FDI's Weekly Newswire

The life and [troubled] times of the IslamicRepublic of Iran

Available on the Internet or by e-mail for a $25 per yeartax-deductible contribution at http://www.iran.org/ Tel: 1+ (301)946-2910. Fax: 1+(310) 942-5341

FDI WEEKLY NEWSWIRE NO 7

June 3, 1996

The government of Bahrain says it has foiled an Iranian-backedplot to overthrow the government, according to wire service reports.Bahrain's information minister told reporters in Manama that the plotinvolved an armed revolt to topple the government and install apro-Iranian regime. He said group called Hezbollah-Bahrain was behindthe plot and that so far 20 Bahrainis had confessed to theirinvolvement. Bahrain is recalling its ambassador from Tehran.[Reuters, AFP, 6/3]

Amir-Rahimi calls for referendum

Brigadier General Azizollah Amir-Rahimi, who was jailed last yearfor his open criticism of the regime, has issued a statement inTehran calling for a democratic referendum on the future of Iran'spolitical system. Amir-Rahimi, the former head of Military Police,allied has himself with Darioush Forouhar and the Iran Nation'sParty. A copy of the hand-written letter, which was signed byAmir-Rahimi and authenticated, was faxed to THE IRAN BRIEF. Thefollowing excerpts have been translated by our staff:

"I am a Moslem and I believe that justice is the most importantaspect of Islam. Unfortunately, for the last 17 years the rulingregime in Tehran has committed a series of crimes which it haslabeled as "Islamic Values." The revolutionary courts have sentencedthousands of Iranian women and men to death or years of imprisonmentwithout permitting the accused to be represented by a lawyer. Thebelongings and properties of accused Iranians have been confiscatedand an institution named the Mostazafan Foundation has used theconfiscated properties and financial resources for the benefit of theleaders of the Islamic Republic.

"Present the nation of Iran is suffering from a sea of economic,political and social problems which are the direct result of thepolicies of the Islamic Republic leaders...

"Iranians believe that the time to put an end to all theseinjustices has arrived. All the political prisoners must beimmediately released, the confiscated properties of prisonersdelivered back to their owners....

"A few weeks ago, in an unprecedented farce, the regime actuallyappointed some of its loyal followers as Members of Parliament andlabeled this appointment an "election."... A great majority of peopleboycotted the election and this successful boycott proved theunprecedented dissidence of Iranians against the IslamicRepublic...

"I believe that most of the acts of the Islamic Republic are apure insult to this great nation. Iranians believe that all theresolutions of this new so-called "parliament" are illegal. All pactswith foreign countries approved by this puppet parliament are deemedas illegal by the nation of Iran...

"To end to this misery, I suggest that a free referendum be heldin Iran so that a new political system based on democracy can beestablished in our country."

Signed: Brigadier General Azizollah Amir Rahimi, June 1, 1996.[The Iran Brief 6/3]

5th Majlis opens

In his opening statement to the new parliament on June 1, Supremeleader Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i launched an unprecedented attack onRafsanjani. Thanking him for his work on behalf of the IRI, he thennoted that presidential elections were coming up and "hoped that[Rafsanjani] will find a new job somewhere else." Under nocircumstances, Khamene'i stated, would the Constitution be revised toallow Rafsanjani to run for a third term as President.

He then openly criticizing Rafsanjani, saying "anyone who uses thename "Construction" and tries to undermine the values of the IslamicRevolution is actually challenging the Islamic Republic. [Thepro-Rafsanjani list called themselves "Supporters ofConstruction."] "The duty of the Majlis is to defend the valuesof the Islamic Revolution against Western liberalism. Westernliberalism is an enemy of the Islamic Revolution."

Tehran radio broadcast the entire text of Khamene'i's message,which was read in the studio. In his opening speech, which wasbroadcast live, Rafsanjani said the IRI would "stand firm in front ofAmerican imperialism," but refrained from challenging Khamene'i'spersonal attack. [Tehran Radio 6/1; The Iran Brief 6/3]

Obscure foundation recruits for "Liberation Movements"

A an obscure cultural foundation called the Bonyad-e Fatemeh Zahrahas issued a statement in Tehran calling for volunteers to fight onbehalf of "Liberation Movements in the world", and to "achieve holyIslamic goals on earth".

In the May 18 statement in Kayhan daily, which is published by theIntelligence Ministry, the foundation called fulfilling these goals"a holy duty" for Muslims.

The Fatemeh Zahra Foundation expressed hope that Iranian recruitsfor a new "United Oppressed Peoples Cultural Front" would be able topromote Islam and "the ideas of the Imam" [Khomeini] aroundthe world. The Foundation claimed that its recruitment drive followedan order issued in a recent speech by Supreme Leader AyatollahKhamene'i, who called for "the necessity of continuing the movementof Imam Hossein [the third Imam of Shiism] and hismartyrdom."

Although the Fatemeh Zahra Foundation is unknown and itsaffiliations not mentioned, its message is similar to that ofHezbollah. If such a new international organization were created,Fatemeh Zahra's statement suggests it would be acting on Khamene'iorders, and will try to agitate in the Islamic countries. [Kayhan5/18]

Rev. Guards take sides in political power struggle

Senior Revolutionary Guards Commanders, contrary to their neutralrole defined in the Islamic Republic's Constitution, have becomeincreasingly active in the current internal showdown betweenRafsanjani and the Khamene'i-Nateq Nouri factions.

Rev. Guards General Mohammad Zolqadr recently joined Mohsen Rezai,the Commander of the Rev. Guards Corps and General Alireza Afshar,the Commander of Basij, in criticizing "liberals", a label forRafsanjani supporters.

"The Pasdaran (Rev. Guards) should be more active in eliminatingthe liberals from the political scene," Zolqadr said. Instead,"revolutionary forces should run the country." [Resalat5/26]

On May 16, Mohsen Rezai repeated the same demand in a gathering ofUniversity Basij commanders in Tehran. "Be aware, and don't let somepeople send you back to barracks on grounds that your duty is toguard [buildings and public places]," he said. [Resalat5/18].

"Until the day we completely control universities and students,there can be no reconstruction or revival of Islamic culture in thiscountry," Rezai said.

It was not the first time in recent weeks that Rezai and otherRev. Guards commanders, took side with ultra- conservative forcesclose to the Supreme Leader and Nateq Nouri.

Hasan Al-Torabi to visit Tehran

Hasan Al-Torabi, who currently serves as speaker of Sudan'sparliament and is widely regarded as the real power behind themilitary dictatorship of Gen. Omar Al-Bashir, was invited to visitTehran by Majlis speaker Hojjat-ol eslam Nateq Nouri. The invitationwas delivered to Mr. Torabi by the Islamic Republic Ambassador toKhartoum, Mehdi Marvi.

Relations between Iran and Sudan have strengthened recently.Iranian Oil Minister Aghazadeh and Sudan's Energy Minister Avaz AhmadAljaz recently discussed joint construction of an oil pipeline and anoil refinery in Khartoum, during the third session of the bilateraleconomic cooperation commission in Tehran.

No date was given for Al-Torabi's visit to Tehran. [Ettelaat,5/12]

IRI friends in South Africa

In a recent interview with Resalat, Ighbal Jasad, the leader ofone of a South Africa fundamentalist group called the "Young MuslimsMovement", said the South African Muslims love and admire the IslamicRevolution because the IRI was the main cause of the apartheidregime. In his interview with a Resalat correspondent inJohannesburg, Jasad said his organization tries to fight WorldArrogance [U.S.] by organizing "anti-Zionist manifestationsand conferences, publishing books and periodicals, and sendingrepresentatives to different Islamic gatherings in Iran."[Resalat, 5/13] South Africa has an estimated 1 million,mostly Sunni, Muslims.

As part of its effort to forge new ties with South AfricanMuslims, Tehran has sent political activist Hojjat-ol eslam MohammadSharif Mahdavi as ambassador to Johannesburg. "South African Muslimsconsider Ayatollah Khamene'i as their spiritual leader, just as theydid with the late Imam Khomeini, and consider Iran as the leader ofIslamic World," Mahdavi said. He said that the IRI embassy wasactively encouraging South African Muslims to visit Iran.[Resalat, March 17].

As we reported in our 4th Newswire (5/13), Iran has also used aWashington, DC radical Islamic preacher, Mohammad al-Aasi, as anunofficial ambassador to South Africa.

Last year an Egyptian weekly claimed that Iran and Sudan wereattempting to export a fundamentalist brand of Islam to South Africaand destabilize the country by exciting ethnic clashes..[Al-AhramWeekly 8/30/95]

Salam reports election fraud

Salam newspaper, which considers itself as a revolutionaryIslamic-leftist publication, is the most outspoken dissident dailywith close ties to the ruling factions. It is allied to Majma-eRohanyoun Mobarez, headed by Ayatollah Karrubi, which has beenexcluded from the Majlis since 1992, although it held a majorityprior to that.

Salam was recently threatened with closure unless its reportingfell in line with the regime's line. One of the reasons for thethreat is its extremely popular "Readers telephonic messages" column,in which readers can complain about their day to day difficulties.

On May 14 (prior to the closure threat), one caller left thismessage: "I was a member of the Watchers Commission in the 5th Majliselections for both the first and second rounds. In my constituency Iwitnessed so many cases of irregularity and fraud that I wish I hadnot been not in that position. I got really upset and sick of what Isaw. In the first round, the most...."

Salam censored the rest of the call, and commented: "We havealready heard so many similar complains. But printing these kind ofinformation needs a lion's heart that we lack!" [Salam5/14]

Higher prices, and bigger complaints

The government dramatically increased the price of imported food,drugs and medical products recently, despite increasingly vocalcomplaints by ordinary Iranians.

The price of vegetable oil was increased by 500%, and sugar by300%. Both can be purchased with government-supplied ration coupons.The prices of tea, imported cheese, and meat, were also increased bydecision of the Economic Council. The Ministry of Health announced a15% increase in the price of drugs and medical products.

Complaints about high prices and economic hardships can frequentlybe heard in the press. One caller told Salam [511]:"Tellthose who are responsible for these daily price increases to stoppretending they don't hear the people's voice. Let them know theyshould be afraid of God's punishment, for in the end God will takethe people's revenge from them."

Another complaint aired the same day: "We constantly hear that wewill defeat the U.S., that we are the world's superpower, that thepeople of the world are amazed to see our miraculous progress andreconstruction. But in this country, not even an engineer can fillhis children's stomach with bread and potatoes. Would you pleasesolve this complicated equation for us?" [Salam 5/11]

Sanctions made economy spin out of control

U.S. sanctions on Iran have had a far greater impact than manywould like to admit, according to Mohsen Nurbakhsh, the GeneralDirector of Iran's Central Bank.

Addressing the 6th Congress on Monetary and Foreign ExchangePolicies, which opened on May 14 in Tehran, Nurbakhsh revealed thatwhen the U.S. sanctions were first announced at the end of April1995, the government and the central bank last control of thecountry's monetary system, and had to announce draconian new measuresto prevent the total collapse of the economy. "We couldn't controlthe market even by injecting foreign currency into the economy. Thebanking system was completely cut off from the foreign tradeprocess," Nurbakhsh said .

The economic woes of the Islamic Republic "will result in a socialand political crisis," predicted Said Morteza Mohammad Khan, theMinister of Economic and Financial Affairs. "If we had not taken lastyear's decision to freeze the rate of exchange of Rial, inflationwould have reached 128% by the end of the year," he said, [Note:the Iranian year ends on March 20]. Because of the currencycontrols, however, "inflation did not exceed 48%," he said.

Nurbakhsh gave the conference new figures on Iran's foreign debt.He claimed that Iran has paid back $15.4 billion of its foreigndebts over the past three years, leaving only $13.5 billion thatneeds to be repaid between now and the year 2000. [See relateditem below]. Nurbakhsh also claimed that new measures have beentaken to reduce inflation.

Another expert present in the conference, Mohammad Jaafar Mojarad,said that last year's rise in commodity prices had resulted from thehuge deficit in the country's foreign exchange accounts.

According to Jomhouri-e Eslami, Mr. Mohammad Al-Oryan, a deputy ofthe Middle Eastern branch of the International Monetary Fund, alsoattended the Congress. was also present in the congress.[Jomhouri-e Eslami, 5/15]

Majlis reports on fraud, debt

In the final days of the 4th Majlis, an investigative panelaccused the Central Bank of having falsified publicly-releasedfigures on Iran's foreign debt. In March 1995, the Majlis panelstated, the Central Bank was reporting $25.3 billion in foreign debt,including interest, whereas the real figure topped $43 billion.

In a report on fraud and corruption at other state-run banks, thepanel said it had uncovered 241 cases of fraud at Bank Melli Iran,the country's largest commercial bank. Some $19.9 million wasembezzled over a seven year period ending in November 1995, accordingto the report. A mayor in south-western Ilam province was alsoarrested on embezzlement charges and earlier press reports said themayor of Tehran's 12th district was being tried on mismanagement offunds and moral charges.

The Central Bank's most recent quarterly Economic Trends bulletin,released on May 10, states that Iran plans to pay down $18.814billion on its foreign debt between 1996/97 and 2002/2003, with $6.4billion payable this year. Iran is hoping that this ambitiousrepayment schedule will allow it to borrow fresh money from Europeangovernment credit agencies to finance the expansion of its oil andgas industry [The Iran Brief, 6/3/96]

U.S. is "pushing drugs" on Iran

"It is naive to think that drug smuggling and addiction in ourcountry are the result of smugglers using our country as a transitrout," Interior Minister Ali Besharati told a meeting of LEFcommanders recently. Instead, he claimed, it was all the fault of theU.S.

"World Arrogance has a strategy to destroy our youth and spreadproblems and create insecurity in Iran," Besharati said. "The drugsmugglers have changed their tactics, and so we should change ourstrategy, too."

In his address to the same meeting of anti-drug unit commanders,LEF chief Rev. Guards General Reza Seifollahi demanded that drugaddicts be jailed on a remote island in the Persian Gulf, as had beenthe government's practice until a few years ago.

Seifollahi complained that "not even one Rial of the budget" tofight drug smuggling has been paid to the LEF, "although it was votedby the Majlis." [Kayhan, 5/16]

Rafiqdoust Defends His Record

Mohsen Rafiqdoust, the powerful head of the Bonyad-e Mostazafan[Foundation of the Oppressed], has defended himself againstrecent attacks aired in the Majlis and by a radical weekly that hassince been banned, Payam-e Daneshjou ["Voice of theStudents"]

In a comment many American politicians might appreciate, he calledthe weekly "a rag run for profession lawyers, which has nothingbetter to do than to publish baseless accusations and slander." Ifthe paper had been honest "it could have contacted our Foundation...Is it an Islamic act to accuse a person or an institution withoutinvestigation?"

The paper had accused Rafiqdoust of selling off valuableFoundation assets to relatives on his payroll. "Have I ever saidthere were none of my relatives at the Foundation?" he retorted. Hedenied, however, that he had sold properties to his relatives at adiscount, and said that since assuming the reins at the Bonyad someseven years earlier he had actually punished corrupt officers fortheir wrongdoings.

In another accusation familiar to U.S. officials, he accused theweekly of relying as sources on "two former Foundation employees, whowere fired because of corruption and theft."

Pointing to his own revolutionary background, he said he "wouldnot be tarnished by these lies," and threatened Payam-e Daneshjoujournalists with "a fate no better than hypocrites," a term used forthe Mujahedin-e Khalq, whose members are regularly arrested,tortured, and executed. [Resalat, 5/18]

Iranian cars "not exportable" because of defects

Paykan cars, made in Iran, have so many defects "it is impossibleto export them," said Massoud Karim-Pour Nazari, a Majlis Deputy fromNatanzhad who has been investigating the performance of Iranian autofactories for the Parliament.

Low performance at the factory, as well as disproportionatesalaries, financial benefits and foreign travel for factorydirectors, have increased car production costs. Paykans are made byIran by Khodro Co., a private company that was confiscated from itsowners by the revolutionary regime and now is state run as part ofIDRO, the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization.

The well-known Paykan cars "had until recently 300 factorydefects," Nazari reported, which have now been reduced by half.Current defects "include engine failure," Nazari said. "Ourmanufactured cars do not meet accepted standards," he concluded.[Resalat 5/18]

Iranian Women hold Human Rights conference

The Iranian Women Studies Foundation, a non-political,non-religious, non-profit organization based in Cambridge, Mass, willbe holding its 7th annual conference on "Iranian Women and HumanRights" later this month in Seattle, Washington.

Parvaneh Forouhar, the wife of the Iran Nation's Party leaderDarioush Forouhar, is scheduled to address the conference, which isto be held from June 14-16, along with two Iranian lawyers based inTehran, Shirin Ebadi and Parvaneh Hatam.

For information call (206) 744-1302 or the group's Cambridgeoffice at (617) 492-9001. Registration via e-mail atkarimi@u.washington.edu

FDI's Weekly Newswire

FDI WEEKLY NEWSWIRE NO 7

June 3, 1996

CONTENTS: