Posted on 08/16/2005 6:06:50 AM PDT by F14 Pilot
TEHRAN: Iran's ultra-conservative President has announced a hardline cabinet, signalling a tougher line in negotiations with the West and sounding the death knell for the reform movement in Iran.
Despite promising a Government of moderation, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave key posts to prominent religious conservatives and new faces from the ideological Right, many of whom are former military commanders.
Although hailing from different right-wing political factions, which analysts say could lead to political in-fighting, the cabinet is united in believing that Iran must not bow to international pressure over its nuclear ambitions.
Mr Ahmadinejad named conservative MP Manouchehr Mottaki as Foreign Minister. Mr Mottaki is a champion of Iran's nuclear program and a scathing critic of Western interference.
Mr Mottaki strongly backed the controversial move last week to resume uranium conversion, a step that resulted in the EU calling an emergency meeting of the UN's nuclear watchdog and which placed Iran on the brink of an international crisis.
This is the one issue they all agree on and, unlike the reformists, this new conservative cabinet will not compromise over the nuclear issue, according to political analyst Said Leylaz.
The appointments came as Tehran warned the West to back off from what it sees as bullying over its nuclear program, after US President George W.Bush said that he would not rule out a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Mr Ahmadinejad also replaced Hassan Rohani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, with Ali Larijani, a conservative former head of state broadcasting.
The nuclear issue is likely todominate policy for the new 21-member Government, but dramatic changes in foreign policy are unlikely, as it is set directly by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader.
Instead, analysts say that the new Government is likely to present a harder, more inflexible image to the West.
Other appointments of prominent conservatives, renowned for their fundamentalist views, are Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former deputy intelligence minister who has been named Interior Minister, and Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, who has been named Intelligence Minister.
Now I don't see Bush as having a choice whether to invade Iran, since he invaded Iraq on 'assumed' WMD, rather than concrete as is the case now with Iran.
The question now is when and how?
"T" minus 312 days, and counting.
then look to Yazd.
Yazd?
Why there?
Undermine from within.
just a wierd little tickle in the back of my head.
take it however you like it.
On the flip side of the coin, now Iran's revolutionaries have absolutely no reason not to overthrow their government. Before they could hope for reform. Now they've got to consider that reform will have to come about the hard way.
I think perhaps the President has the CIA and military intelligence prepping a rebellion in that country. And if they aren't, hopefully one of his aides reads the Free Republic and has an epiphany...
explain more...
Yazd, AFAIK, is the capital of Zoroastrians of the world with great people and great candies.
agreed!
BTW - I think the user "bigjelmapro" is a troll...
I cannot explain more. I have no real data. Just an insistent tickle in the back of my head, that the end of the Mullahs will arise in Yazd in early summer 2006.
"Now I don't see Bush as having a choice whether to invade Iran, since he invaded Iraq on 'assumed' WMD, rather than concrete as is the case now with Iran.
The question now is when and how?"
I love the smell of Viking Kitties in the morning. They smell like..... VICTORY!!!
Sadaam Hussein, his million man army and all the help/aid/money of the U.S. (1980-1989) couldn't get them a victory over Iran. The best they could do was a bloody, 9-year stalemate where everyone lost.
Bush won't do it. He's not stupid.
He will deal with Iran differently, as he should.
sniff?
Why don't you tell us?
"Why don't you tell us?"
Maybe singing Kumbayah?
Forgive me but what is Yazd?
A city in Iran. A very old city.
Jimmey Carter's legacy just contines to give and give.
Ahh. What are we supposed to be looking for in Yazd?
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