Story Highlights - State media reports 21 dead, 88 injured - International and domestic flights cancelled, schools and government offices closed - Authorities warn more snow on the way .
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- The heaviest snowfall in more than a decade has left at least 21 people dead in Iran -- some buried under avalanches, some frozen to death and others killed in traffic accidents, state media reported Monday.The storm forced schools and government offices to close, blocking major roads and leading to the cancellation of all domestic and international flights. As much as 22 inches of snow has fallen in areas of northern and central Iran since Saturday, said meteorologist Ali Abedini.
"At least 21 people have been killed and 88 others injured ... as a result of heavy snow," state-run radio reported. "Some died of the severe cold, some were buried under avalanches and others died after their cars overturned on snow-covered roads." The cold weather has caused problems for residents in western Iran, with about a dozen towns suffering from gas cuts due to a surge in demand and a cut in gas exports from Turkmenistan. Government officials have urged citizens to reduce their notoriously high consumption of gas to ensure there are no further cuts or shortages. Authorities have also urged Iranians to cancel unnecessary travel and warned that the snowfall would continue in the coming days.
Ahmadinejad loses favor with Khamenei, Iran's top leader
IHT Monday, January 7, 2008 9:31:00 PM CET
In the past, when Ahmadinejad was attacked by political opponents, the criticisms were usually silenced by Khamenei. But that public support has been conspicuously absent in recent months....
Memo From Tehran :Memo From Tehran: A President’s Defender Keeps His Distance : Ahmadinejad and Iran’s supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.... Entities:Mohammad Khatami[1]; Ali Larijani[1]; Mohammad Reza[1]; Ruhollah Khomeini[5]; Saeed Leylaz[1];
Bush Trip Gave Irresistible Urge to Tweak Tail of a Superpower
January 07, 2008 The Times Richard Beeston
When the White House announced that President Bush would travel to the Middle East this week to bolster support among America’s vulnerable Arab allies in the Gulf, there was always the risk that militants in the Iranian regime would feel forced to respond. In Tehran the Gulf is known as the “Persian Gulf” and nothing could be calculated to upset the regime more than Mr Bush’s unprecedented five-day procession through the oil-rich region, where America maintains 40,000 troops, besides the forces deployed in Iraq.From Friday the US leader will work his way down the Gulf states, starting in Kuwait and travelling to Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Overhead, US fighters will be stepping up patrols to protect Air Force One, while below the warships of the US Fifth Fleet will be ready to respond to any Iranian moves.For this reason, commanders in the naval wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) may have been ordered or encouraged to cause mischief in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passageway at the entrance to the Gulf through which 25 per cent of the world’s crude oil is shipped.The IRGC is one of the most powerful institutions in Iran, and one of its most celebrated former members is none other than President Ahmadinejad. The force was responsible last year for the ambush and capture of 15 British sailors and Marines, who were paraded on television and held for two weeks before being freed, humiliated but unharmed.The IRGC regards the Gulf waters as its own and feels that it has the right to patrol at will. With Mr Bush expected to step up his rhetoric against Iran during his visit, Tehran may have wanted to remind him – and the world – about the vulnerability of global energy supplies, particularly with crude oil selling for $100 a barrel.There is also the temptation to tweak the tail of the world’s only superpower. A year ago Mr Bush deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups in the Gulf and threatened to use force against Iran to prevent the country acquiring nuclear weapons. Many in the region believed that confrontation was inevitable.Now Mr Bush is weakened as his presidency enters its final year. A US National Intelligence Estimate published last month revealed that Washington believes that Iran has suspended its atomic weapons programme. The threat of the use of force against one of the origial “axis of evil” regimes has evaporated.Domestic politics in Iran may also have played a part in the Hormuz incident. The Iranian regime may have felt compelled to act in the increasingly tense political climate ahead of parliamentary elections in March, where the ruling hardliners are facing a stiff challenge from more moderate forces.The Iranian mission was carried out by five IRGC speed boats that “swarmed” a US Navy cruiser, a destroyer and a frigate. The confrontation was hardly an even match. Each of the multimillion-dollar US warships could have destroyed the Iranian craft in seconds.But that does not diminish the seriousness of the incident. Ever since the USS Cole was rammed by an al-Qaeda suicide boat in Aden harbour in 2000, killing 17 US sailors, US forces have been trained to use lethal force to prevent such attacks.As many Iranians remember only too well, accidents can happen in the crowded air and waterways of the Gulf.In 1988 the USS Vincennes shot down an Iran Air passenger jet, killing 290 people, after mistaking the aircraft for an Iranian fighter-bomber.After three decades of separation from the West, Iranian motives and actions are never easy to interpret. Sunday’s incident is particularly curious because it came after a speech last week by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, who raised the possibility of one day restoring relations with the “Great Satan”, as America is commonly known by the regime.“I would be the first one to support these relations,” Ayatollah Khamenei told students in the central Iranian province of Yazd. “Of course, we never said the severed relations were for ever.”But he added that no one should expect any improvements soon. “For the time being, it [restoring ties] is harmful and we should not pursue it.”Sunday’s incident in the Gulf will serve to remind those running in the US presidential elections that, for the next incumbent of the White House, resolving the festering relations with Iran remains one of America’s foreign policy priorities.
Watch the video here: Iranian ships 'harass' U.S. Navy :
(CNN) -- Five Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats "harassed and provoked" three U.S. Navy ships early Sunday in international waters, the U.S. military said Monday, calling the encounter a "significant" confrontation.The USS Hopper, seen in a file photo, was one of the ships harassed by Iranian boats, officials say.An Iranian official, however, said it was not a serious incident, the state-run news agency IRNA reported. U.S. military officials said the incident occurred early Sunday morning in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping channel leading in and out of the Persian Gulf. They said that as the guided missile destroyer USS Hopper, the guided missile cruiser USS Port Royal and the guided-missile frigate USS Ingraham were entering the Persian Gulf, five Iranian boats approached them at high speed and swarmed them. The Iranian boats made "threatening" moves toward the U.S. ships and in one case came within 200 yards of one of them, the U.S. officials said. Watch what U.S. officials are saying about the incident »
The U.S. Navy also received a radio transmission that officials believe came from the Iranian boats. The transmission said, "I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes," the U.S. military officials told CNN. When the U.S. ships heard that radio transmission, they took up their gun positions and officers were "in the process" of giving the order to fire when the Iranians abruptly turned away, the U.S. officials said. After the radio transmission, one of the Iranian boats dropped white boxes into the water in front of the U.S. ships, the officials said. It was not clear what was in the boxes, the officials said.No shots were fired, and no one was injured.
Don't Miss These : See a map of the Strait of Hormuz » / Iran patrols Persian Gulf, U.S. says
A Pentagon spokesman characterized the incident as "perplexing" and "cause for real concern."
"Such actions are dangerous and could have quickly escalated into something much worse," said Geoff Morrell, Pentagon press secretary. "We see it as further evidence that Iran is unpredictable and remains a threat." Iran's foreign ministry spokesman downplayed the incident, calling it "ordinary," IRNA reported. Mohammad Ali Hosseini said that similar incidents had occurred in the past between Iranian and American ships, and the issues were resolved as soon as the ships recognized each other, IRNA reported. The Strait of Hormuz, which is in international waters, is near much of the world's oil supplies.The White House urged Iran to refrain from "such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States probably would not make a formal protest to Iran about the incident.McCormack said, "I can't speak to their rationale, their reasoning, their motivations."Iran and the United States do not have diplomatic relations. Switzerland represents U.S. interests in Tehran, while Pakistan represents Iranian interests in Washington. McCormack declined to comment further on the incident but said, "The U.S. will confront Iranian behavior where it seeks to do harm either to us or to our friends and allies in the region." On Friday, the U.S. Navy announced the same team of naval ships had been searching in the Arabian Sea for a sailor missing for a day from the Hopper. The outcome of the search was not immediately known Monday. In November the U.S. military reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps had taken command of Tehran's naval operations in the Persian Gulf. The United States considers the Revolutionary Guard to be a major supporter of terrorist activity. Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have increased over the last few years. The U.S. has concerns about Iran's nuclear program and has accused Iran of supplying weapons to insurgents in Iraq who target American forces.In March, Iran detained 15 crew members of a British ship before releasing them after nearly two weeks. Iran alleged the British vessel strayed into Iranian waters -- an assertion Britain strongly denied.
US Tells Iran to Back Down After Persian Gulf SkirmishThe White House has told Iran that it risked provoking "a dangerous incident" after a weekend skirmish brought the two nations to the brink of conflict. US naval commanders were about to fire on a group of Iranian attack boats after being challenged at the mouth of the Gulf on Sunday, the Pentagon has disclosed. By The Telegraph
As the Regime Cracks Down, Life Goes on Behind Closed Curtains
Last week our Iran correspondent was expelled without explanation. In his last dispatch from Tehran, he talks about the country he grew to love and which he found to be at odds with its image as an austere Islamic nation .By Robert Tait
Iran Boats 'Threatened to Blow up US Ships' : January 07, 2008 BBC News BBCi
Five Iranian speedboats harassed three US navy ships at the weekend, approaching them and radioing a threat to blow them up, US officials say. The incident happened in the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route. The US said their ships were about to open fire when the Iranian boats withdrew.The White House has warned Iran against "provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident".Iran played down the event, describing it as an "ordinary occurrence"."The issue is resolved after both sides recognise each other," Iranian state media quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying.'Serious provocation 'The speedboats, believed to belong to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, came within about 200m of the US vessels, Pentagon officials said."I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes," the Iranians said in a radio transmission, according to US officials.The Iranian boats were operating at "distances and speeds that showed reckless, dangerous and potentially hostile intent," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.He said at least some of the boats were visibly armed.US sailors assumed battle stations and the captain on one of the ships was about to order an attack when the Iranian boats turned away, dropping unidentified objects in the path of the vessel, US officials said.The confrontation, which occurred at about 0400 local time on Sunday or late on Saturday in Washington, lasted about 20 minutes, according to the US.The Pentagon has insisted that the three US vessels - identified as navy cruiser USS Port Royal, destroyer USS Hopper and frigate USS Ingraham - were in international waters.The incident follows a row that erupted last March when Iranian Revolutionary Guards captured 15 British sailors and held them for nearly two weeks.Iran said the crew had strayed into Iranian waters, a claim which Britain disputed.The Revolutionary Guards, set up in 1979 to defend the country's Islamic system, has been designated by the US as a "proliferator of weapons of mass estruction".Ready to respondThe latest confrontation comes as US President George Bush is to begin a tour of the Middle East on Wednesday.Long-standing US-Iranian tensions remain over Iran's nuclear programme, although these have been somewhat reduced since the US intelligence community released a report in late 2007 that said Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons programme in 2003.The BBC's Paul Reynolds says the key question is whether this is a one-off incident or whether it heralds a more aggressive stance by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.The latter policy would be unexpected, given the lowering of tension over the nuclear issue, he says, but as the incident of the captured British naval personnel showed, tensions are always high.There is no doubt that the US is ready to respond, our correspondent adds
Posted 7/1/2008 @ 18:2:10 GMTIran Confirms Incident with U.S. ShipsTEHRAN -- Iran on Monday confirmed there was an "incident" between Iranian and U.S. ships but gave no details, an Iranian news agency reported, after Washington said Iranian vessels threatened their ships in the Strait of Hormuz. more By Reuters
Posted 7/1/2008 @ 12:42:38 GMTIran Interrupts Natural Gas Supplies to TurkeyANKARA -- Iran has suspended supplies of natural gas to Turkey due to a cold
front which brought a sharp fall in temperatures, rain and snow in the region, Turkish television reported on Monday. more By RIA Novosti
Posted 7/1/2008 @ 12:38:10 GMTTrouble aheadWhen taking the oath of office on January 20 2009, the next president of the United States will be assuming responsibility for the most difficult, dangerous and complex set of foreign-policy challenges ever to face a newcomer to the White House. Whatever is then happening in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Arab-Israel peace process, it is safe to predict that George W. Bush will, in each case, be passing on to his successor either a daunting piece of unfinished business or a full-blown crisis. more By The Financial Times
Posted 7/1/2008 @ 10:54:10 GMTIsrael to Toughen Response to RocketsJERUSALEM -- Israeli security officials said yesterday that a rocket with a longer range than usual fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza into the coastal city of Ashkelon on Thursday had been made in Iran. It was the first such rocket to land in Israel, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Israel would intensify its response to the firing of such longer-range rockets. more By The Boston Globe
Posted 7/1/2008 @ 10:48:59 GMTIran, then AnnapolisEvery which way, US President George W. Bush is trying to send a signal, as he heads to the region this week, that he is with Israel and with the Arab states that feel threatened by Iran. more By The Jerusalem Post
Posted 7/1/2008 @ 10:40:22 GMTAhmadinejad Seeks Budget Boost Ahead of ElectionTEHRAN -- Iran's president proposed a bigger budget for 2008-09 to parliament on Monday that he said would promote social equality but critics fear will further stoke double-digit inflation in OPEC's second biggest producer. more By Reuters
Iran: dargiri zahedan - The Forces of Oppression shooting at defenceless unarmed Iranians in Zahedan
Bush Takes Hard Line on Iran Before Mideast VisitPresident Bush intends to use his first extended tour of the Middle East to rally support for international pressure against Iran, even as a recent U.S. intelligence report downplaying Tehran's nuclear ambitions has left Israeli and Arab leaders questioning Washington's resolve, according to senior U.S. officials, diplomats and regional experts. more By The Washington Post
Posted 6/1/2008 @ 23:57:6 GMTArmed Robbers Have Hands, Feet AmputatedIran amputated the right hand and left foot of five criminals convicted of armed robbery and hostage-taking, the student ISNA news agency reported today. The amputation, a legally permissible but rarely used punishment in Iran, was carried out in the presence of doctors in the southeastern city of Zahedan, capital of the restive Sistan-Baluchestan province. more By Agence France-Presse
Posted 6/1/2008 @ 10:55:45 GMTThe Gag is TightenedAs a literary journalist in Iran, I have often wondered why the country's greed for literature abruptly ended when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in 2005. more By The Observer
Posted 6/1/2008 @ 10:49:15 GMTIran Says U.S. Failing in Middle East TEHRAN -- Iran accused the United States on Sunday of interfering in the Middle East after President George W. Bush said he would press allies to help keep Iran's "aggressive ambitions" in check during a regional trip this week. more By Reuters
Posted 5/1/2008 @ 23:38:18 GMTNobel Winner Slams Rising ExecutionsNobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi's rights group slammed the rising number of executions in Iran, including the hanging of a young mother who murdered her husband. "The Defenders of Human Rights Centre denounces the nationwide executions and their upward trend," the group of human rights lawyers led by Ms Ebadi said. more By The Australian
Posted 5/1/2008 @ 23:31:4 GMTIranians Register for ElectionsTEHRAN, Iran -- Close to 400 people registered as candidates Saturday for Iranian parliamentary elections seen as a referendum on hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. more By The Associated Press
Posted 5/1/2008 @ 23:17:59 GMTBush Says Mideast Visit to Promote Peace, Corral IranWASHINGTON -- U.S. President George W Bush said Saturday that his trip to the Middle East next week aimed to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians and curtail Iran's "aggressive ambitions." more By AFP
Posted 5/1/2008 @ 19:49:43 GMTIranian Bank Shrugs Off Cost of US SanctionsUnilateral sanctions by the US have cost Iran’s Bank Saderat a third of its foreign partners but its overseas operations remain profitable, according to the institution’s managing director. By The Financial Times
Posted 5/1/2008 @ 19:46:48 GMTGerman Diplomat Told to Leave Iran in Apparent ExpulsionA German diplomat has been ordered to leave Iran, a German news agency said on Saturday, in what may be retaliation for the expulsion of an Iranian diplomat from Germany in July. By Reuters
Posted 5/1/2008 @ 19:36:24 GMTGuardian's Tehran Correspondent ExpelledThe Guardian's Tehran correspondent, Robert Tait, has been expelled from Iran without explanation after nearly three years of reporting from the country. more By The Guardian
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