What is so ironic is that when the Iranian Mullah regime falls, it will because of university students like these---the same group that brought the Mullahcracy to power in the first place.

Iran Focus:

Stone-throwing Iranian students fought police and Islamic vigilantes on Wednesday in protest against restrictions imposed by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, witnesses said.

Students who covered their faces with scarves lit fires outside dormitories through Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, photographs showed. By dawn the streets were littered with hundreds of stones they had thrown.

Deputy Tehran Governor Abdollah Roshan told the ISNA students news agency 40 policemen and four students had been injured. He said the police had arrested six people.

Senior student leader Abdollah Momeni said up to 2,000 students had gathered for the protest over the expulsion of some students and the way authorities had been handling critics.

He added 20 had been seized by Islamic vigilantes who broke into the dormitories.

"The main reason for the objections in recent days goes back to the limitations imposed on universities and political students after the new government came to power," Momeni said.

UPDATE: More info here (thanks to Agent Meatball)

Posted by: Rusty at 11:02 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 212 words, total size 2 kb.

Iran has closed down another newspaper after a cartoon depicting the Azeri as cockroaches caused rioting. The report says the rioting took place in the northwest part of Iran. There has been quite a bit of unrest there as the Iranian Kurds also have been resisting there with help from Iraqi Kurds. The conflict between the Iran and the Kurds even resulted in reports of cross border incursions and shelling into Iraq by Iranian government forces.

Seattle PI : TEHRAN, Iran -- The government closed one of the country's top three newspapers Tuesday, detaining its editor and cartoonist for publishing a caricature that caused members of Iran's Azeri minority to riot in protest.
State television reported that the Press Supervisory Body had closed the state-owned newspaper Iran "due to its publication of divisive and provocative materials."

The closure was indefinite, the television reported. It was the first time a newspaper had been banned since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office last year.

On Friday, the Farsi-language newspaper published a cartoon showing a cockroach speaking Azeri, the language of an ethnic group in northwestern IranÂ…

Â…Iran's conservative judiciary has closed more than 100 newspapers, mostly pro-reform, since 2000. Tuesday's closure, however, came from the Press Supervisory Body, not the judges.

Posted by: Howie at 11:16 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 252 words, total size 2 kb.

As promised more follow-up on yesterday's post about the Iranian religious clothing issue.

This is Amir Taheri of Canada’s National Post Article on the “Iranian Uniform Law” published yesterday. Despite the fact there is some confusion about exactly what the law’s results will be, it is none the less disturbing given even a best case scenario.(quoet move to extended entry)

Others following include Power Line, Little Green Footballs and Allah at Hot Air who points out that I missed this article, it was part of the original two published yesterday. Hey, I can't be everywhere. We're not all Blog Gods like he is.

Some "informed" bloggers think(cough) because some of the details were wrong, this excuses the fact the pending law is oppressive even without those provisions.
more...

Posted by: Howie at 10:56 AM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
Post contains 477 words, total size 3 kb.

So you thought my comparison of the Nazis led by Adolph Hitler and IranÂ’s ruling government led by President Ahmadinejad was a bit far fetched? Think Again!

Free Republic : Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.

"This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis."

Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments."

The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims.

Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.

"There's no reason to believe they won't pass this," said Rabbi Hier. "It will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over this."

Hat Tip: Son of the Godfather.

Update : Some say this is not in the law. The Original story is here.

From the Jerusalem Post : The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations released a statement saying, "We have been seeking to clarify these reports but do not yet have confirmation. There are clear indications that various Iranian government agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, are working on new uniforms to be introduced in the fall.

"While such legislation would be reminiscent of dark periods in the past, like the Nazi era when Jews and others had to wear identifying badges, it is also consistent with the racist and extremist ideology propagated by President Ahmadinejad.

We are monitoring the situation and seeking to ascertain the facts in order to determine the appropriate response."

Allahpundit is keeping us updated.

Debka Via Allahpundit at Hot Air : However, the law has not been finally enacted, and speakers in the majlis debate proposed that non-Muslim minorities be made to wear distinctive clothes, yellow being the preferred color for Jews.

The bill in question aims primarily at countering the revolt against black Muslim dress” as the hot summer approaches and Iranians – especially women - take to light clothing. At the end of the majlis debate, the final draft will be put to the vote; with or without the proposed discriminatory clauses remains to be seen.

Breaking : The latest report on this issue from The National Post here. more...

Posted by: Howie at 06:47 AM | Comments (57) | Add Comment
Post contains 807 words, total size 6 kb.

Obligatory link.

TEHRAN, Iran -
Iran's president mocked a package of incentives to suspend uranium enrichment, saying Wednesday they were like giving up gold for chocolate — defiance that appeared certain to complicate U.S. efforts to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"Do you think you are dealing with a 4-year-old child to whom you can give some walnuts and chocolates and get gold from him?" President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked derisively.

Feel free to give your own answer to Mahmoud's question. Be sure it's derisive.

Posted by: Vinnie at 10:17 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 91 words, total size 1 kb.

(Tehran) Last month, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that women will be allowed in sports stadiums as spectators for the first time since the 1979 Revolution. Ahmadinejad said that women and families should be allowed in public places to promote chastity.

Unfortunately, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final word on matters of state and he disagrees.

From ArabNews.com:

"Iran's supreme leader has instructed the government to consider the religious leaders' views and reverse its decision (on letting women into stadiums)," government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham told a news conference. "The government will act based on this instruction," he said.

From Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 02:51 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 138 words, total size 1 kb.

The 'real' letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejadhas to George W. Bush has been found. Click and then scroll down.

Posted by: Rusty at 09:00 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 26 words, total size 1 kb.

Yesterday I saw this interview with the Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah of Iran. He says he is working to topple the Islamist Government of Iran through massive labor demonstrations. He says he seeks to create a new Democratic state there.

Human Events Online : Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah of Iran, told the editors of HUMAN EVENTS last week that in the next two to three months he hopes to finalize the organization of a movement aimed at overthrowing the Islamic regime in Tehran and replacing it with a democratic government.

He believes the cause is urgent because of the prospect that Iran may soon develop a nuclear weapon or the U.S. may use military force to preempt that. He hopes to offer a way out of this dilemma: a revolution sparked by massive civil disobedience in which the masses in the streets are backed by elements of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Pahlavi, who lives in exile in the United States, said he has been in contact with elements of the Revolutionary Guard that would be willing to play such a role, and activists who could help spark the civil disobedience.

He also said that the U.S. and other governments can help by imposing “smart sanctions” on the leaders of Iranian regime, but he categorically opposes U.S. military intervention...

...You think you can exploit this to turn some elements of the Revolutionary Guards against the regime?

Yes, for a number of reasons. Because like in any totalitarian system, they know that at the end theyÂ’ll fall. The question is, how do they negotiate their exit strategy? No. 2 is because a lot of their families are not as wealthy as we think. There are some preferred ones, but many are still having to make ends meet. We have ranked officers who have to drive taxicabs at three oÂ’clock in the morning, as a major or colonel returning from base, because they donÂ’t have enough money to pay the rent. The disenchantment is there.

So what you see happening is a general strike, people going into the streets, refusing to work, calling for the overthrow of the regime, and then their being backed—?

Sustained. Sustained.

And then being sustained by significant elements of the Revolutionary Guards who say, “You’re gone”?

And IÂ’m talking about a blitzkrieg of media supporting, like the BBC did before the revolution, which was practically announcing the night before where there would be a demonstration the next day. This is not myth, it is fact.

Are you in contact with some of the commanders of these [elements]?

Absolutely. Absolutely. And in fact, they keep on saying that we are being under-utilized, we have a role to play, we know the time for it, but we cannot just take the initiative. They are in No ManÂ’s Land. You have to understand.

Hat Tip: Different River at Wizbang.

Posted by: Howie at 08:52 AM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
Post contains 575 words, total size 4 kb.