Iranian Alert -- January 3, 2004 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD --Americans for Regime Change in Iran

The US media almost entirely ignores news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Tony Snow of the Fox News Network has put it, “this is probably the most under-reported news story of the year.” But most American’s are unaware that the Islamic Republic of Iran is NOT supported by the masses of Iranians today. Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East.

There is a popular revolt against the Iranian regime brewing in Iran today. Starting June 10th of this year, Iranians have begun taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy. Many even want the US to over throw their government.

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movement in Iran from being reported. Unfortunately, the regime has successfully prohibited western news reporters from covering the demonstrations. The voices of discontent within Iran are sometime murdered, more often imprisoned. Still the people continue to take to the streets to demonstrate against the regime.

In support of this revolt, Iranians in America have been broadcasting news stories by satellite into Iran. This 21st century news link has greatly encouraged these protests. The regime has been attempting to jam the signals, and locate the satellite dishes. Still the people violate the law and listen to these broadcasts. Iranians also use the Internet and the regime attempts to block their access to news against the regime. In spite of this, many Iranians inside of Iran read these posts daily to keep informed of the events in their own country.

This daily thread contains nearly all of the English news reports on Iran. It is thorough. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary. The news stories and commentary will from time to time include material from the regime itself. But if you read the post you will discover for yourself, the real story of what is occurring in Iran and its effects on the war on terror.

I am not of Iranian heritage. I am an American committed to supporting the efforts of those in Iran seeking to replace their government with a secular democracy. I am in contact with leaders of the Iranian community here in the United States and in Iran itself.

If you read the daily posts you will gain a better understanding of the US war on terrorism, the Middle East and why we need to support a change of regime in Iran. Feel free to ask your questions and post news stories you discover in the weeks to come.

If all goes well Iran will be free soon and I am convinced become a major ally in the war on terrorism. The regime will fall. Iran will be free. It is just a matter of time.

Rank	Location	Receipts	Donors/Avg	Freepers/Avg	Monthlies
18	Maryland	75.00	2	37.50	334	0.22	263.00	13

Islamists attack Iranian opponents in London

SMCCDI (Information Service)
Jan 2, 2004

A group of violent Islamists attacked, today, several Iranian activists in the British Capital.

The brutalized Iranian activists were intending to protest, against the shameful try of the Islamic Republic's Embassy which was trying to benefit of the deaths of thousands of Iranians killed in the last earthquake, when tens of Islamists attacked them with clubs. The demonstrators were protesting against the propaganda generated by the regime which is known as having been the cause of deaths of many following Bam's earthquake.

The Demo and the attack took place in front of one of the numerous Islamic foundation's of London which are mainly financed directly or undirectly by the Islamic republic regime and have thousands of members recruited among the poor members of the Asian and African minorities living in UK and who are receiving various financial aids from the Iranian clerics.

The today's public attack of Iranian activists, in a European or US city, by Islamists financed by the Islamic regime is nothing new. Various collective or individual attacks, carried by Islamists against Iranian activists, have lead to tens of injured and deads in the last 20 years often under the accomplice or silent watch of European governments.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_4386.shtml

BAM’S EARTHQUAKE UNDERMINES IRANIAN RULING THEOCRACY

TEHRAN 2 Jan. (IPS) As the number of the people dead in the strong earthquake that hit the south-eastern region of Iran, particularly the old and historic city of Bam announced officially at more than 30.000, critics at the way the Iranian clerical-led authorities handled the tragedy is getting more virulent.

"Everybody toiled in Bam, but there were no necessary tools", acknowledged Mr. Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, the official spokesman for the government, as the authorities decided, without providing any reason, to pull out all domestic and international rescue workers from the city, despite the fact that they had found seven people, including two children, from the rubbles of the ruined city.

"How come that those who have no other skill than to talk and give conferences that are broadcast endlessly by the controlled media can, by describing the devastating earth shake as a natural disaster or God’s wrath escape from their responsibilities", asked a statement issues by a group of banned Nationalist-religious movement.

"Despite possessing 80 per cent of all Iran’s heavy machinery and construction materials, the Revolutionary Guards, the Praetorian Guard of the ruling mullahs left the poor people of Bam to dig the ruins with their bruised hands", Mr. Nima Rashedan, a European-based Iranian political analyst told Iran Press Service.

The reason, he explained, is because most of the bulldozers and cranes so badly needed for Bam were busy on projects like building roads, projects that instead of being given to the private sector, were offered to the Guards against lucrative commissions and kick backs filling the big pockets of some Guards high-ranking officers and ayatollahs.

What adds to the people’s anger all over the country is that since the ayatollahs came to power 25 years ago, Iran has seen several major earthquakes, but no lesson has been drawn.

By the early 1970s, the government, aware of the fact that the region was sitting on an earthquake crater, had decided not to allow people to build new houses in Bam itself. The city's ancient monuments were declared part of the heritage of mankind under UNESCO and no new buildings permits were issued for almost six years.

"But the revolutionary turmoil of 1978-79 provided racketeers with an opportunity to seize large chunks of land in Bam and use it for poorly designed and badly constructed houses and shops. The racket was backed by a group of powerful mullahs who, in exchange for a cut in the proceeds, issued fatwas (religious opinions) that cancelled government orders that banned house building in the city", observed Mr. Amir Taheri, a veteran Iranian journalist.

"The mullahs claimed that the shah had wished to keep Bam empty because of a secret plan under which the city would be turned into a Zoroastrian centre. They also dismissed warnings from the National Seismological Centre in Tehran that opposed the repopulation of Bam. The mullahs claimed that the Hidden Imam would protect the new inhabitants of the city against all disasters", he said, concluding that: Thus, more than half of those who died in the earthquake could be regarded as victims of a racket ran by mullahs and their associates with the help of religious prejudice and superstition.

Local inhabitants, talking to reporters on condition of anonymity, expressed their lack of confidence at government’s pledges to rebuild the city on strong foundations. "Other cities in Iran were hit by strong earthquakes before Bam and every time, the authorities had made same promises, but go now to these places and see by yourself. Except few buildings, the majority of the houses are build as before, without any anti-seismic norms", one teacher who had lost his family and small house in the quake told IPS.

In the view of many Iranian observers, the action, or more appropriate, the inaction of the authorities towards the tragedy has "gravely" undermined the political and religious legitimacy of the ruling theocracy.

"One of our major handicap was the lack of coordination and preparedness. Contrary to the foreign missions that arrived fully equipped prepared and knowing exactly what to do, we had no central command, no coordination", confessed the lamed President Mohammad Khatami at the end of his visit to the ravaged city.

Confirming this view, Mr. Rashedan said "busy making business, the Revolutionary Guards and other popular units that had gained experiences during the Iran-Iraq War for providing assistance to the needy people at short notice became a burden for local population of Bam, having lost their valuable experiences".

"It is an irony that after 25 years of a corrupt, inefficient, oppressive rule of a half-divine regime, the only building that stands intact is the city’s prison, the symbol of the Iranian regime", one Iranian scholar cited the British newspaper The Guardian as having wrote.

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2004/Jan_04/iran_earthquake_2104.htm

Foreign Aid Workers Want to Leave Bam In Disgust Over Islamic Regime's Abuses!

From RadioFarda story in Persian (Real Audio):

http://www.radiofarda.com/realaudio/today/20031230_1330_0949_1314.ram

12/30/03

Italian Press criticise the regime harshly for its handling of the Bam disaster relief. Italian rescue workers and aid workers from 17 other countries tell the Italian Press that they have not been allowed to help or rescue anyone in Bam because of the chaos and mismanagement caused by the regime. The Aid workers say they are useless and they want to leave and they are disgusted by what the Islamic regime is doing in Bam.

They say that since they have arrived they have not been allowed to help anyone, and the regime has taken up all of their time by having them pose for pictures and do interviews to show that foreignors are helping and they support the regime one aid worker says, "all they care about is propoganda for the regime instead of helping the victims." Aid workers are disgusted by how the regime is just using them for propoganda instead of letting them help.

One Italian rescue worker who is a veteran of helping in dozens of countries says he has never seen so much mismanagement, chaos and apathy on the part of any government in a disaster like this. Other aid workers complain that the government can't organise anything! Many just want to leave Bam at this point disgusted, because they believe their presence is useless and they will not be able to help anyone and they don't wish to be used as pawns by the government !

Bush's relative in aid mission snubbed by Iran

By Gareth Smyth in Tehran and Marianne Brun-Rovet in Washington
Published: January 3 2004 4:00 | Last Updated: January 3 2004 4:00

Iran has turned down a US offer to send a humanitarian delegation led by Elizabeth Dole, a former president of the US Red Cross and Republican senator for North Carolina, the US State Department said yesterday.

US media had reported that Mrs Dole would be accompanied by an unnamed member of President George W. Bush's family, to deliver aid to victims of the earthquake that last week destroyed most of the south-eastern town of Bam.

However, the State Department said: "We have heard back today from the Iranians that given the current situation in Bam and all that is going on there now, it would be preferable to hold such a visit in abeyance. Therefore we are not pursuing it further at the moment."

Two years ago Mr Bush branded Iran part of the "axis of evil", alongside North Korea and pre-war Iraq. But US relief efforts after the earthquake seem to have thawed relations between Washington and Tehran.

This week, the US lifted some economic sanctions against Iran for 90 days to help relief efforts. American firefighters, aid workers and rescue teams have been in the earthquake zone, where officials say the death toll is more than 30,000. Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, this week spoke of the possibility of resuming "dialogue" with Tehran, and conservative and reformist leaders in Iran have stressed a their desire to improve relations with the US.

Each side has also reiterated the need for the other to make concessions first.

On Thursday Mr Bush welcomed Iran's acceptance of humanitarian aid as "a good thing to do". "The Iranian government must listen to the voices of those who long for freedom, must turn over al-Qaeda [members] that are in their custody and must abandon their nuclear weapons programme."

Yesterday brought ritualistic defiance towards the US in Iran, with state radio saying Mr Bush had shown "once again. America's interfering and hostile policy". At Friday prayers in Tehran, Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, a hardline cleric, said Washington had received a "slap in the face" in an attempt to use aid to apply diplomatic pressure.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1071251885703

A Tehran earthquake might collapse Iran’s regime

The Daily Star, Lebanon
03/01/04

The earthquake that destroyed the ancient city of Bam has focused attention on the incompetence of the Iranian authorities. Why, after all, in a country widely seen as the most earthquake-prone in the world, do these tragedies frequently recur? But such criticism must not cloud the bigger picture: A strong earthquake is likely to hit Iran’s capital, Tehran, in the near future. The implications are almost too calamitous to contemplate. Not least, it could threaten the very survival of the authorities being blamed for not doing enough to lessen the human costs of such disasters.
The political vultures were quick to descend upon the corpses of Bam. Amir Taheri, writing in the Saudi daily Arab News, claimed that much of the shoddy buildings in Bam were the result of property racketeering engendered by the 1979 Iranian revolution. According to Taheri, the turmoil that ensued after ex-Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s ouster enabled swindlers to seize large chunks of land in Bam, on which poorly constructed houses and shops were built. Taheri added that the deals were backed by fatwa-issuing clerics who in turn received a healthy slice of the profits. Yet he provided not a shred of evidence to buttress these allegations.
Arguably, David Aaronovitch, writing in The Guardian on Dec. 30, delivered the best piece of political commentary. Extolling the virtues of American masonry and the value put on human life in the US, Aaronovitch noted that the earthquake that recently hit California with almost the same intensity as the Bam quake killed only 2 people. Despite his insight, however, Aaronovitch’s closing comment, “(s)ome Iranians might think that it’s a shame there wasn’t a McDonald’s in Bam. It would have been the safest place in town,” was as facile as it was inappropriate.
The incompetence of the Iranian authorities is not, as some would imply, the result of ideology. Rather, it is symptomatic of the same kind of incompetence and sheer disrespect for human life that is visible all across the developing world, and which also, for example, was responsible for the thousands of lives lost in the Turkish earthquake of 1999. And Turkey, lest pundits forget, is ultra-secular and staunchly pro-Western. The Islamic regime in Iran does not wield a monopoly on incompetence.
None of this, of course, must detract attention from apportioning blame justly. The earthquake not only snuffed out tens of thousands of lives, it destroyed one of the features of Iranian civilization: Bam’s ancient citadel, known as the Arg, was initially built under the Sassanian Dynasty. It now lies in ruins. Defenses could have been erected to safeguard these ancient fortifications in the event of a major natural disaster. Bam had, after all, suffered three major quakes in the 20th century.
But the real challenge for Iran is far more menacing. What happened in Bam could occur on a far larger scale in Tehran. In February 2003, a seminar on construction was held in the capital, during which Mohsen Ghafouri Ashtiyani, the head of the International Seismological Research Center, which is affiliated with the Science Ministry, made a stark warning that the fault lines around Tehran were sliding and accumulating energy. He made an ominous prediction: “(T)here is a strong likelihood of an earthquake striking the Iranian capital … On the basis of the studies, the probability of a quake above seven degrees on the Richter scale in the next 10 years currently stands at 65 percent, and this is expected to increase with the passing of time.”
Another expert present at the seminar, Farid Mahdian, the head of the Tehran Earthquake Research Center, claimed that the activation of the Ray fault line, situated to the south of Tehran, would lead to the destruction of over 90 percent of this Tehran suburb. Mahdian added, alarmingly: “In case of an earthquake, this Tehran district will witness catastrophic losses in human life.”
The experts could have cited the example of Mexico City when discussing damage limitation. The city suffered an earthquake in 1985 that clamed 10,000 lives. Subsequently the city implemented some of Latin America’s toughest building codes. Interestingly, on New Year’s Day an earthquake that hit off the Mexican coast was strongly felt in Mexico City. No major destruction was reported.
Despite dire warnings of an impending disaster in Tehran, the authorities have done virtually nothing. This not only shows a breathtaking disregard for human life and property, it could also prove to be bad politics. Tehran is, after all, the undisputed political and economic center of Iran. A massive earthquake there could potentially collapse literally and symbolically the institutions of the Islamic Republic.
In his analysis, Aaronovitch got one thing eloquently right: Iran’s post-revolutionary elites are indeed, as he put it,
a “useless, incompetent semi-theocracy, which is fatalistic, complacent, unresponsive and often brutal.” But they have one thing going for them: They have a sharp sensitivity when predicting and foiling events that could potentially threaten their political survival. It is perhaps this sense of political survival that is the only hope for improving Tehran’s defenses against a massive quake.

Mahan Abedin, a London-based financial consultant and analyst of Iranian politics, wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/03_01_04_c.asp

» FRONTLINE/World
Forbidden Iran

Thursday, January 8, at 9pm, 60 minutes

In July 2003, Canadian journalist Zara Kazemi was beaten to death in an Iranian prison for attempting to report a story that Iran's hard-line, theocratic government didn't want told.

In this edition of FRONTLINE/World, Canadian journalist Jane Kokan goes undercover in Iran to pick up the trail where Kazemi left off.

"The story I am after is the story Zara Kazemi died trying to tell," Kokan says, "the underground student movement that's taking on the mullahs."

In "Forbidden Iran" --one of three segments in this edition of PBS's international newsmagazine--Kokan risks her own safety to piece together evidence of a government-sponsored reign of terror against students calling for democratic reform. Traveling undercover as an archaeologist interested in ancient Iranian ruins, Kokan escapes the constant surveillance of the Iranian authorities to record exclusive interviews with students and activists who have been victims of the regime's repression.

Forbidden Iran" reveals how the Iranian authorities ruthlessly responded to June 2003 demonstrations by disillusioned students calling for governmental reform. Viewers see photographs taken of a raid on a student dormitory, in which Islamic militants controlled by the mullahs attacked the sleeping students with machetes, butcher knives and chains. The exact death toll is unknown.

Viewers also witness videotaped footage of a July 2003 student demonstration. The footage, shot by the wife of a student protestor before she fled the country, shows police and bearded, black-clad, bicycle-riding Islamic vigilantes known as "basiji" attacking the students.

"The guards were riding on the pavement and beating up people with batons," the woman says. "They were all over the place, so if anything happened they could put the protestors down."

Correspondent Kokan's underground contacts also help her gain access to Amir Fakhravar. Considered to be one of the student movement's key leaders, Fakhravar is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence for writing a book that advocated democracy and free speech. He is also credited with smuggling a letter out of his jail cell in which he exhorted Iranians to boycott the nation's March 2003 elections, which he claimed were a sham. Voter turnout in the election plummeted to just 12 percent.

Speaking on a cell phone smuggled into his prison cell, Fakhravar tells Kokan that he witnessed the deaths of 19 students "with his own eyes" and claims that thousands of other students have been imprisoned in secret, unofficial prisons throughout Iran.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/press/w302.html

posted again for important showing--she was also fired from the BBC (known to be extremely pro-Islamic Republic). Please tell ALL of your friends, this is a showing of the true Iran.

A very funny article to show how Mullahs are dumb -- Pilot

Fast-food younger generation are shown red card

Telegraph, UK
Behzad Farsian in Teheran
03/01/2004

Iran's fast-food restaurants are said to be so nervous of the latest attack by hardline clerics on "immoral" behaviour that they are issuing football-style penalties to customers.

Girls deemed to be improperly dressed or men flirting too openly with the opposite sex may receive a "yellow card" on their table, and repeat offenders receive a "red card" and are sent off.

"This is a system I have heard about, but have yet to see it and doubt it will be good business sense," said a north Teheran fast-food restaurant owner, who wished to remain anonymous.

But clearly there is a move by some clerics against American-style restaurants and social clubs which they accuse of encouraging decadent behaviour. Some businesses have been closed.

"The reason the fast-food restaurants have been shut is purely because the flirtations between the girls and boys were getting out of hand and the authorities could not control it," said the restaurateur.

Teheran's younger generation has been attempting to enjoy a social lifestyle similar to that in the West, and this upsets Islamic fundamentalists.

Although the clampdown began before the Bam earthquake, it is a good indicator of clerical fears about "American" influences already at work in Iran. That in turn helps to explain the resistance of some to any talk of rapprochement with Washington.

Four restaurants were closed by the police last month "until further notice", some snooker and pool clubs have been ordered to close and others have limited their services only to men.

"I used to go to one of the restaurants twice a week," said Samira, a single woman aged 22, one of Iran's under-25 generation which accounts for 60 per cent of the population. "It won't stop me and my friends; we'll just find somewhere else to go."

The authorities view one of Samira's haunts, a shopping centre in a northern suburb where there are several western-style restaurants, as a meeting point for the young to flirt with each other while chewing on their burgers.

Iran's Islamic laws put strict limitations on the places and circumstances in which young people can conduct their social lives.

Restaurants must dedicate a male and female section for unmarried couples, although fast-food restaurants have ignored this since the reformist President Mohammad Khatami came to office. Under Iran's theocratic rule, women have to cover their hair and wear clothes that obscure the shape of their bodies.

But teenagers in the lively suburbs of north Teheran are seen with splashes of make-up, tight-fitting designer coats and headscarves pulled back to show off fashionable hairstyles.

Critics believe the closure of the restaurants is a calculated move by hardliners determined to show the public that the reformists have no control prior to next month's parliamentary elections.

"This is definitely a political move," said 23-year-old Amir, a regular fast-food customer. "Not only have the hardliners shown their power over the reform process, but they will also rekindle support from their voters."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/01/03/wiran103.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/01/03/ixnewstop.html

Important PBS Broadcast - January 8, 2004 -- DoctorZin

Forbidden Iran.

This excellent piece of undercover journalism aired in England about one month ago and is now going to be featured on PBS. Be sure to watch and tell everyone you know to watch also!

Check www.pbs.org for local listing times!

http://www.pbs.org/previews/previews_program_feature_container.2003-12-15.1252/

FRONTLINE/World: Forbidden Iran

In July 2003, Canadian journalist Zara Kazemi was beaten to death in an Iranian prison for attempting to report a story that Iran's hard-line, theocratic government didn't want told.

In this edition of FRONTLINE/World, Canadian journalist Jane Kokan goes undercover in Iran to pick up the trail where Kazemi left off.

"The story I am after is the story Zara Kazemi died trying to tell," Kokan says, "the underground student movement that's taking on the mullahs."

In "Forbidden Iran" -one of three segments in this edition of PBS's international newsmagazine-Kokan risks her own safety to piece together evidence of a government-sponsored reign of terror against students calling for democratic reform. Traveling undercover as an archaeologist interested in ancient Iranian ruins, Kokan escapes the constant surveillance of the Iranian authorities to record exclusive interviews with students and activists who have been victims of the regime's repression.

"Iran is a country violently split in two," Kokan says. "It's a harsh fundamentalist Islamic republic, but it's also a young country: 70 percent of Iranians are under age 30. And they've had enough of the mullahs."

Kokan takes viewers inside Iran, where she secretly makes contact with students opposed to the repressive regime. Dodging the watchful eyes of her Iranian minder-and fearing that her hotel room is bugged-Kokan slips away at night to send coded emails from local Internet cafÅ½s.

Kokan's secret planning leads to several meetings with student leaders who share their personal tales of imprisonment and torture at the hands of Iran's government.

"When you are first arrested, you are put in solitary for months, in these solitary cells which are 1 meter by 2 meters," says an Iranian student, who tells Kokan that he has been arrested four times, the first time when he was seventeen.

"One is left alone for months, and there they force you to make false confessions."

Another student, identified as "Ismael," also reports being arrested numerous times.

"To tell you the truth, we don't live as such here-we just pretend we live," he says. "Even the ordinary people who are not political and go about their daily business are not really living. Everyone just lives from day to day."

"Forbidden Iran" reveals how the Iranian authorities ruthlessly responded to June 2003 demonstrations by disillusioned students calling for governmental reform. Viewers see photographs taken of a raid on a student dormitory, in which Islamic militants controlled by the mullahs attacked the sleeping students with machetes, butcher knives and chains. The exact death toll is unknown.

Viewers also witness videotaped footage of a July 2003 student demonstration. The footage, shot by the wife of a student protestor before she fled the country, shows police and bearded, black-clad, bicycle-riding Islamic vigilantes known as "basiji" attacking the students.

"The guards were riding on the pavement and beating up people with batons," the woman says. "They were all over the place, so if anything happened they could put the protestors down."

Correspondent Kokan's underground contacts also help her gain access to Amir Fakhravar. Considered to be one of the student movement's key leaders, Fakhravar is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence for writing a book that advocated democracy and free speech. He is also credited with smuggling a letter out of his jail cell in which he exhorted Iranians to boycott the nation's March 2003 elections, which he claimed were a sham. Voter turnout in the election plummeted to just 12 percent.

Speaking on a cell phone smuggled into his prison cell, Fakhravar tells Kokan that he witnessed the deaths of 19 students "with his own eyes" and claims that thousands of other students have been imprisoned in secret, unofficial prisons throughout Iran.

His statements are later corroborated by a former leader of Ansar-e-Hizbollah, an extreme fundamentalist group tied to the mullahs.

"There are many who are kept in the unofficial prisons, with names such as 59, Tohid, and 66," says "Ibrahimi," who later was imprisoned himself and subsequently fled Iran. "There are many. Autonomous forces associated with the conservatives treat prisoners there most savagely."

Ibrahimi claims that his vigilante gang took their orders from Iran's Supreme Leader himself, the Ayatollah Khameini.

"Mr. Khameini had ordered me to somehow silence the student movement in Iran," he says.

Kokan's interviews with student demonstrators reveal a group that is eager for help from the West-provided that help does not come in the form of an Iraq-style invasion.

"The free world including America can put pressure on the ruling clerics so that they accept holding a referendum to decide the future democratic structure of Iran," an Iranian student says, "But they cannot interfere militarily. We are not after their military intervention."

Also featured in this edition of FRONTLINE/World: a report from Spain on the Prestige oil tanker disaster and a world music feature from Belize.

2 new Satellite TV stations have recently appeared beamed into Iran by Iranian-Americans. One is Rang-a-rang from NY (social democrat) and the other is Lahse (constitutional monarchy), puts the total at 15. --3 new ones are due out soon. Estimates put the # of Iranians receiving satellite dishes at 15-20% despite the government ban.

Given the boring and biased nature of domestic programming(Iran's government offers 4 stations--all 4 are extremely hard-line offering only extremist programming), Iranians continue to ignore such restrictions and to tune in to Persian-language satellite broadcasts (beamed by Iranian-Americans abroad). Some of the stations available to them are: Appadana (http://www.appadana.com), Azadi TV (http://www.azaditv.com), Channel One TV (http://www.channelonetv.com), IPN TV (http://www.ipntv.com), Iran TV Network (http://www.irantvnetwork.com), IRTV (http://www.irtv.com), Jaam-e-Jam (http://www.jaamejam.com), Melli TV (http://www.mellitv.com), NITV (http://www.nitv.tv), Pars TV Network (http://www.parstvnetwork.com), Rang-a-Rang (http://www.rang-a-rang.com), and Tapesh TV (http://www.tapeshtv.com). All of these stations are based in the Los Angeles area, with the exception of Rang-a-Rang, which is based near Washington, D.C.

All stations support a change of regime in Iran. Some support a constitutional monarchy similar to spain and england mainly pushing for Shah's son Reza Pahlavi, while others support representative democracy --A Republic, still others are Social Democrats.

3 of the stations have just entertainment, but their entertainment is in itself extremely pre-1979 material.

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