FDI's Weekly Newswire

The life and [troubled] times of the Islamic Republic of Iran

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FDI WEEKLY NEWSWIRE NO 22

Sept. 30, 1996

The two Iranians - Hossein Yasand-Sete, and Mojtaba Mashadi - were sentenced to three years and seven years respectively for having conspired to murder Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, Dr. Manoucher Gandji, former President Bani Sadr, and a fourth dissident living in the Paris area. They were apprehended by French police while casing the apartment of a fifth Iranian exile in December 1993, and have been held ever since.

Under interrogation by French counter-terrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, the two admitted they were working for Iran's Foreign Intelligence service, VAJA.

Now they face charges for the murder of Gandji deputy Cyrus Elahi, who was gunned down in front of his Paris residence in October 1990. [Iran Brief, 10/1]

Rushdie fatwa still valid...

Although the Islamic Republic has yet again tried to convince the European Union that it would not assassinate British novelist Salman Rushdie because it doesn't like what he wrote, a conservative daily owned by Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i has given the lie to the overture.

Only two days before the Foreign Ministry published the text of its Rushdie letter to the EU, Jomhouri-e Eslami warned that it was meaningless, and that "no official would make such a mistake" as to seriously pledge to rescind a so-called binding religious edict. (In fact, according to Ayatollah Mehdi Rouhani, leader of the Shiite community in Europe and a recognized mujtahed who is capable of interpreting Islamic texts, "fatwas" such as the Khomeini decree against Rushdie are only valid during the lifetime of the cleric who issued them. "From a purely Islamic point of view, the Rushdie fatwa no longer exists," Rouhani says. Unless, of course, it has been "reissued" by Khomeini's successor as Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i)

Jomhouri-e Eslami argued it was "inadmissible" for the Europeans to demand such a pledge from the Islamic Republic, and that "any commitment from Tehran is invalid." Today, the Islamic Republic "enjoys such credibility and authority both inside and outside the country that it should insist on these principals more than before."

Velayati had been hoping that his written pledge to the EU, that the Islamic Republic would not send killers after Rushdie, would "open the doors to full cooperation between Iran and the EU." [Jomhouri-e Eslami 9/24]

Pasdaran commander threatens U.S.

Maj Gen Mohsen Rezai has escalated the war of words with the U.S., warning on Sept. 24 that if the United States "continues its plots against the Islamic Republic, we will strike against the U.S. in the region with all conventional and unconventional means. We will not observe any type of law or moderation in our operations against the Americans," he said.

"As for the Israelis, they have only one option for attacking Iran: their Air Force. If they do so, the Pasdaran will carry out operations against Israel that will amaze the world." [Tehran Times 9/24]

A new army of... 1.4 million

Rev. Guards Brig, Javad Karimi, Basij commander in Khorrassan province, has announced the creation of a new internal repressive organization, the Revolutionary Organization of the Basij force [Sazemaneh enghelabi nirou-e basij]. The new force is to start its activities in the next two months, and will have 1,368,000 troops organized in 3,800 "hezbollah batallions."

The main duty of the new army is to "support the values of the revolution" and to stop behavior that "is against the laws of religion," Karimi said. Hezbollah batallions for the new force have already been organized in factories and schools. [Jomhouri-e Eslami, 9/24]

And what about Ayatollah Khomeini's "Army of 20 million" that was supposed to sweep away corruption and U.S. influence from the Middle East?? Reduced by a factor of twenty? Call it revolutionary "downsizing" - Thermidor style.

Russian silk road reopens

After meeting with the Russian minister of Railways in Moscow, Iran's ambassador to Moscow, Mehdi Safari, announced that the two countries had agreed to reopen the Moscow-Tehran rail link through the Caucuses, which has been closed for five years because of the Azeri-Armenian war.

The ambassador said Iran was ready to transport Russian goods to the Oman Sea and the Indian Ocean using the Sarakhs railway in eastern Iran. [Kayhan 9/25]

Opposition group score against Velayati

An Iranian opposition group, which previously has limited itself to human rights appeals and statements denouncing the Tehran regime, took to the streets of New York City on Sept. 26, and claims to have blocked a scheduled speech by Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati.

"This has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams," said Khosrow Akmal, Secretary General of the Constitutionalists Movement of Iran, the group which coordinated the demonstration.

At the urging of pro-Tehran lobbyists, Velayati had been invited to address a forum on the Caspian Sea, organized by Richard Bulliet of the Middle East Institute of Columbia University. Velayati was in New York for the UN General Assembly's annual meeting.

In a letter protesting the invitation to Columbia President Dr. George Rupp, the CMI reminded him that Mr. Velayati "has approved the Islamic Republic's terrorist activities and the attacks against Iranian dissidents. He also supports Khomeini's death sentence against Salman Rushdie... Clearly the participation of the terrorist Velayati at the Symposium will reflect adversely on Columbia University."

Dr. Rupp did not respond to the letter. However, a street demonstration before Columbia University's Casa Italiana, organized by CMI on Thursday afternoon, appears to have rattled Velayati enough to have canceled his appearance at the last minute. Instead, he dispatched Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Maleki to deliver his speech outlining Iran's policy toward the Caspian Sea.

Another scheduled participant, Dr. Hooshang Amirahmadi, who has organized similar sanctions-bashing fora in the past, also failed to show at the last minute.

A spokesman for Iran's Permanent Mission to the United Nations said that Velayati "had a last minute change of schedule" that prevented him from going to Columbia," involving a "bilateral meeting" at the UN.

Gary Sick, who has worked tirelessly publicly and behind the scenes to promote a "dialogue" between the Tehran regime and the U.S., told the Columbia forum that the invitation of Velayati signaled a change of heart in Washington. "He's dead wrong," a State Department official replied. "We are not happy about the invitation to Velayati, but had no legal grounds to bar him" because of the UN meeting. [Iran Brief 10/1]

"We can make all kinds of planes," says AF commander

"Iran now has the capability of designing and manufacturing all kinds of aircraft," Air Force commander Brig. Gen. Habib Baqaei boasted recently.

Baqaei said the Air Force has employed "Western and Eastern [ie, Soviet-standard] systems" in manufacturing the new planes. The first of the locally-made planes, a training aircraft, will be flown during the yearly commemoration of the Islamic Republic in February, he said.

Gen. Baqaei shed no light on who would be making the new plane, or how the Islamic Republic has succeeded in manufacturing aircraft when the only locally-produced car - the Paykan - is based on a 30-year old design and was recently criticized in the Majlis because consumers have complained of no fewer than 300 design failures.

Over the past ten years, the Islamic Republic authorities have periodically claimed to be manufacturing various types of aircraft, after having dismantled the aircraft repair facilities built by the Shah with the help of U.S. companies shortly after the 1979 revolution. With the exception of a glider recently unveiled by the IRGC (Pasdaran), none of these claims has become a reality. It may just be a coincidence, of course, but the authorities announced with great bravado only one month prior to Baqaie's claim that the French government had thumbed its nose at the U.S. embargo - by delivering trainer aircraft to the Islamic Republic.

Brig. Gen. Baqaei also claimed that the Air Force has recently built "high-precision laser-guided bombs which have been tested successfully," and that they expected mass production to start soon.

Saddam Hussein was also looking at laser-guided weaponry in the late 1980s - after he had tested the very capable products supplied him by Aerospatiale of France (the AS30L, used repeatedly to attack the T and H jetties at Kharg island, fired from French-supplied Mirage F1s).

The Air Force is also now "producing" Varian tubes, Baqaei said. These are essential to the operation of U.S. supplied HAWK air defense systems, and other systems. (Wonder where those came from....).

"The Air Force has completed the design of radar units and air traffic control systems, which are now ready for export... [T]he Air Force is ready to share its experience and technological know-how with states friendly to Iran," Baqaei said. [IRNA 9/23; Ettelaat Int'l, 9/25]

Rev. Guards, stay alert!

Majlis speaker Hojjat-ol eslam Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri has commended the Rev. Guard and Basij forces "to remain alert to foil new plots by Global Arrogance," the Islamic Republic's code-name for the U.S.

In an address to the ninth nationwide gathering of Rev. Guards commanders, held at the commemoration of the start of the Iran-Iraq war, Nateq-Nouri said that as long as the Islamic Republic remains the center of the Muslim world and the Revolution remains Islamic in the "strictest sense of the word," then "Washington and the Zionists will continue their attacks" against the Islamic Republic. [Kayhan Int'l, 9/18]

Rafiq-doust likes Russian planes

Mohsen Rafiq-doust, ex Pasdaran Minister and head of the Bonyad-e Mostazafan va Janbazan (Foundation for the Oppressed and Disabled), has just signed a contract with a Russian firm to lease for 10 Antonov-12 cargo aircraft. They will be flown by Bonyad Airline, also known as Bon Air, a Mostazafan subsidiary.

Bon Air will use the planes for its own purposes, such as overseas procurement, and will also lease them for a tidy sum to state-owned aviation companies. [Kayhan Intl' 9/18]

Sharp increase in divorce rate

Suicide and prostitution are not the only social problems on the rise under the Islamic Republic (although suicide statistics remain a closely-guarded secret). Now, according to the official Iran daily, published by IRNA, the divorce rate is also on the rise.

Quoting a "local authority" in the southern port city of Busheir, Iran daily says there has been a 35% increase in the number of divorce cases over the past five months, as compared to the same period last year. The "local authority" attributed the increase to a rise in family disputes, and the "lack of understanding" among husbands and wives. [Indeed, Iranian women, miffed at the prospects of marrying men who already have one or several wives, have started a computerized marriage registry, so unwed women and their families can verify the claims of future husbands].

Official propaganda has previously claimed that the divorce rate has plunged since the revolution, because of "Islamic" family values and the suppression of Western behavior. For it to rise so dramatically in Busheir, which has a reputation as a traditional and conservative city, suggests that the problem could be even more widespread on a national level. [Iran, 9/18]

Rafsanjani decries U.S. 'dirty tricks' in Africa

Upon returning to Tehran after his whirlwind African safari (see last week's Newswire), President Hashemi-Rafsanjani alleged that the U.S. had used a 'dirty tricks' campaign to sabotage his diplomatic "successes."

"The Americans did something immature and it was beneath the U.S. administration to embark on such cheap and primitive methods to hamper this tour," Rafsanjani told an IRNA correspondent in Tehran [9/16].

Rafsanjani said the Iranian delegation had succeeded in foiling this vile attempt by "making the African states familiar with Iran's achievements in the areas of reconstruction and development."

The only tangible result of Rafsanjani's trip, however - besides the slap in the face he received in South Africa, as we reported last week - appeared to be business deals for the Rafsanjani clan, which owns Iran's largest private university. "We will set up branches of Islamic Azad University in several African states," Rafsanjani told IRNA. [Hamshahri 9/17; Tehran Times 9/17]

Public Hospitals short of funds

While the Islamic Republic prides itself on subsidizing hospitals on behalf of Islamic movements around the world, from Bosnia to Lebanon and from Tanzania to Tajikstan, Iranian public hospital face a shortfall this year of $800 million, a top Parliamentarian has charged.

Dr. Omidvar Rezai, deputy from Masjed-Soleiman and a member of the parliamentary health committee, criticized the government for cutting subsidies to the public health system last year, a decision "which has left all hospital and health centers around the country in a precarious state," he told Resalat.

The government was unable to implement the Public Health Insurance bill passed by the Majlis last year, he said, because of a lack of funds.

"The high expense of medical services in public hospitals has led to a reduction in referrals, which in turn has cut revenues of public hospitals" from the budgetted $650 million to approximately $480 million this year, he said. He estimated that public hospitals and clinics faced a shortfall of "more than $800 million for the current year." [Resalat 9/19]

Rafsanjani U now "completely" segretated

Islamic Azad University - otherwise known as "Rafsanjani U" since it is owned primarily by the Rafsanjani clan - has decided the lead the way when it comes to the regime's new policy of "Islamicizing" the universities. Recently the head of the University's Roudehan campus near Tehran, Mehdi Hosseini, declared his campus "completely segregated" according to sex.

Thanks to a new building complex, Hosseini said, 15,000 male and female students at the campus now had the "priviledge" of being totally separated and could study at different parts of the campus. Despite the segregation, female students will be obliged to wear a black veil when they enter the University ground, he said. "Girls will be transported [from Tehran to Roudehan and back] by the university's special all-female buses," Hosseini added.

He warned that students who do not obey strict Islamic orders and standards "will have no place in this University."

Roudehan campus has been the center of heated debates between University officials and Hezbollahi circles in recent months. The Hezbollahis had accused Roudehan students of "outrageous" mixing among the sexes and of "anti-Islamic" behavior, although classes were already sexually segregated.

When "Islamization" of the universities became a hot political subject this spring, Islamic Azad University ["Free Islamic University"] acquisced as did all other univeersity authorities. [Resalat 9/17]

For more on the Rafsanjani financial interest in Islamic Azad University, see our July 1st newswire.

Women must dress properly!

Interior Minister Ali Mohammad Besharati has his eye on Iranian women - and protests that he sees too much!

In a speech to the Interior Ministry's "Anti-Corruption Committee" recently, he insisted that "the violation of the Islamic dress code by some women should be severely dealt with. The current situation of women incompletely covering themselves is not tolerable. We need to find a fundamental solution" to the problem, Besharati said.

Besharati took particular umbrage at the dress code currently practised among female hospital workers. He promised to "urgently" draft a guideline for the regime's "anti-corruption" agents to "Islamicize" the hospitals.

He also urged law enforcement agents to crack down on the producers and sellers of "un-Islamic" clothing for women and for young people in general. [Kayhan 9/17]

Beware caterers and wedding parties

In an effort to impose so-called Islamic law on private gatherings, the commander of Tehran's Law Enforcement Force, Rev. Guards Geneal Abolfathi, warned the owners of private gardens in the Tehran suburbs not to organize "unauthorized" wedding parties and to "respect the norms and values of an Islamic country."

The LEF had identified twenty owners of such gardens, who will be "punished according to law," he said.

Abolfathi also warned catering companies who advertize their services to party organizers, since they were "promoting unlawful events." He said fifteen caterers had been identified whose cases would be sent to the courts. [Kayhan 9/17]

To organize a private gathering such as a wedding party, one must get a permit from the LEF. This usually entails a bribe to local LEF agents to tolerate music at such gatherings. A higher bribe must be paid if alcohol is to be served.

130 Iranians deported from the UAE

130 Iranian nationals were recently deported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the New China News Agency reported from Dubai. [9/22]

Iranian nationals who had previously entered the UAE port city of Dubai without valid visas or passports were arrested and shipped back to Iran. The report said that those who had been arrested were sent back to the city of Shiraz.

The UAE authorities have become increasingly sensitive to "infiltration" by Iranian government agents posing as economic refugees from the Islamic Republic. UAE police have had gun battles with armed Pasdaran infiltrators on isolated beaches over the past two years, diplomats in Dubai said. [Iran Brief 4/3/95].

Regime poisons opposition Kurds

An agent of the Islamic Republic has poisoned three leaders of the opposition KDPI, a statement released in Paris by the Party alleges.

The incident occurred on Aug. 22, when an Iranian Kurd known to Kurdish leaders in Saqez presented a box of poisoned biscuits to the KDPI Committee in charge of the affairs of the Saqez, Afshar, and Diwandareh regions, in the southern part of Iranian Kurdistan. In order to fool the KDPI officials, the infiltrator ate one of the biscuits himself, then left. A few hours later, all three KDPI officials were rushed to the hospital with symptoms of poisoning. Ata Reazapur died on Sept. 3, while Saleh Charifi died on Sept. 13 as a result of the poisoning. The third victim is still in hospital in critical condition. [KDPI statement 9/23]

FDI's Weekly Newswire

FDI WEEKLY NEWSWIRE NO 22

Sept. 30, 1996

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