US behind unrest in Iran?

[Almanac]

It is almost certain that the US has played a large role in stirring up unrest in Iran through covert operations. A detailed examination of the history of US interference in the internal political affairs and the mechanisms employed is available here with a particular focus on Iran:

In April, 2006, investigative journalist Seymour M. Hersh wrote in the New Yorker magazine that “The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack.”

A source with ties to the Pentagon told Hersh that American units were operating in Iran and “working with minority groups in Iran, including the Azeris, in the north, the Balochis, in the southeast, and the Kurds, in the northeast.” The principle goal was to “‘encourage ethnic tensions’ and undermine the regime.”
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Asia Times Online reported shortly thereafter that a “former Iranian ambassador and Islamic Republic insider” had provided details “about US covert operations inside Iran aimed at destabilizing the country and toppling the regime – or preparing for an American attack.” According to the source, “The Iranian government knows and is aware of such infiltration”....

In July, 2008, former Pakistan Army Chief General Mirza Aslam Baig went public with the charge that the U.S. was backing Jundullah operations based out of Balochistan province.
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Jundullah claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of the Amir al-Mohini mosque in the city of Zahedan on May 14, 2009, and said the target had Revolutionary Guards holding a meeting inside. Iran accused the U.S. of being behind the bombing.
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Jalal Sayyah, an official at the governor’s office in Sistan-Baluchestan province, told state radio, “The terrorists, who were equipped by America in one of our neighboring countries, carried out this criminal act in their efforts to create religious conflict and fear and to influence the presidential election”. Interior Minister Sadegh Mahsooli similarly said, “Enemies try to influence the election by terror, just as they did in Zahedan yesterday…. The terror agents are neither Sunni nor Shiite but American and Israeli seeking a Sunni-Shiite divide.” Opposition candidate to President Ahmadinejad Mir-Hossein Mousavi also blamed “foreign forces” for the bombing...

On June 9, 2009, just days before the presidential election, the Iranian state news agency Press TV reported that the brother of Jundullah leader Abdel Malik Rigi, Abdulhamid Rigi, had confirmed in an interview that the U.S. had met with the group since 2005 and helped to arm them. He himself had also met with the Americans in Islamabad, Pakistan, he said, according to the report.

[Thac0man]

The current crises in Iran does not include Judullah. They are not part of the oppostion which is contesting elections. In fact I dounbt that care at all who wins, Jundullah would have to fight Mousavi or Ahmedinjad, both of whom are Iranian nationalists.

The US is notable in this current crises in Iran by it absense, not its involvement. Give the Iranians some credit.

[cactusflower]

The current crises in Iran does not include Judullah. They are not part of the oppostion which is contesting elections. In fact I dounbt that care at all who wins, Jundullah would have to fight Mousavi or Ahmedinjad, both of whom are Iranian nationalists.

The US is notable in this current crises in Iran by it absense, not its involvement. Give the Iranians some credit.

Its like talking to a lump of wood. Jundallah's role in Iran is kidnapping and murdering people on camera, not running around the hustings. You asked for some sources of information on US involvement in destabilising Iran.


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References:

[1] Jonathan Cook, Israel's Plan For A Military Strike On Iran, (Zmag, 15 October 2006), http://www.zmag.org/content/showarti...m?ItemID=11190
[2] William I. Robinson, A Faustian Bargain: US Intervention in the Nicaraguan Elections and American Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era, (Westview Press, 1992), p. 146. http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/robi.../faustista.pdf
[3] Michael Barker, Taking the Risk Out of Civil Society: Harnessing Social movements and Regulating Revolutions, Refereed paper presented to the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference, University of Newcastle 25-27 September 2006, http://www.newcastle.edu.au/school/e...%20Michael.pdf
[4] Thomas O. Melia, The Democracy Bureaucracy: The Infrastructure of American Democracy Promotion, (2005), http://www.wws.princeton.edu/ppns/pa...ureaucracy.pdf
[5] Ignacio Ramonet, Democracy To Order, (Le Monde Diplomatique, March 2006), Democracy to order - Le Monde diplomatique - English edition
[6] According to Laura Rozen, The Revolution Next Time, (The Boston Globe, 10 October 2004) http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ide...on_next_time/; this act "declared that ‘it should be the policy of the United States to support regime change for the Islamic Republic of Iran and to promote the transition to a democratic government to replace that regime' and would authorize the president to ‘provide assistance to foreign and domestic pro-democracy groups opposed to the non-democratic Government of Iran.'"
[7] Data on NED funding before 1990 is unavailable on their online grant database.
[8] Media Transparency, Grant Detail, Media Transparency 2.0: Coming Soon
[9] According to his Timmerman's official biography (Kenneth R. Timmerman - Bio), since 1987 he has "operated Middle East Data Project, Inc., a small business that has provided investigative support and policy guidance to government agencies and private companies on three continents."
[10] http://www.ned.org/dbtw-wpd/textbase...cts-search.htm
[11] t r u t h o u t | Democrats: Get Up and Walk Out
[12] Project for a New American Century, (26 January 1998), Letter to President Clinton on Iraq
[13] Laura Rozen, Iran Hawks Reorganize (The American Prospect, 13 November 2006), Missing Page | The American Prospect
[14] http://www.niacouncil.org/intro.asp
[15] This project is also funded through grants by Connect US Fund and the Ploughshares Fund, see http://www.niacouncil.org/us-iran.asp
[16] Dr Parsi's doctorate work will be published next year by Yale University Press and is titled Treacherous Triangle: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States, see Trita Parsi - Biography
[17] Nemazee's lawyer also built "the case about the relationship between Pirouznia and another pair of stalwart Iran democracy activists: Banadsheh Zand-Bonazzi and Elio Bonazzi." "Zand-Bonazzi's father, Siamak Pourzand, is a well-known Iranian journalist, intellectual, freedom fighter – and political prisoner of the Islamic regime." See Robert Spencer, Kerry's Iranian Connection Fights Democracy, (FrontPageMagazine.com, 8 September 2004), Untitled Page
[18] http://www.iranianamericanpac.org/le..._nemazee.shtml
[19] Asia Society | About | Officers and Trustees [2] (Asia Society | About Asia Society | Mission and History
[20] http://www.iranianamericanpac.org/le..._nemazee.shtml

[odie1kanobe]

The current crises in Iran does not include Judullah. They are not part of the oppostion which is contesting elections. In fact I dounbt that care at all who wins, Jundullah would have to fight Mousavi or Ahmedinjad, both of whom are Iranian nationalists.

The US is notable in this current crises in Iran by it absense, not its involvement. Give the Iranians some credit.

Er No

US has been funding opposition to Iran for a considerable period of time and this was one of their ideal opportunities in sowing dissent.

[Toland]

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[Thac0man]

Er No

US has been funding opposition to Iran for a considerable period of time and this was one of their ideal opportunities in sowing dissent.

Are the current protests US sponsored? Please cite a source for that. Some people are simply trying to forge a link to past 'evidance' unrelated to the current protest and these current events. No link exists. There is no US involvement in the current unrest centered around the disputed election in Iran. Lying through the teeth won't change that.

[Clanrickard]

It is almost certain that the US has played a large role in stirring up unrest in Iran through covert operations. A detailed examination of the history of US interference in the internal political affairs and the mechanisms employed is available here with a particular focus on Iran:

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Get yourself a life sized dummy of Uncle Sam and go to a quiet room and beat the stuffing out of it with a hurley. It might help rid you of those anti-American feelings.

[Clanrickard]

The current crises in Iran does not include Judullah. They are not part of the oppostion which is contesting elections. In fact I dounbt that care at all who wins, Jundullah would have to fight Mousavi or Ahmedinjad, both of whom are Iranian nationalists.

The US is notable in this current crises in Iran by it absense, not its involvement. Give the Iranians some credit.

Thaco the loony left crave evidence of American involvement so they can mount their moral high horse. The sad fact is that right wing governments are taking the lead in this on the international stage. The left has been silent as usual.

[Thac0man]

Its like talking to a lump of wood. Jundallah's role in Iran is kidnapping and murdering people on camera, not running around the hustings. You asked for some sources of information on US involvement in destabilising Iran.

But just to be clear, this thread has nothing to do with the unrest that is related to the disputed presidential poll in Iran right? I am correct am I not?

I mean it would be pretty sad if you were just deploying the term 'unrest' in the hope people would take it (and your evidence) to mean the US is involved in stirring up Iranian oppostion to a fruadulant election in their own country.

So to be clear, this thread has nothing to do with political oppostion in Iran. Right?

[cactusflower]

CF,
Which of 1 to 20 had an effect on the falsification of election results in Iran and the popular response to that falsification (for it seems falsification is the right word for it after all)?

I've seen a lot more evidence for US interference than I have for for a falsified result. That may be to come. The OP makes the case that the US is interfering. The suspected theft of an election does not give an external state the right to deliberately destabilise another country, or Iran could have invaded the US a while ago.

I've posted about the popular response elsewhere. In my view, it was both genuine and manipulated. The choice between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi was not that exciting and the demonstrations were a combination of right wing middle classes and others who want neither.