Powell sees chances for dialogue with Iran
By Reuters
1.10.2004
WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Friday the Bam earthquake had opened up some opportunities for dialogue between the United States and Iran even though there was no reason to expect a quick political rapprochement
In his comments to Arab television network Abu Dhabi TV, Powell went further than other U.S. officials over the last few days in raising the possibility of a dialogue between the long-time adversaries.
"It showed that in a crisis like that we could cooperate, and maybe that will lead to other areas of cooperation. But we should not think that just because of this humanitarian rapprochement it immediately leads to a political rapprochement," Powell said according to a transcript of the interview released by the State Department.
"But I think it has opened up some opportunities for dialogue with Iran," the top U.S. diplomat added.
In the aftermath of the December 26 disaster that killed more than 30,000 people in the city of Bam, the U.S. relief efforts seemed to have prompted something of a thaw in relations between Washington and the Islamic state.
But when Iran rejected a U.S. proposal to also send a high-level humanitarian mission, including Sen. Elizabeth Dole, a former head of the American Red Cross, the chances of further contacts appeared to cool.
Amid mixed messages from Tehran, Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi on Thursday again raised hopes for fresh contacts saying the government was willing to resume dialogue with the United States, provided the talks were based on mutual respect.
While adopting a softer tone since the earthquake both Tehran and Washington have set pre-conditions for improving relations, which have been formally broken for more than two decades.
Washington wants Tehran to hand over detained al Qaeda suspects, abandon its nuclear program and stop backing Palestinian militant groups that attack Israel.
Iran has called on Washington to lift economic sanctions imposed in 1995, which among other things prevent U.S. companies from investing in OPEC's second largest oil producer or trading in Iranian oil.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=381443&contrassID=1&subContrassID=8&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=YIran reformists react to GC's illegal invalidations
Saturday, January 10, 2004 - ©2003 IranMania.com
TEHRAN, Jan 10 (IranMania) – With Iran’s much anticipated February Parliamentary elections approaching, all the candidates affiliated to the Freedom Movement, the majority of the reformist figures and the national-religious party aspirants have been ruled out by Iran’s hardline Guardian Council.
The Spokesman of the central supervisory board, Mohammad Jahromi said that so far almost 30% of the candidates have been ‘invalidated’.
Many political activists believe that such an act by the Guardian Council is in violation of the elections laws and the ratifications of the Expediency Council and the reformists have announced that they will categorically react to “these illegal invalidations”.
Some political activists and MPs have commented on the issue. Mohsen Armin, an MP in Tehran says that once it is proved that the supervisory boards have acted under the influence of extremist anti-reformist elements, Iranians “would firmly stand in their way in order not to give them a chance of creating tension in the country.” He emphasized that the reformists will never abandon their rights.
Armin believes that by banning candidates, the hardliners intend to provoke the reformists so that they can gain certain political advantages over the issue.
According to the Secretary General of the Freedom Movement, Ibrahim Yazdi the best reaction to the illegal invalidations is to avoid taking part in the elections.
“Despite its so-called investigations, the Guardian Council is not capable of deciding on the fate of 8,000 election aspirants and therefore having its own objectives in mind, it only rules out certain prominent figures. I think even those who have been approved of have to boycott the elections.” Yazdi says.
Hadi Ghabel, Member of the Participation Front thinks that if the elections are not to be fair and free, they should not take part in the event, for they do not intend to set the scene for the hardliners to win the seats. He blames the administration and the Ministry of Interior for the chaos.
Tehran’s MP, Elaheh Koulaei says that all reformists have to unanimously counter these illegal decisions. She described the 7th parliament as a big challenge and emphasized that the 6th parliament will defend the rights of citizens tooth and nail.
Emad-al-Din Baghi, Iranian historian and former jailed editor believes that in the past 25 years the Supervision Board (which authorizes the Guardian Council to rule out candidates before giving the citizens a chance to vote for them) has never helped the formation of a unified parliament.
“The only fruit of the 6th parliament was that it showed the Guardian Council’s ability in paralyzing the will of a nation in moving toward reforms.” he said.
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=21499&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs Note: 95% of the Bills introduced by 6th parliament (majlis) were veto'd by the GC these bills included more press freedom, legalization of satellite dishes, push for equality on womans rights, privization of economy, foreign investment, ties with US, and finally getting rid of the GC.
The only bill that was passed of importance was equality of 'blood money' for Christians, Zoroastrians, and Jews. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.