Iran’s police chief on Saturday accused the Voice of America (VOA) and the BBC of being the arms of US and British intelligence agencies and warned of severe repercussions for journalists and activists caught having contacts with them, state media reported.
General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, whose police forces have played a key role in the government crackdown on protesters since Iran’s disputed presidential election, was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying opposition activists have cooperated with the BBC and the Voice of America “with the aim of weakening and overthrowing the [ruling] system.”
“The BBC is the arm of MI6 [Britain’s foreign intelligence agency] and VOA belongs to the CIA,” IRNA quoted Moghaddam as saying. “Those who cooperate with foreign services through transmitting photos, reports, news and anti-revolutionary actions ... should know that all their actions are monitored.”
“We will settle accounts with them when the time comes,” Moghaddam said.
Tehran has repeatedly accused the US and Britain of fueling the country’s post-election unrest in a bid to oust Iran’s clerical rulers. It also frequently accuses its opponents of being in league with the country’s enemies and Moghaddam’s comments appear to be part of Tehran’s efforts to discredit the opposition by linking them with foreign powers.
The Voice of America and the BBC, which are funded by the US and British governments respectively, have their own Persian radio and TV services, which many Iranians tune in to despite a ban on satellite dishes and government attempts to jam the airwaves.
Last month, a top Iranian Intelligence Ministry official banned Iranians from having any contact with 60 foreign news organizations, Iranian opposition Web sites, human rights groups and non-governmental organizations. The official accused the media of provoking street riots in Iran.
The intelligence official, who was not identified by name, specifically mentioned VOA and BBC as well as a dozen other Persian-language opposition radios and news Web sites, saying the government would consider cooperation with the news outlets as collaboration with the nation’s enemies.
Moghaddam also vowed to crush possible opposition protests during celebrations for the Persian New Year next month.
Iranians regard the holiday as a chance to purify the soul for the new year, or Nowruz, which begins on March 21. Opposition supporters say they may hold street protests to coincide with the event.
Iran’s opposition used a religious holiday in late December to rally its supporters, holding massive demonstrations in the streets of Tehran. On that day, at least eight people were killed in clashes between security forces and demonstrators in the worst bloodshed since the height of the unrest last summer.
The turmoil erupted last June after Iran’s disputed presidential election. The opposition claimed that its leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, was the rightful winner and that hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s win was fraudulent.
The opposition says more than 80 protesters were killed in the post-election crackdown, although the government puts the number of confirmed dead at less than 40.
Also on Saturday, the personal Web site of a senior opposition figure, Mahdi Karroubi, appeared to be hacked by a group calling itself the “Sun Army.” Instead of the page’s regular content, the group posted its name and a photo of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, as well as his successor — now Iran’s current leader — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A text posted on a black background called Karroubi a “puppet sheik and traitor to Islamic Iran.”
Iranian authorities have blocked Karroubi Web sites and those of his party in the past. The Internet is the opposition leaders’ main form of communication with their supporters.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to take action against the EU if it moves forward with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal to make Canada the bloc’s first associate member. “If they do that, if I think it’s at all a hostile act; I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things,” Trump told reporters en route to an event in North Carolina, calling the proposal “laughable.” “If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe,” he said. Von der Leyen made the proposal
ON THE MOVE: Trump unexpectedly cut short a trip to return to the White House, while the State Department warned Americans to avoid travel to the Middle East The US on Saturday warned that hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthis could “escalate rapidly” after a missile attack targeted Riyadh for the first time since the Yemen conflict resumed. US President Donald Trump on Saturday cut short a weekend at Camp David, a secluded presidential complex in rural Maryland, to return unexpectedly to the White House. The White House gave no explanation for the early return, which comes as a new threshold was crossed in the conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, who control a large part of Yemen and are fighting government forces backed by a coalition led
The US military came close to boarding a Chinese vessel in the Middle East earlier this year based on a flawed intelligence report prepared with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), CNN said on Friday. US intelligence indicated the ship was carrying nuclear weapons-related components, leading US forces to prepare to intercept it, the broadcaster reported, citing four anonymous sources familiar with the incident. However, the operation was called off after officials determined that an AI chatbot used by an analyst had misidentified the material the ship was carrying. The report was “entirely false,” but “almost started a war,” CNN quoted one source
World leaders gather in New York this week for the UN General Assembly, bracing for US President Donald Trump’s return to the rostrum for a second year running, with talks centering on the widening conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine and the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). Nearly 130 heads of state meet with the post-World War II order under strain and with the UN itself struggling to remain relevant and weathering attacks from Trump, who has slashed the US’ contributions and withdrawn from dozens of UN bodies. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who last addressed the diplomatic jamboree via video
RSS