Rouhani Deletes Tweets Of Conversation With Obama

Old photo before Rouhani got more followers

By: Jabbar Fazeli. MD
Rounahi's first tweets about his phone conversation with Obama were in first person format and uncensored. 

Hours later the tweets were deleted and replaced with ones formatted in third person and missing the fuzziness of the first tweets.

Rouhani may want to do something different, but at the end of the day he too has minders, and they may not all be on his payroll.

Obama and Rouhani Speak on the Phone

Historic Direct Contact Between Presidents of U.S. and Islamic Republic

President Obama said at a White House news conference today that he spoke over the phone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani this afternoon, the first direct contact between U.S. and Iranian leaders since before the 1979 revolution. (Washington Post, 27 September)

Rouhani tweeted minutes before Obama took the podium that they had spoken on the phone while he was on his way to the airport to fly back to Tehran after a week in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

Rouhani added that they ended the phone conversation by telling Obama, “have a nice day.” Obama responded with “khoda hafez,” colloquial Farsi that communicates a friendly goodbye.

Obama, in his news conference, said he would seek “transparent, meaningful and verifiable actions” on the Iranian nuclear program.

“A path to a meaningful agreement will be difficult,” Obama said. “And at this point, both sides have significant concerns that will have to be overcome. But I believe we've got a responsibility to pursue diplomacy, and that we have a unique opportunity to make progress with the new leadership in Tehran.”

Photo Credit: President Obama talking to President Rouhani. The picture was released by the White House. 27 September 2013.

Iranian F-4E Phantom Crashes in Bushehr

The Aviationist, David Cenciotti’s weblog, today confirmed eyewitness accounts and reports received by UOI, that an Iranian F-4E Phantom crashed on Bushehr air base’s runway on Monday, killing its pilot and injuring WSO.

The F-4E Phantom II of the 61^st Tactical Fighter Squadron in Bushehr apparently had a “violent tire burst” while landing on runway 31L on September 23^rd, forcing the aircraft off the runway. The crew attempted to eject which resulted in the tragic death of the pilot, Major Rezaie. The WSO Capt. Salimi was injured. (theaviationist.com, 27 September)

This is the third crash of an Iranian F-4 Phantom in the last three years, which includes the 2010 crash in Bushehr and 2012 crash in Bandar Abbas. 

The F-4 remains the workhorse of IRIAF. The Iranian air force has recently mounted Qader anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM) on its F-4Es (see the report here). The move gives Iran ALCM capabilities, in addition to its ASCMs that can be fired from land or the sea. 

The Shah of Iran purchased more than 260 F-4s in late 1960s and 1970s. The first combat use of an F-4 by Iranian air force was in 1975 when the Shah supported Oman government against the separatist rebels in the country’s Dhofar province. It is estimated that some 30 F-4s were lost during the conflict. The F-4s played key role in the 8-year war with Iraq, and an estimated 80 Phantoms were lost during that war. To this day, the F-4s are responsible for majority of alert duties for the IRIAF.

Currently, the F-4Es are based in Bushehr, Bandar Abbas and Hamadan air force bases. It is estimated that some 60 F-4E and RF-4Es are still kept fly-worthy and operational, and few aging F-4Ds that are based in Chahbahar.

Note: Winston of The Spirit of Man first posted about the IRIAF F-4 accident on 25 September. To see his post, please click here. Our apologies to Winston and to our readers for not crediting the author and the blog. It was unintentional. 

Photo credit: Shahram Sharifi/The Aviationist (the Aviationist says that the photo shows the crew members that were involved in the deadly crash of the F-4E on Monday)

Happier Times!

Iran and the United States held their highest-level talks in a generation on Thursday, saying the tone was positive. Both sides, however, cautioned that that resolving long-running standoff over Iran's nuclear program would take some time. Iran and the six major powers will now meet in Geneva next month to continue today’s talks. (Reuters, 26 September)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met one-on-one after the meeting of the foreign ministers of the seven countries. Kerry called the talks "very constructive."

"We had a very constructive meeting," Kerry told reporters after the talks. "Needless to say, one meeting and a change in tone, which was welcome, doesn't answer (all) questions yet and there is a lot of work to be done." (Reuters, 26 September)

"I am satisfied with this first step," Iranian foreign minister told reporters. "Now we have to see whether we can match our positive words with serious deeds so we can move forward." 

"Of course as we move forward, there has to be removal of sanctions and in the end game there has to be a total lifting of all sanctions and both bilateral sanctions, unilateral sanctions as well as multilateral sanctions and U.N. sanctions and we hope to be able to move in that direction within a short span of time," Zarif added.

Photo credit: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sitting next to one another in a good will gesture at the meeting of foreign ministers of Iran and the six major powers discussing Iranian nuclear program.  The UN, 26 September 2013. (AFP)

MODAFL unveils upgraded Qader and Nasr air-lanched missile systems

 

IRIAF F-4E Phantom II alongside upgraded air-launched Qadr and Nasr missiles 

Formal unveiling of Project Dowran: air launched Nasr (C-704 variant) and Qader (extended range C-802/3 variant). Claimed ranges are 35 km and 200 km, respectively, with latter claimed GPS assisted.

Abbas Dowran was an IRIAF fighter pilot, KIA and hero of the Imposed War (1980-88). He received his flight training at Columbus AFB (CBM / KCBM), a USAF base located in Mississippi, USA.

 Video:

Photo: MODAFL

Rouhani Condemns Holocaust

Confirms U.S. Request for Meeting with Obama

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani asserted in a CNN interview that he condemned the Holocaust. In the CNN interview, recorded on Tuesday and broadcast today, Christiane Amanpour asked Rouhani about his view of the Holocaust. Rouhani responded:

“Any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis created towards the Jews, is reprehensible and condemnable… Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews, we condemn,” Rouhani said. “The taking of human life is contemptible. It makes no difference whether that life is Jewish life, Christian or Muslim. For us it is the same.” (CNN/New York Times, 24 September)

Asked about the meeting with President Obama which never materialized, Rouhani answers:

“The United States declared its interest in having such a meeting and in principle could have, under certain circumstances, allowed it to happen… But I believe we didn’t have sufficient time to really coordinate the meeting,” said Rouhani.

Earlier reports from the White House indicated that Rouhani and his team thought a meeting with Obama was “too complicated.” A sign that the powerful conservative and fundamentalist forces inside Iran were against such meeting.

During the interview, however, Rouhani sent his “greetings to the people of America who are very dear and near to the hearts of the Iranian people.” (CNN/New York Times, 24 September)

Photo credit: President Hassan Rouhani of Iran with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. 24 September 2013. (amanpour.blogs.cnn.com)

Team Rouhani in New York

Photos from top to bottom:

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu during walk alongside East River. 24 September 2013 (IRNA/Twitter)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani with Charlie Rose. The interview will be broadcast on PBS on Wednesday 25 September at 11pm EST. (PBS/Twitter)

Rouhani with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. 24 September 2013 (@GermanDiplo / German Foreign Office)

Rouhani with IMF Managing Director Christin Lagarde. 24 September 2013 (IRNA/Twitter)

Iran, Iraq defense ministries meet in Tehran

 

IRI and Republic of Iraq defense officials share a common table before an elevated portrait of Imam Khomeini 

According to FARS News Agency:

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan and his Iraqi counterpart Sadun Farhan Al-Dulaymi, in a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday, explored avenues for bolstering and reinvigorating the bilateral defense ties between the two neighboring nations.

The Iranian and Iraqi defense ministers underlined the need for the further expansion of the bilateral ties and mutual cooperation between the two countries.

Al-Dulaymi also pointed to the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, and said, “The war that Saddam imposed on the two countries’ nations has increased the Iraqi government’s incentive for more intimate relations with Iran.”

Al-Dulaymi is heading a high-ranking delegation to Iran, and his visit takes place at the invitation of Brigadier General Dehqan.

The Iraqi army’s chief of staff as well as the country’s ground force, air force and navy commanders are accompanying Al-Dulaymi during his visit to Iran, which will be his second since he was appointed as Iraq’s defense minister.

Definitely not what the Bush administration had in mind when invading Iraq ten years ago.

It's presumed the IRGC is suggesting solutions that previously worked for Iran to be applied in Iraq's current counter-terror efforts, as well as discussing military-related consequences of the ongoing Takfiri fight in neighboring Syria.