IRAN: Intelligence Ministry blacklists Yale and dozens of other Western institutions

Yale University is among 60 "subversive" international organizations stirring up Iran's political discord as part of a plot backed by the United States, Britain and Israel to undermine the Islamic Republic, Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security said today, according to the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency and the official Islamic Republic News Agency (in Persian). 

The Ivy League school joins the ranks of news organizations such as the Persian-language Voice of America and BBC Persian as well as Beltway think tanks such as the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that have been accused of being part of a "soft war" waged against Iran by its enemies.  

The reports quoted a deputy minister of intelligence for international affairs but cited no name. At a news conference, he reportedly said Iranians should have no contact with such organizations.

"Having any relation, signing any contract with them or receiving any facilities from individuals or legal entities affiliated to those institutions and foundations are illegal and forbidden," he reportedly said. "Similarly it is illegal for political movements, groups and parties to receive any cash and non-cash assistance" from the organizations.

Among the news organizations was the Persian-language Jonbesh Rah Sabz, or the Movement of the Green Path, a U.S.-registered news website that has emerged as the go-to opposition news outlet.

Other outlets blacklisted include foreign Persian-language radio and television stations.

The official named the Soros Foundation, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, the Foundation for Democracy in Iran and the Ford Foundation, all institutions that try to promote American-style democracy abroad.

Human Rights Watch, which chronicles abuses of Iranian dissidents and protesters, was also on the list.

-- Los Angeles Times

Photo: Students dining at a Yale University cafeteria. Credit: Yale University

Comments

[Publicola]

@ Peter

Peace and apologies ! I did not mean to offend you!
I just wanted to use your statement as an opportunity and starting-point to add

what certain (Iranian-)government-officially authorized and (Iranian-)government-officially communicated figures of election results might mean within a European context and within European comprehension.

- Quite another matter and discussion are any interests of any other non-Iranian country/ies in any possible event/s having occurred or occurring in Iran.

I have taken great pains to limit myself to government-official and government-officially undisputed figures !

Thank you for your patience

Yours,

Publicola

[Peter]

@Publicola,
You're making me work awefully hard here.:(
Honestly, your presenatation of "facts" was a pretty slick answer. I am not so sure comparisons with German elections is the best way to go. Iran is not Germany.The social, political& economic circumstances are very very different.Consequently, thatcomparison is too much of a stretch.
Look dude,I am just a simple country boy. From my humble perspective, Ahmadinejad won the election, fair and square."Nejad" is CLEARLY being villified by the rabid western press. A press that lies like a rug on a wide array of issues related to the Muslim world. Am I to believe that this great uprising against Nejad(the so called GreenRevolution/Gucci Revolution) is some noble expression of the people against tyranny??
I am sorry, the Western press is so full of beans that I have totally abandoned it. HISTORICALLY, Iran has come under a withering attack from western "agencies". Do I need to cite the Mossedegh affair to you? The vampiric Shah and his monstrous henchmen, the Savak, were also western installed puppets.
And you sir dare to cite abstract voting statistics! You insult my intelligence .
History IS repeating itself . The vampiric west is DESTABILISING the legitimate Ahmadinejad regime with huge infusions of western monies and a massive villifying public relations campaign.
The writing is on the wall Mr Publicola.
Better look again.

[Jeremy]

It bothers me when so many news agencies report something without providing any sources.

This is the only list I have found online. I don't know whether this source is reliable but it does include Soros , Yale and Stanford according to google translate.

http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2010/01/098600print.php

[Publicola]

@ Peter : »IRANIAN MEDIA … A LONELY VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS FOR TRUTH.« ?

• From a European perspective and for European circumstances and conditions it is absolutely not clear, what the Iranian government and the state-authorized media are driving at and why.
• For the presidential candidate Moussavi the election results of 33.75% was communicated directly after polling booths had been closed through government-official media, as well as the figure of 36.33% for the oppositional candidates taken together.
In other words: more than one third of the total Iranian electorate decided for a change of political emphasis or a policy shift (on the strength of probable vote-rigging, the election result of the opposition and thus the overall proportion of the electorate is assumed to be higher)

• QUESTION: What does an election result of approx. 35% mean e.g. from a European perspective ?
• ANSWER: e.g. the results of the two decisive political parties in the national election 2009 [election of the head of government] in Germany: CDU (Christian Democrats) with 27,3 %, SPD (Social Democrats) with 23,0 %.
[A coalition government has finally been formed under the leading function of the Christian Democrats.]
In other words, the opposition in Iran has been entrusted with and has at its disposal a considerably higher legitimacy than any political party (!) in Germany.

• CONCLUSION: Can anyone seriously be of the opinion
that a pogromsimilar hate campaign by state-authorized media, a pogromsimilar harassment and political persecution
of the supporters, followers and leading figures of one of the abovementioned German political parties
would not have the most serious, destructive, cataclysmic effects and repercussions
on the internal peace of Germany, i.e. the geographical and economic heart of Europe, and that means
on the economic and political situation for the whole of Europe ?

• An educated guess in answer to this question:
the long-term outcome would highly likely be a catastrophe comparable to a world war !

[Peter]

I trust Iranian media much more then western media.
Elite schools likeYale have always been associated with "intellignce gathering".
There's nothing new here.
The only real thing that is new, is, Iranian media as a lonely voice in the wilderness for truth.