Iranian Alert -- January 23, 2004 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD --Americans for Regime Change in Iran

The US media almost entirely ignores news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Tony Snow of the Fox News Network has put it, “this is probably the most under-reported news story of the year.” But most American’s are unaware that the Islamic Republic of Iran is NOT supported by the masses of Iranians today. Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East.

There is a popular revolt against the Iranian regime brewing in Iran today. Starting June 10th of this year, Iranians have begun taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy. Many even want the US to over throw their government.

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movement in Iran from being reported. Unfortunately, the regime has successfully prohibited western news reporters from covering the demonstrations. The voices of discontent within Iran are sometime murdered, more often imprisoned. Still the people continue to take to the streets to demonstrate against the regime.

In support of this revolt, Iranians in America have been broadcasting news stories by satellite into Iran. This 21st century news link has greatly encouraged these protests. The regime has been attempting to jam the signals, and locate the satellite dishes. Still the people violate the law and listen to these broadcasts. Iranians also use the Internet and the regime attempts to block their access to news against the regime. In spite of this, many Iranians inside of Iran read these posts daily to keep informed of the events in their own country.

This daily thread contains nearly all of the English news reports on Iran. It is thorough. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary. The news stories and commentary will from time to time include material from the regime itself. But if you read the post you will discover for yourself, the real story of what is occurring in Iran and its effects on the war on terror.

I am not of Iranian heritage. I am an American committed to supporting the efforts of those in Iran seeking to replace their government with a secular democracy. I am in contact with leaders of the Iranian community here in the United States and in Iran itself.

If you read the daily posts you will gain a better understanding of the US war on terrorism, the Middle East and why we need to support a change of regime in Iran. Feel free to ask your questions and post news stories you discover in the weeks to come.

If all goes well Iran will be free soon and I am convinced become a major ally in the war on terrorism. The regime will fall. Iran will be free. It is just a matter of time.

Witness Claims Attack 'Joint Venture' Between Tehran, al-Qaida

January 23, 2004
WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily.com

A surprise witness in the trial of a man charged as an accomplice of the Sept. 11 hijackers stunned a German court by claiming the terrorist plot was a "joint venture" between al-Qaida and the Iranian government.

Hamid Reza Zakeri, who claims to have been a longtime member of the Iranian intelligence service, also implicated the defendant, a 31-year-old former Moroccan student named Abdelghani Mzoud, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing sources familiar with the testimony.

"If the story was true, the consequences would be remarkable," a senior intelligence official told the Tribune.

The official noted the account, presented to a Hamburg court Wednesday, comes more than two years after Sept. 11, 2001, and "looks a little bit constructed."

However, Kenneth Timmerman, a senior writer for Insight magazine who interviewed Zakeri several times last summer, said the man "told a very credible story." [see below]

Iran's Shiite Muslim government denies it has aided al-Qaida, which follows the Sunni branch of Islam. Iran was one of the three nations designated by President Bush as part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and North Korea.

Timmerman wrote in a July article Zakeri claimed he worked for the Iranians' "supreme leader," Ayatollah Ali Khameini.

Zakeri said he attended two meetings between senior Iranian and al-Qaida officials in the months prior to Sept. 11, 2001.

A document purportedly signed by the Iranian intelligence chief, Hojjatoleslam Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, in May 2001 ordered a strike at this country's "economic structure, their reputation and their internal peace and security," according to Timmerman, who said Zakeri gave him a copy.

German federal police were expected to testify yesterday why they believe Zakeri's testimony is credible.

German prosecutor Kay Nehm introduced Zakeri's testimony in a last-minute move to get a conviction in what is likely the last trial in Germany of a suspected 9-11 accomplice.

Last year, another Moroccan student, Mounir al-Motassadeq, was sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison for aiding the Sept. 11 hijackers.

Like Motassadeq, Mzoudi admitted knowing some of the hijackers but denied he knew anything about the plot. Zakeri, according to the German magazine Der Spiegel, claimed Mzoudi acted as the hijackers' liaison with their al-Qaida support network.

Defector Links Iran to 9/11 Attacks

Insight Magazine

January 22, 2004

A national wire service and at least three major metropolitan dailies are chasing a breaking story that may confirm Iran's direct involvement in the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Towers that killed thousands of Americans. The source of the story is defector Hamid Reza Zakeri, now newly surfaced in Europe to give court testimony, who handled security for the planning meetings with al-Qaeda. In early June, Insight was the first to report the Zakeri information [see "Defector Alleges Iranian Involvement in Sept. 11 Attacks"], and to reveal that it dovetailed with a report on Iran's ties with al-Qaeda produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency and first reported by Insight in November 2001 [see "Iran Cosponsors Al-Qaeda Terrorism"].

http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=438491

http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=143349

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36739

Reading Iran Wrong

New York Post - By Amir Taheri
Jan 23, 2004

STARTING a revolution is hard, sustaining it even harder. But it is bringing a revolution to a close that is the hardest. This is the challenge that Iran's divided leadership faces today.

Consider the power struggle in Tehran that started with a sit-in by some 80 members of the Islamic Majlis (parliament) earlier this month.

The sit-in politicians were protesting a decision by the Council of the Guardians of the Constitution to reject their applications for seeking a new term in the Feb. 20 general election. The council, a self-perpetuating body of 12 mullahs and jurists, has the constitutional duty of checking applications and deciding who can and who cannot be a candidate.

Some foreign observers believe the fight is between a "hard-line" faction clinging to power and a "moderate" coalition that wishes to set Iran on course for democracy. Parts of the Western media identify the "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei as leader of the "hard-liners" and President Muhammad Khatami as the standard-bearer of the "moderates."

All this reminds one of the old days of Kremlinology, when Western specialists tried to detect differences between Nikita Khrushchev and Grigori Malenkov on the basis of who had his suits cut by an Italian tailor.

The Kremlinologists divided the Soviet leadership into "hawks" and "doves," exaggerating what was a power struggle inside a small, and increasingly isolated, Nomenklatura into a fight of almost cosmic significance. The premise was that the Soviet system could be reformed.

A later version of Kremlinology promoted the idea of "Communism with a human face." Kremlinologists clung to their illusions right to the end. Even as the Soviet Titanic was sinking, they toured the world to seek support for Mikhail Gorbachev, who continued to sing of "revolutionary Leninist solutions."

Today, the Kremlinologists have been replaced by Iranologists: Western scholars and journalists who, continuing a well-established tradition of fascination for totalitarian ideologies, always support a revolution for as long as it does not affect them personally.

As mentioned, the typical Iranologist sees two factions in the present power struggle. Again, the illusion is that the "moderates" would preserve the romance of the revolution minus its ugly aspects.

Instead of "Communism with a human face," we now get "Khomeinism with a smiling face." The reality is more complex. To start with, this is a power struggle within the ruling establishment. No outsider, not even those who had collaborated with the regime in its earlier stages, is allowed any role, even as an extra.

Both factions insist that only those who are "100 percent Khomeinist" should be allowed to stand for election. Thus the debate is not about free elections in the sense understood in any democracy but about the right of some regime insiders to prevent some other insiders from becoming candidates. The best way to describe all this is as a family feud.

If you look at the top 600 positions in Iran today, including the 290 members of the Islamic Majlis (parliament), you would be struck by the fact that so many of the individuals concerned are related to each other by blood or marriage.

And neither faction is proposing any radical reform of any aspects of the Khomeinist system. Both reject the almost unanimous call of the opposition parties and movements for a constitutional referendum. Both claim legitimacy on the basis not of the people's will but of their fidelity to the teachings of Khomeini.

Those branded as "moderates" have, in fact, a much more radical record than the "hard-liners." Almost all the so-called "students" who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran almost a quarter of a century ago and held its members hostage for 444 days are now members of the "moderate" faction.

To further add to the irony, almost all those who had opposed the seizure of hostages at the time are now in the Iranologists' "hard-line" camp. The mullah who created the Hezbollah in Lebanon is a leader of the "moderate" faction, while another who has persistently called for disentanglement from the Lebanese scene is classified as "hard-liner."

There are two areas in which the two factions differ.

The first is public relations.

The "moderates" grow designer stubbles, as opposed to full Khomeinist beards, and wear Italian-cut suits, as opposed to the traditional cloaks favored by the "hard-liners."

The "moderates" adopt much Western political terminology, including democracy, human rights and pluralism ? but immediately add the prefix or suffix "Islamic" to alter their meaning. President Khatami, for example, seldom uses the word "democracy" but constantly talks about "civil society" ? which, he says in private, means the same thing. The "hard-liners," for their part, have no qualms about saying that their brand of Islam rejects democracy, human rights and pluralism as "Zionist-Crusader" concoctions.

But when it comes to calling for the legalization of political parties, including those that reject Khomeinism, the two factions are more united than a pair of Siamese twins. Neither faction wants to open the gates of Iranian prisons where thousands of people languish because of their political, cultural or religious differences with the ruling establishment.

Nor would either faction end a system under which the so-called "revolutionary foundations" dominate key sectors of the national economy and sabotage any attempt at economic and trade reform.

Both factions reject calls for abrogating the law under which women are forced to wear a certain type of clothing and hijab. The "hard-liners" see elections as Khomeini saw them; i.e. as an occasion for the believers to renew their allegiance to the regime and not as a means of changing rulers and/or policies. The "moderates" share that belief but claim that elections are free only as long as they and their friends win.

In fact, there is not a single area of political, economic, social or cultural life in which the two factions defend clearly opposed positions.

The second area where the two factions differ is foreign policy.

The "hard-line" faction believes that the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the standard bearer of "true Islam," is duty-bound to challenge the claim, especially by the United States, that Western-style capitalist democracy is the ideal model for all nations. The "moderates," like Gorbachev in his time, have developed the illusion that a regime's foreign policy can be dissociated from its domestic policies.

The European Union and part of the Bush administration appear to believe that a win by the "hard-line" faction would be bad news for all concerned.

That belief, however, is not based on any evidence. In fact, a win by the so-called "hard-line" faction may end the decision-making paralysis in Tehran and enable the Khomeinist regime to speak and act with one voice. And that may enable Iran to develop a more predictable foreign policy than the one it has pursued in the past seven years.

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/15576.htm

Iran to Put Dozen Al Qaeda Captives on Trial

By Mark Trevelyan, Security Correspondent

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Iran, long accused by the United States of harboring al Qaeda militants, said for the first time on Friday that it would place a dozen jailed suspects on trial.

"They are currently in prison. Their relations are cut off from outside and they are going to be tried," Foreign Minister Khamal Kharrazi told Reuters at the World Economic Forum (news - web sites) in Davos, Switzerland.

The most important al Qaeda figure that Western intelligence agencies say may be in Iran is Egyptian Saif al-Adel, the security chief of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s network.

In addition, Saudi sources said last year that Iran had detained Saad bin Laden, a son of Osama, as well as al Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith and Jordanian Abu Musab Zarqawi. The latter has suspected al Qaeda ties and is accused of plotting the murder of a U.S. diplomat in Amman in 2002.

Iran has never confirmed the identity of the suspects and Kharrazi said he could not name any of them for security reasons.

Asked if they were important figures, he said: "Al Qaeda members are very important to everyone these days, because of operating in different places."

The United States has long believed that Iran was harboring al Qaeda militants who escaped Afghanistan (news - web sites) after U.S. troops invaded that country in late 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

It has said Iran-based al Qaeda militants plotted suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia last May, and has demanded Iran help bring them to justice. Tehran denies al Qaeda operated from its territory.

Shi'ite Muslim Iran says it is ideologically opposed to Sunni-dominated al Qaeda and has arrested and deported hundreds of its militants since the Afghan war.

A recent warming of relations between Iran and Egypt prompted security analysts to speculate that Tehran might hand over Saif al-Adel to Cairo, if indeed it was holding him.

Asked when relations with Egypt would be formally re-established after a break of quarter of a century, Kharrazi said: "We are working toward that direction."

Al-Adel is widely believed to have taken charge of al Qaeda operations after Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks, was captured in Pakistan.

Zarqawi, also named by the Saudi sources as being in Iran, attracted attention when Washington named him in the run-up to war in Iraq (news - web sites) last year as a possible link between al Qaeda and Iraqi then-President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=1&u=/nm/20040123/wl_nm/security_iran_qaeda_dc

The Iran-9/11 Connection?

By Stephen Brown
FrontPageMagazine.com | January 23, 2004

A surprise witness testified Thursday in the Hamburg trial of an alleged 9/11 conspirator that Iran was involved in the devastating terrorist attack.

The accused, Abdelghani Mzoudi, a Moroccan, was an associate of 9/11 suicide pilots Mohammed Atta; Marwan Alshehhi; Ziad Jarrah; and other Islamist radicals in the northern German city. He is believed to have belonged to al-Qaeda’s infamous ‘Hamburg cell’, which harbored the 9/11 death pilots. Mzoudi is charged with being an accessory to 3,066 murders and with membership in a terrorist organization. His trial is the second one to take place in Germany involving a 9/11 co-conspirator. Last February, Mounir el Motassadeq, another Moroccan, was convicted on the same charges and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The Iranian witness, who fled Iran last July and whose identity remained concealed, said he is a former agent in the Iranian intelligence service, from which experience he makes his claim that Iran was the author of 9/11. He didn’t appear in the courtroom, but instead a German intelligence official read statements from his interrogation out to the court, which heavily implicates Mzoudi in the attack. In it, the Iranian national claims the accused, who spent three months in Iran as well as time in Afghanistan before 9/11, was employed in the logistics side of the September 11 tragedy, collecting information and sending it on to associates.

In reference to the trial, another German intelligence official confirmed in court last Monday that Iran’s intelligence service worked closely with al-Qaeda. According to the official, Iranian intelligence contains a “Section 43”, which plans and executes strikes. A German federal prosecutor also said that federal attorneys have had information since last October about a possible involvement of Iran in the 9/11 attacks. Several al-Qaeda leaders, wanted by the United States, are also known to currently reside in Iran, which refuses to extradite them.

The Mzoudi trial has taken some interesting twists since it began last year. Last December, the Moroccan was, in a surprise development, freed from custody after statements from Ramzi Binalshibh, a 9/11 planner imprisoned in America, were entered into the court; they denied that Mzoudi was ever a member of the Hamburg cell and didn’t have any part in the attack. As a result, the trial’s presiding judge ruled that there now existed a grave possibility that, despite the Moroccan’s connection to the Hamburg cell and despite his stay in Afghanistan, he was excluded from the planning of the 9/11 strike and didn’t knowingly support it, and therefore ordered his release.

German prosecutors, on the other hand, saw no reason to lift the custody order. They say American officials denied them the opportunity to interrogate Binalshibh to verify the credibility of his statements and believe the terrorist in American custody is simply trying to protect the remaining members of the Hamburg cell. The Germans also claim Binalshibh has made “diverging and partly contradictory statements” in the past. Al-Qaeda terrorists, they say, were taught such “tricks” in Afghanistan regarding what to say and how to behave in interrogations to cover up the true background of their deeds.

The two efforts German prosecutors have made since last month to have Mzoudi’s custody order reinstated have both failed. They have also been ordered to produce their Iranian witness before the court next Thursday. German intelligence officials were evasive in court regarding questions concerning their witness’s credibility. His sources of information are also uncertain. This has caused Mzoudi’s defense attorney to remark that the Moroccan’s acquittal is not in jeopardy, saying the new witness’s testimony cannot be taken seriously, adding that any incriminating evidence from him also has to be proven first. The trial’s prosecutor says however it should only take one or two weeks to verify the witness’s credibility.

Last Thursday was also the day when judgment was expected on the charges against Mzoudi, but the prosecution’s surprise witness has caused the trial’s extension. However, even if acquitted, the Iranian says Mzoudi now still faces justice, only this time Islamist-style. According to his statement, the Iranian witness believes German authorities released Mzoudi from custody last month in the hope he would lead them to other Islamists connected to the Hamburg cell. And it is for this same reason, he told German intelligence officials, that al-Qaeda now wants to liquidate him.

If true, acquittal may be the worst thing that could happen to Mzoudi. Sharing a jail cell with Motassadeq in Germany for the next 15 years definitely seems a more inviting option than a bullet from a former comrade. Nevertheless, it is the one terrorist attack where 9/11 survivors and victims’ relatives would probably wish al-Qaeda all the best.

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11886

I just received the following from a friend in the leadership of the
“Plan for the peaceful removal of the Islamic Regime Broadcast” which aired last Sunday, January 18, 2004.

“We just completed the news & press release last night at 11:00 PM
It will be on the site tonight. This is just the partial the translation of
the first few pages of the presentation.
Farzaneh.”

Apparently this material will be available later tonight on:
http://bestofiran.com/frontend/index.asp

It appears they have sent me an outline of the plan. Here is what they sent me…

IRAN - E- FARDA PROJECT
"IRAN Of TOMORROW"

General Reference

* The most effective approach for overcoming an obstacle is to impose &
follow a "Systematic Approach

* The Islamic Republic in Iran is an "obstacle in addressing the vision of
IRAN -E- FARDA.

* The IRAN -E-FARDA project is determined to overcome this "Obstacle" by
following a "Systematic Approach".

Element in "Systematic Approach"

I. Evaluation & Identification of the existing settings. The "AS IS"
condition.
II. Evaluation & Identification of the future settings. The "To Be" condition.
III. Preparation of project plans & roadmaps to cause the transfer of
conditions from the "As Is" to the "To Be".
IV Implementation of project plans per selected priority.

Expressing A Glimpse of proposed projects. Phase 1 ended on December 31, 2003

Point of Start;
Brief reference to the nature of "As Is" condition which identifies two area
of study;
_ Current Condition in Iran and the rule of the Islamic Republic in the
country.
_ The disunity of opposition groups outside of Iran.

Goals

Brief reference to the "To Be" condition which focuses on the inherent right
of individuals to Liberty & Democracy.
The affirmation of adherence to all principles of Human Right.

Ten Principles Goals;

1- Freedom of Thought ( Vision)
2- Freedom of Speech & Expression.
3- Freedom of Association & Assembly (Political party, Strikes, etc...)
4- Freedom of Press & Communication.
5- Freedom of Religion and the practices of cultural & regional traditions.
6. Elimination of Political Prisons.
7- Equality & Protection under the law irrespective of gender, race,
ethnicity and language.
8- National integrity & National unity of Iran.
9- Prohibition of government from imposing religious principles and the
religious institutions to impose governmental principles for the people.
10- Referendum to determine the will of the people in choosing a new
constitution and a system of government.

End

It will be interesting to read the entire document.
I have been warned that the Persian documents are several hundred pages in length.
I do not believe the English translation will be a complete translation. Therefore, depending on the size of the documents I will post what we can. -- DoctorZin

White House Rejects Iran Plan To Try Al-Qaida Suspects

January 23, 2004
Dow Jones Newswires
Alex Keto

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration Friday strongly rejected a plan by the Iranian government to put some al-Qaida suspects on trial.

Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi told The Associated Press that his government plans to put 12 al-Qaida suspects on trial. However, he was vague about the details of the plan.

Asked when the trial would take place, he said, "that is not in my hands."

Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi also confirmed Iran is holding "a large number of small and big-time elements of al-Qaida."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan reiterated the U.S. view that Iran must turn over any al-Qaida suspects it holds to the countries the suspects came from.

"Any al-Qaida members that they have in their custody they need to turn over to their home country, the country of origin," McClellan said.

He also pointed out Iran has made a number of promises when it comes to the al-Qaida suspects.

"We want to see action, and the action we want to see is that they turn over those al-Qaida members in their custody to their country of origin," McClellan said.

Not only the U.S. but also a number of other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, have made similar demands.

McClellan also went on to say Iran needs to stop supporting terrorists worldwide.

"Iran needs to stop supporting terrorism," McClellan said.

Last May, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said al-Qaida suspects in Iran helped plan the bombings in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital.

-By Alex Keto, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9256; Alex.Keto@dowjones.com

http://news.nasdaq.com/news/newsStory.aspx?&cpath=20040123ACQDJON200401231423DOWJONESDJONLINE000643.htm

GUARDIANS WOULD OBEY LEADER ORDERS, BUT ACCORDING TO LAWS

TEHRAN 23 Jan (IPS)

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Council of the Guardians (CG) lashed out Friday at the United States and Europe for denouncing the disqualification of many candidates to the next Legislative elections, reminding them not to mistake the Islamic Republic with the toppled Shah’s regime.

"They do not feel ashamed for interfering in the most domestic issues of a country. They think it is still the era of Shah when they could take whomever they desired into the Majles or the cabinet", he told worshippers during the traditional Friday prayers.

"That time is gone. They still have the wrong and old colonial thoughts and do not understand that there has been a religious and popular revolution in this country and people are supporting that revolution", he added, as the crowd was shouting "Death to America, Death to Britain, Death to Israel and Death to France".

The latest country was singled out because of a law that would prohibit school children, students and employees at public schools, universities or public places wearing visible signs showing their allegiance to a religion.

The law was proposed after a small number of young Muslim girls kept their veils at class or nurses at hospitals. Though approved by President Jacques Chirac, yet the proposal has stirred controversy, even among the ruling UMP party.

Condemning the US and the European Union’s comments on Iran’s internal affairs, the Ayatollah who is close to the leader of the Islamic Republic, said such comments are "clear signs of interference in Iran’s domestic developments".

"The Iranian people never let anyone interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. Any interference is forbidden. If Iran has good ties with the EU that never means that they can interfere in our affairs," Jannati said, observing, "relations have their own place as do the regulations".

Turning to the political crisis the 12-members CG created after it disqualified a number of incumbent reformist lawmakers, Mr. Jannati said the Guardians "would not persist on possible mistakes in disqualifying candidates from the February Majles elections, adding however that they would neither "violate the law".

Describing as "useful" the recent meeting of President Mohammad Khatami and Majles Speaker Mehdi Karroubi with some members of the Council to find a solution to the crisis, Mr. Jannati observed that they had "realized in the meeting that the data they had received regarding the issue had not been accurate".

"The quality of checking the qualification of elections hopefuls from the very early stages in supervision committees to the last judgments in the GC are all calculated, legal and accurate", the official news agency IRNA quoted Mr. Jannati as informing the worshipers.

"Several cabinet ministers had also contacted the Council about the disqualifications, and after listening to our explanations, they had nothing to say regarding the disqualifications", he went on.

Noting that the directives of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i to the CG aimed at reviewing the disqualifications "must be carried out", Jannati said as a result, a number of rejected candidates had been allowed to run in the elections.

Mr. Khameneh’i, who has the last word on all state matters, has urged the council to review the bans and said that hundreds who had been allowed to run in previous elections should be allowed to stand again.

Among those barred from running are around 80 of the incumbent 290 MPs. They have been holding a sit-in at parliament for 13 days and fasting from dawn to dusk for the last week to protest against the mass disqualifications.

"The leader stresses that the qualification of elections hopefuls must not be stringent and the Guardians had always obeyed his directives", Mr. Jannati said, adding however that the CG will "strongly" carry out its constitutional duties "regardless to political considerations or factional bias".

But as he stopped short of citing names or giving the number of the reverses cases, sources said the Guardians had blessed some 1500 names they had previously rejected on charges of immorality, not adhering fully to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of believing in the system of velayat faqih, the corner stone of the present Iranian theocratic regime giving the leader almost divine powers.

Reformists accuse the Council of the Guardian that has powers of rejecting or approving all candidates to all elections and to check the conformity of laws passed by the parliament with Islamic laws using its rights to secure the control of the next Majles by the conservatives.

ENDS JANNATI DISQUALIFICATIONS 23104

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2004/Jan_04/jannati_disqualifications_23104.htm

KHATAMI’S SPEECH AT DAVOS WAS OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITIES

PRAGUE 23 Jan. (IPS)

"Iranian President Mohammad Khatami’s performance at the World Economic Forum (WEF) of Davos was utterly misplaced, out of context of the Forum and out touch with realities in Iran and the world", according to Mr. Fereydoon Khavand, a senior Iranian economist teaching at Paris universities.

In his speech to world’s leading entrepreneurs, business tycoons as well as the leaders of some countries, Mr. Khatami called for dialogue as a solution to global conflicts and at the same time he said there was no chance for political talks with the United States.

"The prerequisite for any kind of dialogue is the mutual respect between the two partners to the dialogue. Any time we sense that the other side respects us and isn't forcing anything on us, we are prepared to talk. We have not sensed that from the United States", the Iranian president, dressed in a black robe with black turban, said, adding, in a veiled reference to the United States that military power had limitations in bringing security.

"Partnership and security will only come about as a result of dialogue", the powerless and embattled Khatami said, explaining that the dialogue that I spoke of is between cultures and civilizations, between scholars and wise men". If those are realized, then we can have political dialogue as well".

"Mr. Khatami’s speech at Davos on Wednesday was not related to the ongoing developments in Iran or the world’s economic situation of the day that makes the essence of the World Economic Forum", Mr. Khavand commented Friday for the Persian service of the Prague-based Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty.

"What interested more the participants at the forum was not Khatami’s speech, but the presence of a Shi’ite cleric dressed in traditional outfits in one of the world’s most important centre of economic liberalism", he noted.

This contradiction was better highlighted when one realises that the Islamic Republic, contrary to the philosophy of the WEF, has one of the world’s most centralised economy and is among the poorest nations on the planet, comparable to North Korea, Turkmenistan or Libya, Mr. Khavand observed, citing a report from the American think tank institution The Heritage Foundation.

"Considering the frontal contradiction between the philosophy of Davos and the realities of the Iranian economy, it would not be exaggerated to say that the presence of a cleric like Khatami in the WEF is itself the translation of the many tangles prevailing at the regime’s economic policies and its decision-making instances", the economist observed.

This is the syndrome of an "economy without identity" that the economic monthly "Iran’s Economy" criticised in its latest issue published in Tehran. "The Iranian economy is neither a liberal market economy nor a socialistic one. The government lacks a proper identity and the bazaar a proper, clear mission…"In such situation, the presence of the president of the Islamic Republic in Davos should certainly not help understanding this confusing situation of Iranian economy", Mr. Khavand concluded.

ENDS KHATAMI DAVOS 23104

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2004/Jan_04/jannati_disqualifications_23104.htm

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