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Posts Tagged ‘Iran’

The U.S. State Department said today that it was investigating reports that three American tourists have been detained by Iranians while hiking near the border in the self-ruled Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Two Kurdish officials, speaking anonymously because they weren’t authorized to release the information, said the Americans apparently were arrested after entering Iranian territory without permission. U.S. helicopters flew overhead and many U.S. Humvees moved into the Kurdish city of Halabja to search for the Americans, said a Kurdish border force official. A fourth American who had to stay behind at their hotel because he was sick said the missing Americans were tourists hiking near Halabja and the border town of Ahmed Awaa. According to his account, the four had traveled to Turkey, then entered the Kurdish region Tuesday through the Ibrahim Al-Khalil border point in Zakho, the official said. They visited the Kurdish cities of Irbil and Sulaimaniyah on Wednesday. The next day, three of them took a taxi to Ahmed Awaa where they told their companion that they planned to stay at a nearby resort, the official said. The three contacted their friend back at the hotel on Friday and told him “they had mistakenly entered Iranian territory and that troops surrounded them,” the official said, adding “that was the last contact with them.”

The very mountainous border is a popular hiking destination and well-known for its thick growth of pistachio trees. The border force official said Iranian authorities arrested the three Americans because they had entered the neighboring country without permission. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the U.S. Embassy “is aware of the report and is investigating. We are using all available means to determine the facts in this case.”

No word on where the 3 tourists are being held and no clue on their well being to this point, but it’s pretty apparent that they are fucking idiots. While I semi-understand why the Iranian troops arrested the tourists I don’t believe they should be held forever. This blunt is for the safe return of the 3 American tourists, even though you have to be lifted already to not know where the Iranian border is while all this conflict is going on in the region.

Hundreds, possibly thousands of peaceful protesters are trying to make their way to central meeting points within Iran and are being met by armed forces who are currently trying to turn away the protesters with threats and usage of tear gas and water cannons.

The “culture ministry”  in Iran which controls the media has input a complete media blackout,which requires all media outlets to first gain permission from Iran’s government before every single  transmission back to their respective countries. There is no doubt that this process,which probably includes someone who works for the ministry having to approve what is being said,  hasmade it nearly impossible to get information out to the world. Many people believe this is being done by the Iranian government in an effort to potentially confuse their citizens into believing that support for the opposition has died down, but in reality support is just as strong as it was 24 hours ago, with no backing down in sight.

Iranian citizens have taken to social networking sites like facebook and twitter to share images and news with the world, but the Iranian government has gone as far as to input cellular interference devices, but some have still gotten around that by manipulating their sim cards. It has already been a full week and 1 day since the election results were given and to me it feels as though these people have been protesting for much longer, but we can only hope that the Iranian government and the opposing protesters come to a peaceful agreement. It is an internal Iranian situation that I don’t believe the US govt. should be involved in.

Image Via CNN Ireport