Al-Jazeera: Bomb blasts rock the Southern Iranian city of Ahvaz

[TeddyKGB]

http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage

No direct link yet.

[TeddyKGB]

1. Reuters link

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-01-24T080146Z_01_OLI427801_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAN-BLAST.xml&archived=False

[expatriot]

2. Is Iran's arab population Shia or Sunni?

Would arab v. persian tension in Iran threaten shia iraqi and shia iranian bonds? man this is confusing.

[killbotfactory]

11. I believe they are Shia

And have close ties with Southern Iraq.

[Texifornia]

27. Shia, yes...but not Arab

It is not at all clear which would dominate Sect or ethnicity should those interest come into conflict.

[expatriot]

32. I am talking about the 3% of Iran's population who are racially arabic.

I know that the majority of Iranians are Persians and Shia Muslim. I was wondering about the arabic minority. The CIA Fact Book says that 3% of Iran is arab and 9% of Iran is Sunni Muslim but it does not say whether the 3% arab population is part of the 81% of the country that is Shia or the 9% that is Sunni.

[allemand]

3. BBC: 'Six killed' in Iran explosions

Six people have been killed in a series of blasts in the Iranian city of Ahwaz, Iranian state television says.

Two explosions rocked the Arabic-speaking city, in the province of Khuzestan, Reuters news agency quoted the governor's office as saying. Several people are said to have been wounded in the blasts.

The oil-rich province, which borders Iraq, was hit by several bomb blasts last year. It was also the scene of anti-government rallies in November. (...)

The province, which is home to about two million Arabs, was rocked by a wave of unrest last year, including bomb blasts in June and October. The government blamed the attacks on foreign agents.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4642170.stm

Ahwaz Arabs play an important role in the neo-con plans for Iran, as Michael Ledeen's latest article shows:

The Road to Tehran... (...)

Should the jihadist traffic into Iraq and Lebanon cease, we and the Iraqis would be free to concentrate our attention on the Iranian border, especially in the oil-rich south, where Revolutionary Guards forces are very active, both to contain the anti-regime rage of the Ahwaz Arabs on the Iranian side of the border, and to infiltrate the Iraqi side, both in support of Zarqawi's terror network, and to agitate for an Islamic republic in the Shiite region around Basra. The Iranians have been hyperactive in that area ever since the fall of Saddam, and it would be a very good thing to start to turn the tables on them. For, just as many Iraqi oil fields, and millions of Iraqi Shiites, are vulnerable to Iranian maneuver, the reverse is also true: the bulk of the Iranian oil fields, and millions of Iranians, are vulnerable. And the strategic balance is definitely in our favor.

The population of the Iranian oil region is largely Arab, and they have been brutally oppressed and ethnically cleansed by the mullahs. Tehran has gobbled up thousands of square kilometers of land on the pretext of building industrial parks or expanding military facilities, and the locals have been protesting on and off for many months. As I wrote last week, the regime is so nervous about disorder in the spinal cord of the Iranian economy that they sent Lebanese Hezbollahis and members of the Badr Corps (Shiites of Iraqi origin trained in Iran for the past two decades and then sent into Iraq to fight the Coalition).

http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen200601231246.asp

[daleo]

26. Isn't Ledeen the guy who worked for the Italian magazine

that was connected with the faked Niger Uranium documents?

[Tight_rope]

30. Yes he is!

[allemand]

4. Iran bombings coincided with planned Ahmadinejad visit

TEHRAN (AFP) - A double bomb attack in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz occurred at the same time President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been scheduled to visit the city, but his visit was cancelled at the last moment due to bad weather, an aide to the president told AFP.

"President Ahmadinejad's visit to the province was cancelled yesterday (Monday) afternoon because of bad weather," said the official, who asked for his name not to be used.

"The president had been scheduled to give a speech this morning in Ahvaz, although the bombs did not explode in the same place where the speech was scheduled to have been delivered," he said on Tuesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060124/wl_mideast_afp/iranattackspolitics_060124094156

[maddezmom]

5. oh boy

wonder who is trying to send a message?

[Megahurtz]

23. That's what I wonder. n/t

[xchrom]

6. cancelled due to bad weather?

or cancelled due to the stink of pnac bullshit?

[stop the bleeding]

9. Glad you mentioned Ledeen this is right up there with his strategy of

tension and now he is incorporating this into the the overall plan of taking over Iran and Syria. Very interesting indeed.

[hogwyld]

10. We don't want no stinkin' Syria

No oil there.

[stop the bleeding]

12. Ledeen is not concerned with Oil - he more concerned with regime

which Syria is 1st or Second on his list right there with Iran also add Lebanon on that list. The more you read on Ledeen the more you will learn that he wants all "radical" Islamic states replaced with "Jeffersonian/Bush Democracies" this guy is really pro Israel.

some quick links here but you could google this guy all day.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ledeen


http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/searchResults.jsp?searchtext=ledeen+syria&events=on&entities=on&articles=on&topics=on&timelines=on&projects=on&titles=on&descriptions=on&dosearch=on

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:u8GoyWDjcUIJ:www.ww4report.com/node/1379+ledeen+syria+Iran&hl=en

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:VpO6bqzzciIJ:www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen200408160834.asp+ledeen+syria+Iran&hl=en

[hogwyld]

33. Thanks for the links

Sounds like the only thing he wants to export is democracy at the end of a barrel. (gun barrel)

[stop the bleeding]

34. a fascist democracy and to help Israel protect her needs -

more threads here:

Fitzgerald Eyes Plame-Niger Conspiracy - By Jason Leopold

CONTROVERSIAL NEOCON ADMITS He Worked at Magazine That Found Niger Docs

PLAME= IRAN/CONTRA REDUX - Planted WMD from Ghorbanifar & Ledeen

[EuroObserver]

13. Yep, very interesting. K&R-ing this. n/t

[IndianaGreen]

7. The Contras have been reactivated

I wouldn't put it pass these assholes to be funding a terrorist campaign in Iran.

[bemildred]

8. That's two attempts on Ahm-an-idjits life in the last month or so.

He was attacked by "bandits" in the SW a few weeks back.

[meganmonkey]

14. Deadly bomb blasts hit southwest IRAN

AHVAZ, Iran, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- At least six people were killed Tuesday by a double explosion in southwestern Iran, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

At least 40 people were wounded in the city of Ahvaz.

The first bomb exploded at the city's Natural Resources Department at 10:15 a.m., local time, while the second went off near a bank in the downtown area.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad assigned the Interior Minister to head the investigation into the attacks. The president suggested that the bombings might have been carried out by or at least abetted by foreign agents.

"Iran has always been a victim for terrorist attacks and the sworn enemies of Iranians are continuing with their crimes and blind terrorism," Ahmadinejad said.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060124-032351-2525r

(with credit to kpete here : http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x229060 )

[Yavin4]

15. And so it begins...

Get ready for the draft.

[Mithras61]

16. Are our SF troops already operating in Iran?

This is just across the border from Al Basrah in Iraq...

[meganmonkey]

17. Here's a map:

[Mithras61]

19. Right...

Ahvaz is about 100 miles NE of Al Basrah...

[mom cat]

18. Probably. n/t

[Surya Gayatri]

20. Anybody taking bets?

I'd put down even money on this being a Psy-Op--their signature is written all over it. Just across the Iraqi border, strangely enough. :tinfoilhat: SG

[Ian David]

21. Right near the Iraqi border, too.

Possibilities:

1) Iraqi insurgents eager for Iran to "join the party"
2) Al Queda eager for Iran to "join the party"
3) Iran doing it to themselves as an excuse to attack

If it were American or Israeli commandos, I think they would have chosen better targets. For example, high-ranking officials or their nuclear facility.

[earth mom]

22. I hope this doesn't mean what I'm afraid it does!

:scared:

[Name removed]

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[meganmonkey]

28. Who is 'they'?

[Name removed]

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[Behind the Aegis]

29. Looks to be internal conflict. n/t

[AntiFascist]

31. Let's keep it that way. n/t