since Norwegian media revealed he was the founder of Ansar al-Islam, which figures on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

The Iraqi Kurd admits that he founded the group but insists he hasn't headed it since May 2002.

Krekar, who insists his life would be in danger if he returns to Iraq, has meanwhile come out in support of "jihad", or holy war, in that country.

He has compared the U.S. occupation of Iraq to the Nazi invasion of European countries, and insisted that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is "a good man".

In Thursday's report, NRK also said Krekar had admitted in an Australian documentary earlier this month that he himself had trained suicide bombers and had come out in support of the 2003 killing of an Australian television cameraman in Iraq.

Forty-five prisoners including a juvenile hanged in the past month

NCRI - The mullahs' henchmen hanged a prisoner identified only by his first name as Ahmad in the central city of Isfahan, the state-run daily Iran reported today.

Two prisoners identified as Shams-al-din Darvakh Gargich and Mahmoud Shah Pashton hanged in the prison yard in the southeastern city of Zahedan, the state-run news agency IRNA reported on November 24.

The regime hanged in public a prisoner named Amin in the Dastgheib Square in the holy city of Qom, the state-run daily Etemaad reported on November 22.

According to government sources, the Iranian regime executed forty-five prisoners including a juvenile at time of the crime in the past month.

The Iranian Resistance calls on the UN Secretary General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and all international human rights organizations to condemn the regime for its gross violation of human rights, in particular in the ongoing UN General Assembly.

The arrest of Iranian bloggers who criticise government policies is becoming almost systematic, Reporters Without Borders said today after two more were arrested in the past 10 days.

“Bloggers put their freedom at risk every time they criticise President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or one of his close political associates,” the press freedom organisation said. “The battle for freedom in Iran is being fought on the Internet but the government sees free speech as a ‘national security threat.’ The use of this charge is ridiculous and just serves as a pretext for silencing critics of the regime.”

Reza Valizadeh, 31, was arrested in Tehran on 27 November over an article on the website he edits, Baznegar (http://www.baznegar.com/). Posted 10 days before and headlined “Ahmadinejad’s four dogs”, it was about the exaggerated price (60,000 dollars) paid for four guard dogs to protect the president’s office. The story, which was one of the first articles on the subject, was later picked up by the British newspaper The Guardian. Validazeh is now being held in the Evin prison on the norther, outskirts of Tehran and the authorities are demanding 50,000 euros (74,000 dollars) for his release.

Baznegar has been publishing a daily review of Iranian blogs for the past year. Valizadeh has also been writing a blog called Eistgah (“The Station” - http://eistgah.blogfa.com) since March 2005.

Maryam Hosseinkhah was arrested on 18 November for writing about women’s issues on the on the website Zanestan (“Women’s City - http://herlandmag.net/). She is now being held in Evin prison and the authorities are demanding 95,000 euros (141,000 dollars )for her release.

AMIR KABIR university magazine

The Washington Times

Editorial

By Paul E. Vallely and Fred Gedrich

The United States recently labeled Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terror group. Many Americans worry that it's not enough. They should, because the IRGC and the Iranian regime have been engaged in a one-sided "Death to America" campaign for 28 years.

Ayatollah Khomeini created the IRGC in 1979 primarily to safeguard the ideals of his Shi'ite Islamic Revolution, protect his regime from domestic and foreign opponents and export his brutal brand of Islamic fundamentalism, influence and terrorism to neighboring states.

The group operates independently from Iran's regular military — reporting directly to the supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei — and currently has about 200,000 members assigned to special army, air force, navy and intelligence units.

The IRGC exports the revolution through its notorious Quds (Jerusalem) Force. The force is comprised of about 20,000 highly trained personnel specializing in guerrilla war, armed insurgency and terrorism in places like Iraq, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

IRGC members participated in seizing the American embassy in 1979 and holding 52 hostages for 444 days — in violation of international law and millennia of diplomatic protocols. Its Quds Force used Hezbollah proxies to bomb U.S. embassies and the Marine Barracks in Lebanon, residences in Saudi Arabia, and it orchestrated the kidnapping and murdering of American captives. They now manufacture and supply lethal roadside bombs to Shi'ite militias in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan that kill and maim American troops.

In addition to having a powerful security apparatus, the IRGC exerts tremendous political and economic clout. Former and current group members occupy 14 of 21 cabinet positions, 80 of 290 parliament seats, and a host of local mayorships and council seats. Past and present members also include Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ambassador to Iraq Kazemi-Qomi and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Larijani. IRGC is also a business conglomerate controlling some 500 companies active in a wide range of industries including nuclear power, banking, insurance, and recreation.

IRGC and Quds Force headquarters are located in Tehran, the latter in the former U.S. embassy. Their main tactical bases for Iraq operations are located in the Fajr and Nasr garrisons in Khuzistan and Azerbaijan provinces — and the principal terrorist training facility is located in Northern Tehran's Imam Ali Garrison. Lethal roadside bombs (explosively formed projectiles) are produced by Sattari Industries in Tehran's Lavizan District.

It's highly unlikely that the designation of the IRGC as a terror group will make much difference. The best the United States can expect is that some foreign businesses may decide to curtail current business arrangements with the group. Since 1984 the United States has imposed congressionally mandated economic and export penalties on American firms doing business with Iran's terrorist regime. The net result: French, German, Russian, Chinese and Japanese businesses simply supplanted U.S. businesses as Iranian trading partners, and by 2006, Iran's annual trade blossomed to $110 billion.

If the United States truly seeks to achieve greater Middle East peace and stability it should incorporate military measures into the current Iranian policy and covertly encourage all Iranian opposition and resistance groups and dissidents — including the MEK, which the United States unjustly labeled a terror group during the Clinton administration in a failed rapprochement attempt — to increase activities to peaceably change the government.

Accordingly, Mr. Bush should:

One, inform Iran that it must stop 1) developing its nuclear program immediately and verifiably; 2) providing ordnance and training to Iraqi Shi'ite militias like the Mahdi Army, Badr organization and others; 3) supporting foreign terror groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad; and 4) providing sanctuary to al Qaeda leaders and operatives. If Iran refuses, the consequences will be limited and selective military air strikes on nuclear facilities and anything supporting them; roadside bomb factories, and the IRGC and Quds Force headquarters and facilities in Iran. As Henry Kissinger sagely notes, diplomacy not backed by the potential use of force equates to impotency.

Two, assure Iranian opposition and resistance groups and dissidents that the United States is committed to regime change. Iran is rife with disenchantment and dissent and unfortunately severe repression — as illustrated by the regime during recent months arresting more than one million people and hanging and stoning several hundred of them to death. In all, there were some 4,800 anti-government demonstrations and protest acts since during the past year, among them student demonstrations, workers protests and riots to protest gasoline rationing. Any significant diminishment of IRGC capabilities, through selective U.S. air strikes, and a concurrent popular uprising among Iran's 65 million citizens could possibly lead to the downfall of the regime.

Three, obtain approval from Congress to use military force in Iran or, if circumstances demand, use existing constitutional war power authorities to neutralize the security threat.

The fact the United States has never adequately responded to Iran's repeated "acts of war" against U.S. troops, citizens and interests has not been overlooked by the American public. It's one reason why a Zogby Poll (released on Oct. 29) reports that 52 percent of surveyed Americans support a military strike on Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.

After years of hand-wringing and failed diplomatic efforts dating back to the Carter presidency, Americans deserve a policy commensurate with the security threat. Hopefully, it's one that drives the current Iranian thugs from power or leaves them with a much-deserved bloody nose.

Army Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely, retired, is chairman of Stand Up America and a member of the Iran Policy Committee. Fred Gedrich is a foreign policy and national security analyst who served in the Departments of State and Defense.

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Nov. 28 – Iran will unveil a new light submarine on Wednesday on its southern shores, state media reported.

The submarine has been under construction by experts within the Iranian Defence Ministry for several years, the government-owned news agency Fars said on Tuesday.

The submarine is to commence its first journey in waters south of Iran at a ceremony attended by Iranian military commanders, the report said.

Iran has a dual military system with a regular Armed Forces as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Both have their own Army, Navy, and Air Force and report directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday predicted that Israel would not survive, as he lashed out at the US-hosted conference seeking to relaunch the Middle East peace process.

"It is impossible that the Zionist regime can last," the government mouthpiece website of state broadcasting quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a cabinet meeting.

"Deterioration is in the nature of this regime as it has been built on aggression, lying, crime and wrongdoing," he added.

He said the meeting uniting Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Annapolis, Maryland has "failed already and was stillborn. It lacked the cornerstones of effective political work".

The Islamic republic -- which has made non-recognition of Israel one of its main ideological themes -- has been left isolated by the attendance at the meeting of Saudi Arabia and its chief regional ally Syria.

Ahmadinejad has repeatedly courted controversy by predicting Israel is doomed to disappear, most notoriously calling in 2005 for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map".

The whereabouts of the President of Kurdistan region remain in the dark after reports of an alleged assassination attempt by one of his aide. Many reports of attempt on Barzai’s life appeared mainly in Arabic and Turkish media which all been denied by Kurdistan Regional government’s official spokesperson.

Latest public appearance by Massoud Barzani was on 8th of November when he met Iraqi Parliamentary Speaker Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani in Erbil.

Kurdish Regional Government sources say Barzani is out of Kurdistan on holiday in Europe without naming the country. Last week, there were unconfirmed reports that Barzani and his family arrived in Vienna for holiday. Also last week a Turkish newspaper reported that Barzani have been seen shopping in a famous street of Milano, Italy with some of his bodyguards. Pukmedia.com a Kurdish website run by Patriotic union of Kurdistan (PUK) reported on Sunday that Barzani in Vienna for routine health check.

An Israeli newspaper with links to Israeli Intelligent services published report that Barzani was admitted to an Israeli Hospital in Til Aviv for treatment after an alleged assassination attempt by one of his aide. These claims where denied by Fuad Hussein, spokesperson for Barzani.

KurdishMedia

Iraqi Kurdistan leader Masoud Barzani reported secretly admitted to an Israeli hospital after attempted assassination, Iraqi non-governmental sources said.

The president of Iraqi Kurdistan is said to have been taken secretly to a hospital in central Tel Aviv after a brief stopover in Amman, Jordan.

This is not confirmed by any other source.

Neither is the report that Barzani had been wounded Friday, Nov. 24, in an assassination attempt by one of his aides in Irbil, the Kurdish capital.

Kurdish officials only admitted he was out of the country, while a source close to Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party said he had been taken out of Iraq Friday for medical treatment without mentioning his destination. 
Debka

By SELCAN HACAOGLU
Associated Press Writer

ANKARA, Turkey - The Turkish military, massed in increasing numbers for a possible assault on Kurdish rebels in Iraq, has begun dropping leaflets urging rebels to surrender and "be welcomed with love," an official said Tuesday.

In recent weeks, Turkey has moved more soldiers and artillery units to the border with Iraq for a possible cross-border offensive against Kurdish rebel bases.

At the same time, with an amnesty in effect, army helicopters have dropped thousands of leaflets on mountain paths used by the rebels to infiltrate Turkey, a government official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He did not say when the campaign began.

"Make your decision and leave the organization. Go to the nearest military unit or police station. You will be welcomed with love," said one leaflet found by a villager on a mountain path near the border town of Cukurca, the private Dogan news agency reported Tuesday.

The amnesty program has existed for 17 years but has failed to lure most rebels into giving up. The announcement of the new campaign coincided with the 29th anniversary of the founding of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

The leaflet, bearing a photograph of a rebel and a smiling Turkish commando, promised amnesty for rebels who have voluntarily left the group and are not engaged in fighting. Rebel leaders who share critical information about the group also qualify for the amnesty.

The leaflets were dropped from military helicopters taking off from a base near Cukurca, where the borders of Iran, Iraq and Turkey converge, Dogan reported.

In another leaflet, the news agency reported, the telephone numbers of police and paramilitary police were listed, along with a slogan: "The road to freedom is very close."

The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in the predominantly Kurdish southeast since 1984, when it launched its first attack on a military outpost.

Public pressure on the government to attack rebel bases in northern Iraq has built up as rebel attacks have increased.

The United States, however, worries that a Turkish incursion could bring instability to the north — a region that has been the calmest part of Iraq — and could set a precedent for other countries, such as Iran, that have conflicts with Kurdish rebels.

Washington has agreed to share intelligence about rebel positions in the region. And the Iraqi Kurdish administration in northern Iraq has promised to prevent the rebels from attacking Turkey.

But Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said in the U.S. that Iraqi Kurdish authorities have not taken any "satisfactory measures" against the PKK so far, the state-run Anatolia news agency said Tuesday.