1) Ali Khamenei
- Sparkasse Bank (Frankfurt/Germany) Acct.# 234075617: DM 112.1 Millions
- Corner Bank (Geneve/CH) Acct. # 217824: US$ 97 Millions
=0 A
- Banque Cantonale (Lausanne/CH) Acct. # 71713: US$ 73.2 Millions
=
2) Ali Akbar Hashemi Rasfandjani
- Union Bank Suisse (Geneve/CH) Acct.# 223870390: SF 532.5 Millions
- Societe Generale ( Z urich/CH) Acct.# 30064183: DM 477.2 Millions
- Sparkasse (Ciborg/Germany) Acct. # 2957132: DM 238.2 Millions
=
3) Mohammad Ali Tasskhiri
- Societe Generale (Geneve/Ch) Acct.# 500032654: DM 280.7 Millions
- Midland Bank (London/UK) Acct.# 832-150270: BP 12.2 Millions
- Dressdner bank (Dusserdolf/Germany) Acct.# 8354783: DM 48.3 Millions
=
=0 D
4 ) Mohammad Golpayegani
- Credit Bank Suisse (Geneve/CH) Acct.# CEO7680: SF 85.7 Millions
=
=0 A 5) Bijan Namdar Z angene
- Union Bank Suisse (Geneve/CH) Acct.# 314380320: US$ 141.7 Millions
6) Habibollah Asgar Aladi
- Corner Bank (Geneve/CH) Acct. # 3983BHK: US$ 180 Millions
=
7) Ahmad Jannati
- Midland Bank (London/UK) Acct.# 92114016: BP 54.2 Millions
=
8) Abdollah Nategh Nouri
- Union Banque Suisse (Geneve/CH) Acct.# 2102120321ND: USD 123.9 Millions
- Deutsh bank (Hamburg/Germany) Acct.# 03223486: DM 64.1 Millions
9) Mohsen Rafighdoost
- Union Banque Suisse (Geneve/CH) Acct.# 2183130687: USD 122.7 Millions
10) Mohsen Hashemi Bahrema ni
- Deutsh bank (Munchen 3/Germany) Acct.# 1732736: DM 370.7 Millions
- Credit Bank (Geneve/CH) Acct.# 928530FC: USD 178.2 Millions
=
11) Abbas V aez-Tabassi
- Corner Bank (Geneve/CH) Acct.# FAH7272: SF 97.2 Millions
- Sparkasse (Hamburg/Germany) Acct #. DFH72251660: USD 216.7 Millions
=
12) Hossein Shariatmadari
- Midland Bank (London/UK) Acct.# 34414011: BP 37.8 Millions
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13) Mohsen Rezai
- Union Banque Suisse (Geneve/CH) Acct.# 442760430: USD 78.2 Millions
- Credit Bank (Geneve/CH) Acct.# FAH7967: SF 52.7 Millions
14) Massood Movahedian
- Commerz Bank (Koln/Germany) Acct.# 3528817: DM 287.8 Millions
Error! Filename not specified.
15) Kamal Kharrazi
- Corner Bank (Geneve/CH) Acct.# AMF4567: USD 18.2 Millions
=
16) Ali-Reza Mo-ayeri
- Societe Generale (Geneve/CH) Acct.# 50024814: USD12.6 Millions
17) Hossein Kordi
- Corner Bank (Geneve/CH) Acct.#14710025: USD 14.7 Millions
18) Abbas-Ali Forooghi
- Corner Bank (Geneve/CH) Acct.# 12930034: USD 10.7 Millions
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Iran: Whose Side Are We Really On?
TheTyee.ca
The uprising changes everything.
That's what you will hear these days across the spectrum of the Iranian diaspora, from exiled intellectuals, trade unionists, student activists, Marxists, and liberals. The uprising changes everything, and not just inside Iran. No matter what happens next, the uprising will cause convulsions in contested fields of struggle from Afghanistan to Palestine.
Already, the spectacle of angry masses thronging the streets of Iranians cities is holding out the promise of a great awakening in "progressive" politics from Berlin to Seattle. In Canada, what was once unspeakable is now unavoidably central to any serious discussion of the Iranian cause and what it demands of us.
Mehdi Kouhestaninejad, a senior Canadian Labour Congress officer who has spent more than a decade waging a tireless and often lonely struggle to forge effective links between Canadian and Iranian trade unions, says he can't remember the last time he was so filled with hope.
"In the West, the Left sees only the Ahmadinejad propaganda -- death to the U.S., death to imperialism. It claims it is anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, but the people in Iran know that this is baloney," Kouhestaninejad told me. "We have to challenge our attitudes. We have to recognize that there is no connection between the Left in the West and the Left in Iran."
For years, Kouhestaninejad and his CLC colleagues have tried to change all that, but they've been up against a politics that divides the world into two camps, with American-Israeli imperialists on one side and a "resistance" of plucky Islamists on the other. It's politics that divides the world's workers against themselves, and absurdly situates Ahmadinejad in the same camp where the western "Left" pitches its tent.
Canadian Labour Congress sent appeal
ADVERTISEMENT
In Canada, the result has been a kind of stupefaction that has rendered the Left practically useless to the life-and-death struggles that have been underway in Iran for years, and which have now reached a crisis.
Only last month, the CLC was trying to rouse its affiliates to an urgent appeal from an international labour coalition representing 170 million workers, calling for a global day of protest in solidarity with Iran's persecuted trade unionists. There were protests planned from Wellington, New Zealand to Lagos, Nigeria, but in the days before Iran erupted, there was still no sign of any Canadian response.
Then, suddenly, more than a million protesters were marching in the streets of Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan and other cities. Even as the Iranian theocracy responded with tear gas, bullets, and mass arrests, Kouhestaninejad, 44, could still see cause for hope. "Finally, everyone is beginning to wake up to Ahmadinejad and his phony slogans of anti-imperialism," Kouhestaninejad told me.
But history turns on a dime. Iran's brave trade unionists, student leaders, and pro-democracy activists are now facing their darkest hour since 1981. Back then, the good guys lost.
That was when Khomeinist reactionaries seized the helm of the 1979 revolution, turned on the country's republican forces, and carried out mass executions of secularists, socialists, feminists, and liberals. Back then, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's deranged, ruthless and antisemitic president, was one of ayatollahs' most loyal and enthusiastic torturers.
An invitation to lend support
Now, Iran's military-clerical caste is facing its most serious challenge ever, and one of the few cards left in Ahmadinejad's hand is the free pass he gets from "anti-imperialists" outside Iran.
It's what has made Kouhestaninejad's work such a desperate, uphill battle. It's also isolated the younger generation of Iranian-Canadian activists who have sprung into action in direct support of Iran's pro-democracy movement. It's kept their activism mainly confined to the Iranian-Canadian community, and reduced the mobilization to a mainly ethnic phenomenon.
It's all a bit of a mystery to Mohsen Amiri, a 28-year-old engineering science student at Simon Fraser University. Amiri was a key organizer of one of the first Canadian rallies, a June 14 event at Canada Place on the Vancouver waterfront. Amiri has been pulling together friends to attend rallies ever since, but he says many of his non-Iranian fellow students, even the ones he most expected to show up, have simply stayed away.
"All of them are fans of Ahmadinejad," Amiri said. "I think they are confused."
The confusion is especially pronounced in the case of students recently arrived from Arab countries, North Africa and Asia. "They like Ahmadinejad, and I can understand that, because in these countries the government wants somebody to blame for their situation. So they say, 'I don’t like the U.S. and I don't like Israel.' And so they become fans of Ahmadinejad."
As for the confusion among otherwise intelligent and literate Canadian leftists who don't have the excuse of having been tutored by authoritarian propaganda all their lives, Amiri says he can't explain it.
But the confusion is no mystery to Arash Abadpour, a 30-year-old computer science student at the University of Toronto and a keen observer of the Iranian pro-democracy movement. Abadpour's website, a key source of news for Iranian reformers, is now one of the most popular websites in Iran.
"Ahmadinejad has been very successful in selling himself as an anti-imperialist in the West," Abadpour said. "The way he opposes the U.S. and Israel, he has been able to present himself as a voice of the anti-imperialist movement."
A fat lot of good it was doing him as the uprising ended its first week, though. Thousands of ordinary Canadians were showing up at Iranian-led demonstrations and candle-light vigils across the country.
Rallying solidarity in Canada
As the uprising staggered into its second week, bloodied but still alive, Kouhestaninejad remained upbeat about everything. By mid-week, Canada's labour unions were starting to show signs of life. Some unions were starting to show an interest in the long-planned Friday, June 26 international day of solidarity after all. The Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and other unions were gearing up for last-minute rallies in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.
Then it looked liked the old stupefaction was setting in again. The Iranian regime's propaganda line -- the pro-democracy protesters are merely disaffected upper middle-class "rioters" and the uprising is the work the CIA spies, Zionist plotters and British agents -- was starting to show up in "left-wing" circles everywhere.
After Venezuela's president and left-wing icon Hugo Chavez rushed to Ahmadinejad's side with regurgitations of the ayatollahs' claims about shadowy imperialists, the pile-on was in full swing.
James Petras, a senior member of the Canadian Dimension editorial collective, jumped to the regime's defence, dismissing reports of widespread Iranian outrage as a fabrication of the "Zionist-mass media line."
Zafar Bangash, a Khomeinist fanatic who doubles as the director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought and a spokesman for the Toronto's Stop the War Coalition, weighed in. To Bangash, Ahmadinejad's woes were all the fault of "the Muslim-hating West" and its agents in the mansions of North Tehran.
On Canada's west coast, the Mobilization Against War and Occupation issued a statement sneering at the "crocodile tears" being shed for the Iranian protesters and declared: "Iran's elections and disputes are an internal matter."
Tool of US imperialists?
Kouhestaninejad soon found himself back to fending off the persistent complaint that has so confounded efforts to build bridges between Iran's unions, feminists and student activists and their estranged Canadian counterparts: he was just playing into the hands of the American imperialists.
Then he had to field questions from "progressive" journalists about American and Israeli spies behind Iran's young activists. "I tell them, 'they are not puppets of any agency, don't insult their intelligence.' You should see the attacks I'm getting now from the anti-imperialists in Toronto," he said.
The rot runs deep.
It's commonplace on the Left to pretend that the rot is confined to marginal pseudo-left groupuscules, and that it's no big deal that a Left-Islamist alliance has captured the key posts in Canada's "anti-war" movement. But if you keep your eye on what Kouhestaninejad calls the broken connections between the Left in the West and the Left in Iran, you'll notice that it matters.
In March, following shocking reports that Afghan president Hamid Karzai had approved a "rape law" to appease Afghanistan's Shia minority, anti-imperialist groups claimed a stunning propaganda coup. Their argument went like this: It just goes to show, Canada's role in Afghanistan has nothing to do with protecting women's rights, it's just like the Taliban days, we're just propping up these horrible government, and it's all just a U.S.-run military occupation. Troops out.
That soon became the received wisdom.
But if Canadians had been paying attention to what the Left in Iran has been saying they would have known that it was all rubbish.
Where the rape law was written
The Afghan "rape law" was written in Tehran. It drew directly from the "Law Supporting the Family," which stalled in the Iranian parliament in 2008 following an open revolt led by Iranian women. The law was brought to Afghanistan by its Afghan proxy, the hated Afghan cleric Mohammed Asif Mosehni. In Kabul, Mosehni does Tehran's dirty work from his own opulent mosque, with his own madrassa, television station and radio station. He even runs an Afghan version of Iran's "morality police" to harass and terrorize Afghanistan's Shia minority.
"So long as we don't change the regime in Tehran, we will continue to have terrible problems, and not just in Iran," Kouhestaninejad said. "We will have problems in Palestine, in Lebanon, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan. The regime has its fingers in everything. For as long as the regime is there, we will have these problems, and they will not go away."
And so long as the Left in Canada pretends that this is just somebody else's business, the rot will not go away. It's done enough damage already.
It is our business.
Defending a dictatorship
It was only a few weeks ago that NDP MP Olivia Chow, Toronto Star columnist Linda McQuaig and CBC pundit Heather Mallick were all rushing to the defence of the renegade British MP George Galloway, the Iranian regime's most brazen and slobbering apologist in the English-speaking world. They happily parroted Galloway's false claim that Ottawa wouldn't let him keep his "anti-war" speaking engagements in Canada for fear of what he might say about Canada's role in Afghanistan. McQuaig went so far as to praise Galloway for possessing "the mental toughness of Noam Chomsky and the showmanship of Mick Jagger."
As soon as Tehran's streets began filling with masses of protesters two weeks ago, Galloway declared himself against the Iranian uprising and for the regime's ruling Guardian Council. Galloway issued his verdict from the platform of his own long-running, regular program on Press TV, the regime's English-language propaganda network.
It is not that Galloway has changed. Iran is the same totalitarian state he and his supporters were defending last year and the year before that. Neither did Iran’s farcical June 12 election change anything.
Tehran's ayatollahs still run a blood-stained, belligerent and authoritarian theocracy where all non-Islamist political parties are banned, semi-literate clerics choose who can run for office and who cannot, and independent trade unions are banned. The clerics control the news media, foreign policy, and the army. Their morality police roam the streets arresting women if they look too "western" and their Basiji militiamen roam the campuses looking for pamphleteers to beat up. None of that has changed.
A revolt gaining traction
What's changed is that the long campaign for Iranian democracy, for workers' rights, and for the hundreds of union leaders, journalists and human rights activists in Iranian prisons, has at last started to gain some global traction. What's changed is that the tireless efforts of Kouhestaninejad and his colleagues at the CLC, the International Trade Union Confederation, the International Transport Workers Federation and Educational International are starting to pay off.
"We are in good shape," Kouhestaninejad told me last Thursday. "We are in very good shape."
But mainly, what has changed is this business about Ahmadinejad's free pass, and the cynical, stupid politics that allow him to have it. What's changed is that the leaders of the uprising are demanding the regime's isolation, and they mean it. What's changed is that now, anyone who excuses or accommodates the regime's propagandists, agents and apologists in Canada’s trade unions, social-justice networks, anti-racism campaigns or student organizations, is an enemy of the Iranian uprising.
The uprising changes everything.
The uprising changes everything.
That's what you will hear these days across the spectrum of the Iranian diaspora, from exiled intellectuals, trade unionists, student activists, Marxists, and liberals. The uprising changes everything, and not just inside Iran. No matter what happens next, the uprising will cause convulsions in contested fields of struggle from Afghanistan to Palestine.
Already, the spectacle of angry masses thronging the streets of Iranians cities is holding out the promise of a great awakening in "progressive" politics from Berlin to Seattle. In Canada, what was once unspeakable is now unavoidably central to any serious discussion of the Iranian cause and what it demands of us.
Mehdi Kouhestaninejad, a senior Canadian Labour Congress officer who has spent more than a decade waging a tireless and often lonely struggle to forge effective links between Canadian and Iranian trade unions, says he can't remember the last time he was so filled with hope.
"In the West, the Left sees only the Ahmadinejad propaganda -- death to the U.S., death to imperialism. It claims it is anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, but the people in Iran know that this is baloney," Kouhestaninejad told me. "We have to challenge our attitudes. We have to recognize that there is no connection between the Left in the West and the Left in Iran."
For years, Kouhestaninejad and his CLC colleagues have tried to change all that, but they've been up against a politics that divides the world into two camps, with American-Israeli imperialists on one side and a "resistance" of plucky Islamists on the other. It's politics that divides the world's workers against themselves, and absurdly situates Ahmadinejad in the same camp where the western "Left" pitches its tent.
Canadian Labour Congress sent appeal
ADVERTISEMENT
In Canada, the result has been a kind of stupefaction that has rendered the Left practically useless to the life-and-death struggles that have been underway in Iran for years, and which have now reached a crisis.
Only last month, the CLC was trying to rouse its affiliates to an urgent appeal from an international labour coalition representing 170 million workers, calling for a global day of protest in solidarity with Iran's persecuted trade unionists. There were protests planned from Wellington, New Zealand to Lagos, Nigeria, but in the days before Iran erupted, there was still no sign of any Canadian response.
Then, suddenly, more than a million protesters were marching in the streets of Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan and other cities. Even as the Iranian theocracy responded with tear gas, bullets, and mass arrests, Kouhestaninejad, 44, could still see cause for hope. "Finally, everyone is beginning to wake up to Ahmadinejad and his phony slogans of anti-imperialism," Kouhestaninejad told me.
But history turns on a dime. Iran's brave trade unionists, student leaders, and pro-democracy activists are now facing their darkest hour since 1981. Back then, the good guys lost.
That was when Khomeinist reactionaries seized the helm of the 1979 revolution, turned on the country's republican forces, and carried out mass executions of secularists, socialists, feminists, and liberals. Back then, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's deranged, ruthless and antisemitic president, was one of ayatollahs' most loyal and enthusiastic torturers.
An invitation to lend support
Now, Iran's military-clerical caste is facing its most serious challenge ever, and one of the few cards left in Ahmadinejad's hand is the free pass he gets from "anti-imperialists" outside Iran.
It's what has made Kouhestaninejad's work such a desperate, uphill battle. It's also isolated the younger generation of Iranian-Canadian activists who have sprung into action in direct support of Iran's pro-democracy movement. It's kept their activism mainly confined to the Iranian-Canadian community, and reduced the mobilization to a mainly ethnic phenomenon.
It's all a bit of a mystery to Mohsen Amiri, a 28-year-old engineering science student at Simon Fraser University. Amiri was a key organizer of one of the first Canadian rallies, a June 14 event at Canada Place on the Vancouver waterfront. Amiri has been pulling together friends to attend rallies ever since, but he says many of his non-Iranian fellow students, even the ones he most expected to show up, have simply stayed away.
"All of them are fans of Ahmadinejad," Amiri said. "I think they are confused."
The confusion is especially pronounced in the case of students recently arrived from Arab countries, North Africa and Asia. "They like Ahmadinejad, and I can understand that, because in these countries the government wants somebody to blame for their situation. So they say, 'I don’t like the U.S. and I don't like Israel.' And so they become fans of Ahmadinejad."
As for the confusion among otherwise intelligent and literate Canadian leftists who don't have the excuse of having been tutored by authoritarian propaganda all their lives, Amiri says he can't explain it.
But the confusion is no mystery to Arash Abadpour, a 30-year-old computer science student at the University of Toronto and a keen observer of the Iranian pro-democracy movement. Abadpour's website, a key source of news for Iranian reformers, is now one of the most popular websites in Iran.
"Ahmadinejad has been very successful in selling himself as an anti-imperialist in the West," Abadpour said. "The way he opposes the U.S. and Israel, he has been able to present himself as a voice of the anti-imperialist movement."
A fat lot of good it was doing him as the uprising ended its first week, though. Thousands of ordinary Canadians were showing up at Iranian-led demonstrations and candle-light vigils across the country.
Rallying solidarity in Canada
As the uprising staggered into its second week, bloodied but still alive, Kouhestaninejad remained upbeat about everything. By mid-week, Canada's labour unions were starting to show signs of life. Some unions were starting to show an interest in the long-planned Friday, June 26 international day of solidarity after all. The Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and other unions were gearing up for last-minute rallies in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.
Then it looked liked the old stupefaction was setting in again. The Iranian regime's propaganda line -- the pro-democracy protesters are merely disaffected upper middle-class "rioters" and the uprising is the work the CIA spies, Zionist plotters and British agents -- was starting to show up in "left-wing" circles everywhere.
After Venezuela's president and left-wing icon Hugo Chavez rushed to Ahmadinejad's side with regurgitations of the ayatollahs' claims about shadowy imperialists, the pile-on was in full swing.
James Petras, a senior member of the Canadian Dimension editorial collective, jumped to the regime's defence, dismissing reports of widespread Iranian outrage as a fabrication of the "Zionist-mass media line."
Zafar Bangash, a Khomeinist fanatic who doubles as the director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought and a spokesman for the Toronto's Stop the War Coalition, weighed in. To Bangash, Ahmadinejad's woes were all the fault of "the Muslim-hating West" and its agents in the mansions of North Tehran.
On Canada's west coast, the Mobilization Against War and Occupation issued a statement sneering at the "crocodile tears" being shed for the Iranian protesters and declared: "Iran's elections and disputes are an internal matter."
Tool of US imperialists?
Kouhestaninejad soon found himself back to fending off the persistent complaint that has so confounded efforts to build bridges between Iran's unions, feminists and student activists and their estranged Canadian counterparts: he was just playing into the hands of the American imperialists.
Then he had to field questions from "progressive" journalists about American and Israeli spies behind Iran's young activists. "I tell them, 'they are not puppets of any agency, don't insult their intelligence.' You should see the attacks I'm getting now from the anti-imperialists in Toronto," he said.
The rot runs deep.
It's commonplace on the Left to pretend that the rot is confined to marginal pseudo-left groupuscules, and that it's no big deal that a Left-Islamist alliance has captured the key posts in Canada's "anti-war" movement. But if you keep your eye on what Kouhestaninejad calls the broken connections between the Left in the West and the Left in Iran, you'll notice that it matters.
In March, following shocking reports that Afghan president Hamid Karzai had approved a "rape law" to appease Afghanistan's Shia minority, anti-imperialist groups claimed a stunning propaganda coup. Their argument went like this: It just goes to show, Canada's role in Afghanistan has nothing to do with protecting women's rights, it's just like the Taliban days, we're just propping up these horrible government, and it's all just a U.S.-run military occupation. Troops out.
That soon became the received wisdom.
But if Canadians had been paying attention to what the Left in Iran has been saying they would have known that it was all rubbish.
Where the rape law was written
The Afghan "rape law" was written in Tehran. It drew directly from the "Law Supporting the Family," which stalled in the Iranian parliament in 2008 following an open revolt led by Iranian women. The law was brought to Afghanistan by its Afghan proxy, the hated Afghan cleric Mohammed Asif Mosehni. In Kabul, Mosehni does Tehran's dirty work from his own opulent mosque, with his own madrassa, television station and radio station. He even runs an Afghan version of Iran's "morality police" to harass and terrorize Afghanistan's Shia minority.
"So long as we don't change the regime in Tehran, we will continue to have terrible problems, and not just in Iran," Kouhestaninejad said. "We will have problems in Palestine, in Lebanon, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan. The regime has its fingers in everything. For as long as the regime is there, we will have these problems, and they will not go away."
And so long as the Left in Canada pretends that this is just somebody else's business, the rot will not go away. It's done enough damage already.
It is our business.
Defending a dictatorship
It was only a few weeks ago that NDP MP Olivia Chow, Toronto Star columnist Linda McQuaig and CBC pundit Heather Mallick were all rushing to the defence of the renegade British MP George Galloway, the Iranian regime's most brazen and slobbering apologist in the English-speaking world. They happily parroted Galloway's false claim that Ottawa wouldn't let him keep his "anti-war" speaking engagements in Canada for fear of what he might say about Canada's role in Afghanistan. McQuaig went so far as to praise Galloway for possessing "the mental toughness of Noam Chomsky and the showmanship of Mick Jagger."
As soon as Tehran's streets began filling with masses of protesters two weeks ago, Galloway declared himself against the Iranian uprising and for the regime's ruling Guardian Council. Galloway issued his verdict from the platform of his own long-running, regular program on Press TV, the regime's English-language propaganda network.
It is not that Galloway has changed. Iran is the same totalitarian state he and his supporters were defending last year and the year before that. Neither did Iran’s farcical June 12 election change anything.
Tehran's ayatollahs still run a blood-stained, belligerent and authoritarian theocracy where all non-Islamist political parties are banned, semi-literate clerics choose who can run for office and who cannot, and independent trade unions are banned. The clerics control the news media, foreign policy, and the army. Their morality police roam the streets arresting women if they look too "western" and their Basiji militiamen roam the campuses looking for pamphleteers to beat up. None of that has changed.
A revolt gaining traction
What's changed is that the long campaign for Iranian democracy, for workers' rights, and for the hundreds of union leaders, journalists and human rights activists in Iranian prisons, has at last started to gain some global traction. What's changed is that the tireless efforts of Kouhestaninejad and his colleagues at the CLC, the International Trade Union Confederation, the International Transport Workers Federation and Educational International are starting to pay off.
"We are in good shape," Kouhestaninejad told me last Thursday. "We are in very good shape."
But mainly, what has changed is this business about Ahmadinejad's free pass, and the cynical, stupid politics that allow him to have it. What's changed is that the leaders of the uprising are demanding the regime's isolation, and they mean it. What's changed is that now, anyone who excuses or accommodates the regime's propagandists, agents and apologists in Canada’s trade unions, social-justice networks, anti-racism campaigns or student organizations, is an enemy of the Iranian uprising.
The uprising changes everything.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Conspiracy scenario and fake results of Iranian elections
Justice for All
Freedom, Justice, Honor, Courage
******************************************************************
Tuesday June 29th, 2009
Correspondent from Iraq
RE: Conspiracy scenario and fake results of Iranian elections
Most totalitarian dictatorial regimes use the same manner in dealing with their peoples when they see these peoples started protest the dictatorial policies of these regimes. when these totalitarian regimes see getting their citizens out to streets to protest these dictatorial policies, these regimes start alarm announcing that there is external conspiracy try to rush the people to rebelling against the regime thereby these regimes work on creating scenario of existence fake external enemy to delude their citizens that there is external conspiracy is fed by foreigner countries to shaking the national interior security and stop the citizens in demanding with their civil rights same this scenario we see happen for most totalitarian doctoral regimes around the world, same this scenario these regimes use when they see their peoples started in protest for demand with their civil rights realizing how far the forgery and lying these totalitarian regimes acted on them, and same this scenario happens now in Iran where once Islamic regime found that Iranian people discovered the forgery in final elections results and started protest these fake results, Islamic regime hurried up in accusing the British and United States in standing behind getting crowds of Iranian protesters out to streets for protest these fake results of elections.
It is big shame on Islamic regime and supreme leader, Khamanei when they stated that British and United States are responsible for creating these protests in Iranian street and getting hundreds of thousands of Iranians out to streets for protest fake results of elections because it is ironic matter for Islamic regime to make the will of Iranian people propelled by foreigner countries such as British or United States. Thereby Islamic regime affronted their people when it alleged that British and United States are who propelled Iranian protesters to getting out to streets for protest results of elections. supreme leader, Khamanei when he accused standing British behind arranging these protests, he gave the right to himself to say that British and US decide the fate of Iranians on their behalf, but supreme leader, Khamanei didn’t realize well that free peoples like Persian nation are who decide their fate by themselves and it is impossible to be propelled by other foreigner countries to decide on their behalf.
Supreme leader, Khamnei didn’t care of how far the insult he directed to Iranian protesters when he accused British government that it is responsible in propelling them to streets to arranging these protests as much as he just care for keeping his throne over Iranians.
Supreme leader, Khamanei wanted abortion the protests in Iran alleging that external sides stood behind arranging these protests to turn the sights of Iranian street from the fake results of these elections and give the right to his regime to suppressing these protests deluding the people that there is external danger threatens Iran behind these protests and it is required unifying the lines to address that alleged danger, but supreme leader couldn’t to delude the Iranians with that fake scenario where protests kept continuous in Iranian streets after his release in spite of using the brutal means by Islamic regime to suppressing the protesters to stopping these protests.
Most totalitarian regimes like Islamic regime work on creating external conspiracy scenario fed by foreign countries when they see their citizens started demand with their civil rights and realize how far the lying and forgery of their totalitarian regimes.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Iran 'has arrested 2,000’ in violent crackdown on dissent
More than 2,000 Iranians have been arrested and hundreds more have disappeared since the regime decided to crush dissent after the disputed presidential election, a leading human rights organisation said yesterday.
“A climate of terror and of fear reigns in Iran today,” the International Federation for Human Rights , an umbrella body for 155 human rights organisations, said as it released the startling figures.
Last night 3,000 protesters tried to gather outside a mosque in Tehran where they believed that Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated presidential candidate, was going to speak. The police rapidly dispersed them and Mr Mousavi never appeared.
Having largely suppressed such protests, the security forces are engaged in a purge of dissidents in an apparent effort to decapitate Mr Mousavi’s so-called green movement.
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Prominent Iranian actors, actresses, writers and singers are believed to have been seized at the weekend for supporting the demonstrators. Several opposition bloggers have fallen silent, probably because they have been detained. Almost anyone who dares to challenge President Ahmadinejad’s re-election is now considered an enemy of the state.
At least one senior Mousavi aide and other unidentified Iranians have appeared on state television to “confess” that the demonstrations were part of a foreign conspiracy against the Islamic Republic.
Human Rights Watch says that the Basiji — volunteer Islamic militiamen — are raiding houses, beating civilians and destroying their cars and other property in an effort to silence the nightly rooftop chanting that has become the opposition’s last means of peaceful protest. “The Basiji entered our neighbourhood and started firing live rounds into the air, in the direction of the buildings from which they believe the shouting of ‘Allahu akbar’ [God is greatest] is coming from,” a middle-aged Tehran resident said.
“Shortly thereafter my cousin arrived at our apartment. He was very shaken. The Basiji had entered their house and they had destroyed the doors and they had destroyed cars in the street. In every neighbourhood of Tehran people are talking about how the Basiji and other security services are coming into their houses and terrorising people.”
A senior Western diplomat said that the regime had achieved a short-term victory and was determined to press home its advantage. “It is a system which has been challenged and which now strikes back.”
The Obama Administration and the European Union said that they would have to engage with the regime to try to halt its nuclear programme, despite the charges of election-rigging and brutality.
David Axelrod, President Obama’s senior adviser, said: “Nuclear weapons in Iran and the nuclearisation of that whole region is a threat to that country, all countries in the region, and the world, and we have to address that. We cannot let that lie.”
Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said: “We would like very much that soon we will have the possibility to restart multilateral talks with Iran on the important nuclear issues.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, appeared on state television to mock what he described as the absurd and interfering criticism of Iran by Western leaders, and to call for national unity in the face of foreign threats. “If the nation and political elite are united in heart and mind, the incitement of international traitors and oppressive politicians will be ineffective,” he declared.
President Ahmadinejad hit back at President Obama’s increasingly blunt criticism of the regime by asking what had happened to his talk of change, and added: “If you continue your meddlesome stance, the response of the Iranian nation will be crushing. The response will cause remorse.”
Despite the regime’s intense pressure on Mr Mousavi to accept the election result, he issued another defiant website message yesterday in which he rejected the regime’s offers of a partial recount and renewed his demand for a new ballot. One Iranian analyst called it a “hell no, I won’t go” statement.
Mr Mousavi said that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cronies did not steal the election merely by stuffing ballot boxes, but that they broke electoral laws before, during and after the voting. “Limiting the probe into complaints about electoral irregularities to recounting 10 per cent of the ballot boxes cannot attract people’s trust and convince public opinion about the results,” he said.
Mehdi Karoubi, another defeated candidate, also rejected the regime’s offer. “How is it possible to answer controversies through counting some ballots?” he wrote in a letter to the Guardian Council, which oversees elections.
The opposition’s options look increasingly limited. With street demonstrations no longer possible, the battle is turning into a behind-the-scenes political struggle that could last many weeks or months.
Mr Ahmadinejad has the support of Mr Khamenei, the security forces, the judiciary and most government institutions. Mr Mousavi has the backing of two former Presidents, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. The Parliament and the clerics, two powerful constituencies, appear split.
Meanwhile the millions of Mousavi supporters who took to the streets after the election now lack a plan, direction and clear leadership. “Everybody is depressed, everybody is afraid,” said a young man from north Tehran. Another man, from Isfahan, lamented: “We have no one to lead us.”
“A climate of terror and of fear reigns in Iran today,” the International Federation for Human Rights , an umbrella body for 155 human rights organisations, said as it released the startling figures.
Last night 3,000 protesters tried to gather outside a mosque in Tehran where they believed that Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated presidential candidate, was going to speak. The police rapidly dispersed them and Mr Mousavi never appeared.
Having largely suppressed such protests, the security forces are engaged in a purge of dissidents in an apparent effort to decapitate Mr Mousavi’s so-called green movement.
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Prominent Iranian actors, actresses, writers and singers are believed to have been seized at the weekend for supporting the demonstrators. Several opposition bloggers have fallen silent, probably because they have been detained. Almost anyone who dares to challenge President Ahmadinejad’s re-election is now considered an enemy of the state.
At least one senior Mousavi aide and other unidentified Iranians have appeared on state television to “confess” that the demonstrations were part of a foreign conspiracy against the Islamic Republic.
Human Rights Watch says that the Basiji — volunteer Islamic militiamen — are raiding houses, beating civilians and destroying their cars and other property in an effort to silence the nightly rooftop chanting that has become the opposition’s last means of peaceful protest. “The Basiji entered our neighbourhood and started firing live rounds into the air, in the direction of the buildings from which they believe the shouting of ‘Allahu akbar’ [God is greatest] is coming from,” a middle-aged Tehran resident said.
“Shortly thereafter my cousin arrived at our apartment. He was very shaken. The Basiji had entered their house and they had destroyed the doors and they had destroyed cars in the street. In every neighbourhood of Tehran people are talking about how the Basiji and other security services are coming into their houses and terrorising people.”
A senior Western diplomat said that the regime had achieved a short-term victory and was determined to press home its advantage. “It is a system which has been challenged and which now strikes back.”
The Obama Administration and the European Union said that they would have to engage with the regime to try to halt its nuclear programme, despite the charges of election-rigging and brutality.
David Axelrod, President Obama’s senior adviser, said: “Nuclear weapons in Iran and the nuclearisation of that whole region is a threat to that country, all countries in the region, and the world, and we have to address that. We cannot let that lie.”
Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said: “We would like very much that soon we will have the possibility to restart multilateral talks with Iran on the important nuclear issues.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, appeared on state television to mock what he described as the absurd and interfering criticism of Iran by Western leaders, and to call for national unity in the face of foreign threats. “If the nation and political elite are united in heart and mind, the incitement of international traitors and oppressive politicians will be ineffective,” he declared.
President Ahmadinejad hit back at President Obama’s increasingly blunt criticism of the regime by asking what had happened to his talk of change, and added: “If you continue your meddlesome stance, the response of the Iranian nation will be crushing. The response will cause remorse.”
Despite the regime’s intense pressure on Mr Mousavi to accept the election result, he issued another defiant website message yesterday in which he rejected the regime’s offers of a partial recount and renewed his demand for a new ballot. One Iranian analyst called it a “hell no, I won’t go” statement.
Mr Mousavi said that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cronies did not steal the election merely by stuffing ballot boxes, but that they broke electoral laws before, during and after the voting. “Limiting the probe into complaints about electoral irregularities to recounting 10 per cent of the ballot boxes cannot attract people’s trust and convince public opinion about the results,” he said.
Mehdi Karoubi, another defeated candidate, also rejected the regime’s offer. “How is it possible to answer controversies through counting some ballots?” he wrote in a letter to the Guardian Council, which oversees elections.
The opposition’s options look increasingly limited. With street demonstrations no longer possible, the battle is turning into a behind-the-scenes political struggle that could last many weeks or months.
Mr Ahmadinejad has the support of Mr Khamenei, the security forces, the judiciary and most government institutions. Mr Mousavi has the backing of two former Presidents, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. The Parliament and the clerics, two powerful constituencies, appear split.
Meanwhile the millions of Mousavi supporters who took to the streets after the election now lack a plan, direction and clear leadership. “Everybody is depressed, everybody is afraid,” said a young man from north Tehran. Another man, from Isfahan, lamented: “We have no one to lead us.”
Iranian Prince: 'My Moment Will Come'
IRANIAN PRINCE: 'MY MOMENT WILL COME'
The heir to the throne of the deposed Shah of Iran says he is willing to die for his country and is ready to return and "play a prominent role" in Iranian affairs.
"My moment for the return to my country will come, I assure you," Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, told The Media Line in an exclusive interview from his home in Washington, DC. "I want to be in my homeland. I have been forced into a scenario of exile," he said. "I believe that any Iranian like myself should have the right to live in his own country and contribute the best that one can as an Iranian to the betterment of our country."
Pahlavi's father died in exile after being ousted during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
To many, the likelihood that the Shah's son could become the next leader of Iran is slim, but in the turmoil following the recent elections, the possible resurrection of the Iranian monarchy is once again being discussed.
"I'm not running for office right now," he continued. "My job is to help my compatriots achieve liberty and get rid of this system... if at that time my fellow compatriots want me to play a prominent role in the political scene, they will have to decide that then."
Over the weekend it was revealed that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards are hunting for the protesters captured in widely distributed photographs of the demonstrations, and Amnesty International accused the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary group, of going into hospitals to arrest activists injured in street protests. The news came days after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said leaders of the demonstrations may face execution.
Given the recent unrest, the 48-year-old former crown prince said the timing of his return to Iran was a question of tactics, not safety. "I've always said that I'm willing to die for my country," he said. "But the circumstances have to be ripe."
Pahlavi's father, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was installed as Shah in a 1953 CIA-led coup, replacing the country's democratically elected government. U.S. President Barack Obama referred to the episode in his speech to the Muslim world earlier this month. "In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically-elected Iranian government," Obama said, the first U.S. president to admit the U.S. role in the coup, in a clear overture to Iran.
The Shah ruled for over 25 years and was ousted by Ayatollah Khomenei in the 1979 Islamic revolution, after a year of massive street demonstrations. The crown prince was a teenager taking flight training lessons in Texas at the time.
Many Iranians say they enjoyed more social freedoms under the Shah's rule, such as the freedom for men and women to associate publicly, but poverty, illiteracy, torture and violent suppression of civilian dissent were all widespread.
Supporters of Pahlavi, most of them Iranians in exile, advocate for a democratic parliamentary system with a monarch whose role is to unite Iranian ethnic groups.
"Iran can have a parliamentary democracy, a secular system where there is a clear separation between religion and government," Pahlavi told The Media Line. "This is the moment for Iran. What you see now is 30 years' worth of pent-up frustration that is literally exploding," he said. "Such a regime, no matter how repressive, cannot fight everybody all over the place at the same time, which is why it is important that this broad based resistance keeps going."
Pahlavi said the relative lull in protests over the past few days was not a sign that Iranians had accepted the status quo. "There is a degree of repression that may force a temporary retreat simply to preserve and protect people's lives," he said. "The substance of the demands is not going to die down."
The former crown prince said there were numerous signs that the regime was slowly imploding from within.
"I have spoken to a number of highly-placed, responsible commanders of the security forces and the Revolutionary Guards who, being totally disillusioned, have now said that it's no longer tenable for us to continue serving such a regime that is so blatantly killing our own compatriots," he said.
"Some of these people, they were my age at the time of the revolution," he continued. "They sacrificed their lives in defense of our homeland and for the sake of their citizens. Could they today turn their guns against the children of those they were protecting?"
"I don't believe so, and that's why I'm telling you I have absolute faith that we will succeed, but the question is, how soon and at what cost?" he added.
Pahlavi, whose father was a close U.S. ally, has been increasingly critical of the Obama administration's approach to Iran. "While I applaud the President's strong stance in support for human rights in Iran," he said, "there is also a dilemma in his policy of engagement... I believe it ought to be suspended until there is a stable government that is indeed supported by the Iranian people. If you continue to engage now, not only will it be a slap in the face of Iranians who are in a quest for democracy, but it will also not work."
The former crown prince says Western governments should consider a dual approach. "There has been a monopoly by the regime and its representatives on communication with the outside world," he said. "I've always suggested that there should be a dual track approach, in the spirit of those who want to engage the regime to also engage with the democratic opposition."
"Why do you think most of the slogans written on the streets of Iran are in English?" he asked. "Do they want to talk to each other in the foreign language? That should be a significant signal to the outside world that this is not just an internal debate - we want the outside to show solidarity with us... I always found it a little bit awkward that such a relationship was not created.
By Benjamin Joffe-Walt on Sunday, June 28, 2009
The heir to the throne of the deposed Shah of Iran says he is willing to die for his country and is ready to return and "play a prominent role" in Iranian affairs.
"My moment for the return to my country will come, I assure you," Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, told The Media Line in an exclusive interview from his home in Washington, DC. "I want to be in my homeland. I have been forced into a scenario of exile," he said. "I believe that any Iranian like myself should have the right to live in his own country and contribute the best that one can as an Iranian to the betterment of our country."
Pahlavi's father died in exile after being ousted during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
To many, the likelihood that the Shah's son could become the next leader of Iran is slim, but in the turmoil following the recent elections, the possible resurrection of the Iranian monarchy is once again being discussed.
"I'm not running for office right now," he continued. "My job is to help my compatriots achieve liberty and get rid of this system... if at that time my fellow compatriots want me to play a prominent role in the political scene, they will have to decide that then."
Over the weekend it was revealed that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards are hunting for the protesters captured in widely distributed photographs of the demonstrations, and Amnesty International accused the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary group, of going into hospitals to arrest activists injured in street protests. The news came days after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said leaders of the demonstrations may face execution.
Given the recent unrest, the 48-year-old former crown prince said the timing of his return to Iran was a question of tactics, not safety. "I've always said that I'm willing to die for my country," he said. "But the circumstances have to be ripe."
Pahlavi's father, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was installed as Shah in a 1953 CIA-led coup, replacing the country's democratically elected government. U.S. President Barack Obama referred to the episode in his speech to the Muslim world earlier this month. "In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically-elected Iranian government," Obama said, the first U.S. president to admit the U.S. role in the coup, in a clear overture to Iran.
The Shah ruled for over 25 years and was ousted by Ayatollah Khomenei in the 1979 Islamic revolution, after a year of massive street demonstrations. The crown prince was a teenager taking flight training lessons in Texas at the time.
Many Iranians say they enjoyed more social freedoms under the Shah's rule, such as the freedom for men and women to associate publicly, but poverty, illiteracy, torture and violent suppression of civilian dissent were all widespread.
Supporters of Pahlavi, most of them Iranians in exile, advocate for a democratic parliamentary system with a monarch whose role is to unite Iranian ethnic groups.
"Iran can have a parliamentary democracy, a secular system where there is a clear separation between religion and government," Pahlavi told The Media Line. "This is the moment for Iran. What you see now is 30 years' worth of pent-up frustration that is literally exploding," he said. "Such a regime, no matter how repressive, cannot fight everybody all over the place at the same time, which is why it is important that this broad based resistance keeps going."
Pahlavi said the relative lull in protests over the past few days was not a sign that Iranians had accepted the status quo. "There is a degree of repression that may force a temporary retreat simply to preserve and protect people's lives," he said. "The substance of the demands is not going to die down."
The former crown prince said there were numerous signs that the regime was slowly imploding from within.
"I have spoken to a number of highly-placed, responsible commanders of the security forces and the Revolutionary Guards who, being totally disillusioned, have now said that it's no longer tenable for us to continue serving such a regime that is so blatantly killing our own compatriots," he said.
"Some of these people, they were my age at the time of the revolution," he continued. "They sacrificed their lives in defense of our homeland and for the sake of their citizens. Could they today turn their guns against the children of those they were protecting?"
"I don't believe so, and that's why I'm telling you I have absolute faith that we will succeed, but the question is, how soon and at what cost?" he added.
Pahlavi, whose father was a close U.S. ally, has been increasingly critical of the Obama administration's approach to Iran. "While I applaud the President's strong stance in support for human rights in Iran," he said, "there is also a dilemma in his policy of engagement... I believe it ought to be suspended until there is a stable government that is indeed supported by the Iranian people. If you continue to engage now, not only will it be a slap in the face of Iranians who are in a quest for democracy, but it will also not work."
The former crown prince says Western governments should consider a dual approach. "There has been a monopoly by the regime and its representatives on communication with the outside world," he said. "I've always suggested that there should be a dual track approach, in the spirit of those who want to engage the regime to also engage with the democratic opposition."
"Why do you think most of the slogans written on the streets of Iran are in English?" he asked. "Do they want to talk to each other in the foreign language? That should be a significant signal to the outside world that this is not just an internal debate - we want the outside to show solidarity with us... I always found it a little bit awkward that such a relationship was not created.
By Benjamin Joffe-Walt on Sunday, June 28, 2009
Iran's Military Rank
Lower officer ranks
3rd Lieutenant "Sotvan zevom" (ستوان سوم) is the junior officer and the first officer rank. It is portrayed by one star on the shoulder.
2nd Lieutenant "Sotvan dovom" (ستوان دوم) is the second rank of officers. It is portrayed by two stars on the shoulder.
1st Lieutenant "Sotvan yekom" (ستوان يكم) is the third rank of officer. It is portrayed by three stars on the shoulder.
Captain "Sarvan" (سروان) is the four rank of officer. They usually are the start of considerable responsibility level. They are portrayed by four stars on the shoulder.
Major "Sargord" (سرگرد) is the fifth of the officer ranks, it is portrayed by one "ghope".
Lieutenant Colonel "Sarhang dovom" (سرهنگ دوم) is the junior grade for colonel and usually holds a great deal of responsibility. it is portrayed by two "ghope"
Colonel "Sarhang" (سرهنگ) is the senior officer for the type of officers listed above. It is portrayed by three "ghope"
Upper officer ranks (generals تيمسار)
"Sartip dovom" (سرتيپ۲) is the lowest general rank. There is no equivalent for this rank in US army, because it was fabricated after Islamic revolution of Iran. It is portrayed by two crossing wheat plants embracing the emblem of Allah.
Brigadier General "Sartip" (سرتيپ) is portrayed by a star and two crossing wheat plants embracing the emblem of Allah.
Major General "Sarlashkar" (سرلشكر) is portrayed by two stars and two crossing wheat plants embracing the emblem of Allah. Practically it has been the highest rank in the army, after the Islamic revolution of Iran; e.g. at the moment, it is the rank of the heads of Artesh, Sepah, and also the head of joint chiefs of staff of the military.
Lieutenant general "Sepahbod" (سپهبد) is portrayed by three stars and two crossing wheat plants embracing the emblem of Allah.
General or Full General "Arteshbod" (ارتشبد) It is portrayed by four stars and two crossing wheat plants embracing the emblem of Allah.
Field Marshal "Farmandeye kole ghova" (فرمانده كل قوا) is the highest military rank and the commander-in-chief of the military. This rank is reserved for the supreme leader of Iran.
US Army equivalent Army and Air Forces - نیروی زمینی و هوایی Navy Force - در نیروی دریایی
Private Sarbaz سرباز Navi ناوی
Corporal Sarjukhe سرجوخه Sarnavi سرناوی
Sergeant Second Class Gruhban sevom گروهبان ۳ Mahnavi sevom مهناوی ۳
Sergeant First Class Gruhban dovom گروهبان ۲ Mahnavi dovom مهناوی ۲
Sergeant Gruhban yekom گروهبان ۱ Mahnavi yekom مهناوی ۱
Sergeant Major Ostovar استوار Nav ostovar ناواستوار
Sotvan sevom ستوان ۳ Navban sevom ناوبان ۳
Lieutenant Second Class Sotvan dovom ستوان ۲ Navban dovom ناوبان ۲
Lieutenant First Class Sotvan yekom ستوان ۱ Navban yekom ناوبان ۱
Captain Sarvan سروان Nav sarvan ناوسروان
Major Sargord سرگرد Nakhoda sevom ناخدا سوم
Lieutenant Colonel Sarhang dovom سرهنگ دوم Nakhoda dovom ناخدا دوم
Colonel Sarhang سرهنگ Nakhoda yekom ناخدا یکم
Sartip dovom سرتیپ ۲ Daryadar dovom دریادار ۲
Brigadier General Sartip سرتیپ Daryadar دریادار
Major General Sarlashkar سرلشگر Daryaban دریابان
Lieutenant General Sepahbod سپهبد Daryabod دریابد
(Four Star) General Arteshbod ارتشبد Daryasalar دریاسالار
Field Marshal Farmandeye kole ghova فرمانده کل قوا Farmandeye kole ghova فرمانده کل قوا
3rd Lieutenant "Sotvan zevom" (ستوان سوم) is the junior officer and the first officer rank. It is portrayed by one star on the shoulder.
2nd Lieutenant "Sotvan dovom" (ستوان دوم) is the second rank of officers. It is portrayed by two stars on the shoulder.
1st Lieutenant "Sotvan yekom" (ستوان يكم) is the third rank of officer. It is portrayed by three stars on the shoulder.
Captain "Sarvan" (سروان) is the four rank of officer. They usually are the start of considerable responsibility level. They are portrayed by four stars on the shoulder.
Major "Sargord" (سرگرد) is the fifth of the officer ranks, it is portrayed by one "ghope".
Lieutenant Colonel "Sarhang dovom" (سرهنگ دوم) is the junior grade for colonel and usually holds a great deal of responsibility. it is portrayed by two "ghope"
Colonel "Sarhang" (سرهنگ) is the senior officer for the type of officers listed above. It is portrayed by three "ghope"
Upper officer ranks (generals تيمسار)
"Sartip dovom" (سرتيپ۲) is the lowest general rank. There is no equivalent for this rank in US army, because it was fabricated after Islamic revolution of Iran. It is portrayed by two crossing wheat plants embracing the emblem of Allah.
Brigadier General "Sartip" (سرتيپ) is portrayed by a star and two crossing wheat plants embracing the emblem of Allah.
Major General "Sarlashkar" (سرلشكر) is portrayed by two stars and two crossing wheat plants embracing the emblem of Allah. Practically it has been the highest rank in the army, after the Islamic revolution of Iran; e.g. at the moment, it is the rank of the heads of Artesh, Sepah, and also the head of joint chiefs of staff of the military.
Lieutenant general "Sepahbod" (سپهبد) is portrayed by three stars and two crossing wheat plants embracing the emblem of Allah.
General or Full General "Arteshbod" (ارتشبد) It is portrayed by four stars and two crossing wheat plants embracing the emblem of Allah.
Field Marshal "Farmandeye kole ghova" (فرمانده كل قوا) is the highest military rank and the commander-in-chief of the military. This rank is reserved for the supreme leader of Iran.
US Army equivalent Army and Air Forces - نیروی زمینی و هوایی Navy Force - در نیروی دریایی
Private Sarbaz سرباز Navi ناوی
Corporal Sarjukhe سرجوخه Sarnavi سرناوی
Sergeant Second Class Gruhban sevom گروهبان ۳ Mahnavi sevom مهناوی ۳
Sergeant First Class Gruhban dovom گروهبان ۲ Mahnavi dovom مهناوی ۲
Sergeant Gruhban yekom گروهبان ۱ Mahnavi yekom مهناوی ۱
Sergeant Major Ostovar استوار Nav ostovar ناواستوار
Sotvan sevom ستوان ۳ Navban sevom ناوبان ۳
Lieutenant Second Class Sotvan dovom ستوان ۲ Navban dovom ناوبان ۲
Lieutenant First Class Sotvan yekom ستوان ۱ Navban yekom ناوبان ۱
Captain Sarvan سروان Nav sarvan ناوسروان
Major Sargord سرگرد Nakhoda sevom ناخدا سوم
Lieutenant Colonel Sarhang dovom سرهنگ دوم Nakhoda dovom ناخدا دوم
Colonel Sarhang سرهنگ Nakhoda yekom ناخدا یکم
Sartip dovom سرتیپ ۲ Daryadar dovom دریادار ۲
Brigadier General Sartip سرتیپ Daryadar دریادار
Major General Sarlashkar سرلشگر Daryaban دریابان
Lieutenant General Sepahbod سپهبد Daryabod دریابد
(Four Star) General Arteshbod ارتشبد Daryasalar دریاسالار
Field Marshal Farmandeye kole ghova فرمانده کل قوا Farmandeye kole ghova فرمانده کل قوا
Iran releases 'some British Embassy staff'
Iran says certain members of the British Embassy staff in Tehran have been released after preliminary investigations but others will remain in custody.
"The British Embassy played a crucial role in the recent (post-election) unrest both through its local staff and via media," IRNA quoted Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i as saying on Sunday.
"We have photos and videos of certain local employees of the British Embassy, who collected news about the protests," he added.
"The Embassy sent its local staff to rallies and inculcated ideas into the protestors and the society," said the minister.
Iranian security officials on Saturday arrested eight of the British Embassy's local staff members for 'inflaming post-election tensions' in the country.
Following the June 12 election, which saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected to a second four-year term, Iran became the scene of rallies with defeated candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi rejecting the result as fraudulent and demanding a re-run.
Iran has lashed out at what it calls foreign 'interference' in its internal affairs, saying the 'biased' attitude of European countries and their media incited the post-election unrest.
Following the detention of the British Embassy staff in Tehran, foreign ministers of the European Union warned that the 27-member bloc would meet any Iranian intimidation of European diplomatic staff in Tehran with a "strong and collective response".
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, who is currently the EU president, also urged Iran to immediately release the detained British Embassy staff members and the Greek journalist arrested in the country.
"The EU calls on Iran and its authorities to stop hostilities against EU member states as well as (the) EU's partner countries and their citizens and to release an EU journalist still in custody," said Kohout.
"The EU strongly denounces arbitrary arrests and repression against members of the civil society," he added.
"The British Embassy played a crucial role in the recent (post-election) unrest both through its local staff and via media," IRNA quoted Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i as saying on Sunday.
"We have photos and videos of certain local employees of the British Embassy, who collected news about the protests," he added.
"The Embassy sent its local staff to rallies and inculcated ideas into the protestors and the society," said the minister.
Iranian security officials on Saturday arrested eight of the British Embassy's local staff members for 'inflaming post-election tensions' in the country.
Following the June 12 election, which saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected to a second four-year term, Iran became the scene of rallies with defeated candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi rejecting the result as fraudulent and demanding a re-run.
Iran has lashed out at what it calls foreign 'interference' in its internal affairs, saying the 'biased' attitude of European countries and their media incited the post-election unrest.
Following the detention of the British Embassy staff in Tehran, foreign ministers of the European Union warned that the 27-member bloc would meet any Iranian intimidation of European diplomatic staff in Tehran with a "strong and collective response".
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, who is currently the EU president, also urged Iran to immediately release the detained British Embassy staff members and the Greek journalist arrested in the country.
"The EU calls on Iran and its authorities to stop hostilities against EU member states as well as (the) EU's partner countries and their citizens and to release an EU journalist still in custody," said Kohout.
"The EU strongly denounces arbitrary arrests and repression against members of the civil society," he added.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The Exile
Questions for Reza PahlaviThe Exile By DEBORAH SOLOMON
You are said to be a leader of the Iranian exile groups working to overthrow the regime whose clerics and mullahs overthrew your father exactly 30 years ago in the Islamic Revolution and forced your family out of the country. What do you do on a day-by-day basis, exactly?
I am in contact with all sorts of groups that are committed to a secular, democratic alternative to the current regime. We believe in a democratic parliamentary system, where there’s a clear separation between church and state, or in this case, mosque and state.
Has the American government aided you?
No, no. I don’t rely on any sources other than my own compatriots.
But presumably you’re working with American agents in the C.I.A. or elsewhere who have been trying to destabilize the Iranian regime for years.
Your presumption is absolutely and unequivocally false.
How did you end up settling in Bethesda, Md., with your wife and children?
It happens to be circumstantial. To me, it’s a temporary place to live.
Why would you call your decades of living near Washington “temporary”?
Because my desire has always been to permanently return to my homeland.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed victory over Mir Hussein Moussavi in an election that was widely condemned as fraudulent. What do you make of him?
The cry for freedom you hear in the streets of Iran right now is well beyond the fact of whether it’s one candidate versus the other. It’s about the fact that for 30 years they have been denied their most basic rights.
Many people believe that Moussavi would be more a more moderate president than Ahmadinejad.
The same argument was made during the Soviet era, where one would argue that one person would be supposedly more moderate than the other. But at the end, they all represented a Communist, totalitarian system. I think that anyone the Iranian regime prescreens would not be a true representative of the nation.
What do you make of Ahmadinejad’s rants against Israel?
Of course it’s troubling, and it’s connected again to the viral, violent message embedded in the ideology that was brought about by Khomeini himself at the time of the revolution.
Did you see the speculation from Iran that Ahmadinejad has Jewish roots? Do you think the claim is true?
Look, we hear a lot of things, but the big picture here should not be forgotten. If we say Jewish roots, aren’t we all the children of Abraham if you come to think of it?
What religion are you?
That’s a private matter; but if you must know, I am, of course, by education and by conviction, a Shiite Muslim. I am very much a man of faith.
What do you say to those who associate your father’s rule with the violation of civil rights? He ran a brutal secret police.
I leave this judgment to history. My focus is the future.
Some say the media clampdown in Iran and censorship of the foreign press are tactics Ahmadinejad learned from your father. You don’t feel obligated to acknowledge your dad’s misdeeds?
The current regime is, by any measure, the standard-bearer and global poster child for militancy, brute autocracy and corruption. If they are in fact students of my father, his ultimate act of refusing suppressive bloodshed in favor of exile should be their test.
When your father fled Tehran and went into exile, he reportedly took a lot of money with him. Would you describe yourself today as a billionaire?
Those are the recycling of 30-year-old propaganda by the clerical militants of the time. If you were to learn of my net worth, you would be more than surprised.
Do you feel bitter about not getting to be shah?
This is not a personal matter. This is not about me.
INTERVIEW HAS BEEN CONDENSED AND EDITED.
James announces shadow cabinet
VICTORIA - New Democrat leader Carole James today announced the members of the official Opposition shadow cabinet. She said the new NDP team will hold the Campbell government accountable for its election promises and provide positive alternatives to help British Columbians through the economic recession, to protect our environment, and to improve vital public services.
"The new NDP team reflects the diversity of the province and the communities they represent," said James. "I have charged them with holding the Campbell government accountable and with providing positive solutions that reflect the core values New Democrats bring to the legislature - fairness, opportunity and equality."
James said the caucus members will start by focusing on the government's response to the economic recession. She said that since the election the premier has backed away from his commitments to protect vital public services like health care and education and is hiding the true state of B.C.'s finances.
"Premier Campbell is poised to break his fundamental election promise to protect core public services," said James. "Proposed cuts to health care revealed this week will make tough times tougher and will hurt B.C.'s economic recovery.
"Mr. Campbell needs to recognize that his government has a responsibility to help stimulate economic recovery and provide security to families and communities facing hardship," James said. "He must recognize British Columbians' right to an economy that works for everyone and to fundamentals like quality health care, safe communities, education and opportunity for all."
James said that the premier should provide British Columbians with an honest economic and fiscal update to provide a clear picture of the province's fiscal situation. She said that British Columbians deserve the truth to make the right decisions about spending priorities and the steps that are needed to protect services, grow the economy and bring B.C.'s books back to balance.
"The B.C. Liberals are putting off the budget until the fall but our team is getting down to work holding the government accountable for hiding the truth about the deficit and breaking its key election promises. At the same time, we'll put forward positive solutions to grow the economy and provide security to families and communities," James said.
"The new NDP team reflects the diversity of the province and the communities they represent," said James. "I have charged them with holding the Campbell government accountable and with providing positive solutions that reflect the core values New Democrats bring to the legislature - fairness, opportunity and equality."
James said the caucus members will start by focusing on the government's response to the economic recession. She said that since the election the premier has backed away from his commitments to protect vital public services like health care and education and is hiding the true state of B.C.'s finances.
"Premier Campbell is poised to break his fundamental election promise to protect core public services," said James. "Proposed cuts to health care revealed this week will make tough times tougher and will hurt B.C.'s economic recovery.
"Mr. Campbell needs to recognize that his government has a responsibility to help stimulate economic recovery and provide security to families and communities facing hardship," James said. "He must recognize British Columbians' right to an economy that works for everyone and to fundamentals like quality health care, safe communities, education and opportunity for all."
James said that the premier should provide British Columbians with an honest economic and fiscal update to provide a clear picture of the province's fiscal situation. She said that British Columbians deserve the truth to make the right decisions about spending priorities and the steps that are needed to protect services, grow the economy and bring B.C.'s books back to balance.
"The B.C. Liberals are putting off the budget until the fall but our team is getting down to work holding the government accountable for hiding the truth about the deficit and breaking its key election promises. At the same time, we'll put forward positive solutions to grow the economy and provide security to families and communities," James said.
Campbell Gov’t Suppressed Damaging Welfare Stats During Election
June 22, 2009
VICTORIA - Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request show the Campbell government's Public Affairs Bureau instructed ministry officials to cancel the release of damaging welfare caseload stats during the spring election campaign, New Democrat leader Carole James said today.
The welfare stats set for regular release on April 30 were finally made public May 15, 2009. They showed a significant increase in welfare rolls, reflecting high unemployment and resulting in additional budget pressures.
"These documents show that the highly politicized Public Affairs Bureau cancelled the routine release of these damaging welfare caseload numbers during the election. It's clear the Campbell government put its political interests ahead of the public's right to information about B.C.'s economy and fiscal situation," said James.
"Two weeks ago, we learned that the government wasn't telling the truth about health care cuts in B.C.'s health authorities. Now we learn that the Campbell Liberals directed the bureaucracy to hold back the truth about exploding welfare rolls," said James. "That's wrong. The premier owes an explanation and he must take action to ensure British Columbians can count on his government for the true story."
As part of an email exchange, a ministry official confirmed to a colleague in an email that "...we will not be updating the caseload stats on the public website until after the election, based on direction from PAB."James said the increase in B.C.'s welfare caseload, raises questions not only about the premier's refusal to be transparent, but also about his assertions for months that B.C.'s economy was immune to the ongoing financial instability.
VICTORIA - Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request show the Campbell government's Public Affairs Bureau instructed ministry officials to cancel the release of damaging welfare caseload stats during the spring election campaign, New Democrat leader Carole James said today.
The welfare stats set for regular release on April 30 were finally made public May 15, 2009. They showed a significant increase in welfare rolls, reflecting high unemployment and resulting in additional budget pressures.
"These documents show that the highly politicized Public Affairs Bureau cancelled the routine release of these damaging welfare caseload numbers during the election. It's clear the Campbell government put its political interests ahead of the public's right to information about B.C.'s economy and fiscal situation," said James.
"Two weeks ago, we learned that the government wasn't telling the truth about health care cuts in B.C.'s health authorities. Now we learn that the Campbell Liberals directed the bureaucracy to hold back the truth about exploding welfare rolls," said James. "That's wrong. The premier owes an explanation and he must take action to ensure British Columbians can count on his government for the true story."
As part of an email exchange, a ministry official confirmed to a colleague in an email that "...we will not be updating the caseload stats on the public website until after the election, based on direction from PAB."James said the increase in B.C.'s welfare caseload, raises questions not only about the premier's refusal to be transparent, but also about his assertions for months that B.C.'s economy was immune to the ongoing financial instability.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Urgent Request for Support of the Iranian People
IRANIAN WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION (USA)
YOUNG IRANIAN WOMEN'S SECTION
P.O. Box 5461 Chatsworth, CA 91313, USA
Telephone: 818-888-3389 E-mail: iranabdi@hotmail.com
June 22, 2009
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary of State Clinton:
As the representative of your great nation, we plead with you to support the Iranian people who have poured
into the streets of Iran and to help stop the violence against them. These demonstrators' only "crime" was to
demand their basic human rights and freedom from repression. Nothing can protect these men and women
against the despotic Islamic Republic, except their courage and the moral support of nations like yours that
respect freedom and the sanctity of human lives. We implore you, therefore, to publicly support them and to
help them secure a free, secular democracy in Iran.
Please do not turn a blind eye to their pleas for help. Like the rest of the world population, Iranians can no
longer endure more bloodshed, ruthlessness, and fallen heroes. Nor can they submit to the tyranny that has
besieged their country for 30 years. Since its inception, the Islamic Republic brought the rule of terror to Iran
and has succeeded in spreading its cancerous extremism to other countries. The world, including your country,
will never be safe as long as the violence and terrorism of this fascist regime continue to thrive. This hateful
oligarchy is based on plunder, total submission, and destruction of anyone or anything that obstructs its brutality.
It is an established fact that the terrorist-breeding Islamic Republic has plundered the nation of Iran of its human
and economic wealth. It has destroyed a thriving middle class and in turn has created a society of "haves" and
"have-nots." While the cronies of this regime live in luxury around the world, the majority of Iranians suffer in
poverty and destitution. Even the handpicked President of this renegade regime cannot hide its double-digit
inflation rate, estimated as high as 30% to 40%. Do you wonder who these young demonstrators are? Many are
among the millions of talented college graduates who cannot find jobs and have chosen to die rather than to
continue living under a repressive theocracy.
And, lest you forget: this tyrannical regime has robbed Iranian women of all basic human rights. When it
imposed its fanatical ideology 30 years ago, this regime turned back the clock on all women by a period of 1400
years! It stripped them from the equal rights they already enjoyed before the revolution. Today, women are
forced to cover themselves in a shroud and to submit to a strict dress code under threat of severe punishment.
The primitive laws of the Islamic Republic reduce a women's value to just half that of a man. Accordingly, a
woman's testimony is only worth half as much. Women are not allowed to be judges, because they are proven
"irrational beings" and thus are classified in the same group as the insane. Even if her husband abuses her, a wife
has no right to divorce. But the same abusive husband can practice polygamy and can instantaneously divorce
her. Women are not granted custody of their minor children. Yet, custody is automatically granted to the father,
even if he is a drug addict. Do you wonder who the women are marching in the streets today? Many are collegeeducated
women who cannot walk in a street with a man, unless they carry proof that the man is either her
husband, brother, or father. Punishment for defying this absurd law is incarceration. We plead with you to
respond to Neda's call for freedom. Please do not allow her blood to have been shed in vain.
IRANIAN WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION (USA)
YOUNG IRANIAN WOMEN'S SECTION
P.O. Box 5461 Chatsworth, CA 91313, USA
Telephone: 818-888-3389 E-mail: iranabdi@hotmail.com
June 22, 2009
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton
June 22, 2009
Page 2
IRANIAN WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION (USA)
YOUNG IRANIAN WOMEN'S SECTION
We ask you not to disregard the religious fascism practiced in the name of God by this decadent theocracy. It is
common knowledge that the Islamic Republic persecutes all religious minorities from Jews to Baha'is to Sunni
Muslims. It accepts no one except those who practice its un-Islamic violent definition of God. As recent as two
months ago, it imprisoned seven (including two women) leaders of the Baha'i religion under a bogus charge. In
the first quarter of 2009 alone, it publicly hanged, before the eyes of children, more than 50 Iranians under
fabricated charges. Your country might have been the scene of one of many chain executions by the Islamic
Republic's squads, which have savagely beheaded expatriate Iranians.
Please keep in mind that the Islamic Republic capriciously defines whatever it pleases as a crime, and sentences
the people to severe punishment for defying that whim. For example, this government can charge people with
"corruption on earth" and summarily hang them. No one can deny that this regime of terror stones people, cuts
off their hands, or blinds them. It jails minors until they reach adulthood and then executes them without any
show of mercy. It immediately silences any voice that even remotely challenges its repression. We want you to
remember the jailed Mansour Osanlou, whose tongue was cut off for daring to speak against workers' dismal
conditions. We want you to remember the two world-renowned physician brothers, Arash and Kamiar Alaei,
who are imprisoned to this day on a fabricated charge of fomenting a revolution. There are thousands more
who are held in captivity on similar fabricated charges.
This same terrorist regime has forced the Iranian nation to suffer international sanctions caused by its own
underhanded actions. To buy time for its corrupt survival, it imports illegal drugs for its jobless, exports illegal
substances to raise money, and exploits its women by selling them abroad for prostitution. No one can deny that
Iran has the highest rate of heroin addicts in the world. While continuing to squeeze the life out of its citizens,
this brutal theocracy fabricates one crisis after another to stay in power. The American hostage crisis,
kidnapping and killing of foreign journalists, and bombing embassies and a Jewish center in Argentina are just a
few incidents to bear in mind.
And, please do not forget the Islamic Republic's terrorist training camps and hubs established all over the world,
maybe even in your homeland. In the quest to spread its religious fascism, its officials specialize in training
terrorists. This includes the so-called reformist former President Khatami who spoke of dialogue among
nations, yet presided over the creation of the Hezbollah terrorist networks. It is well known that this despotic
regime audaciously denies its own citizens food and shelter, while at the same time spending millions to spread
terrorism outside its borders and sheltering terrorists, such as Bin Laden's son and Al Qaeda members, inside its
borders.
We insist that you acknowledge the recent statements of Iran's supreme leader, Khamenei. He openly admitted
that his handpicked opposition leaders, Mousavi and Karoubi, share the same deep commitment to the decadent
religious fascism that sparked Iran's bloody revolution. No one can ignore that as the speaker of a sham
parliament, Mr. Karoubi sanctioned into law many of the atrocities being committed by this regime. Nor can
one deny that under his premiership, Mr. Mousavi was the father of the nuclear program and directly responsible
for the cultural purge that eradicated thousands of Iranians, including the mass execution of over 6,000 political
prisoners in 1988.
In today's brutal repression, you are witnessing only a tiny sample of what the Iranian people have routinely
experienced over the past 30 years under this bloodthirsty theocracy. We beseech you to support the millions of
loyal Iranian citizens who wish simply to regain their human rights. We appeal to you to help them end the
violence, brutality, and corruption heaped upon them. These proud descendants of Cyrus the Great just want
basic human rights, freedom, a secular democracy, and an end to the Islamic Republic. We urge you to use your
considerable voice and influence to help them secure these precious goals that are common to all humanity.
Respectfully,
Dokhi Abdi, Secretary General
Braidwood testimony should be used in Polish trial of RCMP officers: lawyer
A Polish lawyer wants a court in his country to use evidence from the Braidwood inquiry to prosecute four RCMP officers involved in the death of Robert Dziekanski.
Poland is considering whether to charge the Mounties for crimes against a Polish citizen after Dziekanski died shortly after being stunned several times with a Taser by the RCMP in the arrivals lounge of Vancouver International Airport in October 2007.
But Warsaw-based lawyer Piotr Banasik said the testimony should be used as evidence if Poland charges the Mounties for alleged crimes against a Polish citizen. Dziekanski had just arrived on a flight from Poland and was waiting to be picked up by his mother at the time.
The lawyer said the Polish prosecution has been stalled for months because of limited information from Canada, but vital details have emerged at the Braidwood inquiry, which has been underway in Vancouver for the past year.
Canadian officials have already said the officers will not be charged in Canada and testimony given at the Braidwood Inquiry cannot be used against them in any Canadian trial.
During the inquiry, the RCMP officers testified they stunned Dziekanski with a conducted energy weapon several times because he was acting in a threatening manner, but several expert and eyewitnesses disputed their version of events.
The Braidwood inquiry is scheduled to resume in September.
Poland is considering whether to charge the Mounties for crimes against a Polish citizen after Dziekanski died shortly after being stunned several times with a Taser by the RCMP in the arrivals lounge of Vancouver International Airport in October 2007.
But Warsaw-based lawyer Piotr Banasik said the testimony should be used as evidence if Poland charges the Mounties for alleged crimes against a Polish citizen. Dziekanski had just arrived on a flight from Poland and was waiting to be picked up by his mother at the time.
The lawyer said the Polish prosecution has been stalled for months because of limited information from Canada, but vital details have emerged at the Braidwood inquiry, which has been underway in Vancouver for the past year.
Canadian officials have already said the officers will not be charged in Canada and testimony given at the Braidwood Inquiry cannot be used against them in any Canadian trial.
During the inquiry, the RCMP officers testified they stunned Dziekanski with a conducted energy weapon several times because he was acting in a threatening manner, but several expert and eyewitnesses disputed their version of events.
The Braidwood inquiry is scheduled to resume in September.
Iran Was an Easier Enemy Before We Saw Their Faces
If you want to kill with a clean conscience, the faces of the enemy had better be blank. Start to see them as human beings and it becomes harder to blockade and bomb them, to mine, and pollute, and "destabilize." President Clinton had no imagining of the disease he would bring to the innocent in Sudan by the "surgical" missile attack on the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in 1998. George W. Bush had a happy warrior's notion of the fury he would unleash on Falluja when he gave the order to destroy that city after the election of 2004. The Sudan bombing was treated by the American press as a distraction from a sex scandal. The second siege of Falluja--tens of thousands of houses crushed or cratered--was hardly covered at all.
The faces of the people, and not "the face of the enemy." The difference between the abstract and the individual is decisive for imagination. It is the faces that are indelible, as we saw in the streets of Tehran, whether the men and women were holding up cell phones or placards written black on green, or waving a bloodied shirt or bandage; or holding a rock, as some in Iran did, and as the members of other crowds, less kindly portrayed in the American press, have been known to do. It isn't the face of the enemy that we see in these pictures. No, these are people much like ourselves, who don't want to die at the hands of their government--or at the hands of ours, either, for that matter.
We know them from the messages they have sent by Twitter; by the evidence of their large and small sacrifices; by their expressed loyalty to a God whom they invoke in prayers against the abuse of power by their leaders. The faces are peculiar, personal, and counter to expectation; they show an energy of original purpose. I want to live as much as you do, they say.
The large plans for good wars need to reduce the enemy to an abstraction before the bombing feels right. The most famous of American war promoters, John McCain, has a simple and emphatic ability to abstract--Iraq, Gaza, Georgia, Iran, it is all one to him. They turn him on and fire him up. Wars, he thinks (and was raised to think), are simply the spectacular way that we settle our affairs in this world. But successful abstraction is a mental trick that is not possible to everyone.
The secular prophets for the bombing of Iran have always known how to perform this trick. They knew long before they fell in love with a fraction of the Iranian people. McCain himself, and Charles Krauthammer and Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman and Alan Dershowitz--all are friends of Iran, as they see it. Friends of the Iran of their minds, which will some day replace the enemy Iran. The proof of their friendship is their eagerness to secure a blockade and to bomb.
And how these prophets of war loved the protests! Here was the real Iran, yearning to be surgically struck. We will bring these Iranians their freedom, said McCain and the rest, by killing their country. So let us cheer them now, and metaphorically shake their hand by satellite image, before we bomb them for their own sakes.
There was an odd thing, though. With the swell of vicarious protest--the pulse of resistance beating for Iran in American hearts that haven't for years protested against an abuse of American power--none of the Iranians was saying what the men of our war party took them to be saying. The Iranians were not saying: "Please, America, heed our call, and lay down sanctions against us. Starve and debilitate, murder us with 'black ops' and lecture and bomb us into your idea of civilization." They seemed to say none of those things. Their message was short and their faces said only what faces can say: "Here we are; we, too, are Iran. Now watch us--we know what we're about."
In the absence of local clients in the theatre of action--all of Iran seems to offer nothing on the lines of Ahmad Chalabi, no-one that Americans can call our own--the McCain gesture has been reduced to a strut. The sham is revealed by the fact that the people who criticize Barack Obama for saying too little today cannot cite the name of a single Iranian dissident who wants the United States to say more (let alone to take an active role). There is not one politician in that country of 70 million who wishes the United States to be his special backer. On the contrary: an American endorsement is death to an Iranian politician. We are, after all, the casualties of our history: our access to oil in the days when Iranians enjoyed no such access, our support for Iraq in its war with Iran, our training of the Shah's secret police, the Savak, in methods of torture whose victims number between 25,000 and 100,000.
Nor does the curious contrast under the apparent alignment escape the notice of the more observant Iranians today. The American-Iranian journalist Kouross Esmaeli, for example, said on Monday in an interview with Amy Goodman:
The Iranians know Senator John McCain as the man who sang "Bomb, bomb Iran" during the elections of last year. The man holds no credibility as far as supporting Iranians or seeming like he's got the best interests of the Iranians at heart. . . .President Obama's stand, I think, has been the most sensible, and it's amazing that the President of the United States is taking such a sensible stand. . . . Everyone I've talked to in Iran has said the same thing, that we do not need any symbol of Western, especially American, interference in Iran's internal politics. And the fact that America does not have diplomatic relations with Iran really ties its hands as far as how far he can go in really supporting Iran.
This judgment by an Iranian dissident was recently echoed by Joe Klein--a journalist who knows that the war party have democracy most on their lips when they have destruction in their hearts. The bluster of Senator McCain in support of resistance abroad, said Klein,
is a self-indulgence at this point. Senator McCain, if he's going to talk about this, should also talk about the fact that the United States supported Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war for eight years. Every one of those protesters out in the streets, every last one of them believes the United States supplied Saddam Hussein with the poison gas that has debilitated tens of thousands of Iranian men.
To call McCain's recent statements self-indulgent is charitable. They are the convenient reflex of a hothead, whose alternations between principle and opportunism would be dizzying if the two postures were not so often indistinguishable.
A striking feature of the American coverage of the protests has been the omission of the word Israel. For it is to Israel, and especially the ministries that have governed Israel since 2001, that we in America owe our sense that the overthrow of the present regime in Iran is an exigent concern for us. The idea--absurd on the face of it--that Iran is a "suicide nation" and that its nuclear research must consequently be stopped at once and by violent means, has re-appeared in recent days. The idea of the suicide nation is meant to stimulate the crime of war that it excuses; but like all such abstract ideas, it is untestable and therefore impossible to defeat by rational argument.
The best reply to those who would show support of the good Iran by a military strike against the bad Iran was given last week by an Israeli journalist, Zvi Bar'el, in Haaretz:
Suddenly, there appears to be an Iranian people. Not just nuclear technology, extremist ayatollahs, the Holocaust-denying Ahmadinejad, and an axis of evil. All of a sudden, the ears need to be conditioned to hear other names: "'Mousawi' or 'Mousavi,' how is it pronounced exactly?"; Mehdi Karroubi; Khamenei ("It's not 'Khomeini'?"). . . .Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators did not pour into the streets due to American intervention or threats from Israel. They want a better Iran for themselves, not for Obama or Benjamin Netanyahu. They will be the ones to determine what qualifies as a better Iran.
This is the crux of the confusion that we have stumbled upon. The grand enemy that was neatly packaged into a nuclear, Shi'ite-religious container has come apart at the seams. On the one hand, it threatens, while on the other hand it demonstrates for democracy. On one street, it raises a fist against America, and in another alley, streams of protesters march for human rights. For goodness' sake, who is left to bomb?
The question is finely framed. But it needs to be followed by another question. Who wants to bomb?
The answer, in Israel, is those whose idea of Israeli security is to create a devastation all around Israel. The answer in America is those who have an appetite for wars. But a shockingly small number of them have ever set foot into the trouser leg of a military uniform. McCain is an exception, but McCain bombed the Vietnamese from a tremendous height. He witnessed, once, the effects of napalm, and said he preferred not to think about it again. (That is another meaning of abstraction.) So let us say it plainly. The abstract men of power who have now set up as critics of Barack Obama for his want of aggression, the new special friends of "the real Iran"--their warmth, their zeal, their passion all depend on the ability or deformation that allows them to turn a chosen enemy into an inhuman blank.
In America, we have also heard more seductive and moderate-sounding appeals from those who speak of "regime change" as a thing that outside forces can help Iran to achieve. This goes with the ethic of Romantic interventionism which has a nineteenth-century prehistory in the writings and actions of Byron and Gladstone, among others. But we cannot reawaken the old imperial idealism at this moment without the imperialism out of which it naturally grew.
All vicarious politics is sick--the more eager, excited, and fraternal, the more prone to self-deception. The vicarious politics of liberation only adds a dimension of self-righteousness to the fault Edmund Burke detected in the politics of all revolutions: "The very idea of the fabrication of a new government is enough to fill us with disgust and horror." But the reformers of Tehran know well enough what they are about; they know in spite of (perhaps at odds with) the help with which we would encumber them. They are not calling it revolution. And whatever they end up doing, we should not try to name it or clinch its meaning for them.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
John McCain
Iran
Israel
Witnesses report clashes around Iran's parliament
Witnesses report clashes around Iran's parliament
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN – 27 minutes ago
CAIRO (AP) — Witnesses say protesters and riot police are clashing in the streets around Iran's parliament.
Three witnesses tell The Associated Press that hundreds of protesters have gathered in a square next to the parliament building in defiance of government orders to halt demonstrations demanding a new presidential election.
The witnesses say the police beat the protesters with batons, fired tear gas and shot in the air. Some demonstrators fought police while others fled to another Tehran square about a mile (2 kilometers) to the north.
Amateur video posted Wednesday showed young men and women throwing rocks and pushing barricades, one blazing, in the street. Others shouted: "Death to the dictator!" The video could not immediately be verifed due because of government reporting restrictions.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
CAIRO (AP) — Iran's supreme leader said Wednesday that the government would not yield to demonstrators who want a disputed presidential election annulled, effectively closing the door to compromise with the opposition.
The wife of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was defiant, saying protesters refused to buckle under a situation she compared to martial law. Mousavi's official Web site said a protest was planned outside Iran's parliament Wednesday afternoon.
Amateur video posted on YouTube by people saying it was taken at protests Wednesday showed groups of young people chanting on a Tehran street. One showed men and women throwing rocks and pushing barricades, one blazing, in the street. Others shouted: "Death to the dictator!"
The time and place the video was taken could not be immediately confirmed due to restrictions on foreign media in Iran.
A helicopter could be seen hovering over central Tehran. A witness who walked through Baharestan Square in front of the parliament building around 7 p.m., three hours after the scheduled start of the protest, told The Associated Press it was swarmed by hundreds of riot police who did not allow people to even briefly gather.
Thousands more security officers filled the surrounding streets, said the witness, who declined to give his name for fear of government reprisals.
Severe restrictions on reporters have made it almost impossible to independently verify reports on demonstrations, clashes and casualties. Iran has ordered journalists for international news agencies to stay in their offices, barring them from reporting on the streets.
Mousavi's Web site had distanced him from the planned protest, calling it independent and saying it had not been organized by the reformist candidate.
But his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, a former university dean who campaigned beside him, said on another of his Web sites that his followers had the constitutional right to protest and the government should not deal with them "as if martial law has been imposed in the streets."
She called for the release of all activists and others arrested at protests.
Mousavi, a former prime minister, saw his campaign transform into a protest movement after the government declared that hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the June 12 election. Mousavi says the result was fraudulent, and Western analysts who have examined available data on the vote said there were indications of manipulation.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered protests to end, leaving Mousavi with the choice of restraining followers or continuing to directly challenge the country's ultimate authority despite threats of escalating force.
"On the current situation, I was insisting and will insist on implementation of the law. That means, we will not go one step beyond the law," Khamenei said on state television. "For sure, neither the system nor the people will yield to pressure at any price." He used language that indicated he was referring to domestic pressures.
He told opposition supporters once again to halt their protests and accused the U.S., Britain and other foreign powers of fomenting days of unprecedented street protests over the vote.
Meanwhile Wednesday, a conservative candidate in the disputed presidential election said he was withdrawing his complaints about voting fraud for the sake of the country, state television reported.
The announcement by Mohsen Rezaie, a former commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, moved the cleric-led government one step closer to a final declaration of victory for Ahmadinejad. State TV reported that Ahmadinejad would be sworn in sometime between July 26 and Aug. 19.
Iran also said that it was considering downgrading ties with Britain, which it has directly accused of spying in recent days.
The government accused Britain of using spies to foment the protests and Iran expelled two British diplomats Tuesday. Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that two Iranian diplomats were being sent home in retaliation.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was asked about the option of reducing diplomatic relations with London after a Cabinet meeting in Tehran.
"We are studying it," Mottaki said, according to state television.
State media have said that at least 17 people have been killed in postelection unrest, including 10 protesters shot during the largest demonstration on Saturday.
Mousavi's supporters flooded the streets of Tehran and other cities after the presidential vote, massing by the hundreds of thousands in protests larger than any since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Security forces initially stood by and permitted the demonstrations.
Amateur footage of a 27-year-old woman bleeding to death from a gunshot on a Tehran street unleashed outrage at home and abroad.
Despite the heavy security, a few Iranians apparently dared to venture onto the streets to pay tribute to that victim, who has been identified as Neda Agha Soltan.
On Wednesday, smoldering embers of candles were clearly visible on a street corner in central Tehran, where a vigil was held the night before for the slain young woman.
Another opposition figure, reformist presidential candidate Mahdi Karroubi, had called for a day of mourning Thursday for those killed in protests since the election.
Saeed Razavi, the spokesman for Karroubi's campaign, said on the candidate's official Web site later that any mourning was canceled because authorities hadn't given permission.
He said the mourning would be next week at the University of Tehran or near where those slain were buried.
Also, a Mousavi aide confirmed that police had raided offices of a newspaper owned by the candidate and detained 25 editorial employees.
Ali Reza Beheshti said the raid took place Monday evening in central Tehran as editorial members were preparing to relaunch the newspaper, Kalemeh Sabz, or the Green Word. The paper had been absent from newsstands for more than a week.
"Police in uniform raided the office and detained 25 members of the editorial staff," Beheshti said.
Amnesty International said Wednesday it was concerned that arrested demonstrators were at risk of torture or other ill treatment. It urged Iranian authorities to give the detainees access to their families, lawyers and any medical treatment they might need.
"Anyone detained solely for their peaceful expression of their views regarding the outcome of the election should be released immediately and unconditionally," it said.
Two players on Iran's national soccer team, Mehdi Mahdavikia and Ali Karimi, resigned for personal reasons, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported. The pair were among several team members who wore wrist bands in green — the color of Mousavi's opposition movement — before a World Cup qualifying match played last week against South Korea in Seoul.
Associated Press Writer William J. Kole in Cairo contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN – 27 minutes ago
CAIRO (AP) — Witnesses say protesters and riot police are clashing in the streets around Iran's parliament.
Three witnesses tell The Associated Press that hundreds of protesters have gathered in a square next to the parliament building in defiance of government orders to halt demonstrations demanding a new presidential election.
The witnesses say the police beat the protesters with batons, fired tear gas and shot in the air. Some demonstrators fought police while others fled to another Tehran square about a mile (2 kilometers) to the north.
Amateur video posted Wednesday showed young men and women throwing rocks and pushing barricades, one blazing, in the street. Others shouted: "Death to the dictator!" The video could not immediately be verifed due because of government reporting restrictions.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
CAIRO (AP) — Iran's supreme leader said Wednesday that the government would not yield to demonstrators who want a disputed presidential election annulled, effectively closing the door to compromise with the opposition.
The wife of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was defiant, saying protesters refused to buckle under a situation she compared to martial law. Mousavi's official Web site said a protest was planned outside Iran's parliament Wednesday afternoon.
Amateur video posted on YouTube by people saying it was taken at protests Wednesday showed groups of young people chanting on a Tehran street. One showed men and women throwing rocks and pushing barricades, one blazing, in the street. Others shouted: "Death to the dictator!"
The time and place the video was taken could not be immediately confirmed due to restrictions on foreign media in Iran.
A helicopter could be seen hovering over central Tehran. A witness who walked through Baharestan Square in front of the parliament building around 7 p.m., three hours after the scheduled start of the protest, told The Associated Press it was swarmed by hundreds of riot police who did not allow people to even briefly gather.
Thousands more security officers filled the surrounding streets, said the witness, who declined to give his name for fear of government reprisals.
Severe restrictions on reporters have made it almost impossible to independently verify reports on demonstrations, clashes and casualties. Iran has ordered journalists for international news agencies to stay in their offices, barring them from reporting on the streets.
Mousavi's Web site had distanced him from the planned protest, calling it independent and saying it had not been organized by the reformist candidate.
But his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, a former university dean who campaigned beside him, said on another of his Web sites that his followers had the constitutional right to protest and the government should not deal with them "as if martial law has been imposed in the streets."
She called for the release of all activists and others arrested at protests.
Mousavi, a former prime minister, saw his campaign transform into a protest movement after the government declared that hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the June 12 election. Mousavi says the result was fraudulent, and Western analysts who have examined available data on the vote said there were indications of manipulation.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered protests to end, leaving Mousavi with the choice of restraining followers or continuing to directly challenge the country's ultimate authority despite threats of escalating force.
"On the current situation, I was insisting and will insist on implementation of the law. That means, we will not go one step beyond the law," Khamenei said on state television. "For sure, neither the system nor the people will yield to pressure at any price." He used language that indicated he was referring to domestic pressures.
He told opposition supporters once again to halt their protests and accused the U.S., Britain and other foreign powers of fomenting days of unprecedented street protests over the vote.
Meanwhile Wednesday, a conservative candidate in the disputed presidential election said he was withdrawing his complaints about voting fraud for the sake of the country, state television reported.
The announcement by Mohsen Rezaie, a former commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, moved the cleric-led government one step closer to a final declaration of victory for Ahmadinejad. State TV reported that Ahmadinejad would be sworn in sometime between July 26 and Aug. 19.
Iran also said that it was considering downgrading ties with Britain, which it has directly accused of spying in recent days.
The government accused Britain of using spies to foment the protests and Iran expelled two British diplomats Tuesday. Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that two Iranian diplomats were being sent home in retaliation.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was asked about the option of reducing diplomatic relations with London after a Cabinet meeting in Tehran.
"We are studying it," Mottaki said, according to state television.
State media have said that at least 17 people have been killed in postelection unrest, including 10 protesters shot during the largest demonstration on Saturday.
Mousavi's supporters flooded the streets of Tehran and other cities after the presidential vote, massing by the hundreds of thousands in protests larger than any since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Security forces initially stood by and permitted the demonstrations.
Amateur footage of a 27-year-old woman bleeding to death from a gunshot on a Tehran street unleashed outrage at home and abroad.
Despite the heavy security, a few Iranians apparently dared to venture onto the streets to pay tribute to that victim, who has been identified as Neda Agha Soltan.
On Wednesday, smoldering embers of candles were clearly visible on a street corner in central Tehran, where a vigil was held the night before for the slain young woman.
Another opposition figure, reformist presidential candidate Mahdi Karroubi, had called for a day of mourning Thursday for those killed in protests since the election.
Saeed Razavi, the spokesman for Karroubi's campaign, said on the candidate's official Web site later that any mourning was canceled because authorities hadn't given permission.
He said the mourning would be next week at the University of Tehran or near where those slain were buried.
Also, a Mousavi aide confirmed that police had raided offices of a newspaper owned by the candidate and detained 25 editorial employees.
Ali Reza Beheshti said the raid took place Monday evening in central Tehran as editorial members were preparing to relaunch the newspaper, Kalemeh Sabz, or the Green Word. The paper had been absent from newsstands for more than a week.
"Police in uniform raided the office and detained 25 members of the editorial staff," Beheshti said.
Amnesty International said Wednesday it was concerned that arrested demonstrators were at risk of torture or other ill treatment. It urged Iranian authorities to give the detainees access to their families, lawyers and any medical treatment they might need.
"Anyone detained solely for their peaceful expression of their views regarding the outcome of the election should be released immediately and unconditionally," it said.
Two players on Iran's national soccer team, Mehdi Mahdavikia and Ali Karimi, resigned for personal reasons, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported. The pair were among several team members who wore wrist bands in green — the color of Mousavi's opposition movement — before a World Cup qualifying match played last week against South Korea in Seoul.
Associated Press Writer William J. Kole in Cairo contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Fresh Clashes in Tehran as Cleric Says Iran Will Not Yield
June 25, 2009
Fresh Clashes in Tehran as Cleric Says Iran Will Not Yield
By NAZILA FATHI and ALAN COWELL
TEHRAN — Hundreds of protesters clashed with waves of riot police and paramilitary militia in Tehran on Wednesday, witnesses said, as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insisted that the authorities would not yield to pressure from opponents demanding a new election following allegations of electoral fraud.
It was impossible to confirm the extent of the new violence in the capital because of draconian new press restrictions on coverage of the post-election mayhem. But the witnesses reached by telephone said the confrontation, in the streets near the national Parliament building, was bloody, with police using live ammunition.
Defying government warnings, hundreds, if not thousands of protesters, had attempted to gather in front of the parliament on Baharestan Square, witnesses said. They were met with riot police and paramilitary militia, who struck at them with truncheons, tear gas and guns. One witness said he saw a 19-year-old woman shot in the neck.
Some opposition supporters said that presidential candidate and opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi had been scheduled to address the crowd, but initial reports indicated that he had not appeared.
The violence came as additional details emerged about the sweeping scale of arrests that have accompanied the nation’s worst political crisis since the 1979 revolution. A New York-based human rights group, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, listed the names Wednesday of 240 of the 645 people Iranian state media have reported detained in the crackdown. The total number of detained, the organization said, citing human rights activists in Iran, may be as high as 2,000.
Among them are people arrested in a Monday night raid of a campaign office for Mr. Moussavi in Tehran, Press TV, state television’s English-language satellite broadcaster, reported Wednesday. The government said the office was being used as “a headquarters for psychological war against the country’s security,” and claimed that evidence had been found of “the role of foreign elements in planning post-election unrest.”
Also detained are 102 political figures, 23 journalists, 79 university students and 7 university faculty, the human rights organization said. By official reckonings, at least 17 demonstrators have been killed.
Earlier Wednesday, Ayatollah Khamenei told legislators that he “insisted and will insist on implementing the law on the election issue,” according to accounts in the state-run media. “Neither the establishment nor the nation will yield to pressure at any cost.”
Coupled with the clampdown on the new demonstration, arrests and other developments, the Ayatollah’s comments reinforced the impression that the authorities have resolved to use all levers of power to choke off protest.
The coalition opposed to the election results suffered a setback Wednesday when one candidate formally withdrew his complaints of vote-rigging, opening a rift among those who had challenged the outcome of the June 12 election.
Some opponents maintained their defiance, calling for continued protests and the release of detainees. Despite efforts to silence dissent and despite an appearance of disarray in opposition ranks, Zahra Rahnavard, Mr. Moussavi’s wife who has played an influential role in the opposition, issued a call Wednesday for the immediate release of Iranians detained in election protests, his Web site reported.
“I regret the arrest of many politicians and people and want their immediate release,” Ms. Rahnavard declared. “It is my duty to continue legal protests to preserve Iranian rights.”
The candidate who withdrew his complaint of election fraud, Mohsen Rezai, had initially complained that while the official count gave him 680,000 votes, he had evidence that 900,000 people voted for him. But on Wednesday, Press TV reported, he decided to abandon the complaint, saying the current “political, social and security situation has entered a sensitive and decisive phase which is more important than the election.”
Trailing Mr. Moussavi and the former Parliament speaker, Mehdi Karroubi, Mr. Rezai was the most conservative of the losing candidates and had been under strong pressure from Iran’s rulers to pull back from the confrontation.
Mr. Rezai was quoted as calling the ballot a “clear sample of religious democracy,” sharing language with a powerful defense of the ballot in a sermon last Friday by Ayatollah Khamenei.
Mr. Rezai’s decision to withdraw, regional analysts said, represented an incremental but significant step back for the opposition, since his status as being part of and loyal to the system adding credibility to the overall electoral challenge.
The electoral controversy continued to boil, spilling over Iran’s own borders, as President Obama issued on Tuesday his harshest condemnation of events there yet, saying he was “appalled and outraged” by the attacks on civilian protesters.
“I strongly condemn these unjust actions,” Mr. Obama said during a news conference at the White House.
Iran’s leadership pressed its own charges that foreign powers had meddled in its internal affairs and instigated the widespread protests. State television showed people identified as protesters saying they had been influenced by foreign news media, Reuters reported.
“I think we were provoked by networks like the BBC and the Voice of America to take such immoral actions,” one young man said.
The government has also worked to underscore that it is under attack by terrorists seeking to take advantage of the post-election turmoil. Press TV, quoting the national intelligence minister, said Wednesday that dozens of alleged terrorists have been arrested in the past week, including suspects in the alleged bombing last Saturday of the shine of Ayatollah Imam Khomeini in Tehran that wounded three.
The arrested were linked with “the Zionist and non-Zionist regimes outside the county,” the intelligence minister, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, was quoted as saying.Britain announced it had expelled two Iranian diplomats in a tit-for-tat response to Iran’s decision a day earlier to expel two British diplomats. Iran also lashed out at the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, for his call to end “arrests, threats and use of force.”
Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said on Wednesday Tehran was reviewing whether to downgrade ties with Britain, which Iran has accused of interference in its disputed presidential election, the ISNA semi-official news agency said.
“We are reviewing this issue,” Manouchehr Mottaki said, according to ISNA. He was also quoted as saying Iran would not participate in a meeting of the G-8 countries this week in Italy to discuss Afghanistan with regional powers. The G-8 brings together industrialized nations including the United States and Britain along with other western countries, Japan and Russia.
Nazila Fathi reported from Tehran and Alan Cowell from London. Michael Slackman and Mona el-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo, and Sharon Otterman from New York.
Fresh Clashes in Tehran as Cleric Says Iran Will Not Yield
By NAZILA FATHI and ALAN COWELL
TEHRAN — Hundreds of protesters clashed with waves of riot police and paramilitary militia in Tehran on Wednesday, witnesses said, as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insisted that the authorities would not yield to pressure from opponents demanding a new election following allegations of electoral fraud.
It was impossible to confirm the extent of the new violence in the capital because of draconian new press restrictions on coverage of the post-election mayhem. But the witnesses reached by telephone said the confrontation, in the streets near the national Parliament building, was bloody, with police using live ammunition.
Defying government warnings, hundreds, if not thousands of protesters, had attempted to gather in front of the parliament on Baharestan Square, witnesses said. They were met with riot police and paramilitary militia, who struck at them with truncheons, tear gas and guns. One witness said he saw a 19-year-old woman shot in the neck.
Some opposition supporters said that presidential candidate and opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi had been scheduled to address the crowd, but initial reports indicated that he had not appeared.
The violence came as additional details emerged about the sweeping scale of arrests that have accompanied the nation’s worst political crisis since the 1979 revolution. A New York-based human rights group, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, listed the names Wednesday of 240 of the 645 people Iranian state media have reported detained in the crackdown. The total number of detained, the organization said, citing human rights activists in Iran, may be as high as 2,000.
Among them are people arrested in a Monday night raid of a campaign office for Mr. Moussavi in Tehran, Press TV, state television’s English-language satellite broadcaster, reported Wednesday. The government said the office was being used as “a headquarters for psychological war against the country’s security,” and claimed that evidence had been found of “the role of foreign elements in planning post-election unrest.”
Also detained are 102 political figures, 23 journalists, 79 university students and 7 university faculty, the human rights organization said. By official reckonings, at least 17 demonstrators have been killed.
Earlier Wednesday, Ayatollah Khamenei told legislators that he “insisted and will insist on implementing the law on the election issue,” according to accounts in the state-run media. “Neither the establishment nor the nation will yield to pressure at any cost.”
Coupled with the clampdown on the new demonstration, arrests and other developments, the Ayatollah’s comments reinforced the impression that the authorities have resolved to use all levers of power to choke off protest.
The coalition opposed to the election results suffered a setback Wednesday when one candidate formally withdrew his complaints of vote-rigging, opening a rift among those who had challenged the outcome of the June 12 election.
Some opponents maintained their defiance, calling for continued protests and the release of detainees. Despite efforts to silence dissent and despite an appearance of disarray in opposition ranks, Zahra Rahnavard, Mr. Moussavi’s wife who has played an influential role in the opposition, issued a call Wednesday for the immediate release of Iranians detained in election protests, his Web site reported.
“I regret the arrest of many politicians and people and want their immediate release,” Ms. Rahnavard declared. “It is my duty to continue legal protests to preserve Iranian rights.”
The candidate who withdrew his complaint of election fraud, Mohsen Rezai, had initially complained that while the official count gave him 680,000 votes, he had evidence that 900,000 people voted for him. But on Wednesday, Press TV reported, he decided to abandon the complaint, saying the current “political, social and security situation has entered a sensitive and decisive phase which is more important than the election.”
Trailing Mr. Moussavi and the former Parliament speaker, Mehdi Karroubi, Mr. Rezai was the most conservative of the losing candidates and had been under strong pressure from Iran’s rulers to pull back from the confrontation.
Mr. Rezai was quoted as calling the ballot a “clear sample of religious democracy,” sharing language with a powerful defense of the ballot in a sermon last Friday by Ayatollah Khamenei.
Mr. Rezai’s decision to withdraw, regional analysts said, represented an incremental but significant step back for the opposition, since his status as being part of and loyal to the system adding credibility to the overall electoral challenge.
The electoral controversy continued to boil, spilling over Iran’s own borders, as President Obama issued on Tuesday his harshest condemnation of events there yet, saying he was “appalled and outraged” by the attacks on civilian protesters.
“I strongly condemn these unjust actions,” Mr. Obama said during a news conference at the White House.
Iran’s leadership pressed its own charges that foreign powers had meddled in its internal affairs and instigated the widespread protests. State television showed people identified as protesters saying they had been influenced by foreign news media, Reuters reported.
“I think we were provoked by networks like the BBC and the Voice of America to take such immoral actions,” one young man said.
The government has also worked to underscore that it is under attack by terrorists seeking to take advantage of the post-election turmoil. Press TV, quoting the national intelligence minister, said Wednesday that dozens of alleged terrorists have been arrested in the past week, including suspects in the alleged bombing last Saturday of the shine of Ayatollah Imam Khomeini in Tehran that wounded three.
The arrested were linked with “the Zionist and non-Zionist regimes outside the county,” the intelligence minister, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, was quoted as saying.Britain announced it had expelled two Iranian diplomats in a tit-for-tat response to Iran’s decision a day earlier to expel two British diplomats. Iran also lashed out at the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, for his call to end “arrests, threats and use of force.”
Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said on Wednesday Tehran was reviewing whether to downgrade ties with Britain, which Iran has accused of interference in its disputed presidential election, the ISNA semi-official news agency said.
“We are reviewing this issue,” Manouchehr Mottaki said, according to ISNA. He was also quoted as saying Iran would not participate in a meeting of the G-8 countries this week in Italy to discuss Afghanistan with regional powers. The G-8 brings together industrialized nations including the United States and Britain along with other western countries, Japan and Russia.
Nazila Fathi reported from Tehran and Alan Cowell from London. Michael Slackman and Mona el-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo, and Sharon Otterman from New York.
Iran says Neda's death may be tied to 'terrorist' group
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran said the gunman who killed Neda Agha-Soltan may have mistaken her for the sister of an Iranian "terrorist," the Islamic Republic News Agency reported Wednesday.
In death, Neda Agha-Soltan has emerged as a powerful symbol of opposition to the Iranian government.
more photos »
Iran blamed the death of the woman known to the world simply as Neda squarely on "those groups who want to create division in the nation," saying they planned the woman's killing "to accuse the Islamic republic of ruthlessly dealing with the opposition," according to IRNA, Iran's state-run news agency.
The report said the investigation into her death is ongoing, "but according to the evidence so far, it could be said that she was killed by mistake. The marksmen had mistaken her for the sister of one of the Monafeghin who had been executed in the province of Mazandaran some time ago."
Monafeghin refers to the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran, or PMOI, which promotes a secular, Marxist government for Iran, and has waged a violent campaign against the fundamentalist Islamic regime, including bombings that killed politicians, judges and Cabinet members.
Also known as Mujahedin-e-Khalq, the group initially was formed to oppose the Shah of Iran but fell out of favor with the Islamic Revolution of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after 1979.
Don't Miss
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Slain woman an unlikely martyr
U.S. woman on Tehran ordeal: 'I was terrified'
Complete coverage of Iran election fallout
The European Union removed the group from its list of terrorist organizations this year, prompting outrage from Tehran. The Iranian Foreign Ministry accused the European Union of "making friends and cooperating with terrorists" by removing the group from its list.
Neda, 26, rose to prominence within hours after a crudely shot video documenting her final moments was uploaded to the Web. Shortly after she died Saturday from a single gunshot wound to the chest, she emerged as a powerful symbol of opposition to the Iranian government. See images of Neda and the impact of her death »
"It's heartbreaking," President Obama said Tuesday, referring to the video of Neda, which means "divine calling" in Farsi.
"And I think anyone who sees it knows there's something fundamentally unjust about it."
The Iranian government has sought to minimize the impact of her death. Watch how Neda's death has attracted world attention »
IRNA reported Wednesday that the killer, or killers, may have "thought that they were targeting one of the government opposition people and that is why they immediately distributed the video of the aftermath of the killing through the official and unofficial media in order to reach their murderous objectives against the Iranian government and revolution."
In death, Neda Agha-Soltan has emerged as a powerful symbol of opposition to the Iranian government.
more photos »
Iran blamed the death of the woman known to the world simply as Neda squarely on "those groups who want to create division in the nation," saying they planned the woman's killing "to accuse the Islamic republic of ruthlessly dealing with the opposition," according to IRNA, Iran's state-run news agency.
The report said the investigation into her death is ongoing, "but according to the evidence so far, it could be said that she was killed by mistake. The marksmen had mistaken her for the sister of one of the Monafeghin who had been executed in the province of Mazandaran some time ago."
Monafeghin refers to the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran, or PMOI, which promotes a secular, Marxist government for Iran, and has waged a violent campaign against the fundamentalist Islamic regime, including bombings that killed politicians, judges and Cabinet members.
Also known as Mujahedin-e-Khalq, the group initially was formed to oppose the Shah of Iran but fell out of favor with the Islamic Revolution of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after 1979.
Don't Miss
Violence flares again in Tehran
Slain woman an unlikely martyr
U.S. woman on Tehran ordeal: 'I was terrified'
Complete coverage of Iran election fallout
The European Union removed the group from its list of terrorist organizations this year, prompting outrage from Tehran. The Iranian Foreign Ministry accused the European Union of "making friends and cooperating with terrorists" by removing the group from its list.
Neda, 26, rose to prominence within hours after a crudely shot video documenting her final moments was uploaded to the Web. Shortly after she died Saturday from a single gunshot wound to the chest, she emerged as a powerful symbol of opposition to the Iranian government. See images of Neda and the impact of her death »
"It's heartbreaking," President Obama said Tuesday, referring to the video of Neda, which means "divine calling" in Farsi.
"And I think anyone who sees it knows there's something fundamentally unjust about it."
The Iranian government has sought to minimize the impact of her death. Watch how Neda's death has attracted world attention »
IRNA reported Wednesday that the killer, or killers, may have "thought that they were targeting one of the government opposition people and that is why they immediately distributed the video of the aftermath of the killing through the official and unofficial media in order to reach their murderous objectives against the Iranian government and revolution."
Analysis: Barack Obama's call for change rings hollow in Iran
Change may be the word he made his own during the election campaign but President Barack Obama's uncertain and timid response to the Iran protests suggests he views it as a slogan with little application beyond America's shores. Just over two weeks ago, Mr Obama stood beneath the dome of Cairo University's Great Hall and gave a speech that stirred hearts throughout the Middle East and won him plaudits across the world.
Promising a "new beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the West, he proclaimed his "unyielding belief" in a set of universal principles.
These included "the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed, confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice, government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people, the freedom to live as you choose".
Yet although his statements on the events in Tehran grew tougher over the weekend, Mr Obama has given the protesters – who are calling for the enactment of his Cairo principles – the cold shoulder. Change in Iran, it appears, is the last thing he wants.
Mr Obama stunned supporters of a potential nascent Green Revolution – perhaps a successor to the "colour revolutions" in Ukraine, Georgia and Burma and Lebanon's "Cedar revolution" – by stating that one Iranian leader was pretty much the same as the next.
"It is important to understand that although there is amazing ferment taking place in Iran, that the difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of their actual policies may not be as great as has been advertised," Mr Obama said loftily last week, minutes after his "Dirty Harry" moment in which he dispatched a fly to its maker with the words: "I got the sucker."
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a Mousavi spokesman, wondered bitterly whether Mr Obama liked it when it was said he was just the same as his predecessor, adding: "Ahmadinejad is the Bush of Iran. And Mousavi is the Obama of Iran."
Careful to avoid what he said could be seen in Iran as "meddling" or "moralising", Mr Obama has tried to maintain a restrained, neutral stance, brushing aside the advice of Vice President Joe Biden, who in off-the-record comments has been forcefully advocating a full-throated endorsement of the protesters.
Instead, Mr Obama has played the foreign policy realist – notwithstanding his idealistic rhetoric in Cairo.
His Norwuz message in March broke with tradition by appealing to the "leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran" as well as the people. This month, by visiting Saudi Arabia and choosing to speak in Egypt sent a message that he was ready to deal with Arab autocrats and turn a blind eye to human rights abuses.
This is partly a reaction to President George W. Bush's policy championing of freedom and democracy in the Middle East – not to mention "regime change" – which became discredited by Iraq. But in jettisoning everything that seems tainted by his predecessor, Mr Obama is in danger of throwing out the baby with the bath water.
The new president is an admirer of such Realpolitik figures as Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft and even President George H W Bush. In emulating them, he is essentially now saying that he wants a grand bargain on Iran's nuclear programme and stability in Iran, rather than revolutionary upheaval, suits America's interests.
Following the surprise victory in the Lebanese elections by a moderate, pro-Western coalition over its Hizbollah-led opponents just three days after the Cairo speech, some – encouraged by the White House – proclaimed an "Obama effect" sweeping the Middle East.
But such talk has been muted in recent days. Michael Rubin, a former Bush administration official in Iraq and scholar at the hawkish American Enterprise Institute, said: "There's an unfortunate tendency in Washington to assume that the failure of diplomacy is more to do with one's predecessor than one's adversary.
"And at the same time, there's a tendency to try to take credit while ignoring the fact that the Middle East is a lot more complicated and it doesn't just respond to American rhetoric."
On the Right, there have been heated demands that Mr Obama champion the protesters and declare the election a fraud.
Such an approach would certainly have its perils. White House advisers believe that American encouragement of the protesters could be used as an excuse for brutal repression by the Iranian regime, perhaps triggering bloodshed on the scale of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989.
But in his early statements, Mr Obama clearly assumed that the election was over and that he would be dealing with Mr Ahmadinejad, thereby implicitly aligning himself with the theocratic Iranian regime.
This has led to deep discomfort on the Left. Steve Clemons, a self-described "progressive realist" and senior fellow at the New America Foundation think tank, said that Mr Obama's stance as it developed last week was "somewhat tragic" as well as flawed.
"These speeches he's been giving have been designed to reach deep down into these societies, past their governments to the publics. Now, he's stopped doing that... it showed that the Obama mystique of reaching out to these citizens around the world has reached its limit."
Perhaps the biggest irony is that there might be an Obama effect but that Mr Obama himself is stifling it.
"To a certain degree," said Mr Clemons, "he's undermining his own mystique and frankly his own effect, if in fact it does exist, with this premature, cynical realism."
Promising a "new beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the West, he proclaimed his "unyielding belief" in a set of universal principles.
These included "the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed, confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice, government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people, the freedom to live as you choose".
Yet although his statements on the events in Tehran grew tougher over the weekend, Mr Obama has given the protesters – who are calling for the enactment of his Cairo principles – the cold shoulder. Change in Iran, it appears, is the last thing he wants.
Mr Obama stunned supporters of a potential nascent Green Revolution – perhaps a successor to the "colour revolutions" in Ukraine, Georgia and Burma and Lebanon's "Cedar revolution" – by stating that one Iranian leader was pretty much the same as the next.
"It is important to understand that although there is amazing ferment taking place in Iran, that the difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of their actual policies may not be as great as has been advertised," Mr Obama said loftily last week, minutes after his "Dirty Harry" moment in which he dispatched a fly to its maker with the words: "I got the sucker."
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a Mousavi spokesman, wondered bitterly whether Mr Obama liked it when it was said he was just the same as his predecessor, adding: "Ahmadinejad is the Bush of Iran. And Mousavi is the Obama of Iran."
Careful to avoid what he said could be seen in Iran as "meddling" or "moralising", Mr Obama has tried to maintain a restrained, neutral stance, brushing aside the advice of Vice President Joe Biden, who in off-the-record comments has been forcefully advocating a full-throated endorsement of the protesters.
Instead, Mr Obama has played the foreign policy realist – notwithstanding his idealistic rhetoric in Cairo.
His Norwuz message in March broke with tradition by appealing to the "leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran" as well as the people. This month, by visiting Saudi Arabia and choosing to speak in Egypt sent a message that he was ready to deal with Arab autocrats and turn a blind eye to human rights abuses.
This is partly a reaction to President George W. Bush's policy championing of freedom and democracy in the Middle East – not to mention "regime change" – which became discredited by Iraq. But in jettisoning everything that seems tainted by his predecessor, Mr Obama is in danger of throwing out the baby with the bath water.
The new president is an admirer of such Realpolitik figures as Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft and even President George H W Bush. In emulating them, he is essentially now saying that he wants a grand bargain on Iran's nuclear programme and stability in Iran, rather than revolutionary upheaval, suits America's interests.
Following the surprise victory in the Lebanese elections by a moderate, pro-Western coalition over its Hizbollah-led opponents just three days after the Cairo speech, some – encouraged by the White House – proclaimed an "Obama effect" sweeping the Middle East.
But such talk has been muted in recent days. Michael Rubin, a former Bush administration official in Iraq and scholar at the hawkish American Enterprise Institute, said: "There's an unfortunate tendency in Washington to assume that the failure of diplomacy is more to do with one's predecessor than one's adversary.
"And at the same time, there's a tendency to try to take credit while ignoring the fact that the Middle East is a lot more complicated and it doesn't just respond to American rhetoric."
On the Right, there have been heated demands that Mr Obama champion the protesters and declare the election a fraud.
Such an approach would certainly have its perils. White House advisers believe that American encouragement of the protesters could be used as an excuse for brutal repression by the Iranian regime, perhaps triggering bloodshed on the scale of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989.
But in his early statements, Mr Obama clearly assumed that the election was over and that he would be dealing with Mr Ahmadinejad, thereby implicitly aligning himself with the theocratic Iranian regime.
This has led to deep discomfort on the Left. Steve Clemons, a self-described "progressive realist" and senior fellow at the New America Foundation think tank, said that Mr Obama's stance as it developed last week was "somewhat tragic" as well as flawed.
"These speeches he's been giving have been designed to reach deep down into these societies, past their governments to the publics. Now, he's stopped doing that... it showed that the Obama mystique of reaching out to these citizens around the world has reached its limit."
Perhaps the biggest irony is that there might be an Obama effect but that Mr Obama himself is stifling it.
"To a certain degree," said Mr Clemons, "he's undermining his own mystique and frankly his own effect, if in fact it does exist, with this premature, cynical realism."
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