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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; clerics</title>
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		<title>A Victory For the Ruling Clerics</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/a-victory-for-the-ruling-clerics/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=a-victory-for-the-ruling-clerics</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2014 05:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clerics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mullahs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nuclear Weapons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=246718</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[More time to secure the bomb. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Irans-supreme-leader-Ayat-007.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-246719" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Irans-supreme-leader-Ayat-007.jpg" alt="Irans-supreme-leader-Ayat-007" width="259" height="211" /></a>While the Obama administration formerly stated that extending the nuclear talks is out of equation, nevertheless, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry raised the option of an extension a day before the November 24th deadline. Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, definitely welcomed the idea.</p>
<p>After over a year of negotiations, which have traveled across the globe from Vienna, to Oman, and to New York, the negotiators (the Islamic Republic and the P5+1: China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) planned to <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/23/Iran-reaching-nuke-deal-on-Nov-24-impossible-.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">extend</span></a> the nuclear talks for another seven months in order to finalize the preliminary deal reached last year in Geneva. Accordingly, the nuclear negotiations will continue through the end of June.</p>
<p>The obscure objectives are to achieve a “headline” agreement by March 1st and seal the complete technical details of the <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/23/Iran-reaching-nuke-deal-on-Nov-24-impossible-.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">headline </span></a>agreement by July 1st. Details and nuances of the nuclear talks, with regards to agreements and gaps, have yet to be released, but some diplomats stated the repeatedly-heard phrase that “<a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/23/Iran-reaching-nuke-deal-on-Nov-24-impossible-.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">progress</span></a> has been made.&#8221;</p>
<p>The nuclear extension definitely lacks any clear key terms upon which prospective nuclear talks would be anchored or that give any idea how a final nuclear deal could be reached.</p>
<p>But what is clear is that the Islamic Republic, particularly the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior cadre of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have gained considerable amount of geopolitical, geostrategic and economic advantages from this offer by the Obama administration. The Supreme Leader’s strategies to buy time, regain full recovery in the economy, pursue his regional hegemonic and ideological ambitions,  and reinitiate his government’s nuclear program have been fulfilled.</p>
<p>Based on the extension offered by the Obama administration, the Islamic Republic will continue receiving <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/23/Iran-reaching-nuke-deal-on-Nov-24-impossible-.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">$700<b> </b></span></a>million per month in frozen assets during the extended seven month period. Secondly, Iran will further consolidate its economy through increased sales in oil, particularly to Asian countries, heighten business deals with some Western companies, regain the value of its currency, and enjoy the removed sanctions on some of its industries. As a result, Iran will attempt to address the economic challenges which were threatening the hold on power of the ruling politicians.</p>
<p>From the economic perspective, the $700 million in sanctions relief will boost Iran’s economy as it is an equivalence of approximately 350,000 more oil barrels a day, based on the current market price.</p>
<p>The Islamic Republic exports roughly one <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/11/iran-oil-economy-falling-prices-crude-exports-market-reacts.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">million</span></a> barrels of crude oil in a day. The sanctions relief would be equivalent to a 30 percent increase in oil sale.  In the next few months, Tehran will attempt to push for additional sanctions relief as well as ratchet up its economic deals, such export of gas and other goods, to some European and Eastern countries including France, Germany, Russia, Japan, and China.</p>
<p>Some European countries&#8217; exports to Iran have already ratcheted up due to the prospects of the nuclear negotiations. Tehran Times, the Islamic Republic’s state newspaper, stated that Germany was Iran’s leading trade <a href="http://www.jpost.com/International/Analysis-Its-business-as-usual-as-some-of-Israels-friends-in-Europe-increase-trade-with-Iran-374622"><span style="color: #0433ff;">partner</span></a> “The European country (Germany) exported €207 million of goods to Iran in June 2014, an 88 percent rise compared to June 2013.” Nevertheless, Tehran needs the complete lifting of economic sanctions in order to gain the optimal potentials of its economy and gain full recovery.</p>
<p>Third, the extension of the nuclear negotiations will ensure to the Iranian leaders that the international community, specifically the West, will not make efforts in further isolating Iran and pressuring it economically or politically.</p>
<p>In addition, the extension of nuclear talks offered to the Islamic Republic is not going to alter Iran’s stand on its nuclear program. Iran will continue holding the position that their demands for the following issues to be met: maintaining a specific number (tens of thousands of) fast-spinning centrifuge machines, Tehran should have the capacity to produce nuclear fuel in the future, and maintain specific level of enriching uranium. In the next few months, the Islamic Republic is not going to give up its capacity to produce plutonium which can be utilized for weapons at its heavy water reactor in the city of Arak. Iran is less likely to provide more evidence proving that it did not carry out secret tests on the development of atomic weapons in Parchin or other military complexes. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency recently pointed out that the Islamic Republic continues to deny the IAEA access to sensitive military site which are suspected to be used for nuclear activities.</p>
<p>Finally, the Islamic Republic’s antagonistic stance towards the United States and the West will remain the same as well. This week, while Khamenei officially granted his blessing to Rouhani to continue with the game of nuclear negotiations, he also called the West “<span style="color: #0433ff;"><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Khamenei-Arrogant-world-powers-failed-to-bring-Iran-to-its-knees-382776">arrogant</a>.</span>” Earlier, he published a &#8220;9-step plan&#8221; to eliminate Israel. After the extension of the nuclear talks, President Rouhani <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2848810/Iran-wont-brought-knees-nuclear-issue-Khamenei.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">pointed out</span></a> on state television that &#8220;I promise the Iranian nation that those centrifuges will never stop working.&#8221; The extension not only will not alter the Islamic Republic’s position on its nuclear program, but will give the ruling clerics the opportunity to be further empowered, making them more determined to pursue their regional hegemonic ambitions.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
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		<title>Islamic &#8220;Family Honor&#8221; &#8211; Selling Daughters into Sex-Slavery for Sheep</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/frontpagemag-com/islamic-family-honor-selling-daughters-into-sex-slavery-for-sheep/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=islamic-family-honor-selling-daughters-into-sex-slavery-for-sheep</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Apr 2011 04:00:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Frontpagemag.com]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clerics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daughters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[honor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Imams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[islamic family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[savagery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sex slavery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sheep]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Slavery]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=90492</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If this savagery is "un-Islamic," where are the vociferous condemnations from Muslim muftis, clerics and imams worldwide?]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/afghan.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-90494" title="afghan" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/afghan.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="229" /></a></p>
<p>If this savagery is &#8220;un-Islamic,&#8221; where are the worldwide condemnations from Muslim muftis, clerics and imams?</p>
<p><object style="height: 390px; width: 440px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/y96KBro7dSc?version=3" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="440" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/y96KBro7dSc?version=3" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object></p>
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		<title>Iran’s Resurgent Revolution – by Ryan Mauro</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/ryan-mauro/iran%e2%80%99s-resurgent-revolution-%e2%80%93-by-ryan-mauro/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=iran%25e2%2580%2599s-resurgent-revolution-%25e2%2580%2593-by-ryan-mauro</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:12:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Mauro]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ahmadinejad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ali khamenei]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ali Montazeri]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ashura]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[authority]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ayatollah Hussein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ayatollah Khomeini]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ayatollah montazeri]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Basiji]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beginning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brutal suppression]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[canon law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Challenge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clerics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[critic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[day]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[death]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[December]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[demise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fatwa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freedom of speech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grand ayatollah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holiday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human rights abuses]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iranian government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamic  Republic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kerman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[khamenei]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leader]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mosque]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[opposition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[oppressive regime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[position holder]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[post]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[President Khatami]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[regime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious authority]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious conviction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shiite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shiite islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[source]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supreme]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tehran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[underlings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=43633</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The death of dissident cleric Ayatollah Montazeri energizes the democratic opposition.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-43634" title="iran-protests-supporters-005" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/iran-protests-supporters-005.jpg" alt="iran-protests-supporters-005" width="587" height="390" /></p>
<p>On December 19, one of the Iranian government’s most prominent critics, Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/20/world/main6001318.shtml">passed away.</a> His demise may yet portend the beginning of the end for Iran’s oppressive regime.</p>
<p>The regime may have been relieved that this independent source of religious authority and popularity among the people would no longer be around, but the Shiite holiday of Ashura fell on the seventh day following his death. The rallies mourning Montazeri combined with the Ashura celebration, creating a storm of anti-regime activity that only brutal suppression can contain.</p>
<p>Ayatollah Montazeri was a ferocious critic of the regime and advocate of ending clerical rule in government. Clerics, Montazeri believed, should serve as advisors to elected rulers. He wanted freedom of speech and assembly, and became particularly incensed in recent months over the fraudulent re-election of Ahmadinejad and widespread human rights abuses. His ardent opposition to the regime made him a hero among the people, despite his original role in bringing Ayatollah Khomeini to power and founding the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>This year, he even issued a <em><a href="http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3412.htm">fatwa</a></em> declaring the regime illegitimate and listed various transgressions committed by Khamenei and Ahmadinejad and their underlings, including hurting Shiite Islam by misrepresenting it. The <em>fatwa </em>even said that by breaking the “contract” with the people, “the people may remove the position holder from his post,” a not-so-subtle endorsement of overthrowing the government. He followed that up with an even bolder challenge to the regime: a declaration that Khamenei lacked the religious credentials to be a source of canon law and did not have the authority to issue <em>fatwas</em>.</p>
<p>Montazeri’s religious credentials as a Grand Ayatollah made such statements deeply unsettling for the regime. Originally, he was so adored by Khomeini that he was appointed as his successor. However, moral and religious conviction led Montazeri to disqualify himself from this post by speaking out against Khomeini’s massacres and human rights abuses. He even called on Khomeini to stop trying to export the Islamic Revolution by supporting terrorists and militias, and urged him to lead by example instead of force.</p>
<p>In 1989, Montazeri was placed on house arrest and the regime began trying to marginalize him. The current Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was chosen to succeed Khomeini, even though he lacked the religious qualifications and Montazeri’s education dwarfed his. Montazeri has thus been able to speak with greater authority than Khamenei, especially as Iran’s economy and human rights situation spiraled downhill. Following the June “election,” a <a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-seven-point-manifesto-of-the-iranian-resistance/">Seven-Point Manifesto</a> was spread about Iran listing the demands of the opposition for democratic reform called for Montazeri to replace Khamenei as Supreme Leader until the constitution is changed to reconfigure the government.</p>
<p>The death of Montazeri couldn’t have come at a worse time for the regime. The opposition had already been gearing up for massive demonstrations during the Ashura holiday, knowing that the regime could not ban gatherings on that day. The mourning that followed his death led to growing expressions of discontent that extended into Ashura, creating momentum that only gunfire and violence could stop from spreading to every street.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-43636 aligncenter" title="ra2411909504" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ra2411909504.jpg" alt="ra2411909504" width="399" height="265" /><em>Voice of the people: Montazeri&#8217;s death has galvanized Iran&#8217;s opposition.</em></p>
<p>It became clear immediately following Montazeri’s death that the opposition was energized. On the day before Ashura, about 50 members of the Basiji <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/iranian-militia-halts-speech-by-former-president-in-tehran-mosque/">stormed</a> a mosque where former President Khatami, a critic of the regime, was speaking and ended the presentation. It is said that the attack happened as Khatami tried to equate the uprising of Imam Hussein, who Ashura honors, with the opposition movement fighting for freedom. To make things even more offensive to the regime, this took place at the home mosque of Ayatollah Khomeini.</p>
<p>The regime eventually had to ban public mourning of Montazeri, leading to ongoing clashes. People in Tehran were seen having their Iranian flags confiscated for removing the religious symbols in them and were arrested for wearing black to honor him. On December 21, one woman walked up to the Basiji militiamen blocking access to Montazeri’s home and <a href="http://www.worldthreats.com/?p=1957">ripped</a> up a photo of Khamenei, knowing she would be beaten and arrested. The next day, in Kerman Province, protests went to a scheduled public hanging of two alleged robbers and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8426683.stm">freed</a> them. They were recaptured later, but this is a very aggressive challenge to the government.</p>
<p>Opposition forces claim that at least four protestors have been shot and killed, including the <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6968798.ece">nephew</a> of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the man on the losing side of the rigged election. Hundreds of thousands are demonstrating in Iran’s major cities, chanting “death to the dictatorship” and making direct attacks on Khamenei. Video and photos <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/12/iran-more-video-footage-from-protests-surface-2.html">leaking</a> out show large pillars of smoke over Tehran from the mass use of tear gas to stop the demonstrations from spreading. Regime forces even <a href="http://ncr-iran.org/content/view/7617/1/">ran over</a> two protestors—twice.</p>
<p>The clashes with the security forces are getting longer and more vicious. <a href="http://ncr-iran.org/content/view/7611/1/">At least</a> ten motorcycles used by the forces are <a href="http://ncr-iran.org/content/view/7616/1/">said</a> to have been set ablaze in Tehran, along with a state building, police van, a Basiji outpost, state-owned banks and a vehicle used by the Revolutionary Guards. The windows of the Oil Ministry have reportedly been broken. Reports say that there have been numerous incidents where the Basiji have arrested a protestor only to have the crowd fight back and free them. Some police officers are said to be refusing orders to attack the demonstrators.</p>
<p>Ayatollah Mehdi Karroubi, another man who competed with Ahmadinejad for the presidency and has rankled the regime by reporting systematic rape and torture and demanding full rights for women, boldly <a href="http://beltwayblips.dailyradar.com/story/iran-s-government-will-not-last-says-mehdi-karoubi/">predicted</a> recently that the current regime “will not last” its entire four year term. Based on the demonstrations going on today, Karroubi may be right.</p>
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