Iran Claims Newsweek Reporter Confessed
July 2, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
If this is your first time visiting National Terror Alert you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. The National terror Alert feed features breaking news, alerts and bulletins on demand and it's free of charge..
You will only see this message on your first visit to the site. Thanks for visiting!
A reporter for Newsweek magazine who was arrested in Tehran has confessed to doing the bidding of Western governments, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported Wednesday.
Newsweek says Maziar Bahari has been reporting for years without bias and beyond reproach.
Maziar Bahari, 42, made his alleged confession at a news conference Tuesday. Because international journalists have been limited in their ability to gather news in Iran, CNN has not been able to confirm the agency report.
Fars reported that the Canadian-Iranian reporter who had worked for the BBC and England’s Channel 4 network admitted having filed false reports for Newsweek during the elections — a charge the magazine rejected.
“He has been reporting for years without any possible hint of bias and beyond reproach,” Newsweek Paris Bureau Chief Chris Dickey told CNN. “We think he’s one of the best reporters in the business.”
He called the report “preposterous.”
Dickey said Bahari had not been allowed to speak with a lawyer or with his family since his arrest on June 21.
Iranian Regime Turns Tables On Protesters Using Social Media
Millions of sympathizers around the world looked forward to seeing Iran’s protest movement using the Internet for the first online coup in history. Instead, the Iranian Islamic regime turned the tables: Its Internet police, arguably the largest in the world, pushed “control,” “halt,” “delete” and “send” buttons to activate a deadly weapon for suppressing the movement, as soon as it took to the streets to protest the June 12 election which was believed to have given Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a false victory.
By Sunday, June 28, when the Guardian Council was to hand down its final verdict on their complaints, the street rallies had petered out.
Part of the reason, intelligence sources report, was their organizers’ heavy reliance on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and other social sites to orchestrate their protest movement. They did not at first appreciate that Iranian intelligence Internet experts, operating from secret headquarters established months ago, were using their communications to shoot them down.
According to our sources, that headquarters is located at the telecom center on Sepah (Khomenei) Square in Tehran. It was built for the Shah in the 1970s by the Israel construction contractors Solel Boneh and designed by Israeli intelligence and telecommunications experts.
The high-end apparatus, installed in late 2008 by the German Siemens AG and Finnish Nokia Corp. cell phone giant, gave Iranian intelligence the most advanced tools anywhere for controlling, inspecting, censoring and altering Internet and cell phone messaging. Those tools were being used weeks before the poll to identify penetrations by alien spy services, their local agents and dissident activists.
This system is capable of conducting “deep packet inspection” of every type of text and video communication in all parts of Iran on three tracks:
1. Like other advanced electronic spy systems in the world, this one uses such keywords as attack, weapons, cash, data, explosives, meeting, demonstration, resistance, protest, etc. to alert Iran within milliseconds to feeds of interest by computer or phone – mail, signals or visuals.
In a flash, intelligence analysts get a fix on the sender and the electronic addressee which are then placed on a surveillance list for further monitoring. Once identified, the sender or receiver and their connections are closely shadowed by field agents.
2. By “deep packet inspection,” the secret controllers can cause delays in online data transfers, which surfers may attribute to glitches connected with their providers. The more targets under surveillance, the more online transfers are slowed down.
DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report that the day after the presidential poll and resulting street outbreaks, Iran’s Internet control and tracking supervisors took over the 10 leading service providers in the country. Their first action was to slow down incoming and outgoing cyber traffic from 1,500 to 54 kilobytes to make sure that not a single byte by Internet or cell phone to or from protest leaders escaped their notice.
Iran’s Ayatollah Power Slipping Away?
June 18, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
Since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared runaway winner of the presidential election last week, Iran has seen a daily wave of opposition demonstrations, police crackdowns and violence.
Not since the 1979 Islamic Revolution when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrew the shah has Iranian society been so rattled and divided.
According to the Iranian constitution, the Guardians of the Constitution are supposed to monitor and sign off on election results.
After the votes have been counted and the winner announced by the interior ministry, the Guardians have the responsibility to endorse the result within 10 days if there are no complaints from the defeated candidates.
The president-elect is then confirmed and later sworn in by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
But last week’s election did not follow these procedures.
Despite complaints by Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohsen Rezaei, the opposition candidates, Ayatollah Khamaenei congratulated Ahmadinejad in a public speech and pointed out that he had got 14 million votes more than the first time he was elected president four years ago.
Mousavi, Ahmadinejads Rival Arrested Amid Iran Rioting
Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi was reportedly arrested Saturday following the reformist’s defeat at the polls by hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Supporters of Mousavi, the main challenger to Ahmadinejad, have responded to the election with the most serious unrest in Tehran in a decade and claim that the result was the work of a dictatorship.
There have been a number of contradictory reports from Iran, in large part due to the heavy restrictions imposed on the media in the Islamic Republic and in particular on foreign reporters.
Mousavi’s arrest was reported by an unofficial source, who said that the presidential contender had been arrested en route to the home of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Pro-reform Mousavi has denounced the election as rigged and vowed he will not accept defeat. He and key aides could not be reached by phone Saturday.
Several hundred demonstrators – many wearing the trademark green colors of Mousavi’s campaign – chanted “the government lied to the people” and gathered near the Interior Ministry as the final count from Friday’s presidential election was announced.
As night fell Saturday, the rioting and fires continued on the streets of Tehran. The city’s cell phone network appeared to be down Saturday night. When users tried to call cell phones, a message appeared saying error in connection. There were also reports of difficulties accessing social networking sites – used by Mousavi to rally supporters.
Ahmadinejad Wins Election, Rival Warns of Fraud
Iran’s interior ministry said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took 61 percent of all votes were tallied, but his pro-reform rival countered that he was the clear victor and warned of possible fraud in the election.
The dispute rose up even before polls closed early Saturday, heightening tensions across the capital where emotions have been running at a fever pitch. Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reformist candidate, suggested he might challenge the results.
The messy and tense outcome capped a long day of voting — extended for six hours to accommodate a huge turnout. It raised worries that Iran’s Islamic establishment could use its vast powers to pressure backers of Mousavi.
Hat tip Covertress
Bomb Said to Be On Flight Almost Taken By Former Iranian President
Former President Mohammad Khatami was expected to fly on a domestic flight on Saturday night that was found to have a homemade bomb aboard, an Iranian newspaper reported Monday.
The daily newspaper Sarmayeh said Mr. Khatami had been scheduled to fly on the Kish Air flight to Tehran from the southwestern city of Ahwaz on Saturday evening, but that he had taken another flight instead. It was unclear why he had changed his plans.
Mr. Khatami has been traveling and campaigning in support of Mir Hussein Moussavi, a moderate politician and the most serious challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead of June 12 elections.
The semiofficial Fars news agency reported Sunday that a homemade bomb was found in a lavatory on the Kish Air flight, which had 131 passengers aboard. It said about 15 minutes into the flight the plane turned back to the Ahwaz airport, where authorities defused the device. The agency gave no further details.
via Bomb Said to Be on Flight Almost Taken by Former Iranian President – NYTimes.com.
Iran Sends 6 Warships to International Waters
May 25, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
Iran has sent six warships into international waters in a move security experts are calling a “muscle flexing” show of defiance following missile tests last week.
“Iran has dispatched six … warships to international waters and the Gulf of Aden region in a historically unprecedented move by the Iranian Navy,” Iranian Adm. Habibollah Sayyari told a gathering of armed forces officials, Reuters reported.
Sayyari said the ships were moved to preserve Iran’s territorial integrity in its southern waters, but foreign policy experts are calling it an aggressive move targeted at a Western audience as much as for regional powers like rival Saudi Arabia.
The deployment is “a signal of military strength, resolve and continued defiance to U.S. and U.N. Security Council efforts to end the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program,” said Jim Phillips, senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Heritage Institute.
“What’s very important here is the timing of this move — and this naval muscle flexing comes after Iran’s missile test earlier this week, which was saber rattling that was meant to send the same signal as this naval dispatch.”
Phillips said Ahmadinejad was using the opportunity to thumb his nose at the U.S. and U.N. to advance his own popularity in Iran ahead of the country’s hotly contested June 12 election.
Iran Missile Test Claim – Europe Within Range
May 21, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed to have sucessfully tested another ballistic missile capable of reaching Europe.
Speaking in the northern Iranian city of Semnan, where the Sajil-2 missile was allegedly test-fired, Mr Ahmadinejad said the blast was a success and “met the predetermined target.”
If its alleged range of almost 2,000 kilometers is true, the missile could reach Athens, southern Italy and the Black Sea coast of new EU members Romania and Bulgaria.
A similar test was carried out in November, while in February Iran launched a domestically-made satellite that prompted France and Great Britain to express their concerns over the missile capabilities of the Islamic state.
Israel, also a nuclear power, said Wednesday’s test should be more of a concern to Europe, since previous missiles tested by Iran could already reach the Jewish state.
With presidential elections scheduled for 12 June, the test could also be read as part of Mr Ahmadinejad’s re-election campaign, as three other contenders have been approved by Iran’s electoral council.
Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini had to cancel at the very last minute a trip to Tehran when he found out that Iranian authorities had organised his meeting with reformist ex-president Mohammed Khatami in Semnan, where the missile was tested, not in the capital as initially agreed.
Report: CIA Chief Warned Israel Not to Bomb Iran in Secret Visit
May 14, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
The director of the CIA was recently sent on a secret mission to Israel to warn its leaders not to launch a surprise attack on Iran without notifying the U.S. Administration, the Times of London reported on Thursday.
FOX News could not immediately confirm the report.
As Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, prepares to visit Washington, it emerged on Wednesday that Leon Panetta went to Israel two weeks ago. He sought assurances from Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the Defense Minister, that their hawkish new government would not attack Iran without alerting Washington.
Concerns have been rising that Netanyahu could launch a strike on Tehran’s atomic program, in the same way that Israel hit Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in 1981. Israel has been preparing for such an eventuality. It has carried out long-distance maneuvers and is due to hold its largest civil defense drills this summer. The country’s leaders reportedly told Panetta that they did not “intend to surprise the U.S. on Iran.”
Roxana Saberi, Journalist Jailed In Iran To Be Freed
May 11, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
Roxana Saberi, an American journalist convicted in Iran on spying charges, is to be freed after an appeals court downgraded her sentence.
Lawyers for the 32-year old said the court had reduced the eight-year jail sentence to a suspended two-year term and she would soon be freed.
The Iranian-American television reporter had lived in Iran for six years before she was charged with “cooperating with a hostile state” after her arrest in January. The harsh sentence provoked an international backlash that prompted Iran’s hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to express concern that she had received due process. After his intervention the head of the Iranian judicary asked for the appeal court review.
“The verdict of the previous court has been quashed,” lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said. “Her punishment has been changed to a suspended two-year sentence and she will be out of prison.”
Toronto Man Plotted To Send Iran Nuclear Technology
A Toronto man has been arrested for allegedly attempting to export nuclear technology to Iran.
Mahmoud Yadegari appeared in court Friday morning to face federal customs charges, but he may face additional charges for violating a United Nations embargo.
Yadegari attempted to “procure and export” pressure transducers used in the production of enriched uranium, the RCMP said in a statement.
While enriched uranium is used to produce nuclear fuel, it is also a component of nuclear weapons. The UN Security Council banned exports of nuclear-related technology to Iran in 2006 because of its alleged efforts to build nuclear weapons.
Yadegari was allegedly purchasing the materials in the United States and sending them through the United Arab Emirates to Iran, said RCMP Sgt. Marc Laporte.
“The product was being exported through Dubai and then we’re alleging that the end destination was going to be Iran,” he said.
The charges followed an “extensive investigation” involving RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Service. “ICE is involved because the product originated in the U.S. and was being brought into Canada,” Laporte said.
Egyptian Forces In Sinai On High Alert For Hezbollah Terror
April 12, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
- Image via Wikipedia
Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula have been put on high alert in recent days following the arrest of a Hezbollah spy network operating on Egyptian soil, reported the Cairo-based Egyptian newspaper Almasry Alyoum. Egyptian officials fear other Hezbollah-linked activists are still at large and operating in Sinai, and may try to carry out terrorist attacks on Egyptian territory.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak commented on the arrests for the first time during a telephone conversation with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora yesterday, telling the pro-Western politician that Egypt will not allow foreign factions to undermine its sovereignty. He added that the Egyptian justice system will deal with the groups that Hezbollah ran inside Egypt.
The verbal blows and counterattacks between Egypt and Hezbollah escalated yesterday, with the al-Gomhouria newspaper calling Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, a “monkey sheikh” in its main editorial. The editorial, written by editor Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, covered the front page and carried the headline “A criminal who knows no repentance” over a picture of Nasrallah. “I say to you what every Egyptian knows, that you are an Iranian party,” Ibrahim wrote. “Are there instructions from Iran to drag Egypt into a conflict?”
Plot To Smuggle Nuclear Materials To Iran Smashed
April 7, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
Chinese financier Le Fang Wei indicted in plot to send nuclear materials to Iran.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has smashed a sinister plot to smuggle nuclear weapons materials to Iran through unwitting New York banks, the Daily News has learned.
Officials plan to unseal a 118-count indictment Tuesday accusing a Chinese national of setting up a handful of fake companies to hide that he was selling millions of dollars in potential nuclear materials to Tehran.
“This case will cut off a major source of supply to Iran and it shows how they are going ahead full steam to get a nuclear bomb. Long-range missiles they pretty much have already,” a law enforcement source close to the case said.
“We think it is one of the largest suppliers of weapons of mass destruction to Iran.”
Experts say Iran, under the leadership of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appears close to amassing enough nuclear material to make an atom bomb. A United Nations embargo bans Iran from acquiring the high-tech metals needed to make a long-range nuclear weapon a reality.
The indictment will outline the financial conspiracy behind 58 different transactions, including shipments of various banned materials from China to Iran between 2006 and late 2008.
NYPD Secures Synagogues Against Retaliation
April 5, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
The New York Police Department has put together a response plan that includes deploying extra officers, including heavily armed Hercules Teams, at synagogues, Jewish community centers and Israel diplomatic offices, out of concern that Muslim extremists might retaliate if Israel should attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Similar precautions were taken last year after Hizballah commander Imad Mughniyeh was killed in a car bombing in Damascus, for which the Lebanese terrorists blamed Israel. Read more
