Word: hossein
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Especially after this summer's postelection chaos, the mausoleum has become ground zero for hard-line conservatives. Supporters of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi rarely go there to pray or seek blessing from the Imam, but fans of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are more concentrated in the area than in most neighborhoods of Tehran. Indeed, on a recent visit, hundreds of men with unkempt beards, ill-fitting pants and untucked white shirts - the trademark garb of the Basij paramilitary vigilantes - milled about in the sprawling parking lot, said to be able to fit 20,000 cars. Dozens of tour buses...
...Revolutionary Guards test-fired short-range missiles to demonstrate that Iran has the necessary arsenal to defend itself. "We are going to respond to any military action in a crushing manner, and it doesn't make any difference which country or regime has launched the aggression," said General Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guard Air Force, according to Iran's state media. The tests were successful, with the short-range missiles hitting their targets, he said. (Read "Iran Standoff: Is a Nuclear-Free Middle East a Pipe Dream...
...regime representatives including Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei had warned the Green Movement opposition against using Qods Day as an opportunity to protest the contested June election result and the harsh treatment of prisoners during the post-election crackdown. Yet the chief opposition representatives (Khatami, Mehdi Karoubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi) all publicly called for Iranians to come out on the streets on Friday - not to protest against the lack of Palestinian rights but to protest against the lack of social and civil rights in Iran. (See the turbulent aftermath of Iran's election...
...weeks, hard-line elements in Iran's government have been calling for the arrest of the country's opposition leaders, especially defeated presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Now it appears that the government has raised the ante. On Sept. 8, Iranian authorities raided offices connected to the two men and arrested top opposition aides...
...flash point will come in a matter of days, when the election results are officially announced. Getting Abdullah to accept defeat will be hard: there have been widespread allegations of fraud. If the former Foreign Minister contests the results in the street - in the manner of Iran's Mir-Hossein Mousavi - that could set off an ethnic conflict between Karzai's Pashtun base and his rival's Tajik following (Abdullah's father is Pashtun, his mother Tajik). "The challenge is to ensure that the election doesn't end up dividing the country," says a U.S. official familiar with Afghan policy...