Saturday
May082010
The Latest from Iran (8 May): Back to the Politics
Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 10:44 
2045 GMT: One to Watch. Khabar Online reports that Seyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini and a cleric with uneasy relations with the current Government, will speak before Tehran Friday Prayers this week.2025 GMT: More Rahim-Mashai. President Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, having declared that his boss is "the teacher of all Presidents of the world", is now insisting that he has no additional posts. Unfortunately for him, Khabar Online accompanies the denial with the list of 16 offices that Rahim-Mashai heads.
2020 GMT: Setting Limits? Mohammad Javad Larijani, a high-level official in Iran's judiciary, has responded to talk of a prolongation of the Ahmadinejad presidency: "It is against the nezam , and I strongly object."
NEW Iran: The Green Movement and “Moral Capital” (Jahanbegloo)
Iran: Ahmadinejad’s Chief Aide “Not Too Many People in the Prisons”
The Latest from Iran (7 May): The Original Post-Election Muddle
2010 GMT: Maintaining Hope. Grand Ayatollah Sane'i, meeting with academics, said: “One should not lose hope; because the Almighty’s will is for eliminating oppression. The day will come that those standing against people’s rights and all those hurt people will be fed up with their own actions, and I am hopeful that their moral and spiritual conscience will wake up and they will stop these actions. It is your responsibility to spread awareness among people and expand this awareness so that the deceivers and violators of people’s rights realize that people are aware of their deceptions and also are opposed to their deceptions, but you should spread awareness based on Islamic and religious teachings.”
1650 GMT: Not-Sycophantic-At All Remark of the Day. The President's Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai commenting on his boss: "He is a teacher to the Presidents of the world".
1610 GMT: The Oil Ultimatum. Minister of Oil Masoud Mirkazemi has repeated the threat that Iran will expel foreign firms for delaying development of the South Pars gas field, replacing them with domestic companies: "We have recently told some foreign firms which have delayed some phases for several years that we would not negotiate with them and domestic firms will be given these projects to implement."
Mirkazemi did not name any foreign company, but South Pars officials have recently insisted that Royal Dutch Shell and the Spanish company Repsol commit by the end of May to development of sections of the field. Shell, citing the prospect of Western sanctions, has suspended any operations in South Pars.
1555 GMT: Trouble for the Rafsanjani Family? An appeals court has upheld the prison sentence of Hamzeh Karami, accused of propaganda and embezzlement.
The decision prompts speculation that pressure, including the prospect of criminal prosecution, will increase upon Mehdi Hashemi, the son of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani. In the mass Tehran trial last August, Karami's "confession" accused Hashemi of misusing funds to carry out inappropriate activity during the Presidential campaign.
1545 GMT: Karroubi Watch. In a discussion on another website, an EA reader frets that we are "especially enthralled with [Mehdi] Karroubi, who is treated with saint like reverence".
Heaven forbid that we should appear biased, so here's Karroubi's latest acts of deviousness, duplicity, and devilishness.
The cleric, visiting the family of Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, the detained journalist and senior adviser of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has criticised Iran's authorities for continued arrests of dissidents and urged them to show greater tolerance. He said, “The Revolution and the Islamic Republic is not what these gentlemen are carrying out and it is our duty to return the Islamic Republic to its right path.”
Karroubi also carried out the despicable act of visiting Ahmad Motamedi, the Minister of Communications in the Khatami Government, in hospital. Motamedi was stabbed early this week in his office at Amir Kabir University.
Motamedi's wife, Fatemeh Azhdari, threatened to reveal “the truth” if "wrongful" reports regarding the attack on his husband’s life continue. Se claimed that authorities are trying to reduce the “assassination attempt” against her husband to a crime with “personal motivations”.
1400 GMT: War on Culture (cont.). It's not just the regime favourite Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami getting tough on cultural infiltration (see 0730 GMT). Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi has urged the formation of a Ministry of Virtue: "A ministry to call upon virtue and ban vice must be formed to deal with moral issues in schools, universities and media."
Makarem-Shirazi said the root cause of society's ills was a lack of supervision on moral issues: "When importance is not attached to moral issues, political and economical problems arise and decadence spreads in the form of lack of hejab and an increase in drug abuse."
1355 GMT: Getting the News. EA colleagues have pointed out the portal for Iran news (in case EA is on a break, of course), Kodoom.
1150 GMT: Nuclear Chatter. Iranian officials continue to put out signals that Turkey and/or Brazil could broker a deal on uranium enrichment. Following Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki's visit to Ankara, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, "New formulas have been raised about the exchange of fuel....I think we can arrive at practical agreements on these formulas."
1145 GMT: And the Imprisoned Students. Radio Zamaneh follows up on the published list of 32 detained students, which we noted earlier this week. According to the site, 24 of the detained students have been handed a total of 71 years in prison, one has been sentenced to execution, and the situation of the rest is unknown.
Mahmoud Molabashi, the Deputy Minister of Science, told reporters last week that only a “very limited number of students” are currently in prison.
1130 GMT: The Detained Filmmakers. A Street Journalist features Amnesty International's call for the release of the detained film directors Mohammad Ali Shirzadi and Jafar Panahi.
1000 GMT: Stirring Discontent. Parleman News reports that Hojatoleslam Ravanbakhsh, a supporter of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, "insulted" Grand Ayatollah Yusuf Sane'i during a talk at Kerman University, angering professors and students.
0940 GMT: More Pressure. Seyed Reza Akrami of the Combatant Clergy Association has called for all budgets of the Iranian system (nezam) to be transparent and published.
0803 GMT: Reformist Economics. Reviewing the approach to privatisation of the Iranian economy, member of Parliament Mostafa Kavakebian declared that the Government has "fattened itself" rather than becoming lean. Mohammad Reza Khabbaz said that the regime's slogan of "shares of justice" (equal distribution) should be "shares of injustice".
0800 GMT: Morning Analysis. We've posted a special feature with the views of Professor Ramin Jahanbegloo on the Green Movement and "moral capital".
0730 GMT: A quiet Friday weekend in Iran, after both the Ahmadinejad show in New York and the internal politics earlier in the week....
Ahmad Khatami Fights Culture
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami did liven up the day a bit with his Tehran Friday Prayer. We noted yesterday his religious lesson of "a punch in the mouth" for other countries who troubled Iran. Rah-e-Sabz has a different snapshot, with Khatami claiming that the regime has defeated the opposition but warning of "the effects of [an] invasion in the areas of film, theater, sports, and some media".
The website also summarises other Friday Prayers throughout Iran.
International Front: Opening the Door to the US?
An interesting analysis in Rah-e-Sabz, which suggests that the Ahmadinejad trip to New York was designed to maintain the possibility of discussions with the US Government over the nuclear issue. The website concludes, however, that the final decision on the strategy is up to the Supreme Leader.
Of course, Rah-e-Sabz is an opposition website, but this reading matches up with our interpretation from last autumn, when Ahmadinejad was backing the effort for a deal on "third party enrichment" of uranium. That effort stalled in late October, in part because of internal divisions in Iran, and our analysis was that Ayatollah Khamenei had balked at an agreement.
Getting It Wrong on the Economy
Aftab News reports that the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Abdolreza Sheikholeslami, made "confused statements" at a national workers' meeting in Mashhad. Sheikholeslami alllegedly claimed that unemployment was due to the vagaries of science and did not bother to consider the workers' problems.
tagged A Street Journalist, Abdolreza Sheikholeslami, Aftab News, Ahmad Khatami, Amnesty International, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, Ayatollah Yusuf Sane'i, Brazil, Combatant Clergy Association, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, Green Movement, Hamzeh Karami, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hojatoleslam Ravanbakhsh, Iran, Jafar Panahi, Khabar Online, Kodoom, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud Molabashi, Makarem-Shirazi, Manouchehr Mottaki, Masoud Mirkazemi, Mehdi Hashemi, Mohammad Ali Shirzadi, Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, Mostafa Kavakebian, Radio Zamaneh, Rah-e-Sabz, Ramin Jahanbegloo, Ramin Mehmanparast, Repsol, Reza Akrami, Royal Dutch Shell, Seyed Hassan Khomeini, Turkey, uranium enrichment in Middle East & Iran
A Street Journalist, Abdolreza Sheikholeslami, Aftab News, Ahmad Khatami, Amnesty International, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, Ayatollah Yusuf Sane'i, Brazil, Combatant Clergy Association, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, Green Movement, Hamzeh Karami, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hojatoleslam Ravanbakhsh, Iran, Jafar Panahi, Khabar Online, Kodoom, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud Molabashi, Makarem-Shirazi, Manouchehr Mottaki, Masoud Mirkazemi, Mehdi Hashemi, Mohammad Ali Shirzadi, Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, Mostafa Kavakebian, Radio Zamaneh, Rah-e-Sabz, Ramin Jahanbegloo, Ramin Mehmanparast, Repsol, Reza Akrami, Royal Dutch Shell, Seyed Hassan Khomeini, Turkey, uranium enrichment in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (27)
More of the same clap trap and pro-US regime propaganda whose policy is set by AIPAC and the pro-israeli lobby. Iran accepted in principal a swap deal but asked for guarantees to which it has not received a proper response from the US and its gang of now increasingly fading group of bullies. Note only the US, UK and France walked out of Ahmedi's sppech. The rest stayed. 13 out of. 15 UNSC including a US rep turned up at the dinner. The US rep was probably there to stop the party having any fun as is obvious from the sour comments made by their rep. Perhaps not being able to get drunk on free wine spoilt his evening out or he is not fond of chello kebab. IRI's position is supported by the NAM and the majority of UN members. Your attention should be directed at forcing Obama and his team from decoupling US foreign policy from the machinations of the neon cons and the extreme zionists who want nothing less than a regime change and impose possibly a nuclear war on Iran. It is sensible that the US should through Iran friendly or neutral countries such as Brazil and Turkey to iron out the remaining conditions of a swap deal which should be in line with normal commercial terms protecting the interests of all parties to the deal. Then US policy should actively be directed to get Israel to sign upto the NPT and agree on a nuclear free zone in the Middle East.
RE An interesting analysis in Rah-e-Sabz, which suggests that the Ahmadinejad trip to New York was designed to maintain the possibility of discussions with the US Government over the nuclear issue.
I guess that was the purpose of the Guess Who's Coming to Dinner exercise. Here's the US side of the story: Surprise dinner fails to break Iran nuclear deadlock
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100508/wl_mideast_afp/irannuclearpoliticsdinnerusdiplomacy_20100508023708" rel="nofollow">http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100508/wl_mideast...
The US seems to be admitting they are indeed no longer interested in doing a neclear swap deal. From the report:
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the US and other guests at the dinner hosted by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki failed to bridge gaps over a proposed nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran.
In a "frank and professional exchange" with Mottaki, US diplomat Alejandro Wolff and other council representatives "pointed out the significant flaws and shortcomings in Iran's approach," Crowley said.
"Mottaki focused on the Iranian counterproposal to the Tehran research reactor, which deviates in significant ways from the balanced IAEA proposal that Iran agreed to and then walked away from last October," Crowley said.
"But we see this as yet another missed opportunity by Iran to meet its international obligations," Crowley said.
The proposed "Ministry of Virtue" could start by looking at the morals of people who rig elections, and imprison and torture innocent protestors.
Honesty is an important virtue.
Journalists in Exile Watch
Iran Encourages Journalists to Flee
Mehdi Jedinia | Washington | 7 May 2010
Exiled media corps grows but struggles to make an impact back home.
The Iranian government has effectively encouraged many journalists and political activists to flee the country over the past year in order to rid itself of troublesome elements, assuming that from abroad the activists’ voices will no longer influence Iranian public opinion. So far, it has been largely right.
Read: http://www.mianeh.net/en/articles/?aid=313" rel="nofollow">http://www.mianeh.net/en/articles/?aid=313
RE Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi has urged the formation of a Ministry of Virtue:
Lovers Brace for Summer
Morality patrols return to threaten the innocence of youth, but the social dynamic has changed.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/05/everyday-freedom-blooms.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranb...
Follow-up on news I lined to yesterday in Latest from Iran:
80 Young Iranian Citizens Arrested for Attending Illegal Music Concert
http://persian2english.com/?p=10294" rel="nofollow">http://persian2english.com/?p=10294
Minister wife threatens to expose truth on assassination attempt
The wife of Dr Motamedi, Fereshteh Ajdari, another close relative of Dr Motamedi expressed their outrage over the state television’s campaign of misinformation regarding Dr Motamedi’s stabbing and said that they were seeking a transparent investigation into the case under the supervision of the Motamedi family.
“They want to reduce Dr Motamedi’s assassination to a life attempt with personal motives, but we know that this is not the case,” said Ajdari. She added that during a visit by head of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Ezzatollah Zarghami to the hospital, she had threatened to expose the truth about her husband’s assassination if state-TV did not broadcast the truth about the incident.
“I swore that if IRIB did not modify its untrue coverage of the news, I would soon expose the truth by giving interviews to the media.”
More: http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/may/08/1831" rel="nofollow">http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/may/0...
Especially for Bill
Opinion: How can Iran oversee women's rights?
A country that deems spousal rape legal will now monitor how other nations treat women
By Daniel S. Mariaschin — Special to GlobalPost
If you thought Iran's withdrawal of its bid for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council was a step in the right direction, think again.
There are no circumstances under which it makes sense for Iran to sit on any human rights committee. For it to sit on the UNHRC, would have been the ultimate manifestation of wolves guarding the sheep. Apparently, and thankfully, enough members of the U.N. General Assembly agreed, and Iran withdrew its candidacy.
But that wasn’t Iran’s most preposterous quest. Instead of the UNHRC, Iran will now sit on the U.N.'s Commission on the Status of Women. Seriously. Iran is being given an opportunity to oversee the rights of women around the world.
Rest of Op-Ed: http://www.globalpost.com/print/5548532" rel="nofollow">http://www.globalpost.com/print/5548532
My question - didn't the US and other werstern countires approve Iran's candidacy by acclamation? What's up with that?
“Danger of AIDS at Prison Infirmary,” says Zeidabadi’s Wife
Mahdieh Mohammadi, wife of prominent Iranian journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi, referred to the unhygienic and sub-standard conditions of Mr.Zeidabadi and other prisoners’ detainted at Rajaee Shahr Prison: “The hygienic conditions of the prison are not good. For a long time, the prison’s water was muddy and unusable. With the water condition, he couldn’t take showers, either. It appears that the hall where he resides is a long corridor with rooms which were formerly solitary cells on both sides. The doors to the cells have been removed and now three people reside in each cell. The prison food is not good and the prison store does not have sufficient food supplies. There is serious concern about diseases such as AIDS in the prison infirmary, too. I tell him not to go to the infirmary to the extent possible, because most of the addict prisoners have AIDS and I fear that he might contract the disease if he goes to the infirmary.”
Ahmad Zeidabadi is regularly witnessing entanglements and fights among prisoners who are convicted murderers, smugglers, and addicts and according to him, he has witnessed the murder of one of the prisoners in a group fight. Expressing concern about her husband’s lack of security among unclassified prisoners, Mahdieh Mohammadi told the Campaign: “There are dangerous prisoners in this ward. For example they once stole a portable soccer goal net and made knives out of its metal frame. The prisoners pull knives on each other at the slightest disagreement. He has witnessed their injuring each other with knives and once someone was killed in the scuffle. In this ward, many addict prisoners frequently get into fights over money. The fact that this prison has horrible conditions and that no human rights principles are observed in it is bad enough. But Mr. Zeidabadi does not belong to this prison. Even based on prisoner classification requirements, as a journalist, he should not be kept under such conditions.”
Sadly, there is much more: http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/may/07/1827" rel="nofollow">http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/may/0...
@ 1400 GMT: War on Culture
Here are the pictures of this "Islamic War"! It's so much easier to arrest some helpless youngsters than the Bassiji thugs, who killed Neda, raped Taraneh Mousavi and tortured Mohsen Ruholamini in Kahrizak. http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=16493" rel="nofollow">http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=16493
Look at these "security forces" -- all cowards, who beat their own people instead of defending them. But we shall overcome!
ma bishomarim
Catherine,
Thanks. As for the acclamation process is was essentially a vote because the US did not protest it along with any other state. The amazing part is no one in the gov'ts in the West have even raised a stink about it. Sadly women around the world will pay for this.
Thx
Bill
Arshama,
Dreadful! Who knows how it is when there are no cameras. I see no hope whatsoever for seeing it end soon either.
At this point unless the regular army rises up and sends this criminal regime to hell where it belongs, I see no light at the end of this 31 year long dark tunnel. Foreign powers, big and small, are after their own political and economic self interest. In the meantime Islamic Republic stays afloat by looting Iran and using the proceeds to befriend a few nations by pouring money into their economy and/or bribing corrupt foreign diplomats/contractors while unleashing its furry at home against its own people.
It is dreary and hopeless prospect that sucks life out of you. Judging from these photos I surmise that is how people must feel in Iran too.
More delusional comments:
“the teacher of all Presidents of the world”
My only comment: Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai get it over with and ask Ahmadinejad to marry you!!!
Catherine,
Hopefully you followed the link to article about how the OIC has made the UNHRC basically useless. Here is the link that was in the article you referenced: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/worldview/100505/human-rights-UN-council-commission" rel="nofollow">http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/worldview/10...
It talks to many of the points(or should I say novels) I made to you about this whole mess!
thx
bill
Megan,
Before reading your comment, I saw this article on Peyke Iran: Industrial areas snoozing with statistics lullaby. http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=16504" rel="nofollow">http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=16504
According to "Poul" (money) newspaper, these are the relevant activity rates for some provinces: Semnan: 22 % active / Qazvin: 46 % / Isfahan: 7.52 % / Tehran: 57 %
It is just as you said: instead of promoting domestic economy, this mad regime spends national income on its few "allies" to achieve its megalomanic plans of "international" omnipresence.
As to the duration however, I am not as pessimistic: if you add all data from the past 10 months and even much before, Iranian economy is on a constant downward trend, aggravated by rising concentration in the hands of the IRGC thugs, the Islamistic Corporate Raiders, by rising deinvestment and tightening sanctions.
AN, his Bassiji cronies and the mullahs may continue like this for a while, but even the oil income will not save them from a collapse. All their recent snatchings remind me of a sinking ship -- sauve qui peut!
An eerie calmness, but if you listen carefully, you will hear the system crumble...
Arshama
Wasn't the Taraneh Mousavi rape proved to be a hoax?
In the global economic crisis, Iran managed fairly well...
Ali (and everyone),
RE "In the global economic crisis, Iran managed fairly well..."
I'm not so sure about that's true now. Check out this insightful analysis of how falling inflation (inflation in the IR has fallen to 10.3% in 2009, from 25.4% the previous year) can also be the by-product of an economic slowdown.
http://homylafayette.blogspot.com/2010/05/inflation-down-but-so-are-prospects.html" rel="nofollow">http://homylafayette.blogspot.com/2010/05/infla...
M. Ali,
Like your masters you have no shame, you lie, and you have no sharaf (honor). Your days in the sun will soon come to an end. Go polish your Arabic because you may need it soon.
Bill,
From the looks of it they may have already done it!!!! M. Ali was the witness!!!
Megan,
But I thought there were no gays in Iran. Didn't Ahmadinejad say so during his visit to Columbia University? :) HA HA Well I think it may be safe to assume Ahmadinejad got a sex change to get around that!!!
Thx
Bill
Megan, my Arabic is actually not bad! Of course, I certainly wouldn't mind improving it. Unlike you, I'm no nejad-parast.
M. Ali,
You forgot to mention knowing Arabic is part of your job. How could Islamic Republic do its dirty deeds in neighboring Arab countries if its mercenaries did not speak Arabic? I am not training suicide bombers in Palestine or jihadists in Iraq, Yamane, Lebanon, etc. I, therefore, do not need to learn Arabic. So you see it has nothing to go with racism.
I prefer to starve to death rather than selling my humanity like those who work for Islamic Republic. People who work for this fascist regime are lowest form of life and soon will join the master criminal, the serial murder Khomeini in hell.
M. Ali,
You forgot to mention knowing Arabic is part of your job. How could Islamic Republic do its dirty deeds in neighboring Arab countries if its mercenaries did not speak Arabic? I am not training suicide bombers in Palestine or jihadists in Iraq, Yamane, Lebanon, etc. I, therefore, do not need to learn Arabic. So you see it has nothing to go with racism.
I prefer to starve to death rather than selling my humanity like those who work for Islamic Republic. People who work for this fascist regime are lowest form of life and soon will join the master criminal, the serial murder Khomeini in hell.
I don't work for the IRA, like I mentioned many, many, many times before. I lived and worked in UAE for many years, that is why I have an understanding of Arabic. But you act like knowing Arabic is beneath you, and then you turn around and say that you are not a racist. I have seen many Iranians like you before, a disdain for Arabs and no respect for your brethen Iranians, aside from a westernized Aryans.
I doubt you prefer to starve to death. I doubt you can even comprehend starving to death.
I don't even know why I attempt talking to you. You are just so angry, that it feels like i'm talking to an angry, incohorent child. Go watch your VOA and LA news channel and feel content and satisfied in your little illusion and leave Iran to real Iranians.