People who tried to access Twitter early Friday were redirected to a Web site from the 'Iranian Cyber Army'.

CNN

The popular microblogging Web site Twitter was hacked overnight, leaving the millions who use the site tweetless.

Those who tried to access Twitter were redirected to a site that had a green flag and proclaimed "This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army."

The Web site was down for nearly an hour. Representatives from Twitter could not be immediately reached for comment, but the company spoke about the issue on its official Twitter page.

"Twitter's DNS records were temporarily compromised but have now been fixed. We will update with more information soon," the company posted at about 2:30 a.m. ET Friday.

It was unclear who the group Iranian Cyber Army was and if it is connected to Iran. However, Twitter has had an interesting relationship with Iran.

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Fareed Zakaria | BIO
CNN Anchor, “Fareed Zakaria – GPS”

Josh Fattal's relatives say they haven't had contact with him since he was detained in Iran.

Fareed Zakaria | BIO
CNN Anchor

Three American hikers detained by Iran are facing espionage charges, according to Iranian officials.

The three Americans have been held since July 31 on charges of illegally crossing the border from Iraqi Kurdistan into Iran. The families and friends of Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal say it was an innocent mistake and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has agreed. "We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever," Clinton said this week.

The move against the hikers comes at a delicate moment in relations between Iran and the United States. Fareed Zakaria, author and host of CNN's "Fareed Zakaria: GPS" spoke to CNN Tuesday about Iran and U.S. policy.

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An undated family photo shows Sarah Shourd, one of three U.S. hikers detained in Iran since July 31.

Charley Keyes
CNN Senior Producer

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met privately Thursday with the families of three American hikers held in Iran for more than three months.

Clinton said it was an “emotional” meeting and praised what she called the “fortitude” of the families of Shane Buaer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal, detained along the Iran-Iraq border at the end of July.

“These three young people are obviously not only on the minds of their family members but on the minds of all of us.,” Clinton said at a later picture-taking session with the German Foreign Minister. “It was an emotional meeting and I described to the families everything that we are doing. I was impressed by their strength and fortitude in their commitment. They are determined as we are to see these young people returned home,” Clinton said.

“We’re very grateful for her assistance,” Cindy Hickey, the mother of Shane Bauer, said after meeting Clinton at the State Department. “And we are very grateful to the State Department for everything they’ve done.”

The families are organizing vigils on Sunday in 20 locations in the United States and overseas to mark the 100-th day since the hikers were detained by Iranian authorities along the Iraqi border July 31-st. “It’s been a hundred days, will be on Sunday, since Shane, Josh and Sarah have been detained,” Hickey told CNN. “It’s way too long. We’re anxious to get them home,” Hickey said.

Hickey said the meeting with Clinton was private and offered details. The United States, without diplomatic relations with Iran, has relied on the Swiss to appeal directly for the hikers’ release. A Swiss diplomat has met twice with the Americans in their Iranian prison. The hikers’ families say they will release messages from the three Americans at the “Vigils of Hope” on Sunday thanking people working for their freedom.

Clinton repeated her call to the Iran government to release the hikers on humanitarian grounds. “As a mother my heart went out to all of them . I cannot imagine what it would feel like to know that your child was in prison for now – 100 days with very little contact between
you and them.,” Clinton said.

“I told them that we are doing everything we possibly could to get Shane and Joshua and Sarah home. And we are exploring every angle. Obviously I would hope that the government of Iran would free them on humanitarian and compassionate basis and return them to their families,” Clinton said.

Wayne Drash and Octavia Nasr
CNN

The night before she was killed on the streets of Tehran, the woman the world would come to know simply as Neda had a dream. "There was a war going on," she told her mom the next morning, "and I was in the front."

Neda's mother had joined her in the street protests that erupted after Iran's disputed June 12 presidential election. But on that fateful morning, she told her daughter she couldn't go with her. As Neda prepared to leave, the mother was filled with anxiety.

"I told her to be very careful, and she said she would."

More than four months after Neda's death, her mother, Hajar Rostami, described the pain her family has endured and how grateful they are to millions across the world who have hailed Neda as a martyr - a symbol of freedom for Iran. She spoke with CNN by phone in her native Farsi from her home in Tehran a few days ago.

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Moussovi supporters rallied in Tehran, Iran, last June.

Hamid Dabashi
Special to CNN

November 4 is the 30th anniversary of the Iran hostage crisis, a turning point in Iranian history, in the geopolitics of the region and in the troubled history of U.S.-Iran relations.

On that day, militants, many of them students, invaded the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking about 70 Americans as hostages in a drama that would last 444 days.

I am one of the last Iranian students who peacefully walked into the United States embassy in Tehran. I went there in July 1976 with a recently acquired Iranian passport and an even more recently obtained acceptance letter from the University of Pennsylvania, and an I-20 form, as we called it then. Then a 25-year-old, I applied for a visa, received one and boarded a plane to Philadelphia.

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CNN

Two "senior officials" from the United States and Iran "had a meeting on the margins" of the Geneva talks on Iran's nuclear program, U.S. spokesman Robert Wood told CNN on Thursday.

Wood wouldn't say who sat down on the sidelines of the discussion, but the encounter is regarded as the first face to face discussion between Iran and the United States over the nuclear issue.

William J. Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, is leading the U.S. delegation, and Saeed Jalili, Iran's nuclear negotiator, is representing his country at the meeting.

The Geneva talks coincide with the recent revelation that Iran was building a second uranium enrichment facility near the city of Qom.

Click here to keep reading and find out more about Iran's nuclear sites.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives home Saturday after attending the U.N. General Assembly.

Octavia Nasr | BIO
AC360° Contributor
CNN Senior Editor, Mideast Affairs

How large is Iran’s nuclear ambition? How peaceful? The recent revelation about a clandestine uranium enrichment facility coupled with military exercises – not to mention a consistent defying rhetoric - can’t be comforting to anyone observing the Middle East region. Iran says its nuclear enrichment program is intended for peaceful purposes, but the international community accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons.

In December 2005, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust was a “myth” that Europeans invented as an excuse to allow the creation of the state of Israel. At the time, Mr. Ahmadinejad suggested that since the “Europeans are the ones who killed the Jews,” they should negotiate with the United States or Canada to give them portions of their land to establish a Jewish state.

Since that time and throughout his presidency, the Iranian President has reiterated the same line in many different variations and at different venues. As he addressed the United Nations General Assembly last week he said, “Countering this Zionist regime is a humanitarian principle. In fact the existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to human dignity. They try to support their myth of Holocaust, they lie.”

Mr. Ahmadinejad is set to serve a second four year term as President of Iran. His victory was challenged by street protests and outcries of dismay accusing him of “stealing the vote.” Despite all of that, and in total disregard of the crowds of Iranians denouncing him outside the UN Headquarters in New York, he spoke to the general assembly with confidence, “Our nation has successfully gone through a glorious and fully democratic election, opening a new chapter for our country in the march toward national progress and enhance international interactions. They entrusted me, once more the large majority, with this heavy responsibility.”

A heavy responsibility that he ushered in with some explosive developments: First, the shocking announcement about the Uranium enrichment facility. This drew harsh condemnation from the U.S., France and Great Britain and threats of sanctions if Iran doesn’t disclose all of its nuclear plans by December.

Then, in a show of force over the weekend, Iran test-fired long-range missiles it claims can reach as far as parts of Europe. What were supposed to be routine “war games” by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, turned out to be full-fledged missile and rocket tests. The news of the successful test-launch rattled the Middle East region and got many nations on edge, Israel in particular.

The timing couldn’t be more symbolic. On Monday, the same day as Yom Kippur – the holiest holiday in the Jewish calendar – Iran held a series of short-range missile tests followed by the testing of Shahab-3 and Sajil missiles – both long range missiles that Iran claims can reach as far as Moscow, Athens and southern Italy. Iran’s air force commander hailed the exercises and boasted that “Iran is fully prepared and determined to stand against all threats.”

It’s hard to pin down the “threats” the commander is talking about. Could they be “threats” posed by neighboring countries? Regional powers? Western forces? It’s difficult to to say for sure; but what we do know is that earlier this year, Iranian authorities announced that they would be testing long-range missiles that “will reach Israel and US bases in the Middle East.” This kind of statement makes people in many countries nervous. Not just Israel and the U.S., but nations such as Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, which are all hosts to US bases in the region.

It is possible that Iran’s behavior so far is what got it to sit at the table in Geneva today with the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. Would such a meeting have taken place if Iran didn’t push forth with its nuclear program? The U.S. hopes to convince Iran to halt its nuclear activities. Is it even reasonable to make this request at this time? More importantly, is it reasonable to expect Iran to comply?

Paul Ingram is the executive director of the British American Security Information Council in London; he studies Iran and nuclear nonproliferation. He believes Iran's revelation of the new site could "strengthen their hand" as Tehran heads into the Geneva talks. Ingram said the timing of Iran's revelation - inbetween the U.N. General Assembly sessions and today’s meeting - is deliberate on Iran's part. "This will make it more difficult to persuade them to abandon enrichment," he said.

All eyes are on Geneva to see what if anything will come out of those talks. Some words will certainly fly – such as demands for “unfettered access” to Iran’s nuclear facilities and its newly declared Uranium enrichment plant. As always, what will matter more than the words, the sanctions and the threats, will be what Iran does or does not do after all is said and done. And that, we already know by now, is impossible to guess.

Follow Octavia on Twitter @OctaviaNasrCNN

Neda Agha-Soltan has come to symbolize Iranian resistance to official election results.

Hamid Dabashi
Special to CNN

One of the most memorable episodes of the U.S. presidential election of 2008 was the much-publicized September 2008 interview that CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric did with Republican vice presidential candidate and then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Quite a number of embarrassing revelations dawned on the American presidential election scene after that interview, including the fact that the person potentially a heartbeat away from U.S. presidency could not name a single newspaper or magazine that she regularly read.

The interview turned out to be so crucial a piece in the course of the presidential campaign that it garnered for Couric the much coveted Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism, with the judges considering that interview a "defining moment in the 2008 presidential campaign."

As fate would have it exactly a year after that fateful interview, Katie Couric was destined to have an embarrassing Sarah Palin moment of her own.

In the course of a much anticipated interview with the belligerent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Couric raised the all-important murder of Neda Aqa Soltan while discussing post-election violence in Iran - which Ahmadinejad dismissed as an unfortunate event that he said occurred because of chaos instigated by the United States and United Kingdom.

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Amid growing tensions with Washington over its nuclear ambitions, Iran tests a short-range missile.

John King | BIO
CNN Chief National Correspondent
Anchor, State of the Union

It is a week that will see a potentially defining test in the health care debate, and yet those negotiations are likely to be overshadowed by a set in which Iran has a seat at the table and at which the administration's new claim of leverage in the nuclear standoff with Iran will be put to the test.

"Prove it," was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's to-the-point refrain when asked on the CBS program "Face the Nation" about Iran's claims its newly disclosed underground nuclear facility was for peaceful purposes and that the international outrage was much ado about nothing.

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AC360°

Days before a key meeting with Western leaders, Iran test-fired two types of long-range missiles Monday in part of what the Islamic republic called routine military exercises, its state-run media reported.

The tests drew condemnation from France, which noted through its Foreign Ministry that the action comes only a week after Iran revealed the existence of a covert uranium enrichment site.

"These tests can only reinforce the worries of countries in the surrounding region and the international community, especially as Iran is, in parallel, developing a nuclear program, with the existence of a clandestine uranium enrichment site having just been revealed," the ministry said.

Go here to see an interactive map of Iran's missile range.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the 64th United Nations General Assembly last Wednesday.

Massimo Calabresi
Time

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned President Barack Obama against pressing Tehran about new revelations that Iran has been constructing a secret uranium-enrichment plant. "If I were Obama's adviser, I would definitely advise him to refrain making this statement because it is definitely a mistake," Ahmadinejad told TIME in New York on Friday. "It would definitively be a mistake." His comment came as President Obama, speaking at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, made a dramatic announcement that Iran has been constructing a second uranium-enrichment facility whose existence had been kept secret in violation of the non-proliferation agreements to which Tehran is a signatory.

Flanked by Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama warned that Iran would be held accountable if it failed to live up to its international obligations. Fearing imminent disclosure of the plant being built into a mountain near the seminary city of Qom, the Iranians had earlier this week written to the International Atomic Energy Agency to confirm its existence.

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Tom Foreman | Bio
AC360° Correspondent

I once received an anonymous call at the height of a major trial. A deep baritone, with a measured cadence of confidence spoke. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know who else to call. I believe I have proof of jury tampering.”

“Really?” I responded, my ears pricking up like Spock on a date.

He went on for several minutes describing how the deliberations had been apparently slanted for acquittal by one juror. His information seemed rock solid, his knowledge of the case thorough. Then the bombshell. “How is this happening?” I asked.

“He’s using below-the-horizon surveillance and mind control particle beams.”

That’s the problem with some lunatics. They are unreliably zany. One minute they can be talking about authentic issues in an informed and reasonable way; and the next moment their eyes grow wide, and they lean forward to add, “And it’s all the Jews’ fault!” Such is the case with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran. This week in front of the United Nations he displayed precisely the qualities that most concern the sane leaders of other countries, notably the United States.

When he goes into his “the Holocaust never happened” act, and “the Zionists are the real terrorists” bit, it is easy to say he is simply anti-Semitic. When he says there are no gays in Iran, and it is the most progressive democracy on the planet, it is easy to suspect a massive clot has slammed into a lobe and he’s lost contact with reality. Where is the acknowledgement of the troubles in his country? Staggering unemployment, riots, human rights violations, international outrage over Iran’s nuke program. Ahmadinejad says all he wants is peaceful nuclear energy supply, but few are buying that line.

So why does anyone listen or support him? Because he sprinkles his speeches with enough salt of legitimacy. He is right: The long dispute between Israel and the Palestinians is real, and the 9/11 Commission concluded years ago it must someday be equitably resolved to take fire off of the bubbling pot of terrorism. He is right: Many smaller nations resent the inordinate political, economic, and military influence of big nations, like those holding the permanent seats on the UN Security Council.

And everyone likes to blame problems on someone else. So when Ahmadinejad says, “Our difficulties are really not my fault, not your fault, the rest of the world is unfair” that has enormous appeal to some on the home front.

But history has shown that leaders who step this far outside of the box can truly be dangerous to us all; because while their world views may be fantasies, ultimately their weapons and their willingness to use them, can be all too real.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the 64th United Nations General Assembly Wednesday.

Program Note: Tune in tonight to hear from Reza Aslan on AC360° at 10p.m. ET.

Reza Aslan
The Daily Beast

Iran’s presumptive president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, heads to New York today to once again address the United Nations General Assembly. And once again, he has prefaced his address to the world body with yet another jibe at Holocaust history.

Last Friday, during Iran’s annual Jerusalem Day festivities—an occasion for Iranians to show solidarity with Palestinians—Ahmadinejad told an assembled crowd at the University of Tehran that “the pretext for establishing the Zionist regime is a lie ... a lie which relies on an unreliable claim.”

“The occupation of Palestine has nothing to do with the Holocaust,” Ahmadinejad continued. “The very existence of this regime is an insult to the dignity of the people, but it won't last long. The Israeli regime’s days are numbered and it is on its way to collapse. This regime is dying. Fighting it is a national and religious duty. The West has launched the myth of the Holocaust but it’s a lie.”

Right on cue, the U.S. media went into hysterics—“Ahmadinejad Denies Holocaust… Again!” was the headline at The Daily Beast—just as Ahmadinejad hoped they would.

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Program Note: Tune in tonight to hear more about the addresses of Libyan Leader Moammar Ghadafi and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

AC360°

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly. His visit has provoked protests around the country.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is also in New York for attending the United Nations General Assembly. Gadhafi's visit is garnering both protesters and supporters.

President Obama addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.

World Public Opinion.org

A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of Iranians finds that six in 10 favor restoration of diplomatic relations between their country and the United States, a stance that is directly at odds with the position the Iranian government has held for three decades. A similar number favor direct talks.

However, Iranians do not appear to share the international infatuation with Barack Obama. Only 16 percent say that have confidence in him to do the right thing in world affairs. This is lower than any of the 20 countries polled by WPO on this question in the spring. Despite his recent speech in Cairo, where Obama stressed that he respects Islam, only a quarter of Iranians are convinced he does. And three in four (77%) continue to have an unfavorable view of the United States government.

"While the majority of Iranian people are ready to do business with Obama, they show little trust in him," says Steven Kull, director of WPO.

At the same time, there are some signs of softening. Trust in Obama is three times higher than the 6 percent of Iranians who expressed confidence in George W. Bush in a 2008 WPO poll. Unfavorable views of the United States government are down 8 points from the 85 percent unfavorable views in 2008 (WPO).

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Iranian President Ahmadinejad addresses a Friday prayer sermon at Tehran University on Quds (Jerusalem) Day.

World Public Opinion.org

A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll finds that two-thirds of Iranians would favor their government precluding the development of nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against Iran.

Only one-third would be ready to halt enrichment in exchange for lifting sanctions. However, another third, while insisting on continuing enrichment, would agree to grant international inspectors unrestricted access to nuclear facilities to ensure that that there are no bomb-making activities.

The WPO poll also finds that six in 10 Iranians believe that economic sanctions, imposed by the United States and the United Nations over fears that Iran's nuclear program might produce an atomic weapon, are having a negative impact. Seven in 10 say they believe sanctions will be tightened if Iran continues its current nuclear program.

Steven Kull, director of WPO, comments: "Though most Iranians are feeling the bite of economic sanctions and expect them to tighten, only a third are willing to negotiate away the right to enrich uranium. However, two-thirds are willing to make a deal that would preclude the development of nuclear weapons."

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Iranian riot police block protesters on a Tehran street in June.

Elham Gheytanchi
Santa Monica College, Faculty of Sociology

Friday, September 18, was Quds (Jerusalem) Day in Iran. It was first announced 30 years ago by Ayatollah Khomeini to express solidarity with Palestinians. But on this day last week, national TV showed little of the government-organized rallies around the country. The coverage was limited because any attempt at showing the demonstrators was bound to show the green marchers, protesting the results of the June 12 presidential election. The protesters chanted “Na Gaza, Na Lobnan, Janam fadaye Iran,” (No Gaza, No Lebanon, I die for Iran).

The story of chants, mottos and slogans (shoar in Persian) dates back to the early days of the revolution in 1979. But the unexpected turn of events after the recent presidential election have revived the power of this revolutionary tradition and demonstrate the ever-changing nature of political culture in Iran today.

For one month preceding the Election Day on June 12, young Iranians – who compose the majority of the country’s population – poured into the streets all over Iran to campaign for their presidential candidate. The four presidential candidates were Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karoubi, Mohsen Rezaie and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had been approved by the Guardian Council, an unelected body of jurists and clergies. The young men, accompanied by an unprecedented number of young women, demanded more freedom, improvement of economic conditions and better relations with other countries.

Immediately after the results of the election were announced showing Ahmadinejad’s “landslide victory”, protesters poured into streets. For three consecutive days, masses of Iranians marched peacefully onto the streets in silence asking one question written on their placards “Where is my Vote?”

As the results of the election were announced, a twitter message from Bandar Abbas, a port city in the south of Iran, read (Raye ma ra dozdidand, bahash darand poz mida) “They have stolen our votes and they are flaunting our stolen votes!”

In an unprecedented move, the political establishment decided to cut all SMS messages, the Internet connections and mobile phones in the week after the election results were announced. The next day, demonstrators in at least 20 different locations in Tehran gathered waving placards that read (Doroghgoo khaen ast va khaen tarsoost va tarsoo sms ghate mikonad) “The Liar is a Traitor and the Traitor is fearful and the fearful cuts the SMS.”

What started as a silent march to get back their stolen votes gradually became a movement – known as green movement – to demand civil and political rights. Much like the bloody days of the 1979 revolution, sounds of bullets and the smell of tear gas in the streets replaced the euphoric atmosphere of pre-election days.

When the advanced military of Shah opened fire on the people in the streets demonstrating against the reign of Shah, the demonstrators shouted back then (Toop, Tank, Mosalsal digar asar nadarad) “Canon, Tank, Machine Gun will not be effective anymore).

In June 2009, marching amidst bullets and tear gas, demonstrators shouted (Toop, Tank, Basiji, digar asar nadarad) “Canon, Tank, Basiji will not be effective anymore”. Basiji refers to the militia men, or rather teenage boys who had volunteered in the 1980s to fight the Saddam’s army during Iran-Iraq war but are now recruited and ordered to suppress demonstrators who the authorities refer to as “internal enemies of the state”.

In a televised appearance a week after the Election Day, Ahmadinejad referred to the demonstrators as (khas-o khashak) “rift-raft” and described them as “soccer fans who are upset because their team has lost”.

The next day, demonstrators marching in green wristbands and headbands carried a huge banner that read (Doctor kapshen pareh, khashak ke pa nadareh!) “Doctor with torn overcoat, rift-rafts don’t have foot!” [Doctor with torn overcoat refers to Ahmadinejad] Other huge banners read “Ahmadi Goosaleh, bazam migi footballeh?” (Ahmadi, the calf, you still say it is a soccer game?). {*In Persian language, donkey or calf are derogatory terms.}

During demonstrations in 1978 and 1979, the anti-Shah demonstrators chanted “Azhari Goosaleh, bazam migi navareh? Navar ke pa nadareh!” (Azhari, the donkey/ calf, you say again that it is a tape? The tape does not have foot!) This was in direct reply to Major General Gholam Reza Azhari, the prime minister at the time, who said in the parliament that the shouts of Allah-o-Akbar (God is Great) loudly heard in the streets of Tehran and other major cities were the sound of tape cassettes-much like Khomeini’s sermons distributed on cassettes- that some traitors play loudly at nights.

And nights did in fact turn into nightmares for the Iranian security forces as the shouts of Allah-o-Akbar were heard from the rooftops. Thirty years after the revolution, Iranians responded to the state terror- this time Islamic Republic- by saying “God is great.”

In 1978 and 1979, when Ayatollah Khomeini asked Iranians to march peacefully in the streets and give flowers to the military personnel, he employed the most effective tactics of non-violent struggles previously used by Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Whereas the military fired shots on the demonstrators in 1979, the demonstrators chanted (Artesh jenayat mikonad, Shah hemayat mikonad) “Military commits crime, Shah supports it”.

In 2009, the demonstrators who had witnessed shots fired from rooftops of Basij stations in Tehran killing un-armed and defenseless demonstrators, they shouted (Basij Jenayat mikonad, Rahbar hemayat mikonad) “Basij commits crime, Supreme leader supports it”.

On the fortieth day of protests, a newly formed committee of Mournful Mothers of Iran gathered at the graveside of Neda Agha Soltan, who was killed in the streets of Tehran during the protests. The committee chanted (Nirooyeh Entezami, Sohrab baradaret koo?, Neda Khaharet koo? Nedaye ma namordeh, in jomhouri ast ke mordeh) “Security Forces, Where is Sohrab, your brother? Where is Neda, your sister? Our Neda (also means our voice) has not died, it is the Republic that has died”.

Perhaps it is one other ‘shoar’ among a long, still-evolving list of mottos/shoars that sums up the current crisis. This one is aimed directly at president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who prided himself on his ability to unify Iranians for the nationalistic goal of achieving nuclear energy.

His stated goal no longer seems to be unifying; rather he has proved to be the most divisive leader in what remains of an Islamic Republic in Iran. He declared war on his opponents – fellow Iranians - many of whom were directly involved in the 1979 revolution. In a recent demonstration in Tehran, a solo voice soon gathered momentum as many chanted (Ahmadi Hasteyie, boro bekhab khasteheyie!) “Nuclear Ahmadi, go to sleep, you are tired!”

Editor's Note: Elham Gheytanchi teaches sociology at Santa Monica College. She writes about Iranian culture, politics and media. Her research focuses primarily on women’s rights in Iran.

Akbar Ganji
Special to CNN

This week world leaders will gather in New York for the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be among them, Iranians reject his claim to leadership. They strongly oppose any meeting or recognition of Ahmadinejad, especially by President Obama.

The pro-democracy movement in Iran today unanimously believes that he enjoys his current position because he was "reappointed" president after stealing several million votes in June 12 presidential election.

Popular protests against this state of affairs have been met with bullets from the Iranian regime. Thousands were arrested and dozens were killed. Opposition supporters have been tortured in jail and credible reports of rape have surfaced.

In recent years the Western media has not focused on the systematic human rights violations in Iran but rather on Iran's nuclear ambitions and Ahmadinejad's rhetoric toward Israel and the Nazi Holocaust. Iranians are deeply upset by the general inattentiveness of the media and world leaders to their political protests.

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Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates answers a question about U.S. missile defense strategy during a press briefing.

Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense
New York Times

The future of missile defense in Europe is secure. This reality is contrary to what some critics have alleged about President Obama’s proposed shift in America’s missile-defense plans on the continent — and it is important to understand how and why.

First, to be clear, there is now no strategic missile defense in Europe. In December 2006, just days after becoming secretary of defense, I recommended to President George W. Bush that the United States place 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland and an advanced radar in the Czech Republic. This system was designed to identify and destroy up to about five long-range missiles potentially armed with nuclear warheads fired from the Middle East — the greatest and most likely danger being from Iran. At the time, it was the best plan based on the technology and threat assessment available.

That plan would have put the radar and interceptors in Central Europe by 2015 at the earliest. Delays in the Polish and Czech ratification process extended that schedule by at least two years. Which is to say, under the previous program, there would have been no missile-defense system able to protect against Iranian missiles until at least 2017 — and likely much later.

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