The Latest from Iran (28 August): The President Prays
Posted by Scott Lucas in Middle East & IranNEW Latest Iran Video: Khamenei Speech to Student Leaders (26 August)
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1745 GMT: Ahmadinejad’s Cabinet Woes. Press TV, from Iranian Labor News Agency, reports that the majority “principlist” bloc in Parliament is going to reject the three women among the President’s 18 Ministerial nominations (albeit with some pretty weak excuses):
With regards to proposed health minister Marziyeh Vahid-Dastjerdi, [a bloc member] said that “certain reports about her business activities had reached the bloc which altered the opinion of the members about her”.
The Principlist Majlis deputy, who sits on another bloc as well, said about Sussan Keshavarz, who has been offered the education portfolio: “We have heard that she was active in the campaign headquarters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi.”…
The third candidate, Fatemeh Ajorloo, who was picked for the welfare post, was rejected because she “is too good”. “It would be a shame if she becomes welfare minister,” said the unnamed source, presumably because the ministry is due to be disbanded in the coming months.
Meanwhile, the reformist bloc of the Majlis has decided to vote in favor of Vahid-Dastjerdi.
1420 GMT: The Day’s Big (Unseen) Story? I saw this floating around yesterday — the storyinitially came out on the technology site of the Islamic Republic News Agency and then circulated on other Iranian websites — but it is only with the help of EA’s readers (see comments below) that I could put this together.
The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (Revolutionary Guard), which has become just as renowned in recent years for their role in Iran’s economy as for their security function, are set to buy a major stakeholding in the Iranian Telecommunications Agency.
Since 2005, Iran had planned to float the shares of the state company, which is one of three operators in the country. One of the other two is owned by Hashemi Rafsanjani, but its reach is limited to Tehran and some smaller smaller cities. The Revolutionary Guard already have a stake in Iran Cell, so if they were successful in their bid for shares of ITA, they would be in a leading position in Iran’s two major cellphone providers.
This is unlikely to be a case of the Guard showing up with chequebook in hand to buy the shares. Instead, as has been the case with other sectors such as pharmaceuticals and automobiles, the purchase will be made through a front company.
There is also an interesting international twist in this story. Earlier this summer, a Russian company was to be granted a license as the third national cellphone operator, but the process suddenly stalled last month (companies from the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait were also trying to get the license). The effective suspension is probably linked to the high process the Iranian Government was demanding, but it leaves the Revolutionary Guard in an even stronger position in the cellphone sector.
1400 GMT: In Case Anyone Really Cares. The actual address at Friday prayers in Tehran, as opposed to President Ahmadinejad’s introduction, was delivered by Hojetoleslam Sadighi. His headline declaration was that the “world’s exceptional crimes” are the crimes of Israel in Palestine.
1330 GMT: Today is turning into a contest of two statements and, in contrast to recent days, Western media are eagerly on top of the story. Former President Khatami’s statement to reformist leaders is being juxtaposed with current President Ahmadinejad’s speech at Friday prayers.
While there are a complex range of issues in this battle, from the legal issues of detentions/confessions/trials to the institutional challenges of who controls Iran’s bureaucracy and security forces to the political showdown over Ahmadinejad’s legitimacy, it is this sentence from Khatami that may represent the moment: “‘The sacred Friday prayer podium has been given to those who…call for the punishment of prominent figures…while they are accused in the eyes of the public for committing treason themselves.”
Even though Khatami was probably referring to Friday prayers past and addresses delivered by “hard-line” clerics such as Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami and Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, that sentence will be set next to Ahmadinejad’s none-too-subtle call for the arrests of protest leaders.
To put an immediate question: 48 hours after trying to avert a showdown with his own statement, the Supreme Leader finds the confrontation ratcheted up several notches. What does Khamenei do now?
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