Iranian Alert -- January 26, 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.

Iran starts production of new "Raad" missile

IranMania News
Sunday, January 25, 2004

Iran announced Sunday it was boosting its domestic defence systems with the production launch of a new line of short-range Raad missiles to be installed in the Persian Gulf region.

"We have inaugurated the production line for the Raad (Thunder) missiles which have undergone tests in various different circumstances," Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani said on state television.

The missiles, which can be used shore-to-sea or ship-to-ship, have a range of 150 kilometres (about 90 miles) and will be installed on Iran's Persian Gulf coast or islands or on warships.

"We have islands scattered in the Persian Gulf, so we will now have plenty of defence capability in the region," Shamkhani said. "Our ballistic missile industry has turned a page and the Islamic republic's defence capabilities have been considerably increased."

Iran caused international concern last year when the air force of the hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps took delivery of several domestically built Shahab-3 missiles, with a range of between 1,300 and 1,500 kilometres (between 800 and 1,000 miles), sufficient to reach Israel.

Shamkhani warned last month it would consider using the Shahab-3 missiles if Israel struck its nuclear facilities.

On Sunday, state radio and television also announced the start of production of radar-guidance systems for Iran's Noor missiles.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=21972&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

Iran election tensions increase

Monday, 26 January, 2004
BBC News

A row over Iran's elections next months is escalating, with reformists condemning a conservative veto of a bill to resolve the political crisis.

MPs said the veto would make a boycott of 20 February elections more likely and lead to greater political chaos.

The Guardians Council rejected Sunday's bill, which sought to overturn a ban on thousands of reformist candidates in the elections.

Analysts say MPs must decide whether to submit the bill to a higher body.

The Expediency Council, headed by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, is meant to mediate in disputes between the parliament and the Guardians' Council.

Mass protests

Reformists have said that they would boycott an election in which more than a third of candidates were prevented from running.

The unelected 12-member Guardians Council, which vets candidates for office, reinstated about 350 of the banned candidates after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered a review.

Students are also planning to organise mass protests to denounce hardliners.

"Students will join professors of all universities in Tehran today to support disqualified prospective hopefuls and denounce hardliners who are restricting people's choice," said student leader Hossein Baqeri.

Reformist MP Mohsen Armin said the Guardians Council had shown that it had no will to resolve the crisis logically.

"It only pushes reformist MPs to harden their position and seriously consider mass resignations and boycotting the polls," he said.

He said that President Mohammad Khatami would consider not holding the elections if more candidates were not re-instated.

Crisis

The Guardians Council set off what correspondents say is Iran's worst political crisis for years when it barred more than 3,500 mostly reformist candidates from the election.

Under the bill put forward on Sunday, those approved for past elections would have been able to run again unless there was strong evidence to prove they were unfit.

The BBC's Miranda Eeles in Tehran says MPs hoped to add two clauses to the election law, effectively forcing the Guardians Council to reverse its rulings.

The first amendment would have allowed all sitting members of parliament or candidates approved for past elections to run for office unless legal documents proved their incompetence.

The second was aimed at eliminating politically motivated disqualifications by requiring the Guardians Council to approve anyone deemed by local trustees to be loyal to Islam and the ruling Islamic establishment.

Mr Khatami, a reformist, has hardened his stance on the row.

On Saturday, he issued a joint statement with parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karrubi demanding that the Guardians Council make a "full review" of their blacklist.

The Guardians Council has promised to check all the disqualifications and issued revised judgements by 30 January.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3430487.stm

The Islamic Republic has Lost All Potentials

January 26, 2004
Iran Press Service
IPS

PARIS -- Mr. Ensafali Hedayat, an independent journalist covering for Iranian media inside and outside the country has been detained on charges of espionage and insulting the leader of the Islamic Republic, his lawyer, Mr. Abbas Jamali as well as his young daughter, Fatemeh, confirmed.

Mr. Hedayat, based in Tabriz, the capital city of the Eastern Azarbaijan province bordering with the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia, was arrested on 16 January on his return to Tehran from Berlin, where he covered the meeting of Iranian Republicans.

"Mr. Heddayat covered the meeting as a free lance journalist alongside tens of other colleagues, -- who, contrary to him, had come from the United States or difference European countries --, but did not took part at the debates", sources close to the organizers told Iran Press Service.

The arrest created an internal and international uproar and denunciations against the Iranian Islam-based regime, with several international human rights and press organizations, like the Reporters Without borders, the Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch and the Association of Iranian Journalis Abroad, calling on the Iranian authorities to free Mr. Hedayat "immediately and unconditionally".

Hundreds of Iranian personalities of all walks, including journalists, lawmakers, scholars, artists and intellectuals from inside and outside Iran also have signed a petition that calls for the release of the journalist.

Mr. Hedayat reached fame after writing an emotional open letter – a translation in English was published by IPS -- to President Mohammad Khatami and other Iranian officials relating the Stalinist-style circumstances of his arrest by plainclothes men during the uprising of students in Tabriz, at the same time of the protest movement in Tehran and other major cities, and the horrendous conditions of his detaintion, the endless séances of interrogations and tortures reminding the work of movie Director Costa Gavras, "Z".

As a freelance journalist covering for "Radio Farda", a farsi-language, US sponsored 24 hours radio station based in Prague, Mr. Hedayat was recently in the earthquake-stricken city of Bam, reporting about the situation there, and better than any other journalist, addressing the shortcomings of the Iranian relief missions.

Though Mr. Jamali refused to disclose details of the accusations against Mr. Hedayat, particularly that of espionage, a charge that carry possible death penalty, bit informed sources said his reports from Bam, his first hand interviews with local people and other journalistic works that were not to the taste of the authorities might have brought them to order his arrest.

"My father is a journalist. Nothing but a journalist, working strictly in the limits of the laws, dedicating all his efforts and life to the freedom of the Iranian people, to democracy, to the cause of justice and equality", Ms. Fatemeh wrote in an open letter, published before she met her father on Saturday.

"Is being a journalist is a sin in this country. Is informing the public is an unlawful activity in this country to be considered as a crime. Is my father really endangering the security of this regime to brand him a spy? She added, noting that "after all, maybe the biggest crime in this regime is being innocent, a journalist, law-abiding and loving his country!".

In an interview with the Canada-based "Shahravand" monthly carried out in Berlin, Mr. Hedayat, describing the situation back in Iran, said, "everybody in Iran is fighting, since the people and the ruling authorities are at opposing poles of each other.

"After an article in the (now closed) newspaper "Salam", the authorities organized demonstrations against me and never allowed me to work in any paper. As I have no other profession than journalism, I had to fight, like everyone else in Iran. Between the dangerous profession of journalist and death, I went for the first one. I sold my house in Tehran and came to a one piece room in Tabriz, where in the past four years, I could not receive one single friend for lack of place", he said simply, without expressing anger.

In the past years, the Judiciary, on orders from Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, "awarded" by the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres as "one of the most dangerous predators of press freedom in the world" have shut down more than a hundred publications and jailed a dozen of leading journalists.

"In Iran, there are two currents that do not move in parallel, but race against each other. One is the leadership and its different wings and the other is the people. To survive, the Islamic Republic must bring back the people to its side, but the system has lost all its potentials", he said, adding however that he was optimistic as the future of Iran.

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2004/Jan_04/ensafali%20hedayat%2025104.htm

Biggest One Day Privatization in Iran

January 26, 2004
Iran News Daily
Mohsen Ilichi

Today is the biggest single day in Iran's drive toward privatization. 35% of the shares of the shipping giant "Sadra Company" will be offered through the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE).

The total value of the stock sale is estimated at 334.4 trillion rials. The per share value of Sadra stock is projected to be 19,500 rials. It is notable that among the chief opponent of this move is the Minister of Industries and Mines Ishaq Jahangiri. Sadra belongs to IDRO, a subsidiary of this ministry. Mr. Jahangiri believes that privatization of such a large chunk of this highly successful company all at once is inappropriate.

TSE watchers expect intense competition today on the floor of the exchange for Sadra's much sought after stocks. The Welfare Organization is one of the main parties that highly covets the stocks of Sadra. It is notable that the Welfare Organization name is itself a majority owner of the Islamic Republic Shipping Company. Other interested buyers include three investment companies named Qadir, Rana and Tadbir, the two main auto manufacturers, namely Iran Khodro and Saipa. Moreover, rumor has it that the South Korean giant Samsung has obtained a permit from the Ministry of Economy & Finance and intend to bid for Sadra's stocks. Undoubtedly, because of Sadra's distinguished reputation there will be many others who will try to bid in this public offer.

Sadra is a renowned and professional public-owned company specified in marine structures, heavy oil and power industry equipment, etc. For instance, at present, the company has over $1.5 billion in ongoing contracts. Among its latest projects is building 5 ships for the Islamic Republic Shipping Company at a cost of $320 million. The project is high priority for the government meaning that the client can procure the funding of the project from the hard currency reserve fund, on priority basis and without the customary bureaucratic games.

It is interesting to remind that a while back Sadra purchased 34% of a major equipment manufacturer named Azar Ab. Furthermore, reports suggest that Sadra intends to buy shares in another major manufacturer, Machine Sazi Arak. Experts say that in such a case Sadra will become an industrial giant in its specialized field. No wonder competitors are drooling and jumping over each other in order to get a chance to get their hands on Sadra shares.

Last but not least, it should be said that previously the largest privatization in Iran was the auctioning off of 96% of the shares of the Khuzestan Cement Company in a public auction for a sum of 2.06 trillion rials, which took place two months ago.

http://www.irannewsdaily.com/asp/iran_news.asp

Zia's Hawks in Iran Nuke Leaks

January 26, 2004
Times of India
PTI

Musharraf points at European link
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow/445559.cms

Pak scientists hid money in Dubai
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/444019.cms

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's probe into its secret nuclear programme has revealed limited approval of cooperation with Iran by former military ruler Zia-ul-Haq while the fate of its father of atomic bomb Dr A Q Khan hangs in balance.

The investigation of nuclear scientists , currently being grilled to determine allegations of proliferation of nuclear technology to Iran, pointed out that at least two Pakistani scientists acted inappropriately and exchanged information with Iran beyond the limit authorised to them by the government in late 1980s, the News daily reported on Saturday.

It said one of them could be booked for violating Official Secrets Act . Quoting local officials, the newspaper said former military ruler General Zia-ul-Haq had approved a longstanding request from the Iranian government in 1987 for an unpublicised cooperation in peaceful nuclear programme for non-military spheres.

"Just before his death in 1988 when I told Zia about Iran's growing interest in non-peaceful nuclear matters, he asked me to play around but not to yield anything substantial at any cost," it quoted an unnamed top retired nuclear scientist as saying.

The retired scientist, was, however, not very forthcoming about allegations about Zia's successor Aslam Beg who was accused of trying hard to prevail on the subsequent governments to help Iran to develop nuclear technology. He, however, said he was aware of Beg's successor trying to do the same but did not name him.

"I don't know about the exact nature of transfer of technology that took place but I knew that nothing moves in Pakistani nuclear spectrum without the knowledge of the chief of army staff," the retired scientist said and questioned Beg's statement that the decision-making about nuclear programme was with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and later with Nawaz Sharif.

The newspaper said that officials, however, did not discount Beg's influence and knowledge about the nuclear exchange that took place between some Pakistani and Iranian nuclear scientists in 1989-90.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/442946.cms

Iran and the Lingering Myths in Western Media

January 26, 2004
Iran va Jahan
Darius Dana

Reading through some prominent western newspapers, one often comes across some disturbing inaccuracies in their description of the situation in Iran and also the credentials of political personalities there. President Khatami is often generously referred to as a "moderate" or even a "democrat". The members of the Islamic parliament are described as "reformists" and their struggle for re-election is depicted as a crusade against the unelected section of the theocracy. Below is a list of some of these lingering myths that persists in some sectors of western and in particular the European media.

Myth 1: President Khatami Was Democratically Elected:

In the run up to the 1997 presidential elections, only 4 out of 238 candidates were approved by the unelected Guardian Council. That's less than 2%. The other 98% were rejected by the unelected body for not being Islamic enough. Khatami was one of the 4 candidates, vetted by the Guardian Council to stand for the presidential elections.

The remaining 3 candidates, who made it through the vetting process, were old school Taliban style conservatives. In fact Khatami was the "best of a bad lot". The 1997 presidential election for Iranian people was rather like being made to choose between Malaria and Plague. Iranians opted for Malaria as it offered better chances of survival.

Myth 2: President Khatami is a Democrat:

All the events in the past 7 years of president Khatami's 2 terms in office point to the contrary. Every time a choice between reforms and maintaining the status quo had to be made, Khatami opted for the latter. In fact he went even further and encouraged the repression. In 1999 when pro-democracy university students of Tehran protested against the closure of a reformist newspaper that was ran by Khatami's allies, they were brutally attacked by the Basij vigilantes and security forces. 5 people were killed and hundreds were injured. When it was all over, Khatami took part in an interview with the state run TV, in which he referred to the pro-democracy protesters as "thugs and hooligans". He also thanked the Basij and security forces for "marinating Order".

President Khatami stood by and watched as his interior minister Abdollah Nouri was thrown into jail. He stayed silent in the face of mass closures of reformist newspapers and imprisonment, torture and murder of many journalists, students and political activists. In fact Khatami's 2 terms in office is a sad tale of missed opportunities and callous indifference to the appalling human rights violations by the regime. At every crunch point, Khatami chose to align himself with the hated supreme leader and his henchmen rather than his constituents, the Iranian people. It is unfortunate that some quarters in western press are still portraying Khatami as a democrat! Such portrayals are purely based on his words and not his deeds.

Myth 3: The Reformist Members of Parliament Were Democratically Elected:

In fact there are 2 myths in the above statement. First the democratic nature of the Parliamentary elections and also the reformist nature of the MPs elected. As in the presidential elections, hundreds of candidates were excluded by the Guardian Council in the run up to the parliamentary elections for not being Islamic enough or not believeing in "Velayate Motlaghye Fagheeh" (The Absolute rule of Supreme leader). The so called reformist MPs who found their way through the filter of the Guardian Council were mostly former revolutionaries of the 1979 revolution who pioneered and took part in the repression of the early years of the Islamic revolution. Today after 4 years of occupying parliamentary seats, the reformist MPs in their own admission, have utterly failed to honor any of their pledges of reforms and the rule of law.

Myth 4: Reformist MPs are Protesting Against the Vetting process, by Walking out of the Parliament:

During the last few days of their strike, disqualified MPs have only criticized the Guardian Council for rejecting the reformist faction. They have made numerous speeches about their services to the revolution, their heroic participation in the holy war against Iraq and their belief in the theocracy and its founder, Ayatollah Khomeini. None of the reformist MPs criticized the vetting process in principle. After all, they qualified and were elected into the Islamic Parliament on the back of the same vetting process. The Irony is that the rejected MPs know very well that in the complete absence of the Guardian Council's vetting process, they are unlikely be elected, because according to the Islamic Regime's own polls, the majority of Iranians aspire to a fundamental change in Iran. Therefore the disgruntled Parliamentarians want a vetting process that doesn't reject their candidacy, not entirely free elections. To put it in simple terms the reformist MP's are unhappy about losing their jobs!

Myth 5: There is Freedom of Expression in Iran:

It's true that there is more freedom of expression in Iran than Saddam's Iraq or North Korea. You can talk or write about anything as long as you don't question the authority of clerics, relations with the US, the role of supreme leader, the role of unelected but powerful institutions, Mullah's support of international terrorism, Mullah's obsessive enmity against the "Zionist entity", and all other matters of principle. People who dare go beyond these red lines face prison, torture and even death. The so called chain murders that claimed the lives of more than 80 writers and thinkers, some during Khatami's presidency, is a chilling testament to this fact.

Myth 6: European Diplomacy Was Instrumental in Making the Mullahs Sign the Additional IAEA Protocol.

Not true. As in all other tyrannies, the Iranian theocracy is more in tune with power politics, not quiet diplomacy. By in large dictatorships lacking support at home often tend to make concessions when their existence is threatened by external powers. By the same token, their concessions in the face of such threats are often superficial and fade away once the threat to their existence is removed. What moved the Ayatollahs to take note and toe the international line, albeit in appearance had little to do with EU carrots and a lot to do with US sticks!

The EU had been engaged in a self serving policy of "willful gullibility" or as they prefer to call it "Critical Dialogue" with the mullahs For over 2 decades with no positive impact on the behavior of the regime. The mullahs continued and are still continuing to finance terrorist groups in the Middle East. They freely dispatched assassins to EU capitals to kill members of Iranian opposition and even EU citizens. To add insult to injury, while EU politicians were hard at work critically engaging the mullahs, their counterparts were hard at work producing nuclear and chemical weapons. If that is not a policy failure then what is?

Let's be candid. It was the demise of the Taliban and Saddam and the continuing offensive posture in American Middle East policy that finally made the Ayatollahs realize that their intransigence could lead to dire consequences! That is what finally turned the table and led the hawkish fundamentalists in Tehran to grudgingly signup to the additional snap-inspection protocol. But does this mean that the mullahs are turning over a new leaf? Early indications are not good!

The ink on the signed IAEA protocol has hardly dried and reports are already emerging that the mullahs have all but accelerated the import and assembly of centrifuge components......

http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2004&m=01&d=26&a=10

Tehran Terrorfest

January 26, 2004
New York Post
Amir Taheri

The other day at the World Economic Forum's inaugural session at Davos, Switzerland, Iran's President Muhammad Khatami repeatedly nodded his head in approval as forum founder Klaus Schwab called for the eradication of international terrorism. In his own speech, Khatami called for a "dialogue of civilizations" as an alternative to war and terror.

Meanwhile, militants from some 40 countries spread across the globe were trekking to Tehran for a 10-day "revolutionary jamboree" in which "a new strategy to confront the American Great Satan" will be hammered out.

The event starts Feb. 1, to mark the 25th anniversary of the return to Iran from exile of the late Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini, the founder of the "Islamic Revolution." It is not clear how many militants will attend, but Iran's official media promise a massive turnout to underline the Islamic Republic's position as the "throbbing heart of world resistance to American arrogance."

The guest list reads like a who's who of global terror.

In fact, most of the groups attending the event, labeled "Ten Days of Dawn," are branded by the United States and some European Union members as terrorist outfits. These include 17 branches of the Hezbollah, a worldwide militant Shi'ite movement created by Tehran in 1983.

For more than two decades, Tehran has been a magnet for militant groups from many different national and ideological backgrounds. The Islamic Republic's hospitality cuts across even religious divides. Militant Sunni organizations, including two linked to al Qaeda - Ansar al-Islam (Companions of Islam) and Hizb Islami (The Islamic Party) - will enjoy Iranian hospitality. So will Latin American guerrilla outfits, clandestine Irish organizations, Basque and Corsican separatists and a variety of leftist groups, from Spartacists to Trotskyites and Guevarists.

Tehran is the only capital where all the Palestinian militant movements have offices; some have training and financial facilities there, too. Iranian officials claim that the presence of these organizations is limited to "cultural and information activities."

The militant offices are known as "daftar ertebat" - "contact bureaus" - while the training offered by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards is presented as "courses in self-defense."

But the war in Iraq and the capture of Saddam Hussein have shaken the traditional Khomeinist assumption that the United States will never risk a direct confrontation with the Iranian regime.

The old view is expressed in a celebrated dictum of Khomeini that is painted on the walls of the conference center where the militants will meet: "America Cannot Do A Damn Thing!"

Now, however, many in Tehran believe that unless the Khomeinist regime modifies aspects of its behavior, notably in its relations with terrorist groups, it might find itself in military conflict with the United States. "Anyone who ignores the presence of the American war machine all around us suffers from deadly illusions," says Imadeddin Baqi, a member of the outgoing Islamic Majlis (parliament).

Until at least last December, one idea was to either cancel the terrorist jamboree or curtail it to a single prayer session at Khomeini's mausoleum in Tehran.

That idea was vetoed by the "Supreme Guide," Ali Khamenei, who believes that any show of weakness by the regime could encourage its numerous opponents inside and outside the country. Thus Khamenei plans to use the global jamboree to show that Iran is still a revolutionary force to be reckoned with, and that he alone, and not the ineffective Khatami, calls the shots in Tehran.

Khamenei also hopes that the next elections, to be held 10 days after the terror jamboree ends, will produce a new majority that shares his strategy. His game plan is to unify the regime by cutting the so-called "reformists" down to size and adopting a wait-and-see tactic until after the American presidential election.

The militants headed to Tehran will likely be told they must lie as low as possible for the next few months without abandoning their radical goals.

The Tehran gathering is also expected to deepen the recent informal alliances made between Islamist militant groups and a variety of communist, anarchist and environmentalist militant groups against the "American common enemy." The Khomeinist leadership has taken note of the success of the Islamist-Leftist alliances in organizing rallies against the liberation of Iraq last year.

Khomeini himself presided over an alliance of Islamists, communists and other Marxist-Leninist groups that brought down the Shah's regime in 1979.

"Today, mankind has a common enemy," says Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, who heads the powerful Council of Guardians in Tehran. "And that enemy is the American Great Satan. Anyone who fights the Great Satan for whatever reason is on our side, and anyone who does not is on the opposite side."

Nevertheless, it is clear that the Khomeinist regime is prepared to change aspects of its behavior and even concede some tactical retreats to weather what many in Tehran call "the Bush storm." But the regime's strategy - aimed at driving America out of the Middle East, destroying Israel and replacing all Arab regimes with "truly Islamic" ones - remains unchanged.

It is no accident that two words are popular in Tehran these days. One is détente, often used by Khatami and the so-called "reformists." The other, used by the more hard-line Khomeinists, is hudhabiah, which is the name of a truce signed by the Prophet Muhammad with a Jewish tribe in Medina at a time Muslims found themselves in a weak position.

At the end of the truce period, the Prophet's army, having rebuilt its strength, attacked the Jews and massacred all its adult male members, seizing women and children as war booty.

It is against this background that the question of what to do with Iran must be debated. The Khomeinist leadership, isolated abroad and threatened at home, appears ready to offer almost all the behavioral changes required by Washington and the Eureopean Union. But it cannot change its nature. And there is no guarantee that this particular beast will not bite again, and hard, as soon as it feels that it is no longer threatened. A scorpion does not sting because it is naughty; that is dictated by its nature.

The current mood of retrenchment in Tehran may lead to a brief détente, as Khatami wants. But that would mean nothing but a tactical move; the strategy of terror remains unchanged.

E-mail: amirtaheri@benadorassociates.com

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/16570.htm

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