Mohsen Nurbakhsh, Iran's Central Bank Governor, who boasted during his recent trip to Switzerland that Iran had received $5 billion in government-back loan guarantees from Japan and several European countries in the last 18 months, found himself contradicted by four of the countries he named. Nurbakhsh touted this achievement in an interview with the International Herald Tribune while attending the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, calling it a "massive defeat" of the American effort to deny the Islamic Republic access to Western credit.
The Washington-DC weekly, Iran International Times, reported last week that in its contacts with five of those governments--Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and France--all but France specifically denied the accuracy of Nurbakhsh's statements. An official of the French embassy in Washington said several projects had been proposed but he was not aware that any had yet been signed. At the same time, COFACE, France's export credit agency, recently gave Iran its lowest political risk ratings for the entire Middle East and North Africa. [Iran Int'l Times, 3/21]
Nurbakhsh's fibbing became public as Hojj. Ali-Akbar Nateq Nouri told cadets at the graduation ceremony of the National Defense University and the Academy of Military Sciences.that "Islamic Republic of Iran is the most independent state in the world." [IRNA, 3/17]
In an exclusive interview with Iran News, Presidential Candidate, Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami, criticized the "critical dialogue" policy of European governments. "The idea of a critical dialogue was conceived and implemented by politicians, and in its current form it is totally one-sided because the West has given it self the right to criticizes us," he said.
In his view, there should be shift away from political to what he termed "critical cultural discussions" with European countries. Cultural experts, unlike politicians, take the interests of human society into consideration, the presidential candidate said.
Discussing his foreign policy views, Khatami said, if elected, "he will extend a hand of friendship to all neighboring countries, particularly the Muslim nations," which suggests that the Islamic Republic must have been pursuing a different policy toward its neighbors until now.
Turning to the Iranian economy, Khatami blamed corruption on the low salary of government employees. "Some administrative corruption is the result of our unbalanced economy. We must first raise the income of our employees and then amend our administrative system because I think our administrative system falls short of meeting the nation's needs. However, what I think is dangerous is embezzlement of government funds and property, which is a very serious crime and should be dealt with squarely by the government," he said
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who had hoped to get a firm pledge from King Fahd to attend December's Islamic Summit in Tehran, returned home from Riyadh with no commitment from the Saudi king. Velayati has been shuttling from one Islamic capital to another in the past few weeks to prepare the conference.
If both King Fahd and President Hosni Mubarak are no-shows at the conference, Tehran it will be hard pressed to describe the venue a success. [Iran Press Service, 3/16]
Addressing thousands of worshippers gathered in Tehran University compounds, Ayatollah Jannati said that the efforts of the arrogant powers to prevent Muslim states from attending the 8th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Tehran was in fact blatant intervention in other countries' internal affairs. [IRNA, 3/21]
Meanwhile, Al-Sharq al-Awsat, an Arabic language newspaper published in London, called into question "the Iranian concept of good- neighborly relations" in an editorial. It commented that "Iran has so far failed to convince its neighbors that it is trying to establish normal relations based on the principle of good-neighborly relations and noninterference. The good intentions about which Iran is trying to convince its neighbors would require Iran to review its foreign relations with its neighbor, Turkey. These relations started with Iran showing its good intentions to establish good- neighborly relations and relations of economic and security cooperation, and developed to the point of interference in Turkish domestic affairs," it added.
Presidential candidate Ebrahim Yazdi told the Tehran Times that if elected he would "maintain relations with all countries except the Zionist regime." He added "if we come to power we will establish relations with other countries on the basis of our interests. We are living in a world with a divergent systems. But we can protect our interests in this world provided we normalize our relations."
Running as a candidate of the Freedom Movement of Iran [FMI], rather than as independent, Yazdi believes that the former head of the Budget and Planning, Ezatollah Sahabi has a better chance of winning approval from the Council of Guardians, which must approve all candidates. [Tehran Times, March 18]
Another presidential hopeful, Heshmatollah Tabarzadi [the former editor of the banned publication Payam-e Daneshju], complained to a group of Iranian and foreign reporters of being shut out of the Iranian media, and expressed frustration about his inability to get his message across to the public.
"Unfortunately, we are facing some restrictions as far as the expression of our viewpoints are concerned since most of the press circles that are active nowadays belong to specific camps. The Voice and Vision [radio and television organization] is only promoting the views of a particular faction, while a number of important newspapers are giving coverage to the candidates of other factions. All of this means that the independent candidates are left out. Of course, the foreign media are trying very hard to interview us but we do not want to express our views through these media since we prefer to tell the people about our viewpoints through the channels of the domestic media." [Iran News, 3/12]
The controversial practice of "sigheh" whereby a man and women can marry for a short, predetermined period of time, was strongly endorsed by Mohiedin Haeri Shirazi, a top cleric in Shiraz. Speaking at a meeting to address the marital problems of today's youth, the cleric said that "sigheh" can be used as a tool to prevent the corruption of morals amongst younger Iranians and its curtailment would lead to decadence and spiraling social ills.
Salam newspaper, however, criticized Haeri Shirazi, arguing that "sigheh" might address the needs of men, but will leave women worse off.
The German magazine, Der Spiegel, claimed last week that an American spy who was expelled from Germany had attempted to recruit an official of the German Economics Ministry, to obtain information on Iran's budding nuclear power ambitions. According to the report, Peyton K. Humphries had initiated contact with the German official in 1994 and the two continued their meetings with the sanction of the German counterintelligence service. [Der Spiegel 3/17]
The sudden decision to expel the U.S. spy came after he quizzed the German official about the Busheir power plant after he had visited the site in Iran. The U.S. agent was interested in three other topics: a) The identities of German firms delivering high technology to Iran b) Iranian connections to the Mykonos trial c) German government loan guarantees for Iranian purchases of German goods [Iran Times, 3/21].
The head of Iran's Pilgrimage Affairs, Mohammad Mohammadi-Rayshahri, criticized Saudi Arabia for seeking to prevent Iranian pilgrims from holding anti-US and anti-Israel rallies during the Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca next month, but stopped short of promising to defy a Saudi ban on political demonstrations.
"It is painful that the slogans against America, the great Satan, and Israel are prevented from the site of the Kaaba," Islam's holiest shrine in Mecca, he told a Friday prayer audience at Tehran University.
The Saudi authorities have issued their customary warning that political activities will not be tolerated during the hajj, which is due to take place in April this year.
"As we fulfill our duties every year, Muslims become more familiar with the divine purpose of hajj. The slogans of `Death to America' and `Death to Israel' are spreading to other Muslims. This is a sign that the true meaning of hajj is awakening in other Muslim groups," he said. [Iran News, 3/18]
The Tehran daily Iran News in an editorial wonders why serious steps have not been taken to attract foreign capital to Iran's ailing economy. The editorial refers to the minister of mines and metals, who declared in a press conference that absorbing and guaranteeing investments by Iranians, Iranian expatriots, and foreign investors is indispensable for Iran's economic growth and development, and urged that serious measures be taken in this regard.
"Iran's economic and industrial officialdom and specialists are also of the same opinion. But one question remains unanswered: After the implementation of the First Five-Year Economic Plan and after going through half the second one, why has Iran failed so far to attract foreign investors?" the paper asked. [3/15]