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'If (the Americans) want to visit a base, they should go to the the military sites in the US.'

Lieutenant Commander of Irans Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Hossein Salami stressed Tehrans vehement opposition to the United States inspecting its military sites, during an interview with state-run television on Saturday night.

"Both the great Iranian nation and the US and the world should know that if there is only one demand in the whole world which will be rejected and if there is only one wish that will be taken to the grave, it is the Americans' demand to visit our military centers," General Salami had said, as reported by the Iranian Fars news agency.

Salami suggested that "if (the Americans) want to visit a base, they should go to the the military sites in the US."

"The Americans should not allow themselves at all to speak about Iran, he added.

Sundays report by Fars news agency also noted that Aerospace Force Brigadier General, Amir Ali Hajizadeh made similar remarks last week regarding visits to Iranian military sites by officials from the US and other western countries.

We will not give them such a permission," General Hajizadeh had said last Monday.

General Salamis remarks were made against the backdrop of US President Donald Trumps assertion this past week that Iran was failing to abide by the spirit of the nuclear deal it reached with the P5 1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) in 2015. Nevertheless, the Trump administration certified last month that Iran was complying with the delineated terms of the agreement.

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Iranian General speaks against US inspections of Iran's military sites - i24NEWS

A senior Iranian official said on Saturday night that the regime will never allow any foreign government, and especially not the US, to visit its military facilities.

Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami said in a television interview that under no circumstances would Iran allow any such inspections, Irans Fars news reported Sunday.

The great Iranian nation, the US and the world should know that if there is only one demand in the whole world which will be rejected and if there is only one wish that will be taken to the grave, it is the Americans demand to visit our military centers, Salami said.

He stressed that only Iranians would ever be permitted to inspect the sites.

The Americans should not allow themselves at all to speak about Iran and if they want to visit a base they should go to the the military sites in the US, he said.

Iranian military trucks carry surface-to-air missiles during a parade on the occasion of the countrys Army Day, on April 18, 2017, in Tehran. (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)

In comments Sunday, Salami also boasted that the rate of our missile production is so high that we are faced with the problem of space to keep them in, state television reported.

The comments came in light of US President Donald Trumps repeated threats to renegotiate or abandon the nuclear deal struck by world powers under his predecessor.

Iran was also slapped with a sanctions bill targeting its missile program and alleged human rights violations, which Trump signed into law last week.

Tehran protested that the new sanctions violated the nuclear accord. President Hassan Rouhani warned Sunday that if the US intends to stand against the deal, the entire world will stand before the US.

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Iran official: We will never tolerate US inspections at military sites - The Times of Israel

While August seems usually a passive time of the year in politics, it has been quite the opposite for Iran and the wide variety of developments around this controversial international dossier.

A senior delegation of United States Senators travelled to Tirana, the capital of Albania, today, August 12, 2017, to meet the Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi, who heads the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

The delegation, Senators Roy Blunt, Vice President of the Republican Conference, and member of the Appropriation, Select Intelligence, Rules and Administration, and Commerce, Science, and Transportation committees; John Cornyn, the Majority Whip, and a member of the Judiciary, Select Intelligence, and Finance committees; and Thom Tillis, a member of the Armed Services, Judiciary, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and Veterans Affairs committees, also visited members of the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in the Albanian capital.

NCRI

The NCRI is a political coalition calling for regime change in Iran and considered the main threat to Tehrans mullahs. The MEK is the main member of this coalition of a variety of Iranian dissident groups and individuals.

Led by Senator Blunt, the delegation congratulated the safe and secure relocation of all Camp Liberty residents outside of Iraq and wished them success in their struggle for democracy and human rights in Iran, according to an NCRI statement.

Rajavi expressed her gratitude for the tireless efforts of the U.S. Senate, particularly Senator Blunt, regarding the protection of thousands of MEK members in Iraq, and their safe relocation to Albania.

Senator Blunt was among several American dignitaries, including senior former officials, who at a July 2014 Senate briefing strongly condemned Irans highly destructive role in Iraq. While describing Tehran as part of the problem plaguing Baghdad and the entire country, Senator Blunt joined the initiative in demanding the urgent transfer of PMOI/MEK members stationed in a former US military base known as Camp Liberty near the Iraqi capital.

Senator Blunt and his colleagues John McCain (R-AZ) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and former Senator Carl Levin had urged former Secretary of State John Kerry to press for the protection of Camp Liberty and to expedite the resettlement of the Camp Residents to countries outside Iraq, including the United States.

NCRI

Earlier in April, Senator McCain, a long supporter of the Iranian opposition and a staunch critic of Tehrans policies, also visited the MEK in Albania and met with Rajavi. MEK members were able to depart Iraq after a long 4 year ordeal in Camp Liberty following a forced transfer from their 26-year home in Camp Ashraf, northeast of Baghdad. From 2009 following the transfer of their security from the US military to the Iraqi government, the MEK came under eight major ground and missile/rocket attacks staged by Iran-backed proxies against Ashraf and Liberty. This was parallel to a seven-year logistical and medical siege closing them off from the outside world. After losing over 160 of their colleagues to the attacks and blockade, MEK members were finally able to transfer out of Iraq to a variety of European countries, mainly Albania.

Saturdays high-profile visit by the senior U.S. Senators comes at a time when Washington has slapped major new sanctions against Iran for its ballistic missile drive, support for terrorism and human rights violations. Irans Revolutionary Guards is now subject to sanctions under Executive Order 13224, and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Considering the Guards control over 40% of Irans economy, these new sanctions come as a heavy blow to Tehrans future ambitions. Analysts believe this visit sends a strong signal to Tehran over how the NCRI is gaining momentum through a growing consensus in Congress over the necessity of adopting a policy of regime change vis--vis Iran. This time last year Irans ruling clerics appeared determined on weakening or dismantling the PMOI/MEK. Only a year later, the tides have turned and it is the Iranian opposition that is now on the offensive. More such developments threatening the very pillars of Irans rule are most likely set to come in the near future.

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Harvard-educated, Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a world-renowned businessman, a leading Iranian-American political scientist, president of the International American Council on the Middle East, and best-selling author. He serves on the advisory board of Harvard International Review.

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Senior US Senators meet Iran opposition leader in Albania - HuffPost

Sweden is violating a United Nations human-rights treaty in its attemptto deport a prominent Iranian actress who revealed her conversion from Islam to Christianity after arriving in the European nation, according to a charity that defends persecuted Christians worldwide.

Aideen Strandsson would face punishment and prison, possibly even rape and death, if returned to the mullah-led Islamic nation, arguesthe U.K.-basedBarnabas Fund.

The group citesthe 1951United Nations Refugee Convention, which statesa refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom.

In Strandssons case, the international Christian ministry said, she undoubtedly would face prison at a minimum for her conversion to Christianity.

In fact, Iranian prisons are a particularly dangerous environment for any woman, the organization said.

Rape has been widely used against female prisoners since the 1979 Islamic revolution on the pretext that women offenders must not be allowed to remain virgins, as this could result in them being admitted to paradise. Added to this, as both an apostate from Islam and a nationally known actress who has appeared in films and on TV, Miss Strandsson is likely to be viewed as a significant embarrassment to the Iranian government. As such, her life will be in serious danger, the Barnabas Fund said.

Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians tells of the perseverance and courage of men and women who suffer because of their faith in Jesus Christ

The organization saidthe actress had a conversion experience after watching a video in Iran of a woman being stoned to death.

I decided at that moment I dont want to be a Muslim anymore, she said.

Strandsson said that shortly after that, she had a dramatic spiritual encounter.

I had a dream about Jesus. He was sitting near me and he took my hand, she said.

But she, like many others in Iran, kept her faith quiet, allowing word of it to come out only after she safely was in Sweden.

At that point, in 2014, she asked for a public baptism.

I want to have a baptism in public because I want to say I am not afraid anymore I am free, I am Christian. I want everyone to know about that, she explained, according to Barnabas.

Now, however, Swedish officials have told Aideen that becoming a Christian was her decision and now its her problem and not theirs.

At her asylum hearing, a Swedish migration official even told her it would not be as bad for her in Iran as she is expecting because it would only be six months in prison, Barnabas said.

The U.N. convention disallows sending a refugee back to a nation where they face serious threats to their life or freedom.

The planned deportation is part of Swedens attempt to tamp down the backlash to its admission of huge numbers of migrants from Muslim nations.

In a worrying new trend, which may affect Christians in other European countries which have recently allowed in large numbers of migrants, decisions on asylum appear to be influenced not just by human rights but also by government targets, with little or no recognition of the specific persecution faced by Christian minorities in countries such as Iran, Barnabas Fund said.

A lawyer working on her case, Gabriel Donner, told Barnabas Fund the government officials do not care about injuries they may create.

They have promised the public in Sweden that they will deport more people than before and so they have to fill the quota.

Donner saidmany Swedish officials are so ignorant ofreligion and Christianity they assume its simply a lifestyle choice.

A convert says, I converted because of the love I received from Jesus Christ, and they almost mockingly ask the convert, What do you mean by love? They dont understand the message in the Bible. Its just completely alien to them, he said.

Donnerestimated there are 8,000 asylum-seekers now hiding in Sweden to avoid deportation.

Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians tells of the perseverance and courage of men and women who suffer because of their faith in Jesus Christ

More here:
Sweden plans to deport Christian actress to Iran! - WND.com

Two soccer players have been barred for life from Irans national team after they appeared in a match against players from Israel, prompting anger among the sports many fans in the Islamic Republic.

Masoud Shojaei and Ehsan Haji Safi played last week in a European league match for the Greek team Panionios against Maccabi Tel Aviv, an Israeli club. That appeared to violate a longstanding rule prohibiting Iranian athletes from competing against opponents from Israel, a nation that the Iranian government doesnt recognize.

After the match, a Farsi-language Twitter account maintained by the Israeli foreign ministry posted a message: Well done to Masoud Shojaei and Ehsan Haji Safi who broke the taboo of not playing in matches against Israeli athletes.

On Wednesday, Irans deputy sports minister, Mohammad Reza Davarzani, said in an interview with Mizan news agency, the mouthpiece of Irans judiciary, that the players would no longer be allowed on the national soccer team.

It is certain that Masoud Shojaei and Ehsan Haji Safi will never be invited to join the national football team because they violated the red line, state television quoted Davarzani as saying.

The comments set off vigorous discussion on social media in Iran, where soccer is the most popular sport. Irans soccer federation, the sports governing body, did not immediately confirm the players suspensions, but Davarzani said his ministry had the authority to make the decision.

For many years, Iranian athletes on the international stage have hewed to an unwritten rule that they not play against Israelis, with many feigning illness or using other ruses to avoid head-to-head competitions.

Shojaei and Safi, both of whom are under contract to play for the Greek club, appeared to observe part of the custom when they sat out a match last month against Maccabi, played in Israel.

But both played the full 90 minutes in the Aug. 4 match in Greece, which their team lost, 1-0.

Many soccer fans defended the players for honoring their contract and accused Davarzani of politicizing a sport in which Iran, which has qualified for the 2018 World Cup, struggles to compete on an international level. Its soccer ambitions have been hampered by official mismanagement and international economic sanctions.

Iranian footballers need to be internationalized and play in [Europe] to bring hard currency and new techniques and experience to help domestic football, said Ali Samienia, a 64-year-old coach in a youth soccer league in Tehran.

What is the fuss? Its not a big deal. Iranian politicians are pushing politics into sport, especially football.

Iranian hard-liners have been asserting themselves in recent months following the re-election victory of President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate.

Rouhani, who campaigned on expanding personal freedoms and improving relations with the West, has frustrated supporters by failing to appoint any women to his Cabinet an apparent show of deference to the conservative clerics who are the custodians of the countrys theocracy.

Soccer fans said the players suspensions could affect Irans World Cup hopes especially the loss of Shojaei, the captain of the national team who played 70 minutes in a victory over Uzbekistan in June that clinched Irans spot in the quadrennial tournament. Safi did not play in the match.

Shojaeis absence will have a negative impact on Irans matches in the World Cup, said Reza Agharahimi, a 30-year-old soccer fan in Tehran. It would be better to think of the infrastructure of Iranian football rather than pay attention to minor, unimportant issues which are politics and have nothing to do with sport.

Special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran and Times staff writer Bengali from Mumbai, India.

shashank.bengali@latimes.com

Follow @SBengali on Twitter

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After Iran bans two soccer players for playing against Israelis, fans rush to their defense - Los Angeles Times