November 16, 2005

More on the Iranian Threat

In a bit of a rush right now, just got back from a day full of interviews for a story that will air on the Nov. 21 edition of the 700 Club. The story centers on a new Saudi scholarship program that will potentially send thousands of young Saudis to American universities over the next several years. Quite a comforting thought, no? Please tune in to the 700 Club next Monday for more on this controversial story--in the meantime, you can check out this recent blog entry for more background.

Time is of the essence today, but I thought I would leave you all with yet another round of troubling news out of Iran. To fully understand the imminent threat posed by the current Iranian regime, read the following in its entirety, from Iran Focus:

Iran body launches national drive to recruit suicide bombers

Tehran, Iran, Nov. 14 – An organisation set up by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is holding a rally in a provincial centre in north-east Iran on Tuesday as part of a nationwide drive to recruit volunteers for “martyrdom-seeking” operations, Iran Focus has learnt.

The event, dubbed “Palestinian intifada and martyrdom-seeking”, will be staged on the campus of the Industrial University of Shahroud. The keynote speaker will be Mohammad-Ali Samadi, the spokesman for the “Headquarters to Commemorate the Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement”.

Samadi is a senior officer of the Revolutionary Guards and his organisation is run by the IRGC in an effort to recruit potential suicide bombers. Organisers of the rally said the representative of the militant Palestinian group, Hamas, in Iran, Abu Othmama, will also speak at the rally.

“This event is part of a series of events that we have named ‘Daughters of the Olive’, and in addition to Tehran, similar rallies have already been held in Tabriz and Bushehr”, a local organiser told Iran Focus.

A film on “martyrdom-seeking operations” is planned to be shown at the gathering and a debate will be held regarding the guidelines for suicide operations from both Sunni and Shiite Islam’s perspectives and their impact on “the enemy”, the source added.

Earlier this month, radical fanatics signed up for suicide operations in Tehran to mark the end of the month of Ramadan.

Samadi said that 40,000 volunteers for suicide bombing operations had already enlisted to attack targets on the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Application forms for suicide volunteers to sign up were distributed at the gathering.

The group’s organisers previously said that their targets were three-fold; U.S.-led forces in Iraq, Jews in Israel, and Salman Rushdie, who still has a fatwa against his head issue by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

In October, Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has himself been a senior IRGC commander, openly called for the destruction of Israel and threatened Muslim countries developing ties with the Jewish states. “Israel must be wiped off the map”, he said.

EMail Erick Stakelbeck With Your Comments ...