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Entries in Mehdi Karroubi (221)

Friday
Sep162011

WikiLeaks & Iran Special (June 2009): Brother of Supreme Leader's Military Advisor "The Election Was a Political Coup"

Released in this month's mass "drop" of US documents by WikiLeaks, this may be the most explosive document I have seen about the disputed 2009 Iranian Presidential Election. That is not just because of the content --- a graphic description of an election stolen under the direction of a member of the Supreme Leader's office (his son, Mojtaba Khamenei?) amidst a divided establishment, with the Revolutionary Guards split over support for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad --- but because of the support.

The claims are not made by a foreign agency or by the Iranian opposition. For the first time, they come from a source close to the highest levels of the regime. It is the brother of the military advisor to the Supreme Leader who outlines:

1. The election was a "political coup", with disruption of Mir Hossein Mousavi's organisation and communications, an exaggerated vote for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and a very quick announcement of the supposed results. The fraud was orchestrated by someone "very close to the [Supreme] Leader" and involved the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari.

2. The decision to manipulate the election was prompted by the perceived surge of support for Mir Hossein Mousavi, especially after his performance in a 1-on-1 debate with Ahmadinejad.

3. The Revolutionary Guards split over the manipulation, with a majority opposed Jafari and the Basij militia's command.

4. The political establishment were also divided. Only a minority of conservatives supported Ahmadinejad before the vote, and he was only backed by one senior cleric, Mesbah Yazdi.

5. To bolster the opposition, which had turned out in the hundreds of thousands (millions?) the previous day in Tehran, the US should promote a message of human rights and should not recognise Ahmadinejad.


THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT

¶1. (S) Summary: Syed Salman Safavi, brother of ex-IRGC commander and the Supreme Leader's military advisor Rehman Safavi, on June 16 told London Iran Watcher (Poloff) and a small group of diplomats that "a majority" of leaders within the government of Iran and the IRGC want the United States, while continuing to avoid interference in Iran, to continue and even strengthen its public messages on human rights, so as to support popular protests in Iran and prevent any consolidation of Ahmedinejad's electoral win. Safavi said "a majority" of the IRGC have split from the Basij and from IRGC commander Jafari over the manipulation and aftermath of the June 12 elections. He added that a person he "cannot name, very close to the Supreme Leader," and "working in the Leader's office," conceived and ordered engineering of the election and of attempted suppression which has followed. Safavi claimed no senior clergy other than Mousavi in fact support Ahmedinejad. Safavi offered no compromise solution among contending parties in Iran, and indicated throughout that either Moussavi or Ahmedinejad would be politically vanquished. He explicitly played down the prospect of a "civil war" raised by a European interlocutor. End summary.

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Monday
Sep122011

The Latest from Iran (12 September): The Nuclear Front

2105 GMT: The Battle Within. Yasaman Baji offers an overview of the political tensions as conservative and principlist factions vie for position:

Intense competition among different wings of forces claiming absolute loyalty to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, has created a muddled political environment, making it difficult to speculate about the direction of the country after the term of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expires in 2013.

The March elections to the Majlis could be a bellwether. In the past, parliamentary elections held right before the president's second term is over have been significant in hinting the future direction the country under the next president.

Today, increasingly acrimonious competition among devoted supporters of the Islamic Republic, known as Principlists, has the country wondering about whether there are plans to continue the country's hard-line direction without Ahmadinejad or whether instead the more- moderate conservative elements within the Principlist camp will take the reins and steer the country in a more centrist direction.

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Friday
Sep092011

Latest from Iran (9 September): Ignoring Ahmadinejad on Syria

See also Iran Special: Mousavi's Moment Outside House Arrest "The Future is Bright"
Latest from Iran (8 September): Fearing Persian Spring


1610 GMT: Ahmadinejad and Syria. Fars reports on President Ahmadinejad's meeting with Kuwaiti media. Its English-language website highlights Ahmadinejad's caution to Turkey not to host a NATO missile defence system: "Turkey is among our brothers and sincere friends, but when enemies deploy a missile system there and admit that it is against Iran, we should be careful."

Fars, however, does not utter a word about Ahmadinejad's proposal (see 1400 GMT) for an Islamic summit on the Syrian crisis.

Mehr News, however, does mention the President's comments, well into an article on the meeting, on a summit and on reforms in Syria.

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Friday
Sep022011

Latest from Iran (2 September): Who's Meddling in the Revolutions?

1747 GMT: Ayatollah Namazi, a member of the powerful Assembly of Experts, has warned the government that use of libel, lies, deceit, and illegal money towards the influence of the elections would be considered " haram," banned by Islamic law. He warned that the next election would be a moral issue, and candidates should subscribe to strict morality in order to ensure that the fittest candidate won. He also said that this was imperative, because moral abuses threaten to discredit the legitimacy of the elections.

1740 GMT: The Armenian Church in Kerman, registered as a national treasure, has been destroyed. Here is a picture gallery of the church now.

1515 GMT: Energy Watch. Deutsche Welle reports that the construction of a gasoline refinery has been stopped after five years because the Ministry of Oil did not pay its assigned share of 70% of the cost.

According to the website, only 8% of the project had been completed. The halt to construction means the dismissal of 6200 employees.

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Thursday
Sep012011

Latest from Iran (1 September): A Defiant Mehdi Karroubi Found

1445 GMT: Environment Watch. Hojatoleslam Gholamreza Hassani, the Friday Prayer leader of Orumiyeh, has suddenly taken notice of the crisis of Lake Orumiyeh: he warned in his Eid ul-Fitr address that the lake will dry up in four years and that people's demands to deal with the situation are leagal and righteous.

An EA Correspondent notes sharply, "I guess Hassani got orders from the Supreme Leader's office to calm down the situation."

1435 GMT: Cartoon of Day. Maya Neyestani presents his vision of the drying-up of Iran's largest lake, Lake Orumiyeh, turning to salt because of drought, dams, misguided irrigation, and development:

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Monday
Aug292011

The Latest from Iran (29 August): Catching Up

Maya Neyestani's old man shows Libya's former leader Muammar Qaddafi to a young boy, "Our zoo is soon complete"

See also Wikileaks & Iran Flashback: How A Kickboxing Champion Became "Israeli Spy" & Was Sentenced To Death


2035 GMT: Supreme Leader v. President (cont.). More on Ayatollah Khamenei's apparent chiding of the Government (see 1555 GMT) in a meeting with the President and Cabinet....

Ayatollah Khamenei, demanding amicable relations amongst Government bodies, called on the Ahmadinejad Administration to refrain from "conflict and retaliation" in the face of criticism".

The Supreme Leader also insisted on a focus on post-Islamic Iran rather than the pre-Islamic era of the country. The President's Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, has been heavily criticised for suggesting that other countries can follow an "Iranian" rather than an "Islamic" model.

Khamenei said, "In the issue of culture including books, art, art organizations, we must relentlessly maintain the Revolutionary and Islamic direction."

ni's old man shows Libya's former leader Muammar Qaddafi to a young boy, "Our zoo is soon complete"

See also Wikileaks & Iran Flashback: How A Kickboxing Champion Became "Israeli Spy" & Was Sentenced To Death


2025 GMT: Protest Watch. Kalemeh reports that at least 16 Bazaaris were arrested this weekend for inciting and leading the protest at the Bazaar against the Government's value-added tax policy.

2010 GMT: The Battle Within. The strange tale of the regime "eulogist" who offered to pay anyone who would kill the President's right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, continues.

Majid Reza Fouladi has rejected the report in Fars that he had announced a "big fitna (sedition) in mid September", to be launched by the Ahmadinejad camp. The Government is reportedly filing a complaint against the newspaper.

yestani's old man shows Libya's former leader Muammar Qaddafi to a young boy, "Our zoo is soon complete"

See also Wikileaks & Iran Flashback: How A Kickboxing Champion Became "Israeli Spy" & Was Sentenced To Death


1555 GMT: Supreme Leader v. President. Khabar Online, the website of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, reports an apparent jab by Ayatollah Khamenei at President Ahmadinejad. The Supreme Leader said the Government had problems in its contact with elites. He added that Ahmadinejad's administration should discuss economic matters with experts and said that "defying criticism leads to nowhere".

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Sunday
Aug282011

The Latest from Iran (28 August) It's the Ecology, Stupid

An overview of the ecological problems facing Lake Orumiyeh in northwest Iran


1420 GMT:The US Hikers. The lawyer for US citizens Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, sentenced earlier this month to eight-year prison sentences on charges of espionage and illegal entry has said that he has filed an appeal.

Fattal and Bauer were arrested, along with American Sarah Shourd, who in July 2009 while hiking along the Iran-Iraq border. They had 20 days to appeal the sentence.

Shourd was freed on $500,000 last September and did not return for trial.

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Tuesday
Aug092011

The Latest from Iran (9 August): Drawing Different Lessons from Overseas

1920 GMT: Energy Watch. Sniping at the Government over its energy policy --- Seyed Emad Hosseini, speaker for Parliament's Energy Committee, said energy security has sharply decreased in past years and is now unacceptable. Another committee member, Asgar Jalalian, has chided that at the current speed of development of the South Pars project, Qatar --- which shares the giant field with Iran --- will have ensured no gas is left.

1910 GMT: Media Watch. Is Alef, the site owned by leading MP Ahmad Tavakoli, having a go at the press in Iran? The site posts the story of "Pinocchio and our ignorance" to preach that those who listen to domestic media are less informed people.

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Sunday
Aug072011

Iran Feature: Four Tehran Diaries "We Drink to the Freedom that Will Come One Day" (Spiegel)

Samaneh AhmadianI'm not happy with my classes here at all. Most of the professors have no clue, and yet they make it clear to us students that they consider us to be fools. The only professor I truly admire and respect is leaving the country....

There isn't much going on in the streets. Most people don't look very happy. It's been very hot, and both women and men are wearing lighter clothing. The morality police are harassing them even more than usual....

I would like to publish my thoughts so I could see what others think about them. But we hardly have any publications anymore that print critical ideas....

We are so happy about the hunger strike coming to an end. We drink to the political prisoners, and to the martyrs of our movement, like Neda and Hoda. We drink to the freedom that will most certainly come one day.

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Friday
Aug052011

Iran Interview: Full Transcript of Ahmadinejad's Remarks to EuroNews --- "Situation in Europe is Much Worse than Iran"

Yesterday we posted an extract from the video and transcript of President Ahmadinejad's 33-minute interview with EuroNews. That in itself was striking, with Ahmadinejad's dismissal of the strict house arrests of opposition figures Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, "There are prisons in every country".

However, the full text --- now available from EuroNews --- is even more compelling for its presentation of Ahmadinejad's claims. Problems in Syria are "due to the interference of others". In Iran, "a completely free election" was followed by just treatment of opposition, in contrast to the situation in Britain where students "were beaten up in the streets of London" and in Europe where "no one [is] listening to them". And economic difficulties? The situation "is much worse in Europe" than in Iran.

In short, "freedom is at its highest level in Iran".

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