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Pedro Gonçalves

Iran's Steely Chief Cleric Steps Forward - washingtonpost.com - 0 views

  • The grand ayatollah widely expected to follow him, Hossein Ali Montazeri, lost his place by expressing revulsion at violence committed in the name of the revolution. if ( show_doubleclick_ad && ( adTemplate & INLINE_ARTICLE_AD ) == INLINE_ARTICLE_AD && inlineAdGraf ) { placeAd('ARTICLE',commercialNode,20,'inline=y;',true) ; } "I surely would follow you up to the entrance of hell," Montazeri wrote to his mentor, Khomeini, in 1988, when political prisoners were being hanged by the hundreds each day. "But I am not ready to follow you in."
  • "There's a question in my mind whether Khamenei is calling the shots or whether the Revolutionary Guards are calling the shots
  • "Whether true or not, Khamenei has long believed that the U.S. is bent on regime change in Tehran, not via force but via a soft or velvet revolution," said Karim Sadjadpour, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "For the last 20 years, I imagine he goes to sleep at night and wakes up every morning mistrusting both outside powers and his own population. In that type of atmosphere of fear and mistrust, he's relied on the intelligence, security and military forces much more than the clergy."
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  • Around Khamenei's neck yesterday was the simple plaid kerchief worn by the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the military organization that, unlike the regular army, reports directly to the supreme leader.
  • Khamenei, now 69, was the overwhelming choice of a conservative clerical establishment that -- with his white beard, black turban and name just a few vowels away from his mentor's -- he tends to blend right into. Only a mid-ranking cleric at the time of his selection, Khamenei was immediately promoted to ayatollah. That move, analysts say, was immensely significant, instantly introducing practical politics into a religious hierarchy grounded for centuries exclusively in scholarship
  • President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who sat cross-legged in the front row at prayers yesterday, emerged from both the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij, the largely working-class, volunteer organization that is part paramilitary, part social welfare. Khamenei has nurtured both groups as constituencies and instruments of social control independent of the clergy. "Khamenei depends on them almost entirely,'' Sick said of the Basiji. "He is in no position to contradict them or take exception to their wishes. They are very conservative and want to protect the system as it is."
  • Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, two-time president of Iran, current head of two major councils and, not least, the cleric historians say worked hardest to ensure that Khamenei succeeded Khomeini
  • Rafsanjani's absence from "possibly the most important speech by any top leader in the past 30 years strikes me as really significant."
Argos Media

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran demands change in US policy - 0 views

  • Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has demanded concrete policy changes from the US as the price for new relations between the two states.
  • Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has demanded concrete policy changes from the US as the price for new relations between the two states. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had seen no change in America's attitude or policy, singling out US support for Israel and sanctions against Iran. But he also said that if President Barack Obama altered the US position, Iran was prepared to follow suit. President Obama on Thursday offered "a new beginning" in relations with Iran.
  • BBC Iranian affairs analyst Sadeq Saba says that a minimum requirement for Iran would be a move by Washington to ease US sanctions.
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  • Speaking to a large crowd in the holy city of Mashhad, Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran had "no experience with the new American government and the new American president". One gesture the US administration could make would be to ease some sanctions on passenger aeroplanes and spare parts Cyrus, Tehran Iran views: Obama message "We will observe them and we will judge," he said. "If you change your attitude, we will change our attitude." In the speech, which was carried live by Iranian television, he said Iran was yet to see such a change. "What is the change in your policy?" he asked.
  • Speaking to a large crowd in the holy city of Mashhad, Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran had "no experience with the new American government and the new American president".
  • Speaking to a large crowd in the holy city of Mashhad, Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran had "no experience with the new American government and the new American president". One gesture the US administration could make would be to ease some sanctions on passenger aeroplanes and spare parts Cyrus, Tehran Iran views: Obama message "We will observe them and we will judge," he said. "If you change your attitude, we will change our attitude." In the speech, which was carried live by Iranian television, he said Iran was yet to see such a change. "What is the change in your policy?" he asked. "Did you remove the sanctions? Did you stop supporting the Zionist regime? Tell us what you have changed. Change only in words is not enough."
Pedro Gonçalves

Khamenei: No chance Iran elections were rigged - Haaretz - Israel News - 0 views

  • "If there is any bloodshed, leaders of the protests will be held directly responsible," Khamenei declared in his first address to the nation since the upheaval began.
  • "The result of the election comes from the ballot box, not from the street," the white-bearded cleric told huge crowds thronging Tehran University and surrounding streets for Friday prayers. "Today the Iranian nation needs calm."
  • He said any election complaints should be raised through legal channels. "I will not succumb to illegal innovation," he said, in an apparent reference to the street protests, which have few precedents in the Islamic Republic's 30-year history.
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  • "It's a wrong impression that by using street protests as a pressure tool, they can compel officials to accept their illegal demands. This would be the start of a dictatorship," Khamenei said.
  • "After street protests, some foreign powers ... started to interfere in Iran's state matters by questioning the result of the vote. They do not know the Iranian nation. I strongly condemn such interference," Khamenei said.
  • "American officials' remarks about human rights and limitations on people are not acceptable because they have no idea about human rights after what they have done in Afghanistan and Iraq and other parts of the world. We do not need advice over human rights from them," he added.
  • "This election was a political earthquake for [Iran's] enemies and a celebration for its friends," Khameini told the vast crowd. "This election showed religious democracy for the whole world to see."
  • "The enemies [of Iran] are targeting the Islamic establishment's legitimacy by questioning the election and its authenticity before and after [the vote]," Khamenei told the vast crowd.
  • Khamenei told the crowd that it would have been impossible under law of the Islamic Republic to fix the election results and declared Ahmadinejad's victory "definitive."
  • The supreme leader reportedly gave defeated reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi an ultimatum this week to either accept the disputed results of the recent elections, or leave the country for exile.
  • Khamenei had earlier instructed Mousavi to stand beside him as he uses his prayer sermon to call for national unity, according to The London Times. The reformist candidate did not accede to this request and his supporters have so far ignored Kahmeini's call to support Ahmadinejad, holding huge rallies in defiance of an official ban.
Pedro Gonçalves

Iran elections: Khamenei warns protesters to stay off streets | World news | guardian.c... - 0 views

  • Speaking in front of an audience of tens of thousands, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Khamenei attacked foreign powers for conspiring to deligitimise the vote, and to destroy the Iranian people's trust in their political leaders. Khamenei's descripton of Britain as the "most treacherous" of Iran's enemies was met by roars of "Death to the UK" from the massed ranks of Basiji militiamen assembled in the prayer hall.
  • In repsonse, Iran's ambassador to London was summoned to the Foreign Office this morning to explain why Britain had been singled out.
  • Mousavi was conspicuous by his absence from Friday prayers at Tehran University, where Khamenei was making his first public appearance since controversially endorsing Ahmadinejad's election as president.
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  • Some followers of Mousavi had called for a boycott of prayers at the university because of the refusal to annul the result of the poll, but TV pictures showed thousands of people listening to Khamenei and occasionally chanting affirmation of his words.
  • The speech now creates a clear dilemma for Mousavi and his supporters: do they return to the streets in open defiance of Khamenei or drop their demands? Prior to today's speech, Mousavi had called on the opposition movement to gather in Tehran tomorrow afternoon for a rally, but many may now feel too fearful of a crackdown by the authorities.
  • Ahmadinejad and his cabinet ministers attended the prayers, as did the parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, the mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, and senior military officers from the revolutionary guards. Many of those in the audience appeared to be government employees or members of the president's militia.
Pedro Gonçalves

Iranian Regime Critic Mohsen Kadivar: 'This Iranian Form of Theocracy Has Failed' - SPI... - 0 views

  • Kadivar: This Iranian form of theocracy has failed. The rights of the Iranian peoples are trampled upon and my homeland is heading towards a military dictatorship. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad behaves like an Iranian Taliban. The supreme leader, Mr. Ali Khamenei, has tied his fate to that of Ahmadinejad, a great moral, but also political mistake.
  • Kadivar: The people call "Allahu Akbar" from the rooftops. They carry signs asking "Where has my vote gone?" The protesters don't want to rebel against everything, but they do want justice and they do want fair elections. He who refuses those demands risks a civil war.
  • Kadivar: I admit that some young people are oriented towards the West. But one should not give too much weight to that. The majority of my compatriots would not want a complete separation of state and religion. Neither would I. Iran is a country with Islamic traditions and values. More than 90 percent of our citizens are Muslims.
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  • Kadivar: Above all, stands justice and the fulfillment of the will of the people. Under the rule of Ali, our first Shiite imam, there were no political prisoners, non-violent protests were permitted and critical comment even invited. One must not betray those values. SPIEGEL: And Khamenei and Ahmadinejad did? Kadivar: Yes. I plead for a truly Islamic and democratic state, a state that respects human dignity and does not refuse the rights of women, a state where people can freely elect their religious and secular leaders.
  • Mr. Khamenei is not that charismatic and he is currently in the process of destroying the tie of justice between the religious leaders and the people. When he, together with Ahmadinejad, speaks about foreign countries being behind the protests in Iran, he very much reminds me of the king (the Shah). He used the same arguments and could not recognize that he was witnessing a national and democratic protest movement of his own people. Towards the end, the shah only thought of holding up his regime. Today, Mr. Khamenei does not think any differently.
  • I can even imagine that Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani as head of the Assembly of Experts might actually invite the religious leader to the assembly for a frank discussion. Theoretically, he could even dismiss Khamenei. Then Ahmadinejad would fall too. SPIEGEL: But for that to happen, the majority of the grand ayatollahs would have to oppose the two. Kadivar: Among the grand ayatollahs in Qum, the resentment towards Ahmadinejad's arrogance is growing. Only one of the 12 has congratulated him so far. Several, including my most revered teacher Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who is greatly venerated in the whole country, spoke out sharply against the election fraud.
Pedro Gonçalves

News Analysis - Ahmadinejad Reaps Benefits of Stacking Key Iran Agencies With His Allie... - 0 views

  • But analysts said the crackdown now taking place across Iran suggested that Mr. Ahmadinejad had succeeded in creating a pervasive network of important officials in the military, security agencies, and major media outlets, a new elite made especially formidable by support from one important constituent, Iran’s supreme leader himself.
  • Mr. Ahmadinejad has filled crucial ministries and other top posts with close friends and allies who have spread ideological and operational support for him nationwide. These analysts estimate that he has replaced 10,000 government employees to cement his loyalists through the bureaucracies, so that his allies run the organizations responsible for both the contested election returns and the official organs that have endorsed them.
  • There is a pattern to the way Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has selected allies throughout his career, said Said A. Arjomand, a professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook who has just finished a book analyzing the rule of the supreme leader. The ayatollah has repeatedly surrounded himself with men lacking an apparent social or political base of their own, men who would be dependent on him, Mr. Arjomand said.
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  • During the presidential campaign of 2005, the supreme leader endorsed Mr. Ahmadinejad because the humble son of a blacksmith appeared to be just such an obscure candidate. But he entered the presidency with a coterie of veterans and ideologues shaped by the Iran-Iraq war who were conservative, religious, largely populist and disdainful of the old guard from the 1979 revolution.
  • Today, these allies, many of them former midlevel Revolutionary Guard officers in their 50s, run the Interior, Intelligence and Justice Ministries. They also include the commander of the Basij popular militia, the head of the National Security Council and the head of state-run broadcasting. They are aligned with another member of their generation who has emerged as the most important figure in the Khamenei camp, the spiritual leader’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei.
  • Mr. Ahmadinejad has also changed all 30 of the country’s governors, all the city managers and even third- and fourth-level civil servants in important ministries like the Interior Ministry. It was Interior that announced that Mr. Ahmadinejad had won the June 12 election with just 5 percent of the votes counted, analysts pointed out, and it is the Intelligence Ministry that has been rounding up scores of supporters of the reform candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, and other dissidents.
  • At the same time, Ayatollah Muhammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Mr. Ahmadinejad’s spiritual mentor, runs three powerful educational institutions in the holy city of Qum, all spun off from the Haqqani seminary, which teaches that Islam and democracy are incompatible. The ayatollah favors a system that would preserve the post of supreme leader and eliminate elections. The Ahmadinejad administration has provided generous government subsidies to the seminary, and its graduates hold significant government posts nationwide.
  • Perhaps the most important media organization to spread the government’s message is the hard-line Kayhan newspaper. Its general director, Hossein Shariatmaderi, in recent days has resurrected a standard accusation: that foreign governments were manipulating the demonstrations on Iran’s streets.
Pedro Gonçalves

Former Iran President at Center of Fight Between Classes of the Political Elite - NYTim... - 0 views

  • “I see the country’s political elite more divided than anytime in the Islamic Republic’s 30-year history,” said Karim Sadjadpour, a political analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Rafsanjani, one of the republic’s founding fathers, the man who made Khameini Supreme Leader, is now in the opposition.”
  • “I see the country’s political elite more divided than anytime in the Islamic Republic’s 30-year history,” said Karim Sadjadpour, a political analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Rafsanjani, one of the republic’s founding fathers, the man who made Khameini Supreme Leader, is now in the opposition.”
  • It seems clear that the 75-year-old is at the center of a fight for the future of the Islamic Republic. Mr. Rafsanjani’s vision of the state, and his position in his nation’s history, is being challenged by a new political elite led by Mr. Ahmadinejad and younger radicals who fought Iraq during the eight-year war.
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  • Mr. Ahmadinejad and his allies have tried to demonize Mr. Rafsanjani as corrupt and weak, attacks that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not strongly discouraged. On the other side, opposition leaders, especially Mr. Moussavi, have received support from Mr. Rajsanjani, political analysts said.
  • It is a quirk of history that Mr. Rafsanjani, the ultimate insider, finds himself aligned with a reform movement that once vilified him as deeply corrupt. Mr. Rafsanjani was doctrinaire anti-American hard-liner in the early days of the revolution who remains under indictment for ordering the bombing in of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994 when he was president. But he has evolved over time to a more pragmatic view, analysts say.
  • He supports greater opening to the West, privatizing parts of the economy, and granting more power to civil elected institutions. His view is opposite of those in power now who support a stronger religious establishment and have done little to modernize the stagnant economy.
  • “At a political level what’s taking place now, among many other things, is the 20-year rivalry between Khamenei and Rafsanjani coming to a head,” Mr. Sadjadpour said. “It’s an Iranian version of the Corleones and the Tattaglias; there are no good guys and bad guys, only bad and worse.”
  • It is not clear what leverage Mr. Rajsanjani can bring to this contest. If he speaks out, the relative said, he will lose his ability to broker a compromise. Mr. Rafsanjani leads two powerful councils, one that technically has oversight of the supreme leader, but it is not clear that he could exercise that authority to challenge Ayatollah Khamenei directly.
  • Mr. Rafsanjani has been in opposition before. In the days of the shah, he was a religious student of Ayatollah Khomeini at the center of Shiite learning, in the city of Qum. He was imprisoned under the shah, and became so closely associated with the revolutionary leader he was known as “melijak Khomeini,” or “sidekick of Khomeini.”’ After 1979, he went on to become the speaker of Parliament.
  • Mr. Rafsanjani later served two terms as president and was instrumental in elevating Ayatollah Khamenei to replace Ayatollah Khomenei in 1989.
  • People who worked in the government at the time said that Mr. Rafsanjani, as president, ran the nation — while Ayatollah Khameini followed his lead. But over time the two grew apart, as Ayatollah Khameini found his own political constituency in the military and Mr. Rafsanjani found his own reputation sullied. He is often accused of corruption because of the great wealth he and his family amassed.
  • He was so damaged politically that after he left the presidency, he failed to win enough votes to enter Parliament. In 2002, he was appointed to the head of the Expediency Council, which is supposed to arbitrate disputes between the elected Parliament and the unelected Guardian Council.
  • And in 2005, he ran for president again but lost in a runoff to Mr. Ahmadinejad. He was then elected to lead the Assembly of Experts. The body has the power to oversee the supreme leader and replace him when he dies, but its members rarely exercise power day to day.
Pedro Gonçalves

Ayatollah's offer of Iran vote recount falls short of opposition demands | World news |... - 0 views

  • Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading opposition candidate, had called for a fresh election and he was reported to be reluctant to go along with a recount conducted by the guardian council, a deeply conservative group of Islamic jurists.The council referred to the results declared by Khamenei as ­"provisional", an important symbolic concession. "It is possible that there may be some changes in the tally after the recount," said a spokesman, Abbasali Kadkhodai.
  • "Based on the law, the demand of those candidates for the cancellation of the vote – this cannot be considered," he told state television.
  • observers said it was unlikely an establishment body such as the guardian council would rigorously assess how the election was conducted. Half the council is appointed by Khamenei and its ­chairman, Ahmad Jannati, is a hardliner and Khamenei ally. Another council spokesman said the vote had "the least amount of violations reported" of any Iranian election.
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  • The council conducted a limited recount after the first round of the 2005 election, which put Ahmadinejad into the run-off against Hashemi Rafsanjani. The recount was carried out behind closed doors. The council gave the results a clean bill of health but did not publish its findings.
  • The situation this time is very different, there is far more pressure on the council and Khamenei from the street and from within the religious establishment, from important figures such as Rafsanjani. But Rafsanjani is not a council member.
  • The recount poses a dilemma for the opposition: to participate may imply endorsement of a process of which it is highly suspicious. To stand aloof takes away any chance of influencing the process and risks projecting the image of spoilers.
  • Khamenei and the council also face a dilemma: admission of any rigging would dent the pure image of Iranian democracy they have attempted to project. To deny any shortcomings, on the other hand, could trigger fury on the streets, and discredit the pillars of the Islamic republic.
Pedro Gonçalves

Iran's supreme leader blasts Ahmadinejad for corruption claims | World news | guardian.... - 0 views

  • In the most significant development, Ahmadinejad appeared to have irked the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, over his performance in Wednesday night's debate with Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main opponent in next week's presidential election."One doesn't like to see a nominee, for the sake of proving himself, seeking to negate somebody else," Khamenei said in a speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of the death of the Iranian revolution's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. "I have no problem with debate, dialogue and criticism but these debates must take place within a religious framework."
  • Khamenei has previously given Ahmadinejad his public backing and his support is considered essential if the president is to win a second term. Ahmadinejad may have been relieved to note that the supreme leader also found fault with his rival's rhetoric, particularly a segment where Mousavi criticised the incumbent for his "extremist" foreign policy."I do not accept the sayings of those who imagine that our nation has become belittled in the world because of its commitment to its principles," Khamenei said, adding "this path will continue until final victory".
  • Ahmadinejad's accusations of corruption prompted a string of senior figures – including former president Hashemi Rafsanjani – to demand a right of reply.
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  • Apparently trailing in the opinion polls, Ahmadinejad attempted to link Mousavi – the main reformist candidate – to the past governments of Rafsanjani and the reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatam, which he said had been guilty of widespread graft. Among others, he singled out Rafsanjani's sons as well as Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, the current head of the supreme leader's inspectorate.
  • Khamenei's criticisms echoed those of Mousavi, who told Ahmadinejad during the debate: "This is a sin. We are Muslims, we believe in God. We cannot name people like that and accuse them."
  • The most remarkable part of an acerbic encounter came when Ahmadinejad held up a file apparently referring to Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, and questioned her qualifications. "Can I speak about the education background of a lady with you – shall I," Ahmadinejad said in a goading tone. He accused Rahnavard, who has been campaigning with her husband, of gaining two degrees illegally and starting a PhD without sitting an entrance exam.He also said she had become a university lecturer and chancellor without the necessary qualifications.
  • After the debate, pro-Mousavi students took to the streets of Tehran chanting: "Ahmadinejad, impolite person, shame on you. Leave this country alone."
Pedro Gonçalves

untitled - 0 views

  • "We strongly warn leaders of some Western countries not to interfere in Iran's internal matters ... The Iranian nation will react," Khamenei said.
  • TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Western countries on Monday against interfering in Iranian affairs after its disputed presidential election, state television reported.
  • Khamenei, who praised Ahmadinejad's victory even before an official review endorsed the result, said the vote was an internal Iranian issue. "The election was a major move ... The enemies want to create dispute among Iranians. What does it have to do with the enemies?" he asked.
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  • French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking shortly after Khamenei, said Iranians deserved better leadership and pledged to support Britain in its standoff with Tehran. "Really, the Iranian people deserve better than the leaders they have today," he said at a news conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, pledging France's full support for Britain in the dispute over the embassy detentions.
Pedro Gonçalves

Iran sees second day of clashes as anger rises over elections | World news | guardian.c... - 0 views

  • Outraged supporters of the moderate candidate, Mir Hussein Mousavi, who claimed his defeat in the Iranian election at the hands of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was manipulated, took to the streets of Tehran again today raising the prospect of more violent clashes.
  • In a sign of the anger among Mousavi's supporters, they chanted "the president is committing a crime and the supreme leader is supporting him", highly inflammatory language in a regime where the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, is considered irreproachable.
  • Crowds also gathered outside Mousavi's headquarters but there was no sign of Ahmadinejad's chief political rival, who is rumoured to be under house arrest.
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  • Last night saw violent clashes after Ahmadinejad was confirmed as the winner of the presidential election on Friday, barely an hour after the polls had closed.Protesters set fire to rubbish bins and tires, creating pillars of black smoke among the apartment blocks and office buildings in central Tehran. An empty bus was engulfed in flames on a side road.
  • More than 100 reformists, including Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of former president Mohammad Khatami, were arrested last night, according to leading reformist Mohammad Ali Abtahi. He told Reuters they were members of Iran's leading reformist party, Mosharekat.
  • A judiciary spokesman denied they had been arrested but said they were summoned and "warned not to increase tension" before being released.
  • Mousavi, who had been widely expected to beat the controversial incumbent if there was a high turnout - or at least do well enough to trigger a second round - insisted he was the victor and appealed against the result to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
  • But Khamenei replied that the election had been conducted fairly. He ordered the three defeated candidates and their supporters to avoid "provocative" behaviour. "All Iranians must support and help the elected president," he warned.
  • Israel reacted immediately by demanding intensified efforts to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.
  • "The regime is making a decision to shape the direction of Iran for the next decade," Saeed Laylaz, a political analyst, said. "I'm sure they didn't even count the votes. I do not accept this result. It is false. It should be the opposite. If Ahmadinejad is president again, Iran will be more isolated and more aggressive. But he is the choice of the regime."
  • Laylaz had warned before the result that a second presidential term for Ahmadinejad could create a "Tiananmen-type" situation in Iran. Ominously, as three weeks of campaigning drew to a close last Wednesday, an official of the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that any attempt at a popular "revolution" would be crushed.
  • Overt signs of repression included the failure of phone lines for hours after the polls closed and the blocking of the English and Persian-language websites of the BBC and Voice of America - which are regularly attacked by the Iranian authorities as "imperialist". Text messaging also failed.
Pedro Gonçalves

insideIRAN | Khamenei Lashes Out Against Perceived Threats - 0 views

  • In a meeting with Iran’s top military brass, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “The U.S. nuclear threat against Iran is unforgivable.” According to Kayhan, a pro-government newspaper with close links to the Supreme Leader, Khamenei said that those countries that have used nuclear weapons against other countries cannot be trusted. Khamenei called on the country’s military forces to be prepared in dealing with any potential threat.
  • Pro-government newspapers and websites dedicated significant space to Obama’s remarks and Iran’s harsh response to them. Of Kayhan’s six front page stories, five of them on April 12 were related to Obama’s remarks, the reaction of Iranian officials to those remarks, and the potential consequences of a military strikes against Iran.
  • Brig Gen Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan, the commander of ground forces of the Iranian military, said April 12, “Countries that support any incursion against Iran will also be perceived as enemies,” warning Iran’s neighbors and U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf.
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  • Part of the alarm within Iran’s government is that the state is having difficulty dealing with two crises at once – the international crisis over its nuclear program and its domestic crisis. Rivalry within the government itself is having a paralyzing effect on governance.
Pedro Gonçalves

Iran says Obama sweet talk not enough for Muslims | World | Reuters - 0 views

  • "The nations of this part of the world ... deeply hate America because during many years they have seen violence, military interference, rights violations, discrimination ... from America," Khamenei said in a televised speech. "Even if they give sweet and beautiful talks to the Muslim nation ... that will not create a change," said Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure with the final say on all matters of state. "Nothing will change with speeches and slogans."
  • He also called Israel, which Iran does not recognise, a "cancerous tumour in the heart" of the Muslim world.
  • "If you (Muslims) see that the Western world is talking more softly to you it is the result of public awareness and resistance in the Islamic world," Khamenei said.
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  • "The Iranian nation has repeatedly announced that it does not want nuclear weapons ... keeping nuclear arms would create a big danger and trouble and even if they pay us we do not want it," he said. Khamenei said the United States had occupied two Muslim countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, under the pretext of fighting terrorism. "The terrorists kill one, two or ten people ... but you kill 100 or 150 people," he said, referring to a rising civilian death toll as foreign and Afghan troops battle Taliban insurgents.
Pedro Gonçalves

U.S. Officials to Continue to Engage Iran - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • The Obama administration is determined to press on with efforts to engage the Iranian government, senior officials said Saturday, despite misgivings about irregularities in the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
  • Trying to put a positive face on the outcome, one senior administration official held out the hope that the intensity of the political debate during the campaign, and the huge turnout, might make Mr. Ahmadinejad more receptive to the United States, if only to defuse a potential backlash from the disputed election.“Ahmadinejad could feel that because of public pressure, he wants to reduce Iran’s isolation,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the delicacy of the matter. “That might also cause engagement to proceed more swiftly.”
  • Mr. Pickering, who has had informal contacts with Iranians, said the White House would have little choice but to accept the results. But he said the outcome would hinder efforts to court Tehran and would embolden those who argue that such efforts are futile.
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  • But outside analysts said the suspicions surrounding Mr. Ahmadinejad’s re-election would create new problems. “This is the worst result,” said Thomas R. Pickering, a former under secretary of state. “The U.S. will have to worry about being perceived as pandering to a president whose legitimacy is in question. It clearly makes the notion of providing incentives quite unappetizing.”
  • In Israel, which has hinted that it might launch a military strike on Iran to disable its nuclear capability, officials said Mr. Ahmadinejad’s victory underscored the threat from Tehran and the need for a tough response rather than patient diplomacy.Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said in Tel Aviv that the victory “sends a clear message to the world” that Iran’s policies have broad internal support and will be continued. The results, he added, also “blow up in the faces of those” who thought Iran was ready for “a genuine dialogue with the free world on stopping its nuclear program.”
  • Many analysts and Middle East officials asserted that the outcome reinforced the reality that ultimate power resides not in the democratically elected president, but rather in Iran’s supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.“We should be clear about what we’re dealing with,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Just as we deal with Assad’s Syria and Mubarak’s Egypt, we now have to deal with Khamenei’s Iran,”
  • “It is easy to insult and confront and have Iran as a foe when Ahmadinejad is president,” said an Egyptian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with diplomatic protocol. “A lot of people would have been inconvenienced if someone else had become president.”
  • Mr. Obama, officials said, has long said he was willing to negotiate with whoever would respond, including Ayatollah Khamenei. “The administration will deal with the situation we have, not what we wish it to be,” another senior official said.
  • For the United States, the larger problem is that while the election has frozen the dialogue, Iran’s nuclear program has speeded ahead. This month, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that by May’s end, Iran had built and installed 7,200 centrifuges to enrich uranium and was quickly adding to its stock of nuclear fuel.
  • Now, the administration faces a vexing choice. It can continue to demand that Iran give up all of its enrichment capability — still the official position of the United States, but considered an all but impossible goal. Or it can tacitly accept that Iran is not going to stop enriching.
Pedro Gonçalves

Election opponent accuses Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of lying in TV debate | World news | guar... - 0 views

  • In an unprecedented public appeal, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani urged the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to rein in the president, who in the debate last week accused Rafsanjani of corruption.
  • The outburst came as supporters of Ahmadinejad's most serious rival – the leading reformist contender Mir Hossein Mousavi – kept up the pressure with a second day of mass rallies.
  • Khamenei, who had previously backed Ahmadinejad, last week also rebuked the president for his remarks in the debate.
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  • In a letter to Khamenei, published by the semi-official Mehr news agency, Rafsanjani said tens of millions of Iranians had witnessed "mis-statements and fabrications" during the debate."I am expecting you to resolve this position in order to extinguish the fire, whose smoke can be seen in the atmosphere, and to foil dangerous plots to take action," said Rafsanjani.
  • His comments were echoed by 14 high-ranking clerics from the holy city of Qom, who expressed "deep concern and regret" that Iran's image had been harmed in the debate."Accusing those who were not present at that debate and could not defend themselves is against our religion," they said in a statement also published by Mehr.
  • Meanwhile, central Tehran saw chaotic scenes for a second day when supporters of Mousavi – many of them young women – flocked in their tens of thousands to another demonstration, shouting anti-Ahmadinejad slogans and waving the green ribbons, banners and posters that have become the symbol of his campaign. A "human chain" rally on Monday night was likened by many to the events that shook Tehran before the 1979 Islamic revolution.
  • Previous Mousavi rallies had to be cancelled at the last minute because permission to use large venues was suddenly withdrawn by the authorities. On Sunday a rally at Karaj outside Tehran could not be held because the electricity supply to the public address system failed.
  • Last night, in the last of six televised debates, Ahmadinejad clashed over the economy with the other conservative candidate, a former Revolutionary Guards commander, Mohsen Rezaei.Ahmadinejad insisted that over the last four years he had slashed inflation to 15%, but Rezaei, an economist, said the true figure was 25%.
  • The fourth candidate, reformist cleric Mehdi Karoubi, dismissed as "psychological warfare" rumours that he might withdraw from the race to boost Mousavi's chances.
  • Ahmadinejad remained defiant towards the outside world, especially over the nuclear issue that has done so much to isolate Iran.At a campaign event in the Caspian Sea province of Mazenderan he said: "Let the world know that if the Iranian nation should re-elect this small servant, he would go forward in the world arena with the nation's authority and would not withdraw an iota from the nation's rights."
Pedro Gonçalves

Iran's Khamenei demands halt to election protests Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English) - 0 views

  • "If there is any bloodshed, leaders of the protests will be held directly responsible," Khamenei declared in his first address to the nation since the upheaval began. "The result of the election comes from the ballot box, not from the street," the white-bearded cleric told huge crowds thronging Tehran University and surrounding streets for Friday prayers. "Today the Iranian nation needs calm." He said any election complaints should be raised through legal channels. "I will not succumb to illegal innovation," he said, in an apparent reference to the street protests, which have few precedents in the Islamic Republic's 30-year history.
  • "It's a wrong impression that by using street protests as a pressure tool, they can compel officials to accept their illegal demands. This would be the start of a dictatorship," Khamenei said.
  • "American officials' remarks about human rights and limitations on people are not acceptable because they have no idea about human rights after what they have done in Afghanistan and Iraq and other parts of the world. We do not need advice on human rights from them," he said.
Pedro Gonçalves

Iran: Obama's 'Sweet' Words Won't Score With Muslims - World News Briefs | Newser - 0 views

  • President Obama’s speeches may be “beautiful,” but it’s not enough to win over the Muslim world, Iran’s supreme leader said in his own speech today, Reuters reports. “The nations of this part of the world...deeply hate America because during many years they have seen violence, military interference, rights violations, discrimination" from it, said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Nothing will change with speeches and slogans,” Khamenei said. Instead, he called for a change in US behavior, the BBC notes. “The terrorists kill one, two or 10 people, but you kill 100 or 150 people,” he said, complaining that the US is occupying Iraq and Afghanistan under false pretexts. He also called Israel “a cancerous tumor in the heart of the Muslim world” and said Iran “does not want nuclear weapons.”
Pedro Gonçalves

How Iran's Clerics Can Undermine Ahmadinejad - International Analyst Network - 0 views

  • Although the president has the support of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), the clerics still have considerable power over the country's charitable foundations (Bonyads). These multibillion dollar business organizations don't report their income or pay taxes. They report directly to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Their participation in the economy is crucial. They could make life difficult for Ahmadinejad's presidency by increasing their business clout in areas where the IRGC is trying to muscle in. These industries include energy, construction and the import/export sector. Last year, these clerics scored a major victory. Bonyade Mostazafin (Charity foundation for the dispossessed) was allowed to buy and sell oil, allowing them to compete directly with Iran's National Oil Company. This raised the fury of Ahmadinejad's supporters. As means of checking Ahmadinejad's power, they could expand further into this sector, or compete in the lucrative construction sector. These companies also have huge financial assets. These can be used to finance new businesses which compete directly with the IRGC.
  • They could also side with Ayatollah Rafsanjani. It is an accepted fact that Rafsanjani financed part of Mousavi's campaign. This obviously dented Ahmadinejad's popularity. So much so, apparently, that Ayatollah Khamenei felt compelled to assist the president by allowing fraud. Rafsanjani is already a millionaire many times over. Should the clergy start helping him financially, using his political muscle in the Assembly of Experts and the Expediency Council, he could further challenge Ahmadinejad politically.
Pedro Gonçalves

BBC NEWS | Middle East | New protests over Iran elections - 0 views

  • Supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi are planning a new demonstration in Tehran in protest at what they see as a fraudulent presidential poll in Iran.The planned rally comes after overnight raids on university dormitories in several Iranian cities and as two pro-reform figures were arrested. Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has sought to calm tensions and called for an end to rioting.
  • Protests have grown since his re-election was confirmed on Saturday, with huge demonstrations in Tehran and clashes between protesters and security forces. Eight people have been killed.
  • Iran has imposed tough new restrictions on foreign media, requiring journalists to obtain explicit permission before covering any story. Journalists have also been banned from attending or reporting on any unauthorised demonstration.
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  • Two pro-reform figures, newspaper editor Saeed Laylaz and Hamid Reza Jalaipour, an activist and journalist, were arrested on Wednesday morning, reports said.
  • About 100 reformist figures were arrested on Sunday as opposition grew to the election results. Many have since been released.
  • Overnight, members of Iran's Basij volunteer militia reportedly raided university dormitories in several Iranian cities. The Basij stormed compounds, ransacking dormitories and beating up some students. Several arrests were made, our correspondent says, and the dean of the university in the city of Shiraz has resigned.
  • In the most high-profile incident, 120 lecturers at Tehran university resigned after a raid on that institution.
  • Ayatollah Khamenei has not appeared in public since the election results, but now seems to be deeply involved in the search for a solution to the stand-off. Meeting representatives of the four election candidates, he urged all parties not to agitate their supporters and stir up an already tense situation. He also repeated his offer of a partial vote recount, a proposal already rejected by the main opposition. "In the elections, voters had different tendencies, but they equally believe in the ruling system and support the Islamic Republic," the Associated Press reported him as saying. "Nobody should take any action that would create tension, and all have to explicitly say they are against tension and riots."
  • Witnesses said Tuesday's demonstrators walked in near silence towards state TV headquarters - apparently anxious not to be depicted as hooligans by authorities. Thousands of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's supporters staged a counter-rally in Vali Asr Square in central Tehran - some bussed in from the provinces, observers say.
  • As night fell, residents took to the roof-tops of their houses to shout protest messages across the city, a scene not witnessed since the final days of the Shah, our correspondent says.
Pedro Gonçalves

Foreign Policy: The Battle for Qom's Hearts and Minds - 0 views

  • clerics like Montazeri believe that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his protégé, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, use a distorted interpretation of Shiite theology for their own political ends. As a result, they believe Iran has become an un-Islamic, militarized state where Islamic militias repress the Iranian population in the name of God. There is another fact unknown to those unfamiliar with Iran: The youth are actually fond of some of the clerics, and shout their names at their demonstrations.
  • Khamenei's has, in turn, granted enormous power to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and the basij, the Islamic militias under their command
  • This is not to say that the majority of clerics oppose Ahmadinejad and Khamenei. It is likely that the clerics are split, and even those who do not support Khamenei and Ahmadinejad might be unwilling to say so in public for a variety of reasons, including the fact that clerics rely on the state to some degree to fund their seminaries
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  • its chairman, Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, openly announced their support for Ahmandinejad.
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