Search Results for: Iran

A senior Iranian official said that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, and not the elected president of Iran, will decide on the direction of the country’s nuclear program and relations with the US. More than 30 people were detained after unrest in the southern city of Zahedan that resulted in the deaths of 10 people.

Iran closed its border with Pakistan. Security forces defused a homemade bomb found on a domestic flight. Iran executed three men for complicity in last week’s mosque bombing in Zahedan and detained “a number of individuals who intended to create insecurity” in the city.

“Gunmen” attacked President Ahmadinejad’s campaign office in the southern city of Zahedan; three civilians, including a child, were wounded. Iranian leaders blamed the US and Jundallah for yesterday’s attack on a mosque in Zahedan that killed 19 people. Jundallah said it launched a suicide attack against a secret IRGC meeting at the mosque.

Thirty people were killed and more than 80 were wounded in an explosion during prayers at the second largest mosque in the city of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province. The mosque was reportedly leveled in the explosion. No group has taken credit for the attack.

The US Department of Defense confirmed Iran has successfully tested a a medium range ballistic missile that can reach Israel, southeastern Europe, and US bases in the Middle East. The US State Department said a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and beyond will follow Iran’s acquisition of a nuclear weapon.

President Ahmadinejad claimed the military has tested a missile that can reach Israel, southeastern Europe, and US bases in the Middle East. The US military denied Iranian claims that the US is training Kurdish rebels to attack inside northwestern Iran. Italy’s foreign minister canceled a visit to Iran.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed the US is sponsoring terrorist activities in Iran’s Kurdish regions from Iraq. “I say this firmly that unfortunately across our borders, our western borders, the Americans are busy making a conspiracy, they are busy fostering terrorism,” he said.

The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps has deployed to the eastern borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan to counter an unnamed “enemy conspiracy.” Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are two of four US banks seeking to open branches in Tehran, according to a report.

An American journalist has been charged with espionage. Iran is open to negotiations with the US “should it really and truly be based on honesty, justice and respect,” President Ahmadinejad said. The US, Russia, China, France, Germany, and Britain will invite Iran to hold talks on its nuclear program.

On the eve of a conference on Kabul, Iran’s deputy foreign minister rejected the role of NATO forces in the country. “The presence of foreign troops cannot bring peace and stability for Afghanistan,” Mohammad Mehdi Akhoundzade said. “It encourages radicalism.”

Iran and NATO have held talks for the first time in more than 30 years. Iran will attend next week’s conference on Afghanistan. President Ahmadinejad told Syrian President Bashar Assad that Israel and the US were “weakening with God’s help” and “Iran and Syria are on their way to victory.”