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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the United Nations yesterday most people believe the US government was behind the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, prompting the US and European delegations to leave the hall in protest.
Addressing the General Assembly, he said it was mostly US government officials and statesmen who believed al Qaeda Islamist militants carried out the suicide hijacking attacks that brought down New York’s World Trade Center — less than 6km from where the Iranian president was speaking.
Ahmadinejad walks alone as he does on most things, heading to an official meeting in Tehran Dec 14, 2009
Another theory, he said, was “that some segments within the US government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy, and its grips on the Middle East, in order to save the Zionist regime.” Ahmadinejad usually refers to Israel as the “Zionist regime.”
“The majority of the American people as well as most nations and politicians around the world agree with this view,” Ahmadinejad told the 192-nation assembly, calling on the United Nations to establish “an independent fact-finding group” to look into the events of Sept. 11.
As in past years, the US delegation walked out during Ahmadinejad’s speech. It was joined by all 27 European Union delegations and several other countries.
Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the US mission to the United Nations, said Ahmadinejad chose “to spout vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs that are as abhorrent and delusional as they are predictable.”
White House spokesman Bill Burton said President Barack Obama thought the comments “utterly outrageous and offensive — especially in the city where the 9/11 attacks occurred.”
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the remarks were “outrageous and unacceptable.”
‘COVERED UP’
Ahmadinejad said some evidence that could support alternative theories had been “covered up” — passports located in the rubble and a video of an unknown individual who had been “involved in oil deals with some American officials.”
As he had in past years, the Iranian president used the General Assembly podium to attack Iran’s other archfoe, Israel, and to defend the right of his country to a nuclear program that Western powers fear is aimed at developing arms.
“This regime (Israel), which enjoys the absolute support of some Western countries, regularly threatens the countries in the region and continues publicly announced assassination of Palestinian figures and others, while Palestinian defenders ... are labelled as terrorists and anti-Semites,” he said.
“All values, even the freedom of expression, in Europe and the United States are being sacrificed at the altar of Zionism,” Ahmadinejad said.
The Iranian president previously raised doubts about the Holocaust of the Jews in World War Two and said Israel had no right to exist.
Tehran has been hit with four rounds of UN sanctions for refusing to halt its nuclear enrichment program. Obama earlier told the assembly the door to diplomacy was still open for Iran, but it needed to prove its atomic program is peaceful, as it says it is.
Two days ago, foreign ministers from the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany said they hoped for a negotiated solution to the standoff with Tehran.
Ahmadinejad criticised the Security Council for imposing sanctions on his country, saying the penalties were “destroying the remaining credibility” of the 15-nation body
The son of an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery said Monday that he fears she will be executed shortly after this week's end to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's 22-year-old son Sajjad Mohammadi Ashtiani was speaking by telephone to a news conference organised in Paris by the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
"Ramadan is coming to an end and, according to Islamic law, executions can resume," the young man warned. The Islamic calendar varies a little around the world, but Ramadan is due to come to an end everywhere this week.
A demonstrator holds an image of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's portrait during a support rally in Rome
Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani was convicted on May 15, 2006 of having an "illicit relationship" with two men
However, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that Iranian authorities had told Italy's ambassador that "no decision has been taken" over Mohammadi Ashtiani's fate and that he had "invited" his Iranian counterpart to Rome to discuss the case.
"Our ambassador met with Iranian authorities who told us that no decision has been taken yet," Italian news agency ANSA quoted Frattini saying on Italian radio.
Sajjad said he had had no contact with his 43-year-old mother since her August 11 televised "confession", which her lawyers believe was coerced from her by Iranian authorities.
"Weekly visits have been halted. We heard that she had received 99 lashes in prison," the young Iranian said, speaking to Levy and assembled reporters in Persian through a French translator.
Mohammadi-Ashtiani was sentenced to death for adultery and has since also received a 10-year jail term for participating in her husband's murder.
Her case has generated a worldwide uproar, with international governments and human rights bodies denouncing stonings as barbaric, and some questioning whether she received a fair trial.
"This woman faces the most barbaric of executions in the coming days," warned Levy, a prominent French intellectual and media star who has gathered a petition of 80,000 names calling for her release.
"We have sworn to remain mobilised for as long as justice has not been done, that's to say for as long as Sakineh has not been pardoned and freed," he added.
In Strasbourg, members of the European Parliament gave their unanimous support to Mohammadi-Ashtiani and EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacien Ciolos decried stoning as an "inhuman practice from another time", speaking on behalf of the European Commission.
Sakineh's son expressed confidence that international pressure would help and called for the support of Turkey and Brazil, who have friendly relations with Iran.
Shahnaz Gholami, a female journalist who in 2008 was held for several months in the same prison as Sakineh in the northern city of Tabriz, said she was with Sakineh at the moment she was sentenced.
"Sakineh speaks a Turkish dialect and did not understand her conviction which was spoken in Persian with the word for stoning in Arabic. She signed her conviction without understanding it," said Gholami at the gathering in Paris.
"The director of the prison explained to her that she had been sentenced to be stoned."
Gholami added: "Sakineh is the symbol of all the women who are tortured and assaulted in prison in Iran. I hope international support, as well as obtaining Sakineh's liberation, will open the way to a change in this situation."
Mina Ahadi, head of an international campaign against stoning, said her organisation listed 150 stonings of people in Iran over 30 years.
"Stoning is a political act to frighten women in Iran," she said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged Palestinians to keep up their armed struggle against Israel a day after Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to continue talks on a US-backed peace deal.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who hosted in Washington the first session of talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, voiced confidence that this latest attempt to bring peace to the region could succeed where so many others have failed.
Ahmadinejad said that the talks, seeking to end a conflict that has boiled for six decades, would once again fail. He criticised some Muslim leaders for not providing all-out support to the Palestinians in their revolt against Israel.
“The Palestine’s issue cannot be resolved through talks with the enemies of the Palestinian nation. Resisting is the only way to rescue the Palestinians,” Ahmadinejad told worshippers at Tehran University in a live broadcast to mark the annual Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day in the Islamic Republic.
“How can these talks succeed when them mediators were those who created this conflict,” he added.
Netanyahu and Abbas agreed to meet again on Sept. 14-15 with Clinton also present.
Ahmadinejad called on regional leaders in the Middle East to unite against Israel.
The Al-Quds day was launched by Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It is held on the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Opposition leader banned
State television said millions marched in a nationwide rally to mark the day, including soldiers, students and clerics.
Black-clad women with small children clutching balloons emblazoned “Death to Israel” were among those flocking the streets of central Tehran.
“Death to America, Death to Israel,” chanted the marchers, many carrying portraits of Khomeini and his successor Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran does not recognise Israel and has repeatedly called for the destruction of the Jewish state as the only solution to the conflict in the Middle East. It backs Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups in their fight against Israel.
“The nations of the region are able to eliminate the Zionist regime from the face of the earth,” said Ahmadinejad, adding that the Israeli “regime has no future. Its life has come to an end”.
The United States accuses Iran of sponsoring terrorism by arming and financing those organisations. Iran says it provides moral support to the Islamist militant groups.
Pro-government hardliners surrounded the house of Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karoubi to prevent him from attending the rally, fearing his presence could revive anti-government protests that jolted Iran after last year’s presidential vote, his website Saham news said.
Mirhossein Mousavi, who along with Karoubi lost to Ahmadinejad in the vote, said he was willing to march toward Karoubi’s house, a move that could revive unrest in Iran.
Authorities deny any vote-rigging and there have been no major rallies since December when eight protesters were killed.
Attackers smashed windows and damaged security cameras at the home of Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karoubi ahead of a rally which authorities fear could reignite protests, his website said today.
Saham News said members of the Basij, a militia loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had been surrounding the house for days, “savagely assailed” Karoubi’s home on Wednesday night.
“These individuals, who seemed to enjoy police support and protection ... broke Karoubi’s windows, spread dye over his house and tore down the building’s surveillance cameras,” it said. It did not report any injuries.
Reuters was unable to confirm the report.
Karoubi (picture), one of the presidential candidates who lost to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a disputed June 2009 election, has remained a leader of the reformist “Green” movement opposed to the hardline government.
He has said he wants to attend an annual day of anti-Israel rallies known as Qods (Jerusalem) Day on Friday, something he will not be able to do if prevented from leaving his house.
“If I am being subjected to aggressions, it is not a problem since I am a simple cleric and I am holding my life in my hands for the sake of the ideals of the late Imam (Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini) and the public’s rightful and legal demands,” he said, according to opposition website Kaleme.
Authorities quelled massive anti-government demonstrations in the weeks and months after last year’s election and there have been no major rallies since December when eight people were killed in clashes with security forces.
Opposition leaders have not planned any protests for Qods Day which is marked by state-organised rally.
But in another possible sign of the authorities’ increased nervousness about opposition activities, Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of another reformist leader, Mirhossein Mousavi, was harassed by a group of men in civilian clothes asking her about her commitment to the Islamic revolution, Kaleme said.
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has been branded a ‘prostitute’ by Iran after she publicly attacked the country for threatening to stone a woman to death.
France’s First Lady is part of a campaign to save the life of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two.
She is accused of cheating on her husband and then helping to kill him, and is now facing capital punishment for her crimes.
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who became President Nicolas Sarkozy¿s third wife two years ago, has signed a petition calling for Sakineh¿s release
Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtian is accused of cheating on her husband and then helping to kill him, and is now facing capital punishment for her crimes
A protester, dressed with a costume to depict a woman stoned to death in Iran, participates in a demonstration in Paris yesterday over the death sentence against Mrs Mohammadi Ashtiani
Ms Bruni-Sarkozy, who became President Nicolas Sarkozy’s third wife two years ago, has signed a petition calling for Sakineh’s release.
Last week the former supermodel said: ‘I just can’t see what good could come out of this macabre ceremony, whatever the judicial reasons put forward to justify it.’
Addressing Sakineh directly in an open letter, Ms Bruni-Sarkozy wrote: ‘Why shed your blood and deprive your children of their mother? Because you have lived, because you have loved, because you’re a woman, and because you’re an Iranian? Everything within me refuses to accept this.’
But Kayhan (which means ‘Universe’ in English), the Iranian daily newspaper which acts as a mouthpiece for the country’s ultra conservative Islamic regime, has now accused 42-year-old Ms Bruni-Sarkozy of being a hypocrite.
An editorial in the paper points to her chequered love life, which has included numerous relationships with high-profile celebrities.
Entitled ‘French prostitutes join the human rights protest,’ the article singles out Ms Bruni-Sarkozy and Isabelle Adjani, the French actress and friend of the First Lady who is also calling for Sakineh’s release.
Kayhan aims to ‘defend the ideology of the Islamic Revolution’ and is directly under the supervision of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government.
Iranian state television also attacked Ms Bruni-Sarkozy for her support for Sakineh, saying she was using it to try and justify her own immorality.
The Elysee Palace had no formal reaction to the slurs in the Iranian media, but an insider said Ms Bruni-Sarkozy was ‘deeply shocked’ by the personal attack.
An Iranian military officer said Monday that Iran's armed forces have prepared a crushing plan to respond to any possible aggression of the U.S. or the Zionist regime of Israel, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Political Deputy of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Yadollah Javani made the remarks reacting to the Sunday statement of the U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen, the report said.
Mullen said Sunday the United States has a plan in place to attack Iran, if it is necessary.
"Military actions have been on the table and remain on the table" for curbing Iran's nuclear ambition, Mullen, the highest- ranking U.S. military officer, told NBC's "Meet the Press".
When asked if the military has a plan in place to attack Iran when needed, he replied, "we do."
"The U.S. and the Zionist regime will not dare to make a military attack against Iran," Javani said, adding that Mullen's remarks were just a "psychological operation," according to IRNA.
They had made similar statements before and such threats were usually made "for exerting pressure on Iran in its nuclear talks and for winning concession," Javani was quoted as saying.
Any mistake by the Americans would endanger security of the entire region, Javani threatened.
"And as it was said before, the Persian Gulf would be safe either for all or for none ... The Persian Gulf is a strategic region. If its security is in danger, this will jeopardize their ( Americans') interests, too, and our response would be tough," IRNA quoted him as saying.
The United States and Israelis have refused to rule out the possibility on launching unilateral military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Iran Shares hit all high despite tough sanctions.
Share prices in Iran notched up an all-time high on Monday despite tough economic sanctions world powers imposed on the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme, officials and reports said.
The Tehran Stock Exchange's main TEPIX index gained 1.31 percent to end trading at 16,078 points, on turnover of 172 million shares worth 450 billion rials (almost 45 million dollars), according to the bourse's website.
ISNA news agency said the close represented a record high for the 43-year-old stock market.
The index has now posted a 28 percent jump since March 20, when it reached 12,537 points on the last day of the Iranian year.
The upsurge has come despite sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council on June 9 which were followed by separate punitive measures by the United States and the European Union.
Experts said stocks were boosted by a government decision to sell off 18 percent of its equity in two major automobile companies, Iran Khodro and Saipa Automotive Manufacturing, for 430 million dollars and 1.5 billion dollars respectively.
They said the government's attempts to privatise some top banks and companies have also helped keep market sentiment buoyant.
Tehran Stock Exchange vice president Mohammad Reza Rahbar said an overall lack of investment options was also helping drive share prices higher.
Iranian media reports said the bullish stock market trend is due to prevailing low bank interest rates and investments in the construction sector.
Rahbar also cited some specific measures taken by the bourse which was helping the market, adding that volumes had been buoyant in recent months.
He said the daily volume was worth 45 to 50 million dollars currently.
"The exchange has taken measures to have more transparency in order to boost public confidence. I am optimistic that more investors will enter the market," Rahbar was quoted as saying by Donaye e-Ektesad newspaper.
The market surge comes despite tough economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations and the world powers.
The European Union sanctions are particularly tough as they are designed to strike at Iran's vital energy sector, as well as its banking and transport segments.
They include a ban on the sale of equipment, technology and services to the energy sector, hitting activities in refining, liquefied natural gas, exploration and production.
The Iranian banking sector was also hit by European restrictions, forcing any transactions over 40,000 euros (52,000 dollars) to be authorised by EU governments before they can go ahead.
Some 330 Iranian companies are listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange having a total market capitalisation of more than 75 billion dollars.
A Boeing 747 of Iran's national airline Iran Air at Mehrabad International airport in Tehran
Iran Air's jets have been banned from flying to Europe because of safety concerns, it was revealed today.
The move is not related to U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, EU officials emphasised.
The 27-nation bloc also relaxed restrictions on two airlines from Indonesia and put a Suriname airline on its blacklist of carriers the EU believes do not meet international safety standards.
The list of 278 airlines - mostly small operations from Africa and Asia - was established in 2006 and is updated regularly. Iran Air's Boeing 727s and 747s, along with its Airbus 320s, have been placed on the EU blacklist following a safety audit, Transport Commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns said.
But Kearns denied that the move, which affects two-thirds of Iran Air's fleet, had anything to do with international sanctions.
'We deal purely with safety requirements,' she said. 'Our controls focus entirely on safety, nothing else.'
Iran Air has had trouble properly maintaining its aging Boeing 747 and 727 jets purchased in the 1970s because of a 30-year-old U.S. ban on spare parts.
The airline - together with a cargo and a low-cost subsidiary - has more than 60 planes in its inventory.
Plans call for many of its older airliners still in service to be replaced by Russian-built Tu-204 medium-range jets starting in 2011.
Iran Air flies to about 60 destinations, mainly in Asia and Europe. Its extensive domestic network covers nearly two dozen airports.
Kearns said two more Indonesian carriers, Metro Batavia and Indonesia Air Asia, have been removed from the latest list of banned airlines, bringing to six the number of Indonesian airlines allowed to operate in Europe.
Three years ago, after a spate of deadly crashes, all Indonesian airlines were excluded from European airspace.
Kearns said Suriname's Blue Wings Airlines has also been placed on the revised blacklist. Although the airline does not fly to Europe, it has routes to the Dutch Antilles and French Guiana.
Critics of the list say most of the notorious African fly-by-night cargo outfits still on the EU list have long since been shut down.
Many of the others involve air taxi services or small, specialised charter firms that work for mining, oil and gas and other natural resources companies, usually to transport employees to remote work sites.
The crash last month in Cameroon of a chartered plane carrying the entire board of an Australian mining company highlighted the lack of uniform safety standards among the multitude of small aviation operators serving the industry.
For months, the US has been trying to build the maximum international unity for sanctions against Iran.
The importance of the UN resolution was "less the specific content than the isolation of Iran by the rest of the world", the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said in April.
After patient and persistent diplomacy and a few perks, Russia and China, Iran's powerful trading partners, finally fell into line.
But divisions have emerged elsewhere in the Security Council, signifying concerns about a strategy that appears to stress pressure over engagement with Iran.
The five permanent members of the Security Council - the US, Britain, France, China and Russia - plus Germany (the so-called P5+1) fear Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.
They point to its continuing defiance of UN resolutions, demanding it end enrichment of uranium and non-co-operation with the UN atomic agency.
They call their strategy a combination of diplomacy and pressure, aimed at convincing the Iranians they are heading in the wrong direction.
The sanctions are meant to "persuade Iran to halt its nuclear programme and negotiate constructively and in earnest with the international community", America's UN ambassador Susan Rice told reporters on Tuesday, a day before the vote on the draft resolution. Dismissed deal
Security Council members Turkey and Brazil said they had negotiated constructively with Iran, recently reaching a nuclear fuel agreement they believed could serve as a basis for a more comprehensive dialogue with the P5+1.
But the Americans dismissed the deal as an Iranian manoeuvre and instead tabled the new sanctions resolution, the fourth in as many years.
Brazilian and Turkish frustration boiled over at a special session of the Security Council on Tuesday.
"We cannot see both pressure and diplomacy as equally important," said a Turkish diplomat. "Ultimately there is the diplomatic track, and pressure is supposed to support that, and be used carefully."
"Now that we have the slightest window of opportunity, why not give it a chance?" he said. "Why kill it with sanctions? If the resolution is adopted we'll lose Iran, and lose diplomatic engagement."
The opposition of these two powerful emerging states will not stop the resolution, but will it weaken America's attempts to build an effective international front against Tehran?
Iran sanctions expert George Lopez says no - not if the US has the support of two traditional allies of the Islamic republic.
"In February and March there were many questioning whether China and Russia were on board, and felt that virtually no sanctions package of any significance would come forth, when quite the opposite has happened," he says.
"There have been some concessions, but the Chinese and Russians are more strongly backing this than many would have assumed in February and March," he said. 'Opportunity lost'
Others, though, believe the deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil offered a real alternative to a sanctions policy that has not worked.
Recently a group of US experts - including non-proliferation specialists and former top diplomats - issued a statement urging the Obama administration to consider the Tehran deal.
While noting its shortcomings, they said if enacted it would "represent a first step in halting Iran's progress towards nuclear weapons capability".
Iran denies it is building a bomb, insisting that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
But it has also made its right to nuclear energy an issue of national sovereignty, and a rallying call against the West.
Sanctions will not change that, says Gary Sick, a former member of the US National Security Council. Diplomacy might have.
"To have Brazil and Turkey actively working to develop a different approach to Iran's nuclear situation was a huge advantage for the US," says Mr Sick.
"Having two mid-level powers that Iran trusted could be invaluable in making further progress, and I think that was a huge opportunity that was lost."
For some here the steady drum beat of sanctions and the divisions in the Security Council raise the spectre of Iraq, which ended in war. We may be a long way from that.
But the question is crucial: Will sanctions drive Iran back to the negotiating table, as the P5+1 claim? Or will they end all possibility of talks, as Turkey, Brazil and others fear?
Hunting falcons in Iran? Osama bin Laden (file photo)
He's not in Iran, he's in Washington: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, shown here at UN headquarters in New York yesterday, has sarcastically dismissed the claims
Osama bin Laden is alive and well and living in luxury in Iran, it is claimed.
That is the astonishing suggestion in a documentary to be shown at a film festival in New York.
Bin Laden has been housed in a guarded compound north of Tehran with his wife, several children and grandchildren since 2003, protected by the Iranian regime, according to Feathered Cocaine, an Icelandic film about the illicit multi-million-dollar trade in falcons.
In the film, a disguised falcon smuggler from the former Soviet Union identified only as 'T-2' says he first met bin Laden in 2004 at a falcon-hunting camp in northeastern Iran.
'I met him five times after 2004,' says the smuggler.
'The last time we met was in October 2007. Every time, it was in Iran.'
Falcon hunting is an exclusive hobby practised by some of the richest men in the Middle East, who travel to luxurious desert retreats to pursue the sport. A bird’s value can reach one million dollars.
The claim contradicts the common theory that bin Laden is living in an isolated network of fortified caves somewhere in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It is also at odds with the assumption by many that he is dead.
His son Omar bin Laden, who married a British woman and broke with his father before the 9/11 attacks, revealed last year that seven of his siblings were living in Tehran and trying to leave.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed the claim - and, apparently sarcastically, counter-claimed that bin Laden is hiding in Washington, D.C.
He told ABC News: 'Your question is laughable. Our position is quite clear.
'Some journalists have said bin Laden is in Iran. These words don't have legal value. Our position towards Afghanistan and against terrorism is quite clear... I don't know such a thing. You are giving news which is very strange.
'I heard that Osama bin Laden is in Washington, D.C.,' he added.
'Yes, I did. He's there. Because he was a previous partner of Mr. Bush. They were colleagues in fact in the old days. You know that. They were in the oil business together. They worked together.'
Bin Laden practices Wahhabism, a fundamentalist sect of Sunni Islam that is famously militant.
For that reason many experts have dismissed ideas that he could be in Iran - the largest country in the Middle East to practice Shia Islam.
But Alan Parrot, an American falconry expert who used to train falcons for Middle East millionaires, said the evidence unearthed during research for the film was so convincing he hatched a plan to kidnap bin Laden.
He claimed he was warned off by US government officials.
Parrot said bin Laden’s royal hunting friends brought him 'hundreds of millions of dollars' in cash during these expeditions, as well as military equipment.
The film shows a U.A.E. military C-130 transport plane delivering equipment to the camps.
Bin Laden’s penchant for falcon hunting gave the CIA an opportunity to assassinate him in 1999, according to the final report of the 9/11 commission.
He was spotted in a hunting camp in Afghanistan serving one of the Gulf royal families and CIA Director George Tenet asked President Bill Clinton for permission to launch a cruise missile strike on the camp on February 8, 1999.
The mission was aborted on orders from the White House.
'T-2' gave the filmmakers the frequencies of tiny radio trackers attached to bin Laden’s hunting falcons.
John Loftus, an American lawyer with connections to U.S. security agencies, said the CIA could use the frequencies to lead them to bin Laden’s falcons - and so to bin Laden himself.
Loftus said he offered the information to the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies but got no response.
Loftus and the filmmakers even approached 'Rewards for Justice', the State Department office offering a $50 million reward for information leading to bin Laden’s capture, but never received a reply.
Investigative reporter Ken Timmerman, who also appears in the film, interviewed a U.S. intelligence official who said that electronic intelligence intercepts appeared to back up the story, 'indicating the presence of a very important person in the region at the dates "T-2" mentioned.'
'Iranian authorities were moving the VIP from Tehran to Zahedan, a centre of the falcon-hunting grounds, which were closed off to all foreign visitors for security reasons,' said Timmerman.
'There was no doubt in my mind that they were expecting a big shot, and it makes sense to think it was bin Laden,' he claimed the U.S. official said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki speaks during a joint press conference with his Austrian counterpart Michael Spindelegger (not pictured) in Vienna April 25, 2010.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said here on Sunday that Iran is willing to consider enriching uranium in other countries as suggested by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
At a joint press conference held after meeting his Austrian counterpart Michael Spindelegger, the visiting Iranian official said his country is willing to negotiate on the issue, but details should be worked out later. He said he will discuss the issue with members of the UN Security Council.
Mottaki reiterated that Iran has the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and there was no reason for sanctions against Iran on the issue. Furthermore, the sanctions imposed on Iran over the past five years have been ineffectual, he added.
But Spindelegger said Iran should cooperate with the global community on the issue actively, otherwise "the trend of sanctions against Iran" will continue.
He also said that he "did obtain some new messages" during the meeting with Mottaki, but he still needs to evaluate them. The massages will be disclosed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers next Monday.
Mottaki also met IAEA chief Yukiya Amano during his visit to Vienna.
The United States, other Western countries and Israel criticized Iran's nuclear plan, which they said is intended to develop nukes. But Iran said its nuclear plan is for peaceful purposes only and defended its right to use nuclear energy.
The IAEA made a proposal last autumn, suggesting that Iran take its low-enrichment uranium of 3.5 percent to other countries, where it can be processed into high-enrichment uranium of 20 percent before being sent back to Iran. The processed high-enrichment uranium will be then used as fuel for nuclear reactors and for medical purpose.
Robert Mugabe (2nd L) introduces Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) to unidentified Zimbabwean army chiefs
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe (R) welcomes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Zimbabwean greet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his arrival at Harare Airport
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday condemned "satanic pressures" on Zimbabwe and his own country which he said were fighting to maintain their sovereignty, during a visit to Harare.
"Iran and Zimbabwe are two countries that continue the effort to maintain their sovereignty and freedom," Ahmadinejad said at a dinner with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.
"Of course, our strength had provoked the hostility of expansionist countries," he said. "Here, I condemn all pressures, all satanic pressures, pressures on the government and people of Zimbabwe."
"We believe victory is ours and humiliation and defeat for our enemies," he said.
"Of course, they have failed to reach their objectives and results. They had imagined they could change the directions of our nations. Our nations stood firm."
Both Ahmadinejad and Mugabe are known for their controversial policies and anti-Western rhetoric.
Both men have also clung to power through elections marred by violence and allegations of fraud -- Ahmadinejad after a bloody presidential election last year and Mugabe after sharply criticised polls in 2002 and 2008.
Ahmadinejad currently faces the threat of new United Nations sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme, while Mugabe is accused of not honouring a power-sharing agreement reached last year after the controversial elections.
Mugabe backed Iran's nuclear programme and joined Ahmadinejad in denouncing the sanctions.
"Be also assured, comrade president, of Zimbabwe's continuous support of Iran's just cause on the nuclear issue," Mugabe told Ahmadinejad at a dinner in Harare.
"Because of the principled positions we have taken at both the domestic and international level, Zimbabwe and Iran have been unjustly vilified and punished by Western countries," Mugabe said.
Ahmadinejad arrived in Zimbabwe Thursday for trade talks with Mugabe, a visit denounced as a "colossal political scandal" by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Mugabe's partner in a fractious unity government.
"Inviting the Iranian strongman to an investment forum is like inviting a mosquito to cure malaria," the party said in a statement.
"Ahmadinejad?s visit is not only an insult to the people of Zimbabwe, but an affront to democracy and to the oppressed people of Iran."
Ahmadinejad's trip is part of an Africa tour also scheduled to include a visit to UN Security Council member Uganda, where he will discuss Iran's nuclear programme, according to Iranian state television.
The trip gains significance as world powers have stepped up pressure for a new round of UN sanctions against Iran.
Uganda currently holds one of the rotating seats on the Security Council.
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said Tehran plans to open talks with all 15 Security Council members in an effort to break a deadlock on a nuclear fuel supply deal that has put it at odds with Western powers.
In Zimbabwe, the Iranian leader is also due to sign various trade agreements and launch a series of joint ventures between the two countries in the agriculture, manufacturing and mining sectors.
On Friday he is set to open an international trade fair in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo.
Zimbabwe enjoys good relations with Iran as well as several east Asian countries after Mugabe launched a "Look East" policy in response to isolation by the West following Harare's controversial land reforms and disputed 2002 elections.
F-4 Phantom fighter jets fly during the Army Day parade in the Iranian capital Tehran on April 18
Iran began a massive air, land and sea exercise Thursday in the Persian Gulf aimed at showcasing the Islamic regime's military strength, state-run media reported.
Dubbed the "Great Prophet 5," the military maneuvers conducted by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps fall on the 31st anniversary of the elite force and are designed to demonstrate new weapons systems.
Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi told Press TV that Iran plans to produce missile defense systems similar to the Russian S-300, an advanced surface-to-air system that can defend against aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
"All parts of the system have been domestically produced," Vahidi said.
A U.S. military official told CNN that the United States has observed in recent days Iran was "relocating surface and air assets" for what appeared to be a major exercise. The official did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The drill is expected to last the next three days, Press TV said.
Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, deputy chief of the Revolutionary Guard told Iranian media that the exercises are aimed at demonstrating Iran's "strength, will and national resolve to defend independence and territorial integrity."
The United States will be watching to see if the exercises include the narrow Strait of Hormuz region -- a major transit point for world oil supplies.
The U.S. military official noted there have been several Iranian exercises in the past, but this one received attention because the Revolutionary Guard Corps discussed it publicly in advance.
The U.S. Navy currently is operating several warships in the region, and commanders often are reminded not to let any encounters with Iranians inadvertently escalate.
Iran's missile development is being watched closely by the United States, which is pressing for tougher sanctions against the Islamic republic for its controversial nuclear program.
A senior military commander says the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) can now cover the expanse of the Persian Gulf waters with its new fleet of high-speed vessels.
“Today, on the first stage of the war games, the IRGC successfully covered the expanse of the Persian Gulf waters using native high-speed boats,” Rear Admiral Ali-Reza Tangsiri, commander of the First Marine Division of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, told Fars news agency on Thursday.
Tangsiri was commenting on the first day of a three-day IRGC drill that kicked off across the Persian Gulf on Thursday. The Great Prophet 5 maneuver will continue until Saturday.
He noted that the engineering body of the IRGC has manufactured all the weapons and military equipment that are being used in the war games.
“The chief aim of the drill is to ensure the security of the strategic Strait of Hormuz and to keep it permanently open,” he added.
The Iranian commander said the Strait of Hormuz belongs to the Persian Gulf states, and for that reason, foreign countries should not be allowed to meddle in the region's internal affairs.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses the nation on the occasion of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, in Tehran March 20, 2010.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, sharply denounced the United States on Sunday, accusing it of plotting to overthrow the clerical leadership in a chilly response to an overture by President Obama for better cultural ties.
Ayatollah Khamenei did not outright reject Mr. Obama’s offer, saying Iran would keep an eye on Washington’s intentions. But he said that so far Washington’s offers of engagement had been a deception.
In his message, released to coincide with the Iranian new year, Nowruz, Mr. Obama told the Iranian people that Americans want better cultural exchanges with Iran. He also criticized the Iranian leadership for “turning its back” on American overtures.
Ayatollah Khamenei, who has the final say on all political matters in Iran, lashed back in a nationally televised address in an annual provincial visit to his hometown, Mashhad, telling the Americans, “You cannot speak about peace and friendship while plotting to hit Iran.”
In particular, he denounced the American criticism of Iran’s own postelection crackdown. Iran has arrested thousands because of protests over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s lopsided victory in June, which the opposition says is fraudulent.
The ayatollah said that in response to past American overtures, “We said that if they are extending a metal hand inside a velvet glove, we won’t accept. Unfortunately, what we had guessed took place.”
American support for the opposition proved that Mr. Obama’s claims to seek dialogue were a deception, the ayatollah said.
“The new U.S. administration said they are willing to normalize relations. But unfortunately in practice they did the opposite,” Ayatollah Khamenei told a crowd in Mashhad, who several times broke into chants of “death to America” and “death to Obama.”
In his message, Mr. Obama said that the American offer of diplomatic dialogue still stands, but that the Iranian government had chosen isolation.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that the United States failed to act on its promise to establish better ties with the Islamic Republic, Iran's satellite channel Press TV reported.
"The new (U.S.) administration and president claimed interest in just and fair relations; they wrote letters and sent messages... saying they are willing to normalize relations with the Islamic Republic, but in practice they did the opposite," Khamenei said in a New Year address to Iranians in the holy city of Mashhad.
The Iranian supreme leader also lashed out at the United States for supporting the unrest following Iran's presidential election in June 2009, saying the enemies had plans to start a "civil war" in the country.
"They tried very much to divide the people but they failed... this was a victory for the nation," Khamenei said. "Eight months after the election, they took the worst possible stance. The (U.S.) president called those rioters and saboteurs 'civil rights activists'," he added.
Khamenei said it was normal for Iran to have enemies as "it is supported by the nations around the world" and the United States, on the other hand, "is hated by the nations around the world for decades of aggression and invasion."
Khamenei's remarks came just one day after U.S. President Barack Obama said that his administration still seeks dialogue with Iran over its nuclear issue but the Iranian government has chosen isolation.
Obama made the remarks in a special video message in celebration of Nowruz, or "New Day," which marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of the New Year for Iranians.
"We are working with the international community to hold the Iranian government accountable because they refuse to live up to their international obligations," Obama said in the message.
"But our offer of comprehensive diplomatic contacts and dialogue stands," Obama stressed.
Obama delivered a similar video message on the occasion of Nowruz last year in which he said his administration sought "the promise of a new beginning" in its relationship with Iran.
The United States has been accusing Tehran of attempting to build nuclear weapons. Tehran has rejected the accusation and insisted that the Islamic republic has the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purpose.
Over the past few months, the Obama administration has pledged to pursue tough sanctions against Iran in a bid to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons.
The Iranian people put on a show of solidarity for the Islamic revolution anniversary despite foreign-backed efforts to wreck the event with opposition protests, the Friday prayer leader in Tehran said.
"The bombardment of propaganda by enemies through their websites and networks ... had no impact but created more solidarity," as hundreds of thousands took part in state-sponsored celebrations, said Kazem Sedighi.
"Those inside the country who had ... contaminated the atmosphere ... thought the revolution had been defeated and it was the funeral of the revolution," he said at Tehran University, in a sermon aired on state radio.
"Some of them moved out and some stayed thinking 'Let us make a deal with the United States and Britain,'" said Sedighi.
"Even under the harshest circumstances, we will never give up on our leader, country, independence and security which we have achieved at the cost of martyrs," he said in the Islamic republic's main weekly sermon.
On Thursday, the anniversary of the 1979 revolution which toppled the Western-backed shah, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and police clamped down on opposition protests. Related article: Key dates since the 1979 revolution
As vast crowds massed in central Tehran, the security forces attacked opposition leaders Mohammad Khatami and Mehdi Karroubi while clashing with their supporters, an opposition website said.
The State Department said US monitoring showed Iran had attempted "a near total information blockade" to deal with the protesters, which a spokesman labelled as an "unprecedented, overwhelming step."
Opposition website Rahesabz and witnesses said clashes took place at Sadeghieh Square, about a kilometre (half a mile) from a massive regime-organised rally at Azadi (freedom) Square.
The website said the cars of the two leaders came under attack by police and plainclothes security men but that neither man was hurt. It added that police fired tear gas at crowds of opposition supporters at several sites.
Zahra Rahnavard, wife of main opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, was also "beaten" while Mousavi himself was prevented by security forces from joining the rally, according to another opposition website, Kaleme.org.
The reports could not be independently confirmed.
The foreign media have been barred from covering opposition street protests which broke out after the disputed re-election of hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last June.
Celebrations to mark the anniversary have traditionally been festive and an opportunity for Iranian leaders to showcase public support. This year's event was marred by protests despite a massive security operation.
The scale of the crackdown was evident on the streets of suburban Tehran late on Thursday, when witnesses saw queues of up to 150 people outside police stations hoping to check on arrested relatives.
President Ahmadinejad stands in front of a portrait of Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran
Clashes, opposition heads 'attacked' on Iran revolution day
* Gordon Brown: The world's patience is wearing thin * Security forces fire tear gas and paint balls on opposition protesters * Internet connections attacked in Tehran as regime tries to foil opposition * Opposition leader attacked
Iran is now a 'nuclear state', President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced this morning.
As Gordon Brown warned that the world's patience is wearing thin, Ahmadinejad told scores of cheering Iranians that the Islamic Republic is capable of producing weapons-grade uranium.
He spoke as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Tehran to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
Despite fears of violence, opposition supporters found themselves largely overwhelmed by the clerical regime and pro-government demonstrators.
The massive security clampdown appeared to succeed in preventing protesters from converging into a cohesive demonstrations.
Large numbers of riot police, members of the Revolutionary Guard and Basij militiamen, some on motorcycles, deployed in back streets near key squares and major avenues in the capital to move against protesters.He said it had produced its first batch of 20 per cent enriched uranium - and had the capability to enrich to far higher levels at its Natanz plant.
Enriching uranium produces fuel for a nuclear power plants but can also be used to create material for atomic weapons.
The international community has warned Iran against further enrichment activities, threatening new UN sanctions.
Today Gordon Brown again reiterated the threat of sanctions.
'I believe the mood around the world is now increasingly one where, patience not being inexhaustible, people are turning to look at the specific sanctions we can plan on Iran,' Mr Brown said.
'This is a critical time for Iran's relationship with the rest of the world.'
MrBrown said the international community did not want to impose sanctions but would do so if Iran did not cooperate more fully over its nuclear plans
The Iranian leader insisted the material was not intended to produce an atomic bomb, however.
'We have the capability to enrich uranium more than 20 percent or 80 percent (the level needed to create an atomic bomb),' he said in a speech broadcast live on state television.
'But we don't enrich (to this level) because we don't need it... When we say we do not manufacture the bomb, we mean it, and we do not believe in manufacturing a bomb,' he told the crowd. 'If we wanted to manufacture a bomb we would announce it.'
Thousands of supporters had been brought in on buses to hear Ahmadinejad speak as security forces threatened to crush any opposition protests.
Witnesses say security forces fired paint balls to disperse anti-government protesters in one of the first clashes of the day's ceremonies.
The unrest began after protesters began to chant opposition slogans in Sadeqieh Square, which is about a half-mile (one kilometer) from a huge pro-government gathering where President Ahmadinejad delivered his speech.
Witnesses say there were no apparent injuries among the several hundred protesters. Internet speeds around the capital dropped dramatically this morning as the government tried to foil demonstrations against the regime.
State television showed live footage of crowds carrying Iranian flags and pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei making their way to Azadi (freedom) Square in central Tehran, where the main gathering is being held.
Opposition members went on rooftops late Wednesday and shouted Allah-u-Akbar ('God is greatest') in protest - echoing similar cries after the disputed June election as well as anti-shah protests more than three decades ago. 'There is a heavy presence of security forces everywhere. Police trucks are at every major intersection,' said a witness in central Tehran. Police helicopters were flying over the city.
An opposition website, Iran Green Voice, reported large numbers of opposition supporters gathering in several cities, including Tehran and the northern city of Tabriz.
'In some parts of Tehran, opposition supporters are chanting 'Death to the Dictator'' the website said.
Security forces are equipped with water cannon to disperse opposition protests, the opposition website Jaras reported.
Other opposition websites spoke of groups of protesters in the hundreds, compared to much larger crowds in past demonstrations
One protester told The Associated Press she had tried to join the demonstrations but soon left in disappointment.
'There were 300 of us, maximum 500. Against 10,000 people,' she told an AP reporter outside Iran. She said there were few clashes.
'It means they won and we lost. They defeated us. They were able to gather so many people,' she said. 'But this doesn't mean we have been defeated for good. It's a defeat for now, today. We need time to regroup.'
Another protester insisted the opposition had come out in significant numbers, but 'the problem was that we were not able to gather in one place because they (security forces) were very violent.' 'Maybe people got scared,' he said. 'The idea wasn't to lose or win today ... But what is certain, today was not a good day.'
The opposition leaders have promised to join street rallies, including the Green movement founder and former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam said on Wednesday the Revolutionary Guards and Basij Islamic militia were ready for any incident.
'In case of any riots, public disturbance and disorder ... police will detain and keep rioters in prison until April 9,' an unnamed official told the semi-official Fars news agency on Thursday.
The Islamic state is facing its worst domestic crisis in three decades as opposition supporters have rallied round reformists who lost to Ahmadinejad in the election. In recent months, the opposition has built its street protest strategy around days of important political or religious significance in attempts to embarrass authorities.
The tone of the rallies, however, has shifted from outrage over alleged fraud in President Ahmadinejad's re-election to wider calls against the entire Islamic system, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Neither side has shown much appetite for compromise in the eight months since the disputed June presidential vote, which the opposition says was rigged to secure Ahmadinejad's re-election.
Iran faces growing Western calls for targeted sanctions against it after Ahmadinejad ordered production of higher-grade uranium, stirring fears that Tehran aims to make nuclear bombs, not just fuel for civilian use as it says is the case.
The authorities, who say the poll was fair, have struggled to suppress the protests, and opened trials in recent weeks of people charged in connection with bloody riots on December 27.
Opposition leaders have said the trials were an attempt to deter people from taking part in protests today. Iranian authorities again tried to squeeze off text messaging and Web links in attempts to cripple protest organisers. The opposition has used internet and text messaging as its main communication channels.
Internet service was sharply slowed, mobile phone service widely cut and there were repeated disruptions in popular instant messaging services such as Google chat.
But several Iranians reached by The Associated Press said some messenger services, including Yahoo!, and mobile phone texting were still sporadically accessible. Many Internet users said they could not log into their Gmail account, Google's e-mail service, since last week. 'We have heard from users in Iran that they are having trouble accessing Gmail,' said Google in a statement. 'We can confirm a sharp drop in traffic and we have looked at our own networks and found that they are working properly.'
An Iranian opposition website claimed today that security forces attacked opposition leader Mehdi Karoubi when he attended a rally.
'Karoubi was attacked by security forces in central Tehran... they shattered his car's windows ... Karoubi was not seriously injured,' Jaras website reported. The same website said security forces also attacked former president Mohammad Khatami.
The Islamic Republic has survived many challenges, not least a 1980-88 war started by Iraq's Saddam Hussein, whose forces were propped up by Gulf Arab oil money and Western weaponry.
But the national unity forged in that trauma has long given way to rifts within clerical and political elites that widened after the June election. Street protests have flared periodically ever since, sometimes around official rallies.
Attending February 11 events is a tradition for many in the country of 70 million, over half of whom have only ever known the Islamic Republic established by the revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
'If we all stay at home, our youngsters will be left alone on Bahman 22 (February 11). We should support them,' said Laleh, a 67-year-old housewife. 'I have nothing to lose.'
Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi said on Wednesday her country faced a catastrophe that would wreck peace in the whole Middle East if what she called government repression of the people were not halted.
Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Karoubi say the reform movement is alive despite pressure from the hardline rulers to disband. Karoubi predicted last month that Ahmadinejad would not be able to complete his four-year term.
'Even if he stays in power until the end of his term, he will be the weakest president since the revolution,' an Iranian analyst who did not want to be named said this week.
Pro-government Iranian female demonstrators stand behind posters showing late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, right in each poster, and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at left in posters, during today's rally
A close-up of the giant Iranian flag as it snakes down the street as supporters march in Azadi (Freedom) Square
President Ahmadinejad, centre, greets well wishers from his car, as he arrives at the rally
Supporters wave flags and placards as they gather in Tehran's central square
Iranian women wave flags and a sign reading 'Down with USA' in Tehran today
Security forces stand guard as crowds of Iranians gather to listen to President Ahmadinejad's address
Exiled Iranians shout slogans as they stand behind posters showing Khaminei and Ahmadinejad during a protest outside the Iranian embassy in Berlin today
An Iranian student in Singapore holds a sign during a protest to call on the Iranian government to stop violence against demonstrators
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses tens of thousands of Iranians gathered in Azadi (Freedom) Square in southwestern Tehran today, marking the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution
Pro-regime supporters shout slogans (left) while a caricature of US President Barack Obama joins the sea of Iranian flags
Today President Ahmadinejad announced that the Islamic Republic had produced its first batch of 20 per cent enriched uranium. He is pictured here at the Natanz nuclear plant
Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi (left) and former president Mohammad Khatami (right), who is said to have been attacked by security forces today
.Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei yesterday promised Iran will deliver a ‘punch’ that will stun the West to mark today's celebrations
