News Roundup

Ex-Powell aide suggests CIA assassination program was actually active By David Edwards, Raw Story, July 15, 2009 The secret CIA program allegedly aimed at assassinating suspected terrorists abroad has raised the eyebrows of at least one former senior Bush Administration official who hints that the program may have actually gone into effect, despite the denials [...]

Advisor to Iran supreme leader calls for tolerance of dissent By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2009 A top advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Saturday urged the country’s establishment to be more tolerant of dissent, even as military officials stepped up their rhetoric in the latest signs of divisions created by the marred [...]

Khamenei’s son takes control of Iran’s anti-protest militia By Julian Borger, The Guardian, July 8, 2009 The son of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has taken control of the militia being used to crush the protest movement, according to a senior Iranian source. The source, a politician with strong connections to the security apparatus, [...]

Rafsanjani’s party dismisses vote results By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times, July 7, 2009 A day after commanders of the Revolutionary Guard warned there was no middle ground in the dispute over the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the political party of one of Iran’s most powerful clerics Monday defiantly issued a statement dismissing the [...]

Opposition leaders court arrest by defying ‘unlawful Iranian regime’ By Martin Fletcher, The Times, July 2, 2009 Three of Iran’s most prominent opposition leaders flagrantly courted arrest yesterday by denouncing President Ahmadinejad’s Government as illegitimate, one day after the regime said that it would tolerate no more challenges to the election result. Mir Hossein Mousavi, [...]

Is Khamenei controlled by the Revolutionary Guards? By Gary Sick, The Daily Beast, June 27, 2009 There are many different ways to look at the developments in Iran. One perspective that seems to have been ignored is what I regard as the cardinal role of the Revolutionary Guards. Over the 20 years that Ayatollah Khamenei [...]

Bet on Neda’s side By David Ignatius, Washington Post, June 24, 2009 We are watching the first innings of what will be a long game in Iran. President Obama has recognized that with his gradually escalating rhetoric. Yesterday, he was using powerful language to describe the “timeless dignity” of the protesters and the “heartbreaking” images [...]