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FDI Executive Director Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2006. Read about it in the Wall Street Journal Read about it at Newsmax Read the latest Mideast headlines here. Check here for the latest news from the Iranian Political Prisoners Association Iran Press News Search OMID for victims of Islamic Republic human rights abuse Highlights from 2010: Nov. 17: FDI joins Larry Klayman and Freedom Watch to examine policy options for the incoming 112th Congress toward Iran. From left to right: FDMI President Kenneth R. Timmerman, FDI Advisory board member Reza Kahlili, Larry Klayman (speaking), FDI advisory board member R. James Woolsey FDI briefs incoming House intelligence committee member Rep. Michele Bachmann on Iran. (l-to-r: FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman, FDI Sec/Treasury Bill Nojay, Rep. Bachmann, FDI Advisory board member R. James Woolsey) Sept. 26, 2012: Statement from FDI President Kenneth R. Timmerman on the de-listing of the MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq) by the State Department: FDI has long advocated for keeping the MEK on the State Department’s list of international terrorist organizations because of its proven involvement in the murder of U.S. military officers and defense industry officials in Iran in the late 1970s. We also believe that the MEK operates as a cult, and that its brand of Islamic Marxism offers little real change from the Islamic Republic. That battle is now over. The State Department and the Obama administration have decided to impose a statute of limitations on murdering Americans overseas. This sets a very dangerous precedent and endangers all Americans, not just our diplomats and military. Delisting the MEK does not mean, however, that the group should get a free pass or that the FBI should abandon ongoing investigations into alleged money-laundering and racketeering charges against MEK members here in the United States. Going forward, FDI believes that the Treasury Department should also remove the Free Life Party of Iranian Kurdistan, PJAK, from its list of international terrorist organizations. Unlike the MEK, PJAK has never murdered Americans, has never advocated murdering Americans, and has strongly supported the United States. PJAK is a strongly secular group that stands as a bulwark against Islamist ideology. It also rejects separatism or any assault on Iran’s territorial integrity. In addition, FDI believes Congress should investigate groups such as the National Iranian American Council, NIAC, to determine whether it is operating as an unregistered foreign agent in its advocacy for pro-Tehran positions.

Sept. 20, 2012: Judge vindicates Hassan Dai. The Free Beacon newspaper in Washington, DC wrote a detailed account of NIAC’s failed lawsuit against Iranian-American human rights activist Hassan Daioleslam. FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman, now a candidate for Congress in Maryland, who is quoted in the article, pledged to conduct a Congressional investigation into NIAC’s alleged ties to the Iranian regime and for potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, FARA.

Sept 14, 2012: The End of NIAC as we know it. A federal judge in Washington, DC on Thursday dismissed the long-standing NIAC lawsuit against Iranian-American activist Hassan Daioleslam, who has claimed in numerous news articles and opinion pieces that NIAC founder Trita Parsi acts as a “lobbyist” for the the Islamic Republic of Iran. You can download the judgment here. Judge Bates also ruled that NIAC was liable to pay Dai seventy percent of his expenses, which could amount to several million dollars. This will effectively bankrupt NIAC – unless, of course, his masters decide to foot the bill. Parsi has become the darling of the George Soros Left. Since President Obama took office, Parsi has been invited to the White House and to private dinners with Sec/State Hillary Clinton.

It may be no coincidence that, as Mark Langfan argues in this compelling analysis, the Obama administration seems to have developed a tragic new concept of “red lines” when it comes to dealing with a nuclear-armed Iran: “Let's wait to attack Iran until Iran actually builds a nuclear bomb, and then we can't attack Iran because Iran has the nuclear bomb. “ Drawing on the unclassified annual “721 report” the CIA presents annually to Congress on the WMD capabilities of rogue states, Langfan argues that the overwhelming majority of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was produced since 2009, “so Obama can't blame Iran's U235 enrichment on Bush. The 721 reports prove Iranian enrichment happened on Obama's "watch."

In his opinion, Judge Bates cites email exchanges between Hassan Dai and FDI founder and CEO Kenneth R. Timmerman (NIAC tried unsuccessfully as part of its harassment campaign to compel Timmerman’s testimony in the case). Judge Bates noted on p 14 that “Timmerman pushed [DAI] to muster more factual support for his allegations…In other words, Timmerman asked precisely the sorts of questions that an editor should, and defendant apparently responded to them appropriately.”

Timmerman commented: “I am pleased that I was able to assist Hassan Dai in firming up his important research into the lobbying activities of Trita Parsi and NIAC, which always seemed to correspond to the letter to the policy goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Sept 2, 2012: Why NIAC and IRI apologists are mobilizing against Ken Timmerman. Please read this important post by FDI advisory board member, Dr. Arash Irandoost, regarding malicious, defamatory emails being circulating by NIAC sympathizers in Texas.

Aug 30, 2012: FDI joins letter to Rep. Rohrabacher. FDI CEO Kenneth R. Timmerman has joined Iranian-Americans and other activists in a letter to Rep. Rohrabacher that sets out the history of Azeribaijan's ties to Iran. The letter ends with an exhortation to Mr. Rohrabacher to avoid the mistakes made by Obama, who ignored the cries of the Iranian people in June 2009 and turned a deaf ear to the murder of Neda.

- Ban Ki Moon: UN supports freedom in Iran. After being roundly criticized for lending legitimacy to the regime by traveling to Tehran for the Non-Aligned Movement summit, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon gave a brilliant speech to Iranian academics calling for greater freedom and respect for human rights by the regime. We have our serious concerns on the human rights abuses and violations in this country," he told the group. Ban also warned the regime to loosen its stranglehold on political dissent. "Restricting freedom of expression and suppressing social activism will only set back development and plant the seeds of instability," he said. It is especially important for the voices of Iran’s people to be heard during next year’s presidential election. That is why I have urged the authorities during my visit this time to release opposition leaders, human rights defenders, journalists and social activists to create the conditions for free expression and open debate." Surely not the music the regime had been expecting!

Aug. 29, 2012: Iranians join on-line petition against Rohrbacher letter. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher's July 26 letter to Sec/State Hillary Clinton (see below) has ignited a firestorm within the Iranian-American community. FDI invites our supporters to sign an on-line petition calling on Mr. Rohrabacher to retract his letter. "Any calls for separatism, such as the statement from Rep. Rohrabacher, are dangerous, ill-informed, and contrary to the expressed desires of the overwhelming majority of the people of Iran," said FDI founder and president Kenneth R. Timmerman, who has signed the petition.

Aug. 27, 2012: Iranian defector blasts Fakhravar. Former Iranian intelligence officer Hamid Reza Zakeri released a second document purporting to be an MOIS letter granting a passport to self-styled "student" leader, Amir Abbas Fakhravar, for use in overseas operations. Zakeri explains his allegations on Mardom TV (starting at 1h:15min in the program.

Aug. 24, 2012: No Political Prisoners? Iran has "no political prisoners," according to Mohammad Javad Larijani, secretary to the judiciary's so-called "human-rights committee." Read Washington Institute analyst Mehdi Khalaji's excellent Wall Street Journal oped about the "human rights opening" in Iran." Meanwhile, this week Supreme Leader freed 130 "political prisoners" from jail as part of an annual amnesty to coincide with the Eid el-Fitr celebrations. So which is it?

Aug. 23, 2012: Women barred from science, industry. Nobel peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi sent a letter to the United Nationsl today complaining that the regime has decided to bar women from studying dozens of subjects, including nuclear physics and materials engineering, both key for the oil industry. Also closed to women starting this year are computer science, civil engineering, English translation, and chemistry. "For the coming academic year, 36 universities have closed 77 academic fields to women," she said.

Aug. 22, 2012: Christian pastor faces new charges. In their ongoing persecution of Christian pastor Youcef Naderkhani, the regime appears to have dropped apostasy charges, but now plans to try him for "banditry and extortion." This is yet another outrage from a regime that has vowed to "break" the effervescent house church movement inside Iran. Naderkhani's lawyer, who was disbarred by the regime earlier this year, will apparently be allowed to attend his trial in the coming days, although he was told international human rights groups that he is "not aware" of the new charges against his client.

Aug. 18, 2012: Escalation from Tehran. On Friday, Ahmadinejad proclaimed Israel “an insult to all humanity” and “a tumor” that needs to be wiped out, during a speech marking “Jerusalem Day” in Tehran. Meanwhile, on Saturday Revolutionary Guards General Amir Ali Hajizadeh warned that any Israeli strike on Iran would provoke swift retaliation, allowing Tehran to "dump [Israel] into the dustbin of history."

In comments broadcast by the regime’s English language network, Press TV, Gen. Hajizadeh threatened nuclear retaliation. “If the loud cries of the leaders of the Zionist regime are materialized, it would be the best opportunity for obliterating this fake regime from the face of the earth and dumping it into the dustbin of history,” Hajizadeh said.

Aug. 16, 2012: MOIS Defector releases document on Fakhravar. A defector from the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Intelligence, Hamid Reza Zakeri, has released a series of documents revealing alleged operational ties between a self-styled “student” leader, Amir Abbas Fakhravar, and MOIS.

The third of five documents, released today, purports to be a letter from September 2004, signed by an MOIS official named Heshmatollah Mahdavi, giving instructions to a judge to release Fakhravar from prison, where the letter states he was serving time for illegally excavating and selling antiquities. In the letter, stamped TOP SECRET, Mahdavi asks the court to waive the rest of Fakhravar’s prison sentence “in exchange for pending service to the ministry in a classified operation” that Mahdavi will describe to the chief of the Revolutionary court in person.

After Zakeri began releasing earlier documents in this series, Fakhravar allegedly sent him a number of Facebook messages, including these,where he threatened “to cut” Zakeri’s wife and child, an MOIS euphemism for “murder.”

Fakhravar has denied the authenticity of these documents, and FDI is not in a position without seeing the originals to determine their authenticity.

Fakhravar is a divisive figure who burst on the scene in the United States in 2006, miraculously “escaping” from Iran on a fresh Iranian passport by flying to Dubai, where he was met by supporters who arranged for him to come to the United States. He has claimed to be a leader of the student uprising of 1999, although he has told FDI that he was then serving as a medic in a local police hospital where he helped treated student casualties, or (in another version) as a law student.

Several people who later got to know Fakhravar when he was transferred from the criminal Qasr prison to the political wing in Evin prison have provided testimony shedding doubt on his claims to be a political dissident. Interviewed in different countries over a period of several years, they all pointed to his close ties to the prison warden, his ability to acquire street clothes, a cellphone, and other amenities forbidden political prisoners.

Fakhravar's supporters have swept aside this testimony as rumor and hearsay from his political enemies and have provided an extensive account of his counter-claims. For additional background, see this Nov. 2011 article in the New English Review.

Last September, a group of 102 former student activists and leaders wrote a confidential letter to the Library of Congress, claiming that the student organization Fakhravar claims to head is a fake. “The student confederation you refer to is a small group in [the] Washington, DC area that has no base among the Iranian students within the country or other locations in the world,” they wrote.

Aug 15, 2012: NIAC lobbies candidates and incumbents. In a brazen lobbying email sent to Members of Congress and candidates, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and its left-wing allies offered an “off-the-record policy and messaging webinar” on Iran policy, featuring NIAC president Trita Parsi, to be conducted on Sept 12 at 2 PM Eastern time.

NIAC and its associates have consistently sought to lobby Congress and the executive branch to remove sanctions on Iran and negotiate with the Iranian regime. During the 2008 election campaign, NIAC blasted the outgoing Bush administration for failing to “reach out” to Tehran, despite the fact that the U.S. held no fewer than 28 high-level negotiating sessions with Iranian regime officials from 2001-2008, to no avail.

Aug. 13, 2012: War by Oct. 1? The next IAEA report is expected to detail new progress by the Iranian regime in uranium enrichment. According to Debkafile, the report will show that Iran will have 250 kilograms of 20-percent enriched uranium by October 1. This is enough to make a 1945-generation nuclear device – and enough for several more sophisticated weapons. Debkafile believes Israel will be compelled to launch military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities after the U.S. national political conventions at the end of this month – and at the latest by October 1.

July 26, 2012: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher calls for U.S. to back Azeri separatist movement. In a bizaare move, California Republican Dana Rohrabacher has written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging the United States to support the "reunification" of Iranian Azeris with Azerbaijan. This is precisely what the Soviet Union tried to do in 1947 when it backed a breakaway Azeri Republic in Iran - a move that led President Truman to threaten the use of nuclear weapons against the Soviets at the very start of the Cold War. "The people of Azerbaijan are geographically divided and many are calling for the reunification of their homeland after nearly two centuries of foreign rule," Rohrabacher wrote. "Aiding the legitimate aspirations of the Azeri people for independence is a worthy cause in and of itself," he added.

FDI has consistently supported the rights of ethnic minorities in Iran in their quest for political freedom and human rights, and we have moderated a number of workshops and conferences where various forms of federalism or confederation within the confines of a united Iran were discussed. In his understandable desire to make life more difficult for the ruling Islamic Republic, however, Rep. Rohrabacher is openly advocating separatism, a stance that only plays into the hands of the Tehran regime.

June 4, 2012: Iranian-Americans urge California legislature to adopt sanctions. In a letter to California state Senator Samuel Blankesless, a group of Iranian-Americans urged the adoption of S.R. 29, which would require the St.ate of California to impose tough new sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

June 2, 2012: Iranian regime allows Nazi Propaganda website to go live. In a country where the state strictly controls Internet access, it is no accident when an outrageous Nazi propaganda website suddenly goes on line, praising Hitler for transforming Germany. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Code Pink and 1970s feminist Gloria Steinem shower the Tehran regime with praise. No surprise there.

May 25, 2012: FDI CEO Kenneth Timmerman column on Iran negotiations. In a column with the Daily Caller, Timmerman warned of the dangers of phony negotiations with the Islamic Republic leadership over their nuclear program. In the lead-up to yet another round of negotiations with U.S. and Western government representatives in Baghdad, Timmerman warned that the regime's goal was to keep on "talking about talks, not about substance," all the while buying more time so the uranium enrichment centrifuges could keep spinning.

May 5, 2012: Iranian-Americans protest appearance by pro-Tehran lobbyists Trita Parsi in Sweden. More than 1,400 Iranian-Americans signed a letter to the Swedish Foreign Ministry to protest their hosting an event with Parsi in Stockholm, one month after a U.S. court rejected NIAC defamation experts in their harrassment lawsuit against Hassan Dai.

April 17, 2012: Iranian regime says it "will not tolerate" fall of Assad. Syria's Assad has been a staunch ally of the Tehran regime since the earliest days of the revolution, and Tehran is backing him to the hilt as he brutally suppresses protestors. Now the Islamic Republic claims to have established a "joint war room" with the Syrian leadership, while ordering Hezbollah into action to defend Assad.

March 8, 2012: Ten minutes to midnight on the Iran War clock. FDI is happy to to take part in the Iran War Clock project of the Atlantic Monthly, even though it includes many "experts" we don't consider experts on Iran, as well as some people we normally wouldn't exchange greetings with. The conclusions are a mathematical averaging of our views, not a consensus. For example, FDI's view is that there is an 85% chance of war - why? Mainly because of the appeasement policies of Obama and the pro-mullah regime lobby, which is also represented on this panel, and their acolytes in Congress.

Feb. 28, 2012: Your letters count. Regime appears to back down on Pastor Youcef death sentence. The international outcry against the death sentence handed down last week against pastor Youcef Nadarkhani for "apostasy" - that is, for becoming a Christian and refusing to recant his faith - appears to be having an impact. FoxNews reported yesterday that despite official statements from the regime that Pastor Youcef's was "immanent," as of Sunday he was still alive and in good spirits. FDI President and CEO Ken Timmerman will talk about what you can do to help Pastor Youcef tonight on the Michael Savage show at around 8:30 PM Eastern. The American Center for Law and Justice has set up a special website with activists' tools - twitter, facebook, on-line petitions - so you can add your voice to the outcry to set free this prisoner of faith. In addiiton, Representatives Trent Franks, Frank Wolf, Joe Pitts and Keit Ellison are sponsoring H.Res. 556 that condemns the Iranian regime for its ongoing oppression of religious minorities.

Ahmadinejad pledge when he took office in 2005 to "break" the underground church in Iran, and has relentlessly persecuted house churches and Muslim converts to Christianity. On Monday, a court in Kermanshah, in Western Iran, condemned schoolteacher Masoud Delijani to three years in prison, solely because of his Christian faith. Arrests of Christians in Kermanshah has intensified following an edict from the intelligence services on November, calling on the police to monitor the activities of foreigners, Christians and other minorities.

Feb. 19, 2012: Former Mossad operative: Thailand hit team fit Iranian government M.O. Apologists for the Iranian regime say Iran couldn't possilby have been behind the recent spate of anti-Israeli attacks around the world because of the amateur-ishness of the would-be bombers. But former Mossad operative Michael Ross says otherwise in this piece from Canada's National Post.

Face of an alleged terrorist?: One alleged member of the Bangkok hit squad escaped and fled back to Tehran, a woman named Leila Rohani. FDI sources have provided us with a copy of what purports to be her oficial passport.

Feb. 17, 2012: Iranian regime bombers in Thailand. Authorities in Thailand yesterday released this photograph of three Iranian-born bomb suspects partying with local Thai women in Pattaya, during a stay in the resort town shortly before an aborted terror spree in Bankok. Israeli officials believe was the Bangkok hit team was part of a worldwide series of Iranian-government attacks on Israeli diplomats. Masoud Sedaghat Zadeh, left, was arrested in Malaysia, Mohammad Khazaei, center, was detained at Suvarnabhumi Airport, and Saied Moradi was lost a leg when a grenade he tossed at police bounced back at him. The day before their arrest, other terrorist cells believed to be tied to Tehran attacked Israeli embassy personnel and their families in India and Georgia.

Feb. 12, 2012: Day of Infamy in Iran. For some two million Iranians who fled tyranny in their country and came to America to embrace our freedoms, February 12 will forever remain a day of infamy. FDI has been dedicated to helping the pro-freedom movement in Iran. Read executive director Kenneth R. Timmerman's commemoration of this day of infamy, and his message to the Iranian people. "We must finally understand that it’s not the behavior of the regime that poses a threat to world security; it’s the very existence of this regime," Timmerman writes.

Feb. 11, 2012: Internet going down in Iran. How you can help. The Tor Project, a non-profit venture that provides anti-censorship proxy tools free of charge to users in countries such as Iran, just announced a crash effort to circumvent newly-erected cyber-walls around local ISPs, as the regime attempts to erect a CyberCurtain around Iran in the approach to next month's parliamentary elections. TOR is asking users with spare computer capacity in the West to set up "obfuscated bridge" servers. "This kind of help is not for the technically faint of heart but it's absolutely needed for people in Iran, right now. It's likely that more than ~50,000 - ~60,000 Tor users may drop offline," Tor Project's Jacob Appelbaum said. Technical instructions are here, and more complete information is available at Tor-talk. CNET is reporting that Internet-savvy users in Iran also are circumventing the blackout using VPN - virtual private networks - in addition to TOR and similar tools, CNET is reporting.

Jan. 16, 2012: Iranian-American researcher murdered in Houston - the intel wars begin? According to initial police reports, someone walked up to Gelareh Bagherzadeh's car as she was about to park by her parents home in Houston, and shot her three times in the head through the window. They excluded robbery as a motive, since the assassin made no attempt to steal her purse, which was sitting on the front seat.

Gelareh had been photographed taking part in anti-regime demonstrations organized by Sabz Iran, a pro-green movement group in Texas, but so far the FBI has not opened an investigation - just as they have never opened an investigation into the alleged "suicide" of Ahmed Rezai, son of former Rev. Guards commander Gen. Mohsen Rezai, in Dubai on Nov. 12.

Jan. 13, 2012: "War or regime change," financial analyst says. In a refreshingly clear-headed exchange on Bloomberg television, financial analyst and author James Rickards examined recent talks between U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner and the Chinese authorities and said they were all aimed at warning the Chinese that U.S. sanctions would be imposed on Chinese companies if they continued trading with Iran, and reassuring China that it would get the oil it needs to drive its economy. "It's about making sure they get replacement oil," Rickards said.

War with Iran "began two years ago," he said. "2010 was the year of cyber warfare. 2011 was the year of special operations," with the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists and sabotage of facilities. "2012, it's a full scale financial war." How Iran responds to the mounting pressures against it will determine the outcome. "Either there's going to be a regime change in Iran, or the Iranians will steer away from their nuclear program, or there's going to be a shooting war in Iran. It will be one of those three options."

Rickards didn't hold out much hope that Iran would back off its nuclear ambitions, and at the end of the program shortened his short list: The "divide and conquer game has been going on for three years. It's over... It's going to be war or regime change."

Jan. 4, 2012: Grover Norquist, Mullah's Ally. Anti-tax campaigner Grover Norquist has used the resources of his Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) organization to help hard-left and pro-Tehran groups lobby against U.S. sanctions on Iran, a new report reveals. Norquist ally, Michael Ostrolenk (see photo), offered the ATR office suite to host a meeting to establish an anti-sanctions lobbying coalition in November 2007 that was spearheaded by Trita Parsi and his National Iranian-American Council (NIAC). Ostrolenk's group, the American Conservative Defense Alliance (ACDA) was "a founder and leader" of the anti-sanctions effort, known as Campaign for a New American Policy for Iran (CNAPI), the report states.

Norquist appears to have understood he was skating on thin ice, and never publicly signed on to CNAPI's pro-Tehran lobbying campaign, even though he allowed them to use the ATR office for organizational meetings. As Parsi himself pointed out in an email to other members of the anti-Bush administration alliance, Norquist was a big get. "He exemplifies not just a powerful voice in the Republican Party, but also an important figure that can provide transpartisan legitimacy to our efforts," Parsi wrote.

CNAPI's efforts against U.S. sanctions on Iran were supported in part by George Soros through his Open Society Institute, which paid the salary of a CNAPI staffer. The coalition included the hard-left Institute for Policy Studies; the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), J Street, and the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) .

"The founder of NIAC, Trita Parsi is an unpopular figure within the Iranian-American community, as can be seen from his high disapproval ratings in a July 2011 poll of over 1800 Iranian Americans taken by the Pro-Democracy Movement of Iran," writes Iranian-American activist Manda Zand Ervin. "If Mr. Norquist is supporting these apparently unabashed lobbyists out of a humanitarian concern for the people of Iran, he should know that a large majority of Iranian people have no problem with economic sanctions if they result in the removal of this illegitimate, dictatorial regime," she added.

• Iran again asks Germany to expel German citizen...! During a meeting with German parliamentarians in Tehran on Wednesday, the head of the Iranian majles Human rights commnission asked Germany to expel PJAK leader Abdulrahman Haj Ahmadi, on allegations of terrorism, Fars News agency reported. Zohreh Elahian demanded that extradite Ahmadi to Iran, neglecting to mention that he has been a German citizen for decades.

The Iranian regime has repeatedly demanded that the EU arrest and deport Ahmadi, and at one point managed to get Interpol to issue a Red notice for his arrest, as we reported last year. This latest Iranian demand comes less than one week after PJAK forces kileld 8 IRGC members and local Kurdish militiamen working for the IRGC during a clash near the Iranian Kurdish city of Baneh on Dec. 28. In its version of events, PJAK claims the regime is trying to violate the 5-month old ceasefire in Kurdistan and pin the blame on PJAK. If the regime continues these attacks, "we will use the right of self defence and respond to them as we did in July last year," a PJAK spokesman in Europe told FDI.

Jan. 3, 2012: Tabarzadi's Video from Prison. A former student leader who has been in and out of jail for years managed to send an unusual 15-minute cellphone video message to the outside world and get it posted on YouTube. Heshmatollah Tabarzadi apparently filmed the message from Rajayishahr prison, where he predicted that the regime's attempts to silence dissent would fail. "I believe freedom is the essence of being human," he said. "Without freedom, choice has no meaning." The Tabarazadi video and an earlier one of prominent political prisoners taken inside Gohardasht prison are "example[s] of social media providing Iranian activists a platform on which they can express themselves more freely than through other, frequently heavily censored media," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty commented.

Jan. 2, 2011: Get a full suite of Internet Freedom Tools. The cooperative Internet freedom group, Floss Manuals, has produced a full-scope manual on how to circumvent Internet Censorship which is available in English, Farsi, and other languages. Produced at a "book sprint" in Berlin last year, it is now available along with other online resources through our special Internet Freedom page.

Dec. 28, 2011: Sakineh could be hanged. In an effort to wriggle out of the sentence an Islamic court handed down to stone Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to death on allegations of adultery, the IRI is now weighing whether it can execute her by hanging instead, a spokesman for the regime's Judiciary told the Guardian in London. Women who have been raped are often accused of adultery under Islamic law. Sakineh Ashtiani is accused of having murdered her husband, based on a forced confession televized on the regime's overseas propaganda network, PressTV.

Dec. 23, 2011: Israeli firm accused of sending Internet monitoring gear to Iran. Israeli lawmaker Nachman Shai called for a parliamentary investigation into the sale of Internet monitoring gear by Israeli firm Allot Communications Ltd. that made its way to Iran, Bloomberg reported. The company sold its NetEnforcer systems to a RanTek A/S, a distributor in Denmark, which in turn shipped the systems on to a client in Iran. Allot says it was not aware of the onward sale to Iran, and could face stiff penalties under Israeli law for "trading with the enemy" if the investigation determines it was complicy. The Israeli systems allegedly would allow Iran to monitor network traffic to determine, intercept emails and text messages, and track individual Internet users, even those using VPN or other security firewalls such as TOR.

Dec. 16, 2011: New York Court Finds Iran Shared Responsibility for 9/11 attacks. In a landmark decision, Judge George Daniels in Federal District Court in New York told 9/11 families in court on Thursday that he accepted "as true" the evidence they presented documenting Iran's material and direct involvement in the 9/11 plot. FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman testified on behalf of the plaintiffs and served as lead investigator (read his affidavit here).

Additional resources: Daily Caller News Story Havlish Plaintiffs press release More background stories

Dec. 15, 2011: Amnesty International accuses regime of "killing spree." In a damning report released shortly before Christmas, Amnesty International said the Iranian regime has dramatically escalated capital punishment over the past 12 months into a "killing spree of staggering propertions." By its calculation, the Iranian regime executed some 600 people during the first 11 months of 2011, 81% of them - at least 488 people - for alleged drug offences. "To try to contain their immense drug problem, the Iranian authorities have carried out a killing spree of staggering proportions," said Amnesty International's Interim Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director Ann Harrison. Download the 44-page report here.

Nov. 18, 2011: Mohsen Rezai buries his son. A massive funeral cortege in Tehran followed former IRGC commander Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezai, as he buried his son, 35 -year old Ahmad Rezai, who appears to have been murdered in Dubai (see below).

The Dubai police have yet to elucidate the circumstances of Rezai's death in room 1823 of the Gloria Hotel. His body was found on Saturday, Nov. 11, after cleaning personnel had found the door locked for two days. The hotel, located near Dubai's famed Jumeira beaches and the Jumeira Palm resort, is frequented by Russian and Iranian tourists.

The elder Rezai appears to be looking over his shoulder as rumors continue to circulate that his son was murdered, perhaps by thugs hired by a rival gang within the IRGC.

More pictures from the funeral are here, here, and here. Photos from Ahmad's latest trip to Mecca with his father earlier this year are here.

Nov. 16, 2011: Iran's Thugocracy strikes again. Read the inside story of Ahmad Rezai's murder in Dubai, the truth behind the allegations made against him by the regime and by misinformed news accounts, from FDI president Kenneth Timmerman in today's Frontpage magazine.

Nov. 13, 2011: Son of former IRGC commander murdered in Dubai. Police in Dubai and the Associated Press are trying to claim that Ahmad Rezai's death was a suicide, but even the office of the Supreme Leader today acknowledged that Ahmad Rezai, 35, was murdered in the Gloria Hotel in Dubai today. The initial police report quoted by the AP claims he was found with a slit wrist, but Iranian websites and Rezai's father's Tabnak website say that he was found dead under "suspicious circumstances," apparently electrocuted.

The regime had good cause to murder the younger Rezai, who initially fled to the United States in 1998 and denounced the regime and its ongoing assassination campaign against Iranian dissidents. An American citizen, Ahmad Rezai has a daughter in the United States, and has tried repeatedly to travel to Iran to visit his family, but has been turned back several times and threatened with arrest. According to an unconfirmed report, he was escorted back to Dubai earlier today by two Quds force officers, shortly before he was murdered.

FDI salutes the courage of Ahmad Rezai and will investigate those responsible for his murder and expose them as more information becomes available.

Nov. 7, 2011: Hillary's Iran advisors on "meddling" in Iran politics. In an interview with BBC Persian Service last week, Sec/State Hillary Clinton advanced an astonishing new claim: the Obama administration failed to respond to the massive demonstrations in June 2009 because Green movement representatives asked the administration to stay quiet.

"At the time, the most insistent voices we were within the Green Movement and the supporters from outside of Iran were that we, the United States, had to be ery careful not to look like what was happening inside Iran and directed by... the United States," Mrs. Clinton said. "So we were torn. ... [W]e kept being cautioned that we would put people's lives in danger, we would discredit the movement, we would undermine their aspirations."

Who were Hillary Clinton's advisors at that point? Trita Parsi, Vali Nasr, Hooman Majd, and Ray Takehy, all of whom she welcomed to "private" dinners at the State Department to advise her on Iran policy.

In a biting on-line video response to Mrs. Clinton's staements, Mojtaba Vahidi [photo], the representative of presidential candidate Mehdi Karrubi in the United States. chastized Mrs. Clinton for falsely concluding that the Green Movement wanted the United States to stay silent in response to the demonstrations.

"At the absolute height of the Iranian protest movement’s oppression by the Coup d’Etat regime of Iran, Mr. Obama made a statement about the U.S. government being prepared to dialogue with that regime and by doing such a thing he encouraged that regime and gave it the fodder it was looking for. A regime that at that point was startled and clearly paralyzed (from fear) due to the events both inside and outside; and this one statement of Mr. Obama’s - for which he has been criticized by both friends and opponents recently- psychologically energized that regime. As a result of this, the U.S. government, headed by Mr. Obama, owes the Iranian people and the Green movement." [Translation thanks to Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi].

Instead of encouraging the regime, the United Staates should hold a dialogue with the Iranian opposition as with a "government in exile." Such a dialogue, which Karubbi called for in June 2009, would not be "meddling," Vahidi said.

Oct. 18, 2011: Five Azeris executed in Urimieh. Five Azerbaijanis were executed on Oct. 10 in Urimieh on allegations of drug trafficking, in northwestern Iran, and three more are awaiting execution, according to the Association for Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners in Iran, ADAPP. "No proper trial was held," said Gurban Ahmadpurazer, the brother of one of the executed men. At least three of the executed men confessed to crimes only after "severe psychological and physical torture," ADAPP said in a written statement.

Another 70 Iranian Azeris have been held since April after protesting the ecological degradation of Lake Urumieh, ADAPP also said. The head of the judiciary for West Azeribajan province, Seyed Mohammad Ali Mousavi, said that environmental protests against the drying up of Iran’s Lake Urmia were a form of "protest against God... rooted in political' opposition to the Islamic Republic" and were being "steered by the country’s enemies."

ADAPP is seeking to bring a wider awareness to cultural, linguistic, religious, and political discrimination against Sunni Azerbaijanis by the Iranian government.

Oct. 17, 2011: Regime secretly executing hundreds of political prisoners: UN. A new report from the United Nations alleges that Iran carried out 300 secret executions in Vakilabad prison in Mashad in Eastern Iran last year. "Vakilabad officials, in violation of Iranian law, allegedly carried out the executions without the knowledge or presence of the inmates' lawyers or families and without prior notification to those executed," the report said. The report is the first from the pen of Ahmed Shaheed, a former foreign minister from the Maldives, who took over as the UN human rights rapporteur for Iran on August 1. Human rights activists have been critical of UN monitoring of Iran in the past.

Shaheed noted that "more than 200 officially announced executions have taken place in 2011," with another allegations of "at least 146 secret executions" since the beginning of this year. More than 100 juveniles have been sentenced to death and are awaiting execution, Shaheed reported. "The execution of minors, defined as an individual under the age of 18 years at the time they committed their offence, is prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to both of which the Islamic Republic of Iran is a State party," he added. Shaheed was barred by Iran from visiting the country to prepare his report. Viewers can download a PDF of the complete report here.

Oct. 14, 2011: Iranian-Canadians protest safe haven for Islamic regime officials. A group of Iranian-Canadian activists have written to Immigration minister Jason Kenney, to protest the recent influx of Iranian regime officials to Canada, Macleans reported. The most high-profile recent exile is Mahmoud Reza Khavari, former CEO of Bank Melli, who fled to the comfort of his $3 million home in the upscale Bridle Path neighborhood of Toronto. The activists have gathered over 1800 signatures for the petition to the Canadian government in favor of opening an official inquiry into whether Khavari came legally to Canada. "For years members of the Iranian-Canadian community have been concerned that high ranking members of the Islamic Republic of Iran and their relatives are securing residency status in Canada and funnelling their investments to this country," they write. You can sign the petition here.

Oct. 11, 2011: No-show for NIAC show. After two months of large-scale campaign of emails, advertisements, phone calls, and personal invitations, fewer than 20 people showed up for the NIAC show on Capitol Hill last week. So much for an organization that falsely claims to be the largest Iranian-American organization with more than 4000 members and 43000 active supporters! The pathetic showing came despite a boost from a Department of State website, a popular pro-Tehran website run by a NIAC sycophant, and from Rep. Jim Moran. Read this update from our advisory board member Dr. Arash Irandoost. [Photo: NIAC founder Trita Parsi with Hooman Majd, who boasts in his own memoire that he has worked as "an unpaid advisor to two Iranian presidents," Khatami and Ahmadinejad.]

Oct. 10, 2011: Friday Night Massacre at VOA. The Voice of America's Persian service has eliminated four top broadcasters known for their anti-regime positions, in what appears to have been a Friday Night Massacre orchestrated by NIAC protegé Ramin Asgard, now the director of VOA Persian. When he was still at the U.S. consultate in Dubai, Asgard worked closely with NIAC founder Trita Parsi, offering to allow Parsi to "handpick Iranian-Americans to staff the State Department’s primary field office on Iran," according to a former aide to Sen. Tom Coburn (R, OK). The broadcasters fired included Jamshid Chaharlangi, Ahmad Batebi, Kianoush Sanjari, and Kourosh Seyhati.

FDI sources say that Asgard is hoping to fire more anti-regime journalists, while adding to the five young NIAC members recently brought on board from southern California, to complete the VOA's transformation into the Voice of the Mullahs. A recent evaluation of VOA broadcasting that appears to have given support to Asgard's makeover was authored by Hooman Majd, an Iranian-American "scholar" who has worked as Ahmadinejad's "voice" during his vistis to New York.

Iranian regime intelligence planted a story with Press TV several months ago alleging a sexual harassment investigation against Chaharlangi, when in fact no such investigation was under way nor allegations made. Press TV is widely believed to be controlled by Iran's ministry of information and security, MOIS.

Oct. 3, 2011: Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry slams Obama for weakness on Iran. Gov. Rick Perry today blasted President Obama for his failure to respond to the June 2009 protests in Iran, and for failing to add his voice to those calling for the Iranian regime to release Pastor Yousef Naderkhani.

“We can only hope that President Obama, along with the United Nations, will work toward securing the release of Pastor Nadarkhani. Becoming a martyr for religious freedom should not be the only path out of Iran,” Perry said. “President Obama has insisted that Iran’s leadership was about to unclench its fist so it could hold our hand. But Iran only unclenches its fists to strangle freedom and the dissidents who dare to practice it.”

Sept 30, 2011: FDI's Timmerman honored by the Hope for Tomorrow Foundation with its International Humanitarian award. Timmerman's speech included a passionate plea to help the people of Iran."We’re still looking for what former Defense Secretary Robert Gates once called 'the elusive Iranian moderate.' Every time we find one – such as Rafsanjani or Khatami – he goes out and commits some atrocity," Timmerman said. "After 32 years of trying to change the way this regime behaves, I believe there’s a better way. I believe it is time to help the Iranian people change the regime." FDI will be posting text and hopefully video of the speech soon.

Sept 29, 2011: Updates on Pastor Yousef Naderkhani impending execution. Even the left-wing British daily the Guardian has condemned the proposed execution of Pastor Yousef on "blasphemy" charges, in an editorial titled "Live Free - and Die." The New Statesman's David Green provides new details of Pastor Yousef's trial, including lengthy excerpts of the charging documents from the regime that have been translated from Persian by Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

In the US, only conservative members of Congress and conservative publications have done as much (see below). Left-wing organizations such as Human Rights Watch, always quick to condemn the United States, have been slow to respond. Now we see that HRW has issued a press release, dated tomorrow, on Pastor Yousef. Better late than never!

White House Spokesman Jay Carney had to "look into the box" to find a canned statement condemning Pastor Yousef's planned execution, which he read this afternoon for willing news organizations. "Okay, regarding Mike’s question about Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, the United States condemns the conviction of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani," Carney read. The full written statement comes at the very end of today's White House press briefing.

Sept 28, 2011: Iran to execute pastor on "apostasy" charge. Christian pastor Yousef Naderkhani was hauled into court in northern Gilan province yesterdeay morning and today and again asked to renounce his faith in Christ, or face execution on apostasy charges as a former Muslim. According to Mohabat News, a source of news on the underground church in Iran, Pastor Yousef has again refused to denounce his faith. Now Iranian Christians fear he could be the "test case" for executing members and leaders of the underground church. (For more, see our July 15, 2011 entry, below).

Nina Shea, at National Review Online, adds that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom denounced the Iranian court proceedings against Pastor Yousef as"not only a sham, but contrary to Iranian law and international human rights standards." She called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to break her silence and to join with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in demanding the Iranian regime set Pastor Yousef free. Rep. Trent Franks (R, AZ), a co-chair of the Congressional Religious Freedom Caucus, issued a blistering statement condemning the Iranian regime. "I appeal to whatever semblance of humanity may remain in the hearts of Iran's leaders and urge the Obama Administration to make it clear, through every channel possible, that such grievous human rights abuses will not stand."

• Erdogan backs down from "joint operation with Iran" against Kurds. After meetings last Saturday with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani in Baghdad, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened back in Ankara on Sunday, Sept 25, to launch a "joint military offensive with Iran" against Kurdish rebel camps in northern Iraq. The joint Turkish-Iranian offensive - not the first, by any means - was intended to target Turkish PKK guerillas in the northern Iraqi mountains bordering Turkey, and Iranian PJAK guerillas in the northwestern Qandil mountains bordering Iran.

But just yesterday, the Iranian regime's Consul General in Erbil, Azim Husseini (left), announced that former prime minister Nichervan Barzani had brokered a ceasefire between PJAK and the Iranian regime, potentially taking Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps out of the mix.

The IRGC has been severely bloodied in its assault agains PJAK forces inside Iran and in northern Iraq, and was not eager for a renewed offensive, Kurdish sources said.

Shortly before the reported ceasefire, a PJAK guerilla leader, Rewar Abdanan (below), warned the IRGC that his forces had withdrawn from northern Iraq and were now positioned "deep inside East Kuridstan" [Iran], where they could respond at any moment to IRGC provocation. "[O]ur actions have been conducted within the context of legitimate self-defence and in order to preserve the achievement of the Kurdish people," Abdanan told Kurdish satellite channel, Newroz TV,

Sept. 9, 2011: 9/11 Case against Iran broadens. Plaintiffs representing families of 9/11 victims have filed their second lawsuit against Iran, asserting that Iran played a key role in planning and facilitating the 9/11 attacks.The new case, Bingham, et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, et al., is being filed in federal court by the same attorneys who have been litigating Havlish, et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, et al., now pending in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Alice Hoagland, lead plaintiff in the new Bingham case, is the mother of 9/11 hero Mark Bingham, one of the passengers on United Flight 93 who stormed the cockpit to try to re-take control of the aircraft from the terrorist hijackers. “Mark Bingham and other passengers on Flight 93 gave their lives for their country, without any knowledge on that morning they would have to do it, yet they proceeded without hesitation. We, their survivors, deserve to know why they had to give their lives and who was supporting, aiding and abetting al Qaeda. Our whole country deserves to know,” she said.

In a column at Frontpage magazine today, FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman recalls "Iran's Dirty 9/11 Secrets" and recounts not only the evidence the Havlish and Bingham attorneys are presenting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, but also the efforts by the CIA to block the lawsuits..

• Heritage Foundation, Tony Blair, call for regime change in Iran. In a report from its Counter-terrorism task force, the Heritage Foundation calls for regime change in Iran and covert U.S. government support for Iranian opposition group. The report argues that the only way to break the "iron triangle" of the Iranian regime, Hamaz and Hezbollah is "by bringing freedom to the people under the tyranny of the leadership in Tehran - change that has to come from within the country."

Among the measures the Heritage report urges the U.S. to take: - Use public diplomacy to expose the regime's human rights abuses; - Facilitate secure communication among dissidents by providing technology - Provide covert financial and material assistance to democratic opposition groups inside Iran - Engage in targeted covert actions to discredit the regime, such as distributing "printouts of Iranian officials' foreign bank accounts and other assets."

FDI has long supported a similar agenda, and applauds the Heritage Foundation for its report. (The section on Iran is called, "What Else Must Be Done."

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has also come out in favor of regime change in Iran and Syria in an interview published today by the Guardian. "Regime change in Tehran would immediately make me significantly more optimistic about the whole of the region," he said.

Sept 8, 2011: Iran rejects PJAK ceasefire offer, kills deputy military commander. Iran resumed attacks on PJAK bases in northern Iraq on Sept 2, attacking repeatedly across the border into Iraq. PJAK claimed they repulsed the night-time attacks and inflicted heavy losses on the IRGC troops. ghrejected an offer by PJAK leaders.

On Sept. 4, PJAK announced a unilateral ceasefire, and the next day they released a statement saying that thanks to mediation by "friendly individuals and circles," perhaps a reference to Nichervan Barzani (see Aug. 28, 2011 entry, below), PJAK was calling on the regime to resolve its conflict with the Kurds through dialogue and not violence.

The response from the IRGC was almost immediate. Instead of a ceasefire, they launched repeated the shelling of PJAK bases inside Iraq, killing three fighters, including the deputy commander of all PJAK forces. PJAK announced the death of Majid Kawian, known as Comrade Samkou, on Tuesday, and claimed that its forces had killed 107 IRGC fighters, and destroyed two tanks, 5 vehicles, and 1 bulldozer, some of whom were killed when PJAK fighters attacked an IRGC base near Sardasht. On PJAK's Nowruz TV, they showed off NATO-issue weapons they claimed they had taken from dead Iranian troops, including Western-made night vision goggles, GPS systems, anti-tank missiles, and BKC guns. PJAK has claimed for some time that Iran's ally Turkey has provided NATO weaponry to Iran that has been turned against the Kurds.

Aug. 31, 2011: Facebook blocks anti-NIAC "cause. Internet giant Facebook has taken down a prominent "cause" that had attracted close to 3,000 supporters, ostensibly because its title, "NIAC is a Lobbyist for the Islamic Republic of Iran," might be considered defamatory. Despite a spate of email requests from members to re-instate the page, Facebook "Causes" executive Sydney Fleischer refused, suggesting instead that the activists choose a different name for their action. According to one of the activists, FDI advisory board member Arash Irandoost, NIAC has boasted of having "taken down" the anti-NIAC page from Facebook's Causes website. "Unlike Trita [Parsi - NIAC's president] we are not driven by money. We are doing what we believe to be morally right. I, much like you, am driven by conviction and values," Dr. Irandoost said in an email.

So far, Facebook has taken no action against a replacement "cause" page set up yesterday. This cause had the straightforward title, "United Against NIAC." FDI has joined this "cause" as a supporter and urges our readers and supporters to do the same. (A similar page, "National Iranian American Council and Trita Parsi, Myths vs. Facts," has also been set up.

• NIAC efforts to compel testimony from FDI fail in court. A U.S. District Court judge in Washington, DC yesterday rejected long-standing efforts by NIAC to compel testimony and documents from FDI in relation to NIAC's lawsuit against Hassan Daioleslam. In an early subpoena, served on FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman at his residence in January 2010, NIAC demanded that he produce “any email, article, letter or work, published or unpublished, public or private that you (or anyone under your (direct or indirect) direction, supervision or control) has produced or has in your possession regarding....the Islamic Republic of Iran.” The court quickly rejected that demand as an open-ended fishing expedition, but NIAC took 18 months to serve a new subpoena, claiming in court documents it couldn't locate Mr. Timmerman's residence, even though they had already served him at that location! Yesterday's court order vindicates FDI's efforts to quash the subpoena.

"Plaintiffs had ample opportunity to depose Timmerman prior to the February 4, 2011 discovery deadline," the Court order reads. "The Court then provided plaintiffs with additional time to depose Timmerman, allowing, them up until May 13, 2011 to take the deposition. Although plaintiffs maintain that their failure to depose Timmerman is attrributable to Timmerman's attempts to evade service of process, the court finds this explanation unpersuasive, given that (1) plaints appear to have known Timmerman's home address throughout this litigation..."

In fact, the court documents allege some troubling connections involving NIAC's attorney, Afshin Pishevar, of Rockville, MD.

"Plaintiffs’ have conveniently neglected to advise the court in regard to the service issue, that Abraham Pishevar, the father of plaintiffs’ present counsel, Afshin Pishevar, worked on the U.S. Senate campaign of Timmerman, has been to Timmerman’s home on numerous occasions in conjunction with campaign conferences, and has taken photographs of Timmerman and the inside of Timmerman’s home which, (Timmerman was subsequently informed) Pishevar provided to the Iranian government," the court documents revealed.

Perhaps encouraged by the successful efforts to get inside Timmerman's house, NIAC attorneys now wanted to get inside Timmerman's computer. Wisely, the US District court said no.

Aug. 30, 2011: Regime Intercepts Gmail accounts. The Dutch government warned a provider of Internet security codes known as SSL certificates that it had been penetrated by the Iranian regime and on July 19 had issued a number of fake SSL certificates that were used to intercept Gmail and other Google accounts belonging to users inside Iran, in what computer security analysts call a "man-in-the-middle" attacks. Google announced the intrusion on Monday, and the Guardian newspaper revealed on Tuesday that the Dutch company, DigiNotar, had acknowledged it had been the target of what appears to be an Iranian government hacking job, aimed at eavesdroppingon Iranian dissidents. Google says that the latest edition of its Chrome browser has been programmed not to accept the fake SSL certificates, but it was issued nearly a month after DigiNotar had issued them, leaving a gap that could have put thousands of Iranian users at risk. The Iranian regime has made clear it intends to crack down on dissidents using the Internet as an organizing device - the contemporary equivalent to the cassette tapes distributed by Ayatollah Khomeini from his exile in France in the months leading up to the 1979 revolution.

Aug. 28, 2011: Former KRG prime minister calls on PJAK to lay down arms. After talks in Tehran with Ahmadinejad and other regime officials, the former prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Nechervan Barzani, told a prominent Kurdish media outlet in Erbil that PJAK should lay down its arms. In an interview with Rudaw ["The Happening'], translated by AFP, Barzani said, “I believe that PJAK must take the crucial decision to abandon its armed struggle and lay down its weapons.”

However, in the English version posted on the Rudaw website, Barzani made no such statement, although he remained highly critical of PJAK. “In their fight they (PJAK) never take into account the interests of the Kurdistan region and they give excuses to those countries (Iran and Turkey) to attack the territories of the Kurdistan region,” Barzani said.

Regarding PJAK and PKK armed activities along the border, Barzani said, “It is unacceptable and based on the international standards the Kurdistan region cannot tolerate it.”

Following Barzani's trip to Tehran to find a solution to Iran's continued bombardment of the Kurdish border region, Michael McClellan, a US Embassy spokesman in Baghdad called the PKK "a common enemy of Turkey, Iraq, and the United States," but remained curiously silent on PJAK. It's unclear from the statement whether McClellan was simply lumping PJAK in with the PKK, as the Treasury Department has done, or whether his comments implied a more careful nuance.

Meanwhile, the PUK representative in Britain, Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmad, sent a letter to British prime minister David Cameron protesting Britain's silence over the ongoing attacks against Iraqi Kurdistan by Turkey and Iran, while a group of Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers lodged a protest with the UN office in Baghdad over the Turkish and Iranian attacks.

Aug. 6 , 2011: Clashes continue inside Iran. PJAK is claiming to have killed 25 IRGC soldiers and wounded 7 more in an attack on Friday against an IRGC base near Hawraman. Among the dead were 8 intelligence officers. In separate fighting, PJAK is claiming responsibility for shutting down the main gas pipeline between Turkey and Iran, but denies any of its members have been killed or taken captive, as the regime claims. In separate action on Friday, an oil pipeline was hit near Ahwaz but unknown attackers.

- Is PJAK a Separatist Group? What is the group's actual agenda for the future of Iran, as opposed to the hidden agendas and allegiances ascribed to them? FDI asked Rahman Haj Ahmadi this week the political questions that might not interest the average American news reader, but that we know will be of vital importance to all Iranians who seek a democratic future for their country. Read his comments here.

Aug. 4, 2011: PJAK declares victory in running battles with the IRGC. After two weeks of running battles with IRGC forces in the Qandil mountains and throughout Iranian Kurdistan, the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) has shown its strength. PJAK Secretary-General Rahman Haj Ahmadi told FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman he expected more attacks, since the IRGC could not back down after suffering over 300 casualties. For Ahmadi's detailed commentary on the two weeks battle between PJAK forces and the IRGC, see this article from Newsmax.

July 27, 2011: Turkish troops join fight with IRGC in northern Iraq. While the Iranian and Turkish regimes continue to allege falsely that PJAK is "controlled by" the PKK, it is Iran and Turkey that are cooperating militarily against their Kurdish populations. Last night, 20 Turkish tanks crossed into Iranian Kurdistan at the invitation of the Iranian regime, along with 300 Turkish special forces troops, who came to fly intelligence missions into the Qandil mountains using drones. The Turkish assistance came after yet another IRGC thrust into Iraq on Tuesday morning was repulsed by PJAK fighters, who destroyed a T-55 tank during the skirmish. On Wednesday, Iran continued shelling Iraqi border villages, PUK media reported.

Elsewhere inside Iran, PJAK guerillas attacked an IRGC position and destroyed it, killing 13 IRGC soldiers. Newrouz TV, based in Sweden, broadcast video images of the attack today.

Since the fighting began on July 16, PJAK claims to have killed 255 IRGC troops and lost 8 of its own fighters.

July 24, 2011: Iranian nuclear scientist gunned down in Tehran. An Iranian nuclear scientist, Dariush Rezaei-Nejad, was gunned down at 4:30 pm local time on Saturday as he was entering the garage of his home in Tehran, al Jazeera reported. Two gunmen on motorbikes approached and called him by name. When he responded, they shot him in the neck. Rezaie-Nejad is the fourth nuclear scientist to have been assassinated in the past two years. At his funeral in Tehran today, Teheran governor Morteza Tamaddon linked the murder to the assassination last year of two top physicts also working on Iran's nuclear program, and said that this latest assassination ‘was without a doubt part of a project to discourage the Iranian nation from the path of (progress) it was pursuing.’ Iranian lawmakers predictably blamed the US and Israel for the assassination.

July 23: Regime confirms deaths of 6 IRGC commanders in clashes with PJAK. Lenziran televized portions of a funeral in Qom of six IRGC commanders killed during clashes with PJAK guerillas in Sardasht on Friday. Among those whose deaths was confirmed in Iranian media were Abbas Assemi, a senior Sepah intelligence officer from Qom; Abdulmohammed KhoramRoz, deputy of Imam Hussien Battalion; and Colonel Habibullah Aramzade. In separate clashes today, PJAK claims to have killed another 11 IRGC troops. The regime vowed to continue its attacks against PJAK until the group stopped all military activities.

Meanwhile, PJAK sources claim to have killed three Kurdish "anti-PJAK" agents, hired by the regime to carry out attacks against civilians and blame them on PJAK. Among them was Hasela Shet. The anti-PJAK squads have been responsible for killing 368 civilians over the past few years, according to PJAK sources.

July 21, 2011: PJAK fights back. After intense fighting last weekend, PJAK spokesman say they forced all IRGC troops to withdraw back to their bases inside Iran by Monday, where fighting has continued all week. Yesterday, Iran again tried to bring IRGC troops into Iraq, but was again repulsed by PJAK fighters. PJAK claims it killed 15 IRGC troops in Mariwan (Iranian Kurdistan), and that it controls most of the main highway in the Oraman region (Howraman). PJAK reported a total of 150 IRGC troops killed, and 8 PJAK fighters. Clashes were also reported in the city of Khoy in West Azerbayjan province. Also on Wednesday, the Iraqi parliament decided to dispatch members of the Security and Defense committee and the Foreign Affairs committee on a fact-finding mission to visit Kurdish villages still being bombarded by Iranian artillery.

According to one unconfirmed report from inside Iranian Kurdistan, the IRGC has executed 4 Colonels and 6 soldiers of Bakhtiari origin for refusing to fight Kurdish dissidents.

So far, there has been little media coverage of these events, except for Newsmax, which has been picked up by FoxNews and others, and the Jerusalem Post. The Iranian regime's Press TV has put together a lengthy "documentary" to renew its false allegations that PJAK is controlled by the PKK, and trotted out Paul Sheldon Foote of California State University at Irvine, a frequent shill for the regime who sees "communists" under every opposition rug. (There are plenty of Marxist groups among the Iranian opposition, but PJAK isn't one of them).

July 17, 2011: Casualties mount in Iranian incursion. PJAK sources claim they have killed 108 IRGC troops in fighting along the Iran-Iraq border and wounded another 200, following Iran's incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday. In one clash, 40 IRGC troops surrendered to PJAK guerillas, PJAK sources say. Meanwhile, official Iranian media claim that the IRGC has dismantled PJAK's "biggest compound" inside Iran near the Kurdish city of Sardasht. A PJAK spokesman, Sherzad Kamangar, told AFP in Erbil that two PJAK guerillas had been killed and several wounded, in Qandil. So far, the official Iraqi media has had little to say on the Iranian incursion. PJAK sources also said that two PJAK guerillas were killed on Sunday in an attack on the IRGC base in city (Oshnaviyeh) near Lake Urimiyeh near the Iraq and Turkish border.

July 15, 2011: Iran invades northern Iraq. An estimated 10,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards troops crossed the international border into northern Iraq today as part of an offensive aimed at smashing Iranian Kurdish bases inside the Kurdistan Regional Government areas. The IRGC troops launched their attack from Sardasht, Piranshahr and Mariwan in Iranian Kurdistan, and flowed across the border into Iraq at Haj Omran, the main border crossing controlled by the KRG, FDI has learned from Kurdish sources in the region. Until now, neither the Iraqi government nor the KRG has protested the Iranian invasion, nor have they attempted to resist the Iranian troops. IRGC troops have given Kurdish villagers in Iraq 72 hours to evacaute their homes, or face the Iranian onslaught, which appears to be targeting secret bases run by Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK).

PJAK sources claim that high-ranking Turkish officers and Special forces teams are playing an active role in the Iranian army thrust into Iraq, which at this point seems to have penetrated 1 km into Iraqi territory through areas controlled by the KRG. The IRGC has been deploying heavy weaponry in their assault including tanks, katyusha rocket launchers, artillery, mortars, and U.S.-built Huey Cobra attack helicopters against PJAK guerillas.

PJAK claims to have killed 21 IRGC troops so far, including one Colonel.

• Iran upholds death sentence of Iranian pastor. The Iranian Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for "apostasy" against Pastor Yousef Naderkhani, an evangelical pastor from Rasht, unless he recants his faith. Pastor Yousef is a former Muslim believer who came to Jesus who has been bringing the Gospel to Muslims. He has been under arrest since 2009.

Ahmadinejad has frequently said he will "destroy" the underground church in Iran. The Iranian regime has long dominated the traditional churches in Iran, but faces a special challenge from evangelical pastors from a Muslim background, since their very existence threatens the legitimacy of the Muslim dogma on which the regime is based. The State Department has said that if Iran carries out the death sentence, Naderkhani will be the first former Muslim executed for apostasy in Iran since 1990.

July 13, 2011: Iran continues to shell Kurdish villages in Iraq. Iranian Revolutionary Guards units have been shelling villages inside Iraqi Kurdistan for the past two days, according to PUK Media, the official news agency of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party of KRG prime minister Barham Salih. The shelling is part of a larger offensive directed against positions of the Free Life Party of Iranian Kurdistan in the Qandil mountains bordering the two countries.

The Iranian regime is accusing the KRG of providing facilities to PJAK, an allegation hotly denied by PJAK and clearly absurd to any observer who has visited the area on the ground, where KRG and PUK checkpoints prevent access to the Qandil region.

A photograph released by regime-owned PRESS TV shows alleged PJAK guerilla fighters allegedly training in areas controlled by the Kurdish Democratic Party of KRG president, Mustapha Barzani. In the photographs, the guerilla fighters have disguished their faces with head scarves, something PJAK fighters do not do. Besides that, PJAK camps are in areas under PUK control.

Leaked letters from the KRG representative in Tehran, Nazim Debagh, shows Iran repeatedly pressing the KRG government to crack down on PJAK fighters. In one letter, sent to PM Barham Salih on May 9, 2010, Debagh complains that “we have had no response from you about the promises you made to the Iranians” about taking strong steps against Iranian Kurds in the Qandil mountains [PJAK]. The letter says that the Iranians are pressing for a response by May 13th, and urges him “not to delay because in just one month, PJAK targeted four key areas inside Iran.” (On the same day the letter was sent, Iran executed five Kurdish activists, including several PJAK sympathizers).

A second letter, undated put apparently from the same time period, is from Nazim Debagh to the Commander of the Sepah Qods, informing him that “the KRG agrees to your request to deploy 46 IRGC members inside KRG territory.”

Clearly, the KRG can't be helping Iran to crack down on PJAK while providing assistance to PJAK at the same time. But Tehran's spin-meisters have never let facts get in the way of propaganda.

May 31, 2011: FDI calls on Rep. Lamar Smith to reauthorize Lautenberg Amendment. Along with ten NGOs that deal with Iranian refugee issues, FDI has written to Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Judiciary committee, urging him to reauthorize this special provision that allows members of persecuted religious minorities in Iran to make refugee applications while still in Iran. The Lautenberg amendment has been a lifeline for Iranian Jews and Bahai's. Without its immediate authorization, 800 people currently awaiting visas could suffer reprisals by the Iranian regime. Read the FDI letter here.

The Hudson Institute's Paul Marshall and Tina Ramirez odf the Becket Fund have written about the implications of failing to reauthorize this measure at National Review Online.

• State Department Documents Expose Iranian Terror Group. A series of documents released by State to the MEK under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveal the MEK’s involvement in the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, their ties to Saddam Hussein, and death threats made by the group to any member who tries to leave Camp Ashraf in Iraq, where they have been based since 1986. FDI comments that the new documents “dealt a body blow” to the MEK’s effort to get off the terrorism list. Read the full story at the New English Review.

May 23, 2011: Congress of Minorities Explains Why No Cooperation with Greens. A spokesman for the Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran, Karim Abdian, briefed Congressional staff members today on why many Iranian minority groups have not rushed to embrace the Green movement. "We believe that the failure of the leaders of the so-called "Green Movement" to articulate or reflect the demands and needs of the non-Perisan ethnic groups were the reasons why the Movement did not garner the needed enthusiastic support in outlying ethnic provinces," Abdian said. "Iranian National groups hve been extremely suspicious of any changes that do not guarantee their place in a future Iran. They have clearly demonstrated that they will not risk another change in the country wtihout clear assurances that the future government in Iran will be theirs as well." The Congress includes representatives of the Azeri, Ahwaz, Bakhtari, Turkomen, and Balouchi communities, and is being spear-headed by the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI).

KDPI Secretary General Mustapha Hijri told the Congressional briefing today that "the only solution to liberate the poeple of Iran is the removal of this regime and the establishment of a democratic government." The KDPI long-ago abandoned its armed struggle against the Iranian regime and is now focusing on political action inside Iran.

Like many secular groups, the KDPI rejects the vision of former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi of a reformed Islamic regime that would return to the "glory days" of the early Revoluiton. "We think the segment of the Green movement promoting democratic regime change is stronger than the reformists led by Moussavi and Karrubi," Hijri told FDI.

• DACOR rejections calls to cancel Trita Parsi. Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired (DACOR) has rejected calls by Iranian-Americans to cancel Trita Parsi's presentation on May 24. The group will host Parsi at a Forum on Iran at noon at its historic mansion, known as Bacon House, at 1801 F street, NW in Washington, DC, despite protests by Iranian-Americans that Parsi represents the positions of the Iranian regime. FDI joined other Iranian-Americans in a letter urging DACOR to cancel Parsi's presentation. "The Iranian-American community considers the "self-appointed" Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) an intellectually dishonest regime apologist and an unofficial and unregistered lobby for the Iranian regime. He contributes to the regime’s agenda and serves the interests of those in power in the Islamic Republic of Iran, not the Iranians, nor the Iranian-Americans. In a recent survey, 96% of the Iranian-Americans expressed that Trita is a lobbyist for the Iranian regime," the letter states.

A separate letter, sent by Walton Martin of the Iran Information Project and and Dr. Gill Gillespie of the Iranian Refugees Action network, notes that internal NIAC documents show NIAC's "intent to outright deceive Congress, the NED, Iranian-Americans and Americans as a whole under the guise of pretending to pursue human rights issues."

• More Bahai's arrested in Iran. The regime coordinated raids over the weekend on the Bahai Institute of Higher Education (BIHE) and the homes of professors, according to Iran Press Watch. More than thirty faculty members were arrested by intelligence ministry operatives in Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan and Shiraz during raids on Saturday. BIHE was established in 1987 as a community initiative to meet the educational needs of young Baha’is who have been systematically denied access to higher education by the Iranian government. “The Iranian authorities – not content with debarring Baha’is from university solely on account of their religious beliefs – are now cruelly seeking to shut down the community’s efforts to provide its youth with higher education through alternative means. The government’s actions are utterly unjustifiable,” said Diane Ala’i, representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.

• Report on Karoon prison in Ahvaz. IranBriefing presents a detailed report on the inner workings of the IRGC prison holding the largest numbers of Arab-Iranians (Ahwazis) of any prison in Iran. The prison even has a "non-smoking" section for non-smoking that the authorities show to visitors as a model. Political prisoners are detained next to those convicted of armed roberry or drug charges and share toilets with them. "In order to terrorise and put pressure on political prisoners, prison officials actively provoke non-political convicts held in section 6 to attack political prisoners," the report states.

May 17, 2011: Iranian-Americans Step Up Protests of NIAC Misrepresentation. Iranian-Americans have written a series open letters over the past few weeks to protest the misrepresentations of NIAC and its founder, Trita Parsi. The latest installment, released today, was addressed to General Wesley Clark, took part in a recent forum with Paris. "Dr. Trita Parsi and NIAC are shunned by the Iranian American community. We overwhelmingly believe that he is a lobbyist for the Islamic Republic. In a survey conducted of NIAC by the Pro-Democracy Movement of Iran, over 95% of the Iranians believe that NIAC does not represent their interests or their views," writes Sheri Alavandian of the Pro-Democracy Movement of Iran. She added that documents and emails that have come to light in NIAC's lawsuit against Hassan Dai "clearly shows NIAC has been advocating for policies favorable to the Islamic (non)Republic government in Iran." The documents also indicate that NIAC may have misused funds obtained from the National Endowment for Democracy, Ms. Alavandian writes.

• Writing in Newsmax today, FDI President Kenneth R. Timmerman reveals information from Iranian dissidents that reinforces claims that Iran was behind the coordinated storming of Israel's borders this past Sunday.

May 16, 2011: Why has the U.S. Invited an Iranian Trade Delegation to Visit? Despite strict economic sanctions on Iran, the U.S. has not only invited a 16-member trade delegation to visit a trade fair in Kansas City opening tomorrow; it has given the delegates three months visas, so they can stay in the U.S. and travel at will, FDI Advisory board member Reza Kahlili writes at FoxNews.com today. This will allow the Iranians to make contacts with U.S. companies and others that are usually off-limits to Iranian diplomats, who are restricted to a 25-mile radius of their post (Washington, DC and New York).

May 14, 2011: FDI unveils its MEK Resource page. Learn the truth about the MEK's origins, its assassination campaign against American military advisors to the Shah, and about the groups fraudulent activities in the United States and Europe, based on original documents, many of which are rare or have never been seen.

May 13, 2011: Wall Street Journal highlights MEK publicity campaign. Noting the MEK's campaign to win high-level support from former top U.S. officials, the Wall Street Journal highlights the reticence of U.S. and European officials to embrace the Marxist-Islamist group. "Obama administration and European officials, however, fear the campaign could undermine Washington's policy of reaching out to opposition forces in Iran. They say that's because the U.S. would appear to be aligned with a group that is widely unpopular due to its military alliance with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein during the 1980s and '90s and a string of terrorist attacks the U.S. says it launched inside Iran." Read the article here. However, the WSJ reporters take at face-value the statements by an MEK spokesman that all negative information about the group is fabricated by the Tehran regime. As FDI has reported many times, the MEK's track record of murdering Americans in Iran, and its willingness to serve as Saddam Hussein's strike force to attack opposition Kurds and Shiites in Iraq, is a matter of the historical record.

May 11, 2011: Iranian sends assassins after PJAK leader. Rahman Haj Ahmadi was recently warned by German police that the Iranian regime had sent three Kurdish assassins to stake out his residence. The three would-be assassins were traveling on Turkish passports. As part of its campaign against PJAK, the regime has trained agents provacateurs to carry out terror attacks inside Iranian Kurdistan and blame them on PJAK. Read the full article here.

May 9, 2011: Free the Iranian Hostages. In an opinion column in today's print edition of the Washington Times, FDI president and CEO Kenneth R. Timmerman urges the Obama administration to remove PJAK from the Treasury Department's list of terrorist organizations. "Simply put, there is no factual basis for the Obama administration’s decision to designate PJAK as a terrorist group," Timmerman writes. "The only justification was a desire by the Obama White House to placate the Tehran regime, which saw the group as a threat." Read the article here, or here

May 8, 2011: FDI Joins Iranian-American Activists Calling on UCLA to disinvite Iran-regime apologist Trita Parsi. In a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a group of Iranian-American activists, joined by FDI, called on UCLA to cancel its invitation to Trita Parsi to address an upcoming forum on Iran. As the letter states, "the Iranian- American community considers Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) an intellectually dishonest regime apologist. He contributes to the regime’s agenda and serves the interests of those in power in the Islamic Republic of Iran." Read the full letter here.

May 5, 2011: U.S. Congress calls for stepped up support to Iranian dissidents . A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Promotion Act yesterday to increase U.S. support for Iranian dissidents. The bill, co-sponsored by Sens Mark Kirk (R, Ill), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D, NY), and Reps Robert Dold (R-10th/Ill) and Ted Deutch (D-19th-Fla) would make it U.S. policy to support Iranian dissidents and would sanction companies that sell law enforcement products to the regime, including water cannons, sniper rifles, and surveillance gear. "In our view, the United States should make the issue of human rights a fundamental pillar of our international diplomacy with regard to Iran," Sen. Kirk said at a press conference with his co-sponsors.

FDI salutes these lawmakers and urges their colleagues in Congress to join them in large numbers to send an unmistakeable message to the regime in Tehran that their repression of the Iranian people has costs.

FDI further urges members of Congress to rectify the tragic error of the Obama administration in designating the Free Life Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PJAK) as a terrorist organization, an action taken on Feb. 4, 2009 as part of the White House "outreach" to the terrorist regime in Tehran. May 4, 2011: State Department gets Iran wrong. While there is much to praise in the State Department's latest human rights report on Iran, one glaring error stands out that clearly shows that even U.S. government human rights monitors are being influenced by Tehran. In the very first section (page 4) the report states that Kurdish activist "Farrad Kamangar" received a death sentence in 2008 "for 'endangering national security' based on his alleged involvement with the Turkey-based Kurdish Workers Party." In fact, Farhad Kamangar, who was a middle school teacher in Iranian Kurdistan, was a sympathizer of PJAK, the Free Life Party of Iranian Kurdistan. But the State Department appears to have accepted at face value Iranian regime claims that PJAK is a "branch" of the PKK.

During a recent trip to PJAK bases in northern Iraq, FDI president and CEO Kenneth R. Timmerman met with Kamangar's brother Sherzad (right), who is a member of PJAK's political leadership. "My brother was a PJAK sympathizer, but not an actual member," Sherzad said. "The regime used that pretext for hanging him. They called him a “terrorist” because he was close to PJAK, which they call a “terrorist” group."

The U.S. Treasury Department's designation of PJAK as a terrorist organization has only encouraged the Iranian regime, Kamagar believes, and may in fact have prompted them to hang his brother. Furthermore, other elements of the pro-democracy movement now shun PJAK because of the designation. "Most of the groups involved in the freedom struggle in Iran know that the world sees the Islamic Republic is a terrorist regime. But at the same time, they see that the United States designates PJAK as a terrorist group. They know that PJAK is leading a freedom struggle, a democratic struggle against this terrorist regime, and so they wonder: how can the United States take such a decision? What does this mean? It’s a paradox – and it’s injust," Kamagar said. "Some democratic opposition groups won’t deal with us because of this."

Read the State Department report on-line or download it here as a PDF.

May 2, 2011: Poorzand leapt to his death. According to a news report this morning, Siamak Pourzand leapt to his death in Tehran, in a final act of defiance against the regime.

April 29, 2011: Dissident journalist dies in Tehran. Siamak Poorzand, 81, a well-known journalist who has been repeatedly jailed by the regime, was found dead today at his Tehran appartment by the doorman, after failing to respond to phone calls. He appeared to have died of natural causes. Poorzand was in ill health and has been under house arrest for years and unable to leave Iran, even though Canada had approved a request for political asylum and was ready to welcome him, his family told FDI. This picture, from 2005, was taken when his younger daughter, Azadeh, secretly visited him in Tehran. Amnesty International featured him as a prisoner of conscience in 2004.

He was abducted by the regime in November 2001 and subsequently put on trial for "subversive activities, propaganda, and plotting against the Islamic Republic," and accused of distributing $4 million to Iranian dissidents and of working with Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Shah. The sheer exageration of the claims was a back-handed compliment to his credibility among Iranian dissidents, He was ultimately sentenced to 11 years in jail, but spent the later years at his home in Tehran under house arrest after suffering his third heart attack in Evin prison in 2007. His second wife, noted human rights attorney Mehrangiz Kar, was forced to flee Iran shortly after his trial and conviction.

April 28, 2011: Iranians Spooked by Stuxnet.The Stuxnet story just keeps getting better and better. While Western computer security analysts who have examined the code have found that Stuxnet exclusively targets the controllers that spin uranium enrichment centrifuges, the possibility that it could also affect the Bushehr nuclear power plant has got the Iranians absolutely spooked – so much so, that the Parliament is considering closing the plant permanently and starting all over again. Read the latest at Newsmax.com. For additional background, read FDI advisory board member Reza Kahlili's blog.

April 25, 2011: Trita Parsi hits brick wall in Canada. Following an oped by FDI president Kenneth Timmerman and Canadian human rights activist and advocate Sayeh Hassan in the National Post on Friday, pro-Tehran lobbyist Trita Parsi appears to have backed out from participating in the Ottowa Iran conference. (See April 22, below). More to come as the details emerge...

Parsi and friends continue to try to curry favor with the Obama White House. A key Parsi sponsor and funder, Noosheen Hashemi, founder and chairman of the Hand Foundation and the PARSA Foundation, paid $35,800 to attend an Obama celebrity fund-raiser on April 20 at billionaire Marc Benioff's San Francisco home.

The PARSA foundation has given grants worth more than $400,000 recently to NIAC, according to its own website. Most of these grants came after NIAC reportedly had advised the State Department and the White House not to openly criticize the Iranian regime for its crackdown on protesters after the June 2009 election fraud in Iran.

April 22, 2011: Conference on Iran to feature Tehran apologist. In an opinion column in today's National Post, FDI president Kenneth Timmerman and Canadian human rights activist and advocate Sayeh Hassan urged the Canadian authorities to cancel a scheduled speech by Trita Parsi at a conference on Iran to be held in Ottowa next month.The conference will be sponsored in part by the Canadian Department of National Defence and the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS), making the invitation of a known pro-Tehran advocate all the more questionable. "Given the leadership role the Canadian government has taken in condemning Tehran’s human rights violations, pushing for smart sanctions and showing support for the pro-democracy movement in Iran, it is therefore surprising that the Ministry of National Defence and CSIS, two entities responsible for the safety and security of Canadians, did not perform due diligence on Trita, the founder of the Teheran-friendly NIAC," we argue.

The Canadian Parliament calls Ahmadinejad's regime "a threat to peace, human rights, and international law." Read their ground-breaking report (PDF file)

April 21, 2011: FDI joins The New Iran.

FDI has joined "The New Iran," a new paradigm for democratic participation and grass-roots leadership that is the most promising development we have seen in a long while. Based on audience participation software developed by Dr. Iman Foroutan, The New Iran [NahadeMardomi] does away with parti-bazi - the top-down, personality-driven organizations of the past that have failed to energize the Iranian people with a convincing vision of a better tomorrow.

The New Iran busts through the old paradigm by doing away with back-room politics as usual, where hidden agendas and unspoken compromises have generated mutual suspicion.

Individuals and organizations have been joining The New Iran at a steady clip since the website went live just over one month ago. No secret core of supporters runs the site or determines the agenda of the group; everything, right down to the political program and transparent structures for deploying money, is being determined out in the open, by grass roots activists willing to donate their time.

Their most powerful tool is their ability to convince others of the justice of their cause. They do this through on-line “meetings,” and a wide variety of content members post.

Dr. Foroutan developed the platform for The New Iran from proprietary software initially developed for popular TV shows that require distant audiences to cast secure ballots for the contest of the night. Security is a key element, to prevent stacked voting; and at the New Iran, participants from Iran worried about revealing their true identity can join using pseudonyms but cannot vote for this reason, until a more secure on-line system can be set up.

Dr. Foroutan is offering his platform to the Department of State to help mobilize the grass roots democracy movement in places like Egypt and Tunisia, where the better-organized Muslim Brotherhood appears to be poised to divert the popular revolutions in those countries to Islamist goals.

Our view: The New Iran offers the greatest promise for a revitalized pro-freedom movement in Iran that we have seen in ages. But it is just a tool. Now it’s up to Iranians to pick it up and use it.

March 28, 2011:A'Jad says the time to attack Jerusalem is near. A feature-length documentary film, produced by a top advisor to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claims that the cataclysmic events that will usher in an era of Muslim world domination are about to begin, triggered by actions launched by Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah. This film was discovered by Reza Kahlali, author of the memoire A Time to Betray, and an advisory board member of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran.

This is one of the most important revelations about the intentions of the current Iranian regimes to have emerged in many years.

It combines Ajad’s messianic belief in the imminent return of the 12th imam, with a real world military alliance between the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups to launch a region-wide world against Israel and other American allies.The film is nothing short than a declaration of war, an Iranian version of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” which after all in German means “my struggle” or “my jihad.”

Watch the complete movie with English subtitles at Reza Kahlili's blog. Or watch a brief presentation from CBN this morning, here:

March 21, 2011: Iranian dissidents torch Tabriz refinery, transformers. Iranian dissidents in East Azerbaijan province torched the Tabriz refinery using petrol bombs last Tuesday (March 15), setting a massive fire that shut down the refinery for three days, according to the Azerbaijan Movement for Democracy and Integrity in Iran. More than 100 fire-fighting vehicles took 11 hours to get the blaze under control, cutting off electricity to Tabriz, the provincial capital and Iran's fourth largest city. The government declared a state of emergency as security forces sealed off the area in a massive manhunt. But in the end, no one was arrested in connection with the attacks, the group said.

In what appeared to be dry run attacks six days earlier, dissidents launched commando-style attacks on a series of electrical transformers in Karaj, just north of Tehran, again using petrol bombs. Despite the security crack-down, no arrests were made, the Azerbaijan Movement said.

Azeris are the most numerous minority in Iran, numbering well over 20 million, by most accounts. Azeri merchants control much of the Tehran bazaar, and their far-flung families live all across Iran. (The Afshar clan, for example, is firmly established in Mashad, along the Afghan border, as well as in East Azerbaijan closer to Iraq). "There are Azeris in Khorassan, Gilan, Ilam and Mazandaran" in addition to the traditional strongholds in the northwest of the country, the spokesman of the Azerbaijan Movement for Democracy and Integrity in Iran, Loheasb Zeinali, 32, told FDI in a recent meeting in Europe. "We are not a separatist movement. We believe in a united Iran. We are looking for partners.”

Zeinali had run a branch of the family carpet business in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, until he was arrested there in November 2004 and subsequently expelled for holding a demonstration to celebrate the re-election of President George W. Bush, during which he asked the United States to bomb terrorist regimes, such as Iran. "They tried to send me back to Iran," he told FDI. "In the end they gave me three months to shut down my carpet business and leave the country." Eventually, he managed to get political asylum in Europe.

Zeinali believes that now is not the time to talk about a new constitution, or about what form a future republic will take. "Now is the time to overthrow the regime," he said.

Azeris and other tribes have traditionally played a key role in Iranian politics, especially in times of transition. The Bakhtiari tribes shut down the oil fields during anti-Shah protests in 1978; Qashqai's were deeply involved during WWII and during the 1953 coup. Anti-shah riots in Tabriz in January 1978 helped spark the revolution, which initially was led by Ayatollah Shariat-Madari, an Azeri cleric based in Tabriz.

Even today, Zeinali says, "everybody is waiting for the Azeris" to spark nation-wide protests against the regime.

March 17, 2011: Have an opinion on Trita Parsi and NIAC? Take this online survey. Is Parsi an Iranian regime agent? A human rights activist? Should NIAC be shut down? Be forced to answer questions on its ties to regime officials? Take the survey here.

March 16, 2011: Iranians defy Khamenei order. Despite a "fatwa" from the supreme Leader calling on Iranians to shun the traditional Chahar Shanbe Soori fire festival, the streets of Tehran were packed on Tuesday night as fire dancers ushered out the old year. (For videos of the celebrations and protests, see the website of FDI advisory board member Reza Kahlili, here). The ancient Zoorastrian festival falls on the last Tuesday of the old year, and has become a rallying symbol for Iranians fed up with the clerical regime.

March 8, 2011: Heavy security in Tehran for women's day protests. Protests called to commemorate international women's day appear to have fizzled today, as security forces reportedly prevented people from gathering in Tehran. A group of 300 women's Rights advocates had called for the protests two days ago, adding their voices to that of Nobel Peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. More from Radio Zamaneh

• Former U.S. officials say they were paid to attend pro-MEK events. Former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton (D) and former CENTCOM Commander Anthony Zinni have acknowledged that they were paid to appear at recent events supporting the MEK, according to reports in left-wing blogs.

Hamilton and Zinni are among the many big time former government officials and military leaders who have appeared at recent pro-MEK events sponsored by a group called Executive Action, LLC, according to the TPM website. Hamilton, who once chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was a co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, told generally pro-Tehran reporter Barbara Slavin he was paid "a substantial amount" to appear at a panel in Washington D.C. in February. Zinni, who spoke at a similar event in January, said he had been paid his "standard fee," without detailing what that is. Read the full story here.

Michael Rubin provides some useful reminders on the MEK's terrorist past in Commentary and called the groupo "an ideological chameleon. Only fools would believe that the [MEK] is sincere in its pro-American rhetoric." The State Department's 2008 report on international terrorist organizations recalls the MEK's terror attacks against U.S. citizens, and says the group "displays cult-like characteristics" that includes veneration of current MEK leader Maryam Rajavi and "weekly 'ideological cleansings.'"

March 2, 2011: Newsmax roundup of yesterday's protests. Tuesday’s protests, which took place in Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, and Shiraz, came in defiance of the massive police and anti-riot squad presence the regime has deployed in recent days. Meanwhile, Washington continues to dither. congressional Republicans and Democrats alike criticized SecState Hillary clinton for a failure to enforce existing U.S. sanctions on Iran, Newsmax reports today.

March 1, 2011: Iranians protest in Tehran, Shiraz, Mashad, Isfahan. Iranians ignored restrictions by the regime and came out this afternoon and evening to protest the arrest of reformist opposition leaders Moussavi and Karrubi. FDI Advisory board member Reza Kahlili is tracking the blogs and the twitter traffic, and has put up a special page where English-language readers can view the latest. Cellphone videos show thousands in the streets of Tehran shouting "Death to the Dictator" [Marg-barg-diktator"]

Feb. 28, 2011: Moussavi and Karrubi jailed. Family members say both Moussavi and Karrubi were jailed over the weekend. No lights have been seen at their homes of the past three days. On Monday, a reformist website confirmed that they had been taken to Heshmatieh prison in Tehran.

Meanwhile, an IRGC source has told al Arabiya TV that Iran hs been operating several military bases in Libya on behalf of Qaddafi. The bases are located mostly along Libya’s borders with the African countries of Chad and Niger. From there, the Guards have been smuggling arms and supply logistical assistance to rebellious groups in the western and Central African countries. For more, see the website of FDI Advisory board member Reza Kahlili.

Feb. 26, 2011: Left-wing blog says Obama planning Iran overthrow. Would that it were so... Foreign Policy Journal, a left-wing webzine, details some of the grants for pro-democracy funding from the State Department over the past three years, while citing FDI for our role in helping the pro-democracy movement in Iran. FDI Advisory Board member Pooya Dayanim comments: "Please note that the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI) on whose advisory board we sit is the only group NOT GETTING US GOVERNMENT funding or (to make it clear) any other government's funding and yet more ink is spent on FDI than any other group. I believe these attacks are actually a compliment on the great work of Ken Timmerman (FDI's President) and the Board of FDI."

Feb. 25, 2011: Stop the Bomb calls for protest of German-Iranian bank in Hamburg. A German NGO that has been warning about Iran's nuclear weapons program for years is calling on German authorities to shut down a German-Iranian bank that continues to operate in Hamburg, despite UN, US, and European Union sanctions. According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, the European-Iranian Trade Bank. EIH has provided important financial services to the Iranian nuclear weapons program and is controlled by the Iranian regime. The demonstration will be held at 2 PM on Feb. 27, 2011 in front of the bank's headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. For details, go here

Feb. 24, 2011: Tehran under seige as regime tries to avoid protests. After placing Moussavi and Karrubi under house arrest, the regime is now trying to prevent new mass protests initially scheduled for today. FDI advisory board member Reza Kahlili has obtained a stunning cellphone video showing the astonishing array of anti-riot troops, bassiji's, and motor-cycle plainclothes troops blocking access to major squares in Tehran today.

Feb. 14, 2011: BBC calls on protestors to send photos. As the first reports of clashes between pro-freedom demonstrators and regime forces in Tehran's Enghelab square hit the wires this afternoon (Tehran time), the BBC Persian service has called on protesters to upload their pictures via the Internet. Only problem: the Iranian regime has cut off Internet access, including most Twitter accounts, and placed reformist opposition leaders Mir Hossein Moussavi and Hojjat-ol eslam Mehdi Karrubi under house arrest. By 4:20 pm Tehran time today, large crowds were seen converging on Azadi square; while security forces were stationed in Laleh Park, preparing to intervene. Large crowds of silent protesters were also gathering in Shiraz.

• Here's a cellphone video, apparently from this afternoon, showing Basijis on motorbikes en route to crack down on protesters. UPDATE - 6 PM Tehran time [09:30 Eastern Standard time] • FDI sources say that Turkish president Abdollah Gul, in Tehran today, urged Iran's Islamic leadership to allow peaceful protests so that young people would "let off steam," which appears to be fewer anti-riot police (and more plain clothesmen) than during previous large protests • Protest reported in Kermanshah and Shiraz at 6 PM local time. • Students at Sharif University arrested • Tear gas reportedly fired at students in front of Tehran University • Very large crowds reported in Azadi square in Tehran • One early report from the Wall Street Journal via Newsmax has security forces wearing uniforms during the early hour of the protests.

UPDATE - 10:30 PM Tehran time [2:30 pm Eastern Standard time] Bloggers report: • Plain clothes officers shouting at women protesters "najess" (unclean) and "you can do what you want with them" • Protesters chant "Mubarak, Ben Ali, NOw it's time for Seyed Ali" [ie, Khamenei] YouTube Video • U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says protesters in Iran "deserve to have the same rights as protesters in Egypt that toppled Mubarak. • Protests spread to Mashad, where students are attacked by regime agents.

Feb. 13, 2011: State Department opens Iran Twitter feed. AP is reporting a new Twitter feed, "USA dar farsi," aimed at encouraging Iranians to launch civil disobedience similar to the protests that rocked Egypt. The move comes after stinging criticism of the Obama administration for its silence in the wake of the June 2009 election protests in Iran, including by FDI (see below). How long before the White House shuts it down?

Meanwhile, Reza Pahlavi appeared on Fox News today, saying that Iran's time has come. "My compatriots in Tehran want to have their Tehran moment, as Egyptians had their Cairo moment... Iran's turn is going to come up soon as well." He urged "free countries" to drop their attempts at dialogue with regime, and to offer more support for the pro-freedom movement instead.

Feb. 11, 2011: Ahmadinejad sees hand of 12th Imam in Egypt. Ahmadinejad on Friday said the fall of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Ben Ali in Tunisia marked the beginning of a new era without US influence in the Middle East that was being "managed by the imam of the ages," the 12th imam. "This is a global revolution, managed by the imam of the ages," Ahmadinejad told a crowd of supporters in Azadi square. He predicted it would soon lead toward a one-world Islamic government. FDI says: Watch what he does, and listen to what he says. Read the full dispatch here.

He predicted the formation of a world government, ruled by the 12th imam. "Hearts and beliefs are swiftly leaning toward forming a global governance and the necessity of the rule of the perfect human, linked to the heavens," he said.

Feb. 9, 2011: An Open Letter to Ken Timmerman on the Launch of Iranium, by Jerry Gordon, senior editor at the New English Review. "You and other friends at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the Center for Security Policy, and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs are to be congratulated for your cogent presentations in The Clarion Fund production: Iranium. All of you have sent an important message to Americans, Israelis, Europeans, Latin Americans and the World.... You personally have felt the brunt of Islamic terrorism while a journalist held hostage in Beirut that transformed you into a committed opponent of Jihadist Islam." Read the complete letter here and here

Feb. 8, 2011: Protesters in Iran throw shoe at Khamenei. In what is widely considered a supreme insult in the Muslim world, protesters in Iran today threw a shoe at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The photograph below was posted to Khamenei's official website, and reproduced (by an inattentive editor?) at the official mehrnews.com website. (By the time we post this, they may have removed the photo from the official websites, so we have downloaded it for our readers). The triangle shows the person who appears to have thrown the shoe.

Remember that an Iraqi journalist, angry with George. W. Bush for having overthrown Saddam Hussein, received international attention and was considered a "hero" by al Jazeera and other Islamist news outlets when he threw his shoes at President Bush during a news conference in Baghdad with prime minister al-Malaki. Remember also the official White House photograph of President Barack Obama, speaking with newly elected Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Obama was photographed with his feet up on his desk, showing his shoes to Netayanhu, a position of supreme disrespect. That White House photograph was reproduced all across the Middle East and taken as a sign of a new U.S. policy of disapproval toward Israel.

TODAY ONLY: WATCH IRANIUM HERE

BBC Persian features coverage of Iranium features Shohreh Ashdagloo, John Bolton, and FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman. Watch it here

Feb. 7, 2011: Watch Iranium on-line tomorrow. The new film on the threat from the Iranian regime, Iranium, will premier tomorrow with a showing on Capitol Hill. The film's producer, the Clarion Fund, is making it available for free on-line viewing to the first 50,000 viewers on Tuesday, Feb. 8. Go to their website tomorrow to view. Iranium features noted scholar on Islam, Bernard Louis, former CIA director R. James Woolsey, Rep. Elliot Engel (D, NY), Clifford May, Clare Lopez, John Bolton, Frank Gaffney, FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman and a host of others.

Feb. 4, 2011: Khamenei urges Egyptians to impose Islamic state. Addressing Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time in seven months, Supreme Leader Khamenei switched from Persian to Arabic to urge Egyptians to dump Mubarak and secular rule and impose an Islamic dictatorship. Meanwhile, in Iran itself, the regime shows what Islamic rule actually means, carrying out an average of one execution every 10 hours since the start of 2011. The latest victims include Dutch citizen, Zahra Bahrami, who was arrested while visiting Iran during the Dec. 27, 2009 protests and condemned to death on drug charges that appear to have been invented after her arrest.

Jan. 31, 2011: Obama favors Islamic government in Iran and Egypt. A takeover of Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood "may be Obama's intention," FDI president Kenneth Timmerman writes, "just as his intention during the post-election protests in Iran was to support the regime in place because he saw it as a potential partner in resolving the Iranian nuclear crisis."

Jan. 28, 2011: Regime Broadens Crackdown on Christians. "Since the Presidential Election of 2009, there has been a surge in Muslims leaving the faith; most of them have joined branches of Christianity, while others have also shown interest in Sufism, Zoroastrianism, Bahaism, and Buddhism," Lisa Daftari writes in FrontPage magazine today. More than 70 Christians have been arrested since Jan. 1, especially recent converts from Islam.

Jan. 21, 2011: The MEK Is Not Part of the Iranian Opposition, woman's rights activist says. "The MEK is a jihadist, communist cult that has killed thousands. The Americans they are reaching out to — including Rudy Giuliani and Tom Ridge — must not be fooled," writes Manda Zand Ervin at Pajamas media.

"They bombed the offices of El Al, Shell, BP, and Jewish-owned offices in Tehran. They bombed numerous other U.S. facilities and properties, killing and maiming. In its publication, The Mojahid, Mr. Rajavi said: “We will make this another Vietnam for America.” She goes on to name the U.S. military officers and civilians murdered by the Mujahedin just before the 1979 revolution, and explain that the only reason Rajavi took the MEK into opposition was because ayatollah Khomeini refused to name him prime minister in 1981.

Jan. 19, 2011: Archives Canada bows to Iranain regime, cancels screening of Iran film. On the same day producers of the new documentary film Iranium launched their PR campaign and announced pre-release screenings in the U.S. and Canada, Archives Canada said it was cancelling the screening it had planned because of multiple complaints and threatening letters, including from the Iranian regime embassy in Ottowa, the National Post reported today. (Click on the image below to view the trailer). Newsmax reported on the story on Thursday.

Jan. 13, 2011: Regime attacks FDI... again. If you subscribe to the old adage, 'you're known by you're enemies,' then FDI is honored by the latest attack against us and our president, Kenneth Timmerman, that appeared in today's lede editorial of Keyhan daily, which is controlled by the Supreme Leader and run by goons from the regime's intelligence ministry. As the Iranian economy collapses under the burder of international sanctions brought about by the stubbornness of Iran's unelected leaders, all Keyhan can think of is to conjur up weird conspiracy theories and foreign plots.

Under the title, "The Dance of Terrorists on the Tip of the Sword," Keyhan writes, "While terrorism against the Islamic Republic has had many faces, the most prominent one today is the policy being promoted by foreign and especially Western analysts such as Kenneth Timmerman, the president of National Democracy Organization [sic]. who is laying the ideological groundwork for these forms of terrorism under the name of democracy and human rights." At least they spelled Timmerman's name correctly.

Why did they get FDI's name wrong? Perhaps because we have been banned from the Internet in Iran by government censors in January 2010, along with scores of other pro-freedom groups and foreign radio networks. (See below). Perhaps Stuxnet has also attacked Keyhan's electronic archives!

- FDI Advisory Board member addresses World Affairs Council in Los Angeles. Reza Kahlili, a former CIA spy inside the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) told the World Affairs Council last night that the U.S. must support the pro-freedom movement in Iran, or suffer the consequences as the Islamic regime uses the nuclear weapons it is hell-bent on acquiring. Video should soon be posted here. For Reza's latest opeds and commentaries, go here.

Jan. 12, 2011: Iranian regime escalates attacks on Christians. Regime agents began a massive round-up of Christian evangelicals and converts from Islam on Dec. 26, interrogating more than 600 people and arresting at least 25. On January 4, the governor general of Tehran Province, Morteza Tamadon, acknowledged that Christians had been arrested because of their “corrupting” influence and warned that there would be further arrests. The Hudson Institute's Paul Marshall has more.