Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – Fliers calling for young people to sign up for Hezbollah suicide attacks against the U.S. were distributed recently in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran.
The Iranian Web site Tabnak reported that the fliers called on young Iranians to sign up for Hezbollah “martyrdom operations,” according to a translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Tabnak is linked to Mohsen Rezai, the secretary of Iran’s Expediency and Discernment Council, which advises the country’s supreme leader. Rezai is the former commander of the elite Islamic Republican Guard Corps.
The fliers called for those interested to sign up for “the worldwide front against the Global Arrogance,” i.e., the U.S.
According to the Web site, the registration form bore a Tehran address and phone number that had not been verified. But it noted that the group had recruited “martyrdom squads” in the past for attacks in “Palestine” and had recently produced a documentary on the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat
The Iranian produced film on Sadat, who was the first Arab leader to sign a peace treaty with Israel, angered Egyptians, including Sadat’s family.
Iran has supported Hezbollah with weapons and training for years. The radical Islamic movement, which now has veto power in the Lebanese parliament, is ideologically aligned with the regime in Tehran.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted on Monday by the Iranian news agency IRNA telling Lebanese President Emile Lahoud that Hezbollah’s “resistance” to Israel was a good model for all countries in the region.
Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani threatened the U.S. with suicide bombings last week in response to an alleged U.S. counter-insurgency strike in Syria.
Hezbollah has taken credit for Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from a southern Lebanese security zone, which it maintained for nearly 20 years. It also considers itself the victor in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, although Israeli sources say that Hezbollah suffered a severe blow during the 34-day war.
Meanwhile, on the eve of U.S. elections, thousands of Iranians burned American flags and chanted anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans on Monday at a demonstration marking the 29th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy.
In 1979, militant Iranian students seized 52 American hostages and held them captive for 444 days. Washington severed diplomatic relations with Tehran over the incident and ties have never been formally restored.
The U.S. recently said it was considering opening an American interests section in Iran, a lesser official presence than a U.S. embassy would be.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has said he would talk with the Iranian leadership without precondition. The Bush administration has tried to isolate Iran over its nuclear pursuits.
Iranian officials have indicated that they would prefer Obama over Republican Sen. John McCain for president.
Iranian state radio broadcast a commentary on Monday in support of Obama, the Associated Press reported.
“Obama entered the race under the slogan of change,” it said. “The American people expect their government to put aside [the] neo-conservative policy of unilateralism and return to dialogue in their dealings with the international community.”
Parliament speaker Larijani earlier endorsed Obama, saying he seemed “more rational” than Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
But Iranian-born analyst Meir Javendanfar said that Ahmadinejad would not be so happy with an Obama victory.
“A credible U.S. president who wants to talk to Iran – instead of singing songs about bombing it – is not in the interest of Iranian conservatives. Calling the U.S. a warmonger is one of the few battle cries they have left,” Javendanfar wrote in an analysis that appeared in the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Ahmadinejad suffered a humiliating setback on Tuesday when the country’s parliament impeached Interior Minister Ali Kordan for faking a degree from Oxford University.
It was the first high-profile confrontation between the new parliament and Ahmadinejad and seen as a no-confidence vote in the president, the AP reported.