It was just yesterday I received an email indicating my assertion the Iranian 81mm mortar story—part and parcel of the neocon effort to finger Iran for killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq—was in error, as it appeared at first glance indeed an Iranian death merchant manufactured 81mm mortar shells, thus debunking my debunking of the neocon effort, not that it particularly matters as the neocons will bomb the smithereens out of Iran regardless of the transparency of their propaganda. In short, I ate a healthy serving of crow, and then set about removing my original post and adding a retraction.

But wait a minute. Not so fast.

In the meantime, Mike Rivero of the news site What Really Happened has completed a bit of investigative work into the supposed death merchant allegedly responsible for cranking out 81mm mortars, said to be in the arsenal of Iraq’s Shi’a militias.

Rivero takes note of spelling inconsistencies, errors, and awful fishy graphic and design details on the supposed death merchant page (see his post on the WRH site). Moreover, the “phone numbers on the contact page are all 7 digit numbers. But in July of 2005, Iran switched over to an 8-digit phone system,” Rivero explains. But what really cinches it is the IP information:

Information related to '213.176.96.0 -
213.176.96.255'

inetnum: 213.176.96.0 - 213.176.96.255
netname: MUT-AC-IR
descr: Malek Ashtar University
country: IR
admin-c: SR3653-RIPE
tech-c: MR6958-RIPE
status: ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by: IROST-MNT
mnt-lower: IROST-MNT
mnt-routes: IROST-MNT
source: RIPE Filtered

person: Shapour Rahimi
address: Malek-Ashtar University Tehran Iran
phone: +98 21 22944490
nic-hdl: SR3653-RIPE
source: RIPE Filtered

person: Masoud RanjbarZade
address: Malek-Ashtar University Tehran Iran
phone: +98 21 22944490
nic-hdl: MR6958-RIPE
source: RIPE Filtered

Information related to '213.176.64.0/18AS15611'

route: 213.176.64.0/18
descr: IROST-route
origin: AS15611
mnt-by: IROST-MNT
mnt-lower: IROST-MNT
source: RIPE Filtered

While it is possible the Malek Ashtar University is hosting a web page for an arms merchant, this is, to say the least, highly suspect. In short, the IP information alone leads me to believe there is something extremely fishy about this whole affair.

In response, I am removing my retraction until this can be explained—and for the moment, I will fall back on my original claim: the neocons have falsely attributed the 81mm to the Iranians. Short of more definitive evidence—not likely to come from people who specialize in fabrication evidence, that is to say trading in lies and deception—I maintain the whole thing is a ruse designed to finger Iran and thus build a pretext to bombard that nation.

Addendum

Searching “Malek-Ashtar University” returns a few interesting results. Alireza Jafarzadeh, writing for Strategic Policy Consulting (SPC), mentions the Malek-Ashtar University in relation to Iran’s alleged attempt to build nuclear weapons. “One of the places used by the Defense Industry is their affiliate university, known as Malek Ashtar University located in Lavizan near Tehran, where they are using the ovens there trying to make C.M.C. [Ceramic Matrix Composite, said to be “a key material for building a nuclear bomb”]…. Exporting C.M.C. to Iran is against the international law.”

SPC bills itself as “an independent firm, founded to provide a wide range of consultancy on issues related to terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, Iranian internal and external affairs, as well as Iran’s role in Iraq,” in other words, it is hardly an objective source. As I wrote here last month, “Jafarzadeh was happy to proffer scary stories about mullahs with nukes. Now, however, as a neocon team player, he has adopted the Iran meddling in Iraq theme, apparently the emerging rationale conjured up as a flimsy excuse to be used in the upcoming effort to shock and awe Iranian school children and grandmothers.” As well, Jafarzadeh’s biography on the SPC website lists him as “a contributor for FOX News Channel, and until August 2003, Jafarzadeh acted for a dozen years as the chief congressional liaison and media spokesperson for the US representative office of Iran’s parliament in exile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran,” in other words, the wacky Marxist-Islam MEK cult (see below).

“Malek Ashtar University is the center for different tests for nuclear weapons and is affiliated with the Defense Ministry. The headquarters for the University is in Tehran’s Lavizan area,” claims the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a less than objective source, as the NCRI was “founded in 1981 in Tehran upon the initiative of Massoud Rajavi (Leader of the Iranian Resistance) and is closely linked to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK); according to their website the NCRI ‘is the parliament-in-exile of the Iranian Resistance,’” according to SourceWatch. MEK is officially listed by the State Department as a terrorist organization and Massoud Rajavi is considered a traitor in Iran because he served as a malleable quisling for Saddam Hussein.