The Latest from Iran (15 April): Accepting Authority?

1315 GMT: We'll be on extended break today, as I'll be lost in the wilds of Georgia in the US. While I make my way back, EA readers --- as they did yesterday --- will be keeping the news and chatter going.

1300 GMT: The Oil Squeeze (cont.). This time, it's exports rather than imports (see 0920 GMT) causing an issue. Khabar Online reports, "From the early 2010 Iran’s oil export has dropped by 378,000 barrels a day compared to 2009 and it will cause a $9.5 billion deficit in the country’s oil revenues this year."

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Still, Iranian officials maintain a positive line:

Iran's Oil Minister says US-led sanctions against Iran have failed as the country has managed to become self-sufficient in oil production and products.

"International sanctions are not a new issue and we have no problem in dealing with them," Masoud Mirkazemi told reporters on Wednesday after a cabinet session.

1105 GMT: We've posted a separate analysis, "A Note About the Voice of America, NIAC, and the 'Journalism' of The Washington Times". And we also open a window on analysis inside Iran with a piece from Iran Review, "The New Year Challenges".

1055 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. RAHANA claims that Mottahareh Bahrami, currently detained in Evin’s women’s ward, has been sentenced to death, pending appeal, for alleged links to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq "terrorist" organisation. Bahrami was arrested on Ashura (27 December 27), along with her husband, her son and 2 friends.

1050 GMT: The Subsidy Battle. More back-and-forth over the Ahmadinejad fight with Parliament on subsidy reductions and spending. Mohammad Reza Khabbaz of the Majlis' Economics Committee has reiterated that the Government must implement the Parliament-approved subsidy plan; however, Ahmadinejad backer Ali Asghar Zarei has insisted that implementation is up to the President.

On another front, Fereydoun Hemmati of the Supreme Audit Committee has insisted that the budget report for last year cannot be altered. The report has a number of provocative claims, including the "loss" of oil revenues by the state.

1035 GMT: The Corruption Allegations. As the charges of corruption by prominent MP Elyas Naderan against First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi resonate, the "hard-line" newspaper Kayhan has called for an end to fighting amongst "fundamentalists".

1025 GMT: Rumour of Day. Khabar Online suggests that former President Mohammad Khatami will be attending a global disarmament conference in Japan next week. The Japan event comes after this week's nuclear summit, led by President Obama, in Washington and Iran's own gathering this weekend.

0930 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Peyke Iran claims news of an "unknown" prisoner, student and Mousavi campaigner Yasser Yousefzadeh, who has been held incommunicado for more than a month.

Baha’i photographer and musician Artin Ghazanfari, released last week on $50,000 bail, has been re-arrested.

Human rights activists, via A Street Journalist, offers a full summary of developments, including the report that almost 30 detainees across Iran are now on hunger strike.

0920 GMT: The Oil Squeeze. Another intriguing report this morning, and one arguably with far more significance than the Iran Parliament's reported retreat....

A company spokesman has said that Malaysia's Petronas is halting oil shipments to Iran. Petronas, one of the largest suppliers to Tehran, has not made any deliveries since mid-March.

0910 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Meanwhile, back to immediate everyday concerns....

Kalemeh claims that the renewed detention of Abdollah Momeni, the leading student activist, was caused by his refusal to cooperate with security and intelligence agents while on temporary release. Other activist and Momeni’s wife, assert that Momeni was pressed to denounce Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and his organisation, Advar-e Takhim Vadat. Momeni was also asked to participate in a series of staged student gatherings.

Momeni's return to prison followed a meeting last week of Mousavi and Advar-e Takhim Vahdat.

0900 GMT: We return from an extended break to find the headline-grabbing story, as framed in The New York Times, "Iran’s Parliament Limits Its Power as a Watchdog".

Nazila Fathi's story, drawn from state media but with no details, claims, "Parliament’s decision...limited lawmakers’ ability to review regulations adopted by the Guardian Council, the Assembly of Experts, the Supreme National Security Council and the Expediency Council." Fathi evaluates, "The decision seemed to be an acknowledgment of the reality that the elected Parliament was often blocked from fulfilling its role as a watchdog over the institutions of state."

It is, to the say the least, a most curious report. Parliament has been embroiled in a heated dispute with President Ahmadinejad over his economic proposals, and the corruption allegations against First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi offer a possible showdown.

We'll look for developments, but for now, is this a Parliamentary retreat or a bit of mischief by some state media "reporters"?

Iran Document: Mousavi Meeting with Reformists (5 April)

From Parleman News, translated by Khordaad 88:

Mir Hossein Mousavi, the Prime Minister during the holy defense [Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988], viewed the main cause behind the events following the election as the perspective that recognizes only one school of thought and one party and denies the collective wisdom. He further renounced depictions that the State Television broadcast about the departed Imam [Khomeini] and viewed them as ruining the fundamentals of the establishment: “State TV despoils the doctrine and behavior of the departed Imam Khomeini. This is exactly what foreign news agencies do.”

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According to reports of Parleman News Agency, members of [the reformist Parliamentary coalition] Committee of Imam’s Path visited Mir Hossein Mousavi as part of New Year rituals.


At the introduction of this session, the most senior member of the committee, Mr. [Mohammad Reza] Tabesh, congratulated Mr. Prime Minister for the new year, and hoped that the new year would be a year of blessing for the great nation of Iran, families of martyrs, devotees of the Islamic Revolution and victims of the election aftermath.

Mr. Tabesh continued, “Last year, the nation of Iran defended the achievements of the revolution with their magnificent participation in the election, but unfortunately the government did not respond to them in the way they deserved. The government did not make a good deal with the nation.”

He then alluded to the name "Path of Imam" that minority opposition group of reformist delegates had adopted for their committee, and added: “As the members of Path of Imam committee in the parliament we should be informers, missionaries of Imam’s thoughts and views, and the path he had laid out.”

He further added: “Unfortunately, today the picture that Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Corp. depicts of Imam [Khomeini] is a great misdeed towards Imam. Biased broadcasting of selected parts of Imam’s statements taken out of their original time and context makes the younger generations ask whether this is really how the "great" Imam [Khomeini], whom they have heard so much about, is.

Tabesh acknowledged Mr. Mousavi’s lengthy time of public of service as the Prime Minister during the leadership of Imam Khomeini, and requested that as one of companions of Imam, he would talk about Imam’s way of life, and strategies that Imam employed to balance the power and manage governance of the country.

As the meeting continued, Mr. Mousavi too, gave New Year's congratulations to the members present and wished greatness for the great nation of Iran. He continued with some of his memories from his time as Prime Minister:

Imam [Khomeini], despite his firm support of me and my government, he never made the decisions that impacted all people alone. To make such decisions he would consult the opinions of everyone necessary, and basically viewed such consultations as his religious duty. I remember, for instance, during those times there were issues on removing restrictions to bring rice from the north of country to Tehran and other locations in the country, and some of our friends were insisting that such restrictions should be removed so that prices would decline. In a meeting with three heads of three branches of power conceded that they would remove the restrictions though I was still against it for my own reasons. Imam heard this issue of my disagreement and said that, although he does not believe prices would decline, he orders that whatever the majority has ruled should be executed.

Mousavi expressed the view:

Despite his unique popularity within the people and despite the capabilities and abilities that he possessed according to law and thanks to trust of people along with his own accurate and apt view of issues, the departed Imam still gave the highest priority to consultations with heads of the branches of power and experts of the time on matters that impacted the whole nation. He would never base his decisions on views of one group. The meetings of the three branches, prior to the existence of an ‘Expediency Council’ ,and later establishing the Expediency Council were all results of this doctrine of Imam [Khomeini] in his governance.

The Prime Minister of Imam [Khomeini] reminded:

One of the reasons behind that government’s aptitude to solve the problems and crises in that time was due this relation that people directly had with the establishment, government, and the leadership, plus the fact that all the decisions were made rationally through consultations with the collective.

He recalled another memory:

In the last days of Imam Khomeini’s life, I foresaw major changes in the government and predicted that I won’t be there any more. I was worried about the problems that these changes would bring about. One of these problems was supplying essential goods needed in the country and so in a meeting between the heads of the executive, judiciary, and the legislative body, I proposed to dedicate some of the government’s income to purchase and store wheat. We all agreed on this matter and wrote a letter to Imam Khomeini informing him about our conclusion and seeking his ruling. He responded that we should proceed if we all agreed on the matter.

Though Imam could simply agree with our proposal, he demonstrated his dependence on collective reason using his language and emphasized that the use of collective reasoning be a principle. He always lived by this principle and so most decisions in his time were made collectively by government official in the legal framework with minimum exceptions to the rule.

Mousavi further talked about the previous year's events and remarked: “If in dealing with these occurrences, we followed Imam’s path in using collective reasoning, looking at the bigger picture, and preventing one group to dominate the discourse and the decision making process, we would not have come across these bitter moments.”

Recalling another occurrence, Mousavi added:

I remember that in parliamentary elections, Esfahan was an important electoral district that attracted a lot of attention. As with every other human, Imam also had a preference for some of the candidates running in Esfahan. Once when I was reading to him the election results, he smiled: ‘It’s OK, let them take Esfahan.’ Those in attendance appreciated how well Imam handled the results.

Imam encouraged presence of all factions and streams and did not prevent specific groups [from participating in the political process]. It was people who, by means of their vote, decided which group or school of thought took power. The Imam’s proposals for constitutional reform showed that he continuously insisted on collective reasoning and the necessity to abide by the law. Discussing these issues is a proper way of introducing Imam Khomeini’s way of thinking, his manners and methods.

Unfortunately what we witness on the state media, which is to damage Imam Khomeini’s doctrine and conduct, destroys the pillars of the system. This is exactly what the foreign media does as well. Both state and foreign media show a part of his speech, without discussing the context in which the speech was given, to imply a specific misguided image of Imam Khomeini. This results in an incomplete and incorrect understanding of Imam Khomeini by the audience specifically the younger generation. I think in this regard, the foreign and state media are like two blades of scissor which damage Imam Khomeini’s bright image.

Introducing Imam Khomeini to the public as he really was would have increased the legitimacy of the system. It is unfortunate that some do not take advantage of this great opportunity and on the contrary attack and damage roots of this system with [misguided] propaganda [regarding Imam Khomeini].

Last year’s events reemphasized the reality that it is useful to look at the past and compensate for those events based on collective reasoning and Imam’s true image –-- not the one introduced in certain media –-- as a role model.