Transport Subsidies to End

As part of a gradual end to subsidies, the Iranian government announced today that the prices for airline tickets would be increased by 30% on Wednesday, followed by a 40% increase in railway tickets by the end of October.

The government is also expected to announce a 400% increase in the price of subsidized gasoline, from 100 to 400 toumans per liter, or $1.44 per gallon. The maximum allowance of subsidized gasoline per vehicle per month is to be set at 60 liters (15.8 gallons) per month. The consumers could still purchase extra gasoline at a price of 670 toumans per liter, or $2.40 a gallon, a 67% increase over the current price of gasoline without coupons.

Iran Confirms Cyber Attacks on Nuclear Facilities - UPDATE

The Iranian Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi said in Tehran today that the authorities have arrested several “nuclear spies” engaged in cyber attack on Iranian nuclear facilities [IRIB, 3 October]. Moslehi added that the authorities had prevented them to cause destruction in those facilities. He did not name the facilities.

“The intelligence agents have discovered the destructive activities of the arrogance (US/the West) in cyberspace, and different ways to confront them have been designed and implemented," Moslehi said.

"I assure all citizens that the intelligence apparatus currently has complete supervision on cyberspace and will not allow any leak or destruction of our country's nuclear activities."

"We have always faced the destructive action of these (spy) services and a number of nuclear spies have been arrested," Moslehi added.

The announcement by the intelligence minister confirms reports that the malicious software code Stuxnet has infected computers in Iran, and the attackers were probably aiming to gain access to controller systems at Bushehr nuclear reactor and probably at Natanz uranium enrichment unit. By saying that the authorities have “currently” complete supervision on cyberspace, Moslehi comes close to confirming the reports that the attackers had indeed gained access to controllers at the nuclear facilities.

UPDATE (Tue 5 October): The Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday that the Stuxnet worm found on the laptops of several employees at Bushehr nuclear power plant is part of a covert Western plot to derail Iran’ nuclear program. The comments were the strongest indication yet that the Iranian leaders believe that a Western sabotage against the country’s nuclear facilities is at work.

More on Stuxnet

Stuxnet is a malicious software code that is attacking industrial control systems, altering their codes, and allowing the attacker(s) to gain control of the physical machinery and equipment within a plant. Microsoft has estimated that Stuxnet has infected 45,000 computers by August.

The worm specifically targets an industrial controller made by Germany’s Siemens and used in nuclear reactors. The researchers at Symantec, a leading IT company, estimate that 60 percent of all infected computers are located in Iran, causing suspicion that the attackers are targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities (Financial Times, 3 October).

A project manager at Bushehr nuclear reactor had confirmed last week that Stuxnet had infected some of the computers at the facility, although he had emphasized that no serious damage was done. But Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor as well as Natanz uranium enrichment plant is detached from the Internet. The attackers are suspected to place infected USB sticks at Bushehr through Russian engineers building the plant.

The Financial Times quotes Hamid Alipour of Iran’s state-owned Information Technology Company that the attack is still ongoing and new versions are spreading.

There are some clues linking the attackers to Israel. Researchers have found references buried inside the Stuxnet code, such as the word “Myrtus,” used in the Old Testament in a story on Jewish-Persian relations. Also within the cryptic messages is the date 9 May 1979, that could point to the day the Islamic Republic executed the famous Jewish Iranian businessman Habib Elghanian. The Financial Times reports that some point the finger at Israel’s Unit 8200, its secretive cyberwarfare operations.

Yazdi Arrested

Yazdi, right, Sabaghian, center, and Gharavi

Arrested in Isfahan. 1 October 2010

Ebrahim Yazdi, former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic and a close confidant of Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, was arrested on Friday in Isfahan while attending the memorial service of one of his colleagues at Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI) party. Yazdi is the Secretary General of FMI. Also arrested along with Yazdi, were Hashen Sabaghian, the former Interior Minister in the original Islamic Republic Provisional Government and a leader of FMI, and Ali Asghar Gharavi, FMI’s Isfahan branch chief. The arrests took place on Friday afternoon. The government has not yet announced charges against Yazdi and other FMI leaders.

File Photos: Al Arabyia

Police Chief Warns Against Riots and Civil Disobedience

NAJA's Brig. Gen. Esmail Ahmadi-Moghdam

Photo: Press TV

NAJA (Iran’s national police) chief Brig. Gen. Esmail Ahmadi-Moghdam warned the participants in today’s Friday’s Prayer in Tehran that the enemies might want to take advantage of people’s economic hardships created by sanctions.

“Perhaps people’s tolerance for even slight and limited hardship is low… By way of economic pressure, (the enemies) would want to create riots, insecurity, and civil disobedience in the society,” Gen. Ahmadi-Moghdam said [Fars News Agency, 1 October].

“They [the enemies] have launched a protracted psychological war against us and today they are after exploiting the (economic) threats in their favor,” he added.

NAJA Chief’s delivery of a pre-sermon speech at Friday’s Prayer in Tehran is highly unusual and it could represent the government’s fear that the worsening economic conditions in the country in the wake of the current sanctions could trigger popular discontent and even “riots and civil disobedience” as Gen. Ahmadi-Moghdam says.

For an extensive report of Gen. Ahmadi-Moghdam’s remarks (in Farsi), please see: http://www.farsnews.net/newstext.php?nn=8907090294

Iranian Students in the US Need Changes in Their Visa

By Nader Uskowi

The Iranian students in the US face difficulties of visiting their families for the fear of losing their visa and not being able to return to US to finish their studies. PAAIA, an Iranian-American advocacy group, has started an effort with the US immigration authorities to allow waivers for students facing family emergencies. We fully support these efforts. Below are the link to PAAIA’s post on the subject and an example of a young Iranian studying at Stanford who has face such predicament.

"In 2007, Leila, a student at Stanford University, lost a sister-in-law in a fight with cancer. At the time, her brother, his wife, and new-born child lived in Vancouver, Canada, a mere two hour flight from Leila’s California residence. However, due to the nature of visas granted to Iranian students,

Leila could not risk a trip abroad to visit her family. “To me, making the decision to go out of the United States is basically equivalent to answering this question: am I able to handle my studies and research from outside America if I go out and my clearance doesn’t come on time?” Unfortunately for Leila and many other Iranian students the answer is no."

http://www.paaia.org/CMS/visa-regulations-for-iranian-students-overview-and-analysis.aspx

Iranian rial dives so whom to believe the western media or the western media?

By Amir Taheri

Headlines blazing Iranian rial dives as sanctions start to bite, were seen from the Financial Times and Washington Post, as if a delighted bully setting a trap on a younger student and finally having his trap spring and cause pain. In those same articles once you start to read into the details, you notice that the article itself has little evidence of sanctions playing a factor for the reduction of the rials sudden value drop. They claim instead after talking to sources in Iran that this move was caused by the Central Bank withholding foreign currency to exchange houses and as more businesses started receiving the reply “we are currently low on dollars and euros” the price did what it always does when supply is reduced and increased. They further go on to explain this was a good way for the Central Bank to come back and sell their foreign currency at a higher price thereby making a profit to plug a budget gap for this year.

So are sanctions “biting” or was this a plan to make a quick buck before the subsidies removal kicks in? Well if you believe the two above news outlets, the reasons for the quick reduction in rials value were not due to sanctions biting. But, is Iran introducing a 2-tier currency system? Iran had such a system in the 90’s and moved away from this as it brought imports under control and hard currency started piling up in the state coffers after the oil boom. Iran still maintains anywhere between 80 billion to 100 billion dollars in foreign currency reserves so there is no lack of it to sell to exchange houses. Yesterday the Central Bank announced it was offering as of today unlimited foreign currency and gold to bring prices under control. Iran has also been planning to remove 3-4 zeros off of the rial to make life easier for Iranians and has brought inflation under control before this plan can be implemented so it would be a huge reversal to all of a sudden change directions and allow for a 2-tier exchange system now. Especially since it has spent nearly the last decade ensuring that the rial has no huge price fluctuations in value.

I have been reading such headlines for the past couple months and expect to read many more in the months to come as the western media continues with its media propaganda. President Ahmadinejad should not have been surprised when in his last interview with Fox news in New York the interviewer seemed angry at him and Ahmadinejad asked, “you seem to be yelling at me, are you not fair and balanced as a reporter or are you working for the US government?”

Financial Times article: Iran’s rial dives as sanctions bite

Dual Exchange Rate: A Possibility? - UPDATE

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has continued keeping the official exchange rate at around 1,000 toumans (10,000 rials) per dollar. This in spite of a sharp drop in rial’s value in Tehran’s exchange markets in the past two days. On Tuesday, rial hit an all-time low of 12,950 per dollar, a 19% drop in value against dollar, although it recovered somewhat on Wednesday, quoted above the 12,100 mark.

Unless the CBI intervenes on Thursday by injecting huge amounts of dollars to defend its official rate, or devaluate rial altogether, we might expect another period of dual exchange rates in Iran, the official rate set by CBI, and the commercial rate set in the exchange markets.

The unexpected free fall in rial’s value on Tuesday took many observers by surprise. Although many experts were expecting a gradual devaluation of rial as a result of severe financial sanctions against the country, the magnitude of rial’s drop could signal a near panic in Iran’s financial markets.

Photo: banknotes.com

UPDATE: On Saturday 2 October, CBI raised its official rial-dollar exchange rate to 10,690 rials per dollar, effectively a 5% devaluation of the official rate that was previously set at 10,200 rials.

New Monograph on the Ideological-Political Training of Iran's Basij

By Mark Pyruz

A new monograph is being offered by the Crown Center for Middle East, an element of Brandeis University, itself a predominantly jewish school of higher learning, titled The Ideological-Political Training of Iran's Basij by Dr. Saeid Golkar. It is available as a Scribd or download, here.

From the beginning, the author depicts the Basij role as being used by "the Iranian government to crush and eventually control opposition demonstrations." He makes no mention of the fact that the bulk and direction of law enforcement efforts during this time period came from NAJA police forces, and not the Basij.

Indeed, the entire effort is skewed toward the "combatting internal strife" role of the Basij, as if the challenges facing Iran were taking place in a vacuum. That is to say, nowhere in this monograph is there an objective reading of the cold war, soft war, economic war and externally encouraged ethnic terror war being directed against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the role of this conflict in shaping Iranian efforts toward safeguarding their nation from threat. That their efforts are more expansive and acute than somewhat corresponding efforts by US Homeland Security volunteers (and cadre forces), organized at the local level in the wake of 9/11, is only a measure of how severe a threat this segment of Iran believes it is facing.

Nonetheless, there is a noteworthy level of detail in this monograph- focusing on IPT- that deserves further study and comment.

Bavar-2 flying boats delivered to IRGCN

Amended: 9/29/10

click photos to enlarge

Bavar-2 flying boat takes to the air

IRGCN flying boat at sea

IRGCN flying boat squadron

Note dolly setup on land (non-amphibian)

Video:

Photos:

Vahid Reza Alaei at FARS News Agency

Islamic Republic News Agency

Iran Denies “Stuxnet” Attack on Bushehr Nuclear Facility

The Iranian government has denied published reports that the advanced cyber worm “Stuxnet” has compromised the computers at the country’s first nuclear reactor in Bushehr. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in Tehran today that the report was part of propaganda against Iran.

On Sunday, the project manager at Bushehr plant had told Iranian news agency IRNA that the facility was indeed infected by “Stuxnet” but no significant harm had been done.

The computer worm surfaced more than a year ago. It exploited gaps in Windows operating systems to attack very specific Siemens software used to operate industrial machinery. The Siemens system and the Windows-based software are used at Bushehr, and more importantly at Natanz uranium enrichment plant. Experts now suspect that the worm was not aimed at Siemens machineries in general but it was created specifically to target the nuclear facility at Natanz.

Strait of Hormuz Carpeted!

Members of Visual Arts Society of Hormuzgan, the Persian Gulf province of Iran known for its Strait of Hormuz, “weaving” the largest carpet ever made of soil on the shores of the Strait. The artists used some 90 different colored soil of the province to make the carpet, measuring 1,250 square meters (13,455 square feet). Hormuzgan, September 2010.

Photos: Mehr News Agency

Domestically upgraded C-130 flown by Iran

Iranian media reports that Iran has successfully flown a domestically upgraded C-130 aircraft.

click photos to enlarge

Upgraded aircraft appears to be the older C-130E variant in IRIAF service.

Iranian media reports upgrades have been performed to the fuselage, wings, engines and avionics.

Note attachment of flat screen monitor to main instrument panel, with presumed addition of an integrated GPS capability.

Video:

Photos: Vahid Reza Alaee at Iranian Student's News Agency

Video: PressTV

Iran to Sue Russia over S-300

The chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said Iran will sue Russia for its failure to deliver the S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran [ISNA, 27 September]. Russia cancelled the deal it had signed with Iran saying the missile systems fall under the UN sanctions.

IRGC counter-terrorism operation into Iraq

By Mark Pyruz

It is being reported by Iranian media sources that the IRGC has conducted a counter-terrorism operation into Iraqi territory, following a terrorist bombing in the city of Mahabad.

From the Associated Press:

Iran state TV said today that Iranian forces crossed into neighboring Iraq and killed 30 fighters from a group it claims was involved in last week's bombing of a military parade.

The report quotes a general of the elite Revolutionary Guards as saying the terrorists were killed yesterday in a clash "beyond the border," and that his forces were still in pursuit of two men who escaped the ambush.

While Iran has said in the past it would target armed groups on Iraqi soil, this is a rare case of it actually admitting to an attack.

[,,,]

The parade was one of several held around the country to mark the 30th anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq war.

The city of Mahabad is home to 190,000 people - most of them Kurds and Sunni Muslims. Iran is predominantly Shiite.

Iran has already blamed the attack on Kurdish separatists who have fought Iranian forces in the area for years. But most Kurdish groups condemned the attack, and no one has so far claimed responsibility for it.

Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, head of the Guards' ground forces, said Sunday the armed group was backed by Israel, the U.S. and members of the Iraqi Baath Party, former supporters of deposed leader Saddam Hussein.

This Iranian counter-terrorism operation comes on the heels of President Ahmadinejad's remarks at the UN General Assembly, where he criticized the US response to the 9/11 attacks:

"is it rational to launch a classic war through widespread deployment of troops that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people to counter a terrorist group?" - President Ahmadinejad

Driving home that point and being prominently publicized, the IRGC responds by staging this limited CT operation into Iraq. These CT Ops under the Ahmadinejad administration are a more pointed response than those seen during the Khatami era, where trouble in Afghanistan once saw a brief mobilization of the Iranian army, but no determinative combat operations. The IRGC has become a more flexible fighting force under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Jafari.

This incident also demonstrates Iranian political confidence in its strong ties to the real power centers within the Iraqi government, and vice-versa.

A Review of the Effectiveness of Iran Sanctions

By Nader Uskowi

In any discussion on the effectiveness of the current economic sanctions against Iran, the big elephant in the room is Iran’s oil exports. The sanctions imposed against Iran do not include the export of crude oil. Iran’s continued ability to sell its oil gives it the leverage of providing a strategic commodity to major European and Asian countries and in turn the ability to import needed goods and services from those countries to manage its economy. So sanctions that exclude crude oil are by definition non-effective. This generality aside, there are specific targets within the Iranian economy that have significantly been affected by the UN Security Resolution (UNSCR) 1929, US’s Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA), and the recent EU sanctions.

The UNSCR 1929 called on member states to be vigilant and to take measures against Iranian entities suspected to be involved in transactions prohibited by UN sanctions. The US Congress used the language to significantly strengthen Iran sanctions and passed CISADA, signed into law by President Obama in July. The sections of CISADA relevant to financial institutions and transport sector have particularly started to create havoc within the Iranian economy.

In August, for example, the US Treasury issued regulations to implement CISADA’s section 104 dealing with financial institutions. Known as IFSR (Iranian Financial Sanctions Regulations), they prohibit any US or foreign financial institution to deal with Iranian banks suspected to deal with IRGC and its affiliated companies or involved in transactions with Iranian entities on activities prohibited under UN and US sanctions. At face value, IFSRs seem to have limited scope. After all, foreign banks can deal with their Iranian counterparts not involved in financing IRGC projects, for example. But the Treasury has also identified 17 Iranian banks of processing transactions with entities under UN sanctions. The list includes all the country’s major banks. So the choice for the foreign banks has suddenly become very clear: conduct business with those Iranian banks, practically the country’s banking system, and loose access to US financial systems, or stop dealing with Iranian banks altogether. All major foreign banks and many smaller ones have chosen the latter. As a result, Iran is now unable to access financial services from major banks and increasingly unable to conduct major transactions in dollar and euro.

CISADA has also caused uncertainties for foreign companies about which Iranian entity is legitimate and which is illicit and subject to sanctions. For the private sector making such distinction on daily basis for their transactions is costly and risky. It’s become easier for them to cut their dealings with Iran altogether. Safer doing that than being subjected to US sanctions, penalties, and loss of access to the American markets! Among them: Toyota, Kia, Lukoil, Allianz, Lloyds, Shell, Total, Repsol, BP, Eni, Reliance, Glencore, Trafigura, and Vitol.

As already said, Iran’s oil export is not directly affected by the sanctions but investment in the oil and gas sector is. Iran’s oil industry is aging rapidly and for the country to continue the level of its oil production major investments in the sector are required. It is estimated that Iran would need some $150 billion in new investment in oil infrastructure to maintain its current production level. CISADA provide major penalties for any firms doing investment in Iran’s energy sector, and as a result we have witnessed an exodus of major oil companies from the country.

Iran chose IRGC’s Khatam-ol-Anbia to fill the void and act as the main investor in oil and gas projects, but the IRGC’s business arm had to pull out from those projects because it was blacklisted through sanctions and as a result could not obtain foreign financing and services needed to run those complex projects. The Iranian authorities then formed new companies literally overnight to replace Khatam-ol-Anbia. But those two companies before long would be subjected to the sanctions and blacklisted as well. Less oil produced due to lack of new investments, less oil revenues are generated. In the long run, this is curtailing the oil export without directly adding it to the embargo list.

CISADA also limits Iran’s shipping abilities. The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has been subjected to the sanctions since 2008. IRISL, however, created many front companies, renamed and repainted its ships, and changed their nominal country of origin. But the Treasury has so far identified some 28 front companies and more than 100 ships as belonging to IRISL, subject to the same sanctions. The immediate result of Treasury’s move has been the reluctance of insurance and reinsurance companies to provide coverage for these ships, a development that can cripple Iran’s shipping, including its ability to deliver oil via its large tanker fleet. Recently three big, new ships belonging to IRISL were seized in Singapore because their insurance coverage were terminated by the insurers. The country’s National Iranian Tanker Corp (NITC), which owns 40 crude carriers and is scheduled to receive 22 VLCCs in the next two years, is also in immediate danger of loosing its liability coverage (“blue card”), making it impossible to operate in international ports.

The EU and some Asian countries have also adopted similar tactics, targeting Iran’s financial, energy, insurance, trade, and transportation sectors.

The UN, US, and EU sanctions are not expected to cause Iran to rapidly change course and its behavior. But they are making business with Iran and investing in the country increasingly difficult, so much so that major foreign banking and commercial institutions are beginning to abandon the Iranian market. This would severely hamper Iran’s development plans, something Tehran needs to ponder during the volatile times expected ahead.

Ahmadinejad in New York, But Tehran on His Mind

By Nader Uskowi

Ahmadinejad’s claim that most people believe the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks was deeply hateful. And as shameful was his choice of venue, so near the Ground Zero. At its face, such behavior might be seen as irrational or even insane. But Ahmadinejad knew what he was doing, trying to provoke the US and the West to take further actions against his country, even military actions against its nuclear facilities. He seems welcoming the deepening of the crisis in Iran’s relations with the West, not so much as a rational foreign policy for the country, but as a calculated political move to take the upper hands in the growing infightings within the regime. Ahmadinejad is after taking control of the Islamic Republic, and any comments, no matter how hateful or provocative they might be, are not off limit for him.

Ahmadinejad’s drive for control does not start or end with foreign policy, although a state of conflict with the West, at least until he succeeds in controlling the Islamic Republic, is helpful to consolidate his powers. His main targets, however, are the traditional conservatives and the country’s clergy. He, his chief of staff Mashaie, and the people around them, have no use for the clergy. They claim they are in direct communication with Mahdi, the Hidden Imam, which leaves no needs for middlemen. They are discounting the “Islamic identity” of the Islamic Republic, opting to highlight the “Iranian identity” of their version of Islam. On the surface, they offer a more modern alternative to the backwardness that defines the clerical rule. Albeit ”modernity” built on armed forces, i.e. the IRGC, state of perpetual conflict with the West, and suppression of the opposition, including some of the most loyal defenders of the Islamic revolution. An atomic bomb is also helpful. A model not far apart from that of the early Baathists.

Ahmadinejad controls the government and its vast resources and is grooming his possible successor. But he is not the only game in town. The supreme leader also controls enormous amounts of money, with no need to report the budget of his "house" to the Majlis or anyone else, with free hands to disperse its wealth to consolidate his already vast powers. The traditional conservatives under Khamenei’s leadership and the radical right under Ahmadinejad will vie more intensely than ever to control the future of Iran. Other factions and the opposition would also play important roles in shaping of that future amid growing conflicts within the regime and with the outside world. Ahmadinejad's "performance" in New York is really meant for the home audience.

Sacred Defense Parade 2010

Highlights from the 2010 Sacred Defense Parade held in Tehran:

click photos to enlarge

Presiding over the podium this year: Major General Seyed Hassan Firuzabadi. (President Ahmadinejad is in New York City to address the UN General Assembly.)

Podium lineup: Note positions of NAJA Commander Brig. Gen. Moghadam and Basij Commander Naghdi, as well as the position of IRIADF Commander Mighani.

Foreign military observers of the parade

Twenty ballistic missiles were reportedly paraded, including 4 Sejils, 8 Shahabs, 4 Fatah-110s and 4 ZelZal SSMs.

Sejil MRBM and TEL

Crotale-Sagheb Taqheb short-range anti-air missile system

Iranian M113 APCs envisioned as UN peacekeeping forces

Karrar UCAV in IRGCAF combat livery

Sofreh Mahi mockup in IRIAF demonstrator colors

T-33 mockup, context unknown.

Possibly the "Hod Hod" UAV

T-72 MBT equipped with standoff armor

Iranian T-55 tanks rumble through the city of Isfahan

M577 Armored Command Post Carrier, followed by FV101 Scorpion light tanks and BMP-2 IFVs.

Iranian military buggy armed with DshK HMG

Motorized sniper teams armed with the Steyr HS .50

ATV combat teams armed with AA mount MGA3

general purpose machine gun and RPG-7

ATV combat teams armed with the Misagh SAM. Note improved outfitting.

Elite IRGC paratroopers equipped with the S-5.56

Elite IRGC assault troop equipped with MPT9S SMGs

IRGC cadre equipped with S-5.56 assault rifles

IRGCN Ensigns equipped with KLS (AKM) assault rifles

Basij equipped with KLS (AKM) assault rifles

Basij Ashura unit armed with Beretta PM12S SMGs

Student Basidji

Battle rifles equipped with high-powered scopes

Videos:








Note: "Ey Iran" patriotic song sung as "Ey Islam."

Photos:

Mahdi Mar Marizad at FARS News Agency

Fereidoon Ghorbani at Borna News Agency

Chavosh Homavandi at JamejamOnline.ir

Amir Hossein Zolfaghari at Iranian Student's News Agency

Mehr News Agency

Islamic Republic News Agency

Iran International Photo Agency

Videos:

sherlock72 at YouTube

Russia officially reneges on S-300 SAM sale to Iran

According to the Associated Press:

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a decree Wednesday banning all sales of S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran. Russia signed a 2007 contract to sell the sophisticated systems that could boost Iran's ability to defend against air strikes. Israel and the United States have objected to the deal, and no such missiles have been delivered yet. Medvedev's decree also prohibited exports of tanks, aircraft and sea vessels to Iran.

This was not unexpected. If anything it comes as a relief of sorts to the Iranians, as the matter is no longer subject to open-ended limbo. The Iranians will likely receive their money back, possibly with a penalty sum attached for nondelivery. Meanwhile, continued development of an Iranian equivilant, the IR-300, is on-going according to Iranian defense officials.

30 Years Ago

On this day 30 years ago Iraq launched a simultaneous invasion by air and land into Iranian territory.

Believing the Iranian Military was in disarray Saddam Hussein launched the invasion in an attempt to take control the oil rich Khūzestān region and to quell the Khoemini's Islamic Revolution from spreading to the Shia majority in Iraq.

Over 70,000 Iraqi soldiers entered Iran, they would not be pushed back until 1982 following the intense and bloody fighting at the town of Khorramshahr, the war would then pick up again as a large scale border war with an Iranian offensive, that eventually ended in a ceasefire in 1988 with a million people dead.

Bomb attack on Iranian military parade

Today 12 people were killed and around 35 wounded when a bomb detonated during a military parade in Mahabad.

No soldiers were killed in this and most of the casualties are said to have been women and children [BBC, 22nd September]

The bomb appears to have been a time bomb and detonated at about 1020 local time (0650 GMT).

The governor of West Azerbaijan province Vahid Jalalzadeh stated the attack was carried out by "counter revolutionaries."

Today is relevant to Iranian history since it marks the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Iran war with Iraq that started on this day in 1980 when Iraq launched a large scale invasion of Iran, and which ended in a ceasefire in 1988 after a million people died.