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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
_________________________________________ ____________________
RFE/RL Iran Report
Vol. 9, No. 43, 21 November 2006
A Review of Developments in Iran Prepared by the Regional Specialists
of RFE/RL's Newsline Team
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HEADLINES
* LESS THAN ONE-THIRD OF PROSPECTIVE CANDIDATES ELIGIBLE FOR ELECTION
* CONVICTED IRANIAN-ARAB BOMBERS 'CONFESSIONS' TELEVISED
* TWO BOMBINGS IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN
* STUDENTS GATHER TO PROTEST INJURIES TO POLITICAL PRISONERS
* UN HELPS COMBAT DRUGPROBLEM, BUT BUREAUCRACY COULD HINDER EFFORT
* ALLEGED VIDEO OF TV STAR UNDERLINES SOCIETAL CHANGES
* NEW PLANNING CHIEF APPOINTED
* DOES RUSSIA HAVE NEW IDEAS ABOUT RESTARTING SIX-PARTY TALKS WITH IRAN?
* IRAN RESPONDS TO UN INSPECTORS' REPORT
* LAWMAKER CALLS DEMOCRATIC GAINS IN U.S. 'A VICTORY' FOR IRAN
* WHITE HOUSE CONTINUES STATE OF EMERGENCY ON IRAN
* TEHRAN DENOUNCES ARGENTINIAN COURT VERDICT
* LEBANESE, PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS MEET WITH IRANIANS
* FORMER OFFICIALS LOOK AT IRAQ
* KAZAKHSTAN TO DELIVER MORE OIL TO IRAN WITH SWAPS
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LESS THAN ONE-THIRD OF PROSPECTIVE CANDIDATES ELIGIBLE FOR ELECTION.
In less than one month Iranians will vote in elections for one of the
country's most powerful bodies, the Assembly of Experts, but it
is already clear that this will be a pointless exercise. The agency
that vets candidates for elected office has winnowed the field
drastically -- less than one-third of the people who signed up
survived the vetting process -- and in some constituencies only one
person will be running for office. While the election may be
meaningless, it is nevertheless relevant for several reasons. The
Assembly has the power to dismiss the country's Supreme Leader
and appoint a new one. Symbolically, furthermore, victory in this
race will either cement the fundamentalists' hold on the
country's elected institutions, or it will initiate the
reformists' return to political relevance. Political parties,
therefore, have been building coalitions.
The Assembly of Experts has 86 members, and the number of
candidates for the election on December 15 has fallen sharply over
the last month. Guardians Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai
announced on November 14 that there are 144 eligible candidates. This
is less than 30 percent of the 492 prospective candidates Kadkhodai
mentioned in mid-October.
Kadkhodai said 100 people withdrew their applications. All
the female applicants failed the written exam on religious
interpretation (ijtihad), he said, and the candidacy of nine more
people is being reviewed. The son of prominent hardline cleric
Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Ali Mesbah-Yazdi, reportedly
flunked the written exam, the Aftab new website reported. The final
results will be conveyed to the Interior Ministry by November 21, and
rejected individuals will have three days to appeal.
Three incumbents were rejected, according to Kadkhodai, but
he did not name them. According to "Kayhan" on November 15, they are
Majid Ansari, Ali Urumian, and Mohammad Reza Abbasi-Fard. However,
"Aftab-i Yazd" reported on October 21 that Urumian withdrew, citing
insufficient financial resources.
This announcement has already elicited protests. Former
speaker of parliament Hojatoleslam Mehdi Karrubi wrote to Assembly of
Experts speaker Ayatollah Ali Meshkini to ask that he resolve the
situation. Karrubi noted the inconsistency of disqualifying
Abbasi-Fard, who is not only an incumbent but a former member of the
Guardians Council, "Aftab-i Yazd" reported on November 15.
The candidate disqualifications are likely to dominate
headlines in Tehran for some time. But a prominent issue in the weeks
before Kadkhodai's announcement was the creation of election
coalitions. Much of the discussion centered on who would appear on
the candidate lists backed by the reformists, the conservatives, and
the fundamentalists.
Hojatoleslam Mohammad Reza Yusefi, a member of the central
council of the pro-reform Militant Clerics Association (Majma-yi
Ruhaniyun-i Mobarez) in Gilan Province, said there must be consensus
between his group, the National Trust Party (Hezb-i Etemad-i Melli),
and the Qom Theological Lecturers Association (Jameh-yi Mudarissin-i
Hozeh-yi Elmieh-yi Qom), "Gilan-i Imruz" reported on October 8.
Other reformist parties, such as the Mujahedin of the Islamic
Revolution Organization, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, and
the Executives of Construction Party are awaiting the Militant
Clerics Association list before announcing their position, "Etemad-i
Melli" reported on October 10.
The center-right Moderation and Development Party (Hezb-i
Etedal va Toseh) announced that it wll not participate in a
coalition, "Ruzegar" reported on October 16, although it supports any
group that backs the assembly's deputy speaker, Ayatollah
Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, and Hojatoleslam Hassan Rohani. This
demonstrates, the short-lived successor to the reformist "Sharq"
daily continued, that the Moderation and Development Party cannot
decide who to join and it seeks to sustain itself by siding with the
ultimate winners.
The long-standing differences between older and more
traditional conservatives and younger and more radical
fundamentalists affected coalition formation, too. In late-October it
was reported that a group called the Elite of Seminaries and
Universities was created to back Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi. This was
described as a "third movement" by "Etemad-i Melli" on October 30,
which noted reformist concerns that this new group could come to
dominate the assembly.
The group allegedly rejects the list of traditional
seminarian candidates, "Kargozaran" added on November 1. Qassem
Ravanbakhsh, editor of Mesbah-Yazdi's "Parto Sokhan" weekly,
explained, "some of the independent candidates are more qualified
than those names that have appeared on the lists."
Ultimately, coalition formation may not have much impact when
there are so few candidates, and realistically, it does not seem that
the Assembly of Experts race will be very competitive. The lack of
choice, furthermore, is likely to reduce voter enthusiasm.
Competition for the municipal councils, one the other hand, appears
to be more intense, and there is a possibility of greater flexibility
in candidate vetting. Participation in the council elections, which
are taking place on the same day as the Assembly elections, could
inflate the turnout figures. The regime, therefore, will perceive
this as a sign of support for the system. (Bill Samii)
CONVICTED IRANIAN-ARAB BOMBERS 'CONFESSIONS' TELEVISED. The
heavily-edited "confessions" of ten men sentenced to death for their
parts in fatal bombings that occurred in Ahvaz last year were
televised on November 13 by Khuzestan Province television. The
program was produced by the public affairs office of the Ministry of
Intelligence and Security.
Bombings occurred in the province in June and October 2005,
and in January and February 2006. Previous "confessions" were
televised on March 1, one day before two of the purported bombers
were hanged (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 25 April 2005, 3 March 2006,
and 8 March 2006).
The November 13 program -- called "Expressions of Illusion" -
began by describing alleged plots against Iran and showed pictures of
U.S. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and
former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. This was followed with
video footage of Western radio and television stations and their
personnel, with a spoken discussion about "false propaganda."
The program also showed damage from the bombings in Ahvaz,
the related funerals, and interviews with survivors and relatives of
the deceased, including a small boy. The public was thanked for
providing information on the arrested individuals, and it urged the
bombers' cohorts to turn themselves in.
Ten people on the program confessed to being involved with
the bombings and said they were members of the "Al-i Nasser" group.
They added that they were involved with bombings of oil pipelines, as
well as bombings in Abadan, Ahvaz, and Dezful. Although the alleged
bombers said they had foreign contacts, they did not name a specific
country.
The Khuzestan Province justice department's director
general, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, said on November 9 that 10 people
will be executed soon and another nine will receive sentences of
varying severity, provincial television reported.
Human Rights Watch on November 11 said the "10 Iranians of
Arab origin" were sentenced to death in secret trials, and it added
that at least 13 ethnic Arabs have been sentenced to death for armed
activities against the state in the last year. HRW added that one of
those facing capital punishment was actually in jail at the time of
his alleged crime. (Bill Samii)
TWO BOMBINGS IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN. Two explosions occurred in
different parts of the southwestern city of Ahvaz on November 10,
Fars News Agency and Mehr News Agency reported. The authorities
described percussion grenades filled with TNT, and although windows
were broken, nobody was injured. (Bill Samii)
STUDENTS GATHER TO PROTEST INJURIES TO POLITICAL PRISONERS. Several
political prisoners were reportedly injured in Evin prison in Tehran
on November 15 after a scuffle with other prisoners described as
dangerous, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reported. The scuffle reportedly
broke out when the dissidents objected to having "dangerous criminals
and louts" transferred to their wing. One of the injured was Nasser
Zarafshan, a prominent lawyer involved in human rights cases, Radio
Farda reported. Separately, in the northeastern city of Tabriz,
students, lecturers, and members of the Basij militia gathered
outside the Azerbaijani Consulate to protest against a cartoon
allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad that was published in the
Baku newspaper "Sanaat" (Industry), Radio Farda reported. The
protesters demanded that Azerbaijan formally apologize and that the
Iranian Foreign Ministry summon its ambassador for an explanation,
Radio Farda reported. (Vahid Sepehri)
UN HELPS COMBAT DRUGPROBLEM, BUT BUREAUCRACY COULD HINDER EFFORT.
Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), announced a $22 million contribution to
Iran during his November 7-9 visit to that country.
Iran is a global leader in drug seizures, and senior
officials frequently decry what they see as insufficient
international support and a lack of recognition of their
counternarcotics efforts.
Iran's president has called for greater attention to the
treatment of addicts, but bureaucratic competition among Iran's
numerous drug-control agencies could hinder that country's fight
against drugs.
Iranian officials reportedly used Costa's visit to urge
UN action to counter increased cultivation of opium poppies in
neighboring Afghanistan, according to official Iranian Mashhad
radio's November 9 Dari-language newscast.
A number of them complained that Iran's drug-fighting
effort gets too little help from the rest of the world.
The leader of Iran's judiciary, Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi,
called his country "the main path for drug transit from Afghanistan
to Europe," Mehr News Agency reported, citing their meeting on
November 7. He said international bodies fail to appreciate
Iran's role in stopping the drugs and warned that if
international assistance is not forthcoming, Tehran will have to
reconsider its interdiction efforts.
The same day, a deputy speaker of parliament, Mohammad Reza
Bahonar, told Costa that UN financial assistance to Iran's
antidrug program is negligible, IRNA reported.
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad claimed in his discussion with
Costa on November 9 that "[certain] arrogant powers are supporting
the drugs trafficking and distribution gangs with the intention of
harming independent states and nations," IRNA reported.
Costa arrived in the southeastern Sistan va Baluchistan
Province that borders Pakistan on November 8. After meeting with the
Iranian Drug Control Headquarters secretary-general, Fada Hussein
Maleki, Costa announced the UN's $22 million contribution to help
Iran combat drugs, IRNA reported. He said the funds are intended to
strengthen the eastern border against drug traffickers and for
intelligence activities by police in that part of the country.
Costa's choice of venues for his announcement was
significant. Sistan va Baluchistan Province is bedeviled by smugglers
and insurgents. Costa met with Maleki at the Rasul-i Akram base in
Zahedan, which was created in April to coordinate the efforts of
police, military, and other security agencies.
The base's deputy commander, Islamic Revolution Guards
Corps' Brigadier Qassem Rezai, said in early August that stopping
drug smugglers is one of the facility's main activities.
Rezai noted that the base tracks developments in eastern
parts of Hormozgan Province, in Kerman Province, in South Khorasan
Province, and in Sistan va Baluchistan Province, according to
Kerman's "Rudbar Zamin" weekly on August 9. Rezai said steps
related to the drug-interdiction effort include blocking a
70-kilometer stretch of the border with Pakistan with a trench that
is five meters wide and four meters deep, with electronic monitoring,
and with armed patrols. Rezai said forward operating bases have been
established in the region, paramilitary (Basij) camps are being set
up, and friendly tribes will be used. He stressed that authorities
"have strengthened the intelligence system of the region."
Iran's southeast was not always the destination of choice
for smugglers. But trafficking routes for drugs originating in
Afghanistan have changed. The traditional route was from southern
Khorasan to Isfahan, Kerman, Tabas, or Yazd, then up to West
Azerbaijan Province into Turkey. This pattern changed with the
creation of the Mohammad Rasulallah Central Headquarters in eastern
Iran in the early 1990s and affiliated operations by the IRGC.
Creation of a national police force in 1993-1994 and establishment of
the Mersad military base in the southeastern Kerman Province
effectively ended use of the traditional route.
The alternatives for traffickers moving drugs from
Afghanistan are a northern route through Central Asia to Russia and
then the Balkans, or a southern route from Pakistan to Sistan va
Baluchistan Province and then to the Sea of Oman and the Persian
Gulf.
Despite Iranian officials' dissatisfaction with the
international community's support, the country participates in a
number of multilateral counternarcotics programs. During his visit to
Iran, UNODC head Costa met with envoys from the mostly Western
Mini-Dublin Group.
The Dublin Group comprises the European Union, Australia,
Canada, Japan, Norway, and the United States. It is an informal
entity that meets to exchange views on counternarcotics, make
recommendations on dealing with the problem, and coordinate
cooperation between members and partner countries.
Drug control was also discussed at a late-October meeting in
Tehran of interior ministers from Economic Cooperation Organization
member states (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan).
Bilateral initiatives are important to Iran as well. In
Damascus on November 3, the Iranian police chief offered advice to a
Syrian deputy interior minister on using sniffer dogs and computer
systems to combat drugs, IRNA reported. The same day in Tehran, the
head of Iran's Drug Control Headquarters told Azerbaijan's
visiting interior minister, Ramil Yusbov, that Iran is ready to share
its experience, according to IRNA.
Interdiction is the cornerstone of Iranian activities. But
there appears to be a new emphasis on treatment of addicts.
Drug-control chief Maleki has announced on October 26 the
government's allocation of roughly $14 million to treat
addiction, ILNA reported. He noted the creation of drug-information
centers and treatment centers in the provinces, calling it the first
time that provinces have dealt individually with those issues.
A total of 17 camps are being established to cure the addicts
and methadone programs will be employed, according to the head of the
Prisons Organization's health department, Parviz Afshar, quoted
by "Hemayat" on August 17.
Addiction is illegal in Iran, and thousands of addicts are
imprisoned. The head of prisons in Gilan Province says that one in
three of the 4,500 prisoners there is guilty of addiction,
trafficking, or related crimes, according to a quote in "Gilan-i
Imruz" on August 7. He acknowledged that addicts are resourceful and
can get drugs in prison.
A recent government report states that 56 percent of Iranians
infected with HIV acquired it from sharing needles when using drugs
in prison. The report goes on to say that nearly two-thirds of all
HIV cases are drug addicts, "Aftab-i Yazd" reported on October 4.
The authorities in Iran must also contend with new forms of
drugs entering the country. Lately, there is much focus on a highly
concentrated -- and addictive -- form of heroin referred to as
"crystal."
Counternarcotics experts believe the substance is smoked, and
it is highly addictive because it is so concentrated -- 15 to 20
kilograms of opium are required for 1 kilogram of crystal, while the
normal opium-to-heroin ratio tends to be 10:1.
Police in the northern Semnan Province said in early October
that they had seized 132 kilograms of crystal in the first six months
of the Iranian year, Fars News Agency reported. Seizures of crystal
were reported in northeastern Khorasan Province in October, in Tehran
in September, and in Kerman Province in August.
Other substances are abused as well, including
methamphetamine and club drugs like ecstasy. Major Shahnam Rezai, a
public affairs official with the West Azerbaijan Province police,
said on October 22 that 400,000 hallucinogenic tablets were seized in
the last month, Urumiyeh television reported.
For more than two decades, the Iranian government
concentrated on interdiction as the preferred way to deal with drug
abuse. Tehran insisted it was a supply-driven problem. Despite
mounting anecdotal evidence, it dismissed suggestions that
unemployment and a lack of constructive social outlets might be
behind the demand for drugs.
It was only in the final years of President Mohammad
Khatami's administration (1997-2005) that a greater proportion of
the drug-fighting budget was earmarked for demand reduction.
The creation of new addiction-treatment camps suggests that
the Ahmadinejad administration -- after some deliberation -- has
decided to continue on that path.
This emphasis on the demand side could help curb Iran's
drug problem, as might the United Nations' recently announced
financial contribution.
But competition within the Iranian counternarcotics community
could hinder success. A deputy national police chief, Colonel Seyyed
Hassan Batouli, said recently that 13 organizations are involved in
the drug fight, "Mardom Salari" reported on October 5. The state
prosecutor-general, Qorban Ali Dori-Najafabadi, noted that each
province is conducting its own campaign, Hemayat" reported on October
2.
Resolving those bureaucratic issues could be as important as
any funding from the United Nations. But it is unclear whether UNODC
chief Costa addressed these problems during his recent trip to Iran.
(Bill Samii)
ALLEGED VIDEO OF TV STAR UNDERLINES SOCIETAL CHANGES. An alleged
homemade pornographic movie of an Iranian state television star has
appeared on the Internet, forcing the young woman to defend herself
publicly, Radio Farda reported on November 12. Zahra Amir Ebrahimi,
star of a soap opera called "Narges," has denied that she is the
person in the allegedly poor-quality video, and the man who
distributed the tape has fled the country.
Appearance of this kind of video is not a recent development,
Radio Farda reports. The authorities acknowledge the existence of a
significant black market in Iran for information about celebrities,
and pictures of cinema and sports stars' weddings and parties are
available just hours after the events take place.
An anonymous commentator told Radio Farda that societal
values have changed significantly since the 1979 Islamic revolution:
respect for privacy has deteriorated, and neighbors can inform on
each other to the security forces. (Bill Samii)
NEW PLANNING CHIEF APPOINTED. Mahmud Ahmadinejad has appointed Amir
Mansur Borqei as the new head of the Management and Planning
Organization, the state economic planning and budgeting body, ISNA
reported on November 15. Borqei has the rank of a vice president and
replaces Farhad Rahbar, who recently protested the merging of
provincial planning and budgeting offices under his authority with
provincial governorates (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," October 23, 2006).
Borqei is 49 years old, a graduate of the Science and
Industry (Elm va Sanaat) University in Tehran, and previously was
deputy energy minister for planning and economic affairs. He oversaw
large projects like dam and airport constructions from 1991 to 2006,
ISNA reported, though it was not clear if Borqei was a deputy
minister at the time. (Vahid Sepehri)
DOES RUSSIA HAVE NEW IDEAS ABOUT RESTARTING SIX-PARTY TALKS WITH
IRAN? Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow on November 11
after a meeting between President Putin and Iran's top nuclear
negotiator, Ali Larijani, that Russia wants to restart talks between
Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members, plus
Germany, news agencies reported. Lavrov added that "there is an
agreement that our contacts will be continued and, of course, we will
work on achieving our common goal, the resumption of six-party talks.
In the near future we will continue having contacts with the members
of the six-party talks, who have offered Iran some ideas as the basis
for resumption of the talks and Iran has responded to it."
Meanwhile, in Tehran, Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said
Iran is ready to consider a proposal to enrich uranium in Russia but
will not stop similar work in Iran. On November 13, the countries
belonging to the six-party group are slated to continue discussions
about an EU-sponsored draft UN resolution on Iran. Russia has offered
amendments that would reduce the scope of the sanctions proposed by
the EU countries, which include travel bans and financial
restrictions on Iranian scientists working on the nuclear and missile
programs. (Patrick Moore)
IRAN RESPONDS TO UN INSPECTORS' REPORT. Iran's Atomic Energy
Agency argued on November 15 that there is nothing new about traces
of sensitive nuclear material UN inspectors found at a facility in
Iran, news agencies reported. International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) inspectors found traces of plutonium and enriched uranium,
which can be used in nuclear weapons, and the finding reported on
November 14 is in a report that will be considered at an IAEA meeting
next week, AP reported. The report also notes that Iran has not been
fully cooperative with inspectors, AP added.
However, AP quoted an unnamed UN official as saying on
November 14 that Iran has already provided explanations, and the
traces could plausibly come from peaceful nuclear activities. He
added that while the uranium traces had been enriched more than
necessary for electricity-generation purposes, the enrichment remains
below the level needed for bomb-making activities. Iran maintains its
nuclear activities are strictly for generating electricity or for
scientific research.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Husseini said in
Tehran on November 15 that Iran has "repeatedly responded" to the
issues in the new report, and undertaken "all cooperation" with the
IAEA pursuant to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, ISNA reported.
He said Iran has "in a constructive and comprehensive manner" opened
its facilities to IAEA inspections, and "the spirit" of IAEA reports
confirms the "transparency" of its program, ISNA reported.
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said in Tehran on November 14
that Iranians will be informed of "two important and very advanced
achievements in technology" by the Ten Days of Dawn, the 10-day
period each February commemorating the 1979 revolution, IRNA
reported. "In one of these two technologies, no country has so far
been successful," he said. "The Ten Days of Dawn this year will be 10
days of magnificent festivities...in the nuclear and technological
fields." Ahmadinejad gave no details of the breakthroughs but said
that by February, "these two achievements will be at the people's
disposal and will formally enter the Iranian market."
Former President Mohammad Khatami told Turkish
television's Channel D in Istanbul on November 13 that Turkey
need not worry about Iran's nuclear program as Iran has "not
attacked any country." He added, according to Radio Farda, that he is
"upset [that] you fear Iran." Khatami was attending a conference of
the Alliance of Civilizations initiative, sponsored by Turkey and
Spain, according to the Turkish website zaman.com. "We have to fear
those countries that use their power negatively," Khatami reportedly
said before going on to claim that Israel "is the main source of
concern," Radio Farda reported.
In Paris on November 12, French Prime Minister Dominique de
Villepin called for the swift adoption of a new UN resolution against
Iran in response to what the West sees as disconcerting nuclear
activities. He said the resolution "must anticipate progressive,
targeted, and reversible sanctions" against Tehran, AP reported. De
Villepin told the general assembly of the World Jewish Congress that
the West merely intends to bring Iran back to respecting its
"international commitments" on nonproliferation and said an Iran
"armed with nuclear weapons capabilities" is "unacceptable," AP
reported. (Vahid Sepehri)
LAWMAKER CALLS DEMOCRATIC GAINS IN U.S. 'A VICTORY' FOR IRAN.
Alaedin Borujerdi, the head of the parliamentary National Security
and Foreign Policy Committee, said on November 13 that the Democratic
Party's victory in U.S. Congressional elections in November
"shows that Iran's point of view on [the administration of George
W. Bush's] policies are correct and [those policies] are mistaken
in various political and military areas," ISNA reported. Borujerdi
said Iran has repeated that the current administration's policies
in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East are "unacceptable" and have
led to the "violation of the right of nations and the deaths of
innocent people." He said the decision by American voters to give
Democrats a majority in Congress corroborates Iran's views, and
is "really a victory for Iran." He argued that the Democrats must now
make good on electoral criticisms of Bush's policies in Iraq, and
have a year to do so as attention will turn the following year to the
presidential election in 2008. Borujerdi said Iran should wait and
see "without any pre-judgment" the positions the Democrats intend to
adopt vis-a-vis Iran, ISNA reported. (Vahid Sepehri)
WHITE HOUSE CONTINUES STATE OF EMERGENCY ON IRAN. Iran and Hizballah
make up a "global nexus of terrorism," according to a November 11
statement from White House spokesman Tony Snow, Reuters reported. The
statement praised an Argentinean court's warrant for the arrest
of Iranian officials in connection with a 1994 bombing in Argentina
(see below). The state of emergency with respect to Iran will
continue for a year as of November 14, because relations between Iran
and the United States "have not yet returned to normal," according to
a November 9 announcement from the White House.
The Iran emergency was declared on November 14, 1979, "to
deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national
security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States
constituted by the situation in Iran." This is distinct from the
"national emergency with respect to Iran" signed by President George
W. Bush in March 2005 because of Iran's support for terrorism,
its active opposition to the Middle East peace process, and its
pursuit of weapons of mass destruction (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 15
March 2004 and 23 March 2005). (Bill Samii)
TEHRAN DENOUNCES ARGENTINIAN COURT VERDICT. Iranian Foreign Ministry
spokesman Seyyed Mohammad Ali Husseini said in a statement on
November 11 that a recent Argentinean arrest warrant for several
Iranian officials -- including former President Ali-Akbar
Hashemi-Rafsanjani and former Intelligence and Security Minister
Ali-Akbar Fallahian-Khuzestani -- is not legal and the charges lack
evidence, state television and Fars News Agency reported. Husseini
said the case has been dismissed by a British court, that Interpol
released 12 Iranians in a related case, and the previous Argentinean
judge was corrupt.
Husseini added, "Using the statements of a group of
antirevolutionary Iranians who are agents of the CIA and Mossad, the
newly assigned judge has rephrased the 800-page case compiled by the
former judge of the case and issued his verdict very hastily under
the influence of the Zionist lobbies and without presentation of any
proof for the allegations."
On November 12, Husseini said in Tehran that the Iranian
government will provide Interpol with documents proving the innocence
of the accused, IRNA reported.
In Istanbul on November 13, former President Mohammad Khatami
also dismissed the arrest warrants, saying they constitute "the most
ridiculous plot presented against Iran" and one "orchestrated by the
Zionists," Turkish television's Channel D reported.
As a result of the arrest warrants, Iran-Argentina tensions
have heightened and there is discord within Argentina's own
government, Radio Farda and Reuters reported on November 13 and 14.
Argentina accused Iran on November 13 of meddling in its internal
affairs by complaining about investigations into the bombing case,
and its foreign ministry summoned Iranian charge d'affaires
Mohsen Baharvand to explain why an Iranian prosecutor reportedly
asked for arrest warrants to be issued for Argentinean judges working
on the case. Baharvand was handed a letter at the ministry refuting
Iranian criticisms of Argentina's investigations, Reuters
reported on November 13.
Argentinean President Nestor Kirchner has also asked for the
resignation of left-wing senior civil servant Luis D'Elia, who
recently went to the Iranian mission in Buenos Aires to deposit
documents critical of Argentinean judges handling the dossier,
Reuters reported. (Bill Samii, Vahid Sepehri)
LEBANESE, PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS MEET WITH IRANIANS. Iranian officials
met with counterparts from Palestine, Lebanon, and other Arab
governments during the Seventh Public Forum of Asian Parliaments for
Peace in Tehran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei received Lebanese
parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri on November 14 and congratulated
him on the Lebanese people's "victory" over Israel in July, IRNA
reported. Berri was heading a delegation of members of Hizballah and
Amal, Lebanon's Shi'a parties. Khamenei said the Lebanese
fight against "America and the Zionist regime" was "unprecedented"
and he called Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah "an exceptional
figure." Khamenei attributed the perceived success in part to "unity
and solidarity" between Amal and Hizballah "brothers." U.S. policies
"in the world and the region are heading for defeat," Khamenei said,
and "one must...make the most use of these opportunities."
Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki met separately with his
Palestinian counterpart, Mahmud al-Zahar, in Tehran on November 14,
reiterating Iran's support for Palestinian aspirations. He said
the United States and Israel are "currently faced with various
failures in international and regional arenas in Lebanon, Iraq,
Afghanistan, and Palestine," and "American officials are now seeing
the results of their mistaken approaches in various areas." These,
Mottaki said, have led to electoral defeat for the administration of
U.S. President George W. Bush, Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld's removal, "and other electoral aftershocks."
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad told Palestinian diplomat Faruq
Qaddumi that Tehran still believes in the "Palestine ideal" and will
support Palestinians "in various areas," IRNA reported following a
meeting in Tehran on November 13. Qaddumi is the foreign policy chief
of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and secretary-general of
Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. Ahmadinejad
claimed that in response to increasing weakness and daily defeats,
the "Zionists" are "trying to exert political, psychological, and
military pressures to force [Palestinians] and other Muslims...to
retreat." Israel's supporters are today "doubtful" over the
"advantages of its continued existence," Ahmadinejad contended.
Qaddumi said Iran's supportive stance "has strengthened the
determination of the Palestinian people and militants in fighting"
Israel, IRNA reported.
Ahmadinejad also met with Kuwaiti parliament speaker Jasim
Muhammad al-Khurafi and called for enhanced bilateral cooperation in
business, shipping, and security affairs, IRNA reported. He and
Ahmadinejad agreed that "enemies" are trying to divide Muslim and
regional states, and that Iran has a "fitting role" in promoting
regional cooperation, IRNA reported.
In a meeting on November 13 with Syrian parliamentary speaker
Mahmud al-Barash, Ahmadinejad said Damascus and Tehran must work
together "as two vanguard states...to counter the plots of the system
of domination and to establish justice and spirituality in the
world," IRNA reported. "The system of domination is trying to strike
at independent and free countries, and regional nations must prevent
with vigilance...the presence of forceful states that wish to loot
the resources of Middle East states." (Vahid Sepehri)
FORMER OFFICIALS LOOK AT IRAQ. Former President Hojatoleslam Mohammad
Khatami said in Ankara on November 15 that Iran is not fomenting
disorder in Iraq, ISNA reported. He told a group of Iranians in
Ankara that Tehran, "contrary to all...claims, wants the present
crisis in Iraq to be resolved, because the crisis in Iraq is against
Iran's national interests." He said it is the "intervention of
foreign powers that has made the region's situation more
critical." The presence of "foreign occupying forces in Iraq gives
the agents of insecurity a pretext, and the target of these
insecurities is Iran and Iran's friends in Iraq, including the
Shi'a, who naturally feel an affinity with Iran." He said he
knows nothing of the "expectations of governments from one another,"
referring to reports that the United States expects Turkey to
participate in possible sanctions against Iran, but any such
expectation is "irrational and illegitimate." The United States'
"discriminatory" conduct and "double standards" have promoted
"extremism, violence and insecurity, especially in the...Middle
East," ISNA quoted him as saying.
Former Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said in Tehran on
November 14 that the United Kingdom and the United States are "late"
in asking Iran to help them resolve the problems of Iraq, ISNA
reported. He said he told British Prime Minister Tony Blair a month
before Iraq's 2003 invasion by Anglo-American forces not to
"dirty yourself" with the war and to advise the United States not to
enter "the Iraqi quagmire," recalling Britain's own historical
experience in Iraq. Britain, as one of the powers that dismembered
the Ottoman Empire, oversaw Iraq's transition to full
independence in the 1920s and 1930s.
Kharrazi said that at another meeting one year after the
invasion he advised Blair to leave Iraq. "They are stuck in Iraq
today," Kharrazi said. "They can neither stay in the Iraqi
government, nor can they leave Iraq. And we have no choice but to
think of our best interests and those of the people and government of
Iraq." What reason is there, he asked, "for us to help people who are
against us and who seek to disrupt the state of the entire Middle
East?" (Vahid Sepehri)
KAZAKHSTAN TO DELIVER MORE OIL TO IRAN WITH SWAPS. Iranian Ambassador
to Kazakhstan Ramin Mehmanparast said on November 15 in Almaty that
oil swaps from Kazakhstan to his country will rise to 3 million tons
by the end of 2006, a 50 percent increase on 2005 figures,
Interfax-Kazakhstan reported. The two countries are also finalizing
technical issues related to grain deliveries from Kazakhstan to Iran,
with an initial amount of 1 million tons of Kazakh grain to be
transported to Iran at the end of 2008, Mehmanparast added.
****************************************** ***************
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
The "RFE/RL Iran Report" is a weekly prepared by A. William Samii on
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RAD IO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
_________________________________________ ____________________
RFE/RL Iran Report
Vol. 9, No. 43, 21 November 2006
A Review of Developments in Iran Prepared by the Regional Specialists
of RFE/RL's Newsline Team
******************************************** ****************
HEADLINES
* LESS THAN ONE-THIRD OF PROSPECTIVE CANDIDATES ELIGIBLE FOR ELECTION
* CONVICTED IRANIAN-ARAB BOMBERS 'CONFESSIONS' TELEVISED
* TWO BOMBINGS IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN
* STUDENTS GATHER TO PROTEST INJURIES TO POLITICAL PRISONERS
* UN HELPS COMBAT DRUGPROBLEM, BUT BUREAUCRACY COULD HINDER EFFORT
* ALLEGED VIDEO OF TV STAR UNDERLINES SOCIETAL CHANGES
* NEW PLANNING CHIEF APPOINTED
* DOES RUSSIA HAVE NEW IDEAS ABOUT RESTARTING SIX-PARTY TALKS WITH IRAN?
* IRAN RESPONDS TO UN INSPECTORS' REPORT
* LAWMAKER CALLS DEMOCRATIC GAINS IN U.S. 'A VICTORY' FOR IRAN
* WHITE HOUSE CONTINUES STATE OF EMERGENCY ON IRAN
* TEHRAN DENOUNCES ARGENTINIAN COURT VERDICT
* LEBANESE, PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS MEET WITH IRANIANS
* FORMER OFFICIALS LOOK AT IRAQ
* KAZAKHSTAN TO DELIVER MORE OIL TO IRAN WITH SWAPS
******************************************** ****************
LESS THAN ONE-THIRD OF PROSPECTIVE CANDIDATES ELIGIBLE FOR ELECTION.
In less than one month Iranians will vote in elections for one of the
country's most powerful bodies, the Assembly of Experts, but it
is already clear that this will be a pointless exercise. The agency
that vets candidates for elected office has winnowed the field
drastically -- less than one-third of the people who signed up
survived the vetting process -- and in some constituencies only one
person will be running for office. While the election may be
meaningless, it is nevertheless relevant for several reasons. The
Assembly has the power to dismiss the country's Supreme Leader
and appoint a new one. Symbolically, furthermore, victory in this
race will either cement the fundamentalists' hold on the
country's elected institutions, or it will initiate the
reformists' return to political relevance. Political parties,
therefore, have been building coalitions.
The Assembly of Experts has 86 members, and the number of
candidates for the election on December 15 has fallen sharply over
the last month. Guardians Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai
announced on November 14 that there are 144 eligible candidates. This
is less than 30 percent of the 492 prospective candidates Kadkhodai
mentioned in mid-October.
Kadkhodai said 100 people withdrew their applications. All
the female applicants failed the written exam on religious
interpretation (ijtihad), he said, and the candidacy of nine more
people is being reviewed. The son of prominent hardline cleric
Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Ali Mesbah-Yazdi, reportedly
flunked the written exam, the Aftab new website reported. The final
results will be conveyed to the Interior Ministry by November 21, and
rejected individuals will have three days to appeal.
Three incumbents were rejected, according to Kadkhodai, but
he did not name them. According to "Kayhan" on November 15, they are
Majid Ansari, Ali Urumian, and Mohammad Reza Abbasi-Fard. However,
"Aftab-i Yazd" reported on October 21 that Urumian withdrew, citing
insufficient financial resources.
This announcement has already elicited protests. Former
speaker of parliament Hojatoleslam Mehdi Karrubi wrote to Assembly of
Experts speaker Ayatollah Ali Meshkini to ask that he resolve the
situation. Karrubi noted the inconsistency of disqualifying
Abbasi-Fard, who is not only an incumbent but a former member of the
Guardians Council, "Aftab-i Yazd" reported on November 15.
The candidate disqualifications are likely to dominate
headlines in Tehran for some time. But a prominent issue in the weeks
before Kadkhodai's announcement was the creation of election
coalitions. Much of the discussion centered on who would appear on
the candidate lists backed by the reformists, the conservatives, and
the fundamentalists.
Hojatoleslam Mohammad Reza Yusefi, a member of the central
council of the pro-reform Militant Clerics Association (Majma-yi
Ruhaniyun-i Mobarez) in Gilan Province, said there must be consensus
between his group, the National Trust Party (Hezb-i Etemad-i Melli),
and the Qom Theological Lecturers Association (Jameh-yi Mudarissin-i
Hozeh-yi Elmieh-yi Qom), "Gilan-i Imruz" reported on October 8.
Other reformist parties, such as the Mujahedin of the Islamic
Revolution Organization, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, and
the Executives of Construction Party are awaiting the Militant
Clerics Association list before announcing their position, "Etemad-i
Melli" reported on October 10.
The center-right Moderation and Development Party (Hezb-i
Etedal va Toseh) announced that it wll not participate in a
coalition, "Ruzegar" reported on October 16, although it supports any
group that backs the assembly's deputy speaker, Ayatollah
Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, and Hojatoleslam Hassan Rohani. This
demonstrates, the short-lived successor to the reformist "Sharq"
daily continued, that the Moderation and Development Party cannot
decide who to join and it seeks to sustain itself by siding with the
ultimate winners.
The long-standing differences between older and more
traditional conservatives and younger and more radical
fundamentalists affected coalition formation, too. In late-October it
was reported that a group called the Elite of Seminaries and
Universities was created to back Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi. This was
described as a "third movement" by "Etemad-i Melli" on October 30,
which noted reformist concerns that this new group could come to
dominate the assembly.
The group allegedly rejects the list of traditional
seminarian candidates, "Kargozaran" added on November 1. Qassem
Ravanbakhsh, editor of Mesbah-Yazdi's "Parto Sokhan" weekly,
explained, "some of the independent candidates are more qualified
than those names that have appeared on the lists."
Ultimately, coalition formation may not have much impact when
there are so few candidates, and realistically, it does not seem that
the Assembly of Experts race will be very competitive. The lack of
choice, furthermore, is likely to reduce voter enthusiasm.
Competition for the municipal councils, one the other hand, appears
to be more intense, and there is a possibility of greater flexibility
in candidate vetting. Participation in the council elections, which
are taking place on the same day as the Assembly elections, could
inflate the turnout figures. The regime, therefore, will perceive
this as a sign of support for the system. (Bill Samii)
CONVICTED IRANIAN-ARAB BOMBERS 'CONFESSIONS' TELEVISED. The
heavily-edited "confessions" of ten men sentenced to death for their
parts in fatal bombings that occurred in Ahvaz last year were
televised on November 13 by Khuzestan Province television. The
program was produced by the public affairs office of the Ministry of
Intelligence and Security.
Bombings occurred in the province in June and October 2005,
and in January and February 2006. Previous "confessions" were
televised on March 1, one day before two of the purported bombers
were hanged (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 25 April 2005, 3 March 2006,
and 8 March 2006).
The November 13 program -- called "Expressions of Illusion" -
began by describing alleged plots against Iran and showed pictures of
U.S. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and
former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. This was followed with
video footage of Western radio and television stations and their
personnel, with a spoken discussion about "false propaganda."
The program also showed damage from the bombings in Ahvaz,
the related funerals, and interviews with survivors and relatives of
the deceased, including a small boy. The public was thanked for
providing information on the arrested individuals, and it urged the
bombers' cohorts to turn themselves in.
Ten people on the program confessed to being involved with
the bombings and said they were members of the "Al-i Nasser" group.
They added that they were involved with bombings of oil pipelines, as
well as bombings in Abadan, Ahvaz, and Dezful. Although the alleged
bombers said they had foreign contacts, they did not name a specific
country.
The Khuzestan Province justice department's director
general, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, said on November 9 that 10 people
will be executed soon and another nine will receive sentences of
varying severity, provincial television reported.
Human Rights Watch on November 11 said the "10 Iranians of
Arab origin" were sentenced to death in secret trials, and it added
that at least 13 ethnic Arabs have been sentenced to death for armed
activities against the state in the last year. HRW added that one of
those facing capital punishment was actually in jail at the time of
his alleged crime. (Bill Samii)
TWO BOMBINGS IN SOUTHWESTERN IRAN. Two explosions occurred in
different parts of the southwestern city of Ahvaz on November 10,
Fars News Agency and Mehr News Agency reported. The authorities
described percussion grenades filled with TNT, and although windows
were broken, nobody was injured. (Bill Samii)
STUDENTS GATHER TO PROTEST INJURIES TO POLITICAL PRISONERS. Several
political prisoners were reportedly injured in Evin prison in Tehran
on November 15 after a scuffle with other prisoners described as
dangerous, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reported. The scuffle reportedly
broke out when the dissidents objected to having "dangerous criminals
and louts" transferred to their wing. One of the injured was Nasser
Zarafshan, a prominent lawyer involved in human rights cases, Radio
Farda reported. Separately, in the northeastern city of Tabriz,
students, lecturers, and members of the Basij militia gathered
outside the Azerbaijani Consulate to protest against a cartoon
allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad that was published in the
Baku newspaper "Sanaat" (Industry), Radio Farda reported. The
protesters demanded that Azerbaijan formally apologize and that the
Iranian Foreign Ministry summon its ambassador for an explanation,
Radio Farda reported. (Vahid Sepehri)
UN HELPS COMBAT DRUGPROBLEM, BUT BUREAUCRACY COULD HINDER EFFORT.
Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), announced a $22 million contribution to
Iran during his November 7-9 visit to that country.
Iran is a global leader in drug seizures, and senior
officials frequently decry what they see as insufficient
international support and a lack of recognition of their
counternarcotics efforts.
Iran's president has called for greater attention to the
treatment of addicts, but bureaucratic competition among Iran's
numerous drug-control agencies could hinder that country's fight
against drugs.
Iranian officials reportedly used Costa's visit to urge
UN action to counter increased cultivation of opium poppies in
neighboring Afghanistan, according to official Iranian Mashhad
radio's November 9 Dari-language newscast.
A number of them complained that Iran's drug-fighting
effort gets too little help from the rest of the world.
The leader of Iran's judiciary, Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi,
called his country "the main path for drug transit from Afghanistan
to Europe," Mehr News Agency reported, citing their meeting on
November 7. He said international bodies fail to appreciate
Iran's role in stopping the drugs and warned that if
international assistance is not forthcoming, Tehran will have to
reconsider its interdiction efforts.
The same day, a deputy speaker of parliament, Mohammad Reza
Bahonar, told Costa that UN financial assistance to Iran's
antidrug program is negligible, IRNA reported.
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad claimed in his discussion with
Costa on November 9 that "[certain] arrogant powers are supporting
the drugs trafficking and distribution gangs with the intention of
harming independent states and nations," IRNA reported.
Costa arrived in the southeastern Sistan va Baluchistan
Province that borders Pakistan on November 8. After meeting with the
Iranian Drug Control Headquarters secretary-general, Fada Hussein
Maleki, Costa announced the UN's $22 million contribution to help
Iran combat drugs, IRNA reported. He said the funds are intended to
strengthen the eastern border against drug traffickers and for
intelligence activities by police in that part of the country.
Costa's choice of venues for his announcement was
significant. Sistan va Baluchistan Province is bedeviled by smugglers
and insurgents. Costa met with Maleki at the Rasul-i Akram base in
Zahedan, which was created in April to coordinate the efforts of
police, military, and other security agencies.
The base's deputy commander, Islamic Revolution Guards
Corps' Brigadier Qassem Rezai, said in early August that stopping
drug smugglers is one of the facility's main activities.
Rezai noted that the base tracks developments in eastern
parts of Hormozgan Province, in Kerman Province, in South Khorasan
Province, and in Sistan va Baluchistan Province, according to
Kerman's "Rudbar Zamin" weekly on August 9. Rezai said steps
related to the drug-interdiction effort include blocking a
70-kilometer stretch of the border with Pakistan with a trench that
is five meters wide and four meters deep, with electronic monitoring,
and with armed patrols. Rezai said forward operating bases have been
established in the region, paramilitary (Basij) camps are being set
up, and friendly tribes will be used. He stressed that authorities
"have strengthened the intelligence system of the region."
Iran's southeast was not always the destination of choice
for smugglers. But trafficking routes for drugs originating in
Afghanistan have changed. The traditional route was from southern
Khorasan to Isfahan, Kerman, Tabas, or Yazd, then up to West
Azerbaijan Province into Turkey. This pattern changed with the
creation of the Mohammad Rasulallah Central Headquarters in eastern
Iran in the early 1990s and affiliated operations by the IRGC.
Creation of a national police force in 1993-1994 and establishment of
the Mersad military base in the southeastern Kerman Province
effectively ended use of the traditional route.
The alternatives for traffickers moving drugs from
Afghanistan are a northern route through Central Asia to Russia and
then the Balkans, or a southern route from Pakistan to Sistan va
Baluchistan Province and then to the Sea of Oman and the Persian
Gulf.
Despite Iranian officials' dissatisfaction with the
international community's support, the country participates in a
number of multilateral counternarcotics programs. During his visit to
Iran, UNODC head Costa met with envoys from the mostly Western
Mini-Dublin Group.
The Dublin Group comprises the European Union, Australia,
Canada, Japan, Norway, and the United States. It is an informal
entity that meets to exchange views on counternarcotics, make
recommendations on dealing with the problem, and coordinate
cooperation between members and partner countries.
Drug control was also discussed at a late-October meeting in
Tehran of interior ministers from Economic Cooperation Organization
member states (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan).
Bilateral initiatives are important to Iran as well. In
Damascus on November 3, the Iranian police chief offered advice to a
Syrian deputy interior minister on using sniffer dogs and computer
systems to combat drugs, IRNA reported. The same day in Tehran, the
head of Iran's Drug Control Headquarters told Azerbaijan's
visiting interior minister, Ramil Yusbov, that Iran is ready to share
its experience, according to IRNA.
Interdiction is the cornerstone of Iranian activities. But
there appears to be a new emphasis on treatment of addicts.
Drug-control chief Maleki has announced on October 26 the
government's allocation of roughly $14 million to treat
addiction, ILNA reported. He noted the creation of drug-information
centers and treatment centers in the provinces, calling it the first
time that provinces have dealt individually with those issues.
A total of 17 camps are being established to cure the addicts
and methadone programs will be employed, according to the head of the
Prisons Organization's health department, Parviz Afshar, quoted
by "Hemayat" on August 17.
Addiction is illegal in Iran, and thousands of addicts are
imprisoned. The head of prisons in Gilan Province says that one in
three of the 4,500 prisoners there is guilty of addiction,
trafficking, or related crimes, according to a quote in "Gilan-i
Imruz" on August 7. He acknowledged that addicts are resourceful and
can get drugs in prison.
A recent government report states that 56 percent of Iranians
infected with HIV acquired it from sharing needles when using drugs
in prison. The report goes on to say that nearly two-thirds of all
HIV cases are drug addicts, "Aftab-i Yazd" reported on October 4.
The authorities in Iran must also contend with new forms of
drugs entering the country. Lately, there is much focus on a highly
concentrated -- and addictive -- form of heroin referred to as
"crystal."
Counternarcotics experts believe the substance is smoked, and
it is highly addictive because it is so concentrated -- 15 to 20
kilograms of opium are required for 1 kilogram of crystal, while the
normal opium-to-heroin ratio tends to be 10:1.
Police in the northern Semnan Province said in early October
that they had seized 132 kilograms of crystal in the first six months
of the Iranian year, Fars News Agency reported. Seizures of crystal
were reported in northeastern Khorasan Province in October, in Tehran
in September, and in Kerman Province in August.
Other substances are abused as well, including
methamphetamine and club drugs like ecstasy. Major Shahnam Rezai, a
public affairs official with the West Azerbaijan Province police,
said on October 22 that 400,000 hallucinogenic tablets were seized in
the last month, Urumiyeh television reported.
For more than two decades, the Iranian government
concentrated on interdiction as the preferred way to deal with drug
abuse. Tehran insisted it was a supply-driven problem. Despite
mounting anecdotal evidence, it dismissed suggestions that
unemployment and a lack of constructive social outlets might be
behind the demand for drugs.
It was only in the final years of President Mohammad
Khatami's administration (1997-2005) that a greater proportion of
the drug-fighting budget was earmarked for demand reduction.
The creation of new addiction-treatment camps suggests that
the Ahmadinejad administration -- after some deliberation -- has
decided to continue on that path.
This emphasis on the demand side could help curb Iran's
drug problem, as might the United Nations' recently announced
financial contribution.
But competition within the Iranian counternarcotics community
could hinder success. A deputy national police chief, Colonel Seyyed
Hassan Batouli, said recently that 13 organizations are involved in
the drug fight, "Mardom Salari" reported on October 5. The state
prosecutor-general, Qorban Ali Dori-Najafabadi, noted that each
province is conducting its own campaign, Hemayat" reported on October
2.
Resolving those bureaucratic issues could be as important as
any funding from the United Nations. But it is unclear whether UNODC
chief Costa addressed these problems during his recent trip to Iran.
(Bill Samii)
ALLEGED VIDEO OF TV STAR UNDERLINES SOCIETAL CHANGES. An alleged
homemade pornographic movie of an Iranian state television star has
appeared on the Internet, forcing the young woman to defend herself
publicly, Radio Farda reported on November 12. Zahra Amir Ebrahimi,
star of a soap opera called "Narges," has denied that she is the
person in the allegedly poor-quality video, and the man who
distributed the tape has fled the country.
Appearance of this kind of video is not a recent development,
Radio Farda reports. The authorities acknowledge the existence of a
significant black market in Iran for information about celebrities,
and pictures of cinema and sports stars' weddings and parties are
available just hours after the events take place.
An anonymous commentator told Radio Farda that societal
values have changed significantly since the 1979 Islamic revolution:
respect for privacy has deteriorated, and neighbors can inform on
each other to the security forces. (Bill Samii)
NEW PLANNING CHIEF APPOINTED. Mahmud Ahmadinejad has appointed Amir
Mansur Borqei as the new head of the Management and Planning
Organization, the state economic planning and budgeting body, ISNA
reported on November 15. Borqei has the rank of a vice president and
replaces Farhad Rahbar, who recently protested the merging of
provincial planning and budgeting offices under his authority with
provincial governorates (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," October 23, 2006).
Borqei is 49 years old, a graduate of the Science and
Industry (Elm va Sanaat) University in Tehran, and previously was
deputy energy minister for planning and economic affairs. He oversaw
large projects like dam and airport constructions from 1991 to 2006,
ISNA reported, though it was not clear if Borqei was a deputy
minister at the time. (Vahid Sepehri)
DOES RUSSIA HAVE NEW IDEAS ABOUT RESTARTING SIX-PARTY TALKS WITH
IRAN? Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow on November 11
after a meeting between President Putin and Iran's top nuclear
negotiator, Ali Larijani, that Russia wants to restart talks between
Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members, plus
Germany, news agencies reported. Lavrov added that "there is an
agreement that our contacts will be continued and, of course, we will
work on achieving our common goal, the resumption of six-party talks.
In the near future we will continue having contacts with the members
of the six-party talks, who have offered Iran some ideas as the basis
for resumption of the talks and Iran has responded to it."
Meanwhile, in Tehran, Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said
Iran is ready to consider a proposal to enrich uranium in Russia but
will not stop similar work in Iran. On November 13, the countries
belonging to the six-party group are slated to continue discussions
about an EU-sponsored draft UN resolution on Iran. Russia has offered
amendments that would reduce the scope of the sanctions proposed by
the EU countries, which include travel bans and financial
restrictions on Iranian scientists working on the nuclear and missile
programs. (Patrick Moore)
IRAN RESPONDS TO UN INSPECTORS' REPORT. Iran's Atomic Energy
Agency argued on November 15 that there is nothing new about traces
of sensitive nuclear material UN inspectors found at a facility in
Iran, news agencies reported. International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) inspectors found traces of plutonium and enriched uranium,
which can be used in nuclear weapons, and the finding reported on
November 14 is in a report that will be considered at an IAEA meeting
next week, AP reported. The report also notes that Iran has not been
fully cooperative with inspectors, AP added.
However, AP quoted an unnamed UN official as saying on
November 14 that Iran has already provided explanations, and the
traces could plausibly come from peaceful nuclear activities. He
added that while the uranium traces had been enriched more than
necessary for electricity-generation purposes, the enrichment remains
below the level needed for bomb-making activities. Iran maintains its
nuclear activities are strictly for generating electricity or for
scientific research.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Husseini said in
Tehran on November 15 that Iran has "repeatedly responded" to the
issues in the new report, and undertaken "all cooperation" with the
IAEA pursuant to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, ISNA reported.
He said Iran has "in a constructive and comprehensive manner" opened
its facilities to IAEA inspections, and "the spirit" of IAEA reports
confirms the "transparency" of its program, ISNA reported.
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said in Tehran on November 14
that Iranians will be informed of "two important and very advanced
achievements in technology" by the Ten Days of Dawn, the 10-day
period each February commemorating the 1979 revolution, IRNA
reported. "In one of these two technologies, no country has so far
been successful," he said. "The Ten Days of Dawn this year will be 10
days of magnificent festivities...in the nuclear and technological
fields." Ahmadinejad gave no details of the breakthroughs but said
that by February, "these two achievements will be at the people's
disposal and will formally enter the Iranian market."
Former President Mohammad Khatami told Turkish
television's Channel D in Istanbul on November 13 that Turkey
need not worry about Iran's nuclear program as Iran has "not
attacked any country." He added, according to Radio Farda, that he is
"upset [that] you fear Iran." Khatami was attending a conference of
the Alliance of Civilizations initiative, sponsored by Turkey and
Spain, according to the Turkish website zaman.com. "We have to fear
those countries that use their power negatively," Khatami reportedly
said before going on to claim that Israel "is the main source of
concern," Radio Farda reported.
In Paris on November 12, French Prime Minister Dominique de
Villepin called for the swift adoption of a new UN resolution against
Iran in response to what the West sees as disconcerting nuclear
activities. He said the resolution "must anticipate progressive,
targeted, and reversible sanctions" against Tehran, AP reported. De
Villepin told the general assembly of the World Jewish Congress that
the West merely intends to bring Iran back to respecting its
"international commitments" on nonproliferation and said an Iran
"armed with nuclear weapons capabilities" is "unacceptable," AP
reported. (Vahid Sepehri)
LAWMAKER CALLS DEMOCRATIC GAINS IN U.S. 'A VICTORY' FOR IRAN.
Alaedin Borujerdi, the head of the parliamentary National Security
and Foreign Policy Committee, said on November 13 that the Democratic
Party's victory in U.S. Congressional elections in November
"shows that Iran's point of view on [the administration of George
W. Bush's] policies are correct and [those policies] are mistaken
in various political and military areas," ISNA reported. Borujerdi
said Iran has repeated that the current administration's policies
in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East are "unacceptable" and have
led to the "violation of the right of nations and the deaths of
innocent people." He said the decision by American voters to give
Democrats a majority in Congress corroborates Iran's views, and
is "really a victory for Iran." He argued that the Democrats must now
make good on electoral criticisms of Bush's policies in Iraq, and
have a year to do so as attention will turn the following year to the
presidential election in 2008. Borujerdi said Iran should wait and
see "without any pre-judgment" the positions the Democrats intend to
adopt vis-a-vis Iran, ISNA reported. (Vahid Sepehri)
WHITE HOUSE CONTINUES STATE OF EMERGENCY ON IRAN. Iran and Hizballah
make up a "global nexus of terrorism," according to a November 11
statement from White House spokesman Tony Snow, Reuters reported. The
statement praised an Argentinean court's warrant for the arrest
of Iranian officials in connection with a 1994 bombing in Argentina
(see below). The state of emergency with respect to Iran will
continue for a year as of November 14, because relations between Iran
and the United States "have not yet returned to normal," according to
a November 9 announcement from the White House.
The Iran emergency was declared on November 14, 1979, "to
deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national
security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States
constituted by the situation in Iran." This is distinct from the
"national emergency with respect to Iran" signed by President George
W. Bush in March 2005 because of Iran's support for terrorism,
its active opposition to the Middle East peace process, and its
pursuit of weapons of mass destruction (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 15
March 2004 and 23 March 2005). (Bill Samii)
TEHRAN DENOUNCES ARGENTINIAN COURT VERDICT. Iranian Foreign Ministry
spokesman Seyyed Mohammad Ali Husseini said in a statement on
November 11 that a recent Argentinean arrest warrant for several
Iranian officials -- including former President Ali-Akbar
Hashemi-Rafsanjani and former Intelligence and Security Minister
Ali-Akbar Fallahian-Khuzestani -- is not legal and the charges lack
evidence, state television and Fars News Agency reported. Husseini
said the case has been dismissed by a British court, that Interpol
released 12 Iranians in a related case, and the previous Argentinean
judge was corrupt.
Husseini added, "Using the statements of a group of
antirevolutionary Iranians who are agents of the CIA and Mossad, the
newly assigned judge has rephrased the 800-page case compiled by the
former judge of the case and issued his verdict very hastily under
the influence of the Zionist lobbies and without presentation of any
proof for the allegations."
On November 12, Husseini said in Tehran that the Iranian
government will provide Interpol with documents proving the innocence
of the accused, IRNA reported.
In Istanbul on November 13, former President Mohammad Khatami
also dismissed the arrest warrants, saying they constitute "the most
ridiculous plot presented against Iran" and one "orchestrated by the
Zionists," Turkish television's Channel D reported.
As a result of the arrest warrants, Iran-Argentina tensions
have heightened and there is discord within Argentina's own
government, Radio Farda and Reuters reported on November 13 and 14.
Argentina accused Iran on November 13 of meddling in its internal
affairs by complaining about investigations into the bombing case,
and its foreign ministry summoned Iranian charge d'affaires
Mohsen Baharvand to explain why an Iranian prosecutor reportedly
asked for arrest warrants to be issued for Argentinean judges working
on the case. Baharvand was handed a letter at the ministry refuting
Iranian criticisms of Argentina's investigations, Reuters
reported on November 13.
Argentinean President Nestor Kirchner has also asked for the
resignation of left-wing senior civil servant Luis D'Elia, who
recently went to the Iranian mission in Buenos Aires to deposit
documents critical of Argentinean judges handling the dossier,
Reuters reported. (Bill Samii, Vahid Sepehri)
LEBANESE, PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS MEET WITH IRANIANS. Iranian officials
met with counterparts from Palestine, Lebanon, and other Arab
governments during the Seventh Public Forum of Asian Parliaments for
Peace in Tehran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei received Lebanese
parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri on November 14 and congratulated
him on the Lebanese people's "victory" over Israel in July, IRNA
reported. Berri was heading a delegation of members of Hizballah and
Amal, Lebanon's Shi'a parties. Khamenei said the Lebanese
fight against "America and the Zionist regime" was "unprecedented"
and he called Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah "an exceptional
figure." Khamenei attributed the perceived success in part to "unity
and solidarity" between Amal and Hizballah "brothers." U.S. policies
"in the world and the region are heading for defeat," Khamenei said,
and "one must...make the most use of these opportunities."
Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki met separately with his
Palestinian counterpart, Mahmud al-Zahar, in Tehran on November 14,
reiterating Iran's support for Palestinian aspirations. He said
the United States and Israel are "currently faced with various
failures in international and regional arenas in Lebanon, Iraq,
Afghanistan, and Palestine," and "American officials are now seeing
the results of their mistaken approaches in various areas." These,
Mottaki said, have led to electoral defeat for the administration of
U.S. President George W. Bush, Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld's removal, "and other electoral aftershocks."
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad told Palestinian diplomat Faruq
Qaddumi that Tehran still believes in the "Palestine ideal" and will
support Palestinians "in various areas," IRNA reported following a
meeting in Tehran on November 13. Qaddumi is the foreign policy chief
of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and secretary-general of
Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. Ahmadinejad
claimed that in response to increasing weakness and daily defeats,
the "Zionists" are "trying to exert political, psychological, and
military pressures to force [Palestinians] and other Muslims...to
retreat." Israel's supporters are today "doubtful" over the
"advantages of its continued existence," Ahmadinejad contended.
Qaddumi said Iran's supportive stance "has strengthened the
determination of the Palestinian people and militants in fighting"
Israel, IRNA reported.
Ahmadinejad also met with Kuwaiti parliament speaker Jasim
Muhammad al-Khurafi and called for enhanced bilateral cooperation in
business, shipping, and security affairs, IRNA reported. He and
Ahmadinejad agreed that "enemies" are trying to divide Muslim and
regional states, and that Iran has a "fitting role" in promoting
regional cooperation, IRNA reported.
In a meeting on November 13 with Syrian parliamentary speaker
Mahmud al-Barash, Ahmadinejad said Damascus and Tehran must work
together "as two vanguard states...to counter the plots of the system
of domination and to establish justice and spirituality in the
world," IRNA reported. "The system of domination is trying to strike
at independent and free countries, and regional nations must prevent
with vigilance...the presence of forceful states that wish to loot
the resources of Middle East states." (Vahid Sepehri)
FORMER OFFICIALS LOOK AT IRAQ. Former President Hojatoleslam Mohammad
Khatami said in Ankara on November 15 that Iran is not fomenting
disorder in Iraq, ISNA reported. He told a group of Iranians in
Ankara that Tehran, "contrary to all...claims, wants the present
crisis in Iraq to be resolved, because the crisis in Iraq is against
Iran's national interests." He said it is the "intervention of
foreign powers that has made the region's situation more
critical." The presence of "foreign occupying forces in Iraq gives
the agents of insecurity a pretext, and the target of these
insecurities is Iran and Iran's friends in Iraq, including the
Shi'a, who naturally feel an affinity with Iran." He said he
knows nothing of the "expectations of governments from one another,"
referring to reports that the United States expects Turkey to
participate in possible sanctions against Iran, but any such
expectation is "irrational and illegitimate." The United States'
"discriminatory" conduct and "double standards" have promoted
"extremism, violence and insecurity, especially in the...Middle
East," ISNA quoted him as saying.
Former Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said in Tehran on
November 14 that the United Kingdom and the United States are "late"
in asking Iran to help them resolve the problems of Iraq, ISNA
reported. He said he told British Prime Minister Tony Blair a month
before Iraq's 2003 invasion by Anglo-American forces not to
"dirty yourself" with the war and to advise the United States not to
enter "the Iraqi quagmire," recalling Britain's own historical
experience in Iraq. Britain, as one of the powers that dismembered
the Ottoman Empire, oversaw Iraq's transition to full
independence in the 1920s and 1930s.
Kharrazi said that at another meeting one year after the
invasion he advised Blair to leave Iraq. "They are stuck in Iraq
today," Kharrazi said. "They can neither stay in the Iraqi
government, nor can they leave Iraq. And we have no choice but to
think of our best interests and those of the people and government of
Iraq." What reason is there, he asked, "for us to help people who are
against us and who seek to disrupt the state of the entire Middle
East?" (Vahid Sepehri)
KAZAKHSTAN TO DELIVER MORE OIL TO IRAN WITH SWAPS. Iranian Ambassador
to Kazakhstan Ramin Mehmanparast said on November 15 in Almaty that
oil swaps from Kazakhstan to his country will rise to 3 million tons
by the end of 2006, a 50 percent increase on 2005 figures,
Interfax-Kazakhstan reported. The two countries are also finalizing
technical issues related to grain deliveries from Kazakhstan to Iran,
with an initial amount of 1 million tons of Kazakh grain to be
transported to Iran at the end of 2008, Mehmanparast added.
****************************************** ***************
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
The "RFE/RL Iran Report" is a weekly prepared by A. William Samii on
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