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* Everybody loves the IRI
* Sweet-talking Qatar and Oman
* Dipping under the D'amato limit in Turkmenistan
* No confidence vote against Besharati
* Nategh-Nouri maneuvers... and Rafsajani bows out
* Lankarani leaves the hospital
* Terrorist planning session in Somalia
* Another cleric jailed
* Azeribaijan official to Tehran
* Shell thumbs nose in Tehran
* Major Changes in IRIAF F-14's
* Basijis better than China Pop Army
* Nateq-Nouri "takes his fantasies for reality."
* Hanging in Isphahan
Everybody loves the IRI
Deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs MahmoudVaezi made the rounds in Moscow last week, meeting on Oct. 8 withOleg Davidov, Russia's deputy prime minister and minister of foreigneconomic affairs. Davidov was instrumental in the negotiation of theIran-Russian "strategic cooperation" pact signed in December1995.
Kayhan reported that Davidov "strongly condemned" US sanctionsagainst the Islamic Republic, vowing that Russia "will pursue itsrelations with the Islamic Republic in all possible fields ofcooperation." Mr Davidov added that the two countries will soonlaunch new cooperation ventures in the areas of energy, banking andmine exploitation. [Kayhan 10/9]
Vaezi's meeting was prepared by an Oct. 3 session between theIslamic Republic ambassador in Moscow with Davidov, at which the twosides reportedly agreed to establish the first Irani-Russian jointeconomic commission, and to set up a new Bank of Iran and Russia.They also agreed to launch a host of industrial projects, some ofwhich have been in the works for years. These included an aircraftproduction factory in Iran (old news), new steel mills (on-again,off-again), new copper mills (quid the Chinese, who supposedly hadthat one locked up?), and joint oil and energy exploitation. When itcomes to oil and gas in the Caspian shelf, the Islamic Republic andRussia have apparently agreed to disagree on whether the Caspian is asea or a "lake." [Salam 10/5]
Sweet-talking between Moscow and Tehran is being conducted onmultiple levels. Iranian papers widely reported remarks attributed tothe deputy speaker of the Russian parliament, Mr Babouin, at a Tehranpress conference, that the two countries "presently have the samenational interests and can jointly struggle against the foreignpowers in the region." [Etelaat 10/5]
No Russian media has reported similar statements about the U.S.presence in the Gulf from Russian leaders in Moscow.
But the next day Kayhan attributed similar comments to yet anotherRussian visitor - minster of Housing Vasin - following an Oct. 5meeting with IRI Vice President Hasan Habibi. "The common policies ofIran and Russia in international affairs can help create stabilityand security in the region," Vasin reportedly said. He added that"the two countries would launch new cooperation in constructiontechnology." [Kayhan 10/6]
In the same issue, Kayhan reported that President Rafsanjanideclared vctory against the U.S. sanctions policy following a meetingwith the Finnish ambassador (the Finnish ambassador?) in Tehran. "Thepolicies and positions of the European Union against expansionistAmerican policies falls in line with the Islamic Republic'sinterests. [Finland is not yet a member of the EU, but that'sokay]. "Presently the third world countries have understoood thatthe world is no longer controlled by just a single superpower.[Neither is Finland a member of the third world...] "TheEuropean Union as a new superpower," Rafsanjani said, "and is wellinformed of its international responsibilities."
Perhaps North Korea has become one of the world's new superpowers,seen from Tehran. After all, it almost acquired nuclear weapons, thengot the Americans to pay for a brand new nuclear reactor in exchange(Rafsanjani must be wondering how much the Americans will offer forBusheir...). At any rate, after meeting with the new North Koreanambassador to Tehran, Kim Young Mo, President Rafsanjani called on "the independent countries of the world to confront US expansionistpolicies." He also vowed that Iran and North Korea will "expand theirrelations." [Kayhan 10/6]
Pass the kimche, please.
Sweet-talking Qatar and Oman
In an effort to defuse its foreign policy difficulties withneighbors on the Arab side of the Persian Gulf, IRI ambassadors arepulling out the stops. A new ambassador to Qatar, Mahmoud Muwahedi,has been meeting with Qatari officials at all levels, including lastweek those involved in sports and cultural affairs. [ThePeninsula-Doha, 10/11 and 10/12]. He was received the morningafter his arrival in mid-September by the Foreign Minister, and onthe following day by the Emir of Qatar, a clear sign of the closerelationship between the two countries, IRI embassy officials inQatar said.
In Oman, where the stakes are even higher in terms of security,IRI ambassador Savash Zargar Yaghoubi met with the commander of theOmani Navy, General Shahab Ben Taregh, on Oct. 8. The Tehran pressaccounts of meeting stressed "new fields of cooperation between theIranian and Oman Navies in Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,"and discussions of the political situation in the region. [Kayhan10/9]
Dipping under the D'amato limit in Turkmenistan
The construction of a natural gas pipeline linking Iran toTurmenistan began on Oct. 10, according to Iranian press reports, butwill fall just under the D'Amato limits for foreign investment inIran's oil and gas industry.
A memorandum of understanding between the two countries laid outarrangements for building two separate pipeline sections, 60kilometers and 80 kilometers long respectively - presumably thein-country links needed on both sides of the border.
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is in charge of overallengineering for the project while an unnamed "international group ofcompanies" will handle financing and technology acquisition.[Resalat 10/9]
Wire reports set the total value of the joint gas project at $180million, with the Iranian side financing 80% of the work. That leavesan investment of $36 million for outside contractors and financialinstitutions - just beneath the $40 million threshhold of the D'Amatobill that would require U.S. sanctions of the foreign investors.
Hope they got the arithmetic right and nobody runs over cost.
No confidence vote against Besharati
11 MPs from the Islamic Republic parliament filed a non-confidencevote against Interior Minister Ali Mohammad Besharati on Oct. 10, onthe pretext that his ministry has been incapable of handling thesecurity of Sistan and Balouchestan province in the south-east ofIran.
Besharati is very close of Ayatollah Nategh Nouri, the speaker ofthe parliament, and is considered one of the highest-rankingofficials in the government. The move against him thus appears to bea veiled attack on Nategh-Nouri as next year's presidential electiondebate heats up.
As the minister of Interior, Besharati plays a major role in theelection process, including the supervision of polls. In the past, hehas been accused of ballot-stuffing in favor of pro-regimecandidates. [Tehran Radio 10/10]
Nategh-Nouri maneuvers... and Rafsajani bows out
At the Oct 10 session of the Majlis, Parliament speakerNateq-Nouri responded to the apparent support offered recently bySupreme Leader Ayatollah Khamene'i to presidential candidate MirHossein Moussavi, a former Prime Minister who is said to be close toRafsanjani.
"Presently I am not candidate for the coming presidentialelections," said Nateq-Nouri. "But if Ayatollah Khamene'i orders me,I will have no other choice but to participate in the election as acandidate."
Nateq-Nouri thus appears to be maneuvering to get AyatollahKhamene'i to publicly endorse his own candidacy. [Tehran radio,10/11]
Meanwhile, in a speech to Friday Prayer Imams in Tehran on Oct. 4,President Rafsanjani finally confirmed that he would not be acandidate for the next presidential elections. Rafsanjani said he wasready "to serve the revolution even as a simple governor general ofone of the provinces of the country" once his term expired next June.[Tehran Radio 10/4]
Commenting the Rafsanjani move, Jomouri-e Eslami, which is ownedby Ayatollah Khamenei, wrote that "the subject of PresidentRafsanjani's candidacy for the next election is now clear. He willnot be a candidate and he can serve the Islamic Republic in otherprovisions." [Jomhouri-e Eslami 10/8]
Lankarani leaves the hospital
Grand Ayatollah Lankarani, who suffered an apparent brain seizureor stroke only days after delivering his violent fatwa against SaudiArabia (see Newswire 22), was discharged from a Tehran hospital onMonday, Oct 7. His son, Mohammad Javad Fazel Lankarani, told Resalatthat his father had recovered as was returning home from "in goodcondition." [Resalat 10/8]
Terrorist planning session in Somalia
According to an Al-Ordon, an Arabic-language newspaper publishedin Amman, Jordan, representatives of Iranian-backed terrorist groupsmet in Mogadishou, Somalia, during the week of Oct. 1, under thesupervision of Islamic Republic intelligence officials. Groupssending representatives to the meeting included the LebaneseHezbollah, unspecified Afghan terrorist groups, and other Arabterrorist organizations, perhaps from the Gulf region. According toAl-Ordon's account, the participants agreed to step up terroristattacks against U.S. targets in the Middle East and in Europe. Thefirst target, the paper said, would be "American civilian andmilitary targets in Kuwait."[Al-Ordon, 10/7]
On the day this account was published in Jordan, Kuwaiti malecitizens over the age of 21 went to the polls, to elect a newNational Assembly - the 8th Parliament since the Kuwaiti Constitutionset the rules for participatory democracy in 1962. Unlike the IslamicRepublic, which pre-selects candidates for the Majlis elections fromamong various pro-government factions, in Kuwait anyone can stand forelection. And yes, they can even criticize the government and callfor constitutional changes, without fear of reprisal.
Another cleric jailed
Yet another follower of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Shirazi has beenjailed, according to reports from family members and sympathizers inLodon.
Hojjat-ol Eslam Sayyed Fadel Fadheli, aged around 35, was"abducted" from his hom in Qom, family members said, in earlySeptember, and has not been heard from since. They believe he wastaken by agents of the Ministry of Information and Security.
Sheikh Faali, a businessman and supported of Grand AyatollahShirazi, has already had a run-in with the authorities, when he wasarrested in early 1995 and sentenced to exile in Iranshahr city bythe Special Court of the Clergy, along with other Shirazi supporters.As part of his sentence, he was separated from his family and notallowed to visit them. This earlier sentence was eventually rescindedon Oct. 3, 1995.
His 30-year old wife, a mother of four, was arrested by theauthorities in June 1996 and accused of having started an argumentwith the MOIS agents who were surrounding a religiouscenteraffiliated with Grand Ayatollah Shirazi in Qom. After publicpressure she was released, but is still prohibited from leaving thecity until she is tried by the Special Court of the Priests. A trialdate has not yet been set.
Other members of the Faali family have also been subject toarrest, emprisonment, and torture in recent years, including hisfather, Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmed Faali, his nephew, Seyed MohmmedFaali, and four brothers.
The MOIS continues to hold 17 supporters of Grand AyatollahShirazi and two of his sons, and there have been persistent reportsthey have been tortured while in jail. Hojjat-ol Eslam Sheikh TaqiDhaakeri and Haaj Muhammed Ghafaari, both of whom were arrested onNov. 11, 1995, were visited by their families in prison in March andwere said by family members to bear the traces of torture and severeweight loss. Mr. Ghafaari was seen in a Tehran hospital for internalbleeding caused by torture.
Hojjat-ol Eslam Seyed Murtadhaa Shirazi, the second son of GrandAyatollah Shirazi, has been hospitalized for two months to recoverfrom injuries caused by torture, family members said. He was arrestedin November 1995, and is now believed to be in critical condition.Prison guards told family members he had been beaten over the headwith heating cables until he bled, and was doused in petrol and seton fire. He was also beaten on the soles of his feet with electriccable, and deprived of sleep for seventeen consecutive days.
The authorities are said to have offered to release them inexchange for televised confessions to "crimes" they have nevercommitted, including attempts to overthrow the regime and cooperatingwith foreign powers. The authorities also want them to "confess" thatGrand Ayatollah Shirazi is supported by the CIA. [Suppporters ofthe Iranian Muslim Nation statement, 9/18]
Azeribaijan official to Tehran
Yashar Aliyev, the deputy speaker of the Azerbaijan parliament,met in Tehran on Sunday, Oct. 6 with Foreign Minister Ali AkbarVelayati, and the following day held separate meetings with PresidentRafsanjani and Majlis speaker Nateq-Nouri. The Iranian media reportedthat the two sides set the agenda for the forthcoming jointIran-Azerbaijan economic cooperation commission.
Relations between the two governments have been chilly sincePresident Geidar Aliev accused Tehran of involvement in a failed coupattempt against his regime in July 1995.
Shell thumbs nose in Tehran
The Tehran representative of the Royal Dutch Shell, Julian Baxon,thumbed his nose at the U.S. sanctions against Iran in commentsreported by Salam daily. "All the European countries are against theUS sanctions against the Islamic Republic. We think that after the USelections, this problem will be solved, Shell is interested ininvestment in Iranian oil and gas industries." [Salam 10/5].
Major Changes in IRIAF F-14's
Iran has succeded in manufacturing spare parts and new equipmentfor the IRIAF F-14 multi-role fighters, a senior Air Force officialsaid, despite a total lack of support from the United States whichhas resulted in most of the planes being grounded since 1979.According to General Abbas Tavangaran, the deputy commander ofIsphahan's Shahid Babai Air base, the Islamic Republic has succeededin making changes to the aircraft to incorporate new systems Iran hasbeen able to acquire from third countries, "despite the tplans of theoriginal country which built these planes."
"Among our technological advances is changing F-14's air-to-airmissiles to the air-to-ground targeting system, " Gen. Tavangaranclaimed. [Salam, 9/21]
Basijis better than China Pop Army
The head of Basij Forces has been claiming that the IslamicRepublic will soon realize the dream of the late-Ayatollah Khomeini,of "having a 20 million-member army."
Rev Guard Brigadier General Alireza Afshar, the commander of BasijForces, said that today the Basijis are always mobilized, because"mobilization is the simple strategy for organizing againstpolitical, military, economic and cultural threats." He was speakingon the Sept. 21 anniversary of the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war.
The Basij Forces was modelled on the "popular armies" in countriesof North Korea and China, which Afshar has visited repeatedly. Overthe years, he has invited North Korean and Chinese military advisersto Iran to help train and organize the Basiji Forces. But now he saysthat Islamic Republic's popular army has achieved heights hisoriginal mentors only dream of attaining.
"The Basij of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) is uniqueamong popular armies in the world, due to its strong structure,comprehensiveness and variety of missions," Afshar told the TehranTimes.
"No other country in the world has anything like it, but Iran iswilling to share its experience with those who wish," Afshar offered.[Tehran Times, 9/22]
Nateq-Nouri "takes his fantasies for reality."
Salam daily has always stood out for its outspoken opinions in thetightly-controlled sphere of the official media. But recently eventhis newspaper, published by radical Hojjat-ole Eslam MohammadMousavi-Khoeiniha (the head of the "Imam's Line students" who stormedand occupied US Embasssy in Tehran in 1979) has been forced to limitits criticism to day-to-day matters and to refrain from questioningthe structure of the regime or the behavior of key figures.
Even so, some questions from Salam's readers do manage to passthrough the censorship net via the "Hallo Salam" column. One suchcomment left by a reader on Sept. 21 upbraided Majlis speakerNateq-Nouri, for his accusation that the United States was behindSaddam Hussein's recent move against opposition Kurds in northernIraq.
"A few days ago, the honorable Parliament Speaker said that Saddamhad attacked Kurdistan following a "green light" from America. Nowthat US has attacked Saddam's military installations, it's obviousthat the Speaker has taken his own fantasies for reality."[Salam, 9/21]
Hanging in Isphahan
A young man was executed in Isphahan on charges of homicide.
Hossein Rezaian, 28, was hanged in a public square of Isphahan,after he was found guilty for killing another man last February.
No information regarding his trial or the judicial procedures wasgiven, nor was it known if Hossein was granted legal defense.[Kayhan, 9/21]