UPDATE BELOW: Ledeen Responds!
The Iranian Regime is Obsessed with Ledeen…
Upset with earlier rumors first published at Pajamas Media on the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran published an article today proposing who they think may be the Ledeen source for the story.
Pajamas Media contributor, American Enterprise Institute scholar and foreign policy expert Michael Ledeen (left) and his suspected Iranian news source, Manucher Ghorbanifar (on right).
Michael Ledeen first reported that the Ayatollah’s health was failing on December 6, 2006. Then on January 4, 2007, came the reports that the Ayatollah had succumbed to cancer.
The old geezer made an appearance or two at a couple of public events since that report letting the world know that he is alive, well and pursuing nukes. Still the mullahs are upset that anyone could leak such news from inside the regime and now they think they have the culprit behind the story.
From Iranian Bazteb News today:
Ledeen’s source was Manucher Ghorbanifar, a notorious arm dealer who has close relations with both Israel and Pentagon
Rumors on the Iranian Supreme Leader’s suffering from cancer were initially circulated by a website with very close ties to the well-known anti-Iran American militarist, Michel Ledeen several weeks ago. Few days later, the website (Pajamas Media) posted another news item claiming that the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has died of cancer but that the news has not been disclosed by the government. Ledeen is a neoconservative with great influence on US President George Bush.
BAZTAB has learned that Ledeen’s source was Manucher Ghorbanifar, a notorious arm dealer who has close relations with both Israel and Pentagon.
In 1985, through intermediation of his Saudi collaborator Adnan Khashoqchi , Ghorbanifar contacted the Israeli Intelligence Mossad in an effort to prepare the ground for establishment of a pro-Western government in Iran.
Besides Ghorbanifar, members of the terrorist Mujahedeen Khalq Organization, MKO, have close relations with Ledeen. They are known for their terrorist activities both inside and outside of Iran. MKO members have assassinated many Iranian civilians and authorities and also extensively helped Saddam Hussein in massacre of Iraqi Kurds and Shiites.
Ledeen had been involved in the forgery which claimed Saddam Hussein had bought yellowcake in Niger. He is a member of the American Enterprise Institute and a founding member of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Although Ledeen was in favor of regime change in Iraq, he believed that Iran should have been the first priority.
My feel on this: The regime does not have a clue…
And, they are a bit obsessed with Michael Ledeen.
UPDATE: (Sunday AM) Michael Ledeen at Pajamas Media responds to the bogus Iranian accusations:
They say I was involved in forging the Niger documents—a favorite of drooling lefties and former CIA officials such as Vincent Cannistraro that has long since been proven false. They say I am an ally of the Mujahidin Khalq, an organization I have always condemned and with which I have no relationship whatsoever. And they claim to have found my source for the Khamenei-is-dead story: my old friend Manoucher Ghorbanifar, as always misdescribed as an arms merchant. In fact, I wish I had listened to Ghorbanifar when he told me the story was false. Elsewhere—see Gateway Pundit, linked above—I am misdescribed as being very close to the Bush Administration (very droll; I can barely get in the door, even to old friends, let alone exert my nefarious influence).
I think this means I won’t be invited to Tehran in the near future.
As I was saying…
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