Sunday
Aug152010
Iran Latest (15 August): Revolutionary Guards' "Election Tape"
Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 10:45 
1400 GMT: Talking Tough (Larijani Edition). Iran's Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani said that the fake US claim of interest in talks with Iran, following their tireless efforts to push through sanctions at the UN, amounts to yet another scandal for the Americans:"You have committed crimes in Afghanistan... We don't share a common path to negotiate with you."
1330 GMT: The Hunger Strike. Families of 16 hunger strikers have demanded visit permits from the judiciary, especially Tehran's Prosecutor General, after 21 days without news.
1300 GMT: Bazaar Batlle, New Round. During the month of Tir (July/August), 277,000 shops and firms were controlled, and 38,500 fines were given. Bazaaris have to pay millions, $400,000 for a pharmaceutical firm, $20 million for a textile company, high fines for airlines and smuggler of clothes. Government tries to put the blame on the inflation in Bazaar, while economic experts criticise the government's economic mismanagement as main reason for it.
1200 GMT: At a meeting with former members of the Union of Islamic Associations in Europe, former president Mohammad Khatami said that "criticism is equal to subversion in dictatorships." That is why we made a Revolution, in which free speech and criticisim are not only a right, but a duty of people. As Imam Khomeini said, rulers should not believe that people have no right to criticise, which is to sabotage heavenly benevolence.
1130GMT: The head of the trading arm of Lukoil said his company Litasco was not selling gasoline to Iran, after traders said sales had resumed despite US and European Union sanctions.
"We are not supplying to Iran. We have no existing contracts and we don't have any joint ventures with Chinese or any other companies to supply gasoline," Litasco chief executive Sergey Chaplygin told Reuters in Geneva.
1045 GMT: The heads of the three branches of goverment, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Sadegh Larijani, and Ali Larijani meet today in Majlis.
1030 GMT: Deputy Speaker of Parliament Boroujerdi blames Germany and France of having broken their contracts and calls them as "not trustable".
1000 GMT: The President's Right-Hand Man (cont.). MP Mohammad Javad Abtahi, from the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution, has written to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asking him to issue a caution against his Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Mashai. Many MPs, including some outside Abtahi's, have asked to sign, and there are now more than 50 signatories. The letter is likely to be read in the Majlis on Tuesday.
Yalthareth, quoting member of Parliament Hamid Rasaie, claims that there has been a secret meeting between the Supreme Leader and hardline MPs.
Ayatollah Khamenei reportedly defended the President and his Government because they have "more positive points than negative".
The news of the meeting was published after influential MP Ali Motahari compared Ahmadinejad with the extremist Forghan group, whose members killed Motahari's father, one of the key actors in the Islamic Revolution, and were executed shortly afterwards.
0900GMT: Senior reformist politician Mostafa Tajzadeh has been called back to Evin Prison after filing a lawsuit against several commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps for their interference in Iranian elections.
0830GMT: Cinema Corner. Iran’s late-night Ramadan screenings have sparked outrage among some clerics. “Is there any control on cinemas that encourage people to watch films during Ramadan instead of praying and supplicating?” Mashhad Friday Prayer leader Seyyed Ahmad Alamolhoda said on Friday.
0700 GMT: The Revolutionary Guard and the "Election Tape". Brigadier Yadollah Javani, the head of the political bureau of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has defended the audio tape (and thus confirmed it) in which IRGC Commander Moshfegh explained procedures to deal with the opposition before and after the election.
Seven prominent detained reformists have said they will bring a lawsuit for the comments.
"If the complaint of the 7 persons against commander Moshfegh will be taken to court, they have to appear and much more details will be published about the fact, who has inflicted blows to the Islamic system, unity and national security in this fitna (sedition)."
0445 GMT: I will be travelling across France today, so entries from me will be very limited. However, as usual, EA readers are invited to send in their news, ideas, and analysis.
tagged Afghanistan, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Ali Larijani, Ali Motahari, Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Motahari, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, France, General Moshfegh, Germany, Hamid Rasaie, Iran, Javad Abtahi, LUKoil, Litasco, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mehr News Agency, Mohammad Khatami, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Revolutionary Guard, Sadegh Larijani, Sergey Chaplygin, Seyyed Ahmad Alamolhoda, Yadollah Javani, Yalthareth in Middle East & Iran
Afghanistan, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Ali Larijani, Ali Motahari, Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Motahari, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, France, General Moshfegh, Germany, Hamid Rasaie, Iran, Javad Abtahi, LUKoil, Litasco, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mehr News Agency, Mohammad Khatami, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Revolutionary Guard, Sadegh Larijani, Sergey Chaplygin, Seyyed Ahmad Alamolhoda, Yadollah Javani, Yalthareth in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (26)
Unfortunately worded headline of the day:
Iranian diplomat suggests formation of Silk Road bloc
:-)
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=224823" rel="nofollow">http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=...
Is there some Iranian School of Bazaari Talk for Government Officials? :-)
Ezzat al-Shahbandar, a senior member of Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, described the statements made by the new Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Danaifar, as being "tense and provocative." Al-Shahbandar told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Iranian ambassador "is practicing a policy to silence Iraqi politicians by threatening to take legal action against any Iraqi politician who declares or talk s about Iranian interference in Iraqi internal affairs" and that he "speaks as if he is in a Tehran bazaar, and does not act like an ambassador; he must act with the highest level of diplomacy and know the limits of his position."
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=21951" rel="nofollow">http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id...
Clip for Iranian readers: an IRIB reporter asks a local from Kerman about the situation of supermarkets in town: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SoxXCmqQxs" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SoxXCmqQxs
Probably a fake, but wonderfully made ;-)
'Iran opts to proceed with enrichment'
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138771§ionid=351020104" rel="nofollow">http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138771&sec...
Hi Arshama
Your clip is too funny; do you know what's the meaning of "Kooni" in your clip ? :-)
The same thing on CNN:
Iran defends uranium enrichment
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/14/nuclear.russia.iran/index.html?section=cnn_latest#fbid=F9cRLRkG_l3&wom=false" rel="nofollow">http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/14/n...
As you know, I don't speak Persian, but I listened anyway and I got the impression the fellow interviewed was listing everything that wssn't available in the supermarkets. I'd love to know what he really says, though.
Catherine,
It's surely a fake and a play with Kermani dialect, which swallows the endings and results in words for excrementing and the colloquial expression for "gay". The alleged "local" complains that there is nothing available in state run supermarkets (i.e. f** off) and no one, from the SL to the province governor is willing to answer (second expression ;-)
Arshama
Popular Iranian footballer Ali Karimi, sometimes described as "the Maradona of Asia," has been fired by his club for not fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the club said on Sunday. - Karimi, who was the Asian Player of 2004, had even "insulted officials of the (Iranian) football federation and the Tehran team's supervisor who confronted him on the issue," Steel Azin said. - The Islamic republic's state news agency IRNA, meanwhile, reported that the club's chairman, Hossein Hedayati, was unaware of the decision and was against Karimi's sacking.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100815/sp_soccer_afp/fblirnramadanreligionkarimi_20100815140718;_ylt=ApmvLxic4EZeTX3psFL7Br_5SpZ4" rel="nofollow">http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100815/sp_soccer_...
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was given a written warning by 16 Members of Parliament to take a stance against the “inappropriate” statements of AN's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai. Iranian media also report that the MPs have demanded that Rahim Mashai withdraws his recent controversial statements.
In the meantime, a senior member of the clergy, Ayatollah Makarrem Shirazi also called on Ahmadinejad to “silence” his chief of staff.
http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/08/ahamdienjad-rebuked-over.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/08/ahamdienj...
So nice to know they had a meeting... "The heads of the three branches of government held a meeting on Sunday. It was the sixth meeting of its kind over the past 9 months between President Ahmadinejad, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Judiciary Chief Sadeq Larijani." Unfortunately, no one told what the result was...
http://www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=1134393" rel="nofollow">http://www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?News...
Ignoring a U.S. warning, Arab nations are urging Washington and other powers to end support of Israel's nuclear secrecy and to push the Jewish state to allow international inspections of its program, diplomats told The Associated Press Sunday. -
Islamic nations have long called for Israel — which is widely believed to have nuclear arms — to open its program. But the fact that the Arab League has directly approached Washington and other Israeli allies for support at the September meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency is significant, considering that President Barack Obama last month warned against using that forum to single out Israel. -
The Arab appeal is contained in an Aug. 8 letter signed by Arab League chief Amr Moussa that was shared with The Associated Press. It asks for backing of a resolution that Arab nations will submit to the September assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency. -
The Arab appeal to pressure Israel to open its nuclear program to inspectors also threatens to deflect attention from Iran, which Washington and its allies now consider a grave nuclear proliferation threat, even though Tehran insists it is not developing nuclear weapons.
Quotes from "APNewsBreak: Arabs lobby US on anti-Israel vote"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100815/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nuclear_agency_israel_5" rel="nofollow">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100815/ap_on_re_eu...
"Why Do the 'Bomb Iran' Neocons Want Israel Dead?" M.J. Rosenberg, Senior Foreign Policy Fellow, Media Matters Action Network on the Huffington Post. Hilarious analysis of the debate of last week on Jeffrey Goldbergs Atlantic story... "Bottom line: the mad bomber neocons actually hold the worldview they ascribe to the Iranians. It is not the mullahs who are suicidal. It is them. It's called projection."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/why-do-the-bomb-iran-neoc_b_682529.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/why-...
WitteKr
I have been closely watching Iranian developments for the past 12 months and more - and I have to admit that I just don't "get" Ahmadinejad.
The only thing that I know of AN is what he says ( or more truthfully what he is reported to have said) - and what others say about him.
I will now try to completely forget what others say about him and concentrate only on his pronouncements. When I do this - I get a number of general impressions 1. That he is a very big liar ( a proponent of the theory that the bigger the lie,. the more likely it is to be accepted), 2. that he actually believes what he says and is crazy, 3. that he is a religious fanatic that wants an apocalypse of some kind to aid the return of the Mahdi or even 4. that he actually is anti the Iranian Mullahocracy, anti-Islam but is a fascist Nationalist.
Two things I really can't work out is 1. what AN is really all about and 2 just who/what is really driving the situation in Iran
Barry
Barry, good questions! Wish I could answer them... I saw one interview recently, that struck me. Not because there was any news in it, but because it was (I think) well put into words: a good translation. This interview made me realize this man actually believes what he is saying - and is (a) very clever (bastard). So I go for your option 2.
A transcript of an interview conducted by Kyodo News with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently in Tehran. (June 2010)
http://www.japantoday.com/category/commentary/view/interview-with-iranian-president-ahmadinejad" rel="nofollow">http://www.japantoday.com/category/commentary/v...
More on The Revolutionary Guard and the “Election Tape”.
Mosharekat Party Calls on Larijani to Investigate Coup or Step Down
The seven members of the reformist Mosharekat Party and the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Party who filed separate complaints against “lawbreaking military officers during the tenth presidential election” and emphasized the occurrence of an “electoral coup” (referring to statements of a senior commander in the Islamic Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), released an open letter to the judiciary chief on Friday calling on him to either investigate the coup or “resign.”
http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem/article/2010/august/16//ahmadinejad-illegitimate-as-is.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem...
WitteKr,
Thanks so much for this (and 'Arabs lobby US on anti-Israel vote'). Rosenberg puts it all in a nutshell here:
"That is the reason Israel is so vehement about an Iranian bomb, not because Iran would use it but because, just like Israel, it would have the ultimate "don't f--k with us" tool. The whole Iran nuclear issue is about Israel retaining exclusive control of that tool. Regional hegemony. Nothing more. Nothing less."
And, like many other sane observers and analysts insist, but unlike all those in power in the countries that count, he advocates for a common sense approach to the problem, (take the military option off the table and begin the process of full unconditional negotiations with Iran that would address all the issues between the two countries). Unfortunately, too much water has gone under the bridge between Obama's inauguration and now, and too many powerful lobbies hold sway over the actors involved, for this to be feasible (at present).
Barry and WitteKr,
I think Barry actually correctly described the various faces of Ahmadinejad in all his four points. Some faces are more on display in speeches and statements for domestic audiences, others are meant for international consumption - but I think they''re all real. I think he knowingly lies, he's a nationalist (and that is definitely shown by the types of comments his close advisor Mashai makes and which he defends), he's got Fascist tendencies in the way he's trying to govern, he's a populist, he's most definitely a follower of the cult of the Mehdi, and on many occasions seems to believe entirely what he says even though it's patently false. This is at least what I have concluded from the carrying out same exercise as Barry.
I also think on quite a number of occasions he's caught out by questions asked or the topic of the discussion and he just makes things up - especially economic figures.
Above all. I think he's dead serious (both when consciously lying and when believing things that aren't true), unlike Hugo Chavez, who is truly a buffoon and a megalomaniac. The funny thing is that Ahmadinejad is said to hold Hugo Chavez up as a model. :-)
CNN: An Iranian court has delayed the final verdict of a 43-year-old woman sentenced to death by stoning, a human rights group said Sunday, two days after the country announced she will not be executed during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The International Committee Against Stoning did not say how it got its information on the postponement of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's final verdict, which had previously been scheduled to come down last Thursday. The group said in a statement that the final verdict in Ashtiani's case is now expected on August 21, the date of her lawyer's next court appearance. - Brazil has offered to give asylum to Ashtiani but Iran has rejected the proposal.
In an interview with the state-owned Agencia Brasil news outlet, however, Iranian Ambassador Mohsen Shaterzadeh said Brazil had not made a formal offer to the Iranian government for asylum. But Agencia Brasil said Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim, had reiterated on Wednesday the government's offer to have Ashtiani sent to the South American nation.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/15/iran.stoning.sentence/index.html?section=cnn_latest#fbid=X-9bZXLJlyS&wom=false" rel="nofollow">http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/15/i...
Iranian Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani says the United States’ call for talks with Iran on Afghanistan is unacceptable and Iran and the U.S. do not have a common approach to negotiations. Speaking during a Majlis session on Sunday, Larijani made the remarks in response to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who recently said she is ready to hold talks with Iran on Afghanistan.
http://www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=1134414" rel="nofollow">http://www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?News...
Catherine
I agree one 100% with you describing various faces of AN ! I was very surprised by their statements ( AN and Mashai ) about nationalism and I didn't (and don't) understand why they were criticised from everywhere !
Ange,
RE Mashai's statements, I also sometimes wonder what the problem is, but that depends entirely on the translation, so you will know better than me what he said in Persian and how controversial that was. In this translation I can see why the IRI authorities would be upset:
Mashaei, who is widely regarded as the closest aide to the president, said on August 4 in a gathering of Iranian expatriates that “The country should introduce the ideology of Iran rather than Islam to the world.”
To add insult to injury, he said on August 9 that “without Iran, Islam would be lost,” and that if “we want to present the truth of Islam to the world, we should erect the Iranian flag,” according to the Mehr News Agency.
“Countries are scared of Iran, because the truth of Islam is here,” the aide said. http://www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=1133696" rel="nofollow">http://www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?News...
These nationalistic (and possibly blasphemous?) statements of Iranian superiority will only irritate Sunni Arab and Muslim-majority countries whose support Iran desperately needs economically and at International fora.
Catherine
I agree with him when he says " without Iran, Islam would be lost "; since iranian revolution, islam has become more important but I reproach them for doing an islam full of hatred and it's in a negatif path; since our revolution, islam is more political everywhere in the world ; before we had not so many women wearing scarves and islamic clothes; now everywhere they are the problems of all countries; the same for islamists's bombings ...
They did a revolution in 1979, they could have spent their time to spread love and spirituality, becoming an "exemple" for all islamic countries .
Perhaps arab countries are upset with Obama, because they don't see peace on the horizon of Palestine and Israel but they have to know, that all the problems around Iran are provocked by iranian regime, because of their interferences in Irak, Afganistan , Pakistan, Lebanon, Palestine ....
Once iranian problem set," Peace" in ME will be everywhere ! the same arab countries have asked Obama to help them; they don't wan't a nuclear Iran; all the neighbors of Iran want to get rid of this untrustable regime !
Ange, on the matter of scarfs. Do you know if this is 'old' news or has Zahra Rahnavard changed her position? "In an interview with Jaras Zahra Rahnavard expressed her views regarding the Green Movement and its development since one year ago and its future as well as her support for ethnic groups and cultures. She also in answer to questions about the hejab (Islamic dress code) enforced by the government on women said that she is against forcing people to any kind of religious practices including wearing hejab and everyone should be free to choose."
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#%21/notes/zahra-rahnavard-zhra-rhnwrd/jnbsh-sbz-az-ajray-by-tnazl-ta-tghyyr-qanwn-asasy-dr-gftgw-ba-rhnwrd-green-movem/431752992611" rel="nofollow">http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/notes/...
Wittekr
I have always heard her to say what you posted at 5h16 and this from the beginning; in their meeting during the elections, all women were very bad hijab !; they look like us ! the leaders of GM say that "at Shah's time, we had all the freedoms ( wearing, drinking, eating, dancing, ....) except freedom of speech ! but now we have none of them " .
How many people have been killed for 30 years to reach this point ????