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Prince Charles Meets With Iranian Leader

ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
Mon, Feb 09, 2004

TEHRAN, Iran - Britain's Prince Charles headed Monday to the earthquake-flattened city of Bam after meeting with President Mohammed Khatami on the first visit to Iran in 33 years by a member of the British royal family.

After a handshake at the Red Palace in central Tehran, Prince Charles inquired about Khatami's recent back pain, which had confined him to his home for several days.

"It's due to old age," the 61-year-old president said with a smile, standing straight and with no visible signs of pain.

His smile, however, appeared forced and his face was not as fresh as journalists usually see him. Khatami has been under tremendous pressure about Feb. 20 legislative elections that he says will be unfair because more than 2,000 pro-reform candidates have been banned from running by a hard-line council.

There was no immediate comment from Khatami's office about his hour-long private discussions with Prince Charles.

The prince arrived in Tehran late Sunday after dropping in on British troops in a high-security visit to the southern Iraqi city of Basra. There, dressed in desert camouflage and boots, he sipped tea with soldiers and praised them for their role in securing in southern Iraq.

After the meeting with Khatami, the prince left for Bam, where more than 41,000 people died in a December earthquake that destroyed the ancient southeastern city.

Charles' visit ostensibly was planned so he could see quake aid work in Bam. However, the visit prompted speculation of political motives, perhaps to further improve relations strained after the 1979 Islamic revolution. The British Embassy asserted the prince's trip had no political implications.

"The prince is a patron of the British Red Cross and is visiting Iran in that role. It's an official but completely a nonpolitical visit," said Andrew Dunn, First Secretary at the British Embassy in Tehran.

The prince is accompanied by a small entourage that includes the head of the British Red Cross, Sir Nicholas Young.

A magnitude-6.6 quake flattened the southeastern city of Bam on Dec. 26, killing more than 41,000 people and injuring more than 15,000. The quake also leveled most of the ancient city, including the Arg-e-Bam, or Citadel of Bam, the world's largest mud-brick fortress.

On Friday, Charles made an appeal in London for funds to aid quake survivors.

Dunn said Charles and Young will assess how the British Red Cross can help the survivors and try to resume agricultural life in the area.

The last time a British royal family member visited Iran was in 1971, when Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and Princess Anne attended grand celebrations marking 2,500 years of monarchy in Iran.

Now, three decades later, Charles is visiting a completely different Iran, ruled by hard-line clerics who routinely have denounced British support of the former shah.

People on the streets of Tehran were surprised by Charles' visit.

"I won't believe a British royal figure is in Iran unless I see it by my own eyes," said Hadi Taqipour, a store clerk.

With Britain often serving as a bridge between Iran and the West, analysts say the unexpected trip will have political repercussions.

Political analyst Davoud Hermidas Bavand said Charles' visit could strengthen hard-liners' position in the power struggle with reformists that has dominated Iranian politics in recent years. That struggle has intensified in the run-up to Feb. 20 elections, with reformists accusing hard-liners of rigging the polls through disqualifying reformist candidates to ensure a hard-line parliament.

"Whether Charles means it or not, the trip will be interpreted as boosting the position of hard-liners," he said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040209/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_prince_charles&cid=540&ncid=716

I am sorry to keep using this damned word "Reformists", Btw there is no obvious difference between hardliners and reformists but as long as there is a struggle among them, it makes me happy and we have to follow the News.
We all know that most Media do not know any thing about the things we may know/understand as people.

Why Iran's elections will exclude reformists

Monday February 9, 2004
The Guardian

Why will the reformists be missing from ballot papers?
Iran's reformists abandoned on Saturday an attempt to postpone this month's parliamentary election, from which many of their candidates have been barred. The Guardian Council, a powerful body of clerics and Islamic lawyers, has barred more than 2,000 candidates from the February 20 poll, mainly reformist allies of President Mohammad Khatami, including some 80 MPs from the 290-seat parliament. The reformist-run Interior Ministry twice called for the election to be postponed until its fairness could be guaranteed but hardliners shot down the suggestion. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters, insisted earlier this week that the election should not be delayed ... Reformists accuse the Guardian Council of a bloodless coup d'etat to wrest parliament away from them after they won a huge majority in 2000. Iran's largest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, has said it will boycott the vote.
Parinoosh Arami for Reuters, February 7

How much real political debate goes on in Iran?

We have yet to see a system develop in which political parties with clear-cut manifestos, membership and mantles of leadership can become institutionalised. The two main facets of Iranian politics today are the "reformists" or the Islamic Iran Participation Front ... and the "conservatives", who hold most of the remaining seats and wield power and influence in other branches of the Islamic establishment ... Given [that] political polarisation has come to stay in state affairs, it would be in the public interest to promote healthy party politics.
MP Zamani in Iran Daily, February 4

Are there divisions within the conservatives?

The real political struggle is between the ideological conservatives ... and the pragmatic conservatives ... The ideological conservatives do not want to open up politically or economically, or to modify their US-hating, Israel-hating ideology. The pragmatic conservatives probably want to pursue a Chinese model: liberalise the economy and make peace with the US - but maintain political repression, albeit with the worst excesses softened.
Charles Grant at opendemocracy.net, February 3

What is that ideological line?

All those who base their actions on useless political obstinacy ... are guilty and should answer to the nation ... It is as if they have not made an oath to defend the constitution and the achievements of the revolution, the late Imam Khomeini, or the people. Undoubtedly, the resentful enemies of Iran, particularly the destructive and racist Zionist regime ... intend to take advantage of the current circumstances and damage the reputation of the Islamic Republic further.
From an editorial in Tehran Times, February 5

What is the mood among voters?

Most Iranians, disillusioned by years of broken promises of reform, have grown apathetic to the reformist-hardline power struggle. Turnout in local council elections a year ago plunged to about 15% in major cities, and most analysts expect a similar outcome in the parliamentary election.
From the International Herald Tribune, February 3

What about young Iranians?

While a central premise of Iran's Islamic government from the time of its inception has been its steadfast opposition to the US and Israel, for most Iranians no such nemeses exist. Iran's young populace - more than two-thirds of the country is younger than 30 - is among the most pro-US in the Middle East, and tend not to share the impassioned anti-Israel sentiment of their Arab neighbours.
Karim Sadjadpour in the Washington Post, February 3

Can we expect a thaw in US-Iranian relations?

On the Iranian side, factions within the conservative camp feel that a full opening to the west could undermine their grip upon political power ... On the American side, a group of Iranian expatriates ... have blocked avenues of potential improvement ... The US policy of isolating Iran through economic sanctions has not only failed to achieve its intended objectives, it has also prolonged the dominance of Iran's hardliners.
Mehrdad Valibeigi in the Middle East Report Online, January 28

http://www.guardian.co.uk/editor/story/0,12900,1143781,00.html