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Speaking to staffers of Iranian radio and television at Tehran'sBelal mosque on July 30, Khamene'i said the United States willincreasingly become a target of terrorists, because it has receivedterrorists as guests and given them its protection. [He appearsto be referring to the Mujahidin].
"We have said that he who holds up a sword of revolt will bekilled by that sword himself," the Supreme Leader of the IslamicRepublic said. "We have said that the fire will spread to you, too.They did not believe us. Today it has happened."
"All those countries which supported terrorism, especially theUnited States which has supported and is still supporting theterrorist regime of the usurper Zionists of Palestine, will be hurtby terrorism," he said. "This seed, planted by the United States, isbeginning to grow on its sown soil - and it's only just beginning."[Tehran Radio 7/30]
Senator Al D'Amato's Iran sanctions bill finally cleared bothHouses of Congress on July 23, and was signed into law by PresidentClinton on Monday, Aug. 5.
Under the bill, which also applies the Iran sanctions to Libya,the President must select two sanctions from a menu of six possiblemeasures on companies that make substantial new investments in Iran'soil and gas industry, or that continue to trade with Libya.
The President must also report regularly to Congress onnegotiations with U.S. foreign trade partners over the measures, andpublish a list of projects covered by the sanctions and a list ofcompanies which have been sanctioned in the Federal Register.
The reaction from Europe has been fast and furious, since mostEuropean countries prefer to trade with the Islamic Republic thansanction it for supporting terrorism. [Iran Brief 8/5]
Iranian troops remained inside northern Iraq over the weekend,Kurdish sources said, while Iranian officials warned Iraqi Kurds theywould launch a new assault if the military activities of the rebelIranian Kurdish group, the KDPI, were not curbed.
Leaders of the KDPI and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of JalalTalabani have been meeting in Iraqi Kurdistan to resolve thesituation, following the initial Iranian attack against KDPI basesand refugee camps on July 27-28. Under heavy pressure from Tehran,the PUK escorted a Rev. Guards mechanized battalion comprised of anestimated 2,000 troops and heavy artillery 150 kilometers throughterritory under their control to the Khoy-sandjak area where the KDPIheadquarters is located. By the time they arrived, most of theKurdish refugees who lived in the area had evacuated to Irbil, in theUN-protected zone of Iraqi Kurdistan. The Iranian forces shelledrefugee camps and the main KDPI base, destroying some 400 homes,killing one person.
Iran said it had withdrawn its troops beyond the border on July31, but Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish sources say this is not true. "TheIranians are still there in four separate locations in theSulaymaniah area," a spokesman for the Iraqi KDP said.
In Tehran, the opposition Iran Nation's Party issued a statementcondemning the Rev. Guards attack on the KDPI. "The Pasdaran had beenseeking to crush the resistance of the KDPI," the party's weeklybulletin said, "and then realized that they could not." [INPstatement, 8/3]
Iranian Kurdish sources say the Iranians have threatened topermanently station troops inside Iraqi Kurdistan to maintainpressure on the KDPI, and warned that the lack of vigorous protestover the Iranian incursion by the U.S. has emboldened Tehran. "Thesituation is deteriorating," despite the end of the Iranian attack, aKDPI spokesman said.
The PUK has acknowledged that it has been under "intense pressure"from Tehran to restrain the activities of the KDPI in the areas underits control. A PUK spokesman in Washington issued a statement on Aug.2 claiming that KDPI had agreed "to end [their] militaryactivities against Iran and desist from using Iraqi Kurdistan as abase to launch military campaigns against Iranian territory." TheKDPI denied having made such a commitment, or that it was using Iraqas a base for attacks against Iran. The PUK subsequently pledged toprotect the Iranian Kurdish refugees living in areas under itscontrol, and guaranteed that the KDPI would be allowed to continueits political activities, as long as it conducts no cross-borderraids.
Over the past two months, the KDPI has sharply increased attacksagainst military targets inside Iran, but KDPI sources insist thatthe attacks have been launched from guerrilla camps inside Iran.
On July 30, KDPI peshmergas attacked Rev. guards positions in theUrmieh region, wounding 30 soldiers and downing an attack helicopter.Iran cited this attack to justify its attack on the KDPI refugeecamps and headquarters in Iraq, even though its attack was conductedthree days earlier. [Iranfax 8/5]
Fifty people were exposed to severe radiation in an accident at agas-fired power station just outside of Rasht, the capital of Iran'snorthern Gilan province, Hamshahri daily reported [7/31].
The newspaper said those injured included seven engineers employedby the German firm Siemens AG. In Germany, a Siemens spokesman quotedby the Associated Press confirmed that an accident had occurred onJuly 29, at a Siemens-built 1200 MW power plant.
The spokesman, Wolfgang Breier, said none of the Germans was hurt,but that an Iranian worker who picked up a radioactive part andcarried it to a construction site was exposed and hospitalized.
Hamshahri reported that 21 people were transferred to a Tehranhospital after the accident. The accident was confirmed by theInternational Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
Neither Siemens, the IAEA, or the Iranian government offered anyexplanation as to how a nuclear accident could occur at a gas-firedpower plant not engaged in nuclear research.
Iran has dismissed U.S. allegations that Tehran may have beenbehind the Dhahran bombing as "irresponsible."
In a statement replying to Secretary of Defense William Perry, whocalled Iran the "leading candidate for international terrorismdirected against the United States," IRNA called Perry's remarks"prejudicial," "irresponsible," and "defamatory."
"Iran's strength lies not in training any terrorist in Iran orsupporting international terrorism, but in its unwavering commitmentto the principle of rejecting both hegemony and hegemonization -- aprinciple enshrined in the egalitarian tenets of Islam,'' thestatement said.[IRNA 8/3]
In a speech in Tehran on Saturday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamene'iaccused the U.S. of trying to drive a wedge between Tehran and itsEuropean high-tech suppliers. "America and the arrogant world powers,unable to uproot the Islamic Republic, have embarked on a calculatedpolicy to separate governments and nations from the Islamic Republic.In doing so, unfortunately some governments have fallen into thistrap and are hostile towards the Islamic Republic instead ofattacking America and Israel they attack a sect of Islam," Khamene'isaid. [Tehran Radio 8/3]
Earlier, the Islamic Republic ambassador to Bonn, HosseinMousavian, called on the German government to help Iran combatterrorism, saying that together the two countries could "takeeffective steps to help establish peace in the world."
While Mousavian did not elaborate, it appeared he meant thatGermany could help out by expelling Iranian dissidents who had beengranted political asylum in Germany.
To sweeten the deal, Mousavian dropped in passing that Iran'ssecond five year economic plan "contains many possibilities forGerman participation." [Kayhan International, 7/21]
Supreme Leader Ali Khamene'i took solace in the Olympic success ofIranian wrestler Rasull Khadem Azghadi, who won a gold medal onFriday in the light-heavyweight class.
"The flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran was raised in the houseof Satan through the resolve of a pious youth, Rasull Khadem, despiteall the mischief by the Americans to prevent this historic event inAtlanta,'' Rafsanjani said in a speech broadcast by Iranianradio.
He called the wrestler's victory "a message from God to theworld's despots."
"I congratulate your excellence and our nation for rubbing thenose of America in the dirt and for beating the nine-medalled Russianchampion."
It was, the Supreme Leader said, the Islamic Republic's version ofa two-fer: "Victory against two superpowers in a single exhibition,''Khamene'i said. [Reuters 8/3]
Anyone who opposes the Islamic Republic's guiding principle of theVelayat-e faghih, said Majlis deputy Mohammad Shahi Arablou recently,has "signed his own death warrant."
The deputy from Hastroud was commenting on attempts byphilosophers such as Abdolkarim Soroush to separate Islam frompolitics. "As a humble soldier of the Islamic revolution," he said,"I strongly warn anyone, whether inside the country or outside, onwhatever pretext, to talk of separating religion from the state. Hewho does so has signed his own death warrant, and will be faced withthe wrath of Hezbollah," Arablou said.
The parliamentarian argued that "the plot" to separate Islam fromthe state began soon after the death of the Prophet Mohammad and hasbeen successful for 1400 years, until the Islamic Revolution in Iranbrought the two back together again. [Ettelaat, 7/22]
The official media in Tehran loves Richard Murphy, formerly theState Department's top Middle East hand. Murphy recently published anop-ed piece in the Christian Science Monitor calling for the U.S. toengage the Islamic Republic in a dialogue, rather than imposesanctions.
Murphy's article was paraphrased in full and was prominentlyfeatured along with a photo of the former Assistant Secretary ofState in Jomhouri-Eslami, the conservative daily which belongs toSupreme Leader Ali Khamene'i. [7/22]
The IRI has not always felt so squishy toward Murphy, however.While Murphy was at State in the mid-1980s, he was a strong supporterof the "tilt" toward Iraq, on the grounds that U.S. interestsrequired a balance of power between Baghdad and Tehran. In fact,Murphy's argument is that U.S. strategic interests are not being metby the sanctions, and that Iran is too important a country for theU.S. to neglect.
A man identified as Behzad Baba-Arab was condemned to death by arevolutionary court and hanged in Shiraz on July 21s. According toResalat, Baba-Arab was a "thug" who was condemned for "sedition onearth." Among the charges against him were disturbing the peace,making trouble, generating fear, cooperation with other thugs,membership in a network aimed at deceiving women and children, havingillegitimate sexual relationships, participating in street fights,threatening people with weapons (including a knife), and drugsmuggling.
No date for the trial was given or details of the judicialprocedures. However, the lengthy list of accusations makes itunlikely Baba-Arab was granted legal defense. [Resalat7/23]
Intelligence minister Ali Fallahian has called unemployment "aserious security threat" to the Islamic Republic, and called on thegovernment to consider job creation and economic development as partof a program aimed at "consolidating the country's security."
In making his jobs pitch, however, Fallahian couldn't resistgetting in a few digs at the Great Satan. Because of the"reappearance of Islamic culture and civilization in Iran," heclaimed, "World Arrogance [the U.S.] has declared war on theIslamic Republic." This is because the Americans have concluded thatIran's Islamic culture "will gradually penetrate and spread to therest of the world," and must therefore be stopped. [Kayhan7/22]
Elementary, dear Ali.
Hezbollah has now joined Iran's parliament as anofficially-recognized faction, Kayhan reported [7/23]
A group of parliamentarians calling themselves the "Hezbollahgroup" have registered as a political faction and held their firstmeeting in Parliament on July 23. While the paper did not print thenames of the new faction's members, it described the inauguralgathering. Members "will discuss domestic political issues and listento a talk by Dr. Hassan Rouhani on current domestic affairs."
Rouhani, a Majlis deputy from Tehran, is also deputy Speaker ofParliament and spokesman for the Supreme Council for NationalSecurity.
An official government report put out by the Ministry of Healthand Medical Education has concluded that Iranian women "are sufferingfrom severe malnutrition, which is the cause of many deaths amongthem."
Other major health problems among women stemmed from "poverty,sexual problems, and unfulfillment of their biological needs," thereport stated.
The report presented the findings of a "special committee forwomen's health problems," which concluded that women wereparticularly deficient in protein, iron, and iodine. Between 30 to50% of children and women in the provinces developed blood problemsdue to malnutrition, the report said.
The report also concluded that 79% of Iranian women get marriedwhile in their teens and get pregnant before the age of 19. Repeatedpregnancies among young Iranian mothers cause health problems forboth mothers and children, the report said.
Finally, the report revealed that 25% of the 500,000 [yes,five hundred-thousand!] women who die each year from problemsrelating to childbirth and pregnancy are between the ages of 13 and19, with malnutrition being the main contributing cause of death.[Hamshahri, 7/24]
The Foundation for Democracy in Iran is a private,non-profit corporation registered in the State of Maryland.Contact: Kenneth R. Timmerman, Executive Director (exec@iran.org).FDI materials, including this Newswire, are available free-of-chargevia the Internet at http://www.iran.org/.