IRAN RISES

Late last August, one Reza Saiedi sent a message to my old friend Norman Finkelstein requesting a written interview with him:

Dear Norman,

Salam/Shalam

Despite Western attempts to isolate Iran internationally, the upcoming Non-Allied Countries summit will be hosted by Iran. In order to generate greater public awareness of this, I’d like to interview some 50-odd people and would be pleased to include you in the list. In addition, I’d welcome communications with any other scholars and activists that you might be able to introduce to me. If you could provide me with their contact information I’ll contact them directly myself, or perhaps you might forward this post to them.

Thanks for your speedy response. Here are the questions for the interview:

Warm regards,

Reza Saiedi
1- In your opinion what is the importance of Non- Alliance meeting ?

2- Knowing that Iran is organizing the upcoming None Alliance meeting, what is the impact or effects?

3-Would you classify the recent events in Syria as Arab Spring or American-Zionist conspiracy?

4- Perhaps many of you are aware of the recent atrocities directed at Muslims in Burma, however such human rights violations are often blatantly ignored in the mainstream media outlets. Can you offer any insight into the double standard that is applied in these cases, where one country’s violations are ignored while alleged injustices from another (often Iran is mentioned incorrectly/unjustly mentioned) are held under the microscope.

Norman’s answer, and an answer which Mr. Saiedi had solicited from me were not published because the editors were overwhelmed by the work of Non-Aligned Movement conference, according to an email from Mr. Saiedi.

On February 2, 2013, I received another message from Mr. Saiedi asking for a written interview. This time, the questions were:

1. In your opinion, what changes in regional power has occurred as a result of the Islamic Revolution?

2. Is victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran considered as a challenge to USA?

3. How would you describe differences in pre-Revolutionary Iran and current Iran?

4. Why did both the governments of East and West (ie the US and its allies and the former Soviet Union) make continual efforts to deter the efforts towards completion of establishing the Islamic Republic? A few examples of these efforts include the planned (and failed) helicopter attack in the dessert of Tabbas, initiating the war with Iraq over a bogus border dispute continuing until today’s efforts of supporting regional “revolutions” in Bahrain and Syria.
5. What distinctions can you make between the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the French and Bolshelvic Revolutions?

6. What are similarities can be found between the Islamic Revolution in Iran and other recent regional uprisings, such as the Arab Spring?

7. Could it be said that the recent uprisings and attempts to establish so-called democracies in the region arose as a result of the precedent set by the Islamic Revolution’s overthrow of the Shah’s monarchy?

8. What are the basic disagreements that the West, specifically the USA, holds against the Islamic revolution ?why do they have fear from Islamic revolution? In 1979 , the USA used their utmost pressure to stop Islamic revolution of Iran and today Britain and USA are supporting Bahrain’s government against the populist Islamic revolution. Could you elaborate on this?

9. What is your take on the political position of America in the Region due to recent Arab Spring? do you think their position has been shattered?

10. How do you predict and assess the future revolutions in this region? do you think America will be successful to continue their support of the region’s dictators such as Saudi and Bahrain and others?

Reza Saiedi

PS. Thanks so much Dr Siegle for you kindness.

This time, I’m posting my answer online. I’m posting it in Persian. If anyone wants me to translate it into English, please let me know.

1: انقلاب اسلامی ارتباط قدرت  را برای ابد در منطقه عوض کرد. آن جزیرۀ ثبات در منطقه، یعنی رژیم شاهنشاهی، را سرنگون کرد و در جایش نظامی که اساسش کینۀ ضد غربی است به جای گذاشت  و یک دروه جنگ و ستیز بین اسلام و غرب را آغاز نمود. دیکتاتورهائی که با غرب همکاری داشتند عمیقا متزلزل شدند. تفکر توسعه و مدرنیته  جای خودش را  به تفکربازگشت به خویش و سنت گرائی داد..

2: التبه، پیروزی انقلاب اسلامی یک تکانی شدید به آمریکا بود. یکی از پاهگاه های محکم سیاست آمریکا در منطقه به یک نظام  آمریکا ستیز و آمریکا زدا میدل  شد. البته، باید در نظر گرفت که این  تکان  و یا لطمه به امریکا  بان معنی نیست که  منافع ایران تامین شده باشد .  مثلا، ایا پیروزی نازی ها یا کومونیست ها که برای آمریکا خطرناک بودند، سودی برای کشورهای کمونیست و یا فاشیزم  بهمراه داشتند یا یک قدم به پیش برای بشریت؟ .

3: اساس رژیم سلطنتی دیکتاتوری دولتی بود. مردم میبایست با چوب استبداد دولتی رانده شوند تا وطن مدرن شود،  صرفنظر از اینکه ا مردم  باین مدرن گرائی تمایلی داشته باشند یا نه . همچنین  سیستم  پهلوی تمایلی به  درست کردن پایگاهای مردمی نداشت . هیچ سعی و کوششی در جمع کردن  گروهها ی مختلف بر گرد مواضع  حتی مورد توجه خود نمینمود،  در حالیکه  نظام جمهوری اسلامی کشاندن عوام به خیابان تحت شعارهای اجنبی ستیزی و در دفاع از ارزشهای سنتی و عوامگرا از اولین   الویت هایش  بود ،  البته همه تحت نظارت دقیق و شدید دولت .
نظام شاهنشاهی  با تجلیل  دوران قبل از اسلام ر سعی بر  برانگیختن  احساسات  و غرور ملی گرایانه  داشت  در حالیکه  الگوی نظام اسلامی قیام امام حسین است و احساسات عمیقی که این فاجعه در دل هر شیعه  می انگیزد. البته، هر دو نظام از این احساسات سوء استفاده کرده  و  هر دو کوشیدند تا قدرت را  در دست خویش و ثروت را  در دست طبقه مورد میل خویش متمرکز کنند.

4: اشکار است که قدرتهای غرب تمایل  به  سرنگونی  نظام جمهوری اسلامی ایران داشتند، اما به نظر من، آنها خیلی زود دریافتند  که این کار آسان نخواهد بود و بدین جهت  موضع صبرو انتظار را پیش گرفتند. یک سال بعد از اتقلاب، تجارت بین ایران و کشورهای غرب (به استثنای آمریکا!) افزایش یافت. ما جرای طبس ربطی به سرنگون کردن جمهوری اسلامی نداشت. رئیس جمهور امریکا  مجبور بود اقدامی برای نجات گروگانهای امریکائی بنماید. حمله عراق به ایران  هم در واقع  عکس العملی بود به  حس حقارتی که عراق  از شکست  قبلی خود از  رژیم  سلطنتی ایران  در خود داشت  ، و همچنین نگرانی شدیدی که از تبلیغات جمهوری اسلامی توسط شیعیان  بر علیه  » صدام  یزید «  میداشت . آمریکا در این حمله نقشی نداشت.

معنای شما از حمایت غرب از انقلاب بحرین نا معلوم است. اما راجع به سوریه، این انقلاب است، همچون انقلاب بحرین، با این تفاوت  که ملت سوریه رو به روی یک رژیم بی رحم است که از بمباران شهرهای پر جمعیت ابائی ندارد.  و این چنین رژیمی بدون شک باید کنار برود.  اگر شما برای یک لحظه فکر میکنید که این انقلاب نیست بلکه یک توطئه  ضد انقلاب ایران توسط غرب است ،کاملا در اشتباهید.  اول، اینکه  مردم سوریه یک استقامت بی نظیری از خود  نشان دادند.و این در حالی است که انقلاب ایران نسبتا بدون درگیری انجام شد .  شاه مخلوع حد اقل  از کشتار هزار هزار مردم امتناع کرد.  چنین احساسی را از  این رژیمهای فاشیست بعثی نباید انتظار داشته باشیم . و دوم، اینکه  کمک غرب باین انقلاب واقعا نا چیز بود و است.

 5: انقلابهای فرانسه و بولشویک انقلابهای روشنفکرانی بودند که میخواستند زنجیرهای ارتجاع و سنت را بشکنند و یک آدم نو درست کنند و یک ارتباط  نوین در میان انسانها بر قرار سازند. . به قول هگل در فرانسه انقلابی برای اولین بار مردم روی سر پیاده کردند! اما روشنفکرها در قدرت با عوام بی سواد بی رحمت بودند. ارتش پاریس ده های هزار  روستائی  را قتل عام کردند تا شورش های  سلطنتنی-علمائی را بخوابانند و در خود پاریس، ده ها هزار از  اعیانهای رژیم قدیم  را سر به نیست کردند. و فجایع  بلشویک ها  هم که دیگر لازم به تصریح نیست و بر همه عیان است ، خصوصا در عصر استالین.

 اما انقلاب اسلامی در ایران کاملا  ضد روشنفکری، خصوصا روشنفکری  با جهانبینی تسبتا جهانی، بود، و  شعارش تکیه بر ارزش های سنتی عوام و دفاع  از آنان بود .  همچنین  این انقلاب بر خلاف سایر انقلابات پیشین  آنچنان خونریزی نداشت، زیرا که دولت با تکیه  بر طبقات عام توانست که براحتی  اقلیت تحصیل کرده را بکنار براند. البته این سه انقلاب با هم  شباهاتی  هم داشتند. مثلا انقلاب اسلامی کمیته ها را بر پا کرد تا باصطلاح ضد انقلابیان را دستگیر کنند–عین سازمان هائی که انقلاب فرانسه بر پا کرد. نظام تازه عناصر غیر قابل اعتماد را ادارات و سازمانهای دولتی و نیمه دولتی  تصفیه کرد، و هر  کس که می خواهست کارش را پیش ببرد مجبور بود ثابت  کند که به  ارزش های مذهبی رژیم پایبند است . .

در یک جمله، میتوان گفت  هم انقلاب ایران و هم انقلابهای بهار عربی توسط ائتلاف  انقلابیون  طبقۀ متوصط و  طبقات سنتی اغاز گردید  که اکثریت قاطع جمعیت هستند،اما هر دو به حاکمیت  یک حکومت کم و بیش سنتی اسلامی  انجامید.البته  انقلاب  لیبی نسبتا  استثنا شد .

6؛ 7: آشکار نیست آیا نماد انقلاب اسلامی در ایران نقشی در انقلابهای منطقه ایفا کرد یا نه. ممکن است که مردم اموختند که با ریختن   توده های مردم  در خیابان می توان حتی یک رژیم سرا پا مسلح را سر نگون ساخت ، اما  نمیتوان ادعا کرد که این انقلاب ها انقلابهای اسلامی بوده باشند زیرا که  شعار هایشان بطور کلی اسلامی نبودند. مثلا، در اوائل انقلاب در مصر، اخوان مسلمانین تلاش کرد که دوشا دوش مردم غیر مذهبی تظاهرات بکنند و با شعار های ازادی  و دمکراسی خواهانه انها همراهی کند . بعلاوه، اگر الهام از انقلاب اسلامی گرفتند، پس  باید سئوال کرد که چرا سی و اندی سال منتظر ماندند؟ و چرا هیچ  کدام از رهبر ان این  انقلابها  “پندهای و فرمایشات فرزانۀ رهبر عظیم الشان انقلاب اسلامی” را تقدیر نکرد؟ا.

8: نمیتوان  گفت که در اوائل انقلاب، آمریکا   تهدیدی برای  انقلاب بوده باشد. آن وقت، آمریکا هیچ ایرانی را نکشت. و بغیر از  ماموریت نا فرجام طبس، آمریکا هیچ تجاوزی به حریم ایران نکرد. تنها کاری که  آمریکا کرد  این بود که سعی کرد به عناصرهائی را که می توانست با انها  به یک تفاهم برسند، مثل ابراهیم یزدی یا مهدی بازرگان ، نزدیک شود .  احتمالا شما باید بخاطر داشته باشید که  آندرو یونگ، نمایندۀ حکومت کارتئر درسازمان ملل متحد،  امام خمینی را یک مرد مقدس نامید. اما انکار هم نمیشود کرد که  غرب نمیخواهد جمهوری اسلامی ایران بر منطقۀ حساسی  مانند خلیج فارس مسلط شود. این نظامی است که اساسش آمریکا ستیزی است و درست همانند  چین در زمان مائو  یا روس بلشویک  لئنین.

9: همانطور که ملاحظه میکنید امریکا استبداد آل خلیفه را در بحرین یا جور آل سعود را در عربستان سعودی پشتبانی میکند  زیرا که این حکومت مئتلف نزدیک آمریکا است و بحرین جائی است که ناوگاه مرکزی آمریکا در ان  مستقر است.  به هر حال، آمریکا عرض کرد که آل خلیفه اصلاحات را قبول کنند و آزادی بیان را قبول کند، چیزی که به خانوادۀ حاکم شدیدا بر خورد. اما باید گفت که سیاست آمریکا در بحرین دور از انصاف است!

10: البته، آمریکا ترجیح میدهد که حسنی مبارک و زین الدین ابن علی هنوز سر کار بودند، اما اخوان المسلمین در مصر سابقۀ طولانی همکاری با آمریکا دارد، همچنین که  با قذافی هم برای سالهای متوالی یک نوع سازش میداشت و علی رغم بسیاری بظاهر اختلاف نظر ها  از حمله کردن به لیبی تا اخرین  لحظات  خود داری کرد. اما  در سوریه، سر لوحۀ برنامۀ غرب منزوی ساختن  عناصر سلفی است . به هرحال، اگر چه  که  قدرت آمریکا در منطقه  تضعیف شده، اما هنوز هم  هکاران فراوانی  دارد. البته، آینده خیلی نا معلوم است. اما اگر یک حکومت سلفی-جهادی  در سوریه مستقر شود  کار آمریکا  ، و متفقش  اسرائیل ، خیلی مشکل خواهد شد

 

 

 

 

Dear Freedom Loving People!

The oppressive Islamic Republic regime has turned Iran into a large prison for people by denying them their basic human rights such as freedom of expression and association. Within this general prison are specific locations such as the notorious Evin prison that the regime locks up political activists that mostly have peacefully demanded their democratic rights such as free media and fair elections. Most of these people are kept for months without being charged or tried. Some are kidnapped in the middle of night without informing their family or lawyer. Most are denied visitation rights. The slightest protest lands them in solitary confinement. Even after “judges” rule that they must be freed, some are kept for indefinite amount of time.

It is in protest against such mistreatment and demand for improving their prison conditions that 17 political prisoners in Evin who are kept in solitary confinement have gone on hunger strike since July 26, 2010. Their families outside the prison have joined them and gone on hunger strike after being denied visitation rights. Three of these prisoners are on “dry” hunger strike and a number of independent medical authorities have warned that most of strikers are in frail physical conditions, some life threatening.

The Solidarity Committee for Advancement of Democracy in Iran (SCADI-NY) is calling for a two-day symbolic hunger strike in front of the United Nations building in Manhattan from Thursday August 12th at 10 AM to support Evin strikers’ demands. Please spread the word and plan to join us for as long as you can afford.

Translator’s Introduction:

What follows is an article I was asked to translate. Midway through the translation, it occurred to me that it was marred by unsubstantiated statements and exaggerations.

Thursday, 29 Bahman 1388 [February 18, 2010]

Report on the Operation of the Cyber Army in Hacking Websites

by Farvartish Rezvaniyeh

Source: http://www.kaleme.com/1388/11/29/klm-11615

During the past few months, the activities of the Iranian Cyber Army have been noted by the Iranian and even the international media. The theory that these hacker groups are connected to the Iranian government was strengthened when, after several sites were hacked, they issued warnings to the Green Movement. The scope of the measures taken by the Cyber Army discredits the theory that a group of Ahmandinejad’s admirers spontaneously carried out such acts. These messages and the nature of the sites chosen for attack indicate that there are hidden hands which support the Cyber Army.

A review of the political messages published by this group in recent months and the official statements of a government administrator of Iran’s aviation industry in defense of the Cyber Army provide a reason for a closer examination of Iran’s Cyber Army, research about which had heretofore claimed was composed of Russian hackers whose base was outside of Iran. But what is the Iranian Cyber Army and where is it based? Before considering these details, a few preliminaries are necessary.

Attack on Twitter

On the morning of Friday, 28 Azar 1388 [December 19, 2009], connection with the website Twitter was cut in some parts of the world and those who tried to access it were  transferred to a message in English which read:

U.S.A. Think They Controlling And Managing Internet By Their Access, But THey Don’t, We Control And Manage Internet By Our Power, So Do Not Try To Stimulation Iranian Peoples To….

NOW WHICH COUNTRY IN EMBARGO LIST? IRAN? USA?

WE PUSH THEM IN EMBARGO LIST

Take Care.

Attack on Baidu

On the morning of Tuesday, 22 Dey 1388 [January 12, 2010], the website Baidu, the largest Chinese search engine, was hacked. In a message on it, it was written: “The Iranian Cyber army has been launched in protest against intervention by foreign and Zionist sites in our country’s domestic affairs and the spreading of lying and divisive news.”

These measures concluded in a cyber war between Iran and groups of Chinese hackers, called the Honker Union for China, hacked official internet bases of the Iranian government, including the president’s official website and that of the Leader.¹

Attack on Radio Zamaneh

On 10 Bahman 1388 [January 30, 2010], The Iranian Cyber Army hacked the website of Radio Zamaneh, changing its front page to a picture of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s flag and the slogans “Ya Hosein (aleihum salam)” and “Persian Gulf”, under which it was written,

If the Leader commands, we attack

If he asks, we sacrifice ourselves

If he wants us to be patient and steadfast

We will sit down and take it in stride.

On 23 Bahman 1388 [February 12, 2010], those who tried to access the site of Jaras News, which publishes news of the Green Movement, were faced with this message from the Iranian Cyber Army on its front page:

Out of respect for the referendum which was held on 22 Bahman [February 11, 2010] and the people who voted and out of respect for the great nation and country named Iran … do not be a tool of those who live safe and sound in America and are using you as a tool.

A Prank on the Iranian Cyber Army

On 16 Bahman 1388 [February 5, 2010], the website Khodnevis, which is administered by Nikahang Kosar, wrote in the satirical column “False News”:

In an amazing and unprecedented step, the Iranian Cyber Army hacked the Mehrabad Airport portal so that those who try to access this site, namely airport workers, are directed to the Raja Rail Company when they type in its URL. It is said that the attack occurred in the early hours of the night and continued into Saturday, facing the airport with a serious crisis. The sudden occurrence of dozens of air accidents in the skies over Tehran as a result of the tower’s air traffic control communications systems’ failure was considered the most important danger which followed this attack, threatening the capital of Iran. Although experts believe that this attack was done by mistake and the technical difficulties were fixed an hour later, the Iranian Cyber Army, after hacking the Mehrabad portal, placed a flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran with a blue color [instead of the green color, which is the at the top of the tricolored flag], along with a message reading, “The Iranian Cyber Army warns all mercenaries who would sell-out their country that they will not be safe even in the skies.”

This satire, which was based on an altered version of part of the real message of the Iranian Cyber Army when it hacked Radio Zamaneh, was quickly reflected on Iranian news sites. A few hours later, the rumor spread of a mistaken attack by the Iranian Cyber Army on a government website became a means of ridiculing this group. Although a few hours later, these sites wiped this news from the various sites on which it had appeared, the rumor continued to spread, to the point that some large companies immediately signed multi-year contracts with internet security groups to strengthen the firewalls of their websites.

The Reaction of a Government Administrator

On 18 Bahman 1388 [February 7, 2010], only two days after this rumor spread, Morteza Dehqan, the acting manager of Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport, in the process of denying the attack on this airport’s site in the course of a discussion with a group of journalists, called it news blackmail, saying,

When foreign agents failed to achieve their filthy ends after the elections, they tried to concoct a conspiracy based on an attack on Tehran’s international airport in order to disrupt the country’s security atmosphere, while no such attack occurred on the airport’s website’s portal and this news is a pure lie from start to finish. It is clear that the counter-revolutionary media has discovered the Iranian Cyber Army’s power and, out of fear of its power, wishes to launch accusations through which it can divert public opinion.

Nikahang Kawsar, who had already stated on his site Khodnevis that this news was a rumor, now, after the publication of the interview with the acting administrator of Mehrabad Airport, wrote in part of his report about this event, “ … When Mehrabad Airport’s acting administrator denied the report about the attack on that airport’s website, he defended the Cyber Army’s record, and we realized that our fake news had done its job. An official officer of the Islamic Republic defended the Cyber Army in such a way that it seems that this group is led by the [Islamic Republican] system.”

On Iranian Hacker Groups

During the past eight years, many groups of hackers were formed in Iran of which the most famous are Ashianeh, Shabgard, and Simorgh. These groups freely attacked various websites by taking advantage of the lack of implementing the laws of punishment current in Iran, in order to win fame as well as out of rivalry with other groups.

Following the rise in reports about hijackings of Iranian government websites and the spread of news in this regard, intelligence agencies became interested in the power of hacking tools and began their widespread efforts to control and guide such attacks.

Security and intelligence organizations, inviting infiltration groups’ cooperation, got them to identify and counteract opponents in the internet and form intelligence groups to control the flow of their information. Some time later, these people also taught hacking techniques to military technicians.

The Formation of the Iranian Cyber Army

The group Ashiyaneh was one of the first to join the circle of government infiltrators and set about wrecking the sites of the Islamic Republic’s opponents with the cooperation of the best hackers. Reports of this group’s activities were published in government media, such as Voice and Vision, Keyhan, and IRNA and were noticed very soon.²

Teaching the Military to Hack

Alongside the hacker group activities, supposedly private companies were organized as well whose primary duty was to recruit infiltrating forces, instruct military forces in cyber attacks, and prepare the necessary resources for such attacks. These companies were charged with training infiltrators and carrying out hacking projects for the Iranian Cyber Army. In the meantime, these companies would import technology needed by Iran’s security forces from Dubai. Among the managers of these companies is the son of one of the senior security officers who, utilizing his father’s connections, has been busy for years working with the military and security forces.³ After the formation of a company through the military budget, he has been busy recruiting expert Iranian infiltrators and, having formed a professional and firm group, has begun to accept cyber control projects in Iran and infiltrators for the government.

How Group Members Are Chosen

The plan for the formation of an Iranian Cyber Army was raised in 1384 [2005] in the Revolutionary Guards, but with the increase in propaganda against the ninth government, its execution was sped up. A while later, a very broad group was formed, the number of whose members reached more greater than a few. The Cyber Army’s unit for recruiting human resources works as follows: After recognizing a professional hacker, it contacts him and threatens him that if he does not cooperate, he will be sent off to prison.

Relationships and information of individuals are so controlled that even most of the group members are not yet aware of their collaboration with the Cyber Army. Considering the use of geniuses, the scientific level of the Cyber Army is very high, and considering the high record of activities of the infiltrators in Iran the power of this army in achieving its goal is comparable to similar groups which operate in the American and Israeli intelligence agencies. It is worth saying that the Center for Struggle with Organized Cyber Crime (the Sepah’s cyber troops) is composed of the same people.

In Ordibehesht 1388 [May 2009], Fars news service reported that the foundation Defense Tech, which is an American military and security agency, called Iran one of the five countries with the most powerful cyber forces, based on figures received from the CIA. This foundation declared that the Iranian Cyber Army’s budget is 76 million dollars, emphasizing that it is monitored by a group from the Revolutionary Guard’s cyber supervision team.⁴

A Short Time to Execute Instructions

Iran’s Cyber Army has so far not been able to breach the servers of the websites it is after, but has contented itself with simply stealing their domains. This method indicates the temporal limitations of the group for executing its infiltration operations. In the past few months, they have carried out orders transmitted by their chief using methods which require less time. In their attack on Twitter, they hacked the computer of one of the members of this company with a Trojan horse and were able, by utilizing his email, to reset the domain of his control panel. This was similar to the attack of 1383 [2004] tried by one of the Iranian hacker groups on one of the NASA websites.5 In attacking Jaras and other websites, the Cyber Army uses the technique of DNS Cache Spoofing which changed the domain.

Footnotes

1 We have seen no reference to this. The Financial Times reported on January 13, 2010, that Iranian State Television was hacked.

2 Fars news agency claimed that Ashianeh hacked 400 Israeli sites, including Defense Minister Barak and Mossad. (January 7, 10, 2009 via World News Connection via Operation Grey Goose Phase II Report, p. 12. This claim seems exaggerated in the extreme.

3 The vagueness of the article on this point–not naming the government official, for instance–makes this story difficult for me to believe.

4 This is an interesting example of how American alarmism feeds the regime’s self-aggrandizement which in turn feeds the opposition’s alarmism. In fact, the analysis printed in Defense Tech was one man’s opinion based on sources he refused to declare. It was immediately challenged by an Iranian observer. The exchange, which is highly instructive, can be found here. The article’s author does not explain how he obtained such detailed information from such a secretive group.

5 This doesn’t seem to be taken very seriously. An article published in Wired (February 10, 2010) about probes of hack attacks on NASA does not even mention it.

Other Sources

I came upon some useful sources on Iran’s hacking community, which the above article considers a full-fledged army. Here is a very sober assessment from an Islamic website which considerably deflates this image.

This article has also been translated very ably in The Green Voice of Freedom.

This is a baffling site claiming to be of the Iranian Cyber Army, but also attacking Ahmadinejad.