Iranians Still Hate Us Lots- Largest Protest Ever On Anniversary Of 1979 US Embassy Takeover

Today was the anniversary of the 1979 US Embassy takeover in Tehran (the highlight of the Iranian revolution) and as they have done every year since, Iranians took to the streets with anti-U.S. placards to show just how much they still hate the "Great Satan".  Protesting in front of the former U.S. Embassy, the largest crowd ever gathered at these annual US bashing demonstrations burned American and Israeli flags, carried effigies of Barack Obama and John Kerry, and shouted "Death To America."  All this in spite of the fact that current President Hassan Rohani is trying to reach out, sort of, to the U.S. and the West, with the blessing, sort of, of Supreme Leader Ali Khameini.

Some of the more moderate elements in Iran asked that the "Death To America" chants be dropped, but hard-liners refused,

...including commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), [who] have rejected those calls and said that the habitual refrain of "Death to America" will remain eternal.

Though Rohani did not attend the rallies taking place in other cities besides Tehran, Said Jalili was there.

Among the main speakers at the rally were former senior nuclear negotiator and defeated presidential candidate, hard-liner Said Jalili, who said the capture of the U.S. Embassy, called "the nest of spies" by some officials, showed that the revolution was on the right path.

Jalili defended the "Death to America" slogan as the slogan of the most "thoughtful and honest" Iranians and added the slogan was not directed against the American people but against its government officials.

He also said that Iranians monolithically support the clerical establishment, the government, and the team in charge of nuclear negotiations.

Video of the protests on Washington Times.
Photos and twitter comments on BuzzFeed.

Still so  many haters out there.

Iran To Sue Hollywood Over "Iranophobic" Films Like "Argo"

There's a new word on the block- "Iranophobia"- and French anti-Zionist lawyer and Muslim convert Isabelle Coutant-Peyre will use that as the basis of a lawsuit filed on behalf of the government of Iran. They're suing a bunch of Hollywood elite for portraying the Islamic Republic in a distorted manner. "Argo", which won an Academy Award for Best Picture seems to have been the proverbial straw.

"I'll be defending Iran against films that have been made by Hollywood to distort the country's image, such as Argo," she said, according to quotes carried by the semi-official Isna news agency.

As with most films inspired by historical events there were some embellishments In "Argo" not based in reality. The Canadians (most importantly Ambassador Ken Taylor) were far more instrumental in the escape of the six U.S. diplomats than the CIA's Tony Mendez, who was in Tehran less than two days. The six were hidden by the Canadians for three months, and the CIA almost botched the whole escape. But that's Hollywood. It's creative license.  Ken Taylor wasn't happy about Canada being relegated to a very minor role in the film, but he's not suing.

Taylor and the Ayatollahs aren't the only ones who were angered by "Argo".

A large group of Iranians believe that the film stereotypes Iranians in a negative way without drawing a distinction between ordinary citizens and the revolutionaries behind the US hostage crisis.

Perhaps. Then again, the vast majority of Iranians did vote for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to establish an Islamic Republic after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, so one can only assume that although they might not have participated in the hostage taking, they were probably initially sympathetic.

The other films Iran has taken umbrage with:

 300, which depicts King Leonidas and a force of 300 men fighting the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 BC – which was described by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as "insulting to Iran"; Brian Gilbert's 1991 film Not Without My Daughter; and The Wrestler.

All of which are based on truth.

Isabelle is in Tehran to work on the lawsuit they plan on presenting to an international court.

A little background on the charming Isabelle.

Coutant-Peyre is the wife of the notorious Venezuelan-born terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, known as Carlos the Jackal, whom she is also representing. Ramírez, a self-styled international revolutionary, is serving a life sentence for the killings in 1975 of two French policemen and a suspected informant. Coutant-Peyre and Ramírez married in a ceremony held in jail in 2001 after she converted to Islam.

She also attended "The Hoax of Hollywood", a conference which, according to Mohammad Lesani, was meant to "unify all cultural communities in Iran against the attacks of the west, particularly Hollywood".  "Argo" was deemed to have violated "international cultural norms", whatever that means, and that the Academy Award it received was a "propaganda attack against our nation and entire humanity".

I'm not quite sure what they feel is a distortion. It's a fact that hundreds of  Islamic revolutionary students held a bunch of U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days. End of story.

Of course, threats of a lawsuit and claims of producing their own film to counter Affleck's "Argo" could be just that, threats and nothing more.

We shall see what unfolds.

Iran's Fars News Photoshops Michelle Obama's Sexy Dress At Oscars

I have to admit that I did not watch the Academy Awards. Actually I never do, they bore me. But I did hear from one of my agents- who happens to be a black Republican- complaining that Michelle Obama  made an appearance of sorts  (via video conference) at the Oscars.

Michelle announced the winner of "Best Picture" dressed in a slinky, revealing, silver designer dress by Naeem Khan. And since the film about the 1979 Iran hostage crisis "Argo" won, and the Iranians believe it's the Zionist, Hollywood version of events, Fars News wrote about Michelle's appearance. But since the photo of Michelle was too sexy for Iranian consumption, they did a little Photoshop job to her dress to make it a tad more modest.

I'm surprised they didn't add a hijab while they were at it. Fars did approve, however, of the hijab-clad wife of Palestinian director Emad Burnat. Burnat's film "Five Broken Cameras" was nominated for best documentary film. Last year Iran threatened to ban Iranian actresses from traveling abroad for Western award ceremonies if they did not dress modestly. In the past, many have not adhered to the Islamic dress code they are forced to wear at home. So, in another article about Burnat's win, Fars said:

“The comparison between the clothing of Burnat’s wife in the Oscar ceremony and the attire of Iranian actresses in international festivals is worthy of reflection.” 

In the piece about Michelle, Fars commented on the rare move by the Academy to have a non-entertainment celebrity announce a winner. And they're right.  Naturally, people are now debating how appropriate it was to have the First Lady involved in the Oscars, not that the Obamas care what anyone thinks.

Source: RFE/RL

Iran To Produce Film To Counter Ben Affleck's "Argo"

Ben Affleck's film "Argo", which has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, has been getting a lot of well deserved hype. As most everyone knows, the film is a loosely based recreation of an event that occurred during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis whereby six diplomats- who somehow managed to escape the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran- were given safe haven by Canadian diplomats (including Ambassador Ken Taylor) for three months, and were then rescued by CIA agent Tony Mendez. The plan was pretty ingenious and incredibly ballsy:

Tony Mendez, along with another CIA operative, flew into Tehran to rescue Robert Anders, Cora Amburn-Lijek, Mark Lijek, Joseph Stafford, Kathleen Stafford and Lee Schatz, by creating an elaborate ruse: a film crew on a location search for their sci-fi film "Argo". It worked.

However, it seems Iran is not too happy with how the events are portrayed in Affleck's film, so they've decided to do a movie of their own to set the record straight.

Tehran’s proposed film entitled “The General Staff” will be directed by Ataollah Salmanianis, according to The New York Times.  [Snip]

“This film, which will be a huge production, should be an appropriate answer to the film “Argo,” which lacks a proper view of historical events,” The New York Times quoted Salmanian saying in an interview with Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency.

Officials in Tehran dismissed Affleck’s movie after its release in October as anti-Iranian. To promote their ideology, Iranian leaders have started several foreign-language satellite channels.

Ken Taylor, the Canadian Ambassador who was instrumental in getting the six US diplomats out of Tehran, said of the decision:

“I’m not sure what the Iranians found wrong.”  “It will be amusing to see what they take issue with. I think the Iranians know the true story of the Canadian involvement.”

52 Americans were held hostage at the US Embassy for 444 days, six escaped thanks to Tony Mendez and his "Argo" scheme. Indeed, it will be very interesting to see what the Iranians deem a "proper view of historical events."

For some reason, Affleck was snubbed for a Best Director nod by the Academy.