The Discerning Texan

First of all Charles Johnson reveals that Iran's brand new defense minister was very likely the man behind the planning of the Beirut bombing that killed 241 US Marines:

The new defense minister of Iran, Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, was the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon at the time of the bombing that killed 241 US Marines. (Hat tip: Americain.)

London, Aug. 14 - The nomination of a veteran commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as the new defence minister has been greeted with calls for an investigation into his possible ties to the suicide bombing of the U.S. Marines compound in Beirut airport in October 1983, which killed 241 Americans.

Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, a senior commander in the Revolutionary Guards, was in command of the IRGC expeditionary force in Lebanon when on October 23, 1983, at 6:22 a.m., a suicide bomber drove a large water delivery truck to the Beirut International Airport where the Marine Barracks was located. ...

Two years ago, a U.S. federal court order identified the suicide bomber as Ismail Ascari, an Iranian national.

In July 1987, Iran’s then-Minister of Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rafiqdoost, said, “Both the TNT and the ideology which in one blast sent to hell 400 officers, NCOs, and soldiers at the Marines headquarters were provided by Iran”. Rafiqdoost’s comments were published in the Tehran daily Ressalat on July 20, 1987.

Iran’s hard-line newspapers continue to feature stories that commemorate the Beirut bombing and the country’s Headquarters for Commemoration of Martyrs of Global Islamic Movement held a memorial ceremony in Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery last December to “honour the man who carried out the largest martyrdom-seeking operation against Global Arrogance [the United States and its allies] ... and was able to kill more than 300 occupiers of Lebanon with his courageous operation in 1983” ...

Nice.

Next, some "highlights" from DoctorZin's well-linked review of the ominous events that have occurred all in the space of one week in Iran (courtesy Regime Change Iran):

Reuters reported that Iran is not worried about being referred to the UN Security Council.
Iranian blogger, Windsteed, Iran Hopes discussed recent arguments in the Iranian press that Iran is no longer a bound to the Non-proliferation Treaty.
The Sunday Times UKreported that Iran signaled a confrontation with the West yesterday by rejecting the European Union's offer.
The International Herald Tribune reported that Iran on Sunday reiterated plans to resume uranium conversion this week, possibly as soon as Monday.
The Times UK reported Iran Nuclear Plant restarts processing Uranium.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that Germany urged Iran to consider carefully European Union proposals and to avoid "miscalculations" of its interests.
The Telegraph UK reported that Iran must be forced to give up nuclear weapons.
Tehran Times reported that Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Iran is in a powerful position in view of its resources, geographical location and scientific capability; this power should be introduced to the people and those who favor the Islamic Revolution worldwide.
Arutz Sheva reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated the security of the nation and its citizens remains of paramount importance and we cannot permit situations to reach the red line. We must take into consideration the recent developments in Iran, he added.
Reuters reported that Iran, a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), would drop all its international nuclear pledges if its atomic facilities were attacked.
Reuters reported that U.N. inspectors have arrived at a uranium conversion plant in Iran to install surveillance equipment and oversee the removal of seals as Tehran prepared to resume work there.
The Telegraph UK reported that Britain formally protested to Iran over the smuggling of sophisticated explosives into Iraq.
Chicago Sun Times reported that the White House won't seek sanctions for Iran -- yet.
Reuters reported on Iran's unsealing of parts of an uranium processing plant. The Financial Times reported that Iran and the main western powers stepped back from an immediate confrontation over Tehran’s nuclear program.
The Times UK reported on the response by the U.S. and EU3 to Iran's hardline position on the nuclear deal.
The Washington Post in an editorial said, Now there is no further room for obfuscation, and no further reason to give Iranians the benefit of the doubt: The real aim of the Iranian nuclear program is nuclear weapons, not electric power.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the nuclear talks have hit an impasse with both Iran and North Korea and the Bush administration officials hope their willingness to take negotiations this far has won new credibility.
International Herald Tribune reported that the EU3 were close to obtaining consensus for a resolution at the United Nations nuclear agency that would place a September deadline for Iran to resume suspension of its nuclear program.
The Sun Times reported that Iran resumed full operations at its uranium conversion plant Wednesday, as Europe and the United States struggled to find a way to stop the Islamic republic.
The Washington Times reported that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Iranian and European negotiators to avoid escalating the impasse over Tehran's nuclear program.
Reuters reported that a draft resolution submitted to the U.N. nuclear watchdog says Iran must resume the full suspension of all nuclear fuel related activities.
The Washington Post reported Iran rejects IAEA's call to suspend nuclear work.
BBC News reported that the situation with Iran is more a case of crisis delayed rather than crisis averted.
Politics.co.uk reported the British Foreign Office has once again urged Iran to suspend its uranium conversion activity and return to the negotiating table.
Reuters reported French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Friday that negotiations were still possible with Iran.
The Guardian reported that the IAEA Resolution is a poor outcome for EU diplomacy toward.
IranMania published the text of resolution by IAEA on Iran's nuclear plan.
Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday dismissed the resolution of the IAEA Board of Governors on Iran's peaceful nuclear program as very tyrannical.
Xinhuanet reported that four more inspectors from the IAEA arrived in Iran to monitor Iran's nuclear activities.
MosNews reported Moscow supported the decision of the IAEA, urging Iran to resume its moratorium on nuclear fuel production.
The Associated Press reported that the Iranians are pushing ahead on the construction of a heavy-water reactor.Akbar Ganji's hunger strike: Nearing the end.
Reuters reported that Shirin Ebadi urged her client, dissident journalist Akbar Ganji, to end a 58-day-old hunger strike.
Eli Lake, The NY Sun reported on Ganji's transformation from revolutionary to dissident.
Reuters reported on Iranian dissident Ganji is still on hunger strike.
Max Boot, LA Times said Ganji deserves to become as famous as Nelson Mandela, Andrei Sakharov, Vaclav Havel, Aung San Suu Kyi and other dissidents who put their lives on the line against injustice.
Reuters reported that dissident Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji has broken his eight-week-old hunger strike. Later denied by other new reports.
The Boston Globe reported that Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji has been on a hunger strike for the past 62 days and the ultraconservatives are trying to manipulate the international news media.
Reporters Without Borders reported that six more Nobel laureates have called for the immediate and unconditional release of Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji. ReleaseGanji.net published Ganji's wife statements after her house was stormed by Iranian security forces.
Reuters reported that around 250 supporters of Akbar Ganji, the Iranian dissident journalist who has been on hunger strike for 63 days, held a peaceful protest at the hospital.
IranMania.com reported that the wife of leading Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji pleaded to be allowed to see him on his hunger strike for a 64th day.
BBC News reported that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has warned the US to back away from the possibility of military action against Iran.The unrest against the regime spreads in Iran.
Reuters reported that two people have been killed, eight injured and 145 arrested in unrest among the Kurds of western Iran.
Iran Focus, an MEK website, reported that Iran's State Security Forces have been on heightened alert on Sunday in the Kurdish town of Bukan.
SMCCDI reported on the general strike has started to paralyze northwestern Iran.
KurdishMedia reported on the escalating crisis in Iran’s north-west Kurdish regions that has left at least 20 dead and numerous wounded and imprisoned.
SMCCDI reported that a bank was set ablaze, with a Molotov Cocktail, in the central City of Abadeh located near Shiraz.
SMCCDI reported new clashes in northwestern Iranian cities, saying scattered but violent clashes opposed some of the Sannandaji and Mahabadis residents.
Iranian Students News Agency reported that many female teachers blocked the streets leading to the Islamic Parliament in a protest. SMCCDI also published a report.
Reporters Without Borders condemned the current crackdown on Iran's Kurdish journalists.
SMCCDI reported tens of inmates have been injured during a riot at the Abadan penitentiary located in southwest Iran.
SMCCDI reported scattered and violent clashes rocked, today, several areas of the northwestern City of Oroomiah.
Iran Focus reported on clashes in Iran’s holy city of Qom.
The NY Times reported the unrest in Iran's Kurdish region has left 17 dead; hundreds wounded.
Rancher, RedState.org said in light of Bush's promise to stand with the Iranian people, Don't the Kurds in Iran count as Iranian people?
Iran Focus reported that more than a dozen protestors arrested in Ahwaz, southern Iran, during a demonstration in July were sentenced to serve prison time and will be flogged in public.Increasing violence inside of Iran.
Gooya News reported that the infamous Judge Mortezavi was threatened with death.
SMCCDI reported that an Islamist judge was able to escape from an ambush Sunday night in northern Tehran. Fazli-Nejad who's known for his role in crackdown on Iranian bloggers was on his way home when he was attacked by armed assailants.
SMCCDI reported a heavy explosion rocked parts of southern Tehran.

Ahmadinejad becomes President.
Payvand News reported that Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told the U.S. not to make a "big mistake" by denying visa to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iran Focus, an MEK website, reported that women will not be included in the cabinet of Iran’s new hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Yahoo News reported that Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called for closer cooperation with Syria in the face of pressure on both countries from the United States.
Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Ali Larijani is to become the new Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary.
Reuters reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday he had new ideas to resolve its nuclear standoff with the West and was ready to continue talks with the European Union.
San Francisco Chronicle reported Bush saying that Iran's new president will likely come to N.Y.
Iranian blogger, Mehrdad Sheibani, Rooz Online reported that the Iranian Parliament has a constitution reform bill to consolidate power in a few appointed centers.
Petition to President George W. Bush: Denouncing Ahmadinejad's U.N. Visit.
CNN claimed a CIA report has determined with "relative certainty" that Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was not involved in the taking of U.S. hostages.
Iranian blog Rooz Online reports that many political leaders are refusing to join the Ahmadinejad administration, including Rafsanjani's sons.Iran's Troublemaking.
Axis Information and Analysis reported that despite the menacing statements by the confidant of the new Iranian President, it is unlikely that Tehran will attack Baku.
CNN News reported that Donald Rumsfeld said the weapons recently confiscated in Iraq were clearly, unambiguously from Iran.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that the U.K. has lodged a complaint with the Iranian government after bomb-making supplies were smuggled over the Iranian border into Iraq.
Patrick Devenny, FrontPageMagazine applauds the mainstream media have finally begun to highlight the role played by Iran in fueling the insurgency in Iraq.
The Guardian UK reported Britain yesterday described as "unacceptable" the smuggling of weapons from Iran into Iraq. U.S. Policy on Iran.
CBS reported that President Bush had a meeting with his defense and foreign policy teams on Thursday at his ranch and discussed Iran.
BBC News reported that US President George W Bush said he still has not ruled out the option of using force against Iran, after it resumed work on its nuclear program. The Iranian Military.
EurasiaNet provided a briefing on the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and its expanding role in Ahmadinejad's government.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Iran said it has improved the range and accuracy of its Shihab-3 missile, saying the weapon can strike targets as far away as 2,000 kilometers with an accuracy of within one meter.
Rooz Online published the words of admiral Ali Shamkhani in his farewell address as he leaves the Department of Defense. The words of 1979 put the priority on the deprived while its foreign manifestation is the challenging the bullies. Human Rights/Freedom of the press inside of Iran.
World Peace Herald reported on the U.S. Helsinki Commission, which just held a hearing titled, "The Iran Crisis: A Transatlantic Response."
Iranian blogger, Omid Memarian, Rooz Online discusses the new administration's war on the NGO's.
Iranian blog Rooz Online reported that Iranian lawyers are threatening a protest.

Iran and the International community.
Kuwait News Agency reported on the visit Sunday of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to Tehran saying it is of great importance.
The Telegraph UK reported that Israel is preparing to deal with Iran's N-plants, if need be.

Must Read reports.
Canada Free Press took issue with Jimmy Carter's statements against U.S. policy and reminded us of his contribution to our current problems with Iran.
The Washington Times in an editorial, discussed The Washington Post's dubious slant on Iran.
Rooz Online reported that Ansar-e Hezbollah called for a slaughter the Iranian opposition.
Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem Post delivered sobering evidence that the U.S. is retreating in the war on terror.
Ilan Berman, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ukraine's government is heading into dangerous diplomatic waters in a deal with Iran.
Stefania Lapenna, Tech Central Station writes that Iran is ripe for revolution, but the regime has so far succeeded in diverting the world's attention from this.
Iranian blog, Rooz Online remembers that Ayatollah Khomeini once told of a fable that they see parallels to Iran's current regime. The Experts.
Amir Taheri, The NY Post reported that the row over Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions is not the cause of the current tension in relations between Iran and the major Western powers. The real cause is that Iran intends to reshape the Middle East.
Amir Taheri, The NY Post takes a serious look at Ayman al-Zawahiri's latest message.
Victor Davis Hanson reminds us that we need to listen to the words of radical Islamists. He quotes them directly and lets them speak for themselves.

And that was just last week! If that isn't enough, don't miss this ominous article in TIME magazine, in which Iran's efforts to promote civil war in Iraq are well documented:

The U.S. Military's new nemesis in Iraq is named Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani, and he is not a Baathist or a member of al-Qaeda. He is working for Iran. According to a U.S. military-intelligence document obtained by TIME, al-Sheibani heads a network of insurgents created by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps with the express purpose of committing violence against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. Over the past eight months, his group has introduced a new breed of roadside bomb more lethal than any seen before; based on a design from the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hizballah, the weapon employs "shaped" explosive charges that can punch through a battle tank's armor like a fist through the wall. According to the document, the U.S. believes al-Sheibani's team consists of 280 members, divided into 17 bombmaking teams and death squads. The U.S. believes they train in Lebanon, in Baghdad's predominantly Shi'ite Sadr City district and "in another country" and have detonated at least 37 bombs against U.S. forces this year in Baghdad alone.
Since the start of the insurgency in Iraq, the most persistent danger to U.S. troops has come from the Sunni Arab insurgents and terrorists who roam the center and west of the country. But some U.S. officials are worried about a potentially greater challenge to order in Iraq and U.S. interests there: the growing influence of Iran. With an elected Shi'ite-dominated government in place in Baghdad and the U.S. preoccupied with quelling the Sunni-led insurgency, the Iranian regime has deepened its imprint on the political and social fabric of Iraq, buying influence in the new Iraqi government, running intelligence-gathering networks and funneling money and guns to Shi'ite militant groups--all with the aim of fostering a Shi'ite-run state friendly to Iran. In parts of southern Iraq, fundamentalist Shi'ite militias--some of them funded and armed by Iran--have imposed restrictions on the daily lives of Iraqis, banning alcohol and curbing the rights of women. Iraq's Shi'ite leaders, including Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, have tried to forge a strategic alliance with Tehran, even seeking to have Iranians recognized as a minority group under Iraq's proposed constitution. "We have to think anything we tell or share with the Iraqi government ends up in Tehran," says a Western diplomat.
Perhaps most troubling are signs that the rising influence of Iran--a country with which Iraq waged an eight-year war and whose brand of theocracy most Iraqis reject--is exacerbating sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shi'ites, pulling Iraq closer to all-out civil war. And while top intelligence officials have sought to play down any state-sponsored role by Tehran's regime in directing violence against the coalition, the emergence of al-Sheibani has cast greater suspicion on Iran. Coalition sources told TIME that it was one of al-Sheibani's devices that killed three British soldiers in Amarah last month. "One suspects this would have to have a higher degree of approval [in Tehran]," says a senior U.S. military official in Baghdad. The official says the U.S. believes that Iran has brokered a partnership between Iraqi Shi'ite militants and Hizballah and facilitated the import of sophisticated weapons that are killing and wounding U.S. and British troops. "It is true that weapons clearly, unambiguously, from Iran have been found in Iraq," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week.

There is much more, and it is all bad.

Here is how I see it: I believed President Bush when he said that "you are either with us or with the terrorists." I still do. I also believe that he will not rest until this regime is history.

It is an undeniable fact that, of all state sponsors of Islamist terror, Iran is numero uno, top dog, big cheese. Their President was one of the men who planned and took Americans hostage during the Carter years. The Defense minister slaughtered 241 Marines in Lebanon. And the Iranians are about to get Nukes. We just so happen to have about 150,000 troops in Iraq who are frankly salty and tired of sitting around while Iran helps to plot the deaths of their comrades.

If this isn't a recipe for escalation and war, what is? I believe we are rapidly reaching endgame, and a fight for the survival of civilization. We had best be ready for it -- both abroad and at home. It is coming.