Two days before leaving Tehran and three weeks after Iranian Intelligence had come around looking for me, I was taking no chances. The notes, essays and photos on the protests I had been regularly sending back for publication would have to be sent to the States separately...with my grandma. She had a flight to the U.S. one month after mine and although the training manuals at Langley likely do not recommend it, I spent the better part of ...

At 4 p.m. the Iranian government broke up an attempted memorial service at a cemetery, but very soon after, tens of thousands of protesters poured into the streets of central Tehran the night of July 30, overwhelming Iran's feared security forces. The crowds burned tires, honked horns, waved peace signs and chanted, "Death to the dictators." Because the demonstrators gathered in several neighborhoods throughout the capital as well as at the country's largest cemetery, 20 km south of the ...

It may have been a case of hitting the target but missing the opportunity. Reports last week said Saad bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's fourth son and a mid-ranking al-Qaeda operative, was killed by a recent CIA Predator strike. But six years ago, the U.S. had an opportunity to get him alive, but lost it when the Bush administration decided to pull away from cooperation with Iran. Saad's death has not yet been confirmed, but U.S. officials believe he ...

The Iranian government has released 140 people arrested in the aftermath of the Islamic republic's disputed presidential election, a semi-official news agency reported Tuesday. Kazem Jalali, spokesman for the parliament's national security and foreign policy commission, said the detainees posted bail and were freed from northern Tehran's Evin Prison during an inspection of the prison by a task force made up of commission members, the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) reported. However, Jalali said Tuesday's visit did not prompt the ...

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Saturday that Iran will strike Israel's nuclear facilities if the Jewish state attacks Iran, a semi-official news agency reported. "If the Zionist regime attacks Iran, we will surely strike its nuclear facilities with our missile capabilities," said Gen. Mohammed Ali Jaafari, according to the Iranian Labor News Agency, referring to Israel. "Our missile capability puts all of the Zionist regime within Iran's reach to attack," Jaafari said, according to ILNA. The military chief ...

The wife of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi spoke publicly about her brother's detention for the first time Thursday, accusing the Islamic government of fueling false allegations about him, according to media report. Zahra Rahnavard told the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency that her brother, Shahpour Kazemi, 62, was arrested a month ago. Kazemi, who has permanent resident status in the United States, is facing allegations similar to other recent detainees, who are accused of organizing the massive A ...

A day after an Iranian passenger plane crashed in flames killing all 168 people on board, aviation officials were Thursday examining the aircraft's damaged flight data recorders to try to determine the cause of the disaster. Caspian Airlines flight 7908 -- a Russian-made Tupolev Tu-154M -- plunged to the ground and disintegrated minutes into its flight from Tehran to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, officials said. Flight data recorders were recovered Wednesday from the crash site -- a smoldering crater strewn ...

The brother of powerful Iranian cleric Ali Akbar Hasehemi Rafsanjani hailed the latter's upcoming Friday sermon as one that Iranians have highly anticipated and said that a "great turnout" is expected. Rafsanjani, a former president and normally a frequent speaker at the prayer service on Islam's holy day, has not appeared at the weekly sermon since the disputed June 12 presidential vote, according to the semi-official Iranian Labor News Agency. Rafsanjani's absence was seen by many as an indication of ...

A plane crashed Wednesday in northwestern Iran, state television reported. All 168 aboard were believed to be dead. The passenger plane is thought to have crashed near the Iranian city of Qazvin, Iranian Press TV reported. The Russian-made Tupolev plane went down near Jannat-abad village near Qazvin at 11:33 am on Wednesday, the station reported. All on board are "most probably" dead, the news station said, quoting Qazvin Police Chief Hossein Behzadpour. Qazvin is the largest city in the province ...

The execution of 13 men in Iran on Tuesday highlights a central theme of the regime's response to the protests that followed the disputed result of the June 12 election. Those executed were not street protesters, but instead were accused by authorities in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan of being members of Jundallah — a Sunni Muslim terrorist group, which may have links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The group, composed mainly of Iranians of ethnic Baluchi origin ...